It's Friday - but Sunday's a-comin!

EASTER SUNDAY 2012

A SERMON FOR EASTER DAY (Mark 16: 1-8)

Today is a day for rejoicing!

Today is a day when we hold up the resurrection of Jesus in faith!

And today isn’t a day that’s just appeared from nowhere, out of the blue! But it’s a day that ends a journey and begins a new one.

When Mary Magdalene and the other women got to the tomb early that eternally significant morning, they had been on a journey.

They’d been alongside Jesus, had heard his teaching about the kingdom of God, had seen his miraculous deeds of power and healing, they’d supported and served him in his ministry, had witnessed the horrors of seeing him arrested, abused, condemned and finally crucified. They’d seen his dead body placed in a tomb and a huge stone rolled across the entrance. And on that morning they went once more to anoint the body of their Lord. What sorrow and anguish they must have been feeling that day.

But what they found when they arrived was far from what they expected.

They were thinking of practicalities – who was going to move that great stone for them? But when they got there they found that it had already been moved, and as they entered the tomb instead of finding the body of Jesus, they found a young man dressed in white sitting there.

Matthew, in his gospel account, tells us even more – he tells us that “suddenly there had been a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning and his clothing white as snow.”

Heaven that had seemed so eerily silent and distant when Jesus hung on the cross, was now in action!

But these women had no idea that they were going to be faced with heavenly beings, much less that they were about to encounter a risen and living Jesus! They were alarmed, what questions must have been running through their minds? But the angel reassured them, “Do not be alarmed, you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here.” And he sent them to tell the others.

When all these things happened they didn’t know – none of them knew – that this was God’s plan all along. They hadn’t understood the direct and indirect things Jesus had told them would happen before he died. They didn’t understand and so the events of that morning were the most alarming, and amazing, surprise to them. Jesus was alive – it hadn’t all come to a crushing end when the Son of God was nailed to that cross – what had come to an end when he was nailed to that cross was the power of darkness and death, as they died, went down to the eternal pit with him. They didn’t know that it was Friday – but Sunday was coming!

And what was raised with the Son of God was a new life and a new way and a new light! Because the God who had clothed himself with humanity had given humanity a new beginning, and one that would stretch right through physical death and on into eternal life with him. A life that would be full of all the best of what God had created and a life that would be without the pain of the old – “no more mourning, or crying, or death, or pain.” But more than just the future hope was a breaking into our now, because the kingdom of God was breaking through – a foretaste of heaven, on earth! As Jesus had been teaching, and demonstrating, all along – the kingdom of heaven is now within our grasp, close at hand, and accessed through prayer, through him, just by faith!

That was their journey! Ours has been a little different.

We too have spent the last week remembering and reflecting on that journey – from Jesus’s triumphant entrance into Jerusalem surrounded by praising people shouting out “Hosanna” (Save us now), to the last supper when he instituted the holy meal of bread and wine that they and we would share to remember him until he comes again. To his betrayal and arrest and crucifixion. We’ve reflected on his suffering on that cross so that we might have the darkness within us defeated, on that place that won us forgiveness as he took all our sin, our godlessness, our wrongs, on himself.

BUT even as we’ve done that, we’ve known that Sunday was coming!

We’ve known what those first disciples didn’t know – “It’s Friday, but Sunday’s a-comin’”

On Thursday we shared a special team service recalling that ‘last supper’ and recalled how Jesus’ washed their feet as a demonstration of his loving service. I had the privilege of washing those who came forward as a sign of that service Jesus had first shown and it was humbling and moving – but even then there was that little well of excitement in my gut because I knew Sunday was coming! You know that feeling you had as a child on Christmas Eve – that growing excitement – it felt a bit like that!

On Friday we remembered the horrors of the crucifixion – we walked from the church to the chapel behind the cross, remembering all that Jesus had suffered for us – and that was a journey of sadness. We all walked silently, wrapped up in our own reflections. I was remembering what someone had said to me a few days earlier about how they found it really difficult to make so public an example of faith in those Good Friday walks of witness – how it made them cringe. But as I walked I thought about that – how that feels in our present age – and if there was any embarrassment in that demonstration of being with Jesus, or any feeling of shame, then it just lead me to think about the shame Jesus endured for me – falsely accused, whipped, spat on, beaten, mocked, and executed. And I thought of Peter who did run away when it all kicked off – unable to admit that he was one of them – one of those Jesus followers. But later the risen Jesus would gently restore him and re-commission him for service. But even as I took part in that service of reflection on Jesus’ suffering, I had that little well of excitement in my gut – it was Friday, but Sunday’s a-comin!

And today is Sunday! And I will rejoice because Jesus is alive! Because the kingdom of heaven has broken into our today, because I have access to that kingdom both in the future, and now. Because I have access to the God of love through prayer, and that was won for me by Christ. Because there is a wonderful life to come and because he transforms this one every time the kingdom breaks through when he heals and saves and forgives, and when he inspires faith and mercy and peace and love and service and hope and purpose and community.

We still know all too well that the last shadows cast by the darkness Jesus came to defeat, still overshadow us at times. I will rejoice today that Jesus is alive and his kingdom is close at hand, even though when I leave here today I will go and share communion with J in hospital. And when I leave the hospital I’ll go to my mum and dad’s and feel the pain of watching my dad endure what cancer, and its treatment, does. But I will still rejoice that Jesus has bought us, through his broken and risen body, a new life, and I’ll pray for the signs of that new life to be evident here and now – in my life, in J’s, in my dad’s and in yours.

It’s Friday – but Sunday’s coming! We live in the light of that Sunday every day, because he is alive!

And I pray that whatever remnants of Friday overshadow you, whatever storms are evident in your life, whatever you battle with or whatever gives you pain, that you will also be able to rejoice today, because Jesus is alive, his kingdom is close at hand, hope is real. We may sometimes rejoice through tears, it may sometimes still feel like Good Friday – but Sunday’s a-comin! Hallelujah!

Amen.

A sermon of opposites?

