Monday Spot (5 May 2008)
As we write this we are looking forward to a day in the park. Traditionally the first Monday in May is public holiday in the UK and many members and friends of the corps will be enjoying this day out together. We will report in due course.
Teston Bridge Country Park
This weekend usually sees a number of people taking a short break and this was again the case on this occasion. Coupling this with the event at Southport (The Salvation Army’s ‘Roots’ Convention), on which we will be reporting later, it is not surprising that our numbers were a little lower than usual on Sunday.
Majors Drew and Beverley McCombe were at Roots and our meetings were led by Major Kathy Woodhouse. In the morning her theme was again that of ‘what is God like?’ and she chose to use songs 220, 579, 435 and 56 from The Salvation Army Song Book and 955, 37 and 755 from Songs of Fellowship. Once again our musical ministry was provided by the Singing Company and Songsters who brought ‘There’s a Way’ and ‘Grace Alone’ respectively.
Kathy chose Daniel 3 as her Bible portion and said, in her message, there comes a time in our lives when we realize that our mother is not all powerful. However, power is a quality possessed by God and He has it for every situation. Let me ask and answer four questions. 1 – Is God all powerful? Yes, he is. Men often think they can demand total allegiance of other men but they can’t. 2 – Does God always use His power? No. In the reading the characters trusted God to use his power on their behalf and He did. 3 – Can God rescue us? Yes. Many scriptural examples show this and our simple prayers are answered when we believe. 4 – Does God always rescue us? No. God chooses when to intervene in our trials and difficulties. We will inevitably come to a point in our lives when we are asked to ‘bow down’ to different idols. At these times God will give us the strength to stay on our feet. Apart from Him there is no Saviour.
Major Kathy
In the evening we turned again to the life of Samuel, using songs 43, 71, 727 and 833 from The Salvation Army Song Book and 1184 from Songs of Fellowship. The songsters gave us ‘Here am I, my Lord’ and the Band ‘Let me Love Thee’. A time of intercession featured song 576 from The Salvation Army Song Book and a number of topical subjects were offered for prayer.
Using selected verses from 1 Samuel 8, 9 and 10 as her scripture Kathy spoke about Samuel’s position as a leader of the people. Leaders must listen to those who have concerns. God did this when He allowed the Israelites to chose their own leader, a king like those ruling the surrounding nations. But the Israelites would not listen to Samuel and chose Saul. So it transpired that God had, through Samuel, given them what they wanted, with the consequences! They were not so clever as to be able to thwart the will of God and neither are we. We must listen and we must learn. Samuel listened to God and, as a result, had a greater understanding of his will. We must take the example.
Everyone enjoyed a cup of tea after the meeting and went home refreshed.
So its back down to earth for a short week at work after a longer weekend than usual. Quieter too if you were at the corps, perhaps not so if you were taking a break. The weekend also saw the introduction of summer uniforms for another season. For once the weather justified the change over. Long may it continue! Have a good week.