An interview for The Church Times

Speaker and writer Sophie Neville

But as for you

...the Lord took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of his inheritance  (Deuteronomy 4 v 20)

Sophie's amusing memoir, Funnily Enough is now available as an audiobook

Making a Difference - one plant at a time

Would you be able to buy seedlings for a school vegetable garden in South Africa? 

Just £5 would enable Sister Grace Ismail, the school nurse, to purchase seedlings which pupils belonging to her Environment Clubs can plant and care for. The produce is used for nutritious school meals or by those learning to cook on the Hotel and Catering Management Course. The school vegetable gardens are sponsored by Andrew Smith of Environmental Impact Management Services in Pretoria who have provided shade netting, tools and other equipment over a number of years. Irrigation is maintained over the school holidays by a team of community workers. It is a low tech scheme that has a big impact with many learners taking up an interest in gardening.

For more information and details of how to donate and gift aid, please click here for The Waterberg Trust's website.

An extraordinary true story

I was at Rosebank Anglican Church in Johannesburg when I met a South African lady who had recently returned from a short-term mission to the USSR, just as it was opening up. The iron curtain had lifted. 

'Did you take in Bibles?' I asked.

'It was prohibited.' I wasn't surprised. 'But once in the country,' she said, 'we were taken to a great barn full of old Bibles. They were released for distribution.'

She found the Bibles had been confiscated from local people before being stored for decades. There was so many that the missionaries needed to hire labour to shift them. One local lad wondered why these books were considered so important and stole one, hiding behind a stack of logs to read it. He opened the cover to find an inscription written in beautiful, clear script. The Bible in his hands had belonged to his grand-mother.

A review of 'Stories from the Heart' - a collection of short stories by Olusola Sophia Anyanwu

'Stories from the Heart', told in Nigerian English by the prolific author Olusola Sophia Anyanwu, is a unique portrayal of life in West Africa some forty years ago. Lovingly written in order to spread understanding, this collection of short stories can be seen as something of a social history recommended to anyone who originates from Nigeria. It is sub-titled 'For Older Generations' but I'm sure adults of all ages would be fascinated, especially those in search of their Nigerian roots. 

The author Olusola Sophia Anyanwu

Some of the descriptions are atmospheric, others are comic, whisking us across the world to a country where love, in its many complex forms, blooms while our sense of right and wrong is confronted and challenged. 

We need bold authors like Sophia to record a way of life that would otherwise be forgotten. Strong and courageous, she shines a light on truths that might be swept away or  blamed on others. These are stories told from the heart that should not be forgotten.

'Stories from the Heart' can be purchased direct from the Austin Maculey Publishers here or from Amazon UK here

A Life of Answered Prayer - Divine Appointments

Divine Appointments, connections, the meeting of minds and the chance to share experience, has to be one of the most exciting and frequently answered prayers in my life. 

I often close my eyes and ask to meet the right person, at the right time. It must be easier for the angels to organise if you are going to a social gathering. We're in Lockdown right now, so it's unlikely I will meet anyone today, but it's 8.10am on a Sunday morning and anything could happen. I'm going to pray: 

'Lord Jesus Christ, please bring me into contact with a person or people of your choosing today.' 

Why do I want this? To extend his kingdom or mine? To bless others or to bless me? 

'For your sake, Lord. Just use me.'

I was once on a train, heading for a New Years' church service, followed by a buffet lunch in London. I prayed for a divine appointment, that I would meet someone of the Lord's choosing. An amazing thing happened. I ended up having lunch with an old, old man in an ill-fitting suit. He turned out to be an eminent physician, in his nineties, and exactly the person I needed to meet at that time. 

I had been commissioned to write a screenplay about a prisoner of war to the Japanese, but it was still in the first, sketchy stages. Bill admitted that he had been a medical officer when Singapore fell during WWII. He's been sent to Changi and then a military prisoner of war camp on Blakang Mati or 'Hell island', which he said was far worse. He was unwilling to talk about it at first, curtly suggesting I read books others had written. This was vaguely disappointing, but was able to meet up with him on many other occasions, when he gradually told me more. He agreed to proof read my script, insisting on terminology I had not considered important. 'We were not in prison,' he insisted. 'We were in a prisoner- of-war camp. The distinction is important.' I was surprised to hear they hardly ever saw the Japanese. 'They were very short-staffed.' I had been led to believe otherwise by Hollywood movies but it was probably one reason why the guards were so intimidating. Although he had treated wounded Japanese soldiers, they refused to recognise Bill as a doctor. 'All I had to treat my patients with was saline. Sea water.' 

When I first met Bill, he was still working as a Harley Street allergist. 

'May I give your manuscript to one of my patients?'

I was hesitant. 'What does your patient do?'

'I'm not quite sure, but she's frightfully pretty. I'll ask my PA to find out.'

The lady in question was the Executive in Charge of Production at Working Title, a major British film company. I quickly sent him a revised draft.

Working Title did not snap up my screenplay, but I was able to introduce Bill to another film producer who was interested, and began to develop the story into a novel. I was able to re-tell his story about the joy of finding a jar of Marmite on the camp rubbish heap. The Japanese had been pillaging Red Cross parcels but disliked the taste and discarding it. 'They thought it must be axel grease,' Bill told me, explaining that it was exactly what he needed to treat Beri-beri, being high in vitamin B12.

