A convict said to the prison chaplain. “All my troubles are the result of going into pubs. Every tune I entered one, I got into a fight and ended up in jail ‘. The chaplain said; “1 can understand that you might visit a pub once or twice after getting into trouble, yet you kept returning even though you must have known the inevitable result. “No one forced inc’ answered the convict, “I always went in under my own power.
If we have a weakness for alcohol, we shouldn’t go where it flows freely. If we struggle with lustful thoughts, we must be careful what we read and what we watch on TV. For our every weakness there are certain places, circumstances, and people that lower our resistance. God gives special help for situations we cannot control, but He wants us to be careful about our environment. The Bible says; “Do not enter the path of the wicked, and walk not in the way of evil, avoid it, do not travel on it; turn away from it and pass on” (Proverbs 4: 14 & 15). S.A.
Billy Graham‘s daughter was interviewed on the Early Show’ and Jane
Clayson asked her “How could God let something like this
happen?” (Regarding the attacks on Sept. II).
Anne Graham gave an extremely profound and insightful response. She said “I believe God is deeply saddened by this, just as we are, but for years we’ve been telling God to get out of our schools, to get out of our government and to get out of our lives.
And being the gentleman he is, I believe he has calmly backed out. How can we expect God to give us his blessing and his protection if we demand He leave us alone?”
In light of recent events.., terrorists attack, sc/tool shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray 0 ‘Hare (She was murdered, her body’ found recently) complained .she didn’t want prayer in our sc/tools, and we said OK.
Then someone said you better not read the Bible in sc/tool. the Bible says thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself
And we said OK.
Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn’t spank our children when they misbehave because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock ‘s son committed suicide.). We said an expert should know what he’s talking about. And we said OK.
Now we’re asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they
don’t know right from wrong, and why it doesn’t bother them to kill strangers,
their classmates, and themselves.
Probably, if we think about it long and hard enough, we can figure ii out. I
think it has a great deal to do with “WE REAP WHAT WE SOW.”
Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and the,, wonder why the world’s going to hell. Funny how we believe what the newspapers say, but question what the Bible says.
Funny how you can send ‘jokes’ through e-mail and they spread like wildfire but when you start sending messages regarding the Lord, people think twice about sharing.
Funny how lewd, crude, vulgar and obscene articles pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion of God is suppressed in the school and workplace
Are you laughing?
Funny how when you forward this message, you will not scud it to many on our address list because you are not sure what they believe, or what they WILL think of you for sending it. Funny how we can be more worried about what other people think of us than what God thinks of us.
Pass it on if you think it has merit. If not then just discard it.... no one will know you did. But, if you discard this thought process, don’t sit back and complain about what bad shape the world is in!!
Church backing for climate plan
by Alex Kirby
BBC News Online environment correspondent
The Church of England has declared its support for a proposal to tackle the threat of climate change
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, say the plan, often known as “contraction and convergence” offers a way to act justify towards the worlds poorest.
The idea Is all the worlds people have an equal right to cause pollution. And nobody however rich should cause more than their allotted share. “Contraction” means cutting the worlds output of gasses (like carbon dioxide) which scientists believe are threatening to heat the atmosphere to dangerous levels.
“Convergence” means sharing out between countries the amount of climate pollution which the scientists say the Earth can tolerate, so that by 2050 every person In the world is entitled to emit the same amount of pollution. The Idea has not only won the backing of religious groups like the World of Churches but also the UK’s Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution and of Sir John Houghton, an eminent climate scientist.
Now Dr. Rowan Williams has added his voice to the growing support and he says, “We have to avert a global ecological crisis that could ultimately jeopardize our viability as a species”.
He also criticizes the addiction to fossil fuel of the wealthy nations, “This Is what secures the steady continuance of carbon emissions, It Is also what drives anxieties about political hegemony”. He continues, “Since the oil production of relatively stable and prosperous societies Is fast diminishing, these countries will become more and more dependant on the production of poorer and less stable nations. How supplies are to be secured at existing levels becomes a grave political and moral question for the wealthier states, and a real destabilize of international relations”.
This is a situation with all the Ingredients for the most vicious kind of global conflict - conflict now evermore likely to be Intensified by the tensions around religious and cultural questions.
Contraction & Convergence sought to achieve substantial reductions In greenhouse gasses in a way that foregrounds questions of equality between rich and poor nations.
