Archive messages from Jonathan
Sunday 29th March Passion Sunday
Dear friends
A lot has happened in a week and things have moved very fast. We are having to adjust to a very different way of life than the one we are used to. I don’t know about you but I’m not finding it as easy as I would like and some aspect are quite challenging – I’m trying / having to learn new skills to keep up with the changes being imposed on us. But all in the cause of trying to help the health service cope.
I know that some people are finding it very hard that the church building is shut – but it is important to remember that The Church is not the Building but the People and God is wherever His people are.
Today is Passion Sunday and it marks a turning point in Lent when we begin to look toward Easter. The readings for Passion Sunday are;
Ezekiel 37:1-14
The valley of the dry bones. God asks Ezekiel if these bones
can live and over the course of this short passage they do as
the breath of God came into them.
Romans 8:6-11
Here Paul talks of the choice we can make of either
setting our mind on the flesh – which is death –
or to set them on the Spirit which is life and peace.
It’s a choice, but who in their rightful mind wouldn’t really want
to choose life and peace?
John 11:1-45
This long passage is about the serious illness of Lazarus that
leads to his death. But for Jesus this is the opportunity to
demonstrate God’s glory as he restores Lazarus back to life.
It’s also a foretaste of His own death and resurrection a little
while after - which we will celebrate in two weeks time with
Holy Week and Easter. Unfortunately this year we will not be
able to celebrate it as we would normally do.
But the whole Passion is the story of how God ends up bringing amazing good out of appalling tragedy. Its a story that, if we let it, can speak into our own trying times.
I’ve also been reminded of the passage in Acts (8:1b) where again another apparent disastrous situation disperses the earlier followers of Jesus from their usual gathering places.
We usually meet as a “gathered” community of Jesus’ followers in church. Today, like many of brothers and sisters we will not be able to do that. Instead we will be amongst the “scattered” community of disciples meeting in our homes. Use the experience for a moment to reflect on our persecuted brothers and sisters who may regularly be “scattered” as their buildings are raided, closed or destroyed. Or for those who can never gather together because they don’t know who else believes what they do and they can only every meet in their own homes or even discretely in their own homes because their families might not share their belief. Be thankful our “scattering” is not due to persecution; but ask God to help you, in some way, identify with those of our brothers and sisters who are – what must it be like?
If you join with me this morning you might like to read the passages and this short thought. And instead of relying on someone else to lead the prayers as we usually do in church, why not talk to God about what’s on your own heart. You might even like to pray for your neighbours – taking and imaginary journey along your road and asking God to bless each and every home with His Peace and Presence at this time of uncertainty and for some perhaps even fear – or to use the words of Ezekiel “to breathe” His breath, His Spirit upon them. It might be that through our prayers on this Passion Sunday as a “scattered” church we will be able to bring many more people within our wider community before our loving Father than we ever do as a “gathered” church.
Sometime God needs to shake up His Church and shake it out of its comfort zone so that it can rediscover what it means to be His Church – ready to do His Will and to see His Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. I wonder if that is what He is wanting to do in and through this current pandemic. Perhaps this is reflected in the Romans reading – we have a choice as to how we respond to what’s happening – choose to set our minds on the Spirit and experience “life and peace”.
On a slightly different note, but I think still related, I am grateful to Christine Booth for sharing another song that she is reminded of at this time. It’s by Graham Kendrick called “O Lord the Clouds Are Gathering”. Christine says “I feel the song is relevant in that we are calling on God to forgive us and have mercy when everything seems to be going wrong across the nations and I love the lyric so full of hope “Your glorious cross shall tower triumphant in this land”.”
If you would like to listen to it here’s the link. https://youtu.be/Xfv9OI59_7o
O Lord, the clouds are gathering
The fire of judgment burns
How we have fallen!
O Lord, you stand appalled to see
Your laws of love so scorned
And lives so broken
Have mercy, Lord, (Men)
Have mercy, Lord, (Women)
Forgive us, Lord, (Men)
Forgive us, Lord (Women)
Restore us, Lord (All)
Revive your church again
Let justice flow (Men)
Let justice flow (Women)
Like rivers (Men)
Like rivers (Women)
And righteousness like a never failing stream (All)
O Lord, over the nations now
Where is the dove of peace?
Her wings are broken
O Lord, while precious children starve
The tools of war increase
Their bread is stolen
Have mercy, Lord, (Men) …..
