Peter Timothy Cooper

The traditional season of Lent begins. Lent is a season when in services, sermons and Bible study, among other themes of repentance and sacrifice, we focus on becoming Christ-like.  To become Christ-like is not to become “nicer”, or more politically correct, or more “inclusive”.  To become Christ-like is to love other so much that we want to help others both physically and Spiritually. Being more Christ-like means telling the truth even when that is unpopular.   The gospel writers Matthew, Mark and Luke present Jesus’ journey toward Jerusalem as an invitation for us to join Jesus on the way. According to Luke’s gospel, immediately after Jesus ‘set his face to go to Jerusalem’ (9:51) we learn of three men for various reasons did not follow Jesus on the journey. Luke’s question for us, therefore, is will we follow Jesus on the way to Jerusalem, or do we have other more urgent tasks to attend to?  Lent provides an occasion for us to mend broken relationships and build new ones a

Jesus shows us the true nature of God, and in Him we see God's generosity laid bare – His love and mercy, His goodness and care for all His people. And because God is generous, we humans, who are made in God's image, are called to reflect that generosity in our own lives.  It is because of this generosity that we serve the community and invite everyone to join us in worship. I love to worship with traditional hymns, carols and liturgy as well as contemporary music including hip hop.   It is good to keep on worshipping God in heartfelt worship that is authentic to us.   In terms of style of worship music this does not mean abandoning the tradition of your church.     On the contrary you can for example build on your tradition of choral singing as well as adding new traditions of lively contemporary music.   Worship services are so important because they draw us close to God. We and everyone in Seacombe need to know God - and he can only be know through Jesus Christ