Bible Study (Lessons from Jesus and Mary )

Matt Edmundson: Well good afternoon! Welcome to CROWD church live stream. I'm here with the very talented Sally. Hey, Sally, how you doing? Sally Burch: Hi Matt! Hi, everyone. lovely to see you this afternoon. Brilliant to have you with us. So welcome along this Sunday afternoon. Matt Edmundson: Yeah, yeah. And it's in the UK and Liverpool where we're streaming from it is a cold, cold Sunday afternoon. Sally Burch: It's windy, it's wet. It's pretty horrible out there. You're much better in here with us. So tell us what it's like you are! We'd love to hear where you are joining us from, because of course we're digital. You could be from anywhere, and that's the amazing thing about CROWD church, isn't it, Matt? Matt Edmundson: Absolutely. We are a digital church, as you rightly said, so. And it's great. We are an online church for those that might not see the point of church, but want to know more about Jesus and how he can help us live a meaningful life. Let me say that I hope you find a church that is good for you that is local to you and your community. But if not just consider joining CROWD church. We'd love to welcome you here. Or at least just keep coming back like Sal and I do week after week. Sally Burch: Yeah, we love to have you and this is a safe place for you to explore your faith, so feel welcome and safe with us this afternoon. What we got going on today, Matt? Matt Edmundson: That is a very good question Sal! We've got coming up a talk. But it's not really a talk. It's more of a sort of, it's more of a Bible study type thing, which is what we talked about in the title today. We've got that. Yeah, we've got five people sharing what they think about a specific passage, which is going to be good. Let me tell you, I've heard them all. Sally Burch: That sounds great. So less of you more of other people Matt, is that what you're saying? Matt Edmundson: Yeah pretty much. Yeah. Less of Matt more of others which is how I think how everybody likes it. I'm not gonna lie. Sally Burch: I wasn't saying that. We're very excited to hear that. It's always lovely, isn't it to hear from different people. And I love how you cut in those pictures, those little videos at the beginning, Matt of kind of different people that have spoken and everything. I like how from my talk a few weeks ago, you've picked out that one bit of me talking about going on my speed awareness course. I'm really, really thankful grateful for you, Matt, for picking that one little bit Matt Edmundson: What a councidence that is Sal! Sally Burch: What a coincidence. Thanks Matt I appreciate that. Matt Edmundson: I can get my own back. So it's the only way I can get my own back. Sally Burch: Fair enough. Fair enough. Brilliant. We've got a brilliant worship song again today. We're going to have a bit of discussion after that. And we've got to catch up with Josh coming later on as well. And of course, we haven't forgotten. It's Valentine's Day. And we've got a brilliant Valentine's prayer for you later on in the service. So that's, that's going to be really good. So we want you to feel all that love today. However you're doing however you're feeling it's not the easiest day for some people, we totally get that. So we want you to know that you are loved today, and we're with you today. Matt Edmundson: Absolutely. I feel like we could end it right there. Well done Sal. Brilliant. Now, if you are new to CROWD church, which I know many of you watching are whether you're watching on the live stream, or whether you're watching on the catchup via YouTube, or via Facebook, welcome. It's great that you are here. We appreciate that many people that are joining are new to CROWD are new to Christian things. And like Sal said, it is a safe space, to explore your faith. Now, to give you a bit of context, we are part of Frontline church, which is based here in Liverpool. But as Sal said, We are a digital church. And we stream literally all over the world, which is amazing. We have people from all over the world connect with us, it just blows me away. So yeah, its fantastic, you know, whereve you are watching this, thank y u and welcome. Sally Burch: And with the wonders of modern technology, you can get in touch with us no matter where you are. So please, we love your comments, please leave your comments also matches up the WhatsApp number as well. So if you want to get in touch with us, then use that WhatsApp number or via our website, you can get in touch with us there's loads and loads of different ways that you can get in touch with us. If you want to say something, say hi, or have your say or even if you've got some prayer requests, we'd always be happy to have those wouldn't we Matt? Matt Edmundson: Absolutely, we totally would. We love to pray for people. You know, Christianity is not just a theoretical exercise, a mental debate, although you know, I quite enjoy the mental side and the mental debates of it. But we believe that God is real and God does answer prayer. So if there's anything you would like us to pray about, you can reach out via the WhatsApp number, which is now on your screen. As Sal said, we would love to hear from you and pray for you. Sally Burch: Absolutely. Now I did notice that Matt has already put in the comments. Matt Crew has already mentioned about the issues that we had last week and have you got a