Very brief notes only for this meeting.
We travelled over to Moggerhanger Park to make some final decisions about the planned celebration on 16th. The main decision was whether to use a room in the main house or to use the 'Garden Room'. We quickly agreed that the 'Garden Room' was ideal with plenty of space and a mix of tables and chairs at one end and an open area with rearrangeable seating at the other.
We retired to Jim's office and spent the rest of the evening chatting and in prayer.
13 November 2008
11 November 2008
Great Doddington - Madeleine McCann and David Beckham
Tonight it was Rachael's turn to bring something to the table, and the evening turned into a discussion about family, both worldly and spiritual, loss, grief, hope, and the Lord's healing.
We thought about Madeleine McCann again, and prayed for her and her family in their continuing search for their beautiful daughter.
Jody prayed that Father pour our His holy spirit upon Madeleine and her family, that they may continue to receive the blessing of hope, and she received a word that although we do not know the future, nevertheless He does, and that He continues to be very close to Madeleine at all times and holds her in His heart. We were reminded that all things work to His purpose, however impossible that may seem to us at the time. We prayed for Kate and Gerry McCann, that they might be gently guided to a place of acceptance, and for them and ourselves, that we might recognise Him as He really is, in the ordinary, everyday things in life.
We read aloud and discussed a prayer for Madeleine, single lines taken from different parts of the bible, strung together like a beautiful necklace with a distinct meaning for her, a love letter from her Father in heaven. This included the lines 'my dear child, I knew you even before you were born' (Jeremiah 1:4-5), 'my plan for you future has always been filled with hope' (Jeremiah 29: 11), and 'when you are broken hearted I am close to you' (Psalm 34: 18).
Peter prayed that we can be beacons of light, and that we might be strengthened to carry His word beyond ourselves. This led Jody to pray that we be enabled to leave everything worldly behind, and do the things that He speaks of, and be in the places He want us to be. We thanked Him for reminding us that He always loves us.
Rachael shared a picture. She was walking slowly down a beautiful winding flight of stairs. At the bottom were some French doors, fully opened, and a gentle breeze moving the voile curtain at each side. She walked out into a beautiful garden, where everything was perfect, with wonderful flowers of fabulous colours and scents, melodic birdsong, a peaceful and tranquil place that gave her rest and healing. This is His garden, where we can visit at any time, just by thinking of Him. He will transport us to a place of calm filled with His love when we call upon Him for help.
Jody also saw a picture, of an angel fish swimming in really dark water. There was a chemical phosphorescence in it's scales, which meant that even when a very tiny ray of light hit it, it shone and lit up. Jody described a feather like fin on the fish, green, blue and red, iridescent, which glowed in the darkness. God is saying that He is the fin that propels us forward, even when it is dark He knows the way, even when the water is really black, He is still very colourful and is able to move us around in the world for His purpose.
Rachael read some short extracts from David Beckham's autobiography. David is not a Christian, as far as we know, but nevertheless some of the things he has written about in his book about family, lit up with a meaning beyond his own. For example, where he says that until he loved his own children, he never really realised how much his mum and dad loved him. As parents ourselves, with the birth of a new baby, we have all experienced anew the realisation that this special joy must be a reflection of how much our heavenly Father loves us. In knowing how deeply we feel for our own child, we get some inkling of His attachment to us.
David describes the birth of his second son, when he had expected, having experienced it once before, to be ready for the emotions it brought. But then says 'that's not how it was for me at all. ...the feelings of excitement and happiness, of pride and awe, just flooded through me with all the same intensity they had three years before.....it took my breath away....I could feel my heart grow to make room for the new life'. It seemed amazing to us that our Father in heaven feels something like this when one of us is reborn. That each one of us is special to Him, that He has enough room in His heart for all of us to thrive and grow in the spirit.
We thought about Madeleine McCann again, and prayed for her and her family in their continuing search for their beautiful daughter.
