Sunday 30 December 2007

Church is a family I am part of, not a meeting I go to


‘Church is a family I am part of, not a meeting I go to’. If there is one phrase I will remember Richard Bartrop for, it is that phrase. I had the privilege of working alongside Richard for a time in the late 1990’s and he would repeat the phrase on any and every occasion. Those of us that shared with Richard membership of King’s Church Peterborough are not likely to forget it!

Richard died on Christmas Eve after a long fight with cancer. I remember the first time Roh and I met Richard and Janet. Coming out of a poor church experience, we pitched up as a family at Peterborough Christian Fellowship (later renamed King’s Church) and loved it from that first meeting at South Grove Community Centre. We grew and we shrank (shrinking mainly as a result of Richard following the primary calling of his life and going off to serve the churches in Africa) and we loved it.

I learned a lot from him and it was a privilege to serve alongside him for a while. He lived his life to the max. Incredibly focussed, a great organiser with a truly pastoral heart. He showed, of course, that church is a family I am part of, not a meeting I go to.

Friday 21 December 2007

...And a Roh moment

Each year we get a calendar from Oxfam- it's a bit of a tradition. As Roh walked into the shop this year, she noticed it had changed quite a lot. They had started selling clothes for a start. The books were on the other side of the room and the CD's weren't quite as good a selection as she remembered.

Undeterred, Roh asked the shop assistant where the calendars were. 'We don't sell calendars' said the shop assistant. 'Yes you do' said Roh. 'I buy one each year at this time.' 'Hold on' said the shop assistant, 'I'll ask the manager'.

The manager also advised that they don't stock calendars. 'But you do!' said Roh. 'Big ones with beautiful scenes from around the world. I get one from you every year'. 'Ah' said the manager. 'I think you want the Oxfam shop next door'. Roh slipped out of the British Heart Foundation shop as unobtrusively as possible.

Wednesday 12 December 2007

Another 'train moment'

The franchise for the East Coast Line changed at the weekend, so I had the pleasure of travelling on a National Express train on Monday (RIP GNER). Same train, same seats, same crew.....

But travelling back in the evening brought about one of those many odd 'train moments'. We had just pulled out of Kings Cross when the guard came on the speakers to apologise for a lack of catering crew. It seems they had left them behind at Kings Cross! To give them their due, they were able to pick up a relief crew at the first stop, but it was a fun moment for all!

Sunday 9 December 2007

New moon?

I was amused by a BBC headline on their web pages back in 2000. It announced that Jupiter had a new moon. Not new at all! It’s been there all the while. It’s just that we hadn’t seen it before! The Psalmist says ‘when I consider the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, what is man that you are mindful of him?’ It can certainly make you feel like that. Just the vastness of God’s creation, the bigness of God.

Tuesday 4 December 2007

Politics (2)

There was a really interesting programme on TV on Tony Blair this last weekend. His press secretary at the time he was Prime Minister admitted he wanted to keep Blair's faith private in order to avoid press comment. He also said Blair took a Bible with him whenever he travelled and always read it before going to bed.

The Bible encourages us to pray for our leaders- here's one that prayed too!