Part One

“Made in Cheena” the little girl said, as she read the bottom of her tiny doll. Her mispronunciation of the word brought a smile to her mum’s face, and mine. “China” her mother said, resisting the temptation to laugh. The girl repeated the word perfectly whilst looking directly at me. “Well done” I said, as a responsible adult.

She carried all the typical characteristics of a four-year-old. She was so interested in her surroundings that her eyes followed any movement like a cat in a disco. There was something peaceful about watching a mum read a newspaper next to her daughter who was visibly learning the ropes of life. I never thought I’d feel at peace in council offices to be honest.

It wasn’t long before the little girl grew bored of the space around her. She turned to her mum and watched her read the national paper left generously on the coffee table. And then I felt a strange notion dwell within me. As I clocked the front page of the paper, which projected the word MURDER in huge red writing, I found myself wanting to hide the headline from the child. There’s no doubt in my head that children often carry an unpolluted air, which has seemingly escaped many adults. I guess I didn’t want to see this air of innocence tarnished by the brutality that runs down the spine of this world. I wanted to tear the front page off. I wanted to protect the glimpses of Eden in this girl’s eyes.

Of course, this was impossible, and so I watched the scene unfold. It started with the girl attempting to read the front page that separated her from her mum’s gaze. “What does that say?” she enquired. The mum turned to where the girl was pointing, before quietly whispering the word ‘murder’.

The cogs inside the child’s head were almost audible as she tried to associate the word with an action. She looked at her mum like a lion cub trying to work out how to digest a first solid meal. The mother lowered the paper and explained that murder was something done by bad people. She went on to say that it was when one person hurts another so seriously that they are no longer living.

I was waiting for the inevitable question. The question that is pretty much prohibited in the ‘evolved’ western world. The little girl mumbled the question ‘why?’

I didn’t hear the mum’s response. I was moved almost to tears at the expression on the child’s face though. A morbid revelation dawned on her, as it has done with me these last few months. The revelation that we ruined Eden.

There was a world where murder hadn’t even been conceived, a world where the creator walked amongst his beloved. It was a place designed to last forever, until humanity fell victim to the greatest and most horrible act of deception ever to pass through the horizon of this world. And though early man and woman didn’t set out to destroy Eden, they ended up driving in the final nails personally.

The feeling that brought me to tears in the council offices watching the air of innocence diminish around the life of a child, was not just sadness, it was guilt. No, I haven’t murdered anyone to date, but I am responsible for the destruction, depletion and ruin of Eden. And whether or not you call Jesus ‘Lord’ we have something in common. Both you and I took God’s perfect plan, and smashed it across his alter. And the symptom of Eden’s downfall is still rife within us both. It’s the common denominator in almost every waking thought. It’s the DNA constant. It’s the fact that when all is said and done, we will never love our neighbour as we love ourselves.

Isaiah 64:6

“All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”

Peace.

*The Ruined Eden is the first part of Alex Willmott’s Eden Series.

Next Friday, CVM will publish part two: ‘The Reconstructed Eden’.

This blog is not about using super-spiritual language referring to the congregation or a fellowship, but is actually about being a shepherd.

Now this is not my normal employment, my job takes me all over the country delivering support and training for businesses, but every year I take a couple of weeks off and look after a good friends flock of sheep whilst the mothers try and run away from their lambs.

In many ways I simply teach sheep to count up to 2 (the ones I look after have twins) and sometimes the advance class can go up to 3!!
So for the past two weeks I have been looking after these sheep. Now sheep are not as thick as people may think. In truth they are cunning, plotting and planning animals that will take advantage of you as soon as you as you drop your guard; running through the smallest of gaps because you didn’t quite tie up the gate as well as you should; deliberately aiming for your knees rather than going round you as they run past, ignoring their lambs so you need to bend down to their level just in time for you to receive a swift blow to the temple by one of their horns.

Believe me, sheep are not thick – they know exactly what they are doing!!!