TRIUMPH AND TRIAL, CELEBRATION AND SUFFERING! (Mark 8: 31-38) 4.3.12

I’m going to say a word to you and ask you to give me its opposite!
So… Heavy (light)
Dangerous (safe)
Clean (dirty)
Big (small)

When we think of opposites we usually think of something being one or the other – it’s either clean or dirty, big or small etc – we don’t think of it being both at the same time!
But when we look at the gospel of Jesus we seem to see opposites that do occur at the same time.
Which words would you use to describe the message and work of Jesus, or to describe the Christian life that flows out of the message and work of Jesus?
Would you use ‘triumph’ and ‘victory’ and ‘celebration’?
Would you use ‘trial’ and ‘suffering’ and ‘challenge’?

Those two sets of words seem to be opposites to one another. On the one hand, triumph and victory and celebration; on the other hand trial and suffering and challenge. But rather than the gospel and the Christian life being one or the other, being an ‘either/or’ it’s like God shows us that his love meshes them both together, because for now we live with the experience of them all. (Hands mesh together).

And that’s not a new thing! Look at the disciple Peter. In Mark’s gospel, immediately before the passage we heard today, Peter has answered Jesus’ question “Who do you say that I am?” with the words, “You are the Christ.” Well done Peter, who has begun to recognise the truth that Jesus is indeed the one who has come from God – the Messiah (or Christ – the anointed one) – the one who so long before, God spoke about through the prophets. It’s a triumph – a victory for Peter in his realisation and a sign of the victory of God’s plan through the coming of the Messiah.
But then look at what happens next… Jesus begins to teach the specifics and we’re told that he spoke plainly – that he would suffer many things, be rejected by the Jewish leaders and elders, that he would be killed (and after three days rise again).
Peter’s response to that was to take Jesus aside and rebuke him! I wonder what was going through Peter’s mind? “You’re the Messiah, the Christ! What are you talking about – suffering, rejected, killed”?!
This was not what played out in Peter’s understanding when he dwelt on what the Messiah was going to do! And for his rebuke he got from Jesus, “Get behind me satan!” Peter was throwing back at Jesus his entirely human response but Jesus couldn’t be deterred or discouraged from the plan of God and so he had to silence the voice that could sow doubt or deny what was coming.

Imagine a large company – business is going down the drain, workers are discouraged and worried about their jobs, morale is at an all time low. The management have been talking for a long time about drafting in a great business consultant who will come in and turn everything around, boost business, retrain and reenergise the workers, give a renewed sense of job security. And then they arrive – the workers recognise that this is the one, the consultant, and there’s great expectation.
But then instead of doing what’s expected this consultant says he’s going to break up the business, hand over the company to the administrators, lay off the workers and even say that his own job would go down the pan too in trying to deal with the mess!

It’s just an illustration but the difference between expectation and reality are a reflection of how far removed Peter’s expectation of Jesus the Messiah was from the reality of what Jesus said was going to happen!

Now of course, it’s different again for us. We have the benefit of knowing what Jesus meant when he said “and after three days he would rise again”. After the crucifixion would come the resurrection; after the suffering would come the victory.

We live in the time after the resurrection – Jesus is alive again – back where he came from. We live in the time when sin and death have been defeated on the cross. We live in the time of sure hope that God is making everything new and that we’ll experience his kingdom in all its wonderful glory one day. But we also live in the time when death still painfully interrupts life, when we can know complete forgiveness and the slate wiped clean but still struggle with some of the old nature. We live in the time when we see amazing answers to prayer as well as the time when God can seem far away as we call out to him! We live in that time of so-called opposites when we’re called to follow Jesus’ way of suffering while knowing that Jesus has won the victory over evil and sin and death!

I think a problem only arises when Christians take one half of those opposites I mentioned earlier and proclaim them as though the other half wasn’t enmeshed.
If you speak only triumph and victory and celebration (in a sense just resurrection) to someone who is in the midst of grief or struggle or pain (because there’s still a whiplash of these things in our lives) then it can cause them to lose any sense of finding God in their grief and struggle and pain. And God is there to be found! But what we do want is to be able to speak of a sure hope that out of pain God can and does bring healing and hope and life (sometimes right now and sometimes in a while) – that after the crucifixion comes the resurrection, that after Good Friday comes Easter Sunday! It’s something I’m aware of week by week when I meet bereaved families and conduct funeral services – how to balance the hope of resurrection and new life with the immediate reality of the pain of loss and separation where God longs to bring his comfort and presence.
Psalm 23 – “though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me, your rod and your staff they comfort me.” That has a reflection of what Jesus says to Peter, the other disciples, and the crowd in today’s verses – “take up your cross and follow me” – while we still live in the here and now we may need to make sacrifices for Jesus and we may even follow him to death as many around the world still face today; that in standing with Christ in faith, they lose their lives (but they also gain through him an amazing and eternal life). Jesus warned that it may be so, and said be willing to take up your cross and follow me.

On the other hand we need to not get lost in, or speak only of, trial and suffering and challenge. These are indeed a factor in the Christian life, just as they were in Jesus’ life and yet Jesus gave many signs of the reality and presence of God’s kingdom in the here and now. We can eagerly desire healing and freedom and hope and victory because Jesus won them for us on the cross.
Death and sin died with him and life and freedom and righteousness were raised with him – and all for us to follow in his wake. We should have expectation of the kingdom of heaven, of God, being seen and apparent – close at hand!

And I think all that means that we need to be GENTLE with one another, and gentle with the world. And by ‘gentle’ I mean sensitive to how the Spirit of God would have us respond to people.
Paul said to the Philippians: “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.”
And Peter said in his first letter, “always be prepared to give the reason for the hope that you have; but do this with gentleness and respect…”

Let the Spirit of God be your guide (so ask him to guide you) as you live in the light of the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus; as you live with both trial, challenge and suffering AND triumph, victory and celebration; and as you speak the gospel news of both to the people you abide with and who cross your path. Be gentle with others – “mourn with those who mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice” while always holding on to the hope that in the darkness God is present and in the light we see the final act being played out – even now.

When I was a youth leader back in the 90’s, one day a member of the group asked me about how I coped with being a mum? “There’s so much pain in the world” she said, “when you love someone so much wouldn’t you rather not have the fear of pain and the worry for them?” And I answered her that the love was so amazing and such a delight that I would risk the pain to experience the love. I wouldn’t sacrifice the love in order to get rid of the pain.
For now they are enmeshed in our experience of life but God is bringing humanity to a time and place where the pain is finally vanquished for good and the love and delight is what’s left – “there will be no more death or mourning, crying or pain, for the old order of things will have passed away!”
And there is our hope and the good news we have to share with the world! We live in the light of BOTH Good Friday AND Easter Sunday.
Amen.

