Great Doddington - A giant oak

We talked for a while over coffee, sharing our thoughts about topics including prophecy, banking and the economy, and how society may come under judgement when we are disobedient as a nation.

Rachael read us the story of the long-handled spoon, an amusing little tale which you may have heard before. The moral of the story is clear!

Jody read Psalm 139:1-24 and we thought about light and darkness in our own lives. How we need to live in the light (of Christ, not of the world). Sherrelea told us about an interesting incident when she'd only been following Jesus for a week or two. She'd been in conversation with a friend and had felt a little nervous about talking about her new found faith. Afterwards she had prayed for the friend with an interesting and faith-building result.

Barbara told us how she has been led to invite family members for a meal. This has become a regular opportunity and they even plan to book a place in Swansea for a short break together. There have been great opportunities to share her faith in ordinary, natural conversation. We prayed for her and for the people who meet with her. Chris had a picture of an old fashioned metal funnel and felt that Barbara has the same function as a funnel. Through her the Lord is pouring all kinds of good things and they are being focused into a particular place, the funnel ensures it all goes into the place Father intends for it.

Rachael also had a picture. She saw a very large oak tree. There were all kinds of creatures living in it - squirrels, spiders, birds, beetles. All were different and all were valid. They were all connected because they gained their life from the tree and lived in the tree. In the same way, we are all different yet we are all connected because Christ is our source and our dwelling.

Jody brought a word. The Lord said, 'You are my servants as well as my children, You are not to judge but to stand and act. You are to be gracious. I will judge, that is my role, not yours. The things you say and do are good and people will see that. They are good because they come, not from you, but from a deeper source within you.

Jody interpreted a tongue from Chris. The Lord said, 'Go where I go, walk where I walk. Just go - be obedient and go. I haven't called you to worry but to walk. The light is upon you.'

Several of us shared encouraging verses that were on our minds, for example 'If the Lord delights in a man's way, he makes his steps firm' (Psalm 37:23).

Finally, Sherrelea shared a problem with us and we prayed for her, asking for guidance, clarity, and help.

Eaton Ford - Wolfgang Simson

We chatted over coffee and shared about this and that in an open and natural way. Somehow, Christ is present in it all if we just open our eyes to see him!

Jim related how he and Pam had been away for a short break in Norfolk and had travelled a small distance by bus to return after a four mile walk along the beach. The bus can be mechanically lowered and the driver used this feature to help a woman with a child in a buggy, with the bus lowered she was able to board the vehicle much more easily. There was even a space set aside for the buggy so that everything was convenient, no need to unstrap the child, fold the buggy, and stow it away.

We thought how our outreach is sometimes less straightforward than it might be. It's as if we are using an old-fashioned bus instead of a fully-featured new bus. There are several steps involved instead of everything working naturally and conveniently to help those who want to travel with us.

Chris thought of our friends Peter and Paul (good names, they're both there in the Bible!) Both these friends have been in hospital recently. Both of them have used their stay as an opportunity to speak to other patients about Jesus. They have encouraged others and are now expecting several to come to one church meeting or another. We should all be this open and natural in our sharing!

Jim also mentioned spending some time in the city of Norwich and visiting the Cathedral where the architecture, carvings and furnishings almost all pointed to Christ.

For the rest of the evening we watched the DVD of Wolfgang Simson at the 2008 House Church Conference in Dallas. Jim enjoyed it as much as I have done! In his talk Wolf expresses the important view that we need to be a part of the whole. We cannot afford to be just another denomination, there is only one church and we are part of it so we must live and work together with all the believers where we live. We live to serve Christ, not ourselves.

Great Doddington - the Jewel

Glenn joined us again this evening. Chris and Peter spent some time trying to copy video files to a DVD, while Jody taked about how life is just under the surface. In particular she was impressed by the fact that under the recent snow there was no visible sign of activity, yet life was there below ready to break through and become gloriously visible.

We read a passage from Luke 18 which focuses on the importance of being consistent and not giving up.

Glenn shared a thought for Jody and Peter, the word was 'jewel' which is a thing of great worth, but it sounds the same as 'joule' which is a measure of energy. He had the word, 'You are so precious, like a jewel my light is reflected in so many directions'.

We prayed for people and situations we are aware of, our children, job interviews, and more.

