Category: Devotions

The cross is a painful channel of love.

John 19 v25-27

Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶ When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” ²⁷ and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

 

It was like a sword piercing his mother’s heart (Luke 2:35) and Jesus through the blood falling from his head could see her pain and what she needed.

He had no material possessions to give to anyone. What he had left, his clothes, was being gambled away in front of him. We can only assume he had not had this conversation before. New ideas flow when pain is directed away from self.

All he had left was his love. Out of his love he gave his best friend to his mother. Out of the cross poured love.

But I have seen this in so many cross-carriers. The person whose heart is broken at the loss of a loved one thinking about the pain in other people’s lives. The person who has a terminal illness making sure their loved ones are going to be well cared for when they have gone. Love flowing through pain on the cross.

Christ followers direct their pain from themselves to others and love flows through. It’s a beautiful thing (as my friend often said).

The Rwandan genocide in 1994 only lasted 100 days. But during that time 800,000 citizens were brutalised and murdered by their own neighbours.

Though Hutu and Tutsi tribes are the same ethnic group, share the same language, lived and worked together, shared the same religion (mainly catholic), Tutsis and supportive Hutus were slaughtered by people they had co-existed peacefully with for generations.

Even from school age Tutsis became dehumanised.

They were called snakes and cockroaches.

The killings were horrific and sadistic.

Here is a story of a mother whose son was killed in that genocide.

The woman had nursed bitterness, grievance and thoughts of vengeance; she just wanted to find her sons killer and bring due punishment. But one night she had a dream and in the dream she was going down the street and saw a house and she knew it was a house of her enemy.

And she heard God say, “Go into the house”.

She said “I don’t want to go into the house”

She went into the house and God led her through many rooms and then up the stairs.

And He said “I want you to go up the stairs”

She said “I don’t want to go any further in this house”

“I want you to go up the stairs”

She went up the stairs, opened the door at the top, and found it led into heaven.

And she had a revelation.

That the path to heaven goes through the house of her enemy.

Two days later there was a knock on her door.

A young man is standing there at the door and he is shaking.

He says to her, “I am the man who killed your son. I place my life in your hands, whatever you want to do with me, I accept it. I have had no peace since I did what I did. And I will accept whatever. If you want to kill me, you can kill me.

If you want to turn me in to the authorities turn me into the authorities. Whatever you want, my life is in your hands.

And because she had a revelation from God, she said “I will not do any of this. But I do have one request. You must now become my son.”

She took him in and fed him at the table where she fed her son. He’s the same size so he wore his clothes. He actually moved in and became a son to her, because heaven passes through the house of her enemy.

 

Who is your enemy? Who is the person that hurt you? Would you believe that heaven goes through that house? It does. It’s called the cross. Pick it up today. Love is your most treasured commodity that no one will take from you. Give it today.

John 19 v14-22

“It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about the sixth hour.”

In the context of making sure the Passover lambs were without fault ready for the sacrifice and the Chief Priests’ determination to remain undefiled, Jesus has been interrogated for six hours before paraded by compromised Pilate.

“Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.

And then history repeats itself.

At the commencement of the Kingdom of Israel, “So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. ⁵ They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” (1 Samuel 8:4-5)

“But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the Lord. ⁷ And the Lord told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. (1 Samuel 8: 6-7)

Here is your king!

Of all the terrible things they have said this is the worst:

“We have no king but Caesar,” v15.

We have no king but the king in Rome.

It is amazing who can be named as an ally when the human will wants something badly.

At their beginning they reject God as their king and here they do it again.

They choose Rome and within a generation Rome would crush them to the ground.

This whole passage speaks of how compromising people can become.

• Pilate compromised.
• The Chief Priests insisting on no compromise by refusing to enter Pilate’s palace and defile themselves for the Passover.
• The Chief Priests compromising themselves by giving their allegiance to Caesar.

Compromise is usually a commodity of luxury that is used when it suits. We appear so righteous and wise one moment and then hold hands with the enemy in the next breath.

When He was crucified, Pilate ordered the inscription on the cross to be written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek—the languages of the three major cultural groups of that era.

