Gerard Kelly's Blog, page 7
June 10, 2013
Books Aren’t Going Anywhere
July 10, 2011
spokenworship:
Pain de Vie.. just preparing to speak this...
Pain de Vie.. just preparing to speak this afternoon at La Source in lisieux - Jesus, bread of life…. I put this words together as a prayer to end the service…
liveforothers:
Last day of training at Bethanie.
We have had an...
Last day of training at Bethanie.
We have had an amazing week of training … now its mission time.
July 9, 2011
About Us
Gerard and Chrissie Kelly are co-founders of the Bless Network, a growing family of young leaders passionate about faith and the future of Europe. We are based in France, where bless is developing a missional community and training base. We have a 'Personal Support Team' who support us financially, pray for us and share the adventure with us. We'd love you to be part of it - details can be downloaded here.
Blessings…. G and C
Marked with Grace and Blessing
This is Psalm 67 in The Message translation. We just love these words, and as we send teams out from Bethanie this weekend to Slavonki Brod in Croatia and Lisieux here in France, this is what we are praying for them. We want these remarkable, talented young leaders to be 'marked with grace and blessing', and we want the communities they work with and the churches that meet in them to be blessed by their presence…
What more powerful prayer could there be than to long for 'far-flung people' to enjoy God? What better approach to mission could there be than to pray blessing on those we meet. Even without knowing their particular needs and circumstances, the one prayer we can always pray with confidence is that the blessings of God would fall upon them…
God, mark us with grace and blessing! Smile!
The whole country will see how you work,
all the godless nations see how you save.
God! Let people thank and enjoy you.
Let all people thank and enjoy you.
Let all far-flung people become happy
and shout their happiness because
You judge them fair and square,
you tend the far-flung peoples.
God! Let people thank and enjoy you.
Let all people thank and enjoy you.
Earth, display your exuberance!
You mark us with blessing, O God, our God.
You mark us with blessing, O God.
Earth's four corners—honor him!
July 8, 2011
July 7, 2011
Running from Cruelty
I just love this story from Henri Nouwen's The Wounded Healer, which for a book written in 1972 is uncannily fresh and relevant now. As we work with a generation that struggles with the church even more than that of 40 years ago, there is remarkable resonance in Nouwen's observations on the story, also included below…
"One day a young fugitive, trying to hide himself from the enemy, entered a small village. The people were kind to him and offered him a place to stay. But when the soldiers who sought the fugitive asked where he was hiding, everyone became fearful. The soldiers threatened to burn the village and kill every man in it unless the young man were handed over to them before dawn. The people went to the minister and asked him what to do. The minister, torn between handing over the boy to the enemy or having his people killed, withdrew to his room and read his Bible, hoping to find an answer before dawn. After many hours, in the early morning his eyes fell on these words:"It is better that one man dies than that the whole people be lost."
Then the minister closed the Bible, called the soldiers and told them where the boy was hidden. And after the soldiers led the fugitive away to be killed, there was a feast in the village because the minister had saved the lives of the people. But the minister did not celebrate. Overcome with a deep sense of sadness, he remained in his room. That night an angel came to him and asked, "what have you done?" He said: "I handed over the fugitive to the enemy." Then the angel said: "But don't you know that you have handed over the Messiah?" "How could I know?" the minister replied anxiously. Then the angel said: "If, instead of reading your Bible, you had visited this young man just once and looked into his eyes, you would have known."
While versions of this story are very old, it seems the most modern of tales. Like that minister, who might have recognised the Messiah if he had raised his eyes from his Bible to look into the youth's eyes, we are challenged to look into the eyes of the young men and women of today, who are running away from our cruel ways. Perhaps that will be enough to prevent us from handing them over to the enemy and enable us to lead them out of their hidden places into the middle of their people where they can redeem us from our fears."
Henri J M Nouwen, The Wounded Healer; In Our own woundedness, we can become a source of life for others
Carolyn Ros waiting for the peleton to pass…
It's...
Carolyn Ros waiting for the peleton to pass…
It's been great to have Carolyn and Johan Ros with us at Bethanie this week to give input to our teams training for mission. We became good friends of the Ros family during our time in Amsterdam, and have massively appreciated their input to bless… If you haven't read Carolyn's book, Broken Dreams Fulfilled Promises, I can highly recommend it. It has now been translated into 16 languages including Japanese and Mandarin Chinese, and tells a compelling and moving story of faith in the face of tragedy and trial. Just to be with Carolyn and Johan is to taste the faithfulness of God…
A Tree with Three Fruits…
We are 42 at Bethanie this week,...
A Tree with Three Fruits…
We are 42 at Bethanie this week, with teams in training for mission activity next week in Lisieux, France and Slavonski Brod, Croatia. We have young adults from the UK, France and the Netherlands, and are really impressed by their passion and talent… Our deep conviction is that mission is a tree with three fruits. The energy these young leaders are investing this week will bear fruit, without doubt, in the towns they serve in. There will be young people and children in Lisieux and Brod whose lives will be impacted by these teams. But there will also be fruit in these young people themselves. As we work, pray and play with them, we see evidence of the deep works of God in their lives. We know that none of them will return unchanged from the adventure they have undertaken. Which is why a third fruit will also grow: in the impact they have on the churches and communities they return to. Our mission trips may well be defined as short-term, but we know that they will result in long-term change.
Adriano Malori riding past Bethanie at the head of the Tour de...
Adriano Malori riding past Bethanie at the head of the Tour de France pack. He held his lead for almost 200k, but lost it 2.6k from the finish in Lisieux. We braved the rain and a cavalcade of commercial razzmatazz to cheer the riders on their way… then watched the dramatic Lisieux finish on TV…
