The basic truth that underlies all life and being is found in Genesis chapter 1 - in the beginning God created the universe. God is the source of all the life that pulsates through the entire universe for all time and eternity. Yet, strangely, one of the names the Bible uses for God is a plural word - Elohim - which translates as Gods, a hint at the very beginning of the Bible that God is not just one solitary Being presiding single-handedly over His creation; God is a Fellowship, Companionship, at the very heart of the universe, and this is confirmed by Jesus when he speaks of "Father, Son and Holy Spirit" (John 14:16). Fellowship generates love, and the love at the centre of the universe overflows to embrace all humanity (John 3:16).
So we human beings will never find peace and wholeness until we share in the loving fellowship of God. Life on earth is enriched in fellowship with one another, and so our lives will be really fulfilled as we share in the loving fellowship of God, who embraces the whole universe for time and eternity. Here are three simple steps to help us find oneness with God and fullness of life. A The Bible is quite ruthless and compels us to face reality, and the first reality is ALL HAVE SINNED and come short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23. Rom 5:13). We must measure ourselves not against our neighbours, but against Jesus, and there is no doubt that we do fall short. We are sinners, but nevertheless we are precious in the sight of God, and he is doing something to help us. B BEHOLD I stand at the door and knock (Rev 3:20). Someone is calling us to better things - to a better and more fulfilling life. The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20) are the basic standard of civilised living from the beginning of time to all eternity - for both sexes, for people of all races, religions, cultures and colours. They are condensed by Jesus into two foundation stones - Love God and your neighbour as yourself (Matt 22:17). C COME UNTO ME ... AND I WILL REFRESH YOU (Matt 11:28). The only way forward is to come to Jesus and confess (1 John 1:8). If we confess our sins we are forgiven, and we can stand up as 'new creatures in Christ Jesus' (2 Cor 5:17). We are not as yet perfect, but newly envisioned, newly empowered; we are now the friends of God (2 Cor 5:20), working together with God for His good purposes (1 Cor 3:9, 2 Cor 6:1, Heb 3:10). The Holy Spirit will lead us forward to grasp more and more of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus (John 16:13), secure in the knowledge that GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY SON SO THAT EVERYONE WHO BELIEVES MAY NOT DIE BUT HAVE ETERNAL LIFE (John 3:16, 1 John 4:10). So, as friends of God and disciples of Jesus, we are called to be witnesses for Jesus in the words we speak and in the lives we live, knowing that Jesus will be with us to the end of time (Matt 28:20). Here are some simple steps to help us keep near to Jesus - 1 Have fellowship with Christian friends and worship regularly with them at church. 2 Pray each day. 3 Read a passage of Scripture each day. 4 Give time, talents and money to the work of the church, and to those good causes that the Lord lays on your heart. 5 Speak and live, at home and at work, as Jesus would have you do. And so, as Tiny Tim said, "God bless us all". Rev'd. F. Bernard Dodd
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My elder brother's first car was a Ford Popular and, way back in the early 1950's, he took me on a tour of Scotland in it. We were aiming for Cape Wrath. It was Sunday; we were north of Inverness, and as we passed through Invergordon we saw people wending their way to church, so I decided to join them. By the time I reached the church door, the service had already begun, and as I walked down the aisle the congregation were singing Psalm 121 - ‘I to the hills will lift mine eyes from whence doth come mine aid ...’
