A day of prayer and fasting… my revelations, thoughts, prejudices…
Present not future: 1000 fans are watching Norwich City this afternoon; it’s an experiment to reintroduce spectators to football matches. The local paper’s headline is ‘None of us can be sure of what’s next – so let’s make the most of it’.
Initially in the pandemic we put life, work, relationships, church ‘on hold’ – to resume normality later.
We can’t wait for what may or may not happen, for the church to ‘re-emerge’; we are the church now. Today there are needs to meet, challenges to face, people to serve; opportunities to be creative, try new ideas, do what’s never been done before…
People not programmes: The focus – in our local communities, schools, hospitals, and churches must always be people; the organisation, services, activities, projects, buildings are just a means to an end. It’s not ‘what we’re doing’, it’s ‘who we’re serving’.
In our church family, in our local community there are families that are troubled, elderly folk who are lonely and fearful; we need first to have open eyes to see the needs, and then open hearts to seek to meet them.
Without God – nothing: I’m re-reading Pete Greig’s ‘God on Mute’. Greig has championed the power of prayer; his wife lies critically ill in hospital – apparently unanswered prayer. Asking her if she ever doubted God or his power to intervene she says, ‘How can I doubt God? God is all I’ve got.’
Musing on Peter’s sermon at the end of Acts 10:
- Message: Peter tells Cornelius the simple story of Jesus
- Miracles: It includes the super-natural
- Mission: Peter wants to tell everybody; the Jesus story is for all
If church is about anything it’s about God. If it ‘does what it says on the tin’, then God is powerful and relevant today.
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