backup router. But I'm hoping that we're not gonna have any technical issues today. But you never know. So bear with us if we do, but hopefully Matt everything's working out and everything's looking okay! Matt Edmundson: This is where everything's good at the moment Sal. But! this is the dangers of live stream, isn't it? Sometimes things do go wrong. And if they do, do bear with us, keep refreshing your feed and we'll be back again very, very shortly as things pick up. But for now, we're just grateful it's all working. Sally Burch: Absolutely. You can hear us, you can see us. It's not too glitchy. So we'll go with that. That's an absolute bonus. So, okay, should we get straight into it then Matt? Matt Edmundson: I think we should. I think we should. Is there anything in the comments we can pull out? I've not actually been looking at them. Sally Burch: Like Jemma's comment, let's just focus on that! I didn't pay her too much to say that. She said you always look fit Sal. Aw, Jemma, Thanks! Matt Edmundson: For those of you who are watching the live stream outside of the UK, Fit doesn't mean she's looking.... You explain it Sal! Sally Burch: Okay. No, do we need to explain that..... Matt Edmundson: I think so! Sally Burch: Let's just say I'm not fit in the sense of I can run very far. I could definitley challenge you to a Just Dance challenge, which is what my fitness routine consists of at the moment with my daughter doing the Just Dance routine. So I'm loving that! It's much more fun than doing a run outside in this horrible weather. So if anybody's looking for a new fitness routine, I can highly recommend that. I'm prepared to move quickly on because I'm feeling my cheeks burning a little bit. Matt Edmundson: If your daughters are listening to this live stream, please record the the dancing, it will appear in a catch up video soon. So do keep watching. Sally Burch: And so on we go! Our talk this afternoon is called lessons from Mary and Jesus. And as Matt said, we have got some guest speakers as well. So I hope you enjoy that and put some comments on and we will look forward to discussing it shortly. Matt Edmundson: Absolutely. Here we go. Alright, let's play. So today, I wanted to do something a little bit different, you know, a little deviation from the norm of Matts's Sunday live stream talks. Oh, yes. So I have taken this week story from Mark's gospel, and I've merged it with the story from John's Gospel. Okay. Now normally, what I would do is I would go through the Scriptures, and I would pull out a few things to talk about. But rather than me do that, I actually want you fine folks watching the live stream. To do that. I want you to let me know what sticks out to you. Right. So I'm going to read the story. And I want you to think about what's the one thing that is sticking out to me here. And I want you to write it in the comments below, whether you're watching on Facebook, or whether you're watching on YouTube, write it in the comments below. And I'm going to talk about it with Sal after this little section here. Okay. Now, I've also asked a few folks to some of their thoughts on video, which I'm also going to share with you after the story to give you, you know, the perspectives of a few other people. Now, you may have not done anything like this before, I appreciate that if especially if this is your first time in any kind of church environment, don't feel like you have to put stuff in the comments, obviously. But you know, what I want you to do is just to sort of have a go and see what happens as I read the story, what kind of sticks out to you what comes to mind. And if you don't put it in the comments, just jot it down on a piece of paper, you know, put it into your phone or whatever device you're looking on. Because what I want to do is I want to make the scriptures come alive to you a little bit to help you learn that as you read the scriptures different things for different people, you know, sort of come alive out of it. So give it a go, see what happens. Write down what comes to mind, what sticks out to you, and maybe just maybe what God might be saying to you through it. So the way I read Scripture, especially the Gospels, is I like to spend a bit of time just, you know, picture in the story in my head to try and understand what's going on. I love to ask the question, What's the story? What's going on? So you're going to see a little bit of this process as we go through through this week story. Okay, so this is from Mark's gospel, Mark chapter 14. And you can read it in the Gospels. You can read it for yourself. And what I'm going to do now is I'm going to read to you sort of my combined version, like I said, Of Mark's gospel and John's Gospel. You ready? Here we go. It was the start of the Jewish holiday, a seven day period known as the feast of the unleavened bread, as a celebration that happens every year. And it kind of culminates in the Passover, which is a time to remember the Exodus, the freeing of slaves from Egypt and the supernatural protection around their families. And Jesus, and his disciples were at Bethany, which was a town near Jerusalem, just at the foot of the Mount of Olives. When this feast, this celebration had started. And they had been invited by Simon the leper to come and enjoy his hospitality and eat with them. And they all sat at his table, alongside friends, such as Lazarus, because