Spring 2008
Dear Friends,
May I take this opportunity to invite you to the celebration of Holy Communion on Sunday 4th May at Penninghame St John’s at 10:30. As always the table will be open to those who desire to follow Jesus Christ.
On our last Communion Sunday I spoke about how God uses all our senses in communion. I said if a sermon is like radio then the sacrament is like theatre, since the theatre involves you in a way radio does not. It includes all your senses and so does receiving the bread and wine at communion. Unlike even the greatest sermon we are involved completely in this act of worship.
However we learn something else about our Lord from this act. For many people they feel God may exist but is remote and far away. Now to eat with someone is a personal act. A person who wants to keep their distance and is impersonal would not invite you to a meal. What the Lord is showing us in communion is that he is personal.
What better way to show this to humans than to dine with them? When Jesus did this they called him a glutton. Yet he still calls us to the table.
Christians have a great message to share to our world. God is interested so much with you and me that he would invite us to dine with him. The question then is not whether God cares about us, but whether we care enough about God to attend.
Once again I thank you all for your hard work and support in all we do as a congregation. It is both my privilege and joy to minister Christ’s Gospel in our Parish.
Your minister,
Edward D Lyons
What makes a good elder? Some people may feel it is the ability to visit lots of people. Yet what you do when with people is far more important.
Many people state, “I could not be an elder because what would I say when visiting someone?” the answer is sometimes you do not have to say very much at all. Can you listen? This is what we are looking for.
As elders we always ought to remember Jesus has given us two ears and only one tongue. We should use these gifts in that proportion. The words that follow are from Dieterich Bonhoeffer.
“Christians, especially ministers, so often think they must contribute when they are in the company of others, that this is the one service they have to render. They forget that listening can be of greater service than speaking.
Many people are looking for an ear that will listen. They do not find it among Christians, because these Christians are talking when they should be listening. But he who can no longer listen to his brother will soon be no longer listening to God either; he will be doing prattle in the presence of God too.
This is the beginning of the death of spiritual life, and in the end there is nothing left but spiritual chatter and clerical condescension arrayed in pious words. One who cannot listen long and patiently will presently be talking beside the point and be never really speaking to others, though he be not conscious of it.
Anyone who thinks that his time is too valuable to spend keeping quiet will eventually have no time for God and his brother, but only for himself and for his own follies.”
The Minster’s Prayer Book
Collins 1959
Matthew 5:4-5
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
In the last newsletter I started to expound the opening of the beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5:1-3. We now continue with the next section.
(V4: The mourners)
Some Bibles translate the word happy instead of blessed. This is not a good translation because “Makarios” means more than happy and this is the word that is used here. Also when God blesses you would you not think it should make you far more than merely happy? Though who are the mourners? Well the context shows us it is not the bereaved in the normal sense
Jesus is following on from what he said previously. The people who were poor in spirit are the same people who are mourning. They were the people who were following him and not just the average public. Well what kind of mourning is this if it is not the standard mourning we have during bereavement?
It is mourning over sin. It is mourning over the way human life is and the way the world is. When a person can see this they know their need for God. When we know our need for God we have entered into a new standing with him because we have gained humility.
As long as we can tell ourselves that the world is a fine place with only a little wrong here or there then we cannot claim this blessing. Instead we are deluding ourselves into thinking that all in all it is actually not that bad. It is easy for secular people in the west to think this. We have all the materials that make life enjoyable.
However for two thirds of the earth this is not the case. They see the brevity and the frailty of human life. Also they see there is a lot wrong with the world where we live. For those who are humble they know they ought to mourn before God because sin is against God.
Do we feel that we have sinned against God? If not we may not be the mourners Jesus has in mind. We may not be “The Blessed”.
(V5:The Meek)
Until you know you are sick you will not seek a cure. Jesus is saying that if we do not think we are that sick then he will not appear to be that great a saviour to us. That is why for so many Jesus is nothing more than a religious teacher like anyone else in history.
If we really are meek then we will then see Jesus for who he is and what he can do. Meekness leaves no room for self sufficiency.
In fact it is the very opposite mindset of our secular world. In our secular age we are taught to be self sufficient. We have self serving bank machines, self serving coffee in shops and self serving tickets at stations. This breeds a secular mind with regards to our faith. Many have succumbed to it already. In such a world as this it no doubt appears odd to people that we cannot have self service salvation.
Unlike the words of Frank Sinatra with “I did it my way”, we cannot do it our way. Either we do it Jesus way or not at all. I pray we can all see this to be what Christ means. For as we noted at the beginning this blessing is more than happiness and our world makes a bad job at even offering us that.
Each Monday some of our members are meeting together for fellowship and to spend time studying a topic of choice. This term the topic is “Angels”. Here they are looking about what the Bible says about Angels and about what other people think angels are.
Each week the Alpha course runs in the hall. A meal is provided and then a 20 minute DVD is watched which is about the Christian Faith and life. Afterwards follows a discussion on the topic. We have around 15 people attending, some with a different church background to ourselves and some with none. The discussions so far have been very stimulating and appreciated.
Every Tuesday we are praying in the hall then having lunch. New people are always welcome and the meeting continues to well supported. Numbers can range from 8-16. We also have people from the surrounding congregations coming to pray with us. Come in any time and you will be made welcome.
The Bible study meets during the last 3 weeks of every month to study either a book from the Bible or a theme. We range from 7-11 in number and always welcome new people. If you have lots of questions come along…. You might be surprised.
If you are interested in finding out about any of these groups or the other organisations then please speak to the minister.
Luther was once asked by his barber how should we pray? Luther took this question so seriously he sent some advice. I am sure we have all asked the same thing at one time or another. Here is Martin’s advice.
“I give you the best I have; I tell you how I myself pray. May our Lord God grant you and everyone to do better.
First when I feel I have grown cold and disinclined to pray, because of other tasks and thoughts and the flesh and the devil, I take my little Psalter and read it. I will say the Ten Commandments or read something Christ said. Also I think about what St Jerome said “All the work of believers is prayer”.
Then I say this,
Heavenly father, Dear God, I am a poor unworthy sinner, not worthy to lift up my eyes or hands to you. But you have commanded us to pray through your son Jesus Christ who taught us how to pray. So I pray the prayer he taught us.
Then I say the Lord’s Prayer word for word. Then I might say it again but stop after each line and think about it for a while.
Therefore it is a good thing to allow prayer to be the first thing in the morning or the last thing at night.”
The Minster’s Prayer Book
Collins 1959