The Church Council met on 17th July 2020 (by Zoom) and recommitted itself to worship, study and prayer. We agreed to continue to pray for each other and seek discernment and wisdom at this time.
Whilst the Church Council retains legal responsibility for the reopening of the church, it delegated the task of making and executing decisions regarding the phased reopening of the church to the Church Leadership Team. During the whole of the COVID-19 the Church Leadership Team has met together every three weeks online via Zoom to pray and carefully consider/plan how as a church we can continue to worship and grow as disciples, love and support each other, and how we can serve our wider community. We are reminded that through this difficult time we remain a community who love and care for each other. We have agreed to continue the online service via YouTube every Sunday morning at 10am for at least several more months. We also have a separate printed service sheet issued every week to those who can’t access the online service. We have taken the decision to not open or start Sunday services with people attending church in September – due to all of the restrictions we would need to impose, it would be very strange and different to what we remember as normal. There would be no singing, we would need to wear masks, seats would need to be booked, lots of people would not be able to attend, there could be no refreshments or social time after the service, and we may only be able to get up to 20/30 people safely in church. We are therefore considering and setting out a plan to get us from September to the New Year – this plan can be amended, speeded up, or slowed down to reflect changing local restrictions and government direction/legislation. Regular updates on the gradual reopening of church will be provided as we continue to react to the swift changing situation and national and local guidance, including guidance from the Methodist Church. We welcome any views on these proposals via email to leadership.team (@) frodshammethodist.org, via your pastoral visitor or to one of the Church Leadership team. Every activity/event which we propose and which eventually starts will be the subject of a detailed Covid-19 risk assessment, with the wider effect and risk assessment of the church and any collateral impact from one event/activity on another also assessed. We have noted that for some of these events and activities to take place, zoning of the whole of the Church premises including the hall, annexe etc. would be required (we would need to separate parts of the church premises to make sure no one from one event/activity went into another zone of church which was saved and cleaned for a separate activity) and/or enhanced cleaning will be needed. As part of this plan we hope in September to be able to move the online service to be streamed live from church. There will be no congregation present, but it will enable more flexibility and permit more than one person to be present and help lead it. There is also the potential for funerals restarting at church later in September, but numbers attending will be significantly restricted. It is possible that we may be able to restart youth group at church in some format and maybe the regular walking group. As we move later into October, there is a possibility that we may be able to permit a very small number of people to attend our live streamed services at church, but the services will continue to be streamed on YouTube for all to attend online or listen via their phone. Even later in October we are looking at if we can start some sort of short spoken prayer service for a small number of people, possibly midweek. During November and December, and into the New Year, we will look to gradually reopen activities and events at church. Sadly it is too early yet to give any real detail of what this may look like as, at the time of writing, we have no knowledge of any potential second waves of Covid-19, how Government advice may change, of the effect of local lockdowns, etc. We will keep everyone updated and we appreciate everyone’s patience, love and support as we try to carefully pick our way through this difficult situation. The Leadership Team Frodsham Methodist Church Due to the COVID-19 situation, all public worship and activities are suspended.
