Dear Friends
To start, this Blog may not age well!
As I write this, as a nation we are full of excitement about the great sporting weekend of the first weekend of Wimbledon, down to one British player with hope of a quarter-final space, the excitement of the British Grand Prix where Brits came 2nd and 3rd and nearly every celebrity was on the grid. Then to the World Cup coming alive at 2 am in the morning as England beat Mexico and the phrase “It’s Coming Home” is everywhere. Spoiler: if it does, we shall show the final at St Martin’s at 8 pm on July 19th, no alcohol, bring drinks and snacks and let’s make some noise. Maybe an England V France final…. You heard it first here!
Now for what won’t be out of date by the end of July! Is the word we have here at present expectations. In sport, they have moved from no chance to we are winning. It is also a word we use in our Christian faith a lot, but maybe not expectations but fresh from Pentecost in May b, but expectant. Expectant of God moving or in that series before Pentecost praying for a move of the Spirit. I don’t know about you, but I believe this is a really important word. To have faith, we need to be expectant. Expectant of what could happen. As we look at what is happening across our world, nation and within our Church family, this is important. Why are we seeing new people coming to faith? Quite simply, people have prayed faithfully and committed to be expectant of what God is and might do. What we are seeing is the fruit of so much faithful prayer and seeds sown in so many lives. In April, I was with our young people hearing a little of their hearts and hopes, and we also shared the need of new youth leaders. We then shared this to the Church. However, one of our young people said that we will get four new leaders in September. Expectant faith in action. The good news as we start July with two new young men as leaders starting. We continue to pray for more. In particular, as we prepare to say goodbye to Hannah Smith, our intern, this will leave so many gaps, so please do pray if you may be one of those leaders the young people are praying for and are expectant.
As we prepare to embrace the summer months, where for some will be quieter, some ministries and life groups will take a break. While others get a little busier with Creation Fest, Holiday clubs, etc. These are good months to be asking and praying these three important questions.
- Are you expectant of God?
- Where might you need to ask God to come into that situation?
- What might you need to put in place to be more expectant
Then a bonus question is simply this. What might God be asking of you in September?
Like our youth and children team, where there are many gaps, many other ministries have this too. Might God be prompting you to get involved?
As we pray these questions and prepare for the summer and our expectancy, I encourage you to pray and seek God, maybe using the encouragement
Of Paul in Romans 8:25
25 But if we wait expectantly for things we have never seen, then we hope with true perseverance and eager anticipation
I pray this is a summer full of hope and joy and growing in the gift of being expectant of what God might be doing and seeing a move of the Spirit from those faithful prayers of many generations.
God Bless
Rev Mark