2009 - and counting!

I said to the man
who stood at the gate of the year,
'Give me a light that I may tread safely
into the unknown.'
And he replied ,
'Go out into the darkness
and put your hand into the hand of God.
That shall be to you
better than light
and safer than a known way !'
So I went forth
and finding the Hand of God,
trod gladly into the night .
And he led me towards the hills
and the breaking of day in the lone East.

Minnie Louise Harkins 1875-1957

Whatever 2009 holds,
whatever struggles we will face,
whatever joys we will encounter,
whatever people come our way,
whatever work needs doing,
wherever we go,
wherever life may take us
we know that God will be with us
as long as we choose not to let go of his hand.

Let's face the adventure of a New Year determined to Know Jesus better,
to Show Jesus through our love for one another and our community
and to Share Jesus with everyone that we may meet.

All Saints Calendar of Events

Shall we cancel Christmas this year??

Chick Yuill shared this on Good Morning Sunday on BBC Radio 2 - I wanted to share it with you

"When I got to the ripe old age of 40 I seriously thought about cancelling my birthdays for the rest of my life. You know the feeling – you just don’t want to be reminded that you’re getting older – but I soon changed my mind on that one – it wasn’t just the presents – it was the fact that I realised that that’s what birthdays are all about – getting older I mean

It’s a chance to look back, to remember the good times and the not so good and to take a deep breath and head into the next year. So I’m not cancelling my birthdays.

I feel the same about Christmas. Sometimes you think you should just ignore it – cancel the festive season, money’s tight, it’s become too commercialised, things are hard, a friendship has broken up, we’ve lost someone very close to us, we’re uncertain about the future, we feel guilty about celebrating when there’s so much to be concerned about.

But that’s exactly why we shouldn’t cancel the yuletide festivities. Christmas is not an attempt to escape from the problems for a couple of days. Christmas is all about the fact that love breaks through all those things, transforms them, makes sense of them.

We celebrate the season because a young peasant girl, whose fiancée almost broke off their engagement, gave birth to a baby, without the help of a midwife, in an outhouse, in the busyness of a Roman census, in an out of the way town, in the back of beyond – and in all that confusion the Christ-child was born – Love came down at Christmas as the carol reminds us.

So let’s not cancel Christmas, let’s make it a time to pause, to give thanks and to believe again in the Love that is greater than all the problems of life."

With every blessing for a Happy and Holy Christmas

Operation Christmas Child

Today 163 shoeboxes will start their journey to transform a child's Christmas - THANK YOU!

Which bus to catch?

You might have heard about this bus...



Or would you like this bus instead...



You Choose!!

Just watch it!

Do you like stories?

I do. I love stories - I love the fact that Jesus did a lot of his teaching using stories - I love the fact that so much of my role as a vicar is telling stories - stories about what Jesus did, as recorded in the bible, but also the stories of what Jesus is doing - here and now in Woodlands and Highfields. It is great fun to be talking to someone who has pretty much dismissed God as a relevant part of modern life and then to tell them the stories of what He is doing here and now - broken shoulders, withered hands, people being set free from things that have held them for years - even down to the story of our stolen sat nav (ask me if you haven't heard!!).

Someone asked me a very challenging question recently - "How old is your most recent story of what God has done?"

The question stopped me dead! How old is my most recent story - a week, a month, a year - Am I still telling a story from 10 years ago because it shows how amazing God is or because I haven't paid much attention to what he is doing today. Do I bring out the same testimony each time because I've let myself drift away from what God is doing.

How old is your most recent story? I was challenged. Should it be within the last month, the last week, the last few days - or should I be expecting God to do or say something for me or for others each and every day that I can then share to show how much God loves each and every person who lives in these villages.

Quite a challenge! I'll keep working on my response - what about yours!??

Giant of Faith

This song raised the roof at New Wine North and East at the Newark Showground

Six Weeks!!!!!

Every year parents all over the country get to a point where they need a rest - the terms have been long and hard - the struggle to balance childcare and home time takes its toll - the pressures of work in all it's forms demand a time to recharge, re-energise and relax. So what happens..?

The schools close and the kids spend 6 weeks at home - 6 WEEKS!!!! - As a child I looked forward to the holidays but as an adult - 6 WEEKS!!! - it's CRIMINAL.

Joking aside - rest is an important part of our lives. Our bodies are designed to need rest every day - if we are doing it right nearly a third of our lives are spent in bed asleep. We need a daily pattern of rest. God ordained a weekly pattern of rest - "for 6 days you shall labour but the seventh day is to be a day of rest" - He knew that we needed times to rest, to have fun, to enjoy. Sadly in our modern lifestyles that idea of rest has gone - I'm not talking about the "Keep Sunday Special" campaign or the Scottish Presbyterian stereotype "You shall sit still on a Sunday unless you are in Church and you shall not do anything fun at all" - I'm talking about the fact that many lives are so pressured that we don't have time in families simply to enjoy time together, playing, talking, walking, whatever.

There is a balance between Work and Rest and our society is losing it. Sometimes the Church can lose it too. We see fun and enjoyment and relaxation as being "Unspiritual" - either in worship or in family life. I long for us all to rediscover the gently swinging pendulum between work and rest - this summer to find times simply to rest and to enjoy spending time together as families and as the church family.

So this summer I want to give you freedom from guilt about taking time out to rest - that's why our evening and midweek services won't happen again until September - try and find the God who created laughter, who put beautiful views at the tops of mountains, who made the sea to play on the beach and the sand to be perfect for sandcastles and who said "Come unto me all you who are heavy laden and I will give you rest"