Take a question out of the hat – discuss – it could sound like an exam question, but over a drink at the pub – well – stimulating, enlightening, informative and fun!

Is it always wrong to tell lies?

Should there be an “opt out” rather than an “opt in” policy for organ donation, meaning that more organs are available for transplant?

What is the most effective source of renewable energy in your opinion?

Is the Protestant Work Ethic from God or from man?

As a Christian what question do you hope you will never be asked?

How do you feel about the recent case of the maths teacher and the 15 year old girl who went off together to France?

Time ran out, we didn’t have to agree, we didn’t find all the answers, but the discussion and fellowship was good.

Our morning began with Steve reading the Genesis 1 creation account. This was the first time I can recall hearing that, whilst looking at the park, trees, sky and hills, imagining each part of the landscape being filled in, day by day (even down to the dog being walked as we were hearing about the 6^th day!). The benefit of worshipping in the open air was yet again breath-taking.

Steve then led us with these words:

We are jointly and generally, specifically and individually co-missioned, sent, charged and entrusted.

We take Jesus wherever we go and we represent Him to those we meet. This is a privilege and a responsibility. May our innermost thoughts and values, our words and our actions point to our Servant-Master Jesus!

As ThirdSpace we are co-missioned. Missioned together, sent out to work for the Kingdom inaugurated in Jesus…in Matlock…at this time…

As individuals we are called to our home and work places to build the Kingdom Jesus inaugurated…at this time…

Jesus had his Kingdom mission summarised in this “manifesto”:

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.” Luke 4v.18-19

In response to those words, we were invited to reflect on ourselves, considering the questions:

To what are you called? Who commissions you? To whom are you accountable? Where is your support and resourcing?

To what are we called? Who commissions us? To whom are we accountable? Where is our support and resourcing?

We filled in sheets, detailing where when and how we were called to serve Jesus. This was then read aloud, whilst Steve poured water over the person’s hands (or in Paul’s case – the head!) in the format of

We anoint you (Name) to serve Jesus (adding the details here) May you know God’s leading, Jesus beside you and the Spirit within!      AMEN!

We then turned to bread and wine. Steve had also written new words for this:

CO-MISSIONING WITH BREAD AND WINE

L: We acknowledge our need of our God in Jesus. We are empty and bereft without Him. We vainly struggle to live by our own standards let alone His values. We acknowledge our need for forgiveness and restoration.

ALL: Feed us now so that we might be sent.

L: We thank you that on the night before you died, you fed your disciples with bread and wine.

ALL: Feed us now so that we might be sent.

L: We thank you that through your sacrifice which we now remember, you restore us in relationship with our Creator God.

ALL: Feed us now so that we might be sent.

L: We thank you that the meal you gave to them and now to us pre-figures the celebration banquet in the Kingdom realised.

ALL: Feed us now so that we might be sent.

L: May this bread-of-Jesus-incarnated sustain us.

ALL: The Bread of our Lord!

L: May this wine-of-Jesus-slain sustain us.

ALL: The Wine of our Lord!

ALL:  Now Lord send us out! We have been fed by you; we are co-missioned by you, and now we go with your Holy Spirit’s fire. AMEN!

An inspiring theme and start to the week. Brilliant!

This week we were on a canal boat – a trip auctioned and won by us in a blind bid for the teenage unit of Weston Park Children’s Cancer Hospital in Sheffield. It was a fun time together, with much laughter particularly when we got stuck in the overgrown weed and needed rescuing by canal buffs who acted a tow-horses! We enjoyed brunch and Bucks fizz, but it was our time of worship together that was better than anything!

Different folk brought a contribution. How is it that when we do that there seems the most extraordinary overlap? Grayden began with a reading which resonated with our experience as we travelled along the canal, surrounded by greenery and rapidly changing skies:

Genesis 2:15, The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden….. to work it and take care of it.

Creation is all things and us. It is you and me in relationship with all things. All things, the ones we see and the ones we do not; the whirling galaxies and the element-creating stars. This wonderful, beautiful, water-filled, life-giving Earth. The blue sky, and the grey clouds, sunshine and rain. The mountains and hills, valleys and plains. Surging rivers, still lakes and the restless seas.  Micro-organisms, towering trees, waving grasses, and vivid, multicoloured blooms. All the diverse, myriad, teeming, living creatures that share the Earth with us.  And all humanity and their children, and their children, and their children, and all who will live on this planet after us, and all who have gone before us.

