And we’ve done it again! trying to figure out what the last of the three words in 1Corinthians 13:13 might actually mean. Love. We found out all sorts of things, such as Paul (unsurprisingly) loves chocolate and we all have some very generous families and friends, since they bought us all sorts of presents. And I have to say, I was quite impressed with the speed of everyone finding the bible verses! Obviously, we’ll have to go for something a bit more obscure next time.
It was great to have James and his mum, Kate join us. Perhaps James will be able to share more about his actual birthday on Sunday! We’re also grateful for the number of news items for Mark! I’m very glad that Marc got his stones, and that Seren and Evan were able to share about the flowers in Ropner Park. Furthermore, I would just like to add, Tom’s haircut isn’t THAT bad!!
When it came to discussing God’s love – the foot washing episode in Matthew (near the back) spoke volumes to us about the kind of love that Jesus has for each one of us. Serving, sacrificial, getting stuck in to show kindness where it was needed. I’m conscious that this kind of love challenges a lot of what we’ve heard in the media about Dominic Cummings this week. Many of us are angry and annoyed that someone has seemingly broken the rules, and then not apologised or asked for forgiveness. Where do we stand with God’s love then? Do we pray for justice? Or do we pray for healing, as many people have been very hurt over the government’s handling of the scandal.
One of the readings we used in the Sword Drill was Romans 12:9. If you read onto the end of the chapter, it talks about that we shouldn’t take revenge, instead respect everyone – leave room for God to do that. It’s a big challenge to pray for those who hurt us, to help those who we find difficult. Is this the point at which we stop, fall silent and say – “I can’t do it”. Maybe then, as we lay our faults at the foot of the cross, God says – look up and see what I have done. We looked for crosses on Sunday – that symbol of ultimate love, the demonstration of how wide, deep, high and long God’s love is through Jesus. If there is nothing else we take from this looking at love, it is that Christ died for us, so that we might start to grasp the depths of God’s love. One of the vidoes we shared touched on this. Would be very interested in anyone ‘s thoughts about it. (register on the blog to post).
When we plunder God’s resources, then maybe we can start to love well – as God’s love goes way beyond anything we can do on our own. And the secret to really accessing all of this? Well, tune in next week, when we start to look at power…
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