Stainglass window
Christmas 2011
3rd Dec Advent Party
12th Dec @ 2pm
Carol Service at Oak tree Court
16th Dec @ 2.30pm
Carol Service at Stratford Court
17th Dec @11am
Carol Singing outside Co-Op
18th Dec Nativity and Christingle Service and Carol Service
24th Dec @ 11pm (Service starts at 11.30pm
United Service at URC Etwall Rd
25th Dec @10am
Christmas Day Service
"Beware of the Poisonous Snake"
Dear Friends,
Says the Book of Proverbs, "Show me someone who drinks too much, and I will show you someone miserable and sorry for himself, always causing trouble and always complaining. His eyes are bloodshot, and he has bruises that could have been avoided" (Chapter 23, verses 29 & 30). What's more, he (or she) may have given others bruises that could have been avoided as well.
Nowhere does the Bible condemn alcoholic drink, contrary to what some would persuade us. Indeed, the message of the Bible seems to be very positive towards alcohol. The drinking of the wine is often used as a picture of an experience of God. And the clear message of the very first first miracle of Jesus seems to be, to use Steve Chalke's phase at the Baptist World Congress this summer, "Jesus says: the drinks are on me! (John, Chapter2)
But while that may be true of one or two drinks, the Bible picture changes after four or five. For then it becomes anything but like an experience of the divine, as our self-centredness is let loose in imagining, hallucination and a sense of grievance.
People drink for different reasons. Some drink to remember, others drink to forget. At the heart of binge drinking is a longing for deep forgetfulness.
The Government's decision to deal with the problem of binge drinking by opening licensed premises for longer hours seems very strange to all except those who own and run such premises. Just how will giving people more alcoholic drink more often improve the situation?
As someone has pointed out, the hypocrisy of it all could drive you to drink! But beware! The Old Testament book of Proverbs may have been written the best part of 3000 years ago, but it seems to speak much more sense that much of what is written on the subject at the moment.
"Don't let wine tempt you, even though it is rich red, though it sparkles in the cup, and it goes down smoothly. The next morning you will feel as if you had been bitten by a poisonous snake. weird sights will appear before your eyes, and you will not be able to think or speak clearly. You will feel as if you were out on the ocean, seasick, swinging high up in the rigging of a tossing ship. I must have been hit, you will say. I must have been beaten up, but I don't remember it. Why can't I wake up? I need another drink!"
(Proverbs, Chapter 23 verses 31 to 35).
Your friend and pastor,
Jonathan Calvert