Sunday 14th June 2020

This half term the Christian Value is perseverance so, over the next few weeks, I will be sharing with you some bible stories which give good examples. We are all having to persevere through this time of isolation but, like with these stories, we have faith and it is this which will bring us out of the tunnel smiling.

Trust Forgiveness Peace Thankfulness Compassion  Friendship Love Hope

PERSERVERANCE

The Lost Sheep.

Jesus told this parable to the people who were grumbling. If one of you has 100 sheep and one goes missing, what would he do? He would leave the 99 and go to look for the one who has got lost until he finds it. When he finds it he is so happy  that he puts it on his shoulders  and carries it back home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours and because he is so happy he celebrates with them.

Jesus explains that for every one person who is sorry for doing anything wrong then God is more thankful for them than for 99 who do not need to be sorry.

Luke 15 verses 1-7

 

A few words from Reverend Lee Gabel

 

Reflection 14th June 2020

Romans 5. 1-8

Matthew 9. 35 – 10.8

I have been reminded of the song ‘Rivers of Babylon recently. The clergy of the Diocese were asked by Bishop David to consider: ‘what song are we going to sing to our world, what song does our world need to hear us singing?’

The words are taken from Psalm 19 and 137. The question: ‘How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?’ refers to when the people of Judea were exiled in Babylon and they cried and questioned: how can we pray to the Lord away from Jerusalem and the Temple? Their fear was that if they did not pray in the temple God wouldn’t be able to hear. Song and prayer are moulded together.

We live in strange times, we have all had to learn how to adapt and work, how to minister and worship in times never experienced before. We are still learning how to sing the Lord’s song in these strange times, and it may not be perfect; but in ordinary time, when is it ever perfect anyway?

In today’s Gospel reading we see Jesus having similar thoughts; “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.” Jesus is looking at the future of the church perhaps. And perhaps we are living in similar times?

Jesus asks us to become a labourer in the field of faith. To be active and to have the confidence that we are justified by faith as St Paul tells us; and we trust that Jesus’ ultimate healing is free and abundant.

The answer to ‘How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land’ is: sing anyway, God never stopped listening. The exiled Judeans realised that God met them where they were in Babylon. They could pray to the Lord where they were, and they did not need to be in the Temple in Jerusalem.

We are still trying to work out how to sing the Lord’s song in Lockdown, and I’m sure things can get better. But we pray and trust in the Lord and in doing so we become labourers for the faith and for God.