Celebrating 100 Years of Girlguiding and 90 years of Girlguiding at Highbury

A Parade Service led by Diana Adams

Love (based on 1 Corinthians 13)

Love is a whisper,

not a tornado.

Love is a drift of petals,

not a mighty oak tree.

Love is the song of a flute,

not the blast of a trumpet.

Love is a beckoning finger,

not a pair of handcuffs.

This is its strength -

it invites,

it does not force.

It’s like a campfire.

We gather round,

and are warmed.

Anna Compston, aged 12

From ‘Dare to Dream’

Music as the Colour Parties enter – “The Chief” on CD 1 track 39

Opening sentences: Verses from Psalm 107

“Give thanks to the Lord, because he is good; his love is eternal!”

Repeat these words in praise to the Lord.

Thank the Lord for his love, for the wonderful things he has done.

Thank him, and sing songs of joy.

Proclaim his greatness in the assembly of the people.

May those who are wise think about these things,

may they consider the Lord’s constant love.

Hymn: Colours of Day – chosen by the Brownies ….

Colour of Day dawn into the mind, the day has begun, the night is behind.

Go down in the city, into the street, into the park, on into the town ….

Tell the people of Jesus, let his love show.

Prayer: Loving God, we thank you

Introduction:

On 4^th September in 1909 Robert Baden-Powell was inspecting a gathering of 11,000 Scouts at huge rally at the Crystal Palace in London, when he came across a group of girls. They were dressed in long khaki skirts, khaki blouses, and wide brimmed Scout hats; they had badges and rucksacks, and carried staves, just like the boys. He asked them, “Who are you?” and they replied “We are the Girl Scouts!” Baden- Powell was a bit taken aback “But there’s no such thing as Girl Scouts” he said.

“Yes, there are” they replied, “Because we are them!”

Scouting had started two years earlier in 1907, and it was proving to be so exciting for the boys that the girls wanted to do it too.

The girls had read Baden-Powell’s book “Scouting for Boys” and they had formed themselves into Patrols, and copied their brothers! In those days it was considered wrong for women to do the same as men, and for girls to do the same as boys.

Baden-Powell was worried that the boys wouldn’t like it if the girls were allowed to join, but when he saw how keen the girls were he decided they must have a Movement of their own, but with a different name, and activities suitable for girls.

Years later when Baden-Powell was asked who started the Guide Movement, he replied “They started themselves!” Baden-Powell called the new organisation ‘Girl Guides’. He realised the girls were doing Scouting because they liked the activities, so he was careful to include as much as possible of the Scouting programme to please the girls, but he changed some of the activities and challenges in order to please their parents! The Girl Guide Movement was officially started in 1910, so this year we are celebrating the one hundredth birthday - our Centenary.

The first big event this year will be on 22^nd February when we celebrate World Thinking Day. The date was chosen as it was the shared birthday of Lord and Lady Baden-Powell, and it’s a day when the girls are encouraged to remember each other, and Guides worldwide, and to strive towards international friendship and awareness.

Within a year of the birth of Guiding in the UK, Units sprang up in Canada, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Poland, South Africa and Sweden, and a year later in Australia, Ireland, The Netherlands and India. By 1920 there were over 183 thousand members in the UK, nearly 26 thousand in British Territories, and over 112 thousand elsewhere.

The first International Conference was held in Oxford in 1920, and then every two years afterwards. At the fifth Conference in 1928 the delegates discussed the idea of having an umbrella organisation to bring together the 26 countries where there was a significant Guiding presence at that time, and The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts was set up (known as WAGGGS).

WAGGGS mission statement is: to enable girls and young women to develop their fullest potential as responsible citizens in the world. We are a growing Worldwide Movement – aiming to build a better world.

Today, there are well over half a million members in 145 countries, and the Brownies have been busy making the flags of the nations to display around the Church today, to encircle everyone here, in the same way that Guiding encircles or embraces the people in those 145 countries around the world.

BROWNIES encircle the church with flags they have made representing nearly all the countries Guides are in.

