This Saturday! - Alpha Holy Spirit Day
Interested in learning more about the Holy Spirit? Why not join us this Saturday?
This term I have had the privilege of leading the Alpha course, a group of us have been meeting every Wednesday to eat together, chat and get to know one another, hear some great talks from some great guys and girls at Redeemer about aspects of the Christian faith, and engage in some exciting and thought provoking discussions off the back of the talks.
Coming up this Saturday though is a day which I’m expecting to be a real highlight of the course, as we join together for two sessions learning about the Holy Spirit. We run a day like this every time we run an Alpha Course, as the Holy Spirit is such a key aspect of our life as Christians, and we know it’s crucial that if we want to grow in faith, or even if we’re just working out what faith in Jesus means, it’s impossible to do so without a relationship with the Holy Spirit.
During the day, we will get the opportunity to learn about who the Holy Spirit is, what he does, and how we can be filled with the Holy Spirit. It’s a really exciting opportunity for people’s lives to be changed!
Last term on the Holy Spirit day, one of the guys attending was struggling with back pain, he asked if we could pray for him and during the prayer he described feeling a heat in his back, which was miraculously healed as we prayed!
I’m so excited to see how God is going to move and what he’s going to teach us about his Holy Spirit this Saturday. If you’re someone who wants to learn more about the Holy Spirit, or you’ve got a friend who you think might have questions, then you are more than welcome to join us!
The day will start at 10am, and finish at 2:30pm, with a break for lunch in the middle. You can find out all the details and sign up by following the link below!
HOW DINNER IN EALING COULD CHANGE THE MIDDLE EAST
Interpretation is a skill I could have done with on my recent holiday, and it's something that significantly influences the world today.
We recently went on our first family holiday abroad – to France.
France has lovely weather, beautiful countryside, delicious food…and a language that I don’t understand.
I never did French at school, so I used up pretty much my entire vocabulary by the time we’d shown our passports.
Swapping between languages can be fun (like listening to French songs written in English – the music’s fine but the words are appalling!) and very frustrating.
Interpretation is clearly a skill, and it’s something that’s very relevant to the modern world. The Middle East has been dreadfully affected over the last few years by an interpretation of Islam that is entirely different from the interpretations practiced by my Muslim friends. The same could be said of those who interpreted Christianity in such a way as to justify the Crusades or the Spanish Inquisition, or those who interpreted atheism in such a way as to justify persecuting the Jews under Nazi Germany or the Chinese under Chairman Mao.
Please don’t interpret that to mean that I’m criticising Islam, Christianity or atheism – I’m not. The point I’m making is that the way we interpret something can be as important as the thing itself. The desperately horrifying actions of so-called Islamic State would be no less horrifying if Islam were true.
In all these challenges, surely the best thought we can take away is that understanding one another better is categorically a Good Thing.
So I wonder if I could invite you out for dinner, to do exactly that. I’m doing something called Alpha, where I’d love to share a bit about what Christianity means for me, and I’d love to hear what your faith means for you.
Sign up here, and we can interpret life together.
You can find out more about Alpha here.