FROM THE
VICARAGE…………….. April 2006
Dear Friends,
You must have heard by now that during my visit to the
The truth is that I do quite enjoy dancing – I’m just
not very good at it!
A few months ago our family was invited to an
eighteenth birthday party of a friend. I was delighted to discover that there
would be a disco too. However, my daughters
took me to one side and made me promise that if we accepted the invitation –
under no circumstances was I to dance.
You can begin to understand something of the sort of
life I lead in a house full of women!
You will all remember the television advertisement
about the beer that reaches the parts no other beer can reach. I think that’s
true for the Christian life too. These next three months in our calendar are
all about bringing God’s people to life. Easter is nearly upon us and with it
the joy of resurrection life. Then we look forward to the coming of the Holy
Spirit at Pentecost and the wonderful transformation which took place in the
life of the disciples at that time.
From the moment the stone was rolled away from in
front of the tomb, the disciples of Jesus began to learn new things about
themselves. They came to see that if the power and authority of Jesus really
did reside in them – then the sky was the limit.
Before long, the same signs and wonders Jesus performed, were being carried out in His name by those formerly
hesitant members of the early church.
That first recorded miracle in Acts 3 seems
particularly important in this respect. A
lame man is begging outside the gate of the temple and he looks to Peter and
John to give him something. The man is amazed when, instead of giving him a
little money, the disciples call upon the name of Jesus that He might heal the
man and suddenly he is able to walk for the first time in his life. He is soon leaping about and praising God at
the top of his voice.
The Church is the body of Christ on earth and we all
have our part to play in making the good news of His kingdom known. Many of us
have gifts and talents that we are fairly confident in using and although we
can be a bit shy in stepping forward, we might be persuaded to use them for the
good of the church secure that if time permits, we can do a competent job. Sometimes, however, the Spirit moves in surprising
ways and we find the task we are called to is something we never would have
aspired to, something for which we think we actually feel quite ill equipped.
“Father, I think you moved parts of your body there
that you didn’t even know you had”
This should be a reality for the body of Christ.
Don’t get me wrong – I don’t think we’re all called to
go dancing down the aisles.
But I do think we need to let ourselves be used in the
service of Christ with a bit more freedom and with the possibility that He
could use us for something which might seem unlikely.
Our Easter experience holds out the promise of an
encounter similar to that of the lame man, that through the blessing of Jesus
we can have new life, new purpose and new joy. If that is true, we need to show
it, not to make exhibitions of ourselves, but because it has become a reality
for us.
I kept to my promise at that party and did not dance –
but for most of the evening my foot was tapping under the table.
With love,
Andrew