All Saints, Burbage
Rev. Nicolas Leigh-Hunt
01672 810258
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Renewal Day 2008
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Rev’d Dr. Allison Morgan is my heroine (or should that be hero). It was due to her book The Wild Gospel that inspired me to look for Mission in another country and eventually set me on the path to India. I had therefore been looking forward to Renewal Day for several months and I was not to be disappointed, she even signed my copy of her book.Allison described herself as a ‘visual thinker’ and illustrated her talks with amazing photographs. Her subject was ‘New in Christ’ and in the first part she talked about renewal in our own lives, as she said that everything in this world leads to death but God is continually creating new life. She made the analogy that the Holy Spirit falls on us like a drop falling on the water and the ripples spread out like a continual process across our lives and we are constantly cleansed, healed and forgiven. |
| We were reminded that renewal is not just an annual event but a continual process where it’s God that takes the initiative and we must respond to Him. We were then given valuable time, in our busy lives, to spend time meditating on Psalm 84. The hour passed very quickly as we were asked to think of people, places, pieces of music and occasions that renew us which was actually a very interesting exercise. Many people went to sit outside in the glorious sunshine whilst some of us remained in the peace and serenity of the Church. |  |
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| After a picnic lunch on the church green we returned refreshed for worship and the last session of the day, ‘Encountering Jesus today’. Allison discussed the way we actually perceive Jesus and illustrated the various ways in which other nations all see Jesus in a different way to us, she showed us the picture of the Lesser Brethren which many of us remember from childhood and, in contrast, the Dancing Jesus and the Angry Jesus. We even heard a very amusing song by Stillgoe and Skellern about a lady who was in no way going to encompass any sort of evangelical service especially the touchy feely bits! Her response to the peace was ‘Don’t touch me…..’ |  |
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Alison sees Jesus as a revolutionary who always answers questions with another question, or a story or a metaphor. We live in a world full of people telling us what we want and how to get it. Jesus turned the world upside down and built a new one with his teaching by questions, metaphors and stories. It has been said of Jesus that He re-constructed reality and offered a new reality. We all have our own personal picture of Jesus but it was good to have time to reflect on that perception. I would like to thank Allison Morgan for giving me time out to actually reflect on the way I see Jesus and it was a great opportunity to make a conscious renewal of faith. Hilary Taylor. |