Visit our What's On page for daily reflections and live Sunday worship! Dear Friends,
I write this from my tent, pitched at the front of the worship area at Frodsham Methodist Church. It’s the start of our Life Together; our annual event where the teenagers of our church live in Christian community. For five days beginning in the midst of a school week, church becomes our home. We’ve just finished evening prayers. It’s 11pm. So far, all is quiet! During prayers I was sharing my belief that we see God most clearly as God comes to us in Jesus Christ. “Where was God when I prayed to God every day for my Gran to be cured of cancer? She died!” “Where was God during the genocide at Auschwitz?” Great questions! It’s at times like these I remember 1 Peter 3:15: “Always be ready to make your defence to anyone who demands from you an account of the hope that is in you;” I like a bit of theology, but at times like this that I beat a hasty retreat. My retreat takes to the firm ground of that rocky hill of Golgotha; to the cross of Jesus Christ. At the centre of my faith I do not find some Greek god sitting on a cloud pulling levers. When I retreat to the core of my faith I find a young man, nailed to a cross who prays for me and for you. Dietrich Bonhöffer, the 20th century martyr who inspired our Life Together wrote from his prison cell: “Only a suffering God will do”. My answer was not complete. It was partial. Where is God? Right in the middle of it! Jesus – God with us, God for us. Grace and peace. Andrew Rev'd. Andrew M. Emison Minister Dear Friends,
As I approach Christmas and contemplate Christmas dinners and the odd mince pie or two (hundred) I will stare anxiously at my waistline! In the New Year that follows, new or renewed gym memberships will spike as many of us resolve to get fit for 2020. Rightly so! Christian faith teaches us that our bodies matter. In Genesis, God creates them and declares them to be not just good but “very good”. When our bodies don’t work as they once did or when we become poorly, it is not what God had in mind. Christmas teaches us that God takes on our body and becomes fully human; that amazing fusion of body and spirit that is our true humanity. At very least all of this inspires me to take the dog on longer walks! I know that for those who exercise regularly, if they don’t get exercise they begin to crave it. They long to “feel the burn” of a good workout. Medical science teaches us that our wellbeing and health is improved with regular exercise. The odd walk once a month won’t make any difference but regular exercise will. If that is true of our physical bodies, it is also true of our spiritual life. Over the last eleven weeks at our 09:30Live! and 10.45 services we’ve been exploring the “Holy Habits” of the early church as recorded in Acts 2: 42-47. You can see the ten Holy Habits in the pictures opposite. Just as our bodies need exercise to be healthy, so does our spiritual life. Those of us who exercise the Holy Habits regularly know the need to engage in all of them regularly. I wonder if we recognise this? Do we crave the exercise of the Holy Habits? Do we long to “feel the burn” in our lives? Andrew Rev'd. Andrew M. Emison Minister What is Truth?
We live in a turbulent time in our politics. We feel disorientated as the boundary lines of conviction which separate have rotated. The boundaries are now within our political traditions and tribes rather than between them. No wonder then that debate offered across the despatch boxes of the House of Commons fails to reach consensus. I shared some time recently with a man who lamented that the output from one of our national broadcasters was biased. He felt that his choice of news was far more reliable and impartial. I asked him what measure or reference he had chosen to help him reach his conclusion. His answer was that the source of news he trusted was the one that matched how he thinks. He had no other resources that he could refer to beyond his own cognition. Does this mean that there was nothing else in the world in which he could place his trust? Was he right? For me, in this time of widespread cynicism and mistrust, this raises an interesting question. How do we determine in what or in whom we place our trust and allegiance? At the trial of Jesus before Pilate in John chapter 18 Jesus says: “…For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth”. (John 18:38) Perhaps Pilate articulates our contemporary cynicism in our politics when he replies: “and what is truth?” For Christians, the answer of course stood before him. For in the beaten, wounded Jesus stood God’s answer to the reality of our life together and of God’s love for us. In Jesus' resurrection, we are invited to recognise that a brand new way of living is possible. Jesus’ new life is as Paul says, the first-fruits of the revolution begun in Jesus’ life and death. Christians are invited to confess a source of authority and reference point which sometimes affirms and sometimes challenges all of our preconceptions including our political ones. Looking forward to the coming of the Holy Spirit Jesus said: “When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth…” (John 16:13a). That might not seem to take us very much further forward until we realise that the “you” is plural. For Christians, the truth is not given to individuals but to communities. I’m never going to tell anyone how to vote, least of all from the pulpit. Being accountable to God for my own vote is enough! I would like to suggest however that we have a choice. We can say: “{insert preferred news outlet