In the Bible, in Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 28, we read that Jesus said to his disciples “Go to all peoples everywhere, and I will be with you always” and in a way that is what Scouting and Guiding has done, as both Movements have spread all over the world, creating the worldwide families of Scouts and Guides.

Hymn: Father God, I wonder – this was also chosen by the Brownies – and it goes on to say

“I am your child, adopted in your family,

and I can never be alone because you are there beside me…..”

GUIDES ….

Last year Highbury Guides celebrated their 90^th birthday, and their programme in the autumn term took them through the decades, trying activities from the very first Guide handbook that would have been used by the original Highbury Guides in 1919; they also tested the ration book recipes of the 1940s; and enjoyed the ‘flower power’ of the 1960s by making and planting flowers to share.

Throughout the term they compared the Guide programmes and were surprised and intrigued by the differences and the similarities.

Early Girl Guides practiced First Aid, Signaling, Drill and Stretcher work, and their badges included Cook, Sailor, Tailor and Clerk. By the end of 1910 there were 22 badges, including Telegraphist and Electrician.

The First World War gave the girls the opportunity to prove the usefulness of the skills they had learned, and silenced many of their initial critics.

Badges today include Communicator, Circus Skills, Culture, Discovering Faith, Film Lover, Hobbies, Survival, Science, Interpreter, Independent Living, Camper, Agility, Sports and Outdoor Pursuits, Music Group, Team Player, Team Leader, Active Response, Holidays, Find Your Way, Survival, Water Safety, Fire Safety, Personal Safety, World Cultures, World Issues, World Traveller and World Guiding.

Maybe the original Cooks’ badge is comparable to today’s Confectioner and Cook Badges?

The old Signaler and Telegraphist badges - to today’s Communicator?

1910 First Aid and stretcher work, compares to today’s First Aid and Healthy Lifestyle Badges?

And today’s “Traditions of Guiding” Badge encourages the girls to learn about how things were done by Guides in years gone by.

As members of the Scout and Guide Movements we each have a Promise, and Laws to keep ...

A comparison can be make between the Laws of 1910 and today …

In 1910 Baden-Powell wrote out the ten Guide Laws by hand [and he added an eleventh Guide Law which he described as ‘unwritten but understood’]

Guide Laws … 1910 1. A Guide’s honour is to be trusted.

2. A Guide is loyal to her King and her Guiders, her parents,

her country and her employers or employees.

3. A Guide’s duty is to be useful and to help others.

4. A Guide is a friend to all and a sister to every other Guide,

no matter to what social class she belongs.

5. A Guide is courteous.

6. A Guide is a friend to animals.

7. A Guide obeys orders, of her parents, Patrol Leader or Captain, without question.

8. A Guide smiles and sings under all difficulties.

9. A Guide is thrifty.

10. A Guide is pure in thought, word and deed.

11. [This law is unwritten but is understood] A Guide is not a fool.

Today, although there are only six Guide Laws, the basic meaning remains the same, but they are in a language that can be more easily understood by today’s girls and young women.

Guide Laws … 2010 1. A Guide is honest, reliable and can be trusted.

2. A Guide is helpful and uses her time and abilities wisely.

3. A Guide faces challenge and learns from her experiences.

4. A Guide is a good friend and a sister to all Guides.

5. A Guide is polite and considerate.

6. A Guide respects all living things and takes care of the world around her.

When asked where religion came into Scouting and Guiding, Robert Baden-Powell replied:

“It doesn’t come in at all. It’s already there. It is a fundamental factor underlying Scouting and Guiding. Though we hold no brief for any one form of belief over another, we see a way to helping all by carrying the same principle into practice as is now being employed in other branches of education.”

Guiding spread across the globe with incredible speed, which meant that girls from a rich diversity of faiths were part of the Movement from the early years. African nations of all religions became members from 1910 The largely Muslim nation of Egypt joined in 1913 and Israel in 1919. The first Guide Unit had opened in India in 1911, although initially only for British girls, Guiding was on offer to Indian girls by 1916.

