Hy-Tec
Celebration Service
11th
October 2015
Welcome
to everyone sharing with us in our services today and a special welcome to
everyone joining us to celebrate twenty-five years of Hy-Tec and get to the
heart of what it’s all about.
Highbury
Youth – The Eternity Club is a bit of a mouthful. So it’s always been known as Hy-Tec! Twenty-five years ago people at church had a
passion to share the Christian faith with the young people who were growing up
in the church, with their friends and with others too.
Starting
with Kev and Jenny Elliott, moving on to Mary Buchanan and then to Adrian
Blazey and to the current team of Adrian, Geoff and Ruth, Hailey, Matt and Beth
there have been a whole host of leaders who have helped out with Hy-Tec through
the years. A big thank you to them all.
At
the heart of everything Hy-Tec has done has been worship and prayer. As well as our 10-30 and 6-30 services
there’s a time of worship here in church most Sunday evenings at 8-45. It’s the culmination of a fun evening taking
a sideways look at the things that matter through the eyes of Jesus and brings
each Sunday to a close with praise and then, linking hands, prayer. So celebrate with us, think about the things
that matter … and join in prayer!
Welcome
Praise
and worship with Hy-Spirit
We
began with a couple of the very early songs that were favourites at Hy-Tec,
Come on and celebrate and over all the earth.
Prayer
and the Lord’s Prayer
Only
Connect
It’s
great celebrating Hy-Tec – 25 years – Highbury Youth – The Eternity Club
We
miss Mary Buchanan, one time leader of Hy-Tec and now our Youth Ministry
leader, who is up in Glasgow where her mother is far from well – she has sent
an email asking for prayers especially for her mum and her family as her mum is
not well.
Was trying to
think of some sort of 'inspirational' message to pass on to everyone - but at
the moment inspiration is failing! So I'll settle for
- sincere
apologies for the absence of haggis cake.
- hope it's a
memorable weekend (please put the pics on facebook, I'm getting hooked and I
have got some internet access!)
- lots of love to
all
- thanks to
everyone who has had to pitch in and do extra because of my absence.
I'll be with you
in spirit.
Love Mary
We
are thinking of Mary – who is with us in spirit – and we are thinking of her
mum, Margaret.
It’s
great to feel that connection with Mary now as we are sharing in our worship.
It’s
great to make connections – between the youngest one here and the oldest one
here – say 90 years. Youngest is Lucy at 2 – oldest is the oldest is Ellen at a
little over 90!
It’s 1982 years since the death and
resurrection of Jesus – 90’s into 1980 –
22
people – fewer than the number who have come specially to the Hy-Tec
celebration! - That’s what connects us to Jesus – historically.
Wow
– a very close connection with Jesus himself.
So
we have a quiz to do – the Hy-Tec Only Connect Wall – inspired by the fourth
round of the great quiz show, Only Connect.
You
can have a go on the wall here … through unless you know our Hy-Tec you won’t
be able to get very far!
The
Hy-Tec Only Connect Wall
Explain
the connections
The
original eternity clubbers
Mary
and Martha –
The
Mary Connection
Mary
was a very spiritual peson and Martha a very active person – we need both, we
need to be both – but they lost their brother – and Jesus was a great comfort
to them - Martha just wanted to talk, and Jesus talked with her and said I am
the resurrection and the life, those who believe in me, though they die yet
shall they live, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Mary couldn’t say anything she just was
weeping – and Jesus just wept with her – now words. And then he brought them resurrection for
their brother.
We
remember in the very first year of Hy-Tec Emma died – and we remember her and remember
her family today.
Luke
and John – Luke brought us the story of Jesus and the story of how the first
followers of Jesus took Jesus into the heart of the Roman Empire, Rome and John just selected seven things Jesus did
and through the words of Jesus brought out what they meant – that Jesus is the
Good Shepherd, that Jesus is the light of the world, that Jesus is the
resurrection and the life
That’s
the most important thing of all – that we each of us connect with Jesus – and find
that he is a presence with us who can shape our lives and be with us come what
may.
