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Rev John Davies writes

Dear Friends,

Burma Cyclone Appeal
As you will know, Burma (now Myaamar) has been devastated by the worst natural disaster is living memory. On Saturday 3rd May cyclone Nargis struck, and this was followed by a gigantic wave some 10, high which caused devastation over the Irrawaddy delta area, flattening homes and cutting power-lines. The statistics are incredible. The main city, Rangoon, is in one of the disaster zones, sand in Bogolay, a city of some 190,000 people, about half the size of Hereford, about 95% of homes have been flattened. Many villages have been cut off and as I write (in May) no help has reached these areas.

The Burmese regime hasn't got a good reputation - it is a totalitarian regime, suspicious of the West (though one can sympathise with that - I am myself sometimes!) and for many years the Methodist Church has been urging us to boycott Total petrol as this is produced there. Forced labour and forced relocation have caused many deaths. The Christian minority, numbering nearly four million, has been severely persecuted for decades, as has the Karen minority, and people rightly ask how can we help when the regime is adverse to foreign aid and without seeming to support Christian persecution.

One answer is to give to the Barnabas Fund, which has contacts within the country which can channel aid where it is most needed, and which will work through Christian churches and agencies which are already in place.

This is from their website - I hope they won't mind me reproducing it.

"Already the Rangoon-based team is sending out pairs of workers to different areas, taking funds to purchase emergency relief. The greatest needs at the moment are rice, drinking water, salt, medicine and blankets. Costs of items and transport are hard to estimate because the crisis has already hugely increased the price of food, petrol and other commodities. Later it will be necessary to rebuild or repair houses (our partners' initial estimate of the cost is $100 (S51) per household)'

If you would like to help Christian victims of the cyclone in Burma, then you have a choice of methods:­

1. Donate on online using this address: - http://www.barnabasfund.org/support/support_01.php

2. Call 0800 587 4006 and make a donation over the phone

3. Send a cheque to Barnabas Fund, 9 Priory Row, Coventry, CV1 SEX

We pray that aid and relief will reach all who need it, including the persecuted Christian minority. We pray for the churches in Burma - "Pray for us that we will be full of wisdom and understanding of His will to do this work," write Barnabas wad's partners. We pray that the Burmese government will accept outside aid, and they will allow their people greater freedom and in particular that they will cease persecuting Christians and others.

In His Name, every blessing
John Davies

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Rev John Davies writes

Dear Friends,

A recent survey – Religious Trends – reports that church attendance in the U.K. is falling, whilst other religions – especially the Moslems - continue to grow in strength. 

Ten years or so ago about 8 million people attended church about once a month. That number is now 4 million – and falling. This brings other problems in its wake as aging congregations lose the capacity to maintain the infrastructure of the church; to keep the buildings open and the ministers paid, and provide enough volunteers to keep the whole thing rolling. 

Mush has been made of this projection, not least that based on pure statistics, we may see the day in a generation or two when church going Christians are outnumbered by mosque attending Moslems; this process will undoubtedly see the day coming when there will be calls for the Church of England to be dis-established and for Britain to be formally no longer recognised as a Christian country. 

Of particular concern to Methodists is the simple statistic that whilst on the positive side we have a great deal of active lay leadership and involvement in our church structure, on the negative side the age profile of our churches tends to be much greater than most other denominations. Quite why this is is open to question – though a perceived inability to move with the times doesn’t help – but it is noticeable that all too often we have now not one but two missing generations in many of our churches, some of whom are worshipping in other denominations which offer worship and leadership styles more to their liking. 

There is much that can be said about all of this, and undoubtedly one can do anything with statistics. . The figures given for church attendance are hotly disputed – the C of E says by as much as 30%. One also has to remember the famous report in the Methodist Recorder some 25 years ago now that said that within 20 years there would be no British Methodists left! 

But undoubtedly there are going to be big changes in the next few generations, most uncomfortable. Some smaller congregations, struggling to survive, will fold. Other larger or better favoured ones will struggle to find adequate lay leadership due to the increasing age of their congregations. We may in the end become a network of gathered congregations, much larger churches than at present serving a wide area – this is just how the Catholics tend to operate throughout the U.K. 

How we react to this is crucial. It is perhaps tempting to put up a sign saying ‘Will the last one out put the lights’! But it is probably going to be more fruitful to discuss with renewed urgency what God is calling us to in this present age, and to ensure that we are using our resources – including energy and time - to best effect. In particular the burning question must be ‘How do we interface with the non church going generations to convince them that the gospel has something to say to them – to tell them that God loves them and that discovering God’s love can change their lives.’

It is interesting that it is in the main the house churches and independent evangelical churches, with their strong and straightforward gospel messages, which are bucking this downward trend. For me, this underlines the need for simple, intelligible biblical preaching and teaching, and crystal clear communication. We need to learn the language of the world around us – to speak their language so that they can learn ours – and to learn to be upfront about introducing people to Jesus - for why should people, want to come to church at all unless they know – or wish to know – Jesus? 

In His Name, every blessing 
John Davies

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Rev John Davies writes

Dear Friends,

Aldersgate Day 

May marks the anniversary of John Wesley’s evangelical conversion on May 24th 1738. 
So why celebrate it now? Many will say, True, the Wesley brothers founded Methodism – originally a just means of organizing and nurturing their increasing band of converts throughout the country and later the world, rather than a church, but is it not time to move on? 

