Today’s household object are curtains and the Bible passage is Mark 15:33-39.

In the book of Exodus, we find some of the earliest instructions for making and hanging curtains. When Moses is given instructions for building the Tabernacle, these include two curtains of fine twisted linen and blue, purple, and crimson yarns (Exodus 26). Each curtain was about 42 feet long by 6 feet wide (my tall Victorian house has rooms that are over 10 feet high, which is not easy when it comes to decorating!) The curtains had to be joined together with blue loops and gold and brass clasps, making two sets of five. Another special curtain was made to separate the most holy place; this curtain had cherubim embroidered on it and were attached to four pillars of acacia wood overlaid with gold, which had hooks of gold and rested on four pieces of silver. These curtains were for concealment, to hide the most holy place from prying, unworthy eyes. (See ‘At Home In Lent,’ P 141)

To this day, we use curtains for privacy and to protect ourselves from the outside world, but at Easter, we read that the curtain in the Most Holy Place was torn from top to bottom. Given its size and height, this was no ordinary act, but a divine one, demonstrating that the barriers to God’s presence were removed and that now ‘we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that He opened for us through the curtain (that is, through His body.’ (Heb 10:19-20) The curtain has been torn; now we can enter God’s presence, cleansed through the sacrifice of Christ.

Today’s household object is the piano and our Bible passage is Matthew 28:16-20.

A piano is not necessarily found in all homes, but I was privileged to grow up in a house with a piano and later to inherit that piano so that it lives in my home now. I never actually learned to play the piano very well myself, but my son had piano lessons and so the piano was well used; my grandchildren are now enjoying the instrument and its use continues to this day. I am fascinated by how the piano is made and used to love it when the piano tuner came and took off all the exterior pieces so that I could see the hammers as well as the keys.

One reason I love the piano is that you can play more than one note at the same time, and can play chords (combinations of notes which sound harmonious when played together.) A chord is usually made up of 3 separate notes, and this reminds us of the mystery of the Trinity: one God in three persons, Father, Son and Spirit. This doctrine is a mystery, but is key to our understanding of God as a being of relationship manifested in the inseparability of the Father-creator, the Son-Christ and the Holy Spirit, ever-present among us. (‘At Home In Lent’, P 136) Relationships matter, because God Himself is a being of relationship! The author urges us to ‘play a triad chord’ on the piano, ‘listening to the blend of three-in-one, contemplate the mystery of God, our creator, our redeemer and the sustainer of faith and life.’ (ibid., P 137)

Submission is a theme which occurs frequently in the Bible; we see the question of submission within the Godhead and submission to secular and church authorities; the subject also comes up in the discussion on marriage. This evening, Garry focussed on the question of our submission to God.

Submitting to God is a necessary part of life. God created everything and therefore everything belongs to Him (Ps 50:1, 10-12); He has the right to demand our submission, but instead asks us (see Matt 23:37, Mark 3:1-5). He calls us to submit, giving us a choice.He longs for us to be in a right relationship with Him, but He will not force us. In Rev 3:20 we see Christ knocking at the door of our hearts; submission comes from love, not because we are forced. Often, the picture is of a lover wooing his beloved (see Job 36:15-16) To submit to Him leads us from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction, to the comfort of a table laden with choice food. God wants the best for us, and submission to Him is not because He is a spoil-sport who wants to dominate, but stems from His love for us since He knows what is best for us.

Submission out of love in the context of a loving relationship sets the scene for every other kind of submission, which will be looked at later.

This morning we looked at Romans 8:29 and what it means to live according to God’s purpose. Purpose is extremely important in life. To live without a sense of purpose or meaning is to live with a sense of boredom and frustration. There is far more to life than the going-to-work-and-coming-home-to-bed life which many of us seem to settle for. God has good plans for each one of us (Jer 29:11) and good works for us to do (Eph 2:10), but it is important to realise that His purposes involve service and sacrifice, not just our gratification.

Without God, we live in a me-centred world which sees purpose as fulfilling ourselves (often at the expense of other people.) God wants to be at the centre of our world and for us to fulfil His purpose in life. This will look different for each one of us, for He calls us to different roles and tasks in life, but at the heart of life is the unifying purpose that we are to be conformed to the image of His Son.

We are called to reflect God’s nature to the world, to be salt and light in our communities (Matt 5:13-16). Ongoing transformation and personal change in God’s service are the purpose of life (2 Cor 3:18). Our purpose, our ‘chief end’, according to the Westminster Shorter Catechism, is to ‘glorify God and enjoy Him forever.’ God wants to shape our lives along the same lines as the life of His Son, which means a life of service and sacrifice, not selfishness.

The greatest commandments according to Jesus were to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and to love others as ourselves. (Mark 12:30-31) This means denying ourselves, losing our lives in order to find them (see Mark 8:34), serving others as Jesus did as He washed the disciples’ feet. (John 13:14-17) Service and sacrifice are at the heart of living according to God’s ways and at the heart of finding God’s purpose in our lives.

Today’s household object is the Bible itself and our passage is Acts 8:27-35, where Philip helps an Ethiopian reading Scripture to understand what he is reading.

The word ‘Bible’ simply means ‘book’, and we are privileged to have access to God’s word. The Bible is part of our spiritual furniture, just as it is part of the fixtures and fitting in some hotels to this day. Yet it is not enough to own a Bible or to have it on a shelf in our homes; we must pick up this wonderful book and read it to discover more about God and ourselves. Sometimes it can baffle us and bewilder us. We need to understand its many different genres (history, poetry, prophecy, factual accounts and letters); we need to delve into its context and culture to gain understanding.

This is one reason we are urged to come to church services and to do Bible studies, so that we can better understand the Bible and therefore can be taught by God. There are many resources available these days to help us read and understand the Bible, but the one thing which cannot be taught is the desire to actually open the book and read it. We have to have that desire to read, that willingness to wrestle with difficult passages, that hunger and thirst to know more of God. No one else can impart that to us. We have to pick up the book and read; we have to ask God to reveal Himself to us as we read. If we do that, we will find God Himself in the pages of this marvellous book.

Today’s household object is the pen and the Bible passage is Job 19:23-29.

Before we had computers, we had pens to write with! The pen is one of the most valuable inventions of humankind; it is a powerful tool. It can record truth, and the passage today contains some of the most inspiring words in the whole of the Bible: Job’s declaration by faith that, even in the midst of great trials and sorrow, ‘my Redeemer lives, and that at the last He will stand upon the earth, and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then in my flesh I shall see God.’ He asks for an iron pen so that these truths can be recorded permanently.

When I go on holiday, I enjoy writing in sand, but that is always with the knowledge that as the tide comes in, my words will be washed away. Job realises that even though our bodies blow away as dust, the words we have spoken and written and the deeds we have done can be remembered from one generation to another. Edward Bulwer-Lytton wrote that ‘the pen is mightier than the sword’… which should make us pause when we are writing to ensure that we write truth that can last. May Jesus, God’s living Word, write His words on our hearts so that we can write His truth that can set people free.