Ben Green | Luke 2.22-40  There was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God. To anyone else, Joseph and Mary would have looked like just another couple with a newborn baby observing the law of Moses. But Simeon, responding as he did to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, welcomed Jesus literally with open arms, thanking God for the salvation he had come to bring. Ben challenges us to be a people who will similarly walk in step with God. A longer edited video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube.

Christ Church Selly Park

My eyes have seen

John Lanchbury | Luke 1:57-80  They made signs to [Zechariah], to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone's astonishment he wrote, 'His name is John.' Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God. All the neighbours were filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, 'What then is this child going to be?' For the Lord’s hand was with him. When Zechariah, something like a year earlier, was told by the angel Gabriel that his aged wife would have a son, he was literally dumbstruck. Now, with the promise fulfilled in his own sight, he obeys the angel's instruction: the child's name is John. Immediately his tongue is freed, and he proclaims the greatness of God in a prophecy which our own John explains. A longer edited video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube.

Blessed be

Graham Romp | Luke 1:39-56  Mary said: 'My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour... From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me - holy is his name... He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.' When Mary, pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit, meets Elizabeth, also pregnant through God's intervention, she bursts out into a song of praise. Graham explains why the meeting was so significant, and explores the challenging and radical message of Mary's song. A longer edited video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube.

Magnificent

Dan Parnell | Luke 1:26-38  The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favour with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end." Out of the blue, it seems, this teenage girl living in an obscure town is given a responsibility and a challenge that she could never have imagined. How does she respond? Dan explains what Mary was facing, and encourages us to trust God's call just as she did. This is the image from Worcester Cathedral that Dan refers to in his talk: A longer edited video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube.

The Lord’s servant

Chris Turner | Luke 1:5-25  An angel of the Lord appeared to [Zechariah], standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. But the angel said to him: 'Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord.' For hundreds of years it seemed that heaven had been silent. Temple worship continued, but maybe few - Zechariah among them - thought it really mattered. Suddenly, God broke in, and Zechariah was literally dumbstruck. His elderly wife, who had lost hope of bearing a child, would conceive, and through the child, hope would come to the whole nation. Chris begins our new series Light and glory focusing on the angelic messages announcing Jesus' birth. Chris encourages us to make time to hear God's voice in our own lives. A longer edited video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube.

Be prepared

Allan Bartlam | Micah 6:1-8 | Micah 7:18-20  With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? ... He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry for ever but delight to show mercy. Allan ends our series on Micah by speaking first about God's character, then our response. Micah highlighted the seriousness of Israel's sin but also God's desire that they should turn back to him and find mercy and forgiveness. How can we live as God desires in our very different, 21st century world? During his talk Allan refers to a slide Susan Haynes had used to illustrate the sins of Israel. Here it is: An edited video recording of the Sunday service which also includes the reading and prayers can be viewed on YouTube.

Micah: God‘s call

Ben Green | Micah 5.1-15  'But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.' Therefore Israel will be abandoned until the time when she who is in labour bears a son, and the rest of his brothers return to join the Israelites. He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they will live securely, for then his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. The early verses in this chapter are often read at Christmas services, speaking as they do of a new ruler to come from Bethlehem. But then the message is one of judgement and destruction. What's going on? Ben explains how Micah's prophecy speaks to every age, ultimately bringing hope and the promise of God's glorious reign to come. A fuller video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube.

Micah: God‘s future

Susan Haynes | Micah 4:1-8  In the last days the mountain of the Lord's temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come and say, 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob... The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks.' Up to this point Micah has prophesied disaster for the people of God as a consequence of their many sins. But now, says Susan, there is a change of tone as Micah looks forward with hope. God's kingdom rule will be established, bringing restoration and forgiveness. We, living since the coming of Jesus, have all the more reason to trust this promise. The recording begins with the reading from Janet Chalmers. After Susan speaks, Dan Parnell describes two present-day projects that seek to put into practice the teaching of Micah. There's more information about RAWtools at https://rawtools.org. These are the furniture restoration photos used by Susan in her talk:   A fuller video recording of the All-In service can be viewed on YouTube.

