Monday Morning Mail, 2nd September 2013

By -


Loving God | Loving Each Other | Loving our Community

Good Morning!


It's great when we're putting on a service, and God seems to be saying the same thing to lots of different people in different ways and it all comes together really well. That was pretty much what happened at last night's Songs of Praise evening service at St Jude's. For those unfamiliar with the format, lots of people are invited to come up and talk a bit about a song which they particularly like, or which God is really putting on their heart, and we spend some time singing together.


Last night the theme which kept coming across again and again is that God is there with us no matter what we're going through; that he is enough for us and will provide, and will win, and will satisfy us and protect us.


It all fit in wonderfully with the lectionary reading for yesterday evening from Isaiah 33:17-22, written to God's people when they were under siege by the army of Assyria.


Your eyes will see the king in his beauty

and view a land that stretches afar.

In your thoughts you will ponder the former terror:

'Where is that chief officer?

Where is the one who took the revenue?

Where is the officer in charge of the towers?'

You will see those arrogant people no more,

people whose speech is obscure,

whose language is strange and incomprehensible.


Look on Zion, the city of our festivals;

your eyes will see Jerusalem,

a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be moved;

its stakes will never be pulled up,

nor any of its ropes broken.

There the Lord will be our Mighty One.

It will be like a place of broad rivers and streams.

No galley with oars will ride them,

no mighty ship will sail them.

For the Lord is our judge,

the Lord is our lawgiver,

the Lord is our king;

it is he who will save us.


So whatever this new term holds for us, whether you're looking forward to it or dreading it, hold onto God, because one day we will see the king of kings in his beauty and power and glory. We will see God's people secure, never to be shaken, and God will be with us. He is our judge – that's good news because in Christ he sees us as righteous and acts to defend us from those who attack and accuse us. He is our lawgiver – the one who shows us how to live. He is our king – he rules us wisely and lovingly for our good and protects us from all who would attack us. He will save us.


So hold onto him, and whatever this world throws at us, know that he will keep us safe and he will save us, and we will see him face to face and rejoice in his new creation.


God bless,


John

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Any Questions?

By -
There is one sermon slot free in the Autumn service rota, and I'd like to use it to answer a question that we have about Christianity - a point of doctrine, how to respond in a certain situation, anything along those lines. If you've got any ideas, just post them as comments on this post - completely anonymous!
Read more

Book of the Year?

By -
Image
I read quite a lot of books. The best book I've read this year is probably The Good God by Michael Reeves. It's a book about the Trinity. The big point is that the Trinity is central to understanding who God is, to understanding the difference between Christianity and other religions, and to understanding how we can be saved. Reeves doesn't say anything new, but he explains the theology very accessibly and clearly, quoting and explaining "big name" theologians like Athanasius, Augustine, Luther and Richard of St Victor in a way that is accessible to all, and he does it very well. It would be my top recommendation for anyone wanting to understand the Trinity and why it matters, whether they were a new Christian or training for ordination. My one criticism of the book is it could be very good for ecumenism as well - building links between evangelical theology and the Roman Catholics and Orthodox, but the end lets it down in that sense. Trinitarianism is tru
Read more

Monday Morning Mail, 7th April 2014

By -
Image
Good Morning! Yesterday morning, we looked at John 12:1-11, which is the story of Mary anointing Jesus' feet with perfume that cost a year's wages. We saw that Mary's grateful, responsive, loving, extravagant, disgraceful love was exactly the right response to Jesus, even though it left her with no money, no provision for the future and her reputation in tatters. In contrast, Judas was shown to be hiding his real sin behind trying to look pious. One of the ways we applied it was by thinking about whether we hold back from worshipping God for fear of what other people think, whether that's when singing at church or when speaking to our friends at work or at the pub, or even whether we're sometimes, like Judas, people who sit on the sidelines and snipe at those who are putting their hearts into worshipping God. We also saw how Mary's action predicts what Jesus is about to do – that she becomes the servant who washes Je
Read more