Newsletter - January February 2002   IN FOCUS -  www.thebiblecourse.com A free six-week course learning how to read and use the Bible. No pressure, no expectations, and no cost - free Bible included! The next course is to run at Chorlton park Adult Education Centre, Mauldeth Road West, Chorlton, Manchester, January 29 - March 12, 2002. The course is free but there are limited places so you must book first. Reserve your place by phoning (0161) 286 6471 or book online at www.thebiblecourse.com. Alternatively to book by post, write giving your name, address and phone number (and any additional names of people to book on the course) to: "The Bible Course", Freepost NWW 1240, Manchester, M16 1SA. THOUGHT -  "The World was Changed" A New York church filled and emptied six times on September 11th. The owner of a Manhattan tennis shoe store threw open his doors and gave running shoes to those fleeing the towers. People stood in lines to give blood, and prayed in sanctuaries for the wounded. Britain was different that week. We wept for people we did not know. We sent money to families we’ve never seen. Talk show hosts read scriptures, journalists printed prayers. Our focus shifted from fashion hemlines and sports scores to orphans, widows and the future of the world. We were different that week. Republicans stood next to Democrats. Catholics prayed with Jews. Skin colour was covered by the ash of burning towers. We were not as self-centred as we were before September 11th. We were not as self-reliant as we were before September 11th. Hands were out, knees were bent. This is not normal. And I have to ask the question, “Do we want to go back to normal?” Are we being given a glimpse of a new way of life? Are we being reminded that power is not in ourselves and the future is not in our bank accounts? Could this unselfish prayerfulness be the way God intended for us to live all along? Maybe this, in his eyes, is the way we are called to live. And perhaps the best response to this tragedy is to refuse to go back to normal. Perhaps the best response is to follow the example of Tom Burnet. He was a passenger on flight 93. Minutes before the plane crashed in the fields of Pennsylvania he reached his wife by cell phone. “We’re all going to die,“ he told her, “but there are three of us who are going to do something about it.” We can do something about it as well. We can resolve to care more. We can resolve to pray more. And we can resolve that with God as our helper, we’ll never go back to normal again.
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