Lives that make a difference… Mother Teresa

Welcome to d-church tonight. Feel free to like, comment or share any of the posts. Over the next few months our theme will be ‘lives that have made a difference’.

Click on the link, it shows you one of Mother Teresa’s poems. After you’ve watched it why not add your response to the statement ‘Life is…’ in the comments at the bottom. 

Without doubt, Mother Teresa was a woman who exemplified loving service in the most radical of ways. But tonight we’re going to focus on a different aspect of her life. One of her less known quotes is this….

it comes from one of more than 40 letters in which she shares the agony of her sense of abandonment & doubt.

Which of these statements can you align yourself with most?

Check out this brilliant song in the link – Mother Teresa wanted to be remembered as firelight but we’re calling her a saint.  How would you want to be remembered?

Mother Teresa isn’t the only holy person to be honest about their doubts.

The disciple Thomas is often remembered for his doubts. But have you ever noticed that the encouragement that Jesus gives him to not doubt only comes after the invitation to explore his doubts…

A pause to pray…

Faith, to Mother Teresa, and to many other saints in history, did not mean absence of doubt, but rather ardent, loyal belief precisely in the face of doubt. Mother Teresa has recently been made a Saint. After thinking about her life…. how would you want to refer to her now? Saint of the doubters? Saint of the gutters? Saint of  Calcutta? Saint of the skeptics? why not Add your thoughts in the comments.

And so to close…

Thank you for being with us tonight… we look forward to seeing you again next month.

-church team

Do we know the full picture

Let’s start with some fun….as you watch this clip consider the difficulties that sometimes arise when we’re not aware of the full story.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-UphWiQMTs

Welcome To dChurch

Welcome to d-church May 2016. If you are joining us for the first time you are particularly welcome. Feel free to ‘like’, ‘react’ comment or share at anytime. Don’t forget to keep pressing your page refresh button so that you can see other people’s comments

We continue in our theme thinking about some of the things Jesus said. Tonight we look some words about judging others.

Starting Over With God

There are moments for all of us when  we need to, metaphorically speaking, press our restart button. This might be because of the day we have had, a decision we have made or something that has been done in our name or to us.

When we press restart on our tablet or computer the logo of its maker appears briefly as it boots into its operating system. As a person, I wonder what the logo in your reboot procedure looks like, when you press restart.

For me it is the cross, a reminder of sacrifice and redemption. In amongst the chaos of a day littered around me, and in the business of life I find myself at the foot of the cross in prayer.

To restart for me at least, the cross is where I rebuild from, recognising my need for Christ’s love, hope and above all grace-filled forgiveness.

As you restart, wherever you are and in whatever way is helpful, may my God be with you and made known to you.

God Bless. Andy

Gone Fishing

 

Tomorrow I go fishing, with my son and a friend of ours, who has fished before.

I have no idea what to expect, and am a novice at this fishing thing. I am not even sure I will enjoy it!

Begrudgingly I am going because my ten year old has nagged me for months. Early last year we got given some second hand fishing gear, that has stayed unpacked and unused in our garage. Now it is time to use it!

There is plenty in scripture about fishing, there are quotes about “fishing for men” and stories about nets being full to breaking when Jesus, tells the disciples to throw the nets on he other side of the boat.

For me its this, tomorrow I learn now to fish, I have mixed feelings about it and am not sure I want to go at all.

I have a nervousness in my stomach similar to that nervousness perhaps when you cross the threshold into church for the first time, or encounter an opportunity to share your faith.

I take heart that the person teaching me knows what he is doing and by the end of the experience I will know a thing or two about fishing. Or put it another way, I am being schooled or discipled in the art of fishing. Just as we are discipled as christians, who is discipling us matters, what they are investing in us means something and produces in us new skills.

So my son and I are stepping into something new together, we will learn a new skill at the same time. As we do church together what things of God are we sharing and what ways of discipleship are we offering to those who accompany us on the journey, from old to new? I wonder what experiences or skills of the path that is behind us, will help us for the way ahead?

Have you ever been fishing and do you like it? 

In whatever context you find yourself, what does it mean to be in a christian community.

What main faith experiences are useful as we journey together?

What do we need to put to one side, to enable us to become more like the people, God is calling us to be?

 

Finally I don’t know what fishing will mean for me or my son by the end of tomorrow. We may hate it, or love it. One thing for sure is that experiencing it together as father and son, will have added value to our experience of our life together.

Lets go fishing..

 

He says Follow Me

 

In persecution, doubt & confusion, God still holds us. As you listen to this song, note the powerful lyrics that are posted below.

muse… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO49PZwTPco

 

“Follow Me”

When darkness falls
And surrounds you
When you fall down
When you’re scared
And you’re lost
Be brave
I’m coming to hold you now
When all your strength has gone
And you feel wrong
Like your life has slipped away

Follow me
You can follow me
And I will not desert you now
When your fire’s died out
No one’s there
They have left you for dead

Follow me
You can follow me
I will keep you safe
Follow me
You can follow me
I will protect you

I won’t let them hurt
They’re hurting you, no
Ooh yeah
When your heart is breaking

You can follow me
You can follow me
I will always keep you safe
Follow me
You can trust in me
I will always protect you, my love

Feel my love
Feel my love

Imagination, faith and mission

I have been thinking a lot about imagination recently and I was pondering on Christmas, what I find interesting is that we are asked to use our imagination at Christmas… Everything about Christmas is about seeing life in a different way: Father Christmas, good will to all, peace on earth, decorations that point to otherness, winter wonderland, positive atmosphere, nativity plays with ‘extras’! And Jesus as a cute baby in a manger.

There is something about Christmas that as a society we own and love. I wonder if some of this is about imagination? I came across this quote from Sandra M Levy about imagination…

“it is the inherent human power to transcend the concrete, to create new images and ideas that can open up new possibility and promise — the not-yet of a future we can envision, the re-valuing of a remembered past. Ultimately what I mean by imagination is that human capacity to receive and respond to God’s revelation in our everyday lives”.

And so we remember our childhood Christmas’ and it often fills us with joy. As I write I think about the song ‘I wish it could be Christmas everyday’… many of us can’t stand it… but what would society be like if we imagined it like that? Not with all the tough stuff about Christmas… but the good wholesome stuff that brings love and light?

We obviously can’t live like that in reality… but we can live with imagination that invades our world…  that wants to imagine a better world, a better community, a better church, a better life… maybe it’s time for us to go back to our childhood and remember how we played with our imagination, maybe its time for us think about the words of Jesus… “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

So as we start this New Year why not think about how you can use your imagination more to make a difference.

A final Prayer and Good Night

Northumbria community canticle

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zWCoQDMadh0

We hope you have been encouraged and challenged by this evenings d-church, thank you for joining us and we will see you again next month, and don’t forget to follow our weekly reflections. Good night and God bless.