Zetland Park Methodist Church Pastoral Letters
These are the most recent pastoral letters. We also have an archive of older letters you might wish to browse.
November 1, 2011
Remember, Remember !
We all remember the 5th of November, the gunpowder, the treason and the plot - and still we have our bonfires and fireworks, toffee apples and hot chocolate. I guess it was potentially the equivalent of foiling 9/11 or 7/7 today which is why I the celebrations still continue! This makes me think, though, that on this day perhaps we should indeed remember those whose job it is to protect us from such atrocities today - covert, unnamed, possibly never to be acknowledged, but who, day by day, do those things we will never hear about to try to prevent similar events again. (...more)
April 24, 2011
He is NOT here …!
Now, that's got the questions coming … but the immediate answer is that somebody has removed the body: there is, of course, NO other explanation … Is there?
One of the most challenging school assemblies I have done in recent weeks is in response to the question, 'Will you tell us about Easter, please?' Now, this was NOT to be anything about Easter eggs; bunnies and rolling eggs down hillsides … no, what is Easter to you?'(...more)
April 17, 2011
"When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, 'Who is
this?' " Matthew 21 v. 10
Was He that un-recognisable that folk HAD to ask that question? Surely they were aware of the accounts from Scripture which indicated the arrival, on a donkey, of an important personage: none other than the Messiah? Or was the entire scenario one of those which took them all by surprise and the penny failed to drop? Or, was there a more sinister motive?
Whatever the 'thinking' there was a stir and those in authority were well and truly disturbed by all that was going on: they were NOT in control, and that would have fatal consequences. (...more)
April 10, 2011
"You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess
eternal life These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to
come to me to have life" John 5 vv 39 - 40
We come to the end of our 'Reflections' for Lent 2011 with the inevitable challenge from the very lips of Jesus Himself. The words are damning in their context and even more damning when we take them to our own hearts, for they suggest, and suggest very forcibly to me that what we are REALLY doing is READING Scripture but not STUDYING it …
The implication being, as I seek to interpret it, we know the bits which comfort, but as for the others, we circumnavigate them with great aplomb. Our Bible Study groups, at whatever venue you choose to go, are very meagerly supported, and when the call goes up, 'Why isn't the Church growing?' we strongly; quickly and with humility, need to look to ourselves. For surely, if we are unaware of what the Lord requires of us, then how can we implement His will in this part of His Kingdom? (...more)
April 3, 2011
"He who is not with me is against me…" Luke 11:23a
It was the awkward moment … You remember … when they were choosing "sides" for a particular game: they knew you were not necessarily the best player for the task in hand, but you were the only one left so … Then you decide to 'play your heart out' … Those were the days.
There are times in our Christian journey when even within our organisation called 'the Church' there will be those who sneer at your capabilities and will never choose you for a task: indeed they will go out of their way to avoid you, and as a result your faith takes more than just a knock. (...more)
March 27, 2011
"Should good be repaid with evil?" Jeremiah 18:20a
It's not a scenario with which I am familiar, but the statement from the O.T. prophet declaring God's Word intrigued me when I read it recently as part of my Lenten discipline. It throws up some thoughts and I wondered whether as a Christian minister I should have such thoughts, after all, should not all actions; words; thoughts and purposes be for and by the Lord who called me and whom I seek to serve?
Should I even think of entertaining such thoughts of malice toward a fellow traveller or in fact, anyone else? And yet, are there not times when we have felt, or indeed maybe been the victims of, someone literally throwing something back at you, when you had delivered it with all good intension in the first place? When intended 'good works' are repaid with abuse, physical or verbal … (...more)
March 20, 2011
"Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from His fierce anger so
that we will not perish" Jonah 3:9
This period of the Church's year … awkward for many … If we take the matter seriously, and as Christians as opposed to simply 'Church goers' we are required so to do, seeks from us a true assessment of what and who we really are in the Light of the Glory of God, and realizing our sinful nature, through word; deed and misplaced action, need to REPENT …turn back from those ways and seek a fresh path in the Lord.
Seeking 'such a path', will confront us with situations for which as mere human beings, we have no ready answer, and as a consequence may well find ourselves giving up the entire exercise as 'a unattainable goal', and revert to what we were … indulgent, sinful souls: weak and misplaced. We succumb to our own wills and find pleasure and security in what we can achieve under our own steam, and pick up the plaudits whether they are justified or not; but whatever, they please us and that, surely, is all that matters? (...more)
March 13, 2011
"We put no stumbling-block in anyone's path ..." 2 Corinthians 6:3a
We come again to that period in the Church's year which causes folk to question. Not 'question' for the "reason for the season", but rather why they should do it at all. For above all else, the season is a 'time of questioning', not of someone else, but of ones self.
It's a time when we NEED to ask the most pointed of questions, and search in the darkest of places and clear out the direst of obstructions if we are to come to the climax with any sort of intent or purpose. It is a time when we need to lay our soul bare and say to God, 'cleanse me, for I am unworthy'. (...more)