Everyone was able to read that God’s people had rejected their King. Let’s make sure we keep Jesus the King of our lives and the Church today. Being undefiled in the eyes of man doesnt mean He is King.

John 19 v10-13

Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?” ¹¹ Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.” ¹² From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar.” ¹³ When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic is Gabbatha).

To the Romans Gabbatha was where ‘jupiter’ (the king of the gods) judged on all matters of state and religion.

To the Jews it is where God judged or where He permitted Gentiles, like Pilate, to judge people, v11 “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above”

It literally means ‘heap’ or ‘haughtiness’.

It was a mosaic pavement where the Bema (judgment) seat was placed. One day Pilate would stand before the judgment seat of Christ but on this day Jesus is before him.

He’s the Governor, in control, the main character and in charge of the events. By his word people lost their life or kept it. Pilate’s Gabbatha was indeed his throne. But his Gabbatha had an Achilles’ heel and the Jewish leaders knew it.

“We have to be very careful with this decision. If you decide to do what you are suggesting (for me it was the right decision) then you will lose the vote of the people, they will not go with you and it will end up worse for you. If you do what I am suggesting (for me it was a cover-up decision) I think you will see I am proven right, it is all a case of damage limitation.” That moment still remains a regretful obedient scene in my memory.

When judgment is couched in ‘what do people think of me’ then it is weak judgment.

When leadership decisions are slowed down because of fear of what might be said or how people may react then wisdom is often lost. Consideration for people’s welfare is not the same as bowing to a hidden fear, that of pleasing, in order to keep your position. The Achilles’ heel of Pilate was not so much the people, but a person, Caesar. Pilate was not in favour with him and knew that if it got back that he had released someone who was standing in front of him claiming Caesar’s title then questions would be asked. The Jewish leaders played him and Pilate fell into their trap.

Be very careful the next time you sit in the seat of judgment. It is a high place and the danger is that of pride. But it is also a place where the desire to please can be crippling and you end up making the wrong decision. Sometimes it is simply best not to sit there but of course there are times when we have to. The fear of man always proves to be a snare.

 

John 19 v1-5

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. ² The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe ³ and went up to him again and again, saying, ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ And they slapped him in the face. ⁴ Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, ‘Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.’ ⁵ When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, Pilate said to them, ‘Here is the man!’

John is writing his gospel so “that you may believe Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (20:21). What description did John portray of Jesus?

From the commencement of his gospel: The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (1:14)

John the Baptist saw Jesus coming towards him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God …’ (1:29)

‘Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.’ (14:9)

Throughout the gospel we see God in Jesus.

In the miracles: Changing water into wine; Healing the royal official’s son; Healing the paralyzed man at the pool of Bethesda; Feeding the 5,000; Walking on water; Healing the man born blind; and raising Lazarus from the dead.

In the ‘I AM’ statements of Jesus: I am the bread of life; I am the light of the world; I am the gate/door of the sheep; I am the resurrection and the life; I am the good shepherd; I am the way, the truth, and the life; I am the true vine.

“We have seen his glory …” Not everyone has seen but we have. Referring to the Transfiguration where the face of Jesus shone like the sun; where Moses and Elijah appear standing alongside Jesus affirming his Messianic role; and where John hears a voice, “This is my Son.” That voice came from a bright cloud emphasising the visible glory of God.

Where is that glory now? And here is the crux. Here is the shock and the disappointment rolled into one.

v5 ‘Here is the man’.

His skinless back full of blood, a crown of thorns piercing his head, a face bruised by the beating, barely able to stand, a broken God of glory.

Some will wake today once again driven to succeed, to be somebody, to do something, to achieve their dreams and to be remembered, all for the glory of God. ‘Here is the man’.

Some will wake today and wonder how did they become so disappointed in life? Why have their dreams died and their prayers not been answered? Why are they hurting so much? ‘Here is the man’.

God coming into the world looks like this.

How many ‘likes’? What is the brand? How many engaged?

Here is the man.

‘The Word became flesh’ was shocking and it was meant to be.

See the divine in the failing humanity.

Greatness and Glory are seen, ‘here is the man.’

Reject this picture and you will turn from the power of God seen in your weakness.

Avoid this pain and you will never reach the power of the resurrection.

