Endurance in suffering.
Reading: Psalm 8.
Song: To God be the Glory
To God Be The Glory ( Royal Albert Hall, London) - YouTube
Prayer:
Almighty God, Father of all mercies, we your unworthy servants give you humble thanks for all your goodness and loving-kindness to us and to all whom you have made. We bless you for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life; but above all for your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory. And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up our selves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honour and glory throughout all ages. Amen.
Reading: Psalm 90
Song: Through the night of doubt and sorrow
Through the Night of Doubt and Sorrow (Ebenezer) - YouTube
Prayer:
Loving
Father
all
the fancy words
in
the world,
expressed
in eloquent prose,
decorated
with emotion,
spoken
with conviction,
cannot
compete with a heartfelt
'sorry'
when
all other words fail.
There
are times
when
we are all too aware
of
our limitations,
conscious
of sin
and
the distance it creates between us.
Sometimes
'sorry'
is
all the heart can bear to say aloud.
It
is only you
who
can read and understand
the
language of our hearts.
Only
you who can translate our 'sorry'
into
the prayer we would have prayed
if
we had the words within us.
Then
you forgive,
and
having forgiven,
surround
us in an embrace of love,
drawing
us close to your heart
as
it was always meant to be.
Thank
you, Loving Father,
that
you listen to hearts
as
well as voices.
Thank
you.
Reading: 1st letter of Peter, chapter 1, verses 3 to 9, and chapter 4, verses 12 to 16.
Song: Take up your cross, the Saviour said
Take up thy cross (Hymn) - YouTube
Endurance in suffering.
When the hymns we have used were written, the authors were undergoing, or had already undergone, trials of their faith. The hymns were written from their own experience in faith, and this is not always fun!
Jesus speaks many words of discomfort to his followers. In them, he challenges us to choose our priorities. When people asked the question “How can we follow?”, they expected to be given a list of rules, akin to the Jewish law. But Jesus is more challenging than that.
“Take up your cross!” he tells people.
The implication of living in faith given in the first letter of Peter is that we should expect to undergo suffering.
Many people have the idea that the Christian life is something like a balance sheet, that each day we get points or credit for good things, and debit or demerit for bad things. As long as the balance sheet is in credit, we are O.K.! Of course, there will be days when the balance is “in the red”, and then, on this system, we would need to gain extra credit by spending extra time in meditation or by almsgiving.
The trouble with such an idea is that there is no love in it.. And the essence of Christianity is that it is about relationships in love.
The truth is that the balance sheet has already been added up, and that we are in credit, not due to anything we have done, by because of Christ’s sacrifice, his death on the cross.
But in spite of this, we still often think in terms of bad things being caused by bad behaviour. “What have I done to deserve this?” is how it is often phrased. In Peter’s time, persecution often brought up this thought. The people were hopeful of Christ’s return, that the evil would then be left to be punished. They did not have the gospels in the form that we have, perhaps they had an oral tradition, we don’t know. Peter tells them that “If you think you are following Jesus, be prepared to suffer.” If you rely on your own strength, you will rely less on God, where it should be the other way round.
In God’s kingdom, service is above power; poverty is above wealth.
Jim Elliot, a Christian missionary and martyr said that you are no fool to lose what you cannot keep, in order to keep what you cannot lose.
We have to ask “What is our priority?” is it what God requires of us?
We need to preach or work with others in support of them. We are not expected to seek hardship. Most are not called to be martyrs. As we age, our priorities will change. We need to allow the Holy Spirit to change us for the better. Do our earthly desires pale into insignificance before our desire to do God’s will? Are we looking to the examples of the saints who have gone before us? Are we following them in speaking out against oppression?
If the land in which we live were to try to suppress Christianity would we carry on? Would we continue to meet? Would we continue to profess our faith? Would we “Take up our cross”?
Could we agree with Jim Elliot, and be no fool to lose what you cannot keep, in order to keep what you cannot lose.?
Song: And can it be
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