O Lord, dark powers are poised to flood
Our streets with hate and fear
We must awaken!
O Lord, let love reclaim the lives
That sin would sweep away
And let your kingdom come
Have mercy, Lord, (Men) …..
Yet, O Lord, your glorious cross shall tower
Triumphant in this land
Evil confounding
Through the fire your suffering church display
The glories of her Christ
Praises resounding!
Have mercy, Lord, (Men) …..
It’s a song that picks up on the theme from 2 Chronicles 7:14 that I’ve quoted before “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves …..” It acknowledges how far we have moved from God and reflects in the 2nd verse the global nature of that abandonment of God’s laws. As God’s people may we accept the current pandemic as an opportunity to call out to God on behalf of His Church, this nation and the world and His Creation.
And again if you are able and willing to continue to pray the Lord’s Prayer and us Coventry Litany of Reconciliation on a daily basis during the week please do so.
Take care and every blessing.
Jonathan
Day 1
Wednesday March 25th
Dear all
I hope you have survived the first day of our new restrictions. It was certainly surreal when I went for a walk this evening - hardly anyone about and the market place deserted.
Some of you may have picked up that the Pope is calling on Christians to say the Lord’s prayer at 11am today, Wednesday. This has been endorsed by our archbishops and, I believe, other Christian leaders. I think it would be a tremendous act of united prayer across the world as Jesus followers call upon Our Father and seek His Kingdom and Will to be done here on earth as it is in heaven at this time.
I had been thinking something similar following on from my suggestion about using the Coventry Litany of Reconciliation on Sunday. As I was getting up this morning I wondered what it would be like if the Litany was used not just at the usual time of 12 noon on Friday, but used daily during this time of lock down. Interestingly the OT reading for the Anglican Daily Morning Office came from Exodus 2 and is the passage when God meets Moses in the burning bush and says he has both seen the suffering of His people and heard their cry so had decided He would do something about it. As the day wore on it also occurred to me that the Lord’s Prayer and the Litany could be used together as the first is and acknowledgement of Our Father, and the Litany is a confession of our failure to leave as He would want. This echo the 2 Corinthian 7:14 passage I also referred to.
Can I first of all invite yo to say the Lord’s Prayer today at 11 with hopefully millions of other Christians across the world, and, not necessarily starting go tomorrow - may be Thursday, saying the Lord’s Prayer and the Litany at 12. Just to save you looking it again I’ve included it at the bottom of the email.
Also I have had response to the request for suggestions of hymns / songs. Suzanne has offered one by Alisa Turner “My prayer for you". I confess I didn’t know but the words are very powerful - and the words that Suzanne picked out were “May God give you eyes to see that he’s still greater”. She explained her reason for suggesting it is that "it is a powerful hymn of hope and trust. ... - may we trust in him during these extremely difficult times, even when we feel isolated and alone, He is still with us. He is not the architect of this crisis but may we trust in His promise to bring good out of terrible situations”.
Suzanne also copied in this link if you would like to hear it https://youtu.be/hj_0pvIGkks
Still open to more suggestions!!!
Here are the lyrics
Peace and blessings
Jonathan
"My Prayer For You"
For anyone who's prayed a thousand prayers
And still can't find the answer anywhere
Fighting off the lie that no one cares
For anyone who's out there losing hope
Feeling you're forsaken and alone
Clinging to the last strands of your rope
May God give you eyes to see, He's still greater
Courage to rise and believe He's able
May God be your peace in the fire you're walking through
This is my prayer now
This is my prayer for you
For all of those with tired and weary souls
But still have faith to ask for miracles
Choosing to believe He's in control
May God give you eyes to see, He's still greater
Courage to rise and believe He's able
May God be your peace in the fire you're walking through
This is my prayer now
This is my prayer
May your eyes be ever on the Lord, your helper
May you find your refuge in the Lord, your shelter
May you find Him closer than a brother all your days
All of your days!
And may your eyes be ever on the Lord, your helper
May you find your refuge in the Lord, your shelter
May you find Him closer than a brother all your days
All of your days!
May God give you eyes to see, He's still greater
Courage to rise and believe He's able
May God be your peace in the fire you're walking through
This is my prayer now
This is my prayer for you!
For you!
