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 Understanding Gap
Dear Friends,
Just what did Jesus and his disciples talk about in those weeks between his resurrection (the first Easter) and his return to his heavenly Father (the Ascension)? Wouldn't it be nice to know? According to Luke's second volume, the Acts of the Apostles, jesus spent the time talking about "the Kingdom of God", as he had done throughout his earthly ministry. It is out of that teaching that his disciples ask him a question: "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the Kingdom to Israel?" (Acts, Chapter1, verse 6). It must have filled Jesus with dismay - was there still such a huge understanding gap? They were still misunderstanding why he had come. His answer to their question is worth looking at, for it will remind us also of just why Jesus came:
1 THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS SPIRITUAL IN IT'S CHARACTER
By using the word "restore" in their question, the disciples showed they were thinking of God's Kingdom being territorial or political. They were still thinking of God's Kingdom as a place, like Israel.
But in his answer, Jesus talks about the Holy Spirit. The Spirit will come upon them and give them the power they need. for power in God's Kingdom is very different from that in human kingdoms. The Kingdom of God is the rule of God set up in the lives of his people by his Holy Spirit. It is spread by witnesses, not soldiers, through a gospel of peace, not a declaration of war, by the work of the Spirit, not by force of arms.
The Kingdom of God is spiritual in it's character. it changes the world by the power of God's Spirit. this month sees the Global Week of Action for "Make Poverty History", with a local event for ourselves in Hall Green on Saturday 16th April. Make sure you're there, if at all possible. For God's Kingdom comes when his people, in the power of his Spirit, live out his will.
2) THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS INTERNATIONAL IN ITS MEMBERSHIP
By referring to "Israel" in their question, the disciples were still cherishing narrow, nationalistic hopes. But Jesus broadens their horizons to see that the Christian message is to spread across the whole world, "to the ends of the earth"
The Kingdom of God tolerates no narrow nationalism. God rules over the international kingdom in which race, nation, rank and sex are no barriers.
It is a people from "every nation, tribe, people and language" (Revelation 7:9)
It is all too easy for us to forget that, and not look further than the end of our own noses, our own problems, our own situation, our own church, even our own country. But the Kingdom of God is a worldwide family.
At the Church meeting a couple of weeks ago, we adopted a new project from the Baptist Missionary society to support. It focuses on a hospital in Palwal, in northern India. I hope you'll soon be hearing a lot more about it, and will get enthused. we must never be parochial- the Kingdom of god is international in its membership.
3) THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS GRADUAL IN ITS EXPANSION
The disciples' question to Jesus includes the phrase "at this time". whatever it was that God was promising, they wanted it now. But that was not the way God was to work in the world. "It is not for you to know the time or dates the Father has set," Jesus tells them. Rather. "you will be my witnesses"
The Kingdom of God spreads gradually, like the growth of tree, slowly but surely. We are called not to calculate when it will all come to fruition, when the end of the world will be (although there seem to be many people who ignore Jesus' words, and try to do just that!) but to faithfully live our lives, letting God's influence seep through us wherever we are. Sometimes it seems as if nothing is happening, but we are to be assured that "nearer and nearer draws the time, the time that shall surely be, when the Earth shall be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea"
"The Kingdom of God does not come with your careful observance," Jesus told his disciples on one occasion, "because the Kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:20). It means that God's Kingdom is you and i. Wherever we are- at home, at work, at school, at the shops- wherever we are. God's Kingdom is there. and we are called, filled with his Spirit, to live out his Kingdom values day by day.
Your friend and pastor,
Jonathan Calvert