Rev. 4: 11. You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honour and power, for you created all things……

Rev. 22, 1-2. Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life………. and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

Rev. 21: 5. Then he who was seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!”

Frances  reminded us that in the summer we had spoken about the story of the woman anointing Jesus’ feet with nard. She had some in an aromatherapy bottle and passed it around. We all smelled it and put a little on the back of our hands. It was overpowering! No wonder it says that the aroma filled the house – it certainly filled the boat! It was a symbol of thanksgiving and love and the boat was full of it! And what blew us away is that we were smelling exactly what Jesus smelled then. Wonderful.

Wend shared a poem and thoughts from having discovered poems by Michael Mitton (our friend who likened us to the Celtic saints setting out in their coracles). Jonny Baker has included  one of them in his blog and had a link to Michael’s page of poems – which are glorious! The poem about
Brendan really seemed appropriate with us setting off on our boat for the morning.

This is the poem:

Dear God

Brendan was as mad as a bear with toothache

But it was a madness you loved

And you took hold of that old bear

And threw him out to sea

‘Til he returned to land with such a wild tale

That even the priests laughed themselves silly.

The people danced in the surf of Bantry Bay

And a thousand coracles set sail

Into the bright breeze of your Spirit.

O Lord madden me by that same Spirit

Bring on the God-blessed flights of fancy

Inebriate me with Holy Ghost visions

And set me free to behold with the eyes of my heart

Great wonders on the high seas of God.

With the image resonant of us in ThirdSpace, we contemplated where God might be sending us next – as a community as well as individually. Oh to be open to being blown by the Spiriit and finding ourselves in the place where God wants us, to be inebriated with vision…

Michele had a similar and overlapping theme with writings from Sister Sid about the difference between success and fruitfulness and how we might live well, which was very inspiring again.

Barbara led us in prayer, using a net into which we tied ribbons representing our prayers for ourselves and ThirdSpace. The net reminded us how we are all connected – it was a powerful and appropriate image.

We finished with bread and wine, using a liturgy we’ve used before written by Steve:

Divine Entanglement with Bread and Wine

Look up, all around, entangled and surrounded, mind-blowingly all enveloping – God’s breathing, God’s love sweeping down and curling around.

Acknowledged blessing and unacknowledged blessing, love noticed and unnoticed, blessings overt and covert. Incidences and coincidences and God-incidences too complex for us to sort through and untangle. We are caught – in the web. God behind us, God in us, God before us.

Surrounded and enveloped by God’s care, those blessings obvious to us now and those blessings only to be known about in the future and those blessings perhaps never to be known by us.

God at work in us and in those around us and in those we love and in those we despair of. God’s love touching us, our ground, our lives through His humanity and love incarnated in Jesus.

We are surrounded in our space and time by roots, by branches, by leaves, by this living and growing 360 degree, multi-dimensional, 24/7, God who loves. We are not tree hugging, but we are God- hugged.

And so while we are still indifferent, ignorant, hostile, unblissfully unaware, God loves us and in our hands we hold the bread and wine which expresses, encapsulates and enfleshes that Jesus love.

So why us? Why are we invited to this banquet under this umbrella of God’s love? Because we deserve it, merit it, lead good lives and have good theology? No, because God loves because he loves because he loves….

And so together as one body within God’s enveloping, connected with the worldwide family, we eat bread.

And so together as one body within God’s enveloping, connected with the worldwide family, we drink wine.

And so we have communed with God in this banquet but we do not now take our leave of Him. These roots and branches encircle and will not let us go even though we depart from this holy ground. He goes before us, marks our steps and our way.

And so we pray for all:

May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the Love of God and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore.

AMEN!

Wonderful, wonderful, evocative, poignant, challenging, fun, uplifting – what more could anyone ask for? Thank you all.

