Mark Carey writes
The world says, “If you are not making good use of your time, you are useless.” Jesus says: “Come spend some useless time with me.”
This has come to mind as I've thought about spending intentional and focussed time in prayer and fasting. What will we gain from this? What will be the benefits? Will anything change or are we simply dealing in wishful thinking and should really be doing something more useful?
I really don't think we should expect any time of prayer and fasting to be like a slot-machine where we put in our prayer and receive something in return. Instead we simply come making use of this time to draw closer to Jesus, making space for God at a time when everyone and everything around us competes to fill us up, preoccupy our minds, and focus us on things to worry about or be excited about.
Jesus said we are to set our hearts on God's kingdom and so that is what we are doing at this time - fasting and praying. And as well as that, we get on with the daily job of joining in with God's works of rebuilding, restoring and renewing.
Miriam Thurlow writes
Next week we are heading into 10 days of prayer and fasting as a network from Wednesday 23rd Nov through to Saturday 3rd Dec. So I thought it might be helpful to share some of the things I have been thinking about as we get ready for these 10 days.
Why fast?
Fasting is a spiritual discipline (or practice) that is a part of living the Jesus way, and it is about choosing to deny ourselves food (or something else) to help increase our focus on God. If we look at when people fast in the Bible we see that it is done alongside a time of intentional prayer, and often done as a community too. Jesus himself begins his earthly ministry with 40 days of fasting in the desert and continues to prioritise intentional prayer and fasting throughout his ministry. So fasting is about choosing to do without something so that instead we can give our focus to God in a more focused way as ask what God is saying to us.
What is a Daniel fast?
We are declaring a Daniel fast for these 10 days, but what does that mean? Daniel and his friends refused to eat the luxurious food of the King of Babylon and instead only ate vegetables and drank water (Daniel 1). Instead of becoming weak, it brought Daniel clarity and enabled him to be in a position of influence. He chose to do without the luxury foods and turn his focus on God and God’s priorities. For us, this might look like not eating dairy, meat and processed food and not drinking caffeine or alcohol for the 10 days. But it doesn’t have to be all those things, and we can tailor it to our own health and household circumstances. The main idea is about denying ourselves luxury foods (or another luxury) in order to increase our focus on God. We put down one good gift to receive something better.
How can you join in?
Individually - Individually (or as a household) choose what you are going to fast from for the 10 days and tell someone else to make yourself accountable to them
Collectively - there are several things going on which we would love for you to come and join in with in some way:
2 Half-nights of prayer in Christ Church (Wed 23rd & 30th Nov), 7pm-midnight
Whole night of prayer in Christ Church (Fri 2nd Dec), 7pm-7am
Day of Prayer & Reflection at Christ Church (Sat 3rd Dec), 10:30am-3pm
10 Daily Readings
You may want to join us for the entirety of the half/whole nights of prayer or you might like to pop down and join us for an hour or two. Also look out for other opportunities different Network Leaders are organising for spaces to come together and pray.
If you are interested in thinking more about fasting here are a couple of helpful links: https://www.24-7prayer.com/prayer_guide/try-fasting/ and https://bibleproject.com/podcast/practicing-faith-part-2-feasting-fasting/
Miriam
Mark Carey writes
Five years ago I became the Vicar here - it is a great privilege to serve here. I've found myself reflecting on three areas that on looking back seem to have been important.
Tales of the Unexpected
The last five years have been full of unexpected circumstances and events. Responding to the unexpected is part of being a disciple - we do it by leaning into trust in our Saviour.
No quick fixes
I've found that I have to put down my tendency to find short cuts in response to challenging circumstances. Jesus was offered short cuts by the Devil and he resisted temptation by leaning heavily into the promises of God in scripture.
Invest in the unseen
I've increasingly been drawn to the value of prayer. Picturing an iceberg with less than 20% visible and more than 80% unseen. When we pray, fast and give we are investing in the unseen. I'm sensing an increasing call from God to go deep with him in a world that usually only focusses on what is visible and seen.
Speaking of investing in the unseen:
I am calling us to 10 days of prayer and fasting from Wednesday 23rd November to Saturday 3rd December.
A significant part of this will be a Daniel Fast - Daniel denied himself what an earthly king offered in luxury food to prioritise what God provides. His intentional fasting brought him to a place of extraordinary influence. Taking part in fasting and times of prayer during this time is a significant investment in prioritising God first during this time of world-wide turmoil and change.
