Old News

Here you'll find posts from the days before we went electronic...

July 2012


Holy Fools?

This April’s inc. service at St Aldhelm’s caused some bemused faces at first due to some unusual snacks served for April Fool’s day. The ‘April Food’ appeared to be takeaway pizzas, Macdonald’s burger and fries or a huge mound of spaghetti and meatballs. On closer inspection they actually turned out to be cleverly disguised cakes and biscuits made by the two youth homegroups. We explored the idea of the ‘foolishness of God’ from 1 Corinthians 1:21 and celebrated God’s extravagant, ridiculous love for us. The Tuesday homegroup did a presentation called ‘Fool for you’ which illustrated a Nichole Nordman song about our willingness to be fools for Jesus because, at the cross, he made himself a ‘fool’ for us.

Dangerous Christianity
The 11-14s group at St John’s have been exploring the world this term, looking at some of the places where it is most difficult to be a Christian. As we look ahead to welcoming athletes from all over the world to Weymouth over the summer it’s worth remembering that some of them come from countries where it is difficult and even illegal to hold a Christian meeting or own a bible. The group has also begun work on a banner to welcome people to the church. Ideas so far include a giant whale, a picture of St John’s church and a huge splash containing the word ‘Welcome’. Look out for it in the coming months.
Oasis is in need of some new leaders to take on this group so please pray that God would make it clear who this should be.

All the mod cons!The Pathmakers group at St Aldhelm’s have been settling in to their room in the new St Aldhelm’s church centre. The room comes equipped with a big screen TV and lots of other handy technological stuff. They are right by a little kitchen area too so drinks and snacks are no problem. This group have been following the youth version of Chrisianity Explored this term and using the ‘Soul’ DVD that goes with it. This material looks at Mark’s gospel and explores some of the key questions of life and faith.

God Squad
The Sunday morning group for young people at Emmanuel church has seen a big jump in numbers this term as those about to go to secondary school have come up to join them.  They are badly in need of more leaders to teach the bible and help with activities. Earlier in the year they enjoyed (or should that be ‘endured‘) a night walk round Maiden castle in torrential rain! Chocolate hobnobs by torchlight on a soggy and windswept hillside made for a night to remember! They had more relaxing weather for their walk and picnic in May as you can see in the picture.

Youth Homegroups
The Tuesday homegroup for 11-14s (school years 7-9) and the Thursday group for 14-18s (years 10-13) have continued to meet at Catharine’s house over the last couple of terms. The Spring term was all about sticking with God even when it’s difficult as we looked at Peter’s first letter in the bible, written to encourage Christians having a hard time. The summer term has been all about Psalms. We’ve looked at Psalms expressing happiness, fear, trust, worry and even anger. We’ve also done some crafts, film nights and a quiz about the human body. 

More Psalms
Young people from St Aldhelm’s were able to explore the Psalms even more at their church weekend away at Brunel Manor. There we thought about what it means to praise God, wrote our own psalms of praise and made a video focused on praising God for his creation. See it on the parish website.


inc.
The inc. service on June17th was held at St Mary’s church and celebrated the Fatherhood of God. Gavin taught us some ancient Greek and Aramaic to show that we can actually call Almighty God ‘Dad’ when we talk to him. The service also included prayer ‘helicopters’ that came fluttering down from the balcony and the psalm below written and read by the Tuesday homegroup with help from Duane, Daniel and Stacy from YWAM, who were visiting us.

My Dad...My Father
A psalm for Father’s day by the Tuesday Homegroup

My Dad loves me and so does my heavenly Father.
My Dad fixes things with gaffer tape; My Father in heaven fixes people’s lives.
My Dad wears an embarrassing tie, but my Father, God, is really cool.
My Dad sometimes ignores me but my heavenly Father is always interested in me.
My Dad isn’t really around much
but I have a Father in heaven, who will never leave me or forsake me.
My Dad is always learning new things but God is the creator of all things.
My Dad doesn’t understand me but my Father in Heaven knows me inside out.
My Dad farts all the time but God loves him anyway!
My Dad didn’t turn up when he promised
 but my heavenly Father is always there for me.
My Dad shows me how to do things
and God, my father, teaches me to live life to the full.
My Dad sometimes forgets the things I tell him
but my father in heaven never forgets anything.
My Dad tells me off sometimes
and God, too, loves me enough to care if I do wrong things.
My Dad is easily frustrated by me
but my heavenly Father is slow to anger even when I mess up.
My Dad makes me laugh – he’s great company.
I love spending time with my Father in heaven too.
My Dad was late for my dance performance
but God my Father never disappoints me.
My Dad loves and cares for me, giving me a taster of how much I matter to my heavenly Father who loves me and gave himself for me.

Father God, thank you for the people who care for us,
teach us, provide for us and love us.
Thank you for being a father to the fatherless, a friend to sinners, a light in the darkness and a saviour to the helpless.
You are our creator, our Saviour, our Lord and our Daddy.
Amen

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