here} is Lord” or we can say: “Jesus is Lord”. If we choose the latter, then we need to get together to discern how together the Spirit is lifting us from a posture of cynicism and self-referential belief and guiding us to a confident vision of God’s future, God’s will and God’s truth. Grace and peace. Andrew Andrew M. Emison Minister Dear Friends, As I write, the teenagers from our church are sharing in “Life Together – An Experiment in Christian Community Living”. During a normal school week, church becomes our home as we explore what it means to be followers of Jesus Christ in the context of normal life. We share meals, find time to do our homework and attend our normal weekly activities. Each day begins and ends with prayers. We begin the day committing it to God and asking for God’s guidance and at the end of the day reflect on the day that has past. Our Life Together is based on the experience and writings of the theologian and anti-Nazi dissident Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who led an illegal seminary in Finkelwalde (now Stettin), Poland before the outbreak of the second world war. Bonhoeffer’s book Life Together was based on his experiences. The students of this first Life Together community were amongst those who led the Confessing Church so called because they confessed Jesus as Lord (and not Hitler). Bonhoeffer wrote that community was not a “given”, it’s a gift of God and something that has to be celebrated and which needs to be nurtured. Christian community is not one of isolation but of engagement. “It is only by fully living in the world that [people] find faith”. The intention of our Life Together is to model community which celebrates God’s gifts whilst living in midst of the world. The churches in our town are joining with others to seek to make Frodsham a loneliness aware community in which we seek to make connections across our community, not just because those who are lonely need us, but because we need them. Let’s continue to build up our common life and in so doing reflect and share the love of God in Jesus Christ. Grace and peace. Andrew Andrew M. Emison Minister Dear Friends,
It’s almost time for the winter festival which I call “Winterval”. Winterval is a highly religious festival with all the trimmings that celebrates excessive consumption. Winterval features lot of wonderful traditions such as goodwill to all. It is a time for communities to come together for a short time lasting roughly between the 1st and 25th December. On this date, Winterval gives way to a season of recuperation and leftovers. Its chief characters are snowmen, reindeer, donkeys and a pleasant, white-bearded gentleman of a friendly disposition. All these things are good and have their place. My family and I will enjoy Winterval as usual. However, I hope we’ll also find time to celebrate Christmas. Its chief characters are a tradesman, an unmarried pregnant teenager and her baby. Christians believe that this baby, who was born into scandal, mess and foreign occupation, has actually come to inspire and empower us to a brand new way of being together as a community. In this baby, God comes to be with us in every event of life and season of the soul. In these last two years since I joined the ministry of Frodsham Methodist Church it has been my privilege to come alongside our annual “Time to Remember” service. This time of worship is particularly for those who wish to remember people who they love but have lost. We will light candles and decorate our Christmas tree with memories of those who have died. Some say that this does not sound very “Christmassy”. I am not so sure. I agree that it doesn’t sound like “Winterval”, but it does, I believe, say something about what Christmas is about. Christmas is about truth and reality. It’s about God making God’s own self known to us and alongside us. I want to suggest that it’s Christmas and not Winterval that the world really needs. Jesus came to share in the reality of life not some cosy and temporary pretence. If all that is true as I believe, then it’s something that’s really worth celebrating! I invite you to celebrate with us and wish you all a very happy Christmas. Grace and peace. Andrew Andrew M. Emison Minister Dear Friends,
Many of you will be part of organisations outside of the church and will know that it is becoming increasingly difficult to attract new members to anything, be it a bowling club or a gardening club. People are wary of any sort of commitment. We see it in personal relationships. I’m puzzled when friends say: “we don’t want to get married; it might change things”. The same is true in the church. People are wary of church membership and the reason I hear most often is not an issue with faith, but a fear that membership makes them eligible for committees! This is not what church membership is about, but in any case, the question our young people challenged us with a few weeks ago was: “Do we come to church to serve or to be served?” We’re fortunate that we have a God who sees things differently. The bible uses the concept of “covenant” to describe God’s relationship with people. Covenants are agreements but ones which differ from contracts with which we are perhaps more familiar. Contracts are closed, well-defined and based in law. The covenant God makes with us is relational, open-ended and based in God’s unmerited love which we call “grace”. The story of God witnessed to by Scripture is the story of human beings letting God down and yet God refuses to walk away and tries again. Far different from church where one bad experience