2 Samuel 23:1-5
Ephesians 1:15-end
"I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayer”
Thank you for all that you do in the life of the Church. It has been wonderful to have been here in Peterborough Diocese with Bishop Debbie over these last two days.
As I look at the life of the Church here in this diocese and across the nation, I feel confident echoing these words – “I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards all the saints” – in the ordinary and extraordinary life of the Church we see God’s hand at work – the Church, rolling up its sleeves and getting stuck in, where God is already at work.
It has been a joy to experience this over the last couple of days. The Church, through the ordinary lives of its people, showing so many extraordinary acts of love – God’s people, in your parishes, schools, churches and chaplaincies, offering a listening ear, a word of encouragement, prayer for healing; offering food, shelter, homes, sanctuary, welcome, tables to sit at and conversations to be shared, in a world that so often seeks to divide us; being a simple, loving presence, like the salt of the earth, a light on a hill, the treasure of the Kingdom.
God is at work here, in the good news of the Gospel and in the hearts and lives of the ordinary people of this diocese. “For this reason, I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayer”
In the letter to the Ephesians, we hear the prayer, ‘that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him’, so that, ‘with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you’.
The apostle Paul knew that to perceive, to ‘see’, is the spiritual capacity to perceive the invisible reality truly as it is. And, just as in Paul’s own encounter with the risen Christ on the Road to Damascus, to truly ‘see’ can change and transform the direction of our life.
In the Book of Exodus, when Moses encounters God in the burning bush, we are told that he looked twice to really see. “Moses looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up” (Ex 3.2-3). Moses looks and then he looks again, really seeing, and he ‘turns aside’ from his intended path. Then God reveals His holy name; saying he is the God of Moses’ ancestors; a God who has heard and will listen; a God in whom Moses can find hope for himself and his people.
How can our eyes be open to this kind of holy encounter with God? How can we give space for this kind of holy interruption – this turning aside - in our daily pattern and busy lives? To notice where God might reveal himself to us; to ‘see with the eyes of our heart enlightened, the hope to which we have been called’.
It might be something we experience in prayer – perhaps in nature, as we walk, noticing flowers, trees, grasses, the birdsong, a winding path or wide horizon, or as we sit quietly, focusing our eyes on a candle, cross or stained-glass window. And it might be something we experience when we turn aside to see God’s presence in the people and world around us. That has been my experience this weekend.
It was a joy this morning to see Bishop Debbie baptise and confirm children, young people and adults at Oundle Church, to hear stories of how people’s lives have been transformed by hope in Jesus Christ. It was inspiring to see the ministry of the Northampton Hope Centre and to remember the life and service of Caroline Chisholm. It was an immense privilege to see the work of hospital chaplains in Kettering, and to lay flowers and offer a prayer at the Covid Memorial.
In the reading from 2 Samuel, we hear the account of David speaking his final words, reflecting on his long reign as King. His last words are words of hope – for himself and for his people: ‘For he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure’ (2 Sam 23.5).
This hope is an everlasting covenant, hope for our future in God, and it is hope for the present, for each and every day: this ‘hope’, as the writer to the Hebrews reminds us, ‘is an anchor for the soul, firm and secure’. It is hope which holds us when we find our lives woven with the struggle between joy and sadness, life and death, between darkness and light. It is the hope that we find in Jesus Christ.
Last Thursday, we marked Ascension Day - the start of this year’s ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ prayer initiative. Thy Kingdom Come is a global ecumenical prayer movement that invites Christians around the world to pray for more people to come to know Jesus. This year’s theme is all about the presence of God through the Holy Spirit – and how we might “see” or encounter the Holy Spirit in our lives. There are many resources available, including a Prayer Journal, Prayer App, and Novena Prayers for each of the days between Ascension Day and Pentecost.
I encourage you to use these days of prayer to pray for five people whom you long to know Jesus Christ: to reflect on the world around you, to look afresh for the signs of hope and transformation in God’s Kingdom, and in your own lives.
Thank you, Bishop Debbie and all here at the Cathedral for your hospitality; thank you for the opportunity you have given me to ‘turn aside’ and see glimpses of God’s Kingdom in the life and people of this diocese; thank you to all in this diocese who, in their daily life and ministry, reveal God’s love and hope in our world.
I pray that you find time to ‘turn aside’, to abide with God, to pray for the gift of the Holy Spirit, so that ‘with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know the hope to which he has called you’.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