Only
connect – through reading the Bible – those gospels – and getting to know who
this Jesus is.
Only
connect – through prayer – really important
Only
connect – by simply letting him be there alongside you in the whole of your
lives
John
– was one of the youngest followers of Jesus – loved to share the Jesus message
– when he was old carried into church – God is love – love one another.
Along
with the Gospel he wrote he wrote a kind of accompanying letter that sums it
all up
1
John 4:7-12
Dear
friends, let us love one another,
because
love comes from God.
Whoever
loves is a child of God and knows God.
8
Whoever does not love does not know God,
for
God is love.
9
And God showed his love for us by sending his only Son into the world,
so
that we might have life through him.
10
This is what love is:
it
is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us
and
sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven.
11
Dear friends, if this is how God loved us, then we should love one another.
12
No one has ever seen God,
but
if we love one another, God lives in union with us,
and
his love is made perfect in us.
A
Hy-Spirit Song
Our
God is big not small, he loves us all
His
love is … amazing
Written
by one of the first Hy-Tecers – James Gregory.
Sunday
Special continues
For
over 3’s
Making
connections
[
The next little bit was in my notes … but didn’t get into the service
itself!!! Christabel Burniston would
have been well over 100 – her parents were passionate for women’s rights –
Christabel Pankhurst – the film Suffragette out this week.
Went
to church at the end of a conference and the preacher had walked across Selma
bridge with Martin Luther King – we are showing the film Selma on Saturday
night
And
on Saturday morning – A21
HUMAN
TRAFFICKING IS MODERN-DAY SLAVERY
Human
trafficking fuels the growth of organized crime, undermining health, safety,
security, and the basic needs of humanity. It is the fastest growing crime in
the world.
A21
EXISTS TO ABOLISH INJUSTICE IN THE 21ST CENTURY.
We
are a non-profit organization who believes that together, we can end human
trafficking.
Here is our strategy:
Prevention
– Protection – Prosecution – Partnership – Minster 11-00 on Saturday morning.]
There’s
another TV programme that focuses on a well known TV show like Dad’s Army and
then asks what happened next to the cast, the script writers, and everyone
involved.
So
we went on to hear what happened next to one of the very first Hy-Tecers and
one of the seven who was at the very first Hy-Tec twenty-five years ago.
One
of the very first leaders Jo told the story of what happened next after leading
Hy-Tec in its first five years. How she made
a commitment to Christian faith in the very first Hy-Tec weekend away, then
after leading Hy-Tec for five years married Matt, has a family and has become
very involved in church in Midsummer Norton, where she leads a club for years 5
and 6 and hosts with Matt a house group each week. She recalled using the script of the
Cheltenham Passion Play to take the story of Jesus on to the streets in
Midsummer Norton in 2008, calling it Passion – 8. Jo spoke movingly of the way her Christian
faith is such a strength to her, providing her with that solid presence of
Jesus with her and alongside her through all of life’s ups and downs.
We
went on to hear Helen’s story who had been at the very first Hy-Tec twenty-five
years ago. She had gone on to Uni,in
Lincoln, into teaching and has stayed in
Linclon where she has been very involved in the life of a church that has a
massive commitment to making a difference in the community. After 14 years as a classroom teacher she now
works as a peripatetic RE teacher and goes into church to share her Christian
faith as a teacher, a very different approach from the one she had been used to
as a permanent teaching in a school. She
spoke of the difference Jesus has made in her life and the strength he has been
through everything.
They
then went on to read wonderful words Jesus shared with his closest friends the
night before he died, when he spoke of them as friends.
Maybe
that’s the hope and prayer we have for us all – that we can treasure that
friendship we have with Christ and the friendship he has with us and take that ‘connection’
with Jesus through the whole of our lives.
John
15:1-17
“I
am the real vine, and my Father is the gardener.2
He
breaks off every branch in me that does not bear fruit,
and
he prunes every branch that does bear fruit,
so
that it will be clean and bear more fruit.
3 You have
been made clean already by the teaching I have given you.
4 Remain
united to me, and I will remain united to you.
