A quick update from the Hawthorne household.

A quick update from the Hawthorne household. I'm short of time so it will have to be quick!

Family

We're are all well which is a great blessing. Helen is well settled in now as a Lunchtime Assistant at school. Rebekah has told her friends, "That's not 'Miss'. That's my mummy". So all Rebekah's friends call her Rebekah's Mum! We've just had parents' evenings and the kids are all doing well. Reuben especially academically is nearly two years ahead of the national average in all his subjects. They have a good group of friends each too. Joshua is about to take his Year 6 SATs. The school are putting him in for an extended maths paper, so we will see how he gets on with that.

We spent bank holiday Monday with Helen's parents in Kent. It was a lovely sunny day so ice cream definitely in order. They were both in fine form too.

(If you like the dress Helen is wearing ask her - she made it herself!)

Meanwhile I've had a birthday recently. 37 seems a lot older than 36 for some reason. I don't feel especially wiser but I do feel a little creekier! As usual Helen invited a whole bunch of people over, and some of our friends from church got together to buy me a Kindle. Most appreciated!

Church

Church continues to be a blessing. There are a few new faces about as ever. We've begun a Christianity Explored course on a Sunday evening as part of our Connected series. We've been a little disappointed that not more people have come, but delighted with the few who have. 

Meanwhile our morning series is in the book of Romans. Some of the audio from the sermons is up on our website: www.sjwrbc.org

The website is having an overhaul at the moment, so watch this space. The new one is coming together bit by bit.

Church Anniversary

This year is the church's 187th anniversary. We would love to see you if you are able to meet with us on Saturday 25th May, from 2pm-4pm for a Thanksgiving reception with Geoff Gobbett speaking. You would also be welcome to join us on Sunday 26th May for our Anniversary Service, "Church; It's Not What It Seems" with Dick Lucas preaching for us.

Please do pray for us. Pray that our love would abound in knowledge and depth of insight. And praise God for his continuing faithfulness over such a long time.

 

A bit late for 2013!

Not managed to post since November, so lots to catch up on. I'll keep it brief I think!

Family

We had a good time at Christmas, popping in on Beth and Mark and the girls, my mum and dad were there too. Then we went on up to Welshpool to Ruth and Tom and family. Really encouraged to see how they are getting on in their new church.

A quick game of Settler of Cattan at Granny and Grandpa's house

Over Easter we've been with my parents in Dorset. It is good to go back to there and spend time out of London relaxing. I do enjoy London immensely but the beauty and rest of Dorset is always welcome.

The kids are all doing very well at school. Josh is about to take his year 6 SATS. The school are looking to put him in for level 6 maths which is quite an achievement. Reuben continues to do very well in a class with a large number of children with really difficult issues (even for our school). He also continues to be football mad! Rebekah meanwhile has settled extremely well in reception and remains far too cute for her own good!
Helen is now working at school as a Lunchtime Assistant (dinner lady!) which is going well. It can be very hard work, especially when others are off sick, but I have a feeling she is fast becoming a favourite in the playground!
I think we are slowly getting a little more sleep, which is good. The kids do still get up a bit at night, especially Bekah, but they are all sleeping well more often (as am I).

Dorset
While we were down in Dorset I took the chance to visit a couple of churches I haven't been to before. Sunday morning we went to Grace Baptist Church, Dorchester. They are a very small church and wondering what the future holds for them as their minister is now 85 and retiring (again)! It is a tent making or missionary situation really. We had very warm welcome and were delighted to spend time with them.
In the evening I went to Chardsmeade Baptist Church in Bridport. This church is larger though still struggling in some ways. As with so many churches they have been without a pastor for sometime and recently declined in size. Again the welcome was very warm.

Church
We have had a really good time at church over the last few months. Our Christmas carols by candlelight went really well, and Connected (our evening evangelistic discussion night) has been quite a revelation! (More to come on this on my other blog adebtor.blogspot.com). Here's a link to our opera singers warming up for the carols! Meanwhile our Connected series "God on trial" dealing with six of the more common objections to Christianity had between 5 and 35 atheists/humanists joining us! We certainly had some robust discussions and it was a great delight to see some movement in a few of those who came most regularly.
Sadly we have had to say goodbye to Yoko. She has blessed us with her cello and piano and in so many other ways as well. She and her husband have moved back to Japan now. Meanwhile the Lord has brought other people along. The highlight this year so far has been a couple of people becoming Christians. A student from China who has been with us for a few months and a work colleague of one of our members. We are concerned for the Chinese girl. Her father was not happy that she wants to be baptised and then apparently became ill. Since she went back to China to see him (in Feb) we haven't heard from her.

If you are of a praying mind, please do pray for all the things mentioned above. God is very merciful and loves to answer our prayers as we offer them through Jesus. If you're not, you really ought to start! God is very merciful and loves to answer our prayers as we offer them through Jesus.

A Difficult Two Weeks

This is copied from/to my other blog adebtor.blogspot.co.uk and is my entry here for November.

A difficult two weeks
The last two weeks have been hard. A dear friend, a sister in Christ from our church, died very suddenly a week ago last Sunday. Below are two short passages I wrote. Partly to help me deal with what I was in the middle of and partly wondering whether I would post them on this blog. Having read them through again I have decided I will post them unedited  I hope they bless you as you read them, just as Hyasmine blessed our church and our family while she was with us.