I am not so sure. I think there is still a lot that we can learn from the Wesleys, and in some ways I feel their message is more relevant now than it was a generation or so ago. 

The Wesleys came on the scene at a time of great moral depravity. There was increasing lawlessness, and a widespread indifference to authority and the Christian faith. It is hard to look at our generation and not see the similarities. In our generation people have more material possessions than ever before – yet we also have increasing immorality, open vice on our streets and TV’s, and increasing indifference within society to authority figures and the Christian faith. 

Recently, perhaps more than any other, the Shannon Matthews case highlights the type of life lived by so many in our country now. Every detail of the family life of that poor girl has been scrutinized at length and it makes for the main part sorry reading. She was born to a mother with a total of seven children by five, possibly six, fathers. As the facts are gone into, there are dark hints of violence and attempted extortion or fraud, amidst a complex network of shifting family relationships that are incredibly difficult to entangle. It is not possible yet to say with certainty what the truth is about the affair – but perhaps the saddest thing is that it is reported that the little girl at the centre of it all does not want to go home. 

During my ministry I have seen the numbers of weddings and baptisms decline year on year as church attendance has also slumped. Hand in hand with this has gone an increasing number of common law marriages, and increasing numbers of children born ‘out of wedlock’, and a growing public tolerance of immorality, pornography and sexual imagery of a kind which would have made even our 18th. Century forefathers blench. Most of the babies I now baptize are born to parents who are not married, whereas I had one or two cases in my entire first five years of ministry – and that in the days when twice as many parents as now had their babies baptized . 

It is not enough to get angry about the slipping standards of society, and totally useless to pontificate about them. In the end, as the Wesleys proved, nothing can change the human heart except the Holy Spirit, and it is only when people, like JohnWesley, have had their hearts ‘strangely warmed’ by the Power of God that they begin to find in Him the capacity to change their lives – and their lifestyles – for the better. 

Nothing else can save this generation from its terminal slide except the power of God. And it is only when people have had their hearts transformed by the knowledge of the love that God has for them that they can truly desire to live useful and respectable lives, and to be enabled to do so.

Wesley preached nothing less than the total transformation of man by God’s grace – His active love. Somehow as a church we need to regain our evangelistic zeal – our concern for the outcasts - and to tell them that God loves them and can change their lives. We need to speak their language, so that they can learn ours. And we need to be once again a people who are seeking to be holy and God centred before we will have anything of worth to offer. 

Every blessing Rev. John Davies

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Rev John Davies writes…..

Seven new sins…..

The Vatican has recently brought the seven deadly sins up to date by adding seven new ones. The original list was laid down in the 6th. century and consists of lust, gluttony, avarice, sloth, anger, envy and pride. Catholics have traditionally been encouraged to pursue the seven holy virtues instead: chastity, abstinence, temperance, diligence, patience, kindness and humility.

Deploring the decreasing sense of sin’ in today’s increasingly secularized world, the Vatican now suggests adding :- polluting the environment, being obscenely rich, dealing in drugs, abortion, social injustice, engineering genes, and cross generational sex – paedophilia. 
One can see where the Vatican is coming from. However, it is interesting to think that in 1500 years the list has changed from personal sins to those affecting society – and to wonder if the list will have to revised in every generation as society changes and alters. 

In the New Testament, St. Paul offers us several different lists of the sins his new churches had to avoid and the virtues the lives of new Christians should be demonstrating. Doubtless his choice was influenced by his knowledge of each individual congregation – the list would have been influenced by individual circumstances. Therefore, I am not sure if it is wise to start offering lists at all, and certainly not if they are to be set in concrete; there is always so much that one could add in, and whilst one can agree in general with the Vatican, not everyone would agree about the sins included in the present list being wrong in every case. If ‘dealing in drugs’ is a mortal sin, what about the old lady growing cannabis to ease her arthritis who sells some to her equally arthritic neighbours? If being ‘obscenely rich’ is a sin, what is the exact threshold? And how about the great philanthropists who give great amounts to charity yet normally retain control of their own purse strings? (Come to that, how about the Vatican’s own riches….) Surely it is what you do with wealth that matters, not simply possessing it. 

Again, although I am anti-abortion, I can think of one or two cases over the years when as a result of rape or because of terrible deformity the Catholic church itself has sanctioned abortion – what is surely undeniably wrong is abortion as a form of contraception. Come to that, if the Catholic church would allow planned contraception within marriage then many women in Catholic countries would not be in the position of having to consider abortion in the first place. 

And why only have seven? There are also other sins that should have been included as well - uncontrolled population growth, political imposition of force on another nation, manipulation of market forces, selfishness, and perhaps even nationalism -or at least fanaticism. 

But what concerns me most about making lists of sins is that the entire approach is contrary to Jesus’ own. When asked to give a judgement as to which commandments in the Jewish Law were most important, Jesus sidesteps this legalistic approach altogether, and instead centres the entire thing on two Laws which he uses as principles – you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength, and you shall love your neighbour as yourself. To these he adds another – ‘love one another’. In the end Christians are to apply these principles to every situation we find ourselves involved in, not just mechanically avoid certain sins. If we are earnestly trying to love God with all that is in us, to centre ourselves on Him, and to think our fellow human beings are equally as important to God as we are then we will not willingly do things which grieve Him or harm them.

May God help us through His Holy Spirit to see sin for what it is – and to avoid it. 

Every blessing 
Rev. John Davies

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Rev John Davies writes

‘All that stuff…..’

