Snack Attack 20th October
For local kids up from 5 to 10 years old. Held in the church hall from 10:00am to 12:00 starting with a great breakfast and then crafts, games and stories. See you there!
Pop Stars and Celebrity
You can’t turn on a news program without seeing their disheveled hair and makeup streaked faces. The Hollywood mystic has succeeded in turning bright, young, impressionable women into slaves of hedonistic heartbreak. From Lindsay Lohan to Brittany Spears to Paris Hilton the once brightly burning lights of super stardom have been reduced to little more than fragile candles blowing in the cultural wind.
What is it about these tragic lives that fascinate us so? Why can’t we seem to get enough of the latest superstar meltdown? Our voyeuristic appetites are fed daily by a news media that is more than willing to feed us a steady diet of the latest scandal. The fact that CNN, FOX NEWS, MSNBC, and every other cable network sees a ratings spike every time they show another police photo showcasing the latest exploits of these tragic young women says much about our collective appetite for the sensational.
At the risk of reviving a tired, overused and iconic question, “What would Jesus do?” We don’t have to guess because John’s Gospel records Jesus encounter with a young woman whose light was also burning dim. He met her at a well near the town of Sychar. She came to draw water from the well during the hottest part of the day (presumably to avoid the accusing eyes of the community). Jesus had stopped to rest while his disciples traveled on into town to buy food. As the woman approached the well, Jesus asked her if she would give him a drink of water. The woman was amazed this Jewish man would speak to her because not only was she a woman, she was a Samaritan woman. But Jesus wasn’t’ concerned about the religious or cultural differences of the day. He was concerned about this woman whose soul was riddled with the results of her search for meaning.
Just as the modern day Lindsey Lohan’a and Brittany Spear’s type characters go from party to party looking for something to fill the void of their lives, this woman spent her life going from man to man looking for meaning through a relationship. People who live in a desert land survive by knowing where the sources of water are located. They have to stay on the move hoping they can carry enough water from the last source to make it to the next. Their lives are in perpetual motion, never at rest but always searching.
Jesus walks into this scene and resists the woman’s attempts to talk about the hot button religious issues of the day (such as knowing the right place to worship). He puts His loving but prophetic finger directly on the hurt in the woman’s life when He says, “Go and call your husband.” When she responds sheepishly, “I have no husband,” Jesus responds, “You have well said that you have no husband for you have had five husbands and the man you are with is not your husband.”
It is interesting to note that Jesus didn’t beat around the bush but neither did He condemn her. He presented to her Himself as the living water that would eternally satisfy and then, almost as an afterthought, He added, “In fact, the water I will give will become a well of water springing up within for eternal life.” This is an amazing word from the Lord. Not only does the living water satisfy the longing of the soul it becomes a source of satisfaction for others. Never again would this woman have to bring her bucket from afar and come to the only source of water that she knew. Now, she herself would be a source of water forever satisfied and forever springing forth to those around her. She symbolically leaves her bucket behind because it is no longer needed. She goes into the nearby town and allows her newfound fountain of living water to flow freely to the people until they long to know the source.
If only someone would present this living water to these modern day seekers. Instead of satisfying our hunger for the titillating facts about the sordid lives of these young women in the spotlight who are being destroyed, we should pray that God would put someone in their path that has this living water. One drink would save their souls and satisfy their search. Then they would become sources of living water that could flow out to a whole generation of young women who are slowly destroying their lives by searching in all the wrong places for love.
The lives of these women should not be reduced to a perverse peep show for our entertainment. They should be seen as opportunities for true believers to allow the living water of Jesus to carry them to the cross.
What is it about these tragic lives that fascinate us so? Why can’t we seem to get enough of the latest superstar meltdown? Our voyeuristic appetites are fed daily by a news media that is more than willing to feed us a steady diet of the latest scandal. The fact that CNN, FOX NEWS, MSNBC, and every other cable network sees a ratings spike every time they show another police photo showcasing the latest exploits of these tragic young women says much about our collective appetite for the sensational.
At the risk of reviving a tired, overused and iconic question, “What would Jesus do?” We don’t have to guess because John’s Gospel records Jesus encounter with a young woman whose light was also burning dim. He met her at a well near the town of Sychar. She came to draw water from the well during the hottest part of the day (presumably to avoid the accusing eyes of the community). Jesus had stopped to rest while his disciples traveled on into town to buy food. As the woman approached the well, Jesus asked her if she would give him a drink of water. The woman was amazed this Jewish man would speak to her because not only was she a woman, she was a Samaritan woman. But Jesus wasn’t’ concerned about the religious or cultural differences of the day. He was concerned about this woman whose soul was riddled with the results of her search for meaning.