The Coventry Litany of Reconciliation All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
The hatred which divides nation from nation, race from race, class from class,
FATHER FORGIVE
The covetous desires of people and nations to possess what is not their own,
FATHER FORGIVE
The greed which exploits the work of human hands and lays waste the earth,
FATHER FORGIVE
Our envy of the welfare and happiness of others,
FATHER FORGIVE
Our indifference to the plight of the imprisoned, the homeless, the refugee,
FATHER FORGIVE
The lust which dishonours the bodies of men, women and children,
FATHER FORGIVE
The pride which leads us to trust in ourselves and not in God,
FATHER FORGIVE
Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Wednesday
Dear all
I can imagine that today is feeling very strange. All the things we might normally do on Mothers’ Day or had planned to do on this special day have had to be changed. The phone may still be used but it is not the same as being able to spend time with those we love and want to be with.
One of the readings set for morning prayer today was from Isaiah 43:1-7. You may be familiar with the passage, or recognise some of the verses when you hear them - but they are a wonderful reminder that God loves us and watches over us and is with us in the midst of all that is going on around us.
In verse 1 He says
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
I have never checked it out but I’ve read somewhere that “Do not fear”, "Do not be afraid” of some similar instruction telling us not to be frightened occurs 365 time in the bible - one for every day of the year. Fear is natural and it can be quite an helpful emotion when it prompts you to take yourself away from danger.
But fear is also a debilitating emotion when it begins to paralyse us - the rabbit in the headlights. Perhaps we can remember times when we knew fear, or were frightened or anxious as a child. I trust that at such times you also experienced the reassurance of the love of a parent or caring adult.
We may be older now but some of us still need the reassurance of a loving parent - God our Father is such a person, and although we cannot feel HIs physical loving arms around us, by His Holy Spirit He can, and frequently does, give us a real sense of His Presence. The verse also reminds us that our God is not distant - He knows us by name - we’re very special to him.
He then goes not to say in verse 2
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
Whatever happens, God is with us - and again whilst we cannot see Him, His Spirit can make His Presence real for us in whatever way He chooses to make Himself known. Ask Him to be near you and let Him comfort and strengthen you. God promises that we need not be overwhelmed by the situations we face and the circumstances we find ourselves in - but He might just be waiting for us to ask Him to be near us and let Him comfort and strengthen us. The reason we can know this is as He tells us in verses 3 & 4
For I am the Lord your God
the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour.
and
Because you are precious in my sight,
and honoured, and I love you,
Most of you know me well enough to know that I too can struggle at times to appreciate the truth of God’s words and can find it a challenge to practise what I preach - but if we let His words sink in they are truly life changing. And sometimes we have need to do what the Psalmist tells us - “Be still and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10). The truth about the path to our sense of Peace (or lack of it) might be in whether we can “Be Still!”. Perhaps an unexpected result of the enforced changes to our lifestyle will be the gift of time to “Be Still” and in the stillness begin to “Know that I AM God.”.
And knowing how much we might need reassurance of the truth, He reminds us again in verse 5
Do not fear, for I am with you;
this time it’s not because He has redeemed us it is because, not only has He done that, He is also with us!..
So whatever you are feeling at the moment, KNOW that God is with you. Let His Peace rest upon you and allow Him to use you to pass that Peace on to those you meet who are in need of His Peace. If you feel comfortable with the idea, you can offer to pray for them and simply say something like “May you know God’s Peace at this time”. If you find it hard to ask or they are uncomfortable with the idea of you praying out loud, you can always say a silent prayer as you part.
As an aside it has been lovely this morning as folk have popped in to church - a number from church - but it has been interesting that a few people who are not church members have also popped in to be still and light candle.
Being Mothering Sunday we had, as usual, ordered some daffodils to give out - even ordered more as we were due to have a baptism. In the end even the daffodils were rationed!!! However bunches were made up and left at the bottom of the drive with a message to take a bunch for yourself and another to pass on to someone else.. From where I am in church I have seen that people have been doing that - may they too be blessed with God’s Peace and pass that on when they give the extra bunch away.
May God bless you both beyond your expectation and beyond your imagination; that you may know His Presence and experience His Peace as we continue to live through this challenging and uncertain times. Also take care and BE Sensible!!!
I have been asked if I am ok with these messages being forward to others- if you feel they're helpful and you want to, you are welcome to do so.
With love in Christ
Jonathan
Sunday, March 22nd
Dear all
I usually go across to church on a Saturday evening to prepare for a Sunday. I used to be very good at just sitting and praying but in more recent years I have not been so disciplined - there always seems to be something to do.
