Newsletter: July/August 2010
Rev Anne Smith returned from sabbatical on Monday 19 July 2010. Rev Jonathan Musselwhite wrote the double-month newsletter message during Anne's absence.
Let your light so shine ...
 This will be the last newsletter I write for the St. Andrews and Norton newsletter, well at least for the foreseeable future! It has been both my pleasure and privilege to stand in for Anne during her sabbatical and I would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your help and encouragement over these past months.
It’s not very often that you do something for the first time but when you do it can often leave a lasting impression, this was one such occasion. Last week Anne and I went to the Evesham Balloon Festival to see the hot air balloons and we were not disappointed!
We arrived a little after 6.00pm in the evening and wandered around the park looking at old classic cars, caravans and motor caravans and a lone hot air balloon caught our eye, we wandered over and noticed this huge balloon was tethered with ropes and was using a burner to maintain its height about six feet from the ground. It was incredible to see the power of hot air. When the burner was switched off within a very short space of time the balloon started to descend, then when the burner with its huge flame fired up the balloon started to lift and strained at the ropes trying to be free.
At 7.00pm we witnessed an amazing sight, 27 hot air balloons taking off one after another, it was breathtaking to see all these balloons ascending right in front of our eyes just feet away from where we were standing. Up they went each with this invisible power within taking them higher and higher and then the prevailing wind took them over the trees and out of sight. Within minutes of them disappearing a fleet of ground support crews and their vehicles left the arena in hot pursuit. Wow, how awesome was that!
During the course of the evening the support crews brought the balloons and their passengers back and prepared for the ‘Night Glow’. The stage was set, 9 balloons in the middle and ten or so baskets with their burners attached around the perimeter. At 10.00pm the music started and balloons and burners lit the night sky to the rhythm of the music it was a truly spectacular sight. You could feel the heat from the burners and the balloons themselves were glowing with radiant light.
John 1 verse 5 says ‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has never put it out.’
As I watched these balloons glowing in the darkness I was reminded that we are called to ‘let our light shine’ (Matthew 5 verse 16) in this dark world, to allow Christ in us to be seen in our life and witness. During the daylight the ‘glow’ of the balloons could not be seen, but in the darkness they could be seen for miles around. As Christians we take God, His presence, wherever we go, He abides in us, we are ‘Temples of the Holy Ghost’, we bring hope and life to a dying world and most of the time we’re not aware of it, we can’t see it and yet God in us is the light that shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot put it out.
I pray in these coming days that you will have the opportunity to ‘shine’, the opportunity to bring Christ, His light into someone else’s darkness. Let your light Shine!
Every blessing
Jon
Last Updated on Friday, 30 July 2010 10:42
Newsletter: June 2010
Rev Anne Smith is currently on sabbatical. Rev Jonathan Musselwhite writes this month's newsletter message during Anne's absence.
How big is our God to you?
I never thought I would find myself writing a letter for the St. Andrews and Norton newsletter, this is a privilege indeed, so I guess I had better make the most of it while I can and keep it short!!!
Over the past few weeks as I have been preparing for Pentecost I have been challenged once again as to the awesomeness of God. As we read the account of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2 we see how God has a way of bringing about His mighty will, He can change the history of humanity as we know it.
When the Holy Spirit fell on those gathered in the upper room they would never be the same again. We see how Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit spoke to thousands, it wasn’t the most eloquent of sermons and yet with the anointing of the Holy Spirit, many were added to God’s Kingdom on that single occasion. When all hope seems to be gone, God intervenes and miracles happen!
In Ezekiel chapter 12 verse 25, we read, ‘For I am the Lord. I speak, and the Word which I speak will come to pass...’
‘There are two possible explanations for what happened in Swan Quarter, North Carolina, in 1876. It was either the most astounding coincidence, or an act of God; literally. The Methodist Episcopal Church South needed a new building, so when somebody donated a plot of land on Oyster Creek Road they accepted. It was low-lying land so they constructed a sturdy little white-frame church and put it up on brick pilings. Days later a storm lashed the town and those within sight of Oyster Creek Road witnessed something amazing. The church building, still intact, was afloat! The flood had lifted it up off its pilings and sent it down the road. They tried to moor it with ropes but the church moved on. At the town centre, as dozens of people watched helplessly, it made a sharp, inexplicable right turn and continued on. Finally, in the same decisive manner it veered off the road, it headed straight for a vacant plot of land and stopped dead in the centre! The flood waters eventually receded but the building is still there. In fact, 134 years have passed since the church, now called Providence Methodist Church, floated itself to the most desirable property in town. What’s amazing is this: The plot of land where it settled had originally been the congregation’s first choice for their building, but the landowner Sam Sadler turned them down. The morning after the flood, he presented the pastor with the deed.
“For I am the Lord. I speak, and the word which I speak will come to Pass”. No doubt about it; when God makes up His mind, nothing gets in His way!
When we commit our lives to Jesus Christ and seek to walk in the will of God we too will witness amazing things, no problem or situation is too hard for Him, He is still God and His Spirit is very much alive today, but do you believe it? How big is God to you?
