There is a time for everything

There is a time for everything,

    and a season for every activity under the heavens

(Ecclesiastes 3:1)

It is time for me to say goodbye.

The past year has been a tough one for me. I have known that I would likely be leaving you, but could not say too much as all the pieces were not yet in place.

But now, I can tell you. And I want to say goodbye properly, and tell you the whole story.

My husband, Isaac, heard God calling him to become a vicar in the Church of England. For the past two years, he has been meeting with other vicars, writing essays, and generally preparing for an assessment and selection for going to Bible college.

To cut a very long story short, on Saturday 1^st August, the Bishop of Norwich approved his application, and we’re moving to Durham at the end of August to start a new adventure.

And so, as I said above, it is time for me to say goodbye.

The past 3 years I have spent in the Anglia division as your DYO have been amazing. There have been highs, and there have been lows, but overall, I am so grateful that God called me here to minister to you during this time, and that I have had the chance to share in so many of your journeys with Christ. It is such a privilege to have been there as you have made a decision to follow Him, or as you have learned something new about the Bible, or praying with you in the tough times, or even just laughing together at the pranks you have pulled.

The last 3 years have stretched me, challenged me, grown me, and shown me how good God is. And I thank you all for being a part of that.

Every single one of you is precious in God’s sight, and I hope that in some small way, I have been able to show you each how much He loves you.

As I leave, and you wait for your new DYO, I encourage you to stay strong in your faith, and really bind together as the young people of Anglia division. Get in touch with your friends from around the division, and just meet together. Ask your youth leaders to organise ‘youth group’ exchanges and visit one another’s clubs, fellowships, Sunday meetings, whatever!

Don’t forget to thank your youth leaders. They are the ones who are there for you, week in, week out. They are the ones who spend hours preparing in the week, turn up early to make sure everything’s right, and stay behind to tidy up your mess. And I thank each of them as well for all their hard work and support to me while I have been here, and for supporting you.

There is a time for everything. Right now, we’re saying goodbye, but that does not mean it is time for the end of youth work in Anglia division.

The team at DHQ are passionate about the work that has been going on, and are so keen to see you all continue to grow in your faith and yourselves. Please continue to support events like Youth Councils and Summer School, and attend Youth Band and Youth Chorus.

God has great things planned for each of your lives, and for the work in the division. I’m sorry I won’t be here to see it, but I believe it will happen. And one day in the future, when we meet each other in a random place, I can’t wait to hear all about it.

Becky

Youth Councils 2015

On Sunday 22^nd March, over 65 young people plus leaders gathered at The Thetford Academy for Youth Councils 2015. Many corps were represented and a large number of the young people were attending for the first time.

Many corps groups had created ‘This is My Salvation Army’ videos, which were a highlight of the day. Each video was made by young people in the corps and reflected the character of the group. The Anglia Youth Band and Anglia Youth Chorus also took part in the worship as well as creating their own videos.

During the afternoon, there were a number of activities to choose from. In Sports & Games, teams competed in challenges such as ‘Toss the Whellie’ and creating their own ‘Haka’ chant. Owls were created from old loo rolls in Arts and Crafts, and some of the youth chilled out and asked questions in the Chill Out Zone. Some members of the Youth Band gave a spontaneous march around the building, playing favourite hymn tunes and even some unseasonal carols!

Dave Cotterill from ALOVE was our speaker for the day, and he explored Micah 6:8 – challenging the young people to live lives of humility, mercy and walking with God. In the afternoon he encouraged them by showing the many supports they have to living their life this way.

Do we need to stop the worship 'whoa'?

I saw a youtube video recently which documented the many secular songs that use ‘whoa’, ‘oh’, or a similar variation as part of the lyrics. The amount of songs documented was amazing! And it got me thinking about how the use of these sounds is not exclusive to secular music. How many of the new, ‘modern’ worship songs feature the ‘whoa-oh-oh’? In fact, as I write this, the worship music I was listening to featured one!

I once heard a worship leader joke about the ‘whoa-oh-oh’ used in his song was an Aramaic word for ‘I love you Jesus’, but he left the conversation there. They did not explore why they had used the word. What is it that makes this word so popular in modern worship songs? Why do worship leaders constantly write songs that use it? Is it a filler, for when they didn’t know what else to write? Or does it allow the worshipper a chance to engage?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ashleycampbellphotography/5245827932

One of the beauties of ‘whoa-oh-oh’ is that it can mean so many, different things to each person singing. It can allow the worshipper to express a whole variety of emotions whenever they sing it. It gives worshippers a way to express the deepest longings of their hearts, share their frustrations, offer praise, pray, and much more through just a simple sound. Also, while some worshippers may feel happy to sing their own songs of praise during worship, many people, particularly those new to worship or those not used to this kind of worship, do not find it easy to do so, and singing ‘whoa’ allows them to express the same feelings. It is an expression of what is written in Romans 8:26:

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.