Don’t know about you, but holidays always seem to be a time for me to reflect, re-asses, re-configure. I won’t bore you with the ‘no-doubt soon to be broken’ resolutions I’ve made, but did think a conversation starter on what we’re finding helpful, challenging, reading,   watching etc might be interesting. so here’s a few….
This fragile tent  blog is really good stuff…Chris Goan writes so well and he writes with honesty…check out his blog on ‘significance’. The faith community he is part of strikes me as very similar to Third Space but just a bit further down the line…would be nice to get together but we’re just a wee bit far way. In the light of the post-Olympic discussions all over the media,  Ian Adams asks the question What is the inspiring legacy you want to pass on to your friends and family…. your spirit and values?…now there’s a question and a half…and one which may require a good bottle of wine or two to get to the bottom of, but I found it interesting to keep Chris and Ian’s comments in tension.

If you’re looking for a non-blockbuster, non-super hero film to watch, you might want to have a squint at “The Way’ – Martin Sheen plays  an American doctor who comes to St. Jean Pied de Port, France to collect the remains of his adult son, killed in the Pyrenees in a storm while walking The Camino de Santiago. It sometimes wanders into cheesiness, but I felt better for watching it, in contrast to what is  too often the case, regretting wasting another hour and a half of my life watching bilge.

As to reading, despite it being on the topseller list ( and NO- it is Not 50 shades….!) I’m reading “Before I go to sleep” and I can’t make up my mind whether it really is good, or so blindingly obvious it’s terrible….it does raise some interesting thoughts about how memories shape and define us…maybe another pub discussion for the autumn..

Anyway, enough ramblings from me..now it’s your turn.

Wanderers return from holiday, the weather is warm, can it really be summer at last?

Olympics discussed, holiday adventures recounted, acquaintances renewed, prayers shared, all with the usual laughter and banter.

On with the summer seasons Anam Cara liturgy – and then to the coffee shop for more of the above.

Anam Cara

Creator God, we pause in your presence and hold our day before you.

Still us, calm us, guide us as we enter this day.

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer

A short time of silence and reflection as we allow ourselves to focus on God’s creation around us.

Creator God, we hold this day before you, especially…

A short time of silence for personal prayer.

We hold before you Lord, all those who would usually be here with us at the bandstand…

These may be named aloud.

We hold before you Lord, all those we love, especially…

A short time of silence for personal prayer.

We hold before you Lord those who are sad because someone they love has died…

These may be named aloud.

We hold before you Lord those we know who are troubled this day…

These may be named aloud.

We hold before you all those we will meet this day…

A short time of silence for personal prayer.

Lord God, grant us the faith this day to truly walk in the light of Christ:

Christ as a light illumine and guide us

Christ as a shield overshadow us.

Christ under us; Christ over us;

Christ beside us on our left and on our right.

This day be within us and without us,

lowly and meek, yet all powerful.

Be in the mouth of each to whom we speak;

In the mouth of each who speaks to us.

Christ as a light, Christ as a shield,

Christ beside us on our left and on our right.

 We share bread and wine.

 Creator God, may your peace go with us wherever we will be this day

May you guide us through the
challenges, protect us when in need
and inspire us with your love.

May we acknowledge your presence
in all the human goodness we will see.

May you bring us home rejoicing to our place of rest this night.

Creator God, we now go into this day in the name of the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

As schools break up for summer many Third Spacers take a holiday. For a small group like ours this can make us feel rather vulnerable, especially on a Sunday morning in the bandstand.

The last meeting before folks take off for their summer break we bring something to share with each other for our Sunday morning worship.

I was working in my garden a place where I feel at peace and close to God (like meeting outdoors in the park on Sunday mornings – there is loads to see that inspires).  I was dead heading flowers (my poppies had taken a battering from the heavy rain and looked rather bedraggled). I set about them with the secateurs and started to think about what I could share with the group the following morning.

• As I looked at the scruffy old wrinkled lower leaves on the plants I thought of our group. Sorry folks! We are a small group and we are all getting older. (We range from teenagers to 60+)

• As I looked at the flower heads I thought of our group. What we share is wonderful, colourful, fresh and exciting. We started meeting together on a Sunday morning outdoors in the centre of the town in September 2009, but I had to ask myself – are we just a group of good friends having an amazing time?

seeds of hope

• As I cut off the seed heads I was reminded of how our group started. We very much took encouragement from the theme at Greenbelt 2009 which was The Long Now.  What we are doing now is the seed of what is to come.  I pulled open a seed head and saw hundreds and hundreds of tiny seeds.

