This Sunday’s family service promises to be really interesting, if this display of creativity is anything to go by!

Come along on Sunday at 6 p.m. to find out more!

Yesterday’s Creative Writing workshop, led by children’s author Jeannette Ayton, was an opportunity for young people to develop their storytelling skills.

Jeannette explained how her children’s stories (‘Josh and Olly Join the Roundheads’ and ‘Unmasking The Past’) were inspired by her love of castles and by artefacts given to her by her father from his involvement in the 2nd World War:

The children went on to write their own stories and were rewarded with certificates for their efforts!

Our thanks to Jeannette for her generosity and to all who attended.

Garry spoke tonight about something which is valuable but expendable: something that is disposable, which we can get rid of or abandon or allow to be destroyed…but which God counts as precious and which can actually be gained only by losing it…

The value that we place on something differs according to our understanding, opinions and values. Different people value different things, and values change over time or when circumstnaces change. Ultimately, our most precious ‘possession’ is life itself, given to us by God.

Luke 9:23-25 reminds us that following Jesus requires us to willingly surrender our lives to Him: to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow Him. This means living life with our attention firmly given to the things He values. Many people make up a ‘bucket list’ for themselves, thinking of all the things they want to do in life to make their lives fulfilled and meaningful. Life is a gift that has to be spent, and we need to consider how to spend this gift wisely.

Our time is irreplaceable and we have the choice of giving God our time, often in ways that may seem so small as to be insignificant (getting up earlier to pray, breaking a busy schedule to spend time with God’s people, giving time to listen to that person whom no one else seems to care about.) Nonetheless, like Paul, ‘for me to live Christ and to die is gain’ (Phil 1:21), which gives new purpose and direction to our lives. We are compelled not by duty or fear but by love (2 Cor 5:14-15), and come to realise that our lives are expendable in many respects, but that we receive so much more from God than we ever give Him. (Luke 18:28-29) As Tim Hughes says, ‘beyond the horizon, I see there is so much more’ (‘Pocketful Of Faith’), but the choice is ours: will we treat our most valuable possession, life, as expendable for God?

We are often uncomfortable with silence, either with other people or with God. It can be difficult when we hear so much of God speaking to us (and I firmly believe He does!) and then seem to enter a season of silence, but our responses to silence matter enormously.

Our first response to God’s silence seems often to be to blame ourselves. ‘If you can’t hear God, you’re not listening hard enough. If you feel God’s not close to you right now, there’s only one person who’s moved, and it’s not God.’  These responses put the blame on us and so we tend to redouble all our efforts (in praying, reading the Bible, fasting and seeking God), never quite understanding that sometimes God is One who hides Himself (Is 45:15) and who may choose silence as a way of drawing us closer. Our relationship is based on mercy and grace, not on striving and legalism.

Sometimes we sulk when God is silent, reasoning that if God’s not going to bother talking to us, why should we bother talking to Him? We start bargaining with God, trading requests with Him and treating Him like He is a magician or some Father Christmas character whose only role in life is to please us. Such a response again shows our immaturity. God may use silence at times to reveal our immaturity to us, to wean us from what is visible and tangible and audible so that we can learn to trust Him with everything (see Ps 131:2).

A third response is to lower our expectations and simply stop expecting God to speak to us at all. Silence becomes the norm, and so we take refuge in our own activities and try to live out lives of faith without any faith at all, simply living a life of works.

None of these responses adequately helps us. We have to learn to be content with mystery and with understanding that silence is a season of the soul. As we wait for God to speak to us again, to come with words of encouragement, solace and hope, we remind ourselves that:

• God will not be silent for ever
• God’s grace is sufficient for us in every situation and every season (2 Cor 12:9)
• He calls us to trust more, not less
• Deprivation draws out desire: we don’t really appreciate something until we don’t have it! By being silent, God actually makes His speech even more precious to us.
• Perception is not the same as fact. We may feel abandoned and forsaken by God, but the truth is He never leaves us or forsakes us. (Heb 13:5)
• God is shaping us for eternity, and we learn that even in heaven, there was silence for half an hour! (Rev 8:1) This season of silence may seem like an eternity to us, but we can trust God that this too will pass and we will once again have the pleasure of hearing His voice speaking comfort and solace to our souls.

