Pastor’s Blog October 2017.

Hi Church Family.

As I type this Autumn is looming, Harvest services being prepared, and empty shoe boxes have arrived for Christmas appeal…yes Christmas! I refuse to give in, am still wearing T shirts, and the central heating remains ‘off’ a bit longer!
The past few weeks have seen the launch of our new ‘Family at 4’ (F@4) service and Tuesday evening Prayer Engine, (Prayer@8). As we already have our normal Sunday morning Service and normal Prayer Engine Thursday morning we are stretching our small church further than many surrounding larger churches.
It is good to stretch! It is normally the first thing we do when we wake up. Also after exercise, the opposite if you like, and again we stretch and it is good for us. It is good not to just sit and be comfortable. We need to push ourselves.
I am the local Advanced Driving Examiner, and meet diverse people who have put the extra the training hours in then voluntarily put themselves exam conditions. Virtually without exception they all say although they were apprehensive at the start, they thoroughly enjoyed the experience at the end. And they are better drivers for having pushed and stretched themselves.
When was the last time you stretched, and put yourself under a bit of pressure but you knew it was for the best long-term? Whether it is physical, skilful, or spiritual, how about doing something a bit extra this Autumn? If you haven’t been to any of our extra services, please ‘stretch’ yourself, it will do you good and it would be great to see you.

Blessings, Pastor Andy.

Hi Church family.

I hope and pray you have had a blessed Summer and the daylight takes its time (ha ha!) before Autumn sees the evenings draw in.
Kay retired from the Police at the beginning of the year and to mark this hired a chateau in France for family and friends to join us on holiday. Near Limoges we had 17 stay and had a fantastic time. Kay and I cycled every morning, enjoyed good fellowship, food and fun. I particularly enjoyed reading a book, ‘Extravagant’, by my Bible College teacher Dr. John Andrews. All 11 books he has authored are highly recommended and can be found at http://www.drjohnandrews.co.uk/books/
From September, we start 2 exciting church activities; the first is the new weekly Sunday service called ‘Family at 4’, which…wait for it…is for families at 4pm. Now ‘families’ can mean different things to different people. We mean ‘family’ in the broadest sense. I am hoping all people of all ages feel they belong, and want to join in. It will only have a short talk, trying different ways of knowing God and living this out in our daily lives. It will be different from our main 10.30am Service, and if you have time you are welcome to both!
The second new weekly activity is on Tuesdays at 8pm. This is the ‘Prayer Engine.’ This will take different forms, but is very much about our Spiritual connection with God, again knowing our Father God through His in-dwelling Spirit, and again living this out in our everyday stuff.
I see our church as a real family, and all that goes with that. The difference is our perfect Dad! He made us, loves us, is fully in control, gives us free-will, never leaves us and wants us to hold His hand. If you haven’t met ‘our Dad’ yet, please come to Morton New Day. We are like the chateau in France, you are very welcome, please come and visit!
Blessings, Pastor Andy.

Hi Readers.

What an intense 4 weeks. We have just had the leaving service for our church Elder John and his wife Sue, acknowledging their move to Cheshire. A ‘flock’ photo was taken and is on the church website.

Sadly we have conducted the funeral of our previous Elder, Derek, who is sorely missed. Also we have acknowledged Win Swift has gone to Glory, and the funeral of Geoff Darvill is next week.

The ALPHA course has finished with all involved truly blessed. Many thanks to those that have cooked and helped in many ways. There will be another, and please speak to me if you know of prospective attendees.

Kay and I were blessed attending ‘Church Big Day Out’ in Cheshire, and our church guest speakers Rick, Ricki and Sue all spoke powerfully. Also, our ladies form the Congo, Carol & Ginny, have blessed us speaking at Sunday service. Thank you all.

Preparations are under way for the Holiday Club, (24th-26th), and a picture of the amazing Pirates back drop is on our church website.

We are also looking forward to Morton Street Fair, (8th), and if you can help in our Church or shop please speak up!

Kay is taking 12 of our Ladies away this weekend to a castle in Derbyshire…we pray they are again richly blessed.

Finally, we have just ended our sermon series on Faith. There is so much in this life we do not understand. We can grasp God is perfect. He is love. He loves each of us as we are. He seeks our relationship and attention. Why not bring a friend to church, or you attend one of our Home Groups, and get to walk a little closer with our loving God.

Be blessed, Pastor Andy.

Hi Readers
Summer is here! May is ending with a glorious heatwave. Praise God! And praise Him again for the many blessings we have had individually and as His church. One of these was the Churches Together in Bourne and District service we held last week. Around 80 ecumenical Christians gathered and song hymns old and new. And it was a real privilege to hear Rev. David Hughes playing hear (grammatical joke!) again.
Kay has made 45 ‘Prayer Kit Boxes’ which fit in with Archbishop Justin Welby’s ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ prayer week. If the churches became church, what a presence Christianity would display!
We also had our first ‘Canon J John’ evening. These will normally be the 2nd Wednesday every month at 7.30pm, all welcome.
Canon J John is emphasising the importance of the 10 Commandments. They are in reverse order, so this month was Exodus 20:17, the 10th, ‘You shall nor covet anything of your neighbour’s.’
To ‘covet’ is to want something that is not yours. Sometimes described as ‘the grass is always greener on the other side.’ As a Christian we should remember that God has a perfect plan and purpose for each of US, and not to compare and contrast ourselves with others.
The Bible says, ‘Envy rots the bones’ (Proverbs 14:30 NIV 2011 Edition) and the New Living Translation paraphrases it this way: ‘Jealousy is like cancer in the bones.’
Please remember that God is all-powerful. Therefore, He and He alone created you. Please remember that God is all-knowing. God knowingly, intentionally made YOU, yes YOU! And finally, that God loves, (in the present tense) you so much that He is always with you and will NEVER stop this.
So…As you journey through June please remember you are never ‘less-than.’ God does not make mistakes. He made you, loves you, and keeping those 10 commandments makes great sense.

Be richly blessed, Pastor Andy.

Hi Readers

Easter came and went so fast. Now May is whistling by! One of the congregation said this week that another of our flock had accidently cut their leg, and needed some good quality first aid, or maybe triage to hospital. So she phoned her little granddaughter up, who DROVE round, with her own extensive medical kit, sorted the cut admirably, and all is well. She still looked at her little granddaughter as just that, not a woman, driving, with calm, proficient skills far beyond the patient or the grandmother, who said to me “Doesn’t time fly”!

When I was at school I focussed ahead on passing my leaving exams, not the past, or even the events around me. After my exams, I had a great time in the Police Cadets, but didn’t notice them then. At that time. I was focussed ahead on getting my ‘warrant card’; becoming a Constable. I thought, “That is when I shall be ‘IN’ my time, at that point in the future I will ‘start living.’”

But as a Constable the focus continued forwards… to buying a house, maybe promotion, marriage, maybe when I’m a Dad, or retire, or even a Grandad.

As I type our own ‘little’ granddaughter has just come out of hospital, receiving medical attention, (thank you so much all within our NHS).

Time flies because many of us fail to live in the ‘here and now’. Psalm 90:12 says, ‘So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.’

Stop rushing. I need like many to really do this. Take some time. Look around and really SEE people, HEAR conversations, and embrace what God has given each of us TODAY.

Be richly blessed, Pastor Andy.