Sunday 4th November - 9:54pm

1Th 4:13-18
13 Now we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so also we believe that God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep as Christians. 15 For we tell you this by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will surely not go ahead of those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be suddenly caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

It's 21:54. I'm sat in ICU on the 4th floor of the Royal Free hospital. Hyasmine, my very dear friend & sister lies not far away, her brain inactive, her body supported by machines. Final tests are being done. Helen is here with Kate her closest friend & companion for 30 years. Tears flow. We wait for confirmation of the news we don't want to here. Hyasmine is in her early 50's. Through her the Lord has blessed our church & my family in ways too numerable to list here. It is enough to say that today 40 people ate the lunch she prepared with Kate. She collapsed having just finished preparing it. We ate knowing her condition was critical. We prayed seeking a miracle but knew this kind of miracle the Lord does not do often. Our sister has fallen asleep in Christ.

You might ask why I am writing a blog entry now. To pass the time? Perhaps more to avoid mulling on the reality that Hyasmine has fallen asleep. We have been at SJWRBC for 7 years. So have Hyasmine & Kate. They have sung with us, prayed with us. Hyasmine especially has taught our children. She has welcomed & befriended & cooked & cleaned. I wasn't going to do the list. I see her smile in my minds eye. I remember her voice & the hug she gave me last week as we greated each other.

To be honest the grief is yet to hit me. It will. Right now my concern is for Kate.

The church has come a long way in 7 years. Of all those at the church, Hyasmine has been one of the very few people the Lord has used most over that time. Now she knows in experience what Paul knew by faith, "It is better to be with the Lord."



Sunday 11th November 2:30pm

Ambushed by Grief

I knew today was going to be difficult. It has been harder than I expected. I was preaching in Greenwich, Devonshire Drive Baptist, this morning. It was already going to be difficult with the loss of Hyasmine still filling my mind. It was before that going to be harder. The reason - very sadly the pastor's son had died a month earlier. I was blessed to have the  pastor and his wife in the service. The first time they had been back to church since Alex's death. In a sense it made my job harder, but there was encouragement here for me. Even in their circumstances their faith is holding; God gives grace as needed.

What I was entirely unprepared for was the way grief ambushed me at the end of the service. Up to today my grief at Hyasmine's death had been sporadic and unsettlingly shallow. But as I finished the sermon grief ambushed me. I barely managed to announce the final hymn "When I Survey The Wondrous Cross" before the tears began rolling down my face. I was entirely unable to sing. For a moment my shoulders shook and I simply sobbed. No amount of trying to get myself back together would stop the tears.

I had spoken from John 13 v 1 to 17 "The full extent of God's love". I had said that though life is often painful and full of questions we cannot answer we cannot question God's love towards us. With power over the universe Jesus decides to wash his disciples' feet, to serve as an illustration of what he is about to do. Still holding all power and authority he submited himself to death in order to come to each one of us and personally wash the grime of sin off our souls.

I may not have answers to all the questions in my head. I may not be able to stop the tears flowing down my cheeks, but I know the love of my Saviour. I know my sister is with him. I grieve but I have hope because of the love that Jesus poured out in action and in truth. My prayer and my hope is that today of all days my affliction may have been a comfort to others more afflicted than myself.

2Co 1:3-7
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 5 For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 7 Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

Back To School...

... and back to blog posts!

It has been a long time since either of us wrote anything on our blog. And despite the vast amount there is to tell you, I don't have a vast amount of time to write about it. However I am aiming to begin doing a monthly update of family matters and due to a change of circumstance at work (see below) I have some hope of managing to do it!
I've called this "Back to school" because I really didn't want to call it "Another go at keeping our blog up to date" or whatever the last entry was called! But also because the kids have gone back to school and this time Rebekah has gone with them. She is now 4, far to cute (in my humble opinion) and in reception class full time. Reuben (7) is now in year 3 and Joshua (10) in year 6 and off to secondary school next year! Much of the last two weeks has been visiting various secondary schools' open days. It has been very interesting doing the rounds, especially with the perspective of being a primary school governor. This time next week we will be making our choices. At the moment Helen, Joshua and I are all in agreement as to which one ought to be our first choice. More next time.

Meanwhile life at church has been moving at pace this year. It has been a real joy to welcome more people into the church and see the church growing. It is a blessing that as the church grows its welcoming and genuinely caring atmosphere remains. We appointed two young men as deacons towards the start of the year. They are settling into their roles well and taking some of the strain of practical stuff around the church away from the elders. (The elders are loving it!) Speaking of elders, we have a new elder in the form of a new assistant pastor. Simon Pethick has been placed with us for the last 3 years while studying at Oak Hill Theological College. Quite remarkably we have been able to appoint him as assistant pastor starting September. This has made an enormous change to my working week and means a whole lot of work that seemed constantly on the back burner is now getting done (like blog updates!).

Another new development at church is "Connected" our new Sunday evening meeting. It is a little different, and we hope will begin to take off. It has been really good to welcome new people in to discuss the truth of the gospel and impact the gospel has and ought have in our lives. Watch this space as we seek to move this new work forward.

There is loads more I could say, but I am going to sign off for the moment. Please get in touch if you want to know any more. I hope that you will find these little updates useful!
God bless you,

Chris

P.S. Here's a final photo for you to enjoy of my gorgeous wife!

10 years married

Here is a picture of us as we went out on our 10th wedding anniversary. Just using it to see if my blogger ap is now working properly!