They sang in that deep, measured, melodious way that is so characteristic of Scottish hymn singing, and I felt to be transported to the very gates of heaven and caught a glimpse of the glory beyond, and I knew that God IS! And now, if ever I am in doubt, in confusion, tempted or tried, I think back to Invergordon, and my faith is restored to its firm foundation. We are spiritual beings; our souls and spirits need to be fed as much as our bodies, and that is why music, literature and art are so important to bring fullness into our lives. In my home church in the 1930s/40s, Arthur Beaver - a great outdoors man - would lead a church ramble into the Yorkshire dales every Bank Holiday Monday. As we trudged to catch the bus home, from Otley or Ilkley or Skipton, it would be raining. We would be drenched and feeling sorry for ourselves - then someone would strike up, 'Old Macdonald had - a farm, ee aye ee aye oh', and very soon we would all be singing, spirits lifted, strength renewed - and who cares about wet feet anyway! This is true also on a higher plain. Listen to the Huddersfield Choral Society sing Handel's Halleleiua Chorus, and you find yourself in another world, your inner being tingles, you are touching eternity, and you know that God IS. I am no poet, and many poems I just do not understand, but often the rhythm, balance and cadences of rhyming poetry do speak to me and touch my inner self. "I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high o'er vales and hills, when all at once I saw a crowd, host of golden daffodils." These words help me to see the glory of the Creator in the sparkling yellow flowers. I am lifted up, my soul is warmed, I feel the surge of new life in my old bones, and I know God IS. And when I read the poetic rhythm of St Paul's words in wonderment of Christ (Col 1:15f), "Christ is the visible likeness of the invisible God ... through him God decided to bring the whole universe back to himself", I become transfixed in wonder and awe, as I do when I read the words of Isaac Watts (Singing the Faith 287), "Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all." It draws me to my knees, warms my soul, renews my spirit, and I know Jesus IS the fullness of life, and God IS. Lift up a fine bone china cup and saucer; the very feel of it speaks of craftsmanship, beauty and perfection. When your lips touch the cup to take a sip of tea, your spirit is lifted, your soul warmed, and the tea tastes far better than from that old earthenware mug hanging on a hook in the kitchen. The Bible likens us to potter's clay (Jer 18), and the whole purpose of God's creation and Christ's calling is that we should be moulded into 'Something Beautiful for God' (as Malcolm Muggeridge once described Mother Teresa). The feel of the bone china cup gives us a vision of what we ought to be and can be if we let Jesus have his way in our lives. St John (1 John 3:2) assures us that if we do let Jesus have a hand in our lives, then ultimately 'We Shall Be as He is', glowing with the radiance of His divine spirit. But we cannot touch Jesus as we touch the china cup, so we must bear in mind the words Jesus spoke to Doubting Thomas, "Blessed are they who cannot see me yet believe." (John 20:20) The most beautiful and fulfilling thing in all the world is the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross, because, through it, the transforming and fulfilling love of God flows out to embrace all humanity - and you and me - because God IS, and with Him and in Him we are fulfilled in body, mind and spirit. The highest calling in life is to be 'Something beautiful for God', and this was the deep yearning of Katie Barclay Wilkinson when she wrote, "May the mind of Christ my Saviour live in me from day to day, by His love and power controlling all I do or say". (Singing the Faith 504) Rev'd. Bernard Dodd On January 2nd I walked into Sainsbury's and immediately through the door I was confronted by a display of Hot Cross Buns! And I thought to myself, "Goodness gracious me - we haven't finished with Christmas yet; we haven't welcomed the Wise Men yet, we haven't celebrated Epiphany yet, and here we have already swept Christmas aside to make room for the next commercial venture - Hot Cross Buns for Easter!"
It stopped me in my tracks and made me pause to think: I found myself meditating on the Cross, because just as the Christmas message is not just for Christmas, but for all people, for all time, so the message of the Cross is not just for Good Friday and Easter, but for all people and for all time. The cross ✘is one of the simplest forms of calligraphy, and it conveys rich meanings for people throughout the world. Give a child his/her first pencil, and what will he/she do? Grab it like a chisel and gouge out a ✘ on the paper. It is easier for people of all educational standards to make a ✘ than a ✓; that is why at the next general election we will be asked to put a ✘against the candidate of our choice, rather than a ✓, and in doing so we are saying, "This is the person for me". The ✘is a symbol of CHOICE. The CROSS of Christianity is also a symbol of choice. It symbolizes that God is choosing you and me and all humanity to be His disciples and follow His ways, and live to His Glory. He wants the best for us, wants us to live lives full of meaning and purpose and hope (John 3:16; 10:10). To respond to the call of the ✘means something so simple and basic as learning to LOVE GOD AND OUR NEIGHBOUR AS OURSELF (Mark 12:33). This is what God is calling us to - what wonderful people we would be if we really responded - what a wonderful world it would be if we all responded. We all agree that this is the basis of satisfying, responsible civilised living - it sounds so simple - but is it? The answer sadly is NO. Another meaning of the ✘is NO -STOP IT : START AGAIN. Cast your mind back to your school days - you have just submitted your maths homework to be marked, and when it comes back there are more ✘s than ✓s on the page! WRONG - START AGAIN - WORK IT OUT AGAIN -TRY HARDER. And so it is with the Christian ✘. It means there are certain things in life we must avoid, acknowledge as wrong, and as responsible human beings we must always endeavour to do what is good and right, not what is bad and wrong. The General Confession (in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer) reminds us that "we have all strayed from Thy ways like lost sheep", and St Paul quite blatently tells us, " we have all sinned and come short of the Glory of God. (Rom 3:23) The only way out of this mess is to choose Jesus, let His Spirit penetrate our very being, make our confession, receive His forgiveness, (1 John 1:19) and experience NEW LIFE IN CHRIST JESUS. (2 Cor :17) And so we come to the crux of the whole matter. How we have struggled with our children to get them to write Thank You letters for their Christmas and birthday presents. When they eventually got around to it they were very short on words but very profuse in kisses, ✘✘✘ - would cover half the page, and of course ✘means "I love you". This is when we make the Cross of Jesus our own, when we cry from the depths of our being, I LOVE YOU. He has already shown us how deep His love is for us, by His sacrifice on the Cross. This is what makes Christianity unique. In the Cross we see the depth of God's love agonising, weeping, yearning for you and me to choose the right way, to choose Him and follow Him. The Cross becomes personal when we can say with St Peter, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you. (John 21:15) Yes, it is too early for Easter, but never too early to say YES to Jesus. I take, O Cross, thy shadow, for my abiding place. I ask no other sunshine than the sunshine of His face; content to let the world go by, to know no gain nor loss - my sinful self my only shame, my glory all - the Cross. (Hymns and Psalms 165 v3) Rev'd. F. Bernard Dodd, January 2016 In the 1940s, at Thornbury Methodist Church in Bradford, there would always be 2 or 3 rows of young people at the back of the church for Sunday evening worship. They were not particularly religious - but where else were they to go on a Sunday night in the 1940s?
One Sunday evening a friend and I dared each other to sit on the front row, im-mediately beneath the pulpit, in an effort to discomfit the preacher. This was in spite of the fact that I knew my mother would be leading the choir onto the rostrum and would glare at me mercilessly, and would tell me off when we got home - but for some unknown reason my mother didn't appear at church that night, so I escaped both the glare and the telling off! In a teenage flush of bravado, we were trying to disrupt the worship - but what is worship? One definition is GIVING GOD HIS WORTH, so let's start with that, and see where it leads. As with Bible Reading and Prayer, the touchstone of worship is Jesus, and St Paul reminds us that JESUS CHRIST IS THE VISIBLE LIKENESS OF THE INVISIBLE GOD, so it is to Him that we offer our worship. WORSHIP is GIVING God our ADORATION. This is what the Wise Men were doing when they knelt before Jesus and offered Him the most precious commodities of the ancient world - gold, frankincense and myrrh. In our worship, the poetry and music of the service help us to express the inexpressible; better than ordinary prose, poetry helps us to express wonder and delight, shame and sorrow, hope and aspiration. It can transport us to the very gates of heaven and bring us to the feet of Jesus. We are helped to sense the glory that words cannot express; our hearts are warmed, our souls thrilled and we catch a glimpse of the Glory of God, and give Him our adoration. WORSHIP is GIVING God our ATTENTION. We are here to listen to scripture and its exposition by the preacher, to deepen our understanding and our commitment to Jesus and His ways. Don't worry if you can't remember last week's sermon - how many memorable meals can you remember? 2 or 3 in a lifetime. But you can't exist on 2 or 3 memorable meals in a lifetime - you need 3 ordinary meals every day to keep you going! And so it is with the life of the Spirit - 2 or 3 sermons in a lifetime may stick in your mind, but you need one ordinary sermon every week to sustain you on the journey of life (2 Tim 3:16). WORSHIP is GIVING God our ATTRIBUTES. In worship we find ourselves face to face with Jesus and we realise nothing we have or are is our own, and we find ourselves committing all we have and are to Him. (Rom 12) So whatever gifts and graces we have, we commit to Him to be perfected and used to His glory and the good of others (Mark 10:45). As human beings we also have ANXIETIES - cares and worries for ourselves and others - these are also ATTRIBUTES we must offer to God, for how threadbare life would be if we did not have compassion for one another. And amazingly, as we lay our anxieties at His feet, so we find ourselves sustained, strengthened and upheld (Ps 46, Matt 11:28). WORSHIP