Thought For The Week

CREATING COMMUNITIES OF WHOLENESS WITH CHRIST AT THE CENTRE

Back To Current Thought For The Week

27 June 2007

BEING A CHRISTIAN

John 3.1-11, John 11-17.27

We don't need to be afraid any more. We can take all the time we need, we can watch and think and pray. We can begin to hear and even understand Jesus' words to us 'you must be born again', 'I am the resurrection and the life'.

And whether we've come by night or by day, whether we know what we believe or have never declared our hand, even to ourselves, whether we're happy or grieving or angry or just plain confused, we can hear Jesus saying that we don't need to be afraid any more. There is an alternative, we are the children of God, he will give us abundant life, now and for all eternity, and all that we have to do is to say 'yes' and turn and follow him and live his life of love.

If you'd like to find out more about all of this go to http://www.nschurch.org.uk/home_groups.html or email mike.haslam@nschurch.org.uk

20 June 07

SPIRIT

Acts 2.1-13
John 14.15-17

If God the Father and God the Son are both fairly easy to get our heads round, God the Spirit is another story. We can see images [however idealised] of the first two persons of the Trinity [Father and Son], but its much harder to relate to an image of flames or a dove, and we know anyway that that's just a symbol, not the real thing.

As I said at Pentecost, when we celebrate the gift of the Spirit, the Spirit has been around since the very beginning, when God breathed on us as he made us. So perhaps every time we breath we sense the Spirit of God.

Jesus describes it as a counsellor who will be with us always and help us to understand God, Jesus and the rest of the world [nice simple tasks God sets!].

We've seen the Spirit in some big [and strange] things over the past few decades. But perhaps its more normal that we expect. Perhaps we really do sense the Spirit of God every time we breath, every time we read the bible, every time we pray. Perhaps it is part of how we understand God; and if that is still only partial for you, as it is for me, then perhaps we're not slowing down and just breathing enough.

13 June 2007

JESUS THE SON

Luke 22.14-20 - Luke 24.1-12

'Who are you?' Its a question that Pilate asks Jesus again and again and again, and not just Pilate - the disciples and the Pharisees and Herod and men and women thoughout the ages have joined the company of those who have looking into the face of Jesus and asked 'who are you?' And its a question that Jesus himslef asks of all his followers - never mind about everyone else - 'who do you say I am?'

C.S. Lewis, author of Narnia and much more, writes that we must either accept that Jesus is exactly who he says that he is - the Son of God, to condemn him as mad or the devil of hell - he cannot be 'just' a good teacher.

There'll be much more of this on Sunday at Church - be there if you can...

And in the mean time think of your own answer to the question 'Who is Jesus?' and then think how your answer [whatever it is] might change your life.

5 June 2007

GOD THE FATHER

Luke 15

In Luke 15 we read of the story of the loving father/prodigal son. There are three big themes that run though the story of the loving father.

Throughout the story we have the idea of ‘home’, the home from which we run and to which we return.

Where is home for you?

Does God have anything to do with your definition of home?

The loving father offers us unconditional forgiveness, but he also allows us to reject him, to hurt him and to hurt ourselves.

Is this the way that you would have ordered it?

Would you have preferred less freedom and more control?

We are offered in the two sons two very different models of running away and returning home [although we don’t know the end of the story for the older son].

Which son do you most equate to?

Or have you lived both lives?