Dear Friends,

We have a family tradition that all newborn babies receive the gift of a teddy bear for their first Christmas. I still have my teddy bear and although he has stitches in his paw, he continues to be a faithful companion in his pride of place on my bedroom windowsill. The teddy bear was seemingly named in honour of President Theodore Roosevelt, after he refused to shoot a young bear cub that had been captured during a hunting trip in November 1902. This act of compassion led to the manufacture of one of the world’s favourite toys.

At Emmanuel, we have been entrusted with the care of a very special, rather huge teddy bear, which has come to live amongst our community for a short time. And what a wonderful time he is having with visits to the swimming baths, the fire station, and choir rehearsals and has even had his very own coffee morning. We are using Rev. Bear of course as a means to raise money for this year’s ‘All we can’ Harvest Appeal to support people across the world living with poverty and injustice. Look out for photos of Rev Bear’s adventures in our Christmas edition!

Last March, as part of our Mothering Sunday service, I showed an extract from the film ‘Paddington’. Paddington as we all know was a bear who arrived at Paddington Station bearing a label around his neck saying simply; ‘Please look after this bear, thank you’. And so the Brown Family and their housekeeper and various other characters that Paddington meets along the way, welcome Paddington, a stranger, into their home. They clothe him and feed him and help him to find his way in the world, and they do this with love.

In Matthew 25:35 Jesus says to us, ‘For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me’. As we continue to have fun and fellowship welcoming Rev Bear into our community in Ormskirk, may we too remember the words of Jesus who preached a message of love and compassion for all people.  And thank you everyone for welcoming Rev Bear into your hearts and your homes. A little bit of madness is good for us all!

Every blessing

Sue

July has arrived already and our thoughts, certainly for our young people, will turn to the holidays. Mark and I are very excited to be attending our first Boys Brigade camp in Wales!  But even if you are not going away, it is good at this time of year to consider a period of rest and reflection.  By and large, as a society we do not readily value rest and reflection.  Despite the fact that we now have the electronic aid of dish washers, washing machines etc. to do our domestic tasks for us, the internet to shop for us and emails to communicate with people for us, we still don’t seem to have enough hours in the day.  I admit to sometimes struggling to find the time to sit down, pray and take time out of the ‘busyness’ of life to simply reflect.

In God’s eyes rest and reflection has value, worth and purpose and this was evidenced in the life of Jesus. As Luke tells us in chapter 5:15-16,
“The news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses.  But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”

It’s interesting that Jesus withdrew from the crowds just when he was most in demand.  There were thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, of people waiting for Jesus to heal them, to teach them, to bless them, primed, ready. The opportunity and need were great.  And yet, Jesus was nowhere to be found.  Why?  Well because Jesus understood that in order to accomplish the purpose for which God had sent Him, he had to remain spiritually strong.  And that required regular times of prayer and meditation, regular times of rest and recuperation. Likewise in Mark’s gospel 6:30-32 we read “The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught.  Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, ’Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.’  So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.”

Jesus did not demand, nor desire, that his followers worked to the point of exhaustion and burn-out.  Jesus understood that they needed periods of rest in order to remain strong, just as we do.

One of the two most important functions of rest is to allow us the time to listen to God. Sometimes in the hustle and bustle of daily life we don’t hear the still, small voice of God. We lose the joy and the inspiration of simply being in his presence.  I recently spent 2 days on a retreat in Harwarden.  During the stay I was actually given time to go away with the instruction to stand alone in an open space and meditate on God.  And boy did I find it hard, with my butterfly brain flitting between what was happening at home and lists of jobs to attend to.  But I also heard God speak to me in the conversations I had with friends during mealtimes, through walking in the park looking with awe and wonder at the beautiful surroundings, and through studying scripture and coming together in prayer.

Secondly, rest is important to remind us of who we are, to reaffirm our humanity as men and women made in the image of God.  God does not value us simply by the sum of what we accomplish.  We have value because God is our Father, and because in Christ we are his children.  Rest helps us to maintain our perspective on our place in the grand scheme of things. It reminds us that we are totally dependent on God. In Isaiah 30:15, we read, “This is what the Sovereign Lord , the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength.”