Just as the modern day Lindsey Lohan’a and Brittany Spear’s type characters go from party to party looking for something to fill the void of their lives, this woman spent her life going from man to man looking for meaning through a relationship. People who live in a desert land survive by knowing where the sources of water are located. They have to stay on the move hoping they can carry enough water from the last source to make it to the next. Their lives are in perpetual motion, never at rest but always searching.
Jesus walks into this scene and resists the woman’s attempts to talk about the hot button religious issues of the day (such as knowing the right place to worship). He puts His loving but prophetic finger directly on the hurt in the woman’s life when He says, “Go and call your husband.” When she responds sheepishly, “I have no husband,” Jesus responds, “You have well said that you have no husband for you have had five husbands and the man you are with is not your husband.”
It is interesting to note that Jesus didn’t beat around the bush but neither did He condemn her. He presented to her Himself as the living water that would eternally satisfy and then, almost as an afterthought, He added, “In fact, the water I will give will become a well of water springing up within for eternal life.” This is an amazing word from the Lord. Not only does the living water satisfy the longing of the soul it becomes a source of satisfaction for others. Never again would this woman have to bring her bucket from afar and come to the only source of water that she knew. Now, she herself would be a source of water forever satisfied and forever springing forth to those around her. She symbolically leaves her bucket behind because it is no longer needed. She goes into the nearby town and allows her newfound fountain of living water to flow freely to the people until they long to know the source.
If only someone would present this living water to these modern day seekers. Instead of satisfying our hunger for the titillating facts about the sordid lives of these young women in the spotlight who are being destroyed, we should pray that God would put someone in their path that has this living water. One drink would save their souls and satisfy their search. Then they would become sources of living water that could flow out to a whole generation of young women who are slowly destroying their lives by searching in all the wrong places for love.
The lives of these women should not be reduced to a perverse peep show for our entertainment. They should be seen as opportunities for true believers to allow the living water of Jesus to carry them to the cross.
Tony Beam
Hosea 8:12-
I wrote for them the many things of my law, but they regarded them as something alien.
Though the laws were written for them, Israel considered them "alien." It is easy to listen to a sermon and think of all the people we know who should be listening, or to read the Bible and think of those who should do what the passage teaches. The Israelites did this constantly, applying God's laws to others but not themselves. This is just another way to deflect God's Will and avoid making needed changes. As you think of others who need to apply what you are hearing or reading, check to see if the same application could fit you. Apply the lessons to your own life first because often our own faults are the very first ones we see in others.
11th October 1886
Other than of a member of the Royal Family, Britain's first statue to honour a woman is erected in Walsall in the West Midlands. Its a statue in memory of Dorothy Pattison - known as Sister Dora.
Sister Dora (born Dorothy Wyndlow Pattison, 16 January 1832, at Hauxwell, Yorkshire; died 1878) was a 19th century nurse in Walsall, Staffordshire.
She was the second-youngest child of the Rev. Mark James Pattison, and sister of the scholar Mark Pattison Jnr. From 1861-1864, she ran the village school at Little Woolstone, Buckinghamshire. In the autumn of 1864, she joined the Sisterhood of the Good Samaritans at Coatham, Middlesbrough. She was known for her compassion.
She was the second-youngest child of the Rev. Mark James Pattison, and sister of the scholar Mark Pattison Jnr. From 1861-1864, she ran the village school at Little Woolstone, Buckinghamshire. In the autumn of 1864, she joined the Sisterhood of the Good Samaritans at Coatham, Middlesbrough. She was known for her compassion.
Ironically the hospital she worked in is run down and next to the site of the new Walsall Manor Hospital which is just under construction which I (the writer) am involved in.
R C Sproul
The issue of faith is not so much whether we believe in God, but whether we believe the God we believe in.
-- Sproul, R. C.
In the News - Opt-in or Opt-out?
The Church of England has declared organ donation to be a Christian duty, in keeping with giving oneself and one's possessions freely. Body parts should not be mistaken for the person themselves, and the best way to treat them reverently is to use them to heal others, the Church said. It was taking part in a House of Lords consultation on whether there should be an EU-wide position on organ donation. The Church said it would welcome the creation of a European donor pool. But its Mission and Public Affairs Division would not be drawn into setting out a position on whether an opt-out system, in which everyone is considered a donor unless they state otherwise, was preferable to an opt-in, when people state their wish to donate.
This was "not a question on which Christians hold a single set of views", said Reverend Tom Butler. "The opt-in system reflects our concern to celebrate and support gracious gifts, freely given," he said. "The opt-out approach stresses Christian concern for human solidarity and living sacrificially for others."
The UK is currently considering switching from an opt-in to an opt-out system, in the hope of meeting a chronic organ shortage. Making this change has dramatically increased the number of organs available for transplant in some - although not all - of the countries which have done so.
The Church said that were there to be an EU-wide donation policy, member states would have to adopt the same system of consent.
