King's Church Cockermouth Newsletter - published 31/07/2020
Sadness and Hope - Roger Bye
Over recent weeks 2 dear friends and members of the church, Carol Gilks and Derek Rumens have died having both had long-term battles with illness and debilitating conditions. Carol’s battle with the ever-increasing weakness of her body but demonstrated a real strength within. Likewise Derek in recent years struggled with long term deteriorating conditions but did so with faith and joy. In Philippians we read…for me to live is Christ – to die is gain. Phils1v21. Our certain hope is that when we die, we depart to be with Christ… Both Carol and Derek knew this hope. Now the times of suffering, weakness and struggles are over – they are now with the Lord! Psalm 16v11 reveals what being in His presence is like. You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand. Wonderful hope! And now Let’s pray for the families. They have both demonstrated exceptional, long-term, sacrificial care, right up to the final breath of their loved ones. Let’s pray that they will know true comfort, grace and deep peace.
Mealshare at the Hub - Sharron Hawkins
Joelle asked me to write a few words about volunteering on the King's Church mealshare rota over lockdown. As a relative new comer to Kings, I was just about starting to feel confident enough to tentatively become involved in some of the wider activities of Kings.... And then lockdown happened. I offered my time to Paul to help out in whatever capacity and agreed to be available for mealshare rota. I never thought I would say this, but attending Kings on a Sunday morning has been the one thing I have missed the most over the past few months. I appreciate watching weekly on youtube and the wonderful effort of everyone involved in making this happen, however for me, the thing about actually being in the family of Kings every week has been like an anchor to my soul and keeps me grounded in my ever growing faith whilst allowing my spirit to fly! So in many ways, volunteering at mealshare has been my substitute for this and has proven to be a hugely important lifeline. The work in itself can appear difficult and organising so much food in the limited space of the hub could have easily been stressful and chaotic; however, it appears to me at least, that under the committed direction of Paul and Joelle, it has ran very smoothly with all and any hiccups being greeted with a great deal of acceptance and laughter! It has been a privileged opportunity for me to spend time getting to know people in a small group whilst doing a practical activity. Small prayer groups etc. still feel more than a little bit intimidating for me, but practical.... practical I can do. I have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to get to know the rest of the team whilst "doing something", which has enabled me to build those relationships at a pace that feels safe for me. I have also learned a great deal. Over the weeks, as the practical organisational tasks became more automatic and needed less thought, with everyone naturally falling into particular roles, this allowed space for the conversations and discussions to flow into deeper levels of safe exploration around many and all aspects of life, faith, God and everything! I can't speak for everyone in this, but for me it seems that as the trust in each other, as a team grew, this translated into an increased trust in my ability to be more open and share more vulnerabilities in a more real and authentic way, which has in turn cemented my faith that I am exactly where God intends me to be.... Even when that is laughing whilst trying and failing to carry 100 tubes of Pringles! This has been a real source of strength on more isolated and difficult days of lockdown which am sure we have all experienced. All of this has been the real joy of being welcomed into this team of wonderful people all working quietly with a shared aim of helping those in our community who have needed a bit of extra support over the past months. I would like to say it's been really hard work.... And whilst my body has appreciated the much needed additional excercise.... It really has not felt like work at all. This "work" continues, and I'm loving being a part of it. If you are considering offering some time to volunteer in whatever capacity with Kings.... I would highly recommend you gift yourself this opportunity and just do it! Thanks to all for making me feel such an integrated part of the family that is Kings Church.
Churches Together in Cockermouth Area Gathering - Ruth Giles
On 1st July Churches Together in the Cockermouth Area met via YouTube and Zoom. Our worship was led by Christchurch and King’s church and our prayers by Paul Saunders from the Methodist church. Sue Gorman and Terry Peate from Linking Lives gave an update of their work which despite lockdown has continued via phone calls to those who are isolated, lonely and in need of friendship. Andrew Robinson, on behalf of Foodbank, highlighted the generosity of individuals and supermarkets in donating food and money as the demand for food has been immense, but that the supermarket donations will come to an end. Surely the services of Linking Lives and Foodbank are going to be needed more than ever in the days ahead. Alistair Smeaton from the URC conducted a special interview with Godfrey Butland who is retiring from ministry in the Church of England after 40 years in Liverpool, and 5 years in Cockermouth as Area Team Rector. He and Lesley will be much missed as they go on the new journey that God is taking them. Our talk was from Martin Charlesworth from Jubilee+. Martin heads up this Christian charity and they have a passion for the Church to make a significant difference in the lives of the poorest and to society as a whole. He encouraged us to reach out to all sorts of need – a way that we can be Jesus to our neighbours. The quote from the CTIC website is apt: As we are gathered in Jesus yet scattered physically, remember your home has always been part of God’s plan to share his love with the world. A big thank-you for those who put so much into our time together by preparing, filming, recording, playing and the technically skilled folk who stitched it all together to enable us all to be part of our church community.