(NIV)

This isn’t to say ‘whoa-oh-oh’ can’t become a time filler and meaningless. As I said above, almost every new worship song seems to feature one these days. It’s a staple part of the modern worship song; and a lot of the time it is used as the ‘hook’, the part of the song that gets stuck in your head after you leave church. ‘Whoa-oh-oh’ is maybe not the best theological thinking to be ringing in our ears after we’ve engaged with God! I certainly don’t believe it’s going to impact my lifestyle if that’s all that’s in my head.

As with all things worship, it comes down to what your heart is saying as you sing. What is going on in our minds and hearts as we sing ‘whoa’? If we are not singing in an attitude of worship, then the words or sounds we make don’t matter at all.

The Christingle

Have you been to a Christingle service this year?

The Christingle service is a special service that some churches hold during advent. I’ve not been to one this year, but I used to enjoy looking forward to them as a child at primary school.

The tradition started in Germany in 1747 as a symbol of Jesus bringing light and love to the world. Over the years, the Christingle developed from a single candle with a red ribbon, to the orange we have today.

But what does the Christingle mean?

The Orange – The World

The orange represents the world. The world with all its good and bad bits. All people of the world. The world which Jesus came to save.

For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

The Ribbon – Jesus’ blood

This is the reminder of the reason Jesus was born into the world: what his ultimate was. To come and die for our sins.

 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. Romans 5:6 – 9

The Candle – Jesus is the light of the world

This is part of the Christingle that has always existed. It reminds us that Jesus is the light of the world.

 Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” John 8:12

The Four Cocktail Sticks – The Four Corners of the World and the Four Seasons

The cocktail sticks remind us that God’s Salvation was for the whole world, and that we need to spread the message that far. The reminder of the seasons shows that God is with us through all the seasons of our lives.

For everything there is a season,
    a time for every activity under heaven.
A time to be born and a time to die.
    A time to plant and a time to harvest.

 A time to kill and a time to heal.
    A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to cry and a time to laugh.
    A time to grieve and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
    A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
A time to search and a time to quit searching.
    A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear and a time to mend.
    A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate.
    A time for war and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 – 8

Dried Fruit or Sweets – God’s provision

Another reminder of how God provides for us. For all our needs, material and spiritual.

“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’  These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs.  Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. Matthew 6:31 – 33

The Christingle is a good reminder of the fullness of the Christmas story. It’s not just about a little baby in a manger. There is so much more: Christmas is only part of the bigger story.

This Christmas, remember to focus on the bigger story.

And I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a happy Christmas and joyful New Year.

An Advent Challenge (Part 2)

As I mentioned in my previous post, this advent season I am using the Bible Society Advent Challenge to try and prepare myself for Christmas.

How is it going? Not great!

The first few challenges were fairly simple, and the fact you have a choice of three options meant that I could pick something I knew I could do.

But then I was busy over the weekend. I forgot to check the challenge for a few days, and so I felt I ought to try and complete my missed days all at once.

That didn't happen. For one thing, I forgot to make a list of what I had chosen to do, never mind finding an opportunity to complete it.

But what impact has the challenge made on my advent so far?

Well, many of the tasks have been something I would do naturally (e.g. only fill the kettle with the water you need, hold the door open for someone) but others require me to search for the opportunity to complete them or more planning to execute.

The challenge is making me think about what I’m doing on a daily basis.

But is it preparing me for Christmas? Is it making me more aware of the advent season?

No. Not by itself.

Anyone can sign up to this sort of challenge at any time of the year. The challenge in and of itself is not changing my view of advent.

What is working is that I am aware of the season and that it should mean something. By taking the challenge and wanting it to mean something, I am more aware in my daily life that advent isn't just about opening a calendar door and eating some chocolate. There is something coming; a special day when everything changed. A day when we remember God came down to make us right with him and show us how much he loved us.

While I may not be great at completing my daily advent challenge, my bigger advent challenge, to prepare for Christmas, is going much better. It may still be early days, but by seeking to make Advent mean something, I can prepare myself.

