Because the Rev John, and others from our
Marsden Road Church have been eager and worked hard for everyone to be able to
have access to a weekly church service, it is now posted in full on the Marsden
Road Website, with cross links to Rev John’s weekly blog and Margaret’s
“Reflections on Sunday Morning” blog, but even more importantly there is a
“team” of people who email, print, post or personally deliver both the church
service and the weekly newsletter to anyone who wants to receive it, in the
manner most appropriate to their needs or wishes.
For some weeks now the Rev John and his wife
Wendy have invited people to join them for a “virtual” and safe meeting in
their home, via the miracles of modern digital technology. This works well for those people who have a
computer or a device with the right program, a camera and a microphone and who
have already felt the need to have embraced a technology that the majority of
people today consider to be absolutely necessary. However, those who do not
need or choose to become involved in this different way of communicating can
remain fully involved in life. We must
be careful to remember that people who have not become too engrossed in the
“new” way of communicating online are often more observant and careful when
making “real” connections with other people. Personally, I feel it is well worth stopping often
and slowing down to listen, share and communicate in the old ways.
Margaret has asked me to “mind” her blog while
she is recovering from her operations and I feel that in the present situation
when so much effort has already been put into making the Sunday Service
available to everyone, I might share some “Random Reflections” and thoughts provoked
by the Sunday service with her followers.
There are many people all over the world at the
moment who are struggling to cope with the situations they find themselves
having to face each day – who among us would have believed that we would be
faced with so much change, sadness and worry when we began to think about the
dawn of the year 2020?
We will need all our Faith in God to live by
that new “Easter Perspective” the Rev John spoke about on Sunday morning and to
“Dare” to “love one another deeply from the heart” (1 Peter Chapter 1 verse 22).
Yesterday morning I felt the impact of the Call to Worship very strongly as
my husband and I joined the Marsden Road Church Service via ZOOM (a new
computer program) as we sat in our pyjamas at the computer in our study. We don’t have a camera or a microphone on our
computer so the little screen that appeared with our name to show that we were
present was black & blank and we were unable to contribute to the
conversation! I was aware that, although there were about 20
familiar faces rolling across the top of the computer screen, there were many
dear people “missing” as the service was about to begin. It was a wonderfully comforting thought that
in other homes and retirement villages around the local suburbs some of those
“missing” people were also able to share in the service when they chose to do
so.
As those of us with ZOOM “gathered” there was,
as is usual, a bit of friendly chatting before the Rev John called us to begin
the service. While listening to the
chatter we became aware of the friendship and phone calls that had been shared
among those of is “at church” and those friends not on our screens, yet in our
thoughts and prayers during the previous weeks. That was a really good feeling.
Call
to Worship
Walking
down the road of life, how often do we meet Christ in a stranger? Chances are
good we won’t recognize him, even though our hearts may burn within us. Chances
are even better he will move on to bless another unless we offer hospitality to
our fellow travellers. Walking down the road of life, look for Christ . . . and
be prepared to find him in a stranger.
That has always been a concept that I love and
value! Have you ever felt
uncomfortable as you walked past a homeless person on the
steps of a grand city church; have you wondered was it God sitting on those steps dressed
in rags? Did God wonder why people went
inside to look for Him? Did he wonder
why we walked by without stopping to help?
Have you ever felt that God “used” you when you
were able to help a lonely or worried person as you passed by? I believe God sometimes prods us and raises
our awareness to step up and engage with a stranger. Walking down the opposite side of a wide
corridor in a hospital I surprised myself when I saw a lady with her head down
and looking close to tears and without even consciously thinking, I found
myself stopping and gently asking; “Do
you need a hug?” She held out her
arms to me and sobbed. She told me she
had just learned that her mother would not be able to recover and was close to
death - I knew that God had given me the mission to comfort her before she went
out to her car to begin a lonely and sad drive home.
In many ways the world has been turned upside
down by the overwhelming speed of the continuing development of digital
technology. In many ways it has also
become an impediment to actual communication which requires stopping to speak
and more importantly to listen to all the people we meet “walking down the road
of life”.
As Rev John stressed this morning, “That is, we must put on our new Easter
glasses and live “as if” the world has more love than it does, “as if” there is
more hope than people are willing to embrace, “as if” the kingdom of God can
reign on the earth today.” Our Easter glasses also give us the holy
boldness to ask, “What if?” What if every child had a warm, safe place to
sleep? What if there was enough food for every person on this earth? What if we
all lived from a sense of abundance rather than scarcity? What if today all the
killing of all the wars stopped?”
 |
The sun always
shines, even on the darkest of days
|
I feel that I am truly blessed that I can always “Look
for the Silver Linings” and see they are there somewhere, even on the darkest
of days. For me the sun is always
shining someplace. Sometimes I ask
myself why I have been so blessed and why I can hang on during a storm and wake
the next day ready to go on. I
understand and care deeply for those who are unable to wake each day with a
strong feeling of hope for the day.
It doesn’t seem fair when I see the struggles of others
and inexplicably; some who struggle the most, appear on the surface to have
“golden” lives. However, we can never
really know about the deepest troubles and the struggles, real or envisioned,
that plague the minds and lives of other people - even our closest friends and
sadly, sometimes family. Yet, some
people seem to have every reason in life to feel ignored or targeted by an
unconcerned society, or feel depressed and marginalized by circumstances not of
their own making. The fortunate ones
have a mystifying gift, which I can only think of as optimism. Some alternative
words for optimism are hopefulness, cheerfulness, sanguinity, confidence,
buoyancy and brightness.
No wonder this gift allows people to go on and find those
silver linings and hopefully share them with those whose joys are lost in dark
clouds.