he was there. Now, they may have talked to Lazarus about what it was like to be raised from the dead, something that Jesus did a few weeks earlier. Or maybe they talked to Simon, who would have now not been a leper, because that he wouldn't have been able to host the party and be a leper. So maybe they talk to him about, about getting healed, and was he healed by Jesus? I think it probably was more than likely, that's why had the celebration there. The conversation, you know, I think would have been intimate, you know, the kinds you get from those that have sort of journeyed through challenges, and, and sort of struggle together the, you know, the struggles of life, the challenges of life, the victories of life. And their conversation around that table was very, very different to the conversation that was happening on the other side back into Jerusalem. It was a conversation between the religious leaders, the chief priests, and the scribes. And for the first time, really, they were united around a common vision, or should I say it was a common enemy? It was no longer Rome, it was Jesus. Jesus, the healer was a thorn in their flesh, he had called out their hypocrisy, way too many times. So these religious men now started to sort of resort to trickery, and to lies. They wanted him dead, regardless of the cost to their own personal souls, regardless of the rules they taught and believed in. You see, this was too important to them. They knew that Jesus was in Bethany eating at Simon's house, Simon, the leper, the outcast, the unclean, one who had been healed, yet another reason to kill Jesus. But Jesus wasn't enough. Their thirst for blood was growing, and it was as strong as strong could be, as they talked and spurred each other on in their evil acts. They plot expanded to kill Lazarus too, he had become too much of a celebrity people went to Bethany just to see Lazarus, this man that Jesus had raised from the dead. And when Lazarus told his story, a great many Jews believed in Jesus, and that had to be stopped too. Two men that night, were added to a hitlist. As the self appointed models of righteousness set around their table, plots were formed. Its as if Jesus could sense the scheming the evil that was growing and coming for him. It was troubling him. The day was rapidly approaching, and he knew it. I can see him looking at the people around the table, his friends, as they ate, and they laughed. Jesus had tried in the past to talk to them about what was going to happen, but they didn't understand it. No one could. It was utter foolishness to their ears. Lazarus' sister, Mary, also, seemed to sense that something was not right. She and her sister Martha had been busy serving the food. With Martha, especially taking pride in hosting well, it was what Martha did. Last time Jesus was eating with their family, Mary had taken some time to sit at the feet of Jesus, and just listen to him teach. And Martha, of course, got all kinds of indignant about this. Her desire was for all things prim and proper. But that meant Mary was needed to help serve a minister to the guest, not kind of usurp this honoured position of a disciple at Jesus's feet. A woman should never do that, especially her sister. Was it whilst Mary said Jesus's feet or watch while she sort of watched her brother stumble out of the tomb with his burial bandages still on? What is it then that she made the decision to give to Jesus her very best in the future? That moment isn't clear. But what is clear to Mary is this moment, looking around listening to the conversations, seeing what's happening, and maybe sensing in Simon's house, that something was wrong for Jesus. Now for hundreds of years at feasts, just like this olive oil was used to anoint the heads of guests. But in this moment, olive oil was not enough. It would not be the best that she had to give. The moment required her best, she knew that. So Mary took a flask, which was made of alabaster and broke the long thin neck, and she immediately smells the beautiful fragrance that comes from the oil of spikenard. There was no going back now, it could only be used once. And this expensive oil was a testament to their wealth as a family. It was the best oil that she had. She goes to Jesus and pours it over his head and his feet and anoints him. The rest of the disciples stop talking amongst themselves as they heard the jar break, and they started to smell this amazing fragrance. But the silence didn't last long as they started to murmur amongst themselves. Some of them instantly become indignant and angry. "That oil costs a year salary!" exclaimed Simon son, Judas. "Why was it not sold? The money should have been given to the poor!", he shouted. Mary could feel everyone looking at her, she could hear their anger, and she starts to retreat in. And I can almost see Jesus shifted his seat as a criticism is hailed at Mary. He hears what they say. And you know what, there's even a reasonable question in the midst of it. But he also knew the heart of the critic. He knew Judas. And I kind of see him standing between Mary and the disciples, especially Judas, and looking Judas right in the eye, as he says, "Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for me, for you have the poor with you always. And whenever you wish, you may do them good. But me, you do not have always. She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint