As I came to pen this Elders blog, I looked back and found that I had the privilege of writing the May
magazine introduction last year and the May 2013 one before that. This time around however, I get the
chance to “spring forward” a month, just like the clocks that we change (this Sunday), at the end of
March.
I want to share with you two events that occurred earlier in March. The first of those is topical, but a
little embarrassing and links to the second! In the US they change their clocks too, they also go forward by
an hour and they usually do so a week before we make the change here in the UK. Not this year
however! “Day Time Saving” as they call it occurred on 7th March, right in the middle of my trip out there.
The good news for me was having the benefit of the time difference with the UK reduced to 4 hours
where I was in Portland, Maine. However, no – one told me the change was happening earlier! So you
guessed it! I went to catch a 9.30am service at a local church, only to have missed it! Mind you this is
better than the clocks changing on a Sunday into Monday as I would have missed the early morning
1,000 mile flight the next day down to Chattanooga, Tennessee!
All was not lost however. Eastpoint Church in Portland, where I went that morning and which was
about 20 mins walk from my hotel (as I had to walk on icy pavements and cross snow that was still
stacked up 6 ft high at the sides of the road), hold three morning services, 8am, 9.30am (which I had
originally gone for) and 11am. You can learn more about them on their website:www.eastpoint.church
So in the event I arrived just before 10.30am, wondered why there were so few people about,
overcame my embarrassment on hearing the clocks had changed thanks to the warm greeting I got,
enjoyed a cup of coffee and pre service fellowship (including with some others who had also been
caught out) and then joined the 11am fellowship service where pastor Scott Taube preached a
powerful sermon from Mark 10 on “the cup that Jesus took for us”! What’s more any feelings of
discomfort I had on my arrival quickly disappeared, as I also heard the middle service congregation sing
as their closing song, In Christ Alone by our local Brighton based singer songwriter Stuart Townend.
So why have I called this blog “The Same Difference”? It’s because whilst today we can travel
so easily and meet others in different countries and cultures. When we do so, we can find even common
practices like calendar clock changes can have their own differences. Nevertheless there is one constant
that we can count on being the same! That is the love that Jesus Christ has for us. He came to save all who
ask him, irrespective of race or geography or background. We who believe in turn have a common
purpose and focus in our worship for him. What better way to go into the Easter period, of the same
mind as we remember the price our Saviour paid, for us!
Kevin Borrett
April 2015
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