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Showing posts from January, 2014

Prayer of Thanksgiving

Prayer of Thanksgiving Lord, we come to you in Gratitude on this weekend when we remember the Holocaust. We are grateful that by the act of remembering, we can act willfully to heal past hurts and further act with a determination never to let such an atrocity ever happen again.   We thank you for your Son who came to save us from our sins, and open our hearts and minds to love our neighbour, and then to the realization that our enemy is also our neighbour. You are the LORD of Love, and Love is the most powerful act of will in the universe.   Love overcomes all things. Lord, lead us to new insights to lead us further away from fear and violence and bring us closer to your Heart of Love.   A love that leads us to love you and also each other.   A love that led you to the Cross for our sake. Lord Jesus, we praise you and give you our lives in gratitude. In your most Holy Name Amen

on being surprised and humbled

I rarely visit the stats page of this blog, and when I ventured there the other day, I was shocked to find that people from around the world were actually reading what I was writing down.  The peak in views also seemed to coincide with a burst in new followers on twitter, mostly from the USA. All this has left me feeling both surprised that anyone would find anything I write to be in the slightest interesting, and humbled that a sermon I wrote for an English village Methodist Chapel is being read by people thousands of miles away, and that in some small way, those thoughts and words, hopefully inspired by the Holy Spirit, may exert a beneficial effect on a growing number of people. In the early years of the Church, there was probably an oral history, with stories passed on to friends and newcomers in meetings and over meals. I wonder if the new forms of "gossip" - social media such as twitter and facebook may in some way mimick the behaviour of our forebears in the 1st

Bearsted Methodist Church

Today I was preaching at Bearsted Methodist Church.  Bearsted is a relatively small village adjacent to Maidstone.  The Methodist Church has a close relationship with the other churches in the village, sharing joint ventures with the local Anglican Church, the Roman Catholic Church and the Community fellowship. The theme of today's service was unity, with the readings from Psalm 27 and 1 Corinthians 1: 10-18.  The congregation was about 30 people, within a relatively small chapel, slightly larger than Hartlip but smaller than my home church in Gillingham.  Music was supported by an organist/pianist. I prayed extemporaneously for the offering, for the prayer prior to the message and the final blessing.  I received a number of compliments after the service which was encouraging, and helps me in my development towards final completion of the local preaching course. I was comfortable preaching today, I feel that I am improving in my delivery both in the presentation and also I wa