When was the last time you went to an all-night wrestling match?

Jacob Wrestles with God

22 During the night Jacob got up and took his two wives, his two servant’s wives, and his eleven sons and crossed the Jabbok River with them. 23 After taking them to the other side, he sent over all his possessions.

24 This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until the dawn began to break. 25 When the man saw that he would not win the match, he touched Jacob’s hip and wrenched it out of its socket. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking!”

But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”

27 “What is your name?” the man asked.

He replied, “Jacob.”

28 “Your name will no longer be Jacob,” the man told him. “From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won.”

29 “Please tell me your name,” Jacob said.

“Why do you want to know my name?” the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there.

30 Jacob named the place Peniel (which means “face of God”), for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared.” 31 The sun was rising as Jacob left Peniel, and he was limping because of the injury to his hip. 32 (Even today the people of Israel don’t eat the tendon near the hip socket because of what happened that night when the man strained the tendon of Jacob’s hip.) (New Living Translation)

When was the last time you were at an all-night wrestling match?

The story about Jacob on first sight seems really odd. What was really going on? Was the man God? The fact that he isn’t prepared to give his name is a giveaway – compare God speaking to Moses: ‘I am who I am’, or Jesus: ‘who do you say that I am?’ It’s up to us to decide.

To make sense of what is going on here we need to be reminded of the back story. Jacob cheats Esau of his father’s blessing and goes away, works for his uncle Laban for years, marries both Laban’s daughters with resulting family unhappiness. Polygamy was normal in that time and culture but it is nowhere given God’s approval. At different points neither wife manages to conceive and both suggest surrogacy as an option – not such a new idea as you might think - so Jacob sleeps with two of their servants. Result: a big dysfunctional not so happy family with 12 brothers and one named daughter, Dinah. Jacob gets rich but his methods are a bit tricky – read the story of the spotted and striped sheep. But now Jacob has heard the call to return home - and to face the brother he cheated all those years ago. And the night before this all-night wrestling match we hear Jacob’s prayer to God in verses 9-12. He decides to send gifts ahead of him – the best of his animals. Quite why, when he was worried for their safety, he also sends his wives and children ahead and stays behind himself is a good question. But here he is, alone – until ‘God’ comes to meet him. That’s the background.

If you haven’t recently been at an all-night wrestling match, I wonder when was the last time you lay awake at night, worrying about the future. Night-time is when we are most vulnerable to anxiety and irrational fears, but it can also be a time when we are open to God’s voice. I believe it was God’s voice one night calling me to ordination after visiting a friend - that’s another story. But it’s also a time when I can wake up and worry about situations out of my control. Prayer is a good antidote to this, memorising hymn words is useful. Daylight and the voices of other people are also needed to help us sift the negative and positive voices in our heads.

Jacob is alone. The physical wrestling match is an outer manifestation of Jacob’s inner struggle with God. God who has promised to bless him, and who has blessed him. And at the point where it looks as though he might lose everything, Jacob is not going to give up without a fight.

And he fights and it looks as though Jacob is winning. He is holding on – he won’t let go even though he has been physically injured. Jacob has worked hard and used all his ingenuity over the years to lay hold of the blessings God promised, and he’s not about to give it all away.

It’s only afterwards that Jacob states his belief that it is God who he has been fighting; and even though he won the fight, his awe and respect for God is not diminished. He is amazed that he is still even alive.

Have you ever fought with God? You may have argued and pleaded with God over different situations in your life. You will know how God answered your prayers or if you are still waiting or if you have given up hope. We can’t control what life offers us or what God does. But the story of Jacob teaches us that we can keep fighting with God to ask for his blessing. Perseverance and determination are necessary parts of faith. It’s also worth noting that Jacob’s prayers were accompanied by actions – he worked hard, and used all his ingenuity and his skill to gain the promised blessings – including working out some of the ways inheritance works out when you breed animals, but that too is another story.

Finally – the story is a reminder that God doesn’t love us because we are good people. God loves us because we are his children. This is something we have to keep on telling people who are outside the church, as most ordinary people think it is the other way round – that they can’t come to church and they certainly can’t come to God because they are not good enough. Like Jacob we instinctively understand that God is holy. And yet: Jacob was a dodgy character – but God blessed him anyway. We all make big mistakes - but God longs to bless us. And there’s no doubt that Jacob was a better man as a result of his faith than he would have been without it. It’s the same for each one of us. God calls us first – and then starts the slow process of training us to be worthy servants of our Lord Jesus and learning how to follow him. A work in progress that lasts a lifetime.

In the film just released, Barbie starts off as a plastic fantastic doll living in Barbieland, a world where everything is smiling, fun and superficial. As the film continues, she gradually discovers what it means to be human – this starts with thinking about death and includes sadness and real tears. And despite the pain, she comes to the conclusion that it is better to be fully human and feel sadness and pain, than plastic and fantastic.

Being Christian means living a life that is fully human. It doesn’t mean avoiding unhappiness and pain – though he wins God’s blessing Jacob is left with a permanent limp. But you can be sure he thought that was a small price to pay. I wonder if you can count many blessings from God in your life, as Jacob did.

Let’s praise and bless God for those, and be in awe that we too have come face to face with God in the person of Jesus Christ, and that through him we can know what it is to live a fully human life.

Amen.

Easter Sunday

I watched the first episode of yet another of these reality tv competitions last week; Race across the world. It describes 5 teams of people competing to travel through a beautiful area in Canada with a limited budget, to see who gets to the destination first – and of course, who gets eliminated.

The filming has dramatic and beautiful landscapes, and there is all the kind of drama you get on a journey with the places they go to and the people they meet and the added tension given by the race.