I pray that in the coming months you will find this same God hearing and answering your prayers, and as we are reminded of the coming of the Holy Spirit may we to be reminded that we are the very temples of God and that He dwells within us, transforming us, equipping us, and making us more like Him. May God help us to think ‘outside the box’ and be the people He has called us to be.
Every blessing
Jon
Last Updated on Tuesday, 06 July 2010 19:20
|
Newsletter: May 2010
 Dear All,
I am writing this as the last thing I do before I set off for the service at St. Andrew’s, which signals the beginning of my Sabbatical from April 26th until July 19th. By the time you read it, I will have been on Sabbatical for a week.
Sabbaticals are a gift from the Methodist Church to those in ministry. They are not a holiday but an opportunity to lay down responsibilities in order to do something different. This means two things. The first is that if I lay down responsibilities someone else has to pick them up. So I want to say a big thank you to those who are undertaking extra tasks while I am away – I am deeply grateful.
The second is that I have to do something different. The word sabbatical comes from the Hebrew word “shabbat” literally meaning a "ceasing", a rest from work, Shabbat is considered a festive day, when a person is freed from the regular labours of everyday life, can contemplate the spiritual aspects of life, and can spend time with family. So I shall rest from the circuit work and I shall “contemplate”, do some reading and spend some time re-charging my spiritual batteries. Also I shall spend time doing family things – in the first week Jim and I are going to the Theatre Royal, Stratford East to see John’s new production, Britain’s Got Bhangra.
However, most of my time will be spent re-connecting with children and school. Thanks to generous head teacher’s I am going into a couple of schools here in England and thanks to a minister in Jamaica we are going there for three weeks also to go into schools. I have felt that I am losing touch with children and I want to regain something of an understanding of their world. And I want to come back refreshed ready for the next seven years of ministry.
During the time I am away I shall be keeping a journal and no doubt we shall be taking lots of photographs so that when we return we can share our experiences. You will probably see Jim around church but when we are in Worcester I shall be worshipping elsewhere.
So I would like to say that I will think about you all and pray for you and hope that you will do the same for Jim and me. Twelve weeks will go by quickly and we look forward to a new Connexional year. ( I forgot to say that Jim and I are going to Portsmouth for the weekend of the Methodist Conference and we have tickets for the Ordination Service at Winchester Cathedral, where Sara Windsor-Hides will be ordained Deacon – please pray for her too ) Have a wonderful Pentecost.
May God bless you now and always,
Anne
Newsletter: April 2010
Dear All,
 Hallelujah! Christ is risen. So we cry out with joy this Easter morning. One of the joys of having a late spring in the garden and hedgerows is that the daffodils are looking glorious – I hope they will last until Easter is over.
That is an interesting concept – Easter being over. This year the schools holidays mostly come after the Easter Church celebrations making Easter last a bit longer – probably even after the chocolates have been eaten. However, in the Church the Easter season lasts until Pentecost (this year on 23rd May).
In our Methodist Worship Book there is a service, The Easter Vigil, which is derived from the great vigils on Holy Saturday during which the early Christians waited in hope and expectancy to begin the celebration of the resurrection. It consists of prayers and Bible readings as well as the lighting of the Easter Candle. All of these signify the triumph of the risen Lord and his presence among his people. At the end, just before receiving Communion, there is a reaffirmation of Baptism. In the final prayer, understanding is asked for “that we may walk more closely with our risen Saviour and Lord; who is alive and reigns..…one God, now and forever”. The whole service seeks to remind us of God’s creating and saving work through history and challenges us to take our place in it. Sheila Cassidy in her book “Good Friday People” describes the ceremony and its meaning like this, “On the surface it is so formal, so dry, so legal, like a court statement or a marriage contract. Yet, what an immensity of faith and joy and pain it covers: as we stand there we protest our belief in an all-powerful mysterious, unknowable God, who made the heavens and the earth and we hold, deep in our hearts, the wonderful, terrifying knowledge that he loves us, desires us and calls us to him. Like the deer that yearns, so our souls thirst for the living God”.
For Easter is not just a day, or a holiday or even seven weeks. Easter is a whole life experience as we dedicate ourselves to the God we know in Jesus; Jesus who was dead but is now alive and who lives forever more. When we think of Easter we may think of an empty tomb or eggs, or rabbits, but all symbolize new life (in the case of rabbits abundant new life and I suppose I should not forget lambs!). We are invited to new life as Easter people as we join in the declaration, “He is risen indeed. Hallelujah”.
May God bless you with the Joy and Hope of Easter, not just now but always,
Anne
Last Updated on Thursday, 01 April 2010 08:55
|
Anne's Blog
in Worcester and my first in the South West Worcestershire Circuit. This is really a new beginning and an opportunity to make new (and for some to renew) friendships as the Malvern and Worcester Circuits are no more and are replaced by something new. We look forward to welcoming Rev Alison Richards to the circuit who will be serving Lansdowne Crescent, Somers Park and Upper Welland together with Miss Anne Rich, our lay pastoral worker.
