When I first came here to Northampton back in September 2022, I said I would share some photographs with you, below is one I looked out from last year in May 2023.
Last May, I remembered visiting Rockingham castle where we went through this gate before entering the local church. Recently I looked at this photograph and a well-known quote came to mind, “Two men looked out from prison bars, one saw the mud, the other saw stars.” As we face changes in the Northampton Methodist Church it is important to reflect on our perspective of what we see in front of us and decide how we will respond. People who choose to see the positive aspects of their situation, even in challenging circumstances, are more likely to find hope, inspiration, and a sense of wonder in life.
This May 2024 I am revisiting some words I wrote down in my journal after a retreat morning in Great Billing Chapel last year. I thought I would share them with you as a conversation starter…
- Reflecting: The time in my life l spend slowing down in order to speed up.
- Reviving: The times l am battered, bruised and broken, there is a stillness.
- Renewing: Remembering the rhythm of life.
- Recognising: Time spent in a personal journal.
- Reformation: Praying for the monastic movement to be revived.
- Renewal: How can the church see the good news of the gospel?
- Revival: Pray for a bigger vision of the world.
- Reawakening: What was sown years ago might grow again like flowers blooming, in the desert?
- Rekindling: Where are the wastelands, that the church has forgotten?
- Relationship: Seeing the relationship with God as vital, Loving God is vertical love, loving others is horizontal love. Jesus showed His disciples how these two loves are intertwined in practical ways. While our relationship with God is based on faith alone, He warns and encourages us to see that the way we treat people affects our experience of Him.
- Rewarding: Knowing what we do here on earth, is rewarded in heaven.
Last year during Bible month we looked at the Book of Revelation, this year we are looking into the book of Genesis, quite possibly the most debated and discussed book of the Bible. It has been suggested the Bible is actually sixty-six books, a library of books, and it is a challenge to ask ourselves how many books of the Bible have we read recently?
Finally, as we reflect on the Methodist ‘Way of life’ in the section entitled Worship, what has spoken to you in worship or in the Bible? My prayer is as disciples we can share with one another what we have discovered in the Bible. As it says in Hebrews 10 v 24, 25, ‘let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the day approaching’.
Blessings from Rev Ian J Forsyth
