Dear Friends
You probably won’t receive this until Monday, as we issued a day last week, but I wanted to end my daily series with three more verses from John chapter 1.
14And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. 15(John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” ’) 16From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
I once knew a woman who had had her radiators bled by Hank Marvin. OK, it’s not all that impressive but there are some things that just stick in your memory! What’s your claim to fame? I love the scene in The King’s Speech when the wife of the struggling Australian speech therapist arrives back at their very ordinary house to find the Queen sitting in her kitchen. It’s one thing to go and stand outside Buckingham Palace, or even to be invited to a garden party. It’s quite another to discover that the Queen has come to visit you. Why have you been so favoured that the Queen should come and eat your digestives?
It’s one thing to believe that this life is not all there is – “there must be something more”. It’s a comfort to believe that one day we will go to meet our loving God. it’s special to think that we might be invited inside to the heavenly banquet. But it’s mindblowing to think that God has come to visit us. Jesus sitting in your kitchen! ‘The Word was made flesh and lived among us’. Why have we been so favoured that Jesus should come and eat our metaphorical digestives?
And the answer is love. Love in action. Love that will not stand by and see us spiral into disaster. Love that will do anything to save us. Love that wants to share. To enjoy. To breathe as we breathe. John says that Jesus was ‘full of grace and truth.’ The best definition I have heard for the word ‘grace’, is ‘love in action’. That’s the truth of the matter.
So in all the turmoil of life in 2020, the threatening horizons of Covid and climate. The pressures to succeed. The demands of family and the challenges of enabling children to grow up to be whole human beings, remember that you are loved. Loved to bits. Loved beyond measure. That’s the Gospel of Jesus. And he’s come to tell you.
Thank you for journeying with me over the last four and a half months. I feel as if I’ve learned a lot and I hope you have been equally challenged. Together I believe we have managed to relate faith to life and bring hope into confusing situations. Keep the faith!
A prayer.
I hope you are in the right place for this. It’s the General Thanksgiving from the Common Worship book and adapted from the Book of Common Prayer
Almighty God, Father of all mercies,
we your unworthy servants give you most humble and hearty thanks
for all your goodness and loving kindness.
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 give us, we pray, such a sense of all your mercies
that our hearts may be unfeignedly thankful,
and that we show forth your praise, not only with our lips,
but in our lives,
by giving up ourselves 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 all honour and glory, for ever and ever.
Amen.
I’ve chosen this piece because it’s one of my personal favourites. It always centres me back to stability when I’m feeling unsettled.
The second movement (Adagio Sostenuto) of Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrunBUiwnBs
If you would like to join Evening Prayer today it is at 5pm
The link is:
Topic: Monday Evening Prayer via Zoom
Time: Aug 3, 2020 17:00 London
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/79957227895?pwd=TjdwVyt4SHBSbmY4OWJHaEVvQWt4UT09
Meeting ID: 799 5722 7895
Passcode: L0kLr8
The times for Evening Prayer on Zoom for the rest of the week are as follows:
Tuesday 5.00pm
Wednesday 5.00pm
Thursday 5.00pm
Friday 5.00pm
Saturday 5.00pm
Sunday worship: Parish Communion at 9am in church, Morning Worship on Zoom at 10.30am and Sunday Evening Prayer is at 6pm on Zoom
Every blessing and thanks for tuning in!
Andrew
