Category: Thought for the week

Thought for the Week John Cairns, King’s Lynn Catholic Church

Some people with families, facing redundancy and other crises, have to rely for emergency help on food banks, not just in King’s Lynn, but throughout the country.

It is difficult to convince some people of the extent of these problems. Jesus, in his story of the rich man and the beggar Lazarus, condemns the rich man for ignoring the plight of the beggar. When he is asked ‘Who is my neighbour?’ he replies with the story of the good Samaritan (a name used by a last resort organisation).

Perhaps we expect the government with its various social agencies to do too much. Christians have not waited on state help. Believing that each human being is of inestimable value, Frederic Ozanam founded the Society of St Vincent Paul in 1833 to help the poor of Paris, thus inspiring others to serve the poor throughout the world. His work continues to this day.

In India Mother Teresa’s task was overwhelming. Single handed, with no money, she helped  the poor, starving, and dying struggling in India. Mother Teresa was confident that God would provide, he did. Again, her example and work carry on and inspire others.

What is our response?

 

Regular readers will know of my passion for the nations. We love having lots of different nations gathered together in our Church. It reflects something of the heart of God.

In Genesis, the nations were scattered and different languages kicked off to thwart mankind’s plan to become like God by building a huge tower at Babel (I’ve often chuckled at architect’s desperation to continue with that plan in the major cities of the world.) Later when God called Abraham, part of that calling was to be a blessing to the nations.

Old Testament Israel’s calling as a treasured possession, a holy nation or a kingdom of priests (who mediate God to those around them) was pretty chequered. They swung between forgetting to be holy and forgetting to be priestlike to the nations around them. The nations often messed them up rather than them being a blessing to the nations.

When Jesus came he was pretty radical, ministering in the hated Samaritan areas, telling favourable stories about them and casting some demons out of someone into a herd of pigs. When he had risen from the dead and sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost – the different languages suddenly spoken by the disciples was a reversal of the curse of Babel.

As the church grew, they grasped God’s big mission to have a people for Himself from the nations to bless the nations. The church is one new man in Christ – Jew and Gentile together, black and white, old and young, rich and poor. So I’m glad church can gather the nations together in Christ –that means lots of joy, God’s heart is reflected and some great food.

The Bible’s blundering oaf
What sort of people do you find in the Bible? Monastic types with haloes and sore knees? Actually there are very few of these. However, there are plenty of stories of blundering human beings.
Samson is a good example. He is most famous for two things: his girlfriend Delilah (a poor choice of partner, as she betrayed him); and the spectacular (if unsophisticated) way he died, pushing apart some supporting columns and bringing down the roof on both himself and his enemies. Look further into Samson’s life as recorded in the book of Judges, and you discover a catalogue of brutality, lust, compulsive decision-making, and unabashed disobedience. How did someone like this ever come to be regarded as an Old Testament hero?
The answer is that there is a thread of faithfulness that runs through Samson’s unruly behaviour. Samson is a powerhouse, and while some of that power is misdirected, his loyalty is exemplary. He uses his strength to help his people, and this even extends to dying for them. He turns out to be the sort of person who would surrender his own life to deliver others from their oppressors. The Bible has a lot of time for people like this.
If there is hope for an oaf like Samson, then there is hope for lustful, compulsive people like us. Perhaps, with God’s help, we too can maintain some loyalty in the middle of all our blundering.

I wonder whether there is a currency in the Kingdom of God. To replace money there is another currency we use. While money talks to our bodies and their needs, this other currency talks soul to soul, without the need for language because the currency is so obviously good; (talking in tongues). When two souls pass this currency between them they seem to become permanently bonded, a link which suggests eternity. To give or receive this currency is a wonderful joy, suggesting a sense of participation in the life of the Trinity. This currency re-forms us, as if it snips the threads of doubt within us, as a tailor re-forms a suit of clothes. This wonderful currency is mercy.

Mercy is the only logical attitude towards my suffering fellow man. Furthermore, it would be logical for mercy to come after resurrection and judgement because St James tells us that ‘Mercy can afford to laugh at judgement’, James 2:13. Perhaps that is why Jesus had to be crucified, to show man how far away he is from the currency of the kingdom.

I wonder whether God plans to give man a full understanding of reality. The huge power which that would entail could only be successfully expressed through the currency of mercy. God is the Father of mercy so ‘Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful’; Luke 6:36.

Peter Coates

 

 

 

Every parent will know the scene I’m about to describe well…

The moment you’re young child runs off, they trip and all you can do is watch as they fall face first before finishing up in a tearful heap.

As my two year old son laid on the concrete I done what any loving parent would do, rushed over, bent down and scooped him up. I love him and I wanted to help.

Did you know God is just the same?!

Psalm 145 says ‘The Lord is gracious (disposed to bend down & stoop in kindness) and full of compassion.’

The definition of compassion is ‘a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.’

