Tapton Church Blog

We have an Advent Wall of twenty boxes and we would like people to bring gifts for various charities

Chocolate Box   a charity that befriends sex workers   –  asking for ladies pampering item i.e. bubble batch, shower gel etc.                                                                                                                                                                                                          The Good News Hope Centre for victims of domestic abuse  – duvet covers, cutlery, mugs, cookware etc                        Maher – a project in India helping men, women and children exercise their right to  higher quality of life.  asking for cash donations  to be put in an envelope marked Mahler please.

The boxes will be in place until Christmas.  If you wish to know more about any of the charities    ask our Church Secretary Darryl Lomas  or come on the 1st to hear from Hazel from Good News.     8th Church Anniversary with Rev.Dr Janet Wootton and hear about Maher   and     15th Chocolate Box

Leader:  Ray Briddon  from Bakewell      “Living water”                                                                                                  Readings : Jeremiah 2  4-12  John 7  37-44                                                                                                                                         Ray played his guitar and sang a solo   “Have we gone too far?  Is there no way back?”                                                            Water is essential to life     but it can be a blessing or  curse as has been shown quite recently with the suffering caused by flooding.    Genesis mentions water for the first time  but it is mentioned continually through the bible.  One very familiar story is that of Noah  who saved some people  but others who had disobeyed God perished.                 In the story of the Samaritan woman   Jesus asks for a drink of water  and in return will give the water of life which satisfies,  and gives eternal life.     Jeremiah talks about the people ignoring God and building cisterns of such poor quality they leaked                                                                                                                                                                                     Jesus and God are the only ones who can provide us with living water   dont build broken cisterns    draw your water from the only source.

Leader:    Mark Taylor  from Newark

what have these three symbols in common  ?

an x  a heart   a rose      Love                                                                                                                                                                   Not only should we love our family and friends,   those we know   we should also love  those we dont know, people we meet in the street, on the bus, people who are different   in nationality   creed

Readings :    Leviticus 19  9-18       Luke 10 25-35

The Good Samaritan story    An expert in church law  asks Jesus  how he can get into heaven   Jesus tells him to love your God with all your soul  mind and heart and your neighbour  as yourself   and that is all you need    In Leviticus  God gives us other instructions

God wants us to love one another     Jesus is asked “who is my neighbour?”   our neighbour can be anyone  regardless of beliefs and doctrines   nationality sex  none of these things matter  – caring does.  Put people into categories   will not do  everyone is a potential neighbour.

Led by Rev Suzanne Nockels

Readings:  Isaiah 1: 10-17   and Matthew 5: 38-45

Suzanne asked ‘When was the last time we were really peaceful?’

Do we bring peace into situations arising around us?

Is Matthew 5 rubbing salt into open wounds?

There is always more than one way to resolve a situation we find ourselves in

Some of us travelled up to Harden Congregational Church near Bradford to join Dr Walter Riggans and friends from other churches for  a discussion on Why Jesus told parables,     An extremely interesting  thought provoking day coming away full of thoughts.  Thanks to Harden CC for providing a lovely lunchand hosting the event.

Leader : Suzanne Nockels      31st October is Halloween,  All Saints Day and Reformation Day

Suzanne put on a white sheet  to pretend she was a ghost for halloween  – scary ? a disguise.  All the time we wear a disguise in our lives,  we put on a good face for the world,   underneath there are  shadows, scary moments, .  we are not honest about how we feel.    Martin Luther wanted to change things that were scary    and he managed that – if we ask Jesus and His father for help we can overcome the scary things in our lives.

Reading          Daniel 7 1-10   13-19  A scary passage about four beasts.

As President elect of the Federation Suzanne has  been asked to attend some events – one being the cannonisation of Cardinal Newman at Westminster Cathedral (which she could not attend)       she told us about the Catholic  church and  Saints.      We would all like to be called saint   we meet people who we call saints  they show caring and love and ask for no reward for what they do      If we try we can all be better people.