This kind of thinking appears to be utopian only if we refuse to contemplate the alternatives honestly.
A USA minister was walking along a country lane along side a river. As the minister walked along he saw a man coming towards him. The man took two steps forward and one back, one to the left then one to the right.
The minister asked him if he was alright.
Yes said the man, I’ve been out with my two friends Johnny Walker and Jack Daniels”. The minister enquired if the man had been baptised. The man replied he had not. To save time the minister took him to the river and pushed his head under. The minister then asked, did you see Jesus”.
“No” said the man. So the minister pushed him under again, then asked, “did you see Jesus”
Once again replied “No, I did not see Him”.
So once more the minister pushed the mans head under
and held it there for a while. “Now did you see Jesus” asked the minister.
“Are you sure he fell in this river”? asked the man.
Lord, be a shade in the heat
A shelter in the cold.
Eyes to the blind,
A staff to the pilgrim
An island at sea.
A fortress on land
A well in the desert
And health to the ailing
Give to the hungry - some of your bread. To the naked -some of your clothing. Seek council from every wise person.
At all times bless the Lord and ask God to make straight all our paths and to grant success to all our endeavours and plans.
When life gets out of order and the sky’s no longer blue. just take these prescription pills made specially for you.
The red one is for courage when a challenge comes your way it will help you keep your chin up if you take it right away.
If you ever get the feeling you’rc becoming much to proud take the brown pill for humility it will knock you off your cloud.
When your spirit sinks to zero and you can not seem to smile take the yellow pill for happiness it will make your day worthwhile
When a problem makes you grouchy and your nerves are really shot the green pills can be taken to cool your temper, when it’s hot
Orange is for friendship this pill is not for you except for you to give away o a friend who’s feeling blue
The pink one will help you to fill the day with love so take the pills and thank the Lord for his blessings from above
A tube of Smarties will provide you with the pills!
- ‘4
PICK’N’MIX
A friend of mine, who lives in a rural area, recently said to me that he didn’t need to go to Church. He would occasionally go to a hill top or a view-point and simply admire creation and commune’ with God, just by appreciating what he saw.
Now, there is nothing wrong with what my friend does. But the problem is that it is symptomatic of people’s attitudes towards God today: they take what they want without having to give in return. Here are two examples.
First of all, my friend enjoys God’s creation and enjoys His presence. But when God needs him to help in practical ways (collecting for charity, helping Out at a local fund raising jumble sale -anything really), he’s not there.
Second, New Age religion. Because the New Age movement is a mish-mash of mysticism, paganism, the occult and anything you care to throw in, it has no formal guidelines. Therefore you can pick what you want but leave what you don’t. (Let’s also remember that meddling with the forces of darkness is downright dangerous).
And then there are the people who say “I have my own relationship with God and you can’t tell me otherwise”. Maybe so: but Jesus said that people would be able to tell His followers because they love one another. What He meant was they would share the joy of the knowledge of His presence and love with other believers. Let’s be totally honest; the sort of person who would make a comment like “My faith is absolutely private and is nothing to do with you or anybody else” probably sets aside very little time especially for reading the Bible or praying. With the end result that they don’t know God at all: all they have is a picture in their mind of what they think He is or would like Him to be without actually having asked God himself.
We can’t pick’n’mix God. We can’t say to Him that we’ll take from Him without giving back: you couldn’t do it with your best friend and you can’t do it with God.
Do you want to know God? Any committed Christian will be able to tell you that getting to know Him is a really rewarding experience. We can learn to know about Him as He really is, not as we think He might be. He is caring, loving and He understands what we go through. People and life in general will always let us down. But God gives us genuine hope and something to live for. Knowing Him can give us real purpose in our lives.
© KENTON SMITH - Mooney’s Print & Publishing
0115 932 0643
People have fled their villages after being attacked, seeing family members killed or raped.
There are currently some terrible stories coming from Darfur, in Western Sudan. A million or more people been forced to flee their homes. In Southern Sudan 22 villages have been destroyed, Everywhere, the talk is of thousands dead.
Work in Sudan is hard, not just because of the scale of the crisis but because of the difficulties that humanitarian workers are facing in gaining access to the most-affected areas.
