Monday Spot (16 August 2010)
The summer holiday period is now in full swing. Several of our youngsters have been at the Summer School, run by the London South East Division of The Salvation Army at Vinehall School, Robertsbridge, during the past week.
a beautiful location
We are expecting to receive a report in due course.
‘A Tangled Web’ was Major Drew McCombe’s theme for our meeting yesterday morning and he chose songs 10, 324 and 862 from the Salvation Army Song Book together with 894, 299 and 441 from Songs of Fellowship. The Songsters, augmented by a number of ‘retireds’ and others, brought ‘It is Jesus’ as its musical contribution. Scripture chosen was Genesis 25:19-34 and Drew spent some time with the few children present on the ‘tangled web’ theme, illustrating the story of Issac’s family with a skein of wool taken from Beverley’s knitting bag. He might have been in trouble when he got home!
Major Drew McCombe
In his message Drew said:
Most of us have a mental picture of what we see as an ideal family. Sadly, our own doesn’t often follow that ideal and we suffer from the need to cope with various struggles and difficulties. TV ‘soaps’ can actually become a sort of moral comfort to us as they seem to set standards on which people model themselves. The story of Esau and Jacob can be seen in that light. Father Issac indulged himself by having a favourite (Esau) which came about, to some extent perhaps, because Esau, the hunter, helped provide for the family. Mother Rebecca’s favourite was Jacob and she manipulated life to his advantage. Esau lived for the immediate moment and, as a result, lost what he was entitled to. However, Jacob was a deceiver. A complex family, don’t you think, but not unlike many today. It is important that God chose to continue his plan despite all this and these people eventually became the fathers of their faith. God works through very ordinary people who are not barred by their weaknesses and he chooses us in the same way. GOD ALWAYS HAS A FUTURE FOR THOSE WHO HAVE A PAST. We can all have a new start because God continues to weave his purposes into our tangled webs.
The theme for the evening was ‘Blood Brothers’ and the songs chosen were 141, 736 and 754 from the Salvation Army Song Book and 496 and 646 from Songs of Fellowship. Part of the meeting focused on ‘Kingdom Communion’ and the following PowerPoint slides are from that presentation.
The music used to accompany this presentation was the tune ‘Shenandoah’ to which the words of John Oxenham’s great song ‘Mid all the traffic of the ways‘ are often used.
A ministry of music was also provided by the Band and Songsters with ‘Sandon’ and ‘When we cannot see our way’ respectively.
Major Drew’s message was based on Genesis 32:3-12 and 22-32 and he said:
Continuing from this morning with the lives of Esau and Jacob, we read of the complicated story of Jacob’s marriage and his children (many). But reconciliation with Esau was necessary and he was understandably worried about the meeting which was to take place. He schemed again in preparation for it but he had a great lesson to learn. Times of silence are often the best times in which to meet with God. Jacob has come to a time which he cannot handle on his own. Despite his schemes and the gifts he has prepared he cannot control this meeting. The story says he wrestled with God and many of our struggles today can also be attributed to wrestling with God. We need an authentic blessing from God himself and this can only come when we are prepared to let go of ourselves. Jacob was able to confess that he had sinned against his brother. When we confess our wrongdoings God will forgive them. He will change us and our circumstances and give us a new name and character. He will also give us a new heart and a new spirit but we must desire the transformation for ourselves.
We look forward to a great day next Sunday when, as has already been revealed on this web site, we shall enjoy a visit from delegates to the current session of The Salvation Army’s International College for Officers in South London. The group will comprise approximately thirty officers from many parts of the world who are spending eight weeks at the college and we have been very fortunate to have been able to book them for the day. The picture below shows a similar group from an earlier session on a ‘day out’ in London.
Why not join us for the visit if you can. Here’s how to find us.
Click on the maps to enlarge