The Marlpudlian online

An All Saints Church Marlpool publication

Author: Editor

Christianity

Only by Grace

The USA brand of evangelical Christianity is not renowned for its generosity of spirit or tolerance of any views which diverge from their own somewhat narrow outlook, so the following article came as a breath of fresh air.

A devout member of a congregation which held to the view that marriage was exclusively between a man and a woman and that any other ‘marriage’ was against God’s word and so was sinful, posed this question to her pastor, “My grandson is about to be married to a transgender person, and I don’t know what to do about this, and I’m calling to ask you to tell me what to do,”

The pastor answered: ‘Does your grandson understand your belief in Jesus?’ “. “Yes.” she replied. “Does your grandson understand that your belief in Jesus makes it such that you can’t countenance in any affirming way the choices that he has made in life?’ “Yes.”

He went on to say, “Well then, OK. As long as he knows that, then I suggest that you do go to the ceremony. And I suggest that you buy them a gift.”

The pastor went on to explain that Christians not attending such a ceremony could reinforce “judgemental” stereotypes the culture holds about the Church.

He said: “Well, here’s the thing: your love for them may catch them off guard, but your absence will simply reinforce the fact that they said, ‘These people are what I always thought: judgmental, critical, unprepared to countenance anything.” And it is a fine line, isn’t it? It really is. And people need to work out their own salvation with fear and trembling. But I think we’re going to take that risk. We’re going to have to take that risk a lot more if we want to build bridges into the hearts and lives of those who don’t understand Jesus and don’t understand that he is a King.”

The conversation was recounted on a podcast ‘Truth for Life’ . Within days American Family Radio took the decision to stop airing ‘Truth for Life’ after a 10 year association.

The Pastor had not compromised the views that he and his church held regarding marriage, but he gave a graceful and compassionate response to a lady who was clearly torn between the love for her grandson and her beliefs. Beyond that, his reasoning was sound and indeed scriptural. It would seem that this did not go down well with at least one Christian broadcaster!

Exactly what version of the Gospels do they read? Jesus associated with; adulterers, prostitutes, tax collectors (those collecting taxes for an occupying power and making themselves rich by overcharging), society’s outcasts, Samaritans (a people with what Jews considered to be heretical beliefs), the list goes on.

Christians are called to follow Jesus in every way. This most certainly means showing grace and compassion to those who don’t share our beliefs and above all, not putting barriers in the way of anyone coming to faith.

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What does God want for Christmas?

One of the greatest developments in science occurred – so the story goes – when Isaac Newton asked himself, ‘Why do apples fall?’ In fact, although there are an infinite number of stupid answers there are far fewer stupid questions and sometimes the most childlike questions are actually vitally important. Asking the question, ‘What does God want at Christmas?’ is therefore not as childish as it sounds.

There are two extreme views of God in this context. One view is that God can want precisely nothing: he is perfect in every way and so must be devoid of emotions. The trouble with this is that it is heading towards the God of the philosophers: an all-powerful being who is cold, dispassionate and utterly unapproachable, a He – or perhaps an It – who might be worshipped but cannot be loved. The other view is to imagine a God with limited powers but generous longings who is intensely frustrated because his desires cannot be met. The trouble here is that you are heading towards the God of the pagans who, while he might be loved, cannot be worshipped. The Bible balances the two views: that God is supreme and all-powerful but, at the same time, he loves and he desires. The result is that he can be both loved and worshipped.

So the question ‘What does God want?’ is a valid one. What does God desire? It’s easy to come up with things that we think God might want: peace on earth; justice; an end to hunger; the protection of his creation; and so on. Yet we find a clear answer about God’s priorities in Paul’s first letter to Timothy, where, in the context of living wisely, he says this: ‘This is good, and pleases God our Saviour, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth’ (1 Timothy 2:3-4, NIV). God’s priority is this one thing: he wants ‘all people to be saved’.