But of course as all good tv and film makers know, the external drama is nothing without the internal drama. We are just as engaged by the stories of the relationships in the teams – father and daughter, two brothers, husband and wife as we are in the landscapes and the journey itself.  And at the end of the story, the focus is on the feelings of both the team that win and the team that lose, and on everything that has been learnt along the way. The internal journey is just as important as the external journey.

We’ve just seen a dramatized version of a story that is central to our faith as Christians; and for us too, it is not just the external story of Jesus’ resurrection that is so central to our faith, dramatic and powerful though that story is; it is the internal journey that we are invited to go on as a result that makes all the difference.

Recently I read an account by a woman who described how her life had changed when her first son was born, and it was discovered that he had Down’s syndrome. Everyone around her thought it a disaster and commiserated, but she was not prepared to see it like that. She went on to have two other children and they are all teenagers now and she describes a happy if sometimes chaotic family life. But I was struck by the effect she said the birth of her first son had on her life; she said she felt that there was more of everything: more love; more pain. Life had become fuller, and richer. Ordinary life intensified.

That seems to me also a good description of the difference between ordinary life and resurrection life. When you start on the spiritual journey that is prompted by the resurrection of Jesus, there is more to life.

The 16th century poet John Donne describes in his famous poems what life felt like to him when he was madly in love; in a similar way, he describes life intensified.

The Good Morrow: “I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I

Did, till we loved?”……….. the idea that life didn’t even start properly until their relationship began and that one room is enough if that is where your loved one is.

“love, all love of other sights controls,

And makes one little room an everywhere.”

And in another, “the sun rising”, he says that if the sun’s job is to warm the world, it is enough that it just warms the room where he and his lover are:

“since thy duties be

         To warm the world, that's done in warming us.

Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere;

This bed thy centre is, these walls, thy sphere”.

The medieval mystic Julian of Norwich was an anchoress which meant that she lived in one room for much of her adult life, a cell which you can still see if you visit the city of Norwich. She spent much of her time ministering to people who came to visit this holy woman. It can’t in one sense, have been much of a life, to survive in just one room, never to go anywhere. But for Julian it was the place where she was called to serve God, and the visions and experiences that she wrote down still inspire many people today. Her life too was rich and full even though it was completely limited geographically.

We don’t know much about Mary Magdalene, the woman who was the first to witness Jesus’ resurrection. We don’t know her age. We know that she was probably not married and without children, which is why she is identified by the place she came from, Magdala, a fishing town on the Sea of Galilee, rather than as wife or mother of someone else. We know she was wealthy enough to provide, along with some other women, the finance for Jesus’ travelling ministry, something we’re told about in Luke’s Gospel. There is no evidence she is connected with the unnamed sinful woman described in a previous chapter by Luke, although that idea has taken hold of people’s imagination over the centuries; but we are told she was released from 7 demons. In today’s language, we might understand her to have suffered from a mental illness from which Jesus healed her.

Life changed for Mary when she first met Jesus. I think it must have been for her like an opening up of a life that had been full of misery and distress before, and now had love for Jesus at its centre, with the sense of purpose that love gives. It was a life that had become fuller, richer. As well as her external life changing when she met Jesus, as she (we presume) followed him around the Galilean countryside, her internal world had also changed. Life for her intensified. There was more love, and more pain. Especially when her teacher died on the cross on that Friday afternoon.

We can see that she was loyal to Jesus, that she cared about him deeply, and wanted, after he died, to do one last thing for him by anointing the body with spices and oils. That’s why she is there at the tomb, early on Sunday morning as soon as the sabbath is over. Likely she wasn’t a young woman, but someone who had experience of laying out bodies, still a holy ritual undertaken by local women in many Jewish communities.

We can see in the story that she knew Jesus well and as soon as she heard his voice speaking her name she recognised who it was.  She must have been a woman of courage, to witness Jesus’ death with the other women and head up to the burial field early that morning, accompanied by others though John doesn’t mention this. And she was bold enough to face the ridicule of the disciples when she went back to tell them that she had seen Jesus, and he was alive.

No doubt that Mary from Magdala had grown in her internal life over the two or three years since she met Jesus, and developed those qualities of courage, love and the desire to serve. And no doubt that the resurrection, and the coming of the Holy Spirit which followed, changed her still more, giving her opportunities to grow in courage and love and to serve in new ways.

I wonder where you are on your journey in relation to Jesus? I wonder how rich your internal world is; how much you have grown and will continue to grow over the next few years? I wonder what the external story of your life is; the places you have lived, the things you have done: and I wonder what your internal story is.

For everyone who follows Jesus there is the promise of an ever growing and sometimes challenging internal and spiritual life. Jesus doesn’t just leave us in peace, undisturbed; if we’re open to him he will bring new experiences, new people, new life, whatever your physical age. He will bring more love, and quite likely as a result, more pain.

In the words of the hymn:  we “give him back the life we owe, that in thine ocean depths its flow may richer, fuller be”.

Because if we follow Jesus, we are promised a richer and fuller life, like the caterpillar turning into a butterfly, beginning here on this earth and continuing into the life to come.

Longing for the light

Don’t you long for the summer and for warmth and long days? I have had so many conversations with different people about this recently. The signs of spring, snowdrops and daffodils, aren’t just beautiful in themselves but because they are a sign of things to come.

And even if you don’t much like the winter, I think we appreciate the summer all the more for having had the long dark nights and the cold. Lent is a bit like this. I love Easter and the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection, not to mention Easter eggs and spring lambs, but I appreciate it all the more for having had a period of (relative) self denial during Lent and for having deliberately put time aside to think about faith and what it means. Whether you do this through joining the Lent study group, giving up chocolate, meat or alcohol, missing a meal on occasions, putting more time aside for personal prayer or in other ways, God blesses our desire to come close to him.

