On twitter the other day, I came across this story


http://archbishopcranmer.com/vicars-warned-not-to-wear-dog-collars-in-public-for-fear-of-islamist-attack/

I was very surprised to say the least. now, as I expected, it is a little hyperbolic and nobody seems to be able to point to actual evidence that vicars have been warned about not wearing dog collars, but it got me thinking.

After the dreadful attack by those muslim terrorists on the priest in France, there was understandable concern. The problem is though, that the gospel commands us to be a bright city on a hill. We don't have a choice and we cannot stay silent.

As someone who has had a call from God to be a priest I suspect most dog collar wearing vicars would ignore such advice and go about their days doing what God has called them to do. The same goes for us who are not priests. There should be no shame in being a believer in Christ. There should be no question of us closing our doors to people to keep the body of Christ safe.

Christianity is not safe, ask our brothers and sisters in North Korea! Of course we need to take precautions but when the worshipers of a false god come and ask if we are Christians, we should look them in the eye and say that yes we are.

Denial of who we are in Christ is the worst thing we can do sometimes. That includes in the face of murderers as well as in more 'normal' circumstances. Day to day interactions with others may not make us a martyr but when someone asks what we did at the weekend, how often is 'went to church' the answer?

I am trying to do it more and more and I need the grace of God to help me but I really hope I can always proclaim, when asked, that I am a believer in the risen Jesus.

I am down to be doing Sunday School on Sunday (obviously) and am quite looking forward to it. We are starting a new series of lessons and I am pleased that we are getting things going. It will be our second week int he new building and I have to say I like the room for the Sunday school.

We are studying the books of the Bible and I need to find ways of helping the young people to learn the 39 books of the old testament. It doesn't sound like fun but hopefully I will be able to make it fun. Lots of colouring and gluing I think!

I thought I would give a little update on how my scripture reading is going. Day 245 of 2016 and I am still going strong. I hope, early next year, to be able to write at length about my experiences with a deeper understanding of scripture. Here, for now, is a list of the books I have made it through so far this year. I am so pleased that God has kept me going through these this year. Having finished most of the history of the Old Testament now, I am ready for a deeper understanding of the prophets. Today I started Isaiah, I am looking forward to it immensely 

Genesis

Exodus

Leviticus

Numbers

Deuteronomy

Joshua

Judges

Ruth

1 Samuel

2 Samuel

1 Kings

2 Kings

1 Chronicles

2 Chronicles

Ezra

Nehemiah

Esther

Job

Psalms

Proverbs

Ecclesiastes

Song of Solomon

Isaiah

Jeremiah

Lamentations

Ezekiel

Daniel

Hosea

Joel

Amos

Obadiah

Jonah

Micah

Nahum

Habakkuk

Zephaniah

Haggai

Zechariah

Malachi

The New Testament

Matthew

Mark

Luke

John

Acts (of the Apostles) Twice

Romans Twice

1 CorinthiansTwice

2 Corinthians

Galatians

Ephesians

Philippians

Colossians

1 Thessalonians

2 Thessalonians

1 Timothy

2 Timothy

Titus

Philemon

Hebrews

James

1 Peter

2 Peter

1 John

2 John

3 John

Jude

Revelation

A friend of ours put us onto a group called I Am They. This is one of their tracks that I love. Give them a listen, they're great

We had our first housegroup the other day and it was great. People were supposed to turn up at half seven but most of us were there (5 of the 6) by half six and we had the best time.

It was a remarkable time of fellowship. It was nice just getting to chat and spend time before our kids went to bed having fun, finishing cooking, setting out stuff etc. I also had time to indulge in a little light scripture reading.

We started with some communion. It had been decided that we needed to focus ourselves on this aspect of the biblical church. It really is something that the church has made into something it isn't. A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine, whose church is in interregnum, posted on facebook that they had only been able to have half a communion because the locum priest had not turned up! Ridiculous idea that Christians could not share bread and wine because someone with a dog collar had not blessed the wine.