• I was reminded that what we are doing is a new way of doing church, a fresh way to rekindle interest in Jesus, an experiment in reaching out, and a way of placing prayer and blessing into the centre of our town.

Instead of feeling concern about the number of people who would be meeting together over the summer I was encouraged to believe that what we are doing, what we experience and what we have is the way forward for Christianity.

I shared my thoughts with the group and passed around an open seed head. The seeds are in place for the future – in the fullness of time they will germinate and flourish.

This morning Steve led us, using the story of Jesus casting the demons out of Legion as a basis to review the core values we have at ThirdSpace and to ask questions of where we are and where we’re going. He concluded that the story speaks of a man who experiences Jesus-induced change:

• From exclusion to community
• From insanity to wholeness
• From living amongst the dead to being with the living
• From nakedness to being clothed
• From self-harm to being commissioned to serve others
• From violent uncontrollability to shalom

The questions we were then set to consider as we sat or wandered around the park, were the following:

OUR THIRD SPACE VALUES:

CHRIST. Jesus brings renewed life to this man; all others seem to have given up on him. Jesus then returns him to his own people and asks him to tell his story. What is our story of Christ’s rescue? What is our Third Space story? How do we place Christ at the centre of all we do?

CELEBRATION. I imagine that he returned to his own people and there was a celebratory meal to welcome him back. There he told his story. How might we tell the story through celebration? How might we use the meal to build the Kingdom?

JOURNEY. He journeys from darkness to light. Have we arrived or are we still conscious of our own journeying? How can we encourage each other in our journeys more effectively? Can we use the redemption journeys of others to help us?

JUSTICE and SERVICE. He was ostracised, marginalised, living amongst the tombs. There are those in our worlds in those situations now. How might we seek justice for them? How might we serve those we meet in those situations? Has Third Space a role to play in this? What is it?

CONNECTED. Jesus was the God-man incarnated in his time and his culture. Yet he was transcendent Christ for all time. We seek to be ambassadors – rooted in our time and community and yet representing the interests of another Kingdom and dancing to a different tune. How do we maintain a salty “in the world but not of it”?

          COMMUNITY. He was returned to his own people. We too are a people called together. What is our next step? How might we discern the path ahead?

These are questions we intend to explore further – perhaps with Michael Mitton who is with us on Wednesday…

We finished with the words we have used before, written by Steve, in the sharing of bread and wine:

Perspectives – bread and wine

Bread – in all its variety – wholegrain, white bleached, flat, mother’s pride, granary, unleavened, pitta and crusty, soft and seeded. It is just bread – a staple – food for all, for the rich and the poor.

But in your outstretched hands, in your body, you transform this element into spiritual nourishment which in turn transacts our horizontal dimension with your vertical reality. We thank you that we stand in that crossing place once again.

For on the night before he died….Jesus gave thanks….took and broke….and shared….saying, “Take, eat, feed and remember – it is my body.”

ALL: We share this bread as one people with the risen Christ in our midst.

Wine – in all its variety – white and red, flat and sparkling, oaky and tannin rich, young and old, chardonnay and merlot, grenache and cabernet, old world and new world. It is just wine – a staple of celebration for all.

But in your wounded hands you transform this element to seal the new transaction between God and us. This wine spilt opens the new way, curtains rent asunder, the mundane becomes translucent with your presence. We thank you that we stand in that place once again.

For on the night before he died, Jesus gave thanks….took the cup….and shared it….saying, “Take, drink, it is given for you. It is my blood.”

ALL: We share this wine as one people with the risen Christ in our midst.

So we have eaten and drunk this transforming meal which brings heaven to earth. As Kingdom builders, we journey with Christ our Lord.

ALL: AMEN!

Good stuff! And a challenging morning – inspiring as ever. Thanks Steve!

The Third Space Fairtrade Breakfast was entered as one of the Steps for 2012 on the Fairtrade Foundation’s web site. I heard recently we WON A PRIZE for the idea. I received a pack of Fairtrade dried fruits and recipes this week. I shall be using them for the next Third Space meal. yum!