Chris shared a picture of Jesus and his Bride, we look into his eyes and say of Christ, 'It's not about us, it's all about you'. And he looks into our eyes and says exactly the same. This is intimate relationship, this is love - we love him and he also loves us.

Jody also mentioned how blotchy and even unattractive some fruit can be, pomegranates or figs for example. But Father says, 'Taste it, try it, there is nourishment and sweetness in these fruit - waiting for you with my blessing'.

We shared bread and wine together, and finished the bread with some fine cheese.

Multi-authored blog, anyone?

I'd like to be part of a larger Christian blog. Some of the most widely read and effective technical blogs put out five or more posts daily. But individual bloggers post daily or less, often much less. Here on The Scilla Blog I'm doing well to manage a post every week, recently the rate is down to barely once a month. In some cases, multi-authored blogs might be the answer.

Why are blogs with frequent posts more widely read?

Quantity or quality? - OK, it's not all about quantity. The best blogs are those that combine good quality material on interesting topics with multiple posts daily. One of the places this is done to good effect is in the area of electronics, computing, and technical stuff.

Take a look at the blogs listed below. Even if you're not interested in the topics, take a quick look and get a feel for the quality and sheer quantity of the items.

• Slashdot
• TechCrunch
• Wired Science

Clearly, this is much more effort than one writer can produce.

Most of the really successful blogs are run by companies or societies. Possibly a very enthusiastic full-time writer might make a brave attempt, but most of us have day jobs, families, education, as well as homes and gardens to care for. To populate a blog with, say, five posts each and every day would need 35 people each posting once a week.

A shared blog - So what I'm asking is twofold. First, can any of my readers recommend a good, multi-authored Christian blog that I could join. And secondly, if nothing suitable already exists, is there anyone out there that would like to share in setting one up?

I'm looking for a blog that focuses on wholesome, interesting comment covering world news concerning the Church, teaching items, reports on meetings and conferences and so forth. I'd prefer it to be open to all points of view but failing that, primarily supportive of house church, organic church, simple church (whatever you call it). But above all it absolutely must be honouring to Christ and giving him the glory in everything.

I've tried hunting for something of this sort online, but I've drawn a blank so far. There's a website called blogs4God that seemed a good place to start, but it doesn't quite hit the spot. Am I too fussy?

Why The Scilla Blog? - When I started The Scilla Blog I intended to post material that would be of interest to a wide audience, I just wanted to post about all my interests. I hoped that someone interested in astronomy might discover that archaeology is fascinating too, that a photographer might find a new insight into Christianity, that local people might find out more about the internet. But now I'm feeling the need to be part of something much more focused, something that I know I can't do on my own.

I don't plan to stop posting to Scilla, but I'd like to be posting elsewhere too - but not on my own. Most of all I'm looking for a place where I can post when I'm inspired to do so even if that means three times in two days and then not at all for an entire month.

Little Paxton - Summer planning

This evening we discussed plans for the Youth Camp in the summer and prayed again for the Lord of the harvest to send in more labourers. It was good to have the video and other materials from Pete and we were able to make a start on planning, sketching out our main ideas for an event in Eynesbury, perhaps in May.

The video below was made for a camp in 2007 and will be updated for this year's event.



Although we discussed some of the practical aspects this evening, we are also very aware of Father's hand on everything that has happened so far. He has put us in touch with the right people at just the right moment at every point along the way. Usually he has surprised us, sometimes we haven't even understood what he's done until afterwards. There is already an impressive array of 'coincidences' and these are encouraging us to expect more around the corner.

We praised him and thanked him for it all. All the honour and glory is his!

Eaton Ford (day) - light and dark

We met at Paul's, Roger and John were both unwell so it was just Paul and Chris this time. We talked about life in general and some of the issues we face, and we made a list of friends and prayer points.

We prayed for these and others, and Paul shared a thought about light. We are to take Christ's light out into the world.

We read John 9:1-34 which tells of the 'Messianic miracle' of healing a person born blind. The Pharisees had to accept Jesus as Messiah on the basis of the healing, or they had to discount the healing. They were forced to choose. Verses 35-41 show clearly that Jesus came to overthrow the status of human knowledge; the blind would see, and those who thought they could see would be shown to be blind.