The ever-popular Wesley Hall Quiz Evening returns on Saturday 27 April - come along to exercise your brain, or just to have a laugh!
Contact us for more info and to book your team’s place.
Dear Friends
The suitcase is sitting partly packed with summer clothes, the immunisations have been administered, the passport is in date, the money has been ordered and the tickets have arrived. It looks as if I’m really going to Jordan and Israel.
It’s something I’ve wanted to do for so long but to be honest I’m a just a little bit apprehensive. I’m booked to go with a company called ‘Explore’. I’ve never heard of them before but they have a tour that does what I want to do, so, I’m giving it a go and it’s only 12 days after all.
Perhaps it’s the Bedouin camp and the thought of sleeping under the stars that’s making me nervous. I’ve never been great under canvas; what will it be like sleeping in the desert with a whole bunch of people I don’t know and a few camels? What about the toilets?!
Or perhaps, it’s the thought of staying in the Kibbutz that’s making my heart race a little, sharing a room with several others; and then there’s the strange food, the weather, crossing the border, answering border control’s questions (of which there are many evidently) and not offending anyone. The copious notes I’ve been given by ‘Explore’ suggest that it’s necessary to stay as inconspicuous as possible and try and blend in as much as possible. They must be joking - how on earth can a bunch of tourists look inconspicuous? Oh! they say, and don’t forget to keep your valuables in a money pouch close to your skin. If my husband had anything to do with it I’d probably be taking a bullet proof jacket as well.
The fact of the matter is that people live in Jordan and Israel all the time; it is their home and Jordan is doing a brilliant job offering shelter to many thousands of refugees from Syria at the moment. The situation in the Middle East is undoubtedly volatile but I don’t think we can shy away from the difficult places. As a traveller in the land I won’t even be able to scratch the surface of the complex historical situations the people live in but I hope that when I return I’ll have a slightly clearer understanding of what life is like in that part of the world today. I’m also looking forward to being in some of the places where Jesus lived and journeyed.
Jerusalem, Bethany, Bethlehem, Masada, the Red sea, Galilee, Tiberius, Capernaum, the Jordan where John the Baptist preached and baptised; we are so familiar with these names from the pages of our bibles. These are among the places that I’ll be visiting. I may be slightly nervous but I’m also excited and prepared to be challenged – I think.
This year we will be thinking about journeys in some of our services. Most of the journeys we encounter in the Bible involve a degree of uncertainty and exploration of the unknown. We’ve just followed Jesus on his journey to Jerusalem and to the cross and beyond, that can’t have been easy can it? Pope Francis and Archbishop Justin Welby, as heads of the Catholic and Anglican Church, are most certainly on a journey. Are their journeys important to us as Methodists? The territory they will be negotiating will be familiar but this will be the first time that they will be leading the way through that territory. They know that there are pitfalls ahead and difficulties to be faced. On their journeys they will be speaking and acting as Christians in the public spotlight and it is important for us, as their brothers and sisters in Christ, that what they say is meaningful to the world and is in a language that is easily understood. They’ve both made a good start, let’s pray that it continues.
As I go on Sabbatical I leave you with the words of Pope Francis, “Do not be afraid of tenderness, it is not a sign of weakness but of great strength.”
God Bless,
Pam
Come and line dance with Janet!
New weekly class:
Entry fee:
There will be some refreshments available for a small charge. All money raised will go towards the Development Fund.
Please let us know if you would like to attend.
Then she turned around and saw Jesus standing there; but she did not know that it was Jesus. “Woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who is it that you are looking for?”
She thought he was the gardener, so she said to him, “If you took him away, sir, tell me where you have put him, and I will go and get him.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned toward him and said in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (This means “Teacher.”)
John 20, 11-16 (GNB)
Please join us for Holy Week.
Maundy Thursday, 28 March
8.00pm at Forest Hill Methodist Church
Communion service, led by Rev. Pam Clews
Good Friday, 29 March
10.30am at Wesley Hall
Service led by Mrs. Muriel French
Easter Sunday, 31 March
9.30am at Wesley Hall [please note - clocks go forward at 1.00am the previous night!]
Easter Service led by Rev. Pam Clews and followed by a fellowship breakfast.
Dear Friends,
So now we’re into the season of Lent, heading towards Easter. This could be the time to do something different and meaningful. The whole Lent/Easter period could be seen as a time of transformation. What starts off as a journey into oblivion ends in the greatest hope we could have. The 40 days in Lent give us the opportunity to follow Jesus on his journey to Jerusalem. If we’re brave, we too will be using this time to journey, to join the pilgrimage following where Jesus goes and relating his journey to ours. I suspect however that there may be a tendency to ignore it and turn the other way.
But to ignore this time of Lent is to miss an opportunity. For the journey I’m suggesting isn’t physical but internal, and it may not be easy. We may come across some barriers similar to those we encounter on physical journeys. There may be some diversion, we may get caught up in traffic, there’s always the possibility that a post may leap out and hit us (please see my car), we may even get caught up in the equivalent of snow or ice, slipping and sliding all over the place. We may not be able to get very far, we may get distracted; we may not want to undertake this journey at all for fear of where we may end up or what it may reveal. Sometimes it’s easier to turn the internal radio up to distract ourselves. However, this journey may be hard at times but ultimately it leads us to the cross and then to the empty tomb.
There are so many ways of taking physical journeys, some slower than others. For some of us, walking will give us the opportunity to stop and look at the scenery, for others the motorway will get us to where we’re going quickly. It’s up to us to choose our journey it’s a very personal pilgrimage and we must all travel in our own way.
Sometimes on a journey we need to change direction or return home because we’ve forgotten something vital and we may revisit things that we think we know only too well but returning to them we are surprised to notice something new. However we choose to travel, Lent gives us the time to become aware of the journey, the path we are treading and to think about why we are taking the journey in the first place.
Time to reflect and ask some searching questions. For instance: looking at Jesus we may ask ourselves what he would make of us - ”What kind of person have I become?” “How would it be if he looked at us directly?” “Would he be smiling, troubled or confused?”
The gospels clearly show us Jesus reaching out to needy people who most certainly aren’t perfect and it’s for that reason he gave his life so that we may have ‘life in all its fullness’. We could also ask ourselves, “What do I really believe in and what difference does it make?” So often we just get on with life and don’t give ourselves time to think about what is really important. This could indeed be a time of transformation.
It is time to spring clean our lives and, as we do so, to remember that Passover, Good Friday and Easter Sunday so long ago, seeing clearly the depth of God’s love for us. My prayer at this time is that we will all hear his still small voice saying to us “Yes I know you’re not perfect but I love you and I give my life for you.” This is a time to leave those things that burden us behind so that we aren’t held back and hope can dawn anew. I suggest that we use this time wisely and reflect on what Lent and Easter mean to us personally and as a church. We don’t take this journey alone and I hope that you will join with us as we witness God working in the life of Jesus Christ this Eastertime.
God Bless,
Pam
The Wesley Hall Sunday Service details for March, April and May 2013 have now been added to the online calendar, along with the other events.
Our special services for Easter are included – please note the earlier times of these services (10.30am on Good Friday, 9.30am on Easter Sunday – followed by a fellowship breakfast).
If there’s something you expect to see, but don’t, or if there’s anything you’d like to find out more about, do leave a reply and we’ll get back to you.
