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A few Sundays back I was driving home with my daughters in the car. All of a sudden there was a terrible screeching sound coming from my front tyre. The sound very much resembled fingernails being scrapped against a blackboard. It was terrible. Me, being the only adult in the car was trying to remain calm, thinking ‘I just need to get home safely’. Whereas my daughters had more of a reaction of fear, worry, and panic. Luckily the next day we found that it was just a little stone caught in my wheel and the solution was quite simple.

My daughters expressed a very natural reaction about how they were feeling in the situation. I didn’t show them the panic I was actually feeling inside. What if there is something seriously wrong with the car? How much money will this cost me? What if I can’t use my car for work? No matter what distress I was feeling, I was choosing to display a different response in this situation in order to create a calm that my daughters needed to regain a feeling of safety. If I had chosen to display my actual emotional reaction it would have completely changed the situation and made the atmosphere a lot worse.

Often in life things can happen that create different responses and reactions from us. People can say things to upset us or make us angry. We have a choice whether we react emotionally or respond thoughtfully. Sometimes our reactions are not thought through and our initial feelings about a situation rise up and actually have the potential to make things worse. Sometimes we need to just take a step back and think about how to respond in the situation.

That Sunday even though I wanted to react negatively to the car screeching, I chose to think calmly and positively. Each of us has the same choice to make when we are faced with a situation that can evoke either a negative reaction or a positive response. Whatever you face this week I implore you to try and take a step back, a deep breath and choose a positive approach. In Proverbs 13:16 it says “Wise people think before they act; fools don’t—and even brag about their foolishness.”No matter what we may face let’s choose to be wise in our responses by thinking before we act from here on out.

Emily Hart
Kings Lynn Christian Fellowship

Donald Trump, eh? Good grief! He’s now the President of the United States and spent his first day in office telling the world that there were record numbers at his Inauguration on Friday when we have photographs showing a low turnout. It’s going to be an interesting 4 years!
I marched on the Women’s March on London last Saturday. It was in solidarity with the march on Washington and one of 700 marches across 70 countries. We marched to stand up for and defend the rights and freedoms of all people. As Yvette Cooper said at the rally in Trafalgar Square: ‘we’re marching because the most powerful man in the world says it’s ok to sexually assault women because he is rich and powerful and we say no way!’ It was incredible to be with 100,000 people bringing London to a halt. There were quite a lot of children, older women, babies, men and even dogs! The signs were so creative, some rude, some very funny. My favourite signs were ‘we shall overcomb’ and ‘I am very upset.’
Feminism gets a bad press but it’s simply believing that women deserve the same dignity and respect as men. I’m a feminist because 1 in 4 women in this country will experience domestic violence in their lifetime and 2 women are killed a week by a current or former partner. I’m a feminist because around the world girls are married off whilst they are still children and often die giving birth. And I’m a feminist because women billions of pounds are made every year by fashion, make up and cosmetic surgery industries from constantly telling women that our bodies are not good enough.
I marched in my clerical collar because I wanted to represent the Church of England. The Church has been slow to allow women as leaders, only agreeing to consecrate women bishops in 2014, but there are many of us who are feminists because of our faith, not in spite of it. Jesus spent his ministry defending and encouraging women: he saved a woman from being stoned to death, he stood up for women who were being criticized, he taught and encouraged women in their faith and he came to live among us to release and liberate all oppressed and downtrodden people. I marched as a feminist on Saturday – and as a Christian.

Reverend Laura Baker
Curate of King’s Lynn Minster

THE WEDGE

To say my D.I.Y skills are limited would be an understatement! Helping demolish things though, is one thing I definitely can do! I was recently asked to help ‘take down’ a summerhouse, but this thing had clearly been built well. It was made up of several strong individual panels, each one tightly interlocked with the next. The plan of attack, was unanimously agreed… Take crowbars, and use them to drive a wedge between each panel, pushing them apart. Away we went and then… Crash!!! First the roof came in, along with the guy who’d been up on it! That hurt!! Then the walls came down! Driving a wedge, left things in pieces!

It’s interesting how when we hear of relationships breaking down; people often talk about something that (quote) ‘drove a wedge between them.’ Just like that summerhouse, it caused a division, pushed them apart, spoiled things, and now it’s in pieces.

When God first created man and woman, they’d walk with God, talk with Him, enjoy His company and He theirs. Their relationship was strong! It was good! But a day came when they stopped listening to God, and they followed after what they wanted. They sinned. The result? A wedge was driven between them and God, pushing them apart. Sin spoilt their relationship, caused a division, and things came crashing down!

That’s what sin does, and the Bible says we’ve ‘all sinned’. We’ve all driven this wedge between ourselves and God!

God never wanted that! He loves us, longs for a close relationship with us, wants to one day welcome us into heaven, to spend eternity together, but what we see is our sin keeps us apart.

There’s good news though! Jesus gave His life on the cross to remove the wedge of sin! He done it, because God loves you too much to leave things the way they are!

You can know God! Have a close relationship with Him! Feel His love! Know He is with you! Be certain that one day He will welcome you into heaven! How? Get the wedge that separates you from all of that, removed!

How? Put your trust in Jesus, ask Him to forgive your sins, and ask Him into your heart. 1 Pet 3:18 ‘Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.’

Darryl Mallet
Pastor – KLCF

Christians have just celebrated the greatest religious days of the year, culminating in Easter Day. The three days of intensive prayer and religious ceremonies – Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday recall the Passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ. Easter Day marks Christ’s rising from the dead.
At Easter the followers of Jesus were amazed that their Master had risen and had appeared to various followers. All the while they gathered for prayer. It would be no surprise if they prayed the Our Father, the prayer Jesus taught them.
Through the ages Christians have said together this most comprehensive of prayers. With a reverence for God and a desire that his rule on earth may be complete, believers ask for their ‘daily bread’, asking too that they may have their offences forgiven, as they forgive others. This is a difficult task. We can say we pardon others, but even easier recall old grievances.
In these troubled times with fighting in Syria, tension and differences in Ukraine, armed bands and lawlessness in other parts of the world, people seek peace.
In the Catholic Mass, the priest says before the sign of peace: ‘Lord Jesus Christ, you said to your apostles: I leave you peace, my peace I give you. Look not on our sins, but on the faith of your Church, and grant us the peace and unity of your kingdom where you live for ever and ever’.
John Cairns, King’s Lynn Catholic Church

In 2000, Paddy Henderson received a call from a mother in Salisbury, while fundraising for Bulgaria. She told him ‘my children are going to bed hungry tonight – what are you going to do about it’. Shocked to find on investigation that so many local people faced short term hunger resulting from sudden crises, Paddy started a foodbank in his garden shed providing three days of emergency food to local people in critical need.
In 2004 Paddy Henderson and his wife set up the Trussel Trust on the model that he had already developed. So the UK foodbank was launched teaching churches and communities how to set up their own foodbank.
Helped by churches, schools, individuals, Borough Council, businesses, charities and, especially, by individuals our local Trussel Trust foodbank based in the Purfleet Trust has helped to provide food for 1456 people in crisis (a tonne of food per month).

Next year, increased household bills, potential job losses, especially in the public sector, and welfare reform will increase the demand.

We can put the question to ourselves: what are we going to do about it?
John Cairns