can lead people to say “I am never going back there again”. We’re flawed people and when things have gone wrong in the past, we’re very sorry. Church Membership is the way in which Methodists commit themselves to following Jesus Christ in this covenant that God offers us. When we welcome people into membership, we welcome them firstly in the One Church of Jesus Christ, secondly into the church in a particular place and only thirdly into the part of that one church called Methodist. Being received into church membership is about making the deeply counter-cultural declaration that I am going to commit myself to be part of God’s rescue plan for the world. I am going to be part of this work in this place and I will ask others around me to “watch over me in love” as I seek to do so. There is nothing I would like more than to discuss Church Membership with any of you. Please get in touch with me or a member of the Leadership Team and we’ll have an informal chat. Andrew Andrew M. Emison Minister Dear Friends,
“It is not good that the man should be alone” says God as he surveys Adam alone in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:18). The first two chapters of Genesis offer us a description of the world as God intended before everything went wrong as described in Genesis 3 onwards. From the outset, God affirms that human beings are social by design. In the seventeenth century, the Anglican cleric and metaphysical poet John Donne would write: “No man is an island”. Let’s choose not to focus on the gender questions properly raised by these quotations and simply notice that these insights from scripture and the life of faith in Jesus Christ are completely at odds with a world which preaches that individual prosperity and self-determination are definitions of success. The bible insists in all sorts of different ways that we are created and designed for each other.(Incidentally, I am completely at ease with the fact that evolutionary theory would agree). We are incurably social. Writing in the late 1950s, the American economist J K Galbraith once remarked that it is ridiculous to retain personal wealth to be able to buy new cars only to drive them on pot-holed roads. Surely this is not a matter of political ideology but rather the relentless pursuit of sheer folly. In an age of pragmatic “glass half full” politics, we are succeeding in telling each other that the glass itself has become a thimble whist all the time growing our fence panels and conifers between us and our neighbours. Denying our mutual independence is a denial of our humanity. As neighbours in our town, Christian Aid collectors offer their neighbours the opportunity to connect with people of any faith or none through local partnerships established by what is a highly respected non-governmental organisation. During Christian Aid week in May, one of our Christian Aid collectors walked up an immaculate driveway with an envelope. The greeting on the door read: “No canvassers. No religion. No cold-callers”. Is that our best message we can give to our neighbours? How about, “I would prefer not to buy or discuss religion or politics at the door, but I wish you and yours well. Grace and peace”? As a consequence, communities up and down our nation are becoming aware of a growing epidemic of loneliness. Churches Together in Frodsham are looking at how we can partner with community leaders to bring people together. If you have ideas of how we can tackle loneliness in our community, let us know. Grace and peace. Andrew Andrew M. Emison Minister Dear Friends,
One of the features of Jesus’ ministry that I notice over and over again is the way which Jesus seems to welcome all the so-called “wrong” people. The company that Jesus chooses sets fingers-wagging and tut-tutting. As a church which seeks to be shaped by the example of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus we aspire to be similarly inclusive. In January our Church Council adopted an Inclusivity statement. It deliberately uses conversational language rather than that of a formal policy statement. It will shortly be displayed around the church building. It reads as follows: Welcome! We welcome everyone whether you are single, married, divorced, widowed, gay, confused, rich or poor. We hope that you feel able to belong, whatever your gender, sexuality, mental health, physical health, ability, race or ethnicity. We welcome children; wailing babies, excited toddlers, even those that wiggle, giggle, cry or are shy. We welcome you whether you can sing like Pavarotti or prefer to just growl quietly to yourself. You’re welcome here if you’re just browsing, just woken up, or have just left prison. We don’t care if you are more Christian than the Archbishop of Canterbury or haven’t been to church since Christmas ten years ago. We welcome YOU, whoever you may be. It’s our hope that together we will experience the width, length, height and depth of God’s love for us in Jesus and understand our sacred worth. Unfortunately we don’t have any perfect people here. We all have hang-ups and we get things wrong. We’re not yet who God is calling us to be either as individuals or as a church. Please help us to understand each other’s needs better so that all of our colours can shine as God intended. We believe that through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can learn to follow Jesus Christ together. This is our dream. We need each other. We need YOU! Our inclusivity statement is aspirational. We recognise that we are not yet where we need to be. We don’t yet provide the best welcome that we could to wheelchair users for example. It also seeks to reflect our brokenness. At Frodsham Methodist Church we have different opinions on some of the issues raised. Part of being an inclusive church is that we belong together despite the fact that we hold different views sincerely. I believe that this is normal within the church of Jesus Christ. Living with difference can be costly. A Jesus-shaped church is one which like Jesus, bears pain so that God and people can be held together. Grace and peace. Andrew Andrew M. Emison Minister Dear Friends,