Notice that God doesn’t just simply want people to be saved, as merely wishful thinking. Paul describes God as ‘our Saviour’. Saviour is a word we will hear a lot in Christmas carols; it means someone who acts for us, who rescues us, who liberates us. That’s what our God has done: he is Saviour and if you want to know how he saves, Paul continues, ‘For there is one God and one mediator between God and humankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people.’ The words could not be clearer. In Christ, God came down and became one of us so that he could represent both parties – God and humankind, become a ransom and, even, on the cross, a sacrifice. God wants us to be saved so much that he bent down, lowering himself from the highest heights of heaven to a cradle and then, ultimately, to a cross – a staggering descent from inconceivable glory to unspeakable shame.

Notice too that God wants all people to be saved. Don’t be distracted by thinking of criminals, crooked financiers, shady politicians or your neighbour. Think about yourself. You are included in that little word all. Have you realised that you are part of what God wants? Perhaps you responded years ago to God’s love for you but you have let the relationship grow cold and formal. Perhaps, though, that love of God in Christ Jesus is news to you and you haven’t yet accepted it? What does God want for Christmas? He wants you.

In Christina Rossetti’s poem, ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’, the last verse suggests that she too had considered the question, ‘What does God want at Christmas?’:

What can I give Him, poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;

If I were a wise man, I would do my part;

Yet what I can I give Him – give my heart.

Exactly!

May God be with you – and you with God – this Christmas-time.

J.John

Reverend Canon

Christmas

Christmas in a Nutshell

Christmas isn’t just a matter of the baby Jesus being born in Bethlehem. It all starts long before that.

In the beginning God caused the universe to be created

Now we don’t want to get into a debate about the Bible versus science. This is really a non-issue. Science researches and reveals the mechanisms by which things happen but not why. God created the universe as an act of will. That’s the point. The time frame and the how is interesting but not central.

In the vastness of this universe our solar system including our planet came into being and became populated by living organisms including humans. Again the time frame isn’t important in the context of this article. Humans are unique in that all creation, certainly as far as we know. In what way? We were created with the potential to become like God himself, God caused us to have; the ability of abstract reasoning,  a perception of right and wrong, freewill to choose and, most of all, what we call a soul, the essence of what we are existing beyond our physical being.

That’s where the problems started. Rather than following God’s plan, human beings began to use their freewill to go their own way, to choose the ‘wrong’.

Now God hadn’t created us as some sort of celestial experiment. He was heavily invested in us and desperately wanted and continues to want us succeed and to ultimately become like Him. Throughout history God intervened numerous ways (these can all be found in the Old Testament section of the Bible) but they all ultimately failed and humanity continued on its course of self destruction.  So finally God decided to do the job himself.

This is where Jesus comes in. God became Emmanuel, which means: ‘God with us’  in the form of a baby born the a poor couple in an obscure town in the tiny corner of the Roman Empire.

He did this for two reasons (1) to live as a human being to demonstrate how we should live our lives (2) to rebuild the bridge back to God so that we could get across the gulf we’d created.

But that’s all a later chapter

The whole initiative is summed up in one of the best know passages in the whole Bible:

God so loved the world that He sent His one and only son that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but attain eternal life’.

Christmas

What are you doing for Christmas?

Time is running out! Have you written all your Christmas cards? Decided who you are buying present for this year and what? What are the children and/or grandchildren into now? Where are those Christmas lights and why are they all tangled up again?

Of course the Christmas experience can be very different depending on each ones situation

The quintessential ‘happy family’ Christmas with everything running like clockwork, presents exactly what everyone wanted, excited but well behaved children, fabulous perfectly cooked and presented Christmas lunch, party games and so on is not everyone experience (does anyone actually manage to achieve this level of perfection?). For some, the financial burden of aspiring to this sort of Christmas is too much, for others, memories of Christmas’s past may bring sadness, for yet others, sitting alone with a ready meal watching the King’s Speech may be the extent of their Christmas. Or perhaps, children now live too far away and the best than can be hoped for is a phone call or for the tech savvy maybe Facetime or Zoom?