What I didn't realise, was that although Bill had been able to forgive his captors, he had not spoken much about his time in the camps until he met me. Like meany he had pretty well blanked it off. I so hope that I was able to help him to speak with humour about his painful experiences. I gave him a copy of one of my own memoirs for his 100th Birthday. After that he began to speak more openly about his Christian faith.

Being members of the same City Livery Company, we kept meeting at various charitable events, chatting on a coach as we went to visit a school. I was not surprised when Bill told me he'd been invited to walk down the red carpet when the film 'Railway Man' was released. He began to take part in WWII memorial events and flew to Singapore to commemorate peace. Having kept pretty silent for years, Bill was happy to chat about his time as a prisoner of war on 'Desert Island Discs' and I was thrilled to hear that he had able to talk about treating those held captive in the Far East. My only regret missing the launch of his biography, to which I was invited. It was entitled, 'From Hell to Hay Fever.'

My book is now called 'The Man Who Got Out of Japan'. It has won three literary awards but it still waiting to be published. I long to honour Bill and those brave, brave men and women who suffered so that we might enjoy freedom. Bill was very nearly beheaded by a Japanese officer. By some miracle he survived, was bale to return to his wife, raise four children and make a huge contribution to modern medicine, instigating the pollen count and pioneering major advancements in immunology. He told me that he probably saved the life of Saddam Hussein, 'He was smoking forty cigarettes and day' but explained that a patient is a patient. Bill ended up living until he was 108, outspoken until the end.

What a divine appointment! Finding a friend would have been enough.

Read more - Bill's obituary   

   

The True Meaning of Christmas

I’m sure you know what to do with a tea towel. Tie it around someone’s head and you can turn them into a shepherd. This works well if you live in a culture that appreciates nativity plays. But why did the angel of the Lord bring news of the Messiah’s birth to those engaged in caring for sheep? Was everyone else drinking at the inn?

Scholars say the shepherds living in the fields below Bethlehem were different from others. They were employed by the High Priest. They could have been Levites ordained to select animals for sacrificial purposes and probably congregated at Midal Edar, a thousand paces from Bethlehem. This ‘Tower of the Flock’ is where Rachel gave birth to Benjamin. Here a new-born lamb, chosen for sacrifice, would be wrapped in strips of cloth known as swaddling bands and lain a depression in the limestone rock known as ‘the manger’ to keep it clean and prevent it from getting blemished.

Every day, two male lambs were sacrificed as a burnt offering at the temple in Jerusalem. In the thirty days before Passover huge numbers of year-old male lambs belonging to the High Priest were gathered outside Bethlehem before being taken six miles north, to be sacrificed or eaten in commemoration of the Passover when Jews and Samaritans remember how God delivered them from slavery in Egypt. Instead of two men and a boy there would have been quite a number of trust-worthy shepherds living in the fields to look after the ewes and especially chosen lambs around the clock. It was to these working men that God chose to declare news of the Messiah’s arrival on Earth. What would they have thought of the great company of heavenly host who appeared with the angel? How would they have described it to the High Priest who employed them?

The glimpse of heaven recorded in Luke’s Gospel is treasured by men on whom God’s favour rests and yet we only read this account once a year, usually when we are stressed out by the pressure of choosing presents or decorating fir trees. Perhaps we should take time to contemplate the night sky instead of rushing about shopping. Angels must be terrifying. Mary, who had met the angel Gabriel in Nazareth nine months earlier, must have been re-assured by the shepherds’ story, especially after giving birth in what could have been a filthy stable. Some say Jesus may have been born at Midal Edar and lain in the limestone manger. The shepherds would have known this spot and hurried there without hesitation. Whatever the exact location, it was likely to have been ritually unclean.

The meaning of Christ’s birth would have been instantly recognised by shepherds as soon as they saw the baby Jesus. They got the message. It was the pure, spotless lamb, wrapped in swaddling bands and lain in a manger, that was chosen as a sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins.

One of the best things about Christmas is that it has become a family occasion. Expectations rise, friends gather and show their love for each other, making an effort to reach out to the lonely. We serve God by ministering to our children and making proper use of tea towels. What more can we do? Perhaps remember the Lord Jesus put an end to the need for animal sacrifice as we try not incinerate our turkey.

An extract from ‘Merry Christmas Everyone, A Festive Feast of Poems and Reflections’ pub by ACW, available to order from libraries, good bookshops and online from amazon.co.uk

Messages of Hope

This April we helped Bible Society with their stand at Spring Harvest, the big Christian Festival in Minehead.

As well as telling delegates about Bible a Month and other projects run by Bible Society, we asked if they would like to send a message of hope to a Syrian refugee.

Colourful cards were designed to slot together so we could build a tower. People of all ages left encouraging messages, prayers and Bible verses.

They were all wonderful. 

This one was fun:

The messages will be taken to a refugee camp outside Vienna in Austria this September, when Bible Society are sending out a mission to distribute Bibles. We collected more than 200 messages a day, so should have a number to give away. To find out more click here for Bible Society's website.

Email from our Parish Priest

Greetings from Boldre Vicarage, Pilley Hill

In this week’s pew sheet article:

An old Derbyshire insult is shared

Reticence is preferred to the parading of pain and hurt

Samuel Beckett is commended for his atheism.

News of Vicarage expertise in artificially fertilizing courgette plants

and of faith and doubt in John Betjeman.

Please note:

1) We have a donkey for next week’s Palm Sunday,  29 March at 10.30am

2) Consider giving an Easter Lily in memory of a loved one, or to celebrate an

        anniversary or birthday.  