Some time ago now I had a conversation with someone about the faith and they said ‘Of course, you can’t really believe in all that stuff about a virgin birth and bodily resurrection’. I was quick to put them right. Whilst the church has never insisted on belief in the virgin birth, I have no problems with it; as for the resurrection, belief in the bodily resurrection following Jesus’ death by crucifixion was central to Christianity from the beginning, though there are different ways of seeing just how both Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection alter our relationship to God. 

Starting with the crucifixion, there are many theories of the atonement, in other words our understanding of what Jesus accomplished by His death on the cross. However, for the earliest Christians, most of whom had been Jews, the matter was simple. Jesus was the last sacrifice, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. As far as the Old Testament is concerned, man’s sin meant that everyone deserved God’s punishment, and only sacrifice would put man right with God. Because Jesus is God’s Son, sinless and perfect, His death on the cross means that there is no longer any need for any other sacrifice – the price has been paid, and ‘by His stripes we are healed’. To some today it seems strange that a good God demands sacrifice, and they find this sort of atonement language uncomfortable. To others – especially those who are painfully aware that their sins have separated them from God and they fully deserve His punishment – this understanding of the atonement is very helpful. 'On the cross God's love has reached down and dealt with human sin; the Man on the cross is the promise and the guarantee that even in the midst of a sinful world God and people can be friends again. Through Jesus that reconciliation, that fellowship, is available to us. (from 'Windows on the Cross' by Tom Small.) 

Jesus could have avoided the Cross, but did not, because of His obedience to His Father’s will, and His own inability to state anything less than the truth – He never, ever pulled His punches, even despite the fact this led to His arrest and trial. Whatever our understanding of the atonement, Jesus’ death therefore demonstrates His loyalty, love and obedience to His Father’s will. 

As to the Resurrection, the core belief of the early church was that Christ was resurrected, in bodily form, and after spending time with His disciples, returned to His Father, and now pours out the Holy Spirit on those who believe. ‘God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses…exalted to the right hand of God He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear’ Acts 2 vv 32,33. ‘Christ died for our sins ….He was raised…and He appeared to Cephas (Peter) then to the twelve.’ I Cor 15 vv 3-5 

The amazing truth at the centre of our Christian witness is that that crucified Jesus is now our Risen and Ascended Lord, who cleanses, blesses and sanctifies (i.e makes holy) His Church through the Holy Spirit, and whose presence we can feel with us even now, freed from the normal limitations of time and space. As Geoffrey Lampe puts it, ‘When we speak of meeting Christ today, we mean that God, who was incarnate in Jesus and made Himself known in the world of men in Jesus, still encounters us today’ (Epworth Review Vol. 3 no 3) 

This Easter, may we ourselves be encountered by God and find afresh His love for us, and may we know the presence of the Risen Christ with us with all the reality that those in the early Church did so long ago. 

Happy Easter to you all

Rev. John Davies

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Rev John Davies writes

Blessing Manyara is the youth work manager at the Vine, a Christian project in Walsall. Blessing lost contact with his parents in December last year and found out a few days later that his father (both parents were still in Zimbabwe) had been beaten up and seriously burned at the same time as thugs burned down the family business and home. He found out a few days later again that his mother had been seriously sexually abused at the same time.

Both parents are now out of Zimbabwe as a result of assistance from both Christians and secular movements but Blessing is reporting that he now knows of many even worse examples of atrocities being committed by people supporting the current regime.

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Facing the future.

 Yet again we stand at the threshold of a New Year, and I am beginning to find I am old enough to understand what people mean when they say that the years pass more quickly the older one gets!

 It is natural to reflect on the future at the beginning of a New Year – and it can be a daunting thing at times.  However, as Christians we know that we worship one who not only created all that there is but who holds all things in His hands – past, present and future included.  ‘I am the Alpha and Omega says the Lord God, who is, and was, and who is to come, the Almighty’  (Rev. 1 v 8)….in Him we live and move and have our being’ (Acts 17 v 29) .  More than that, we worship a God who knew us before we were born, and who has a plan for our lives – as Jeremiah puts is   ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord. ‘They are plans … to give you a future and a hope … You will find me when you seek me, if you look for me in earnest’ (Jer. 29:11,13) and although His words were written to an entire nation we can do as generations of Christians did before us and rightly apply them to ourselves.  

As to 2008, despite all the pollsters and pundits may write, no-one can tell us accurately what can happen in the future.  I read some years ago that when facing – or facing up – to the future, the bible suggests three principles.

 Consult God before you start setting your goals. 

If God really does know us, then it makes sense to consult Him first. "We may make our plans, but God has the last word." (Pr. 16:1, Good News Bible).  So at the beginning to the year it is sensible and appropriate to pray ‘Father God, what do you want of me in 2008?’

 Live one day at a time.

We all make plans, but these can be overturned, and especially so in these complex days.  Charles Wesley said that Christians were to ‘serve the present age, our calling to fulfil’ – and that still seems to me to be very good advice for today.  We may  plan for the future, but we are to live in the present because although you can plan for tomorrow, you can't live it until it arrives, apart from which your plans may be overtaken by events. As Jesus put it, ‘Don't worry anxiously about tomorrow …..God knows what you need.’ (Matt. 6:34 and 33) In the same vein the Psalmist says ‘Don't boast about what you're going to do tomorrow, for you don't know what a day may bring’ (Pr. 27:1) 

 Don’t procrastinate!

