Jesus said, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?  Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?’ (Mark 8:34-37) The way of the cross, the Jesus way, is one of selflessness – of putting God’s will before our own and of losing our life in order to gain it.

When we look at the cross, we see apparent defeat and humiliation. It looked like the devil won; it looked like evil triumphed. But Jesus gave His life willingly for us so that we could be reconciled to God. We must therefore recognise that the apparently foolish path of selflessness is one which leads to life. We simply can’t reach God and live a fulfilled life by doing things the way the world does. We have to choose an alternative route.

All of us have currently had an ‘alternative route’ (the route of self-isolation) thrust upon us this week. We may well be chafing at the lack of freedom, at the lack of routines, at the difficulties of separation. But we can still embrace selflessness and choose to serve others: either by the sacrifice of work if you’re a key worker or by restricting our normal lifestyles to help others. Selflessness continues long after lockdown!

The benefits of singing are well-known. Apparently the physical benefits include:

• Singing strengthens the immune system. …

• Singing is a workout. …

• Singing improves your posture. …

• Singing helps with sleep. …

• Singing is a natural anti-depressant. …

• Singing lowers stress levels. …

• Singing improves mental alertness. …

• Singing can widen your circle of friends…

Even in these days of social isolation, people have been singing – there are lovely videos of people singing from their balconies in Italy (you can see them here) and virtual choirs (where people sing where they are and are connected with others through technology) have been set up. I believe it’s crucially important that God’s people continue to sing, wherever we are, and am grateful for the Christian artists who are livestreaming their songs and helping us to have truth to sing at this desperately confusing time.

We’re hoping to include singing in our next Sunday services, and though it will feel very weird singing alone to you (and you singing alone back!), we hope that people will see the benefits of actually singing during our online gatherings.

Ps 32:7 says, ‘You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.’ At this time of ‘hiding away’, our prayer is that we know God as our ultimate hiding place, that He will protect us from the current troubles and surround us with songs of deliverance. Our God reigns. Our God is sovereign over all. Our God is with us and for us. Let’s keep singing these truths: ‘sing it out loud, sing it out strong!’ (‘Celebrate’, Rend Collective)

“Lord, give me patience, and give it to me now!” may be a caricature of a prayer, but the truth is, it’s probably at the heart of many real prayers. Few of us embrace patience willingly. We want what we want and we want it right now. Learning to wait is not an easy lesson for most of us.

Nor do we particularly like God’s method of teaching us patience: suffering (Rom 5:3-4). James tells us that the testing of our faith produces perseverance. (James 1:3) Naturally speaking, we flee from both these things. Yet James tells us that perseverance leads to maturity, to completeness, to a place of not lacking anything (James 1:4). The Holy Spirit wants to grow His fruit (including patience) in our lives (Gal 5:22-23), and we like the sound of a flourishing fruit orchard!

How do we embrace patience, then? I don’t believe it’s an inherited characteristic; I believe it’s a learned quality. Being patient means we learn to trust God with the everyday and the ordinary. We trust Him to sort out the problems and to work good from and in every situation. As we face the uncertainty of social isolation and don’t know when ‘normal’ life will ever resume, more than ever we need to learn to embrace patience.

The biggest way we embrace patience is to learn to be thankful for everything. (Eph 5:20) The writer to the Hebrews says of Jesus, ‘For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.’ (Heb 12:2) There can be no greater example to us of patience than Jesus, and we can be sure that He will give us everything we need.

As ‘Fisherman’s Tail’ reminded us, the first disciples knew a lot about being on the Sea of Galilee and experienced first hand the storms that disturbed daily routines and threatened lives. On occasions, they were desperate – and Jesus seemed no help to them, sleeping in the stern. Yet when woken, He calmed the storm and dealt with the situation, rebuking them for their lack of faith. (Mark 4:35-41)

For most of us, life at present feels like being on a sea of panic. All our routines are altered (and for most of us, that is scary and unsettling); we feel we have little to no control over anything. We feel that the ‘sea’ is very rough right now.

But I’m reminded again of the difference between floating and floundering. When we’re learning to swim, we often thrash about in the water, fearful, out of our comfort zone when our feet aren’t on terra firma. We need to learn to cooperate with the water, to trust it, to work with it, not against it. We need to learn to float.

When we float, we let the water support us (even if it’s tossing us about in a storm!) We rest. We trust. In these turbulent times, our default position must not be to fret, to flounder or to flail on this sea of panic, but to float. We need to trust God, to praise God and to wait patiently for Him.

The book of Proverbs has much to say about wisdom (and its opposite, folly). It tells us to ‘get wisdom, get understanding’ (Prov 4:5) and adds, ‘do not forsake wisdom, and she will protect you; love her, and she will watch over you.’ (Prov 4:6) Wisdom is personified as being more profitable than silver, yielding better returns than gold and more precious than rubies (Prov 3:14-15) and most of us would acknowledge that wisdom (the ability to live well, not just to know things) is preferable to the alternatives!

The Bible tells us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and that we are not to be wise in our own eyes (see Prov 9:10 , Prov 3:7). James continues this theme by comparing and contrasting earthly wisdom and heavenly wisdom (James 3:13-18). We need God’s wisdom in so many situations (maybe more so than ever in these very strange times) and can only embrace this as we embrace the source of all wisdom. The more we nurture our relationship with God and learn to do as He says, the wiser we will become.

Dave’s sermon, delivered by Julie in this strange online world we are currently calling ‘church services’, was entitled ‘A Mother and Her Son’, and reflected the fact that today is Mothering Sunday in the UK. We looked at Mary, the mother of Jesus, and saw something of the difficulties of being a mother. Mary’s life was turned upside down by the angel’s announcement to her as a young teenager, but she was willing to do as God said. (Luke 1:38) It’s likely that she was widowed when Jesus was still quite young, and being a widow with other sons and daughters must have been a daunting task. Mary displayed both courage and bravery throughout her life – characteristics all mothers need.

Children can baffle us at times. Mary was probably baffled by much of Jesus’s teaching, especially that which seemed to repudiate His close family ties (Matt 12:49-50). We too can be baffled by our children, even as they grow up. Children can also cause us much heartache: Mary must have been devastated to see her son hanging on the cross like a common criminal. But ultimately we believe that children make life worthwhile. The £160,140 it has been estimated as the cost of bringing up a child is well worth it as we learn to see life through the eyes of a child and feel the love and security of a relationship like no other.

Children can baffle us and break our hearts, but they bring us untold joy. We, as God’s children, may baffle and break His heart too, but He loves us so much that He sent His Son to save us. Jesus, even on the cross, thought of His mother’s love, care, affection, sacrifices, hurts and needs and entrusted her to the care of John, His disciple (John 19:26-27). As we celebrate Mothering Sunday – often being apart from our mothers because of the current situation, unable to show the love and attention we would normally give – we celebrate not only a mother’s love, but the love of God for each one of us which means we are part of His family forever more.