Angry Birds is a video game franchise created by Finnish computer game developer Rovio Entertainment which involves shooting birds into pigs’ fortresses because the pigs have stolen the birds’ eggs. Tonight at the family service, we played a game that was similar: each team had to build towers from dominoes which an angry bird then had to destroy…

After this, people had to ‘rant’ about a pet subject for 30 seconds, on topics as diverse as ‘superstition’ and ‘the youth of today’!

Others were quite good at pulling very angry faces!

Fortunately, we had excellent prizes to soothe our anger: stress balls and chocolate (supposedly good for relieving stress because it contains valeric acid!)

Tonight’s family service looked at anger management. Anger is an emotion which can cause us a lot of problems, usually because when we are angry, our tongues work faster than our brains! – we say things we easily regret, lashing out in temper and hurting others. It’s not simply the fact that we get angry which causes problems for us (after all, God gets angry too!), however; it’s how we handle the anger that makes the difference.

Jesus demonstrates for us how we can be angry without sinning (see John 2:13-16, Eph 4:26-27). Even when He cleansed the temple (having taken the time to make the whip of cords), He was in control; His anger was righteous and He did not simply react out of selfish pique or fury. There are indeed issues which should make us angry (injustice, corruption, cruelty and so on), but anger must be balanced by love (see 1 Cor 13:4-8). Love conquers anger; a kiss conquers a slap.

1 Tim 2:8 shows us that prayer is one way we can manage anger, bringing our anger before God and allow Him to control that through His Spirit. We need to avoid holding on to grudges and letting our anger fester; as Eph 4:26-27 reminds us, we need to sort out things that make us angry as soon as possible to avoid giving the devil any foothold in our lives.

We often define work in terms of its usefulness and also in terms of its worth (how much we earn etc.) It’s worth bearing in mind, however, the Parable of the Vineyard Workers (Matt 20:1-16), a parable that underlines God’s grace. Grace is outrageous, lavish and totally undeserved, and the only means by which we can become God’s children (see Eph 2:8-9). We can’t earn God’s favour by hard work; we simply receive from Him with open and empty hands. If we want to rely on wages for how we live life, we have to face the uncomfortable truth: ‘the wages of sin is death.’ (Rom 6:23) The only way we can receive eternal life is by accepting this as a gift from God: ‘the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ (Rom 6:23) Everything good that we receive from God comes as a gift (James 1:17); it is undeserved and not given to us because of our own righteousness.

Our work must be defined in terms of our relationship to God and to others, for these are the greatest commandments (see Matt 22:37-39). The basic work that Jesus did was invest His time and energy into learning from God and living with people. He cultivated His relationship with His Father and He cultivated relationships with people. In our society, we don’t often see this as work; we define work in terms of activities, in terms of measurable outcomes. Yet so often it is the relationship with our colleagues or customers which makes a real difference to whether we enjoy the activities we do at work and which gives meaning to the activities we do. A nurse cannot simply defined by the medical tasks performed; the care, attention and devotion to patients matter as much as the practical skills employed. How we work is as vital as what we do.

God at the centre of everything is the only way our work can be truly fruitful. Let’s not put our work at the centre, with God on the outskirts. Let’s put God at the centre instead and realise that what He does is so much more bountiful and fruitful than anything we can do on our own! As we remain in the vine, fruit will come; apart from Jesus, we can do nothing. (John 15:5-6)

This morning’s sermon looked at Ps 127, a psalm right in the middle of the Psalms of Ascent, which deals with the subject of fruitful work. Work takes up a huge part of our lives, but it’s easy to fall into one of two extremes, characterised by Eugene Peterson as ‘Babel or Buddhist.’ (‘The Journey’, P 91)

The Tower of Babel (Gen 11:1-9) was a monumental work effort (literally), but of course, it was fuelled by the people’s desire to make a name for themselves (Gen 11:4); it was essentially a selfish project which had man as their own god. For many of us, work is our god; it’s the means by which we feel secure and look after ourselves. The psalmist says this kind of energetic work without God gets us nowhere fast: ‘Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labour in vain. ‘Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain. In vain you rise early and stay up late, toiling for food to eat – for He grants sleep to those He loves.’ (Ps 127:1-2) In other words, work without God is in vain: it gets us nowhere in the long run.The ‘Buddhist’ extreme is at the opposite end of the spectrum, typified by Eastern religions with their teachings on withdrawal from the world so that sin can be avoided, with the Buddha as their symbol: an enormous, fat person sitting cross-legged, inert, doing nothing. If all our hard work and effort end up in sinful confusion (as it did in Babel) or in hypocrisy and self-righteousness (as it did with the Pharisees), the only safe bet is to do nothing. Paul warned the Thessalonians against this extreme (see 2 Thess 3:6-12) and as always, the truth about work lies somewhere in the middle!

