runway

Sausage special

2008-07-14T20:38:00.004+01:00

Barbecue

2008-07-10T18:08:00.003+01:00

This Sunday (13th) is the last runway of this term before we break for the summer, and we are going to have a barbecue again (I say again, but it's really the first time as it poured down last year). Earlier time of 6.30, at the Fishburne's house. Let me know if you need veggie or any other special food.

Rock the Boat :: 6 days to change the world :: 26th-31st October

2008-06-23T21:42:00.003+01:00

From Christian Aid North-West:

14-18 year olds are invited to join us on 3 canal boats for a half term with a difference. Each day we will share in workshops covering HIV/AIDS, Climate Change and Trade. By the end of the week we will have learnt to steer a canal boat and created videos and presentations to take back to churches so that we can inspire others to fight poverty. Please contact Dave Hardman or Becky Hurst 01925 573 769.

Anyone up for it?

Evolution Part II

2008-06-15T22:07:00.003+01:00

We share 98.4% of our DNA with chimpanzees. We talked tonight about how our lifestyles as humans has changed much more rapidly than our bodies have evolved. We live fast-paced lives, in towns and cities, in contact with hundreds of other people each day. However, biologically, we are built to live among a tribe of around 15 others. We talked about hierarchy in the tribe, the need for physical contact, how we choose partners. Many of these drives that we experience today are remnants of the ape in us. But, we don't have to follow these urges - we have a superior spirit that can override them, and make other, better, choices.

Kitty's baptism

2008-06-13T08:24:00.005+01:00

Thanks gang for coming to Kitty's baptism - we were so touched that you all made the effort to be there (and Dan - you scrubbed up very well in your posh suit!)

It was such a lovely service and I was so relieved she didn't scream/burp/fart/puke/poop during it!

BTW, I hear from Andy that a certain floppy-haired Wibberley has set the hearts of most of his form racing... ;o)

Mean Girls

2008-06-02T07:24:00.002+01:00

Do let us know what you thought of the film - particularly what it can teach us about life as a Christian.

I came across this interesting article this morning:

Suddenly, your Best Friend Forever stops talking to you. Other girlfriends won't eat lunch with you. Nasty lies pop up in cyber chat rooms. Do you curl up in a ball in bed? Or do you start dishing dirt, too?

Neither. You take back the power, God-style. That's Nancy Rue's message to tweens in her latest book, Girl Politics: Friends, Cliques and Really Mean Chicks, from Christian publisher Zonderkidz.

Rue, who lives outside Nashville, is a former teacher, author of 105 books for girls aged 8 to 12, and a long-ago victim of girl bullying. Rue spoke with the Star about tween-age girl torturers and her own emotional scars.

Q: There are lots of mean dudes. Why girl politics?

A: Girls have their own brand of meanness. They do more shunning, gossiping, starting rumours. The incidence is happening at younger ages. It used to be during the middle-school years; now it's girls 8 years old. Girls are maturing faster and society is encouraging them to grow up faster.

Q: Using the Bible as a guide to deal with really mean chicks, isn't that a stretch?

A. Not at all. The Bible is a marvellous tool for dealing with relationships. Jesus was constantly bullied by the Pharisees, who were basically a clique.

Q: You advise a bullied girl to "turn the other cheek." Okay. But to pray for the bully? That's a tough sell.

A. I find in my own life that if I pray for someone I can't stand, I don't stay with that attitude very long. She'll not be your best friend, but you don't hate her in your soul. That only brings you down.

Q: Isn't all this part of growing up?

A: It shouldn't be. I tell girls that just because it's there doesn't mean it's right. We used to have slavery in the U.S. That doesn't mean it was right. These girls could be the generation that stops it.

Q: Was there a mean girl in your life?

A: It was Linda in seventh grade. She courted me as her friend, then turned on me. I was skinny and had acne. It tore me apart. My mother said, `You have other friends.' That was not helpful.

Q: You really remember it.

A: I can't tell you the name of my English teacher that year. But I remember Linda had a funny notch in her nose ... It was like being emotionally mugged.

