The Salvation Army Chatham

The British Sunday newspaper ‘News of the World’ used as its slogan the expression ‘ALL HUMAN LIFE IS THERE’.

The same slogan could easily be used for this church, the Chatham Corps of The Salvation Army, because it is made up of people from many different walks of life with many different personalities and dispositions. Only this week we heard that one of our small boys had just received his first award for swimming (5 metres certificate), an outing to Joss Bay took place (see tomorrow) and we have experienced the sadness of a family funeral. We could recount numerous other happenings which form the daily life of our church and the people who comprise it. We hope and pray that those of you who read this website gain a mental picture of what drives us, what excites us and what saddens us. We want you to know about Jesus and that being a Christian is not dull, in fact we have a great deal of fun along the way. Bible Study this week was hilariously funny as we tried to unravel the story of Abraham, Abimelech and Sarah and all the implications of the relationships involved (Genesis 20). The ‘News of the World’ would have had a ball with that story!

So that’s why we bring you a regular account of our Sunday worship in addition to other items which form the heartbeat of our Salvation Army corps. Yesterday our leaders were Majors Drew and Beverley McCombe who chose ‘Give and Take’ as the theme for the day.

Majors Drew & Beverley McCombe

‘Give what you have’ was the thought for the morning which featured songs 22, 475 and 679 from the Salvation Army Song Book and 124, 935 and 129 from Songs of Fellowship. The Singing Company (‘To My Children’) and Songsters (‘I will worship You’) each brought musical ministry and scripture chosen was Psalm 95:1-7 and John 6:1-15.

A presentation of home made muffins (yes, that’s right) was made to the youth of the corps who had attended the recent Contagious Christianity course. Mark Scoulding described the course and its objectives.

In his message Major Drew said:

The story of the loaves and fishes is told in each of the four gospels and captures something of the spirit of Jesus and his generous heart. We often struggle with the concept of the God we love. Do we think that influencing our town and the people around us is too big a task. God himself does so much with so little as the story shows and he wants to do the same with us. In fact, his favourite material to work with is – nothing! You have nothing, come and eat, the scripture says. We can all feed at the same table of God’s mercy and he can work mighty miracles in our lives. All we need to do is surrender what little we have to Christ so that he can work with it. He will transform us so long as we make ourselves available. The boy gave his packed lunch and five thousand were fed (and there was plenty left over!).

The evening meeting centred around ‘Take the Bread of Life’ and included songs 578, 547, 579 and 631 from the Salvation Army Song Book together with 27 and 782 from Songs of Fellowship. Band and Songsters again provided the musical contributions, ‘Nicaea’ and ‘I will Call upon the Lord’ respectively and scripture used was from John 6:25-35

The message was brought by Major Beverley who said:

Have you ever been hungry, I mean really hungry? Hunger is a very powerful desire because food is essential for life. Jesus had just performed one of his most well known miracles when 5000 people were fed from one small boy’s packed lunch.There were three misconceptions about what had happened. Firstly they had forgotten that all they had in this life was sourced from God. Secondly they believed that miracles would satisfy them. They were too focused on the gift and not the giver. Only the Bread of Life will satisfy. Thirdly the people forgot that the essence of human life is spiritual, not physical. We are unique beings, not mere animals. We are made in the image of God and with a need for spiritual nourishment. God is the one we cannot do without. Only Jesus is the Bread of Life and the pleasures of this life are only temporary. Only in Jesus do we find food for our souls. Those who come to him will never be hungry. This is hard teaching. Can you accept it? Will you turn away from it or will you embrace him as Lord?

Next Saturday a number of our older young people will be going to Vinehall School, near Robertsbridge, to begin the Divisional Summer School. Watch this space for a report in due course.

Next Sunday Majors Drew and Beverley are taking a short break and our meetings will be led by our own Ruth Hardy in the morning and Lt. Cols. Michael and Martha Pressland in the evening.

Give and take?

More seriously:

All that I am, all I can be
All that I have, all that is me
Accept and use, Lord
As you would choose, Lord
Right now, today

Take every passion, every skill
Take all my dreams and bend them to your will
My all I give, Lord
For you I’ll live, Lord
Come what may

GIVE AND TAKE?

Yes, that’s news FOR the world!