Dear brothers, sisters and siblings in Christ,
 
I have been thinking a lot about the meaning of that phrase recently. It’s one that was used by the early church leaders to the different Christian communities and has continued to be used to address Christians around the world. How does our belief in a person who lived and walked the earth 2000 years ago makes us family?
 
You may remember my sharing an incident that had a profound effect on me. I was standing on the underground, late at night, when a young man began shouting about how the grace of our Lord Jesus  had shone through the kindness of a woman who had taken him off the streets. As he spoke of God’s goodness two guards grabbed him and dragged him from the platform. As he passed me by I said ‘Well done.’ His response transformed him. His eyes light up and, still in a headlock, he beamed at me and called me ‘Brother.’
 
What is it that makes us family? A belief in Jesus as the Christ and Saviour? Sadly, no. We all know that professing a belief in Jesus doesn’t unite us. People use His name as an excuse to persecute others and spread hate.
 
For me, it is two things that make us family. The first, that we really know Jesus as the one whom God sent into the world to reveal the true nature of God. It is Jesus, by his teaching, his example, his miracles and ultimately by his betrayal, death and resurrection that reveal God as a God of love, mercy, tenderness and who wants all creation to live in peace and justice together.
 
The second is that we share the meal Jesus gave us. At the Passover the first Jewish people sacrificed a lamb and were saved and led into safety by Moses to become God’s people. At his final meal with his disciples before his death, Jesus celebrated the new Passover and became the new sacrifice that would allow us to become God’s people. A new family in and through Jesus. We say the words Jesus said, ‘Do this in memory of me.’ We celebrate the meal he gave us each week, but have you considered that he meant more than just celebrate the meal he gave us? By eating the bread and drinking from his cup, we too are asked to make the same sacrifice as him, a life reflecting the love of God, ministering to others and bearing witness to God’s presence in a broken world.
 
It is these two things, knowing Jesus as a living presence and friend and sharing the meal he gave us with one another, that makes us his brothers, sisters and siblings- children of the eternal God.
 
It is my first Christmas with you as your Pastor. The calling I experienced to stand as minister came as something of a surprise, and in faith I responded. As the saying goes-God truly does work in mysterious ways! I feel truly blessed to be with. Thank you for making both Kyle and I so welcome and a part of your family at Northern Lights. 
 
A sincere thank you to all those who work so hard at arranging, preparing and leading our worship, and those who take part in the ministries of care, from welcome, preparing refreshment and the pastoral care of our family.
 
It is very easy to get into the mindset of giving and not taking and I know many come and give of themselves freely in the leading of services. It is equally important to be able to come and be fed by God’s word, by communion and by fellowship, and to just BE, as part of God’s family in Northern Lights. I hope that in the New Year you will come and BE part of the family and not always serve.
 
I feel one of the greatest strengths of Northern Lights MCC is the understanding and celebration of the Priesthood of all Believers. It is why I began our Year of Renewal. I hope that we, as God’s people, can take time to reflect on our spiritual gifts and really open ourselves to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and have more people prepare and be commissioned to lead and guide us. You may not feel able to lead from the front, but there are other ways too; by becoming a full member of Northern Lights, supporting us with your daily prayers or spreading the good news about us.  As we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Saviour I ask you  to pray for new ways in which we can embrace him ever more closely into our hearts and lives, that you reflect on how you can support our work and our growth as a family.
 
May I take this opportunity to wish you, your families and all those whom you love, the peace and the blessings of new born Christ child.
 
God bless.
 
Ronnie.
 
Pastor of Northern Lights MCC.

I first came to Northern Lights MCC as a placement student back in 2014 as preparation for ordination and, like many of you, remember walking through the doors for the first time and feeling anxious about who was going to be there and how it would feel to worship with you.

Since that time, it's been a privilege to come back in a new role and learn from you again and I wanted to share some of what I've learned from you to encourage you as your search for a Senior Pastor enters a new phase.

Firstly, that a good welcome comes from a culture of welcome. I have seen, time and time again, that you are genuinely interested in people's stories and experiences. Many of you have been gracious enough to share some of your story with me, but I have also been deeply impressed with how open you are to one another. This is a vital part of our ministry in Christ's name, and I pray it will continue for you. "Therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God." (Romans 15:7)

Secondly, and relatedly, that you are a nurturing people who use your own gifts to discern gifting in others. The range of people involved in worship each week reflects this and shows you taking on the teaching that the body of Christ in the world today is taken on from each using their own gifts for the good functioning of the others. Everyone involved in preaching, leading, welcoming, setting up Communion, and everything in between is contributing to the ministry of Christ and bringing hope and light to the people. (If you are interested in joining any of the ministry teams, including Rainbow News, powerpoint, and welcome, please contact the Board.)