On the first fine day for what seemed ages we gathered in the bandstand.  Still mourning and missing our friend Tony we shared time together mindful of his family, Fran, and his daughters Charlotte and Catherine with it being Fathers Day.

reading

1 Corinthians 9:24–27  ^“24 Surely you know that many runners take part in a race, but only one of them wins the prize. Run, then, in such a way as to win the prize.^25 (E)Every athlete in training submits to strict discipline, in order to be crowned with a wreath that will not last; but we do it for one that will last forever.²⁶ That is why I run straight for the finish line; that is why I am like a boxer who does not waste his punches.²⁷ I harden my body with blows and bring it under complete control, to keep myself from being disqualified after having called others to the contest.”

Why would Paul say this? He is making the point that winning a prize requires discipline, self-control, and coordinated activity. Games like the Olympics were held all over the Roman Empire, and perhaps it is during one of these games that Paul is preaching in Corinth. Perhaps it was even the Olympics – the Olympics had three main thrusts, 1. It was a religious festival, 2. It was used by the city states whose competitor was a winner as a sign that their state was blessed by the Gods so they should have power, 3. To show military prowess.

Some facts about the ancient Olympics

• Corinth to Ancient Olympia 115 m about 3 hours by car – Google maps does not do timing on foot, but Corinth was also the city that hosted the Isthmian Games
• The first recorded Olympics was held in Olympia in 776 BC and continued until 394 AD
• They were held to honour the god Zeus
• Like today it was always held every 4 years (but then always in Olympia)
• In the ancient Olympics there were 10 sports, Chariot races, horse races, boxing, the pentathlon (which consisted of discus, javelin, long jump, running and wrestling), three different running events over varying distances including a long run rather like the marathon
• Athletes competed bare foot and naked apart from the last race where competitors had to race in full armour (a real show of stamina and strength in battle)
• Only the winner was honoured and they received a laurel wreath and an olive branch, but winning held enormous prestige.
• Any free young men who spoke Greek could compete, (there were some other games in which women could compete)
• Competitors had to swear before the statue of Zeus that they had been in training for 10 months
• High ideals had to be adhered to by the athletes, commitment, striving for excellence, fairness and respect
• 100 days of peace surrounded the games so competitors could arrive for the events safely
• The games were certainly still going on during Paul’s journeys to preach the gospel to the gentiles, but by the time of Nero corruption had raised it’s ugly head. Apparently Nero entered the games in some of the events and he won each event he entered. It was recorded that there was an event in that time for singing which Nero won even though it was well known that he had a terrible voice
• Some sources claim the ancient Olympic flame symbolised the death and rebirth of Greek heroes

Some points to consider for ourselves

The ancient winners of the events brought great honour on their home cities – Paul is saying we can bring great honour to God by sticking at the task we have set ourselves on our faith journey.

The laurel wreath is something that will wither and fade, our prize will last for eternity.

Bearing in mind what happened to the Olympics in Nero’s day – we have our ideals, our values in Third Space – we need to make sure we don’t lose sight of them.

The ancient Olympics were marked by a sacred truce of 100 days. This was so competitors could reach Olympia safely when travelling through warring city states in the Greek peninsula.

To check our knowledge and to win a gold medal (Fairtrade chocolate of course) we took part in an Olympic Quiz. This brought out the competitive spirit in some of us.  Steve won hands down!!

We heard about the famous Christian athlete Eric Liddell – what an inspiring man

Eric Liddell (1902-1945)