Q: For me it was Judy in Grade 8. I still feel hurt. Did they psychologically damage us?

A: You become less trustful. They made us realize not everyone is wonderful. But we got off easy. With the Internet, today the bully is often anonymous.

Q: Cyberbullying. That's a tough litmus test: What would Jesus do?

A: The same things apply. A girl can go to her parents and report it to the service provider. If it's on school computers, report it. I tell girls there's a difference between tattling – getting someone into trouble – and telling – getting yourself out of trouble. And you are in trouble. Bullying can tear down your self-esteem.

Q: You talk about trying to take back the power without stooping to the mean girl's level. Any good all-purpose comeback lines to get her off your back?

A: My favourite is: "I'm not going there with you. We're both better than that." She's not going to argue she's not better than that. Or, "Wow, I don't get into that sort of thing. Sorry."

Runway cancelled tonight...

2008-05-18T18:40:00.002+01:00

...sorry, I'm feeling poorly.

QuizAid

2008-05-03T19:31:00.001+01:00

Remember - this Sunday (4th May) we'll be taking part in QuizAid, part of Christian Aid week. Bring £2 and your best thinking heads. Amazing prizes...

How do we/others/God see us?

2008-04-20T22:06:00.003+01:00

Well done to the ladies for leading us so well, and for all the thought and preparation. We thought how other people see us, how we see ourselves and finally how God sees us.

I still have one of my marshmallows - can I eat it yet?

Is there life on other planets?

2008-04-06T21:41:00.003+01:00

More questions than answers this week...

Given that there are around 100 billion galaxies in the universe, each with hundreds of billions of stars, many of which would presumably have planets, it seems very unlikely that our planet is the only one with life.

If so, do aliens need saving from sin too?
Did aliens have a fall like we did, or are they still in an Eden like state?
Did Jesus visit other planets in different forms and die there too, or did his death on Earth count for all planets?
Will aliens be resurrected?
Will other planets be re-created like ours will?
If God created us in his image, what are the others like? Do they look like us?

Kitty's baptism

2008-04-05T09:36:00.004+01:00

Kitty's baptism will be at St Johns (the church where runway meets) during the 10am service on Sunday June 1st. There'll be tea and cakes in the back hall afterwards (there's a reason to come ;o))

We'd really love to have all you runwayers there if you'd like to come along! Let us know if you need us to work out lifts for you.

(p.s She loves water as you can see from this picture of bathtime, so I can't guarantee that there won't be screaming...)

Summer Runway topics

2008-03-23T22:37:00.004+01:00

April 6th - Is there life on other planets? If so, did Jesus come to them too?
April 20th - Pat & Mandy special
May 4th - QuizAid (bring £2 for Christian Aid)
May 18th - Idols
June 1st - Film night
June 15th - Evolution part two
June 29th - Should we choose to enforce some Old Testament laws but not others?
July 13th - Barbecue
Summer holiday - Lock in?

Easter

2008-03-23T22:33:00.002+01:00

In the garden of Eden, everything was marvellous. People lived closely with God. The world was perfect.

But after the fall, it all went downhill. As a result of our own choices we were thrown out of the garden, and made to live in an imperfect world, ruled by the serpent, full of war, sickness, sadness, disease, disaster, unfairness and treachery. God was suddenly very hard to hear.

Despite our best efforts, no-one managed to escape. We were all tainted with death, we belonged to the world.

Fortunately, God did not give up on us. He chose to send his Son, Jesus, to save us. Jesus came to earth as a helpless infant, born into a terrible society.

He grew up and began to teach about the kingdom of God; he showed us what life should be like. And he said that the kingdom was at hand - it was here now and it went wherever Jesus went. Jesus healed the sick, accepted outcasts of all description and opened people’s ears to hear God.

His followers were called to spread this kingdom too.

Jesus had to submit fully to the evil of this world, to take the worst that it could throw at him. He was betrayed and executed in the worst possible manner.

