Over the summer I had the privilege of reading the ‘The boy in the Striped Pyjamas’.  The author, John Boyne, does not give a description of the book on cover but rather states “If you do start to read this book, you will go on a journey with a nine-year-old boy called Bruno. (Though this isn’t a book for nine-year-olds.) And sooner or later you will arrive with Bruno at a fence…Fences like this exist all over the world. We hope you never have to cross such a fence.”

As I read this comment I was hit with an uncomfortable realisation,  that I…and dare I say we, can all live with fences…fences that act as a divide between us and others…fences that cause us to judge others to see them on the wrong side of the fence…fences that cause us judge ourselves and deem ourselves to be on the wrong side of the fence.

John Boyne is right that fences do exist all around the world I guess what has made me uncomfortable is the thought that maybe they exist more than I would like in my world.

I guess I have been left thinking it is time to see some fences removed…but how?

Maybe the fences we put up point to an ultimate fence, that in dealing with that we can then see the others removed.

At the heart of the Christian faith is the reality that an ultimate fence is there between us and God, a fence that causes us to be unable to know God, to know His love, acceptance and peace.  The tragedy is we can do nothing to remove this fence, however God out of His love for us sent Jesus to the earth to live, die and be resurrected to destroy the fence in order that we can know God’s love, acceptance and peace.

Jesus has removed the ultimate fence in order that we can live without fences…in order that we can show others the acceptance, love and peace that we have found and point them to it.

The question is do we know that this ultimate fence has been removed? If yes, are we then ensuring that we are not still living with fences for ourselves or others?

I know for me I am enjoying living more and more fence free!

2010-8-22 LS – The Good Samaritan – Zac Dixon

Is this Bank Holiday weekend! Shuttleworth has been spoken about at church for a while now but I thought I would post some more information if you were still undecided as it is stil possible to book or is possible to go down for the day. All the practicalities can be found on the Together at Shuttleworth website (link at the bottom of this post) so instead here is some information that might tempt you into going if you were not yet sure or at a loose end on a Bank Holiday weekend.

There are already a lot of people from Oasis signed up and booked in for camping for the weekend but other information you might be interested in is that this year it is hosted by Tony Thompson, David Rigby, David Coak, Martin Tibbert and Peter Vincent, runs from Friday 27th to Monday 30th August and the main speakers will be David Stroud, Martin Tibbert and Simon Holley and Rhys Scott will be leading the worship in the main sessions.

Or as the Shuttleworth website writes, “In 2009 over 1,800 people from over 40 Churches enjoyed our regional weekend at Shuttleworth. You are invited to our 2010 event, to be held once again at the wonderful Shuttleworth College in the heart of the Bedfordshire countryside, for a weekend of inspiring teaching, enthusiastic worship and superb youth and children’s work. Camping provides a wonderful opportunity to get to know others in your church family better!”

Also, what I also thought might be an encouraging aspect for Oasis Church specifically was what Adrian wrote after last year’s event, “A group of us from Oasis went along to Together at Shuttleworth, a camp run by a group of newfrontiers churches. We had a great time camping and hanging out together and particularly as a group eating and hanging out with the Crown Church in North Birmingham (they cooked for all of us, which was amazing). The news I however wanted all of us to hear was a prophetic word David Devenish shared on the Sunday evening about Oasis.
David stated that he saw a picture of Oasis church as a tradional church building in Birmingham, however the spire of the church building was exceptionally big and was out of proportion to the size of the rest of building. David went on to share that what he believed the picture was revealing was that though Oasis would continue to grow as a church that as a church the influence that we have in the city of Birmingham would be way beyond what our size would reveal, that the scale of influence we will have will be out of proportion to our size.”

Hope this was helpful and any questions then email the Oasis Church office on admin@theoasischurch.com and I will try to reply in time.

Everything that you will need to know about the event is all on the Togther at Shuttleworth website: [Click here] or if you are already certain you want to go then you can go straight to the booking page: [Click here]

2010-08-15 LS – Fogiveness – Pete Lockhart

This Sunday 15th August 6.30pm Edgbaston Cricket Ground the next in our series we’ll be watching ‘In The Shadow of The Moon’.

Despite our week off last week due to international test cricket at Edgbaston we are all back this Sunday 15th August with our morning and evening meeting times of 10.30am and 6.30pm. However, this no ordinary Sunday!

Pete Lockhart will be speaking in the morning meeting and in the evening meeting we continue with our ‘Movies that make you think’ where we will be showing ‘In The Shadow of The Moon’. This is documentary film interviewing the surviving members of the Apollo space mission crews and the 12 men that have walked on the Moon. What a Sunday! So come on down for both Pete in the morning and a beautifully filmed, really interesting film in the evening.

Also, I think Adrian has mentioned it in other posts/emails but we are definitely meeting the 15th and 22nd of August at Edgbaston Cricket Ground. Any problems or questions then please email me: admin@theoasischurch.com

The mirror never lies…

…but maybe it does not always show what we see.

What do we see when we look in the mirror?

Do we see what has been said or done to us.

Do we see what we have done.

Is this how it is always meant to be?

After Jesus’ resurrection he appeared for the first time to a larger group of His friends. Addressing them for the first time he said a profound statement, a statement that summarised all that he had accomplished through His death on the cross and resurrection. Jesus simply said ‘peace be with you’.

Jesus’ statement said it all, he was and is able to offer peace…wholeness.

A peace, wholeness in how we relate to God, one another but also to ourselves…so that we can know peace…so that we can be whole.

Jesus’ offer of peace means we can know…

…acceptance not rejection

…forgiveness not condemnation

…freedom not shame

…security not insecurity

…value not worthlessness

…hope not hopelessness

Maybe it is time to see ourselves differently when we look in the mirror.

Maybe it is time to investigate this peace Jesus offers.

Maybe it is time to speak to someone to help you enjoy the peace that Jesus offers.

…not sure what it is all about click here