Worship & Prayer
Worship on October 2009: Light at the end of the tunnel
11/10/09
“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding. On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sand together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy.”Job 38: 4, 6-7
If the theme of September’s worship was thanksgiving and praise, worshipping God for his deeds and character, October confronts us with the challenge of whether we are able to continue to do this when faced with suffering and the hard realities of life. How do we worship when God’s deeds seem to point to inactivity and when God’s character seems more absent than present?
The book of Job faces the hardest of faith questions, namely who can we be to God; who can God be to us; what can we mean to each other when life seems to demand more than we can deliver, when we are beset by such pain and when goodness can seem beyond our grasp?
At the beginning of the story, when faced with loss, Job continues to praise God stoically – “the Lord gives and takes away.” But by the third chapter, after being cut off from his former dignity and usefulness and no longer fit for polite society, he lets rip, telling God exactly like it is. He lays before God all the details of how despicable life in this world looks to him and God lets him freely speak his mind. And when the suffering comes to an end, Job joins the handful of Old Testament characters that see God. Experiencing divine goodness he understanding that the God he thought he knew is different from the God who has been watching over him all the time. Pain had limited Job’s reality, but gave him the tools to deepen it also.
The overall story of Job is positive included in the Bible to send the message that God doesn’t expect us to meet disastrous emergencies with pious slogans; that God does not need to have his self esteem propped up by insecure flattery; that God is willing to hear the truth about what divine policies cost us; that horror doesn’t mean that God hates us; and that the silence of God does not signal that God has abandoned us.
Job contains some of the most beautiful poetry in the Bible and from a pastoral point of view, in the person of Elihu, offers us best practice in reflective listening skills (chapter 32). So as Bob Spiller, myself and new man on the block, Mike Crockett wrestle with the text, pray for us and come and engage with the good news of faith lived.
This month we also welcome our Girls and Boys Brigade and their parents, to the annual enrolment service to be held on the 11th October. The following Sunday, in recognition of the company’s 70th anniversary, Lyndon also hosts the Boys Brigade Founders Day parade for the battalion. This celebration marks the birthday of Sir William Alexander Smith, who began the international uniformed organisation in 1883. The Company’s Chaplain will be preaching and The Band will play.
In September our evening services took an interesting shape with preachers coming to share worship in a style that brought them into the presence of God. Of particular note was David Hulme’s preaching on hymnody and the atmosphere of sharing and community evoked in Chris Taylor’s service based on the worshipping patterns of the early church. This month continues in a similar vein with contemplative worship from the 2 Karens and Derek Shaw leading communion in a Celtic style.
On the 18th October at 4pm we are holding our annual memorial service of remembrance, for those who have lost loved ones. It can be an extremely helpful in the presence of God and others, to take time to stop, remember and give thanks. The loss is acknowledged and the sense of loneliness eased, as we seek to journey towards God’s light. Please come to this service if it would be spiritually helpful to you and please extend a warm invitation to those of your friends or family that you feel would benefit from it too.
Rev Julia Monaghan
27th September 09