Favour (Sep '13)

(Colin Barnes)

I hope we’ve all had a good summer break. I love the seasons and rhythms in life, and the slower pace of life in August, as many of us holiday, is always welcome. I have enjoyed a family camp in Cornwall, and as I write this am sitting in Soul Survivor surrounded by around 6000 young people! (Just one wonderful fruit of the good things that the Lord has been doing in this land in recent years) 

Whilst on holiday in Cornwall I like to fish at least once, a childhood pastime that still draws me – provided we can eat what we catch. This year Rachel caught the biggest fish of the day, a beautiful (tasting) ling. She out-fished us all, including some highly experienced fishermen who’d brought all their own gear! I was proud of her and thought to myself, she experienced favour today. She got more than she deserved. She hadn’t invested any money in expensive equipment or spent years learning the skills required to become an expert. That got me thinking about our Father’s love for each of us and His determination to treat us better than we deserve, a concept called grace which is closely linked to favour. 

Take a moment right now just to meditate on that… the Creator of all things is looking to bestow favour on you today! When we really know that, we can face the challenges of life with a lot more confidence. 

Things can seem pretty daunting when we’re relying on our own strength to see us through. But when we know that the Lord is looking to bestow His favour on us, to give us our heart’s desire, to treat us better than we deserve and that He’s working in all things for good, hope rises in our hearts. 

Now that doesn’t mean that things always work out exactly as we’d hoped, but it does mean that over time we experience His goodness in our lives leading to thankfulness, joy and fruitfulness. Even when bad things happen to us, He is able to bring good out of them, to bless us, despite what others may have intended. You might call this, the ‘abundant life’ that someone once promised us! 

In all His dealings with people, God’s intention has always been to bless us (to favour us) so that we can, in turn, bless those around us. That’s what He told Abraham and that’s what He is saying to us today. But here’s the thing, Luke tells us that Jesus grew in favour with God and men (Luke 2:52) and Peter commands us to grow in grace, the ability to receive more than we deserve (2 Peter 3:18). We can actually grow in grace and favour. 

As I was praying for us all, I felt that this is what Father wants for you and me in this season, that we grow in our ability to receive His favour, to walk in more of His blessing. Not so we can be selfish, but so that we may be a greater blessing to those among whom we live. So, how do we grow in favour with God? Well, I believe it is by following our Community Aims: Looking on the face of Christ, Loving everyone we meet and Living like heaven is near. Let’s endeavour to worship Jesus constantly knowing we become like what we admire. Let’s do good wherever we can, treating others better than they deserve, and let’s expect God to answer our prayers and work wonders through us. We cannot earn His favour, but we can make the channel through which we receive wider. You see grace (like forgiveness) flows into our lives like a river, or more accurately, like water through a tap, the more we give away the more we will receive.

Luke tells us that now is the acceptable time of His favour towards us (4:19). So let’s determine to walk in that favour and grow in it, just as Jesus did.

Valuing our heritage (Jul '13)

(Jan Vickers)

Robin and I recently had a holiday in California and one of the highlights for us ageing hippies was hugging the giant Sequoia trees.

It was extraordinary to be touching a living organism that had been alive for over 1800 years. A similar feeling to kissing a 150 year old giant tortoise I met last year! You may have guessed that biology was a part of my heritage! 

This last year I have had the immense honour of having a beautiful American, Allison Wyatt from Redding CA, doing life alongside me. Introducing her to our amazing British culture has been an important part of our year. Recently we visited Chatsworth House in the Peak District where yet again I found the need to hug trees! 

We journeyed on to Yorkshire where I was able to share with her my personal heritage. We visited Scarborough, where I was born and bred, and the small Methodist Chapel in a local village where, aged 12, I gave my life to Jesus. We prayed round the Methodist Central Hall where my father had been saved and received his call to preach under the eye of Methodist preachers Sangster and Newman. There we discovered that the lady who is now seeking to bring life again into that place was someone I had led into life in the Spirit when we were 17 whilst working together in a Methodist hotel! 

