Buxton United Reformed Church Hardwick Square East

Transcription

1 Buxton United Reformed Church Hardwick Square East The Lord has risen! He s risen indeed. Hallelujah! April 2018

2 Dear friends, I hope that you all share in enjoying Easter! Some friends of mine recently went on the Camino walking on a pilgrimage across northern Spain on the Way of St. James. It has also recently featured on TV with a motley group of celebrities on the route. As something completely outside the experience of English Nonconformity in which I was raised, it provides an interesting insight into popular spirituality. Clearly, people undergo such a journey over tortuous country for a variety of reasons, with some sense of finding themselves and maybe drawing closer to God in the process. My reflection is that we live in an age where spending time to focus on God or even to think through our own priorities and lifestyle is always crowded out, and the discipline of abandoning all other distractions and walking alongside others is well worth doing. While the sunnier climes of Spain provide an attractive prospect, the fair hills of Derbyshire give their own opportunities to put our lives in perspective as we walk among them. There are local pilgrimage routes at Tissington or Eyam, for example, which offer similar opportunities. Pilgrimage is also a helpful metaphor for our spiritual journey through life as we reflect on the marker posts and highlights of our past journeying and then prepare ourselves for the fresh day s encounters. Such a view of our journey with Jesus can be very helpful in determining our direction and way forward. So much of the experience of pilgrimage is about travelling together. My hope is that church becomes this sort of travelling community where we can spend time getting to know our fellow travellers, encouraging them and learning from them equally, so that it informs our individual pathways.

3 Church becomes not something that you go to, but a place where you are whether on the streets of Buxton or the hills beyond. It is a calling to walk with Jesus living out His values, serving God and each other irradiated by love. Our pilgrimage then doesn t confine God to a particular place or building, although they can be in themselves places to encounter God, but it becomes a regular journey of encountering God in the very act of travelling. We use scripture as our guide book and the Spirit to illuminate the path. And we walk with the risen Christ whose presence transforms our journey even as He transformed Cleopas and his friend as they walked the road to Emmaus. For to discover the risen Christ is to truly find God and yourself and His family of pilgrims. With love, Steve

4 I don t feel like praising You this morning Lord! My child, what has feeling got to do with it? But Lord, I have so many problems to face this day. My child, are you breathing? Begin with that. What do You mean Lord? My child, praise me for the air you breathe; praise me for the ability to breathe. OK Lord, I ll begin with that. Praise You Lord for the air around me and my ability to breathe. My child, how do you feel now? Lord, I feel a little better and I ve just realised that it doesn t matter how I feel, I can praise You because I have breath to praise You! Heavenly Father, Your Word says that everything that has breath should praise You. Forgive us that, even though we know that, we sometimes rely on our feelings instead of looking at who you are and seeing all your goodness to us. Our problems may be great but we can praise you because we have Someone holding our hand, helping us, guiding us through them. You love us with an everlasting love. You never promised us that we would be free from difficulties, but thank You that your word reminds us that You will never leave us nor forsake us. Hallelujah! Praise You Lord. Amen Count your blessings not your problems! Emma Wilcock Emma wrote this when she was very ill. It is a lasting testimony of her personal relationship with the Lord and her close walk with Him.

5 Buxton United Reformed Church Everyone is welcome to come to our Sunday Services April 1st Easter Day am Morning Worship Mark Houghton April 8th am Communion Service Steve Fisher April 15th 10.30am Fellowship Service April 22nd am Morning Worship Steve Fisher April 29th am Morning Worship Charles Jolly May 6th am Morning Worship Mark Houghton Buxton United Reformed Church has been granted a Bronze Award as an Eco Church, A Rocha UK s award scheme for churches in England and Wales who want to demonstrate that the gospel is good news for God s earth.

6 Please pray For the young people of USA 24 th March 2018 Hundreds of thousands of protesters took to the streets across the US to call for tighter gun control. Their march was initiated by the young people and teachers of Parkland, Florida following the death of 17 students in a school shooting by a past student. The main event at Washington D C was among over 800 protest marches across USA protesting against the arming of teaches in schools. More marches were planned around the world to support the students and teachers in the banning of guns. He gave his life that others might live. Trebes France A policeman died after taking the place of a hostage during a terror attack at a French supermarket. Lieutenant Colonel Arnaud Beltrame showed "exceptional self-sacrifice and courage" after voluntarily swapping himself for a female store worker held hostage during the siege by radical Islamist Redouane Lakdim in Trebes, southwest France, on Friday 23 rd March. The 44-year-old died in hospital from his injuries after he was shot three times. Cedric, the officer's brother, said he had given his life for strangers. "He did what needed to be done and thanks to him, many lives were saved." Q Does Arnaud Beltrame s actions remind you of anyone else this Easter?

7 One Guy Didn't Three guys were tried for crimes against humanity. Two guys committed crimes. Three guys were given government trials. Two guys had fair trials. Three guys were whipped and beaten. Two guys had it coming. Three guys were given crosses to carry. Two guys earned their crosses. Three guys were mocked and spat at along the way. Two guys cursed and spat back. Three guys were nailed to crosses. Two guys deserved it. Three guys agonized over their abandonment. Two guys had reason to be abandoned. Three guys talked while hanging on their crosses. Two guys argued. Three guys knew death was coming. Two guys resisted. One. Two. Three guys died on three crosses. Three days later. Two guys remained in their graves. Author Unknown

