Self Denial 09′ – What Can You Do?

Today, the second week of February saw the launch of this years ‘Self Denial’ Appeal. – this special event comes around every year just before the start of Lent. The Appeal lasts for a month and focuses on a different country and its charity projects – they range from building new Corps Buildings to buying new equipment for existing outreach and community programmes.

Majors Alan & Barbara led today’s Worship and introduced the appeal – its importance – and its aims.

We have envelopes and arty coin boxes for your cash – and the whole point is that you take something from your life, lets say Chocolate or Fizzy Drinks or (a more adult denial) that expensive new piece of jewelery or that really cool remote control car you saw in the window of WHSmith the other day!.. and you put the money you would’ve spent on your Chocolate or your Drink into your envelope or box – and if you continue to do this you will soon have quite a collection to give in on the 1st of March when the appeal wraps up – and all that money gets sent off to help The Salvation Army with its worldwide projects that will change the world.

The Church & Chips group was alot smaller than usual – and the main topic of conversation was the shocking downpour of the white stuff – which allowed us all to have two whole days off school (conversation was only heard between the rumbling elephants running from one room to another).

The meeting today mixed two styles of worship to create an explosion of Power and Praise – we had a more traditional element in the classic hymns and some brilliant flag-waving from the young people – after the flag waving and spending some time in quiet and reflective prayer we went downstairs to continue with our Mobilise Youth Ministry, this morning we worked on The Bible – its first 5 Books (The Law) and the differing translations. No, I am not talking about New Living and New Century and all those kinds of translations, I mean The Bible in other countries and locations – like the African Tribes who believe that knocking signifys the arrival of a theif so any part of The Bible that includes knocking has been changed to calling because that is what they believe.

Another example we looked at is The Bible in eskimo communities – who have never seen a Sheep so any verse in The Bible which reads ‘The Lamb of God’ is changed to ‘The Seal of God’ – because that is something they can relate too. And to fully understand the important teachings of The Lord you need to be able to relate it to your own life and the situations which you face.

During the session – which was led by Roy and Dean we had a go at paraphrasing sections of The Bible. – for example if you had to explain the Christmas Story to a person or a group of people who didn’t know what a Shepherd was then you would have to modify it so they can relate to it – Stuart (One of the Church & Chips Boys) put it like this

‘A Trained person who works with animals’.

I had a go at paraphrasing something myself, explaining Jesus and his forgiveness to people who live in the desert – Can you guess where it is from? *hint – Clean

‘Bathe me in the light of the Lord and I will shine gold like the grains of sand’.

After the lesson we shared our learnings with the Congregation – then went downstairs to enjoy a meal of Chicken Nuggets and Chips from our resident Master Chefs Dean & Maureen – after eating we ran out some energy ready for the week ahead, and the imminent arrival of Half Term – and I hope that this week brings you happiness and you can join us next week for another fulfilling week of Church & Chips action. !!

Jordan

Solid Rock

Here we are again, another week and it seems another month of Church & Chips – and February is a fresh start for all at Clifton Hall, we can now put the many challenges that January threw at us – to one side and focus on the new challenges that February is almost garanteed to bring.

But Today God showed everyone at Clifton Hall that he is utterly and truly the most amazing and trustworthy source you could find anywhere – he made no qualms in telling us he is our Solid Rock. He has done that by giving Alan & Barbara the inspiration and spiritual strength to come out of (I’m sure a very cushy retirement) to lead and manage our Corps for six months until God reveals the next phase in his plan. This is something that have overlooked in the emotion of the last few weeks – the fact that everything is planned by our God and we need to trust him – everything will be sorted… just have a bit of faith and keep those prayers streaming…

We were graced with a relatively small group of young people today – but it didn’t stop us from spreading that all important Good News, before we went upstairs to Sing, Pray and take part in the opening stages of this morning’s evening worship – we let of a bit of steam – socialising with friends and chilling out – it has been proved that you will respond best to the teachings of God if you are in a relaxed state – its the first stage of building that trust I suppose.

As we went upstairs and Alan & Barbara began their meeting I realised that everything seemed a little bit cold.. and yes you guessed it – as confirmed by our Oracle of Corps Communication Keith – that the Hall’s ever-so reliable Boiler had decided to lie in bed a little bit longer… I hope it kicked itself into gear for the evening Worship because it is bitter outside – as I write this I am actually seeing the first flurries of a possible snowfall .

Anyway back to our usual subject matter. Worship today was focused on trusting God after such big changes – we sang some pretty awesome hymns and spent some time in reflective prayer.

The Junior Soldier and Youth Ministry groups split up properly for the first time in a few weeks  – with the older Youth begining to fill the gaps in the Salvation Army’s Mobilise Course – which combines Bible Study with real life issues, which allows you to apply your spiritual learns to your daily lives. The younger group did some work on Bubbles with Slyvia and Hazel – I am not sure what they were working on this week but it is an amazing first encounter with God – and learning about God at such a young age allows you to truly apprieciate the magnitute of his awesomeness.

After some time working in groups we travelled back upstairs to give our new arrivals a taste of the Ministry of our Young People which has become a staple in the diet of our Church – which last year I nicknamed ‘The Best Church In The World’.

Whether you agree is up to you.

After Alan pronounced this Morning’s Benediction our small but cheery group left the Hall to enjoy a meal from the wonderful kitchen of our resident MasterChefs Dean & Maureen – this week we munched on Fish Fingers and Chips – nobody can say that Christians don’t care about Omega 3 (Jesus did perform one of his most famous Miricles using humble fish).

As the afternoon unwound and everyone began to relax and get ready for another week which promises it’s high and lows but will ultimately turn out alright if you put your trust in the ultimate.

I hope that everybody who reads these words in the week to come feels blessed by the fact that if you put your full and utter trust in God – your life will be ultimatley fulfilling, and of course – if you find these words in 7 years or so when the world has moved on – kissed goodbye to its troubles *cough credit crunch cough* you can say that you trust.. not just the best.. but the greatest.

Have an Amazing Week

Jordan