Good movie...

Just watched 'Up' with life group.  A really good movie with funny moments and more poignant ones. The animation from Pixar was of high quality, as usual.  The story line is relatively simple but essentially a love story resulting in a great adventure, however the execution of that story is wonderfully weird and quaintly quirky.  I would highly recommend watching it.

On another note, I have challenged life group to consider how they could use the movie to convey something of the message of Jesus.

I for one see the transformation of Carl as he realises that he has been released from an expectation of adventure, to a whole new one.  When I tuned to Christ I quickly grabbed hold of this new adventure of following Him wherever He may take me.  I felt released from the old adventures that others would impose on me and that I would impose on myself.  The new lease of life that I encountered I believe can be encountered by all, just as Carl grabs the opportunity and embraces his new life without the past hindering him, I too can do the same.

What about you?  If you have seen the film, how would you use it?  If you haven't seen it, rent it, borrow it or buy it - it's really good!!!

Lifegroups together

Last night B and I gathered the Whitley lifegroups together for a big joint lifegroup at the church offices. It was really good to see the groups well represented, although it is still Summer so it wasn't as big as it usually would be.

As an icebreaker, we played a game trying to guess what the 10 most searched verses are on biblegateway.com. Unsurprisingly John 3:16 was top! This proved to be more fun than it may sound, with people bringing up all sorts of obscure verses with different rationales for their choices.

During the worship time there were specific words for individuals and there were pictures and bible readings that really spoke to people. As we prayed for each other in response to these things you could really sense the presence of the Spirit. It was great to be part of it.

Tom and Nicola then divided the group in two and lead us in the word - which they did with skill and obviously lots of preparation. Finally we caught up about the fun day and had some feedback from Chris who had been on the organising group and we also prayed that we would be those who invite our friends on Alpha.

The evening was a great success and I enjoyed it immensely. It was refreshing to meet with people you wouldn't usually meet with and to worship Jesus in a bigger group of people outside of Sunday morning. As I looked around the room last night, the nations were represented, we had people from different age groups and people who ranged from being currently unemployed in the workplace, to being mums, to being IT people. A diverse group of people drawn together by one man, Jesus.

Me thinks we shall plan another evening like this at some point in the not too distant future.

Life group and joy

We had a great life group meeting last night. Although it all felt a little relaxed and even dare I say, lethargic, I know we met with God. After a brief but enlightening welcome we delved into worship. B had organised paper and drawing materials for us to draw or write whatever our hearts were reminded about Jesus.

It resulted in some pictures, a poem and a page full of song lyrics that give honour to Him. There was a picture of an ocean; magnificent, enormous, full of life, with power in abundance, but the ability to soothe even the most troubled soul. A picture of dark and light, showing what we have been saved from and saved into, with a poem that said something similar. An easel with a picture being painted of the world reminding us that God did not create haphazardly, but he designed, he knew what it would look like; a picture of the cross already painted next to it, reminding us that the cross was always the plan. There was also a picture of lilies helping us to see that we should not worry but seek first the kingdom of God!

All these things helped us to concentrate and focus upon our wonderful Saviour. In the The Fruitful Life there is a chapter on joy and it reminds us that we are commanded to be joyful, not just be joyful when we feel like it. Jerry Bridges does unpack this and one of the ways that he says we can live this joy is to give thanks in all circumstances. When we consider all of the above, we know we have so much to be thankful for and it has challenged me to follow the command to be joyful - in all circumstances!!!

Last Wednesdays quiz night

As some of you may have read in an earlier post (click here to read), we were challenged by another life group to a quiz night. This took place last Wednesday evening. It was a great night of fun, friendship and facts!!! Keith and Leslie had done a great job in organising everything and their life group had also been busy inviting guests. (As had ours I hasten to add!)

The evening saw 45 of us gather with over half of those being guests. I have been told by members of our life group that the evening was greatly appreciated by their friends and that just the fact that people saw that Christians can have fun and can enjoy life was valuable. The other positive thing from the night was that a few have also shown an interest in coming to other events as and when they come along.

In short, the evening was a fantastic success and would be something I would recommend to any other life groups who wanted to use the idea.