So as we embark upon the holiday season, I pray that at home or away, we will have the opportunity to enjoy precious time doing nothing but appreciating the glory of God and what he has done for us. And on camp I’m going to savour the opportunity to spend precious time with our young people and their families and leaders, as we take time out for relaxation, some rest (perhaps!!), but definitely fun and fellowship in the presence of God.

May God continue to bless us all,
​
Sue

I can hardly believe that it is May already.  As the saying goes, time flies when you’re having fun, and Mark and I are taking such pleasure from being part of the worshipping community at Emmanuel!

May is an interesting month!  According to the web, May is apparently, somewhere in the world, the national month in which people celebrate their pets. It is also healthy vision month to remind everyone to get their eyes checked regularly and motorcycle safety month.  May also marks the end of Spring.  And don’t forget ‘Star Wars’ – May the fourth (force) be with you!
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But of course May is a very special month for two other reasons.  Firstly it was on Wednesday, May 24, 1738, that John Wesley experienced assurance of his salvation.  Wesley wrote in his journal that at about 8:45 p.m. “while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.”

Then on Thursday, May 25th, we will celebrate Ascension Day. Ascension Day is the 40th day of Easter, occurring 39 days after Easter Sunday and commemorates Jesus’ ascension into heaven.

What is the link between these?  Well, when John Wesley edited the Book of Common Prayer for use by Methodists, he deleted nearly all of the Anglican’s Holy Days that weren’t Sundays, except Good Friday, Christmas Day and Ascension Day.  Wesley believed that God has personally reconciled the believer to himself through the atoning life and death of Christ.  It is through faith that we receive Christ as our Prophet, Priest, and King. As we celebrate the ascension of Christ we acknowledge the reality of the fullness of Christ’s reign now and in eternity.

And so, following our Easter celebrations we continue to journey in faith with Christ, our Saviour.  May we continue to have fun finding continuing renewed ways of sharing our faith, of being Christ’s disciples and moving forward as the people God wants us to be.

May God continue to bless us all

Sue

A week ago we gathered as a church community at the start of Holy week.

As the week has progressed, we have met in fellowship, shared a Passover meal, reflected upon Christ’s crucifixion, formed a human cross, sung and face painted as a witness to the people of Ormskirk, and decorated the cross and filled the church with flowers ready for worship today.

We have truly journeyed with Christ together, thank you everyone

Happy Easter!

​Sue

Dear Friends,

As we recently gathered on Remembrance Sunday to honour all those who gave of their lives and suffered as a result of past wars, we looked to the past.  We remembered especially those who died at the Somme in this the centenary year of the battle.  This act of remembering drew us to a realisation of the present, of how many are still suffering today because of conflict and unrest.  But then we looked again to words from the past, words that are a part of our present and give us hope for the future. In the Book of Isaiah chapter 9, verses 5-7 we read these wonderful words;
‘A child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom.  He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore.’

This Christmas as we look at the sparkle of the beautiful trees in our Christmas Tree Festival, we will be encouraged to consider ‘The Spirit of Christmas’.  As we reflect upon what Christmas is really all about, I encourage us all to consider past, present and future.  There will be some in our community who may be grieving the loss of loved ones, whose memories of Christmas are not always happy ones.  There will be some in our community for whom the present may be difficult, perhaps because of financial worries, who find themselves alone, or who are living in difficult domestic situations.

But for us as a Church family, the Spirit of Christmas is about helping the people around us to have hope for the future.  It’s about offering practical support, it’s about prayer, it’s about telling and witnessing to the message of love and hope of the Prince of Peace, born in a lowly stable that we may know God’s presence in the world.  That is the best present we can offer our fellow brothers and sisters.

In the new year we will have the opportunity to discern where God is leading us in 2017, how he hopes to guide and inform our future so that we can truly witness his love to one another and those of our community and the wider world.  What a tremendous gift that is!

And so I pray that this Christmas we will all know the joy of the Christ child. May we know peace and love, and as we remember his birth, may we all feel ‘The True Spirit of Christmas’ in our hearts, not just at Christmas, but in the future days that are yet to come.

On behalf of myself, Mark, Rebecca, Alasdair, Chris, Ellie, Connor and Leana,
May we wish you all every Christmas blessing,
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Sue