On Sunday in church, we read from Isaiah about the one come to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah.

Listen! It’s the voice of someone shouting,

“Clear the way through the wilderness

for the Lord!

Make a straight highway through the wasteland

for our God!

Fill in the valleys,

and level the mountains and hills.

Straighten the curves,

and smooth out the rough places.

Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed,

and all people will see it together.

The Lord has spoken!

(Isaiah 40:3-5, NLT)

Advent is the time to do this in our hearts; prepare ourselves for Him.

Did you sign up to any of the Advent challenges? How are you finding it? Do you feel you are preparing for the coming of Christ into our world?

An Advent Challenge

Christmas is on its way. Shops have had presents, cards, and wrapping paper in stock since late August (or so it seems), and I even saw one of my neighbours houses decorated in mid-November! But now, Advent is officially here. It’s time to get ready for Christmas.

There are many ways to celebrate advent. For many years, people have counted the days to Jesus’ birth using advent candles, advent wreaths, and (one of the most popular) advent calendars! But how about an advent challenge? Instead of opening a window and getting a chocolate, you get a challenge.

I’ve often struggled with advent and how it is meant to ‘prepare us’ for Christmas, especially with the disappearance of the word and focus solely on present, decorations and food. Most of my advents have been spent going carolling with The Salvation Army band, which is good, but could get repetitive and make the season a chore rather than a chance to reflect and prepare for Christmas in my own heart.

This year, I’ve signed up to the Bible Society’s Advent Challenge (you can sign up here). The challenges encourage you to spread generosity and do good deeds. As well as a daily challenge, there is a short thought and Bible passage to make you think about what you are doing. I’m looking forward to completing the daily challenge, and to see how taking the challenge, and reading the thought and scripture, will change my view of advent.

There are many advent challenges available to sign up to online. ALOVE UK are posting a daily advent thought on their website, and will be challenging individuals to take a picture to represent that day’s thought and share them online. Or how about an advent calendar of sound? (Found here)

However you choose to spend Advent this year, I challenge you to try something different. Sign up to a challenge and see how it impacts your advent. I’ll be sharing how my advent challenge impacts me here, so stay tuned!

Thanksgiving

On Sunday 16^th November, the Anglia Youth Chorus led the worship at Wisbech Corps. Below are the sermon notes I used.

In that day you will sing:

“I will praise you, O Lord!

You were angry with me, but not any more.

Now you comfort me.

See, God has come to save me.

I will trust in him and not be afraid.

The Lord God is my strength and my song;

he has given me victory.”

With joy you will drink deeply

from the fountain of salvation!

In that wonderful day you will sing:

“Thank the Lord! Praise his name!

Tell the nations what he has done.

Let them know how mighty he is!

Sing to the Lord, for he has done wonderful things.

Make known his praise around the world.

Let all the people of Jerusalem[a] shout his praise with joy!

For great is the Holy One of Israel who lives among you.”

(Isaiah 12, NLT)

Every year in America, on the fourth Thursday in November, families and friends gather to celebrate thanksgiving with one another; a day to give thanks for all that has happened in the preceding year and the harvest that has been gathered in. It’s a time to share the joys and celebrate God’s goodness. People from all backgrounds and religions spend the day thinking about what they have to be thankful for, whether they are the wealthiest or the poorest, whether there is lots to be thankful for or little, whether they’re giving thanks for food, shelter, good things that have happened, or just the fact they’re still living.

While today we think of thanksgiving as a very American concept, throughout church history there have been ‘Days of Thanksgiving’ celebrated whenever there was a reason for national celebration. In fact, we’ve just recently celebrated one of them – Guy Fawkes Day began as a ‘Day of Thanksgiving’ for the failure of the Gunpowder Plot – giving thanks for the salvation of the King’s life and of parliament. And while we may not think of it as such, Remembrance Day is also a day of thanksgiving as well as remembrance; we’re giving thanks to those who gave their lives so we could be free.

Being thankful is still a major part of today’s culture. I’m sure we all know of the Roses advert, ‘Thank you very much for…’, and recently on social media there was a ‘thankfulness challenge’. People would have to share for five days 3 things they were grateful for on that day, and then challenge a number of friends to take part. While the movement began mainly amongst Christian people, it was not limited to them. Many people of other faiths and no faith also took part in the challenge. The challenge was supposed to reveal to people that there are many things to be thankful for; trying to create a thanksgiving mind set within themselves that would last beyond those five days.