Here is the man.

Look in the mirror with all your questions, disappointments, hurts, grief and confusion.

Here is the man. Here is the woman. Not much to look at. Yet God has chosen to dwell in such a place as you.

John 18 v28-40

“‘What is truth?’ retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, ‘I find no basis for a charge against him.” v38

Fake news v real news.

Opinions over the governments handling of the Covid crisis.

Prophetic insights over lockdown.

Our minds are full of divided voices.

There’s no shortage of knowledge, thinkers are all around us.

 

Pilate v the Jewish leaders.

The Jewish leaders knew that if they entered Pilates palace they would be unclean.

‘What are the charges against Jesus?’

‘Are you the king of the Jews?’

Knowledge can be wrong. You can know something your whole life and what you know is wrong.

 

‘What is true?’ v the TRUTH.

And TRUTH was standing in front of him.

And TRUTH had testified to the truth.

And TRUTH had listeners on his side.

Truth is. Truth lives. We need truth.

 

Today is VE day, 75^th anniversary of the liberation of Europe. Whole populations had been fed a lie by their leaders regarding the Jews being the cause of WW1. A lie became knowledge and knowledge corrupted the truth.

Father Edward P. Doyle, a chaplain in the US Army during WWII, participated in the liberation of Nordhausen. He recalls: “I was there. I was present. I saw the sights. I will never forget. You have heard the story many times before. On the night of April 11, 1945, my division, of which I was the Catholic chaplain, took the town of Nordhausen. The following morning, with the dawn, we discovered a concentration camp. Immediately the call went out for all medical personnel that could be spared, to be present. […] On that morning in Nordhausen, I knew why I was there. I found the reason for it – man’s inhumanity to man. What has happened to that beautiful commandment of the Decalogue, the commandment of God to love one another?” A lie became knowledge and the truth of love was lost for millions.

I was increasingly unsure of things prior to the lockdown.

I am during it and thinking of post lockdown only fills me with more uncertainty.

Some people are so sure of things, let them be.

What I know is Jesus is the TRUTH.

We must testify of the TRUTH to God, we must align ourselves under Him.

We must speak the TRUTH to ourselves or have someone do that for us.

We must speak of the TRUTH to others, the gospel is the same good news and we must tell.

Let’s worry less about knowledge. That is what the cross is all about.

Whatever lies in front of us let it be about the TRUTH, JESUS CHRIST, let us love HIM and love OTHERS. That is the TRUTH. That is what is waiting for us tomorrow. Let knowledge bow to this TRUTH.

 

Yesterday I was again on a zoom call and this time it was leaders from across the world. I caught myself briefly (just in case they read this) not listening to what they were saying but the sound of the birds in the background. It was beautiful and I wanted to be there. Sounds can have that impact. Every time it rains and I am in the conservatory I will say ‘oh this reminds me of caravan holidays’ and I am taken back over 40 years ago to Lake District holidays in a caravan with the rain bouncing on the roof. The sound of the first lawnmower in the neighbourhood and you realise a new season has started. The sound of fireworks. The melody of the ice cream van. The sound of crickets. So many sounds take us places and they often take us back to wonderful memories that we have had.

Of course not all the sounds will bring us pleasant pictures. Let’s read a verse from John’s gospel.

“At that moment a rooster began to crow.” (18:27)

I wonder in the years to come what the sound of the rooster would mean to Peter?

The sound of my impetuosity.

Did it remind him of Malchus? His mind taken back to the night he chopped off the ear of the high priest’s servant. His moment of rashness, when he just didn’t think through a plan and launched straight into disaster.

Do you remember when you hurt out of anxiety?

Do you remember when Jesus healed what you hurt and you stood corrected for behaving more like the enemy than Christ?

Read the verse again, “One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, “Didn’t I see you with him in the garden?” Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to crow. (v26-27)

The sound of my denial.

He denies three times and the rooster crows. Three missed opportunities. Luke writes Peter goes outside and weeps. John just ignores him. We know nothing of what happens to Peter until after the Resurrection. The man who wanted to be involved in everything and the first to volunteer for anything is not part of the most important part of the story of Jesus.

