Full-bodied Hope - Mark Taylor's CF President Page

09/05/2023

I will be hosting a Eurovision themed quiz on the Saturday of Assembly.
I thought I’d share my favourite Eurovision song of all time from 1975

Et bonjour à toi, l'artiste - Rieu Nicole( Pierre Delanoë / Nicole Rieu )Et bonjour à toi, l'artisteDe n'importe où,Qui fais les jours gais ou tristes,Toi q...

18/04/2023

And for my third (and I promise final) post of the day...

I've now finished my preaching tour with my message about Hope.

I guess a few hundred Congregationalists have heard what I have to say on the subject face to face, but I realise many more Congregationalists haven't.

Those of you who haven't heard me may well be entirely content with/ feel blessed by that situation but in case there are a few of you that might want to listen then I'm obliged to Fairford on Sunday who recorded the service which can be seen on Youtube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoZvaMPVKfM&t=2522s

The technical quality of the video is superb.

You can make your own minds up on the quality of the content.

By the way - the photograph attached to this post was a picture on the wall of a church office in Birmingham when I attended a meeting about the Newbigin Pioneering course with URC friends a few weeks ago.

Serendipity.

18/04/2023

Secondly my visit to Fairford United Church (Congregational/Methodist) on Sunday 16th April.

This was my last planned Presidential preaching engagement. I received yet another very warm welcome and had some interesting conversations, including a discussion about the Genesis creation stories.

I was also treated to an excellent lunch after the service at the home of two of the church members.

I hope you'll invite me back some day (and not just because of the catering).

18/04/2023

A bit of catching up this morning. First my visit on Easter Sunday to my friends at Tapton Hill Congregational Church Sheffield.
Lunch with my good friend Suzanne Nockels, minister at Tapton, and then a look at the different versions of the Resurrection story in the gospels (including consideration of a skipping video - if you want to know more just ask me).

As normal with me the congregation did most of the work.

The church were pleased that this year they invited me as President. Last year they asked me to preach about 2 weeks before my induction and had to pay my expenses themselves but this year they got me for free. This seemed to appeal to a particular aspect of the Yorkshire character.
😀

14/04/2023

A recording of the talk Dave Tomlinson gave at our church in Newark 2 weeks ago.

We’ll worth a listen if you have the time. He speaks a huge amount of sense IMO.

LOSING OUR RELIGION - OR RIPE FOR SOMETHING NEW?What kind of faith can thrive in Britain today, when church attendance wanes and recent census results indica...

27/03/2023

I forgot to mention my visit to my friends at Narborough on Sunday 19 March.

This is a church I have preached at several times. They keep asking me back.

The picture below taken from the church's website and is a painting of the church.

A number of people from the small fellowship are travelling up to Newark to hear Dave Tomlinson speak on Friday. It's not to late to email me on [email protected] to ask for the Zoom link for the event. If you do you will be entered into a prize draw to win one of Dave's books.

18/03/2023

COMPETITION ALERT - READ TO THE END

My church is delighted to be welcoming Christian author Dave Tomlinson to give a public talk on 31 March.

Dave is the author of a number of popular books including 'How to be a Bad Christian...and a better human being.' We've read some of his books at our Bible Book Club and really enjoyed their take on what it means to be a Christian in the 21st Century.

This promises to be fascinating talk. Dave is travelling up to Newark despite a likely train strike and we are keen for a good audience to greet him. I hope that there will be a good turn out in the building.

The good news is that we will also be live-streaming the talk on Zoom.

To get the Zoom link all you need to do is email me at [email protected]. As an added incentive everyone who requests the Zoom link will be entered into a ballot to win a copy of 'How to be a bad Christian.'

13/03/2023

It was great to preach at South Chingford Congregational Church yesterday.

This is clearly a thriving church with a diverse congregation. The singing and playing by the worship group were exemplary and the whole place was run very professionally.

Particularly impressive was the feedback from the young people when they came back into the church towards the end of the morning - they spoke with such clarity and confidence and had clearly been engaging well with the activities organised for them.

I was pleased to be approached after the service by someone who wanted to know about resources on the subject of the relationship between science and religion that I touched on during my preaching. I recommended the Jonathan Sacks book 'The Great Partnership' and I'll also be sending her some of my own musings over the years.

Also pleasing was that someone said to me that he agreed with everything I'd said. I didn't know whether to thank him or refer him to a counselling service. 😀

07/03/2023

Deborah and I had a great time in Northern Ireland.
Everyone we met was so friendly and we were looked after royally. Portions in NI seem to be universally huge.
Special thanks to Rev Chris and Sandra Wilson who organised everything for us.
We visited a number of churches in the Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland and had the chance to speak to several ministers.
I was impressed by how much common ground there is between the NSPCI and the CF and excited by the possibilities of deeper collaboration in a number of areas, despite the differences in church governance.
Plenty of food for thought and discussion.

03/03/2023

Just arrived in Northern Ireland where we are the guests of the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland for the weekend.

This is what they believe

Our Faith

- is governed by the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments of the Holy Bible

- asserts and upholds the right of each and every individual to search these scriptural records for themselves and to use reason and personal conscience to discover God’s Divine Truth

- removes Human Tests and Confessions of Faith that restrict private judgement and prevent free enquiry

- upholds the beautiful simplicity of the great commandments as defined by Jesus Christ: “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and all your mind” and “You must love your neighbour as yourself”

'
I love these principles. We’re going to get on really well.

I’ll keep you posted.

Meanwhile here’s a photo of a welcome gift at our lovely accommodation. 🥚🥚🥚🥚

24/02/2023

A very moving service this morning, especially the singing by a Ukrainian children’s choir. The most impressive prayers were by a rabbi.

Each of the 461 paper angels represents a child killed in the conflict to date.

The cathedral was built as a Congregational church - but as you can see from the interior they’ve had a bit of work done since.

The interior picture also shows London Mayor Sadiq Kahn giving an excellent speech pledging the continuing support of London for Ukraine.

No one from the government there so far as I could tell but there was a certain ex- Prime Minister on the front row who enjoyed a very warm welcome.

It was an honour and a privilege to be there.