Sunday 1 December 2019

A Lost Passion

WHERE DID THE PASSION GO?
As we approach Christmas my great concern is regarding the lost opportunity in so many churches.  Yes, many churches will have special services and some may engage in caroling, but with what aim?

When Jesus was born, heaven could not keep the news to itself but shared it with the only people likely to be at work and awake: the shepherds.  The news was that a Saviour had been born.  The shepherds hurried to check it out and afterwards, they could not contain themselves but shared the news with anyone they could find.  About the same time a group of scientists set out on a long journey to discover what the strange astronomical phenomenon meant.  The story is full of excitement and passion not because of a newborn baby, but because of the salvation message.

Sunday after Sunday Christians in the UK will hear and repeat words from the gospel but mostly dispassionately.  It is almost as if the repetition has anathematised them from feeling God's heartbeat.  Pastors and other preachers will preach sermons without including advice or invitation to respond to God's word.  Many seem to have forgotten that we are called to be fishers of people.  I remember the occasion when I asked the vicar of a church who had invited us to conduct a mission, if he would give an invitation for people to signify that they wanted Jesus in their lives by coming forward as we sang the closing hymn.  Rather reluctantly he gave that invitation and then went and knelt at the communion rail.  When he rose at the end of the hymn he saw well over two dozen men and women standing at the chancel steps.

If we were sufficiently passionate about the truth and about our wonderful Saviour, surely we would exhort people to respond.  Is it fear of embarrassment, fear of failure, or just a lack of passion that prevents us?

If we don't know how else to encourage a response we could at least put the address of a good website such as Christianity.org.uk on our carol sheets, notice sheets, take-home invitation.  Let's put the passion back into Christmas this year.

Incidentally, there are lots of good ideas at www.Rural MissionSolutions.org.uk for making the most from the opportunities at Christmas and through the winter months.  Follow the link on the Home Page.


Do you use the Prayermate app?
Many of us are now familiar with using apps on our phones, tablets or computers. They are a quick and simple way to access all kinds of applications. Several times over the past 18 months I have wondered whether it would be possible to have an app that would bring you new and prayer requests at the touch or click on a button.

A few days ago, Gordon Banks, our Chair of  Trustees introduced me to PrayerMate. A simple app designed to help Christians in their daily prayer life.  With PrayerMate you can adapt it to enable you to get the latest requests for prayer, items for thanksgiving and more.  You can set it up easily to link to various mission societies or individual Christian workers provided they have registered with PrayerMate including Rural Mission Solutions.

It works with both the Apple platform (IOS) and Android.  I encourage you to go to your application store and download the app which is completely FREE.  Once you have the app on your device search for Rural Mission Solutions.  Most will find this an easy process, but I plan to create a short video with step by step instructions soon.  You will find that there are various ways in which you can adapt PrayerMate to suit you.  If all this sounds new to you you could take a look at this video.  Once you have set up the app, or if you are already using it, please send me a short email to let me know.



Barry - 230th August 2019.