Warm space for everyone?

One of the encouraging things I’ve been seeing in the last few weeks is enthusiasm to help with offering a warm space for people who are worried about putting the heating on at home, or in need of company in these isolating days. It’s very heart-warming. There’s a lot of good will out there.

Like many other community organisations, we’re responding to the cost-of-living crisis by opening our doors, and for me and others, it has already been a great opportunity to meet some new people and enjoy good company. Like other organisations, we’re offering a cup of tea and a chat, and lunch, various activities which will be getting going over the next few weeks; and a listening ear and a pointer to where advice can be had if needed. It’s a bit of an experiment – will people come? Is this what people really need? After all, just because you’re struggling between ‘heating and eating’ doesn’t mean you have time to spare - often it’s the opposite.

We worry that people will feel embarrassed too, about asking for help. But in reality there is no ‘them’ and ‘us’, no divide between those who offer to help and those who need it – everyone has something to give, and if you need help this week and get it, you will be able to help someone else next week. And you don’t have to be ‘in need’ to come along, it really is a space for everyone, and I know the same is true for the other venues.

Another good thing I’ve been reflecting on is that these days it is no longer so difficult to say you are lonely. In the past if you said you were lonely, people would think it was your own fault – perhaps you weren’t very good at making friends, were a bit weird, or there was something else wrong with you. These days though, we recognise that it is usually circumstances that mean people can feel isolated – so many people live on their own for one thing, and working from home, though convenient, doesn’t give the opportunity for the daily human contact that we all need.

Christmas is coming and the build up of activity and perhaps the increasing sense of isolation for those who aren’t busy is on its way too. Christmas is the story of the time when there was ‘no room in the inn’. But it’s also a story of space being offered, to a family who were in need. Whether it’s making room for refugees, or making time for others, it is good to see that despite the troubles of this world, there is a lot of good will out there.

For more information on welcome spaces see the City Council website pages:

https://www.bristol.gov.uk/residents/people-and-communities/welcoming-spaces/find-a-welcoming-space

 and map

https://bcc.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=4c5e933568424768bd871cea2003da34

News from a sabbath journey

For the last 3 months I have had the privilege of a sabbatical, time to be refreshed and restored for God’s work in the churches here in South Bristol.

I spent some of it walking the length of the River Severn, from its source in the hills of mid-Wales to Severn Beach just outside Bristol.

Like Jesus’ parable of the mustard seed (Mark 4.30-32) the river is a vivid illustration of the way tiny things can grow into something mighty and powerful, as drop is added to drop of water. Good encouragement for when we think our efforts to do what God wants don’t seem to achieve much.

Walking along the river reminded me that the life of the Spirit is God’s work - often invisible, like the unseen fish under the surface of the water, God is constantly at work in our lives if we do our bit and walk alongside him. Over the 210 miles there were times I got soaked by rain or the sun shone a bit too hot to be comfortable and so I learnt just to keep on walking, every step was progress of a sort! There were also times when I was struck by the beauty of the river valley, the hills around, the wild flowers and the birds - the rare flash of a kingfisher, the stately patience of a grey heron, the busy paddling of ducks and geese, the occasional splash of a jumping fish.

It was great to walk with the encouragement of friends for some of the way, and to spend other days on my own with a chance to think, reflect and pray and enjoy the history and the beauty of the river.

Thanks to everyone who supported me on the way, and who filled in back home with tasks at church. A sabbatical is a real privilege but a reminder that all of us need ‘sabbath time’ whether it is on Sundays or on a summer holiday - time to reconnect with God, to rest, to have some fun, to be creative, and to be restored by worshipping the original creator and the redeemer of all our days.

Thank you, Lord.

New Year, new relationship

If you’ve ever been in a classroom where a teacher has apparent control of the children, and they leave the room and a riot breaks out, you will know that imposing good behaviour on people from the outside only works to a certain extent.

If you’ve followed the saga of parties at Downing Street, or been following the more worrying story about President Putin amassing troops on the borders of Ukraine in the news, you will have worked out the same thing.

No amount of penalties and incentives will stop people breaking the rules if they’re just determined to serve themselves. They will just find a new way round them.

If you only do what is right because you think you ought to, or because you worry about what will happen if you’re found out, it not only leads to disobeying the law but it leads to hypocrisy.

 The thing that works best to encourage people to live in the way that is best for them and that God intends is not rules and regulations imposed from outside, or even incentives; not sticks and carrots; but a motivation that comes from inside.  

God’s covenant with the people of Israel was a bit of an experiment in some ways; and after several hundred years of the people of Israel continually being disobedient to God and going wrong, a new way was promised, expressed in a passage from the book of Jeremiah: “The time is coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new agreement with the people of Israel:

….I will put my teachings in their minds, and write them on their hearts.

I will be their God, and they will be my people.

People will no longer have to teach their neighbours and their relatives

to know the Lord, because all people will know me,

from the least to the most important.

I will forgive them for the wicked things they did,

and I will not remember their sins any more.”

We have inherited that promise. No amount of external sticks and carrots are a substitute for the desire to do what is right, and to live in God’s ways. And the desire to do what is right comes from teaching, from upbringing, from the surrounding culture and the influence of people around us, it is true, but ultimately the foundation for it in the church is our gratitude for what God, especially God in Jesus, has done for us. That is the start of a new relationship – a new covenant.

Covenant Sunday in the Methodist Church is a day when we renew our desire to be in that relationship, to benefit from God’s forgiveness and to keep close to him so that we can know his love and show it to the world.