Do you remember when you failed miserably and it took you out of the action for a while?

It seemed that God removed you from the place you were in and looking back you know it came as a result of your failure.

The sound of denial can haunt a person for the rest of their life.

But we of course know there is another reminder.

The sound of my new beginning

The rooster crowed and a new day began.

Our lives don’t change on our success but on the trauma of failure, brokenness and repentance.

There is a brokenness that leads to death as Judas experienced. But there is a brokenness that leads to life.

From that moment Peter was moving into a new day. It was recognition that he needed saving. A few days later Jesus would meet him and restore him fully and appoint him a leader.

But he would forever remember the moment (whenever he heard the morning sound) the turning point of his life when he became a broken man that led to new life.

Today,it may not be a rooster. But listen out. God might want you to hear a certain sound again.

John 18 v 15-18, 25-27

^“Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. Because this disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest’s courtyard, ¹⁶ but Peter had to wait outside at the door. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back, spoke to the servant girl on duty there and brought Peter in. ¹⁷ “You aren’t one of this man’s disciples too, are you?” she asked Peter. He replied, “I am not.” ¹⁸ It was cold, and the servants and officials stood around a fire they had made to keep warm. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself.

Meanwhile, Simon Peter was still standing there warming himself. So they asked him, “You aren’t one of his disciples too, are you?” He denied it, saying, “I am not.” ²⁶ One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, “Didn’t I see you with him in the garden?” ²⁷ Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to crow.”

 

In the setting of two High Priests there are 2 disciples also having their own experience.

Of course, we know about Peter. He’s the denier. Everyone knows what he did.

• But failing whilst following is better than not following at all.

But there was ‘another disciple’ following also. This man who John just describes as ‘the other disciple’ was known by the high priest and went into the courtyard with Jesus. So when Annas questioned Jesus over his disciples why did he say nothing about this man? He knew him and he knew Jesus had disciples, in fact, others could recognise some of them, such as Peter. It seems to me:

• You can be with Jesus but not known as a follower of him.

But let’s not be too hard on this ‘other’ disciple.

He had the power of influence which we can all step into.

• The power of influence will always be looking backwards, in v16 he ‘came back’. Some are far too visionary, future-driven, always wanting the next chapter that they fail to turn around. In fact looking back is seen as a negative and they have Bible verses to prove it. Those with a pastoral heart are never afraid to return. There are times when you need to influence what is behind you and not what is ahead of you. For often what is behind you is no longer about you but others.
• The power of influence will use leverage, he ‘was known to the high priest (and) spoke to the servant girl on duty.’ There are moments not be missed when we have the advantage. All your experiences of the past work together to give you leverage. John doesn’t tell us how he was known and many have speculated of course. But the longer you live the more leverage you have if you are wise enough to use it and to do so unselfishly.
• The power of influence empowers others, he ‘brought Peter in’. He gave Peter the right to be there. The problem was Peter didn’t embrace that right and the enemy used that weakness to exploit Peter. The questions were said negatively, “You aren’t …” twice and “Didn’t I …” NO! Peter was out of the boat again, he was uncomfortable in his surroundings, he was lacking confidence even before the questions came. Being in a place because someone has got you there is different than being there in your own right. Remember John’s opening words, “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (1:12) The battle in our lives is over the right to be who God says we are and moving into places God takes us into. It is confidence and we must win that battle throughout our life. Maybe today you can battle for someone else and bring them in and empower them, build their confidence. Don’t leave them alone with their insecurities for their enemy is near.

 

John 18 v12-14, 19-24

“Then the detachment of soldiers with its commander and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus. They bound him ¹³ and brought him first to Annas, who was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the high priest that year. ¹⁴ Caiaphas was the one who had advised the Jewish leaders that it would be good if one man died for the people.” ¹⁹ Meanwhile, the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching. ²⁰ “I have spoken openly to the world,” Jesus replied. “I always taught in synagogues or at the temple, where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret. ²¹ Why question me? Ask those who heard me. Surely they know what I said.” ²² When Jesus said this, one of the officials nearby slapped him in the face. “Is this the way you answer the high priest?” he demanded. ²³ “If I said something wrong,” Jesus replied, “testify as to what is wrong. But if I spoke the truth, why did you strike me?” ²⁴ Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

Annas, the High Priest, had been demoted by the Romans in AD14 but he remained the people’s choice and why Jesus was taken to him first. Annas was the one who secretly controlled things even without the official title. He engineered the Romans to appoint his sons and Caiaphas, his son-on-law to be the next High Priests. But of course these were just puppets on a string held by Annas. They spoke and people took notice but behind their leadership was Annas. He pulled the strings.

