Out with the old and in with the new…

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“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 3:12-14

As we come to the last day of 2016; we look back on the past year; remembering all of its trials and tribulations, its victories, all of the fun that we’ve had and all of the challenges that we have overcome.

We can remember all of the blessings that God gave us.  We remember God’s faithfulness and how He has brought us safely to the end of another year.

But more than that, we look forward to 2017 with great expectation.

Expectation for the year ahead.

Expectation that God will once again show us His faithfulness.

Our Emmanuel – God with us; will still be with us in 2017.

What are your prayers for 2017?

What are you looking forward to?

Like the apostle Paul, are you pressing on to lay hold of all that God has in store for you in 2017?

We certainly will do in 2017; especially as we attend the Youth for Christ national conference in January. We look forward to a year of impacting young lives with the life changing message of Jesus. A year where we see God do amazing things in and through the work of Llandudno Youth for Christ. We also look forward to seeing so many people coming alongside us to engage with this ministry. Standing alongside us in 2017 in prayer; with finances and with voluntary support at our different events.

Thank you for all of your amazing support in 2016; and here’s looking forward to 2017.

Happy New Year!

Boxing clever!

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Today is Boxing Day or St Stephen’s Day! December 26th. People are full of turkey and trimmings and more willing perhaps to reach for an antacid than another mince pie. After all of the build up to Christmas Day; today can seem a bit like an anti-climax.

However, if you take the message of Christmas to heart; today, the day after Christmas is still a day of celebration.

Jesus has come into the world to save!

Emmanuel – God with us, is still with us.

The manger may now be empty, but that is because Jesus did not stay “little, weak and helpless”; He “grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.” – Luke 2:52. “He went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.” – Acts 10:38 and teaching His disciples and the people about the Kingdom of God.

Ultimately He died for us on the cross to pay for the sins of the whole world: our sins. “Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.” – Acts 13:38. And on the third day He rose again and ascended to heaven and now sits at the right hand of God the Father.

It is this Jesus that we follow.

Not the baby still in the manger.

Not the man crucified as a sin offering for the world, still hanging on a cross.

It is the risen, victorious Lord of life that we follow. The one who defeated sin, death and hell and rose again.

Just as in the famous song ‘Good King Wenceslas‘ where the King’s page that was struggling against the fierce winter storm followed in the footsteps of his master the King, in order to endure the onslaught of the wind. Like the page, we Christians, followers of Jesus. Walk behind our Master and follow in His footsteps. Braving the buffets and blows of the storms of the world, to move forwards into all that He has in store for us; even in the face of disaster and death. Jesus is still there leading us onwards; calling us to follow.

Just like St Stephen, whose martyrdom we remember on this day. He obediently followed in the footsteps of his Master, Jesus;  and was willing to “have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” – Phil 2:5-11.

This Boxing Day, let us remember King Wenceslas and St Stephen; devoted servants and followers of Jesus, who gave their all in their pursuit of their Lord and Saviour. Let us be encouraged by their example, and follow in Jesus’ footsteps, not only during the remainder of this year, but on into 2017.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Christmas Everyone!!!!

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Joy to the World , the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the World, the Saviour reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

– Isaac Watts (1719)

Happy Christmas to all of our blog post readers, volunteers, supporters and the young people who come to our events. May this Christmas be one of good cheer and filled with wonder and worship at the awesome message of Emmanuel – God with us.

Nadolig Llawen i bob un o’n darllenwyr blog post, gwirfoddolwyr, cefnogwyr a’r bobl ifanc sy’n dod i’n digwyddiadau. Efallai y Nadolig hwn yn un cymerwch gysur ac yn llenwi â rhyfeddod ac addoli ar y neges anhygoel o Emmanuel – Duw gyda ni.

Read the Christmas nativity here in English & Welsh.

Darllenwch y geni Nadolig yma yn Saesneg a Chymraeg.

Merry Christmas!

Nadolig Llawen!

 

The Last Post (of the year from Redefine in 2016)

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“For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the greatness of his government and peace
    there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
    and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
    with justice and righteousness
    from that time on and for ever.” – Isaiah 9:6-7

We celebrated our last Redefine of 2016 at Llandudno Youth for Christ in style.

We had a welcoming committee at the door offering weary, cold travellers…I mean our regular bunch of amazing Redefiners, a nice hot chocolate or other warming drink to start with. Then we had a table (top of a chest freezer actually) laden with good things to eat; clementines, warm popcorn, mince pies, chocolate fingers, chocolate pieces and biscuits. Yummy!

