This morning the sermon is going to be a little bit different. Normally I spend most of the time talking about the passages and then make a couple of quick suggestions for how we might put them into practice. This morning it\u2019s going to be the other way round. We\u2019ve been exploring our church\u2019s value of Loving Our Neighbours for a few weeks now. We\u2019ve thought about welcome, hospitality and being accepting. This week we\u2019re thinking about how we show our love for our neighbours by sharing our faith with them. The passages we\u2019ve read from the Bible are fairly clear about how important this is. It does exactly what it says on the tin.<\/p>\n
In Mark\u2019s eyewitness account of Jesus life, we hear him sharing a sense of urgency with his disciples \u2013 telling them what kind of things are going to happen after he\u2019s returned to heaven, and giving them an instruction: Don\u2019t worry about what you\u2019re going to say when you are called to defend your faith, the Holy Spirit will teach you what to say. <\/p>\n
So this is the easy take away for us this morning, thinking about sharing our faith: Don\u2019t be anxious about it, don\u2019t worry, but ask the Holy Spirit to give you the words. <\/p>\n
In Paul\u2019s letter to the Christians in Rome, he echoes this urgency. He describes the basics of Christian faith \u2013 acknowledging Jesus as Lord – in words and actions. Believing in Jesus as our rescuer and doing what he says, as our commander. Then, he details this chain of questions \u2013 how can they call if they don\u2019t believe? How can they believe if they haven\u2019t heard? How can they hear if noone speaks? How will they speak if they\u2019re not sent? <\/p>\n
So this is the easy take away for us this morning, thinking about sharing our faith. For our neighbours to be saved, we have to go when and where we\u2019re sent, and speak. <\/p>\n
It really isn\u2019t difficult to understand. We just need to do it.<\/p>\n
So, I wanted to share with you some of the things that we\u2019ve got coming up in the life of the church in the next couple of months that I hope will give us an opportunity to share our faith, to exercise our love for our neighbours. When I was planning this, I was concerned that this might come across as a bit of an extended notices section. But as I thought about it, I decided that that was OK. Our notices quite often are about opportunities to reach out to people, which I think is a great thing in our church life. <\/p>\n
The first thing that\u2019s coming up is All Saints day. For the last couple of years in late October we have had a Light Party for families to come and celebrate Jesus\u2019 light in what can be a spiritually dark time of year. We can\u2019t do that this year, so instead we are laying on a pumpkin trail. Members of the church who live in the vicinity of the church building are going to display, in their windows, lit up pumpkin cutouts \u2013 each with a Bible verse on. Anyone who wants to do the trail will be given a map, and will go round, collecting the words to make the verse. We will be giving everyone who takes part a light themed goody bag. <\/p>\n
On the same evening we may be taking part in a national art installation \u201cLight of Hope\u201d that is happening at cathedrals and churches around the country \u2013 shining bright beams of light into the sky around the tower of the church as a sign of hope to the community. I say, \u201cwe may take part\u201d, because I\u2019m not sure about the use of the money \u2013 it would cost about \u00a3450, which seems a lot for one evening\u2019s event. It\u2019s a bit like the pouring of the perfume on the feet of Jesus \u2013 is it a waste or is it a beautiful expression of hope? I\u2019m not sure, and whilst the church finances are generally in pretty good shape, this is not budgetted for. <\/p>\n
So, at the moment I\u2019m not sure I can justify it. But, if your imagination is fired by the idea, and you have some money you\u2019d like to put towards it, let me know by tomorrow morning and, if there\u2019s enough of a vision for it, we\u2019ll do it. <\/p>\n
How else can you take part? Come and do the trail. Invite families you know from the school gates to do it. Think about how you might respond positively and safely to people who knock on your door trick and treating. Share pictures of the Light of Hope on your social media. Pray for the families who are doing it, and need the hope of Jesus\u2019 light in their lives.<\/p>\n
The second thing that\u2019s coming up is Advent. This is the time of year that we prepare for the Christmas celebrations. We spend some time looking back at the whole history of creation, and how that led up to Jesus\u2019 birth, and we also think about the time that Jesus will return to bring the complete victory of his kingdom on earth. Now, I know that Advent doesn\u2019t actually begin until December, and it\u2019s only October now, but, so that we can do what we want to do in Advent, we\u2019ve got to get a bit ahead. This Advent we are going to be using Jesse trees to help us to think about getting ready for Christmas. Jo is now going to show us one, to help us understand what it\u2019s about. <\/p>\n
We\u2019ll be providing packs for families to be able to make one at home, we\u2019re working with local schools to have them in the classrooms, and we\u2019re going to make one of the trees in the churchyard into a massive one. And this is where the preparation comes in. I have 25 of these big wooden circles, and I need families to decorate them so that they can be hung on our big tree. If you would like to do this, the please get in touch with me. We\u2019re going to make 25 short videos of the decorations being hung on the churchyard tree, and put them out, one a day from 1st of December to Christmas Day as part of our telling the story of our faith to our community. <\/p>\n
The third thing coming up, you won\u2019t be surprised to hear, is Christmas. We are still working on the details of our Christmas services, but we are not going to be able to do our normal Carols by Candlelight or Crib services. We are not going to have the hundreds of school children and families coming through our doors this year, so we are going to have to find ways of going to them. We would love to be able to put one of these Christmas Hope magazines through every door in the parish. We want to include a postcard, telling people we\u2019re praying for them this Christmas, and inviting them to take part in our online Christmas services. <\/p>\n
Fiona Wright and the Mission and Discipleship Action Group are organising this, and in early December will be asking people to sign up to deliver these magazines. This is a great opportunity to show our love for our neighbours by sharing our faith with them. I think we can cover the cost of this from our mission budget, but any additional contributions towards the cost of the magazines would be gratefully received.<\/p>\n
As we consider what God is calling us to do with these particular projects, just a reminder of our easy take aways from our Bible readings: <\/p>\n
For our neighbours to be saved, we have to go when and where we\u2019re sent, and speak. Don\u2019t be anxious about this, but ask the Holy Spirit to give you the words. <\/p>\n
For our neighbours to be saved, we have to go when and where we\u2019re sent, and speak. Don\u2019t be anxious about this, but ask the Holy Spirit to give you the words. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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