Monday Spot (28 December 2009)
Christmas weekend is always a very special occasion and this year was no exception.
Our seasonal worship continued on Thursday evening (Christmas Eve) with Carols at Midnight, a formal act contemplation of the birth of Jesus led by Major Beverley McCombe. The carols ‘Once, in Royal David’s City‘, ‘In the Bleak Mid-winter‘, ‘It came upon the Midnight Clear‘, ‘Away in a Manger‘, ‘While Shepherds watched their Flocks by Night‘, ‘O Come, all ye Faithful‘ and ‘Hark! the Herald Angels Sing‘ were intertwined with scripture from Genesis 3:8-19, Isaiah 9:2-7, Micah 5:2, Luke 2:1-7, Luke 2:8-16 and John 1:1-14. About 60 people attended this lovely service.
Majors Drew & Beverley McCombe
Just 10 hours later we gathered again for our Christmas Day service led by Major Drew McCombe in which we thought again about ‘unwrapping ‘ Christmas. Drew concentrated on the gifts of Faith, Hope and Love and how we can experience them in our day to day lives. Sharing together in our new foyer/cafe area was an added benefit bringing a social aspect so important in the life of any corps. The newly engaged Cat McCombe was shy of being ‘caught’ serving the coffee and it was lovely to see our newest member enjoying his first Christmas.
Just one meeting yesterday, led by Major Beverley. Taking the theme as ‘New Year, New Start’ she chose songs 81, 141 and 274 from the Salvation Army Song Book together with 935, 475 and 1346 from Songs of Fellowship. The meeting was introduced with scripture from Matthew 2:1-12. Despite many absentees due to the holiday weekend (substituted by numerous visitors, of course) the Singing Company and Songsters were both able to provide the usual musical contributions, singing ‘Good News’ and ‘The Stable Door’ respectively.
Major Drew brought the message and based it on Romans 12:1-2. He said:
Today is a chance to stop and think – a time for new starts. All of us have a past but, equally, we all have a future. What is going to shape us in the coming year? Our reading talks about ‘be not conformed’ and ‘be transformed’, what is your position? Sometimes we can spend years running away from God especially if we don’t understand our relationship with Him. But there is a better way to live! God believes in us and we should offer our lives to Him because of this. We can ‘do better’ if we live out His will because He wants transformation in our lives. Instead of focusing on external issues Jesus focused on the heart of God, on love, and he challenges people’s understanding. Not understanding the meaning of true holiness has caused huge damage in the world but there is an alternative. We can ‘go on’ being transformed by ‘the renewing of our minds’. To do this we should expose ourselves to worship and allow God’s spirit to become the centre of our lives. New start – new resolution?
We begin worship for 2010 by reverting to our normal Sunday schedule next Sunday with meetings at 10am and 6pm. if you live near enough why not make a resolution to join with us. You would be very welcome.
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