No meeting this week

Don't forget we are not meeting on Friday this week (28th ).

Instead we will be going to Edith & Shirley's baptism at the 10.30am Sunday service.

Another version of Genesis

http://www.thebricktestament.com/genesis/

This has had me in stitches. Just my sort of humour.
Julie
x

Family honour

The Friday Service is all about stories, personal and bible stories, all connecting us with God.
Some stories are happy, some sad, some have heroes, some villans and some have a moral tale or a meaningful message.
Last Friday was a difficult one. Simon retold the story of two brothers being peacefully reunited, then members of the same family commiting mass murder, borne out of anger and seeking revenge for the rape of their sister. (Genesis 34)
A strange story...no heroes, no happy ending.
What is the message here ?

Blessings

On Friday I felt privileged to share my interpretation of Jacob's wrestle with God (Genesis chapter 32) with our group and blessed by my encounter with an unusual visitor, who joined us this week.

A 75 year old man from Southern India, who had come to the UK for the first time to see family and decided to join our fellowship. What he said was amazing and I think we all felt blessed with his presence.

He kindly agreed to answer our questions in the hotseat and his responses were humble and inspiring.

In answer to a challenging and perhaps provocative question, he simply said that

'He stands in Christ and without him he is nothing'.

Wow.

He was also encouraging of our style and said that 'our stories are how we bring God to others.'

I am actually finding it quite difficult to find words to explain how I feel about Friday night , except to thank God for his rich blessings.

Homecoming

So we left the story on Friday with Jacob and his family camped up in tents having made some peace with Laban.

Jacob's story continues this week with a very strange encounter.

A clever trick ?

Simon retold more of Jacobs story on Friday and this brought up an interesting question.

In Gen 30:37-43 we learned how Jacob stripped the bark from branches and arranged them in such a way before the watering troughs of the sheep, that they somehow brought about the mating and subsequent birth of speckled & spotted sheep from a herd of plain coloured ones.

So the question is raised about Jacobs actions. Did he use some sort of conjuring, superstition or old wives tale ?

What do you think?