• Born in China in 1902, his parents were missionaries.
• At boarding school in Britain he excelled at athletics, rugby union and cricket.
• While at Edinburgh University he broke the British records for the 100yds and 220yds, played     7 times for Scotland at rugby in the Five Nations, and in 1924 graduated with a science degree.
• At the 1924 Paris Olympics won the gold medal in the 400 metres, and in doing so broke the Olympic and world records. (Waiting at the starting blocks he was handed a piece of paper by the American team physio with 1 Sam 2:30 written on it: “Those who honour me I will honour.”)
• In 1925 went to China as a missionary with the China Inland Mission.
• While on furlough in Scotland in 1932 Liddell was ordained a minister of religion.
• During 1934 married Florence MacKenzie, a Canadian missionary, they had three daughters.
• Due to the Japanese occupation of China, Florence and the children leave for Canada, Liddell stays on in China and takes a position a rural mission station serving the poor.
• Liddell suffered many hardships at the mission as he tried to help the local people despite the war and occupation.
• Showed great courage as he stood up on behalf of local peasants against warlords, bandits and the Japanese occupiers.
• Was interned in a camp by the Japanese in 1943.
• In the camp he taught Bible classes, science to children, cared for the sick and elderly, and arranged games and sporting activities.
• While other missionaries moralised and acted selfishly he helped others, and encouraged people to share.
• Died from a brain tumour on 21 Feb. 1945, aged 43, just 5 months before the camp was liberated. 
• 1991 a memorial stone, made from Mull granite, was erected on the site of the camp.
• Near the time of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Chinese authorities reveal that Liddell refused to leave the camp as part of a prisoner exchange, instead he gave his place to a pregnant woman.
• Norman Cliff, an internee who survived the camp wrote: “the finest Christian gentleman it has been my pleasure to meet”. Langdon Gilkey, another survivor wrote: “He was overflowing with good humour and love for life. It is rare indeed that a person has the good fortune to meet a Saint.”

prayers

When considering the 100 days of peace 50 days either side of the Olympics. The 100 days started 10 days ago on Thursday 7^th June

We pray for peace in our homes, our neighbourhoods, our country and internationally. Pray for areas of our world where there is war and violence that peace makers will achieve successful settlements.

Pray for the Olympic event

Everlasting Father, giver of joy and the source of abundant life; we pray for all who are involved in the London Olympic Games, for their safe-keeping and well-being; and as we celebrate the skill and resolve of those who compete we pray that throughout the games there would be harmony, a striving for excellence, a spirit of humility and fair play, and a respect for others by all who are involved.

We prayed for those we knew by writing names on flame shaped pieces of paper and then stuck them on the edge of a piece of paper, this was then rolled up to represent a torch.

Torch prayer

Radiant King of Light, you lit the torch of my faith. Your Spirit fired it up, may it blaze with the heat of your love, and the light of your truth. Help me to ever hold it up allowing your light to guide, and to draw others out of darkness to shine for your glory. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen

After sharing bread and wine we closed by saying;

God has called us to persevere in the race of life. Therefore:

With God’s help we will fight the good fight, we will finish the race, we will keep the faith.

Lord God give us the strength to run with perseverance the race marked out before us; fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. Amen

Last night at 7:20pm Tony died after a long, long haul in his battle with bowel cancer. He had, only minutes before, been conscious and able to hug both daughters, Catherine and Charlotte. Frances, his mum and dad and siblings were all with him. At some point, in these last couple of days, he had woken from sleep and declared ‘It’s beautiful’ and said that everyone was waiting for him. We have no doubt of that.

A few weeks ago he was given days to live and ThirdSpace gathered around his bedside to pray the Celtic liturgy with him that we have so often said together. It was forever special to have shared those words together. When his move to Ashgate hospice gave him an extension of time, we planned to celebrate Pentecost with him. On the day he was too unwell, so apart from short individual visits, that evening of Celtic prayer was his last ThirdSpace communion.

This morning we gathered at the bandstand to express our thanks and sorrow and were overwhelmed and touched to be joined by Frances and Charlotte.

We began with a declaration of faith, using verses from Paul’s writings:

 ^12-15Now, let me ask you something profound yet troubling. If you became believers because you trusted the proclamation that Christ is alive, risen from the dead, how can you let people say that there is no such thing as a resurrection? If there’s no resurrection, there’s no living Christ. And face it—if there’s no resurrection for Christ, everything we’ve told you is smoke and mirrors, and everything you’ve staked your life on is smoke and mirrors. Not only that, but we would be guilty of telling a string of barefaced lies about God, all these affidavits we passed on to you verifying that God raised up Christ—sheer fabrications, if there’s no resurrection.

