St Thomas' Brampton and St Peter's Holymoorside, Chesterfield Rector's Letters February 2006-January 2007 Our vision statement: Sharing the love of Jesus

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The Rector's letter is printed in each edition of the Church Magazine February/March 2006 April/May 2006 June/July 2006 August/September 2006 October/November 2006 December 2006/January 2007 February/March 2006 2006 will be a challenging year for us all. Without exaggerating for effect, I wish to state clearly that this year could prove to be the most challenging year in the 149 year history of St. Thomas’. We face a daunting challenge. Now that we have received full planning permission for the new Parish Centre, we need to start the process of raising over one million pounds to build it. Most of it will have to come from our own resources, our own pockets. It appears to be a task beyond us, for I don’t know about you, but I don’t have a million quid lying around the house! But as usual, God’s timing is perfect. He always knows what we need, even before we perceive it ourselves. Over the first few weeks of January, we have been studying together the early chapters of the book of Joshua. It has much to teach us. 1. With God all things are possible. Rivers can dry up, walls can come tumbling down, nations can be defeated and territory won. All things are possible with God. We do not face the coming months in our own strength. Have faith, look to the Lord who made heaven and earth. 2. God’s people must always put him first. What was the first thing into the Promised Land? It was the Ark of the Covenant, the visible reminder to the people of God’s presence with them. How did they conquer Jericho? With siege warfare? No, by being obedient to God’s directions. This year we must place him first. We must have lives centred on worship and obedience to his word. Consecrate yourself for the coming year. 3. Move forward in faith. The people had a choice. At the banks of the river Jordan they faced a choice similar to their forefathers did in Egypt. To move forward into the unknown, to move into enemy territory, to do battle, to make the sacrifices required or to go back. Back to Egypt, away from the Promised Land, away from the place of blessing. We have a choice. Do we move forward and in doing so see the ministry of this church grow? Or do we retreat from the challenge and stay where we are? Let us move forward in the strength of our Lord. As we face our first gift day on Palm Sunday, let me state once again three things we all need to do in the coming months: Have faith in the Lord. Consecrate ourselves to God and his service. Move forward in the strength of the Lord. David Mouncer From the February 2006 edition of the magazine April/May 2006 "When I survey the wondrous cross" Chambers Dictionary - survey v. "to look at or examine at length or in detail, in order to assess its condition or value". Soon Easter will be upon us. Once again we will be given the opportunity to survey the saving work of God. Sadly, familiarity breeds contempt. When it comes to the cross and the empty tomb we have heard it all before, we have listened to the sermons, we have sung the hymns; we think we know it all. We end up not really bothering to survey the cross of Jesus. Our hearts remain cold and unmoved. Our lives, unchanged. Let me quote a number of Christian writers in the hope that their words will spur you on to revisiting, in scripture, the events of Passiontide. "Stand at the foot of the cross, and count the purple drops by which you have been cleansed. See the thorn-crown; mark His scourged shoulders, still gushing with crimsoned rills... And if you do not lie prostrate on the ground before that cross, you have never seen it." -Charles Spurgeon. "Only one act of pure love, unsullied by any taint of ulterior motive, has ever been performed in the history of the world, namely the self giving of God in Christ on the cross for undeserving sinners." -John Stott "Good Friday and Easter , the days of God's overpowering acts of history, acts in which God's judgement and grace were revealed to all the world. Judgement in those hours in which Jesus Christ hung on the cross; grace in that hour in which death was swallowed up in victory. It was not human beings that accomplished anything here; no, God alone did it. He came to human beings in infinite love. He judged what is human. And he granted grace beyond any merit." -Karl Barth "Morality will keep you out of gaol, but only the blood of Jesus will keep you out of hell." -Mark Stibbe "If you look critically at the wondrous cross you will see in it nothing but common wood. The cross of Jesus is best discerned through penitential tears." -Dinsdale Young David Mouncer From the April 2006 edition of the magazine June/July 2006 Summer