The battle with Vicarage squirrels continues. Plan P foiled them yesterday. Today it did not. Plan Q is now in place. We are confident we have foiled them this time.

Come to St John's Church Boldre this Sunday

*******

How do you live and maintain a relationship with Jesus?

I wish I could say that I start each day with Bible reading and prayer but I am not hugely disciplined. I’m a task orientated person and tend to fling everything into the washing machine of life and slam the door, just to get the job done. However I do pray pretty constantly.

I’ve just asked my husband the question: ‘How do I live with Jesus?’

‘You work very hard at it,’ he said handing me a gin and tonic, ‘and love him to bits.’ I was amazed when he compared the relationship to our marriage. All I see are piles of laundry. I often look around and feel overwhelmed by how much there is to get done. My sister-in-law, who is used to this, is a great example. ‘Tell yourself you’ll do an hour,’ she says. So I start a task and soon find myself on a roll as the Americans say. I try to tackle the worse jobs first thing. The only problem is becoming ruled by the merely urgent rather than concentrating on the important. I need help identifying what is a block and when I must wait patiently for the Lord’s timing. 

If the rain falls just as I finish hanging out the washing I still have to resist swearing, which must show that I'm not that mature in my faith yet. Does it make sense if I say that I try to be kind and gracious, to be generous and show gratitude, even if I don’t feel like it? That I ask the Holy Spirit not only to guide me but put the right words into my mouth? I fail of course but I do try to listen to God. The fact that pertinent Bible verses seem to find me at the right time bashes things home. I cling to the promises of God. ‘The obedient will be given a helper,’ is a great one. I claim that repeatedly and somehow the ironing gets done.

I love it when new doors open and pray for my strength to hold up when they do. Sometimes I am a little hesitant, asking ‘Is this really you, Lord?’ but it’s advisable to ask for confirmation. Please provide me with the scripture for this, as it's evaporated from my memory, but when confirmation comes from the Word there's nothing like it. I love living in the Lord’s will, walking in his ways. I should be braver. There have been times when I have taken risks so radical that I’ve needed daily miracles to survive but there are different seasons in our lives and the art of living well is to take time to appreciate the beauty in them all. 

Author Sophie Neville

QUAKERS IN FIGHT AGAINST CHF/M.E.

'When there is a group of people being treated with unkindness and injustice, their suffering either ignored or disbelieved, then it is likely that some Quakers will intervene to try to do something about it.  And so it is with the disease popularly known as ME although scientists prefer to call it Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS).' Anne Faulkner wrote last year.

'When in the 1980s I was diagnosed with the illness I was appalled to find the situation where sufferers were enduing pain and distress but their doctors were either ignoring their problems or abusing them, insisting their illness was imaginary.  Fortunately, there was a group of doctors and scientists who were alarmed at the increasing prevalence of the illness and were anxious that a research body should be formed and this is where Quakers stepped in.

My husband, Hugh Faulkner, and I, both members of Jordans Meeting and both experienced in running a charity, offered to undertake the establishment of a research foundation if we had the backing of these doctors and scientists.  This was enthusiastically welcomed and so the organisation was formed.  We had no money, so all had to be done on a voluntary basis.  We turned to Jordans Meeting and soon the majority of the part time staff were members of our Meeting.  We needed Trustees to oversee the organisation and again we turned to Quakers and soon we had a board of Trustees of whom four were members of the Society of Friends.  In 1997 Hugh died and I took over the directorship alone.

There was one other contribution made by Jordans Meeting.  Ian James, an attender who was a consultant physician at the Royal Free Hospital, was conducting a research study into CFS/ME, but more importantly, he ran a CFS/ME clinic which produced outstanding results.  Sadly he died before the study was completed leaving despairing patients behind.

In the twenty one years since its inception the research organisation, which was named the CFS Research Foundation has made an important mark on research worldwide.  We have an impressive portfolio of papers published in distinguished scientific journals covering the studies funded by the Foundation but, perhaps more importantly, a distinguished scientist wrote: “The Foundation may be proud of what it has achieved, not only from the work funded directly but also in helping bring about recognition that CFS is a genuine disorder that merits significant research spending nationally and globally” and another scientist wrote:  “We recognise the pioneering work of the Foundation.  You have a very important mission and one that deserves full support.”

I have often wondered to what extent the Quaker attitude to business has influenced this organisation.  I can’t remember ever having a vote in either Research Committee meetings or Trustees’ meetings.  Decisions are always consensual.  In an area where bitter arguments and strife were paramount the Foundation remained aloof and concentrated entirely on research.

When we came into being in 1993 there was little research into CFS/ME and what there was, was of poor quality.  It was imperative that this should be changed.  We formed a Research Committee of scientists pre-eminent in their fields.  Over the years four Fellows of the Royal Society have joined us.  It was decided that the Foundation should only fund research of the gold standard.  We knew this was bound to impress scientists and the Trusts we were approaching for funds. 

The most difficult problem we had facing us was the attitude of many sufferers to scientists, doctors and to each other.  At the same time doctors and scientists had entrenched ideas and CFS/ME became a very contentious issue.  We might have looked to journalists to show the suffering being caused by the illness, but on the whole journalists decided to give the subject a wide berth because whenever they wrote anything on the subject they received loads of what could only be regarded as hate mail.  The most damaging effect of this was that scientists turned their backs on research into the disease, they could not afford to become involved in such muddy waters.

