SUNDAY 5TH JULY 2020
TEMPUS FUGIT ‘Tempus Fugit’ the Latin phrase ‘time flies’ and oh how we have found that to be true lately. How is Isla four months old already!? How long have we got left to pack the house up? Where did that last week go? Or the big one, where did the last five years just go to? Am I not still a new Lieutenant? You have been patient enough with me over the years to be aware of my passion for aviation. My favourite aviation subject is always Concorde, for so many reasons. It really was a remarkable aircraft, and it was being taken to see a Concorde land at a local airport aged just 5 years old that kickstarted my love of aeroplanes. Concorde really did make time fly. Flying at over twice the speed of sound (Mach 2.04/1,354mph) Concorde could cross the Atlantic in just three hours and had a schedule that could see you board the aircraft at Heathrow at 9am and arrive in New York at 8am on the same day! My enthusiasm for Concorde has led me to go and visit as many as I can and I was delighted to visit Scotland’s Concorde (pictured) at East Fortune in January. There is one thing that I have seen consistently through my time here in Stornoway though, time may well fly by to us, but God was in every second of it. God never wasted a second of it and God didn’t abandon us for a moment. I’m so grateful that this 5 year spell of my time as an officer was chosen by God to be spent in the Western Isles. It has been such a privilege to serve this unique community and to minister to Stornoway Corps as a fellowship. We are grateful to you for the love and support you have afforded us during our time as your officers, and we are sad to be leaving without a proper farewell to you all due to the current restrictions. Be assured of our ongoing prayers for you all individually and as a fellowship. We believe that God has much more to accomplish through the work and ministry of Stornoway Corps and we know he will remain faithful to you and us in the years to come. The Golf Club project still appears to be God’s calling for Stornoway Corps at this particular time. We recorded a new record of 94 people accessing the support on Wednesday and another 69 on Saturday. The need is ever increasing and as the potential health impact of COVID-19 retreats, the financial impact will come to the fore with great force. We are called to be God’s people, reaching out in support to whoever struggles. Let them know He cares. As we move through government ‘phases’ of lockdown restrictions, the future still remains somewhat unpredictable for all of us. But whatever happens next, God will still be God. He will still have all of time and space in the palm of his hand. It will feel sometimes like time is flying by, sometimes it will drag, but God will be with you through it all. Thank you for allowing us to journey for some time with you, it has been a great pleasure. Blessings to you always.
The Salvation Army Stornoway Corps 59 Bayhead Stornoway HS1 2DZ
“We exist to worship God, to support each other and to serve our community. ” REGISTERED CHARITY NO: 214779 AND IN SCOTLAND: SC009359
Corps Officers Captains Callum & Emma Newton (Appointment concludes 9th July then contact the Corps Sergeant Major, Envoy Ian McPhee)
Telephone: 01851 703875 Mobile: 07493 880058
@stornowaysalvationarmy
Something to listen to...
Sunday meetings at 11:00am and 6:00pm. Music broadcast all week. Listen online at www.fortressradio.online
This album is named after and features my favourite march ‘Marching Onwards’. It also features ‘Whosoever Heareth’ which is one of this edition’s selected hymns and a Joy Webb classic ‘Light Up the Sunshine’. Enjoy! Listen here: https://www.regalzonophone .com/Albums/MarchingOnwards
Acts 2 14Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice and addressed the crowd: “Fellow Jews and all of you who live in Jerusalem, let me explain this to you; listen carefully to what I say. 15These people are not drunk, as you suppose. It’s only nine in the morning! 16No, this is what was spoken by 17 the prophet Joel: “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your18sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy. 19 I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and billows of smoke. 20The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord. 21And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ The book of Acts finds the disciples coming out of training to go and face the world for Christ. This section of Chapter 2 happens just after the Holy Spirit has descended upon the disciples. People look on at them and don’t understand what is happening, they assume that they’re all drunk. For the first time the disciples are required to evangelise on their own, and they do so. Peter uses the words of the Prophet Joel to remind the crowd of what they had been promised, the later reveals the fulfilment of the promises in Jesus Christ. He speaks of the patriarch David and then comes back again to the revelation of the fulfilment of all that Israel had been waiting for; 36“Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.” It is five years since Emma and I were let lose from officer training and sent on our way (a long way!) to Stornoway. Newly commissioned, newly married and our first ever brand new car we set off up the country with great expectations and excitement for our first appointment. As the ferry neared the port, we caught glimpse of Stornoway and the island for the first time ever. We were not disappointed. We knew