It was after just such an instance that I found myself beginning to lose my patience with one ewe in particular. She had been nothing but trouble all day. First she forgot she had two lambs and was ignoring one of them, then she bolted as I was moving her to a place where we keep mother and lambs closer together, she had butted me as I tried to get her own lambs to suckle and finally she had jumped out of her pen whilst I was feeding other sheep.

I was tempted to pick the flippin’ thing up and chuck her back in the pen with the sort of force that reminded her that I was meant to be the clever one in the shed, not her!!

As I lunged for the ewe (and I was actually quite proud of how quickly I made it across the sheep-shed to catch her) I was suddenly reminded of a bit of scripture, which I later found was in Matthew ch. 25: “You were faithful in a few things, come and be in charge of many”.
Here was I getting frustrated with an animal, and deep in my heart I want to be able to guide my fellow believers. If I can’t control my frustrations with sheep, how will I cope with the complexities of leading people?

Every day we have a choice to respond to the opportunities we are given in a few, small things to learn how to deal with the many, bigger things God has in store for us to be part of. I don’t want to lose my opportunity to serve the Living God – even more because I can’t deal with the frustrations of the few things He gives me to do now.

Steve Laugher – Area rep for Ripon and the Dales, Methodist Preacher and member of the Leadership of Masham Methodist Church.

I am two days post op for malignant melanoma with a large scar in my leg and a tender groin where nodes were removed: now the real work begins in working out my faith and moving forward.

Faith is not a passive slumbering thing, it is real and active, coming alive even more in challenging or life threatening circumstances. Some would say faith is blind (in the past psychologists and atheists described accepting Christian faith as a blind leap) but currently for me it helps clarify what life is all about.

Staring mortality in the face is not a popular past-time in modern culture; we are all busy, trying to get comfortable whilst constantly reassured by advertising that says “we are worth it” “we are in control”. However it doesn’t take much to get a glimpse of the reality lying just beneath the polished veneer of our fragile existence: a near miss on the roads, a friend has an accident, a natural disaster occurs or your own health or that of those you love, is called into question. Shocked, we are forced into taking stock, pausing to consider just for a short while what life is all about and what we really value, why we are here and what our purpose is.

Blind faith would speak platitudes into my situation and the future saying “it will all be alright”.

Real faith, as the Bible puts it, says “The assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen” (ESV Hebrews 11v1) sees our fragile reality and in the face of uncertainty, real doubts and honest concerns, fights to believe that God has a purpose and has not left the building.

Those with real faith do not expect to be exempt from suffering: no-where in the Bible does it state that those who follow Christ will somehow magically avoid illness, accident, suffering and harm – even death; but that we should expect challenges in life; that in our suffering God is with us, carrying us and helping us to become stronger, learning to deal with human frailty and to understand more clearly his values and the eternal picture.

CS Lewis, Christian author and writer of the Narnia series watched his wife die of cancer and explained that “pain is God’s megaphone to a deaf world”. The illusion of control is so strong now that it takes a significant event like the Tsunami to help us realise what is really important and how we should spend our time and resources.

My chosen reaction to this bad news of cancer has a background; I had an excellent example growing up from my Dad who survived a near fatal car accident when I was one and was paralysed from the neck down. He was told he would never walk again, but through prayer, faith and determination he walked out of Stoke Mandeville Spinal Injuries Unit a few months later. He has written and spoken of his struggle with suffering and has fought to hold on to faith through it all. Recently he suffered another fall leaving him in a wheelchair and has fought for months to regain some walking once again. He has never complained and I admire his determination to fight on and believe that God is still with us.

So where does that leave me? Well it’s hard to deal with mortality and see the reaction to my news in those around me. I have been reminded of the fact that my life is still in God’s hands and that my earthly future is uncertain, but my eternal one assured. I would like people to acknowledge their reaction and to look into what life is really about; also to help others be more aware of preventative measures to reduce their own cancer risk.

My faith is now moving up a gear, more active as I hold in tension the reality of a potential for more suffering, loss and an increase in my risk of going to heaven in the next ten years, while still seeking God’s path for my life and trying to live like Christ, as he said “I have come that they may have life to the full”(John 10v10).