A new era...

I hadn't realised how long it was since I last posted on this (rather beloved to me!) Teapot blog until I came to post again. And this new posting era comes with the purpose of sharing thoughts by mobile. Seeing as I find it so hard to stop and reflect in the way I once found so useful I am trying a new way. Maybe, just maybe, the odd thought posted maybe helpful for someone else, and if not then perhaps the expressing will be helpful for me. Too many thoughts bottled up can be somewhat crippling, and if you're anything like me then analysis of others has a lot more grace applied than analysis of self! So this evening I assign myself the tasks of finding 'As Though' - a past post that gives me a good framework of perspective (and is archived here); and secondly to have a read of 'Amazing Grace' once again and just remember that God is better at grace than me!

We're going on a prayer hunt...!

I remember reading to my son when he was little "We're going on a bear hunt" and I'm sure I enjoyed it as much if not more than him! So, having remembered that enjoyment I decided to rewrite it for our Children's message on Sunday... with a bit of journeying of course and finding some 'gifts' along the way.
With all due thanks and credit to author Michael Rosen.

We’re going on a prayer hunt
We’re going to say a big one
God is listening
What a beautiful gift!

Oh Wow! Love! (find heart)
Perfect love for me.
I can’t ignore it
By skipping over it
Ok
God, help me feel it.
(Thankyou thankyou)
(Thankyou thankyou)

We’re going on a prayer hunt
We’re going to say a big one
God is listening
What a beautiful gift!

Oh Wow! Words! (find Bible)
A Bible full for me.
I can’t ignore it.
By skipping over it.
Ok.
God help me read it.
(Listen listen)
(Listen listen)

We’re going on a prayer hunt
We’re going to say a big one
God is listening
What a beautiful gift!

Oh Wow! Church (find candle - ring of people)
A family for me!
I can’t ignore it
By skipping over it
Ok
God help me be part of it
(Brothers sisters)
(Brothers sisters)

We’re going on a prayer hunt
We’re going to say a big one
God is listening
What a beautiful gift!

Oh Wow! Jesus (find a cross)
Forgiveness for me!
I can’t ignore it
By skipping over it
Ok
God help me receive it
(Sorry sorry)
(new me new me)

We went on a prayer hunt
We prayed some big ones
God was listening
What beautiful gifts!
AMEN!

RevGals Friday Five

I haven't played the Friday Five for ages but with the rain hammering down outside I thought now would be a good time!
Because it's one all about rain...

What do you do on a rainy summers day?
1. At home?
2. In your local area?
3. If you are away on holiday?
4. Name a rainy day read.
5. Is there a piece of music/ a poem/ story that cheers you up?
Bonus: post a rainy day photo!

1. Given my lack of 'domestic-goddessry' I am usually to be found looking out of the window at the washing hanging on the line and getting increasingly soaked; and at the same time thinking "should've got that in yesterday!" As it happens, today as I listen to the rain, I'm feeling rather smug that I have piles of DRY washing indoors because I didn't do my usual trick this time!
2. Well, it does rain a fair bit here in England so I usually just get on with what I have to get on with. Driving around in a car helps quite a bit, though if I am walking then I'm a 'put up your hood' kind of person rather than a 'carry an umbrella' type.
3. If I'm away on holiday then I'm likely to be out in it! Wellies on, waterproofs on, and jumping in puddles like a big kid! I don't let the rain stop my exploring tendencies. It helps to not be a very glamorous type who doesn't care about getting her hair wet and who very rarely wears make-up so no run-off issues!
4. As I'm a reader anyway, the weather doesn't really affect the choice of read - there's usually a pile of books on the go all the time.
5. Well given the subject matter, and also given that I like this song - it has to be "Why does it always rain on me" by Travis! And I've managed to find a very suitable live version... where it's pouring with rain:

Bonus: I don't have a rainy day photo available but perhaps that video counts!

"Third Place"

I had one of those 'minor revelation' moments today! Having flicked around on the internet for a while I found myself reading some pages for Pastors and came to this article. Now, however behind the times it makes me, I have to say that I'd never come across the 'third place' expression or concept. This says that Home = our first place, Work = our second place, ? = our third place. For many Christians 'church' would be the third place but for ministers home, work and church can become a big mix of one with significant overlapping. And without knowing anything about this 'third place' stuff I think it says something about what makes me struggle at times. I do notice how energised finding 'other spaces' makes me and how peace is much more apparent when I'm not completely taken up with the mix of work and work at home. Unfortunately I don't find myself those spaces anywhere near often enough (or make enough purely home space either to give some definition between 'home' and 'work') and while I love home and work and church I find it hard to switch off from the big task out there.

So this bit of pondering is leading me to a) consider how I redefine my 'home' (and family) space and give myself permission to enjoy and put more effort into it! b) to ask what others (you) do to find a 'third place', if indeed you do. A question not just for ministers but for all. And I'm sure there are others for whom this is a particular challenge, such as mums at home focused on bringing up children? c) to look for that (or those) third places that give life a bit more roundedness and sense of wholeness.

Perhaps for some of us that place needs to be partially a mental division as much as a physical place?

"I have come that they may have life, and have it in all its fullness" (Jesus)

Refreshment and daring to get out of the boat!

Romans 10: 5-15 & Matthew 14: 22-33 (7.8.11)

‘The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.’

These are the words of invitation in Revelation 22 v17 (repeat), and they’re by no means the only words in the Bible calling us to come to our God to receive all that he has prepared for us!

We reflected last Sunday on that same invitation spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters.”

(Is 55:1).

Matthew as he writes his gospel account quotes Jesus saying: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Mt 11: 28)

Our faith is a matter of invitation and response – the invitation of God to anyone and everyone to come and walk with him, the invitation of God to be reunited with him, the invitation of God to be refreshed by him, the invitation of God to be forgiven by him, the invitation of God to have life (eternally) with him, the invitation of God to know his love beyond all measure.