Naturally the Foundation received despairing letters from patients, but we refused to become embroiled in the arguments.  Was this again the Quaker approach?  We pointed out that only research could find the true answers and we were pulling out all the stops to take this forward but we were not going to be involved in arguments.

For several years the Foundation has funded studies examining the basis of the disease by concentrating on comparing the genes of CFS/ME sufferers with those of normal healthy people and gene research is still at the top of our agenda.  But we realise that this is likely to be long term research so we are funding a study examining the reasons for the devastating pain endured by the majority of sufferers so that therapies may be found to alleviate or eliminate this pain.

Friends do not usually become involved in medical research or attempting to change attitudes to an illness with the notable exception of the establishment and work of The Retreat.  I have often wondered why Friends were so determined to do something about this illness.  It may have been knowing that there are 600,000 people so affected with little being done for them.  It may have been the knowledge that 25% of these people were virtually prisoners in their homes, many bedbound for months or years.  Whatever the reasons it must be acknowledged that Friends, through the CFS Research Foundation, made an important contribution in changing the attitude to the disease in the general population, but more importantly among doctors and scientists.  Research has gone ahead in a way it had never done so before.

Sadly, the influence of Friends has almost disappeared. Over the years our Quaker voluntary helpers have grown too old or moved away and I am the only Quaker Trustees left. Because of my ME, while I work from the office in my home, I am unable to go to Meeting . So I have not been able to talk to Friends about our work and so find new Friends to join us, but the real need is for Quaker Trustees and I would hope that some Friend may feel able to join us and help to keep going the Foundation’s belief that while research must go ahead there is no room for bitterness and fighting between sufferers and doctors and scientists.  The Foundation still needs Friends to keep this vision alive.'

Please click here for the website. 

 Anne Faulkner - 29 April 2013.

Sadly, Anne died not long after sending me this article. I know she wanted it published.

A time for the church to bend its knees

On Christmas Day 1992, I started going to a little thatched church, deep in the African bushveldt, the Church of St John the Baptist at 24 Rivers near Vaalwater in the Waterberg region of South Africa. After twelve years I married and moved to the Church of St John the Baptist in the United Kingdom, but we returned to the Waterberg this January and were able to attend seven Sunday services and several other activities with my old friends who make up the community at the little church. 

Here is the latest sermon from Shane Dowinton, chairman of the congregation:   

'A couple of weeks ago we had a wonderful weekend at our church where we got down to the nitty gritty of worship. We got deep into the why, when and how of being a worshipper in all aspects of life and we learned that when we worship God we are somehow drawn into His presence.

What an amazing thought, that the God of the universe would allow us to draw near to Him through humble acts of worship. Yet as followers of Christ we do have this incredible mystery that a transcendent God, the creator of all things, the author of all life, a God beyond our wildest imaginings, actually desires relationship with man which also makes Him an imminent God. That word imminent relates to the word Immanuel a prophetic word for Christ which literally means God with us. The very nature of God is both beyond our understanding in its enormity and yet near enough to know each one of us personally in relationship.

Now, last week we had a period of 40 hours of prayer and fasting where we saw the Lord work in wonderful ways. We joined with the nation of South Africa for three hours of that time petitioning God on behalf of our country. It was a time of intercession.

Tying the two weekends up seemed like a logical thing to do today since worship and prayer go together from God’s perspective, so I’d like to unpack that concept a little by looking at the purpose and means of intercessory prayer.

I spoke about prayer last year too, but I concentrated on the relationship aspect, that before anything God wants a relationship with you and that prayer is the dialogue that marks that relationship. Today though, I want to look at another aspect of prayer; the fact that through the incredible access and relationship we have with the Father, we are able to join him about his work. It’s incredible and wonderful to have a close relationship with your Father but it’s another level of maturity altogether to be allowed to join the family business.

I’m going to use the word intercession quite often this morning so, first off, I just want to explain what that means in this context. Intercession literally means to stand in the gap, to stand in between two parties, and in the context of prayer it means that we petition the Father on behalf of others. We might do that at a relational level praying for healing from sickness. We might stand in the gap as we did when we prayed last weekend for South Africa, we stood on behalf of the country before God asking His forgiveness for our disobedience as a nation, for not having Him at the centre of our government, our society and our families and we asked, on behalf of this nation, that God would intervene, that He would show grace towards us (undeserved favour) despite us. We can also intercede at a global level asking for God’s mercy on certain nations or world powers or situations.

To begin with, I’d like to give an example of someone from scripture who will demonstrate what intercession is all about and I decided that a great picture of it is found in the story of Esther. It’s an odd book found in the Old Testament that actually never even mentions God but is filled with types and representations of God and is filled with good teaching. It’s a bit long to read as a prelude to a message so I’ll read an abbreviated paraphrase by David Pawson to put us in the picture.

The Jews are in exile in Persia, assimilated into the culture but far away from Jerusalem and home. During these 70 years of exile certain Jews have risen to positions of power, Daniel is one, he became prime minister under several Babylonian kings and here in this story we find Esther. Esther was young and beautiful and queen to the most powerful king in the world, Xerxes. But just like a good Mills and Boon novel she has a secret that could mean her death; she is Jewish in a society that hates Jews.

Xerxes rules over a kingdom that stretches from India to Egypt and he decides to have a bit of a bash for all the important people in that kingdom as a team building exercise I guess. At the end of the conference he decides to show off his wife Vashti but she refuses to come so he decides after some counselling, to get a new queen. After a prolonged beauty contest, including a year’s worth of beauty treatments, Esther becomes Xerxes favourite.

