Words from Bede Circuit
Dear Friends
I have been thinking ( always dangerous) and reflecting on the story of Jesus calming the storm as recorded in Mark chapter 4. I think it must be something to do with the weather we have had this last week.
A commentary I read on this passage says this.- `Jesus and his disciples are crossing the Sea of Galilee. They are moving from the Jewish side to the Gentile side, the side where they are at home to the side where they are strangers, the side where life is familiar to the side where it is new, different, and unfamiliar. We may have never crossed the Sea of Galilee but we’ve been in that boat.’
This last couple of months I have started visiting churches in the circuit addressing the responses to the circuit review. This is to try and see where God is leading us as the Bede Circuit and where we need to place our resources to enable the work of God to grow and flourish. For some of our churches it may feel like a storm hitting and experiencing those feelings of fear, uncertainty, loss. For others it may be the start of something new. Just like the disciples in the boat we don’t know where the review will lead but what comes from it will be something new, different and unfamiliar. But also I hope and pray, life giving, exciting, Spirit led.
The commentary goes on “Peace! Be still!” Jesus speaks to the wind and the sea. Jesus isn’t changing the weather as much as inviting the disciples to change. He’s speaking to the wind and the waves within them.’
During the conversations on the circuit review I want to encourage us all to hear that voice of Jesus saying `Peace’.
With this in mind I would like to come together to pray on the first Saturday of each month at 9am and to meet over a simple breakfast. It is hoped we can meet in one of our churches to do this but we need a church to extend an invitation to do this. This can be a moveable feast moving around the circuit.
I am looking for the first one to start on December 4th, 2021. Please would you consider opening your church to invite us to share in breakfast and prayer? Please contact me if you are.
The peace that Jesus offers is a peace we may also need within our own lives at this time. If that is so I urge you to read the story ( Mark 4: 35-41) and to hear the voice of Jesus saying to you Peace. The love of God is deeper than any water that threatens to drown us. In every storm Jesus is present and his response is always the same, “Peace! Be still!”
May you all know Peace- the Prince of Peace with you.
Blessings
Jane
On behalf of the Ministry Team