An update for 2016

Life continues at pace here in London. (Probably does everywhere to be honest!) We are at a stage with the children where they seem to be growing up very fast, in Joshua's case literally! He is taller than Helen now! He has also just made his GCSE choices which begin in earnest after Easter. [English (language and literature), Maths, Further Maths, Triple Science, History, Computer Science, Art and Spanish if you are interested.] Meanwhile we have just had confirmation that Reuben will be joining Josh at Paddington Academy in September which is good news all round. He is very much looking forward to it. Rebekah continues to do well. She will soon be our only child left at Paddington Green School which seems very odd! The school has a new tie-up with Paddington Bear Ltd., so now has Paddington Bear as the school logo. The kids are very excited about this! We happened to pass Michael Bond (the author) in the street the other day (he is very old now) and he seemed quite excited to see the children in their new uniforms! (He lives round the corner from the school.)

Helen is very much enjoying the Cornhill Training Course. It's hard work, but a great privilege to be able to spend this time studying the Scriptures. I am very much enjoying her working with church. It means we get to spend more time together than we have for quite a while! I am still chair of governors in my "spare time". It remains quite a challenge in the school's particular circumstances.

Church has been encouraging recently. Jesus always is, church, it depends!!! It has been great to welcome a number of new faces again recently. People have arrived with a variety of skills and gifts which are a great blessing, and we are have seen a number of areas of church life start to move forward with new energy.

I have an exciting trip ahead of me in May. I have been invited to go to Zambia and teach in a new Bible College there. It will be my first big trip overseas on my own, so I am a little nervous, but mainly excited!

Please pray for us. Pray for wisdom with the children, that the Lord would keep our eyes on him in the midst of all the distractions of London and please give thanks for the Lord's continued faithfulness.

Thanks for reading!

Back too school in more ways than one!

We have had a very enjoyable summer, especially the last couple of weeks of August, spent on the beach in Cyprus. Our friends Pamela and Theo were getting married in Larnaca and we were invited! So we made it into a holiday. Helen, being a magnificent woman, manage to find us a house to stay in right on the beach. It was literally, back door, back garden, beach! The temperature was 34C and sunny everyday, and sea was 28C. The kids especially really enjoyed being to go out into the sea.


Please thank God with us for a very relaxing break.

When we got back it was straight back to school. I am still the chair of governors at Paddington Green Primary. This is a quite a heavy workload, especially at the moment. I would appreciate prayer for wisdom in this role. It is my final year of being chair and I would love to finish well. The children keep growing up. Josh is now in year 9 and starting the GCSE maths curriculum a year early. Reuben is in year 6 and will face SATS at the end of the year. We are also looking at secondary schools for him. Most like he will go to Paddington Academy where his brother is. He is still loving his football and now plays in goal for Camden Elite football club. Rebekah has got to year 3 and continues to enjoy school and ballet.
Meanwhile Helen has gone back to school, not working but to study at the Cornhill Training Course. She will be studying part time and working with the church part time. It is very exciting and quite a big change for us.
Please do pray that the children will learn well at school and be a blessing to their teachers and friends. Pray for Helen as she gets used to study again!

Back to school!

Meanwhile, as ever, church continues to be a place of change. We praise God that we are able to encourage and bless people who are with us for a short time. It is always a joy to welcome new faces, but we miss those who have moved on. The building is being refurbished, which is very exciting. Pictures of that another time. We are looking at the book of 1Kings on a Sunday morning at the moment. I've very much enjoyed getting into it.
The afternoon café, which was called grace café, has got a face lift. It is called Café 39 now and Rich and Kathryn are doing a great job of giving it some much need energy and enthusiasm. Please pray with us that we would grow in grace and love and boldness for the sake of Christ.

Lots of walking

It's been great that Jenny and Roland's kids have been off school for the first two weeks of our trip (so still off this week). The kids have been able to get to know each other and have been having a very good time. We're especially enjoying the extra space.
It's good to be staying outside the usual tourist area. When we came last time Jenny and Roland were staying in the centre of town where all the tourists gather. Now they live to the east of Cusco, closer to San Jeronimo. We get a few funny looks, 9 Europeans wandering round with 2 Peruvian girls clearly part of the clan! But people are very kind to us, and cope with my stuttering efforts to communicate in Spanish!

