Isaiah 44:6-8
Romans 8:12-25
Matthew 13:24-30,36-43
This week has been taken up with preparing to open the church again for worship. The SEC has issued many guidelines all of which have been studied carefully and will be put into practise. A date has not yet been fixed to reopen as written permission from the bishop has to be sought first.
For those remaining at home for worship, services will continue to be streamed by the SEC and I shall continue to YouTube our service on Thursdays.
Sunday is an exciting day for Stephen and me as we will be travelling north to banks of Loch Tay to stay for a few days with my sister. Its her 60th birthday on Monday so much celebration will take place. This visit was planned a long time ago and so we are very delighted that, given the circumstances, we can go. I just hope the sun will oblige and the rain will hold off.
Now that the initial crisis of the pandemic is receding there are many calls for a full government inquiry. It seems early days for this as events are still unfolding. It is only with hindsight that we will be able to judge adequately the decisions of these last few months, clarifying what went well and what did not. One thing we can be sure about judgements will be made!
In the gospel this morning the theme is that of judgment: Jesus tells the parable of the field of wheat. In this story an enemy of a farmer has sowed some weeds amongst his wheat. The wheat and the weeds thus grow alongside one another, but rather than risk damaging the wheat by getting rid of the weeds at this stage, the farmer decides to wait until harvest. They will be separated out then. And so, in the same way, at the last judgment, our souls will be sorted out, our good and our bad, our better and our worse.
On a more encouraging note Paul in his epistle talks of glorification than judgment.
In the well-known passage from Romans we are reminded that it is the spirit which brings us hope and salvation. In these verses Paul tells that all the suffering and pain of the present life will be seen in its proper perspective once we have been glorified with Christ. We should know that there nothing in all of creation or the world to come that can separate us from the wonderful love of God made known to us in Christ.
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us……………For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently”. Romans 18…25
I will look forward to joining you all again via YouTube on Thursday for our morning Eucharist
My love and prayers to you all as always
Andrea