Everyone can join in with this in some way.
Will you?
Margaret Walker Writes
During a prayer meeting before the 6 o’clock gathering a couple of Sundays ago Mark reminded us of the divine exchange that is ours through faith in Christ.
After Christ had resisted the devil in the wilderness He was led by the Spirit out to Nazareth and went into the synagogue. There he stood up and quoted verses from the Prophet Isaiah 61 announcing to the people what would be the hallmarks of His ministry .
He said
“The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to preach Good News to the Poor, He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim freedom to the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
Transformation of people’s lives would be at the heart of Christ’s ministry – transformation from areas of difficulty, pain, disadvantage and weakness.
Restoration would be a sign that Christ was present. This Good News is for all of us, and all people.
The prophet Isaiah writes of beauty instead of ashes, gladness instead of mourning, praise instead of despair.
Rebuilding, restoration and renewal are all at the heart of Christ’s ministry for individual lives – and should be evident in our lives and our awareness of ourselves as believers.
I think God is encouraging us to press into receiving all Christ can bring so our own lives bear the hallmarks of Christ’s presence with us.
Margaret Walker
Mark Carey writes
Hello!
On Saturday 29th October there is an Awakening the Coastlands day being held at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Scarborough. Andy Hall is speaking and Rob Parker and I are leading. We’ve also got Alan McKinlay leading worship.
The focus will be on passionate worship and prophetic input – I’d love it if you were able to take part in this day in a very active way – we sense that there will be lots of prophetic praying. Andy will be speaking around the way in which there has been a stifling of the prophetic ‘preaching’ of the word of God, and the consequent lack of direction, lack of freedom and spiritual weakness in the lives of many followers of Jesus.
We expect empowerment in the prophetic and much release of freedom.
You will see the adverts for the day being shared this week – with the basic information.
I’d love you to be part of this!
Blessings
Mark Carey
Leader of Christ Church Bridlington Network
Mark Carey writes
I’d love you to watch this short video I recorded this week https://youtu.be/Sg68-OmgmdM – after three years of learning to do such things you would have thought I would be pretty slick and professional – if only! It took me 14 attempts and even then, I got something wrong and Miriam had to do some extra editing! It has made me think about some key things for us here…….
We are not called to be slick and perfect but authentic and real. We are called to be generous in all the ways God is generous – we are blessed to be a blessing.
Last week Sophia White, Emma Miles and myself had the opportunity to be involved in a Tackling Poverty Roundtable hosted by the Archbishop of York. It showed that we have the capacity to be a blessing, to function in God’s generosity beyond the borders of the Bridlington area.
Next week Oli Preston and I are hosting a Cost of Living Roundtable bringing together lots of groups serving the health and well-being of Bridlington – we are able to do this – with great goodwill towards us – because we simply seek the prosperity of our town.
I’m reminded of the following verse: “Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile” (Jeremiah 29 v 7). Let’s keep seeking the peace and prosperity of this town, area and region.
Giving for Living
Have you picked up one of our 'Giving for Living' leaflets?
As a Network we have been learning together about 'Giving for Living' this Autumn. It's good to ask 'What is God saying?' and 'What am I going to do about it?' when it comes to money just as we do in other areas of life. As a church we are heading towards more financially challenging times, but we still need to be a church that is Giving for Living not giving for survival.
Mark Carey writes
Sometimes we need simple encouragements and reminders to keep us secure.
This week I've found myself drawn to the end of Psalm 27 - I hope it encourages you as well.
"I remain confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD."
You may want to listen to this song called 'Land of the Living'
What's On and What We Do
Our website is a good source of information for upcoming events and planning ahead. You can also get information about 'what we do' - it is being updated regularly so do check it
Mark Carey writes
It's been a pretty intense period of time as we've mourned the death of the Queen, shared in the funeral service and observed the process of the accession of King Charles to the throne.
What a combination of experiences and emotions we have gone through – plus some really interesting reminders about what our system of governing looks like and how we uphold it through faith, monarchy and the houses of parliament.
We are in a time of significant transition – leaving an era behind and yet not quite there in terms of the new era. Someone once said that “Christians live from the centre out and the centre is God” – this is a time where we must keep finding our centre in Jesus and work outwards from that centre of his word, ways and works.
ALPHA is starting soon – do get in touch with the office if you want to take part – John Dixon is coordinating the team and we are going to have a lot of fun exploring faith.
