A River of Gold (Nov '13)

(Dave Jones)

I've been thinking around our GOLD values recently. Hats off to Colin, they are a stroke of genius. GOLD describes the way we as a church think about the character and nature of God. 

G – Good   He only ever does thoroughly goooooood things. He only ever acts in ways which are wonderful, beautiful, creative, restorative; cleansing and healing. 

O – Open   Our Father is not controlling. He has given humanity complete freedom to do whatever we want - throughout every layer of creation. He has chosen to be open handed with His dealings with us, primarily because of… 

L – Love   Love is the very core of God’s nature. It’s impossible to force someone to love you and for it to be real. God is Open and will not control us, but instead treats us as who we are – free people, free to love Him back if we want to. God’s love was demonstrated and pushed to the absolute limits for you on the cross when Jesus cried ‘Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ God is love (1 John 4:8). 

D - Dynamic (Dunamis) power   This describes the way He still operates and the means by which He is fixing all the brokenness in this world. Jesus’ mandate in Luke 4 was to ‘Preach the gospel to the poor…proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’ He did just this – demonstrating miraculously that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand. and then commissioned and empowered the church to do the same, and the Kingdom is still at hand for us today. 

So what does all this have to do with us? Here’s the hit. CHRIST IN YOU!!! (Gal 2:20) When you became a Christian you became a brand new creation. (2 Cor 5:17). Your Spirit was mystically joined with Christ’s Spirit (1 Cor 6:17), and, like it or not, there’s no going back. 

This does however have implications on how we see the GOLD values. They now become descriptors and guideline for our nature, our behavior, and our dealings with the world, not just God’s. 

That means we too are to stand for everything GOOD in this world – honesty, integrity, kindness, fun, laughter, creativity, health, care, gentleness, peacefulness…We’re to be OPEN handed with our dealings with one another. Like God, we must not control people, all we can do is control the way we are with people and the options we are able to offer them. But the reality is, control happens sometimes without even noticing - through manipulating our social subtleties and expectations – it’s always good to keep a check on this. 

LOVE is the way in which we should act, and is the filter through which we are to make our day to day, and larger ethical, decisions. I have a simple mental process: I go through 1 Cor 13 and ask myself ‘Is this the way of patience? The humble way? The posture of kindness towards this person? The road of forgiveness..? and so on. DYNAMIC POWER – yep, you’ve guessed it, is the way we are to be. We must mentally fight until we are in right alignment with God on this one. For me this is a daily thing. We must not settle until we really believe that the Kingdom of God is at hand. Dynamic power is not just about miracles though, it’s about seeing the world Hope-full-y. Knowing that the God who created the universe is with you, and loves (and likes) you, which changes the game completely. It now means there is always a way through, a solution, so you can keep your hope alive – in your family, business, school or wherever God has placed you. 

To conclude, GOLD isn’t just about what God’s like, it’s a call to us, to a radical way of thinking and living.

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.

Loaves and Fish and Flying Pigs (Mar '13)

(Andy Read)

By the time you read this we will be in the third month of 2013 and many of us will be saying “Where is the year going?”. As I write this I am still processing the time frame that we called Twenty- Twelve. The statistics for me were something like this. 12 months; 11 different countries visited (two of them, twice – only one for a holiday); around 94,500 miles flown. So, if a few of you wondered why you hadn’t seen me recently, that’s probably why!

The reason for the vast majority of the travel was to carry out my role as the CEO of Links International, a mission and development charity. That amount of travel won’t always be necessary, but it was last year. And please believe me when I say that I’m not quoting the statistics to try to impress you. After all, it gave me a pretty rubbish carbon footprint – and by itself flying over three and a half times around the globe is just… well a lot of jet lag, a lot of in-flight movies and lots and lots of bad instant meals. But I dare to hope that the miles meant more than that.

For a start, it seems to have meant a lot to the partners that I was visiting. In an age of email, Skype, Facebook and so on it would be easy to think that face to face contact isn’t so necessary – but I believe that is a fallacy. Whilst in Kenya I learned a phrase in the local language. “Ndogu ni makinya” literally means “Friendship is steps” – and carries with it layers of meaning about how if we want to be friends with people then we need to actually take steps towards them – literal and figurative – and meet them. I learned a lot just in that saying. And it reminded me about Incarnation and all that our Heavenly Father did for us in The Word being made flesh. We don’t need to travel 94,000 miles to put that lesson into practice do we? Maybe 2013 can be a year of seeing people we spent 2012 meaning to visit.

