Final service at St.John's Stone

Yesterday the 26th August 2012 saw the final worship for St. John's (Methodist / United Reformed) Church at Granville Terrace, Stone, and it was my honour to lead worship for over 150 people packed into St. John's to celebrate the past and thank God for the vision and faith of so any saints in the life of our fellowship.

Some people in our community have said we are closing our Church, which just isnt true; all we have done is close our buildings and moved out. And so it was very important that we didn't make our time together just about looking back because we know that God is still leading us on giving us vision faith and hope for the future of our Church.

We believe Church is not a building or a location; we know that Church is people sharing life and worship, living in the power of God's Spirit, called to seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly before our God. Church is what we are when we live for Jesus, being transformed by Him so that through us others may find hope and love.

Last night we closed our buildings and God willing they will sell quickly and give us the funds we need to have our own premises again, we did not close a Church!

St. John's Stone is as alive and healthy as it has ever been. What's more St John's is growing.
We are a vibrant welcoming family Church and we move out of our buildings full of hope and faith. We worship next Sunday at our new temporary home at Walton Priory Middle School.

This new phase of our shared life together will be exciting and scary; moving out into the unknown always is.

A favourite song of mine at the moment is called 'Springsteen' by American singer Eric Church, and it contains this line 'its funny how a melody sounds like a memory' and how true a statement that is. Melodies, songs and hymns, readings, preachers even will all transport us back in our minds to the buildings and people we shared faith with at Granville Terrace. There are bound to be tears and sadness as we remember, but through all of these experiences we will be held by the hands of our God who calls us to journey with Him.

St. John's is on the move, God is leading out and on.

So will you pray for us as we go; that God would hold us tightly and fill us with His Spirit, and that joy would fill us as our Church begins this new life in Walton Priory Middle School.

God bless you

Revd. Neil

I write this piece on the evening of the 23rd August 2012. This morning the Independent newspaper had the front page below, with the main story being about Chris Mahoney the Director of agriculture trading at Glencore, the worlds largest commodity trading company. Mr Mahoney has said this about the current global food crisis and soaring food prices ‘The environment is a good one. High prices, lots of volatility, a lot of dislocation, tightness, a lot of arbitrary opportunities . . .  We will be able to provide the world with solutions . . . and that should be good for Glencore.’

In short he thinks the fact that people are literally starving to death because of the global food crisis is a good thing because the company he works for will make more profit. 

This moment of startling honesty reveals the horrible consequences of a society where greed and the pursuit of money is the only thing that motivates. 

Alongside this report was a colour photograph of a malnourished infant in Southern Niger and the news that aid agencies are desperately trying to find food in West Africa to try to avert mass starvation. 

If there is to be the kind of justice for the poor that the Bible tells us is so close to the heart of God, then we have to find a way to bring compassion, justice and decency into the market place. 

What really made me angry though today wasn't just this story, it was the other front pages I saw at the newsagents; all of them seemed to think a story about Prince Harry being in a state of undress in private and inside a hotel room was much more important. 

To be perfectly honest I couldn't care less about what Prince Harry gets up to in his own time behind locked doors. It is not important especially when there are so many really horrific things going on that we ignore because we are so tuned into trivia. 

I wish the press were more responsible, more a force for good. 

I wish we didn't spend so much time focusing on who is wearing what and who is sleeping with who, and instead focus on the righteous anger of God that would burn within us when we see the mess humanity has made of this planet. 

The Prince Harry news is nothing more than chewing gum for the soul, it is completely irrelevant. 

If only we got passionate about starving children and spoke up against the greed and love of money that is rotting our society from within. 

Reflecting on this experience today, I couldn't help but think of how often in Church we are in danger of doing likewise; getting hot under the collar about things that are unimportant and trivial, while turning a blind eye to the real issues and challenges around us. 

I won’t forget Mr Mahoney in a hurry. I won’t forget the evil that burns in the heart of human beings who see starving people and respond by rubbing their hands together with glee because more money can be made out of misery, death and destruction. 

I pray that God’s anger would motivate us all to work for God’s Kingdom of justice, peace, compassion and mercy in our community and in places like West Africa too. 

Neil