When we are on our face, sick, broken or troubled by something, we want more than for someone to feel sorry for us. We long for someone to be able to help do something about what’s happening. We need compassion and we find it in Christ.

Matthew 14 says when Jesus saw the sick, broken and troubled ‘He was moved with compassion for them and healed them.’

If for whatever reason you are on your face at the moment Jesus wants to bend down to you and help. He is ‘gracious and full of compassion’, he’s moved by what’s going on in your life, and because he loves you he wants to help!

Why not call out to him?

Darryl Mallet

Assistant Pastor – King’s Lynn Christian Fellowship

 

 

I am enjoying such peace here, and I am completely free from any worry or anxiety. The weather here has been very unsettled and cool as I write, but that doesn’t  rob me of my contentment. Where am I? I’m at home in North West Norfolk!

Am I living in a fantasy world, completely oblivious to what is going on around me? No, I am well aware of the bad news that pours from our TV sets every day. Have I lived a “charmed life” so far? No, I have known my share of family tragedy, but I have a connection, and I don’t mean the internet.

I enjoy a close, personal relationship with God; I am on first name terms with the         Creator of the universe, not as a special privilege, but because I accepted the offer that He has made to everyone, in the Bible. My daily life is lived in contact with Him and under His protection, and my eternal destiny is absolutely assured, not because I deserve to be with Jesus in heaven, but because He took the punishment for all my wrongdoing and failure by dying on a cross, and I asked Him to include me in that forgiveness.

So I have every reason to be free of worry and anxiety, having a Heavenly Father who is so powerful, and so compassionate and kind, and His offer really is open to everyone. Would you care to join me?

 

Jeff Trimingham

King’s Lynn Christian Fellowship

“I’ll believe it when I see it!” They were my words the last time someone told me we were going to have a hot, sunny weekend!  There are some things that we find hard to believe without seeing the evidence.  Most weeks there is a new scientific “discovery” reported in the papers and we feel we are closer to understanding everything there is. But actually, the more scientists discover, the more they realise still eludes us.  We still have no idea what most of the universe is made of, we don’t know how it started and we don’t understand why it seems to be so finely tuned as to allow for our existence. The nature of time eludes us and ageing is still a puzzle. We don’t understand the human brain – how can a mass of nerve cells produce a symphony, or appreciate the beauty of a sunset?  So where does this leave us?  Acknowledging our lack of understanding is the foundation of faith. In fact, just because the universe is so incomprehensible, we are inspired to believe in something bigger.  Albert Einstein said “That deep emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God.”  So what if there really is a God?  What is He like and can I know Him? Does it matter anyway?  If you want to find out – come to a local Church on Sunday morning. Doubters welcome!

Wendy Hill

Kings Lynn Christian Fellowship

The horrific attack on a soldier in Woolwich and subsequent protests by the English Defence League was an attempt to drive a wedge between races. That wedge has been around since the Tower of Babel in Old Testament times.

The tower of Babel is a fascinating narrative – human pride and rejection of God meant those early peoples were trying to build a tower to be as high as God. So God separated them into different people groups and languages to thwart their plan. We often call that the curse of Babel. That curse was reversed when Jesus died on the cross, rose again and sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in believers. At Pentecost, when the early believers first spoke in tongues – the nations around could understand the good news of the gospel in their own language!

The gospel is wonderfully unifying – Paul wrote there is neither Greek nor Jew – all are one in Christ, the dividing wall of hostility has been broken down by Jesus. The Church is made up of different nations, one in their faith in Christ! The wedge has gone – indeed we are delighted in our church to have over nine nations represented. It makes for some great food evenings!

Don’t let the extremists create a wedge between cultures, but recognise that ultimately only Christ can bring us together

Andy Moyle
The Gateway Church

Ten years ago we had Steve Jobs, Johnny Cash and Bob Hope. Now we have no jobs, no cash and no hope… Please don’t let Kevin Bacon die!

What can be worse than no jobs, no cash and no hope? How about 7.6 million unborn children aborted since 1967 in the UK. Or the way the political and cultural “elite” have made gay marriage an issue on which “no dissent can be brooked”. Or that last month 170 people needed a food parcel in King’s Lynn. Or that this week a religious extremist beheaded a soldier on a London street. What has our nation come to?

At least three things give me great hope that our nation can be changed.

1) Look for the helpers – the lady who prayed over the dead soldier and the cub scout leader who tried to stall the extremist from committing more atrocity by talking him down. Wherever there is evil, there is good helping and overcoming. The Bible tells us that “where sin abounds, grace abound more.”

2) A church in South Wales is experiencing an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that has seen 300 become Christians and numerous verifiable hearings in the last month. We are praying for the same to happen here in Lynn too.

3) Churches can’t give out jobs or cash, but Jesus Christ gives a hope that is sure and certain. And bacon too – more than one local church has regular bacon butty Sundays. What better way to start your Sunday than a bacon butty and worshipping Jesus who changes lives and fills us with love and power to change a sin-sick world for good.

Andy Moyle

The Gateway Church