Perseverance is defined as ‘persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.’ It’s always been an unfashionable quality, for we are impatient people who prefer things to be accomplished quickly and with little to no effort. When my son started piano lessons, I was eager to learn the tricks of the trade from an expert. Not surprisingly, I discovered there were no tricks: just steady, regular practice, teaching the fingers of one hand to do something they were not used to doing, teaching the fingers of the other hand the same thing, and then putting the two things together. The first music book he had had 30 pieces of music to learn and I was shocked that he did not get to put both hands together until the very last piece! That was 30 weeks of lessons (over six months!) before he could play even one short piece which to me qualified as ‘playing the piano’!

Perseverance is necessary if we are to become masters of anything. Instead of giving up after one or two weeks, we need to learn to press on, to keep going, to persist. Children take months to learn to walk. They take years to learn to talk. Mastery of anything is difficult, but perseverance is the key element required. We simply must not give up.

I don’t know what you want to master this year. It may be a new hobby or skill. It may be losing weight or taking more exercise. It may be overcoming a particular temptation. It may be not giving up on a work situation or a relationship which seems hopeless. Most of us are wondering how long we will have to persevere with social isolation and the economic uncertainty facing us at this time.  Whatever the challenge, the answer will be found, in part at least, through perseverance.

Here are the links for the services on Palm Sunday (5th April 2020):

Morning service (Holy Communion) @ 10.30 a.m.

https://zoom.us/j/111518849

Meeting ID: 111 518 849

Evening service (Little Big Church) @ 6.00 p.m.

https://zoom.us/j/451293083

Meeting ID: 451 293 083

Once again, we’ll be attempting to gather via Zoom and Facebook Live.

When we launched our ‘Take Back The Streets’ prayer initiative in March, we never imagined that just weeks later the whole country would be in lockdown and our hour of exercise a day would be such a precious gift. We never imagined that we wouldn’t be able to gather in the church building to pray. But as the world has changed beyond our recognition, we are aware that some things haven’t changed. God is still the same and we can still pray. Prayer has never really depended on location or time; it is a spiritual weapon and the means of connecting invisible, spiritual truths.

So today is a call to prayer, wherever you are and whatever you are doing. (We’ll be decorating our kitchen, among other things!) Pray wherever you are. For those of you who will be out walking at some point in the day, please pray for the streets that you walk and for the people you know and don’t know. Pray with your eyes wide open, taking in the rainbow pictures on windows, noticing the people you can wave to but not come close to. Pray.

Pray for healing and wholeness, for economic regeneration, for the many families who are struggling to cope with all the implications of lockdown.

Pray for peace and love to reign, for harmony to rule in homes. Many people will be struggling with the 24/7 aspect of life in the same house with the same people at the moment. Pray that domestic abuse and violence will not have the last word, but that God will reveal Himself to people.

Pray for those who are fearful and anxious to find hope and peace in Christ. Pray for those who have lost loved ones (to whatever illness) and who are struggling with the loss this brings and also with the difficulties of arranging funerals at this time. Pray for ministers who are still conducting funerals to have compassion and empathy and to be Christ’s ambassadors. Pray for Alison, Jackie and Luke at the Salvation Army as they seek to minister to people through food parcels – pray for creativity and skill in helping others.

Pray for God’s Holy Spirit to move in our area and to bring revival. We don’t just want to ‘cope’ or ‘survive’. We want the abundant life Christ promised us to be evident in our towns and villages. Pray for the streets by name. Get hold of a map and pray. You might not be able to use Google Maps to find a holiday destination right now, but you can use it to explore the streets of Goldthorpe and pray. Yesterday I delivered an Easter parcel to a house on Railway Terrace, a street I had never, ever been to before in Goldthorpe. I will be praying for that street today and the people from the Parent & Toddler group who live there.

Let’s pray!

Compassion comes from two words, meaning ‘suffering with’. Compassionate people have a concern for others which is both sensitive and caring. God describes himself as compassionate on many occasions (see Ex 34:6, 2 Kings 13:23, Neh 9:17, Ps 86:5) and because of this, we too can show compassion to others. Paul urges the Ephesians, ‘Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.’ (Eph 4:32) To the Romans, he says, ‘Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.’ (Rom 12:15)

We live in a world of selfishness and scorn, but the way of compassion goes beyond our natural responses to the very heart of God. We have to leave behind our preoccupation with self in order to see the needs of others. Compassion means we do more than see, however. We enter into their needs and come alongside them, even as Simon of Cyrene carried the cross when Jesus was unable to do so. As we come alongside those in need (virtually, at the moment, but it’s still possible) and sit in silence with them in times of suffering and grief, we can bring comfort and hope to all.

This is a poem written by one of our church members, Gemma (and shared with her permission):

Life seems somewhat different behind my closed house doors.

With fear at the heart of everyone, not knowing what’s to come.

Life can be dark and lonely, but I know my Saviour’s love.

Though the battle is in full swing,

And we fight what we can’t see,

We know our God is faithful

And He will never flee.

With faith as small as mustard seeds,

We (digitally) come together to pray,

With words of encouragement that in our hearts will stay.

With people at a distance, we’ve never been so close.

It makes our hearts grow stronger while we are fighting away this ghost.

Our world may seem in pieces,

But our God’s forever strong,

Guiding us through these dark days,

Filling our hearts with song.

Sorrow may try to hold us, but will never keep us down

As night will turn back to day,

We know God has gifted us a crown.

Be blessed with joy and faith,

Knowing God is all in all,

Keeping tight hold of you,

He will never let you fall.

God’s loving kindness, compassion and mercy are all wrapped up in His grace – not just not giving us what we do deserve (judgment and punishment) but pouring out blessings which we don’t deserve. Grace is one of those delightful words which take a lifetime to unpack. Grace turns all our understanding of equations upside down; the quid pro quo which rules the world is banished in favour of blessing and love.

Again, we can only embrace grace if we’ve received it. If we don’t understand the lavish love of God and that our whole standing with God is through His unmerited favour rather than from our good deeds or self-righteousness, we will struggle to show grace to others. But if we have received grace, we can dance gleefully and can afford to respond in the same currency.

Two of my favourite verses regarding grace are that God’s grace is sufficient for us: ‘it’s all you need’, as the Message version puts 2 Corinthians 12:9, and that ‘He gives us more grace.’ (James 4:6) When we may feel we’ve run out of grace, God is there to pour more in.