 Because we are meant to live in the present we shouldn’t hold back, or put things off.  Especially, we shouldn’t put off the opportunity to do good to someone. ‘Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act. Don't say to your neighbour, 'Come back later; I'll give it tomorrow' when you now have it with you.’ (Pr. 3:27-28)

 Lastly, Trust God.

Although we live in an imperfect world, and bad things happen to good people, neverthleless, we can know the comfort of God’s presence in all circumstances – and we are to trust Him whatever happens. As Jesus said, ‘Surely, I am with you always, even to the very end of the age’. (Matt. 28 v20) – or, as John Wesley put it, ‘The best is, God is with us!’

 Have a Happy and Fruitful New Year. 

         Every blessing, John Davies

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Rev John Davies writes

Dear friends, 

I was rather sad to see that this year there are some areas that just are not bothering to have Christmas lights due to rising costs. 

I am old enough to remember when lights were strung up ad hoc in some areas – especially villages - by local shopkeepers on ladders. More recently in many communities the local Fire Brigade or the Council has tended to step in with platforms or ‘cherry pickers’. But now, life is not so simple, and the growing concern we have in this country with Health and Safety and Risk Assessment means that the whole job has to be done in a professional way and with the appropriate insurance, and many communities just cannot cope with the cost involved. Apart from the cost of erecting lights and decorations, some communities are now faced with an additional one-off bill for the cost of mounting anchor points on buildings where Council- owned lamp standards are reckoned to be unsuitable for the job. 

Whilst I can see that jobs have to be done properly - I can still remember the fuss caused a few years ago when some of the Aldridge lights fell down (thankfully no-one was hurt) - it is all rather a shame. 

So why have lights at Christmas anyway? In the first place, I suppose we all just need a splash of colour once the dark nights come in. There is something about the idea of light in the midst of darkness which strikes a deep chord within us - doubtless ancient man found comfort from the light and warmth of a fire on a dark night as we do, and was glad to have a candle or an oil lamp showing the way on a dark night. Light in the midst of darkness has often been an element in religious celebrations also; in the days of Jesus at Hanukkah, the Jewish Festival of Lights, the Temple was flooded with lights from hundreds of candelabras and indeed the Jews still celebrate Hanukkah today although the Temple is no more, just as the Hindus celebrate their own festival of lights, Divali. 

But for the Christian the Christmas lights are a reminder of the teachings of Jesus, who more than once drew on the imagery of a light shining in the darkness. ‘I am the light of the world; whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of Life’. John, the gospel writer who tells us of this saying, elsewhere says of Christ’s coming at Christmas that that ‘the true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world’ and that ‘the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.’ (John 8 v12, John 1 v 9, John 1 v 5)

So the lights at Christmas are more than a splash of colour – to the Christian they can be a statement of faith – of our belief as Christians that God sent His Son into our dark and imperfect world to bring life and light, to bring illumination, to transform our existences and give us fulfillment, strength and a sense of purpose and the capacity to live our lives for God.

This Christmas – whether the lights are up or not - may we know for ourselves the life and the light that Jesus brings for ourselves as we celebrate once again the miracle that ‘the Word became flesh and made His dwelling amongst us’. (John 1 v 14) 

Happy Christmas to you all

John Davies

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Rev John Davies writes…..

Dear friends, 

A land unfit for heroes to live in.

When my grandfather returned from the first World War having fought his way through it, he gave up waiting for the promised home for him and his new wife and built a simple wooden bungalow in which they lived for some years – it remained in the family until the sixties and I remember it well. As we move towards Remembrance Sunday, as an ex officiating Army Chaplain I am increasingly angry about the way in which we are caring for those who return from tours of duty in Iraq or Afghanistan wounded or injured, or suffering from post traumatic stress.

The war against terrorism is probably one of the less ‘popular’ which we have fought. Many people would argue the Armed Forces should not be present in either Iraq or Afghanistan, and consequently there is less of the ‘gung ho’ imperialism which accompanied the brief though bloody battle for the Falklands. Therefore our Armed Forces often feel under supported – nothing new there, one might say, from the days of Kipling onward. But their treatment on their return is often lamentable. They do not receive housing priority - there are still no ‘homes for heroes’- and there is also a lack of nursing care and practical support. 

When I was dealing with down and outs in London a distressing number were ex service personnel who could not adapt to civvie life – some of whom had been mentally scarred by their experiences on active service. With the growing use of TA’s, this is likely to grow – those once used in a support capacity are fighting alongside regular troops without the same mental preparation, having been thrust straight from the civilian world into combat situations. Yet Ty Gwyn, one of the best clinics for dealing with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, was eventually shut last year after a long battles for survival, and those with physical injuries are not well catered for these days either – they have to take their turn in the NHS system, whilst specialised Military hospitals at Catterick, Woolwich, Wroughton, Plymouth and Portsmouth have closed due to MoD cuts, and the expertise they had built up in treating servicemen's – and women's – problems has been largely lost. It has been strongly argued that we dealt with those returning from the Napoleonic wars somewhat better. Meanwhile, we are belatedly pardoning WW1 soldiers shot for cowardice, many of whom were mentally ill though shell shock. It seems somewhat hypocritical to do this whilst failing to adequately support those who return to this country injured in mind or body from current conflicts. 

