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Advent, Blog, Published Talks, Resources, Seasonal

Advent: A time of Wanting

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The 3rd in a 3 part series for the start of Advent

Advent.
A time of wanting.

What do you want for Christmas?
A new bike, a new microwave,
A box of chocolates, but not one with the minty ones in…

This world is filled with wants.

Adverts, telling us what we want.
Watching the news and desperately wanting peace where there is conflict.
Business Enticing us with wants.
Hearing of friends suffering, and longing for them to be freed of their pain.
Supermarkets tempting us with treats and tantalizing tastes.
Wanting to live in a world where the most basic of human needs are met by all in this world.

But how do we distinguish our desires between selfishness and selflessness.
How do we keep our wanting in check with God’s wanting for us?

And in that moment,
advent connects with the climax of the story.
Christs words in Gethsemane echo in our ears:
“Father, not what I want, but what you want.”

Advent.
A time of wanting.

Wanting as Jonah did, inside the belly of a fish, for 3 nights praying, re-orientating himself from his own wants and desires.
Not what I want, but what you want Lord.

Wanting as Mary did, as she accepted the angel’s word: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Luke 1:38
Not what I want, but what you want Lord.

Advent.
A time of wanting.
Yet – what are we wanting?

A time of watching.
Yet – what are we watching for?

A time of waiting.
Yet – What are we waiting for?

Advent, Blog, Published Talks, Resources, Seasonal

Advent: A time of Watching

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The 2nd of a 3 part series for the start of advent.

Advent.
A time of watching.

Watching the news.
Watching the world go by
Watching children, and grandchildren play.
Watching the sun rise and set,
Watching the seas roll and break on the shore,
Watching the trees bend under the weight of the wind

Yes watching, it seems, is not merely seeing.
Watching goes deeper than simply observing and acknowledging what we see.
Watching involves interpreting, it involves foreseeing,
Looking at both the now, and the not yet,
The present and the yet to be.

Advent.
A time of watching.

Watching, as Noah did, for the waters to recede.

Watching as All Israel did,
watching for the Messiah,
But when messiah came, they rejected, ignored, dismissed.
The Messiah that came was not what they had been watching for.

Advent.
A time of watching.

What are we watching for?
Watching for what we want God to do?
Or watching for God’s voice, God’s action in this world?

Advent.
A time of watching.
A time of waiting.

Advent, Blog, Published Talks, Resources, Seasonal

Advent: A time of waiting

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The first of a 3 part reflection for Advent.

Advent.
A time of waiting.

Waiting for the bus,
the TV programme to start,
waiting for test results,
for an appointment,
for a child to be born,
for dinner to cook
still waiting for the bus.

Waiting inhabits most areas of our lives, in one way or another.
Sometimes waiting passes by unnoticed.
At others, waiting is a heavy millstone around our necks.

Sometimes waiting can be a joyous and uplifting time,
At others, it can be draining of life.

Advent.
A time of waiting.

Waiting as Abraham and Sarah did, waiting for God’s unexpected and seemingly impossible promise to come true, that in their old age, they would bear a child.

Waiting as Joseph did, rejected by his brothers, imprisoned for years, yet when all hope seemed lost, his liberation comes as he interprets dreams, and finds purpose.

Waiting as the Israelites did, time and time again, for 40 years, to reach the promised land. Waiting for God’s promise to be fulfilled.

Waiting as Mary did, having been visited by an angel, and told she would conceive, waiting for this Christ-child to be born.

Advent.
A time of waiting.

All Posts, Call to Worship, Resources

Praise the Lord! A Call to Worship

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A Call to Worship based on Psalm 149.

PPT and PDF downloads also available below.

Praise the Lord!
Sing to our God a new song.
Sing praise as you gather as God’s people.

Faithful ones, rejoice in your Maker.
Praise with dancing,
Sing for joy!

Worship with tambourine and harp,
Exalt our God with all you have and are,
For God delights in us.

This is the glorious privilege
of being part of God’s family,
the company of the faithful.

Sing to God a new song.
Praise the Lord!

PPT Download – CW Psalm 149Download
PDF Download – CW Psalm 149Download
All Posts, Blog, Meditations, Monologues & Drama, Resources

Dazzled by Jesus: a reflection through the eyes of Peter

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Read: Luke 9:28-36

I saw Jesus. I knew it was him, but he looked different: his face a ball of white light, his clothes so dazzlingly white that it hurt my eyes to look at them and I shielded them with my arm (dreams can seem so real sometimes).

