Catrina Benham's Blog

Roll up! Final call for Word and Worship tickets! You know what it's like when you've got people coming round, and you think there's 8, so you shop for 8, but the it turns out to be 12, so you either shop again or make it stretch? Yep, us too! So it's really helpful to know if you're planning to come to Word and Worship on Saturday - we'd love the place packed, and we're praying and planning for that, but we don't want to end up with too many lovely fresh warm Danish pastries, pieces of fruit, glasses of juice or cups of hot filter coffee (or tea, or those lovely herbal things!), and we certainly we don't want to end up with not enough :( So if you're planning to come and haven't managed to buy your ticket yet, please call into or phone Kerith reception (01344 862699) between 9.30 and 4.30 today, or send me a quick email catrina.benham@kerith.co.uk and we'll get your ticket put by for you to pay and collect on Saturday. It's go

So when I've already slept for an uncomfortable hour on the sofa, and then finally make it up the stairs to my bed, and all of the cares and regrets and worries and "not done yet" items on my "to do list" are swirling around my head, THATS when I need to remember the food I received on Sunday. The tools I received on Sunday. The encouragement to put Jesus at the centre, and to turn my worries into prayers . So, miraculously, the song "Christ is enough" surfaced in my thinking - thank you Jesus - and got my perspective back. So here's a couple of great reminders in song and words written along that same (life giving) theme that's helped me this week - hope they help you too. Christ Is Enough - Hillsong Live   http://vimeo.com/69319495 Christ is enough About this video "Christ Is Enough by Hillsong is new and featured on their upcoming album, Glorious Ruins. It is a song of devotion that celebrates Christ’s sufficiency for our li

“ Worry is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do but never gets you anywhere” How many of us know the truth in that? It was an image that I was reminded of as I listened to Simon preach on Sunday about worry and about prayer from Philippians 4:6-7 " Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God. And the peace of God , which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" As he said, it's not self-help tips (worry Wednesday?!) but the Word of God that will enable us to not be anxious about anything. What shall we do with those things that worry us, that fill our minds and hearts, that even make us ill? Instead of worrying (rocking) , and getting nowhere, here's what to do : "let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers" as The Message version phrases it. " It's wonderful what happens when

We're excited to welcome back Word and Worship to Kerith this term! Our first Unique Brunch is in two weeks time, from 10-12 on Saturday 1st February. Tickets are £2.50 and are on sale tomorrow at Kerith Bracknell and Sandhurst. If you haven't been to one of our brunches before, you'll want to know what to expect - it's an informal and friendly morning, with a light brunch snack, plus fruit and drinks. We'll be in the Kerith Centre auditorium, sat in rows. We'll chat and eat from 10-10.30, have time to enjoy the worship and preach (without any distractions or responsibilities!) from 10.30-11.45 and then we'll still have 15 minutes for chatting and praying together. This event is for any woman, any age, any “type”, from any Church or none…its for all women ! Plan to come along - and plan to come with a friend (more fun - and easier on the parking!) It's going to be a wonderful opportunity for us to be

Did you hear Sunday's site host talk about tonight's Bucket Meeting ? It's 8-9.30 pm at the Kerith Centre, and it sounds like it's going to be a fun place to pop along and contribute your creative ideas! So if you've started this year thinking you'd like to be a bit more creative, or that you'd like to have a go at something new or to meet new people, this could be something worth getting out of the house for! My particular interest in tonight is that some of the ideas going into the bucket will be for REAL in June. The creativity at REAL is one of the great highlights of our conference, and something that we always get positive feedback about. So I am so looking forward to seeing and hearing the new ideas! Here are some more details (pinched from Simons blog!) Creative Arts Bucket Meeting In 2014 our Creative Arts team have been tasked with getting better at sourcing great ideas. One of their key strategies for doing this is to create a pl

Have you seen Kerith's latest e-reveal ? As Simon said on his blog earlier this week " To keep up to date with all the events and courses running at Kerith Community Church the Communication team are launching eReveal. This is an interactive email will be sent to you monthly with dates and times of our regular courses and one off events coming soon to Kerith. There will be links to the website, allowing you access to the relevant pages to find more information and sign up for courses easily. The first one of these went out at the beginning of January. If you are already in our CCB* system you should have received the first one. If you're on CCB and didn't get it then try checking your spam folder - that's where mine ended up! If you aren't on CCB then you can sign up here , or follow the link on the ‘What’s on’ page of our kerith website." Cool hey? So do please take a moment to sign up on CCB (*CCB stands for Church Community Builder – an online t

My family tease me that I repeat myself - I don't know if it's an age thing or a me thing. But (apparently!) I repeat stories. So we're driving in the car and we come to a bend in the road and I say "this hotel is where Sally learnt to swim" or when a funny thing has happened, I tell my little anecdote to lots of different people (but my kids get to hear it each time!) Picking a song to listen to this afternoon as I made beds, hoovered and dusted (even the dogs looked astonished at such domestic activity!) I returned to this one. It says everything. I know I've said it before, but Jesus at the Centre of it all is IT, it says EVERYTHING. I know that I can try and cope with difficulties, worries and hurts as I fast forward scenarios and worry about things, or even try to logic things out. I can use up my energy or distract myself for a while in all manner of ways (another piece of hot buttery toast anyone?). But it doesn't work like coming to Jesu

"You shouldn't believe everything you tell yourself. Feelings aren't facts." I have this Rick Warren quote saved on my phone, and you might be surprised by how often I need to look at it, remind myself that it's TRUE and it's completely true for my feeling right now ( as opposed to someone else's feeling about some other situation at some other time) This morning I woke up in the middle of the dark cold night at my back-to-school regular time and oh I didn't feel like doing anything , not waking our daughter, or even putting the kettle on or feeding the dogs, let alone reading my Bible, praying and perhaps even doing a few stretching exercises for my stiff back....but then I remembered "feelings aren't facts" ugh! So, I got on and did those things even though I didn't feel like it...and I'm glad that I did. I'm sure it helped me face the day in a much better way. I then went on to tackle last night's re

This Christmas break we've embraced the opportunity to stop, and rest and catch up. Some things that I do for relaxation like rainy dog walks in the woods (a great chance to pray and sing out loud as there's no one else there!) mightn't be relaxing for you, but I have also sat through whole films, caught up with the TV I'd recorded and even played the odd board game! It's been good (not always easy!) to deliberately slow down the pace of life, as we take a breath and anticipate the new year. I've enjoyed spending more time in our home and together with our family. That's not to say there's been nothing to do - more people in the house for more of the time, plus rainy days and two big dogs means the house gets really messy! I particularly take my hat off to those of you who have been hosting relatives, and those who have young families - busy busy busy, with not much chance to stop and relax. If you do find a moment, and you're hungry for some r