Apart from be concerned, what can you do? One answer is to write to your MP, for without political attention being drawn to the matter there is little prospect for change. You can also support charities which help ex Service people. The British Legion is perhaps the best known, and currently has an ‘Honour the Covenant’ appeal encouraging people to support returning service people but there are others, the newest of which is ‘Help for Heroes’ which has been set up with the backing of the Sunday Times to raise extra funds to support M.O.D. work amongst the wounded from the current conflict. 

Their first goal is to raise £5 – 8 million to provide a new gym and swimming pool at Headley Court, the Armed Forces rehabilitation centre, which deals with the injured from all three services. It has 66 beds and deals with 4,000 outpatients a year. There is a world-class prosthetics department, where ex-aircraft engineers adapt and modify artificial limbs for amputees. Another worthwhile charity is the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association (SSAFA) – so often there is little support for service families when someone is wounded or is going through hard times, which is where the SSAFA is most active.

This November as we remember those dead and maimed in two World Wars, and in many other conflicts, may we also practically support those currently in need of support. We are well served by our Armed Forces – please give generously. 

Every blessing       John D

http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/     British Legion, 48 Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5JY, 
http://www.helpforheroes.org.uk    Help for Heroes, Unit 6, Aspire Business Centre, Ordnance Road, Tidworth, Hants SP9 7QD 
http://www.ssafa.org.uk   SSAFA, 19 Queen Elizabeth Street, London, SE1 2LP. 

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Rev. John Davies writes………

Dear Friends,

As many of you know, my last job before entering College was in a Jewellers just off the city of London. I was normally engaged in selling clocks and watches, everything from Timex to Rolex – right up my street, given my love of mechanical objects. There was an unexpected bonus in working with the clock dept., as from time to time if we sold a grandmother or a grandfather clock (a ‘longcase’, to the trade) I would be dispatched with it by taxi to erect it in the purchasers home, and only when it was absolutely even, adjusted and ticking correctly could I come back to the shop – this time by public transport! So I had an afternoon out, a free taxi ride, and the chance for an illicit drag on the pipe I used to smoke on the way there and back – all great fun on the firm’s time, though the manager would sniff me up and down suspiciously on my way back in to servitude to check for tobacco smoke.

We had a good range of stock – from middling quality to positively ostentatious – I well remember having to gently polish a ridiculously expensive diamond encrusted Patek Phillippe watch weekly, and was I pleased when someone sold it. But what used to interest me were the pearl necklaces. We tended to have one or two strings of genuine pearls, rather more cultured pearl necklaces and about the same number of imitation pearls. Could I tell the difference? No I couldn’t – so much so that I dreaded selling the things in case some rogue switched them on me – not uncommon, we had rings switched for cheap copies with fake stones once or twice. To me the fake pearls looked the same as the genuine article – sometimes better in fact as the size was more uniform! 

From time to time the genuine ones would be got out of the window and handled, then put back in. Only afterwards did I find out why - apparently pearls lose their lustre if one is not careful, and the easiest way to keep them beautiful and in good condition is to handle them, so much so that I am told that one particular, expensive, string owned by an heiress and held in safe deposit is worn from time to time by a bank secretary, who goes to lunch in them under the watchful gaze of a security guard. A strange perk of the job.

I suppose there are a few meanings in all this. As we celebrate Harvest we cannot but reflect on the nature of a world in which some starve whilst others buy diamond encrusted Patek Phillippe watches, or get employees to condition their pearls for them. 

And, too, there is the thought that our faith should be like those pearls – it is useless locked away where no-one can see – it loses its shine. Faith is meant to be put into practice, to be worn out in public, put on display where people can see and react. 

Every blessing,

John Davies 

‘All work that is worth anything is done in faith’ Albert Schweitzer. 

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Rev John Davies writes

Dear friends, 

A few Sundays ago I chose the old hymn ‘O breath of God, breath on us now’ by Alfred Vine and I was struck once again by the depth of meaning within it – as with so many of Charles Wesley’s hymns you can find bible verses for just about every line. I said so to someone afterwards, and they said ‘Why don’t you write a newsletter article on it?’ So here it is, with a few biblical references for you to look up! 

1 O breath of God, breathe on us now,
And move within us while we pray:
The Spring of our new life art Thou,
The very light of our new day.

 2. O strangely art Thou with us, Lord,
 Neither in height nor depth to seek:
 In nearness shall Thy voice be heard;
 Spirit to spirit Thou dost speak.

3. Christ is our Advocate on high;
Thou art our Advocate within.
O plead the truth, and make reply
To every argument of sin.

 4. But ah, this faithless heart of mine,
 The way I know, I know my Guide:
 Forgive me, O my Friend divine,
 That I so often turn aside.

5. Be with me when no other friend
The mystery of my heart can share;
And be Thou known, when fears transcend,
By Thy best name of Comforter.

1. John 20 v 22. Genesis 2 v 7, reminding us that just as the Holy Spirit was active in creation, and was breathed by Jesus on His disciples to equip them for their work, so too the Holy Spirit can bless and guide us in our Christian lives also. Especially within the verse the Spirit is seen as giving life and empowering our prayers. When we ask the Holy Spirit to guide our prayers then God is free to control them as He want to and to lead us on. 

