Dear
friends,
Firstly,
I am aware that new regulations were announced last night, I am awaiting
clearer guidelines both from the government and Connexion on whether
worshipping in Church is permitted, as soon as i know
- you will too.
I am
setting up a fortnightly Zoom Autumn Bible study, starting on Wednesday 23rd
September at 2pm. I have attached more details. But for now, enjoy your day....
Whilst on
leave I visited a friend I hadn’t seen for a while, and as I walked through her
hallway, I watched in horror as the vase that my handbag brushed against
teetered on the shelf for a moment, and, with my heart in my mouth, I then
watched it, almost in slow motion, fall to the ground and smash into pieces. I
was mortified! ‘I’m so sorry!’ I blurted out. ‘What can I say?’. But before I could go any further, my friend whom I was
visiting held up her hand with a smile and calmly reassured me. ‘Don’t worry’,
she soothed, ‘it doesn’t matter at all, it’s only an
ornament’. And, of course she was absolutely right. It may have looked
attractive, it might have been conceivably expensive (thankfully – it wasn’t!),
it might even have had sentimental value (again, thankfully – it wasn’t!), but
when all was said and done it was there simply for show, looking well enough
but serving no real purpose.
That can
be true, sometimes, of us Christians. We may look the part but in reality, be
more ornament than use; our faith having little if any impact on the people we
are deep inside. That’s preciously the sort of religion Jesus condemned in the
scribes and Pharisees. Though they scrupulously observed religious rituals and
the letter of the law, they failed to grasp their true meaning; their faith had
become a matter of doing and saying the right thing.
“Woe to
you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed
tombs that look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of the bones of
the dead and of everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you look
righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
Matthew 23: 27-28
It’s
possible equally, as the epistle of James warns, to become so focused on the
importance of faith that we forget about our works, our supposed commitment
failing to manifest itself in the way we live.
But
someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith without
works and I will show you faith by my works. James 2: 18
True
discipleship is not about outward appearances but about inner reality, about a
faith that shapes every aspect of who and what we are. Let us not settle for
less. What difference does your faith make to the way you live, to the person
you are? Do we show it in action?
Loving
God, we focus too much sometimes on the externals of religion – believing the
right things, saying the right thing, performing the right actions – to the
point that faith comes perilously close to be being nothing more than outward
show, an empty routine we dutifully perform. Yet we can also make the opposite
mistake, turning it into a cosy, comfortable relationship between you and
ourselves that turns its back on the world and fails to show itself in action
at all. Deepen our commitment so that it truly shapes who and what we are. Give
us a faith that makes a difference to us, to you and to others. Amen
God
bless, Tanya