Thy
Kingdom Come..........
When my husband Brian was ill in 1999 I realised that the only prayer I could offer was, “Thy Kingdom Come – Thy Will be done - and may Thy name be glorified". In a way we all know the relevance of the Lord’s prayer and that we need no other and yet we send so many petitions to the throne of grace.
Recently
I have considered the call of us all, what does God really want from us when He
calls us? Thinking about two
calls in particular I have come to realise something about the Kingdom that is
absolutely vital if we are to achieve our mission within A.R.M.(Wales).
It must grow, and it must grow within us.
The
first call was the call of Samuel, only a child who “did not yet know the
Lord” ! He only
had to ask the Lord to speak.
We can do that, but we also have to be prepared to listen!
The
second was the call of Philip and Nathaniel, which you might have read in the
gospel for Epiphany 2.(John
1.43-51 )
Philip was called first, simply
to follow Jesus, and because he was excited about it he brought Nathaniel
to him. Nathaniel was
somewhat sceptical, “Can anything
good come out of Nazareth?” he asked.
But Jesus greets him with “Behold,
an Israelite indeed, in whom there is nothing false”.
What an amazing thing to say about someone you have only just met.
Nathaniel questions, “How do
you know me?” When
Jesus tells him that He saw him yesterday standing under a fig tree he
immediately recognizes the truth of what Philip had told him and responds with,
“Rabbi,
You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
Now Jesus is able to tell them that they
will see great things -
they will see the start of the New Israel,
- that is the Kingdom of God
on earth.
These
two stories led me to think about what was expected of those called by God.
So often we are so anxious to serve him in response to His love for us
that we miss out on what He really wants.
To come to him and listen so that you might learn from him.
There is nothing arduous in that and it is what we need in order to live
a fulfilled life on earth. We
know from the rest of the gospel stories where it led Philip and Nathaniel, it
led to living in the Kingdom where
the laws are of love and obedience to the King.
John
chapter 14 has been my favourite chapter of
the Bible ever since I was a teenager.
Verse 15, “If you love Me you will obey Me”, once seemed like a
command but over the years I came to realise that as we love God more and more
obedience becomes natural and inevitable.
That is what God is wanting.
The
rest of chapter 14 is about comfort, assurance and promise but above all about
the Holy Spirit being available to God’s people.
How slow the Church has been to take this on board, why don’t we just
listen to Jesus’ own words and let him have His way.
It
is through the Holy Spirit that we are made children of God (Rom.8:14)
that is children of the King so how can we fail to live in His Kingdom?
So I pray that we might play our
Gathering
the Remnants
We
have throughout the country, churches that are on the point of closure because
of diminishing congregations, often these are in small villages with only a
small population from which to draw their members.
In addition there are probably chapels with the same problems.
No one can afford to put resources in from outside and the few remaining
church-people are dependant on the goodwill of the local deanery.
At first the churchwardens valiantly attempt to keep the church going,
they rely on the area dean to provide them with someone else to take the Sunday
services. But things aren’t
like they used to be in the “good old days when the church was full” !
Frequently the solution is to try and absorb them into neighbouring
groups, churches with whom they may have previously had little or no contact.
When this happens even more members usually fall away.
This absorption into neighbouring benefices can be beneficial – let the
use of those two words be the source of spiritual reflection.
It is usual to have one priest in charge of such a group of parishes,
this has often seemed to the parishioners as being for the benefit of the
diocese in saving a house and stipend.
What have the parishes got out of it, yes they now have a priest but they
almost inevitably have a reduction in the number of services on a Sunday.
And it takes a brave leader to tackle the problems head-on from the start
of their ministry in the new additional parish.
Usually it will be seen as extra work by the people in that minister’s
existing parish and probably by the minister as well.
But
it is an opportunity!
My
concern for the future of the Church in Wales has caused me to take a greater
interest at what is going on a deanery level.
So it was as I reflected on the needs of our local churches that the
words, “Feed my sheep”, came to mind.
What does that say to you?
I then remembered the parable that led to the leaving of the ninety-nine
in order to find the one that was lost.
But
it was to Peter the Rock, that our Lord first said, “Feed my sheep”.
Peter who recognised that Jesus was the Messiah and as a result was
considered worthy to be the rock on which the Church could be built.
(Matt.16:15-19)
Surely we have a few Peters around today, simple believing Christians
just like Peter the fisherman.
If we all take our faith seriously we shall change and the Church will
grow.
I
urge you to think on this, my mind is full of ideas but I won’t share them
yet. What God has for your
area may be different, we have to set up groups of Christians willing to find
God and the Kingdom in their midst.
So this magazine is a mixed bag of ideas and resources, listen to the Lord as you read.
May He bless you all beyond anything you can imagine.
Mary Newsom