But, of course, this wasn’t the end. Jesus rose from the dead, and in doing so he broke the power of death over the world. Death no longer had to hold us; we had been given the key to eternal life.

Jesus returned to the Father, and left the Holy Spirit to guide us.

And this is where we are today in 2008. We live in a fallen world, but we are no longer imprisoned by it. There are pockets of the Kingdom of God everywhere. And it is our job to spread them. As we live our lives, we are called to draw people’s attention to the true order of things, to help their ears be opened. We are called to welcome all manner of outcasts, to work to make this world a fairer place.

This isn’t the end of the story, though. The Bible tells us how it will end.

One day Jesus will return in power to fight the serpent for the final time. The serpent will be thrown into hell.

And then Jesus will restore the world completely, and God will make his home with us.

"See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away." Revelation 21

This is the future promised to us.

In the meantime, however, we live in an in-between state. There are pockets of God’s kingdom here in the middle of the enemy territory. And we are called to live in these pockets, liberating people and releasing them from their captivity. We are not called to do as we like, just waiting for the end. We have to be active.

Ethical Shopping Part II

2008-03-09T18:46:00.003+01:00

Last May we looked at some of the issues involved in byuying clothes that are friendly to the people who make them and the planet. You can read what we discussed here.

Tonight we reviewed how everyone had got on in since then.

Here is the report on the different high street shops, giving information about the working conditions of the people who make their clothes.

We then moved on to look at the problem of landfill waste. UK residents each throw away about 380kg of waste to landfill each year, compared to the 20kg per year of people in Sweden. We looked at how long different materials take to decompose naturally:

Styrofoam container > 1 million years
Plastic jug 1 million years
Aluminum can 200-500 years
Disposable nappy 550 years
Tinned can 90 years
Leather shoe 45 years
Wool sock 1 year
Paper bag 1 month
Banana peel 3-4 weeks

We discussed things we can do to improve.

1. Don't take carrier bags from shops - bring your own bag
2. Buy good quality things that will last and you won't go off
3. Recycle as much waste as possible
4. Freecycle - for giving away and receiving unwanted stuff from people in the area
5. Avoid plastic goods
6. Buy food with less packaging

Next time we will look at ethical food shopping...

Kitty

2008-03-01T22:04:00.002+01:00

Kaitlin Rose Fishburne arrived healthy, heavy (9lb8) and gorgeous at 8.05 on Friday 29th February. Susie and Kitty are doing really well.

There are some more photos on my Flickr page

How to hear God

2008-02-26T23:31:00.005+01:00

Jesus said: When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. They will not follow a stranger, but they will run from him because they do not know the voice of strangers.

Jesus is leading us on and wanting to talk to us. We thought tonight of things we can do to make it more likely to hear Jesus correctly.

We thought about ways in which it is very hard sometimes to hear properly; how our natural mammalian desires and drives for attention, success, status, protection and mating (!) are always there in the background, and how the devil wants to twist God's message so we mishear and get tied up in seeking power, wealth or selfish desires.

We discussed how we need to test if we think God is calling us to do something by seeing if it consistent with the general thrust of the Bible.

And finally we discussed some of the ways that God speaks, apart from a still, small voice in our mind. He can talk to us through dreams, through reading the Bible, through other people, and through events and circumstances, including unhappy ones.

I hope that we all learn to hear God's voice more clearly; it is a most amazing thing.

Television is evil

2008-01-27T22:54:00.000+01:00

Tonight we listened to/watched the old school classic song Television - Drug of the Nation and discussed some of the ideas.

You can see the video here or read the lyrics here.

We had a really interesting discussion - add any further thoughts in the comments.

No runway this week

2008-01-20T15:46:00.000+01:00

Remember that runway is fortnightly from now on - this is the first 'off' week.

Next week's topic is Television is Evil, so come prepared to argue your cause!

Chris in the USA

2008-01-13T23:20:00.000+01:00

Many thanks to Chris who told us all about skiing, eating, shopping, quad biking and house construction USA stylee.