Esther is a Jew from the tribe of Benjamin and the cousin to a man called Mordecai, he’s a good guy. The bad guy in the piece is a man called Haman who hates the Jews. The tension in the story mounts when Haman, who is an important official in the Kings court gets a law passed so that everyone in the kingdom must worship the king. Mordecai refuses and angers Haman who goes to the king accusing the Jews of insubordination and lack of respect for the king. He manages to get Xerxes to order the entire annihilation of the Jews on a certain date.

When the Jews find out they’re mortified and decide to fast and pray. Mordecai sends a message to Esther that she has to speak to the King to stop this or it’s tickets for Israel. Actually what he says is that it may be that she was brought to the kingdom for such a time as this which is the one line we know well from Esther!
In those days it wasn’t easy to pop in and see the king and Esther hadn’t been invited for 30 days. If she turned up unrequested it could mean her death. Thankfully, the king was pretty fond of Esther and she was allowed into his court but he also granted her a generous request “Up to half of the Kingdom”. She asks if the King and Haman would join her for a meal.

Haman, meanwhile had started to think of the fruits of his evil and had a giant 50 foot gallows erected in his garden just for Mordecai.

The night before the banquet the king couldn’t sleep so he reads a few of his old diaries. He discovers that Mordecai had saved his life from assassination years before and had never been rewarded. So he makes arrangements for Mordecai to be paraded around the city in fine robes on a beautiful horse by…you guessed it, Haman. Talk about stirring the pot!

At the banquet Esther plucked up the courage to speak to the king about her people. When the king heard that Haman was behind the evil plot he gets Haman impaled on the pole he had designed for Mordecai and the Jews are saved. It’s a staggering change of fortune and in fact the Jews are given licence to attack their own assassins!

It’s an amazing story, not least because it’s true. But imagine, if this hadn’t happened there would be no Jewish people at all, after all the Persian Empire stretched over most of the known world at that time. And if the Jews had been destroyed there would be no Jesus. So, quite important really.

It’s a great story, full of tension and excitement. Heroes and heroines, good guys and bad guys, and the right Holywood ending – happily ever after.

Now what on earth does that have to do with intercessory prayer?!!

Let’s start with the cast.

• There is a powerful king over a broad and powerful kingdom. He holds life and death in his hands. He is revered, a ruler to be feared, and getting close to him is not easy.
• Yet he has a relationship with a beautiful bride, his queen, who he loves dearly.
• There is a very real enemy who is bitter and vindictive and hell bent (sorry about the pun) on destroying his enemy.

I’m sure you are getting the characters in place now; Jesus is the king above all kings. He has the power and the authority to intervene in all things relating to his people and his kingdom. Queen Esther represents the church, the bride of Christ, beautiful and prepared for her King.

The enemy, of course, is Satan who ironically also held the most important place in the court of God before his aspirations for power caused him to be cast out of God’s presence. There is even a foreshadowing of his powers being stripped from him as Haman is forced to lead Mordecai on a victor’s horse paraded through the streets as a reward from the king. “..having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them by the cross.” Colossians 2 v 15 Haman also does what Satan does before God, that is, he accuses God’s people before him, he tries to tell the Father that we are rebellious and unworthy of his attention and deserving of destruction.

If that is the cast then the plot ought to ring truths for us also and it does. As God’s people are assimilated into a culture not their own and subject to all that is imposed by it, so the church of God resides in the world. We are in the world but not of the world.

We have an enemy whose lies, deceit and desire to destroy are aimed directly at us. He accuses us before the king and we face his attempts to destroy us constantly.

However, through Christ’s sacrifice at the cross we have access to the King; he loves us and hears us when we call to him. His blood has redeemed us and we have the rights to enter his courts.

“We have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body” Hebrews 10 v 19-20  

We have favour beyond what we could reasonably expect. Esther was offered up to half of the kingdom before she had even asked anything of Xerxes, we as the church are given the keys to the whole kingdom, and Jesus said the gates of Hades will not prevail against us [his church]. [Matt 16 v 18] And although it might seem harsh that the prize for the Jews was to turn on their own assassins, there is a parallel for us as the church. Jesus said “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…” [Matt 28 v 18] The church is ordered, not to defend its walls but to attack the walls of Hell.

The king loves his bride, in relationship with the king we are loved and prized. We have been chosen and prepared with oil and fragrance, the oil of the Holy Spirit and the fragrance of Christ. The preparation that draws us into his favour is done by his Holy Spirit; it is in relationship that we find the King disposed to our requests.

Prayer that brings us into God’s presence.
In our worship workshop we saw that there was a process by which we can come into God’s presence, it is known as the tabernacle. It was ordained by God and implemented by Moses into the life of the newly formed Israelites.  The Tabernacle had only one entrance called “the Way” through which the people were allowed in. There was a sacrificial altar, a washing laver, there was Shewbread and there was a lampstand. These objects symbolise the sacrifice of Christ, the washing in the blood and the Word, the bread of Christ and the Holy Spirit being the oil, the fire and the light within us. And then there was a censor of incense whose smoke rose into the Holy of Holies, the place that represented God’s presence, and this symbolised our worship and our prayer.