Having said that we did go into Cusco centre on the first Sunday we were here. The idea was to watch an Independence Day parade. Unfortunately (though there are usually parades on Sundays, and Jenny found notice of parades on a website) there were no parades. Still we had a good time wandering round and taking pictures. Not much had changed since we were last there. It was interesting to see McDonald's, KFC and Starbucks in the main plaza. There we the usual plethora of people trying to sell stuff to tourists, or get you to go on their tour bus. Since we were last here red, opened topped double-deckers have been added to the tourist sightseeing fleet! We did our own little tour of the three main plazas, found a chocolate museum (yum) and stopped for an ice-cream before we came home.
The bus rides remain entertaining. Fitting 40 people on to a bus the size of an old VW Camper is fun! To be fair the busses have improved a lot recently. Most of them are bigger now, and actually designed to be busses! Kids under 7 go free, so Bekah is still free. "Dos y dos" is a phrase I have learnt quickly. It means "2 & 2", two adults and two children. A ride for the whole family costs two soles (about 50p).

Over the last week we have been doing a lot of walking. The scenery is breath taking continuously.

Even pictures like this can't really convey the scale of the mountains around the city in the valley. I took this picture on a walk to San Jeronimo market. It took perhaps an hour to get there. Last Saturday I was left at home (asleep) while everyone else went for a trip to Saksaywaman (look it up!) and spent a long time walking and looking at wildlife. When I finally woke up a walked up the mountain behind the house (not all the way up). And that is where we went yesterday afternoon and evening. It is quite a height, and again went no higher than I did previously. But we had a lot of fun with a little camp fire and marshmallows.

On our way up there!

Up there!

The view from up there!

The views only got better as the evening closed in and the stars and city lights came out. The temperature difference is remarkable between day and night. As soon as the sun goes in the temperature begins to plummet from over 20C to very close to 0C. Our little fire was very appreciated.

Toasting marshmallows

The view of Cusco after the sun disappeared

There are lots more pictures on my Facebook page. Hopefully that link will work. If not you will have to find them yourself! There's lots more to say, but I will save that for another time I think!

Adios!

Peru Take 2

Well, we have arrived safely in Peru for a second time. 4 years ago we nearly got stuck here because of an Icelandic volcano doing is stuff. I'm wondering what adventures await us this time.

Apart from our first flight from Heathrow leaving 1 hour late, giving us a bit of a run in Madrid, the journey was easy and the kids did really well. I had forgotten just how in-a-continuous-state-of-construction Cusco is, perhaps now more than ever!

I had also forgotten just how thin the air is here. You really have to try hard to breathe! You suck in a lung full of air and you end up only half full. We'll need to spend a while going quite slowly I think.

We did of course arrive in the middle of life at my sister's house. Friday night is kids cell night. They had around 30 kids plus theirs and ours in the front room for craft and Bible story, memory verses and teaching. I loved landing in the middle of it all and that they didn't even think about cancelling because we were coming!

It is also great to see the cousins getting on so well. Our kids always have with Sammy and Ben, but Hilda and Katy are now part of the family and it is fantastic to see how well our kids have added them in. Jenny said yesterday, "You wouldn't have thought Bekah and Katy had just met".

We're looking forward to the rest of our month here. I will try and add pictures and posts regularly.

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!

Sporty day

Had a good time today. On hols in Dorset. Spent the morning at Jubilee Field in my parents' village. Here's a pic of the boys playing football where I used to play football when I was their age. Rebekah  had fun on the slide playing with a couple of girls also visiting grandparents I think.

Then late morning and into the afternoon I took Josh out for his first ever turn on a big adult golf course. Double my par was his par. We played ten holes and tied 3-3! I need a rest now.

In the background of the picture is the village church. Through the ministry of the rector and this church I became a Christian 19 years ago!

New blog old blog

Decided to start a new blog to cover church and pastoral stuff. Going to try and use this one to update on family news. See how we go. Have downloaded a new app for my phone which should help a bit.

