St. Martin of Tours, Bilborough

Dear Friends

Do you have a wish list? Things to do before you die. Places to visit, people to meet or books to read?

The novelist Ian Rankin has made headlines recently. Sadly, it’s because he is seriously ill and may not have long to live. He’s decided to go public about his reaction to this and to tell us what he plans to do. One thing he’s going to do is to marry his girlfriend. Our best wishes go to them and our prayers go to God for them.

That’s a brave thing for him to do and when we stop to consider it, it brings our life into sharp focus. Let’s forget for a moment all of the everyday stuff that we have to do and think about what it is that we really want to do. If we were told we’d only got a day to live, and we could do anything at all, what would it be?

Some of my wishes would be: go to the seaside, go to Paris for lunch, and go shopping in town … not necessarily in that order! I hope they would make good memories for the family and friends I’d take with me, but none of those things would make a lasting effect on the world would they?

Maybe I should think again. When Jesus knew that he had got less than a day to live, he chose to spend his time like this: he had a meal with his friends, he prayed for them and he cared for them by washing their feet. He certainly gave his friends some good and lasting memories because we still remember them today. He left behind a good example, great advice on how to live life and a promise. The promise is that God will always be with us because of Holy Spirit.

Holy Spirit is God with us, God inside us, God helping us to understand God and know what to do and how to live. Holy Spirit is a gift we have and we have this gift because of what Jesus chose to do before he died. So, maybe this month, why not decide to ask God to be part of our lives, the way we think and the things we do?

Here is a prayer which you might like to pray. Be warned though, praying this might change your life!

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.
So, Lord Jesus, you have promised, and so we believe.
Open our hearts to receive the Spirit in all his gracious fullness, and make us sensitive to his guidance,
that we may know your mind and do your will, for your name’s sake. Amen.

Prayer written by Frank Colquhoun and taken from Contemporary Parish Prayers.

If you’d like to have a chat about any of these things, please get in touch.

God bless you,

Revd Mandy

Dear Friends

I’m really looking forward to this month. I hope we’ll get more sunshine than we’ve been used to and I expect the brave snowdrops to be overtaken by the daffodils which have been pushing their way through the snow of January and February.

Speaking of daffodils, it’s been a real joy to see daffodil bulbs which were planted in pots, sending up green shoots before February. We planted them on December 2nd at St Martin’s at the 5.30 pm Service. It was Advent Sunday and planting bulbs reminded us of God’s promises and the need for us to wait to see promises fulfilled. The bulbs hidden in the soil reminded us that God is working even when we can’t see what he’s doing. The promise we were thinking about then was Jesus being born and Jesus returning to earth to rule for ever.

Now, we are preparing for Easter and I hope that those daffodil shoots will be flowering ready for Easter day. They will be a great reminder of the new life and promise that Jesus brings. Jesus was crucified and he was hidden away in a tomb, out of sight of everyone.

It might have been hard to remember his promises that he would rise again and that he would never leave his friends. They probably thought they would never see him again.

But God carried on working, he always keeps his promises and Jesus could not stay dead for long. He rose to new life and visited his friends to let them know he was alive.

This month we have so many opportunities to learn more about the Easter story and to celebrate that Jesus is alive now and he will never leave us.

If you’ve never even thought about this before, then come along and find out more.

If you enjoyed celebrating Christmas with us at Church, come along and celebrate Easter; we can’t really have one without the other.

If you’ve been celebrating Easter for years and years, don’t stop. The good news of Jesus’ resurrection never ends and we can’t hear it and celebrate it too often.

Have a very Happy Easter.

God bless you.

Revd Mandy

Dear Friends

This month we wrap up the baubles, pack away the twinkling coloured lights and cram them all into boxes and cupboards for another year. Yes, Christmas is generally over by the first week in January and I for one always find the house a bit drab and empty after all the December chaos and clutter. I think it’s normal to want to give the house a good clean at this time of year, an early spring clean if you like, so you’ll probably bump into me in the cleaning products aisle.

Do you know, I’m Mrs Gullible when it comes to cleaning products? I’m always taken in by their ridiculous promises of a sparking home with no effort at all on my part. Take bathroom cleaners for instance. In big letters they say on the bottle – just spray it on the shower, the bath tiles, the taps, the curtains, the shampoo bottle – everywhere – you don’t have to do anything else and you’ll be dazzled by the gleaming, mould free room.

I’ve kept on buying it and using it, thinking that one day the promises will come true!

Then, I read the small print. Apparently, it only works on a clean bathroom – it won’t clean anything that’s dirty!

Thank God that God treats us differently. When Jesus was born, it was like the start of the biggest spring clean of the whole world with everyone in it. Through his life, his death, and his resurrection, Jesus did everything that was needed to wash away everything that stops us being the best we can be, anything that comes between us and God or between us and each other. That’s for everyone who’s ever lived.

What’s more, there’s no small print saying that it’ll only work on people who are already clean. In fact, in the Bible, it says “The Lord says, now let’s settle the matter. You are stained red with sin, but I will wash you as clean as snow. Although your stains are deep red, you will be as white as wool.” (Isaiah chapter 1, verse 18) and “God has shown us how much he loves us – it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us.” (Romans chapter 5, verse 8).

So, if you’re planning to do a bit of after Christmas cleaning, why not do a bit of cleaning for the soul? God’s with us, that’s what Christmas is all about and he’s always ready to help us clean up our souls and our lives. There’s no trick, Jesus has paid the bill and we’re not going to get caught out with the small print.

Have a very happy new year.

God bless you all

Revd Mandy