Vicars Blog - February
Welcome to the February 'Vicar's blog'. My intention for this blog is to have a chance to take stock of and celebrate some of the things last month and this coming month from 'behind my eyes'. As always, I'd love to hear from you from 'behind your eyes' - what stories of God at work should we be celebrating, and what should we be taking note of and praying for? I've been trying to visit as many Connect Groups as possible before Easter, and in one of the groups we were learning about the Spiritual 'gift of faith' (1 Cor 12) - to which one member creatively described it as a 'gateway gift'! In other words, when faith in our amazing God rises up in us, it makes us more likely to want to seek, and exercise other spiritual gifts in God's service and for the building up of his church. I think that when we share stories with each other of 'God at work' - this 'gift of faith' can rise up in all of us! Please do contact me or the office with a story to share, a testimony to offer on Sunday etc… no matter how big or small, it can be a great encouragement to our church.
Over Christmas I've been reading through my devotional journal for 2024, and one of the highlights that stood out for me was how special our Sunday mornings have been - times of developing friendship and connection with fellow believers; authenticity and kindness; a sense of expectancy and hunger to meet with God in worship, Scripture, and breaking bread together. I know Sundays are just a tiny part of who we are and what we do as a church, but thank you for being part of something special at St Andrews on a Sunday morning! Christmas is also a time where I think about the year ahead and whether to go 'deep dive' with Bible reading - (e.g. a few books of the Bible in more depth), or to read the Bible through. Over the past 20 or so years I've tended to alternate between deep dive and straight through, and I find that works for me. As I mentioned in my 'Healthy habits leaflet' last year, the key thing is to be intentional with something. This year, my wife and I are reading through the Bible in one year with Nicky Gumbel. The app is called 'The Bible with Nicky and Pippa' which you can download to your phone/ipad, and you can either read it or listen to it being read. Do share with your Connect groups what you are finding helpful for your devotional/daily times with the Lord.
January started with our annual 24/7 prayer week, where we wanted to express to God and each other - that we are totally dependent on God's Spirit for the plans and purposes he has for us as a Church. Can we aim towards to valuing 'God's presence over programmes', 'the needs of the lost over what suits me', 'authenticity over pretence' and 'Spirit-reliance over self-reliance'? During the week, some of us met to pray and worship and one of the lyrics we sang was "We've prayed our prayers, we've made our plans; but if you're not in it, we don't want it, Oh God would you move" (O God would you move by KXC). We received dozens of amazing words of encouragement and words of Scripture from our congregation through our 'postcard prayers'. Some of those included encouragement to keep exercising prophetic gifts; to pray for a 'generosity mindset', confident of God's authority and power; that he loves our worship, and wants to put a 'song in our hearts' and pour out his joy as we worship in song; and a release in 'freedom' in the Lord. We'll be revisiting the many words during this year so thank you for playing your part in encouraging our church.
Please continue to pray for our guests on Alpha this term, that the Holy Spirit would be unveiling eyes and minds to perceive Jesus as Saviour and Lord (2 Cor 4:4), and that hearts would respond in surrender to him.
We're continuing our Sunday Bible teaching on the Gospel of Luke. We try to keep our website up to date with a list of upcoming sermon topics and Bible passages so you can follow along https://www.stastb.church/talks If you're new to reading and studying scripture yourself, there is no better time to do it than today! To get a context overview, I would recommend watching the relevant Book video on 'bibleproject.com' For instance, to find 'Luke', just go to their 'book overviews' and click on Luke, or click on the link here https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/luke/ If you ever want recommendations on books or study guides, do let me know. I like Tom Wright's 'for everyone' series on each New Testament book for helpful context and anecdotes; The BST (Bible Speaks Today) series for even more background and context; and I think the 'NIV Application Commentary' is amazing for 'bridging contexts' - that is, how to apply what the text is saying to us now. I'm sure your Connect group leaders can share ideas for learning resources on Scripture with you.