We have all felt the sense of uncertainty in these days, writes Rev Sydney Maitland. Apart from the threat of war in Ukraine – and the question of just how far it would be restricted to that country, there is the rising cost of living in this country and of course the effects of Brexit on national trade and the incomes that stem from it.
We may have grown comfortable in the ease and predictability of our way of life but even that has been changing as new social and political causes have been thrust into our headlines, together with the personalities promoting and resisting them. There is that pernicious desire to be offended in order to establish a form of moral superiority over the rest of society and then to claim new rights to be enshrined in the law of the land.
But while many will see these trends with some alarm, we are also encouraged to look beyond the turbulence of the times to see the provisions of God, if not His direct workings. Perhaps the place to start is to reflect on how, when the disciples were being tossed around by strong winds and threatening waves on the Sea of Galilee, they also saw Jesus walking on the water. This changed their perspectives and Peter was minded to call out to Jesus and to join Him as He walked on the water. It was in seeing Jesus within the tempest but not disturbed by it that the disciples were able to draw on a new kind of confidence.
In His farewell discourse in John’s gospel, chapter 15 has that wonderful instruction about abiding in Jesus – and in Him for Himself. To find ourselves in Him, and that He is our security, is also to renew our confidence in the face of all else. To abide in Him is to receive His life and to yield His fruit. It is also to let go of ourselves and to allow our lives to be renewed in His. Our life as a worshipping community is intended to reflect that sense of being and not to be the starting point for it. When our life starts with His then our worship, our understanding, our fellowship with one another then find a confidence that we will not see in the headlines of the internet, press, TV or radio.
It is worth recalling that for most of its life, the church has been under threat from unsympathetic rulers, and from its own divisions and rival interests. Where the church has reduced itself to a religious organization cut off from its source of life then it has also weakened itself. When it has taken the opportunity to review its priorities and methods then it has also received the means to a newly empowered life of faith.
Perhaps as we approach Lent, we also may take the opportunity to reassess the foundations of our faith and our lives as they respond to that faith. The promise of God to the leaders of ancient Israel – ‘I will not fail you or forsake you’ (also read as ‘I will not leave fail you or leave you’) goes back to Deuteronomy 31: 6 and 8, and is there in Hebrews 13: 5. It is also there as a promise to the Body of Christ – ‘And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.’ (John 17: 10) This does not look like a Lord who will flee at the first sign of our discomfort – rather this is a Lord who will stay with us and in us as we negotiate whatever uncertainties that life has to offer us.
This is a strong reason to stay steadfast and to continue in prayer. It is a reason to maintain our confidence in Him as we worship together, and as we support one another in our prayers. It is at a time when the ages grow darker that the light of Christ grows brighter.
And so we do not lose heart.
Every blessing,
Sydney Maitland