A
branch cannot bear fruit by itself; it can do so only if it remains in the
vine.
In
the same way you cannot bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the
vine, and you are the branches.
Those
who remain in me, and I in them, will bear much fruit;
for
you can do nothing without me.
6 Whoever does
not remain in me is thrown out like a branch and dries up;
such
branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, where they are burnt.
7 If you
remain in me and my words remain in you,
then
you will ask for anything you wish, and you shall have it.
8 My Father's
glory is shown by your bearing much fruit;
and
in this way you become my disciples.
9 I love you
just as the Father loves me; remain in my love.
10 If you obey
my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's
commands and remain in his love
11 “I have told
you this so that my joy may be in you
and
that your joy may be complete.
12 My
commandment is this:
love
one another, just as I love you.
13 The greatest
love a person can have for his friends is to give his life for them.
14 And you are
my friends if you do what I command you.
15 I do not
call you servants any longer,
because
servants do not know what their master is doing.
Instead,
I call you friends,
because
I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.
16 You did not
choose me; I chose you and appointed you to go and bear much fruit,
the
kind of fruit that endures.
And
so the Father will give you whatever you ask of him in my name.
17 This, then,
is what I command you: love one another.
Hy-Spirit
went on to share the song that has most recently become a favourite.
Song
10,000 reasons
Kev,
the first leader of Hy-Tec then movingly shared his Christian story. He spoke of growing up in church but coming
after a short illness at the age of 10 to a realisation that God was with
him. Then going off to Uni how he felt
he had been led to be in just the place God wanted him to be. He spoke then of the way he had married,
moved to Cheltenham and become very involved for the next thirty years and more
in Christian youth work.
He
spoke of how well that work was going when he found Highbury were looking for
someone to help them set up a youth group.
Feeling he couldn’t ask anyone else to go, he and Jenny came across and
started something that is still going 25 years later.
In
all that he has done, with youth work nationally, setting up The Ocracy at
Highbury with alternative worship, detached work in Whaddon in Cheltenham in
Charlton Kings Baptist church and at Highbury the thing that has driven him has
been the difference being attached to Jesus and having that presence of Jesus
with him makes in the living of his life.
We
went on to sing In Christ alone.
In
Christ alone my hope is found,
He
is my light, my strength, my song;
This
Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
Firm
through the fiercest drought and storm.
What
heights of love, what depths of peace,
When
fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My
Comforter, my All in All,
Here
in the love of Christ I stand.
In
Christ alone! - who took on flesh,
Fullness
of God in helpless babe.
This
gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned
by the ones He came to save:
Till
on that cross as Jesus died,
The
wrath of God was satisfied -
For
every sin on Him was laid;
Here
in the death of Christ I live.
There
in the ground His body lay,
Light
of the world by darkness slain:
Then
bursting forth in glorious day
Up
from the grave He rose again!
And
as He stands in victory
Sin's
curse has lost its grip on me,
For
I am His and He is mine -
Bought
with the precious blood of Christ.
No
guilt in life, no fear in death,
This
is the power of Christ in me;
From
life's first cry to final breath,
Jesus
commands my destiny.
No
power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can
ever pluck me from His hand:
Till
He returns or calls me home,
Here
in the power of Christ I'll stand.
Stuart
Townend & Keith Getty
Copyright
© 2001 Thankyou Music
Worship
at Highbury happens each Sunday at 10-30, 6-30 and again at 8-45 when Hy-Tec
share in praise and worship with hy-Spirit our worship group and then link
hands around the table on the platform and share prayers people request.
We
linked hands around the table and around the church and shared in prayers,
remembering people known to us, not least our Youth Ministry leader Mary and
her mother who is not well at the moment, and especially children caught up in
the refugee crisis. With prayers for
peace and the grace our Hy-Tec celebration came to an end
With
a wonderful lunch to finish the weekend it was great not just to look back, but
to look forward and to share the weekend with the current hy-tecers in the hope
that we can pass on the faith we share so that more may come to know that Jesus
Christ can shape our lives and will always be there to see us through the whole
of our lives, an ever present strength, come what may.
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