Keep breathing!

I have a friend who, when I get anxious, tells me to keep breathing! At this time of year I can't be the only one who needs reminding of that. I found this writing by Christine Sine that sort of helps if read slowly. It doesn't alter how much there is to do, but it does nudge my thinking;

Breathe in the breath of God
Breathe out your cares and concerns
Breathe in the love of God
Breathe out your doubts and despairs
Breathe in the life of God
Breathe out your fears and frustrations
We sit quietly before the One who gives life and love to all creation,
We sit in awe of the One who formed us in our mother’s wombs
We sit at peace surrounded by the One who fills every fibre of our being
Breathe in the breath of God
Breathe out your tensions and turmoil
Breathe in the love of God
Breathe out your haste and hurry
Breathe in the life of God
Breathe out your work and worry
We sit quietly before the One who gives life and love to all creation,
We sit in awe of the One who formed us in our mother’s wombs
We sit at peace surrounded by the One who fills every fibre of our being
by Christine Sine
http://godspace.wordpress.com/2009/02/16/a-breathing-prayer/

Celebrating Seventy Years

Thank you Joy, Lucy, Katie and Amelia for this poster.








We celebrated Ashley’s seventieth birthday over the weekend with a barn dance and supper on Saturday and a Service on Sunday. The whole weekend was a very special occasion.

Thank you so much for so many of you coming to celebrate with us. We also missed others that couldn't make it and were in all our thoughts. We met lots of friends, families and children. A wonderful event.

I was delighted to see people from Ashley representing all the seven decades that the church has been in existence. It has had many changes and different expressions of our shared faith.

Ashley started in a different world before most of us were born. It has been small, large, more formal, less formal but always attempting to keep Jesus Christ at the centre. This has resulted in many different ministries, styles and initiatives with links across the world. We have all of you to thank for the journey we have been on and for the foundation we have for going further into this century. We have a great building and community to embrace this future.

We are always trying to answer the question ‘Why did God decide to convert a laundry into a church at the junction of Ashley and Hatfield Roads in the midst of many other churches?’ With all your help we have tried to answer that question in the way we ‘do church’ and will continue to do so with ever changing circumstances and personnel. We hope always to do this creatively seasoned with some radical thinking from time to time.

This weekend of celebration acknowledged the many contributions of you all. Some of you for a short time, and others of us for a longer time – but all valued, important and significant. We were so pleased to be together to celebrate God’s grace and goodness. .

When the road is rough and steep

With anniversary celebrations in mind I was thinking about some of the old Sunday School choruses we used to sing and found this one on You Tube.
It is clearly an old-fashioned children's song, but the words aren't just for children.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwDz2boCWzk

Eager Space

I was thinking about the creative writing exercise and came up with the expression 'eager space' to describe being somewhere with an expectation. Maybe that was how the disciple felt in the company of Jesus. They don't know what he is going to say or do next, but there is an expectation that he will do something.

Three Encounters with Jesus

Three dramatic encounters with Jesus that we looked at on Sunday: