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
"The Gratitude Attitude"
Dear Friends,
Have you ever heard of the "gratitude attitude"? Dr Alexander Whyte, a 19th century Scottish minister certainly had it. Every Sunday his congregation waited to hear what he would thank God for - he never missed thanking God for something each Sunday. One Sunday it was pouring with rain, and many arrived at church soaked to the skin. "O Lord," he began, "We thank thee that it's not as bad as this every Sunday!"
Alexander Whyte is a good example of the sort of person God wants us to be. The Bible tells us to "give thanks in all circumstances" (! Thessalonians 5:18).
The "gratitude attitude" of the opposite of the grumbling attitude that takes everything for granted, and never thanks God or anyone. God kept the Israelites wandering in the wilderness for 40 years because they grumbled!
If we are honest, thankfulness is not always something that comes easy to us. We have to make an effort. why not try and thank someone for something every day.
Perhaps I can take this opportunity to express my own personal thanks:
1)To all of you who asked about me and prayed for me over the past couple of months. The reality is, that although I still get tired quickly, I feel better in myself than I have done for the past two years. I am so grateful to you, to the medical and nursing staff at the QE, and especially to God.
2) To all those who give of their time and talents to make church life run smoothly. Without many people doing things, often without a word of thanks, Sunday services (and a lot else beside) would just not happen. When was the last time YOU said thank-you to someone?
There are so many things to give thanks for, not only to one another, but supremely to God. Says Psalm 103, "Forget not all his benefits".
Wrote John Braille, "A true Christian is a person who never for a moment forgets what God has done for him in Christ, and whose whole comportment and whole activity have their root in the sentiment of gratitude."
Have you developed the "gratitude attitude"?
Your friend and pastor,
Jonathan Calvert