Jody prayed that Father pour our His holy spirit upon Madeleine and her family, that they may continue to receive the blessing of hope, and she received a word that although we do not know the future, nevertheless He does, and that He continues to be very close to Madeleine at all times and holds her in His heart. We were reminded that all things work to His purpose, however impossible that may seem to us at the time. We prayed for Kate and Gerry McCann, that they might be gently guided to a place of acceptance, and for them and ourselves, that we might recognise Him as He really is, in the ordinary, everyday things in life.We read aloud and discussed a prayer for Madeleine, single lines taken from different parts of the bible, strung together like a beautiful necklace with a distinct meaning for her, a love letter from her Father in heaven. This included the lines 'my dear child, I knew you even before you were born' (Jeremiah 1:4-5), 'my plan for you future has always been filled with hope' (Jeremiah 29: 11), and 'when you are broken hearted I am close to you' (Psalm 34: 18).
Peter prayed that we can be beacons of light, and that we might be strengthened to carry His word beyond ourselves. This led Jody to pray that we be enabled to leave everything worldly behind, and do the things that He speaks of, and be in the places He want us to be. We thanked Him for reminding us that He always loves us.
Rachael shared a picture. She was walking slowly down a beautiful winding flight of stairs. At the bottom were some French doors, fully opened, and a gentle breeze moving the voile curtain at each side. She walked out into a beautiful garden, where everything was perfect, with wonderful flowers of fabulous colours and scents, melodic birdsong, a peaceful and tranquil place that gave her rest and healing. This is His garden, where we can visit at any time, just by thinking of Him. He will transport us to a place of calm filled with His love when we call upon Him for help.
Jody also saw a picture, of an angel fish swimming in really dark water. There was a chemical phosphorescence in it's scales, which meant that even when a very tiny ray of light hit it, it shone and lit up. Jody described a feather like fin on the fish, green, blue and red, iridescent, which glowed in the darkness. God is saying that He is the fin that propels us forward, even when it is dark He knows the way, even when the water is really black, He is still very colourful and is able to move us around in the world for His purpose.
Rachael read some short extracts from David Beckham's autobiography. David is not a Christian, as far as we know, but nevertheless some of the things he has written about in his book about family, lit up with a meaning beyond his own. For example, where he says that until he loved his own children, he never really realised how much his mum and dad loved him. As parents ourselves, with the birth of a new baby, we have all experienced anew the realisation that this special joy must be a reflection of how much our heavenly Father loves us. In knowing how deeply we feel for our own child, we get some inkling of His attachment to us.
David describes the birth of his second son, when he had expected, having experienced it once before, to be ready for the emotions it brought. But then says 'that's not how it was for me at all. ...the feelings of excitement and happiness, of pride and awe, just flooded through me with all the same intensity they had three years before.....it took my breath away....I could feel my heart grow to make room for the new life'. It seemed amazing to us that our Father in heaven feels something like this when one of us is reborn. That each one of us is special to Him, that He has enough room in His heart for all of us to thrive and grow in the spirit.
06 November 2008
Eaton Ford - Searching and forgiveness
Brief notes only were kept for this meeting.
We considered Psalm 130, and especially verse 4 which speaks of forgiveness. Then we thought about John 6:16-69.
The people searched really hard for Yahshua, they looked everywhere. Verse 26 shows that they were looking because they'd been fed whereas what they really needed was to believe in Christ (verse 29). They were looking for proof, edible proof! (verse 31).
In verse 60 we see that this is a hard teaching. If Jesus is the sacrifice for sin then the Temple and the priests and the Law are superfluous. Everything changes!
It's a very hard and unpalatable teaching - throw away everything you think you know and start again!
We considered Psalm 130, and especially verse 4 which speaks of forgiveness. Then we thought about John 6:16-69.
The people searched really hard for Yahshua, they looked everywhere. Verse 26 shows that they were looking because they'd been fed whereas what they really needed was to believe in Christ (verse 29). They were looking for proof, edible proof! (verse 31).
In verse 60 we see that this is a hard teaching. If Jesus is the sacrifice for sin then the Temple and the priests and the Law are superfluous. Everything changes!
It's a very hard and unpalatable teaching - throw away everything you think you know and start again!
30 October 2008
Little Paxton - Chat and prayer
This evening only Jim and Chris met as others were unable to join us for a variety of reasons.
We shared our news, discussed aspects of church life, and considered the Moggerhanger meeting planned for 16th November. We also prayed for people, organisations, and events in the area. There's not much in the way of notes this week, but we both enjoyed the time together and Yahshua's presence with us. He is working his plan out as the days and weeks roll by. Praise him!