This evening I went across in the usual way but not just to get ready for a normal Sunday but to think about changing the layout so that should people come for a moment to pray and or just sit quietly when the church is open it complies with the guidance on social distancing. I took some pictures and thought I'd forward them to you so you can see how it looks - i also thought that if you had the picture you could use it as a visual image as and when you pray at home.
After changing things around I did manage to sit quietly and reflect and pray for a while. It felt very strange and I felt a bit sad knowing that we can’t meet as usual and have the same fellowship and fun that we normally do. I also felt so conscious of the impact all this is having on the community around us - to pass the various pubs and restaurants and see them all dark and the roads so quiet was quite dis-quietening - it reminded me of what it is like coming home after the midnight service. However on Christmas night I’m full of the joy of the fact that God had come down to earth to show us the Father’s love. I can’t say that I was so full of joy this evening - but I was conscious of God’s Peace and Presence. My prayer for all of you, and for the community of our parish of St Paul’s, is that we might know His Peace. So whatever you do tomorrow, and however strange it might feel - may you experience the Peace and Presence of our Lord with you.
As i was sitting there tonight I thought again of the Coventry Litany of Reconciliation and thought i might use it when I’m across in church. I’ve included it below in case you might like to use it as you sit quietly and reflect - and call out to God for Him to come and heal our world and help us restore a right relationship with Him.
Throughout the day I’ve been thinking about hymns and songs that speak to me about what’s happening and it got me wondering if that might be true for some of you too. So if that is true for you would you be willing let me know which hymns / songs you are finding meaningful and helpful at this time. If you are able to give a bit of an explanation as to why, or highlight particular words or verses, that would be special. I thought if a number of us did this we could share this across the church community as a way of encouraging one another and supporting each other. It might be too that we also being to have stories of things (God-incidences) that have happened to us or we have been able to do for others - these too could be encouragements and be “good news” for us to give thanks for. Just a thought.
There are several songs that I’ve been thinking about - but I’ll just focus on one for now - Oceans (Where feet may fail) by Hillsong. It speaks to me of experiencing God even in difficult and challenging times, and finding that He can strengthen and deepen our faith in the midst of them. You can listen to it if you follow this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RO6XxMOURA or a shorter versions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GGFb6LcX3U
Every blessing for your Sunday.
Jonathan
Dear friends
A lot has happened in a week and things have moved very fast. We are having to adjust to a very different way of life than the one we are used to. I don’t know about you but I’m not finding it as easy as I would like and some aspect are quite challenging – I’m trying / having to learn new skills to keep up with the changes being imposed on us. But all in the cause of trying to help the health service cope.
I know that some people are finding it very hard that the church building is shut – but it is important to remember that The Church is not the Building but the People and God is wherever His people are.
Today is Passion Sunday and it marks a turning point in Lent when we begin to look toward Easter. The readings for Passion Sunday are;
Ezekiel 37:1-14
The valley of the dry bones. God asks Ezekiel if these bones
can live and over the course of this short passage they do as
the breath of God came into them.
Romans 8:6-11
Here Paul talks of the choice we can make of either
setting our mind on the flesh – which is death –
or to set them on the Spirit which is life and peace.
It’s a choice, but who in their rightful mind wouldn’t really want
to choose life and peace?
John 11:1-45
This long passage is about the serious illness of Lazarus that
leads to his death. But for Jesus this is the opportunity to
demonstrate God’s glory as he restores Lazarus back to life.
It’s also a foretaste of His own death and resurrection a little
while after - which we will celebrate in two weeks time with
Holy Week and Easter. Unfortunately this year we will not be
able to celebrate it as we would normally do.
But the whole Passion is the story of how God ends up bringing amazing good out of appalling tragedy. Its a story that, if we let it, can speak into our own trying times.
I’ve also been reminded of the passage in Acts (8:1b) where again another apparent disastrous situation disperses the earlier followers of Jesus from their usual gathering places.
We usually meet as a “gathered” community of Jesus’ followers in church. Today, like many of brothers and sisters we will not be able to do that. Instead we will be amongst the “scattered” community of disciples meeting in our homes. Use the experience for a moment to reflect on our persecuted brothers and sisters who may regularly be “scattered” as their buildings are raided, closed or destroyed. Or for those who can never gather together because they don’t know who else believes what they do and they can only every meet in their own homes or even discretely in their own homes because their families might not share their belief. Be thankful our “scattering” is not due to persecution; but ask God to help you, in some way, identify with those of our brothers and sisters who are – what must it be like?