Often, when I see the huge needs that meet us when we go to the poorest of the world, I wonder if there is anything we can do. We seem to have so little. But another encouragement and lesson takes me back to the title of this piece. Over the last few years we have been training a group of people in Malawi from the village of Chapsinja, just outside of Lilongwe, to form a Community Healthcare Team. These people have been going out into their local area with some simple but life-saving teaching, and we went to hear their report. The story was very encouraging, as they spoke about the training they have been delivering in around 20 other villages. They said that it would be good if we could go to see one of those other communities for ourselves. So we got into the 4×4 and were driven out the 25 minutes or so to the village of Gunde. Quite a short, if dusty, drive for us - but about an hour and a half’s journey by foot, which is how the Healthcare Team travel. It was my expectation that we would go to the village, talk to a couple of people and return. I was wrong. 

We were greeted by about half the village – singing and welcoming us. Chairs were set out for ourselves and eight village headmen from the area under the cool shade of a large, spreading tree. Several people from the village then proceeded to tell us all they have learned from the Chapsinja Team. It was impressive!! They had learned so much – mostly, by the way, without such benefits as literacy, written resources and so on.

Jesus taught a multitude all day and as the sun was about to set, the disciples appeal sounds quite familiar to me. “Where will we get enough for all these people?” But what did it take? Just 5 loaves and 2 small fish – but actually that was all the boy had. Jesus took all he could give – and multiplied it to make it more than enough. In the village of Gunde it felt like we were witnessing that same miracle in operation all over again. In 2013, in whatever situation, let’s bring the little we have and watch Jesus multiply it. And the Flying Pigs? What I would have looked for 3 years ago if you had suggested I would be in these situations! Stay open to new things!

Will you write a story with me? (Jan '13)

(Vicky Earll)

It’s a new year and many of us hope again for good things, some of us desperately hope this year will be different to the last, and some are nervous about the year that lies ahead. 

What will 2013 bring for us as individuals, families and a church? What determines this? Is it a set of random events that we have no control over, or is it determined by our choices? If we believe that everything that happens in this world is already predetermined, then our choices will have no affect upon what happens in 2013. I don’t believe that is the way God works. Our loving God has chosen for the sake of relationship to give us true choice, and has entrusted to the entire human race the rule of the world. 

That is why prayer is so important. Prayer is the tool by which we invite God to be involved in the rule of the world with us. It is a bit like a landlord and tenant. A tenant looks after the home and has full rein of the property – a landlord, while owning the property, only comes into the property and gets involved in solving problems with the property when invited by their tenant. 

Understanding our authority is also important. God has chosen to bring about His goodness on the earth through human beings. Therefore we choose whether or not we want to be in relationship with Him, have His Holy Spirit living inside of us and allow His spirit to work through the authority we have been delegated to rule the world. You are a very powerful person by virtue of the fact that you were born human! What will you use your authority for? Will you grow your authority, empowered by the Holy Spirit to bring the goodness of God on the earth? Will you help write a history of 2013 that involved more of God’s peace (the essence of His kingdom and rule) on the earth? 

Jesus has overcome evil on the cross but we still live in the ‘in-between’ and so there is still evil at work on the earth. There is a battle going on. Sometimes we do get caught in the crossfire and bad things happen. But if we continue to stand and do not give up on believing in the goodness of God, we will see evil overcome and things change. 

You might ask: where does that leave me? There are some things that may happen to you this year that you have no control over – these could be good or bad. But you can determine how you respond and therefore determine how the story ends. As followers of Jesus we have the hope of glory inside of us. We do not need to be victims of any circumstance, however bad. We can overcome and more forward. Doing this will cost us - it will take time and may be painful, but it is always worth it. 

For most of us, the majority of what happens to us in 2013 is largely determined by our choices. Will I believe in God? Will I let him work in me and through me? Will I make bold and courageous choices to be who I am created to be? Will I step out in faith and radical obedience? 

I - and many others - believe we live in an important season for our country. The news is full of doom and gloom, and with the economic pressures and government cuts, many are feeling depressed and anxious about the future. But this is not the end of the story. Come and write the story with me… let’s write a crazy adventure where - like all good stories love overcomes every evil and triumphs for good!