Along with celebrating
Her Majesty’s special birthday recently, at Thackley Methodist Church (TMC) we
have also been celebrating our Junior Church Anniversary – and working out that
the Queen has being reigning for around half the lifetime of the church!
So what has
the church been doing for all those years? Back in the day, besides being a big,
busy church, it was the major social hub of the village, with all sorts of regular
meetings and concerts – even spectacular productions of Gilbert and Sullivan
operettas, with magnificent costumes hired from D’Oyly Carte! Also, did you know Thackley Football Club grew
from small beginnings made by the church?
Nowadays, besides
hosting well attended special seasonal services, weddings, baptisms and
funerals, TMC continues to serve the community by providing a safe, warm and
welcoming community centre for a number of groups and organisations to call
home. We happily share our premises on Friday evenings with ‘Sorted’ youth church, a Church Army
initiative, which is reaching and transforming the lives of numerous young
people. We estimate around a thousand people cross the threshold – every week! TMC also regularly supports a number of local,
national and international charities.
As you can
imagine, this all takes a lot of hard work from the church family members who
voluntarily look after the buildings, organise the room bookings, take care of
the administration and finances – and lead worship. There is a commitment in
terms of money too - each local Methodist church has to be both financially
self-sufficient and make a contribution towards the paid ministers and other
costs of the larger Methodist organisation.
But we’re
coming to realise that where we perhaps fall down as a church here in Thackley
is that we’re not always very good at explaining why we do what we do.
There’s an
old joke. Three Christians are waiting at the pearly gates to be admitted into
heaven. St Peter asks them why they think they should be let in.
The Catholic
replies, “Look – I’ve got my rosary – I’ve always prayed regularly.” St Peter
lets him in.
The Baptist
is next and says “I have my Bible – I’ve read the Bible every day.” St Peter
lets her in too.
That just
leaves the Methodist. “Why do you think I should let you in?” asks St Peter.
The Methodist
holds out a covered dish saying, “Well, I’ve brought a casserole…”
Methodists tend
to be practical people with a down to earth attitude and it has to be said, we
do enjoy sharing food - hot drinks and biscuits as a minimum featuring at virtually every service and church
meeting – but the reason we undertake all this work is for love.
We believe
that God is love and wants us to
share that love with the community around us. God walked the earth in human
history in his son Jesus, who taught us about God’s loving character and gave
us an example of service to follow, all recorded for us in the Bible. Then, by
his self- sacrificial death on a cross, Jesus, by some glorious, mysterious
means, tipped the balance between good and evil once and for all – good shall
prevail – and love wins!
Right now, Jesus’
own Spirit is in the world, helping us along, pointing us towards God. For
example, think of that feeling, when you hold a new born baby, see a beautiful
sunset, hear a wonderful piece of music? That’s him. And you must have come
across people who are so good, so loving, generous, kind and understanding that
you feel better just for being with them? They are Spirit (not spirit!) filled.
At TMC we
meet Sunday by Sunday (10.30 – 11.30 am – quite civilised) to pause, take time
out of busy lives to think about God, to reflect on who he is, to thank and
praise him, to learn more about him, to say we are sorry for the things we’ve
got wrong, to ask for his help and to work out what he wants us to do next,
both as a church family and in our lives as individuals. Some might argue that
you don’t need to go to church to be a Christian – and that’s true – but is an
hour a week really too much to give back to God, when he gives so much to us? The
time it takes to watch two episodes of Coronation Street? Together, as a church
community, lovingly helping and supporting each other, learning from each
other, we can achieve so much more than as separate believers. God loves each
and every person and has given us all individual talents and attributes that
fit together like a beautiful jigsaw. If you choose not to bring your pieces
along, the picture, although still recognisable, cannot be complete.
Talking of
talents, if you like music, play an instrument and/or sing, you might really
enjoy ‘Take a Second,’ from 6.00 – 7.00 pm on the second Sunday of each month,
a reflective time where people bring along their musical instruments – and
voices - to praise God and share together.
I’m sure
others might be reading this who find it hard to believe in God at all,
especially when they look around the world at the terrible things that happen,
or who have experienced personal tragedy. Yes, we still ask why, too - often.
We don’t pretend to have all the answers, but we trust that where love is,
there is God also. Don’t feel for a moment that any lack of faith would exclude
you – we really mean it when we say all
are welcome at TMC.
Also, through
the summer, we’re hosting coffee mornings from 10 -12 noon each Saturday, with
pretty china and cafetiere coffee (and biscuits of course) to offer a little
treat to the community – do drop in.
Going back to
those pearly gates – they’re not there anymore – Jesus took them off their
hinges and stands there himself, arms open wide to welcome us in when we get
there – but he’d very much like us all, with the help of his Spirit, to work
together to make this part of his world a bit more heavenly, before we get there! Please come along and take your place in your
church in Thackley, part of God’s Church.
Every
blessing to you and yours, from everyone at TMC.
Jackie
M, Local Preacher