An Uncomfortable Return
In the latest in our Uncomfortable Blog series, Mandy Hudson considers what Freedom Day will look like for Redeemer, and draws on lessons learnt over the past 18 months (with some help from the Redeemer family).
As the country takes tentative steps towards what some are calling Freedom Day are you looking forward with anticipation or dread?
What’s church been like for you over the last 16 months? Have you thrived on virtual fellowship or pined for more in-person collective worship? This blog will explore the range of emotions many of us have on what may feel like an uncomfortable return to church life.
It also makes use of responses to a recent poll which was sent out to members of the Redeemer family, asking for feedback on their experience at Redeemer over the past 18 months. Thank you all for your honesty and the time you took to answer the questions! If you would like to contribute to the poll you still can HERE.
An Uncomfortable Return
Some of our congregation still have no choice about having to stay away from in-person church. These are those whose medical conditions and personal circumstances mean it is vital for them to stay safe at home.
But what about the rest of us? Have we made it back to UWL on a Sunday morning? Do we feel comfortable meeting up with more people outside and inside our homes?
Like many of you, testing, mask wearing, washing hands more regularly and social distancing are now all part of my everyday routine. From July 19th, however, it’s all change.
We asked some members of the Redeemer family for their views of how lockdown has affected their experience of serving God at Redeemer.
What have we missed?
Although many of us missed Sunday meetings in person during lockdown the Lord still blessed us. We certainly have also missed communal singing (but if you’ve been in an England fan zone recently you’ve probably still enjoyed a good bellow).
Our musicians have served us so well throughout the pandemic, I’ve adapted to letting their words and music sweep me deeper into the presence of God. I sometimes wonder if we are not already part of the great multitude described in Rev 7v9-17. Maybe that’s a little theological gymnastic over-reaching, but during the months of virtual and restricted participation I for one feel we’ve had a foretaste of the eternity which awaits us worshipping the Lord.
Building Community
Meet ups were listed by almost 2/3 of people as a source of blessing during lockdown, and have also been a vital point of contact. One person commented:
““Meetups have, for me, been a huge support during the tough parts of lockdown. Knowing that I am not alone in my struggles has been great, but also to be able to take my eyes off myself and focus on praying for others has also been hugely helpful!””
People have indicated that they have felt less connected to each other, especially when it comes to meeting new people at church. However, we have still felt closer to the Lord and he has taught us to serve him in new ways.
No-one was able to anticipate the huge shift the pandemic brought to all aspects of our lives over the last few months. I sometimes find myself wondering how different our spiritual growth as a church would have been if we’d never experienced the effects of the virus. Nonetheless, by the grace of God we have continued to grow. We can rest in the peace of knowing that Jesus has been walking with us through the fire of sickness, bereavement and isolation.
Another response to the poll said this:
“Jesus hasn’t changed. In hard circumstances, which we are undeniably experiencing, our relationship with Jesus ought to be the most reliable aspect of our lives, building our faith rather than undermining it.”
A hopeful return
I’m hopeful the Lord is leading us into a new season where more in-person expressions of church can happen. This certainly seems to be reflected by the majority of those at Redeemer, with over 70% of responses to the survey indicating that they returned to in-person gatherings as soon as restrictions allowed.
Some responses elaborated on this answer:
“I was desperate to get back to church meetings in person - despite the online ones being a decent substitute.”
“I have found in person meetings to be immeasurably better in every way than digital church. Being in the building together is so much better than sitting in my living room!”
I’ve been pondering two quotations from the Bible:
Exodus 33v14,
“My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
and Proverbs 3v5&6
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
These verses contain the promise of rest in God’s presence as we move forward and the encouragement that He will guide us as we submit to Him.
In-person church will be different from before the pandemic. We’ve learnt how to connect when disconnected (and I don’t just mean on zoom!). These unexpected circumstances have proved that although we may have been surprised and knocked off balance, the Lord has remained in control. I’m praying that despite the uncertainty, walking in post covid faith, we will advance in the confidence and security that comes from following Jesus our Rock and Redeemer. He will ensure our return to in-person church will fulfil all His plans for us and our community.
A reminder to reflect
As one response to the poll challenges us, this has been a difficult time for many, and however we are feeling about our return to '“normality”, it is important that we do not move on too quickly, or without reflection.
“We have been through the hardest collective time as a country since WW2, and I fear that a return to full in-person Sundays will dive straight into happy clappy songs, chatting over coffee, and picking up pieces of bread from a shared plate. Given what we’ve been through, I hope we are invited to mourn, connect more deeply and more sincerely with God and one another, learn lessons, and repent. Our country is significantly further ahead than others, and we should not forget them.”