my body for burial." You know what? That shirts up all of the men in the room in an instant. But that's not enough for Jesus. He feels so strongly about this. He follows it up with an incredible statement. "Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her, So that's the story! Okay. So as you can tell, I just took some pieces of Scripture and just tried to unpack a little bit of what's going on. Just painting the picture. But what stuck out to you? What spoke to you? I'd love to know in the comments, write it in the comments. And as you're busy writing, I'm going to play some videos of what other people have sent to me what sticks out to them. Apparently there's no sound coming from Liddy there! Is that right Sal? Sally Burch: That's right, I can't hear her. Yeah. Yeah. Nicola agrees. Matt Edmundson: Well you know we were talking about technical issues earlier on. I think we had our first one. Now, what I'm going to try and do, is I'm going to try and play Liddy's video directly, and see if that actually works. So Sal you just take over no pressure! Keep everyone going, while I do a little bit of jiggery pokery. Sally Burch: It's a good job you didn't cut to me, you know, just a couple of seconds before as I currently had a mouthful of munchie! Delicious chocolates with caramel and biscuit. So quite good that you didn't! That you kind of gave me a bit but yeah, sorry about that we will try and get that with to you as soon as we possibly can. But while Matt is doing that, one of the things he was saying in his off overview was about trying to think about what's your response to that? There were loads of different responses by the people that were there on the day, and probably loads more that weren't even recorded. So let's think about what our own responses are to, to that particular story. Matt Edmundson: Yeah, absolutely. Okay. So I'm going to try and play Liddy now. I'm going to replay the talk. I'm not. I'm going to do it this way. So let me choose the file here. Sally Burch: Just looking at the comments already Jemma saying about, she's doing what she thought was best. So I think you mean Mary there with the perfume and doing what she thought was best in that situation, giving her all and giving her best. Yeah, that's a really good point. Jemma, thank you. Matt Edmundson: Absolutely. Okay, so we hear what lady's got to say. Sally Burch: If we can, that'd be amazing. Matt Edmundson: We'll try it again. Okay. Sally Burch: I'll have my munchie Thanks, Matt. Matt Edmundson: And now we can hear and can't see her. Is that right? Sally Burch: Yep. Matt Edmundson: Okay, so something very odd is going on. Just give me two seconds. Unknown: Mark's gospel is the shortest of all the Gospels, and it often provides graphic eyewitness details more than any of the others. Mark reported that some were indignant, and almost abusive. Yet the woman's gift was both an act of love and an act of faith. In a sense, you know, it's also a confession of futility. It says she poured perfume on the body beforehand, to prepare for burial. Nothing could alter the tragic course of events that must take place. But in love and faith. She did what she could do for Jesus. Often we feel deeply frustrated by our inability to help those we love. If we could only we would change so much. The agony of someone we love, going through a divorce, the uncertainty of another's unemployment, the anxiety of yet another illness. Don't get locked into what you can't do. Perhaps one reason the beautiful thing this woman did for Jesus should be remembered for should encourage us. Heartbroken, she could do no more. She did what she could. And it was a beautiful thing. Let's do whatever we can for others out of love, and through hurting for them. And hearing that maybe we can't do any more. Jesus's defence of the woman of Bethany assures me that when we do what we can we do enough . Mary's, sensed the sacrifice. he sacrificed regardless of others opinions, and what t ey think of her. She was willin to give up this perfume which epresented her high status, h r wealth, and her family's weal h, because she knew the impo tance of who she was sacrifici g to. And it just kind of made e question like, how often do e make sacrifices for those aro nd us? Who is important to s, or what is important to s that we are willing to sa rifice for? Because often I don't think we are willing t make sacrifices. But she sacri iced regardless of what others w uld think, because she knew the mportance of Jesus, who sh was sacrificing to. I know for e when my friends sacrifice t eir time for me, or my sisters g ve up something they're play ng with so that I can play wit it. It means a lot. And it hows me that they love me. Thi perfume was her like status, her wealth. It represen s her riches. Yet, she gave it p for the sake of love. Are we w lling to do that? I think in our workplaces, in our schools, and there will always be situa ions where we may not want to tand up or we may not want to acrifice and give up a status. And give up what people think o us. But sometimes we n ed to act like Jesus do and a t in the cause of justice. The thing that sticks out to me about this story is gifts. The story talks about Mary and her brother Lazarus. Imagine Mary's grief when Lazarus dies, but also her tears of joy, and her overwhelming emotion when Jesus brings Lazarus