If you were around for the evening service last night (29th April) you'll surely have been challenged by a powerful message. Here's the Live 58 website, which has more ... http://www.live58.co.uk/

a good try

Hi folks - seems as if a blog is just a bit too much for most people to cope with, perhaps a bit technical - so now we're transferring operations to Face Book - search for the group "Syncopated Saints" if you haven't already been invited to join!
cheers
Adrian

musings

So I'm wishing we had a counter on the blog and could see how many people have actually visited....perhaps the idea of a space for us to share ideas and thoughts about church life is a step too far...perhaps people just like to check out other peoples ramblings and pick the best to think about or pass on - so would we have more blog-success with a site that offered a pick n mix range of links, thoughts, comment, clips, music etc? - something that would provide a base for ideas rather than a gathering point?
You could let me know...
Adrian Jones

tradition within the church

Here's a thought ...could it apply to church traditions?!

"Bananas and Monkeys

Original source unknown.
Start with a cage containing five monkeys.

Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the other monkeys with cold water.

After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result - all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.

Now, put away the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him.

After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.

Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm! Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked.

Most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.

After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana. Why not? Because as far as they know that's the way it's always been done round here.

And that, my friends, is how company policies are made."
from http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1UfmxL/paws.kettering.edu/%257Ejhuggins/humor/banana.html

Resurrection!

Many thanks to everyone who enabled the Holy Week 24/7 prayer in the church building...for me this experience of "vertical" prayer (as Nigel described it) really helped in preparation for Easter this year. On Sunday night I preached on John 20, Mary at the empty tomb .....I love the very personal encounters that Jesus has with individuals in John's Gospel: Nicodemus, the woman at the well, Lazarus/Mary/Martha, Thomas, Peter...each one is so personal and yet the truths that Jesus leads each individual to appreciate are also so universal - they apply to all of us. In each case Jesus leads them to a new level of faith by revealing more of who he is... a positive, upwards spiral....as they respond in faith, He reveals more of himself, so that they can respond in faith and He can reveal more......
This reminds me so much of the dialogue that Moses has with God at the burning bush, except that Moses is more questioning in response to God's self-revelation. has anyone had their own experience of this God-led positive spiral of faith?
Adrian

Worship ...."Who am I?"

Who am I?

I have been challenged recently about who is at the centre of my faith and of my Worship. The obvious Christianese answer is ‘God’. Now we have established that I can give the right answer, lets look at how things really are. We begin with my worship. We sing lots of the ‘Jesus is my girlfriend’ type of songs. They drip romance and intimacy. I love them and still believe there is a strong biblical justification for them. A while ago, however, we realised that they were almost the only songs we used. We were dying of intimacy. There are, after all, only so many ways you can tell Jesus you are ‘falling in love’ with him in half an hour. Phase two of our journey has been to write and sing songs of commitment and intercession. So we knock on the door of heaven, offer up our lives, are led to the lost and basically tell the Lord how hard we are going to work for him. I am sure there is a place for this in sung worship. We need to make our vows of service and requests for the lost as well as our whispers of love.

Here is the question that has challenged me recently. How many songs do we sing that are just about God and do not bring us into the story. How much is God not only the object but also the centre of our worship? I am sure we need to sing more songs that praise him for who he is irrespective of what he has done for us. The picture of the worship of heaven we see in Revelation 4 and 5 is amazing in its colour and its sound and also its participants. The four living creatures and the twenty-four elders seem to be having a great time as they take it in turns to sing their songs and fall down. A few million angels and then every creature join them. Great sight. Great noise. But incomplete. The centrepiece comes as the grand finale. The one who sits on the throne and the Lamb. The rest is incidental, the audience, the supporting cast. How God centred is my worship? Maybe I need to tell him a little less about me, what I feel and what I am going to do and focus a little more on him.
As with worship so with the whole of life. Am I living with Jesus as the centre or am I consumed with myself, my abilities, my plans and my work. The big mistake Moses made at the burning bush was in the first question he asked after receiving the revelation of God. He asked ‘Who am I?’ One would have thought he would have asked ‘Who are you?’ My mistake is that I ask the first question too often and the second too seldom. Peter made the same mistake on the mount of Transfiguration (Luke 9 v.28-36). What does he say in response to the revelation of the glory of Jesus? Is it Hallelujah? Does he fall on his face in silence? He says and I quote; ‘Master, it is good for us to be here.’ Can you believe it? He then wants to start a building project. Peter was truly the first Charismatic evangelical! Why can’t we just gaze at him, lost in wonder, love and praise?

There has to be more than a me-centred Christianity which always descends into hype and techniques and the latest quick fix solution to the problems of the Church. The answer is what it has always been, to see and savour more of the Saviour.
Peter Ward

catching up!