Thanksgiving

But with everyone being thankful for things, who are we thanking? Being thankful suggests there is a person or reason giving us these things. If things come our way by chance, our thankfulness is hollow; it is more of an appreciation for what we have received than being thankful; we are happy to have it, but no one is receiving our thanks. When non-Christians are thankful for the things they experience in life, they are more focussed on the fact these things have been received by them and how good it makes them feel.

As Christians, our thankfulness is different, because we believe God has given us all these things. Our thanksgiving is part of our worship; he receives it as an act of worship from us. We should have a thanksgiving mind set towards him at all times, most importantly because there is one thing we have received from him that should cause us to be more thankful than anything else we receive.

What is it?

It’s forgiveness for our sins and salvation through his son, Jesus. By his death and resurrection, thereby paying the price for our sin, we are saved and can enter into a relationship with God.

From our reading, we can see that before we came to Jesus, God was angry, because of our sin.

Experiencing God’s Anger

Our passage from Isaiah 12 is a song of thanksgiving for salvation. At the time of writing, the people of Israel were experiencing trouble for their sins. They had not turned from their wicked ways, and so could not experience salvation. Just two chapters earlier, in Isaiah 10, the Lord is expressing his anger at the way the Israelites have behaved, but this is not the only time God gets angry with the sinful. He has always been angry with those who do not follow his laws as Paul writes in Romans 1:18 – 21:

“God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks.” (NLT)

And Paul warns that we too experience God’s anger in Romans 2:3:

“Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God’s judgment when you do the same things?” (NLT)

When we sin, we experience God’s anger. His anger brings death, and is painful to experience. In Isaiah, God was going to send the Assyrians to punish them for their wicked ways. But for us, we experience God’s anger as a broken relationship. We can never truly have a relationship with God while his anger burns against us. 

But Isaiah 12 is not focussed on God’s anger. By the end of verse 1, God has come to bring comfort. But what has changed? What changes this anger into comfort? And how?

Experiencing God’s Power & Comfort

Verse 2 says ‘God has come to save me’. It’s Jesus. While God is angry about our sin, he loves us enough to get involved in the mess of our lives to come and rescue us himself through the death of his son Jesus.

In Isaiah 40:9-11, we read that God is coming in power to rule with a powerful arm, but he will feed his flock and hold them close. Isaiah was prophesying the coming of Jesus. When Jesus came, he came with the power to forgive sins so that we could be comforted. Our comfort cannot come before the punishment, but Jesus took that for us on the cross so that he could then be the one to offer us comfort, knowing he was the one who saves us.

Experiencing Joy

We are dependent on this grace; this gift of salvation we haven’t earned. This salvation and forgiveness are just some of the gifts we have undeservedly received from God. And in return for these things, we should live in recognition that they belong to God. When we do, we experience joy – because we know we owe God EVERYTHING.

 

When we experience the joy of salvation, we want to thank the Lord because we know we don’t deserve the rescue, but we also want to tell of his great name to those who haven’t experienced God’s salvation, and tell them what he has done. When someone becomes a Christian for the first time, they’re so joyful and thankful; they can’t help but spread the news, which is what we see described in Isaiah 12:4-6.  

Testimony of God’s presence

Isaiah knew what it was to receive forgiveness and salvation from God. He had known the salvation in his life in chapter 6; God made him clean to be his messenger. And since then, he shared God’s message with the nation. He wanted them to turn from their sin so they too could experience the joy he had found.

Those who regularly spend time with God and receive his forgiveness know what they have been saved from, the mess they make of their live; the cost of their forgiveness, the death of Jesus; and that the news must be shared with others, because it is just too good to keep to themselves. They are joyful, because they are rooted in the relationship with God that is the result of salvation.

But we can too easily loose this sense of joy and thanksgiving. When we’ve been saved a while, we can forget what it was like to be in the mess. We can forget what we have been saved from. And without recalling that experience, we forget the joy it brought into our hearts. If we don’t experience the salvation in our lives, how can we tell of it to others?

When did you last experience the power of salvation in your life? When did you last drink from the fountain of salvation? Have you ever even tasted the waters?

We need to keep coming back to the fountain. A fountain at the time Isaiah wrote would not be a fountain as we picture one, but what we may call a spring – the source of a river. A spring appears to come from nowhere, but keeps flowing. That is what salvation is like. It appears from nowhere but keeps coming. There will always be enough if you are truly sorry for your sin and want to be saved.

Jesus died so we could be saved. It is his death we should give thanks for.