Allison and I prayed in another church where I was raised and spoke with my old youth leader who shared movingly of his hunger for life to come once again into those dry and ageing churches. There we were given an old Order of Service from 1955 with my father's name as the preacher; his sermon title was The Fellowship of the Holy Spirit. I felt as if that fellowship was spanning the decades.

Over these past months Colin has been sharing with us The Big Story that we are part of. God's story. Looking back at my roots reminded me that I have a spiritual inheritance through my parents, their faith and the Methodist movement that brought salvation, revival and community transformation to our nation. I now have my part to play as the Pioneer group of churches, of which River is a hub, is forging connections with the Methodist church to help resource and revitalise that call to impact the nation once again. 

Looking at a cross section of one of those fallen giant trees I saw the rings, showing year by year the history of that tree, the growth, the droughts, the fires and yet life continuing for generations. Looking at our own lives we can see the years of growth and years of hardships but through it all we see the amazing faithfulness of The Ancient of Days whose wisdom will never fail and whose plans to restore this world continue. Surely we have an amazing inheritance and a wonderful legacy to hand on! 

An old hymn writer, Joseph Hart, wrote in 1759: 

"THIS, this is the God we adore, 

Our faithful, unchangeable Friend; 

Whose love is as great as his power, 

And neither knows measure nor end. 

'Tis Jesus, the First and the Last, 

Whose Spirit shall guide us safe home; 

We'll praise him for all that is past, 

And trust him for all that's to come.

Keeping it real… (May '13)

(Linda Southwood)

Let’s not just talk about love; let’s practise real love. This is the only way we’ll know we’re truly living in God’s reality. 1 John 3:18

Many have discovered that God (who is very big), is interested in me (who is very small, when you have the whole world to look after). He, God, doesn’t regard me as a nameless and faceless worker for Him but He sees me as significant, He knows my name, and He likes me. I don’t experience God as detached, disinterested, too busy, or distant. He is here to share my struggles, join me in my bad times, and bring me peace. 

And yet… there is an invitation for you and me to become more and more the kind of people who are aware of the divine presence, attuned to the depths of each and every moment and seeing God in more people, places and events each and every day. We have had our eyes opened to God everywhere, to seeing the beautiful in the ugly, finding the praise in the pain. 

And yet… we recently celebrated the dedication of two babies in Marlow congregation, Darcie and Zach Picillo. It was a fantastic morning, it was emotional, it was memorable and it was almost called off because of the snow. 170+ adults and children packed into the Holy Trinity School Hall. Such fun. So picture this: our slightly scruffy school hall filled, with standing room only, bursting at the seams with a bunch of new people and you’re not too sure who they all are. Other than you know they’re visitors because they’re the ones who have arrived on time (point made – move on.) The highlights were many and varied. Gerry Picillo gave us an insight into their family’s journey to River Church and said “when we thought about dedicating Darcie and Zach, we knew we had to do it here at River… where else would we go?” The Picillos live in Aylesbury, but have come to Marlow. If your geography’s not great, that’s miiiiiles away. 

And yet… if we don’t keep it real with God, we’re in danger of conceptually knowing Him but little more. If we don’t keep it real, then what’s the alternative – pretending? And if it’s not real, we find fewer reasons to seek God’s wisdom and His support for our ordinary daily life. What Gerry was referring to when he said “where else would we go?” obviously wasn’t literal. There are dozens of churches between Aylesbury and Marlow who would gladly have performed a baptism or dedication service. He meant that what he and Lori and the children have experienced is real, the love and support is real. The love has been as real as the pain and the darkness as well as the joys and celebrations. That’s the only thing that makes sense of travelling a 40 mile round trip to come to Church. This Church.

Keeping it real is about being authentic, and authentic is about being genuine with yourself, God and others around you.