back from the dead. That's the first gift in this story. How can you ever repay someone who brings life back to someone you love? The second gift is given by Mary. she expresses her love and gratitude to Jesus through an extravagant gift of expensive, fragrant oil. The story says it was worth about a years salary. So imagine spending 10s of 1000s of pounds on a bottle of oil. That seems pretty crazy, doesn't it? But Mary pours it over Jesus's feet, knowing that it would make her seen. She knows that everyone else will notice because the beautiful smell. But her gratitude for what Jesus had done was greater than her concern and fear of what other people might think. Then Jesus explains the significance of the oil. Without Mary knowing it, her actions have spoken of what was going to happen to Jesus. Jesus says in the story, she has come to anoint my body for burial. Her actions reveal this third gift that Jesus would give up his life that he would give himself these three gifts. They're not about human values. When we give a gift, we think about what the other person might want. But we also think about how we would look, we would think about is our gift too cheap, or is it too expensive? How much did they spend on us when they bought us a gift? How much should we spend back? So that's our human way of thinking about gifts. But this story talks about something much, much deeper. It's God's value system of love. Matt Edmundson: Thanks, guys. That was awesome. Now my apologies to Liddy and Anna Grace. For whatever reason sound was not working on your video clips. And I have no idea why when everyone else was fine. So we will figure that out and either try and play them later. Or we'll put them on social media so you can listen to what Liddy and Anna Grace had to say, so do check them out because they are definitely worth listening to. Sally Burch: Yeah, brilliant. Thanks. Yeah, loads to discuss and unpack just from those three though! That's really great. absolutely. And some of them are working, which is good. Now we are going to go into a time of worship. Just now and then we're going to come back for the discussion with me and Sal we're going to go through your comments. So do carry on writing in the comments. I've been looking at them as great. We're going to sing a song called 'Worthy of it All.' And in there, there's two lines it's probably worth explaining one says, "The elders cast their crowns before the feet of Jesus." That just simply means, this is a pictorial thing. The crown represents who you are. Do you know what I mean? It represents everything of value, your authority, you as a person, and you're just given that at the feet of Jesus. Like Mary with this really expensive perfume. And there's another line which talks about "day and night night and day, let incense arise." Just like when Mary broke that bottle, the fragrance filled the room. It's very pictorial again, it's about you know what we do with our lives, may our lives be a pleasing aroma, our prayers, our gifts, the way we live, what we do. Day and night, may our incense be pleasing, may that arise. That's coming up in the worship, but before we sing that, Sal you've got you've got a great prayer. Sally Burch: Yeah, I have I've got a prayer that I'd like to read. It's written by Pete Gregg who've actually read a prayer out from before a lockdown prayer from quite a few weeks ago. And he's a Christian sort of author and he just put this on Facebook today and we just thought that this was so brilliant. We we want to mention, it is Valentine's Day, and we want to kind of acknowledge that and that it's not always easy. So I'm just going to read this prayer and then we'll go into our song. So it's called, 'A Distinctly Unromantic Pandemic Prayer for Valentine's Everywhere'. We pray today for those in love, those out of love, and those in between. We remember especially those who find themselves a little bit lonelier than normal. Lord, we asked you to comfort the many people for whom today is particularly painful, because they lost a loved one this year. And we remember those working out there marriage vows, in sickness and not in health, quietly caring for a partner with dementia, or with an addiction, or a chronic illness of the body or mind. We pray today and hereby dedicate this happy crappy day to all the brave teenagers who dare to send a card hoping in vain with every fibre of their beings for something back. Let them be a little more okay, because we prayed. We think of the mother homeschooling alone, who quietly bought herself flowers yesterday. Let her kids be kind today. Let her teenagers tidy their bedrooms. And if that's a miracle too far, we realise you've got a lot on right now. Could they at least initiate a hug at bedtime? We think of the elderly gentleman gazing today at a fading sepia photograph in a silver frame of a wedding in another time. Look at him and look with him and be with him in the remembering and the unremembering too. King of love, on this day named after one of your unmarried saints. Embrace the unlovely and the unloving parts of our world and of ourselves. We pray and forgive us today we pray for this cheap, gaudy, hysterical, isolating thing we have sometimes somehow tried to make of love and of you. Amen. Matt Edmundson: Amen. Amen. Great, what a great prayer. Now, we're gonna track. Sally Burch: Thank you so much Anna