“Come!” says God and receive all these things that are freely given, that are there waiting, but that aren’t forced upon us against our will but need to be received with thanksgiving and praise!

David, the great king of Israel, and writer of so many of the Psalms, knew what it was to hear God’s word of invitation and to respond. In perhaps the best loved of the Psalms (Ps 23) he expresses the blessing of response, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want; he makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters, he restores my soul.” He had come to know what it meant to hear that call of “Come” and to follow (and he could declare these beautiful words even though he was often being pursued by enemies and with his life under threat!).

But how often, even having first taken the step of faith and response to God’s invitation, at some places along the way; do we forget or do we stop listening?

“Come!”

“Whoever is thirsty, let him come.”

“Come to the waters.”

“Come you who are weary and burdened.”

Hear God’s invitation to you afresh today because it’s spoken out of God’s great love for humanity, and for you.

It’s brought right into our human situation by God taking up the human situation, the human ‘being’ of those he created (in the person of Christ) and showing them, and enabling them, to come back to the Father and know life in all its fullness.

You may look back to long ago when you first heard God’s invitation to come to him, and you gave him your response, or you may be hearing it for the first time today and you need to respond. Generally when we receive an invitation we expect to give a response… If you’re invited to a wedding you generally send a reply saying “thank you, I’ll be there” or “sorry I’m not able to come and celebrate with you”. And God’s invitation requires a response too. There’s that first life (and eternity) changing response that brings us into his kingdom, where we turn from darkness to light, where we receive his salvation – that invitation required a response. But there are also those further invitations to those who are saved, who are in the light: to come and be refreshed, to come and be restored, to come and be re-energised, to come and be encouraged, to come and stand under the living waters of the Holy Spirit and be re-filled!

Do you ever find yourself struggling on with the pressures of life, of work, of family, of finance, of your particular circumstances? Do they have the loudest voice? Do they cloud out God’s repeated invitation to you to come to him? Do you take your eyes off the Lord and fix them instead on the storms?

It can be a natural response – it was Peter’s response in the boat on that occasion that Matthew describes for us in the gospel.

Peter that day was being his usual, impetuous, self – but he was also the one who in faith was ready to leap out of the boat!

Jesus had miraculously fed the 5,000 plus people who had been with him, he’d sent the disciples off in the boat to cross the sea of Galilee, and he’d gone up the mountain to pray. So then Jesus is coming to join them, but by this time the disciples are far from land, being battered about by the waves. So Jesus walks to them on the water! Though they’d witnessed and accepted the miraculous provision of food that had happened just before, when they see Jesus walking to them on the lake they’re terrified and think he’s a ghost! But let’s consider closely what happened next…

Jesus spoke to them and reassured them that it was him.

And then Peter speaks out above the rest: “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” This is faith – realising that not only can Jesus himself overcome the natural order of things – but that he can transform them for us as well, that he can enable us as well.

And then we again meet invitation and response: Jesus simply says, “Come” and THEN Peter gets out of the boat. It’s really important that we don’t skip past this brief conversation.

Peter does not just receive the assurance that it’s Jesus on the lake and then leaps out of the boat! That would have been presumption and not faith! The reason Peter can have assurance of his ability to do the impossible and unlikely is because he asked, and Jesus has said “Come”. This account doesn’t tell us that if we were ever to be in a boat and leap out of it that we would automatically be able to walk on water because it happened here! If that was the case I’m sure St. Paul would have done so all the times he was shipwrecked and his life was in danger. What it tells us is that faith is about having the belief that Jesus can call us out of the boat and keep us from sinking… whatever that “boat” may be.

This depth of faith was echoed by Paul when he wrote these words to the Christians at Ephesus: “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Eph 3: 20,21).

The point is that, like Peter, we trust in the one who CAN do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine. But on that day Peter did imagine and ask in faith!

When Peter started to sink, it wasn’t because Jesus wasn’t able to do what Peter asked, it was because Peter took his eyes off of Jesus and instead looked at the circumstances (the waves) surrounding him. And how easy that is to do!

I’ve never asked God to literally help me get out of a boat and walk on water but I have had to trust him for the seemingly impossible. It also occurred to me that some of those big “trust him” times have been because he’s calling me out of the boat – that is out of the safe, comfortable place to the daring and scary place – but the amazing place of faith! Like the first time I had to stand up and give a short address in a church – for me that was like getting out of the boat when Jesus said “Come.”

Is God calling you to do something that seems impossible or at least beyond what seems possible for you at the moment? Is God calling you to serve him in some particular way, or calling you into a particular ministry or role in his church that seems as challenging as getting out of the boat and walking on water? The thing is that he doesn’t drag us out of the boat against our will, he says “Come!” And when he says “Come” we can do so with faith and assurance that it will be ok. Our task is to hear the invitation and to make the response.

Now you may be thinking, “but Peter started to sink!” Yes he did! And even when we keep responding to Jesus’ invitation to come to him we might have times when we feel we’re sinking.

I know that as I faced the challenges of doing things for God that were well beyond my natural comfort zone there were times when I felt I was sinking, and there still are at times.

Peter only started to sink when he took his eyes off Jesus and focused on the waves – on the challenges, on the situation – and not on God. And that’s usually the reason that we start to sink, to become discouraged, to feel ill-equipped – because we take our eyes off Jesus and look at the challenges instead of the Lord.

But what did Peter do, even then? He called out “Lord, save me” and Jesus reached out his hand and caught him.

God again and again extends his invitation to his people…

“Come!”

“Whoever is thirsty, let him come.”

“Come to the waters.”

“Come you who are weary and burdened.”

“Come, get out of the boat!”

These are the words of God’s invitation to you today, how will you respond?

I’d like to end with some words from a song of worship that echo God’s invitation to you:

All who are thirsty

All who are weak

Come to the fountain

Dip your heart in the stream of life

Let the pain and the sorrow

Be washed away

In the waves of his mercy

As deep cries out to deep

We sing…

Come Lord Jesus, Come!

Come Lord Jesus, Come!

