You could view this post in one of two ways. I was ill on Sunday, laid out by a sickness bug that seems to have been fairly prevalent in the area, so the fact that I am reporting on meetings I did not attend could be said to be pretty remarkable. Or you could view the reports I’m about to give from the safe vantage point of having heard the sermons first hand and think ‘that’s not a very good report!’ I hope you will be generous and accept the limitations of second-hand reporting…
In the morning, Mark preached about hope, the Biblical definition of which is much more substantial than our casual ‘I hope this will be a good year’. The psalmist, in Psalms 42 and 43, repeatedly says “Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God.” (Ps 42:5, 11; Ps 43:5) In both psalms, the psalmist faces difficulties and struggles; in Psalm 42 he faces personal sorrow, taunts from other people and knows what it is to feel downcast and troubled – yet hope in God sustains him. In Psalm 43, the psalmist feels rejected by God, in mourning, oppressed by the enemy – and yet his hope in God sustains him. That hope has to be our sustenance too; after all, we don’t live on bread alone (as I proved on Sunday, surviving quite adequately on water!)
In the evening, at the family service, Stephen spoke on communication, looking at the Lord’s prayer as the model for our prayers. In telephone communication, there is a need for a transmitter, a wire and a receiver, not to mention good signal strength. Perhaps the hardest part for us in prayer is learning to listen for God’s voice. God is always listening to us – we too need to be quick to listen, as James says (James 1:19)