If you join with me this morning you might like to read the passages and this short thought. And instead of relying on someone else to lead the prayers as we usually do in church, why not talk to God about what’s on your own heart. You might even like to pray for your neighbours – taking and imaginary journey along your road and asking God to bless each and every home with His Peace and Presence at this time of uncertainty and for some perhaps even fear – or to use the words of Ezekiel “to breathe” His breath, His Spirit upon them. It might be that through our prayers on this Passion Sunday as a “scattered” church we will be able to bring many more people within our wider community before our loving Father than we ever do as a “gathered” church.
Sometime God needs to shake up His Church and shake it out of its comfort zone so that it can rediscover what it means to be His Church – ready to do His Will and to see His Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. I wonder if that is what He is wanting to do in and through this current pandemic. Perhaps this is reflected in the Romans reading – we have a choice as to how we respond to what’s happening – choose to set our minds on the Spirit and experience “life and peace”.
On a slightly different note, but I think still related, I am grateful to Christine Booth for sharing another song that she is reminded of at this time. It’s by Graham Kendrick called “O Lord the Clouds Are Gathering”. Christine says “I feel the song is relevant in that we are calling on God to forgive us and have mercy when everything seems to be going wrong across the nations and I love the lyric so full of hope “Your glorious cross shall tower triumphant in this land”.”
If you would like to listen to it here’s the link. https://youtu.be/Xfv9OI59_7o
O Lord, the clouds are gathering
The fire of judgment burns
How we have fallen!
O Lord, you stand appalled to see
Your laws of love so scorned
And lives so broken
Have mercy, Lord, (Men)
Have mercy, Lord, (Women)
Forgive us, Lord, (Men)
Forgive us, Lord (Women)
Restore us, Lord (All)
Revive your church again
Let justice flow (Men)
Let justice flow (Women)
Like rivers (Men)
Like rivers (Women)
And righteousness like a never failing stream (All)
O Lord, over the nations now
Where is the dove of peace?
Her wings are broken
O Lord, while precious children starve
The tools of war increase
Their bread is stolen
Have mercy, Lord, (Men) …..
O Lord, dark powers are poised to flood
Our streets with hate and fear
We must awaken!
O Lord, let love reclaim the lives
That sin would sweep away
And let your kingdom come
Have mercy, Lord, (Men) …..
Yet, O Lord, your glorious cross shall tower
Triumphant in this land
Evil confounding
Through the fire your suffering church display
The glories of her Christ
Praises resounding!
Have mercy, Lord, (Men) …..
It’s a song that picks up on the theme from 2 Chronicles 7:14 that I’ve quoted before “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves …..” It acknowledges how far we have moved from God and reflects in the 2nd verse the global nature of that abandonment of God’s laws. As God’s people may we accept the current pandemic as an opportunity to call out to God on behalf of His Church, this nation and the world and His Creation.
And again if you are able and willing to continue to pray the Lord’s Prayer and us Coventry Litany of Reconciliation on a daily basis during the week please do so.
Take care and every blessing.
Jonathan
Day 1
Wednesday March 25th
Dear all
I hope you have survived the first day of our new restrictions. It was certainly surreal when I went for a walk this evening - hardly anyone about and the market place deserted.
Some of you may have picked up that the Pope is calling on Christians to say the Lord’s prayer at 11am today, Wednesday. This has been endorsed by our archbishops and, I believe, other Christian leaders. I think it would be a tremendous act of united prayer across the world as Jesus followers call upon Our Father and seek His Kingdom and Will to be done here on earth as it is in heaven at this time.
I had been thinking something similar following on from my suggestion about using the Coventry Litany of Reconciliation on Sunday. As I was getting up this morning I wondered what it would be like if the Litany was used not just at the usual time of 12 noon on Friday, but used daily during this time of lock down. Interestingly the OT reading for the Anglican Daily Morning Office came from Exodus 2 and is the passage when God meets Moses in the burning bush and says he has both seen the suffering of His people and heard their cry so had decided He would do something about it. As the day wore on it also occurred to me that the Lord’s Prayer and the Litany could be used together as the first is and acknowledgement of Our Father, and the Litany is a confession of our failure to leave as He would want. This echo the 2 Corinthian 7:14 passage I also referred to.
