June - An extremely busy month

June has started out really really mad - University has finished, just as I took a step over the horizon Ifancied giving a hand so a quick wee email to Julie @ CMS and I was helping out in the office whilst still creating the SUNI website. This week has been a complete mix of contrasts all based in Belfast

Mon: working on SUNI Website at home

Tues: CMSI Office

Wednesday : CMSI Office

Thursday: Stuff to Brandy /SUNI office / Bangor with mum

Friday: Funeral at Knockbreda

This week has been such a mix of contrasts and its quite amazing when you take a step back and think about it. On sunday we experinced worship at emannuel in Lurgan - tuely amzing so warm, so authentic and alive, monday was restful and productive day. Tuesday it was great to get a chance to give a hand with the CMSI Crew, to speak with Andrew on the phone and generally get excited about the uganda trip - whilst preparing the commissioning service sheet. While at home on Tuesday night preparation turned to the prayer letter for uganda. This was cut short when I realised that I had forgotten about computer mainainece I was ment to be somewhere else! doh! but while there it was great to get to talk with a parishioner about the stuff we're doing out in uganda.
Wednesday - headed to belfast with dad - went to cmsi and did a bit of work - finalised the prayer and service did a bit of stuff for julie on spread sheets etc and then headed accross the city to sort out email.
Wednesday night was the bible study night in the parish to look at the series for next term after a look at 1 cor 3 which was a very interesting passage for John to choose

On Divisions in the Church
1Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. 2I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready. 3You are still worldly. For since there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not worldly? Are you not acting like mere men? 4For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," are you not mere men?
5What, after all, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Only servants, through whom you came to believe—as the Lord has assigned to each his task. 6I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. 7So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow. 8The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building.

A very intersting passage indeed for all concerned - a challenging passage
Are our thoughts when we think about things worldly when they should be spiritual? - are we looking at things from our own perspective without turning it on its head and looking at things how God looks at them? One thing that really spoke to me about this was that everything/ one has its own purpose but god is the one who makes them grow - as we head out with this team our prayer has to be that it is God who will help the whole team grow - that if anything is to happen - spiritually it is only down to God but it is also our prayer that God will use each person as his tools to help growth in each other. Wether we are planters, waterers or whatever.
same thing in the team in Church!

oh yeah the conclusion of the meeting was that the Bible studies are coming together in September to run a "Christianity explored" Course which will be abfab a chance to re discover the gospel and its implications surely this will be good to draw the basics back into peoples lives anything that does that has to be good

Thurday was good, delivery to Brandy, then on to SUNI to speak to Helen really encouraged and good to see everyone, after running round bangor to find an internet connection with mum then back home - it was good to spend a bit of time away from the computer ;-)

Thursday night was another interesting night - John has my upmost respect for how he is leading the parish, allowing a process of change to happen, how the groups are coming up with ideas, it basically boils down to how the chuch is going to build upon teh successes of the past meet the needs of the present and to look to the type of parish this will be in the future.

We really need to pray for this, that the vestry will take steps to be bold and strong and take the finding forward. This is an exciting and challenging time, a time when we as people should be brought to our knees, seeking His Will. "Prayer can move mountains";

Friday, I headed with Moira over to a funeral in knockbreda parish, It was a sad day due to the circumstances but through it God's word went out with a lot of encouragement. Something that I suppose I always knew but was revisited by the minister - death is about falling asleep

1 Corinthians 15
The Resurrection of Christ 1Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance[a]: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Peter,[b] and then to the Twelve. 6After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
9For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

The Resurrection of the Dead

12But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.
20But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27For he "has put everything under his feet."[c] Now when it says that "everything" has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. 28When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.
29Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? 30And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? 31I die every day—I mean that, brothers—just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. 32If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."[d] 33Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character." 34Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.
The Resurrection Body

35But someone may ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?" 36How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. 41The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.
42So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"[e]; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. 48As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we[f] bear the likeness of the man from heaven.
50I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory."[g]
55"Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?"[h]

56The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain

Its soo amazing to think that so many people fear death when we see as a sleep - something not to be feared but something that should be taken a part of life when we think of teh Christian hope - we are to enjoy life to the full - grasp every opportunity but take a look at verse 55 surely this is central to the christian hope which is absolutely amazing!

we'll end there

Amen