Let’s continue in prayer and in discussion with each other to learn more about what the Lord has wanted to teach us during the last 18 months.
Written by Mandy Hudson
Mandy is a member of our Redeemer Family, a teacher, and a contributor to Redeemer’s latest book - Stories of Hope. You can pick up a copy on a Sunday morning!
Uncomfortable Wealth
In our second ‘Uncomfortable Blog’ we are challenged on how we use our wealth.
If you’ve been attending Redeemer over the past few months you will have likely heard Pete and others plugging the book - Uncomfortable: The Awkward Challenge of Christian Community. We’ve even written a review of it on the blog!
After reading the book, Mandy Hudson was inspired to go further, and to think about what it means for us at Redeemer to live uncomfortable lives. This month she has joined with Adele Dabrowski to write about Uncomfortable Wealth. We hope that you are challenged and encouraged by what she has written.
Uncomfortable Wealth
Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honours God.
Proverbs 14:31
One subject we really don’t like talking about is money, yet as western Christians we can easily take our wealth for granted.
There is poverty in the UK. By some estimates one in four people or 9 out of every 30 children is living in poverty in the UK. That’s a shocking figure for the world’s sixth largest economy. Three fifths of the population in the UK hold 80% of its income, However, globally there is much greater disparity. Most of us in the UK will still be in the top 25% of global income even if we rely fully on the UK welfare system. That’s still 3 times better off than most people in the world
Our relative wealth or poverty is an accident of birth, but how can we work to equalize the situation?
Taking wealth for granted
Adele and Richard Dabrowski lived in Mozambique as missionaries for eight years:
Before we lived in Mozambique, we had no idea what extreme poverty was like. Like most Westerners if I heard that a family of five or six were living in a two bedroomed house, I would agree with them that this was a case of overcrowding and they should be moved into a three bedroomed house.
Until, that is, we visited Noviane, the village next to our base. Here a two roomed house usually served as living dining and sleeping quarters for a family of up to 12 people, with an outside latrine - a hole in the ground surrounded by a bamboo screen. Cooking took place in the tiny patio over an open fire made of twigs. The richest people of the village were those who could afford a three roomed house made of bricks, unlike the others who saw their little mud and bamboo homes being swept away every year when the rains came, along with their few earthly possessions!
Eating one meal a day of rice, beans and possibly some tomatoes or tiny fish which Mama had managed to catch in her ‘capulana’ (something like a thin sheet) at 5 am that morning, was the norm.
I once took two ten year old girls out to a chicken and chips place, I noticed they ate half of the quarter chicken and a few chips. They then carefully wrapped the rest in the paper serviette and informed me that they were ‘going to share it with their family.’
I felt humbled! How much do we take for granted in our comfortable life-style? how often do we thank God for the food we have on our plates?”
I’ve learnt that we can never out do God in giving. He will provide for our needs as well as those we give to. To really appreciate the generosity of God we need to step out sacrificially just as Jesus was willing to do for us.
Gospel guided generosity
“Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
1 Corinthians 9:7
We recognise that everything we have, including our lives is a gift from God. He is open handed towards us so we must be the same towards others. Sometimes, there seem to be so many conflicting calls on our cash we feel overwhelmed and don’t know where it is best to invest the resources God has given us.
Here’s some good advice from Adele:
“As children of God, we cannot turn a blind eye to the poor of this world. But let us be sensible. First, let it be the Lord who guides us in the amount of our giving and supporting. Secondly, in the case of extreme poverty, it is a good idea to support projects that will change a whole village, or will provide people a chance to better themselves and eventually be in a position to be self-sufficient, plus help their own community. Projects such as well-drilling, farming or enabling students to undertake further education, thus guaranteeing them jobs, are well worth considering. Even a small amount on a regular basis goes a long way in poorer countries.”
In Matthew 25 v 31 – 46 Jesus tells us the parable of the sheep and goats. Let’s heed its message that, ‘Whatever you did for the least of my brethren, you did it for me!’
May we rise to the challenge to serve the Lord freely with the wealth He has given us.
Written by Mandy Hudson
Mandy is a member of our Redeemer Family, a teacher, and a contributor to Redeemer’s latest book - Stories of Hope. You can pick up a copy on a Sunday morning!
Poet's Corner - Psalm 139
In today’s Poet’s Corner Blog, Mandy Hudson shares a personal prayer based on Psalm 139.
Psalm 139 - A personal prayer
Sometimes it is helpful to take a well-known scripture and meditate on it in a very personal way. Here is Psalm 139 written in such a way:
O Lord,
Please search me and know me.
