Soul Survivor - LOVE never fails

This morning as I unpacked after Soul Survivor one of the first thing to come out of my suitcase was my hot water bottle that had kept me warm for the last five nights. It was a Christmas present from a very good friend, I think she thought it would  convince me sleeping in a tent wasn’t such a bad idea and would play a part in persuading me to attend Soul Survivor 2010.  It did and in more ways than one it was a pretty rewarding and amazing experience. Printed on it's warm soft outer clothes are the words LOVE and it reminded me of a seminar I attended on Romans 8 during the past week, verses 31- 39 talks of God’s love in Christ and asks the question “Who can separate us from the love of Jesus? Can troubles or problems or suffering or nakedness or hunger or danger etc. the passage finished with “nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord”.

Through the story of Joseph and his brothers we learnt about relationships this week we see that relationships are hard, difficult at times. As Joseph showed off to his brothers they hated him. He flaunted his dreams that made him appear superior to them, and as his father’s favourite son, he is given coat of many colours which made them hate him even more. Human beings experience a fair number of broken relationships and sadly jealousy is the cause of many, it drives people to do hateful things. For me this week was amazing because I had the chance to be with young people I haven’t seen in a while. Some since starting my role as Olympic and Paralympic Chaplin last September, I think young  people have a way of showing us adults what relationships are about. As always I had the dilemma should I go to Soul Survivor 2011 or not but in the end it was easy. I knew it wasn’t just about the wonderful worship but the friendships I had made during three years of curacy.  I felt at home in everyone’s company immediately and we got stuck in as we had done the previous year.

During the week we heard a great many testimonies of God’s love for us that he came to earth and died on a cross, shedding his blood to cleanse us from our sin We also heard testimonies from those new to the Christianity of what God’s been doing in their lives during the past 12 months.

A favourite song of mine this week is Matt Redman’s Never Once from his new album 10.000 reasons.

chorus:

Scars and struggles on the way,
But with joy our hearts can say,

Never once did we ever walk alone.
Never once did you leave us on our own.

You are faithful God, you are faithful.

That’s my testimony of the last year in particular. There have undoubtedly been some difficult moments but I know for sure that never once did I feel alone.

Of course on the final day as we packed up with exhausted bodies and souls to take the journey home and to eventually go our separate way perhaps for another year. I am again reminded of the words from Romans 8, nothing can separate from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Like the warmth of the hot water bottle - a gift, nothing will transform a person more than the gift of love. The hand of compassion, kindness and patience can often be God’s hand of provision to another person through us, which gives us the ability as Christians to transform our world.

A quote from Soul Survivor 2011
These sandwiches are not just ordinary sandwiches they were made with my love. Sam Price.

Slough celebrates children's right to play

I attended an event yesterday that was amazing.  I am not a child but Slough play day is a free event that celebrates children’s right to play and the importance of play in their lives. It is for kids of all ages and I mean all ages because judging from the faces of the parents there they enjoyed it as much as their children. The event took place in Salt Hill park from 12noon until 4pm and attracted around 3000 residents and this year for the first time Churches together in Slough took part providing free bottles of water, a bouncy castle and around the clock puppet shows from  Puppets for all’.

The puppets were great and children and adults alike loved them they provided the opportunity for families to hear the story of the parable of the foolish builder as well as joining in to Christian action songs which otherwise would not have been possible at an event of this nature. Puppet for all is based at St Peter’s church in Burnham and has been very popular in all age services, nursing homes and other gatherings
Play day provided a wonderful array of activities for children to try out  including: junk modelling, mobile play equipment, gymnastics/cheerleading, funfair games, disability sports , assault course , clay animals (arts and crafts), bicycle treasure hunt , smoothie bike , free tennis with GDT, the tennis centre in Salt Hill Park, mobile farm,

circus skills , hand puppets, fire engine,face painting, story telling and live music provided by SWIPE a local Youth group run especially to encourage young people’s musical skills and talents.

Megan Hurley, Slough Borough Council’s play coordinator, said: "Playing is a fundamental part of childhood and this is a great opportunity for children and their parents to try out new activities and new ways to play"

With the Olympics next year this is an example of the kind of community activities that churches could partner with their local council to provide and a way of spreading the good news of Jesus love to members of our communities.

Wouldn’t it be good to see events like this up and down the Diocese with the church at the centre.