Writing for "Rejoice", our Circuit Magazine

I  am writing this at 40000ft above  the Black Sea on the way back to
Downham Market.    The flight is bumpy at the moment.  Lynese and I
have been visiting the family in Qatar in the Persian Gulf. We had the
opportunity to worship in a congregation that was made up of people
from different parts of the world but who all had a very real love for
Jesus. The style of worship was very different but their prayers and
praise was genuine and enthusiastic. It has been being in a different
situation that has shown me that even though we are all different
and come from different countries, we are all the same in God's eyes.
The heat was unbearable, the countryside was barren yet beautiful and
as I was able to travel into the desert with my son, I could imagine
what it must have been like for those who long ago lived in areas like
this without the air conditioning that made life bearable for us.
Seeing the camels and being in a sand storm made everything I have
read in the scriptures more real and I stand in awe at the majesty
of our God. As we enter the season of advent and think about
Christmas, I can see the wise men on their camels bringing their gifts
of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh and wonder what it is that we can
bring to our Lord.

BELOW IS THE LEADING ARTICLE I WROTE FOR "REJOICE" THE CIRCUIT NEWS LETTER!

It has been nine months since Lynese and I arrived in the circuit. During that time we have experienced a lot of love and care for which we thank you all.
Easter and Pentecost are over and we are now in what the lectionary calls the “Ordinary Season”. It has always struck me as being a bit of a misnomer as I have found over the years that nothing in the church or Christianity is ever ‘ordinary’. If I think of my walk with God and my experiences as a minister and a Christian they might have seemed ‘ordinary’ but on closer examination even the mundane has shown itself to be ‘extra-ordinary’.
I find it ‘extra-ordinary’ that my life has been so full of caring people, so full of loving family, so varied in all that I have been involved in and most of all so ‘extra-ordinary’ that I personally matter to God who made ‘everything both seen and unseen’.
I can only describe as ‘extra-ordinary’ the fact that people have been blessed by my listening to their stories when I know that listening is not one of my great natural skills. I find it ‘extra-ordinary’ that Lynese and I are living in another part of the world and that I have this incredible opportunity to be a minister among people all of whom were strangers and totally unknown to me just 15 months ago and now at times it feels as though I have known some of you my whole life.
What I am trying to say is that there is no ‘ordinary’ in Christianity. I can understand why the planners of the lectionary chose to call this season in our Christian year by that name, but please let us never think that ‘ordinary’ applies to any of us who know Jesus to be our Saviour or for that matter to anybody, as we are all ‘extra-ordinary’ because God made us to be just that!
As the summer grows ever brighter may we enjoy the brightness of God’s amazing love.
SHALOM!
Douglas Morris

AT LAST!!! A thought!

I wrote this for a local freebie newspaper in their "THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK" collumn.

They published under the headline 'Elephants, giraffe, wildebeest - snow!'

My wife and I have been living in the UK for nearly six months now after spending the first six decades of our lives in South Africa, both having been born there. Our experience of the UK was limited to a couple of visits of two days each while spending time with family in The Netherlands. What has struck me after this half year is how similar things are but also how different.

People are people wherever in the world they might be, so being a minister in the Methodist Church here has not been a very big adjustment. I take services on Sundays and midweek in care homes, visit families, meet with groups for bible study and fellowship, conduct funerals and weddings and meet and pray with people in all the celebratory and sad moments of their lives.

What is different is geography! Having spent most of my ministry working in rural communities in my home country I was surprised at how close everything is in the UK. Climate is also different but please note that in one of the places where I lived in South Africa, we were snowed in for 2 days on two occasions over a seven year period. I have not yet got used to being unable to go for a drive and encountering elephant, giraffe, and wildebeest in the wild. Seeing a couple of foxes while travelling by train the other day did begin to make up for that.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. I am finding each day as I minister here that this is so true. Jesus is the same whether you are in the UK, South Africa, Australia, USA, The Netherlands or wherever. My relationship with him is the one really totally dependable thing in my life.

Is it the same for you?

GETTING TO IT!

I have now been working with the Methodist Church in Britain for a whole month and have been in the country for longer (arrived on 17 August) so it is about time that "I GET DOWN TO IT", namely writing in my blog.

There are moments when I feel that I have been working here my whole life. At times it all seems so familiar to what I have been doing for the last forty years. I guess that 10,000 km's does not change the fact that I am still in a situation where people, and that includes me, are on a journey of faith, seeking to get deeper in that relationship with Christ. Others are needing help just getting on with life.

Yet it is all so different. Of course there is the weather! We have had some cold days but also so many really warm days. One Saturday in September I went out in shorts and sandals.

There are not quite so many formal meetings as we are used to in South Africa. The Circuit Meeting (QM) only meets twice a year. As do Church Councils (Leaders Meetings). District Synods on the other hand meet three times for ministers and on two of those the lay people are there as well. But the good news is that they only meet for a day each time. One strange thing is that you bring your own packed lunch and as Synod rises the hosts give you a slap up "Tea". I would have been happy to have that at lunch as I had not realised I had to bring my own. In the tradition of the 'loves and fishes' I was none the less fed at lunch time.

I have been enjoying the services and have been allowed to let them be as I would do them. So no first hymn but some songs of prayer and praise. Most have enjoyed the experience. I have rediscovered 'Harvest Festival'. It is a big thing here with meals and also in one spot an auction of the goods. Took me back to the old Hilton, Whittlesea & Roslyn Circuit in the Queenstown Distinct well over thirty years ago. Most of what is collected from the sales goes to agricultural projects in the third world. Some non perishable items are collected and end up with the Methodist children's charity called 'Action for Children'. It has just been renamed after being 'National Children's Homes '(NCH) since forever.

BE BLESSED!

IN THE USA

Lynese and I arrived in the USA on Saturday night after a three day stay in Holland with our family there. We leave the USA on 16 August and go directly to an "INTRODUCTION TO CIRCUIT MINISTRY COURSE" in Sheffield.

On Friday we will be spending some time with Ernie and Erica Williams. Ernie and I were at Rhodes together as well as being together in the East London Circuit in the mid 1970's. Should be fun catching up.

More at a later date.

A MONTH TO GO!

A month from today we leave South Africa on the journey which will end at Downham Market on 20 August. There is much to do!

GOT THE VISA!

Yesterday Lynese and I went and collected our visas for the UK. The whole adventure now seems to be becoming very real. Today we handed our applications in for a Netherlands visa as we will be visiting our family there on the way to the UK. We are also visiting the USA to spend time with Lynese's sister who has a 60th birthday.

79 DAYS TO GO!