Can't hear you!

Like most people worldwide, we had a simplified service streamed from Banchory this morning. Worship led by a married couple; service led by the minister.

The sound quality was terrible. Maybe it’s my laptop? We couldn’t really hear the prayer, nor the message. But we could join the worship. Worthy is the Lamb who saves. Worthy is the King who conquers the grave. Our God is faithful. He never leaves us.

There was something so moving about seeing church leaders there, leading as usual. Something so inspiring knowing others in our church community were participating, too.

Sometimes I sit in my prayer window, desperate to hear what God will say to me. And I can’t quite hear him. I hear a faint whisper maybe, but it’s indistinct and I’m not sure I’m hearing a message. But I sense he is there. I worship, and I come out refreshed and renewed.

In crisis, our instinct is to join together with our loved ones. Exactly what we can’t do now. But God is there, waiting. We can spend time with him. Even if we can’t hear him clearly, we can sense his presence, and we can worship.

God bless this world which he created and redeemed through the agony of the cross.

Confession

I’ve got an article to write on confession and the way sin separates us from God. It’s got me thinking. So often it’s the BIG SINS which we feel are an impenetrable barrier in our relationship with God, but in fact the small things may create a more devastatingly effective barrier. Small things like critical thinking. 

The thing about developing a sinful mindset, quick to criticise or grumble, is that it gradually becomes a characteristic of our personality. If my first response to anything unexpected or contrary to my way of thinking is to criticise or grumble, then my first response does not allow God to give me his response. I automatically exclude him, because he can’t abide sin and isn’t going to be around if I’m critical or grumbling. But I may not even recognise that my thinking is sinful, and so I may not seek forgiveness and open the way for him to transform my thinking so that I have the mind of Christ.

So it seems to me that committing a BIG SIN like, say, murder or adultery, might cause the perpetrator to recognise her guilt and immediately confess and have the relationship restored. The sin is still full of repercussions and consequences, but confessed and repented of, it shouldn’t be repeated nor develop into a habitual failing. Not if it’s truly confessed and repented of. But critical words, grumbling, or gossiping are not always easily identified. We have all sorts of ways of justifying them. Sharing for prayer. Etc. 

Just a few random thoughts. Repentance allows God to bless us with times of refreshing, which most of us are in need of. So we need to be careful to ask the Holy Spirit to highlight those sins which need confession and forgiveness. We need to listen for his answers, and expect them to be particular and not just generic.

Then we can rejoice in the times of refreshing.

Unblemished or Scarred?

Well, I guess if we’ve lived more than a few months on this earth, we will have to admit that we carry a few scars. Both visible and invisible. On our skin or on our hearts or minds. 

A mother recalled recently her distress when she saw her daughter’s hand badly cut, knowing it would never be the same as it was when she was a wee girl. Another person I know was upset to see her son’s tattoo, knowing, again, that his formerly unblemished shin would now forever be marked.

All of us who have suffered bereavement or loss of one kind or another know that there are wounds on our psyches which may have healed, yet bear scars. Scars that will always be there. Time may heal, but the scars remain.

I was encouraged today when a medically-trained friend explained that while we may find scars distressing, in fact they are tougher than ordinary skin and therefore very protective. In its earliest stages, scars are vulnerable to re-injury, but after a time the scar tissue becomes stronger than ordinary skin.

Suddenly scars don’t seem so disfiguring. Because we all bear them, none of us needs feel they are marks of shame. In fact, they are marks which enable us to draw close to others who suffer similar injuries, because we can empathise with their pain.

As a final codicil to this discussion, someone else suggested that when the mother felt distressed at the scars on her daughter’s hand, she need only think of the hands of our Saviour Jesus Christ, hands pierced and scarred forever because of his love for her daughter, and for the whole world.

Perfection is not necessarily unblemished.

May the scars you bear, bless those you meet today.