Mark Carey Writes
We have just held a vision morning for our teams that serve across the Christ Church site – there were about 50 of us and there are many more who were unable to attend. Our last one was three years ago – it was noticeable how much has changed and yet how much has grown and developed. One of the things I talked about was the three up’s from the film Oz The Great and Powerful. Show Up, Keep Up, Shut Up.
I pointed out that showing up means a lot – our reliability and consistency matters. Everyone benefits from our reliability and consistency.
I also pointed out that keeping up means we stay connected and keep up with changes and developments. That we communicate well together.
Finally I pointed out that knowing when to shut up and when not to is important. Sometimes we say the wrong things – even get caught up in gossip. At other times we don’t say things that we should say.
As people serving Jesus together we need to show up, keep up and shut up.
What I didn’t say is that I think we saw in the Queen a model of living in this way – she has been a reliable and consistent point of stability during uncertain and difficult times. During her lifetime we have seen her making the difficult acts of adjusting and adapting to changes in society – staying connected. She has also tried to get the balance right between when to say something and when not to, how to advise and influence. I’m sure there were times she wanted to say something but chose to shut up to be true to her role and calling.
For those of you in or near Bridlington – we are going to gather at the War Memorial at the end of the 6pm Evening Gathering for the silence at 8pm.
On Monday the broadcast of the funeral service will be shown at Christ Church, St Mark’s Westhill and Emmanuel Church.
Sunday 18th September 6pm Gathering
Our guest speaker this Sunday 18th at the Christ Church 6pm is Mark Burgess. With his wife, Anna, and family he moved from the UK in 2007 to live in Chorrillos, South Lima, Peru. He leads Oikos Ministries, whose vision is to plant churches throughout Peru and beyond.
Mark Carey writes
Some of you will be very familiar with the hymn – Abide With Me – I love the fact that it is sung at every FA Cup Final. It is also a familiar funeral hymn which makes it seem like it is all about death when, in fact, it is about relationship with God throughout the whole of life, which includes the time of death. This week I’ve been thinking about a line in the second verse:
“Change and decay in all around I see, O thou who changest not, abide with me”
It seems particularly appropriate to have such words in mind as we navigate the ongoing challenges of less, limits and loss, a change of Prime Minister, an increasing awareness of the Queen’s increasingly frail health, and as we contemplate the war in Ukraine and floods in Pakistan. Change and decay is all around. But God doesn’t change – he is faithful and abides with us.
Mark Carey writes
Signs
We did some quiet visits to Bridlington & Christ Church in preparation for our move here nearly five years ago. One of the most helpful things about that was meeting Mark Beckett. Mark is part of the staff team with specific responsibility to care for the buildings. He shared his faith story, and words of welcome & kindness - he is fantastic! I love the way he shares his story - do ask him! At that time, I remember thinking that this was something of a sign - something to take notice of - a man telling me about the way his life has been transformed as he has met Jesus. A sign of what I was inheriting and going to be part of. I was reminded of this when I saw the excellent work Mark Beckett has done on the big roadside sign for Christ Church. Mark is renewing our signs - maybe God is renewing us as signs of his transforming work?
Rev. Mark Carey Christ Church Bridlington Network
Mark Carey writes
Part of my summer TV viewing is the documentary called “All or Nothing” – following my beloved Arsenal through the highs and lows of last season. Now, bear with me all of you who have immediately started switching off because football bores you – I do have a point to make that may be helpful!
Documentaries give you an insight into something, but they are always and only a limited insight. You don’t ever, truly understand until you are flesh on flesh with the people or living in the situation. I am aware, watching the Arsenal documentary that a lot more is happening behind the scenes. The same can be said of God’s kingdom and the way of Jesus – sometimes we get the documentary version that gives a glimpse of some of the internal workings. But this is simply a glimpse – helpful – but not the whole story. We are invited to be flesh on flesh – not viewers, spectators, on-lookers and dare I say it……. church-goers. This means we give ourselves to being set apart for God – part of the documentary and not just viewers. The Bible word for this is ‘consecration’ – set apart as holy – dedicated to a higher purpose. A disciple of Jesus is one who is set apart for a higher purpose in our ordinary lives – people get to see us and realise that there is much more to this than turning up to a service in a church building.
A final thought – ‘All or Nothing’ is a pretty good title for the life of a follower of Jesus – consecration to Him and His way means we have chosen all or nothing – St Paul put it in this way -
“But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him…”