Brenton Brown
copyright Vineyard Songs 1998

AFTERTHOUGHT.... JUST THOUGHT I'D MENTION THAT THE COLOURS AND FORMAT WENT ALL PECULIAR AS I HAD TO E-MAIL THIS TO MYSELF AND THEN COPY HERE. HOWEVER MANY EFFORTS AT RE-FORMATTING I TRIED THEY ALL IGNORED ME SO THIS IS WHAT WE END UP WITH!

Emerging slowly sermon!

The beginnings of thoughts...

Isaiah 55: 1-5 & Matthew 14: 13-21 (31.7.11)

‘The Lord says this, “Everyone who thirsts come to the waters”’. I’m sure that we must all be able to recall the feeling of being thirsty? Of the satisfaction from a long, cool drink on a hot day, or even just that first cup of tea or coffee in the morning? Thirst is a sensation that’s essential for life – it tells us to drink. And if we don’t drink then we’re not going to survive for very long.

When I was a little girl, and because of the medical problem I had, I used to dehydrate very quickly. And one Christmas Day when I wasn’t very well at all, the doctor had been called. Apparently (so my mum tells me) I was trying to open Christmas presents while the doctor examined me and was then commanded to drink a giant jug of squash in his presence, and if I didn’t then I was going into hospital – Christmas day or no Christmas day!

It seems that I wasn’t very good at adequately responding to the ‘thirst’ sensation, or at least not adequately enough to compensate for lost fluids!

‘The Lord says this, “Everyone who thirsts come to the waters”’. And here is another sense in which we need to first recognise a thirst and second to come and drink.

Just as our bodies thirst for water or liquid to survive so we also have a need to thirst for God. (This thirst first brings us into relationship with God and once we’re there, keeps us thirsting for more of his presence).

On a hot day you don’t create your own thirst, the conditions create that thirst and you feel it, and in the same way God is even at work creating in people the thirst they need to come to him. He creates the thirst and then he satisfies that thirst!

When Jesus (as we read in John chapter 4) met the Samaritan woman at a well in the middle of the day, when they’d both have been hot, thirsty and aware of the water that was being pulled out of the well, he spoke to her not just of that natural water but of living water – living water that was the gift of God, living water that would well up like a spring and bring eternal life, living water that would leave her never thirsting again. That living water was Jesus himself and the Holy Spirit whom he would send – whom he would pour out, whom he would baptise us with. When we talk about the word ‘baptise’ we mean to drench or soak – just as we do when we baptise children or adults into the church using water – and even though, in our tradition, we baptise at the font I get as much water on them as I can! And in the same way we need to be baptised, drenched, soaked in the living water of the Holy Spirit – not as a one off experience, but as an ongoing soaking in God. Because your God wants to bring you real, wonderful refreshment like a long, cooling drink or a dive into the pool on a boiling summer’s day!

It’s not just in those beautiful words of God through Isaiah that we get this sense of the refreshing waters of God. In Revelation 22 (the very last chapter in the Bible) we hear this part of John’s vision: “Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”

Another beautiful description of the refreshing water, the life giving water of God. And the thing is that God has these pools of refreshing water for us, but we need to come to the waters and get wet! The image is of the river flowing from the throne of God and flowing so that we might step into its waters and be washed, be refreshed, have our thirst quenched, and receive that spring that wells up to eternal life.

And furthermore, God says through Isaiah, that we’re only truly satisfied when we do come to the waters: When we come to the waters, when we eat of the food that needs no money to buy it, when we labour for the things that truly satisfy.

To be continued...!

LATER ADDITION... MY PEDANTIC, FUSSY SELF DOESN'T LIKE LEAVING SOMETHING UNFINISHED HERE, BUT IT REALLY WOULD BE A RIGHT PALAVAR TRYING TO GET THE REST FROM THE OTHER COMPUTER (AND MAY RESULT IN SIMILAR DISASTERS OF FORMAT AS THE NEXT POST HAS... SO HALF A SERMON IT IS... HOPE YOU MAY BE A 'BIT' BLESSED ANYWAY!)

Queues and minor irritations!

Background information that might be useful.... I am generally a nice person! Yes, I try and be polite and love people - which is probably a good thing seeing as I'm a vicar and all and it is part of the teaching of the Big Boss and all that. But you know that despite that, the stupidest things can get you (me) riled! Adrian Plass (Christian writer and speaker) once said something along the lines of "I'd be a great Christian if it wasn't for other people" - and I know what he means. But it's not even the big evils that bring that out, it's the stupid irritations... like queue jumpers, or the people who don't do the little handywave thing when you give them the right of way in the car, or cutter-uppers... do you know what I mean? Now I do live in a part of the world where a lot of people are generally more friendly to their own so there can be a fair number of those "you ignorant g*t" moments. But that's no excuse. It just proves that an underlying "niceness" doesn't cut the mustard and that 'loving your neighbour' means loving the ones who irritate the wotsit out of you. I think that how we deal with the little irritations is as much a sign of Big Boss at work in us, as what we say we believe... if not more. So "bless you" people who will irritate me - I will love you as you are my neighbour! (And I will try and grow towards being less irritating myself... might make it by the time I'm an old lady, and with a bit of help!)

Footnote: brilliant blog post by Dave Gorman here - about queues! I have a habit of getting in the 'wrong' queue in a supermarket and watching all the others drift past me, well Dave met that experience in a big way at Los Angeles Airport!

Buttons!

No, not the pantomime Buttons but the Twitter and Facebook kind. I spent ages last night (once home from a long meeting - just to demonstrate that I was wasting only my sleep time) trying to put nice linky buttons on my blog. Now the sidebar, that was a doddle! Lovely big uncoordinated Twitter thing that shows you the other pointless drivel I'm spouting on Twitter. But I wanted a little set of buttons at the bottom of each post so that on the extremely off chance that someone might be stunned enough with what I've said to 'like' it on Facebook or even retweet it on Twitter, then they could. (This is called high optimism!). If anyone happened to be reading this blog at the time last night then their eyes may have started to swivel with the succession of changing buttons and changing places and hash ups. Because ultimately I got them at the bottom of the posts but only linking into the site as a whole and not to the individual posts. And then the Facebook one started doing its own thing and put back the 'send' element even though I'm pretty sure I didn't include that bit of code. Clearly the only conclusion to be made is that all this is #rocketscience and I am not a rocket scientist. So even if you wanted to link to this post about rocket scientists and buttons, you can't - you get the whole teapot. Defeat!

