On Sunday, it was lovely to gather together and have space to think about the year ahead. Many different people shared what they felt God was saying and the Core Team fed back on some of their reflections from their ‘away’ weekend (at Mike and Judy’s house!).
Kelly shared her reflections on Isaiah 43:18-19 and Mark 2:22. This is what she sensed the Lord gave her for us individually but also corporately for the Oaks:
“God is doing ‘something new’! The ‘something new’ is the ‘new wine’. God would put before us a choice/challenge – we cannot be old wineskins! ‘New wine is for freshly prepared wineskins’ therefore we need to prepare our hearts as there is no room for stagnancy, complacency, or living in times gone by. The choice is ours. I also wanted to add that is not about age, being too young, middle-aged, or too old! Whatever age we are, we can still prepare ourselves for God to give us the new wine!”
Charlotte then explored what it looks like for us to build one another up with encouragement and seeking support from one another. We are a church full of mature Christians who have experienced God in many different ways and journeyed many things life has thrown at us. She asked us to think of how you go to family for help and advice from them: for example, if she needed something but didn’t know where was best to buy it, she would ask her mum (Sharon). The response used to be “go to Wilko’s”, which we sadly can’t do anymore! Or if there is a tech problem, she would not ask her mum, but ask her Dad (Steve) instead, if he had any ideas about how to solve it. She expanded this example to the wider family like her cousin who has a good knowledge of cars.
Let’s try to encourage one another and seek wisdom from those around us. It might be that you see something in another person that you wish you had more of… for example, someone who seems to build relationships and be able to get to the deep questions with people easily, or someone who you see has a whole life approach to worship, or someone who you feel has a deep connection with Jesus through prayer. If you want more of that in your life, ask them to help you.
Change is hard. As Sue prayed, in our human nature, we don’t like change and it can feel uncomfortable. We will need to encourage one another this year if we want to experience the new wineskins God has for us.
Over the coming months, we will start to explore some spiritual practices that we can use to help us with this as we are transformed by God, to become more like Jesus, through His Holy Spirit in us.
Write Yourself a Letter for 2026
On Sunday, we wrote a letter to our future selves, reflecting on what has passed in 2024 and looking ahead to what the next year has in store. If you were unable to join us on Sunday, please consider taking the time to write your future self a letter. Some in our church family have done this for a few years and always find it interesting to read back and see what has changed in their lives. If you would like it to be kept with the other letters from Sunday, please drop it into the building or give it to Charlotte (make sure to put your name on the envelope!).
Charlotte gave some structure for this, as a starting point, if you’re struggling:
• Start by writing a reflection on 2024.
• Think about what you would like God to do, anything you would like to see change in your life, anything you feel God is speaking to you about for the year ahead.
• Finally, write something encouraging for yourself.
Reflect:
Toward the end of the gathering, Mary talked to us about her reflections on this quote: “Your perspective can be your power or your prison”.
Do you have a Jesus perspective on your life?
Feed back
Please ponder the things that were shared this week and talk about them. It’s great to see people willing to speak about what they sense God has shared with them.
If you have any thoughts, ideas, feelings, or feel God has spoken to you, please get in touch with the Core Team and/or Directors if it is related to the Dronfield building announcement that went out via email and was read out on Sunday.