^16-20If corpses can’t be raised, then Christ wasn’t, because he was indeed dead. And if Christ weren’t raised, then all you’re doing is wandering about in the dark, as lost as ever. It’s even worse for those who died hoping in Christ and resurrection, because they’re already in their graves. If all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we’re a pretty sorry lot. But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first in a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries.

^21-28There is a nice symmetry in this: Death initially came by a man, and resurrection from death came by a man. Everybody dies in Adam; everybody comes alive in Christ. But we have to wait our turn: Christ is first, then those with him at his Coming, the grand consummation when, after crushing the opposition, he hands over his kingdom to God the Father. He won’t let up until the last enemy is down—and the very last enemy is death! 1Corinthians 15 – The Message

^1-5For instance, we know that when these bodies of ours are taken down like tents and folded away, they will be replaced by resurrection bodies in heaven—God-made, not handmade—and we’ll never have to relocate our “tents” again. Sometimes we can hardly wait to move—and so we cry out in frustration. Compared to what’s coming, living conditions around here seem like a stopover in an unfurnished shack, and we’re tired of it! We’ve been given a glimpse of the real thing, our true home, our resurrection bodies! The Spirit of God whets our appetite by giving us a taste of what’s ahead. He puts a little of heaven in our hearts so that we’ll never settle for less.

^6-8That’s why we live with such good cheer. You won’t see us drooping our heads or dragging our feet! Cramped conditions here don’t get us down. They only remind us of the spacious living conditions ahead. It’s what we trust in but don’t yet see that keeps us going. Do you suppose a few ruts in the road or rocks in the path are going to stop us? When the time comes, we’ll be plenty ready to exchange exile for homecoming.

2 Corinthians 5

No eye has seen

No ear has heard

No mind has conceived

What God has prepared for those who love him

1Corinthians 2 – NIV

This was followed by an invitation for everyone to write things they remembered about Tony and gave thanks for. The following things were said:

• Tony always asking ‘What did you have for your tea?’
• School-boy humour! Parp!
• Driving too fast with my daughter!
• Giving kitty and Harry the names ‘Kittywick’ and ‘Harold’!
• Cheesy chips on the beach in Dorset
• Enjoying mince pies
• Doing doughnuts
• Practical jokes
• Meat lover!
• Cross-carrying
• Making the ThirdSpace video
• Caring so much for his cancer blog friends
• Pointing out the rising sun on Christmas morning
• Charismatic!
• Group hugs
• Full English breakfast
• Laughter
• Advice and support
• For all the times he made me laugh – particularly when he called Harry ‘Harold’!
• Food enjoyed – including barbecues!
• Laughter and tears
• Stubbornness!
• Laughter and strength
• Massive motor-biking
• For all the happy memories and those yet to come
• Helping and supporting Barbara last year
• On his motorbike in the park
• Calling me ‘Harold’!
• What have you had for your tea?

Memories of Tony

We remember

Food and laughter feature a lot!

After that time, we turned to prayer:

Today we stand in the tension of sadness and of hope

We come to you Lord Jesus

We come to protest against all the horror of death and bereavement

We set our hope in you

We protest against the suffering Tony had to bear

We thank you that he is, at last, made new

We protest against the distress that Frances and Charlotte and Catherine and Tony’s parents, brothers and sisters have been going through for so long

We ask for your comfort, healing and hope

We affirm that we cannot and will not pretend that death is anything less than an affront to you, bringer of life

We stand firm in the hope that you promise to make all things new

We give you thanks that you brought Tony to us and to faith

We ask that his faith might lead others to you

We give you thanks for Tony and all he has meant to us

We look forward to being reunited with him in the renewed earth

Let us hold firmly to the hope we claim to have.

The One who promised is faithful.                                                                

(Hebrews 10:23)

We finished by sharing bread and wine:

Bread is a symbol of companionship for us. The companionship we share with one another. The companionship Jesus shares with us. We eat this bread to embrace that companionship and the hope of resurrection over death.

The bread of life

Wine is for sorrow and for joy, for suffering and for celebration, for forgiveness and new relationship

The wine of promise

Praying with Tony when we knew the prognosis

We love you Tony and we’ll miss you terribly. Here’s to a future reunion with more than new wine in the renewed earth – but a veritable banquet – perhaps a barbecue?