"Member states will need to ensure that there is a balance between the organs they can provide and those their citizens need for transplant otherwise some nations will be jeopardised and worse off than hitherto."
Many faiths support the principle of organ donation, including the Roman Catholic Church, although they are thought unlikely to support the notion of it being a "duty".
This was "not a question on which Christians hold a single set of views", said Reverend Tom Butler. "The opt-in system reflects our concern to celebrate and support gracious gifts, freely given," he said. "The opt-out approach stresses Christian concern for human solidarity and living sacrificially for others."
The UK is currently considering switching from an opt-in to an opt-out system, in the hope of meeting a chronic organ shortage. Making this change has dramatically increased the number of organs available for transplant in some - although not all - of the countries which have done so.
The Church said that were there to be an EU-wide donation policy, member states would have to adopt the same system of consent.
"Member states will need to ensure that there is a balance between the organs they can provide and those their citizens need for transplant otherwise some nations will be jeopardised and worse off than hitherto."
Many faiths support the principle of organ donation, including the Roman Catholic Church, although they are thought unlikely to support the notion of it being a "duty".
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The first service one owes to others in the fellowship consists in listening to them. Just as love of God begins in listening to His Word, so the beginning of love for the brethren is learning to listen to them. It is God's love for us that He not only gives us His Word but lends us His ear. So it is His work that we do for our brother when we learn to listen to him.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer [ˈdiːtrɪç ˈboːnhœfɐ] (February 4, 1906 – April 9, 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian, participant in the German Resistance movement against Nazism, and a founding member of the Confessing Church. He was involved in plots planned by members of the Abwehr (the German Military Intelligence Office) to assassinate Adolf Hitler. He was arrested in March 1943, imprisoned, and eventually hanged just before the end of the World War II in Europe.
9th October 1974
German businessman Oskar Schindler, credited with saving 1,200 Jews from the Holocaust, 
dies at the age of 66. A member of the Nazi party, he ran an enamel works factory in Kraków, Poland, employing workers from the nearby Jewish ghetto. When the ghetto was liquidated, he persuaded Nazi officials to allow the transfer of his workers to the Plaszow labor camp, thus saving them from deportation to the death camps. In 1944, all Jews at Plaszow were sent to Auschwitz, but Schindler, at great risk to himself, bribed officials into allowing him to keep his workers and set up a factory in a safer location in occupied Czechoslovakia. By the war's end, he was penniless, but he had saved 1,200 Jews. In 1962, he was declared a Righteous Gentile by Yad VaShem, Israel's official agency for remembering the Holocaust. According to his wishes, he was buried in Israel at the Catholic cemetery on Mount Zion.
Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast.
What is the world coming to?!
Members of the clergy are being advised to take off their dog collars when they are on their own, to reduce the risk of being attacked. National Churchwatch, which provides personal safety advice, says vicars are attacked more often than professions such as GPs and probation officers.
The organisation's Nick Tolson said all clergy should consider the advice, including the Archbishop of Canterbury. The group also produces security advice for all UK churches and churchworkers. In the past decade, five vicars have been murdered.
And a 2001 academic study also found that 12% of clergy had suffered some form of violence.
'Attracts people' In a survey of 90 London clergy Mr Tolson carried out last year, nearly half said they had been attacked in the previous 12 months.
The organisation's Nick Tolson said all clergy should consider the advice, including the Archbishop of Canterbury. The group also produces security advice for all UK churches and churchworkers. In the past decade, five vicars have been murdered.
And a 2001 academic study also found that 12% of clergy had suffered some form of violence.
'Attracts people' In a survey of 90 London clergy Mr Tolson carried out last year, nearly half said they had been attacked in the previous 12 months.
One vicar, from Willesden, north-west London, said his vicarage had been machine-gunned - but still did not believe he had experienced violence. Mr Tolson said: "For some clergy this is real radical stuff. The argument against it is it's their witness in the community - their way of saying, 'hello, I'm the vicar'. "That's fine when you're being the vicar. If you're visiting someone or going to an old people's home, wear your dog collar." He added: "When they are on their own, and when they are off duty - for example when they are doing their shopping in Tesco on their own - there is no need for them to wear their dog collars. "All that does is to attract people who see the dog collars, and if they are motivated towards violence, it puts them [clergy] in a very difficult situation." National Churchwatch also says that most police forces do not specifically record crime against places of worship. However, it says that crime against churches continues to be a problem, and there is "plenty we can do to help reduce it".
Peace
O Lord,you love justice and you establish peace on earth.We bring before you the disunity of today’s world;the absurd violence, and the many wars,which are breaking the courage of the peoples of the world;human greed and injustice,which breed hatred and strife.Send your spirit and renew the face of the earth;teach us to be compassionate towards the whole human family;strengthen the will of all thosewho fight for justice and for peace,and give us that peace which the world cannot give. Amen.
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