Baden-Powell’s vision was to include all races and nations, to unite them with a common framework of activities and attitudes.

This far-reaching goal meant that Guiding had to be adapted to suit the needs of each country and faith. An example of this was to be found in the words of the Guide Promise.

The Promise today, as in 1910, remains central to all our Guiding activities …

The original wording included the promise “to do my duty to God and my country” In India the word was changed from God to ‘Dharma’, meaning the righteous path.

In the UK, too, the words evolved, and in 1994 ‘to do my duty to God’ was replaced with the words ‘to love my God’ thereby explicitly including members from all faiths.

Today Guide’s Promise: I promise that I will do my best:

to love my God

too serve the Queen and my country

to help other people

and to keep the (Brownie) Guide Law.

In the Bible, in Luke’s Gospel, chapter 10, we read these words,

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and love your neighbour as you love yourself.”

Guides across the 100 years of the Movement’s history, as part of a global community embracing many faiths and cultures, have been empowered to explore their own beliefs and the beliefs of others in a safe, informed and non-pressurised environment, just as Baden-Powell intended.

People sometimes ask why Guiding is referred to as a ‘Movement’ –

it’s because we move with the times, and endeavour to keep up-to-date with the ever changing requirements of the young people.

From the old ways we move to the new ways, asking God to keep us moving in the right direction, or in the words of the hymn we are going to sing now … “It’s from the old I travel to the new, keep me travelling along with you.”

Hymn: One more step along the world I go

BROWNIES:

Brownies will sing their old song:

“We’re the Brownies, here’s our aim, lend a hand and play the game. LAH!“

LAH! stands for the Brownie motto: Lend A Hand!

and their new song:

“We’re Brownie Guides, we’re Brownie Guides, we’re here to lend a hand,

to love our God and serve our Queen to help our homes and land.

We’ve Brownie friends, we’ve Brownie friends in north, south, east and west,

we join together in our aim to try to do our best”.

Brownies to parade in different uniforms through the decades ….

Comparison of Brownie activities ….

In 1914 Brownies did .…

In 2009 Brownies were helping to “Change the World” by ….

It doesn’t matter what they wore, or the activities they did, they were all Brownies or Guides who made the same Promise “to do their best” …..

Talk about doing our best to ‘Lend a hand’ and ‘help other people’ …….

We promise to do ‘our best’ but ‘our best’ is different for each of us. I was doing some photocopying recently, I put in the piece of paper I wanted to copy, and pressed all the right buttons, and the machine churned out 700 copies all exactly the same. I wondered what would happen if I put a Beaver, or a Cub or a Brownie into the machine … I presume it would churn out however many I wanted, all exactly the same! It would be very boring if you were all exactly the same like that, wouldn’t it?

But do you ever wish you were someone different? That you looked like someone else, or could play football like David Beckham, or play the flute like James Galway?

There was once a camel who lived in a zoo, and he didn’t like looking similar to the other camels, he wanted to look really different and be able to do different things too. One night when all the camels were asleep he set out to explore …. and he came to the elephant house. “I wish I had big ears like an elephant” he said to himself, and all of a sudden he grew big ears and became a camelephant! He was very proud of his big ears, and he walked on round the zoo, until he came to the antelope cage. “Wow! What wonderful antlers those antelopes have” he thought, “I wish I could have them!” All of a sudden he grew great big antlers on his head, and became a camelephantelope! He felt even prouder as he carried on walking around the zoo, and he came to where the pelicans were asleep. “What wonderful beaks those pelicans have – I wish I had a beak like that” he said to himself. You can guess what happened – he grew a big beak and became a camelephanteleopelican. As he continued strolling around the zoo, dawn was beginning to break, and the birds were just starting their morning chorus. He arrived at the canary cage where there was a lot of ‘tweet tweet tweeting’ going on. What lovely voices they have” he said, “I wish I could sing like that!” And he too started ‘tweet tweet tweeting’ – he became a camelephantelopelicanary! When he arrived back at the camel house, his friends were beginning to wake up, and they looked at him and started to laugh – they had never seen a camelephantelopelicanary before! He didn’t like being laughed at, and he said to himself “I wish I looked like I used to look yesterday” and he immediately became a proper camel again, and he too woke up from his dream!

