Conflict
Song: Jesus the name high over all
Jesus the name high over all - YouTube
Prayers:
Lord, we bring you our prayers and praises because we believe that you are worthy to receive them. We join with your church, the world over to praise you for your majesty and glory, your goodness and grace..
We praise you for the wonders of creation, that you reveal yourself to us in this way.
We praise you for your gift of life, for your mercy and grace throughout our lives, for the joys of loving and being loved, for all that it true and noble, all that is good and pure.
We praise you that you loved the world so much that you sent your son to be our saviour. We praise you for him dwelling amongst us, as one of us, but perfect, an example for us to aspire to, for him dying for us on the cross, for his rising again to be our eternal priest and king, for his promise that he will come again to be our judge.
We praise you that in him you have taken away our sin, and had mercy on us.
We praise you for the presence and work of the holy spirit, to create fellowship in the truth, to enable us to spre4ad your gospel throughout the world and to reveal to us the things of Christ, not previously known to us.
So Father, in the power of the spirit, we offer ourselves to you as a living sacrifice in your service. Strengthen us to serve you, and gather us, all all humanity to your kingdom.
Amen
Reading: Second book of Kings, chapter 6, verses 8-23
Song: Earth rejoice the Lord is king
Earth rejoice our lord is king - YouTube
Readings: First letter of John, chapter 4, verses 1-6
Gospel of Luke, chapter 11, verses 14-26
Song: Open my eyes
Open My Eyes That I May See ~ Joslin Grove Choral Society ~ lyric video - YouTube
Prayers:
Father, we meet as part of your church worldwide and pray for the church in every place. Especially we pray for the church in places where meeting is difficult for reasons such as the political circumstances, or war.
We pray for the unity of the church in Christ, for the fulfilment of its mission, and for all ministers of the gospel.
We pray that the church will be strengthened as it carries forward Christ’s work; that all who confess your name may be united in truth, live together in love; and reveal your glory to the world.
We pray for the nations and peoples of the world; for all who serve the good of others; for governments as they struggle to make the right decisions in difficult circumstances; and especially for the governments involved in making decisions about the situation in Ukraine.
May all who have authority have wisdom; may the nations be directed in the ways of justice and peace; may people honour one another and seek the good of each other.
We pray for those whom we know and love; for our family and friends; for the community in which we live.
We ask that you will give grace to us, to our families and friends and to our neighbours. May we serve him in one another, and love as he loves us.
We pray for those who are suffering; for those who are sick, those who mourn; those who lack the faith to deal with their circumstances; those who serve those in need; those suffering as a result of war, persecution or natural disaster.
We pray that your healing hand may move in their lives, that all who suffer in body, mind or spirit may receive your courage and hope.
We rejoice in the witness of those who have inspired us to be meeting today; the saints of every age, some known to the world and those known only to ourselves. We pray that we may share with them in your eternal kingdom
In Christ’s name
Amen.
Song: It came upon the midnight clear
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear (Tune: Noel - 4vv) [with lyrics for congregations] - YouTube
Conflict
If you have been keeping up with the news recently, you may have brought to mind
“In war, truth is the first casualty.” It’s a military maxim attributed to Aeschylus, the father of Greek tragedy. Clearly over the intervening years, little has changed.
About 4500 years ago, the King of Aram was at war with Israel. Many wars between people in every age. Folk seem to want to find excuses to fight.
In the television science fiction series “Red Dwarf” the cat people believed the last human alive, Lister, to be a god. They wrote books about him; wanted to do his will. He wanted to set up a hot dog and doughnut diner on Fiji. The cats became divided into two groups. Some believed that the diner attendants should wear red hats, and the others believed that the hats should be blue. Thousands years of holy war had ensued over this belief. Actually Lister wanted the hats to be green!
In the cartoon series “The Simpsons”, there is an episode where Bart Simpson is believed to be prophet. The action then cuts to the future where there are two groups of followers; those who believe that the teaching of Bart was “Love and tolerance”; and those who thought it was “Understanding and Peace.” They went to war.
We are not told what the war between King of Aram and Israel was about. Perhaps about something trivial, perhaps more serious.
In all wars, everyone wants to know what the other side is going to do next. The different colour hat factions in the cats’ war, and the “Love and tolerance” and “Understanding and peace” groups in the Simpsons’ war would no doubt have had spies to try to find out.