Afterthought....! The tweet button works... but only if you have the individual post up rather than on the front page... wooo... well I will revel in my moment of success anyway!

Sermon: Wheat and Weeds

Our gospel reading today is one of Jesus’ ‘kingdom parables’. Jesus gives a set of ideas or illustrations from life, that are to teach his disciples about the kingdom of God. (When Matthew speaks of the kingdom of heaven and Luke of the kingdom of God, they’re talking about the same thing). And when Jesus taught, and the gospel writers passed on his teaching on the kingdom, they weren’t speaking about that far off place where we’ll find ourselves when we die, they’re talking about God’s majestic rule and reign being near, ‘close at hand’ said Jesus. They’re speaking of a kingdom whose presence is being made known here and now, on earth. A kingdom of which we become citizens now by believing in and following Jesus.

So Jesus starts teaching about what this ‘close at hand’ ‘here and now’ kingdom is like. Last week (while I was camped in a field with our youth group for ...!) you reflected on the parable of the sower – a parable about how people hear and receive the message of the kingdom. The seed scattered is the word of God and that seed, Jesus says, is received on what compares to a variety of types of ground – on the path where it is immediately snatched away; on the rocky ground where its root is shallow and though it springs up quickly it soon withers and dies; among the weeds or thorns, where the growth is choked by all the cares of life and other priorities; or on the fertile soil where it takes root and grows up producing a harvest. This is the kind of ground we each can aim to be and pray to be, as well as the kind of ground we pray that we will meet when we go out scattering the seed of God’s word. And that is a part of our call as citizens of the kingdom – to go and scatter the seeds of God’s word wherever and whenever and however we can.

And Jesus’ teaching on the kingdom continues with today’s parable of the wheat and weeds – we’ll come back to that in a moment. But Jesus gives one image after another to get this kingdom message to take root in us – next he speaks of the kingdom as like a mustard seed – the tiniest seed that grows into a tree in which the birds come and perch in its branches – what does he mean? He means it starts off small but ends up substantial indeed. He says the kingdom is like the yeast in bread that as it’s mixed in works through the whole batch of dough – the kingdom spreads through us and it spreads through the world. He says the kingdom is like treasure hidden in a field – that’s of such great value that it’s worth selling all we have to buy the field to get the treasure! And similarly, the kingdom is like a pearl that’s worth everything we have to acquire.

It’s important that as we look at one of these parables today we consider the whole picture that Jesus is giving us, of this kingdom that is close at hand, that is near, that is at our fingertips. Because the reason we can have expectation and hope that God will be at work in us and among us and through us today – is because his kingdom is here, close at hand, near, at your fingertips but not out of reach!

‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, YOUR KINGDOM COME, your will be done, on earth as in heaven’ that’s what we pray when we pray as Jesus taught us to pray. ‘Your kingdom come’ – when we long for healing of body, mind or spirit we’re asking for God’s heavenly kingdom to be present in the here and now, showing up in earthly lives; when we pray for evil to be squashed and repentance to be seen in ours or other’s lives we’re asking for the kingdom to be demonstrated here and now. When we scatter the seed of God’s word we’re asking for people to be added to the kingdom of God that they will know his rule and reign in their lives now and have an eternal inheritance that brings them safely through death and into his wonderful kingdom in all its fullness. It’s all about the kingdom, being a part of the kingdom now and seeing the works of the kingdom around us, close at hand.

So as we zoom in on today’s kingdom parable what does it tell us?

Well, let’s start in the garden… I was visiting my friend’s elderly mum recently and in her garden she has a flower bed that is planted up with lots of plants around a rose that’s in memory of her late husband. And on this particular day D was weeding the flower bed. And it was quite a task as the hot weather plus all the rain had made the weeds go mad! So I got on with helping, but not being the most informed of gardeners, at times I wasn’t sure exactly what was weed and what was flower. So every so often I’d stop and ask to avoid pulling up some precious plant that was supposed to be there because it looked like a weed to me!

And in a sense this is what Jesus was talking about – in the world there is wheat and there are weeds – children of the kingdom and children of evil, and God is letting them grow up alongside and mixed up with one another until the harvest. Unlike my experience in the garden of trying to tell the flowers from the weeds and sometimes getting it wrong and pulling up a flower, God leaves the weeds until the end of times so that the wheat doesn’t get uprooted with them.

Sometimes we Christians get dejected because we see so much evil around us – where is God? Why is he letting the evil flourish? Where is justice when the oppressor still oppresses, and the murderer still murders, and the thief still robs and steals, and the governors can be corrupt, and the abuser continues to abuse… where is God? God is there protecting the wheat by letting the weeds grow in its midst – but the time of the harvest will come and the reaper will reap and the wheat will be placed in the barn and the weeds be burned on the fire. This is the time when the children of righteousness (who have received the gift of righteousness from God) will ‘shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father’ but the children of evil will be uprooted and will receive the fruits of their evil ways and their rejection of life from God.

There are two further things to note about this parable…

1) Jesus died once for ALL upon the cross – the good news is that he has done everything necessary for all – even the worst offender, the worst weed, to come to God in repentance and become righteousness, become wheat, receive forgiveness and life.

You know, sometimes I think God can’t win with us – sometimes we hear this kind of parable and think “how can a loving God let anyone go into the fire?” But I say to you, remember that he came to rescue all of us from the fire – a free gift received through grace by faith and offered to everyone. And then on the other hand we think – “how can God forgive the vilest offender and welcome them into his kingdom?” St. Paul was one of them – a vile murderer – but he received forgiveness and a new start through Christ, and he’s blessed us with his writings. We can’t have it both ways and be outraged (if you are outraged) that there’s potential for not getting into the kingdom but also get outraged that people we think shouldn’t get in, might get in! Quite often what we want to do is throw some right nasty characters onto the fire – the Hitlers, the Mugabes, the abusers, the paedophiles – we’re often happy to hear of the fire of death when we think of them; but then we get outraged again that God’s grace and mercy is so massive that the rescue plan, the cross, is there for absolutely anyone to receive when they come with repentance and remorse.