is also RECEIVING from God PEACE and GRACE. Grace is God's unconditional love for us and for all humanity (1 John 4:10), as revealed in the nail-marked hands of Him who 'flung the stars into space' (John 3:16). Peace is receiving forgiveness for our stupidities and knowing that we are forgiven (Eph 1:7, John 14:27). This doesn't lead to arrogance but to humility and a readiness to serve (Eph 4:24). Worship is RECEIVING PURPOSE from God. There is an old chorus that goes like this: Be like Jesus this my song, in the home and in the throng. Be like Jesus all day long, I would be like Jesus. This is the whole of our purpose in life, this is PUTTING ON CHRIST (Rom 13:14), this is loving God and our neighbour as ourselves, this is life's higher calling. Worship is RECEIVING POWER from God. In spite of the trials and tribulations of life, in the warm embrace of Jesus we find comfort, joy and hope as we are empowered to live a Christ inspired life (2 Tim1:7, Eph 6:11). We put on the whole armour of God and face life boldly drawing strength and power from the promise of Jesus. "I am with you always, to the end of time" (Matt 28:20). So, let us sum up our thoughts on worship in the words of the familiar Christmas hymn: What shall I give Him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb. If I were a wise man I would do my part, Yet, what I can I give Him - give my heart. If you feel a call to preach, or to be a Worship Leader, please speak to me, or to Elizabeth Holmes, who is the secretary of the Circuit Preachers' Meeting. Rev Bernard Dodd, November 2015 Like many children, I was taught to say my prayers at a very early age – and it was the typical childhood prayer, “God bless mummy, God bless Daddy … God bless the cat and dog …God bless Aunty Flo …and, oh yes, please make Bernard a good boy”. I continued praying in this way until my teens, partly because I felt I aught, and partly because I had the idea that something bad might happen if I stopped! Gradually the long list of prayers every night became a chore, so I came up with a very clever ruse: Sunday night I would pray through the whole list. Then on Monday I would pray “God bless the people I prayed for last night”, and jump into bed. I would then quite happily stretch this out to last for a week, or even a fortnight, before praying through the list again. I can’t remember when I learnt the Lord’s Prayer (Matt 6: 9) but that was reserved for Sunday School and church on Sundays. It was when Jesus became real to me that the Lord’s Prayer became precious, and prayer itself took on a whole new dimension. Just as Jesus is the touchstone in understanding the Bible so he is the touchstone in understanding prayer. We pray IN THE NAME OF JESUS (John14:18) and so the Spirit of Jesus must be the guiding hand in how we pray and what we pray for. Life becomes a prayer (1Thess 5:17) – prayerfulness is how we live. It is not just praying through a list of names, prayerfulness is an attitude of life towards God and others: it is a thankfulness of spirit, a yearning of the heart, an anxiousness for people and for the world, a regret for stupidities and a trust in God’s grace and mercy. I also discovered that in prayer a whole new world opens up. In prayer I can soar into outer space, I can encircle planet earth, I can draw close to any situation or any person in any part of the world. I discovered that prayer is not just praying to God, but actually becoming a co-worker WITH God for His good purposes (2 Cor 6:1; Heb 3:14). In prayer I am not battling with reluctant God, I am actually striving ALONGSIDE God for his good purposes and crying from my heart THY KINGDOM COME THY WILL BE DONE. A useful mnemonic came my way to help me embrace the whole range of prayer – A.C.T.S. A - ADORATION The view from Frodsham Hill – awesome. The airwaves that give instant communication around the globe – awesome. The birth of a baby – awesome. “Hands that flung stars into space to cruel nails surrendered” – awesome. When we are overwhelmed by a glimpse of the love and creative words of God, we fall silent and adore – this is prayer. C – CONFESSION The Bible is brutally honest, “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23) – including me and you. None of us is as good as we should be, or could be. But the nail marked hands of Jesus help us to glimpse the agony in the heart of God, and gives us the assurance that “if we confess our sins … he may be trusted to forgive our sins and cleanse us” (1 John 1:9). Difficult to grasp but it is true, we are forgiven – there still may be consequences to face, but we are forgiven – this too is prayer. C also stands for COMPANIONSHIP, and this we enjoy with Jesus, for He is our friend (John 15:14), and has promised to walk alongside to the end of time (Matt 28:20) – this is prayer. T - THANKSGIVING We are all pleased to receive gifts, but often slow to say “thank you”. How we have struggled with our children over thank you letters! But what joy a simple thank you can give; what joy in the heart of God when we say thank you in our prayers (Eph 5: v20). There are so many hard experiences in life it is sometimes hard to find something to be thankful for – but that old song has a lot to commend it – “Count your blessings, name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done” (Eph 5:20; 1Thess 5:18) and it is amazing how our spirit can be lifted as we learn to say THANK YOU – this too is prayer. S – SUPPLICATION Here we can