Can I first of all invite yo to say the Lord’s Prayer today at 11 with hopefully millions of other Christians across the world, and, not necessarily starting go tomorrow - may be Thursday, saying the Lord’s Prayer and the Litany at 12. Just to save you looking it again I’ve included it at the bottom of the email.
Also I have had response to the request for suggestions of hymns / songs. Suzanne has offered one by Alisa Turner “My prayer for you". I confess I didn’t know but the words are very powerful - and the words that Suzanne picked out were “May God give you eyes to see that he’s still greater”. She explained her reason for suggesting it is that "it is a powerful hymn of hope and trust. ... - may we trust in him during these extremely difficult times, even when we feel isolated and alone, He is still with us. He is not the architect of this crisis but may we trust in His promise to bring good out of terrible situations”.
Suzanne also copied in this link if you would like to hear it https://youtu.be/hj_0pvIGkks
Still open to more suggestions!!!
Here are the lyrics
Peace and blessings
Jonathan
"My Prayer For You"
For anyone who's prayed a thousand prayers
And still can't find the answer anywhere
Fighting off the lie that no one cares
For anyone who's out there losing hope
Feeling you're forsaken and alone
Clinging to the last strands of your rope
May God give you eyes to see, He's still greater
Courage to rise and believe He's able
May God be your peace in the fire you're walking through
This is my prayer now
This is my prayer for you
For all of those with tired and weary souls
But still have faith to ask for miracles
Choosing to believe He's in control
May God give you eyes to see, He's still greater
Courage to rise and believe He's able
May God be your peace in the fire you're walking through
This is my prayer now
This is my prayer
May your eyes be ever on the Lord, your helper
May you find your refuge in the Lord, your shelter
May you find Him closer than a brother all your days
All of your days!
And may your eyes be ever on the Lord, your helper
May you find your refuge in the Lord, your shelter
May you find Him closer than a brother all your days
All of your days!
May God give you eyes to see, He's still greater
Courage to rise and believe He's able
May God be your peace in the fire you're walking through
This is my prayer now
This is my prayer for you!
For you!
The Coventry Litany of Reconciliation All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
The hatred which divides nation from nation, race from race, class from class,
FATHER FORGIVE
The covetous desires of people and nations to possess what is not their own,
FATHER FORGIVE
The greed which exploits the work of human hands and lays waste the earth,
FATHER FORGIVE
Our envy of the welfare and happiness of others,
FATHER FORGIVE
Our indifference to the plight of the imprisoned, the homeless, the refugee,
FATHER FORGIVE
The lust which dishonours the bodies of men, women and children,
FATHER FORGIVE
The pride which leads us to trust in ourselves and not in God,
FATHER FORGIVE
Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Wednesday
Dear all
I can imagine that today is feeling very strange. All the things we might normally do on Mothers’ Day or had planned to do on this special day have had to be changed. The phone may still be used but it is not the same as being able to spend time with those we love and want to be with.
One of the readings set for morning prayer today was from Isaiah 43:1-7. You may be familiar with the passage, or recognise some of the verses when you hear them - but they are a wonderful reminder that God loves us and watches over us and is with us in the midst of all that is going on around us.
In verse 1 He says
Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.
I have never checked it out but I’ve read somewhere that “Do not fear”, "Do not be afraid” of some similar instruction telling us not to be frightened occurs 365 time in the bible - one for every day of the year. Fear is natural and it can be quite an helpful emotion when it prompts you to take yourself away from danger.
But fear is also a debilitating emotion when it begins to paralyse us - the rabbit in the headlights. Perhaps we can remember times when we knew fear, or were frightened or anxious as a child. I trust that at such times you also experienced the reassurance of the love of a parent or caring adult.
We may be older now but some of us still need the reassurance of a loving parent - God our Father is such a person, and although we cannot feel HIs physical loving arms around us, by His Holy Spirit He can, and frequently does, give us a real sense of His Presence. The verse also reminds us that our God is not distant - He knows us by name - we’re very special to him.
He then goes not to say in verse 2
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.
Whatever happens, God is with us - and again whilst we cannot see Him, His Spirit can make His Presence real for us in whatever way He chooses to make Himself known. Ask Him to be near you and let Him comfort and strengthen you. God promises that we need not be overwhelmed by the situations we face and the circumstances we find ourselves in - but He might just be waiting for us to ask Him to be near us and let Him comfort and strengthen us. The reason we can know this is as He tells us in verses 3 & 4
For I am the Lord your God
the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour.
and
Because you are precious in my sight,
and honoured, and I love you,
Most of you know me well enough to know that I too can struggle at times to appreciate the truth of God’s words and can find it a challenge to practise what I preach - but if we let His words sink in they are truly life changing. And sometimes we have need to do what the Psalmist tells us - “Be still and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10). The truth about the path to our sense of Peace (or lack of it) might be in whether we can “Be Still!”. Perhaps an unexpected result of the enforced changes to our lifestyle will be the gift of time to “Be Still” and in the stillness begin to “Know that I AM God.”.