Although we all look like human beings, God has made us all different, all capable of doing different things, and doing some things better than others, but he does want us to try to do our best at whatever we are doing, even if we find some things really difficult.

‘ROUNDING IT ALL OFF

There is a saying that the fools wander – but the wise travel. Some people ‘wander’ because they don’t know where they are going or what they want. Other people ‘travel’ because they have a destination to reach. Which are you - the wise or the foolish? If we go on a long journey we need a map of some kind to refer to you, or a ‘satnav’, to guide us. We might have to refer to it to save getting lost! We might need it because we are lost, and with it we can find the right road again. In our journey through life we can find maps and guide books in the great holy books of the major faiths through which God shows the way – and we refer to the Bible for our guidance. As Brownies and Guides, Beavers, Cubs and Scouts, we have a set of laws and a Promise with God at its heart. If we really do our best to keep both we can’t go far wrong. We need a centre to our lives. If ‘self’ is at the centre of our life, and we think only of ourselves and what we want, then we will be unhappy, and we will wander. BUT, if God is at the centre, then life will have a purpose, we will be happy, and we will travel.

Reading: Base on the Beatitudes found in Matthew 5. 1-12 and on the Guide Laws:

Happy is the Guide who can be trusted in all things;

for she will be a strength to many.

Happy is the Guide who is already ready to help;

she will gain more than she gives.

Happy is the Guide who forgets herself for others;

she will never know the meaning of loneliness.

Happy is the Guide who knows the true meaning of love;

for love is of God.

Happy is the Guide who has respect for all living things;

she will find god everywhere.

Happy is the Guide who has learnt when to obey;

for she is fit to lead.

Happy is the Guide who can laugh when life is hard;

for hers is the strength of courage.

Happy is the Guide whose time is God’s;

she will be ready for anything.

Happy is the Guide who knows the true value of everything;

for she will never waste anything.

Happy is the Guide whose life is controlled;

for she will bring light into dark places.

Hymn: Give me joy in my heart

Give me love in my heart

Give me peace in my heart

Reading: Isaiah 56. 6-7

The Lord says to those foreigners who become part of his people, who love him and serve him,

“I will bring you to Zion, my sacred hill, and give you joy in my house of prayer.

My Temple will be called a house of prayer for the people of all nations.”

Prayers: Ideas from Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Brownies and Guides

Brownie 1: Loving God, we thank you for the beautiful world you have made:

for the animals and birds,

fish and insects,

rivers and streams,

fields and forests,

sea and sand,

fruit trees and bushes,

and colourful flowers.

Brownie 2: Please help us to care for our world,

and to always think about the environment

and about all the things we can recycle.

Brownie 1: Thank you for the lovely food we have to eat,

and for clean running water in our homes.

Brownie 2: Please help us not to take them for granted, and not to waste water.

Cub 1: Thank you for our families and our homes.

Thank you that we can run about and have fun with our friends.

Cub 2: Please take care of everyone who is sick, and those who are sad.

We pray especially for Matthew and Christian’s Nanna.

Cub 1: Please help the doctors and nurses

and everyone who looks after people who are unwell

in hospitals or at home.

Cub 2: Thank you that we can come to church

and that we can pray to you, and thank you,

and say we are sorry, and ask for your help.

Guide 1:Thank you for the opportunities we have in our lives,

and for the good education we are given in local schools.

Help us not to take these privileges for granted.

Guide 2 Today we pray especially for the people affected by the earthquake in Haiti,

for those who have lost loved ones, and those who are injured or homeless,

and we pray for those who are doing their best to help the situation.

Guide 1 We also pray for people involved in the war if Afghanistan,

and for those affected by human disagreements in other parts of the world.

Loving God, grant peace to the world, we pray.

