For those who follow this blog and those who
receive the hard copy, I'm sorry that I have not been able to deliver it as
regularly as I was doing in previous times. This irregularity will probably
continue as my personal resources are not matching the number of demands on my
time and energy.
However, I hope that when I can write up the
service in some way, it will be a help to those who look to it to keep in touch
with our church and use the blog in their own way.
This week Dan led our service and because I did
not take any notes I can only give you my own version of his theme. He raised
the issue of Wisdom and Foolishness. He pointed out that Wisdom was God's voice
to us and that in not listening to that voice we were exposing our own
foolishness.
The bible readings for the day included Psalm
19; 1Corinthians 1:18 - 25 and John 2:13 - 22.
In the reading from John we are told of Jesus’ anger at the Temple being used for unholy
purposes and his declaration of his power. Later in John we hear that God sent his Son into the world so
that each of us can have eternal life. And later in the same reading we are
told that "God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world,
but in order that the world should be saved through him." Jesus is the
focus, we are to look to him. This is made clear earlier in the same chapter in
John, "And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the
Son of Man be lifted up.." we are to keep our attention on him. In him is
our salvation, our release from the things that weigh on us and prevent us from
being all we should be. This is why Jesus was so angry in the Temple. The focus
was everywhere but where but where it should have been. When we look to Jesus
and trust in his teachings, we are surely transformed, eternal life begins.
In Corinthians, Paul warns us that this message
is foolishness to those who haven't experienced its redeeming quality, so don't
expect congratulations from everybody for following that way. In fact, those
who are wise by this world's standards will probably think you are a bit slow.
I remember the father of a young minister
offering the minister's young bride a new house if only she would dissuade her
new husband from throwing his life away, going to the mission field. But they
had experienced the saving grace of Jesus and all the new houses in the world
couldn't compete with that.
God reaches out to us, drawing us to him anew
each day. Even before we open our bibles or sit in contemplative prayer, God is
speaking to us from the world around us and the people in it. Psalm 19 tells us
that "The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament
proclaims his handiwork...their voice goes out through all the earth, and their
words to the end of the earth."
We only have to look just once on God's
handiwork around us to realise that our God is good and everything that comes
from him is good. Just as he creates beauty around us, he can transform our
lives into things of beauty.
Many of us have been fortunate in so far as
during dark patches in our lives, we have been put in touch with someone whose
transformed life gives us hope. May we be transformed in such a way that we
pass on that hope to others.
Charles Wesley's hymn "And can it be that I
should gain" shouts the results of such a huge change and his great
gratitude to God who is the source of all such transformations. "Tis mercy
all, immense and free: for O my God it found out me." Don't hang back.
Whether it is an initial step of trust or another step along the way, it's
immense and free mercy. Go for it because as Charles Wesley says later in the
hymn " My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose went forth, and
followed thee. No "ifs" or "buts". Wesley is clearly sure
of the work of God's great love in his life.
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