With you wherever you go - a prayer letter

Felicity and Richard’s visit to the annual conference of

The National  Association of Congregational Christian Churches

For your prayers …

The National Association of Congregational Christian Churches is our sister fellowship of churches in the USA.  Felicity and I have had contacts with them for as long as we can remember.  They joined with us in forming the International Congregational Fellowship in the early 1970’s: I was involved in the inaugural meetings and Felicity visited Chicago planning one of the first ICF conferences.

When my father died one of their leaders, a good family friend, Harry Butman sponsored a series of publications in the Congregational Federation called the Savoy Papers.  Those who were at Highbury shortly after we arrived may remember that the last in that series was the booklet I put together following my year as President of the Congregational Federation in 1994 – Community  Care – the Churches’ Contribution.

Last year I led the Bible Studies at the ICF conference in Brunel University and this year I have been invited to join the NACCC at their annual meetings in Omaha as the Nebraska and Iowa Association of Congregational Christian Churches host those meetings.  In the brochure they ‘offer a warm welcome to the Heartland of America’ and say how they are ‘eager to demonstrate how God’s love is being shared in the Midwest.’

The theme they have chosen for their conference is ‘The Lord our God is with you wherever you go’ from Joshua 1:9b.  They have invited me to do the three main Bible Lectures.

Joshua and Judges are among those books in the Old Testament that I find difficult as a Christian.   In my three Bible studies I am going to explore the way as Christians we should read the Old Testament through the eyes of Jesus.  In each of my Bible studies I will be starting on the Road to Emmaus in Luke 24 and then taking a look at each of the three major parts of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Law, the Prophets and the Writings.   Timings are 6 hours behind us.

1)      Sunday, 1-30     With us on the way to Jericho – reading the Law

                              –  Luke 10:25-37

2)      Monday 2-00     With us on the way to Caesarea Philippi – reading the Prophets

                              – Mark 8:27-9:1

3)      Tuesday 10-30   With us on the way to the end of the age – reading the Writings –                          - Matthew 5:1-12 and 43-48

In addition, I shall be leading three workshops, looking at the way our reading of the Bible is enriched by and impacts on different areas of life today.

• A New Perspective – how a sideways look at the history of art helps us to read the Bible                                         Sunday 2-45
• Rocks of Ages – Reflections on the science and religion debate and how we read the Bible                           Sunday 4-15

• Why is there no temple in the New Jerusalem?  How our reading of the Bible makes a world of difference in Israel, Palestine and the Middle  East

                                                Monday 2-45

Over the weekend the NACCC will be meeting to plan their work and their sharing of resources – we will be involved in some of the planning for the International Congregational  Fellowship.

The conference comes to a close on Tuesday evening at 7-45 when I am to preach and draw the threads of the conference together in the closing worship.

On Wednesday we move on to Des Moines in Iowa with friends from one of our Congregational churches there for a couple of days break that will take us over Independence Day.

On Saturday we travel up to Spencer to join the 1^st Congregational Church, Spencer.  I will be preaching at their 5-30 service on Saturday evening, 5^th July and then at their Sunday morning service at 9-30.

On Monday we fly to New York for another break, arriving home at mid day on Friday, 11^th July.

It’s good to know of the way we support each other in prayer at Highbury in all sorts of different ways and especially through our prayer network.  Please remember Felicity and me in your prayers and pray particularly for

• Safe travelling and good health through a busy schedule
• That the Bible lectures open up God’s word in a way that can shape people’s lives in the work of God’s kingdom
• That the workshops will get people thinking
• about the way we read the Bible and especially the Old Testament
• about the relationship between science and religion
• about the plea of the churches in Jerusalem for us in the west to think through the way we read the Bible as Christians
• the three sermons I will be sharing, that Word may be heard in a way that makes a difference
• the churches of the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches in USA
• Our partners through the International Congregational Fellowship

I hope to keep a blog of the conference and our time in the States you can follow the link at www.highburychurch.co.uk

Richard and Felicity