You are asked to pray for the people of Sudan. Specifically that attacks on civilians come to an immediate end, that humanitarian workers can gain access to areas where their help is most needed and all parties in the conflict will strive for a long-term peace deal that covers the whole of Sudan.
This prayer may be used. O God, Deliver Sudan from conflicts that tear apart families, force communities to flee, destroy villages and lives and hope.
Lord when we pray for peace, grant Sudan the noise of families laughing and children playing together.
Amen. Dr. Daleep Mukarji.
Friends of Kent Churches
Forms and details for “Friends of Kent Churches sponsored bicycle ride” being held on Saturday 11th September are now available.
Please support this event, even if you have no bicycle, it’s possible to walk. Half the money raised goes to our own church.
Help also required to greet the cyclists visiting our Church, we will be open from 1O.OOam.
Please see Pearl, to volunteer or to sponsor someone.
One day at a time
“Don’t be anxious ... God will take care of your tomorrow. ..live one day at a time” Matthew 6:34
Today I will delete from my diary two days — yesterday and tomorrow. Yesterday was for learning and tomorrow will be a consequence of what I do today.
Today I will face life with the conviction that this day will never return again, that it may be the last opportunity I’ll have to contribute because there is no guarantee I’ll see tomorrow’s sunrise.
Today I will be courageous enough not to let opportunity pass me by; my only alternative will be to succeed.
Today I will invest my most valuable resource, my time, into my most important possession, the life God has given me.
I’ll spend each minute purposefully, making today a unique opportunity. I’ll tackle every obstacle, knowing that with God’s help I can overcome it. Today I will resist doubt and pessimism and illuminate my world with a smile.
I’ll maintain a strong faith, expect nothing but the best, take time to be happy, see every task as an opportunity to honour God, and endeavour to leave His footprints on the heart of those 1 meet.
Today I invite you to start afresh with me, to dream again, to “..live one day at a time”, remembering that “... with God all things are possible” (Matt 19:26)
Garlinge
Please pray for those of our church who are unwell. For our elderly friends who are finding it increasingly difficult to get to church.
Pray for our Rainbows Brownies Guides and their leaders that they may keep safe and well enjoying themselves as they have their summer break and for those who will be going to Switzerland. Let us pray for the many parts of the world that are in conflict and where so many are in need.
Let us pray for all nations. Amen.
PRAYER
The disciples ask Jesus to teach them how to pray. In response to there request Jesus gave his disciples a model, an outline guide to for our prayers. The Lords Prayer.
A lot of people seem to shy away from praying. It could be embarrassment or just they do not know what to say. So why not look at the Lords Prayer, it’s a useful outline guide for our prayers. Adoration, invocation, confession and petition. There is no specific intercession although prayer for the coming of the kingdom can have an intercessory dimension.
I myself have found strength in prayer at times of darkness and joy in the times of light.
There is nothing wrong with silent prayer God will still hear. But it is also good to pray in a number, from which comes dynamic prayer more spirited, more power.
So let us pray, not just in asking, but also in thanks praise and adoration.
Lord teach us to pray patiently and persistently, With courage and faith, Were ever we may be, knowing you are always listening. Amen.
God Bless Eddie
A SUMMER CONCERT of Music and Drama is being held on Friday, 13th August 2004 at
7.30 p.m. at Christ Church URC, Westgate Bay Avenue, Westgate-on--Sea to raise funds for
Churches Together projects in Westgate and Garlinge and money for research into Charcot
Marie Tooth disease.
Many will not have heard of CMT. It is the most common inherited motor and sensory peripheral neuropathy and affects one in 2,500 of the population. CMT was identified in 1886 by neurologists Charcot and Marie in France and Tooth in England. CMT affects the motor and sensory nerves which take messages via the spinal cord to and from the periphery of the body, i.e. aims and legs. The brain and spinal cord arc not affected.
It is a slowly progressive condition with weakness and wasting affecting the lower anus and tower legs. hi severe cases some with CMT end their lives in wheelchairs. Wasting, weakness and disability is due to damage to the nerve axon causing the nerve impulses not to be transmitted along to the muscles.
There is much more knowledge now about the disease,, but money is needed for research. CMT sufferers and their families raise money to help the lives of those who are born with this genetic disorder of the duphcation of a gene which causes the peripheral muscles to atrophy.