2. The best way into this verse is Deuteronomy 30 vv 11,12,13,14, 11 so much so that I print them in full. 
11 Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. 12 It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" 14 No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. God’s Spirit can lead us directly – so that we hear His voice and walk in His paths. 
See H & P 477, also John’s Gospel 10 v 27

3. Hebrew 4 vv 14,15, which sees Jesus is the Jewish tradition as both the last and only necessary sacrifice for sin, and the last and greatest High Priest, forming the bridge between God and man, and John 14 v 16, where Jesus promises that Holy Spirit will guide us into truth. See also 1 John 5 v 20 

4. Needs no verses really – our own lives bear this out –God’s love to us is unfailing but ours to Him is wavering – we know we should walk in the away but so often turn aside. See Romans 7 vv 14-25 

5. Back to John’s gospel again – John 14 vv 16, 17, 26 – remembering that the old word Comforter when used of the Holy Spirit means ‘bringer of strength’, not bringer of comfort. Also Matt. 11v19.

I haven’t been able to find out much about Alfred Vine. He was born May 1845, in Radford, Nottinghamshire, educated at King Edward’s School, Birmingham, and King’s College, Oxford, and entered the Wesleyan Methodist ministry in 1867. In 1881 he was a Wesleyan Methodist minister near Banbury, Oxfordshire. His works include: The Doom of Saul, 1895 (from which this hymn comes) Songs of the Heart, 1905 Songs of Living Things, 1897 He died in 1917. The tune, ‘Calm’, to which it is normally sung was originally sung in Primitive Methodism but here is allied to a Wesleyan hymn – Methodist unity indeed! 

God Bless,
John Davies

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Rev John Davies writes

Dear friends, 

I write this in a momentous week – the week in which the Pope has allowed the Vatican to issue a document which says that neither the Protestant nor the Orthodox Churches are ‘proper’ Churches, and that ‘it was difficult to see how the word Church could be ascribed to them’, and that other Christian faiths ‘lack elements considered essential to the Catholic Church’. In other words, the only proper Church remains the Roman Catholic Church, and the only true religious leader is the Pope himself. So it seems since the 16th century very little has changed. 

It would be silly if it were not so hurtful and dangerous. The Pope has courted controversy before- several months ago he angered Moslems, and then went on to irritate Pentecostals and evangelical Protestants by saying that the ‘greatest evil affecting South America is the growth of evangelical Protestantism’. Those aware of the poverty, destitution and corruption of South American countries – not to mention the drug culture – may have been rather surprised to learn that evangelical Christians were a bigger problem! Perhaps both of these things should have been a warning, as should have been his backing of the re-introduction of the traditional Latin Mass.

But now he has allowed into a circulation a document which strikes at the heart of the movement towards Christian Unity. Only a few months ago prominent Anglicans were saying that a united Church was just round the corner and now these dreams seem further off than ever. It must be said that to achieve that unity Anglican leaders were willing to go backwards on the issue of the ordination of women, but that did not unduly bother them, or so it seemed! Indeed, where the hopes of the those who wanted to see Anglican Methodist union would have ended up if the Anglican and Catholic Churches united first were debatable, especially as we were one of the first Churches to ordain women and have no intention of going back on it. But now the whole thing has been kicked into touch, and during this Pope’s lifetime it may remain so. 

In one sense this should not bother those of us who have never believed in the possibility or the desirability of one vast organic Church. The unity which matters most is surely a spiritual thing – Christian unity should be centred on the acceptance of a common faith in God, and the acceptance of each other as brothers and sisters. One can have this unity between Churches even where there are denominational differences – and, on the other hand, one can fail to find it between Christians in the same congregation. But the mere fact that a Christian leader can so cheerfully allow the faith of over half of the world’s Christians to be rubbished not only calls into question that person’s understanding but also his compassion. 

It seems appropriate that the collect for the 15th. July – the day I am writing this – is:-

Eternal God, giver of love and peace, you call your children to live together as one family. Give us grace to learn your ways and to do your will, that we may bring justice and peace to all people. In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen

God bless, 

John Davies

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Rev John Davies writes

Dear friends,

I was given this inspiring story a while ago now by my mother to put in the newsletter, but had to do some research on it as it had ‘grown a little in the telling’ as it went around the internet. I did a little digging around, and was delighted to discover it does however have a basis in truth. So – after a few months delay – here is my own version of the story of Hattie Wyatt’s 57 cents!

Many year ago now a little girl was turned away from Sunday School in Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania because the tiny building was filled to capacity (those were the days!) The Minister, Dr. Colwell, happened to be passing by, saw her crying, took her in, and encouraged the Sunday School Teachers to make room for her, saying to her that one day he hoped to have a bigger building with room for all who wanted to come and that he was going to start fundraising.

Unknown to him, the little girl decided to save her pennies (as Americans call cent coins) to go towards this building fund, but after two weeks was then sadly taken ill and died. At the funeral, Dr. Colwell was handed her small savings by the girl’s father – 57 cents, all in single cents obtained from running errands. At the next meeting of the Church Trustees, Colwell suggested using the 57 cents to begin a building fund. The Trustees were impressed, and one found a plot on nearby Broad Street. The owner of the property was told the story of the little girl, and although he didn’t attend a church he was deeply touched. He suggested selling the land for twenty five thousand dollars – a large sum of money then, but much less than he had wanted for the land – at 5% - and set the downpayment to be 57 cents!

Even more amazingly, the church received a gift from a church member of the total sum, which left the cost of the building to find – some $109,000. But inspired by Hattie Wiatt’s example the fundraising went on apace.

That original church soon gave rise to a hospital, a college (now Temple University) and has now moved to another site. But it owes its origins to the gift of a little girl.

