Keswick Convention

The first week of our holidays was spent in Keswick in the Lake District, at the Keswick Convention. This was the Convention's 140th anniversary - and no I have not been going since it started! Although we have been going regularly for the last 8 years or so. The first year I went to the Convention was 1984. Lots of things about the Convention have changed since then - the music, the technology, the seats, the format of the meetings,  but the message is still the same - All One in Christ Jesus.

This year the Bible Readings were by John Risbridger and were on Daniel, they were excellent. The evening meetings were also good and it was nice to see George Verwer back on the platform. We first heard George Verwer, formerly from Operation Mobilisation in 1987, when Gordon  heard God calling to him to enter full time ministry. A lot has happened since then, and it was good to see so many respond to the call to go forward on the Thursday night for mission.

We can often be found in Earthworks tent having coffee and looking at the books.

Of course we had to buy some.

 Derwent Water

A good first week of the holidays.

Watch the Lamb

A very powerful video to share with you this Maundy Thursday.

My God

Following on from my previous post, someone pointed me to this song by Stuart Townend, My God. It fits the whole idea of Kintsukuroi wonderfully, so thought I would share it with you.

My God takes the broken and makes them whole.

A Pause in Lent 6

OK I am not sure what happened to a Pause in weeks 4 and 5, but am back for this last week.

The bowl above is an example of Kintsukuroi - the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold in the cracks, to made something every more beautiful. It is said to have originated in the 15 Century when a Japanese Shogun broke a favourite tea bowl and sent it to be repaired, but the usual repair job, of using staples, detracted from the beauty of the bowl. Disappointed the Shogun asked some Japanese craftsmen to help and the art of Kintsukuroi was born.

I love this idea of gold being poured into the cracks to make something moe beautiful and to me it is a lovely picture of what God does for us, through Jesus. Through Christ we can have the cracks in our lives filled with gold, through Christ we can find value in the cracks and the scars of life, we can find new purpose and meaning, we can see the beauty of 'imperfection', we can love ourselves and others in spite of flaws because God loves us that way, He loves us unconditionally.

At this start of Holy Week and  as we approach the Cross and the Resurrection may you bring your cracks and broken pieces of your lives to the one who fill them with gold and make them more beautiful.

A Pause in Lent 3

I have been doing a Mission Shaped Ministry Course run by Fresh Expressions over the past few months and this weekend was an overnight stay. At the end of it, in small groups, we had to come up with a short worship service. Our group chose God's Grace we played this song by Neil Diamond - Pretty Amazing Grace. I am not sure if Neil Diamond intended it to be about Jesus, but I do think the words just show so much about God's grace in our lives.

Pretty amazing grace is what You showed me
Pretty amazing grace is who You are
I was an empty vessel
You filled me up inside
And with amazing grace restored my pride

Pretty amazing grace is how You saved me
And with amazing grace reclaimed my heart
Love in the midst of chaos
Calm in the heat of war
Showed with amazing grace what love was for

You forgave my insensitivity
And my attempt to then mislead You
You stood beside a wretch like me
Your pretty amazing grace was all I needed.

Stumbled inside the doorway of Your chapel
Humbled in God by everything I found
Beauty and love surround me
Freed me from what I fear
Ask for amazing grace and You appear

You overcame my loss of hope and faith
Gave me a truth I could believe in
You led me to a higher place
Showed Your amazing grace
When grace was what I needed

Look in a mirror I see Your reflection
Open a book You live on every page
I fall and You're there to lift me
Share every road I climb
And with amazing grace You ease my mind

Came to You with empty pockets first
When I returned I was rich man
Didn't believe love could quench my thirst
But with amazing grace You showed me that it can

In Your amazing grace I had a vision
From that amazing place I came to be
Into the night I wandered
Wandering aimlessly
Found Your amazing grace to comfort me.

Pretty amazing
Pretty amazing
Pretty amazing
Pretty amazing
Pretty amazing
Pretty amazing
Pretty amazing
Pretty amazing

You overcame my loss of hope and faith,
Gave me a truth I could believe in.
You led me to that higher place
Showed me that love and truth and hope and grace were all I needed.

A reminder to us that God's grace is sufficient for all our needs and is freely available to all who look for it.

This has been a busy and amazing weekend as this morning I was ordained as an elder in the Church.

God's grace is pretty amazing!

This post is part of A Pause in Lent hosted by Angie.

A Pause in Lent - 1

I am joining in again this year with A Pause in Lent, hosted by Angela here.

I find it hard to believe that we are actually in Lent again - it seems no time since it was Advent. I think this is a sign of the times we live in - we are so busy that time really does seem to be moving quicker. I began to reflect on the busyness of our lives - we try and pack so much stuff into them, we are always dashing here or there (or is that just me?). Even in this time of Lent we can be so busy, there are so many different online or email devotions we can sign up that we would never have time to read them all!