The 25th of December marks the beginning of the church’s celebration of Christmas and the end of everyone else’s. When Christmas Day finally arrives, children’s parties at school are a distant memory and office parties are best forgotten! The season will end for many as they nurse their stomachs listening to HM The Queen at 3pm. I am being too cynical of course! However, even in the church, the season of Advent which begins this year on Sunday 3rd December will be overtaken by Christmas services starting around 17th December. I often wonder if we shouldn’t start Advent two weeks earlier so that we can observe it fully. I think Advent is important, not because I am particularly worried about observing “the church year”, but because of the prominence of advent themes in the bible. Prof. Tom Wright observes that if we cut Christmas out of the bible, we lose about three chapters. Cut out advent themes and we lose half of the Old Testament and most of the New. The story of scripture which finds its centre around a manger and a cross, is about God’s presence being experienced precisely in times of deepest loss and darkness. God’s promises are found to be true when it is almost too late for them to be fulfilled. Locating Christmas at the end of Advent gives our celebration its proper context. Its light shines all the more brightly because of the contrast that Advent sharpens. Tinsel and sentimentality cannot survive the raw honesty of Advent. I’m so pleased to be associated with our annual “Remembrance Service” for those of us who have lost loved ones. I say “associated” because as many of your will know, the real work is done by our pastoral team. I’m glad that our Christmas (Advent?) Tree is decorated with the memories and feelings of loss associated with the season which are felt by so many. Sometimes these services in other churches are called “Blue Christmas Services”. I think that they are just “Christmas Services”, because that’s what we celebrate. Entering unexpectedly, mysteriously into the deepest darkness of our world and lives, comes God in Jesus to share in it fully. God with us. God for us. There is nothing more Christmassy than realising that great truth. For me, that really is something worth celebrating. Grace and peace. Andrew Andrew M. Emison Minister Dear Friends,
I have two school aged children and seem to be surrounded in my life by teachers for whom the weeks of summer centred on August have a different rhythm. Those with connections to the school year also change gear at this time. The roads will be quieter at commute times and busier on holiday “changeover days”. For some it will be a time to take holiday. For others, it will be a time not to take holiday in order to avoid premium prices. For others, these weeks will not be any different. The bible seems to acknowledge the need for human beings to mark the passage of time with rhythms. The poem of Genesis 1 describes a rhythm of “it was evening and morning….” and a weekly Sabbath is instituted. There are annual festivals and the writer of Ecclesiastes notes that there is a “time to plant and a time to uproot” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). Jesus himself observed rhythms of engagement and withdrawal, of action and of prayers and took time out to recharge and to gain perspective. Worship and prayer was central to Jesus’ life. Where does worship, corporate or individual fit in our lives? For many of us, our time of worship of God is at the centre of our pattern of life. We have found that prioritising worship helps us make sense of all the other demands on our time. At Frodsham Methodist Church we offer a wide range of opportunities to worship. I know that for some of you it is impossible for you to share in any of these. As a father of two I know the pressure that families are under. Families are often separated by great distances and grandparents often have significant child care responsibilities. We don’t expect people to fit into our pattern and we’re not about making people feel guilty about not being able to come to share in worship. One of the hazards of wearing a dog collar is that people feel that they must explain why they have not been at church. I do not keep records! If however there is something that we can do to help you, either to provide a time of worship together or to resource your devotional life at home, please have a word with me or indeed with your Pastoral Friend or the person who delivers your magazine. We’re about supporting people in their lives, not in adding further demands. Whatever we’re doing this summer, perhaps we could take time to reflect on our lives and those around us and know that God is with us in all of the rhythms of life, seeking to give us that fresh, wider perspective. Perhaps we could all take time to ask, what is central to our rhythm of life and what is peripheral? Grace and peace. Andrew Frodsham Churches Together is planning to pray for our town continuously for 48 hours between 7pm on Wednesday 17th May and 7pm on Friday 19th May.