8 Dates to Remember Lunch Club Thursdays 5 th April Please let Eileen Blane know if you wish to join us for lunch. Church Annual General Meeting Sunday 13 th May After the morning service (12 noon approx.) Fellowship Evenings Wednesdays at 7:30 9:00pm Venues to be arranged. Contributions for the magazine We appreciate your contributions so please keep them coming. Contributions please for the next magazine to Eileen and Peter Blane by Monday 23 rd April 2018 for the May publication. To ensure your magazine is as informative as possible please keep us up-to-date with news and events. Tel: or peter@blane.co.uk. Please be aware that, in addition to the printed magazine, an electronic version is available to read on the church s website:

9 Jeremy was born with a twisted body, a slow mind and a chronic, terminal illness that had been slowly killing him all his young life. Still, his parents had tried to give him as normal a life as possible and had sent him to St. Theresa's Elementary School. At the age of 12, Jeremy was only in second grade, seemingly unable to learn. His teacher, Doris Miller, often became exasperated with him. He would squirm in his seat, drool and make grunting noises. At other times, he spoke clearly and distinctly, as if a spot of light had penetrated the darkness of his brain. Most of the time, however, Jeremy irritated his teacher. One day, she called his parents and asked them to come to St. Teresa's for a consultation. As the Forresters sat quietly in the empty classroom, Doris said to them, "Jeremy really belongs in a special school. It isn't fair to him to be with younger children who don't have learning problems. Why, there is a five-year gap between his age and that of the other students!" Mrs. Forrester cried softly into a tissue while her husband spoke. "Miss Miller," he said, "there is no school of that kind nearby. It would be a terrible shock for Jeremy if we had to take him out of this school. We know he really likes it here." Doris sat for a long time after they left, staring at the snow outside the window. Its coldness seemed to seep into her soul. She wanted to sympathize with the Forresters. After all, their only child had a terminal illness. But it wasn't fair to keep him in her class. She had 18 other youngsters to teach and Jeremy was a distraction. Furthermore, he would never learn to read or write. Why waste any more time trying? As she pondered the situation, guilt washed over her. "Oh God," she said aloud, "here I am complaining when my problems are nothing compared with that poor family! Please help me to be more patient with Jeremy."

10 From that day on, she tried hard to ignore Jeremy's noises and his blank stares. Then one day he limped to her desk, dragging his bad leg behind him. "I love you, Miss Miller," he exclaimed, loudly enough for the whole class to hear. The other children snickered, and Doris' face turned red. She stammered, "Wh-Why, that's very nice, Jeremy. Now please take your seat." Spring came, and the children talked excitedly about the coming of Easter. Doris told them the story of Jesus, and then to emphasize the idea of new life springing forth, she gave each of the children a large plastic egg. "Now," she said to them, "I want you to take this home and bring it back tomorrow with something inside that shows new life. Do you understand?" Yes, Miss Miller!" the children responded enthusiastically - all except for Jeremy. He just listened intently, his eyes never left her face. He did not even make his usual noises. Had he understood what she had said about Jesus' death and resurrection? Did he understand the assignment? Perhaps she should call his parents and explain the project to them. That evening, Doris' kitchen sink stopped up. She called the landlord and waited an hour for him to come by and unclog it. After that, she still had to shop for groceries, iron a blouse and prepare a vocabulary test for the next day. She completely forgot about phoning Jeremy's parents. The next morning, 19 children came to school, laughing and talking as they placed their eggs in the large wicker basket on Miss Miller's desk. After they completed their Math lesson, it was time to open the eggs. In the first egg, Doris found a flower. "Oh yes, a flower is certainly a sign of new life," she said. "When plants peek through the ground we know that spring is here." A small girl in the first row waved her arms. "That's my egg, Miss Miller," she called out. The next egg contained a plastic butterfly, which looked very real. Doris held it up. "We all know that a caterpillar changes and grows into a beautiful butterfly. Yes, that is new life, too" Little Judy smiled proudly and said, "Miss Miller, that one is mine."

11 Next Doris found a rock with moss on it. She explained that the moss, too, showed life. Billy spoke up from the back of the classroom. "My Daddy helped me!" he beamed. Then Doris opened the fourth egg. She gasped. The egg was empty! Surely it must be Jeremy's, she thought, and, of course, he did not understand her instructions. If only she had not forgotten to phone his parents. Because she did not want to embarrass him, she quietly set the egg aside and reached for another. Suddenly Jeremy spoke up. "Miss Miller, aren't you going to talk about my egg?" Flustered, Doris replied, "but Jeremy - your egg is empty!" He looked into her eyes and said softly, "Yes, but Jesus' tomb was empty too!" Time stopped. When she could speak again. Doris asked him, " Do you know why the tomb was empty?" "Oh yes!" Jeremy exclaimed. "Jesus was killed and put in there. Then his Father raised him up!" The recess bell rang. While the children excitedly ran out to the school yard, Doris cried. The cold inside her melted completely away. Three months later Jeremy died. Those who paid their respects at the mortuary were surprised to see 19 eggs on top of his casket, all of them empty. Written by Ida Mae Kempel

12 Sunday Worship Family Service a.m. Communion Service - 2 nd Sunday of each month We offer a sincere, loving welcome to all in Christian Worship Minister: Rev. Steve Fisher Tel. No: Web site: Weekly Activities for Children and Young People Rainbows: Tues. 5-6pm Leader: Stephanie Sterndale (Mobile Tel. No: ) Brownies: Thurs. 6 7:30pm Leader: Cath Sterndale (Mobile Tel. No: ) Guides: Tues. 6pm Leader: Stephanie Sterndale (Mobile Tel. No: ) Other Activities Fellowship Evenings Wednesdays Lunch Club 1 st Thursday in the month Tuesday Club - every week 2pm