holidays are almost upon us and if you are like me, I take the break as an opportunity to catch up on some reading. What will you be reading this coming holiday? Let me suggest three books. They are all very different from each other. One is quite theological, one pastoral. One is for anybody in a position of leadership, another, for anybody. All of them are less then ten pounds (or you could request them from your library). I have road tested them all – enjoy “Fuelling the Fire – Fresh Thinking on Prayer” – Dennis Lennon Publisher, Scripture Union – ISBN 1 84427 149 8 Here is a book on prayer that is both theological and practical, aiming to inspire readers about the value and privilege of prayer, with a wealth of fresh images and new light on biblical passages. The book deals in a robust and original way with the questions many Christians have about the prayer life. It is a great book that both challenged and encouraged me in my prayer life. I agree with one persons comment on the back cover, “Dennis Lennon should be locked in a room with a pen and paper and told to write until he could write no more .” “Builders and Fools – Leadership the Bible Way” – Derek Tiball Publisher IVP – ISBN – 0 85111 592 6 Builder, fool, ambassador, parent, pilot, scum, and shepherd: the apostle Paul used all these images when describing Christian leadership. Derek Tiball believes these images have important lessons and fresh insights for all who take leadership within a church. Do you lead a house group, do you serve on the PCC, a member of the M and M Leadership team, then this is the book for you. “The Jesus I Never Knew” – Philip Yancey Publisher – Marshall Pickering – ISBN 0 00 710740 4 Philip Yancey writes, “Boring and predictable. No one could ever think of applying these words to the Jesus of the Gospels. How is it then, that the church has tamed such a character? The Jesus I got to know in writing this book is a very different from the Jesus I learned about as a child. In some ways he is more comforting: in some ways more terrifying.” In this book, Philip Yancey, strips away the stereotyped images to reveal the powerful and astonishing reality of Jesus. It’s easy to read and full of down to earth illustrations but also very powerful. David Mouncer From the June 2006 edition of the magazine August/September 2006 1 Thessalonians 5v11 – “Therefore encourage one another, and build each other up ” I have noticed a particular weaknesswithin our church. We are, as a congregation, quite poor at encouraging each other. We are quite good at finding fault and criticising each other. But when it comes to building each other up, we are lacking in this area of our life together. Think about yourself, when did you last encourage someone within the congregation. I’m not asking about the last time you were given words of encouragement. But, when was the last time you encouraged someone. Encouragement, put simply, is when we find the good and applaud. So often when we find the good, we remain silent. We spend too much time trying to find fault and then offering criticism. Criticism can be so destructive. It undermines and destroys people. A recent mental health report stated that, “For every critical comment we receive, it takes nine affirming comments to even out the negative effect in our life.” Yet, encouragement can have some startling results. I came across the following tongue-in-cheek comment about encouragement. It may be that you don’t like your minister. Well here is a tested prescription by which you can get rid of him. 1. Look him straight in the eye when he’s preaching, and maybe say ‘Amen’ occasionally. He’ll preach himself to death in a short time. 2. Shake hands with him and tell him he’s doing a great job. He’ll work himself to death. 3. Rededicate your own life to God and ask the minister to give you some church work to do. Very likely he’ll keel over with heart failure. 4. If all else fails, this one is certain to succeed: get your congregation to unite in prayer for him. He’ll soon be so effective that some larger church will take him off your hands. Find the good and applaud! David Mouncer From the August 2006 edition of the magazine October/November 2006 After my sermon on the morning of 3rd September, I have been asked by a number of the congregation to repeat an illustration that I used. Listen to the sermon here (2.1mb) A Physician, Dr. Truman Davis, looks at the Crucifixion. "At the site of execution, the heavy crossbeam is thrown down, and the victim is pushed to the ground, his arms stretched over the wood. The legionnaire feels for the depression at the front of the wrist. He drives a heavy, square, wrought-iron nail through the wrist and into the wood. Quickly, he moves to the other side. Jesus is hauled up and lifted onto the upright post. The