Monday Spot (14 August 2006)
What’s been happening in the world this week then (as if you don’t all know)? Well, here’s a clue:-
A Christmas Bear
Yes, its true! This week the world-famous department store in London opened its Christmas shop. If you live in the UK you will know this only too well because it received plenty of coverage by the news media before something rather more sinister took its place. A large number of people emailed the BBC with their views and a frequent comment was that it did not seem like Christmas in August. You see, in Britain, Christmas has to be suffered in the cold, wet and dark days of winter and we are of the view that it can’t be celebrated in any other conditions. But ask the sun-bathers on Manley Beach in New South Wales, Australia and you would get a very different view. By the way, the beach which you were asked to recognize two weeks ago was, in fact, Manley and the picture was taken on 1 January 2004, right in the middle of the Christmas holiday season. I rest my case! It’s summer for me every time (but I could do without a sales pitch five months in advance).
Well, what’s been happening at the Corps this week? Not much, if truth be told. Most of our weekly activities are on ‘hold’ for the summer and will start again in two or three weeks time. The heatwave of recent weeks has departed, probably for good, which means that the kids on holiday from school are having colder, damper, weather to ‘enjoy’ and parents are probably more stressed as a result. Very suitable, then, that the commandment chosen as the subject for the morning meeting this week was ‘Honour your father and mother’ or in other words ‘do not drive your parents up the wall’.
General Shaw Clifton has written a letter to all Salvationists asking them to pray for various aspects of the situation in the Middle East. This letter can be found on the International Headquarters website and was read in our morning meeting. We were asked to consider the place for harmony in the world and the family using particularly Graham Kendrick’s words ‘Jesus taught us how to live in harmony, different faces, different races, He made us one……….’ and ‘Jesus taught us how to be a family, loving one another with the love that He gives………’. Our Scripture was Ephesians 6 v 1-9. We concluded with the words of John Gowans assuring us of our Heavenly Father’s goodness, ‘Then how much more shall God our Father in love forgive…..’ and ‘Then how much more shall God our Father our wants supply……’. How much more in comparison with what we can achieve as humans.
Our evening worship was of a more relaxed nature being a ‘Fellowship‘ meeting with refreshments provided midway. On the theme of ‘Christianity at Work’ four people spoke about how this is relevant to them as individuals (Cameron Ivers, Rosemary Steadman-Allen and Mike & Sheena Gibbs)
We thank Major Kathy for an inspiring day