Grace and John. Really lovely. Yeah. Brilliant. Wow, still feeling a little bit emotional after that poem, Matt, I'm not gonna lie. I was finding bits of that hard to read because it's so great. Really Matt Edmundson: Super, super powerful. We put it in the Really good. comments for those of you who want to go over that again and again and again, it's such a beautiful prayer to pray. And it's definitely the heart of us here at CROWD. There are some ther comments as well. You guys ave been busy commenting toda . So lets look at th Sally Burch: Yeah, we love that! Thank you so much for that. It's really good. Yeah, go for it then, Matt. What do you want to look at first? , Matt Edmundson: The first one, I like what Jemma wrote, 'The the hiccups are what make CROWD church extra boss". Sally Burch: Lovley Jemma, thank you! Matt Edmundson: There's always technical issues. You've got to be flexible with the technical! The other thing that Gemini, which made me smile, and it definitely needs context. I'm just thinking if anyone is going down the comments, they're going to come across a comment from Jemma which says ,"Dan's breakdown. Loved it." Sally Burch: Yeah. We are not talking Breaking Bad here. We're talking about the breakdown of what he said. I'm assuming, Jemma, that's what we're talking about the breakdown of what he said. Rather than a Breaking Bad style. Matt Edmundson: Yeah, just having a full on breakdown. Sally Burch: Although, what would that look like? Oh, sorry. Yeah. Matt Edmundson: Brilliant. Made me smile, Jemma, thank you for that. I like what Trevor, wrote here, he says, "In a male dominated society, Mary puts down a sacrificial challenge to us all." And I think that's brilliant Trevor. Because one of the things that comes across in that story for me, is the actions of Mary in a room full of men, when she shouldn't have acted that way. She shouldn't have done what she did. Maybe? They were angry with her. And Jesus stands up on Mary's behalf in a society which didn't actually think too much of women at the time. And I just, I think it's magical. Sally Burch: Yeah, totally agree. I totally agree. And and you know that she plays such a significant role in this story, there must have been so many other things that went on that night, you know, loads of other stories that could have been pulled out there and things that could have been said, like you were sort of saying about the context beforehand about, you know, the healing of the leper, and all those sorts of things. But this is what that story really focuses on. This sacrificial act from this woman, who would have been kind of really quite low down in the pecking order in those days. So I think that is incredible. And something that does need to make us sit up and take notice of what is this saying then. And I love how each of the three, is such a shame, we didn't get to hear Liddy and Anna Grace as well, though, do look out for that, because we will try and put those out this week. But I love how just those three had something different to say about it. And there's so much to get from it, which is really brilliant. absolutely. Absolutely. Sharon said here that she loved that Jesus stood up for Mary in front of everyone else. And I think that's true. That's just Jesus, though, isn't he stands up for those that maybe can't stand up for themselves sometimes. And don't underestimate what he said. And to who he said it, in the context of that room, they would have been shocked. Especially when he turns around, he says, You know what, for the rest of the time, whenever this story is told, this will be told as a memorial to her. I mean, that is just....I mean, that blows my mind now! It would have definitely blown their minds back then. And here it is recorded in Scripture. We're still talking about this event 2000 years later, you know? Sally Burch: Absolutely! Amazing. I really liked what Dave was saying, I wrote down what he said about, you know, that sort of helplessness we feel for people that we love when they're going through different things, and you know, we just can't do what we want to be able to do. But then he said at the end, when we do what we can, we do enough. Just abrilliant little soundbite there. I just thought that that was, that was so good. Because we worry don't we, that we're not doing enough all the time. If only I could do more for this person, or give them more time or financially help them. But you know, when you do what you can, you're doing enough. So that's the challenge there, isn't it to do what you can. To not just think, it's too little, it's not good enough. It's not I want to do more, so won't do anything. To do little that you can will will make such a difference. absolutely. No so much stuff in this. I hope you got something out of this week. I hope you got something out of the story. And just, you know, thinking it through I was saying to Sal at the start, You know, it's kind of easy I think, because I've been going to church for years. And sometimes on a Sunday, It's just easier to sit down in front of the guys or girl who's speaking and just go, alright, feed me. Do you know what I mean? I'm just going to sit back and passively consume what you're going to tell me. Most of the time, It's good. I mean, sometimes, you could question it! But most of the time, it's good. But today, It's kind of like actually no, what