What do we stand for?

What do we stand for?

All our readings today are about making a stand: Joshua calls his people to make a stand and worship God and no-one else; Jesus calls the disciples to make a stand and accept his words and his claims; and St Paul in Ephesians 6 calls us to constantly stand firm in our faith, and offers good, practical help for us in doing so.

But what do we stand for? Where do we make a stand as a church? What causes us to be excited and challenged and definite in our calling as God's people at St Catherine's?

The following is an outline I am giving to everyone who comes to church today, an outline of what we stand for. First there are attitudes, things that undergird us as a church. These are not foundational truths (the love of God, the cross of Christ, the Resurrection, the Holy Spirit indwelling all believers, the Scriptures, the fellowship of believers etc) but rather attitudes of faith in God that cause us to act in certain ways. So - if we believe God loves all people, guess what - we have to too! And then there are our Mission Aims. These are part of our Mission Statement as a church, three words which can be found on our logo and on our notice board, and all over our web site. But I then add small pointers to explain more and to tie these in with the attitudes section.

Read it, comment on it, and ask this question: if our church really was like this and worked like this, wouldn't it be a great church? Then why should we stand for less?

Attitudes

Love
· No-one is unimportant
· Everyone is valuable
· Dignity and respect for all, especially those with whom we disagree
The Church That Can
· No room for cynicism (which is the enemy of faith)
· Everyone can play – all are gifted in some way
· Cultivate a natural positive way
Growth Is Normative
· We expect to grow closer to God
· We expect to draw others closer to God
· Good News is infectious!

Mission Aims

Worship
· We express our love for God and receive His love for us.
Do we come to church prepared to worship?
Do we read God's words of love to us often enough?
Are we like two lovers on the telephone, unable to say goodbye, or is it easy to leave worship?
· Enthusiasm comes from the Greek for “in God”.
Would people know this of our worship? Let’s make it so!
· We seek to grow closer to Him & to draw others on the same journey
How often have we seen a film or a play or a show and just had to tell people and take them to it? How often have we felt like that about church?
Evangelism
· We share faith with (and because of) love: this is NOT a project!
People are people, and must be offered the chance to receive Christ as we would wish to.
· Everyone can share their faith.
We just need to learn how.
· Attractively and infectiously – i.e. naturally!
Compassion
· We offer dignity and respect for all, regardless of background or status or appearance.
Jesus cared for the poor and the leper; and he cared for them with love. That's our bench mark.
· We work hard to find ways of caring, and we bless those who are particularly good at this.
Zeal for others is not to be sniffed at but admired and blessed.
· Matthew 25: we do it for Jesus, which draws us (and those we care for) closer to Him

Learning to Speak

At Passion For Your Name conference this week, I heard a terrific talk by evangelist J John. Somewhere in the middle of his forty minutes presentation he said something like this:

"If you want to learn to dive a car, you take lessons. If you want to learn a musical instrument, you take lessons. Why do we think it's different with God? If you want to learn to share your faith, take lessons!"

So: I think we need to take lessons. I'm looking into courses we can do, but also if any member of the church really enjoys telling people about Jesus, or thinks that faith sharing might be part of what you are good at, do let me know. We all need some skills, but I am hoping that a few people might see this as something they want to go much further with.

Let me know!

Marcus

Almighty God / Happy Day

Or whilst we're dealing with new songs, have a listen to this, Almighty God, again by Tim Hughes. The version you are hearing is in Bb, which for my money is a little high... but then most songs are! Here are the words and chords in A, a bit lower.

I guess I have realised that I am using songs I have been using for ages, and one of the reasons I find myself less keen to spend time worshipping is that I need new stimulation. So I'm on the look out for new songs!

And on that journey I also found a great new Resurrection song. We do songs about the cross really well; but how many focus on the Resurrection? Tim's new website has a new song most months, and this one, for August 2006, is his own version of O Happy Day. Click here to hear it (It's the Worship Central homepage; go to the bottom of the page and click on the new song, which for August is Happy Day; I guess it may go after August, but presumably there'll be another song next month - and explore the site anyway, I rather like it). Or for just words and chords, try this link.

I do enjoy Tim's songs. Let me know what you think.

Marcus

Everything

So I am going to get the ball rolling.

Last week at the New Wine Cymru conference, Richard Wood used a song I've heard before and never really used in worship: "Everything" by Tim Hughes. If you want to listen, click here, and just to read the words, try here.I think it's a fantastic song. Simple, based on a Celtic prayer, but with a real soul, and as it reaches its climax, a real power to move the soul.

Anybody else agree? I think this is a definite inclusion in our new songbook.

Marcus

Welcome!

Welcome! This is the blog page for our parish here in Pontypridd, South Wales. All members of our parish may post an article or poem or song or thought; there is a form to fill in on our main website www.st-caths.org and then the blog master will post it for you. Anyone at all may post a comment after an article has been published! So let's get blogging...