I think what impressed me about this story is that this church, which has done amazing work for over 100 years now, has trained many ministers, and which has influenced thousands, was only founded because everybody – Hattie, Dr. Colwell, the landowner, and the church members of that day - were was willing to do their utmost for the Lord – and to give sacrificially when there was a need. To me it is a living parable of what can happen when everybody in a church congregation, from youngest to oldest, is fully committed.

God bless,

John Davies

Rev John Davies writes

Dear friends,

But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig-tree; and none shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken. Micah chapter 4 verse 4.

Micah lived in troubled times - the rich trod the poor underfoot, there was no fairness, and little justice. And in these verses, Micah looks forward to the day when the Lord reigns - a day when there is peace and justice. And for him this is typified by every man having a home of his own - with comfort, food - they love figs in Eastern countries - and wine. However poor, says Micah, when God reigns, and when things are as they should be, people will dwell in peace and security in their own homes.

It is an age old dream. Home ownership is higher in the U.K. than in many other countries, and we have been from time to time accused of being property obsessed. Certainly, there is a sense in which security and comfort are tied up in the British imagination with having a home of your own. In the 17th. Century, some of the Levellers in Cromwell's England - the earliest Socialists - wanted an acre of land for each man, with a horse and a cow; they were driven by an image of a tranquil and rural England where the poor dwelt in their own homes, in peace and security - a vision not unlike Micah's, and like him their faith was coupled to social concern. For a while it seemed as if this popular dream was becoming a reality, as during the 20th century home ownership in the U.K. crept up year on year as more and more people moved out of rented accommodation and discovered the joy of having a home of their own, though more likely with a back garden and a colour television than a vine and a fig tree, and enjoying the peace and security it afforded.

But with the relentless rise of house prices this has all altered - in thirty years the average house has gone up in price from around three times average income to between six and eight times, and this has led to increasing social instability. Couples now tend to set up home later, because of the need to finish education, pay off student debt and save for a deposit, and this has its own effect on the birthrate statistics; whereas at the age of 30 twenty five years ago most people were married and would by then have two children, now many couples are not able to try to start a family until both are over 30, with the result that more and more couples are having to turn to IVF and similar methods and there is a consequent increase in birth defects due to couple having children at beyond the optimum child bearing age. Now, according to the housing minister, if present trends continue 70% of couples setting up home at 30 will still not be able to expect to move into their own homes - and when they do, many will be unable to pay the mortgage without resorting to both partners continuing to work full time, which has its own social consequences for childcare and quality of life.

To build a stable and content society we need affordable homes set in pleasant communities which are good places to bring up children. The answers to this situation tend to lie with politicians, not theologians. It is therefore encouraging that in his pre-election speech Mr. Brown has said that he intends to back the building of 100,000 new homes. It is also therefore encouraging that the Government is looking at a range of measures to increase house construction, speed up planning applications, release land and ease access to ownership through shared equity schemes. We could go further. Despite being a farmer's son I feel that there is much farmland which could be given over to building new towns - or extending old ones - without great detriment to the countryside as a whole. But to create towns worth having would call for vision and imagination on the part of the architects and planners - there is no point in creating mass-produced, small, people boxes set in a wasteland - that isn't what Micah had in mind either.

Every blessing
John Davies

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Rev John Davies writes

Dear friends, 

Political correctness. 

I made a mistake some months ago, and was instantly put right. I simply referred to something as the ‘nitty gritty’ and was corrected politely by the friend I was with. Apparently the term has to do with slave ships and is no longer used in polite circles. So I spent an instructive hour on a website, and discovered that I must also no longer ask for ‘black coffee’ but ‘coffee without milk’, or refer to ‘master’ and ‘slave’ drives on a computer – these terms can all cause offence these days. 

I could go on – there was a whole list of terms I discovered I shouldn’t use any more – admittedly, some of these seemed fair enough, like ‘cack handed’ – it means left handed but it always seems to be used in a derogatory fashion, which is undeniably unfair. 

PC has become one of the bywords of our day. The trouble is I can’t help feeling that in their efforts to create a fair and just society in which people are treated as equals, some PC campaigners and activists have at times lost their sense of proportion – not to mention their sense of humour! 

The other problem I have with political correctness is that the goalposts change over the years. It was unacceptable for a while to call someone ‘fat’. Now it seems you can again as ‘fat’ is the big ‘no-no’, but on the other hand just try any form of comment which draws in someone’s ethnic background and you are in big trouble – unless it is Welsh, in which case it is probably o.k. with most people - though not with me…………!

And what about the Gospels? I can’t help feeling that in the time of His earthly ministry Jesus would have been branded as politically incorrect for ignoring the norms of his society, which included shunning the disabled (they were viewed as sinners, smitten by God, in the Jewish society of the day) and not having dealings with ‘the enemy’ – Rome. He even included women amongst his followers. But such is social change that in our own society ardent PC’ers would have praised Him for exactly those same things. On the other hand, some particularly ‘PC’ disabled rights activists have been critical of Christ’s healing of the disabled because the very act of healing suggests that they are in some way impaired. Theologically, my own answer to this one is that all fall short of what God would like – some through behaviour and choices, and others through no fault of their own through the weakness of their bodies. God’s wish for all is still wholeness and healing, and if the world was as He intended it to be we would see these things more clearly. 

In the end, I cannot help feeling it is better to live by true gospel principles – and yes, on reflection, this still means modifying my language if it can cause offence simply because that which doesn’t offend one may well offend someone else. As I see it, living as Christians means valuing those we meet as being so significant that Jesus died for them and treating all men as brothers and all women as sisters; therefore, logically, we should also try to avoid insensitive and hurtful language. So, if anyone catches me using the phrase ’nitty gritty’ again, please stop me!