what do you get out of it? What are you getting out of it? And I just I love that and there's so many ways that you could take that story, and so many things that you can pull from it. So I hope you got something out of that everyone. I know Nicola has, Jemma's got stuff in the comments! Sally Burch: Yeah, I'd love that Jemma said, "If you give different names that people in the story. It could be a soap." Absolutely. At the end, you can just hear the Doof Doof do do doo doo! Tune in next time. Matt Edmundson: I need to rapidly pull up the EastEnders theme so we can use that. Sally Burch: As my dish is not quite good enough there, Matt? Matt Edmundson: No, no, no much better than mine. So let's just leave it there. Let's just leave it there. Sally Burch: Okay. Yeah, I love what Charlotte said. Thanks, Charlotte. And it says you know, it's like I've heard it for the first time today and that's that's the amazing thing. Isn't it about these stories in the Bible that we read them go Yeah, I know that and then when you hear someone else's sort of take on it, and it it just kind of Wow, I never thought of it from that point of view before. So that's really good. Matt Edmundson: Yeah, no, it is. And I like I actually agree with Jemma. I like Dan's breakdown at the end of the gift that Mary brings to Jesus, but also the gift that Jesus ultimately brings to all of us. I thought that was very, very good. Well done, Dan. Very, very skillful. Sally Burch: I think very quickly before we move on we just really quickly need to talk about the important question of the week from Nicola. Very, very important that we do this. Oh, hang on is Nicola not done it this week? Is it Matt's question this week? Matt Edmundson: Has Matt sneaked in with a question? Sally Burch: Matt sneaked in with a question before Nicola?! Now if you're new, Nicola will often bring a really, you know, hard hitting question. So I think last week it was, " Is a hot dog sandwich? Which was very controversial. But we haven't had one from Nicola this week! Matt Edmundson: Can I just say before you read it out, Matt, you are a brave man, Stealing Nicholas question. I just wanted to point that out. Sally Burch: Yeah. Yeah, it's gonna be a whole lot. Matt Edmundson: Jemma says this is #murder. Sally Burch: It's good job this is Digital church, and not live. Anyway. So bacon rasser crisps or onion ring crisps? Which is better? Matt Edmundson: Salt & Vinegar. Sally Burch: Yeah, but if you had to choose from those two, Matt, that's not the question. Matt Edmundson: I wouldn't choose either of those. Sally Burch: If you had to!? Matt Edmundson: Bacon. Sally Burch: Yeah. Frazzles all the way. Matt Edmundson: Yeah? Okay. Sally Burch: Okay, there you go! Matt Edmundson: Sorry, Matt it's just wrong. Salt & Vinegar all the way! What's wrong with you Can't go wrong. Can't go wrong Anyway Sally Burch: Anyway! Matt Edmundson: Oh, oh, no, you've got Shar says bacon & Jemma says onion rings. What is that already? So, what can I say? So right! Let's move on from that deep theological, spiritual question as a dare say you're gonna comment during the catch up. We'll be back in just a few seconds, but this is this week's catch up video. Josh Edmundson: Hello, and welcome to this week's Sunday catch up! For those of you who don't know me, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Josh Edmundson. I am a student at the University of St. Andrews studying physics. And I am a member of the team here at CROWD church. If you have never watched the stream before, welcome! It is great to have you here. Let me just quickly explain what catchup is. Catchup is the part of the stream where we get pictures and videos in from members of the community and we just put them up for everyone to see, just so that we get a feel for how everyone is doing. In usual fashion. I will kick things off. This week. I spent a lot of the evenings watching Harry Potter with my sister, and one of our lodges Mona! For the first , well, for pretty much the first time. I'd seen the first few films before, but after like the second one, I hadn't seen any of them. Now I'm a big fan of the books, butI don't know watching the films. They were good, particularly the last few films they were really good. I don't know I just think the books are better. I think there's almost a fundamental truth. There's one instance where I can think the film was better than the book for me and that would be the How to Train your Dragon series. Loved those films! The soundtrack just is fantastic. I thought that Dumbledore in the film, wasn't quite as compassionate and kind as he is in the book. And that really kind of irritated me a bit. If you happen to both watch the films and read the books. Let me know what you think put down in the comments whether you think that the films, or the books were better. I'm definitely going with the books on this one! Films are great, but you just can't beat the great story and character arcs of the books. I am filming the Catch Up video. Unknown: Are you definitely? Josh Edmundson: Yes. What have you been doing this week Zoe? Unknown: Eating. Josh Edmundson: What did you think of the Harry Potter films? What do you think's better? I Was just saying this. I think personally the books are still better. I think the character arcs and storylines is better in the books. And Dumbledore. I think that's that's a big