Rev. Paul Weir

Message from the Minister: Aug - Sep 2008

At last, the weather has improved and the sun is warming us up! Hoorah!

Unfortunately though, there are many places in Africa where the monsoons have failed and people are starving. There is a crisis looming there. There is a danger that we have become thick skinned and we may say that the news only keeps telling us about these things and nothing else. Of course we need to respond and help in anyway we can. Look out for ways of helping because that is exactly what Jesus would have done – and expects us to as well. The help can range from prayer to giving money - both are not difficult. As Christians we have to respond to those in need, although many who do not consider themselves Christians give very generously, possibly even more than Christians do, so we should not be complacent.

I have often talked about God’s grace. God’s grace is really something that we can think about during the next couple of months as we enjoy the rest of the summer.

You know, it has been said that there is nothing we can do to make God love us more and nothing we can do to make Him love us less. We often think, surely that can’t be the case for people who have committed the most atrocious of crimes can it? This is where God’s grace comes in and we have to understand it a little more to realize how powerful and loving God is.

Do you know, out of all the songs ever written, which song has been recorded the most and by the largest number of different vocal artists? I expect you are wracking your brains to think what it could be! Well, I will put you out of your misery. It is ‘Amazing Grace’. That hymn, which we occasionally sing, was written by John Newton in 1779. John wrote it as a testimony of the grace of God in his life. In it, he describes himself as a “wretch who was once lost but then was found, saved by amazing grace”. The interesting thing is that God’s grace began in John Newton’s life through his mother, who died when John was a child, but not before she imparted some Christian values to him. However, he gave up his mother’s Christian principles and surrendered to a life of bondage that led him to become a servant on a slave ship and eventually the captain of his own ship which carried slaves. While living a life without Christian convictions, God allowed Newton to experience His grace once more, no doubt because of his mother. While steering his ship through a violent storm, he experienced what he called his ‘great deliverance.’ He recorded in his journal that when all seemed lost and the ship seemed about to sink, “I prayed, ‘Lord, have mercy upon us.’” God answered that prayer and as he sat in his cabin John Newton became convinced it was God’s grace that had got them through. For the rest of his life he observed May 10, 1748 as the day of his conversion, a day when he gave his life to the will of God. After his days as a sailor he became a Minister. Many were influenced by his preaching and writings.  He started weekly prayer meetings and wrote 280 hymns. His hymns speak the word of God through songs like, ‘How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds,’ ‘Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken’ and ‘Amazing Grace.’ He preached until the last year of his life.

So if God can assure John Newton of his love through that grace, it is exactly the same for us. No matter what we have done in the past, we have the opportunity of coming before God and saying, ‘sorry’ for what we have done but being truly penitent about it. The truly penitent is the difficult bit, this isn’t something that we can reel off a ‘sorry’ and not mean. For Newton it meant that he gave his life to the will of God. Similarly for us too. God’s grace is there for us, when we have hit rock bottom and feel abandoned. God’s grace will lift us up but we have to come before Him and open up to Him.

That’s it for this newsletter. Come back in the Autumn, ready to have an exciting journey together!

With every blessing as you go about the work of Christ and with every good wish,

Paul Weir, Minister, Totterdown and Knowle Methodist Churches

                                                                            

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