So this Lent time, in the run up to Easter I am going to pause and reflect. I am following devotions in one book only and am not signing up to different emails (or at least I am now going to unsubscribe from a lot of them). I want to put God back where he belongs - first in my life! I want to spend time just being with him, instead of always rushing about, even if that rushing about is doing church activities. I am going to learn to say No to things if I have to .

So what am I giving up for Lent - the act of 'busyness'.

Journal 52

Playing catch up a little here - this is for Week 2 of Journal52.The prompt was BE. I used stencils, which is sprayed on top of. Then added the word BE with stickers. Finished off with the words Be still and know that I am God. I do still have trouble sometimes being still, and just BEING instead of DOING - but I am making progress in this area.

This is for week 4 - yes I know week 3 should be next - but still waiting for inspiration for that. Week 4's prompt was Silhouette. I used distress inks direct onto the paper and then cut out the flower from black paper. The other black bit is supposed to be the setting sun - not sure how well it worked The words say From the rising of the sun, to the going down of the same, the Lords name is to be praised.

Meet the Nuts!

At our prayers at work this week, we were thinking about how as Christians we do things that others may consider strange. We often think and do things that are different from the way the world thinks and acts. To help us remember this we made these nut people, which I thought were rather cute.

Another thing I learned was that I really need a hot glue gun - I do not know how I have managed all these years of crafting without one - my husband can't believe that there is a bit of craft equipment that I don't have!!

So do you have a glue gun and do you find it helpful?

Candle of the Lord

I heard this song last week for the first time and was very moved by it, so thought I would share it here.

I am the candle of the Lord

How great the darkness, how deep the need!
How vast the problems of indiff'rence, hate and greed.
A world rejecting, the truth once known,
And slipping down into a nightmare of its own.
Is there a light that's strong enough to go,
And metamorphosise the darkness that we know?

I am, the candle of the Lord
And truth and love more powerful than sword!
O fan the flame, its single gleam diffuse
And let my spirit be the light that you can use
I am, the candle of the Lord
Light me

How bright the light is, from soul to soul,
A myriad tiny flames expanding to a whole,
How strong the truth it, when joined as one,
And what a miracle this shining could become,
It could transform the darkness that we know,
And clearly light the way mankind must try to go.

I am, the candle of the Lord
And truth and love more powerful than sword!
O fan the flame, its single gleam diffuse
And let my spirit be the light that you can use
I am, the candle of the Lord

Light me, o light me

Something New

I do like something new - don't you?

There is a new online Christian community starting up on 1 November - His Kingdom Come, a creative community of faith. You can find it here. There will be a blog hop on Saturday to launch it and I am sure there will be lots of exciting things to follow.

Why not check it out?

Pause in Lent 1

This is my first post for Floss's A Pause in Lent - you can find posts by other people here

I see Lent this year as a journey for me, a journey to Easter and the Power of the Resurrection. At my prayer course this week we were thinking through some ideas of what Lent means to each of us. What struck me was that it is a time of listening to the voice of discontent, that "holy discontent" that only God can bring in our lives. A time of listening to deep desires of our heart for ourselves and a time to follow those desires. A time of awakening. We planted seeds as a symbol of this.

This is the poem for today from the book Barefoot Prayers by Stephen Cherry

Awakening

As the sum brightens the sky,
revealing the greens of the day,
touching the clouds with pink,
beckoning the birds to their wings
and ourselves to work...
Let our hearts rise within us.
Let our bodies unwind for activity,
Let our wills be trained to your purpose.

Let our dreams form our minds
and our minds sift our dreams.

Help us to be your servants this day.
To do your will and walk your way
with humility, care and true,
true, joy.

Lent ideas

Well we missed making pancakes yesterday - we just bought some instead this year. I was wondering what you are all doing for Lent this year, which starts today. I have got a couple of books to follow during Lent which are a bit different this year.

The first one is using the exercies of Ignatious. I have been doing a Growing in Prayer course which is based on Ignation Spirituality, so I though this would be interesting.

The second one is a book of prayer meditations.

Also for Lent there is this idea http://www.40acts.org.uk/, which is gives you an idea/suggestion for each day of something to do. I might dip into it.

I am pleased to say that Floss is running A Pause in Lent again this year, so I hope to join in with that as well. There will be a post every Sunday/Monday in Lent. You can find the details on her blog

What, if anything, are you doing for this season of Lent?

Never Give Up

We used this clip yesterday during our Church Service. It is an inspiring video of an athlete who did not give up, but who carried on and finished his race.

If you are feeling tired or weary then I urge you to watch this and realise that God is ready and waiting to lift you up and help you finish your race.

He is Risen!

Jesus has overcome
and the grave is  overwhelmed
The Victory is won
He is risen from the dead

Words from this Chris Tomlin song "I will rise".

May you know the truth of the Risen Lord this Easter Day.

The slow work of God

I found these words over at Lucy's blog and thought I would share them with you today. The photo is mine, taken on a walk at Moffat last October.

