Pilgrim

A light shines deep within me. You cannot see it, I wish you could. Silently amidst the roar It comforts and consoles; Convicts and corrects. A bright light surrounds me You cannot see it, I wish you could. Guiding me on the path Seeking, sanctifying; Protecting, projecting. What is this light? You cannot see it, I wish you would. A morning star, bright new dawn! A spirit of resurrection. You know who! This is the light. The light in the life of all. The whisperer of God Comforter, Paraclete; The Holy Spirit of God © Colin Waldock

Father, forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us So how do I ? How do I forgive the drunk driver; the pimp; the drug dealer; the terrorist; the soldier; the bully; the abuser; the murderer; the dictator; the disease; the accident; the suicide; the pain; the loss I try and fail, I try and I fail; I walk away; to find God waiting, "Let me Help - We'll do it together" I try and manage a bit, then fall again No judgement Just Love Love the enemy - Whose the Enemy?! Me? God? The other? "Love all" comes the reply "Let me show you" And he reaches out arms of love, seared by nails, hurting with pain' betrayed by a friend, killed by a dictator Forgive them Father....Forgive

HTB Leadership Conference visit May 2014 A small but intrepid group of us made the early morning trek to London for two days of the HTB Conference hosted by Holy Trinity Brompton Church (Hence HTB). The conference consists of worship, this year joined by Matt Redman, with a worship band that makes GMC sound really quiet!   Interspersed with periods of worship and some interactive prayer time, were some very interesting seminars.   The real highlight this year was the visit of Kay and Rick Warren, who spoke at length of their own painful journey since the death of their son from Suicide following a long battle with Mental Illness, and the importance of relationship.   Rick spoke of the importance of having God as part of their marriage, and questioned powerfully why we find Mental Health issues so difficult to face and such a stigma where we happily take a pill for a lung, heart or kidney complaint without any feeling of embarrassment.   Kay on the second day, spoke of the

I was recently at the HTB leadership conference and was inspired by the talk by Br Luigi Giolla on Prayer.   He suggested a way to pray, and that has led me to apply his ideas and while praying quietly, I started to find different words for the last part of the phrase.   This led to developing what I have coined an alphabet prayer Alphabet prayer My Lord, My rock, My A nchor My Lord, My rock, My B rother My Lord, My rock, My C reator My Lord, My rock, My D eliverer My Lord, My rock, My E lohim My Lord, My rock, My F riend My Lord, My rock, My G od My Lord, My rock, My H elper My Lord, My rock, My I mmanuel My Lord, My rock, My J esus My Lord, My rock, My K ing My Lord, My rock, My L ife My Lord, My rock, My M use My Lord, My rock, My N ame above all names My Lord, My rock, My O mega My Lord, My rock, My P riest My Lord, My rock, My Q uestioner My Lord, My rock, My R oyalty My Lord, My rock, My S pirit My Lord, My rock, My T eacher My L

Please take a moment to open your hearts to God, to the love and forgiveness of God. Father, too often we praise you with empty hearts We offer worship with our lips alone We ignore the plight of our neighbour We love ourselves more that we love another We talk rather than listen We often run before we pray We are Sorry. Help us to meet with you this morning and in the meeting be transformed Let our praise be with full hearts May our worship be from the soul Help us to love our neighbour as we love ourselves Help us to listen rather than talk Enable us to pray first   and run later For these are the words we long to hear I love you my child, you are forgiven.

Jesus preached non-violence in a world that was ruled by a lack of mercy and in which the most common penalties handed down by courts involved the use of severe punishment.   One only has to consider the punishments handed out to most of the early Christian Martyrs.   12 young Christians were summarily executed in Carthage in 180 AD; their obviously very heinous crime was keeping the writings of Paul in a box.   Earlier during the reign of Antonius 86-161AD a married woman became a Christian.   Her husband denounced her.   The person who had brought her to Christ – a man called Ptolomaeus was arrested and imprisoned.   His trial consisted of a solitary question.   “Are you a Christian?”   He replied “ Yes” and was immediately led away for execution.   There were no appeal processes!   At the same trial, a fellow called Lucius in the crowd complained that this was not a fair use of justice to condemn someone just for being a Christian.   When asked if he too was a Christian, he too