Heyday at Hayes
An annual event for the ladies and their friends of Hayes Town Chapel is a luxury sit-down dinner, followed by a guest speaker. The dinner is always an enjoyable and encouraging time for all who attend, and this year was no exception.
There were 70 diners, of whom at least 40 were from outside the church. Many were mothers of the numerous children who attend our various clubs during the week. It was encouraging to know that they heard the gospel that night.
The guest speaker was Alison De Jong from Child’s Hill Baptist, North London. She gave a challenging and inspiring talk based around the story of the Wedding Banquet.
She started by asking: ‘What is the one question that we ask ourselves when we are lying awake in the early hours of the morning? Is it not, “How do I know I am going to heaven when I die?”’
She continued by saying that, when you have a medical question, you seek the answer from a trusted member of the medical profession. Therefore, when you have a spiritual question, you should turn to someone who can calm the storms, heal the blind and raise the dead – someone who gave his life for us.
As Alison described it, this was the great ‘cosmic swap’. Our dirty, shameful, corrupt lives were swapped with Christ’s perfect, blameless, holy life. We became one with him and he became one with us, thereby taking the punishment that we deserved and dying in our place.
The evening was both successful and enjoyable. A bonus was that all the waiters were men from the chapel, who lovingly waited on us and then – best part of all – did the clearing away and washing up!
Every lady who attended went home well fed, both physically and spiritually.
Joy Harris