I love these verses – the simple beauty of the words ‘I will be their God, and they will be my people’; the idea that every last person, from the least to the greatest, is equally able to have a relationship with God, directly themselves, not relying on someone else; we belong to Jesus, it is as simple as that. We are his, and he belongs to us.

And that beautiful promise that God’s law will be written on our hearts:

Queen Mary of England, during whose reign the city of Calais was besieged and finally lost to the English, famously said ‘When I am dead, and my body is opened, ye shall find Calais written on my heart’

I wonder what would be found written on your heart?

The people you love I am sure, maybe a place, maybe a cause that is dear to you. if it’s written on your heart it is deeply ingrained. Built into who you are as a person.

It may be that love for God, and the knowledge of his love for you, appreciation and gratitude for what Jesus has done and the way he has showed us to live, will be found written there too. To say God’s law is written on our hearts means that our desire to do what is right won’t come from the outside, but from the inside: it is so deeply ingrained it is part of who we are.

 It’s worth saying here that Law in the Bible is actually better translated as teaching – the law of God, unlike human laws, is not something like a wall, that you are either on the right or the wrong side of, that determines who is in and who is out; it is more like an arrow, pointing to what is good, helping us live in the right direction.

Jesus told us how we should do this: keep strong in faith, in gratitude for his death for us….

We make the decision individually to follow Jesus , and each year in the Covenant service Methodists renew our commitment to Jesus as an individual.

But the picture of the communion meal is also one that shows that we are all joined together.

We need each other to keep our vibrancy and our motivation. The picture of the single coal rolling out of the fire and dying is a picture which reminds us that we shouldn’t try to go it alone – we need to keep encouraging each other, praising God together, learning together, supporting each other, working out how to explain our faith to others, together.

And the promises we make in our covenant are promises we make together, promises that we are able to make not just because we know God will be there to strengthen us, but because the church family is also there to strengthen us. We strengthen each other in many ways but the core of it is love – and we are able to love because we know how Jesus loved us so much that he died for us.

When we make our covenant promises we are once again preparing ourselves to take our place as a guest at the table where we share together the reminder of Jesus’ death and resurrection……………….a table where all are welcome.

Memorial Service for the Bereaved

Every year in ‘ordinary times’ we hold a service for people who have been bereaved, where the names of people who have died are read out and there is an opportunity to light a candle in memory of someone you love.

This year we are holding two such services, both on 31st October, one at 10.30am at Bedminster and one at 3pm at Totterdown (see individual pages for the address of each church).

It has been a particularly hard year and a half, many funerals have been unsatisfactory or haven’t taken place at all, and so we hope that this will provide an opportunity to step aside, remember someone who has died, and help people through the process of grieving.

If you would like someone’s name read out in church at one of these services, even if you are not able to be there yourself, do get in touch. We’ll be lighting candles in memory of all those who are being remembered.

People often find this is a peaceful and valuable space.

You are very welcome to join us.

It’s good to be back

We are so happy to be able to meet for worship again in person at all of our church buildings - not that the church ever went away, but it is good to be able to sing and to meet each other again and praise God together.

Life has moved on in the last year and a half - some things won’t ever be the same again: babies have been born, some members of our congregations are sadly no longer with us, and ways of doing things have changed.

But this is part of our travelling with God, as he challenges us to do new things in a new world.

Jesus warned his followers that “foxes have holes and birds have nests but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head” (see Matthew 8). But the encouragement for those who are willing to move on, whether it is physically changing location or moving forward in a spiritual sense to embrace change, is that there are great rewards:

“Everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or property, for my sake, will receive a hundred times as much in return and will inherit eternal life” (see Matthew 19).

Let’s look forwards with faith, knowing that God goes before us and will equip us to do what he asks us to do.

Rev Sally

Faith, hope and love in South Bristol

whoever you are, whatever your journey, welcome

“We are your neighbourhood Methodist Church. We seek to bring our community into the all-encompassing ways of Jesus Christ, and take his love out into the world. We seek to offer hope and encouragement as we serve each other and the wider area, travelling together in faith.”

The world could do with a bit more faith, a bit more hope, a bit more compassion. Coming out of lockdown can’t come too soon for some and brings anxiety for others, but one thing I’ve noticed in the last few weeks is an enthusiasm to look upwards and forwards, to work together, to to plan good things and try something new.

As individuals we often feel we can’t do much but together we can make a difference to our communities. I’ve been meeting all sorts of people across South Bristol who are doing that and it is great when we can work with them. Members of TRESA (TRESA – Totterdown Residents Environmental & Social Action) are taking the initiative to improve the green space in front of the old YMCA building on Bushy Park and create a ‘mobility station’ to encourage greener forms of transport. Bedminster Pharmacy staff are working hard to keep everyone safe at the Vaccination Centre on British Road. We’re working with staff and members of the Food Club at St Peter’s Broomhill on the idea of a Community Garden on church land. Church members at Totterdown and Knowle are planning some activities for families over the summer months, in Redcatch Park and Broadwalk shopping centre. And if you want to escape from the noise of the Wells Road in Knowle you can pop into the church on Wednesday mornings* for some peace and space to pray or reflect.

If you’re interested in getting involved in any of the above, do get in touch with us. We would love to talk to you.

*currently the first and third Wednesday of the month

Take Heart

“ Be strong and courageous; have no fear or dread, because it is the Lord your God who goes with you; he will not fail you or forsake you.”

Deuteronomy 31.6

Did you know the word for courage is closely linked to the word for heart? This Valentine’s Day we are encouraging people to ‘take heart’ with our beautiful postcards, designed by our friendly graphic designer Jim Brown, which we are giving out so you can send a message to a friend or neighbour who you think might need a lift in these difficult times. Get in touch if you’d like some to send.

