Blog
Terry talks in November...
Friday 14th November 2008 1:51 AM
Dear Friends,
November is always a funny month in the church calendar.
On the first Sunday we are having our Gift Day and our Girls' & Boys'
Brigade Enrolment Service.
The second Sunday is Remembrance Sunday when we remember all those who died in war; people prepared to give their lives for their country and ultimately for us.
The last Sunday in the month is the first Sunday in Advent, as we prepare for the birth of Jesus and look forward to his coming again.
And yet as I thought about this letter it came to me that all these things are linked.
Our Gift Day and Enrolment Service celebrates the goodness of God to us. Remembrance Day celebrates the goodness of God to us. And Advent, the lead up to Christmas and the second coming, celebrates the goodness of God to us.
My friends, there is so much to give God thanks for in the life of the church - our own family lives, our communities and the world. Yet so often we spend our time grumbling. We grumble about the nights drawing in and the first frosts and the rain, etc. We grumble about our young people and how they have gone, or are going off the rails (if they were ever on the rails that is!). We complain about Christmas and it's over commercialisation.
When there is so much to be thankful for, why do human beings always look for the negative? I have to hold my hand up and say I do it myself, but why?
My friends, in the turmoil that we find ourselves in in 2008-2009 with credit crunches and everything else, let me encourage you to take off the blinkers and look to all the good that is going on. Look at how God is working in the life of the church, our families and our world. As a church we have had five baptisms. We have seen new people coming to the church, we have got a new boiler, and most of all we give God thanks that we have got each other. So, as it gets colder, damper, darker, don't let your mood go the same way, but rejoice in the Lord always and I will say again 'Rejoice!'.
Your friend and Minister,
Terry.
Posted 1:51 AM | 0 Comments | Permalink