point and favourites books for me. Would you agree? Do you do you just want to do the rest of the video? You have to fist say, " But that's enough for me! Now on to the catch up clips!" Unknown: Okay. But that's enough for me, so onto the catch up clips. Josh Edmundson: Oh, gosh,I think I might be out of the job. And Action! Unknown: Thanking people. Thank you. Josh Edmundson: Want to explain how people can get their stuff on catch up? Unknown: If you want your stuff on catch up? You can send it through the WhatsApp number, or...? Josh Edmundson: hashtag hashtag.... Sally Burch: Hashtag crowd catch up on Instagram. That's all for me this week. Thank you. Thank you, bye. Josh Edmundson: Well, yeah, I guess I'll catch you next time. Unknown: It's too many words, and I just woke up too. Matt Edmundson: I don't know what to say there. I'm flummoxed. I'm absolutely flummoxed. Yes, Jemma, you're right! The dog is just so cute. We are looking forward to meeting the little Jemma Orange dog. What's the dog's name? Dixie? Sally Burch: Dixie, but it's a boy. Jemma, you need to explain that at some point, but maybe not. now. Matt Edmundson: Okay, yeah, moving on. Moving on, the dog names and 'fit' two things that need to be explained! Sally Burch: Okay, brilliant. Well, I love Zoe's kind of take over there on the Catch Up. Well done. Do send us some more stuff in so that we can see what you've been up to as well. We would love to see what you've been up to. Doesn't have to be anything exciting. We're all sort of stuck, aren't we what we can do. So food pictures, pet pictures. As you can see, we're happy with those. Matt Edmundson: There seems to be a theme. There definitely seems to be a theme. Certainly Matt crew, when he sends his photos in nine times out of 10. They're him eating a pizza or something. I mean, so food seems to be a common theme amongst everybody, which is fair enough, because food is good. And we had a heck of a feast yesterday! Sally Burch: It's really nice to see your faces or your pets faces. It's nice to have that connection. And speaking of connection, if you want a little bit more connection, and you'd like to actually sort of be involved in kind of chatting through things that we've kind of talked about at CROWD church, there is the Wednesday group that you can always join isn't there Matt? Matt Edmundson: There is! Totally the Wednesday group. And if you'd like to know more about it, you can connect with us on WhatsApp or via email. We meet at 8pm on zoom for a sort of a little Bible study, really just think and explore about the Christian faith and understand more about what it means. And grow in that and it's brilliant. So just let us know, if you want to come along. Check out that WhatsApp number there on the screen. And you will be able to come and join us. It's great, great fun. Actually, I quite enjoy the little Wednesday night chats always great to connect with folks. Sally Burch: Brilliant. Now before we go I do want to just quickly give an update. Last week we talked about the amazing charity 'Imagine if'. It's fabulous charity, if you will check out their website. They do so much good in Liverpool, and in the world as well. Last week, we talked about a fundraiser that they were doing. They are opening a new house in Liverpool. They raised an amazing amount. Didn't they Matt? Have you got the actual amount there? Or are we just going to say roughly? Matt Edmundson: Approximately 20 grand, which is amazing. So thank you to everyone that gave for that. It's brilliant what's been going on with Imagine if. They bought a third house to house homeless people. They use thier houses to bring in homeless people. They get them rehabilitated with life and living, and it's an amazing work that they do. Yeah, really really great to see what's been going on there. It's like Sal said, check out the website imagineiftrust.org. If you want to know more. If you'd like to support that work, I'm sure they will be more than happy to hear from you. And we'll be getting an update from either Jemma or James, soon. Once I can convince either of them to do me a little video. Okay, so anything else we need to say before we say goodbye Matt Edmundson: Next week, we have the delectable senior pastor John Harding, who's going to be talking about Judas, which, you know, might not sound that interesting, but you know, John is gonna be absolutely fantastic. He's gonna be talking about Judas and betrayal, and that whole side of life, which, which is just terrific. We're gonna get into it. It's part of the Christian story, and we definitely can't escape it. So we've got John, next week. So do join us for that. 4pm. it's going to be live here on Facebook and YouTube. And don't forget if you want to get in touch with us in the meantime, Whatsapp us or go to our website and get in touch with us there. It's been brilliant to have you along this afternoon. Thank you so much for all your comments or just being there with us. We've loved it. absolutely. Thanks for being part of the conversation, thanks for being part of the CROWD! We will see you guys next week. Have a fantastic week. God bless. Like we say, Wednesday night, WhatsApp us if you want to know more. Do connect with us on Facebook or Instagram, because we're going to post both Liddy's and Anna Grace's videos. You'll definitely want to check those out. From me, from Sal, have