Northern Lights MCC is a powerful witness to the unconditional love of God, but this has come from your hard work and commitment to the Gospel. This is at the core of who you are, and has clearly been building over the past 26 years. It will serve you well as you move into the next phase of your ministry together. 

"Above all things, love one another deeply, for love covers a multitude of sin." (1 Peter 4:8) Continue to do this, and the Spirit will help Northern Lights MCC continue to grow from strength to strength.

May God bless you on your continued journey; I will miss you, but look forward to hearing about what God has in store for you and the community in the North East.

My prayers go with you, all blessing,
Kate

P.S. THANK YOU for the lovely cards, gifts, and good wishes. ​

‘What does it mean to give up everything and follow Jesus?’ and ‘Why would you do it?’ were questions that I heard as I walked into pray in our spirituality centre in the hospital. As I went through the week these two questions stayed with me and lead me to look at the Gospel passages of Jesus calling the disciples. In Matthew 4:18-22 Jesus sees the brothers Simon and Andrew casting out their nets and say’s ‘Come after me and I will make you fishers of people’. He then calls James and John and they immediately respond to Jesus invitation by following him. In Luke 5: 11 it says; ‘Then bringing their boats back to land they left everything and followed him.’ To accept these words literally Simon, Andrew, James & John saw Jesus responded with a ‘Yes’ to his invitation there and then gave up everything and followed Jesus. That sure is a tall order.
What does it mean for each of us to respond to the invitation to accept the call of God to be the centre of our lives? For me it is hard to explain. It is an ache, a longing to know God deeply and intimately. Its intangible yet profound, it’s desire and discipline. It’s a reaching out and reaching within and as Charlotte expressed through her homily on Sunday its that listening for the still calm voice of the God within that leads us to become part of the community in all our humanity, to work for justice and show love for all people. As I write this I recognise myself struggle to put words to that longing and for me the challenge is to be open to the journey of the call that God gives to me, to trust and be prepared to give up everything to follow. What does God call you to? Will you be prepared to give up everything and follow?

God bless
Lorraine

If you have listened, read or watched the news recently, it is hard to escape the fact that trans people have come up in the news several times.
The news coming of acceptance of trans people from the General Synod of Church of England has for me being like a hole filled in my life coming from a C of E background.  But that hasn’t been the only good news coming through. Earlier this week, it was announced by Justine Greening, the Equalities minister, that trans and non-binary people will be able to self-identify their own gender, instead of having to go through the laborious process of getting the required medical evidence.
Then on Wednesday, President Trump decided to announce that Trans people would not be able serve in the US Military in any capacity. I asked a friend of mine over in the States to help explain the history of it,
“Obama had implemented the same thing in 2008, when the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy was still in place. However, not once did that administration say that transgender people were a distraction and a financial burden. I think that they had implemented the policy solely based on keeping political relations civil, since Barack Obama was brand new in office and facing a heavy amount of scrutiny. Trump, on the other hand, is doing it purely out of discrimination. Transgender troops have been in the military for as long as history goes on. We just recently started allowing them to transition while in the military. Apparently, that cost is just far too great (though it really only takes up 0.01% or less of the total military budget). There has never been any kind of distraction noted simply because of someone who is transgender. If the officers, and commanders can't get past the fact that they have trans subordinates, then that's their problem. It's not a distraction or financial problem. If they can't keep to their assignments like they vowed to, they should be deemed dishonourable and discharged because they are putting our country at risk on a larger scale.”
It is certainly a scary time to be transgender in America, and my thoughts and prayers go to all our sisters, brothers and siblings over there.

