Farnworth and Worsley Methodist Circuit

Jesus :- A Passion for You  

A message from the Manse – Revd. Stephen & Heather Radford.

I am writing this a week after the earthquake devastated Haiti & Port au Prince, the capital leaving 150,000 dead and a million homeless and bereaved. Such devastation

is hard to comprehend. The television news programmes and radio have allowed us a glimpse of the suffering that the people of Haiti are enduring. The country was already the poorest in the Northern Hemisphere, with very poor infrastructure it will take many years to rebuild, many prayers, grace filled people and God to heal their brokenness.

Please pray for Haiti – its people, leaders, the reconstruction work, for healing and God’s blessings.

Thank you to all those who have contributed to the Circuit wide collection for the relief work.

Psalm 113 verses 5-7 (para)

Who is like the Lord our God…….”He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap: He seats them with princes!!”

As we move into Spring, we begin our journey with Jesus towards the Cross and the Resurrection, moving through, what is perhaps, the richest area of the Christian calendar – the periods of Lent, Easter and Pentecost.

The journey, for me, begins with the words of Thomas in John 11 v 16 – ‘Let us also go, that we may die with Him!’

Thomas, often called ‘The Doubter’, here shows remarkable faith and is fully aware of the cost of that journey. We walk through Lent with Christ, as He calls us to, ‘Follow Him’ – to let go of our earthly possessions and attitudes and to focus on His act of obedience and love in ‘laying down His life for His friends’ (John 15 v 13).

I hope we will take the time in Easter week, to read the Bible, and follow the journey of Jesus from Palm Sunday to the Cross and on to Christ’s glorious Resurrection. Death could not hold Him and, we too, are raised with Christ – Hallelujah! Charles Wesley’s hymn reminds us, ‘Ours the cross, the grave, the skies’. It always brings tears to my eyes and we will be singing it to welcome Easter Day in Blackleach Park at 6am (I hope you can join us!). The climax of that wonderful gospel is summed up in Thomas’s words, ‘My Lord and My God!’ (John 20 v 28). Can we join him in this journey of faith?

Our final destination is the birthday of the Church – Pentecost – with its tongues of fire, to purify and inspire, resting on the heads of the disciples; the church finds its voice, boldly proclaiming, ‘Therefore let all Israel be assured of this, God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ’ (Acts 2 v 36).

He is Lord! He is Lord! He is risen from the dead and He is Lord!

Every knee shall bow; every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!

Let us proclaim the love of Christ and the power of His Resurrection

God bless you all in 2010

Love from Rev. Stephen and Heather