It's been a great week! Full on, but so blessed. We have had staying with us a group of 4 students from a Bible college in Uppsala, Sweden, which - amazingly - is part of a 3000-strong church there! They have been immensely humble and willing to serve, doing school assemblies, leading home groups, meeting with our youth group, and attending our Team AGM last Thursday. They have been prayerful on our behalf, and behind them stand a number of their friends back in Uppsala who have also been praying. We have felt the benefit!
Two highlights: last Wednesday, we had an open meeting at a coffee shop in the town, to which we had invited a number of people who had recently made enquiries to us, whether about faith, a christening or a wedding. In the event, 8 guests came along. Part of the evening was an invitation to write on post-it notes their questions, so they could 'grill-a-vicar'! The questions varied enormously from 'how might a church welcome a prisoner to church, on their release?' to 'is there a hierarchy in heaven? - Mother Theresa to a death-bed confession' to 'has Judas Iscariot gone to heaven - was he pre-destined to betray Jesus?!' All very taxing and very thought-provoking! We did our best, in a relaxed atmosphere with coffee, cake and plenty of laughter. Already 5 of those present have signed up for our 'Start!' course next month.
On Thursday, we had our Team's AGM. Not normally a highlight in the year of any organization, but over the years, I have come to see its potential for celebration and forward-looking. As last year, we held it at a local hotel. About 60 people attended, and someone said afterwards it was 'the most joyous and celebratory AGM they had ever attended'! Our Swedish visitors also said it was a highlight of the week, remarking on the degree of unity between our churches, and a sense of 'honouring' one another from our different traditions. Certainly, I felt very thankful afterwards. Very few seemed in any hurry to leave.
Tomorrow we say good bye to our visitors, and we have a Team service together. We will offer a ministry of anointing to bless one another as we dedicate ourselves afresh to God's service. As it happens, our theme is 'The Up-rising of Discipleship', following the Resurrection, and we focus on John 21 where Jesus restores and commissions Peter following his denials. McLaren concludes: To be part of (Jesus's) uprising, we must be willing to fail a lot, and to keep trying. We will face long, dark nights when nothing happens.But we can never give up hope. He caught us in his net of love,so now we go and spread the net for others. (p.220)
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