Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and His Son Jesus Christ.
“God of unchanging power and light, look with favour and mercy on the entire community of Your Church. Bring lasting salvation to the human family, so that the world may see the fallen lifted up, the old made new, and all things brought to perfection, through Him who is our origin, our Lord Jesus Christ who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.”
My dear friends “Be strong and let us fight bravely for our people and for the cities of our God. May the LORD do what is good in His sight.” (Joab: 1 Chronicles 19:13)
Scripture teaches us that the Battle belongs to the Lord, but that we must be willing to go out to the fight. In the words of 2 Chronicles 20:17 “You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you.'”
We must not lose heart. Deuteronomy 20: 3 “He shall say: “Hear, Israel: Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them.’
And there are more of the same scriptures to draw on, but my point is that despite the fact that we are tired and the end of this does not seem to be in-sight; in fact, there is this strange sense that this is normal now and we are surrounded by the challenge of this unseen enemy and we have adapted, we have resigned ourselves to our fate.
But God calls us in this season of resurrection to rise-up! To stand ready and face our challenges. If we seek the Lord, He will strengthen us and give us the victory.
Our history teaches us that this season of endurance is critical, this season of waiting on the Lord is critical. Let us not lose heart!
I encourage you to remain vigilant, and while we will retain an Online Church as a permanent feature of our parish, I do encourage you to consider returning to Physical Worship Services. With the measures in place, it is a safe space. While there are some substantive differences in the way that we can worship – it is still authentic worship, and we all need it. We need the strengthening of our community around us. If you are not able to attend, please reach out to the Lay Ministers, Church Office or Clergy. We need to remake connections.
We all need to stand up for the city. We all need to show commitment to Christ, we all need to rebuild the walls as they did in Nehemiah’s time.
Who will go with me?
“Be strong and let us fight bravely for our people and for the cities of our God. May the LORD do what is good in His sight.” (I Chron 19:13)
Choose faith not fear.
Fr Andrew.