Seems a while since we had a post....sorry for the temporary silence! Not doing my job well enough!
Last night was an inspired act of worship.....in that we had to work from scratch with short notice, given that the Eagles team were due to be with us but couldn't get visas in time to fly in from Malawi....so we were running on the Holy Spirit even more than usual! I wonder what anyone else made of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer introduction that I used?
I was inspired by Patrick's use of his ipod playlist to help our lenten meditation....it set me thinking. What six tracks would we each choose because they say something significant about our lives, or our coming to faith, or our discipleship...? The "Blowing your cover" course that has just finished has an interesting section on writing up your own personal testimony, and how to get it printed as a mini-booklet.... I'm wondering now if there is a way of individuals putting together their personal playlists with notes/words about why these tracks are significant to them and their own Christian story - anyone got an idea how this might work? Adrian

Let my people go

• Ex 6-11 was a tough assignment, as it was all about the plagues brought upon the Egyptians as Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites leave.
• Lots of questions came up: What disasters does God bring on people because of their resistance? How should we see natural disasters like the recent earthquake in Haiti? Some friends I discussed this with think that before the Fall of man there were no such events! All the science points to a differnt view. There have always been earthquakes, volcanoes, and what we would call disasters. Without them we would have a very dull featureless earth. An important point for discussion though!
• I really enjoyed seeing the theological points involving the many gods of the Egyptians 'defeated' by the living God of Moses. I had no idea of those things before I started researching it.
• However important the Exodus story is as a statement of God's deliverance, it did occur to me that those poor souls in Auschwitz and Belsen probably remembered these events and asked the question: if God could let his people go then why not now? What do you think?
• I was challenged by the question about whether God actually hardens people's hearts, as it says in Ex 9:12. Coming from an Arminian Methodist background myself I do find that a difficult idea! However it does encouarage us to ask important questions of ourselves. The challenge is to reamin soft hearted towards God and our neighbour. How readily to we shed tears?
• I drew attantion to Moses' perseverance, and encouraged us to keep going despite the setbacks. This all makes sense, but when do the setbacks become signals from the Lord that we should change direction. Remember Luke writing in Acts: that the Spirit of Jesus prevented us'

Tony Haines 25.1.10

Notes on Sermon "Worse before Better."

Sermon 17-1-2010 Evening Service

A Series on The Life of Moses, Learning Leadership: “Worse before Better”
The text of the Sermon is Exodus chapters 5 & 6

This passage records one of the most honest exchanges in the Bible, setting down as it does conversations between God, Moses, the Egyptian King and the Israelites, but those between God and Moses are very instructive.

The passage records that God has spoken to Moses about His intentions. However, immediately following this, the situation gets so much worse for the Israelites and especially Moses, as their God-appointed leader. The opposite circumstances seems to be occurring to that which God is speaking about! God promised release from slavery for the Israelites and of a Promised Land, but in this passage we see the Israelites screwed down to cruel forced labour as an expression of Pharaoh’s extreme anger.

This often seems to happen in our own lives – worse before better. Can you identify this in your life, or someone close to you? Take heart!

The main points are:

1. Our honest response to God. What situations are you facing that you need to bring sincerely and honestly to God and in which you need help?

2. Our trust, our perseverance. How do our character traits need to change in order to engender these two qualities? As we let in the grace of God in our situations, spending time with God and getting to know Him better will allow us more to trust in a loving Heavenly Father who carries our very best interests at heart. God’s purpose was to relieve His precious people (Exodus 2.24-25) of their suffering and take them to a land 'flowing with milk and honey'. So much more us as we look to God for breakthrough in the challenges we face.
Hebrew 6.12 says: “Imitate those who through faith and patient inherit what has been promised.”

3. To be seeking His vision, His perspective, the bigger picture, especially in those spheres that we are taking a lead. This may be at home, at work, in church or a particular relationship. “Come near to God, and He will come near to you.” James 4.8.

Some helpful quotes are:
"Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm." (Sir Winston Churchill)
“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgment that something else is more important than fear.”
"The biggest enemy of fear is action."

What promise from God can you cherish today?

Haydn Wilkins

Philippians 1 "The Way To Live"

This mornings sermon was titled "The Way To Live" and was based on Philippians 1:12-30. Paul talks about his personal suffering and the threat of death, and wants the Philippians to gain a different perspective on what seems like a disasterous situation .....given what has happened in Haiti this week, this felt like a difficult sermon to preach ....as if there were almost more unanswered questions by the end than there were at the beginning! If you were around to hear it, do post some feedback or thoughts for me.....thanks!
Adrian J

How does God call?

On Sunday evening we looked at the call of Moses in Exodus 3 and 4, and there was so much to share that I couldn't develop the third point! The basic thread of the sermon was that God calls through dialogue .....and that He uses dialogue because this is the way that our human weaknesses and deep set barriers to His call are revealed (and He can then get to work on them), and because it creates the opportunity for Him to reveal more and more about Himself (His character and purpose). The third point from this passage was that through dialogue a relationship is established .....and what I would like to have gone on to look at was why relationship is so important in our experience/understanding of God and our response to Him ....this is taken up well in "The Shack" (which I just started yesterday, therefore not until after the sermon strangely). The main character, Mack, encounters all three persons of God as Trinity and as he struggles to get his head around how God has to be both one and three, God reveals that because He is love, He also has to exist, within Himself, in relationship, as an expression of this love......and living as Christians we are being returned to our proper form of being (that is both physical and spiritual) as reflections of the image of God. Therefore relationships become even more important to us and to our wholeness... our true state of being is in relationship (reflecting God's eternal state of being).
All of which has major implications for the focus we should have on nurturing relationships within the church ....so how, in real practical terms, can we reflect this Trinitarian being-in-relationship within our church family/fellowship? and in our relationships with people who are not yet Christians?

Adrian J

get ready for Moses....

Here's a link to a Youtube clip from a film about Moses :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JzoAyy7edE&feature=PlayList&p=307A9BDDD31F406A&index=4
Ahead of Sunday nights talk on the call of Moses, you could watch the first couple of minutes of this and look out for the key part of Exodus chapter 4 that the film manages to omit! (I wouldn't bother with too much of the rest of the film.....who says there's no ham in the Bible....)

Glorious Impossible

When I heard this at our Carol Service, I decided I had to search out the lyrics.... and spend some time reflecting on such an intriguing expression...so here are the lyrics from http://www.metrolyrics.com/glorious-impossible-lyrics-gaither-vocal-band.html where you can also listen to the Gaither Band ....I'm hoping to come back to this....

GLORIOUS IMPOSSIBLE : the Gaither Band

See the Virgin is delivered
In a cold and crowded stall;
Mirror of the Father's glory
Lies beside her in the straw.
He is Mercy's incarnation
Marvel at this miracle!
For the Virgin gently holds the
Glorious Impossible.

Love has come to walk on water,
Turn the water into wine,
Touch the leper, bless the children
Love both human and divine.
Praise the wisdom of the Father
Who has spoken through his Son.
Speaking still, He calls us to the
Glorious Impossible.

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Glorious Impossible

He was bruised for our transgressions
And he bears eternal scars.
He was raised for our salvation
And his righteousness is ours.
Praise, oh, praise him, praise the glory
Of this lavish grace so full.
Lift your souls now and receive the
Glorious Impossible!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Glorious Impossible

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
Glorious Impossible
Glorious Impossible

Praise, oh, praise him, praise the glory
Of this lavish grace so full.
Lift your souls now and receive the
Glorious Impossible

Glory Hallelujah
Glory Hallelujah
Glory Hallelujah
Glory Hallelujah
Glory Hallelujah
Glory Hallelujah
Glory Hallelujah

I've been surprised - and heartened- by the number of people in church this Christmas at All Saints....and so many who don't often turn up at other points of the year it seems - which raises the inevitable questions about how we might build on the explicit sense of the spiritual that becomes evident at these times, how we can demonstrate that our faith is actually a down-to-earth way reality that has a positive impact on our lives (rather than a set of escapist aspirations, ritualistic tranquilisers or intellectual ideas), how we make a connection with normal people.....

2010 will see the launch of More to Life, and the Community Youth Outreach Project ....but perhaps there should be some visible change in each of our individual Christian lives too...






graphic, with permission, Jon Birch, from http://asbojesus.wordpress.com/

Early Christmas thoughts

I was so struck by this poem that Alison Morgan used in her sermon on "The Coming Kingdom" tonight.....it seems to encapsulate the incarnation as the life of Jesus rather than just the birth, and brings home the mystery that God revealed in Christ, how He would save the world through weakness and sacrifice.

The Wicked Fairy At The Manger
by
U.A. Fanthorpe


My gift for the child:

No wife, kids, home;
No money sense. Unemployable.
Friends, yes. But the wrong sort –
The workshy, women, wimps,
Petty infringers of the law, persons
With notifiable diseases,
Poll tax collectors, tarts;
The bottom rung.
His end?
I think we’ll make it
Public, prolonged, painful.

Right, said the baby. That was roughly
What we had in mind.

So the idea is....

So, the idea is that this might be a shared blog, for everyone who is part of the All Saint's community. Why a blog? Well,the name is the clue, since in music syncopation is a slightly different way of doing things..... and the blog could give us a slightly different way of doing church life together. Preachers/leaders each week could be asked to post a few extra thoughts on the sermons/services, perhaps with extra questions or reflections that they couldn't include on Sunday due to time restrictions. And of course everyone else can then respond/comment. The blog would also give some space for the writers to comment on what God seems to be doing within our church life, and so be an extension of the listening process and 'answering the call'. It could also become a way of recording the pictures and words that God often seems to give around our service times, so that we can pray through them and allow God to give us understanding.

Initially at least the blog would be open to anyone to view and comment, and we can sign up folk from within our church family to be writers - we have a maximum of 100 spaces available. It might be best to start by inviting those who preach and lead, those who are in the staff team and a few others to be writers, and see how that works out.

Any thoughts?

Syncopation

Wikipedia says: "In music, syncopation includes a variety of rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak beats in a meter (pulse). These include a stress on a normally unstressed beat or a rest where one would normally be stressed. "If a part of the measure that is usually unstressed is accented, the rhythm is considered to be syncopated." More simply, syncopation is a general term for a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm; a placement of rhythmic stresses or accents where they wouldn't normally occur"

........so here we are...... an interruption to the regular flow, slightly offbeat but in an harmonious way....and maybe a bit more interesting than what we have all learnt to expect.....

So, blog on syncopated saints!