A Vision for our Town

Today, we welcomed the Brownies, Guides, Beavers, Cubs and Scouts linked with the church to their Parade Service.  It was a special service for us as we welcomed Colin Hay, the Mayor of Cheltenham, and celebrated our town and the vision we share for its future.  In February our charity of the month will be one of the charities supported by the Mayor in his year of office:  Severn Freewheelers.  They provide a courier service to the hospitals of Gloucestershire for emergencies.

A time of Praise

Call to Worship

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. 
   Worship the Lord with gladness;
   come into his presence with singing. 

For the Lord is good;
   his steadfast love endures for ever,
   and his faithfulness to all generations.

Praise and Worship with Hy-Spirit

Psalm 148 - the Congregation

A time for Reflection

A vision to share ...

... a birthday to celebrate!

It’s great to welcome everyone to our service today … and good to give a special welcome to Colin Hay who is the Mayor of Cheltenham.  It gives us an opportunity to celebrate our town and all it means to us –

Can we think of things that are really great about Cheltenham?

People came up with all sorts of ideas in tribute to the Hospitals, the Police, Fire and Ambulance Services, to our schools, to the trees that make Cheltenham so special, to its friendliness, to its football club.

How could we make Cheltenham an even better place?

There were lots of ideas people shared - from looking after the environment, keeping the place tidy, to looking out for people with great needs, and making sure our town was a caring place.

It’s good to have a vision for your town …

Long ago, everything went wrong for the people of Israel.  People forgot what they should be doing to make their towns and cities and their capital city the kind of place it should be where people helped each other and cared for one another and did the kind of things their faith in God showed they should be doing.

Everything went wrong and horrible things happened – and the towns and cities went into ruin – and the capital city, Jerusalem, was destroyed.

But the people didn’t lose heart, they didn’t lose hope.

In the middle of everythning that had gone wrong, people still had a vision.  They had a vision for what their towns and their cities should be like.

One of those people who had such a vision was Isaiah.  He dreamed of a new heaven and a new earth – something new coming out of the ashes.

Richard 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2

This is the message from the Lord God. “Pay close attention now:     I’m creating new heavens and a new earth. All the earlier troubles, chaos, and pain     are things of the past, to be forgotten. Look ahead with joy.     Look forward to what I’m creating: I’ll create Jerusalem as sheer joy,     create my people as pure delight. No more sounds of weeping in the city,     no cries of anguish; No more babies dying in the cradle,     or old people who don’t enjoy a full lifetime; One-hundredth birthdays will be considered normal—     anything less will seem like a cheat. They’ll build houses     and move in. They’ll plant fields     and eat what they grow. They’ll have satisfaction in their work.    They won’t work and have nothing come of it, For my people will be as long-lived as trees,    for they themselves are plantings blessed by God,     with their children and grandchildren likewise God-blessed. Wolf and lamb will graze the same meadow,     lion and ox eat straw from the same trough,     but snakes—they’ll get a diet of dirt! Neither animal nor human will hurt or kill     anywhere on my Holy Mountain,” says God.

It’s a wonderful vision that sets out the base-line things we should work for – it’s a timeless vision.  One that Jesus echoed the very first time he got up to teach in the synagogue in his home town –

The spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
   because the Lord has anointed me;
he has sent me

to bring good news to the oppressed,
   to bind up the broken-hearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
   and release to the prisoners; 
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour,

What a wonderful vision for today – key things to make our town a better place

Where there are tears, pain, anguish – there needs to be comfort, support, strengthening

The youngest – children need to be cared for as they grow up

The oldest need to be cared for and looked after – and we’ve just had a 100^th birthday as well – Alice Brown joined our church 91 years ago in 1924 when we are at Winchcombe Street and she went to Sunday School and then taught in the Sunday School on Grosvenor Street.  And by 1963 she was head of Guiting Power School – and didn’t allow the school to close for one day, driving through the whole of the bad winter from Charlton Kings in her Morris Minor!  And we are remembering Hilda Read who has been a very special part of the church family here for many years – who died this week.

Homes for people

Meals for people - each week we have three or four cartons of food to take to County Community Projects' Foodshare programme.  When it was brought to our attention that Cheltenham has a significant number of people who experience absolute poverty for periods when they have no food, we decided not only to increase our support of CCP's Foodshare Programme, but also to invite our MP, Martin Horwood, to a special Church Meeting when we would question him about the need for a safety net at the moment and on into the future.  That meeting has been postponed from this Tuesday when Martin finds he has business to attend to in the House of Commons to the following Tuesday, 5th February at 7-30.

Work for people

Reconciliation where there are divisions

And care of the environment

How can we make that kind of thing happen?  What can we do?

I have a story to tell … and I need some help.  I need a dog, a cat, a duck and a little red hen.

It’s the story of the Little Red Hen and the Pizza.

The Story of the Little Red Hen and the Pizza

Everybody counts – We all need to play our part in making the world we live in a better place.

Every little thing we do makes a difference.

Youtube video clip of Noah and the Whale

Song with Hy-Spirit

It’s great to welcome Colin as Mayor – The post of Mayor is a special one here in Cheltenham.  It honours someone who has been a Town Councillor for many years and for their service to the town.  And that’s why Colin has been made Mayor. 

Colin spoke of his year of office as Mayor, of the delight he has taken in meeting so many people doing all sorts of things to make Cheltenham a better place.  It's remarkable to see just how many people do so many things throughout the town to make Cheltenham the place it is.  Colin has been a councillor since 1981 and has served on the County Council for a good number of years, being made an honorary alderman  - it was good to welcome him and to take the opportunity to thank him for his service.

He answered questions and spoke of the valued place of education in the town, the role of so many organisations.  In his year of office he has chosen three charities to support.  He explained his support for the Oakley project that he is supporting and the work it does in Colin's own ward of Whaddon, now an area of Cheltenham with one of the lowest reported crime rates.  He was also supporting the Art Gallery and Museum currently undergoing a very significant re-build and re-furbishment progrramme: Colin spoke of the significant contribution it makes as the cultural centre of a town that takes a pride in nurturing cultural events. He looked forward to a number of regeneration projects going on in the town that will give it a new lease of life.  The third of his charities is the one we will be supporting next month - Severn Freewheelers

 We support a charity each month – this month we have been supporting the Glos and Worcs 4x4 response – a timely thing to support getting nurses to and fro the hospitals of the county – especially from the Cotswolds, the Forest and other parts of our hilly countryside.  Big thank you to Darryl and everyone who meet here at Highbury.

And next month we are going to support the Severn Freewheelers – and today the Cubs and others have put some things together in the hall over coffee for us to have a to at as we raise some money for Severn Freewheelers.

Prayer and Worship with Hy-Spirit

One concern we have is for the food poverty there is in the town at the moment – we are meeting with Martin Horwood – postponed from this Tuesday to a week on Tuesday.  We want to have a conversation with him about the issues around the rise in food poverty.

Prayers for our town and Prayers of Concern

Offering and Dedication

Great is thy faithfulness

Words of Blessing