9th August 2020
All Saints Church, Childwall
Jesus Walks on the Water – Matthew ch14 v22-33
22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. 25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. 27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.” 28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” 29 “Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” 32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
REFLECT: Jesus had already tried unsuccessfully to withdraw from the crowds that came to him so that he could rest and be refreshed by going by boat to a solitary part of the lakeside. People had followed him though along the shoreline and when Jesus sees them he has compassion on them. After teaching them he feeds the crowd of over 5000 people, performing the amazing miracle of taking just 5 loaves and 2 fish offered by a boy and giving them to God! The crowd are now fed and satisfied and Jesus dismisses them. He also makes the disciples get in the boat and go ahead of him to the other side of the lake. Now Jesus is alone and has the opportunity for a second time to try and get some rest. He goes up on the mountainside and spends time praying and resting. The next morning Jesus goes out to meet the disciples not by boat, but by walking on the water! The weather has changed and the wind is strong, the disciples are terrified when they see him thinking that he is a ghost. Jesus immediately reassures them by telling them that it is him. When Peter attempts to walk on the water towards Jesus, he succeeds initially but as soon as he takes his eyes off Jesus and focusses on the wind and the waves he starts to sink. Jesus immediately saves him and then challenges Peter’s lack of faith with the words ‘why did you doubt?”. When Jesus and Peter climb into the boat the storm immediately subsides, and all the disciples worship Jesus saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
RESPOND: When was the last time you deliberately spent time on your own to pray and rest and to be refreshed? Time resting, reflecting and praying gives us the strength to remain strong when the storms of life threaten to ‘sink’ us! We often use the phrase ‘step out in faith’ to refer to a situation where we just need to put our words into action and trust in what we know. What are you facing currently that perhaps you are finding difficult or testing? Have you given this situation to God in prayer and trusted him? For each one of us our circumstances are different. But for ALL of us God is the same, there for us in all the changing scenes of life. Sometimes we may feel like he is distant or notthere for us when we need him. Often though it is because we have moved and like Peter have taken our eyes off him and focussed too much on whatever it is that is weighing us down. Fix your eyes onto Jesus today and in this week ahead.
PRAY: Heavenly Father, When the storms of life threaten to overwhelm me and I feel anxious and fearful help me to keep my eyes fixed upon you. Guide and direct me I pray and increase my faith in you. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Andrew Colmer (Vicar of All Saints Church, Childwall)
Dear Friends,
Youth & Children’s Worker – Just to let you all know that Gypsey-Leigh Tait is moving up to Liverpool on 25th August to be a Children’s and Youth worker at All Saints. Please pray for Gypsey at this time as she moves to a city where she has never lived or worked. She will be living with Margaret Thwaite who has offered to put her up for the year – thank you so much to Margaret for this wonderful offer. Gypsey will be starting work on the 1st September and will be working full time for the church.
Services in Church – All Saints Church Building will be open thisSunday 9th August for a 10am service. The service will be no longer than 40 minutes long. Everyone attending this service will have to wear a mask throughout, gel hands and sign in on entering. The only people who are exempt from wearing a mask are children under 11yrs old and anyone with a relevant medical or physical condition. We are not going to operate a booking system but as I have explained in earlier weeks we will only be able to accommodate limited numbers. Therefore, once the church building is full using all alternate pews then unfortunately anyone else who arrives will not be able to be accommodated. Once you are in church then you will need to stay in your pew and if you have children with you they need to be fully supervised at all times and not move around. The creche room will not be available and the pew bags have had to be removed.
After the service has finished those on duty will direct people to leave pew by pew going out of the smaller door at the front right of church. Once outside please do not congregate in groups and please ensure that you keep 2m from anyone else. I am sorry that this is necessary but it ensures the safety of everyone attending and it is important that we lead by example. The decision for our church building to be open each Sunday going forward is going to be reviewed weekly in light of the changing local and national situation.Chris Russell, Archbishop of Canterbury’s Advisor for Evangelism & Witness writes: “Since its launch at the beginning of May the DailyHOPE line has received more than 215,000 calls. That accounts for over 2.5 million minutes of listening to prayers, hymns and reflections. We have been so glad it has had such a reach and impact. Our hope and aim was to offer something for the elder generation who don’t access things online. The freephone line seems to have been a wonderful help and encouragement to tens of thousands. In addition to the normal offering of hymns, the daily office, reflections and prayers over this summer month there is a new offering of Holiday at Home. This offers an opportunity for those who rarely leave their houses a chance to be ‘transported’ on a holiday – with prayers of thanks for times past, a poem recollecting holidays and even a soundscape to evoke those memories of past holidays.”
Here is a link to a taster of Holiday at Home- Holiday at Home Taster
Weekly Prayer requests – If you would like other members of our church family to be able to pray for you or for another member of your family, please let me know and I will put names on this sheet each week. Please ask permission from the person whose name will appear.
We pray for all those who are unwell at this time particularly for Alan McClelland.
If you change your address or your tax status and you regularly give financially to All Saints Church please will you let Diane Deacon know who is our Gift Aid Secretary, thank you. deekschildwall@gmail.com
WEEKLY PRAYER MEETING – Weekly prayer meeting Thursday 6.30pm on Zoom. Why not join a group of us at All Saints that pray regularly. It lasts 40 minutes, you can pray, sit and listen or just contemplate.
Click on the below link and take 40 minutes out of your busy schedule.
Zoom Meeting: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/79853782379?pwd=NEloclhRVEJST3RFeUdUVEowSWJRUT09
Meeting ID: 798 5378 2379 Password: 7VUQh6 Aidan Holmes
Zoom coffee – Please note change of time to 11.15am for 40 mins – remember to bring your own coffee! Details for Zoom coffee are as follows:
Zoom Coffee – every Sunday at 11.15am Meeting ID: 842 767 1496 Password: 4allsaints
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/8427671496?pwd=K2dMMnlvTHpwTkxDNEV6bDYwQXBDQT09
With our prayers for you all at this time – Andrew Colmer – Vicar – Tel: 07305 842257
Helen Deegan – Curate curate.allsaintschildwall@gmail.com