This means I am setting myself some goals over the next few weeks, months and years to remind me of what’s important and to focus on what is right.

1. To spend time with the people I love and develop my relationship with God.

2. To serve those I am called to in my role as a Doctor, Husband, Father, Brother, Friend and Son.

3. To make the most of my energy, time and resources to life live to the full.

4. To start training for a Triathlon to be achieved next summer once my wound heals.

5. To do all I can to raise awareness of preventable health problems.

6. To try to live every day to the max as if it were my last.

Another great verse puts all this better than I could, not hiding in denial but running the marathon of life with real faith :

“Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus”. (Philippians 3v14)

This complex syntax typical of St Paul basically states that he is focused by faith on what is unseen and wants to reach the goals set by Christ not those set by the material world around him. Amen to that.

The race for the Reimer League title took yet another twist yesterday. In the lunchtime kick-off, Manchester United twice gave up a two-goal lead to draw 4-4 with Everton.

They lead 3-1 and 4-2 thanks to a brace form Wayne Rooney and one each form Nani and Danny Welbeck but Everton kept coming back. With seven minutes to play Nikica Jelavic scored his second before Steven Pienaar nipped in to earn his side point.

Manchester City meanwhile kept up the pressure on their title rivals with a 2-0 win over Wolves. Sergio Aguero and Samir Nasri netting for city but the defeat for Wolves means they’re the first team this season to have their relegation from the Premier League confirmed.

Roy Hodgson’s West Brom beat his former side Liverpool 1-0 at Anfield thanks to a Peter Odemwingie goal who profited from an error from Glen Johnson after 75 minutes.

Arsenal and Chelsea played out a goalless draw on Saturday with Chelsea making eight changes to the side that beat Barcelona on Tuesday evening. Arsenal had the best of the chance through Robin van Persie and Laurent Koscielny who both saw efforts hit the crossbar.

Blackburn registered a win after five defeats in a row with a 2-0 victory at home to Norwich to give them a much-needed boost in their fight against relegation. Bolton could only muster a 1-1 draw with Swansea, and now sit four points away from safety with two games in hand on Wigan. Blackburn are three behind the Latics.

Robin van Persie was named PFA Player of the Year last night at a ceremony at London’s Grosvenor House. Tottenham’s Kyle Walker took the Young Player of the Year award.

Sebastian Vettel became the fourth different winner of a Grand Prix from four races this season. The world champion overcame the challenge of Kimi Raikkonen. Vettel, who started on pole saw his early lead cut by Raikkonen’s Lotus but he restored his advantage with some efficient pitting.

The other man to make the podium was Lotus’s Romain Grosjean. Lewis Hamilton finished eighth while Jenson Button retired.

In cricket’s County Championship, reigning champions Lancashire suffered their second defeat in their opening two matches against Warwickshire. Keith Barker and Jeehan Patel both took five wickets for Warwickshire.

Hampshire beat Glamorgan with Hamza Riazuddin hitting the winning runs off the penultimate ball of the match. Yorkshire and Essex’s drew their rain-affected match while the poor weather affected the match between Durham and Middlesex at Lords, which also finished a draw.

In the penultimate round of matches in Rugby Union’s Aviva Premiership,

At the top of the table Leicester beat Harlequins 43-33 at the Stoop to go second ahead of Saracens, a single point behind their opponents Quins. Ugo Monye and Nick Easter scored in the first half to give the home side the lead, but tries from George Lowe, Alesana Tuilagi and Thomas Waldrom along with the boot of Toby Flood put Leicester in charge.

Northampton beat Exeter 18-15 to go above their opponents into the fourth and final playoff place. Paul Diggins gave the Saints an eight-point lead and despite scoring through Richard Baxter Northampton held on. Exeter now need Worcester to beat Northampton in the final round of games if they are to stand any chance of making the playoffs for the first time in the club’s history.

Wasps earnt an important bonus point despite losing 17-12 to Bath. They play relegation rivals Newcastle Falcons on the final day of the season and Newcastle must score four tries and win by seven points to overhaul Wasps.