Covenant prayer

Dear all,

this week we again have both zoom and video options for worship at South Bristol. In both there is a chance to say the Covenant prayer, affirming your commitment to follow God in the coming year and also to think about 'a Methodist way of life'. The video has been prepared by and is led by Rev David Alderman, (the Circuit Superintendent) and is available any time: and I'll be leading the service on zoom on Sunday morning. A printed version of the prayer we will be using is attached.

If you want to find out a bit more about A Methodist Way of Life do click on this link to find out more: A Methodist Way of Life

This week (18-25th January) is the week of prayer for Christian Unity, and our reading this week is taken from materials prepared for this time. Do pray for other denominations and for all churches to draw closer to the ways of Christ, including our own.

And finally there is a chance to pray for any needs you would like to bring and for the church and wider issues, at lunchtime on Monday 12.30-1, either come and pray in silence or out loud as we join in with words from the Northumbria Community to frame our prayers. On zoom!

“See, I am doing something new”, says the Lord. “Now it springs up: don’t you see it? I am making a way in the wilderness, and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43.19

News and Worship Sheet 17th January 2021

Welcome to this edition of the news and worship sheet for Totterdown, St Peter’s, Knowle and Bedminster Methodist Churches.

If you would like to receive this sheet and the SBMC video or access to our online worship by email, please contact me. The videos and livestream are also available on our website, southbristolmc.org.uk and on youtube at SouthBristolMethodistChurch.





John 15.1-17

Jesus said: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other.”

Reflection

When I was a student and for a few years afterwards, my parents lived in Hampton, in Middlesex, and when I stayed there we often went to Hampton Court Palace just down the road. In its gardens there is an enormous and very ancient grapevine, the oldest in the world. It was planted in 1768, takes up the whole of a very large glasshouse, and the ground underneath is regularly fed with manure to keep it in good condition. It is now four metres (13') around the base and the longest branch is 36.5 metres (120'). It regularly produces a crop of around 272 kg (600 lb) grapes which are sold in the palace shop. Every now and then a new glasshouse has to be built to accommodate its growth; the last one was built in 1969.

It’s obvious that if you cut a branch off, the branch would wither and die. And yet connected to the main plant, with roots deep in the nourishing earth, the vine is still flourishing and producing fruit, 250 years after it was planted.

It’s a good image for the church; one that reminds us that we need to keep our links with the source of our faith and our life, Jesus Christ. It also reminds me that we are not a static organisation, nor are we independent. We rely for growth and life on keeping connected to Jesus, through prayer and through each other. Each one of us is like a small twig, capable of producing fruit – the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self control. The covenant promise which we make every year strengthens that essential link. This year when many of us have felt 'laid aside' or that God has asked of us more than we are capable of, the promise seems more relevant than ever, as we draw on his strength to do what seems impossible to us.

A vine cannot remain the same, but only survives by growing, receiving food, adapting to new circumstances, and changing. Let’s pray that this year we see true growth – that we keep connected to Jesus and to each other – and that the church we are part of flourishes as we adapt to every new situation.

This reading has also been chosen as the reading for the Week of Christian Unity, which runs from 18th-25th January this year. It makes sense that if we stay close to Jesus, we also stay close to each other. Let’s pray for the local churches around us and other Christians we know; and for the church across the world. Who do you know who follows Jesus in a different denomination or another part of the world? We almost certainly have more local and international links than we realise, and we are all branches of the same vine.

Rev Sally

Prayers

Please see the separate sheet for our Covenant Prayer. In saying this, though you may be on your own at home, you are sharing with others across South Bristol Methodist Church, and with Methodists and other Christians across the world.

We also pray this week for people in our congregations who work in care homes or for the NHS: Janet and Carol; Jean and Sheila; Edna, Charles and Martha; Susie and Ruth. May God strengthen and protect them, bless their families, and may others see God’s light through them.


Many people are missing Holy Communion, as with a few exceptions we haven’t been able to share the Lord’s Supper together since September and before that, March. However we can take a tip from the Armenian Orthodox Church. In Armenia, which has been a Christian country since the 6th Century, bread (usually flatbread, similar to naan or pitta bread) is literally broken and eaten with every meal. An Armenian Orthodox priest I know once told me that whenever they break bread, it is an opportunity to remember Jesus and his death and resurrection. Good advice.

News

Back in April we had a short piece on the video from Steve Bagshaw, a local preacher in Huddersfield who since April has been working on the Government’s task force for vaccine production, because of his role as CEO of a biotech company in the north east of England. I was delighted to hear he has been awarded a CBE in the New Year honours list, for his services to the biotech industry. There are, indeed, many ways to serve God. Congratulations to Steve.


Bristol Children’s Centre says a big Thank You for the gifts from People at SBMC Totterdown and St Peter’s which were distributed to the families at Christmas. One mum said: “Thank you so much for the gifts, my son is over the moon, he can’t stop dancing around. You guys are so kind, it’s brought tears to my eyes.” 535 gifts were given out across East Bristol and Broomhill to children from 261 families.

Local church leadership teams met last week, and the SBMC leadership team met on Monday 11th, to look at the way forward and make suggestions for Church Council in February. Do pray for these meetings. These are challenging times for all churches, but I am really encouraged by the way you keep in touch and support one another. May God continue to inspire you and give you energy!

And finally: some good advice on prayer: Keep it honest; keep it simple; keep it going……….

Rev Sally Spencer

Minister of South Bristol Methodist Church @ St.Peter's, Allison Road, Brislington; Redcatch Road, Knowle; Bushy Park, Totterdown; British Road, Bedminster.