We shared our news, discussed aspects of church life, and considered the Moggerhanger meeting planned for 16th November. We also prayed for people, organisations, and events in the area. There's not much in the way of notes this week, but we both enjoyed the time together and Yahshua's presence with us. He is working his plan out as the days and weeks roll by. Praise him!
28 October 2008
Great Doddington - Dealing with junk
Last week, we decided that we should take turns to prepare something, a Bible passage, something we'd read that has touched us or helped us see something in a new way, anything the Spirit leads us to use. Jody had made the suggestion so she also took on the first week.
She shared a section from an historical novel she's been reading ('Revelation' by CJ Sansom). Amongst other things the book describes religious fanaticism in Tudor England. Henry VIII has dissolved the monasteries, the church is in turmoil, and the moderate lawyer who features in the book realises that the truth is not well-served by rigid and often horrific rule-following. Life and truth cannot be achieved by keeping laws or traditions or regulations.
Jody also read a passage from another book, 'Inside the junk drawer'. She drew our attention to Galatians 4:8-9 and we talked about the need we all have to let go our heart's junk.
Chris thought that our life is like a journey in a boat. First the boat needs to be pushed out into water deep enough to come free of the bottom, then we can get in and begin to row out to where there is a good breeze. Finally the sail catches the wind and after that there is no need for further effort. We need to steer but the wind does the work of moving the boat until we finally arrive at our destination. So in our lives we have to make the choice to push off and row out, just like deciding to let go of our 'junk'. But once we've done that we are free to float, moved by the Spirit in the way we should go. And he'll make sure we reach our destination even if we don't know the way.
Rachael saw a maze and realised that we're not separated from him even when sometimes it feels as if we are. We see hedges all around and we don't know the way to the centre, but from his point of view he can simply reach over the hedges to where we are. They are not obstacles for him.
She also spoke about the sound of a trumpet. Our voices are proclaiming voices, praising him. All our individual voices together make one sound like the trumpet. It is the sound of raising him up, lifting him to his rightful place!
And then Jody read 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 which speaks of the yeast and how we need to get rid of it (all our junk), and how Christ himself is the Lamb and our celebration requires sincerity and truth.
She shared a section from an historical novel she's been reading ('Revelation' by CJ Sansom). Amongst other things the book describes religious fanaticism in Tudor England. Henry VIII has dissolved the monasteries, the church is in turmoil, and the moderate lawyer who features in the book realises that the truth is not well-served by rigid and often horrific rule-following. Life and truth cannot be achieved by keeping laws or traditions or regulations.
Jody also read a passage from another book, 'Inside the junk drawer'. She drew our attention to Galatians 4:8-9 and we talked about the need we all have to let go our heart's junk.
Chris thought that our life is like a journey in a boat. First the boat needs to be pushed out into water deep enough to come free of the bottom, then we can get in and begin to row out to where there is a good breeze. Finally the sail catches the wind and after that there is no need for further effort. We need to steer but the wind does the work of moving the boat until we finally arrive at our destination. So in our lives we have to make the choice to push off and row out, just like deciding to let go of our 'junk'. But once we've done that we are free to float, moved by the Spirit in the way we should go. And he'll make sure we reach our destination even if we don't know the way.
Rachael saw a maze and realised that we're not separated from him even when sometimes it feels as if we are. We see hedges all around and we don't know the way to the centre, but from his point of view he can simply reach over the hedges to where we are. They are not obstacles for him.
She also spoke about the sound of a trumpet. Our voices are proclaiming voices, praising him. All our individual voices together make one sound like the trumpet. It is the sound of raising him up, lifting him to his rightful place!
And then Jody read 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 which speaks of the yeast and how we need to get rid of it (all our junk), and how Christ himself is the Lamb and our celebration requires sincerity and truth.
26 October 2008
Nitrogen trifluoride - should we be concerned?
Nitrogen trifluoride is a powerful greenhouse gas, and there's four times as much in Earth's atmosphere as we thought. 
Not only that, this stuff is 17 000 times more potent than carbon dioxide and the levels are increasing by eleven percent each year.
How serious is the situation? How did we allow it to happen? What can we do about it?
On 23rd October, NASA published a press release in which they state
The gas is used in electronics manufacturing, especially LCD screens, solar cells and integrated circuits.