Whilst we are clear that singing and shouting are powerful weapons in our life of faith, we must also acknowledge that there is a time to be silent and a time to speak (Eccl 3:7). What do we do in the times when our silence is called for or when God is silent? How do we cope with silence in a world so filled with noise?

James reminds us that we should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry (Js 1:19), and the Preacher in Ecclesiastes reminds us that wisdom in how we speak and what we say is needed. (Eccl 5:2-3, 6:11, 9:17). Learning to listen – to other people and to God – is a vital part of our relationships and can even be a battle strategy (see 2 Kings 18:36). Certainly, Jesus knew how to employ silence wisely (see Is 53:7, 1 Pet 2:23), and our silence is sometimes needed to demonstrate trust in God and a willingness to let Him resolve the difficulties and problems (as he did when the king of Assyria threatened Israel, see 2 Kings 18 & 19).

More difficult for us to understand is God’s silence, however. The Psalmists frequently cry out to God to listen and not be silent (Ps 28:1, 83:1, 35:22) and the prophets also wrestled with God’s silence (Hab 1:13, Amos 8:11, Is 64:12). We often interpret God’s silence as a sign of His displeasure or our sin, but perhaps, as Oswald Chambers suggested, God’s silence is not always a sign of His displeasure but of His trust:

‘Has God trusted you with His silence— a silence that has great meaning? God’s silences are actually His answers. Just think of those days of absolute silence in the home at Bethany! Is there anything comparable to those days in your life? Can God trust you like that, or are you still asking Him for a visible answer? God will give you the very blessings you ask if you refuse to go any further without them, but His silence is the sign that He is bringing you into an even more wonderful understanding of Himself. Are you mourning before God because you have not had an audible response? When you cannot hear God, you will find that He has trusted you in the most intimate way possible— with absolute silence, not a silence of despair, but one of pleasure, because He saw that you could withstand an even bigger revelation.’ (‘My Utmost for His Highest’)

The sound of silence need not break us. Instead, it can help us to focus our attention on God and develop in us a faith that trusts God no matter what… a faith that has been purified, refined and can stand the test of trials.

Having looked at what the Psalms have to teach us about who God is, we moved on this week to look at how they urge us to thank God for what He has done. Ps 9:1-2 says ‘I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High.’ Ps 107:31 says ‘Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind.’

Who God is determines what He does, and the Psalms focus in particular on two areas of thanksgiving: God’s wonderful deeds as Creator of our universe and His wonderful deeds in providing for, protecting, delivering and saving people. Tonight, we looked at His wonderful creation.

There are many references in the Psalms to God creating the heavens and earth (see Ps 146:6, Ps 24:1-2, Ps 8, Ps 102:25, Ps 74:13-17, Ps 89:11-13). Many of the Psalms (e.g. Ps 19:1-6, Ps 33:6-9, Ps 104) use poetic imagery (talking of God gathering the waters of the seas into jars, for example, which conjures up for me the picture of a lot of jars when we consider 71% of the earth’s surface is covered in water!) – imagery which helps us to see creation more vividly. Ps 104 talks of God being clothed in splendour and majesty, wrapping Himself in light as in a garment. God’s light is a key facet of His character (see Jn 1:4-5, 1 Jn 1:5, Jn 8:12, Rev:21:23)

Ps 104 looks at God’s creation in stages, echoing the Genesis account of creation. We read of light and dark, the sky being separated from the waters, the complete control God has over waters, plants and animals and so on. God is seen as sustainer (see Heb 1:3) and provider, the source of all that is good (‘wine that gladdens human hearts, oil to make their faces shine, and bread that sustains their hearts.’) In all the Psalms which speak of creation testifying of God’s greatness and majesty (see Ps 19:1, Rom 1:20), however, there is never the belief that the Creator and creation are identical. Creation is wonderful, but we are taught to revere and worship God (see Rev 4:11). He is the ‘maker of heaven and earth’ (Ps 121:2) and in view of this, we often feel insignificant (see Ps 8), but our part is to tell of His wonderful deeds and worship Him for all He has made.