Diana: Thank you for the worldwide Scout and Guide Movements:

thank you for the fun and excitement we have as members,

for the challenges we tackle, helping other people in various ways,

and for the opportunities we have for adventurous activities,

to travel to other parts of the world,

making new friends and helping to bring peace.

We thank you, and we ask you to help us always to do our best

to keep the special Promises we have made. Amen.

Hymn: We are marching in the Light of God

Love of God

Power of God

The Grace:

Music as the Colour Parties leave – “Sisters in Guiding” on CD 2 track 33

A Church that takes our humanity seriously

I don’t think I had seen it that way before.

Something made me look at it again this week, and I saw it in an entirely different light.

And it made me stop and think!

Have you noticed how important titles are, be it in books, on TV, or in the theatre?

Have you noticed how often TV series go under the name of the person the show is about.

Poirot – Miss Marple – Morse – Lewis – and now, Wallender.

As soon as you hear the title you know what the programme is about and who is the key person in the story.

It’s no modern thing either!

Think how many of Dickens’ novels and Shakespeare’s plays have a single name in the title! And straightaway you know who the central figure in the play is.

Tom Stoppard had fun part at the expense of Shakespeare when he took one of the greatest of the tragedies, Hamlet and made a thought provoking comedy that looked at the events of that play from quite a different angle. He took two of the bit parts in Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and built up a play around those two characters called Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. A bit of a giveaway in the title as to what happens to them … but you can’t have everything!

I remember seeing it in the days of Repertory theatre in Leicester’s Phoenix theatre. Half the week they put on Hamlet – a powerful production. And the other half of the week, they used the same set, the same cast and put on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.

Going to both productions you found yourself reflecting on the same set of events from two quite different points of view.

And that’s what I found myself doing with a well-known Bible story this week.

The story comes in the opening 11 verses of John’s Gospel and it’s not actually in some of the oldest manuscripts of John and so it has square brackets around it in modern translations.

Those modern translations, in their wisdom, have given each Bible story a heading. That’s a great help if you want to find your way around the Bible.

The Good News Bible translation is published by the Bible Society, who also publish one the authoritative Greek Text for use by translators around the world. The Good News Bible uses the headings from that Greek text –and so those headings will be found in different language translations all over the world.

The NIV and the NRSV don’t follow those headings so closely, but often they are much the same, and in this instance virtually identical.

So, turn to John 8 verse 1 and the heading is quite a dramatic one

The Woman Caught in Adultery

Read the heading and we know straight away who the story is about.

John 8:1-11

1 Then everyone went home, but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early the next morning he went back to the Temple. All the people gathered round him, and he sat down and began to teach them. 3 The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees brought in a woman who had been caught committing adultery, and they made her stand before them all. 4 “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5 In our Law Moses commanded that such a woman must be stoned to death. Now, what do you say?”

6 They said this to trap Jesus, so that they could accuse him. But he bent over and wrote on the ground with his finger.

7 As they stood there asking him questions, he straightened himself up and said to them, “Whichever one of you has committed no sin may throw the first stone at her.” 8 Then he bent over again and wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard this, they all left, one by one, the older ones first. Jesus was left alone, with the woman still standing there. 10 He straightened himself up and said to her, “Where are they? Is there no one left to condemn you?”

11 “No one, sir,” she answered.

“Well, then,” Jesus said, “I do not condemn you either. Go, but do not sin again.”

But wait a moment. Chapter divisions were introduced in the 1200’s verses in the 1500’s and headings in this way really only took off in the 1900’s, and these particular headings in the 1960’s.

The original Gospel text simply didn’t have headings at all.

Read the story with that heading in mind and it’s a story about a woman caught in adultery.

And that’s how I have always read it.

I find it one of the most moving of stories.

As all the men tail away, I love the way it says, Jesus is writing in the sand. Then he straightens himself up and said to here, “Where are they? Is there no one left to condemn you?”

I see Jesus doodling in front of him, then he straightens himself up and that means he looks the woman in the eye. And that always strikes me as special.

I imagine from the woman’s point of view what that look would mean. I see it as a look of compassion.

“No one, sir,” she answered.

