This edition of ‘The Vine’ is very special because it will be the last one for a while. Our editorial team have decided that they need a much deserved rest and I am sure we will all want to thank them most sincerely for all the hard work they have put into the magazine over many years. What will happen next is not too clear yet so I ask for prayerful consideration of this.
At the time of writing we are fast approaching Pentecost, the birthday of the church. This year the Circuit Celebrations will be at Daventry and we look forward to welcoming friends from across the Circuit to the two services that morning, lunch and afternoon activities. Pentecost was an amazing event for the first disciples – they were transformed from frightened men who had almost gone into hiding, into bold advocates of the Gospel. They were given power, strength and authority to go out into the whole world in the name of Jesus to continue the ministry which he had begun.
As with all the truly amazing stories of the Bible, they can lose a little something that comes with 2000 years of telling! It is hard to imagine the immeasurable joy of the first Christmas, Easter or Pentecost but perhaps we really should try to feel that emotion that would have been inside the disciples as the tongues of flame and the ruark or wind came upon them. To be that ‘on fire for God’ must have been the most amazing experience; to feel that filled with the Holy Spirit that nothing else mattered but to tell the Good News. It was most definitely a time of change and renewal and the disciples’ lives were never the same again.
In the here and now of 2010 we may find that hard to understand, but in our rapidly evolving world we have to be open to change and renewal more than at any other time in history.
We have to find ways of taking the Good News to those who find what we call ‘church’ irrelevant or boring - and that may mean speaking in modern day ‘tongues’ using language which is understandable and current to those outside the church environment. We have to be prepared to take risks and go into places we would rather not be. We need to pray that the power of the Holy Spirit will enliven us every bit as much as she did for those first disciples.
We may not feel able to go out into the wide world as quickly as the disciples, but we can make small beginnings.
One way of reaching out is by the written word - and that brings me back to where this letter began. A time of change has come to us and we must embrace that challenge as we look to how we communicate to the church and our community in the future. Communication has never been more vital and varied than it is in the 21st century and we need to review how we communicate to ourselves and the outside world with care and imagination. To this end I have decided to look at the whole spectrum of church communication and invite you all to join in a discussion about this at church on 1 July at 7.30pm. Let us pray that the Holy Spirit will fill us with inspiration, imagination and eagerness as we consider these important issues.
‘All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them’ Acts 2:4
Every Blessing
Janet
