There is a saying that I picked up somewhere “You can’t cross a canyon in two small steps.” Sometimes, we cannot be cautious, nor do things incrementally. Sometimes we just need to take a big, running leap of faith and trust that God will catch us. On Sunday evening I told the wonderful, fabulous and beautiful congregation of Northern Lights MCC that I will be leaving. My last week of service will begin with Pentecost Sunday, 15th May and end with a ‘Blessing Out’ Service on 21st May. Then I start an extended sabbatical, involving travel, time with family and friends and hopefully volunteer work in Southern Africa.  I have served at Northern Lights MCC for nine years and it is simply time for me to move on. To what, I do not yet know. And that is where the leap of faith comes in.
 
I do not know where God wants me to serve next or what I will be doing. What’s more, I am giving myself permission not to think about it too hard. Life often has a habit of turning out in ways we cannot imagine. If you had told me in January 2006 that I would lead the Pride parade in Newcastle, or pastor a church where we had a thriving ministry to families with young children, or that we would run a joint project to support LGBT folk seeking asylum that was mostly funded through donations from the local LGBT community and our allies, I could not have imagined those things, even if I sat still for a really long time. Of course, these are ministries and opportunities that have happened in my time at NLMCC, and are part of our vision to be ‘the church for our community.’ In January 2006, when I was beginning to think about my next steps in ministry, none of those ideas were in my head at all and I certainly wasn’t thinking about moving to Newcastle. Yet God blessed me with the call to come here and serve you. And it has been a great blessing. 
 
Now I will soon be leaping off into the air again, trusting that God is already waiting to catch me on the other side of the canyon. Some people have said that I am brave. I don’t think I am really. In CLM, someone once said that you have to feel fear in order to be brave. I am not afraid. Today, parents will be making the decision to put their children on boats and send them to another country, in the hope that they will be safe. Today, someone will speak out for truth, knowing that they will be imprisoned or silenced a brutal way. Today, a woman will finally make a phone call that will help her to escape from a life of domestic violence. Today, people will get back on the metro in Brussels and reclaim their ordinary lives, against the threat of hatefilled acts of terror. These are acts of bravery. I am simply trusting in the God who made me and who loves me. As we know, there is no fear in love.

God bless
 
Cecilia

How is your Lent going? My Christian Aid box is slowing filling up with 50p pieces. I don’t give up anything for Lent, but am saving up these coins for our campaign “Hope, Light….and Chickens”. Easter eggs traditionally represent the empty tomb and new life. The Social Action team thought it would be appropriate to collect money during Lent, so that NLMCC could purchase chickens and give a family new life and an income through the money they could generate from selling the ‘Easter’ eggs. What a great thought! If you pay a visit to the toilets in the church where we worship, on the corridor wall, you will certificates and photographs of the six toilets that we bought last Lent, through our giving/saving campaign.
 
Our overall theme this Lent is ‘Journey of Renewal’. Jesus went into the wilderness to prepare himself for his public ministry. After the affirmation at his baptism in the Jordan – ‘This is my son the beloved, with whom I am well pleased’, he took time away from all worldly distractions to focus on himself and God. The encounter with the Tempter at the end of this wilderness time shows us all the things that Jesus was willing to give up in order to do what God required of him. He chose to live the life of an ordinary human, not rich, not powerful, not influential in the way that the world sees influence. For Jesus, his time in the wilderness was a part of his journey of renewal, preparing him for his time of teaching, healing, challenging and, ultimately, dying. We read time and again how he went off on his own to pray, showing that this renewal was not just a ‘one-off’, but needed to be repeated.
 
And so it is with us. Whatever we do in Lent, from giving up our favourite food to trying to make a difference with the change in our pockets, it can’t just be a ‘one-off’. We need to take time on our Journey of Renewal throughout the whole year. As we renew ourselves, it is also an opportunity to reach out and renew others. Throughout the church year, we have different types of study groups and seminars. We have Prayer Space, and Art and God. It is perfectly possible to read the Bible alone, or pray alone, just as Jesus did. Sometimes, this is the thing that we most need to do. However, there is so much to learn from listening to one another. We celebrate and embrace our diversity at NLMCC, so it is wonderful to see how we experience the Divine in so many ways. We renew each other, as we share our faith journeys. What is more, we renew people that we have never even met. It may be something that we say or do that ripples out beyond the church and changes a life. The Journey of Renewal that we have taken this Lent will enable families in another country to experience their own ‘resurrection’, as our donations release them from the death of poverty into new life. That has to be Good News.

