As part of our family service on ‘Royal Rulers’, we had a quiz all about royalty. Three teams had to answer 50 questions about ‘royal links.’

The Crown Jewels had to be identified:

‘Royal’ animals had to be named (King Charles spaniels):

Royal residences had to be identified (Buckingham Palace was recognised, but not all the others!):

Others were much harder to identify (such as royal jelly, the Royal Mint and a variety of royal crests):

However, we even had our own taste of royalty, for Eileen (affectionately known as ‘the Queen’ to many at church) had her own crown to wear (a Christmas present from Mark!)

Despite being the 2nd Sunday of the month, tonight was our family service, looking at the theme of ‘Royal Rulers’. This Sunday is the celebration of Epiphany, traditionally associated with the arrival of the Magi. It is not certain if these were ‘kings’ as some of the carols imply, but certainly, they came to worship one ‘born king of the Jews.’ (Matt 2:2)

God’s plan for Israel was that He should be their king, ruling over them in justice and guiding them through the prophets. There came a time, however, when the elders of Israel summoned Samuel and demanded a human king so they could be like all the other nations. (1 Sam 8:4-5) Samuel was hugely disappointed by this request, but God warned the people of the consequences of this demand (it’s sometimes not wise to have God grant us all we ask!) Of the many kings of Israel, a relatively small number were godly and the people suffered from the selfishness and cruelty of many of the human rulers they appointed.

Is 9:6-7 reminds us that God is the only royal ruler we need: the government will be on His shoulders and He will reign on David’s throne for ever. This prophecy, fulfilled in the arrival of Jesus, reminds us that we serve a King who is the King of all Kings (see Rev 19:16). Despite the majesty and magnificence of the Godhead, however, He seeks to welcome us into His presence, asking us to open the door of our lives to Him so that He can rule in each one of us. (Rev 3:20) Jesus is the King who leads through servanthood, shedding His own precious blood to save us from our sins.

At our first service of the year at Cherry Tree Court, Garry spoke about walking into the unknown hand in hand with God. Weather forecasters try to give us an idea of what the weather will be like – 10 days ago, the BBC weather service said it would be bright and sunny today (not happening so far!) and even yesterday gave the temperature for this morning at 8 degrees (rather optimistic!) It’s notoriously difficult, even with modern technology, to predict the weather, and this lack of certainty about the future can often cause us problems, for we like to know what lies ahead and plan accordingly.

In 1939, King George VI, when facing the uncertainty of the 2nd World War, quoted from a poem by Minnie Louise Haskins:

‘And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year:
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.”
And he replied:
“Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”
So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night.
And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.’

Ultimately, we live in a world of uncertainty, but God calls us to trust Him in every situation. Ignoring the change and uncertainty won’t stop reality from hitting us, nor can we plan for everything (see James 4:13-14). However, we can put our hand in God’s hand, secure that we have His double grip of safety (John 10:28-29). As Stuart Townend puts it, ‘no power of hell, no scheme of man/ Can ever pluck me from His hand.’ (‘In Christ Alone’) We are safe in God’s hands!

Many of you may be wondering about Igor, the church mascot. As an iguana (albeit of the plastic variety), Igor does not enjoy winter, preferring the sunshine and warmth of summer (in this he strongly resembles Garry, whose antipathy to frost and ice is largely founded on the fact these prevent him from riding his motorbike!) He is, however, struggling in other ways too, having been wounded through wear and tear (like so many of us…) Garry has been performing repairs on him, however, which hopefully will mean he can go on new outings in the spring!

When I was at school, I had a loathing of athletics. The summer term was always a nightmare for me: heavy-eyed from hay fever, I would have to tackle each of the main athletics’ events and discover I had an aptitude for none of them. Sprinting and long-distance running left me panting… and last. Throwing items (discus, javelin and shot put) left me humiliated as my ability to hurl things in the distance made ‘distance’ a risible term. Long jump with short legs was a farce; high jump with short legs was even more of a tribulation.

But by far the worst event for me was the hurdles. Long-legged, tall, willowy girls raced over these with effortless ease: one, two, three, jump; one, two, three, jump. To me, those hurdles were very nearly as high as the high jump bar. I couldn’t get into any rhythm of striding and then had to surmount the hurdle – which to me was more like a mountain. Years later, when I watched Jessica Ennis at the 2012 Olympics, I was filled with awe at the grace, strength and power she displayed in the 100 m hurdles, breaking the world record in a time of 12.54 seconds. I knew I couldn’t even glide over one hurdle, let alone complete a race!

Hurdles, to many, are simply inconvenient ‘blips’, an added challenge to a race they enjoy. To me, for whom running is about as enjoyable as sticking pins into my flesh anyway, hurdles are a thing which make me want to lie down and cry. Whoever thought of combining the two things was a merciless sadist, as far as I’m concerned.

And yet, with the benefit of wisdom, I see that hurdles are a metaphor for life. The Bible likens life to a race (Heb 12:1-3, 1 Cor 9:24-27) and reminds us that there are challenges and obstacles to be overcome (Jn 16:33, James 1:1-3). We often wonder why God doesn’t simply remove the trials, but He is interested in developing perseverance and character in us which are only forged through the difficulties.

When Jesus’s friend Lazarus was ill, his sisters notified Jesus immediately (Jn 11:1-3). Jesus declared, ‘This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory, so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.’ (Jn 11:4) The Bible is explicit in telling us of Jesus’s love for this family (Jn 11:5)… and yet He stayed where He was for another two days, and Lazarus died in the meantime. (Jn 11:6-16).

We know from the rest of the chapter how the story ends – with the great miracle of Lazarus’s resuscitation from the dead and a demonstration of Jesus’s great power over death. ‘All’s well that ends well‘, we might think. But at the time, both Martha and Mary were devastated at that delay. Hadn’t they called on Jesus for help? They knew if Jesus had been there, their brother would not have died (Jn 11:21,32), so they had to face the hurdle of confusion, uncertainty, maybe even doubt and resentment.

Jesus doesn’t always do what we want Him to do when we want Him to do it. And if we are honest, that is a hurdle every bit as high as a high jump bar. But Jn 11 teaches us that God’s glory surmounts the highest hurdle life can throw at us and in order to see God’s glory, we may well have to hold on through many obstacles and hurdles which leave us in confusion, uncertainty, doubt, resentment and bitterness.

I never learnt to soar above hurdles. I’ve clattered through more, grazing knees, bruising legs, than I care to remember, and in doing so have never won a hurdles’ race in my life. But I learnt that finishing still earned my team points and that there was no rule which said it didn’t count if I knocked the hurdle down. We may not soar over the hurdles and finish in record-breaking times, but as we learn to trust God through His ‘delays’ and ‘mistimings’, as we learn to trust Him when things don’t go the way we expected (‘when my life is not what I expected, when the plans I’ve made have failed’, as Kutless sing), we find ourselves on the other side of the hurdles and God’s glory shines through.

We had charades to act out and guess:

… and a game of pass-the-parcel rendered more difficult by having to wear gloves, with forfeits including having to waltz around and do Christmas raps!

All in all, it was a great afternoon and evening, and a lovely way to start the New Year!