Our base will be right at the centre of our town in the function room behind the Bear’s Paw. We are all invited to take part by offering 1 hour slots during that time, including overnight. During this time we are asked to attend at the Function Room. Resources will be available to help you in your time of prayer. Praying for our town means praying for its needs and to find out what those are, we have produced “Prayer Request Cards” which are available in the Church Foyer. If you belong to or have connections with our town’s organisations or businesses, please take one of these cards. If offering prayer feels difficult, just try asking what are the biggest concerns for our town and ask permission to pray on their behalf. It would be good if Frodsham Methodist Church is well represented during the 48 hours so if you can offer a slot, please e-mail Rev'd. Andrew Emison on andrew.emison@frodshammethodist.org. If you don’t have e-mail, please contact Andrea Ellams. Rev’d. Andrew Dear Friends,
The season of Lent is a time during which we are invited to reflect on our lives. It is a time of "giving up" in order to create the space in our lives for the renewing purposes of God. It's a time of repentance; of turning around. The problem is as I write this letter sIx months into my time here in Frodsham, I want to celebrate! We have much to thank God and each other for in our fellowship at Frodsham Methodist Church. Through the enthusiasm and hard work of our members we have a wide programme of opportunities for fellowship and worship. We have six different forms of Sunday worship! Through these different forms of worship we celebrate that God meets us where we are. We see this in Jesus' own ministry. Philippians 2 celebrates with wonder that in Jesus, God has eschewed the throne of heaven to come alongside of us. Jesus ventures out to the workplace in order to call his disciples to him. He meets us where we are. However, the call to discipleship does not allow us to remain there. The turning point in Mark's account of the Gospel is the conversation at Caesarea Philippi when Jesus asks those who have journeyed with him: "Who do you say I am?" (Mark 8:27). From that point onwards, Jesus calls his disciples to take up the cross and follow him. That's the challenge of this Lenten season. God has met us in our needs, in our preference for a particular style of worship, but now he asks us if it has made a difference. He has taken upon himself our form and image. Are we willing to be re-formed in his? Are we now willing to follow him on the road that he leads even if that road is contrary to our own preferences? Are we willing to take up the cross in our lives and the life of our fellowship? Some of us reading this magazine will not need reminding that we are called to carry a cross. For some of us it is daily, lived reality. As we follow Jesus, so we are able to know his presence alongside us. The Good News of this season is that strangely, unexpectedly, wondrously, this road, this suffering, this ending - is actually the way to new life. Grace and peace. Andrew From Wednesday 15th February until Sunday 19th February we’ll be inviting the secondary school aged young people connected in our church to take part in “Life Together – An Experiment in Christian Community Living”. You will be familiar with church youth weekends, but Life Together is different. During our Life Together, we will be exploring the claims of Jesus Christ in the context of a normal working or school week whilst sharing in Christian community here in a church building. Our church will become “home” for those few days and we will eat together and live together whilst still taking part in our school day and evening activities. Each day will begin and end with 10-15 minutes of prayer and worship. As church is our home, we will feel free to invite friends home and it is our hope and prayer that our community will grow as the week progresses.