The thing is, Christmas doesn’t have to be according to what other people think it should be like or to conform to a media generated model. Why not create your own tradition whether it’s around a solitary Christmas or with friends or family? Nor does it have to cost an arm and a leg, however much advertising suggests that a ‘real Christmas’ means an expensive one.

And even if ‘church’ isn’t your thing why not take a break from the busyness and  maybe experience the calm and emotion of a Christian Carol Service, Christingle,  Midnight Communion or Christmas Morning Service?  

Have a look at ‘What’s happening at All Saints’ and maybe join us for Christmas?

The Big Questions

They will beat their swords into ploughshares ………

……..  and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. Everyone will sit under their own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid.

These words were spoken almost 3,000 years ago, looking forward to a time of hope where peace was the norm and everyone could live without fear.

And yet here we are, where wholesale slaughter of other human beings is perpetrated in the name of who has the right to ‘own’ which bit of land.

Prince Harry recently said in reference to his time in the military: “In truth, you can’t hurt people if you see them as people”. His comments were roundly criticised by the UK military but they are surely true – who but a psychopath could cold-bloodedly kill and maim other human beings simply because they were ‘on the other side’ unless he or she didn’t identify them as people with families, friends or aspirations but as ‘the enemy’?

On October 7th, Palestinian fighters committed unspeakable atrocities against unarmed Israeli civilian; men, women and children.  In retaliation, Israeli soldiers and airmen and women have killed over 17,000 civilian men, women and children in Gaza, bombed hospitals and schools, restricted access to food water, energy and medicines.  

How can the perpetrators on either side do this? Because they see war as nation against nation or faction against faction. They are conditioned to be blind to the suffering of individuals in pursuit of goals defined by their leaders.

For peace to prevail in the Middle East, Ukraine or in the numerous areas of conflict around the world, WE all need to see beyond the geopolitical manoeuvrings and national pride and insist that our leaders do all in their power to end wars even if doing so comes at an economic cost to us.

As Winston Churchill famously said: “Jaw-jaw is better than war-war”. 

It is only when all humanity recognises that every human being, even those who we count among our enemies, is of immeasurable value and should be treated as such, that the peace envisaged 3 millennia ago will be realised.

No – it will not happen in a day or even a year or a decade but it has to start somewhere and some time. Why not here? Why not now?  

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The Shepherds Play

The Shepherdsʼ Play will be performed by the friends of Michael House School. Sadly the school closed in 2019, but some of the teachers and parents and friends are keeping the tradition alive and All Saints has kindly offered to accommodate the play so we can all share in the celebration of the Christmas Nativity. John the organist of All Saints will be playing the piano to accompany the singing.


The Shepherdsʼ play is one of three plays known as The Oberufer Plays. They were first performed by farm labourers and members of the community of Oberufer:- an Island on the River Danube on the Austrian Hungarian border, during Medieval times. The plays were passed down through generations and observed by Karl Schroer, an Austrian Professor who noted them down at the end of the 19th century. They were then edited by his student Rudolf Steiner who also grew up in a rural community in Austria, and translated by A. C. Harwood in the 1940s. These are the plays that are performed at Christmas in Steiner Waldorf Schools throughout the world, as a gift from the teachers to the pupils and parents. No mean feat when you consider the workload of teachers in that term and having to cope with overexcited children as Christmas draws near.

Advent was a very special time of year at Michael House. Each classroom had its own real fir tree decorated with real candles that were lit and Advent songs sung every morning: ”From the Forest bring the boughs of fir and spruce and pine, ring the bells, ring the bells, for now it is Advent time” and “People Look East the Time is Near of the Crowning of the Year” echoed throughout the corridors. Children would do candle dipping, make gingerbread and wreaths and paper stars. On the last days of term the teachers would perform the Paradise Play about Adam and Eve, followed by the Shepherds Play. Different teachers would take the different roles each year, so although the plays are always the same they were always slightly different and were eagerly anticipated….who would play the devil this year, were they better than the teacher who performed it last year? There is also an element of ad-libbing in the middle of the play and references to events in the school or the political situation in the country. In the last few years the Class 10 pupils, 16 year olds would take on the roles of the Shepherds, bringing an energy and hilarity to the performance. The third play – The Kings Play about the coming of the 3 Kings and the other 2 Kings Christ and Herod is a much darker play and was performed on 6th January, Epiphany. This was only performed a few times at Michael House.

