Methodist Newsletter

Methodist notes for October

Stoke Ferry Methodist Church Services

Ministers

Revd Andrew Sankey Revd Matt Finch

01366 383231 01353 667568

andrew@sankeys.fsnet.co.uk finchy@mfinch.f9.co.uk

Oct 3rd 11.00 Mr B Bannister

Oct 10th 11.00 Mrs H Miles

Oct 17th 11.00 Mr S Button

Oct 24th 11.00 Proclaim

Oct 31st 11.00 Revd M Finch

Dear Friends,

Being only twenty five and recently married I find that I am always being asked "So when is the sound of little feet coming!". Alongside this there is an endless number of my friends having babies. Children seem everywhere in my life, and as much as I happy to hand them back to tired parents at the end of the day, I find something magical about them.

Children have so much to teach us about life and the way we should view every experience. Every nook and cranny needs to be explored in case some secret is hidden. Every new flower must be studied so that every amazing detail is recorded and nothing missed. Every slug and snail must be picked up and handled. Everything is an awesome experience!

There is a simple uncomplicated outlook on life. There are no problems to be overcome nothing stands between them and their ambition to explore. There are thousands of questions that need to be answered. There is a beautiful naivety about the way they listen to explanations to why things are as they are. No critical questioning just a deep desire to understand.

Jesus thought children were great as well and there is a story in the Bible about it. One day as a tired Jesus had just sat down for a rest out of the distance came a group of children full of energy and questions. However, far from telling them to come back when he had had forty winks he used them to illustrate the way we should view God and the world in which we live. He spoke that we must all become childlike.

By this he meant that we too should look at the world not with the adult eyes of busyness and dullness but with fresh eyes raring to discover something new and exciting. He also meant that we should respond to God as a child, coming with thousands of questions, and accepting as only a child can the love offered to them. I can picture that as Jesus held the children on his knee, he pointed to them and said look how they accept that they are loved by God with not a care in the world and look how they simple give back love to the one who created them. Children teach us so much!

So why not give thanks for the children that you know and perhaps have cared for in you life. Also, be challenged to see the beauty of the world afresh through the eyes of a child and may you know that you are loved by God who has the answers to all you questions no matter how difficult.

Every blessing,

Matt

Matt Finch