Sunday 19 April 2020

GRACE AND PEACE TO YOU FROM GOD OUR FATHER AND THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.       AMEN.

MEN ARE NOT CAST OFF BY THE LORD FOREVER. THOUGHT HE BRINGS GRIEF, HE WILL SHOW COMPASSION, SO GREAT IS HIS UNFAILLING LOVE. FOR HE DOES NOT WILLINGLY BRING AFFLICTION OR GRIEF TO THE CHILDREN OF MEN.

                                                                          ( Lamentations 3: 31 – 33 )

ALL THIS IS FOR YOUR BENEFIT, SO THAT THE GRACE THAT IS REACHING MORE AND MORE PEOPLE MAY CAUSE THANKSGIVING TO OVERFLOW TO THE GLORY OF GOD.

                                                                                ( 2. Corinthians 4: 15 )

As a prophet, Jeremiah was charged by God to preach His message of truth to the people and because the people would not listen and repent, God’s judgement brought suffering to all, including the Prophet. Jeremiah, in his Lamentations, reminds us that God will never take away HOPE from his people, because He wants to bring them back from exile, pain and suffering.  Men are not cast of by the Lord forever.  Grief will be always accompanied by compassion, because so great is His unfailing love.  Behind the generally sad picture of the Book of Lamentations, we find an uplifting message about God’s steadfast love, reminding us that even though painful times seem endless, God always brings them to a good end.  For Christians, the assurance is in Christ’s atoning sacrifice, clearly intensified to all of us in this post-Easter time.  As Jeremiah remembers that the Lord appeared to us in the past, saying:- I have loved you with everlasting love , we have to understand that this is more than compassion or comfort…it is GRACE .  He does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men, – and as GRACE reaches out more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the Glory of God, – says Paul in our New Testament verse from his Second Epistle to the Corinthians.

This COVID-19 Coronavirus Epidemic is dramatically affecting our lives in so many ways, disturbing our comfort-zones and removing many conveniences taken for granted.  We all hope and for a speedy end to the disruption, but there are so many unknowns that it is impossible to predict when that will happen.  A terrible virus is at work and scientists are working hard to find the way to cure the disease.  NHS-people are doing all they can to alleviate the suffering and to save lives, our governments are trying hard to rescue the economy from a steep recession and we all just hope and pray and believe that we are not cast off by the Lord forever.  As many things seem to be taken from us, we realize which are the most important values of our lives.

Paul says: – All this is for your benefit (2 Corinthians 4:15)

Let me invite you to meditate with me.  As we struggle with this pandemic, suddenly we understand how important it is to care about our health.  Being in a lockdown we can enjoy even more the beauties of Skye, appreciate more deeply our family-lives and loved-ones, realise how irreplaceable doctors, nurses and care-workers are, how fragile and mortal elderly people become and how spoiled we were to be able to buy everything we wished for and to go everywhere we wanted.  As schools are closed and parents are supervising learning, we start admiring more and more teachers and teaching in schools and universities.  We really believed that we could rule the world and suddenly…a tiny, invisible virus brings us back to reality, strengthens our FAITH, improves our PRAYER-life and HOPE becomes a significant key in our journey of life.

With God’s help,- I do believe, we will survive it, and if we manage to become more humbled and grateful for everything we have, we can become stronger and better people and we can expect a better future from Him, who so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life ( John 3:16 ).

LET US PRAY:

Gracious Lord God, help us to see you as you are, rather than as we fear you to be; to grasp the wonder of your love, understanding that you are generous and compassionate, slow to anger and delighting in showing your grace in Jesus Christ.  Remind us that you seek not to condemn but to pardon, not to rebuke but to restore.  Thank you that your generosity is beyond measure, your kindness exceeding all our expectations and your grace defying human comprehension.  Remind us each day that LOVE sums up your whole nature and expresses a reality we so much need these days.  Be with those affected by this Pandemic in any way : heal the sick, be with the dying and comfort those who mourn.  Give wisdom, strength and blessing to all those who are working for others.  Protect the vulnerable and elderly, be with the children and the young.  We pray for all those whom we know and love and for those billions we will never meet.  We pray for your Christian Church Universal and especially today for our Christian sisters and brothers so severely persecuted and threatened in India.  Bless our Congregation in this lockdown; be with us and remain with us now and for ever more, through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

THE LORD’S PRAYER:  Our Father, who art in heaven….

MAY THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, AND THE LOVE OF GOD, AND THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT BE WITH YOU ALL.   AMEN.

                                                        ( 2. Corinthians 13 : 14.)

Sandor, your Minister.