The Shepherdsʼ Play tells the story of The Nativity. It is very simple, with the minimum of props and seems almost austere in this day and age when consumerism has taken over Christmas. Within the play, which has music and singing is the miracle of the birth of Christ. It is beautifully portrayed with just the gesture of Maryʼs arms. Then the Shepherds bring their humble, simple gifts to the Christ child. After all the hustle and bustle of preparations that go on during Advent it is a very calming to watch this play and feels like the beginning of Christmas. The songs and music will stay in your head throughout the festive time. It is an experience not to be missed!

Admission is free. There will be refreshments. A collection will be taken at the end for contributions to cost of heating the church.

Freya James

All Saints Church / Community / What's Happening at All Saints

Do you need some space?

From the outside, All Saints church may look like any number of other churches. But inside it is Tardis like!

Let’s begin on the first floor. Up one flight of stairs is the hall. This is an ideal space for any number of activities and, depending on the usage, can accommodate up to around 60 people. Although it can’t compete with the Blackpool Tower Ballroom, the hall does have a slightly sprung floor so is ideal for dance classes, tea dances, barn dances and the like as well as keep fit, Zumba and similar. Attached to the hall is a fully fitted kitchen so catering for parties and group meals is not a problem. There is also a disability access toilet on the same floor.  Need space for a formal meeting? The hall has good acoustics for speech and there are tables and chairs available. Is it warm enough? – The hall is in effect a ‘pod’ within the main building. It has a well insulated ceiling and a central heating system independent of the rest of the building.

On the ground floor, there are four rooms of various sizes; the smallest is the ‘Tower Room’. This is a cosy room set out with sofas and chairs and is ideal for small meetings or one-to-one sessions. Next is the ‘Meeting Room’ which is approximately 4.5 m x 4.5m and will comfortably hold around twelve people. There is a piano in this room so it could be used for a rehearsal space for a small choir or music ensemble.

Then there is the ‘Narthex’ (yes I know – what does that mean? It’s a churchy word meaning a space separate from the main church area – blame the architect!).  This is a long thin area but is actually bigger than it looks. it is connected to a small kitchenette and has an adjacent disability access toilet. There is also a piano in this space.

And finally, there is the main body of the church. This will hold 150+ people and has superb musical acoustics so is ideal for performance by choirs, orchestras, bands and other forms of performance as well as large meetings (there is a sound reinforcement and loop system).  There is a third toilet in the entrance hall. Oh, and there is yet another piano in the area as well as a very good pipe organ.

If you think that you could make use of any of these spaces then please get in touch. There is a set range of charges depending on the space required but we also want to make the building available as a community facility as far as possible. To this end, we are prepared to discount room charges for non-profit activates and for start-up initiatives.

If you are interested in using any of our rooms please get in touch with Janice by email: janicearogers7@gmail.com, ring the church office on:  07756 555101 or messages us on Facebook (you’ll find the link on the home page).

What's Happening at All Saints

Story Swappers

Story Swappers is an informal group which meets together every Tuesday at around 2:30pm. There is no leader or agenda, just a group meeting together to exchange experiences, stories, jokes or whatever over a cup of coffee or tea and in all probability biscuits and./or cake. Anyone and everyone is welcome..

For more information ring or text Janice on 07918 177376 or call the church office on 07756 555101

Community / What's Happening at All Saints

Rainbows

Rainbows is the most junior branch of the Guiding organisation catering for girls aged between 4 and 7 years.

At Rainbows the children learn new skills, obtain badges when they reach a level of expertise and most important of all, have fun together in a safe environment with trained leaders and volunteers.

A branch of Rainbows meets weekly at All Saints on Wednesday evenings between 6:00 and 7:00pm.

For more details go to: Rainbows (4-7) | Girlguiding