What’s that all about? It’s about the 2^nd point…. That it’s not for us to be trying to tell the wheat from the weeds! I got it wrong in the flowerbed and couldn’t always tell the flowers from the weeds and we won’t always be able to tell the kingdom wheat from the spiritual weeds – that’s God’s job.

Our job is to receive his grace, his free gift, for ourselves and to get out there chucking the seeds far and wide so that a load of it lands on good, receptive soil and adds to that final harvest for the kingdom.

Last week I was prayer walking around our community with G, one of the elders from... And as we walked we saw the extent of all the new building round here – perhaps much more than you may have seen from (main) Road. And that building work means a lot of new homes, and a lot of new homes means a lot of people moving into our harvest field. As a church we need to be getting ready because we are the workers that God sends into the harvest, we are the ones to go scattering the seeds of the word of God and we are the ones who will need to be ready to love and disciple the ones who come looking for the way into the kingdom.

As citizens of the kingdom of God we need to be praying – pray for the kingdom to come in this place, whether for the present community or the ones who are moving in; pray for good soil as we go out, pray for workers to go into the harvest – that might be as simply as needing more of us to be willing to deliver our literature as the number of homes to deliver to increases significantly. Pray that in this place where God has put each of us there will be a ton of wheat to be harvested when the day comes! And pray that as a church community, our love and nurture can encompass and welcome those whom God wants to add to his kingdom.

Amen.

Something lost to find again

I have always enjoyed writing. Not necessarily good writing, or words that will hold the attention of others, but writing that allows some expression of all the reflections stuck in my head to be expressed and make room for others, or at least to be processed to some degree! But I've realised that the avenues for that have been significantly neglected of late. Now I'm not saying that these were beautiful tree-lined avenues of aged oak and chestnut - more like streets of graffitied shutters and littered pathways - but they were my avenues. From the simple pen and paper of an old journal, to the musings of life through a blog, to the blank screen as an emerging poem defined some deep perspective on my world. Avenues that have become neglected and that I've only just realised provided me with a real joy and wellbeing. So I'm giving myself permission to allow a bit of time for reflection again - not just action and busy-ness but also reflection and expression. I'm sure that my life and ministry will benefit from that, and from the parallel listening to the reflections of others.

As Though

When your faith feels like someone has taken it out of your core and is hammering away at it like a tin box being covered in dents, then carry on as though it's still the firm centre of your being.
When you find it hard to believe that there's a God who has a view on you and a hand in the world, then live as though there is and he does.
When you wonder if the man Jesus really came from heaven and lived on earth and loved with the greatest compassion there is, then live and love as though he did.
When you wonder what the world would be like if this Jesus was wandering in your bit of it now, then respond to the world as though he was.
When you're inspired by the stories you hear of others going the extra mile and doing something quietly transforming, then work as though you're them.
When you hear the call to serve the poor and pray for the broken but wonder what difference it will make, then serve and pray as though they're the most powerful tools in the world.
When you dream of a heaven that is the best of earth but wonder if it's really there, then hope as though it is.
When you trip over massive rocks of repeated mistakes and self-doubt, then get up again and carry on as though they've been dashed to dust.
When you look at the darkness of human actions and evil in the world, then look again as though you were looking at the sun's rays piercing through them.
When you're infuriated by the injustices of the world, then have patience as though a merciful judge were waiting to even the score.
When loosening the grip of the hurt that's been done to you feels like weakness, then let go as though weakness is the greatest strength of all.
When faith seems hard to come by then go on being faithful as though it will make all the difference in the world.
When your faith is shaken by storms then let mine carry you in your faithfulness, and when mine slips you can do the same for me, as though we were meant to carry each other.


(MR 2010)

Doctor Matt

I have decided to go on record officially as being a great fan of the new Doctor Who!
Last year I was of the mind that the world may actually end when David Tennant stepped out of the role, and yet here we are at the end of Matt Smith's first series and Tardis or no Tardis, I wouldn't go back in time and switch the doctors again. The performances have been brilliant... such detail in expressions and mannerisms, and interesting development of the character. Of course, the writer Stephen Moffat should rightly receive credit for this re-creation... so credit to him where it's due. I even love the bow tie "It's cool!" (of all the quotes of the series that I could have included, I went for the easy to remember one!).
I approve!
(I'm sure there is universal relief at the BBC and with all involved in the production at that declaration).

PENTECOST

PENTECOST 2010 – ACTS 2: 1-21 & JOHN 14: 8-17, 25-27

Have you ever felt discouraged, afraid, powerless or disillusioned?
If the answer is ‘yes’ then you’re not alone. The disciples of Jesus went through such emotions themselves, as did the prophets before them, and so have many faithful people after them.
When we can’t see what God’s doing or understand what’s happening in life, church or world we become downcast and it’s then that it becomes all too easy to take our eyes off God, to question our faith, or to think that God’s deserted us. But it’s at such times that it becomes all the more necessary to look to God, to pray, to be reminded of God’s faithfulness and that we’re not the only ones to go through such times of discouragement or apparent darkness.
The prophet Elijah became so afraid when his life was under threat and he thought he was the only man of faith left that he ran away in despair and cried out to God, “Take my life Lord!”
The people of Israel despaired when they were taken captive and exiled by the Babylonians and when their captors mocked them and told them to sing their songs of worship now they proclaimed (as we have it in Psalm 137): “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion….How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?” For them the presence of the Lord was in the place of the Temple and they were removed from his presence. (Though the prophet Ezekiel found out otherwise when he, one of the exiles, was by the river Chebar and the Lord appeared to him in glory and gave him a word to speak to his disobedient people whether they would listen or not). The Lord was still there!
The disciple Peter was so afraid when he observed the trial of Jesus that he denied knowing him and wept with despair and disappointment at his own lack of courage in the face of persecution.
The writers of the Psalms, the poems and songs of God’s people Israel, often called out “Where are you Lord? How long O Lord must I wait for you?”
After Jesus had died and though he was even then raised from the dead, his disciples locked themselves away in a room because they were afraid of the Jews and it was into that locked room that Jesus appeared among them and spoke out “Peace be with you”. What did they most need in that room of anxiety and fear – the peace that God brings, the peace that Paul described as “beyond understanding” in his letter to the Ephesian Christians later on – peace of mind and heart not due to our circumstances but despite them.
We might not, like Elijah, face the threat of an evil queen like Jezebel trying to kill us for opposing her anti-God regime. We might not face violent persecution for being associated with Jesus like Peter and the early disciples did, though many do face that around the world today. We may not, like the greatest Psalmist King David, face enemy armies fighting the people of God. We may not experience being a minority faith in a society hostile to Christ as the disciples did in the days before they saw the joy of the resurrection of Jesus, though sometimes it seems our society is becoming more hostile to Christianity; we may not be sent into exile to hide away because of our faith; and yet we all face times of discouragement, fear, disempowerment and disillisionment. Do you see that God’s people have faced worse than I pray we will ever face and have come through with a faith like gold that’s been tested as through fire!