THE HIGH PRIEST standing before this narcissistic, manipulative and controlling high priest is a picture which has the starkest of contrasts.

Annas questions Jesus about his disciples, he wants to know how many he has, who are they, where are they? Basically he wants to know how big a problem they have. Will this be over when this so-called messiah is killed? He then asks about the teaching of Jesus.

Jesus doesn’t speak about his disciples. He doesn’t blow the cover of Peter and the other disciple in the courtyard. He knows where the rest of his disciples would have run to, the homes they would be cowering behind, but he doesn’t speak of them. He speaks of his teaching only.

I have never spoken behind the scenes in secret. (Unlike you Annas who continually speaks as a high priest though you are not).

Everyone has heard me (Unlike you Annas who portrays a silent persona to the Romans).

I’m the one speaking (Unlike you Annas who is telling the other high priests what to say).

John in his gospel paints a tense scene and in the centre of it all a reminder that this was God’s plan as he takes us back to chapter 11 when Caiaphas prophesied that it would be better if Jesus died for the people. It would be better.

Whatever we may be going through today. You may have experienced controlling and manipulative people or circumstances are such. But you are in the plan of God. He knows. What can you do?

Do what Jesus has done.

I will not speak in hidden places. I will not align with the manipulators. I will not try and control others, it matters not who is with me or against me, I will be who God has created and purposed me to be. I will be heard openly. I know who I am. I will find my own voice. I will not be silent. I will stand in the place of truth.

Can you prayerfully declare the above today?

You can stand up and face the fear. You can speak what you want to speak and not what is being demanded of you. You don’t have to comply to fit in. You can do all this because you know you are in the centre of God’s plan for your life.

Two High priests, but there were also two disciples and that’s for tomorrow ….

During this season of lockdown we have more time to re-evaluate our faith and our practices as a follower of Jesus.

Today I finish chapter 17 and ‘the church I see’ centred around the prayer of Jesus as he talked to the Father hours before his death.

John 17 v 23-26 “I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. ‘Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. ‘Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you^[e] known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

Jesus prayed it because he wanted it. He still does.

I see a Church … that loves.

The love that demonstrates a sacrificial life. The gospel tells of the sacrifice of the Father to send the one He loves to people who are rejecting Him.  It is also the sacrifice of the son to be sent. The Father sends and the son dies.

The church wants to live, God wants the church to die for the world. That’s the gospel.

Richard Wurmbrand was 14 years in a communist Romanian prison, he said, “A man really believes not what he recites in a creed, but only the things he is ready to die for.” Come to Jesus and he will fix all your problems is not the gospel. The love from a sacrificial life is a cause, a purpose which needs devotion, focused and disciplined Christians.

The love that demonstrates our identity.

He is the Father of Adoption. Romans 8:15 “you received the Spirit of adoption.”

You have an enemy who is trying to get you to believe what he is saying to you. For what you believe you are is what you are and who you think you are is what you do. Why did sin happen? Adam didn’t know who he was and he tried to become someone he wasn’t. The accuser said “If you do this then you will be like God.” He should have said “stupid snake I am already like God. Why try and become what I already am?” But he didn’t and he became what God had not intended.

You are a child of God, belonging to Him, adopted to Him.

The love that demonstrates the Father’s passionate love. The story about the father and his lost son is an example of a Jewish custom called the Kezazah ceremony.

This ceremony was performed when a Jewish man absconded from the community and went and lived with the Gentiles. When he came back, he would go to the city gates and the older men would throw down a pot in front of the young man – symbolising the broken relationship that now existed between the community and this ‘sinner.’ This separated him from his family, his community, and his faith.