As these images demonstrate in the natural we can take them to be truth in heaven.
Revelation 8 verses 3 – 5 says  “Another angel, who had a golden censer, came and stood at the altar. He was given much incense to offer, with the prayers of the saints, on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, together with the prayers of the saints, went up before God from the angel’s hand. Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it on the earth; and there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightening and an earthquake.”

This passage gives us a clear picture of the prayers of the saints, that’s us by the way, offered to God and returned to earth with great power. It’s clear that our prayers reach the throne of heaven, the highest and most Holy of places and that they carry power, they reach the king.
When Jesus asked us to pray “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” he meant exactly that. We are to pray heaven here on earth.

Our original and unchanging mandate.
As I said at the beginning of this message we were designed to be in relationship with God from the outset of creation. We were made in God’s image so that we could communicate with Him, we have a family likeness, we are spiritual beings, and we were given a role. Genesis 1 v 28 says “God blessed [Adam and Eve] and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.”

We were always meant to bring Heaven to earth. Sadly, in Eden we flipped God’s agenda to our own. In a tragic twist to the story, a story where we would be intimately caught up in God’s purpose for the world, we were literally and easily talked out of it. Instead, we desired the wisdom of God without the person of God; we rejected the relationship with Him in order to have the perks of power on our own agenda.

When I was pondering this thought, I realised that the Eden story is a powerful picture indicting my prayer life. Have you ever made the mistake of seeing God as a vending machine, or a genie in a bottle? Have you ever gone to God with your list; your map for the perfect future, with your plans and agendas, I know I have. It’s a reflection of Eden; we reject the relationship and use it for our designs. God always intended our relationship with Him to bring about heavenly results. Our prayer picture was always too small!

Thankfully, Eden isn’t the end of the story. God didn’t give up on us; in fact, He has never stopped pursuing us because His purpose is the same. He wants a relationship with us and He wants us to be a part of His redemption plans for our world. We are still meant to bring heaven to earth.

God invites us into relationship with Him but He goes further than that, He invites us into the family business, to deliver the redemptive acts of His kingdom to a damaged and floundering world. He asks us to partner with him in prayer, to seek him and His purposes for this world. He promises to reveal unsearchable things to us, to effect great and impossible things.

“His [God’s] intent was that now, through His church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms according to His eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. In Him and through Him we may approach God with freedom and confidence.”   Ephesians 3 v 10-12

The family business is way bigger than we could imagine. Our prayers effect not just our natural world but also the heavenlies, we have power in our prayers to give wisdom to rulers and authorities in the heavenly realm.

Remember Jesus’ words “What you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, what you loose in heaven will be loosed on earth.” They must be important, he said them on at least two occasions. [ Matt 16 v 19, Matt 18 v 18, ]

Samuel Chadwick once said, and I have no idea who he is!
“The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayer less studies, prayer less work, and prayer less religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks our wisdom, but he trembles when we pray.”

How serious are we about prayer? Are we content to restrict our prayers to a 100 metre radius; are we happy with a kilometre or ten kilometres even? Or do we want to be caught up in heavens plans? Are you stirred this morning to take up your place in the family business? Do you see the authority and power that you have been given through Christ and in Christ? Do you want to bat on the front foot, get a few boundaries for God, or are you content to defend the stumps and play out for a draw.

I’m challenged by prayer, and I know how poor my prayer life is! I want to be caught up in prayer that changes things. I want to be in the family business and I’m prepared to start as the gardener. I just know that my prayer life is sadly lacking and because that is so the church is defending not attacking. If you feel like I do I want you to say amen when I pray this prayer.

Lord Jesus, we want to be caught up in the plans and purposes of heaven. We confess that our prayers are weak and powerless so often and we repent of that. Prepare us, Lord, for greater things; give us a thirst for you and your designs. Anoint us Holy Spirit to prayer that glorifies God; saturate us in the fragrance of our Lord Jesus Christ. We cry out to you in his name, teach us the great and unsearchable things of the Father that we might effect your Kingdom’s work here on earth and in the heavenlies. 

Lift this humble church to become a vessel of great treasure, heavenly treasure filled to overflowing with living water. Make us a city upon a hill, a light that cannot be quenched for you. Stir up our prayers, Lord, so that you would be seen here, found here, sought here. May we be the light and flavour that is so desperately needed here on earth. “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

A letter from Veritas College in Uganda

Daniel Munanura Hama, National College Director of Veritas College, which trains Pastors and church leaders, writes from Uganda:

'I am in a season of my life where God is challenging me about my heart’s motives; why I do what I do.
Why is a very important question; I am increasingly persuaded that we need to stop and ask ourselves why we do the things we do – as often as we can. This is especially the case when it relates to spiritual things.

'What is/are our truest motivation(s)?

'I would like to share why I am doing the ministry work that I do; why I am involved in Veritas College Uganda.

'About six years ago, I made a decision that would influence my life greatly; I was already a Christian but I felt like there was a certain amount of discontentment with my life as it was then; I actually felt that there were many things that God wanted me to do with my life that were yet undone and would remain undone unless I allowed Him to more prominently influence the course of my life. I wanted Him to reveal my calling, and more so, to show me practically how to live it.

'When you really know why you are doing what you are doing, and if that reason is true and noble, it is like a clearer and brighter light to your path. It helps you through the confusing times when the going gets tough or when it gets too easy – because both of those times have the potential to create confusion; they heighten or dull our emotions, blur our minds and challenge us spiritually. It is in those times that we need to check ourselves in the Lord, and it helps if He is our reason why.