God bless

Cecilia

I know it will come as a shock to you, dear reader, but occasionally I run out of words. Sometimes too, I just find it just plain awkward to express myself properly. One of these areas is in praising God. I am pretty good at the “Thank you God” prayers, and have an Olympic medal in the asking/venting stakes. However, I go all British when it comes to the praise and worship bit. “Well done, God. Good show.” Or “I hold you in high esteem, God” Or “God, I like the cut of your jib.” None of these really feel appropriate somehow. Sometimes, using my body helps. I was given a set of simple yoga exercises which I do from time to time. At the end of the routine, I kneel and bow my body to the ground. I recite a prayer from my childhood “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: as it was in the beginning, is now, and for evermore shall be. Amen.” If I am feeling imaginative, I will address each of the Trinity in turn and praise them individually. Somehow, actually kneeling and bowing adds to the sense of praise and adoration.
 
As adherence to my exercise routine is somewhat ‘flexible’, most times I am just sitting in my prayer chair, trying to think of something worshipful to say. I don’t think that God is in need of my praise, any more than Usain Bolt needs me to tell him that he runs fast. It is just there is something in me that needs to express it somehow. This is why we have poets, musicians and artists. They capture the essence of what we are trying to say. Sometimes, I just sit in my prayer chair with my candle lit and just really focus in on the words that someone else has written – perhaps an ancient psalmist or a 21st century singer. I recently found an acoustic version of “Great is thy faithfulness” which I absolutely love. Because it is so stripped back, I am able to really appreciate the lyrics, rather than feel the power of the song which is conveyed when we sing it in church, accompanied by the organ.(Hear the acoustic version at http://tinyurl.com/zwuzqju)
 
“May I have this Dance?” the reflection book that we are using this year, offers a bible reading for every day, related to the monthly theme. This too has been very helpful in finding words or phrases that convey so much more about my relationship with God than I am able to express. It is fascinating to remember that those words were written hundreds of years ago, in another time, culture and place. Yet they have the power to resonate with each of us, here and now. Perhaps it shows that the human condition has not changed so much over the years. Do you have a current favourite hymn, praise song or poem that speaks of your faith? I invite you to share it with me, or with someone else this week. Best of all, share it with God.

God bless
 
Cecilia

Is it possible to fall in love with a building? If so, then I am in love with the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia, especially the inside of it. The architect Antoni Gaudi took on the project of building a church dedicated to the Holy Family in 1883. He completely redesigned what was to be built, planning a temple of monumental size and scale. Work is still continuing to finish this amazing structure, such is its richness and complexity. It is a ‘must see’ for anyone visiting Barcelona, and I was not disappointed. The outside of the building is very ornate, with statues depicting many stories from the gospels, towers dedicated to individual apostles and ornate mosaics. The doors are highly decorated; some showing details from nature, including tiny creatures, others showing words from scripture cast in metal. Everywhere you look, there is something to see. It is really worth taking binoculars with you, so that you can appreciate all the different aspects of the architecture. Although the outside is impressive, it was the inside that totally blew me away. I had expected the interior to be dark and gloomy. Instead it is light and lofty, filled with rainbow shafts of light. Elegant pillars grow up to the roof like tree trunks and branch out to hold up a ceiling, modelled on a canopy of leaves. The space is vast.
 
For the first few moments, I just kept saying “Wow!” over and over again. Loudly. I was overwhelmed by the scale, the light, the beauty of it all. I couldn’t comprehend how so much detail and outrageous design could have come out of the mind and imagination of one person. Of course, most of the work has taken place since Gaudi’s death, so much of it is the interpretation of his ideas by others. Nevertheless, it is his vision that produced this monument to God. Gaudi was a man of great faith and really wanted to express that in his work. The website for the church explains “The Sagrada Familia is a symbolic expression in stone of the Christian faith”. I spent over two and a half hours soaking in the atmosphere, delighting in the detail and being in awe of the place.
 
In the grounds of the Sagrada Familia stands a modest building, which could easily be overlooked. This is the school house that Gaudi built for the children of the local people and those working on the construction of the church. Such a humble building could have been plain in structure. It is a simple design, yet it has a beautifully crenulated roof and detailed brickwork. The man who was responsible for such a monumental building still had time and space in his busy mind to create a beautiful place in which children could learn and grow.I think that this was a pleasing offering to God, as much as the basilica being built alongside it.

God bless
Cecilia

You can find photos and more information about the Sagrada Familia here
http://www.sagradafamilia.org/en/photo-gallery ​