So in the story of the Prodigal Son why do you think the father ran to his returning lost son?

He ran to get there before the judging community. He embraced the sinner.

A Church that loves runs and embraces the offensive sinful people before the religious condemn them.

Identity offends like nothing else but the greatest offence is found in Gods people when they see their God stepping into these offensive identities with love and grace.

But when a Church has gone through a crisis, like a pandemic, when they have lost loved ones and felt incomparable grief, when they have been stripped back so that what remains is what has survived the refiner’s fire then that Church loves like at no other time in its history.

I see a Church that loves. You would think that is the prerequisite for a Church. We can all love people who we like or who are similar to us. Loving the unlovable is another thing completely! Post lockdown may we all emerge in the power of the love of God.

I see a Church … that is united and powerful.

During this season of lockdown we have more time to re-evaluate our faith and our practices as a follower of Jesus.

I have been thinking of the desires of Jesus in his prayer, hours before his death.

John 17 v 6-26

“I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one – I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. V22-23

Jesus prayed it because he wanted it. He still does.

I see a Church … that is united and powerful.

All the connectivity that has gone on in lockdown will prove dividends later. Those who have remained self-centred throughout this crisis will look very odd indeed afterwards.

The self-centred grumbler live their lives as if they are the most important person and everyone should centre their life on them. I’m tired of such a person. But during a crisis, persecution, a pandemic when a nation’s heart has been wounded with grief the self-centred grumbler loses their friends. Those who grumble and complain that their life is difficult because of the impact of lockdown will not be heard by those who have lost their loved ones through it. I’m not speaking about the person in the street but in the pew. How can the Church come out of this time with their eyes only on themselves? It will be very difficult, okay not impossible, but the Church is going to have to work hard to become like it used to be. I think past decline of the church has because it has scored too many own goals. I see this unity spilling over into pour neighbourhoods.

A church that is united is a church where community is important, where people matter. It is not just the community of those who attend church. But those who are yet to do so.

• Inviting the neighbour for coffee will become as important as inviting them to church.
• “Where brothers live together in unity there the Lord commands a blessing” Psalm 133, will become a verse important not just for the church but for the workplace or neighbourhood or wherever.
• We will embrace the ‘incarnation’ as never before. We live in a world that is closer together than it has ever been and yet driven apart at the core. The incarnational God left his safety, his glory and got caught up with our mess and failings and history. He did it because He cared.

Togetherness means we will leave our comfort zones, our glory and get burdened and involved with the problems of the world. Their problem becomes our problem.

You are called by God for people. Its others before you. It is putting people ahead of you. Serving others, reaching others, others all the time, every time. It is never about us. Never, never entertain the thought, ‘Well what about me? What about what I want? How I feel?’ for they are destructive thoughts.

I believe in the Church. The Church bears all the hallmarks of God. The Church has His Word, His provision and we are the chosen appointed people of God.

We are the presence of God, the Holy Spirit is manifested through us, the Church.

I don’t believe in the church that has political and power controlling disputes. But I do believe in the church that has Christ as the head over all things.

I don’t believe in the church that has masochist tendencies, beating itself up. But I do believe in the church that is the body of Christ.

I don’t believe in the church that is full of pride, greed and selfishness. But I do believe in the church that is the fullness of Christ.

I don’t believe in the church that plots its own course regardless of anyone else. But I do believe in the church that is part of God’s eternal purpose.

I don’t believe in the church that grabs for its gold, polishes its silver and self-congratulates its own achievements. But I do believe in the church where the glory of God can be found.

I don’t believe in the church that will not die to self and submit to one another. But I do believe in the church that is loved by Christ who willingly gave himself up for.

I don’t believe in the church that is riddled with physical and spiritual abuse. But I do believe in the church that is continually washed and cleansed by Christ.

I don’t believe in the church that will not feed physically and spiritually the hungry and the poor. But I do believe in the church that is nourished and cherished by Christ.

How will we emerge after lockdown? We cannot and must not go back to the things that were wrong before. The fall-outs, the bickering, the gossip, the self-centred victim mentality. We must spring out of this lockdown with thoughts for unity and being the powerful Church that we are in God. The world will need us!