We are grateful to Fraser, our Reader Emeritus, for leading last Thursday’s worship and Sunday’s Service of the Word. In his sermon Fraser focused on the theme of relating to people who have a different background and culture, with inspiration from passages in Ruth and Ephesians. Ruth promises to stand by her mother-in-law Naomi even though it means living far from home and within another cultural setting. Paul expresses the mission to share the gospel with Gentiles, again reaching out to those of a different background. How important this is in our world today where there is so much division that we learn how to relate to others who are different with the guidance and help of God’s spirit with us. The words of the final verse of our last hymn express this well:
We sing the Holy Spirit, full of love,
who seeks out scars of ancient bitterness,
brings to our wounds the healing grace of Christ:
come, radiant love, live in our hearts today.
On Sunday, Hugh kindly played the organ for us and, as well as accompanying the solo hymns, enabled a simple call and response song, with varying cantor lines. The words were available as prompts in our own thoughts and prayers as we reflected on the scripture readings and the sermon, with text from John 14 – ‘We will come to you’ – also giving us inspiration. This time of reflection was especially helpful in responding to the circumstances of the pandemic that we are now living through.
It was lovely to see those who could come along to the church (if anyone turned up an hour early because they forgot to put clocks back, they kept quiet about it!) and, as always, we were thinking of and praying for friends who weren’t present. We look forward to having Andrea and Stephen back this coming Sunday, when we hope to hear a traditional Gloria chant from Peru.