Resurrection Day

We've been in Peru for almost a week now (more on that at a later date) but I thought I really should say a little about last Sunday at SJWRBC. It was Easter Sunday and we had a very blessed day. We reached the end of Mark's gospel, which we've been looking at for just over a year now. Great to see Jesus promise to be raised back to life attested to by eyewitnesses, and alive to bring forgiveness for us and entrance into the kingdom of God for all who repent and believe. We had a few new faces looking for a church and a number of visitors for Noon's baptism.

It was great to baptise Noon on Easter Sunday. He has been with the church for a few years now and a Christian a little longer than that. We heard how the Lord had led him to faith and then how he came to desire baptism and be a working part of this church. It is a joy to see the Lord working his grace out in the life of an individual, adding them to his church and challenging them to love and good works. May the Lord bless Noon and his churches across the world, that the fame of the Lord Jesus would spread and many been given the knowledge of his great love.

New Members

We continue to be blessed at home and at church. This hasn't been an easy start to the year for me, but the Lord has been very gracious. Last week at our church members meeting we were able to say that there are five people wanting to join the membership of the church. It has been a real encouragement to us that these few and others have found a spiritual home with us, especially their very positive comments about the church fellowship. Recently someone said to us how they had been really struggling with wanting to go to church at all, but since coming to us didn't want to miss a Sunday now! It is very humbling and exceedingly encouraging when people say these kind of things to us.

Personally things have been quite hard recently. First with a stomach ulcer and then pulled muscles in my back and side from a bad golf swing! The ulcer seems to have cleared up and the muscles are slowly healing, but it is taking a long time, and isn't helped by straining them again when I am not thinking! Still the Lord has blessed me with extra time to sit and read! Been enjoying "Keep in Step With the Spirit" by Jim Packer.

The kids seem to be doing ok. Getting bigger learning new things. Joshua has enjoyed a street dance club at school, Reuben is starting to read and write more and more. Rebekah is slowly using more words and signs. They all enjoy music and dancing around! Rebekah has a number of teeth coming though and Joshua is growing adult ones! Meanwhile Rebekah is slowly starting to sleep a little better. But our sleep is still quite disturbed.

Thanks for all your prayers.

Chris

Sunday 14th Feb

In a few different ways we've had a difficult week this week. Not least because I have been busy growing a stomach ulcer! I have some meds form the doctor but they are giving me a headache. Despite that I have been blessed in my preparation over the last week. I had some extra clarity this week as I prepare which was very helpful as everything was taking longer.

Our Canadian sister came with her husband this week. It was great that he came and stayed and listened and took in everything that was going on. With being ill I had asked our Oak Hill Student and Laurence our other elder to help lead the service - which was a great. They did an excellent job as always. Several people were very positive about the message, which is always an encouragement for a preacher. We're hoping to start a church membership class with three people this coming week. And there is a possibility of a baptism at Easter. Please pray for the young man who has asked about this.

The message this week was from Mark 12v35-44. Jesus first asks how can the Christ be the son of David when in psalm 110 he calls the Christ "my Lord"? His point of course is that his origin is from before David. That he is the son of God - as Mark attests at both the start and towards the end of his gospel. Meanwhile the scribes are wandering around as false lords. Though they are experts in what the law says, rather than loving God and loving others, they use the law to "devour widows houses". We need both to watch out for people like that and to make sure we don't do the same. It is after all very easy to give pious excuses for selfish behaviour. Finally Jesus sits down opposite the offering jars in the temples and calls attention to the widow who puts two small coins in. She, says Jesus, put in more than everyone else because she put in everything - all she had to live on. And that is how we need to follow Jesus. The woman was not looking at herself - she didn't put the money in to gain a reputation for generosity. She wasn't even looking at the bare face of the law, which says 10%. The she would at most have given one coin. No - she saw the Lord her God and wanted to give him everything she had. So we need to rid our vision of false lords, including ourselves and fix our eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. To see how he loved us, giving everything he had on the cross. To see him raised to the right hand of the Father, and to look at him. Then as we look to him and seek him and see him, decide how we will live, how much we will give.