I give you permission to know my sitting down and my standing up;
To understand my thoughts from far away.
Please understand the path of my life,
My lying down –
Indeed, all of my ways.
Lord, please purify the words on my tongue…
Before…
I speak them.
Put your hedge around me,
Lay your hand upon me.
May you overwhelm me with your wonders.
Help me understand my place in the world.
Let there be no escape for me from Your Spirit.
Don’t let me ever be out of Your Presence.
If I ascend into heaven or
Pitch into hell –
Please still be there.
Even in the early morning and at the seaside,
May your hand hold me wherever I go.
Even in the darkest night:
May your light shine on me.
Thank you that you’ve formed my inward parts,
Put me together in my mother’s womb.
Thank you.
I marvel how you put me together secretly.
Before I was born you already knew every day of my life.
Your thoughts are so precious to me, Lord!
You are so big! So wonderful!
I can’t even begin to count or explain your thoughts.
How could I ever really understand what’s on your mind?
Every morning I wake up –
You are still with me!
Oh Lord, please get rid of wicked, evil people who don’t acknowledge You.
Please get them away from me.
They are so anti- God, so hate-filled.
They take your Name in vain.
I hate those who hate you, Lord.
I loathe them.
I hate them with perfect hatred.
Your enemies are my enemies too.
(Now back to the NKJV for the last two verses)
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
24 And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.
Today’s Poet’s Corner was written by Mandy Hudson, and is arranged each month by our resident poet, Steve Page.
An Uncomfortable Challenge
In response to Brett McCracken’s book - Uncomfortable, Mandy issues us a challenge!
If you’ve been attending Redeemer over the past few months you will have likely heard Pete and others plugging the book - Uncomfortable: The Awkward Challenge of Christian Community. We’ve even written a review of it on the blog!
After reading the book, Mandy Hudson was inspired to go further, and to think about what it means for us at Redeemer to live uncomfortable lives. We hope that you are challenged and encouraged by what she has written.
An Uncomfortable Challenge
As I read Brett McCracken’s “Uncomfortable” I was struck with a desire to read and learn more about practical ways we as the family of God can live, learn and grow together to truly reflect the glory of Jesus. The result of my searching is below in blog form.
Have you noticed that in creating the perfect bride, the Lord has decided to unify the most disadvantaged, dysfunctional, disparate and desperate group of people you can ever imagine? This includes you and I!
Over 40 years of church life I’ve had plenty of time to observe and participate in the uncomfortable existence which is living out the Christian faith in the community of the church and out in the world. The truth is that we simply don’t fit in.
Some of us will never be “cool” or “strong”. We’ll always feel we sit on the outside of the “in” crowd, even when everyone else thinks we are in it. This is being the family of God inside the church. Outside, well that’s a different story, through Christ we are now strangers to the world. (Hebrews 11v13-15) As Jesus’ people we have a new heart and a new direction towards His kingdom.
If only that kingdom had already come and rescued us from our current uncomfortable situation. Oh, wait a minute – the Lord expects us to continue His work demonstrating that kingdom, right here, right now. That’s uncomfortable. Sometimes I think if we are the hope of the world, God help them.
Let’s not despair, Jesus is Head of the Church and has given us the power of His Holy Spirit. We shouldn’t underestimate the resources He has put in our hands, but they are not for us, they are meant to be a witness to a lost world.
I think there are three things we need to recognise if we are to live up to our calling:
We like people like us
People see through our insincerity
We need to live honestly and with integrity
It seems so natural to gravitate towards like-minded people, but even in church we miss out on the uncomfortable truth that everyone is family and therefore to be equally loved. 1 Peter 2:5 says
“You also as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
This is who we are – meant for sacrificial service. This goes beyond a smile on a Sunday. We are one household. We need to look beyond ourselves. In remembering our roots in God’s mercy, we can find grace to reach out to the world, creating a space for all to live honestly with integrity.
Is it easier to live life in the shadow of the world and sin? Rather than living in the full light of Christ we prefer a kind of half-light where we try to co-exist with the world. We gather a few favoured Christian friends around us but don’t venture outside that circle. We can kid ourselves we are holy on a Sunday, but we don’t fool God or our non-Christian neighbours or colleagues who see us the rest of the week. Evangelising unbelievers is not an optional extra. We are called to preach “in season and out of season” (2 Tim 4:2). Let’s rely on the Lord to supply us with His strength to fulfil the great commission to go into all the world and make disciples – like Him not us.
