The Salvation Army Chatham

The Family Fun evening organised by the Fellowship Purpose Group was the first of the year with the aim to raise funds for the building project.   £216.20 was raised which is the most raised in a single event – so far.  The evening took the form of  ‘Knowing me, knowing you’ quiz game with pairs of contestants answering questions about each other.    This was interspersed with a supper of soup and crusty bread and an auction of mouthwatering desserts.   Here are a selection of photographs of the evening.

Sunday was Mothering Sunday and the morning meeting led by Major Beverley McCombe commenced with the Songsters singing ‘I miss my time with you’ and included reference to mothers being based on the theme ‘Celebrating the Goodness of God’.    Songs chosen were  SA 2, SoF 1187, Sof 441, SoF 894.   The two scripture portions were read by Daisie Tranah,  Psalm 34: 1-10 and Theresa Tranah, Luke 13: 10-17.   The Singing Company and YP Band both contributed to the meeting with ‘Mothering Sunday’ and ‘Jesus Loves Me’.   In her message Beverley said

The Psalm of David illustrates that he recognised how good god was in keeping him safe when he was in trouble.   God helped him do the right thing and he said ‘O taste and see that the Lord is good’.    Jesus showed how good God is by the wonderful things He did.   The specific story of the healed woman was an example of how the welfare of people came before the Sabbath laws but some people could not understand why this should be so.

A prepared video was played being ‘News for Jews’ by news reader Tracy, reporter Nathaniel Daniel – Martin, Sharon the healed woman – Jessica and the Rabbi – David Sutton.

Beverley reminded us that God is good all the time but we may not always recognise the good things because our minds aren’t focussed on Jesus.   The early celebration of mothering sunday was when people returned to the mother church.    God gave us the rhythm of life – six days work and one day rest.   Until Jesus came the Sabbath had become encrusted with laws and it was hard work keeping them.   Now we need to learn the unforced rhythms of grace and have time for rest and refreshment with God.   ‘I will give you rest for your souls’.   Jesus broke the rules and offers peace, fulfilment and sense of being put right.   If we receive salvation, receive his spirit into our lives He will show us how to live.

The meeting concluded with the distribution of flowers to mothers.

We. are always pleased to welcome visitors to our Corps and we were delighted to meet Sarah and Paul Tester who are home from Peru where they are Mission Partners for the Christian Missionary Service.   Sarah’s sister, Claire, and mother, Marilyn, are the leaders of the Beavers in the Corps.

Sarah and Paul Tester

The evening meeting was based on the theme ‘How Big is your God?’ and was led by Major Drew McCombe.   Songs chosen were SA 16,  SoF 1013,  SA 615, SoF 2034,  SoF 2065,  SoF 480 and the scripture referred to was  Isaiah 40: 25-31 and Matthew 14: 25-32.   The Band played an arrangement of the chorus ‘Thy will to see’ and the Songsters sang ‘If you would be strong’.   Major Drew’s message drew attention to the fact that we are the workers – not the master builders and so it doesn’t all depend on us.   He said

The story of how Jesus walked on the water and Peter walked to him was a significant event in that after the storm, the disciples having witnessed that event they said ‘Truly you are the Son of God’.   They were changed and their faith increased because Jesus said ‘Take courage, it is I’.   Matthew in the original Greek text uses the self revealed name of God ‘I am He’.    He is the original ‘I am’ who came to the disciples in the storm.   The way we live our lives is as a consequence of how big we recognise our God to be.   If we live our lives realising that a great big God has accepted us we will live differently from how we often do – trying to please everyone and be what everyone expects us to be.    How can we change our perspective?   By worship.   God insists on worship because by worshipping God in spirit he weans us off self dependency.   There is something in our spirit which demands that we tell of the magnificent things we experience.    Our enjoyment in God is not complete without worship.    Every time someone gets out of their boat and does something different their God gets larger and they change.  Their world is never the same again.   If we risk ourselves on God then we grow.   Let us magnify the Lord in our worship then He will get bigger.   The story ends in worship.   Jesus is not finished with us yet – He is still working on us.

I hope you have enjoyed keeping in touch over the past weeks and that God is blessing you.    This is my last entry as the webmaster is now back from holiday and ready to take up the reins again.

Have a great week and may your God be a very BIG God.