Mark’s epilogue to the family serivce reminded us that life is about more than simply turning up to church on Sundays; it’s important that as Christians, we find our place in the Son, understanding that fulness of life comes when we fulfil our purpose in God.

Col 2:9-10 reminds us that all the fulness of the Godhead dwells in Christ and we have been given fulness in Him. If we are to live fulfilling lives, we need to be rooted and established in Christ, understanding that we are chosen people, God’s special possession (1 Pet 2:9) so that we can declare the praises of God who has called us from darkness into light and life. Eph 2:10 makes it clear that God has prepared good works in advance for us to do, and fulfilment comes as we find out the things we are uniquely equipped to do in Christ. We all have places to which God calls us to go (our workplaces, our neighbourhoods, our social contacts), but we are also called to work together in church, each of us fulfilling our potential and knowing our calling. God uses all shapes and sizes; we need to find our place in the Son.

‘Feels like I’m
Looking for a reason
Roamin’ through the night to find
My place in this world
My place in this world
Not a lot to lean on
I need your light to help me find
My place in this world.’ (‘Place In This World’, Michael W. Smith)

We also had three birthdays to celebrate (although only two were willing to be photographed!)

As usual, we had a quiz about places in the sun:

Perhaps not surprisingly, the quiz was won by a team made up of Steve Davies and his two sons, who have done quite a bit of travelling in their lives! (They are recently returned from Mozambique, where Steve has been teaching at the Bible college in Maputo, and he has previously worked in Ecuador, Egypt and Swaziland, though the family is now in Scotland and looking for pastoral work as they consider the boys’ secondary education for the next few years.)

We also had a song with a decided Caribbean flavour, reminding us:

‘We’ve been waiting now for quite a while

And at last the time has come

No more working for a week or two

We’ve got a lovely place in the sun

But when it’s over and it’s time for home

There’s some faces looking glum

They are wishing that they could have

A longer time in the sun

It might seem like a paradise

But there’s a promise for each one

God offers us so much more

An endless life in His Son

So enjoy your holiday

And remember when it’s done

God’s promise of a brand new life

Is an endless time in the Son.’ (‘A Place In The Son’, Garry Turner)

The theme of our family service last night was ‘a place in the Son.’

Most people look forward to an annual holiday in the sun:

Suntans and fine weather are often seen as prerequisites to a good holiday, and certainly, the sun is essential to life, though we often take this for granted. Mal 4:2 says ‘the sun of righteousness will dawn on those who honour my name, healing radiating from its wings.’ Ultimately, we know that Jesus, the Son of God, is the light of the world (Jn 8:12) and we see two crucial functions of light.

1. Light dispels darkness
2. Light brings security

Jesus helps us to see things as they really are, bearing witness to the truth. Often, people are cynical about truth (like Pilate!), with lying and deception forming the basis of people’s dealings with each other. Such things destroy relationships; we need Jesus’ anchor of truth if we are to know light and life.

Darkness not only deceives us; it makes us anxious and fearful, for we cannot see dangers (or shapes become distorted, causing fear in our hearts.) When light floods in, it brings security and guards us from hurting ourselves. As we live in the light, we receive God’s energy and can ‘leap like calves released from their stalls.’ (Mal 4:2)

Ps 133 closes with the promise that where unity is present, ‘there the Lord bestows His blessing, even life evermore.’ (Ps 133:3)

Orchestras have to tune up before a concert, a sound that’s rarely pleasant!

Once the instruments are in tune with each other, however, the music they create sounds amazing! We sing, ‘Tune my heart to sing Thy grace’ (‘Come, Thou Fount Of Every Blessing’) so that we can work together in unity and therefore be in a position to receive God’s blessing (see Jn 13:35), a blessing that ‘makes rich, without painful toil for it.’ (Prov 10:22) Each one of us has a distinctive ‘sound’ to make, a role to play, a service to perform, but the overall effect of this is to bring praise to God (see Matt 5:16).

God has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing. (Eph 1:3) We are not just in ‘survival mode’, ‘scraping by’: we are people who can have abundant life (Jn 10:10), people who are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ (Rom 8:17), people who cannot be separated from God’s love (Rom 8:37-39). God has great plans to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ (Eph 1:10). He starts this plan by bringing unity to His church, through the oil of His Spirit and the dew of new life.

Ps 133, the classic psalm on unity, uses two images to describe unity. One is the image of priestly oil (Ps 133:2), reminding us of the consecration of the priests in the Old Testament (Ex 29:7, 9). Oil is a symbol of God’s presence and His Spirit and rmeinds us that God’s presence is the unifying factor in our worship. We are all priests (1 Pet 2:5, 9-10) and in learning to value others in this way, barriers to unity are dissolved. When we see people as made in God’s worship and as holy priests, we can’t treat them as of no consequence or ride roughshod over them.

The second image is of the dew of Hermon falling on Mount Zion (Ps 133:3), symbolising refreshing, renewal, ‘a feeling of fertility, a clean anticipation of growth.’ (Eugene Peterson, ‘The Journey’, P 165) God speaks to each one of us, bringing revelation and insight into the faithfulness, mercy and love of God (see Lam 3:22-23). Church, family, are not meant to be spectator-sports like watching the Olympics; they are meant to involve the participation of all (see Col 3:16, 1 Cor 14:26). We all become involved in mutual edification and growth, for God is speaking new things to each one of us. What’s God saying to us today?

One of the problems we have in striving for unity (Eph 4:1-4) is that we often equate unity with uniformity. It’s not. Just as every family member is different (with physical resemblances no guarantee of membership!), every church member is uniquely different. Paul makes this clear in 1 Cor 12:15-17 and as we abandon inferiority or superiorit complexes in favour of unconditional acceptance (Rom 15:7), we learn that unity is good, pleasant and delightful, but it doesn’t mean we have to be alike or have to agree all the time!

Love is the glue God gives to hold families together; it’s the glue which makes a united whole from separate, disparate parts. Prov 10:12 reminds us that ‘love covers all wrongs’ (see also 1 Pet 4:8) This love comes from God, not ourselves (Rom 5:5), and so we find we can pull together and be united, even if and when we disagree. We learn to put others first (Phil 2:3-4) and to be kind and compassionate to one another, just as in Christ, God forgave us. (Eph 4:32)