Anyone interested in knowing more can log on to the CMT website of: www.cmiorg.uk There is also an excellent support group called CMT United Kingdom, P0 Box 5089, Christcburch BH23 72X for anyone who has or knows anyone with the disease. All money raised for research is sent to CMT.UK.
Tickets for the Concert are £3 including refreshments and it is hoped that someone in our churches will be responsible for selling some tickets which can be obtained by ringing 01843 832263 and 01843 832604
Thelma Fanks
Discovery Group
On 19th July, Discovery Group went down to Margate Main Sands for’ on end-of-school-year treat and enjoyed a Sandcastle competition - ably judged by Bill (thanks for a difficult job well done) and congratulations to the winners.
Burgers and hot-dogs were prepared in our kitchen (thanks to Chef Alistair’) and delivered in an insulated box for enthusiastic consumption - followed by ice-cream and washed down with fizzy!
Thanks to all the leaders and helper’s -enjoy the summer break but don’t forget the planning meetings.
Simon Pengelly
Commitment for Life
Union Church has already support the Commitment project. This includes a initiatives, including:
Giving generously & regularly for overseas work
Getting involved in campaigning
Promoting FairTrade
Praying
Every church is asked to ploy its part in tackling the structures that keep people poor, in challenging inequality and injustice. The recent URC vision statement places an ever higher priority
on the gospel call for freedom and justice for all. We
Commitment for life works with Christian Aid, Belonging to the World Church, Council for World Mission, overseas partners and the World Development Movement.
God’s purposes are global. They encompass the world, seeking to bring healing to the nations, reconciliation and peace through justice. They speak to our sin and failure, offering love and forgiveness, liberation from the past and new opportunities for tomorrow. They offer a vision of wholeness - of peace -of people at one with God, with each other and with all creation. They call us into partnership - to be witnesses to the ends of the earth.
Rita Pengelly
Keeping in Touch
You may remember Craig Dunn a young lad who came to Union Church after the Festival of Hope. We had been trying, without success, to get in touch with him to ask how he is and if he would like to join the Discovery Group but have now learnt that he has moved to Horsharn in Sussex. If we hear any more news we will let you know - many people have been asking after him and we have been given a couple of photos of him to send.
Simon Pengelly
Alpha
Another valuable and enjoyable course has ended. We personally get a lot out of running the course - it’s amazing that no matter how many times we see the tapes, we get something new out of it each time. However, the greatest pleasure
comes from the changes it makes to the guests. For some, the change is sudden and dramatic; for others it is gentle and gradual - sometimes we only hear about an effect some time later.
The next course will run from September on Wednesday evenings Please take every reasonable opportunity to suggest to people you meet that they try the course - a pushy, heavy-handed approach is not helpful, just a gentle hint and an explanation of what it is all about.
Simon Perigelly
The Marriage Course
Holy Trinity Brompton have also developed a very good course on marriage-enrichment. If there are any volunteers to join the first course, please get in touch to see if we can find a date/time that suits all.
Simon Pengelly
Central Margate Churches Youth Forum On Thursday August 5th there is a one-day beach mission organized by the CMCYF. tf you want to help, please contact Simon Pengelly. We will be on the beach by the round café from about lOam until 3pm. There will be lots of fun, beach games and a bit of a sing-song -bring a packed lunch and either sun-cream or umbrella depending on the weather forecast!
This is a golden opportunity to publicly work with other churches whilst providing valuable outreach to people on the beach.
Coffee_Mornipg
Thanks to Alistair’s enthusiasm, toasted sandwiches are now available with a variety of fillings - do come and try them. All support is welcome, whether it is helping in the kitchen, serving, talking (or more importantly listening) with visitors or merely sampling the delights!
Also, many thanks to Joan Smith for getting permission for A-boards to be put out in College Square. All we need now is some new boards!
Rita Pengelly
Variety Evenin
A select group was entertained with music, sketches, quiz questions and (allegedly) jokes. A great time was had by all and as always, the faith tea was more than enough and as good as the best of planned and prepared meals!
Simon Pengelly
Bible Society Readathon
On Saturday 17th July, a succession of readers started at 7am at Matthew 1:1 in an attempt to read the whole New Testament and continued until 10pm - by which time they’d reached 2 Corinthians. We won’t know how much was raised until all the sponsorship money is in (please make a big effort on this) but the day was very fulfilling. Thanks also to the team supplying refreshments.
Simon Pengelly