God bless you wherever you are and whatever you are doing.

Chris

Welcome to February

Various plans and purposes are slowly coming together for this year. Our first ever "official" homegroup started last week. The plan is to grow this first group until it is too big to fit, then split and grow and split and grow, etc. God willing. We also are planning a Christianity Explored group on Sunday afternoons. There is a group of people I really want to come along, perhaps 4 or 5, and we're going to try and see if there is anyone else out there who might want to come along.

We've been able to welcome some more new people to the church over the last few weeks. A Philippino lady and her English husband have been coming regularly now. She seems to be a Christian, but her husband isn't. He has been coming to church though, and seems interested at least for her sake. Then a Christian lady from Canada has been coming too. Had a decent conversation with her husband today. She tells me he is an atheist and a mathematician. They both looked interested in the upcoming "God Confusion" conference at the excel. We had a visit from a lady from Azerbaijan today as well. She seemed very pleased to see us, and enthusiastic about coming back. Also our placement student from London Theological Seminary came for his first Sunday today, and our Oak Hill student was back after exams. On the downside a family who have been very regular haven't been for a few weeks now. We're concerned for them. Please keep praying.

Chris

This Sunday

After a number of quiet Sundays it was good to be a little fuller yesterday. It was a great blessing to welcome Erika back from the States. She is working with a mission here in London and needed a new visa to return. An answer to prayer that she was able to return so swiftly. She had with her Christine who will be with the mission for 6 months or so as well.
We are aiming to start homegroups in February. Will likely be just one to start with, but the plan is to try and grow that group until we can split it and make 2. We're also hoping to start a new Christianity Explored group in Feb. Haven't done one for a while so praying we will get a good group up and running.
Was preaching on Mark 11v27-12v12 yesterday - God's great reversal. It is fairly depressing to see how the Jewish leaders would not humble themselves before God's messengers and accept their authority. An unwillingness to admit the guilt in their hearts and have their "righteousness" masks removed and a desire to retain control seem to be at the heart of their rejection. Sadly these traits are not unfamiliar to our own hearts either. Wonderfuly though God does a great reversal in Jesus. He is the last messenger and "The Son he loves", and though these leaders (builders) rejected him and killed him, God raised him from the dead. "The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; and it is marvelous in our eyes!"
So now Jesus lives forever holding a message of mercy and an opportunity to return to God even for those in a state like these leaders. I wonder if a young Saul the Pharisee was around at this point? Perhaps not. But certainly the light of the resurrection and the glory of the "capstone" transformed him from just this condition. There is hope for all of us who hide behind masks of good Christian behaviour and don't want to lose control. The hope is in God's great reversal.
God's blessing to all of you.

Welcome to 2010!!!

This is just a short one to update on some news. Blogging from my phone which isn't the easiest. We had really good Christmas. My parents came up Christmas Eve, and we had Kate and Hyasmine for Christmas dinner too. Wondefully Kate heard on Christmas Eve that she was being granted leave to remain in this country, so we were very joyful and still are. Boxing Day we went up to my sister and her family in Buckinghamshire. All the kids had a great time together which is a really big blessing. The adults did alright too!

Christmas Day service was very sparce, but we had four visitors from Holland as well as a mum and daughter that we hadn't seen for a while. Small and jolly :) and certainly worthwhile. Sunday 27th was also small, but again we had a 2 new faces. Jan's daughter Shelly is over from Aus so it was great to welcome her. Then a lady called Amy. She brought her husband Kevin this week. She seems to be following the Lord, though he isn't. Both seemed interested in doing some Bible study during the week, which was very encouraging.

The boys are back to school tomorrow - so I need to get to bed. Our text on Sunday was this:

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your way acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. (Pardon all the spelling mistakes in this post. Blame it on the tiny keyboard.)

