​This week focussed on the opening verses of John’s gospel and we discussed the difference between Luke’s version which is full of the earthly reality of the birth of Jesus – the time, place, who came to visit etc and the mystery of “the word became flesh and made his dwelling amongst us”.
John describes Jesus in terms of life, light, grace, truth and we shared ideas of how we might describe Jesus to friends.
We also considered what helps us to “ponder” about the mystery of God – music, art, reading and for many of us, walking in the beauty of the countryside or gardening – the wonder of God’s creation. Advent provides a time to halt the rush of life and reflect on what the birth of Christ means to us – a route to God, the invisible made visible, God’s nature made plain.
Finally we thought about the image of Christ as light and how it helps us to face the dark times of life.
All in all, a lively and interesting evening!
 

Our Café Church Service in October followed on the “harvest” theme after the wonderful Harvest Festival Service we held the previous week in church with all the beautiful fruit and flowers on display.
We thought about “Sowing through to Harvest” and what the parable of the sower Jesus told the people actually meant.  Stewart Jackson led us in an interesting task based on growing plants, which we all know he is very good at!  We talked about preparing the ground, sowing seed, heat, light, water and oxygen, nurture, weeding and feeding, and finally the harvest of food or flowers. 
The congregation had some interesting and meaningful answers to offer, a few listed here will give you an insight into our discussion.  Preparing the ground: (baptism, Sunday school, prayer).  Sowing: (lead by example, outreach, education).  Heat, light, water & oxygen: (daily reading the bible, exploration, communication through shared belief, consistent care but don’t overdo it and drown growth), follow the ‘light of the world’)  Nurture: (Café Church, maintenance of faith, fellowship groups and bible study, Christ died for us because he loves us more than anybody, vulnerability to outside influences and the wrong path).    Harvest: (grow the people to spread the message, sharing the Word, annual renewal at harvest time, ministry and oneness with God, communication and prayer).
“The one who receives the seed in rich soil is the person who hears the word and understands it; he is the one who yields a harvest.”    Matthew 13: 23
We leave you with a wonderful quote to remember from our service given by one of our ladies which really spoke to us all.  “I am in the harvest of my life and I want to plant seeds for the next crop.”
Yours in Christ
Stewart, Mags & Chris