September is sometimes known in the church as “silly season”. After the “chilled” and sometimes chilly summer months, with breaks from evening meetings, which are so much a part of church life, suddenly we pick up momentum again. We see faces in church that we haven’t seen for a while and are glad to welcome back. Like last year, we are once again taking part in Back to Church Sunday, which is a real Harvest occasion – a time to recognise how much God has given to us, a time for thanking God, and sharing our blessings with others. Those of you who read the Methodist Post but don’t come to church, why not join us for the occasion if you are able (19th Clifford; 26th Boston); and if you do already come to church, who you would like to invite?

One of the things people have said to me since I came here is that they want to see the church growing. Think for a moment what that means. If the church is growing, and the church is the people, it means that the church as people have to be willing to grow. So how is God calling you to grow?

Think about something you have become skilled at, say driving or playing the piano. If you drive the same road, or play the same piece of music over and over, you get really familiar with it, even skilled at it. It’s easy, it’s comfortable, so comfortable you can get a bit lazy with it…..and eventually it can get a bit boring! To grow as a driver you might drive different routes, even drive a different vehicle. To grow as a musician you might tackle more advanced compositions, change from pop to jazz, even try a different instrument.

So it is for the church. We don’t grow unless we are ready to answer God’s call for us to grow, which means that like the driver or the musician we have to be willing for God to guide us into unfamiliar territory, where we’ll develop in different ways. Is God nudging you towards a deeper relationship with him? That may reveal itself in different ways – perhaps you feel you want to be more familiar with the bible, perhaps you want to have a more disciplined prayer life, perhaps you feel God calling you to be more creative. Only you know the answer to that. Our God seeks to transform and bless our lives, to give us life in abundance. May we all respond to his call to grow as his church. May God send us out as labourers into his harvest ( Matt 9:38)  

Blessings. Susan