Carols But Not As You Know Them

We had an excellent Sunday today. Today was, what is becoming, our annual carol service with our Brazilian friends. Community Baptist London (CBL) meets on a Saturday evening in our building; the leaders and a few others also join us on a Sunday morning. Last year for the first time we held a joint family carol service, and we did the same again this year. It is harder work to organise, but has again been a fantastic blessing. We do some singing in Portuguese and some of the Bible readings in Portuguese, though the main talk is only in English. All the kids are in. We had Nathan (a session musician from CBL) playing drums, with Ling on piano and my guitar, and made a joyful noise with traditional and newer Christmas carols and songs.

It was great to welcome a few new faces, including a lady who had been given an invite in Kilburn. No idea who was handing those out! Also a mate of mine who I have been studying Ephesians with came with his girlfriend for the first time. There must have been about 60 people there altogether and nearly 50 stayed for lunch, which Helen cooked with some help from Ling.

The message was split up to help the kids (and adults) stay attentive. We were looking at Luke 1v26-38, the angel Gabriel greeting Mary. Focussing on four points - that just as God was with Mary, so in Jesus he is "God with us" - that he is the King of God's Kingdom, the son that was promised to king David so many years before - that he is also the Son of God, not born in the ordinary way, but really God taking on human nature - remembering that nothing is impossible with God. I reminded us that often God does things that look weak or foolish, but actually his ways are far more powerful and wise than we can imagine. But God's willingness to appear weak and/or foolish in his ways shows to us the reality of his love for us, and that therefore Jesus is a Lord we can trust.

The kids sang "On That Very First Christmas" from the Colin Buchanan DVD "King of Christmas" and a group from CBL sang two Brazilian Christmas songs exceedingly beautifully.

News from the rest of the week. Sadly Pam had to go into hospital this week. We aren't exactly sure what the diagnosis is, but she may have had a minor stroke.

The kids enjoyed all their Christmas activities at school. Reuben sang "When Santa Got Stuck Up The Chimney" with his class and Joshua played his recorder and cello (yes cello!) both in front of the whole lower school and a large number of parents. I will try and post a bit of video later in the week.

Christmas here we come!!!!

First Carols of the Season

We had our first carol service of the season today. I came down with a cold on Friday which was still linguring - but it was an enjoyable day all the same. Great to have Yoko on the cello and Jeremy singing, with Ling on piano. Even better to have a couple of visitors including Yoko's husband for the first time.
I was speaking from Matthew 1v18-25 on the birth of Jesus. That it is the culmination of all the hopes and promises of the Old Testament. Jesus birth shows us two important things - what God is like and what God is concerned about. God is not a God who stays away but comes and lives with us. He knows what it is like to be 4 and have no-one listen! He knows what it is to be rejected and betrayed. And his great concern is to rescue us from our sin. He was so concerned to do that that he became a child who grew into a man who would be crucified. One question we are left with is, "Are we as concerned about our salvation as God?" Another is, "Are we as concerned about an unrescued world as God?"

If you are reading this fairly soon after posting, perhaps you could pray for Pam. She has got very dehydrated through not drinking enough. We are a little worried for her at the moment. Thx.
Chris

Blog Revisited

Good to be back here after so long. Going to try and update regularly on a Sunday evening and occassionally in the week. We'll see how it goes - don't get your hopes too high. Here's a pic of the kids to get us restarted.

And here's one of a fierce table football game at church last week!

Despite overtiredness the Lord blessed us today. Maria was able to tell us how the Lord had answered her and recovered her British passport. She sang with joy! Elaine, a lady we have been praying for for a long time joined us for the first time in a long time. She suffers from back pain which has kept her away from church.

The message was from Mark 10v42-46, the response to blind Bartimaeus to hearing Jesus was nearby shows us what saving faith looks like. Trusting the real Jesus, trusting him to be merciful, trusting him before everything else, trusting him to forgive us and trusting him to lead the way. Jesus question to him is turned to us by Mark - Jesus says, "What would you have me do for you?" Our answer to that question reveals whether we have saving faith, or only the faith we want to have.

Over 20 people stayed for lunch - Christmas invitations went out, with plenty more to go! We also had a good and relaxing time through Grace Cafe and Grace Talks. The evening talk was about the "Prison of Fear". It was good to be reminded that "perfect love drives out fear." And God offers that perfect love in Christ.