Dear friends
It’s been great to be back with you over the last week or so. Thank you for all your well wishes and prayers for our time off and the Paris marathon. I did think of you all as I went into the last section of the marathon through the woods! Also, when I saw the cheering, I was reminded again of the verse from Hebrews 12:1
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” There is a focus and a commitment here to keep going, in times of difficulty and joy on the way and the promise of joy to come.. as the verse goes on to say.. “for the joy set before Him”, one step, then another step. Of course, Jesus was going to the cross, but it’s a reminder of the place of joy. It suggests that there will be times on the way when we may have to adjust our pace, reassess whether we are carrying things that we don’t need. At 9km I threw my family in the crowd an awkward shaped bottle of juice I thought I needed at the start as it was just an extra thing I didn’t want to carry, worse still the sloshing of the juice just kept making me think I needed the toilet! Maybe I needed it to start with but I definitely didn’t need it as I ran on. There are things in our lives too that we carry for a time, maybe they give us confidence, help us to feel safer, maybe everyone else is carrying it so we think we need it in our race as well? Regular moments to check what we are carrying and our running direction are needed on our life journey so we can reassess too. What am I carrying that I don’t need anymore? Is there anything that I have got used to carrying that God is asking me to do something about because it’s affecting my run negatively? Maybe God will bring some of this to mind for us as the 44th London Marathon takes place tomorrow…
Tomorrow we meet at 11am for a service with communion and a separate group for our younger friends during part of the service. We will be online on youtube too on the channel @moortownbaptistchurch. We’ll be continuing a theme of Resurrection.. what did Jesus do post resurrection? What does his journey post resurrection tell us nowadays? Tomorrow we will look at Luke 24:13-35. Its something we’ll be exploring over the next few weeks.
Dates for this week and beyond…
Sunday 21st April – 11am service
Sunday 21st April – 7-8pm rock solid youth group (see Val Boyd, Martyn Grey, Adam Argyle or Nathan Dring for more info)
Monday 22nd April – Beacon warm welcome café 10-12 midday
Tuesday 23rd April – Stepping stones for under 5’s and parents and carers 10-11.30
Tuesday 23rd April – housegroup in church in afternoon.
Tuesday 23rd April – Deacons meeting 7.30pm – 9.30pm in church
Wednesday 24th April – lunchgroup – see Rachel Beadle for more information
Wednesday 24th April – housegroup in church and online at 7.30pm (see Ruth/Andy Berry)
Thursday 25th April – Warm welcome craft group in church 2-4pm (See Karen Ross/Diane Argyle)
Friday 26th April – Bible study at 10am. Please see Shelley Dring or Robert/Carol Owen for more information.
Sunday 28th April – 11am service in church and online with a group for our younger friends
Local elections will be using one of the rooms in church all day and evening on the 2nd May. Do ask Lesley Murphy of you have any questions. All groups should be going ahead as planned even though the room may be slightly different!
Sunday 5th May – café church 11-12midday
Saturday 18th May – 1-3pm plant sale in church (See Jenny Dixon for information). Any cuttings or plants that can be donated then do let Jenny know. There’ll be tea, coffee and cake on the day. Do come along and tell your friends!
What a joy it was to be part of the baptisms at Moortown on Easter Sunday! We have some more baptisms planned from our community at MBC on 9th June so if you would be interested in being baptised on this day or another then do have a chat with me.
Thank you to those who helped with the funeral and thanksgiving of Barbara Dews after Easter, Do continue to pray for Howard, his family and all those who grieve the loss of a loved one.
Thank you to all those who continue to pray for our community, our city and our wider world.
And something to ponder… (click on the link below)
See you tomorrow
In Christ
Shelley