Holiday Club day two

Today's theme was Jesus as 'physio' and the Biblical material was from Luke 7:1-10, the story of Jesus healing the centurion's servant( and doing it at a distance). It is a remarkable story which, of course, we could not really delve into too deeply with the children.
But think of the scenario - a Roman centurion who actually has some care and affection for one of his slaves; this centurion is also sympathetic and helpful to the faith of the Jews among whom he lives;he has actually helped them to build a synagogue; he has contact with Jewish leaders and is ready to ask for their help; they react positively and seek the help of Jesus on his behalf; the centurion is humble enough and perhaps considerate enough to suggest that Jesus does not need to enter his house( think of the problems faced by a Jew who entered into a heathen Gentile's home); he recognizes the authority of Jesus and his servant is healed.
Jesus expresses his amazement at this display of faith and declares that he had not met such faith among his own people who are 'the very people who are supposed to know about God and how he works'( from the Message paraphrase).
Lots to think about in all of this and especially in the final words of Jesus about the centurion's display of faith.


Jokes for today were of the 'Doctor, doctor' variety and included the following -

patient - " Doctor, I keep thinking I am Tom Jones"
doctor - " it's not unusual"

I am not sure many of the children got it, but the all leaders did laugh or groan.

Champion's Challenge Day One

First day of this year's Holiday Club passed without a hitch and seemed to be enjoyed by all. The theme today was 'Jesus - the trainer' and the Bible passage was the parable of the two builders from Luke 6. In the spiritual preparation before the children arrived we were reminded by Sarah that God may call us to do hard things, things to which we would rather give a miss and things that will require effort of us.( it is Sarah and her sister Rachel who do all the hard up front work with the club and they do it superbly as a double act who can do both the serious and the hilarious).
We sang the theme song which I now cannot get out of my head. We made 'Olympic torches' in the craft time.
Tomorrow begins the 'personal best' challenge and my team( the Dominoes) will need to get down to making our team flag.


Joke of the day for me was - why did the premier league footballer on the transfer list cross the road - to get to the other side, of course.

Champion's Challenge

At Church we are now in the final stages of preparation for another Holiday Club week which begins on Monday 28th July. 47 children have booked in and we have a good and experienced team of leaders and helpers to make sure it all goes as it should. Harrogate Baptist has been running a Holiday Club every year for the past 17 or 18 years and some of those still involved have been doing Holiday Club every year from the start.
Champion's Challenge has a sporty theme. Each day's title uses a different sporting image to explain different facets of who Jesus is( have you ever thought of Jesus as a physio?). The Biblical material is from Luke's Gospel. Again I get to wear a t-shirt that is unlikely to see the light of day after the week is over. The Holiday Club services is the only time I turn up at church on Sunday in a t-shirt( not even when I am on holiday).
I will try to blog during the week and reflect on how my group respond to the games,teaching and activities( and on a how I am surviving!).

Great Yorkshire Show

We have lived in Harrogate for just over seven years and yesterday we finally made it to the Great Yorkshire Show. Annette and I enjoyed our day out and the weather was really kind to us. Among the attractions was a number of cookery demonstrations. One of the chefs was Tim Cottrill, an 18 year old Church member at Harrogate Baptist. It was amazing to watch him demonstrate how to prepare and cook two separate dishes while giving his audience a running commentary and snippets of good advice. He appeared absolutely cool and relaxed throughout the whole demonstration. I think he has a big future in food if he chooses to go in that direction. Hopefully when he is a famous chef at a top international restaurant he might remember the minister who baptized him!!
During our day we also visited the Yorkshire Church on Show display which was based on the theme of 'the Good Shepherd'.

back to work

I have been back to work now for a week after a two week holiday. We spent a very enjoyable week in the Austrian Tyrol and then some equally enjoyable days with the family in the West Midlands.
Our week in Austria was based in the village of Fieberbrunn. On our first morning there we had a walk round the village led by the Hotel owner who had lived there all his life. He explained some of the customs and what life was like in a Tyrolean village. I had noticed that written with chalk above the doors of many of the houses( and on our hotel) was the following, 20 C+M+B 08. Thankfully he explained this as he described some of their Advent and Christmas customs. The letters have 2 meanings. They are the initial letters of the traditional names given to the magi - Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar. They also abbreviate the Latin words - Christus mansionem benedicat( may Christ bless this house). At Epiphany 3 boys dressed as the wise men accompany the local priest as they visit the houses of the village and where they are received with a gift( usually now money which is given to an international charity) the letters, numbers and crosses are chalked above the door(the numbers indicating the year). Austria is very much a Roman Catholic nation and this custom is seen by the villagers as an important one. The people will leave this chalk writing on the doorpost throughout the whole year and would never think of wiping it clean. Looking for information on the internet it would seem that this custom originated in Germany or Poland.

Nearly on Holiday

Just tying up a few loose ends on this Friday morning before a week's 'holiday'. After a weekend when we will catch up with our grandchildren( and their parents), I have the task of decorating the study during the week. I mentioned this in an email to the secretary of Churches Together in Harrogate who sent me this -

Enjoy the emulsion. “I will enter the study with a paint brush in my hand, I will enter the room with praise; I will say this is the week when the study will be done, I will rejoice for it will make me glad. It will make me glad, it will make me glad…”

I am not sure I will be able to sing that song again. But at least it was not one of my favourites.

Wednesday evening

I dashed home on Wednesday evening after the induction of the new president of Churches Together in Harrogate. It was good to be there and support Ian from St Paul's URC( fellow Scot and member of the St Andrew's society) who was taking on this role. Ian spoke briefly about his hopes for this year and used words from Galatians to set the scene. He quoted from Galatians 6:10 - 'Whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith'.
Paul's words are a reminder of the challenge to the church to look out towards the community while not forgetting the need to also look towards the community of faith. It brought to mind the well worn words about 'gathering for worship and scattering for mission'. In these days sometimes the emphasis seems at times entirely on the call to 'scatter for mission'. But we will surely only be able to do that effectively if we 'gather for worship'.

The reason I dashed home was to watch the UEFA cup final. I managed to see the last 15 minutes of the first half and the rest of the game. Disappointing result for this Rangers supporter who had hoped that his team might win a European trophy for the second time. This disappointment was intensified by the after march actions of a mindless minority who did the reputation of Rangers fans no good at all.