Micah: God‘s forgiveness

Graham Romp | Micah 3:1-12  Hear this, you leaders of Jacob, you rulers of Israel, who despise justice and distort all that is right; who build Zion with bloodshed, and Jerusalem with wickedness. Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money. Yet they look for the Lord’s support and say, ‘Is not the Lord among us? No disaster will come upon us.’ Therefore because of you, Zion will be ploughed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets. What hope is there, when the nation which is supposed to belong to God has gone so badly wrong? Yet, says Graham, Micah's message did have an impact, and God responded with mercy. On Advent Sunday we look forward to the coming of Jesus, the perfect leader. The recording begins with the reading from Matt Fox. A fuller video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube.

Micah: God‘s leaders

Ben Green | Micah 1.1-2.5  Look! The Lord is coming from his dwelling-place; he comes down and treads on the heights of the earth. The mountains melt beneath him and the valleys split apart, like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope. All this is because of Jacob's transgression, because of the sins of the people of Israel... Therefore, the Lord says: ‘I am planning disaster against this people, from which you cannot save yourselves. You will no longer walk proudly, for it will be a time of calamity. It's an uncompromising message of judgement, as Micah prophesies disaster as a punishment for Israel's sins. Yet, as Ben explains, it is a message with a purpose: to turn the people back to God, that they might be forgiven and find true life. The recording begins with Ben introducing the book (and our sermon series) as a whole, then Pat Clayton reads selected verses from the passage before Ben continues with this week's talk. A fuller video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube.

Micah: God‘s people

Ben Green | 1 Samuel 7:2b-12  While Samuel was sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle. But that day the Lord thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites... Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, 'Thus far the Lord has helped us.' Earlier in the service we had thought of ways in which we receive help from other people and from God. In this All-Age Remembrance service Ben now speaks about how much we depend on God's help, and the need to remember this and thank him. Later in the service we made a cairn of stones (now moved to the grass adjoining our driveway) to commemorate God's help to us. A fuller video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube.  

Remembrance Sunday: the stone of help

John Lanchbury | Jonah 3:1-5, 10  Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 'Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.' Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh... The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth... When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened. As the story proceeds we discover the reason why Jonah was indeed the reluctant prophet, who at first ran in the opposite direction when God called him to preach repentance to the city of Nineveh. Instead of rejoicing at the spectacular success of his preaching, Jonah threw a massive sulk at this outcome. In this recording John first explains the background to the story, then focuses on what we can learn about God and what he calls us to do in our own age. There are a couple of references in John's talk to Jacquie Dewsbury, who earned the nickname "The gratitude lady" during her stay in hospital which ended with her death 3 days before this service.  A fuller video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube.

Jonah - the reluctant prophet

Ben Green | 1 Corinthians 12:31-13:13  If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. As Graham Romp had already explained in his introduction to the service, this passage - although often read at weddings - is not speaking about romantic love. Rather, says Ben, it goes to the heart of what the Corinthians had failed to recognise - that love is what matters above everything else, no matter how worthwhile those other things might be. And what is love? Ben has the answer. A fuller video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube.

Loving truly

Bobbie Frere | Acts 18:1-18a  Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them. Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks. This week we take a break from our series in 1 Corinthians to look at how the church there was founded. Paul was the leading figure but was helped and encouraged by others, including God himself. Bobbie explains how we too can share together in our individual and common work for God. Before Bobbie speaks we hear from Aquila and Priscilla, carrying their tents as they approach an unknown future in Corinth. A fuller video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube.

An interlude: In Corinth

Ben Green | 1 Corinthians 4.1-17  This, then, is how you ought to regard us: as servants of Christ and as those entrusted with the mysteries God has revealed. Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself. My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God. Paul goes on to contrast his own attitude of service and reliance on God's grace with the pride displayed by the church at Corinth. The modern church is in danger too, says Ben, urging us to live faithfully according to the gospel. A fuller video recording of the Sunday service can be viewed on YouTube.

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Christ Church Selly Park

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