Sunday 25th August 2024 – Family Service led by Lilian Evans
Lilian feels more like a ‘regular’ each time she comes, and it’s always a pleasure for us to have her. She told us that can often sense the presence of God when she enters our building, something that doesn’t happen everywhere she goes.
Janet O’Connor led the congratulations to Mary Deller, now just days away from the big ‘nine-oh’ for which her family had arranged a big party involving friends an relations from afar – including a cousin from Canada, who was in church with her. We sang a rousing Happy Birthday and then followed the usual struggle to light the candles.
The first reading from 1 Kings 8, saw the Covenant Box brought prayerfully and carefully into the new Temple – very carefully Lilian noted, as the last time someone had tried to stop it falling off an ox cart, they had been rather dead after they had touched it.
David had wanted to build a temple in Jerusalem but hadn’t been allowed to build it and it had fallen to Solomon to construct it of the Temple according to the plans that he had been given. It had been through various “tough times”, but part of the wall was still standing, and people went there to pray – often strangers from all over the world, which made what was still going on there amazing.
It had been a celebration for the dedication of a building – something we’d just been doing. They’d brought the Covenant Box in it with prayers and songs, and rejoicing and put it the wings of the seraphim would cover it, so it was protected.
God had filled the space with His presence, a cloud, and the people knew that they were in the presence of God.
Were we prepared when we came to church? What were we looking forward to? When Lilian used to go to church with her father he would say , “Let’s just stop and pray that Jesus will greet with us”.
We should come prepared and ready to listen, aware that God was ready to be meeting with us and hearing the prayers of the people. He may be in heaven, but he can hear us. It’s not like a mobile phone signal where sometimes when you turn it on, you can’t get any reception. God can always hear when we stop to talk to him.
We didn’t actually need to be in building at all. Lilian told us of a case where people met in a small tent in the middle of a field. It could only hold about 6 people, but when they met the whole field was full of people from the community who had come to sing and praise and pray. The weather could be an issue and Lilian recalled an outdoor festival in North Wales where it had bucketed down the whole week and she’d learnt the truth of the hymn “Our God reigns”
The second reading from Matthew 25 (The final Judgement) prompted Lilian to ask, “what have the goats ever done to you, that they should be put on the left, rather than on the right with the sheep”. And she wondered whether the bulk of the congregation who were sitting on her left might want to change sides and sit on the right, as she does when visiting a strange church – hoping that she’s in the right place.
Jesus suggests the reasons why people need help. If they’re hungry, are you running a food bank? Do you know where the nearest one is?
Were we thirsty? Well, she was going to get a nice cup of coffee in a little while. And strangers; she had been glad to see that people were welcoming Mary’s cousin. We’d already remembered somebody who was not well and who was being taken care of. Did we know anybody coming from prison, or being in prison, and needing a visit?
If we’d done these things for people that we didn’t know, or people that you did, it was as if we had done it for Jesus.
Lilian had seen on the friendly Internet that people were looking at the passage, “Is it better to believe, or to do? Is it better to work, or to believe?” Those with the goats on the left side had said, “When did we see you when you were hungry, thirsty, in prison, sick?” You didn’t see Jesus. You saw somebody else that you weren’t expecting to see. It was terribly tempting sometimes: she’d been warned on one occasion when she was going into Watford not to give anything to the people begging on the streets, because it could be dangerous.
But what should we be doing? And she remembered that they used to make collections and gather things for the homeless trust that’s in Watford, to get a house where people could stay while they were getting themselves straight – and thanks God that she had had that opportunity. She’d also slept outside with some young friends to raise money and awareness. Just to experience being outside overnight and then being welcomed inside.
All these things if you had done them, you had done them as if it was for Jesus. So it was important to do them, to encourage, to help, to work – and to know that Jesus would see them.
As she was about to travel on holiday and was packing her cases with the things she would need, Lilian read us a passage from Ephesians 6. It was about putting on the whole armour of God so we could withstand the day. And Paul asked his followers to pray for him so that when he spoke of the mystery of the gospel, for which he was an ambassador in chains, he might declare it boldly.
We didn’t think of Paul particularly as being frightened, afraid, worried. He always seemed to be on the move, ready to talk. He did end up in jail a couple of times. His disciples and friends had been able to visit him while he was in prison, and he was strappy to be visited and to receive encouragement. All these things we needed just to get through life.
They used to have a custom in St. Martin’s Church which didn’t happen anymore, though it did with us. Before the service one or two of the Elders would go into a side room and pray with the person leading the service. And that had always been a terrific help. Even though she had prepared something, she was not quite prepared herself. She still needed for God to be able to speak through her and for us to be able to hear what He wanted to say to us. And it might be a different thing. She had occasionally had the experience of someone coming to her after the Servic and saying, “Well, when you said that”, and it was something that she didn’t remember saying. God had chosen for somebody to hear something that they needed to hear. And that was an amazing experience.
We needed all the help we could get to get through things. We might not need a sword. We might not need a helmet or breastplate. We could definitely do with a belt (well she could, she said) and the right clothes to be ready to go out and spread the Good News.
Potters Bar United Reformed Church 