???: Meet the Filmmaker: Recent Episodes
The Bethel - Old Trafford Chri
Tom takes this opportunity to continue the theme of the weekend he’s been leading about the word of God. Talking about the way we look at the Bible and the power it holds can be challenging, but this can be a good thing. This morning, Tom leads our thoughts towards the living word of God - Jesus. The Bible is not a novel or a reference book - it’s a complex mixture of styles, genres, subjects and thoughts, and to understand it, we need a key - something that will help us unlock it. That key is Jesus.
Jesus called us to be the light of the world, in the same way God wanted the Israelites to be a light for the nations around them. Often we can treat our church experience more like a club. Malcolm calls us to be less like a clubhouse and more like a lighthouse, lighting the way to the message of God and pointing the direction of relationship with our creator.
We need to be honest about how messed up we all are and how we don't have it all together. Creation is messy, living is messy, that's all part of the design - it is intentional, it is God's plan A. And we are all equally messy. None of this mess is something we can buy or behave our way out of. But God makes masterpieces out of the mess, let yourself be formed into one of God's masterpieces.
We think we know something, but it might actually be inaccurate, and likewise in some instances you know more than you realise. This morning, Peter introduces us to a new word: halachaha. In Jewish tradition, this is what is taught as law - all the intricacies of law and laws around laws... But Jesus came along and railed against it - he shows us how to refocus. He says “You’ve heard it said - do this, do this, do this. I say, be like me.”
Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass but learning to dance in the rain. We are surrounded by miracles and we must remember not to take that for granted, regardless of the occasional tough times that come along. John talks us through being open to the wealth of knowledge and wisdom that is available to us in the scriptures and reminds us that in that respect, God's wallet is full, let's spend it.
Charles explored some of the times that God appeared to people and we discover it is often in the form of a human. Charles encouraged us to connect with this humanity that comes through most obviously in Jesus. To find people to be open and honest with, to share our weaknesses and to enable each other to be the embodiment of the characteristics of God and Christ to each other.
The time we spend together at this time of year can often lead to conversations about how we’ve spent the year, the things we wanted to do but didn’t, the things we’ve noticed about others ourselves. For Richard, this festive break he’s been reminded that he’d like to start running again. This thought guides ours this morning, how we are running the race of discipleship and what prompts us, how we prepare, the timing of our prompts and discipline.
Christmas is so impressed upon us from such an early time, that we are bombarded with messages of gift-giving and decorations, songs, films and adverts. Tony reminds us what Christmas is all about - Christ - and draws our thoughts to three lessons to take away: make Christ the centre; God calls everyone, and we all get the same gift in Jesus; and lastly - seek God and open our hearts and mind.
Tim explored the darkness in the nativity story. Tim exposes seven points where the darkness is highlighted in the story of Jesus' birth and identifies how the Light of Jesus shone and still shines in the darkness.
What is it that you can bring for someone else? Christ took a small thing and made it big - three nails and a cross - a rudimentary tool that became the biggest redemptive tool the world has seen. God can take hatever your gift or contribution is, even if that is just showing up, and bless it and make it so abundant that many people are blessed by it.
Seemingly small things that Jesus said and did resonated through history. If we allow it, Jesus and God are involved intricately, face-to-face with us in or lives. The small things of today will often, eventually become globally public. Something which should act as encouragement and challenge to us.
On this Rememberance Sunday, Andrew explores the fragility of memory, or perhaps not memory but priorities. Our weekly memorial service not only serves to remind us of the importance of Jesus in our lives, it also allows us to reprioritise. In rekindling the memory of the exodus (the trial imposed on Israel because they kept forgetting), Andrew asks us: do we forget that we are children of God? On our journeys, let’s not forget, let’s not lose sight of all that Jesus has done, and the relationship we have with God.
Manasseh was a king of the Kingdom of Judah. The only son of Hezekiah and his wife Hephzibah, he became king at the age of 12 and reigned for 55 years. He was a very bad King. He very deliberately went against what had been shown to him and taught to him by his own father. Martyn digs deep into the story to see what lesons are hiding within the text for our lives today.
When Jesus said "I am the vine, you are the branches", he was talking about a way of living that ensures we are fully connected all of the time to the source of our faith. David explores the ways we can embody this today.
Trevor beautifully sums-up thoughts and experiences that have been shared over the last four weeks and challenges us as a community to explore what barriers we might be putting up or holding on to that are getting in the way of us being the open, accepting, embracing, gracious and enabling people that we aspire to be as we reflect the love of God.
Have you ever taken your FOT? As a car needs an MOT every year, to keep us on the right path, it is sensible to take a Faith On Test regularly. What is it that you need to wake up to for your faith to be reinforced and challenged so it can grow and become stronger?
What do we understand by what Jesus said when he proclaimed he was The Way, The Truth and The Life? What did Jesus mean? Tony unpacks the practical application of the words of Jesus on our lives today.
When you’re afraid, what do you do? There’s so much in our lives to make us worry, to tell us to be afraid. Mostly though, don’t we fear being out of control, out of grace or out of breath? In the letter to the Philippians, Paul’s focus is not on the short term problems but on the eventual solution. The Psalmist encourages us to trust, and Malcolm encourages us to have no fear and take comfort in God’s love and His promises.
Andrew Downton visits us with news from Riga, where he and Mel have been helping at the winter food kitchens for a few years. He brings with him the lessons learned from those they met, saw baptised and heard testimonies from. Not all churches have the same needs, but in Riga it’s simple: they all need each other, and the love they share, seeing each others problems and showing that love in any way they can to support one another. The lesson is clear - are we known by our love? Do we act with compassion and selflessness in all circumstances? And how much do we truly value our faith?