Every blessing

John Davies

‘Whatever you eat or whatever you drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble (by your behaviour)’. 1 Cor 10 v31 (amplified) 

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Rev John Davies writes…..

Dear friends, 

"As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man, dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. But he said to them, 'Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you.'" (Mark 16: 5-7)

It is strange that in an era in which we live longer than generations before us and have so much more materially that so many people can find little to live for . The numbers of people living with depressive illness is going up, family life seems to be fragmenting. The present seems unsettled, and the future seems uncertain. Some are facing job – or pay - cuts, some are facing a future less financially secure than they had hoped. 

It is hardly surprising that depression rates are going up, or that so many seek oblivion in drink or drugs – or the constant anesthetic of the TV. 

Yet to me all this says that so many have put their trust in the wrong things – in their own earning capacity, the stability of their firm, or just in money in general. ‘Put not your trust in princes…happy are they whose help is the God of Jacob!’ (Ps. 146.) It is no bad thing to regard the future as uncertain – or to try and provide for the future – but for the Christian this is not where our focus should be nor should instability in the world around us surprise us. The world is and always has been an unstable place – indeed, it is the relative period of calm and tranquility that should surprise us. 

The bible says to us again and again that we are meant to put our trust in God, not in governments or wealth or our own accomplishments. And if we do so God will bless us and give us hope in the midst of despair, and the strength to meet and deal with our troubles – and rise above them.

Those women who went to the tomb that first Easter morning were hope-less. They must have felt overwhelmed by grief and sorrow – unable to find a way forward, conscious only of the fact that their Leader, their Master was dead and they must anoint His body. Their hopes and dreams must have seemed buried with Him. Yet this was not the end of the story but the beginning – and before long their hearts were brimming with happiness as they realised their Lord was alive, and they would see Him again – and it was not long before they would discover that because of His Resurrection from the dead and His Ascension back to Heaven He could not be separated from them but would be with them always through the Holy Spirit. 

And because of Christ’s continuing presence with us even in our darkest moments we too can have hope as we realise that none of life’s experiences and not even death itself can separate us from God’s love (see Romans chapter 8) – and that we can know the comfort of His presence at all times. This Easter may this become a growing reality for us all. 

May God bless you all this Easter,

John Davies

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Rev John Davies writes…..

Dear friends, 

It is a sad fact that whereas the latter end of both the 18th,. and the 19th. Century was marked by an unprecedented era of church growth, the latter end of the 20th. Century was marked by church shrinkage and closure. This is for me a matter of great personal sadness. Of the five churches I looked after in Telford as a Probationer Minister two have now closed, and one has amalgamated with a church in another section of the Circuit. One that has closed was Wrockwardine Wood – the mother church of Primitive Methodism throughout the area, and the centre of a great local revival with daughter churches as far off as little Hopton Bank which nestles on the side of the Clee Hill. The commitment of those few increasingly elderly people still attending (hang on a minute – do any of us get younger?!) had somehow never managed to commend itself to the local population.

A recent report says that thousands of churches will shut in the next ten years. This in a sense is old news – Methodism is shutting a hundred a year, year on year. It seems to me that we cannot simply say this is due to a failure in mission, or poor preaching, or uncomfortable and inconvenient buildings, although these hardly help. 

Fundamentally, the nature of society has changed in the last generation and we no longer do things together, corporately as we once did. People now talk about self fulfillment as they once talked about family and in a culture where the workplace is increasingly stressful many simply want to relax when they come home and not be tied to anything. 

It isn’t only the churches which are affected – voluntary organizations of all sort have more and more difficulties getting volunteers to run activities , and even pubs are closing as peoples social lives centre more around the home. We sometimes assume that the other faiths are doing better than we are – however, whilst there are indeed new Mosques being built, many Imans will say just the same stuff about falling attendance and commitment ‘phobia’ that a Vicar or Minister would. 
. 
Against all this what can we say? As Christians we believe that God calls us into fellowship with Him and with each other – that when we become Christians we become part of a family and that that might make commitments upon us but it is also very fulfilling – and helps sustain us in our daily life and work. Perhaps where we have failed is that we have tended to centre Mission reviews on improving our premises, installing comfy seats and changing worship – all things which I am in favour of incidentally - but we have not centered on the motivation which makes people come. Essentially, we cannot just rely on tempting people in. The only thing which will lead them in is a personal search for God – which just might be started off by coming into contact with a committed Christian – people like us. What a challenge- and an awesome responsibility. 

And if they do put a toe in the water, what then? All too often those inside the church expect people to ‘fit in’ to what is already there – and – to our shame – sometimes we expect them to ‘be like us’. Especially if they are at the beginning of their spiritual journey they may not be. They will be themselves – they will have some growing to do as we all do – and will also have some new ideas to share and pertinent observations we can learn from. I remember a failing church of mine which prayed for revival years ago – and when the prayers were answered one of the regulars left – she hadn’t realized all these ‘new’ people would want to change things! Tragic. 

For the main part people will only want to come to ‘our’ church if they are genuinely welcomed, accepted for who they are, if they are allowed to grow – and become part of the church – at their own rate, and if they believe we have something here they cannot possibly live without. 

May God bless us all and help us to witness effectively for Him in these new and demanding times. 

Every blessing, John Davies

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