In another room we had a bouncy castle! Hurrah! Lots of energy was expending bouncing and jumping in this room. Then for those who wanted to relax and take it easy, we had a quiet room with loads of board games to play; Top Trumps, Trivial Pursuit, Cluedo, Battleships, Monopoly, Connects 4, Exploding Kittens, Bananagrams to name a few.

Finally we had a room laid out like cinema, with Christmas music playing to videos on a screen.

It was to this cinematic room we all adjourned after 1 hours worth of bouncy castles, games & food.

Here, after singing our Llandudno version of ‘O little town of Bethlehem’ – ‘O Little town of Llandudno‘, the Redefine leaders enacted their Harry Potter inspired nativity, which was received with much laughter and mirth, especially one of our volunteer’s portrayals as the villain of the piece ‘Volderod’ (a mixture of Voldemort and King Herod).

We then had a short time of Q&A; a regular feature at our youth bible Studies, where the young people ask us questions about the Bible; and we aim to answer them as clearly and biblically as we can.

We finished off the night with some great renditions of Christmas carols, especially our ‘O Come all ye faithful’ that had a descant sung by some of our resident trained sopranos.

It was a great and slightly quirky night, that everyone enjoyed.

They loved the silliness of the Harry Potter inspired Nativity, and it was great to hear Tim Gough explain the reasoning behind choosing this book/film series as the genre to set the Christmas story in.

In the world of Harry Potter, Harry is born to defeat a great evil (Lord Voldemort) and save the world by his death and when raised back to life, to defeat death itself. It is a story that taps into God’s great story, even if the author J.K.Rowling was unaware of this when writing it.

This is God’s story of redemption that we see throughout the Bible; from Abraham’s obedience to willingly take his son Isaac up the mountain of Moriah to sacrifice him as an offering to God (read the whole story in Genesis 22 – btw Isaac didn’t die), to King David’s psalms about the coming Messiah (such as Psalm 22).

God’s great story, was that He would enter into this world, born as a baby to defeat the evil one and by his death defeat death itself. To come and save the world and redeem mankind. “You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached – how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.” – Acts 10:37-38. “For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” – 1 Cor 15:22-26

Jesus truly is the reason for the season, and that’s not just a nice cliche; it’s the absolute, essential truth.

Jesus came to destroy all the works of the evil one, to save us and defeat death. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” – John 3:16-17.

May this Christmas you find Jesus amongst all of the fanfare and festivities, and in finding Him, may you find life eternal.

Merry Christmas!

Spark Christmas Epicness!

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“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” – Acts 2:42

Last Saturday night (17th December) we held our last Spark event of the year, and it was a roaring success.

We had pizzas coming out our ears, an indoor putting green, a selfie station, mountains of mince pies, our mighty Santa versus Elves Nerf battle and a short message about the Nativity inspired by the film series ‘Sharknado’ delivered by the Reverend Rob Beamish from Colwyn Bay.

It can’t be said that we do things like everyone else!

Youth groups came from as far afield as Holyhead to take part in this merry Christmas madness. Here’s what some of the youth leaders that brought their groups along to the event had to say: “Awesome night!!! Can’t literally wait to do it again! Thank you to everyone who put it all together!!” and “Thanks guys, everyone ‘survived’ the Nerf war and thoroughly enjoyed themselves!”

We really enjoyed planning and preparing for this event; making the costumes, decorating the game zone, cooking and serving the food; and it’s so great to hear that those who came to it had even more fun taking part.

As well as the fun, food and flying Nerf darts, we pray that everyone who attended went away with not only memories of a night that will remain with them for a long-time, but also that they went away thinking about the message of Christmas.  The message of Emmanuel – God with us.

And finally, we would not have been able to hold this fantastic event without all of the amazing volunteers that help us with everything. We also want to thank those that continue to support us with finances and in prayer. There are so many young people that have heard the gospel in 2016 because of your faithfulness.

We still need your continued and ongoing support in 2017 to see even more young people impacted with God’s love and the message of Jesus.

Once again thank you all, and here’s looking towards the next Spark event in 2017!

Merry Christmas!

 

 

“…on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

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“I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
“There is no peace on earth,” I said;
“For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

Henry  Wadsworth Longfellow (written 1863)

This poem written by Longfellow during the American Civil War was in response to his oldest son being severely wounded at the Battle of New Hope Church in Virginia. He felt great anguish about the war and wished for their to be peace between the Confederates and the Unionists.

This poem has since been put to music and performed by many artists, including Johnny Cash, Harry Belafonte and Elvis Presley. The band Casting Crowns have recorded a beautiful version. (See below).

