Spring 2010

St Saviour’s warmly invite everyone between 5 and 16 years of age to a fabulous day of crafts, drama, games, quizzes and much, much more!
Our Special guest is the celebrated clown
ROLY BAIN

Who will take us through the Easter Story like never before.

We would be delighted if parents and carers could join us at 2 p.m. when Roly starts his fun. His part of the programme is specially designed for ALL ages – so don’t miss it!!

Children need to bring a packed lunch
£2.50 entry fee
To book your place or for more information
Ring Maureen 0114 2844003

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An Easter Message...
This Easter as Christians celebrate the power and glory of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, for many people, however Easter Sunday morning brings a major crisis of faith. Easter confronts them with the essential question: Is the Christian religion natural or is it supernatural? Some people avoid the question even while attending annual Easter celebrations.

On the third day
we eat brunch
wear bright dresses
munch on jelly beans
and marshmallow bunnies
On the third day
we sing hymns
and go to church
if we can find a parking spot.

It is possible for Easter to be nothing more than that?
But to those of us who are alive in Christ, we confess the third verse of the poem with gratitude and praise:

And on the third day
this God of ours
recovers from death
in a way that changes everything.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead does in fact change everything. What better way to celebrate Easter than to accept the new life Jesus offers today?
Trust him as your Saviour, surrender your will to him as Lord. Then you will know the thrill, the joy, and the security of the resurrected Christ Jesus living inside of you.

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Loving your enemies...

Abraham Lincoln appears to have set a great example of reconciliation and loving his enemy. When he was campaigning for the U.S. Presidency he found he had an arch-enemy by the name of Edwin McMasters Stanton. This man went to great lengths to degrade Lincoln insulting his physical appearance and denouncing him in many other ways. His aim was clearly to set the American voters against Lincoln, but despite this Lincoln was elected the 16th president of the U.S.A.

Lincoln then proceeded to choose and appoint people to his cabinet. This would naturally consist of persons with whom he had a close relationship and whom he felt most able to work, as well as being the most competent in their position.

There came the day when Lincoln needed to appoint the vitally important ‘Secretary for War’. Ironically and sensationally Lincoln decided to appoint Stanton to this position. This caused immediate uproar in the president’s inner circle when the news broke. Everyone was asking him if he was aware of what an enemy Stanton had been and how much damage he had attempted to cause. Lincoln assured his colleagues he was fully aware of all Stanton had said but after careful consideration he felt he was the best man for the job. It is said that Stanton went on to render invaluable service to his nation and president.

It was not much later that Lincoln was assassinated and there followed many expression of appreciation in his honour. Stanton is on record as referring to Lincoln as one of the greatest men who ever lived stating , “He now belongs to the ages.”

It could be said that if Lincoln has responded in kind to Stanton's hatred both men would have gone totheir graves bitter enemies. But Lincoln’s decision to love rather than hate, and his astounding action he took in appointing Stanton, brought about a powerful act of transformation.
If Jesus had been around at that time, He would undoubtedly have proclaimed Lincoln to be an outstanding example of loving an enemy ( Matt 4:44) and overcoming evil with good (Rom 12:21). Jesus of course was all about forgiveness in the first place. His death on the cross was for the purpose of paying the penalty of our sins. God calls upon us to recognise and believe this, to ask Him for forgiveness and to trust in His promise to freely give us that forgiveness. This then, is intended to lead us into an ever-deepening love for God and for Jesus and into always being ready to forgive others.
Alan Greaves.

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Sermon Bloopers
These sentences (with all the BLOOPERS) actually appeared in church bulletins or were announced in church services:

The Fasting & Prayer Conference includes meals.
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The sermon this morning: 'Jesus Walks on the Water.' The sermon tonight: 'Searching for Jesus.'
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Ladies, don't forget the rummage sale. It's a chance to get rid of those things not worth keeping around the house. Bring your husbands.
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For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs.
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Next Thursday there will be tryouts for the choir. They need all the help they can get.
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At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be 'What Is Hell?' Come early and listen to our choir practice
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Irving Benson and Jessie Carter were married on October 24 in the church. So ends a friendship that began in their school days.
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Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door

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Jesus V Satan

Jesus and Satan were having an argument about who was better on the computer. They had been going at it for days, and frankly God was tired of hearing all the bickering. Finally God said, "THAT'S IT! I have had enough. I am going to set up a test that will run for two hours, and from those results, I will judge who does the better job."

So Satan and Jesus sat down at the keyboards and typed away. They moused. They faxed. They e-mailed. They e-mailed with attachments. They downloaded. They did spreadsheets. They wrote reports. They created labels and cards. They created charts and graphs. They did some genealogy reports. They did every job known to man.

Jesus worked with heavenly efficiency and Satan was faster than hell. Then, ten minutes before their time was up, lightning suddenly flashed across the sky, thunder rolled, rain poured, and, of course, the power went off. Satan stared at his blank screen and screamed every curse word known in the underworld.

Jesus just sighed.

Finally the electricity came back on, and each of them restarted their computers. Satan started searching frantically, screaming: "It's gone! It's all GONE! I lost everything when the power went out!"

Meanwhile, Jesus quietly started printing out all of his files from the past two hours of work.
Satan observed this and became irate. "Wait!" he screamed. That's not fair! He cheated! How come he has all his work and I don't have any?"

God just shrugged and said...

Jesus saves!

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 Prayer Requests: 

Do you ever feel the need for someone to prayer with you?

Perhaps something is affecting your life and you feel this would be helpful. If so please contact Maureen on 2844003 or Rev Ed Mitchell on 2848231.

Any matter would, of course, be treated as strictly confidential.

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