King of Aram was worried, his every move anticipated by Israel. Called in his officers and asked “Who is the spy?”
“None of us boss!” they replied, “It’s that bloke Elisha, he even tells his king what you do and say in private.”
“Go get him” said the King. “Bring him here”. “I want to know what he is doing and how he is doing it.”
Today just the same. In the current war in Europe, both sides have reportedly taken action against their own officers who they believe are committing Treason. Reportedly there are people that are wanted, or on “death lists”.
Troops were sent, enough to surround the city of Dothan at night all ready to capture Elisha and bring him back to the King in the morning. Isn’t it always in the morning? In all the films the attack is “At dawn”. Noone ever decides that the attach should be at teatime!
Elisha’s servant got up. Presumably, hestarted to prepare the household for the master’s rising, and went outside. He saw the forces, and was worried, there could only be one explanation.
Can’t you just hear John Laurie (Private Fraser, in the “Dad’s Army” series) “We’re doomed” “I always said that you would come to a bad end.” To his credit, he did at least go back in and tell his boss, not just scarper and save his own skin, What would we have done?
To his great surprise, his boss did not seem worried, “Don’t fret” he said “There’s more of us than there are of them!” Can’t you hear the servant saying, or at least thinking “there are thousands of them and just two of us, have you lost you mind boss?”
Elisha prayed that the servant’s eyes might be opened, and he saw an army of horses and chariots of fire, surrounding Elisha. Were they really there? Were they a vision? Was it s realisation that the forces of God were on their side? We shall never know, we only have the story as it is recorded. Either way, it seems that they were well prepared for the next bit.
He prayed for them to be “Struck blind” Apparently not totally, but so that they did not recognise him. “This is not the right place, follow me and I will take you to where you want to be” Rather reminiscent of Obi wan Kenobi’s line “These are not the droids you are looking for” in Star Wars.
They followed him, and he led them to be captured by the king of Israel in Samaria. “Shall I kill them?” asked the king. “No”, said Elisha. “You wouldn’t kill prisoners that you had caught yourself, look after them, feed them, and send them back to their king.”
By this time, would the servant, like our old friend Private Fraser, say “Of course, I never had any doubt about your ability to get us through this, no doubt at all!”
Luke tells us a rather odd story about a man who was prepared for burglars. Nevertheless, he was overpowered and his goods taken. He then talks about eviction of an evil spirit (exorcism?), and the possibility of the spirit returning with others, making the person worse off than before.
I don’t think he was simply giving house security advice, like some sort of 1st century crime prevention officer. If he was, then his advice was rather lacking! The second part of the story gives it a spiritual dimension.
Be on our guard against evil, but don’t just be satisfied with getting rid of evil, put something else in its place, something good and sustaining, or the evil will return.
Just as there are physical conflicts in the world, there are spiritual conflicts in our lives. No less real. Potentially no less damaging.
John tells us that when confronted with such conflicts, we need to test the spirits in order to determine whether they come from God. Doesn’t he make it sound easy?! If only it were. But when confronted with conflicting ideas, we need to ask where our understanding of God fits with them.
We are told that Elisha prayed when in these situations, and so should we. Perhaps at length, perhaps very briefly, but pray for God’s guidance to tell us where he wants us, what he wants us to do, (or not do!)
Of course, the two conflicts, physical and spiritual, can come together.
In my family in the 1940s, my mother’s family were pacifists, and my father’s parents certainly believed that war was evil, but my father felt that it was right to leave his reserved occupation as a police officer, and join the RAF to fight. His decision was greatly influenced by his experiences being on duty in Brightside during the Sheffield blitz. I have been given to understand that there was significant ill-feeling between family members for some time
The current conflict is producing similar spiritual conflicts now. I know a young man who was thinking that it was right to go to Ukraine and enlist, to support their army in the struggle. If any of you are having similar thoughts, my own view is that someone who doesn’t speak Ukrainian and/or Russian, who has no military training, and doesn’t know the country or customs, is of at least limited value, and could well be a liability.
But: pray. Test the calling to see who’s spirit it is. Know what you are letting yourself in for, physically and spiritually.
There will be ample opportunity to volunteer when the fighting is over, and the reconstruction is taking place.
Not all decisions will be as life-changing as these, but are conflicts nonetheless.
Remember: “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
We have God on our side.
Song: God is our strength and refuge
'God is our Strength and Refuge' to the tune of 'The Dambusters' movie theme - YouTube
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