Mobilise - Joelle Raby Over the last 3 months, Mobilise has been meeting via zoom on a Monday night for an hour. We have played games, done quizzes and looked at prayer using the Bear Ovenhob videos. It has been great to be able to meet via zoom, when asked for feedback, the young people commented; 'Nice to meet up' 'Something to do in the evening that isn’t Netflix' 'Good to see people' 'Enjoyed doing the games (their favourite games were empires, sit down countdown and Chinese charades)' It was also great to have some young people join us that aren't usually able to join us on a Tuesday due to other clubs but because these clubs weren't running, they could join in with the zoom.
For the last week of Mobilise before we take a break for the summer holidays, we ran a family quiz night via zoom and it was good to have the parents and siblings join in the fun and get involved in the games and quizzes. it was a nice way to end a very different term. Newday 2020 Online
From the 3rd to the 7th August, Newday will be going online as the festival has been cancelled this year.
The following information is from their facebook page at:
https://www.facebook.com/newdayevent
'Monday through to Thursday we'll be hosting a variety of online moments, which will include a morning prayer meeting, a lunchtime Youth Culture conversation, and an evening episode of NDTV... in addition, we'll be pumping out tons of online content on social media throughout the day.
On Friday evening (07 Aug) we are hosting THE NEWDAY EXPERIENCE, which will be a ticketed online event that will be the closest we can get to being in the big top... worship, teaching, fun and looking back at some of our favourite moments from Newday over the years.'
If you or your young person is interested, head to the newday website to find out more: https://newdaygeneration.org/festival/newday-2020-live-and-online
News From Social Media… - Roger Bye
You may well have read that last week J I Packer, a great scholar and the author of ‘Knowing God’ died. In addition to being an influential theologian, his many books sparked a deeper love for God in generations of Christians.
Here is a selection of his quotes found on social media…
“Adoption is the highest privilege of the gospel. The traitor is forgiven, brought in for supper, and given the family name. To be right with God the Judge is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the Father is greater.
“There is tremendous relief in knowing his love to me is utterly realistic, based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery can disillusion him about me.”
“We never move on from the gospel; we move on in the gospel.”
“Knowing God is a relationship calculated to thrill a man’s heart.”
“There is no peace like the peace of those whose minds are possessed with full assurance that they have known God, and God has known them, and that this relationship guarantees God’s favour to them in life, through death and on for ever.”
New Website
Have you checked out the new King's Church website at: http://www.kingscc.org
We would love to hear your feedback at: paul@kingscc.org
Massive thank you to Becca Dunlop for her hard work and creativity in producing our new website.
Suggested Book
Prayer by Tim Keller '"Can't anyone teach me how to pray?" Millions of people today are asking the same question. There is a sense of the necessity of prayer - we have to pray. But how?' Prayer is central to Christian faith; indeed, as Timothy Keller notes in his introduction, it is the main way we experience deep change. Yet so many people struggle with prayer - a struggle that the author himself has shared. This wise and inspiring book is the fruit of those struggles, offering a real and glorious vision of what it can mean to seek God in prayer. Keller begins by giving a theological underpinning of what prayer actually is - both conversation and encounter with a personal God - before describing how we can learn to pray, and then deepen that prayer. Finally he gives detailed, practical suggestions on how to make prayer a part of the reality of daily life.
King's Church Cockermouth
2 Market Street, Cockermouth, CA13 9NJ
01900 821100 | www.kingscc.org | admin@kingscc.org | Charity Number: 514051
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