“Well then,” Jesus said, “ I not condemn you either. God, but do not sin again.”

There is this flouting of the letter of the letter of the law that is quite clear – she shall be stoned to death.

And in place of that letter – Jesus captures the spirit of a God who is Father, whom later John is to define by saying God is love.

And he does not condemn her.

Remember John 3.16 and 17

That, I guess is how I have always read this story. And my reading is shaped firmly by heading given to the passage.

But

Something made me look at it again this week, and I saw it in an entirely different light.

And it made me stop and think!

I don’t think I had seen it that way before.

What if you give the story a different heading.

The men who threw stones

Let’s read the story not with the woman as the central character. Let’s read the story with our eyes on the men.

The teachers of the Law and the Pharisees brought in a woman who had been caught committing adultery, and they made her stand before them all.

“Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. In our Law Moses commanded that such a woman must be stoned to death. Now what do you say?”

John tells us that they said this to trap Jesus, so that they could accuse him.

Let’s pause there.

It is very easy to read the Gospel story as a story of goodies and baddies. And we know that the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law are the baddies. So instantly we distance ourselves from them.

But wait a moment, what if we regard them as upright, God-fearing, people who do seek to keep to the Law, the letter of the Law. It says it in the Bible. That’s what we follow.

Notice that what Jesus does in response is precisely what we find him doing later with the woman.

He bent over and wrote on the ground with his finger.

I love that. Jesus bends over, doodling, as if in thought.

What are they feeling now?

The silence.

What effect does that have on those men.

Put yourself into their skins. Not as if they were baddies. But God-fearing, upright people who take the Bible seriously and what to carry it out to the letter.

Come on, Jesus, what response are you going to make? They want an answer. They begin to feel a little uneasy, perhaps.

As they stood there asking him questions Jesus does exactly as in a moment or two he is going to do with the woman.

He straightened himself up.

That’s the moment he looks at them. I can feel him looking round the circle. I want to avoid his eye. But he looks me in the eye.

What look is it? I have always felt it to have been a stern look.

But what if it is a look of compassion, a look of pity.

And he said to them, “Whicever one of you has committed no sin may throw the first stone at her.”

Then he bent over again, and wrote on the ground.

How are those men feeling by now. What’s going on inside.

They all left, one by one, the older ones first, Jesus was left alone.

I have always felt they left one by one ashamed.

Something prompted me to see this differently.

Maybe something positive is happening here for each one of them individually. Isn’t it interesting the first to see it are the older ones. Maybe it’s their greater life experience. The younger ones are so adamant.

But one by one they see it.

They recognise not one of them is perfect. Not one of them is without sin.

That look Jesus has given them, makes them realise they are each of them human.

And they are set free – had Jesus been one who took the Bible literally, every word, that’s what religion is about. Then they would all have participated in a brutal killing. That was the way.

But Jesus was wiser. So much wiser. He knew that was not the way.

And they saw it too.

Judge not that you be not judged. That was the crux of the matter.

God so loved the world. I did not come to judge the world but to save it, Jesus had said.

God is love.

What made me things differently.

In that thought-provoking book that I thought to reflect on in my preaching off and on at the start of this year, Going to Church – a user’s guide suggests that when it comes to Church and belonging to church there are ten things to go to the stake for.

Like the Bishop of Reading, I take my stand with a church that first of all takes God seriously.

Second, he suggests, what is needed is a church that takes our humanity seriously.

I wonder whether those men were helped to recognise their own frailty, their own weakness, their own sinfulness, their own humanity by Jesus that day.

Jesus takes seriously our humanity. It is not only that woman that Jesus helps as through his compassion he offers her a new start.

He helps those men too.

He helps them, each one, one by one, confront their own righteousness, their own self-righteousness, and he gives them the opportunity for a new start, in a very different kind of faith.

“Human beings are made of dust,” writes John Pritchard, “but we’re ‘dust that dreams’. Add a bit of water to the dust and we become mud, and most of us come to church muddier than we let on.

