Why Believe ?

Singing songs such as ‘Lord of all hopefulness’; ‘I am a new creation’; ‘I’m building a people of power’ and 'Go tell it on the mountains', among several others this morning, we looked at …

Apologetics! Nothing whatsoever to do with being sorry – but it does mean that we are called upon to “defend our faith”! This Lent we are looking at the fact that we are called upon to be witnesses for Christ and indeed how we are to do that.

Our first loyalty must be to Christ – He must have our allegiance and so we thought about honour and holiness; “honour Christ as holy” (1 Peter 3:15). Jesus is worthy of respect, worship and esteem – so we too must be holy – separate from evil, showing that we and our behaviour are different; we must therefore be in the world and not of it; and have a personal relationship with Jesus. “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”

We examined the coins in our pockets – and found inscribed F.D. – fidei defensor – defender of the faith – which is a daily reminder to us of what we are to do; to stand up for Christ and to give an account of the hope that is within us. We also reminded ourselves that we only serve, but that it is only God who makes us and other people grow. We thought about being “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Peter 2:9), for since Christ came, ministered, died and rose again for each one of us, we are all special – indeed “royal”.

We thought about being prepared – knowing the scriptures, through each other and worship, and spoke about the challenge that brings courage, humility and love.

Lastly we looked at ‘Why’ through one of the best known verses in the Bible.

“For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son; that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16).

If Love could ever be measured, then God’s love could not be greater for He gave his only Son – He came and He acted on our behalf; .He could not love any more than that – and the object of his love? – The world – Us – You and Me.

That’s why.

Deacon Olivia

God's Unfailing Love

Matt 6:33 Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness

John 3: 16 God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him, will not perish but have eternal life.

We had a very lively morning! It seemed that events were stacked against us, which included a 5 mile emergency dash to Hastings, to collect our beloved, but stranded musician. Still, we got back within 5 minutes before I was due to begin the service.

So what about the Kingdom? We looked at the nature of Kingdom, both in the ‘Now’ and the ‘Not Yet’. We split into discussion groups and discussed the fact that Jesus’ Kingdom is one of love and not power and status, bearing a Cross and thorns as throne and crown. We talked about what is authentic and false love. One mother decided that authentic love is a mother’s love when she copes with all things, bears all things and loves in spite of it all. One very young person (8 years) said that false love was saying that she would clear her room when asked, but had no intention of doing so. It’s always rewarding to see all ages involved and contributing. We moved on to think about how we can make God’s Kingdom real in our time, as we have a part in the building of it.

Our songs included many about love and incorporated all the aspects of our mornings worship and discussion; The love of God comes close, Let there be love shared among us, When the music fades and worship songs; Majesty, Come on and celebrate.

It was an exciting and rewarding morning. But here are two questions for you to think about this week

How do you see authentic and false love ?

How can you build God’s Kingdom in our time?

Every Blessing Deacon Olivia