the junction

Steve Swain helped us to look at Christmas with new eyes. It was an interesting morning.

Matthew 1: 18-25

If we agree that God is infinitely wise, powerful and creative, we also agree that he could have brought His Son into the world in an infinite number of ways. What does the way He chose to do it, tell you about the nature of God? What intrigues you about it?

His birth was predicted 800-1000 years earlier by Isaiah (Isaiah 7:14-16).

The gospel of Luke tells the same story. Mark starts with Jesus as a grown-up, as it was aimed at the Romans who were more concerned with action.

Steve Swain began this Gathering with a short talk on giving.

He saw a motivational speaker once, who gave his three rules for financial independence. 1. Save 10%. 2. Give 10%. 3. Live on 80%. This came from a hard-nosed businessman, who didn’t know why it worked, just knew that it did.

In the Bible, the tithe is equivalent to 10%. Tithing is an old Testament principal and was about keeping the priesthood, whose lives were dedicated to serving God and whose direct work generated no income.

Steve Swain shared again at our August Gathering - here’s my notes from the morning.

What have your learned/discovered in the past month? Some of the responses Steve got back were:

• Hold on and you’ll get through

• Stronger than you think

• Don’t have all the answers

Christianity is NOT a theory!

People say just believe, makes it sound like a theory. God doesn’t say that, he gave us a brain, like him to be able to think.

Christianity is a practice!

Christianity is not just church. Church is not the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom is infinite.

Steve was amazing at stepping up at the last minute, to share at our June Gathering. Here’s my notes from his message.

Egypt at the time of Passover was a world power. It also had a focus on death - known for its pyramids and mummies etc. God assaulted all the power of Egypt with the many plagues, but when he assaulted them with death to defeat them, in turn death was defeated, by the blood of the lamb on the doors of the Jews.

The gospels have all sorts of stories and quickly run through miracles, events, parables and more, but quickly get down to what the situation is about.

As Steve led us into communion, he shared this with us.

Who we are and what we do has moved God - from heaven to earth.

It has been said that God is the unmoved mover, but this is not true as we have all moved him, through our action, good and bad.

He made an unbelievable sacrifice. If we didn’t believe it, we couldn’t believe it.

What does the cross say about God’s character - those in attendance offered Love, Mercy, Compassion, Sacrifice, Value, Worth.

We celebrated this gathering with a meal, commemorating Easter through the celebration of Passover.

Passover originated in the Jews release from Egypt.

At creation was Adam, in his line was Noah, whose son Shem was the father of Abraham (about 10 generations removed), who lived in around 3000BC. Abraham had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael and Isaac begat Jacob, who had 12 sons who became the fathers of the twelve tribes of Egypt.

The Israelites had moved to Egypt, escaping drought and seeking food. They were there for 400-430 years.

Steve picked up on a question that Evan had asked at the February Gathering. “How do we make it work?”

He admitted that he is better at the academic, rather than the practical side. Like us all, he does some things bad and some things OK.

When he became a Christian, he learnt how it all worked by reading a lot and by watching other Christians. He absorbed the things liked and discarded those he didn’t. He is still learning, from people he has observed in the past and from those he observes today.

Steve told the story of setting goals in his diary.

Steve Swain presented an informal session, starting with an interview with Helen Crothers on her affiliation with African Action International. (done at very short notice - well done Helen!)

Why did Helen go to Africa? All her life she had an affinity with coloured people. She wanted to go but was scared to, after the Entebbe airport hostage crisis in 1976. However, her interest in Africa grew and she was encouraged further by her first trip there in 2005. She loves the people of Africa and what God is doing in their lives.

Steve continued his musings, this time focusing more on the ministry.

The New Testament is like the Last Will & Testament of God. The Old Testament was the priesthood - the tribe of Levi were the priests.

Steve continued his exploration of emerging questions at our July Gathering.

Acts 2 talks about communication, prayer, the Word and fellowship. The outcome of this was to make disciples.

What is making disciples supposed to do? What does a disciple look like? Could be called a student, trainee, apprentice - you are learning how to be a disciple.

In Acts, believers met together, there was a deep sense of awe. Is there that same sense when we meet? Can you still have it amid the laughter, eating and sharing that is the Junction?