This Christmas, for some people, like for Longfellow, the angels’ message of peace on earth (Luke 2:14) can seem to be a mockery of what they are experiencing. As the poem says, ‘for hate is strong and mocks the song, of peace on earth good will to men‘. For people, such as those suffering in the war in Syria, there seems to be no peace this Christmas, and yet we know that the message of the angels is true and trustworthy.

Even for people in homes around the UK, there can often be no peace at Christmas.  Their are family fights and despair that happens.  People are grieving lost loved ones. People are struggling to make ends meet, and it is very far from a merry Christmas for them.

The world is in a mess; and peace seems like a far, distant dream.

But it is into a world that has been polluted with sin that Jesus came.

He came to redeem and restore, to heal and to save.

In first century Israel, there were people despairing. There was oppression by the Romans. People were struggling to make ends meet. Into the mess and the muck of our sin polluted world, God stepped in and took on flesh; to bring us the only peace that lasts. Peace that can be found on a battlefield. Peace that can be experienced in the midst of despairing circumstances; and the only peace that is of eternal consequence.

Peace with God.

At Llandudno Youth for Christ; we pray that you will find this peace at Christmas.

Please continue to pray for the work that we do amongst young people in Llandudno and beyond. Pray that we will be able to help young people experience and discover God and His peace this Christmas.

Grace and peace to all of you this Christmas!

God in a feeding trough….the mystery of Christmas

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“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death – that is, the devil – and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.” – Hebrews 2:14-17

At ‘Redefine’, our Sunday evening Bible Study we have been looking at the incarnation. God becoming man and being born as a baby. This is the mystery of Christmas.

As we’ve been preparing to celebrate Christmas and the celebration of God coming to earth as a man; we’ve looked at how Jesus was fully God and fully man.

We’ve wrestled with these truths and asked ourselves questions of how does the Bible show to us that Jesus was fully God? How does it show us that he was fully human? Why is it important for him to be fully God and fully human?

It has been a great time diving into the Bible to draw out rich treasures. A time to ask questions, seek out answers  and ponder the mystery of the incarnation.

Last night we focussed on 3 passages; Luke 2:1-21; Philippians 2:5-11 & Hebrews 2:5-18. It was really good to see the young people reading through and discussing the passages together. Engaging with God’s Word.

This is one of the things at Llandudno Youth for Christ we are so pleased to see. We love to help the young people engage with the Bible and discover more about their Creator and Saviour through this. We love putting the tools in their hands that will enable them to become lifelong students of God’s Word; and for them to become enthused about God’s Word and in turn encourage others to engage with God and His word.

Out of the last couple of ‘Redefine’ nights as we looked at the incarnation, we saw how Jesus has to be fully God and fully human in order to bridge the gap between us and God and pay the price fully for our sin.

As the passage above says; “that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.”

This Christmas; amidst all of the traditions and tinsel; let us, like the young people at ‘Redefine’, refocus our eyes on the mystery of Christmas; God in the form of a baby, come to redeem, come to save.

Emmanuel – God with us.

Merry Christmas.

Happy Xmas (War is over)…or is it?!?!?!

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The title of this blog comes from “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)“, a Christmas song with lyrics by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, released in 1971. This song has become a favourite Christmas song to be covered by other artists and bands such as Celine Dion, Sarah MacLachlan, Neil Diamond, The Fray & Shinedown.

I chose this as the title, because on Saturday the 17th December between 5-8pm at Ty Llywelyn Community Centre a grudge match that has been building for centuries is finally boiling over into all out WAR!!!!!!

I’m not talking about who will be the Christmas number 1 this year; the X-Factor contestant winner or Rage against the Machine; no I’m speaking of Santa and the Elves.

Fed up with poor working conditions; lack of recognition; low pay and virtually indentured servitude; Santa’s Elves have staged a revolution and will be attempting a coup to overthrow jolly St Nicholas.

However Santa is not going to be taken by surprise. He has secretly been amassing an army of Santa’s helpers. I’m sure you’ve seen them at Santas Grottos around the world. The very best Santa impersonators are going to be defending their figurehead on this night.

It will be a battle royal; with milk and cookies awarded to the victors.

You too can join in and support Santa in keeping his position as ruler of the North Pole and enlist in the ‘Secret Armies of Santa’; or you can join the ‘Rebel Elf Revolutionaries’ and seek to overthrow the red clad despot.

Contact us here at LLYFC to book your ticket to the Spark Christmas Party. Tickets cost £3. (At the time of posting this blog, we had approximately 10 tickets left.)

Along with the epic Santa v Elves Nerf Battle; we will have pizza, presents and a short Christmas message.