Because always God was there! Sometimes they didn’t realise it in the midst of the storm, sometimes their sinfulness and unwillingness to live God-honouring lives closed their ears and eyes to God, sometimes they had to wait and trust, but God in various ways reveals his presence and gives his peace in all of these situations.
It might be that facing the loss and pain of bereavement, worries for family members, concern about money and meeting the demands and needs of each day, sadness at being alone or living with difficult relationships, problems at work or being unable to find work, insecurity around issues of settling in another country, fears about your health or any number of other concerns and burdens cause you to feel that sense of discouragement or lack of peace.

And in the church too we can face concerns: As a church we have costs as you’d expect of any big family with a big home to keep and heat and light and maintain. Our Parish has a Parish Share (that is our allocation from the deanery towards the costs of our clergy, housing, and the training of new ministers) of £... for this year. If we actually gave a parish Share that reflected the number of stipendiary clergy in our Parish the cost to the Team would be a huge amount more than that. And of course we also put money into our mission and ministry here as well – all of this pay out is for God and to God – part of our commitment of discipleship, to enable there to be a church in this place to glorify and serve him. Meeting the costs of being church here and not just meeting them but we pray beyond that – and seeing an abundance that lets us be creative and imaginative and generous is something that I ask you to keep as a focus for your prayers through the coming year. This is one of the things of life that can give the vicar a distinct lack of peace, but in this we’ll pray for God’s abundant blessing to be demonstrated through us and that we will be like Barnabas who generously sold a field and placed the value of it at the disciples’ feet as his offering (none of us may have a field to sell but I pray we’ll think and pray afresh and bring what God prompts us to bring to set before him even if that offering seems so small to us – together we will provide the abundance and God will bless it!).

But where is all this leading then? What we find is that into the midst of our lives – both the holiness and the messyness of them, God has a promise and that promise is that he will pour out his Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Comforter, the one who comes alongside to help, the bringer of peace, the encourager.

Just as the risen Jesus came and stood among his disciples and said “Peace be with you” so God’s promise to us is that now Jesus has ascended to heaven his Spirit is being poured out for all people who call on the name of the Lord and they will be saved. We might not always be saved from the calamities of life but he will be alongside us in them, sometimes he will even transform them; but we will be saved from the sin that separates us from God, forgiven and made new. And in that newness we’ll receive life that stretches beyond death and into God’s presence – the hope of what’s still to come, we’ll receive purpose and meaning for life and we’ll receive an equipping and empowering to be part of God’s transforming mission on earth – right where we are.

That was the Holy Spirit, the gift, that God told those early disciples to wait for and the gift that we see poured out on the day of Pentecost, the day we celebrate today with a prayer once again that God will pour out his Spirit on us as individual people and as his church.

Why did God pour out his Spirit on those first, waiting, disciples?
Why does God pour out his Spirit on us, the disciples of today?
The reasons and benefits are numerous and we find them contained in the two readings we’ve heard today…

1. So they could hear God. People from many nations were gathered together and when the Spirit was poured out they each heard the message of Jesus, spoken by the disciples, in their own language. God wants people to hear and understand and sometimes he even gives a gift of ‘tongues’ that the speaker does not understand but the hearer does.

2. So that they might call on the name of the Lord and be saved. Peter, as he spoke to the crowd, quoted the words of the prophet Joel: “In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh…” And the result of these outpourings (in prophecies, visions and dreams) would be that people would come to God and be saved.

3. So that they would know the Father. God pours out his Spirit so that we can know him, and know him through Jesus – the one who came to show us the Father and break the barrier of sin and death that stands between us and God. The Spirit helps us to believe and understand the things of God and to know that we are his children.

4. So that they might do the works of Christ and glorify the Father. Our faith is not just a matter of belief in Christ but a matter of action too. Jesus sent out his first disciples to do the things they’d seen him doing – empowered by the Holy Spirit – healing the sick, breaking the powers that bound them, proclaiming the good news of God. None of those things can be done in our own strength but only by God at work through us with the outcome that people are blessed and God receives the glory!

5. So that they might keep his commandments. Jesus summarised all the law of God in two commandments: to love the Lord your God, with heart, soul, mind and strength and to love your neighbour as yourself; but he also taught them to be prayerful, always calling on the Father, to baptise, to teach what he had taught them, to make disciples and to love and serve one another. It is the Holy Spirit poured out that enables us to keep these commandments.

6. So that they would receive peace from God and not be afraid. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”
And here we come back to where God meets us in the very real things of our day-to-day lives that I spoke of before. The Spirit is poured out so that we can know God with us – encouraging, comforting, envisioning, helping and empowering us to live for Christ and be at peace with God.

And how amazing it is to see the fruit of the Spirit at work in us and among us – not only in growing in us love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, but the Spirit is at work when people of different cultures and traditions can stand side by side around God’s table and receive bread and wine, the gifts of God’s presence, together; the Spirit is at work when forgiveness takes the place of bitterness and thoughts of revenge from past and present hurts; the Spirit is at work when great doubts are gradually replaced by growing seeds of faith and hope; the Spirit is at work when acts of love and service are visible in a society of indifference to all but those we call our own; the Spirit is at work when God’s mission of bringing strength to the weak, healing for the sick, binding up the broken and seeking out the lost from God is shared by his people; the Spirit is at work when God is honoured in our words, our actions, our choices and our lives.

COME HOLY SPIRIT!
Amen.