“A church needs to assure us of the infinite value of those who the psalmist says are made ‘little lower than angels’, while at the same time recognizing the mud and mess that accumulates around our best attempts to live well.

“Such a church is welcoming, expansive, encouraging, and extraordinary in its normality.

“Sunday by Sunday, the walking wounded come in, bearing the scars of the week, and they find there no entry requirements, no exams in righteousness or self-righteousness.

“Instead people grow there.

“They love it.

“It’s home.”

I’ld go to the stake for that kind of church!

The kind of church I’ld go to the stake for is a church that takes God seriously and a church that takes our humanity seriously.

That’s certainly my vision for the church … and I guess it’s why I find myself in this church!

A Church that takes God seriously

It’s a new day, a new week, a new month, a new year, a new decade.

And something has prompted all of us to go to church.

Why?

It was your minister’s wife who spotted it.

‘That might be a good book to have a look at.’

John Pritchard, Going to Church: A User’s Guide.

It makes a good read, though I trust my wife had not spotted the paragraph about the older minister searching in the wardrobe for his Sunday best clothes one Sunday morning.

‘In the back he found a box, inside which were three eggs and about 100 £1 coins. He called his wife and asked her what this was about. She looked a little embarrassed, but admitted having hidden the box there for all of the 30 years of their marriage. She hadn’t told him because she didn’t want to hurt his feelings. He asked d her how the box could have hurt his feelings and she explained that every time during those 30 years when he had delivered a poor sermon she had placed an egg in the box. The minister thought that three poor sermons in 30 years was certainly nothing to be upset about, and asked her about the 100 £1 coins. ‘Each time I got a dozen eggs,’ she said, ‘I sold them to the neighbours for £1.’

‘Looking in turn at the church as it is , the church as it’s meant to be, and the church as it might become,’ the Bishop of Oxford’s ‘highly readable volume offers not only humour and insight, but also encouragement to feel that going to church is really worthwhile.’

After a lot of fun and a lot of thought provoking comment John Pritchard finishes with a set of ten things to go to the stake for: when all is said and done, these are the things that he suggests we all need to look for in church.

First, ‘a church that takes God seriously – but not solemnly. God is the burning fire at the heart of the Church. The temperature in the middle needs to be as hot as possible because inevitably it cools off as you move away from the centre. God, then, is the joyous companion whose presence is all-pervasive and yet as light as a lover’s touch. God is, as St Augustine said, the glorious circle whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere.’

What does it mean for us to take God seriously?

I take my stand on Psalm 19.

Psalm 19:1-6

¹The heavens are telling the glory of God;
and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.
²Day to day pours forth speech,
and night to night declares knowledge.
³There is no speech, nor are there words;
their voice is not heard;
⁴yet their voice goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.

In the heavens he has set a tent for the sun,
⁵which comes out like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy,
and like a strong man runs its course with joy.
⁶Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the end of them;
and nothing is hidden from its heat.

On New Year’s Eve we spent the afternoon at Slimbridge, home of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust.

At 4-00 we found ourselves in that wonderful gallery overlooking the south lake with a couple of hundred spectators as the warden talked us through the feeding session as more of the Bewick’s swans arrived at the end of their 2,000 mile flight from Russia to their winter feeding grounds. Part way through the warden suggested that any who had come to watch the starling roost should exit by the back door. I have seen photos and I have seen films on TV but I had never seen starlings swooping and weaving in their tens of thousands as they come in at the end of a winter’s day to roost. For the first time I saw one of nature’s wonders. It was truly magnificent.

The next evening I took up one of my Christmas books, Richard Dawkins’ The Greatest Show on Earth – his wonderful account of evolution. As it happened I arrived at his explanation of the starlings roosting. No, there isn’t a leader. There isn’t an overall plan that all the birds are following. Each bird responds at each moment to the circumstances immediately around them. As all the birds do the same, so they weave and swoop and fill the skies.

I am filled with awe and wonder at what I see in the skies above and I marvel at the explanations scientists such as Richard Dawkins give me for what I see. And in all I see I sense the wonder of God and I want to say, the Heavens are telling the glory of God! For the God I believe in is creator, and is in all things, this God is being itself.