The event starts at 5pm and will finish by 8pm. As said earlier it is being held at Ty Llywelyn Community Centre, Ffordd yr Orsedd, Llandudno, LL30 1LA.

Check out our facebook events page for more information.

Little Saint Nick!

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“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” – James 1:17

Santa Claus, Sinterklaas, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, Pere Noel, St Nick, St Nicholas. These are the names that a certain character that is now highly associated with the period of Christmas is known by in different countries around the world.

There are different traditions associated with this figure in different countries, but most of them centre around him bringing gifts to ‘good’ children on Christmas Eve. This Santa Claus is said to live at the North Pole with his wife and a whole host of elves that make all of the toys that he distributes from his magical sack; whilst flying around the world on a sleigh pulled by magical reindeer that can fly.

Children write letters to him asking for gifts and leave milk and cookies for him to eat on Christmas Eve, and maybe a carrot or two for the reindeer.

Although, most of the above ideas of him riding across the sky, along with his depiction as a bearded, portly figure come from aspects of the Nordic figure of the chief god of the Asgardian myth, Odin, who is associated with the pagan midwinter event of Yule where he led the ‘Wild Hunt’, riding through the sky on him magic horse Sleipnir.

Other aspects of the mythos of Santa Claus come from the 1823 poem “A visit from St. Nicholas”, more popularly know as ‘Twas the the night before Christmas’. However, despite all of this; St Nicholas was a real, historical person.

He was the bishop of Myra in Asia Minor during the 4th Century. Myra no-longer exists as a place, but the remains of Myra can be found in the modern Turkish town of Demre.

St Nicholas is one of the saints who is revered for his life of faith and faithfulness to God by Christians from many different traditions around the world. He is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, pawnbrokers, brewers and children.

He was born in Patara, Lycia and as a youth he made a pilgrimage to Egypt and the area of Palestine. After his return he became the bishop of Myra and was imprisoned during the persecution of Christians under the Roman emperor Diocletian. When Constantine became emperor and converted to Christianity he was released from prison and later was present at the Council of Nicaea. This was a very important council; the first ecumenical council. Here over 300 bishops convened to debate the nature of the trinity. The result of this meeting was very important and indeed we have the Nicene Creed as a result.

There is a tale of St Nicholas being so upset with another bishop’s views that he slapped him on the face. (To read the whole story click here.) St. Nicholas was passionate in his love for God and could not stand someone speaking lies and heresy about Jesus.

Other miracles and wonders are attributed to the life of this Christian, especially the tale of him giving gifts to save three unmarried women, or to bring relief to a famine struck area. This aspect of the saints life; his generosity and kindness has translated over to today’s Father Christmas; to Santa Claus.

However, unlike Santa Claus; St Nicholas always pointed people away from himself, to the only true Saviour of mankind; Jesus.

St Nicholas, would agree with me when I say that all good gifts come from Him, and at this time of Christmas, we should remember in all of our gift giving and receiving; to gladly receive God’s greatest gift given to us; His Son, Jesus.

Have a merry Christmas.

Prepare the way for the V.I.P

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“The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way”— “a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” – Mark 1:1-4

As we enter the season of Advent; that period of time before Christmas; which according to the high street shops starts on September the 1st! But seriously, Advent is a time when we prepare for the coming of Jesus; as the words from the gospel of Mark call out; “prepare the way for the Lord.”

Last Sunday night at Redefine; as part of the start of our advent period; we had a travel cot in the middle of the room; with ‘Police Line Do Not Cross’ tape around it, and two of the volunteers dressed as security guards with high visibility vests on. The whole idea was to pique people’s interests and for the young people to ask what’s going on. The response is that we are preparing for the coming of the King of kings.

Hence the security, hence the tape; but why the cot?

He would be coming as a baby.

Advent is the preparation of the coming of a V.I.P. Actually, the coming of the most important person. The Son of God. God in the flesh. Emmanuel. God with us.

Interestingly, though, Jesus didn’t come to a palace with guards and fanfare; celebration and celebrities.

He was born to a carpenter and his young bride. Placed in a feeding trough; with shepherds as the celebrants to welcome his arrival.

The whole birth of Jesus is rich with symbols and import; and over the next couple of weeks, we want to strip away all of the traditional nonsense; and get back to the awesome message of God coming to earth, coming to serve, coming to save.

I recently came across a great resource for Advent; for preparing for Jesus: God’s Story – Preparing for Jesus by Crosswalk Kids Club.

This Christmas let’s focus on the big deal of Christmas.

Let’s peel aside the turkey and the tinsel and gaze in awe at God’s greatest gift.

Jesus.