Bishop Smitha (The Bishop of Huddersfield) led the 180th Anniversary celebration service at a full Shred today. A wonderful joyful celebration of faith in this hillside mission church. On this day 180 years ago the church was licensed for Divine worship and has been a place of worship ever since.
The Sunday school children read the parable of the Mustard Seed, showed their picture of the grown mustard tree which provides shelter and paper flowers which represent them as children of God. Jesus talked about the seed being our faith as we start to believe and the tree represents our faith as we grow in the love and knowledge of Jesus and God.
We sang some great family hymns and the children sang ‘I’ve got peace like a River’ to the congregation, who joined in for a second time. Bishop Smitha read our Gospel reading John 20 v 19 – end. She spoke about how Jesus appeared in the Upper Room to the disciples following His resurrection. His first words to them were “Peace be with You”. The disciples believed. Thomas had missed this gathering and doubted what his fellow disciples had said. Yet when he met Jesus on another occasion and touched the nail and spear wounds in His hands, he believed and called Jesus, “My Lord and my God”. He also now believed in the risen Jesus. Bishop Smitha suggested that rather than calling Thomas a doubter we should call him courageous. He asked questions, he wanted to check out the truth and not just believe what others told him. Do we have faith or are we in fear of the unknown / finding out about the risen Jesus, to meet Him personally.
Bishop Smitha also touched on how a mustard seed cooked in oil will burst open and share the spicy inside. Just like our faith can be opened up. She also referred to some of the words spoken by the children and in particular the words below and the hope of the next generation to continue in faith and in worship at Shred.
Bishop Smitha originates from South India. Thomas the Apostle took the gospel to India, he was courageous in doing so in order to spread God’s word. Bishop Smitha wore her South India cross which is a beautiful Christian symbol. It shows flames of the holy spirit and lotus flower petals (a symbol of India).
Bishop Smitha was presented with a bouquet of flowers and the flowers made by the children. Thankyou to everyone again who took part in the service today.