Promise Keeper

Happy Easter!

One of the things that we're going to explore in our online service on Easter Day will be how the resurrection is proof that we can take Jesus at his word. Jesus had told the disciples exactly what was going to happen to him - that he was going to be killed and come back to life three days later (e.g. Luke 9:22). It's just that they didn't get it, or believe it.

Even after it happened they had trouble believing it - until they saw Jesus with their own eyes (e.g. Luke 24:12 and John 20:24-29).

Often we can find it hard to believe God's words - especially when things are tough, or our prayers don't get answered as we'd expected, or things take a turn for the worse. But the resurrection is proof that we can trust God - he is the God who keeps his promises.

Originally Easter Sunday was planned as an all-age service. So this week we have sent the children in Energise some materials for a craft activity to be completed during today's service.

The activity was to make a Promise Keeper box, in which you place lollypop sticks which have different promises from the Bible written on them. We did two in the service - Joshua 1:9 and Philippians 4:6-7. This leaves four more lolly sticks/verses/promises for each family to find and write down. Then in the coming days, maybe when you're finding it hard, you can pick out a promise from God.

If you want to make your own Promise Keeper box you can download the template by clicking here.

It's the end of the world - or is it?

Over the course of the last three weeks, more than one person has asked my opinion regarding the coronavirus crisis and end time prophesies in the Bible. Certainly, we are living through a situation that most of us could have never imagined just a few weeks ago. 

For a population that is largely shielded from many of the daily struggles that occupy the majority in our world - questions about where the next meal is coming from, or choices between food, medication or schooling - the current situation has opened our eyes to what are daily realities for many, including:

• the sense of life being out of our control - not knowing when things will get back to normal, and not just being able to plan and do what you want,
• the fear of not having enough - whether it's toilet rolls, bread flour, fresh fruit or milk,
• the reality of our own mortality, and
• an awareness that we don't have all the answers.

Whether or not it is an exaggeration, I can imagine few situations which would have shaken 'our world' to the extent that it is currently being shaken. Getting through the current crisis is going to be one thing - recovering from the fallout is going to be something else altogether.

Throughout history, when their world has been shaken, people have often speculated about it being the end of the world. Obviously, it wasn't and we're still here! 

But where does that leave us, now? The story of the Bible, whilst not designed to give us specific details, does point to the reality that history is moving towards the day when Jesus will return - it may be sooner, it may be later. It also points to the truth that God is in control - even when it doesn't look like it. So whether or not we are living in 'the last days' should be irrelevant to how we live today.

Today's video from the Bible Society helps us to explore this theme some more.

Feeling alone on Good Friday

Today is Good Friday, the day when we remember Jesus' death on the cross. 

Picture credit: www.LumoProject.com

Normally, churches throughout the country would be holding special services, as Christians come together to reflect, often in moments of quiet, on the horrors of the cross, and to thank God for his great love for us.

The cross wasn't an unexpected consequence or accident that prematurely cut short Jesus' life. The cross was always at the heart of God's rescue plan for the world. Right from the very first pages of the Bible story, God's plan to repair the damage done by human sin involved Jesus' death on the cross.

But this Good Friday we won't be coming together physically to reflect and remember. Instead, we're experiencing this Good Friday through social distancing and self-isolation. And many of us will be finding that hard.

On Good Friday, as Jesus died on the cross, he spoke some words from Psalm 22, 'my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?'

Jesus had been betrayed, denied and abandoned by his friends. And now, somehow, as he took our sin, he is experiencing something he has not known before - separation from God the Father.

So Jesus knows what it is like to be alone. But Jesus experienced this separation in order that we might draw near to God. So that the separation between us and God, caused by sin, might be put right.

So as we live through this Good Friday - many of us on our own - let's thank God that because of the cross we can know God with us, even in our isolation.

Here is a reflection put together by the Bible Society for this Good Friday.

The Third Commandment (or is it the second?)

I know that not everyone has extra time on their hands as a result of the coronavirus lockdown. Many key workers, of course, are working harder than ever. Parents, with school-aged children home all day, rarely get a moment's peace, and by the time the children are in bed, they're ready to crash too.

But some of you will have extra time on your hands for one reason or another.

If you've followed this blog you will know that I'm a fan of The Bible Project. As well as videos, The Bible Project also produce weekly podcasts. Normally, these follow a theme, and the podcast conversation over a number of weeks links into a single Bible Project video. The current series is on Parables.

But every now and again there is a random interview with a scholar/author. This week there was a really interesting conversation with Dr. Carmen Imes, about her research around the command, “Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” 

Often we think of this as being a command that focuses on the way that we speak/use the name of God. But if that's what we think have we missed the point?

It's a great podcast - you can listen to it by clicking here