"What does the Lord ask of you, but to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God" Micah 6.8

Happy New Year

New Year Hopes and Dreams…

I’m not very good at New Year resolutions, they are so quick to get broken. The Covenant Service (see next week’s newsletter) gives us a much better approach, as our covenant with God is a partnership, so we don’t just have to rely on our own willpower. It is good to have hopes, dreams and aims for the New Year though – I wonder what yours are. Hard though it is to meet and make contact, God is still at work in people’s lives and if we are open to him, the church’s work will still continue, so we need to be bold in our dreams for the work of God, not just our own lives.

I have some hopes for the church in South Bristol which I hope others will share:

To grow in spiritual depth;

To encourage more people to join our church communities, and deepen relationships;

To make a bigger impact on our local communities, especially where there is need and hardship.

These things also only come about through partnership, with each other and God: as Paul wrote, ‘I planted, [my fellow disciple] Apollos watered, but God gave the growth’. (1 Corinthians 3.6). We have to play our part by planting and watering, and then we pray that God will act; as we already see him doing.

We will be thinking about how we go about this in the leadership team and other meetings over the next few months, all on zoom for the time being so not the easiest way, but we trust in God’s Holy Spirit to use every circumstance for his good purposes, if we are willing to work alongside him.



Vaccinations

Good news! Increasing numbers of people from SBMC and beyond are being offered vaccinations to protect them from Covid-19. It’s going to take a while, but this gives us all hope.

Let’s pray too for people in poorer countries who won’t get such quick access to the vaccine, and for whom the economic suffering may be much greater.

Rev Sally Spencer
.

Let Every Heart Prepare.

Dear all,
If you are like me your inbox will be filled up with circulars from every organisation whose mailing list you ever got on to this week. Please take the time to look at this one!
below is the link for this week's worship - I hope you enjoy it. If you are out at church today, do take some time to join in and see what is going on, during the week or next weekend.

https://youtu.be/9dBhMgfOILE

On Sunday evening there is an invitation to sing carols on your doorstep with music and carol sheets provided by Premier Christian Radio - do get your neighbours together and sing if you can. Invitation and carol sheet attached and can be found here: Carols on the Doorstep (premierchristianradio.com)

Some of us will be meeting in the churches this Sunday and we send our very best wishes to those of you who won't be there. If you are going to be on your own over Christmas and are worried about it, PLEASE get in touch beforehand - we want to do everything we can to make sure no one has a miserable day, especially as this year is particularly difficult for many people. Although we try to keep in touch with everyone we may have missed someone out. You may wish to offer support to someone else too - again do get in touch if you'd like to help.

You might also enjoy:

A New Room Christmas - YouTube

which comes from the New Room in Bristol, with Rev Josette preaching from John Wesley's pulpit.

Looking forward to the New Year, Rev Richard Sharples is leading a zoom course on the Book of Romans - Richard is always an interesting person to talk to and I am sure it will be a thought provoking and helpful course. Details attached.

In the meantime I hope you have a very peaceful, joyful and hopeful Christmas - we have every reason to have hope, even for our troubled world, because God himself is with us - as someone I know said recently, God is on the front line.

with very best wishes

Sally

“No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in the closest relationship with the Father, he has made him known.” John 1.18

Christmas.

Dear all,

this week's worship comes from the Bristol Circuit and features carols and prayers from a number of well known local landmarks - I wonder how many you can spot. It has been put together by Rev Mandy Briggs from the New Room and edited by David Alderman, the circuit superintendent. It will be available from 4pm on Sunday afternoon.

You will be able to find the carol service if you cut and paste the following address - I don't have the link yet but will send it when it arrives:

(2) Bristol & South Glos Methodist Circuit - YouTube

and if you'd like to join me on zoom for a cup of tea before or afterwards from 4.30 to 5.30 or so that would be great - just drop in for a quick hello or stay the whole time:



You might also enjoy Carols for Bristol which has been produced by a a whole lot of Bristol churches - there is a great poem half way through if you click here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1oa9STmP1Y&t=2013s

Monday lunchtime prayer will be taking place this week at 12.30 on zoom,

The Newsletter and worship sheet is below (and attached). Happy reading!

If you would like to send a Christmas message to the church, do give me or John Seward a ring/pop a note in the post/send an email and we will include it in a special Christmas edition of the newsletter. Deadline - extended to Thursday 16th December

“No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in the closest relationship with the Father, he has made him known.” John 1.18

News and Worship Sheet

13th December 2020

Welcome to our weekly news and worship sheet for Totterdown, St Peter’s, Knowle and Bedminster Methodist Churches.

We continue with worship online via youtube or zoom, and continue to send out the weekly newsletters by post. Another way to keep in touch is to join the South Bristol Methodist Church facebook group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/SouthBristolMethodist

If you would like to receive this sheet and the SBMC video or access to our online worship by email, please contact me. The videos and livestream are

also available on our website, southbristolmc.org.uk and on youtube at SouthBristolMethodistChurch.






Reading

Luke 1.26-38

In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, ‘Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’

Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favour with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants for ever; his kingdom will never end.’

‘How will this be,’ Mary asked the angel, ‘since I am a virgin?’

The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.’

‘I am the Lord’s servant,’ Mary answered. ‘May your word to me be fulfilled.’ Then the angel left her.

Reflection

This is a very personal story. It reminds us that God depends on the obedience of apparently insignificant individuals to achieve his purposes for humanity. That includes you and me! I love the story of Mary and Elizabeth meeting up – do read the rest of Luke Chapter 1 – I can imagine them getting their sewing out to get ready for the babies, as they chat about their pregnancies and compare notes – as women have done for thousands of years.

God still uses the insignificant, the ordinary and the people who seem to have missed out on worldly success and glory, to tell his story and reveal his truth. What a privilege to be part of that upside down kingdom.