This is the Hope and Light blog, so I’m going to leave you with a bit of hope from Reverend Chris Newslands of Blackburn, who said the following as he opened his motion at the General Synod:
"I hope that we can make a powerful statement to say that we believe that trans people are cherished and loved by God, who created them, and is present through all the twists and turns of their lives."
Blessings
Lily

Summer in our communities is strongly correlated with Pride season; in the US, June is Pride month, and in the UK many Pride festivals run throughout June, July and August. It is an opportunity to celebrate our community, our families of choice, and all the things that make up our glorious rainbow community. At Northern Pride, we will have the opportunity to learn more about our health, spend time with our families, and celebrate our lives and loves. When we planned worship for this month, the worship planning team wanted to do something special, and different, to mark this season.

In that spirit, our theme for worship this month is, The Gospel According to..., in which we have invited preachers to share the way in which the work of a musician, writer, poet or artist has shaped their theology. From high culture to pop culture, Caravaggio to Billy Joel, I know we are in for an exciting and thought-provoking month.

When you think about the influences on your theology, who do you think of? Perhaps the first people who spring to mind are religious leaders or writers from the Christian tradition. But if you think about the music, art, and books that are meaningful to you, you might find more influence on your theological thinking than you first thought. For example, in my own reading life, atheist writers such as Philip Pullman and Terry Pratchett have helped me to understand the potentially destructive power of religious dogmatism and they regularly challenge me to think carefully about how I relate as a person of faith to the diversity of people around me.

The first Terry Pratchett novel I read was Carpe Jugulum*, which contains an exchange between an elderly witch and an earnest young preacher, which I have never forgotten, perhaps because I read it when I was first encountering God and church for myself:

There is a very interesting debate raging at the moment about the nature of sin, for example,” said Oats.
“And what do they think? Against it, are they?” said Granny Weatherwax.
“It’s not as simple as that. It’s not a black and white issue. There are so many shades of gray.”
“Nope.”
“Pardon?”
“There’s no grays, only white that’s got grubby. I’m surprised you don’t know that. And sin, young man, is when you treat people as things. Including yourself. That’s what sin is.
“It’s a lot more complicated than that . . .”
“No. It ain’t. When people say things are a lot more complicated than that, they means they’re getting worried that they won’t like the truth. People as things, that’s where it starts.”
“Oh, I’m sure there are worse crimes . . .”
“But they starts with thinking about people as things . . . ” 

I have never been able to get past the idea that thinking about people as things - objectification - is at the heart of human sin. In the book of Genesis alone we see Jacob cheating his father and brother to receive material inheritance, and Jacob's own sons disposing of their brother out of jealousy, not to mention the men of Sodom and Gamorrah who felt that all visitors were theirs to rape. Jesus calls time and time again to love because you cannot fail to see the humanity and divinity in one whom you love - that is the only sure counter-measure against objectification and sin.

In the month to come, as you hear about the diverse ways in which the music we hear, the images we see, and the books we read may shape our views of one another and God, be alert to the influences around you and thank God for the ways in which we can see and experience the Divine in the mundane.

All blessings,
Kate 

*'Sieze the Throat'

Over the past few weeks I have been reflecting on Luke23: 13-27 the Emmaus Journey. Luke’s story open’s with the two disciples downcast, bewildered by all they have seen and heard. They had experienced the reality of the death of Jesus, the diminishment of life as they had hoped it would be and a loss of their hopes and dreams of a future. This reflection also connected me to the horror, the pain, the sadness and angst of the terrorist attack at Manchester Arena where so many people lost their lives or were injured. As families and friends searched for their loved ones, like the disciples they experienced bewilderment, fear, anxiety, sadness and despair. The fact their life and the life of others had changed. Also on the Emmaus Journey the disciples encounter Jesus even although initially they did not know him. Jesus simply meets them where they are on the road; he establishes trust, reaches out to them and encourages them to unburden their hearts by telling their story. We also see these attributes manifest at Manchester Arena as people reach out with care, concern and support, as well as giving, holding and loving every human person in the midst of death, injury and destruction. We know people opened their homes, taxi drivers took people home distances free of charge and emergency services dedicated themselves night and day to healing and mending those they could. What is evident is what Jesus teaches us that love is manifest and transparent in life through the very essence of our humanity. Just as Jesus on the Emmaus Journey is fully attentive to the disciples, the people involved in and those who surrounded the Manchester Arena are also attentive to the needs of those before them and for that we are deeply grateful.
We pray for all families involved in the Manchester Arena terrorist attack, for those who lost their life, who were injured and ask that in the midst of despair, grief and loss they will continue to be held by those who surround them over the coming weeks and months as they voice their story of events.

In prayer,
Lorraine