But to take God seriously does not involve denying science. Far from it, taking God seriously rejoices in the insights science gives. The Psalmist describes the world as he sees it with the sun moving across the sky, and he sees the glory of God in that world. I now know the earth is moving around the sun – and on New Year’s Eve I watched as the shadow of the earth passed across the face of the moon in a partial eclipse. I observe with the help of science … and I echo exactly the response the Psalmist made. And I am filled with the same awe and the same wonder the Psalmist had and I too say with the same conviction …

The heavens are telling the glory of God!

A church that takes God seriously takes the Bible seriously.

I want to move on in Psalm 19.

Psalm 19:7-11

⁷The law of the Lord is perfect,

reviving the soul;

the decrees of the Lord are sure,
making wise the simple;
⁸the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is clear,
enlightening the eyes;
⁹the fear of the Lord is pure,
enduring for ever;
the ordinances of the Lord are true
and righteous altogether.
¹⁰More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey,
and drippings of the honeycomb.

¹¹Moreover by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.

The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul

The decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple.

More to be desired are they than gold,

Even much fine gold;

Sweeter also than honey,

And drippings of the honeycomb.

I passionately believe that it is through the words of the Bible that we hear the Word of God for us today. But we need to tune into the Scriptures, we need to work at reading them. We cannot simply read the Scripture as if it were a scientific text book. We cannot read the Scripture as if it were all a straightforward history book, whatever a straightforward history book might look like! We need to dig into the scriptures. We need to see Jesus Christ at the heart of the Scriptures and then we need to read them through the eyes of Christ. And that does take some doing.

Try reading the Bible for yourself. We take orders for Bible reading aids at any time. In Sunday’s preaching we dig into the Bible and relate it to the world around us. This evening I am going to start reading through one of the great books of the New Testament, Paul’s Letter to the Romans.

Thursday’s Church Meeting is special at the start of the New Year as well. The first followers of Jesus were called Disciples. To follow Jesus they learned from him, and that learning process was a lifelong process they followed. There was always something new to learn. The Federation is launching something for all our churches to help us grow as Disciples – people who follow Jesus and are constantly wanting to learn from him. On Thursday evening we will take a look at the materials we have been asked to pilot and then on the following Thursday and the second Thursday in February we will do a couple of the sessions. That will be in the Open the Book slot.

In Prayer meeting and House group we come back to the Bible – not just out of interest but to see how the words in this book, present us with the Word God wants us to follow for the living of our lives.

But BE WARNED!

Take God seriously, wonder at the glory of God in creation, seek out the Word of God in the words of the Bible, and you will quickly become conscious of your own failings and inadequacy! I am not really up to it … is a very easy response.

Taking God seriously means that we will take prayer to God seriously and seek from God a sense of his forgiving love, always there to pick us up and set us going again.

Psalm 19:12-13

¹²But who can detect their errors?

Clear me from hidden faults.
¹³Keep back your servant also from the insolent;
do not let them have dominion over me.
Then I shall be blameless,
and innocent of great transgression.

If the Psalmist was aware of the forgiveness of God, how much more aware are we of that forgiveness as we look to Christ and see the one who maps out a way of life for us all to seek to live by, and at the same time offers a forgiving love to all who fall short of that ideal.

Jesus embodies the God who is filled with love for the world and with love for each one of us. It is the God who so loved the world as John 3:16 says, it is the God who IS Love as 1 John 4:7.

As John Pritchard concludes,

‘God is the compelling vision that draws and defines the Church, and yet somehow you wouldn’t be surprised to bump into him [in the porch] or in the coffee queue. In this kind of church we know that we have been made from love, and it’s only in love that we discover who we are. In this kind of church, God is the magnificent obsession who sets us free to sing and serve and pray.’

That’s the kind of church I for one want to be part of!

To help achieve that, what better prayer to pray than the prayer Psalm 19 finishes with.

Let the words of my mouth

And the meditation of my heart

Be acceptable to you,

O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

.