Rev Sally

Hymn

Mary’s song, Luke 1.46-55

Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord!
Unnumbered blessings give my spirit voice;
tender to me the promise of his word;
in God my Saviour shall my heart rejoice.

Tell out, my soul, the greatness of his Name!
Make known his might, the deeds his arm has done;
his mercy sure, from age to age to same;
his holy Name--the Lord, the Mighty One.

Tell out, my soul, the greatness of his might!
Powers and dominions lay their glory by.
Proud hearts and stubborn wills are put to flight,
the hungry fed, the humble lifted high.

Tell out, my soul, the glories of his word!
Firm is his promise, and his mercy sure.
Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord
to children's children and for evermore!

Timothy Dudley Smith 1962

Prayer

Christ the Good Shepherd
Enfold us in love,
Fill us with peace
And lead us in hope,
This day and all our days;
And the blessing of God,
Father Son and Holy Spirit,
Be with us evermore
Amen.

Keeping the flame burning

One change this year for many people is that Sunday morning church is no longer the focus of our lives together – instead of one big circle with little groups around the edges, and a few individuals feeling left out because they couldn’t get to church on Sunday, church is now more like a series of overlapping circles. Even when the pandemic is in the past, I think this may continue to be the case. So many people are excluded from attending on Sundays, either through age or illness, shift work patterns, or family commitments they have no control over – looking after an elderly parent or a disabled child, for example. But we still need our church community to help keep our faith strong.

It raises the question, what helps us maintain our faith?

I would say that personal prayer and Bible reading, worshipping with others in some way, keeping on learning, and sharing our ups and downs and questions, and - of course - making sure we are putting faith into practice, are all essential. For some people a small group may be the main regular commitment and Sunday mornings an extra bonus.

How do you make sure your faith is sustained and you feel part of the church community even if you can’t get to church on Sundays? What would you advise others to do?

Do you know someone who is isolated, or depressed and lonely this Christmas? If so, PLEASE TELL US so we can make sure they are not ignored and they know someone out there cares.

There will be no Christingle services this year, but families can collect ‘Christmas in a Bag’ from outside Totterdown Methodist Church 11.30-1pm and outside Knowle Methodist Church 1.30-3pm on Sunday 20th December.

Janet from Bedminster tells me she has been spending a lot of her lockdown time recently playing Christmas carols – she knows 60 of them not including Christmas songs! How many carols can you think of?

Last week’s newsletter included the first part of a poem written by 13 year old Massimiliano Tortis in 1992. Here is the rest:

This Year I’m not Coming

Listen to me closely. I have but one thing to say:
Repent, because the Kingdom of Heaven is near.
And you rich ones, pharisees and exploiters, will not enter my Kingdom.
No!
It will be those whom you have treated as beggars,
As human trash, as ignorant, who will enjoy eternal life.
I gave you the Word in order to place it at the disposition of the weak,
But you have made it private property to exploit the humble.
I told you to preach my words,
But you have closed yourselves in large buildings.
Many babies are born in your world, just as I was, in a stall –
A bare and dark stall in which mothers fear that the baby will awake because they have nothing to give it
But you don’t even look at them.
You beat people because of the colour of their skin.
At Christmas, instead of thinking about the poor,
You enjoy yourselves eating and drinking.
You treat the poor like you treated me.
But I say to you: Blessed are those who cry, for they will be consoled.
Blessed are those who are hungry, for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are those who are naked, for they will be clothed.
My kingdom will be composed precisely of these.

**********************


62 shoeboxes were blessed and sent off to Eastern Europe via the Rotary Club last Wednesday. Gifts are also being sent to local families via St Peter’s and the East Bristol Children’s Centre, and to those who are homeless via the Methodist Centre. Bedminster Methodist Church will be making a collection of money for the homeless on 20th December. Please get in touch with Bob Bennett if you would like to contribute and won't be attending. Thank you for your generosity.

Carols on your doorstep

A much needed chance to sing - on Sunday 20th December at 5:30pm the whole country has the chance to join in Carols on your Doorstep. All you need is to have a radio at hand. That can be a DAB radio, Freeview on your TV (725) or the Premier Radio phone app. Tune into Premier Radio who will play 3 or 4 carols for everyone to sing along to. Tell your neighbours! Carol sheet attached.

Yesterday and today (4-7pm) there are beautiful lanterns outside Bedminster Methodist Church, and also displays in shop windows along North Street. The lanterns look good! If you are on facebook there are more pictures there.

METHODIST.ORG.UK

Weekly Worship.

Dear all,

below is the link for this Sunday's worship with South Bristol Methodist Church. I hope you can make time to watch, spend time with God and share in what is going on at Totterdown, Knowle, St Peter's and Bedminster Methodist Churches.

https://youtu.be/pczawuwQg-A

A couple of worship songs you might enjoy:

Love Shone Done by Matt Beckingham

(4) Love Shone Down (I had a dream) | NMCGB & Children's choir | Lyrics - YouTube

and Be Still My Soul sung by Kari Jobe

Kari Jobe - Be Still My Soul (In You I Rest) [Lyrics] - Bing video

Next week, Thursday 10th-Saturday 12th December, the lanterns we made will be displayed outside Bedminster Methodist Church, and a whole lot more lanterns will be decorating the shops on North Street and elsewhere in Bedminster from around 5pm till 8pm, and the shops will be opening late. Do go and have a look if you are able to, keeping socially distanced of course. You will see that the church's logo is on the Winter Lantern Parade's website as one of its sponsors and we are proud to be able to support it Home - Bedminster Winter Lantern Parade.

with very best wishes for a good week ahead,

Sally

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer”. Romans 12.12

Welcome to our weekly news and worship sheet

for Totterdown, St Peter’s, Knowle and Bedminster Methodist Churches.

