Good News! 

Good News Stories - 30 April
The Methodist Church, Stoke-on-Trent South Circuit
Collected by: Hil Hands (Local preacher)
Dear friends,
Greetings following a lovely, sunny few days! The Spring flowers are colourful, and the birdsong is loud! Nature is certainly in the mood for resurrection!
Are we?
As we look with hope at plans and opportunities to share God’s love with our communities, how will we be resurrected?
How will we plan for mission rather than just for when ‘we are back together again’?
John 10: 16 (NIV)
16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.
This gives us a valuable reminder into Jesus’ worldwide mission – he died for the sins of the whole world! As we look forward to meeting together, we need to remember that this is not just about ‘us’ and we should not try to restrict God’s blessings to our own church families, but instead cast our nets far wider! Jesus refuses to be limited by the fences that we build. His death and resurrection were and are a part of God’s plan for the salvation of the world.
We were sitting with friends in their sunny garden a couple of weeks ago. Two of our friends have been bereaved recently and had spent the last days and hours with their loved ones. One asking me directly about church being closed. That is what they have seen - church buildings closed.
Thank God that I could answer positively and with excitement as I shared with them the work of different churches throughout Lockdown: feeding people through Food banks and community cafes, sheltering people through night shelters and signposting them the way for further help, giving company through doorstep visits and regular communication and meeting together to pray, to  study the bible and as a worshipping community across the phone lines and on Zoom!
What I really want to see now is a colourful, loud leaflet telling others of this Good News – just as the flowers and birds are shouting! And strong shoes to enable many such leaflets to be pushed through letterboxes!
We have a gospel to proclaim,
Good news for all throughout the earth;
The gospel of a Saviour's name:
We sing his glory, tell his worth.
(Edward Burns)
God bless.
 
 If you have good news, please let me know: email - hands.hilary@yahoo.com Please send news to me by Friday 28 May 2021, ready for that weekend.
 
From David
IN THE FIFTIES and SIXTIES:
Pasta was not eaten in Australia or N.Z.
Curry was a surname. 
A takeaway was a mathematical problem. 
A pizza was something to do with a leaning tower.  
All potato crisps were plain; the only choice was whether to put the salt on or not.
Rice was only eaten as a milk pudding.
Calamari was called squid and we used it as fish bait.
A Big Mac was what we wore when it was raining.
Brown bread was something only poor people ate.
Oil was for lubricating, fat was for cooking.   
Tea was made in a teapot using tea leaves and never green.
Sugar enjoyed a good press in those days and was regarded as being white gold. Cubed sugar was regarded as posh. 
Fish didn't have fingers in those days. 
Eating raw fish was called poverty, not sushi.
None of us had ever heard of yoghurt.
Healthy food consisted of anything edible.
People who didn't peel potatoes were regarded as lazy.
Cooking outside was called camping.
Seaweed was not a recognised food.
Prunes were medicinal.
Surprisingly, muesli was readily available, it was called cattle feed.
Water came out of the tap. If someone had suggested bottling it and charging more than petrol for it, they would have become a laughing stock!!
But two things that we NEVER ever had on our tables in the sixties, ... Elbows or Phones.
 
From Richard and Maureen
Hello Stoke South.  When I was teaching, we had a student come to do his teaching practice with us.  He had been a Captain in the Army with the Gurkhas and wanted to go back to their homeland to work in education with their children.  Attached to the inside lid of his briefcase was the following:
Saints and Sinners
When some fellow yields to temptation and breaks a conventional law,
We look for no good in his make-up, O Lord, how we look for the flaw.
No-one asks who did the tempting or allows for the battles he's fought,
His name becomes food for the jackals - the saints who have never been caught.
I'm a sinner, O Lord, and I know it.  I am weak and I stumble and fail.
I'm tossed upon life's stormy ocean like a ship that's been lost in a gale.
I am willing to trust in Thy mercy and keep the commandments Thou'st taught,
But deliver me, Lord, from the judgment of the saints who have never been caught.
Salutary thoughts.
With love and blessings, The Crewe Two
 
Church of South India Chennai – A Prayer Request
COVID 19- Second Wave: An Alarming Situation in India - Severe and Intensive Conditions Countrywide
We are really worrying in writing about the alarming situation of COVID19 second wave, which is severely hitting on the lives and livelihoods of the people of India. India has been reporting a record rise in daily cases. The virus seems to have become more transmissible in the second wave. Sometimes, it doesn’t show any symptoms also. A lot of young people aged below 40 are getting sick. The situation is alarming. The entire country is potentially at risk.