Words from Pierre Teilhard de Chardin:


Above all, trust in the slow work of God.
We are quite naturally impatient in everything
to reach the end without delay.
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way
to something unknown,
something new. Yet it is the law of all progress that is made
by passing through some stages of instability
and that may take a very long time.

And so I think it is with you.
Your ideas mature gradually. Let them grow.
Let them shape themselves without undue haste.
Do not try to force them on
as though you could be today what time
-- that is to say, grace --
and circumstances
acting on your own good will
will make you tomorrow.
Only God could say what this new Spirit
gradually forming in you will be.

Give our Lord the benefit of believing
that his hand is leading you,
and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself
in suspense and incomplete.
Above all, trust in the slow work of God,
our loving vine-dresser.


Amen.


Pierre Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955)

Happy Easter

He is Risen, Hallelujah!

At last

my builders have arrived! We have been waiting on them coming since June, but they have finally started. We are not really getting anything major done just lots of little things - which still seem to be causing a lot of disruption. Our bedroom has rising damp which they have to fix, window frames need replaced and painting need done. The windows are on the third floor so scaffolding is needed! The scaffolding went up on Wednesday, but nothing else done yet - I hope it is only because of the high winds and that they will be back on Monday. We emptied our bedroom of everything (luckily we have a large house) and yesterday they came to take the plaster off the wall and fix the damp - again hopefully they are coming back on Monday to replaster the wall. We are in a right mess at the moment.

Amidst all this our church held its first ever Messy Church . This is church with a difference - held not on a Sunday, but on a Saturday morning, it is aimed at families worshipping together by doing crafts, games, songs and stories and of course food!! Our theme was Creation and we made butterflies, animal masks, stained glass windows, bookmarks and planted bulbs. It was very well attended with lots of the mums from Toddler coming (and even bringing the dads). But one think I forgot was to take my camera! Roll on the next one - Messy Christmas.

Some answers and some numbers

Well I asked for questions and thank you to Mel and Rinda who have asked these questions.

Mel asked - Where is your favourite place that you've lived or visited?

My favourite holiday place has to be Gardenstown on the North East coast of Scotland, it is a very small fishing village set into the cliffs. We were fortunate in having friends who owned a house there and they let us go there for holidays for many years until they sold it. It was quiet, had a beach with rocks and water for the boys to play in.  I love watching waves crashing on the beach and over rocks and could watch them all day. My only regret is that I never managed to see dolphins any time we were there - although other people assure me that the dolphins come frequently!!

Rinda asked - I know you're active in your church, but I don't remember your exact position. What is it?

What reaction have you gotten to sharing your faith-based work in blog land?

I suppose as my husband is the minister of the church you could say that I am the 'ministers wife', although I have always tried hard not to be thought of as that or to think that being married to the minister gives me any position. Although recently I have begun to think about that differently and occasionally do things as the ministers wife. Being married to the minister is actually a strange 'no man's land' sometimes. You can't always fully join in with things and some people do treat you differently. I married the man, not the job! But God is good and the good times generally outweigh the problems.

As to sharing my faith-based work on blogland I have only have positive reactions thankfully. It is really only recently that I have actually started to share things about my faith in my blog, when I first started my blog I didn't. I belong to a Christian Craft forum, heART&soul, which has encouraged me in sharing my faith online.
Thanks to you both for your questions.
 
Now for the numbers. Yesterday's prompts talked about numbers and alphabets and I shall probably come back to this again. But my immediate response to the numbers was that I have an assignment due in on Saturday for the Open University - 2,000 words, of which I have done about 600 so far - so a fair number of words still to go.

New Blog

I thought I would share with you this new blog - Reading Together. Gordon has started it to encourage us to share in reading the Bible together. The idea behind it is to read passages together over a week and Gordon will make a couple of blog entries each week on the passages, then hopefully we can share comments together. This week the passage is Galations 1.  Why not hop over and have a look.

My other news today is that Andrew had a trip to A&E this morning and came back with his arm plastered! (Photos will follow!!!) He hurt it at Kickboxing on Friday and as it was not getting any better we thought we had better get it checked out. Luckily it is only a greenstick fracture, so should mend in a couple of weeks, although he thinks he deserves several days off school (I think not) as it is his left arm!!!

Jesus Lives

Jesus Lives by Sarah Young is a lovely hardbook, soft covered devotional book. It is a companion volume to Jesus Calling. The book is arranged in themes, such as Fear, Trust, Worshp etc and each theme covers a two page spread. The thoughts are written from Jesus point of view, as if He were talking directly to you, with Bible verses on the other page to back up the thoughts. The Bible verses have been chosen with care and fit the themes well. I liked the way that it feels as if Jesus is speaking directly to you, it made the devotions more personal and direct. I have been using this book as a daily devotional and on several occasions it spoke volumes to me. As a simple devotional book I think it fits the bill perfectly and would made a great gift for someone.

I have reviewed this book for BookSneeze

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