Runway dates for Spring '08

2008-01-06T18:03:00.000+01:00

Chris is starting an amazing new service at North Street on Wednesday evenings called re:generation. This will happen fortnightly, so runway will also be fortnightly too from now on. So, one week go to runway, next week go to re:generation. I'm sure that Chris will be telling us more about his plans soon, but from what I have heard so far it should be brilliant.

Here are the details up to Easter:

January 6th//New year resolutions//St John’s Shavington, 7.30pm
January 13th//Chris in the USA//St John’s Shavington, 7.30pm
January 20th//No runway
January 27th//Television is evil//St John’s Shavington, 7.30pm
February 6th//re:generation//Coppenhall North Street, 7.30pm
February 10th//Film night//St John’s Shavington, 7.30pm
February 20th//re:generation//Coppenhall North Street, 7.30pm
February 24th//How to hear God//St John’s Shavington, 7.30pm
March 5th//re:generation//Coppenhall North Street, 7.30pm
March 9th//Ethical shopping part 2//St John’s Shavington, 7.30pm
March 19th//re:generation//Coppenhall North Street, 7.30pm

Next runway meeting

2007-12-28T20:15:00.000+01:00

We'll be back for the new term on Sunday 6th January at 7.30pm as usual.

Most of you should remember that we wrote out our New Year's Resolutions last January. We'll be opening those back up (if we can get through Kyle's over-zealous efforts with the tape) and seeing how well we did at keeping them in 2007.

If you've any ideas of topics you'd like to look at this term, or if you fancy leading a section of an evening yourself, get blogging!

Superheroes or superzeroes?

2007-12-16T23:14:00.000+01:00

Tonight we had two Batmans, a Zorro, three PowerPuff Girls, two Spidermen, Super Girl, Super Ted and Super Gran and Cat Woman. Not quite following the brief, we also were blessed with Barney Rubble, a nun, a rabbit, James Bond and someone back to front.

After giving out our Secret Santa presents we played Pass-the-Parcel, watched some dances and played the super-power game (loser = Alex). Thanks to Pat and Mandy for the lovely food. See you all on January 6th if not before. The programme of topics for next term is currently being worked out; if there is anything you would like us to cover leave a note in the comments.

Superhero party

2007-12-14T17:01:00.001+01:00

Well, the decorations are up, the choccy fingers are bought, the pass the parcel (with dares) is all wrapped and ready to go and Andy has his furry pants at the ready...

Now all we need are some superheroes, armed with their Secret Santa pressies!

See you all Sunday night! Usual time, 7.30pm to 9pm (but you girlies feel free to come a bit earlier to get yourselves made up)

p.s Don't think you can't come if you don't want to dress up - "it doesn't matter what you wear, just as long as you are there..." (You're all too young to know what that song is, aren't you?)

Where is God?

2007-12-09T23:02:00.001+01:00

We wondered tonight about exactly where God is - is he up in the clouds, outside the universe, everywhere at once, inside people?

If we aim our prayers upwards, where do people in Australia aim theirs? At least one country has got it wrong! And what if you live on the equator... does God follow you round, like a geostationary satellite?

Laura had the great idea that churches should be shaped like the Kerplunk game. Instead of having steeples that make you think that God is above you in the sky, churches should point in all directions at once to make you realise that he is everywhere. And the spikes also point inwards - we should hopefully find God inside the church too, perhaps in the people who go there. Not an easy question to come up with concrete answers to this week.

Waiting

2007-12-02T22:46:00.001+01:00

This evening, on Advent Sunday, we thought about waiting. We remembered stories in the Bible where people had to wait for ages - Abram and Sarai's promised son, Jesus' wait until his thirties before he began his ministry and the Israelites wandering in the desert for forty years before entering the promised land.

We then thought about waiting for Jesus; how people had to wait hundreds of years for the coming of the Messiah prophesied by Isaiah. It puts waiting a month for Christmas into perspective.

We then thought about waiting for Jesus to come again, when the whole Earth will know him and kneel before him. We need to be prepared so that we aren't caught out if he comes back suddenly. We wondered what we would do differently if we knew that Jesus would come back this evening...