Huddersfield continued their excellent run of form with their fourth straight Super League win – their tenth of the 12-game old campaign – this time against Bradford. Danny Brough scored two penalties and a try in the second half to help his side to a 20-6 win.

Pat Richards scored a hat-trick as second-placed Wigan thrashed Hull 56-12. Warrington registered an equally good win over Castleford. They scored seven first-half tries and a further three after the break.

St Helens thrashed basement club Widnes 62-0 and fellow strugglers London Broncos lost 44-6 away at Hull KR.

Rafael Nadal cruised past Novak Djokovic 6-3 6-1 to win his eight-straight Monte Carlo Open title ahead of next month’s French Open.

Kenyan pair Wilson Kipsang and Mary Keitany won the elite races in Sunday’s London Marathon. Lee Merrien was the fastest British man, finishing in a time of 2:13:40. In the women’s race, Claire Hallissey finished in 2:28.

Chelsea will meet Liverpool in the FA Cup final on 5th May after they won their semi-finals at Wembley this weekend.

Andy Carroll scored a late winner for Liverpool against Everton in a 2-1 win on Saturday. His side had initially gone behind to a Nikica Jelavic strike but Luis Suarez levelled things up on the hour after picking up a back pass from Sylvain Distin.

Carroll headed Craig Bellamy’s free kick past Tim Howard with three minutes to play to put his side into their second Wembley final of the season one day before the 23rd anniversary of the Hillsborough disaster.

Chelsea beat Tottenham 5-1 in the weekend’s other semi-final but the scoreline was harsh on Spurs who threatened in the first half. They went behind to a sensational Didier Drogba strike just before half time but Chelsea’s second, minutes after the restart, was dubious at best.

Juan Mata’s shot appeared to be blocked in front of the line by Benoit Assou-Ekotto but referee Martin Atkinson awarded the goal to the astonishment of the Tottenham players.

Gareth Bale then scored for Spurs after Emmanuel Adebayor was taken down by Petr Cech for what would have certainly been a penalty and a red card for the Chelsea keeper had the ball not fallen to Bale.

Any hopes of a Spurs comeback were kocked by Ramires’ 77th-minute goal and Frank Lampard and Florent Malouda completed the rout late on.

In the Premier League the five-point gap was maintained between the two title contenders. On Saturday Manchester City thrashed Norwich 6-1 and Manchester United responded with a 3-0 home win over Aston Villa on Sunday.

Carlos Tevez scored a hattrick as City piled the pressure onto their rivals but United responded with goals from Wayne Rooney and Danny Welbeck.

In the Championship, Reading went top after beating Southampton 3-1 on Friday evening, before West Ham battered Brighton 6-0 to cut the gap between themselves and Southampton in second to three points with three games to play.

Hibernian and Hearts set up the first all-Edinburgh Scottish Cup final for 116 years after they beat Aberdeen and Celtic respectively, both by a 2-1 scoreline.

The Grand National was won by Neptune Collonges, but the world’s most prestigious steeplechase was marred by the death of two horses. Synchronised, which was ridden by Tony McCoy to victory in the Cheltenham Gold Cup just last month, and According to Pete both fell at Becher’s Brook.

Neptune Collonges, trained by Paul Nicholls, won by a nose ahead of Sunnyhillboy in a compellingly close finish.

Nico Rosberg won the Chinese Grand Prix, the first race win of his 111-race Formula 1 career, ahead of Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, having started the race in pole.

Harlequins beat Wasps 33-17 to maintain their lead at the top of the Aviva Premiership and push their London rivals one step closer to relegation. Fellow strugglers Newcastle took advantage of Wasps’ defeat with a 29-20 win away to Gloucester.

Leicester and Saracens, Harlequins closest rivals at the top, both registered away wins. Leicester beat Northampton 35-21 and Saracens overcame London Irish 28-19.

The scorer of the Exiles’ two tries, Delon Armitage, has announced his intention to leave London Irish for French side Toulon at the end of the season.