then, as we always have, we would have a maximum of five years to make the best of our time here and that we should not miss any of the opportunities afforded to us being on this very beautiful island with its hospitable people. But we also thought five years was miles away and not really worth worrying about, yet here I am writing my final message to you in the blink of an eye! When the disciples were sent out with the Great Commission (Matt.28:19-20) and the anointing of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2), the time came quickly for them to share the gospel. All the learning they had received from the Master, the commissioning and the sending only meant something when they went and did something with it, sharing the love and salvation found in Jesus. All the excitement and enthusiasm for coming to Stornoway, the officer training, the commissioning Emma and I received would only mean something when we were able to share Jesus with people. Equally our sharing something new of the love of God in Jesus Christ with you is wasted if you chose to do nothing with it. One of Stornoway Corps greatest strengths, and a fantastic asset, is the welcoming nature of the people. Your ability to embrace new people as they come through the doors, to take the time to get to know them and be interested in them is commendable and a demonstration of the true spirit of the Salvationist. You must not ever lose this virtue because it is of God and an unfriendly, unwelcoming, cold spirit found in a church is not Godly. Nurture your strengths of hospitality as a fellowship, when we can come back together as a church fellowship you may well find that there are more people to welcome in to the family of God here. Verse 21 of Acts 2 offers up a promise which Salvationists should hold dear, ‘everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’. We believe that whosoever will may come to Jesus and whosoever will may be saved. That means whosoever will can turn to Stornoway Corps for practical help and support and, more importantly, whosoever will may come to us for Spiritual support and guidance. They should find it. I pray that we never turn anyone away unduly or put them off seeking more of Jesus in their lives because we know the Saviour never turns them away, he wants them to turn to him. We are Christ’s ambassadors. I praise God because I was once one of the whosoevers, I willed to come to God, and through his people at Lincoln Citadel Corps I was led to faith. I praise God because others have come to know God through the ministry of Stornoway Corps. As this next chapter in the Corps history begins, you need to play your role in fulfilling our purpose and reason for existence as a Salvation Army; save souls, grow saints and serve suffering humanity. Never ever forget that whosoever will may come to Jesus, and you may be called on by him to be his representative to the new person coming through the door. Just as the disciples had to take what they had learned in the recent years and do something with it, evangelise, so I am calling you to take anything you have learned from Emma and I in our five years and use it to tell all people that they are loved by an almighty God. Learn too from Christopher and Faith who will teach you well in the years to come. Don’t just listen, do something with it. ‘Spread the joyful news wherever man is found: Whosoever will may come!’
Prayer Focus
Please remember in your prayers… • • • •
Cadets Christopher and Faith Thompson Captains Callum and Emma Newton and Isla Newton. Cadets and families of the ‘Messengers of the Kingdom’ session as they prepare for commissioning. C.S.M. Envoy Ian McPhee, C.S. Margaret Macaskill and other local leaders who will be responsible for leading the Corps through the transition to the arrival of our new officers.
S.A. Songbook 405 1. All have need of God's salvation, If with Him they'd live forever; But a promise He has given, It is written: whosoever.
Whosoever will may come, And who comes to Him shall never
S.A. Songbook 945 1. Whosoever heareth! Shout, shout the sound; Send the blessèd tidings all the world around; Spread the joyful news wherever man is found: Whosoever will may come.
Whosoever will! Whosoever will! Send the blessèd tidings over vale
Disappointed turn away; Praise the Lord! 'tis whosoever. 2. And this word it reaches nations; Not the rich or learned or clever Only shall by Him be rescued, O praise God! 'tis whosoever. 3. For the poor and brokenhearted
and hill; 'Tis the loving Father calls the wanderer Home: Whosoever will may come. 2. Whosoever cometh need not delay; Now the door is open, enter while you may; Jesus is the true, the only living way;
There's a hope, and they need never Have a fear about their coming, For the Book says: whosoever. 4. To all kingdoms and all peoples 'Tis the same, and shall be ever; There's no difference in the message, But to all 'tis whosoever.
Whosoever will may come. 3. Whosoever will, the promise is secure; Whosoever will, forever shall endure; Whosoever will, 'tis life for evermore; Whosoever will may come.
Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB2EuZEgH5w Something to watch... ‘The Salvation Army: Then and Now’ was a documentary commissioned by the BBC in 2006 and never transmitted. It gives a good objective history of the Army and the Founders as well as focussing on some more recent work too. It is only 25 minutes long and well worth a watch. Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k92fhnAYrUQ