How serious is the situation? - It seems that nitrogen trifluoride contributes only about 0.15 percent of the total warming so we have no reason to panic. But the story does demonstrate how important it is to measure what we do - estimates of the amounts released were off by a factor of four times.
If we take no action it's clear that levels of this substance will continue to rise. With increasing production of electronics in general and LCD screens and solar cells in particular it seems rates of release of this gas can only accelerate. If so, we do need to be concerned and should be putting our house in order now while atmospheric levels remain low.
Nitrogen trifluoride breaks down very slowly in the atmosphere, six to seven hundred years. What we release today will be with us and our descendents for a very long time.
How did we allow it to happen? - It's not yet a major problem and we've only just become aware of the scale of its presence in the atmosphere. In ten years time if we are asked 'How did we allow it to happen' we'd have to admit to carelessness. But right now the question is a little unfair as the data were not available. Now that the world is aware of the situation it will be possible to decide whether action is needed and if so, what form it should take.
What can we do about it? - In terms of what has aleady been released - nothing. All we can do is wait for a thousand years or so until it goes away.
In terms of releasing less in future, or even banning the gas altogether, we can probably do a great deal. We will need the political will to act and for that we'll need to collect more data and then do further scientific and technical consultation. That stage is already underway.
In practical terms we could add the gas to the Kyoto Protocol (already being considered), find alternatives for electronics manufacturing (might prove difficult), or ban the production of the gas (could bring the electronics industry to its knees). Wisdom demands that we act fast enough to prevent a serious problem developing, but slowly enough to avoid expensive disruption to the electronics industry.
See also
Not only that, this stuff is 17 000 times more potent than carbon dioxide and the levels are increasing by eleven percent each year.How serious is the situation? How did we allow it to happen? What can we do about it?
On 23rd October, NASA published a press release in which they state
Using new analytical techniques, Ray Weiss of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif., led a team of researchers in making the first atmospheric measurements of nitrogen trifluoride. The amount of the gas in the atmosphere, which could not be detected using previous techniques, had been estimated at less than 1,200 metric tons in 2006. The new research shows the actual amount was 4,200 metric tons. In 2008, about 5,400 metric tons of the gas are in the atmosphere, a quantity that is increasing at a rate of about 11 percent per year.
'Accurately measuring small amounts of nitrogen trifluoride in air has proven to be a very difficult experimental problem, and we are very pleased to have succeeded in this effort,' Weiss said. The research will be published Oct. 31 in the American Geophysical Union's Geophysical Research Letters.
The gas is used in electronics manufacturing, especially LCD screens, solar cells and integrated circuits.
How serious is the situation? - It seems that nitrogen trifluoride contributes only about 0.15 percent of the total warming so we have no reason to panic. But the story does demonstrate how important it is to measure what we do - estimates of the amounts released were off by a factor of four times.
If we take no action it's clear that levels of this substance will continue to rise. With increasing production of electronics in general and LCD screens and solar cells in particular it seems rates of release of this gas can only accelerate. If so, we do need to be concerned and should be putting our house in order now while atmospheric levels remain low.
Nitrogen trifluoride breaks down very slowly in the atmosphere, six to seven hundred years. What we release today will be with us and our descendents for a very long time.
How did we allow it to happen? - It's not yet a major problem and we've only just become aware of the scale of its presence in the atmosphere. In ten years time if we are asked 'How did we allow it to happen' we'd have to admit to carelessness. But right now the question is a little unfair as the data were not available. Now that the world is aware of the situation it will be possible to decide whether action is needed and if so, what form it should take.
What can we do about it? - In terms of what has aleady been released - nothing. All we can do is wait for a thousand years or so until it goes away.
In terms of releasing less in future, or even banning the gas altogether, we can probably do a great deal. We will need the political will to act and for that we'll need to collect more data and then do further scientific and technical consultation. That stage is already underway.
In practical terms we could add the gas to the Kyoto Protocol (already being considered), find alternatives for electronics manufacturing (might prove difficult), or ban the production of the gas (could bring the electronics industry to its knees). Wisdom demands that we act fast enough to prevent a serious problem developing, but slowly enough to avoid expensive disruption to the electronics industry.
See also
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