'We need to stop and put our focus on Him and remind ourselves of His love for us and remind ourselves to love Him. I have seen this turn situations around.'


Training Coordinator Godfrey Ntale writes:

'I am married to Sarah and we have two boys and one girl Calvin, Nathaniel and Abigail. They all support my involvement with Veritas in Uganda. I work as the Training Coordinator and for me it has been a great experience to serve pastors and other church leaders in Uganda. Statistics show that the population of Uganda is 80% Christian, but this seems very inconsistent with what we experience when you consider what is represented through many media houses, in government, and in other social sectors. One thing that comes across clearly is that there is a lack of proper Bible understanding and application.

'During our training we occasionally receive testimonies from pastors confessing to us the wrong teachings they gave, and some even went ahead repenting to their congregations their wrong doctrines. This happens, not necessarily because of wrong motives on their part, but more often because of lack of proper training. The few Bible Schools in the country are “a drop in a desert" - they cannot reach the great number of churches whose leaders and congregants are in need of training. Worse still, the approach that most theological schools use requires that their students become residential at their institution, which means that the student – often already a leader of a church - needs to be away from his family and ministry, and this also means that the leaders have to be away from their work, be it ministry or tent making.

Veritas’ approach brings the training to where the leaders are. We train them and their congregants within their church setting, and encourage the church to own the training programs through a process known as Integrated Leadership Development, whereby leaders we train are empowered to integrate the same training into his/her own church/ministry by training their own people within their own context.

Pray with us:
 Thank you for the past year and the Lord’s provision in so many ways.
 Thank you for the new leadership and for them taking up their new roles and responsibilities.
 That the current “training season” will go well and that facilitators will be committed to train new leaders and empower them to also facilitate.
 That financial support will continue and grow.

May you and your family have a blessed Christmas time and may 2014 be a year where you will experience God’s grace in abundance!'


Equipping to serve … a new chapter in Uganda

It is an exciting time for the work in Uganda and as Veritas College International (VCI) we believe the new leadership will build on the solid foundation which was laid during the years by Richard van de Ruit and his team. Many leaders and the people they serve have been equipped to serve their churches and communities and we pray that many more will be impacted.

On all levels – administration, finances, training and follow-up – the new team has been working hard to keep the same level of service and even to improve on certain areas. As Daniel (National Director) and Godfrey (Training Coordinator) are not new hands in Veritas the training strategy for example was already improved by them a few years ago and we can see the impact of that now.

December 2013

Veritas College Uganda: PO Box 6016, Kampala, Uganda / danielhama@veritascollege.org

Veritas College International (UK): PO Box 100, Harpenden, Herts, AL5 5EU, UK

Veritas College International (SA): PO Box 3434, Matieland, 7602, South Africa / ivan@veritascollege.org

For donations please contact annelee@veritascollege.org

African Community Outreach

My friends Hamish and Terri Rodgers

Would you drive into a South African township to help a hopeless alcoholic living in a cardboard box?

You hear that little children are being abused in an unregistered creche, that others are not getting into school simply because their parents cannot afford to buy a uniform. What can you do?

Could you help tiny children who are going to bed hungry, knowing their elder siblings are beginning to miss school so that they can search rubbish dumps for food? 

Hamish and Terri rolled up their sleeves and started to do what they could. They registered a not-for-profit organisation in South Africa under the name of 'African Community Outreach' and started addressing needs. Hamish kept working as a freelance Safari Guide to keep them on the road, whilst Terri, a trained nurse, was able to help the sick. 

December and early January are their busiest times as children are admitted to school at the start of the year. They try to make sure that every child in their local township of Leseding is able to get a place at school and enter properly equipped. This way they nip any 'Street Kid' problem in the bud - but it is hot work. Do send them a message of encouragement in the comments box below.   

To read more about Hamish and Terri's projects please click here

  

They are currently supported by a UK registered charity called Brighter Start. Click here for their page on this website Africa Community Outreach 

New Wine in Somerset

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On 4th August we are off to spend a week at the New Wine Conference near Shepton Mallet in Somerset.

I have volunteered to help at the Film Cafe run by Bible Society where we will be serving coffee, cakes and 'chocolate mountains' whilst showing much-loved feature films. The Festival starts on 27th July but we are going for the second week.

New Wine say ~
The Arena is our brand new venue where everyone can join together for worship, teaching and ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit. Coming together as a united family allows for powerful encounters with God.

Those looking for ‘something different’ there will be our morning Alternative Acoustic sessions in the Hungry venue. In an atmosphere of presence-led worship, Charlie and Anita Cleverly will teach into a biblical charismatic contemplative encounter with Christ.

Celebrations and Bible reading ~
Our evening celebrations have become a firm favourite with New Wine visitors and this year we are expanding on this with the introduction of a morning celebration. Both will have plenty of opportunity for worship, ministry and teaching.

After the morning celebration, at 11.15 Simon Ponsonby will bring us daily Bible teaching exploring the book of Romans. This will run in parallel with our normal morning seminar programme.

Live worship ~
Back by popular demand is our live worship album. To guarantee your copy you need to pre-order the album on site. This is a great way to rekindle all those New Wine memories and bring back the sound of summer!

Diary Room ~
Also new this year is our Diary Room. This is your opportunity to share with us how God is working in your life. Share your story with us, and you never know, you might see yourself up on the big screens in one of the main venues!

Are you free?  Can you come too?

