Newsletter

September 2007

Chairman’s Chatter

The captivity and subsequent release of Alan Johnston, the BBC’s Gaza correspondent, was for many weeks headline news around the world. Whilst praying for him and his family I began to think about the two words - captivity and freedom.

None of us can imagine what those words mean for Alan Johnston. But what about for ourselves as Christians? We were once in captivity to sin, held there by our own selfish desires and unable to be the person God intended us to be, or to live the lives God had in mind for us. Paul makes it clear in Romans 6 that sin was at one time controlling our lives, and it was leading us towards death. However, the Gospel is good news. God had a plan to give us our freedom.

Our freedom was made possible because a ransom was paid (Mark 10 v45). The ransom was high - the price of a man’s life. Jesus gave his life to set us free from the burden of being captive to sin. Sadly, some Christians still live with that burden and cannot rid themselves of their guilt and shame. Others find themselves captive to worry, anxiety, wrong thoughts, desires or practices.

Jesus said that He had come to set the captive free (Luke 4 v18). If today we find ourselves captive to something against God’s wishes then remember, Jesus never meant it to be like that. He calls us to live as freed people, captive only to the love and purposes of God.

On his release Alan Johnston was asked what he was going to do now that he was free. God asks us the same question. “What are you doing with the freedom that Jesus has given you? How are you using your freedom?”. It is a challenging question for each one of us to consider.

Alison

Editor’s Edict*

Good Heavens! It’s all changed! Well, I faced 19 reports instead of 12 for the last two issues, and 60% more words. I had to work out how to make better use of the space. I also wanted to improve on the method used before, since it was with a word processor and not really suited to this kind of job. So I set to and learned how to do it in desktop publishing. At first, I kept getting stuck. But when I really had to get going, it seemed as if God’s annointing came upon me. His help came when I needed it most. Our God is like that. If God doesn’t seem like that to you, why not seek out a trusted mature believer to encourage you in your faith?

Thank you so much for all the reports and all your creative ways of writing. I’d love to see your ideas for other areas. Artwork, recipes, poems, devotional material. We’ve got lots of expertise in the club. Do you have any suggestions about what you’d like to hear about? Do you have any questions nagging you? Who can do a write up on winter gear for me? What about how to choose a digital camera?

What a privilege to edit all this fun and goings on - what a great club we have!

*A prize of a big hug to anyone who comes up with a better fun term.

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