Skip to: site menu | section menu | main content
Greetings
Greetings is the newsletter of Greenacres Congregational Church that is published six times a year.
It contains up to date information about events in the life of the Church, as well as news, letters, a letter from our Minister and some light reflections.
We've put some of the content from our October 2011 edition on here ... if you would like to be sent a copy of our current newsletter please use our contact form to tell us. Thank you.
Ministers Letter - October 2011
Dear Friends,
Autumn is upon us. A change is slowly coming. The green leaves of trees are becoming orange and yellow and red and golden... and then disappearing altogether. The light and airy days of summer are giving way to ever darkening nights and grey mornings. The warmth (such as it was) is now a distinctly chilly choice of wind and rain, or just rain. The long balmy days of the summer holidays have been replaced with the early mornings of the school term.
I had a bit of shock the other morning. Instead of being awoken by the latest chart sounds I was awoken by radio static. Somehow, the tuning dial on the alarm clock radio had been knocked and fallen off my chosen radio station. For the first time in ages I had to try and tune the radio in, and the dial is so small it’s really hard to fine tune and get a good reception.
Unlike the radio in the kitchen. A few years ago we treated ourselves to a digital radio. Wow. It’s good. The quality is second to none. The range of stations is superb. And tuning is an absolute doddle. You can programme six buttons to your favourite stations, and then if you want to listen to something else it’s not hard to go through the list and find a station of your choice. Fantastic.
So. Here’s the question. As a Christian, which one are you most like? The digital radio? Or the ordinary analogue radio? Do you instantly tune into God’s wavelength? Do you find yourself attuned into his thinking and his ways without a second thought? Or do you sometimes sound a bit fuzzy, a bit hazy, like you’re not quite tuned in properly? Do you need to be a bit patience with? The feeling that you’ll get there in the end, if you can go at your own pace?
I guess we’d all like to be the digital radio type of Christian, but more often than not we’re more like the old analogue. We wander off station. We sound a bit distorted. We fade in and fade out. But the good news is God is always trying to make us like digital radio – a new creation. Reminds me of those words of Jesus about new wineskins, as well as Dave Bilbrough’s wonderful chorus I Am a New Creation.
I am a new creation, no more in condemnation, here in the grace of God I stand.
My heart is overflowing, my love just keeps on growing, here in the grace of God I stand.
That chorus tells us it is by grace that we analogue radio’s become digital radio’s, perfectly attuned to God’s will. There’s no other way, nothing we can do, we simply have to trust in God’s grace.
God loves us so dearly he wants us to be his children. He has given his life for us. He has given us life. This autumn, that really is good news.
As we pass our Harvest Festival Thanksgiving Service we give thanks to God for all his goodness and faithfulness and we remember all of our Church family in our thoughts and prayers.
Best wishes,
Neil Chappell
A Quiet Thought...
Be a friend who prays
Mark records: 'Four men arrived carrying a paralysed man on a mat. They couldn't get to Jesus through the crowd, so they dug through the clay roof above His head ... they lowered the sick man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralysed man, "My son, your sins are forgiven"' (Mark 2:3-5 NLT).
The word prayer doesn't show up once in this paragraph. But look closely and you'll see it in action; four men lowering their sick friend through the roof into the presence of Jesus. He stops preaching, looks at the man and then announces, '"My son, your sins are forgiven.'"
What stirred Jesus? Mark answers, 'Seeing their faith...' The faith of four friends triggered Christ's power on his behalf. Notice, he has no movement, no treatment, no answers, and no hope. But what he does have is friends who know how to lift him into the presence of Christ. The paralytic might be gulping ('don't drop me!'). The homeowner might be groaning (de-roofing is decidedly antisocial). But Christ? He's smiling! Their faith stirs His strength. He heals the man. The paralytic leaves the house with a clean soul and strong body.
Faithful friends carry those they love in prayer, into God's presence. And when they do God responds. How? When? The four men didn't know. And we don't know either, but we know this: '...When a believing person prays, great things happen.' So be that kind of friend. Go ahead, carry your loved ones into the presence of Jesus, then watch what happens!
'...WHEN A BELIEVING PERSON PRAYS, GREAT THINGS HAPPEN.' JAMES 5:16
(Taken with kind permission from The Word for Today – UCB, Westport Rd, Stoke, ST6 4JF – www.ucb.co.uk)
© 2010 Greenacres Congregational Church| Design by Andreas Viklund |