Inside the church we need to be honest about our failings and gracious towards others. Maybe, rather than avoiding that brother or sister in Christ who really irritates us, we should remember the grace and mercy Jesus showed to us and work harder on our relationships. After all, we are all part of the redeemed Bride of Christ.
Brett McCracken doesn’t seem to have much time for “authentic” Christianity which excuses sin. Quite right. However, we do need to learn how to be authentically Christ-like towards each other and those to whom God calls us to witness. That’s an uncomfortable challenge drawing us deeper towards the heart of Jesus…
“in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:7)
Let’s share that kindness today.
Written by Mandy Hudson
Mandy is a member of our Redeemer Family, a teacher, and a contributor to Redeemer’s latest book - Stories of Hope. You can pick up a copy on a Sunday morning!
Prayers from (Recent) History - Frank Hudson
As a response to our recent ‘Prayers from History’ - we share a prayer from someone closer to the Redeemer Family.
Recently during our Week of Prayer, we published a number of prayers which were originally prayed by famous believers down through history. But one of the most incredible things about prayer is that it is universal! We believe as Christians that anyone who lifts their voice in prayer has a direct line to their Heavenly Father! That’s why we pray, because we know that God listens to each and every one.
Today we share a prayer from someone who might not have been as famous, but was just as important in the eyes of God, Frank Hudson. Frank is the late father of Mandy Hudson, a member of the Redeemer Family who has written for this blog in the past, below she shares the story behind today’s blog…
My Dad was 80 when he died. He became a Christian when he was 45. Previously, he'd been a spiritualist medium, a gambler and very independent minded. He encountered Christ through the witness of his family (including me, I hope!) and would testify later that he was delivered when he read the words about how God gives good gifts to his children. (Matt 7 v11). He always celebrated his relationship with God, was an evangelist, Gideon and methodist lay preacher.
After my Dad died we found this prayer in his Bible which he used each day to start his devotions. I think it's from a combination of sources but what was good to read and see the challenge of giving every second to God.
I hope you enjoy reading his prayer.
Heavenly Father,
Thank you for creation, for today, for my life, for your great love, faithfulness, forgiveness and mercy.
Thank you for Jesus.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, that you sent your only Son - Jesus Christ to live among us. Jesus died on the cross for my sin, for my sake.
Praise you, Lord Jesus, you rose from the dead, you ascended into heaven, you sit at God’s right hand. You pray for your people.
Heavenly Father, thank you for Jesus.
Thank you for sending the Holy Spirit, thank you for His work in my life. Thank you for grace and peace and rest in God. Thank you for all the gifts, thank you, Lord for prayer.
Lord, I pray that you will forgive me for my sins of today. I have sinned in thought, word and deed. I am sorry for my sin and I ask for your forgiveness.
I pray Lord for your continued watch over my life, watch over my going out and coming in.
I pray that you will watch over me every second and I pray that I will give you every second.
Amen
Lockdown Diaries - Mandy
In the first of a new blog series, Mandy Hudson talks of how she’s been reminded of God’s faithfulness during this time.
Today we launch a new blog series - Lockdown Diaries, where we hear from members of our Redeemer family about how they have seen God at work in their lives, even in the middle of the current lockdown.
Today’s lockdown diary is written by Mandy Hudson.
“We don’t know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”
2 Chronicles 20v12
We are living through probably the most unsettling few weeks of our lives.
I’ve been a Christian for over forty-three years now and have been blessed by having a close relationship with Jesus. My personal circumstances haven’t always been easy, but God has proved His faithfulness time and time again.
Just before lockdown, my care needs had been re-assessed by adult social care. The process, which had been nothing short of traumatic three years ago was miraculously completed in eight weeks enabling me to benefit from agency care when the social isolation rules were enforced.
This is just one example of God’s marvellous provision for me in these difficult times we are all facing.
The most unsettling part of this crisis for me was when we were moving towards lockdown. I found myself having to shift gear from a life hurtling at great speed to a complete standstill in a matter of days.
I wasn’t at all well when the lockdown began. It’s at these times of greatest weakness, I find that God makes His power and strength perfect. He proves His grace is sufficient. (2 Corinthians 12 v9). What a comfort to be safe resting in Jesus at these times.
Don’t get me wrong - these are tough times.
I thought I’d be able to roll along in my own little happy spiritual bubble – until the morning I woke up to find someone had dumped a bed immediately outside my flat. I was so angry and upset by it. I had to realise one can never escape one’s own bad temper!
Thank you, Jesus, that you love us unconditionally and are constantly refining our character. These weeks are the perfect opportunity to learn more about how we live life to the full as we keep our eyes fixed on Him
Hallelujah!
Mandy Hudson