Work itself is not sinful; God is a God who works (see Gen 1) and we are made in His image. Work must be redefined, however, so that God is central. Ps 127 reminds us of the value of children, showing again the importance of relationships and the fact that so much of what is truly important in life is a gift from God. When God is at the centre, we are free to relax and let Him be in control (see Matt 6:25-34). When grace is reigning in our lives and in our relationships and in our work, then we’re living life God’s way and we can be fruitful in Him (see John 15.)

Mark spoke from Hab 3:17-19 tonight, verses which remind us that praising God does not always take place in circumstances which, at first glance, are conducive to praise! It’s easy for us to associate praise with feelings, but as this passage reminds us, even when there is no prospect of harvest or food, even when Habakkuk could find plenty of reasons NOT to praise God, still he chose to praise.

When disasters occur – job losses, crashed cars, ill health and so on – our natural reaction is not to praise God, but often we question Him. Habakkuk shows us that whatever the natural response, there can be a spiritual response whereby we choose to rejoice. As we choose to focus our gaze on the Lord, we are transformed for we realise He is singing over us (Zeph 3:17) and we should sing as much in the dark times as when all is going well. Ps 149:1-6 shows us the power of praise; God takes pleasure in His people and beautifies us. As we commit to praising God, our joy and rejoicing actually release blessing from God. God is sufficient for us in all circumstances and we have a duty to praise Him, no matter what.

Dave reminded us this morning that love is an action, not a feeling; a verb, not a noun. We choose to love. Recently, we’ve celebrated a wedding at church and it’s easy to focus on the ‘in love’ feelings associated with a wedding, but we have been at pains to remind all involved that a wedding is great, but what makes a marriage last is the daily choice to love. When the feelings fade (or at least lose their fervour, which C. S. Lewis reminds us is normal and to be expected), that doesn’t mean love is lost; it simply means that it has the opportunity to grow through our daily choices to demonstrate love in action.

Choosing to obey God is crucial to our spiritual growth. It’s easy to love God in the first flush of our salvation, but that love has to mature in the wilderness and in the furnace. It’s the same with all aspects of our growth. It’s easy to praise God and celebrate when all is going well and we are seeing answers to prayer beyond our wildest dreams. But we are called to praise and celebrate even when it’s a sacrifice: ‘Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.‘ (Heb 13:15)

Rend Collective’s new album ‘As Family We Go’ has two extremely catchy songs of worship and celebration. The first, the opening track, is simply called ‘Celebrate‘. It’s easy to be caught up in the exuberance and bounce of the melody, but it’s worth pondering the lyrics as they, in Psalm 150 style, urge us to praise the Lord at all times:

‘Praise Him in the morning, praise Him in the evening.
Praise Him when you’re smiling, praise Him when you’re breaking.
Praise Him in the sun and praise Him in the starlight.
Praise Him every season, praise Him through the dark times.

Celebrate, celebrate
Shout it from the mountaintops
Celebrate, celebrate
Even with a broken heart
Till dawn awakes, we’ll sing Your praise, dancing in the dark,
For all our days our song will say, “Lord how great You are!”‘ (‘Celebrate’, Rend Collective)

The other song is entitled ‘Joy of the Lord’ (taken from Neh 8:10) and again, its lyrics echo the fact that some of the greatest praise arises through tears and uncertainty:

‘Though the tears may fall, my song will rise,
My song will rise to You.
Though my heart may fail, my song will rise,
My song will rise to You.
While there’s breath in my lungs,
I will praise you Lord

In the dead of night, I’ll lift my eyes,
I’ll lift my eyes to You.
Though the waters rise, I’ll lift my eyes,
I’ll lift my eyes to You.
While there’s hope in this heart,
I will praise You, Lord.

The joy of the Lord is my strength;
The joy of the Lord is my strength;
In the darkness I’ll dance;
In the shadows I’ll sing;
The joy of the Lord is my strength.

When I cannot see You with my eyes,
Let faith arise to You.
When I cannot feel Your hand in mine,
Let faith arise to You.
God of mercy and love,
I will praise You, Lord.’ (‘Joy Of The Lord’, Rend Collective)

Whatever our circumstances, we can choose how we respond; choosing to praise God acknowledges His love and sovereignty, no matter how we may feel at the time.