Then I saw the other figures, two of them, and they were talking to him. It seems strange, but I knew straight away who they were: Moses and Elijah. They were all in white, all three of them enveloped in this amazing light, brighter than the sun.

And they were talking with Jesus, like they knew him already, like it was something they did everyday. But it was more than that: Jesus was at the centre of the three; he was the greatest of them. I thought a lot about that later: imagine it, the Jesus we’d walked with, eaten with, spent so much time with: greater than the greatest of our prophets.

And suddenly I realized I wasn’t dreaming, that this was real. It felt like somehow I’d slipped into another world. And I was terrified. Typically for me, I started gabbling, blurting out anything that came into my head, trying to make the situation seem normal: some nonsense about building shelters for them, James told me afterwards.

Then it got scarier: we were caught up in the cloud, James and John and I. My heart was pounding so hard in my chest I thought it was going to burst and I was quaking all over. If I was going to die, to be struck down because I was unworthy to be in the presence of God himself, I wanted it to happen quickly. And painlessly.

Instead we heard a voice: it seemed all around us, loud and booming, yet it also spoke quietly as a whisper into our ears: ‘This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.’ I fell at Jesus’ feet and when I got up, the cloud had gone and we were alone with him.

He didn’t give us any explanation: just told us not to say anything to the others, to anyone, until he was raised from the dead. We didn’t understand what he meant then – it only made sense a long time afterwards.

James, John and I didn’t talk about it much among ourselves. I think we were all trying to work out what it meant, but we couldn’t quite get there. I only knew that I’d had my confirmation: this man Jesus, my friend and teacher, he was the Christ, the Son of God: he’d come at last!

Follow Up: How do you see Jesus today?

Today’s thought for the day is also available in Worshipping Together, a monthly worship at home resource.

Worshipping Together
All Age, All Posts, Blog, Christmas, Monologues & Drama, Resources

A Sweet Christmas Tale

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I originally put together for use during Christmas 2021 at Felpham Methodist Church, and Bognor Regis Methodist Church West Sussex.

Please feel free to use this as a resource, and adapt it as appropriate. If you do use it, let me know, and tell me how it went!

Rev Dan, January 2022

Downloadable PDF

A Sweet Christmas TaleDownload

Some notes for use

It takes about 7-10 minutes to perform, depending how you do it.

I delivered it with a large table in front of me, and all the chocolates & Sweets in a basket, bringing them out and holding them up as I referred to them (in red), the placing on the table. The times there is a product in green means you’ve used it once already, so you’ve got to find it on the table – which adds to the entertainment factor!

Alternatively, you could do it with pictures on a screen, or with congregation having to shout out when they hear a chocolate reference.

All Posts, Blog, Poetry

New Year

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New Year.
New Start.
Refresh.
Refocus.

Pray.
Dare to Listen. 
Dare to Dream. 
Dare to Hope.
Dare to Love. 

Dare to Fly.
To soar on wings like eagles.
To run and not grow weary. 
To live in the strength and power of God. 

Don’t you know anything? Haven’t you been listening?
God doesn’t come and go. God lasts.
    
He’s Creator of all you can see or imagine.
He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch his breath.
    
And he knows everything, inside and out.
He energizes those who get tired,
    gives fresh strength to dropouts.

For even young people tire and drop out,
    young folk in their prime stumble and fall.

But those who wait upon God get fresh strength.
    They spread their wings and soar like eagles,
They run and don’t get tired,
    they walk and don’t lag behind.

Isaiah 40:28-31 (The Message)
All Posts, Meditations, Poetry

Faith in the fog

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Faith in the Fog
I drew away this morning, thinking I was going to a quiet place.
When I got there I could see only a few metres, the wind was howling, the rain soaking in.
Where was God in all this?

Then I realised. My life is a bit like that at the moment. I can’t see where I’m going.
This blowing at me from all directions.
Yet I hear the Lord say ‘have faith in the fog’.

So I will. I will have faith in you Lord. I believe.
I believe you will provide for me. I believe you have a plan for me.
I believe you hold my life in your hands.

So I stand in the cold.
The wet, the wind, the fog and say here I am. I am listening.
I will have faith in the fog.