This month I’d like to pass on to you something someone passed on to me which I have found helpful: “Because God is like this and I face this, I can do this.” To explain what I mean, here are a couple of examples: “Because God is with me, and I am in the shadow of death I can fear no evil. Because God is truth and I face a difficult decision I can be content to seek after the truth The suggestion that I have found helpful is that when I am facing something difficult I can: Step 2: tell myself what the problem is Step 1: tell myself what I know about God Step 3: tell myself what I could do in this situation. You will notice that I have got my numbers in the wrong order! In one sense I start with the problem that I am facing, and then move on to thinking about what I know about God that may be helpful. However I call these step 2 and then step 1 to remind myself that what I know about God predates the problem that I have. You will also notice that this 3 fold way of thinking is good for putting into practice what I believe, and, at the same time, good for explaining to other people what I believe. ————————————————————— The readings in our Sunday Gathered Worship in July and August will cover the whole of the book of James, as a result of a suggestion from Chris Tanton.When Chris suggested this I confess that I thought that this sounded like eight weeks of Step 3 (what I do), and I thought that in my preaching I don’t give enough emphasis on Step 1 (what God does).“Ah”, said Chris with a characteristic twinkle in his eye, ““I was intending to go in a totally different direction.” We can focus on what God is like while looking at the book of James.I hope and pray that each of us, in our own situation (step 2), are able to discern what God is like (step 1), and what opportunities this opens up for us to live life in all its fullness (step 3).
Date Theme Chap:Verse 10 Jul Trials 1:1-12 17 Jul Temptations 1:13-27 24 Jul Judgement with mercy 2:1-13 31 Jul (Special Holiday Club Service on Psalm 34) 7 Aug Doctrinal strife 3:1-18 14 Aug Faith’s obedience 2:14-26 21 Aug Faith’s gentle wisdom 4:1-1228 Aug The end in mind 4:13-5:12 4 Sep Faith’s patience 5:13-20