In the Rugby League’s Challenge Cup, Featherstone Rovers upset the odds as they defeated Super League side Castleford 23-16 on Saturday. St Helens held off Widnes to win 40-38. A few Super League sides posted big scores – Wigan demolished Championship 1 side North Wales Crusaders 98-4, Bradford beat Doncaster 76-6 and London Broncos thrashed Dewsbury 77-4.

Do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. James 1:22

 Are you listening, are you acting?

The challenging words above from Jesus’ brother are unequivocal. They call for us not only to open our ears and pay attention to the preacher or teacher, but to absorb the Word into our deepest being so we are marinaded in it to the extent it breaks forth in action out of love for God and our neighbour.

So, are you serving or are you being served? Hopefully both. But so many in our congregations are consumers and not contributors. Excuses, excuses, excuses; too busy with work, family, health, wealth issues. Busy, busy, busy. Really?

The importance of being Ernest (or Tom or Dick or Harry)

I responded to a message such as this 20-odd years ago when my children were very young. Sunday School teachers were, and sadly still are, in short supply.

What are your memories of Sunday School?

Carly Fiorina (erstwhile CEO of Hewlett Packard) in her interesting autobiography Tough Choices recounts how she was given a coaster at Sunday School that read;

“What you are is God’s gift to you. What you make of yourself is your gift to God.”

Clearly these words are foundational for her and gave her direction. My own memories are less inspirational and are more along the lines of being inoculated against organised religion! Fortunately that immunisation has long since worn off and I have found enormous reward in teaching Sunday School, even now as an empty nester.

I teach 11-13 year olds in a wonderful team that consists of two couples and a young man. This means our pre-teens have four men in their class at different times throughout the course of the year. This is unique in my experience and so valuable as the children, particularly the boys, see male role models in a predominantly female preserve. Hopefully this gives the boys, at least, some incentive to explore their own faith at a key moment in their physical, emotional and spiritual development.

For me, the empty nesting season in my life has led to less busyness and allows me more time to plan, to teach, to lead; although I miss my own children’s help in finding the cultural references!

As the academic year comes to a close we face the perennial problem of staffing for the forthcoming year. How is that? With 25 children registered in my class that means there must be close to 50 potential teachers; how light the load would be if they all stepped up next year!

Are you listening, are you acting?

S0 where does that leave you? If not here, Sunday School, where? If not now, when? If not you, who?

Are you being served or are you serving?

Recently, we were holidaying in Crete with another couple when we decided to hire a couple of mopeds. At the rental shop they asked us all if we had ridden a moped before. I said yes. (I lied). ‘How hard can it be I thought?’ I don’t want to appear like an English idiot I reasoned. So with Anna on the back, I turned the key and gunned the engine. Tearing out of the shop, taking the corner way too wide, I found myself on the wrong side of the road into on coming traffic.

Of course I immediately rectified that situation but when we came to the next corner the moped went wide again. I was puzzled, I had assumed the steering would be fairly light but I was having to actually wrestle this beast round the corners. We got back to our chalet safely, mainly due to the relatively straight roads once we were out of the town. Later on I went out for a bez on my own and found the steering much easier – maybe I was just getting use to it? This thought was dismissed the next time all four of us went out as once again the steering became unwieldy. I began to assume it was just the fact there was now two of us onboard. It wasn’t until two days later that Anna revealed that as we went round the corners she was actively leaning the opposite way to me, attempting to counter balance and in reality becoming the reason turning was so difficult. It was scarier for her to lean into the corners with me, but ultimately safer as we stayed on the correct side of the road.

I don’t know about you but I often feel like I am guilty of ‘counter balancing’ Jesus. I happily jump on His moped and go along for the ride, but when it comes to those corners I feel much safer leaning my own way and risking the on coming traffic than I do leaning His way and giving Him complete control.

Proverbs 3:5-6 ‘Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.’

It was on Easter Sunday that Jesus rose from death. Jesus had told his disciples before he was arrested that he would be crucified and on the third day he would rise from the dead.

Sunday was the third day from Good Friday (Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Day).