We used homemade wine and a glass of grape juice. Plain, simple but very moving.

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them.

A photo posted by Derrick Roberts (@aberchristian) on Aug 30, 2016 at 11:40am PDT

This was followed by a meal of spaghetti (miracle of miracles, I didn't cook too much!) followed by a luscious cheesecake.

We were not going to have a bible study as we just wanted some fellowship to start and we ended up chatting and laughing for ages whilst someone with a wonderful servant heart did the dishes (and didn't try to put them away either, which is a real blessing). The time for prayer. Lots to pray about and we entered into it with gusto.

Having said earlier in the evening that I was not often blessed with 'words' or 'pictures', the Lord in His wisdom decided to give me two! Once delivered, time for a little more chat and then people left; a lot later than planned.

What did we learn? We learned that each and every one of us is different. We, of course, knew this, but we delved more into each others backgrounds and learned so much more about what makes us tick.

We learned that studying the bible is great but that it is only one part of what a housegroup should be. It cements us together yes but it also should encourage us to seek out more people, to help bring light to the darkness and to show the unloved that there are places in the world where there is no judgement and there is nothing but love.

Yesterday was a very different church day. FIrstly, we were all able to go and both my wife and I got to hear the sermon. It was a very good on and I was very impressed with it. Secondly, and much more the pointof this post, it was Open Heaven last night. This si a gatheringof local churches (well i say local, they come from much of the west coast really) to worship and pray and fellowship together.

What made it more interesting still was the fact that it was on a boat! One of the members of our church owns a boat which offers cruises up and down the loch. We have been on it a couple fo times with visiting parents but he offered it to us for Open Heaven yesteday.

It was a beautiful time. If not quite beautiful weather. We set sail about half six and headed out over the loch to the sound of some excelletn worship. Our pastor's wife was leading worship (and she got in a couple of water themed songs which I found amusing) and there were about 70 of us, give or take.

The scenery was stunning, as always and was totally conducive to some decent time with God.

I've worshipped God in some beautiful places but this takes the biscuit

A photo posted by Derrick Roberts (@aberchristian) on Aug 21, 2016 at 10:43am PDT

The thing is, I missed the sermon and I missed much of the worship because I was looking after the kids and chatting with some people who were downstairs. That, was wonderful. It was a real God appointment and I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it.

I can't wait to do it again

Naomi had a lovely time on the boat tonight

A photo posted by Derrick Roberts (@aberchristian) on Aug 21, 2016 at 1:07pm PDT

Well, been back for a couple of days now and I have to say I am still (after 18 years) not a fan of ending summer holidays with a return to school. Over the last couple of weeks of the holidays I was becoming more and more convinced that I shouldn't be a teacher. I put this down to the traditional worry about the exam results etc but that idea hasn't gone away completely yet. It's 18 years since I started teaching and other than a small break in 2008, it has been almost continuous. I like to kid myself that I ran away from some ministry role to become a teacher but I don't think that it true. I certainly didn't ever aspire to be a teacher. Still, what else can you do with a degree in history? That was my approach. Now, the interesting thing here is how much God has blessed my life as a teacher. It has allowed me to meet people who have had a massive impact on my life. Colleagues, friends, pupils and parents. God has taught me that no matter what I do with my career he is there to support me. I remember when I had to leave teaching briefly (some difficult circumstances made me want to get out of a job I wasn't doing well at all in that place) finding it increasingly difficult to see where I should go. I felt like I was singing the clash song, 'Should I stay or Should I go' it was that difficult to decide to resign or not. In the end, there was a clear message from God that I just needed to make a decision and He would support me in it. I did and he did. The thing is, I really get a feeling that he wants me to become more than this. I think there is a call to more full time service for God. What form though? It clearly isn't youth ministry (which I rather foolishly thought it was back in the late noughties). Pastorship? Dunno. Ordination? Again, I dunno. Maybe it is a call to more personal commitment. God knows (literally) that there are certain sins I am constantly struggling with and maybe I need to focus on them for a while and see where I end up.