left foot is now pressed backward against the right foot, and with both feet extended, toes down, a nail is driven through the arch of each, leaving the knees moderately flexed. The victim is now crucified. As he slowly sags down with more weight on the nails in the wrists excruciating pain shoots along the fingers and up the arm to explode in the brain, the nails in the wrist are putting pressure on the median nerves. As he pushes himself upward to avoid this stretching torment, he places his full weight on the nail through his feet. Again there is the searing agony of the nail tearing through the nerves between the metatarsal bones of the feet. At this point, as the arms fatigue, great waves of cramps sweep over the muscles, knotting them in deep, relentless, throbbing pain. With these cramps comes the inability to push himself upward. Hanging by the arms, the pectoral muscles are paralyzed and the intercostals muscles are unable to act. Air can be drawn into the lungs, but cannot be exhaled. The victim fights to raise himself up in order to get even one short breath. The common form of ending a crucifixion was by crusifixion, the breaking of the bones of the legs. This prevented the victim from pushing himself upward; thus the tension could not be relieved from the muscles of the chest and rapid suffocation occurred. This was unnecessary for Christ, who died after six hours of crucifixion. Apparently to make doubly sure of death, the legionnaire drove his lance through the fifth interspace between the ribs, upward through the pericardium and into the heart. There was an escape of water fluid from the sac surrounding the heart, giving post-mortem evidence that our Lord died not from the usual crucifixion death by suffocation,but of heart failure due to shock and constriction of the heart by fluid in the pericardium." Charles Spurgeon "Stand at the foot of the cross, and count the purple drops by which you have been cleansed. See the thorn-crown, mark his scourged shoulders... and if you do not lie prostrate on the ground before that cross, you have never seen it." David Mouncer From the October 2006 edition of the magazine December 2006/January 2007 A Christmas Question – “How Big is Your God?” At this time of year there are so many questions to answer. Turkey or beef? What present shall I buy Lisa? What colour socks shall I get my father-in-law? Let me add to your question list. I want to ask you, “How big is your God?” People, sometimes even those who inhabit the pews, get the answer to this question wrong. We get it wrong in two ways. Firstly, we make God too small. We all have a tendency to put God in a box. Often it’s a big box, but still a box! We limit his majesty, glory and power. We make God too small! Did you know that the size of the known universe is 78 billion light years across? Its volume is thought to equal to 1.9 × 1033 cubic light years. As of 2006, the observable universe is thought to contain about 7 × 1022 stars organized in about 100 billion galaxies, which themselves form cluster and super clusters. (You can tell I’ve now got a son doing A Level physics!) Let me admit to you, I’ve no idea what these figures mean, they are beyond my comprehension, but I do know they represent a big universe. Yet, we read in scripture concerning God, “ he also made the stars.” (Genesis 1) and “When I consider your heavens the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, ” (Psalm 8). We have an awesome God. The creator of the entire universe. Majestic, all-powerful and totally beyond us. He cannot be put into a box – however big we make it. But we also get this Christmas question wrong in another way. For, secondly, we have a tendency to make God too big! I know what you are thinking, “Can’t the Rector make his mind up!” Christmas teaches us that God can make himself very small. He is not too big to be able to make himself small, very small. Small enough to enter a virgin’s womb. Small enough to be a single cell within a womb! In John’s opening prologue to his gospel he calls Jesus the Word. He states that all things were made by the Word (John. 1v.3), and that the Word was God (1v.1). Then amazingly, John states in verse 14, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling amongst us.” God became small. He entered our world, he took on our dimensions. As Luther once stated, “He whom the world could not inwrap, yonder lies in Mary’s lap.” Amazing! It is simply amazing, that out of love, God would make himself that small. No wonder the angels sang on that first Christmas morning, “Glory to God in the highest.” How big is your God? Join us for worship on Christmas morning, ponder this question, and then join us as we shout “Glory to God in the highest”. David Mouncer From the December 2006 edition of the magazine Rector's Letters 2007