have the list of names and causes for which we want to pray. (Phil 1:4). It is helpful to have a notebook and spread our list over a few days – some we pray for everyday, some every week, some every month, some every birthday. Prayer is never wasted. Just as we tap the airwaves when, with our mobiles we speak to our loved ones in Australia, so in prayer we set off vibes which can reach to anyone, near or far. We are co-workers with God and are striving with Him for the blessing of those we love and for all creation – this too is prayer. To “pray without ceasing” is not spending 24 hours a day on our knees. It is being consistent in joining with God in seeking to clothe needy and wayward humanity in the streams of goodwill that flow from the heart of God – this is prayer (1Thess 5:17). But what about unanswered prayer? I have no ready answer. But if it is true that in prayer we become co-operators WITH God, then our prayers become part of God’s striving and yearning to draw all creation unto Himself (Col 1:20) so no prayer is wasted and no prayer is unanswered. So, hand in hand with our Bible Reading Notes, and the Methodist Prayer Handbook, take your time to explore the wonderful world of prayer. Let Jesus lead you step by step, as you pray in His name and for His sake (Acts 2:42). THE METHODIST PRAYER HANDBOOK helps us to pray for the world wide church month by month throughout the year; if you would like a copy for 2015/2016 please add your name to the list in the church foyer. Our own INTERCESSORY PRAYER GROUP meets every Monday morning at 9.30am in either the foyer or the Quiet Room. Contact: Marion Greer Rev'd. Bernard Dodd September 2015 I have read a Bible passage every day since I took religion seriously, some seventy years ago. In my teens, like most youngsters , I questioned and rebelled, until, on Young People's Day 1947, the preacher challenged us all to take Jesus seriously - and I felt I was being confronted by Jesus Himself. The conviction came upon me that as far as life is concerned, the Jesus way is the only way to live, whether you are old or young, no matter what race or colour, no matter what social class or period of history. The Jesus way is the only civilised way for responsible people to live - quite a realization!
I then started reading the Bible, guided by notes published by the Bible Reading Fellowship, and I have read my daily portion ever since. I've had my ups and downs in the Christian life (like everyone else), my doubts and apprehensions, my timidities and my boldnesses, my triumphs and my failures - but I have always come back to the declaration Peter made to Jesus, "To whom else can we go, you have words of eternal life" (John 6:68), and so, through the years, I have clung to the conviction, "You can't get better than Jesus". When I was in the army I wasn't quite bold enough to kneel at my bedside to say my prayers (surrounded by 23 other lads!). Instead I would sit on the bed and unobtrusively say my prayers and read my Bible. Lads would sometimes come up to me and say, "What are you reading, Count?" (My nickname was Count because, at that time - 1948/1950 - the Secretary General of United Nations was a Swede named Count Bernadotte!) So, "What are you reading, Count?" - "The Bible" - "Oh aye", and that was often the end of that; but sometimes it would lead to interesting, and at times profound, conversations about life - and religion - but never to ridicule or abuse. The helpful thing about using Bible reading notes is that you are led into parts of the Bible you would miss if left to your own preferences, and you receive help in understanding difficult passages. For instance, on June 27 this year, the passage was Isaiah 50:4, "The Lord has given me the tongue of a teacher that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word ... morning by morning he wakens ... my ear to listen ". Isaiah is a prophet preaching to keep people near to God in difficult times, and here we have an interesting connection between the TONGUE OF THE TEACHER and THE EAR TO LISTEN. Many of the troubles in life spring from the disconnection between speaking and hearing. So often we are more ready to speak than to listen. We preachers can be more ready to speak FOR God than to listen TO God - but then, isn't the world full of people who prefer their own words rather than the words of God, and their own ways rather than the ways of God? Just as the touchstone to understanding the Bible is Jesus, so also the touchstone to understanding the heart and ways of God is Jesus. This is clearly demonstrated in a beautiful hymn by F W Faber (Hymns & Psalms 230). Without even mentioning His name, we are drawn into His presence, we glimpse the very heart of God, and we find ourselves speechless in wonder, love and praise. "There's a wideness in God's mercy ... v1 There's a wideness in God's mercy, Like the wideness of the sea; There's a kindness in his justice which is more than liberty. v4 For the love of God is broader than the measures of man's mind; And the heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind. v5 But we make his love too narrow by false limits of our own; And we magnify his strictness with a zeal he will not own. v6 If our love were but more simple we should take him at his word; And our lives would be illumined by the presence of our Lord. Rev Bernard Dodd, July 2015 |
Pastoral LettersWritten by the Minister & Members
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