30 Years

Hey,

Today was the first day back at helping out at Rainbows since I have been home from Plymouth. Obviously, this is the Rainbows in Kenilworth that I used to be a Young Leader at before I travelled to Plymouth for University ‘10^th Kenilworth Rainbows'.

This year we are celebrating 30 years since Rainbows started, so today was the beginning of working towards to 30^th anniversary badge.

We showed them a printed paper of the 4 promise badges that Rainbows have had throughout these 30 years, and then gave out sheets that have the outline of the badges for them to colour in.

The 4 badges were:

The original Rainbow Promise badge created in 1987 when rainbows began, was a triangular cloth badge, featuring a Rainbow under a Guide Badge.  It was sewn against the neckline of the tabard, with the upper point of the triangle meant to touch against the binding on the top edge of the tabard. 

It was then changed before 1997, to fit in with the other section promise badges, and was a yellow trefoil on green - again a cloth badge, as it was considered unsafe for Rainbows to have metal badges. 

In 2008, A metal badge was introduced with a sky blue background, to match the new Rainbow uniforms which were brought in,

but it didn't last for long before the current Promise badge was introduced.

Here is a link to the website I used to find out about the history of Rainbows

Once they had finish the colouring there was then a word search to complete, and if they didn’t finish they could complete it at home to then bring back next week.

I enjoyed helping out again as a Young Leader. Although, not knowing any names since everyone I knew is now in Brownies was difficult and fun to work around.

Thanks for reading,

Any questions or comments please use the contact box

Amy x

Holy Spirit

Hey,

I know I have been away for a while, but I have been busy, which I am sure you all know the feeling of. Anyway, this Sunday just gone I went to my old Church ‘Knights Meadows’ for the first time since I have been back from Plymouth and this service was about the Holy Spirit and how we need to be renewed in it.

Psalm 117

“Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love towards us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures for ever. Praise the Lord.”

Today Pat spoke about a programme they do called ‘Open the book’ where they go into a school and share the stories in the Bible. They would ask the children to get involved by making sounds that relate to the story in some way. For example, in this story; being the wind, fire crackling and being upset towards what the members of the class that are representing the disciples said.

For this service, the reading was told in a way that they would present towards the children when they go into a class at schools. The story of this service was ‘The Holy Spirit comes at Pentecost (Acts 2)’.

When reading this story, it also reminded me of a verse in the Bible;

John 15:26

“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father – the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father – he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.”

I feel that the Advocate is the Holy Spirit that was sent from the Father to help us spread the word of the Lord and the truth about who he is and what he has done for us by sacrificing his life on the cross, so that our sins were washed away.

This story is about when the Holy Spirit came and filled the disciples so that they have the strength and words tell everyone about the Lord and if they say sorry their sin would be washed away. They therefore shared the word of the Lord with the help of the Holy Spirit, who was the helper Jesus promised.

At the end of the story reading they would reflect on the storying meaning and then prayer where they would ask the kids to say ‘Amen’ if they want to make it their prayer, but they would not force them to become Christians and share the belief in God: son, Father and Holy Spirit. We can’t make them Christian but we can teach them about the Lord.

The speaker this week was Roger who spoke about the Holy Spirit that was sent to empower us. He uses the example of a car to show this because when a car is empty it needs refilling with petrol as we need to be refilled with the Holy Spirit. However, it is not important when you are filled but what happens when you get up after being filled with the Holy Spirit.







Roger went on to talk about the fruit of the Holy Spirit which is Hope, Peace, Love. Love is the work of the Holy Spirit. He also spoke about how the Holy Spirit is a gift from God.

Galatians 5:22-23

“But the fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy, Peace, Forbearance, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self-Control. Against such things there is no law.”

I came across a new song ‘Send the Fire’ in this service which was specific to the meaning of the story which was about Pentecost.

I also was reintroduced to the song ‘For Power of your Love’ by Geoff Bullock, which I found really inspirational, about how God if lifting us up in his strength which allows us to have the strength to continue in the path that God has given us as well as the strength to complete the task set ahead for us whatever that may be.

Thanks for reading,

Any questions or comments please use the contact box

Amy x

Big Church Day Out

Hey,

Sorry It’s been a while and that my posts are not chronological.

Last weekend I went to the Big Church Day Out in Steyning with my family which was an amazing and fun day. This fair involved music, food and games, but would have been better if we had brought a picnic blanket so we didn’t have to sit on our rain coats. We were lucky that it stopped raining by the evening, just in time for the music we wanted to listen to.

We arrived to this event at around 11am and the first musical act that we wanted to listen to wasn’t starting until 1:20pm which gave us time to explore and enjoy the fair. Within the first minutes me and mum somehow managed to lose my dad and sister so we decided to go on the ferries wheel while waiting for them. Then me and Nicola went on the carousel and I felt like a little kid again. All four of us then played archery where me and dad have a sort of competition where I won!

Now at 1:20pm we found some seats at the Tearfund Tea Tent where we sat in the rain and listened to Stuart Townend play as well as singing along. We also managed to get tea for free as the person ahead for us were ordering cream teas but didn’t want the tea. It is actually funny because not long after, when waiting for Nicola to decide what she wanted for lunch dad got a free cappuccino as the tea place near us where practicing.

After we had eaten we explored the shops and then found somewhere near the main stage to sit as Casting Crowns where due to perform in an hour or so and they were the main reason we chose to go to the Sunday as we actually now have all but one on their albums and they only tour in America. But before their performance me and mum went on a spinning ride.

During the Casting Crowns performance, the main singer spoke about how the Bible is not just a book you take out every Sunday but everyday so you can walk with God and not just look at it as a tool to learn like you were in a school lesson. When reading the Bible you tend to find out that there are many people in the Bible that are a lot worse than you but that Jesus didn’t turn his back on them so he isn’t going to turn his back on us. He will always be there.

Before singing ‘Oh My Soul’ he spoke about when he wrote that song he had just found out he had cancer and didn’t want anyone to know out of fear. However, there is no reason to fear as God is with us always.

Newsboys was the next performance which was ok but I only knew one of the songs ‘We Believe’ and they were follow by Rend Collective, but before they started, the trailer for ‘The Shack’ played which comes out in Cinema’s on June the 9^th as it portrays the message we want to get out into society.

During Rend Collective performance the heat got to me and I had to sit down and somehow ended up playing a game of catch with a little girl who as part of the family next to us which was fun. I also enjoyed the music and found it funny that they put panda masks over their heads for the last minute or so of their final song, or what they thought would be their final song, but the audience wished for one more song.

Finally, the Day Out ended with Hillsong Worship which was great as me and mum could sing along to while we were in the queue for pizza and chips as we only had £13 left from the day and needed to feed all 4 of us. It was also great because once we got back to the area of the main stage everyone was singing along and the atmosphere was amazing.

Thanks for reading,

Any comments or questions please use the contact box.

Amy x