And knowing how much we might need reassurance of the truth, He reminds us again in verse 5
Do not fear, for I am with you;
this time it’s not because He has redeemed us it is because, not only has He done that, He is also with us!..
So whatever you are feeling at the moment, KNOW that God is with you. Let His Peace rest upon you and allow Him to use you to pass that Peace on to those you meet who are in need of His Peace. If you feel comfortable with the idea, you can offer to pray for them and simply say something like “May you know God’s Peace at this time”. If you find it hard to ask or they are uncomfortable with the idea of you praying out loud, you can always say a silent prayer as you part.
As an aside it has been lovely this morning as folk have popped in to church - a number from church - but it has been interesting that a few people who are not church members have also popped in to be still and light candle.
Being Mothering Sunday we had, as usual, ordered some daffodils to give out - even ordered more as we were due to have a baptism. In the end even the daffodils were rationed!!! However bunches were made up and left at the bottom of the drive with a message to take a bunch for yourself and another to pass on to someone else.. From where I am in church I have seen that people have been doing that - may they too be blessed with God’s Peace and pass that on when they give the extra bunch away.
May God bless you both beyond your expectation and beyond your imagination; that you may know His Presence and experience His Peace as we continue to live through this challenging and uncertain times. Also take care and BE Sensible!!!
I have been asked if I am ok with these messages being forward to others- if you feel they're helpful and you want to, you are welcome to do so.
With love in Christ
Jonathan
Sunday, March 22nd
Dear all
I usually go across to church on a Saturday evening to prepare for a Sunday. I used to be very good at just sitting and praying but in more recent years I have not been so disciplined - there always seems to be something to do.
This evening I went across in the usual way but not just to get ready for a normal Sunday but to think about changing the layout so that should people come for a moment to pray and or just sit quietly when the church is open it complies with the guidance on social distancing. I took some pictures and thought I'd forward them to you so you can see how it looks - i also thought that if you had the picture you could use it as a visual image as and when you pray at home.
After changing things around I did manage to sit quietly and reflect and pray for a while. It felt very strange and I felt a bit sad knowing that we can’t meet as usual and have the same fellowship and fun that we normally do. I also felt so conscious of the impact all this is having on the community around us - to pass the various pubs and restaurants and see them all dark and the roads so quiet was quite dis-quietening - it reminded me of what it is like coming home after the midnight service. However on Christmas night I’m full of the joy of the fact that God had come down to earth to show us the Father’s love. I can’t say that I was so full of joy this evening - but I was conscious of God’s Peace and Presence. My prayer for all of you, and for the community of our parish of St Paul’s, is that we might know His Peace. So whatever you do tomorrow, and however strange it might feel - may you experience the Peace and Presence of our Lord with you.
As i was sitting there tonight I thought again of the Coventry Litany of Reconciliation and thought i might use it when I’m across in church. I’ve included it below in case you might like to use it as you sit quietly and reflect - and call out to God for Him to come and heal our world and help us restore a right relationship with Him.
Throughout the day I’ve been thinking about hymns and songs that speak to me about what’s happening and it got me wondering if that might be true for some of you too. So if that is true for you would you be willing let me know which hymns / songs you are finding meaningful and helpful at this time. If you are able to give a bit of an explanation as to why, or highlight particular words or verses, that would be special. I thought if a number of us did this we could share this across the church community as a way of encouraging one another and supporting each other. It might be too that we also being to have stories of things (God-incidences) that have happened to us or we have been able to do for others - these too could be encouragements and be “good news” for us to give thanks for. Just a thought.
There are several songs that I’ve been thinking about - but I’ll just focus on one for now - Oceans (Where feet may fail) by Hillsong. It speaks to me of experiencing God even in difficult and challenging times, and finding that He can strengthen and deepen our faith in the midst of them. You can listen to it if you follow this link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RO6XxMOURA or a shorter versions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GGFb6LcX3U
Every blessing for your Sunday.
Jonathan