We continue with worship online via youtube or zoom, and continue to send out the weekly newsletters by post. Another way to keep in touch is to join the South Bristol Methodist Church facebook group. https://www.facebook.com/groups/SouthBristolMethodist

If you would like to receive this sheet and the SBMC video or access to our online worship by email, please contact me. The videos and livestream are also available on our website, southbristolmc.org.uk and on youtube at SouthBristolMethodistChurch.

Church Services (now confirmed)

Dec 6th Totterdown Gift Day led by Rev Sally; St Peter’s Gift Day led by Rev Philip Nott.

Dec 13th Knowle, Rev Anthony Hick; St Peter’s Rev Sally/Jimmy Tariq; Totterdown led by Stephen Holliday.

Dec 20th Services at all churches at 10.30. Totterdown Christmas service at 4pm.

Christmas Day: Totterdown 10am,

Knowle 10.45am (provisional please check next week)

Government guidance indicates that after December 2nd churches will be allowed to open for worship in Tier 3, but those who attend must not mix with anyone outside their own household. If you are attending worship please be careful about this.

Reading

Isaiah 40.1-5

1 Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.

3 A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Mark 1.1-8

1 The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, 2 as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:

“I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way”—
3 “a voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’”

4 And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. 6 John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

This Year I’m Not Coming

This year I’m not coming.
I’m not coming because I’m fed up with coming every year.
On your earth no one listens to me.
I speak of friendship and you kill each other.
I told you to help each other and instead you think of yourselves.
I told you to become poor and instead you always strive to become rich.
I told you to break bread with the hungry and you exploit them.
I told you not to rob, and you instead make away with the money of the poor.
How can I come on your earth – which I gave you?!
Listen to me closely. I have but one thing to say.
Repent, because the Kingdom of Heaven is near…..

Extracts from a poem by 13 year old Massimilio Tortis, written for Christmas Eve mass in a public square in Italy, 1992. Look out for the rest in next week’s newsletter.

Reflection

The beautiful and inspiring words of Isaiah are familiar – not just from Christmas readings, or from Handel’s Messiah, but also from Martin Luther King’s famous speech in which he set forward a vision of a world where black and white children would play together without segregation or discrimination. The words show a God who is compassionate towards his people, and who holds out a future of hope and equity where his glory will shine.

John the Baptist also took Isaiah’s words, because he somehow knew that Jesus was the Lord referred to, and that he, John, was the messenger who would show God’s standards and get people thinking so that they were ready to hear Jesus when he came.

John’s message, like Massimilio’s is shocking. He tells us that knowing our need for God’s forgiveness, and wanting a new start, is just the beginning: we need also to be open to God’s Holy Spirit, and willing to change and to learn, so that we can follow what Jesus calls us to do.

Learning and changing, admitting we’ve been wrong in the past, does get harder as we get older. We want comfort and familiarity, reassurance, not challenge –for many people, especially if you are battling ill health and limited mobility, it seems as if there are plenty enough challenges in day to day living.

But, young or old, it does us good and keeps us young if we are curious rather than threatened by things that are new, willing to admit we’ve been wrong, and willing to be seized by a sense of wonder and awe – the living God is not only faithful and constant but also forever changing, always creating new things. Let’s keep our eyes and our hearts open so we can share in what God is doing among us, and see a little bit of his glory this Christmas season.

Rev Sally

A hymn

Like a candle flame
Flickering small in our darkness
Uncreated light
Shines through infant eyes.
God is with us, alleluia.
Come to save us, alleluia.
Alleluia!

Stars and angels sing,
Yet the earth sleeps in shadows
Can this tiny spark
Set a world on fire?
Yet his light shall shine
Fom our lives, Spirit blazing,
As we touch the flame
Of his holy fire.
God is with us, alleluia.
Come to save us, alleluia.
Alleluia!

Graham Kendrick

A prayer

Lord God,
Holy and wonderful,
May we be awed by your presence,
Bowled over by your beauty, astounded by your love, and challenged by your compassion.
Give us curiosity and a desire to learn – help us to be willing to change and grow,
To stretch our understanding of who you are,
To see you reflected in the faces of unlikely people
And to be reminded of how unlikely it is that we too, have come to worship the new born king of all creation. Amen

Carols on your doorstep

During the run up to Christmas many of us like to go to a Carol Service or Community Carol Singing event, this year we cannot do that but that does not have to stop us having a good sing with our neighbours and our community.

On Sunday 20th December at 5:30pm the whole country has the chance to join in Carols on your Doorstep. All you need to do is have a radio at hand. That can be a DAB radio, Freeview on your TV (725) or the Premier Radio phone app. Tune into Premier Radio who will play 3 or 4 carols for everyone to sing along to.

This is a good chance to dust off that festive jumper. It will be family-friendly so children welcome to bring something to shake or rattle along too. Tell your neighbours!

The Great Nativity Trail

Lots of you have joined in and we hope if you can you will follow the trail and that you will encourage your families to download the map and story and fill in the gaps as they travel around the streets of Knowle, Totterdown and even parts of Brislington and Headley Park!

Have a look at the SouthBristolMC.org.uk website or email nativitytrail@gmail.com

There will be no Christingle services this year, but families can collect ‘Christmas in a Bag’ from outside Totterdown Methodist Church 11.30-1pm and outside Knowle Methodist Church 1.30-3pm on Sunday 20th December.

St Peter’s and Totterdown churches both have gift days on 6th December, when they collect Christmas gifts for the homeless or families who are struggling.

For details about gift day offerings, and what to do if you are not attending church, please see separate sheet or get in touch with Andrew Matthews or Derek Rees.

Rev Sally Spencer