The source and inspiration of “Life Together” is the life and works of the great 20th century Christian pastor, martyr and theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer. His book: "Gemeinsames Leben" ("Life Together") was based on his ideas and experiences leading an underground seminary at Finkelwalde (now Stettin) in Poland just before the Second World War. The mission of the Finkelwalde seminary was to train pastors for the Confessing Church, the church that took a stand against Hitler by confessing that there "was only one head of the church" (and that it wasn't Adolf Hitler!) Dietrich Bonhoeffer refused sanctuary in university postings to the USA and UK. He was arrested in 1943 and was finally executed on 9th April 1945 at Flossenburg concentration camp just weeks before its liberation and the end of the Second World War in Europe. For Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the Christian life to which Jesus calls us was not one of isolation or escape from the world but rather a joyful and obedient response to the love of God shown to us in Jesus Christ. - the Word made flesh. Christians are people who dare to believe that we can find God working in and through every experience of our lives and not just when we are doing specifically “religious” activities. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote: “Only by living completely in this world that one learns to have faith”. During our Life Together, we’ll be testing that huge claim. That’s why Life Together is not a holiday, escape, retreat or some sort of wacky cult. It’s not like Big Brother where the contestants are isolated from their normal lives. We are not trying to separate ourselves or withdraw from anything. Our Life Together takes place in the midst of our life of school, college or work, our friends and weekly activities. Just as all of our lives are too! Grace and peace. Andrew The following video has been produced by the Methodist, Baptist and United Reformed churches Joint Public Issues Team for Christmas 2017. Do take a look. Dear Friends,
Christians like me sometimes complain that our society no longer remembers “the true meaning of Christmas”. We regret that Christmas cards are more likely to feature snowmen or Father Christmas rather than the “traditional nativity scene”. Picture that nativity scene now as you read this. There in your mind’s eye you can see a wooden stable. Mary and Joseph are in the middle (conveniently identified with halos so that you know who they are). They gaze at baby Jesus in a manger of pristine hay or straw. To their left are some shepherds with neatly trimmed beards. To their right are the wise men, usually three of them. Above them all, hovering inexplicably at a scale altitude of about 12 feet, is a star. If this was the scene that was featured on all our Christmas cards, we Christians would be happy! Unfortunately this cosy, familiar image is about as near to the Christmas story of the bible as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. There are four accounts of Jesus’ life in the bible. They are named after Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Of these only two of them, Matthew and Luke, tell the story that sounds something like the story that we are familiar with. Remember, Matthew and Luke are religious insiders who are inspired by God to write their accounts to convince all of us that the birth of the baby at the centre of the story is of ultimate significance for every man, woman and child in every place and every time. This is the story they tell. Firstly, they set their stall out by making it clear that the question of Jesus’ parentage scandalised their local community. Matthew tells the story from Joseph’s point of view and Luke tells it from Mary’s point of view. Far from being people of influence or of noble birth, Mary and Joseph are a couple of nobodies who are compelled by the so-called real power of the time to travel a long distance. There is no room in any of the guest rooms in the town so with labour underway, they find shelter in a cow shed. The baby is born and placed in the animal feeding trough. Who witnessed this amazing event? Luke is writing to a wealthy, educated man, yet Luke tells us that amongst the first to be invited were poor, uneducated shepherds. Matthew, writing to a community of religious insiders tells us that amongst the first visitors were “magi from the east”. These magi (the word from which we get our word “Magic”) were not God-squad types, they were most probably astrologers from the area that is now modern-day Iran. God it seemed had reached out beyond the traditional faith community to those with a different religion or none. Matthew concludes the story by telling us that Mary, Joseph and Jesus were forced to flee persecution and seek asylum in a foreign