The second day after Good Friday.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Walter Raleigh

My burden and passion for the evangelisation of the ‘older Generations’ has grown and deepened over the past few years as I believe I have sensed the burden and passion of God’s Heart. These statistics give an idea of the mammoth task which still lies ahead of us as Christians and as a Church;-

• Since 2008 there have been more people over 65 in the UK population than under 16
• By 2033, 23% of the population will be aged 65 and over compared to 18% aged 16 or younger
• The fastest growing group is the over 80′s. In 2008 there were 2.7 million or 5% of the UK population

What an amazing demographic shift in our Nation and in many other Nations too — one we have to get to grips with. When we talk about mission to and among the ‘older-generations’ we are talking about reaching out with the love of Jesus to those who are ‘on the edge of eternity’, with possibly not that many years left to hear and respond to the Gospel. As I write this it is less than three weeks to Easter when Christians will celebrate and remember afresh the Death and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. May it be a time for each of us to commit ourselves afresh to proclaiming this wonderful and great news.

There are millions of older people waiting to hear, but how will they hear without a witness? Unless someone goes to them they won’t, so will it be you?

Outlook Trust came into being in November 1992 and ever since has been committed to evangelism amongst the over 55′s. We are fully committed to this task of proclaiming Christ through word and action, always trusting in the Holy Spirit to empower and guide us to fulfil what we believe is a ‘God-given task’ – to build the Kingdom of God in Older-People’s lives and prepare them for eternity. Our resources both practical and in expertise and experience are available to any who share in this passion and burden from God.

Manchester City’s stuttering form continued against in their 3-3 with Sunderland on Saturday, allowing Manchester United the opportunity to open up a five-point gap at the top of the league if they beat Blackburn this evening.

Sebastian Larsson scored either side of half-time for Sunderland to help his side to a 3-1 lead but City rescued a point with two goals in the final five minutes of the match.

Arsenal’s excellent run came to an end at QPR. Theo Walcott cancelled out Adel Taarabt opening goal before half time but Samba Diakite won it for Rangers midway through the second half to leave them only in the relegation zone behind Blackburn on goals scored.

Wigan were impressive in their 2-0 win at home to Stoke, and the only side in the bottom four not to win on Saturday was Wolves who lost their relegation six-pointer against Bolton 3-2 at Molineux.

Martin Petrov scored from the penalty spot to reveal a t-shirt in support of countryman and friend, Aston Villa captain Stilyan Petrov who was announced to be suffering from acute leukaemia. Petrov’s team lost 4-2 at home to Chelsea, with Fernando Torres scoring his first league goal in six months in the final seconds.

On Sunday, Liverpool’s dreadful league form continued as they went down 2-0 away at Newcastle thanks to a goal in each half from Papiss Demba Cisse. An exaggerated reaction from James Perch saw Liverpool keeper Pepe Reina shown a red card in the final minutes for an apparent headbutt.

Tottenham beat Swansea 3-1 at White Hart Lane to stop the rot and win their first league game in seven weeks. Rafael can der Vaart opened the scoring in the first half and Emmanuel Adebayor added two more in the final twenty minutes.

Andy Murray lost in the final of the Miami Masters, going down 6-1q 7-6 (7-4) to world number one Novak Djokovic in a repeat of the 2009 final. Djokovic bossed the match from beginning to end and deserved the win, not even allowing Murray a single break point chance all match.

Harlequins beat Saracens 24-19 in what was billed as the biggest game of the Aviva Premiership season so far. Jordan Turner-Hall, George Lowe and Danny Care all scored for Harlequins and the league leaders resisted a late charge from their opponents.

Third, fourth and fifth-placed Leicester, Northampton and Exeter all won to move ahead of Gloucester who lost at Wasps.

Huddersfield beat Leeds 22-12 to return to the top of the Super League ahead of Hull who have a game in hand. On Friday evening Warrington slipped up at home to St. Helens, losing 28-16, while Wigan beat Salford 40-20. Catalan Dragons thrashed bottom side Widnes 76-6 to keep pace in fifth.

Interim England head coach Stuart Lancaster was given the job on a permanent basis after guiding the national team through what was a successful Six Nations campaign in which England finished second with four wins from five matches.