Monday Spot (25 May 2009)
This has been quite an exciting weekend in the life of the Medway Towns.
The River Medway
Perhaps we should express our congratulations to the local Football League club (Gillingham) on its promotion to League One via the play-off final at Wembley Stadium. And then more congratulations are due to Peter Wood who is celebrating 60 years as a Chatham Salvation Army bandsman. And finally, recognition is due to those who have successfully completed the latest ‘Christianity for Life‘ course.
But ‘who’s the fool?’ was again the question for our Sunday morning meeting. Songs 10, 33 and 206 from the Salvation Army Song Book were used in conjunction with 27, 728 and 1632 from Songs of Fellowship. Scripture selected was Psalm 37:3-5 and Matthew 25:1-13. Musical contributions were made by the Singing Company and Songsters who brought ‘He is Able’ and ‘You are Loved’ respectively.
As mentioned above, a portion of the meeting was allotted to recognition of Peter Wood’s 60 years of service to the Band. Peter wad admitted to the Band Reserve and later in the week we shall be publishing the Press Release forwarded to local media agencies which will give more information about his life and experience.
Carl Woodman presents the certificate
Peter testifies
L to R: Bandmaster Carl Woodman, Peter and Major Drew McCombe
Trevor Grant was welcomed to the corps having transferred from Gravesend.
Trevor
In his message Major Drew asked ‘Have you ever felt a fool?’ He continued It’s very easy to avoid the hard bits of scripture and this story is, in many ways, hard. For one thing, the story is about a Jewish custom at a wedding which is not easily understood in our culture. There was no access to the celebrations for latecomers. Jesus is portrayed as the bridegroom and He will return so we must be ready.This is a warning! There are some things we cannot borrow and must be in possession of for ourselves. The fullness of the Spirit must always be with us so that we can be faithful. We need to have plenty of ‘oil’. We must find God for ourselves because we cannot borrow Him form others. ‘One Day’ is not enough. It must be now. What fuels you today?
Major Drew McCombe
Continuing Jesus’ thoughts on the Spirit, the evening meeting included song 833 from the Salvation Army Song Book together with 742, 1419, 37 and 520 from Songs of Fellowship. Based on a Bible reading from Acts 1:1-9 Major Beverley spoke about the ‘Spirit of Mission’ and said although the disciples were just a bunch of ordinary men Jesus entrusted his ministry to them. But they were helped by the ‘must have’ Holy Spirit, the spirit of mission. Although Jesus’ teaching began when he was on this earth it still continues today through the Spirit despite the fact they we often seem to be weak and timid in undertaking the task. The presence of the Spirit is essential and He comes to us in all sorts of unrestricted ways and at unexpected times. The Spirit gives us more power to be witnesses. The spirit filled disciples ‘spoke the word boldly’ and we ourselves need to pray for that boldness which always points to Jesus despite our faltering and stumbling. This is the spirit of mission to a world of oppression, injustice and pain. We must be enabled to speak for Christ with boldness.
The latest ‘Christianity for Life’ course having concluded this week, a presentation was made to delegates as a reminder of the teaching received. Leaders Ray Maycock and Jean Jones participated in the short ceremony. Further C4L courses will, no doubt, be arranged in the future and the next ‘Christianity for Life PLUS‘ course begins on 21 October.
Ray & Jean
The Songsters brought the meeting to a close with ‘That’s what we came here for’.
As we said at the top, an exciting weekend but the most exciting thing of all is that God loves us, no matter how good or bad we may be. Of this we are continually reminded.
Finally, those who intend to worship with us on the evening of Sunday 7 June (in 2 weeks time) are advised that there will be no regular evening meeting on that day. Instead there will be a Fellowship afternoon/evening BBQ in Teston Bridge Country Park, near Maidstone. All are welcome.