land. The story claims that at the centre of this messy story that tells the truth about my life and yours; God gives himself to us. You are invited to join us at any of our services this Christmas. You are invited, not because we in the churches have a story to share with you; but rather because this story belongs to all of us. It a story of truth speaking to power. It is a story of radical inclusion that calls time on the barriers of wealth, race and religion in our community. It is a story that dares to believe that we belong to each other and that each one of us, in all of our wondrous diversity, is of infinite worth and value. You are invited, not by an establishment or institution; you are invited by choirs of angels! May we all know God’s presence, peace and love this Christmas. Andrew M Emison Minister, Frodsham Methodist Church Dear Friends,
Naomi, Matthew and Sophie join me in thanking you all for all of the time, gifts, cards and messages that you have sent to us to welcome us to our home here in Frodsham. We’re grateful also to our District Chair, Rev’d Peter Barber and our Superintendent, Rev’d Neil Stacey and to all those who shared in the welcome service on 30th August. We were welcomed, but we also celebrated our shared ministry. We did so in the context of the worship of the living God who we know in Jesus. It is Jesus who I believe has called us together and who calls each one of us, not just to come to him but to follow him. It’s good to be amongst you and I ask for your patience as I take time to get to know you all. One of the things that moving to a new station does is to give the opportunity to take stock and to reflect on my ministry to this point. I will try to learn from the mistakes I made on the Isle of Man and try not to make too many all-new mistakes as we journey on together. All I can do is ask for your grace and your prayers! Perhaps those of you reading this letter might also like to take the opportunity to pause and reflect. Could this be a time for you to respond in a new way to God’s call and claim upon your life?
If any of you ever want to talk about any aspect of our faith, of being a disciple, of following Jesus, of your sense of call and vocation, please know that there is nothing I love to do more and that I am never too busy for a black coffee with no sugar! It’s my privilege to join you as together we explore God’s plan for our life together. Grace and peace. Andrew M. Emison Minister, Frodsham Methodist Church Dear Friends,
A change of minister is an opportunity to step back and to reflect on how our story has led us to this point. It’s also an opportunity to celebrate ministry. By ministry, I don’t mean that of Denise, Neil or Andrew Emison, I mean the ministry of Frodsham Methodist Church. In September, it will be my privilege to come alongside of you in ministry, listening to what you have discerned that God is calling us to do. In time,your ministry will become our ministry, but it will never be “mine”. It is true that Conference is sending me to take a “principal and directing role” amongst you, but that leadership is to be modelled on Jesus as he takes towel and bowl and kneels before those he calls friends. My first task will be to not break the good, courageous and mission-shaped work which is already happening! The calling we share is to be a priestly, prophetic and evangelising fellowship within our community that celebrates and shares God’s love. In our Methodist understanding, no part of that great calling is exclusively mine, but it is my privilege to share in it with you. I already know that I am joining a gifted team. As I met with various people during my visit I was struck by how many chose to mention how much they valued the ministry of Andrea and Pippa and of the gifting and grace of our Leadership Team. Our Vision and Strategy Document 2015-2020 clearly represents a significant work of discernment and provides the framework for our way forward. We have resilient structures, we shall continue to need prayer, the ministry of God’s Word, the power of the Holy Spirit and most of all God’s grace as together we seek to join in God’s mission. We shall continue to pray for Denise as she finishes her sabbatical and moves to Crewe/South Cheshire and for Neil as he continues to lead the life and ministry of our circuit. We celebrate the glory of Christian ministry to which we are called and in which we all share: “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people,in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.” (1 Peter 2:9) ‘Alleluia! Amen! Naomi, Matthew and Sophie share my excitement as we join with you to take the next steps in our discipleship together. Grace and peace. Andrew |
Pastoral LettersWritten by the Minister & Members
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