The UK Blessing Video

You may be here because you've recently watched a video called 'The Blessing' shared on social media - this is a song written by professional musicians Kari Jobe and Cody Carnes and performed by individuals, churches and choirs from a range of denominations around the UK.

If you haven't seen it yet - please click on the link opposite to watch it:

adventure-alone-clouds-694458

What do the words in the song mean?

The words are taken from a special blessing in the Bible (the book of Numbers chapter 6, verse 25 if you want a reference) from God to his people.

These words of blessing are special to many Christians. The word "blessing" itself is about God showing favour - this is what the "face shining" expression means.

It's important to recognise that Christians believe this blessing is for all people - not just a select group.

And the word "peace" which comes at the end is significant too. Peace is a key theme in the Bible - much later on, Jesus is described as the "Prince of Peace" - so it's a real comfort to many people at this time.

Can you tell me what Christianity is all about?

Normally we would invite you to join us for an Alpha course, and you can find out more information about our next one on this page of our website.

At the moment, we're running these online - but you can watch these videos online if you want to know a bit more -

Before you do, you might find this video a helpful introduction: It helps to understand what the Gospel means:

Once you've watched that, you may find the first video from week 1 of the Alpha course helpful. This explores the question "Is there more to life than this?"

Ok, where do I go if I want to know more?

You could try, The Bible, Church or Prayer

The Bible

Most people know that the Bible is a book about God written a long time ago, starting with Genesis. But the Bible is important because Christians believe it is the "word of God", which means that it is also one of the ways in which God speaks now. This is why they call it "living and active", ie. not just words written down, unlike other literature.

This Alpha video tells you a little more, but you could simply get a copy (it's the most sold book ever) and start to read. We recommend you start with one of the books about Jesus' life (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) called the Gospels (which simply means, Good news, which it is!) - Mark's gospel is the shortest, and can be read in one sitting.

If you're interested in digging a bit deeper, you could watch this video series on the bible.

Church

Many people think of churches as buildings - and that's true to an extent. But some churches don't meet in church buildings! And churches are really about groups of people expressing their faith as a community.

Churches are open to all, and as all our services are currently online, so it's really easy to join us - you can find them on our Facebook page here or on our YouTube channel here - we go live at 10am each sunday.

When we're allowed to meet in our building again, you can find details of our regular services here.

If you're not local to Leamington Spa, you can find a local church by clicking on this link.

HTP

Prayer

Many Christians are spending a lot of time in prayer at the moment, praying about the current situation. Some churches (including ours) are even devoting whole services, or times together, to prayer.

Prayer is basically talking to God, as you would any other person. The Bible gives guidance on how to do it, but it also says that anyone can pray to God. Why not start by simply talking to God and telling Him what's worrying you. He'll be listening.

This page on our website has more resources for prayer, and even a space where you can send your prayer requests in for others to pray for you.

You might find this book helpful, it's called How to Pray, by Pete Greig and is available from all good bookshops.

What do do if you want to know more?

You could get in touch with us for a chat or to find out more.

The best people to speak to would be Jonathan (our Vicar).

At the moment, our church office is closed, but you can e-mail Jonathan directly using the following:

Jonathan - Jonathan.Jee@stpl.org.uk

Church office phone number - 01926 427149