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Viewpoint from Rev Betty Trinder 16/01/2015
 Rev Betty Trinder
local Methodist Minister
Happy New Year!
I think my New Year’s resolution is to get a better balance in my life. My dear old departed Dad was a bit of a chocoholic…hmm wonder who I take after…..and he particularly loved a Mars bar and when he died we gave out one to each person who came to his funeral and when the minister gave the address he spoke about how my day loved to “work, rest and play.” He had worked all his life, played for some of the time and now was enjoying his well-earned final rest. A well balanced life was thought of as working an eight hour day, getting eight hour’s rest and playing the other eight
 Is your life in balance? I’m not sure mine is. There are other ways of looking at life in three parts. When I first began work I was advised to use a third of what I earned to live on, a third to spend on clothes and leisure and to save the final third. I definitely don’t think that is how it works today! However I do think they are good maxims for home and for Church life too
A church should be like a family. We should spend time praying together, playing together and working together…in that order. Our faith is bound up in the Holy Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit being equal together in One great entity we call God. It is a faith that must rely heavily on praying to God, being in a relationship of trust and in the attitude of service to further His Kingdom here on earth. If we do not seek out God’s will in all we do then we rely too heavily on our own strength and that leads to mistakes. I definitely put my hand up to that! Too often the work of prayer is left to just a few; people wrongly believe they don’t know how to speak to God let alone listen to what he is saying to us. Practice makes perfect we are told and that is true of prayer. Put a good chunk of your day into prayer and you will get closer to God. So as churches let’s get more involved in our corporate prayer life and if you are unable to go to church let them know you are praying for them at home. Let them know what you feel God is saying to you, share that part of church life
 Playing together is vital for relationships to grow, we all love eating together and going out on trips together, we must build up the fellowship of the church through prayer, and playing. Having fun together will bring us closer for the final part …working together. A church’s first duty is to spread the Gospel to those outside of the building and draw them closer to God by the way we welcome them into His family of believers. Are we working hard enough to do that we need ask ourselves or is that left to the same few who pray together?
We are entering the season of Epiphany, the coming of Christ as the Light of the World and to guide those who are in the darkness of illness, unemployment, addiction, abuse and anything that dominates over the balance of good and difficult and to believe that there can be a way through with trust and faith in a God who loves us and wants the best for us
Philippians 4 verses 6 – 7 gives us some good advice “ Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present our requests to God, and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Every blessing for a better balanced 2015
Yours in Christ’s service, Betty Trinder
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