For information about volunteering at the Bible Society Cafe click here

To find out more about the New Wine Festival please click here

The July issue of iBelieve is out now

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My feature in this issue of iBelieve goes into more depth about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. What is amazing is that we still know so little about this debilitating disease.

It is rather a good illustration of someone with ME - although a terrifying number of patients can neither sit up or lift a glass. I have been told that the number of people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in the UK is nearer 250,000.*

 Please click on the images to enlarge

To order two issues of iBelieve please click here

* CFS Research Foundation

Dr John Sentamu, Archbishop of York

On 18th May I attended a confirmation held in Ripon. The Archbishop of York gave out copies of his address afterwards, suggesting we could sell them on eBay.

'I've just been speaking at a high-security gaol,' he went on, amused that of the prisoners called him 'Archie.'
'You seem like a dynamic man, Archie, but aren't the leaders of the church boring geeks?'

'My prayer,' The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Dr John Sentamu told us, 'is that the people of this county can talk about Jesus the way they talk about the weather. Then something will happen.' He explained that in Uganda, where he comes from they only have climate. 'Whether we know Christ or have only grasped a fragment of him, the best is yet to come.'

He spoke to the ordinands saying, 'Love always involves a responsibility, and it always involves a sacrafice. We don't really love Christ unless we are prepared to face the task he gives and to take up his cross.' 

We now hear that the Archbishop is facing treatment for prostate cancer. He must have known this when he took the service in Ripon, and yet he managed to fill the church with laughter.

As we left the service my husband thanked Dr Sentamu saying, 'Asanti sana,' (Many thanks in Swaheli). He was immediately clasped in a passionate embrace.

'Let each of us serve Christ where Christ has sent us,' the Archbishop told us. 'As the Risen Christ said to Peter: 'Never mind the task that is given to someone else. John is none of your business. Your job is to follow me and to be faithful to your calling.' 

'That is what Jesus Christ still says to each one of us. Our glory is never in comparison with others; our glory is the service of Christ in whatever capacity he has allotted to us. But all of us are called to worship him and to witness to what he has done, and is doing in our lives as we dwell in him.'

Another episode of 'Funnily Enough' serialised in iBelieve, the rather glamorous Christian lifestyle magazine

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The author of 'Funnily Enough'

with further true-life stories serialised in

To buy two issues of iBelieve please click here 

~ Churches can apply for special rates for magazine orders ~ 

Mary Stephenson speaking on Premier Radio

Mary Stephenson, a former addict, shares her testimony of finding Jesus in a 'Woman to Woman' interview  on London's Premier Christian Radio (listen on demand, recorded in May 2013).

You will need to use Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox to listen.

Send a Bible, a Bible a Month ~

I learnt about Bible a Month in about 1984, as my flatmate had joined the scheme. I thought, 'That's a nice thing to do.' I wish I'd found out more. I didn't realise how inexpensive it was and went on my own merry way without joining.

In about 1996 I spotted some new Bibles, in the Tswana language, on a shelf in a junk shop where I lived in South Africa, selling for £1 each. I bought the lot to take with me to Botswana. They proved ideal gifts and I was asked to return with more. This was difficult as there were no longer any for sale in my town. I had to persuade a farmer, I knew was a Gideon, to let me have a box of New Testaments. Some were in Tswana. Some were in English –at the front - and Afrikaans at the back. One had a gold cover. 

As I was travelling into the Okavango Delta, on the back of a lorry, an American tourist asked me what was in the heavy box. 

'They are Bibles,' I explained. 

She was horrified, disgusted. But as soon as we arrived all the Botswanans rushed up, asking me, 

'Did you remember the Bibles?' 

The scathing expression on the American woman's face dissolved as she realised how much they had been longed for. Everyone wanted the one with a gold cover. I apologised as I gave the English/Afrikaans versions to those who spoke English. 

'No problem,' one Tswana lady told me. 'I shall use it to learn Afrikaans' and she did. 

Many of those Tswana people have now died of AIDS. I am very glad I took the Bibles to them. I fear the next box I took up was not received by those who really wanted them, and I couldn't keep going.  

Instead I started sending £10 a month to Bible Society, discovering that it was a much easier way to distribute Bibles than going into the Okavango on a lorry. It was only when I reached China that I understood that supporting Bible Society is probably one of the best investments you can make. When I was going around the Amity Printing Company in Nanjing I realised that my meagre gift had been able to subsidize a substantial amount of printing. I stood in front of a great stack of about 300 Bibles thinking, 

'Those are my Bibles!' 

Each one will be read by about five adults. That is a total of 1,500 people, all thirsting for the Word. They estimate that 10,000 a week are converting to Christianity in China, many in the poor rural areas where people only earn about £1.60 a day. It's imperative that they have access to Bibles in their own language. And these Bibles are so treasured, so appreciated, used by many who are learning to read. When we went up-country to help distribute the new Bibles were we heralded with trumpets and fire-crackers, welcomed by crowds of people. I walked up to the village with tears in my eyes, saying to myself, 'All I've done is to give £10 a month.' 

Is a Bible a life changing gift? Yes.

Is giving Bibles a matter of life and death? It can be. Providing Bibles for Prisoners in South Africa will save lives. Giving Bibles to the Military in Zimbabwe will save lives. Subsidising Bibles for the people of China could be more important than we can ever imagine. I believe lives will be saved.  

How do you impact a nation? Give a Bible a Month. It's not just 'a nice thing to do'.

To find out more about Bible Society please click here