Praise awaits you, O God, in Zion; to your our vows will be fulfilled. O you who hear prayer, to you all people will come. When we were overwhelmed by sins, you forgave our transgressions. Blessed are those you choose and bring near to live in your courts! We are filled with the good things of your house, of your holy temple….Those living far away fear your wonders; where morning dawns and evening fades you call forth songs of joy.

(Ps 65.1-4,8)

As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world..My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.

(Jn 17.18,20-21)

Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men…For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died….. that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again..We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

(2 Cor, 5.11,14&15, 20)

..the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb….and they sang a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”

(Rev 5.8-10)

The glorious evening light streaming through stained glass seemed to cast a benediction on our praise and thanks to God for the growth of his kingdom. The 19th century hymn, ‘The day Thou gavest, Lord, is ended..’, is an old favourite, conjuring a picture of the global church, a continuity of praise, as each faith community in turn is roused by the sun to a new day of love and service.

I grew up praying for the work of the church around the world, and have been privileged to continue doing so; to visit and take part in the work, and to meet believers from overseas when they came to share their stories. As a family, and a congregation, we have friends serving in India, Uganda, Mexico, Japan, China. God is building his church through aid and development work, medical work, direct gospel outreach, literature and translation work, church planting and theological education, broadcasting and publishing.

We KNOW that all over the world, God is building his church and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it, because we have met believers – people just like us – who are serving, praising, sharing the gospel with their neighbours in those far away lands. They tell of lives transformed, and of battles with ignorance, indifference and idolatry – and we recognise their struggles are ours too. As one family in Christ, their battles and ours are the same; their joys are our joys, and their needs are our privilege to meet. We need never wonder how to pray for them – we pray as we do for ourselves. They too face financial, physical, emotional pressures which we can understand and where possible, address – as we would hope to be supported ourselves in our own time of need.

We cannot travel the globe as ambassadors for Christ, pleading with people to hear the good news and repent. But, united with them in Christ, we go in spirit with our brothers and sisters, to proclaim light in the darkness and freedom for all who will believe – what a privilege, and what a responsibility is ours! Because we believe that God is calling people to himself from every nation, tribe and tongue, it is right that we give to the work of witness and discipleship across the world. God gives to us, so that we might give to those who go; giving generously so that their labours are not made wearisome by a lack of support and constant worry about how to make the funds stretch far enough.

As we consider the glorious vision of God’s family of nations, of praise which never ceases, and a mind-blowing unity in diversity, let us be encouraged to persevere in praying and giving to our sisters and brothers so that the kingdom continues to grow. One day, in the new creation, we shall hear at last the stories of what God did with our contributions, however small. But even now, we are blessed in knowing that in giving we serve, love and cherish the family to which, in Christ, we belong.

We thank Thee that Thy church unsleeping, while earth rolls onward into light, through all the world her watch is keeping, and rests not now by day or night.

As o’er each continent and island the dawn leads on another day, the voice of prayer is never silent, nor dies the strain of praise away.

( The day Thou gavest, Lord, is ended.. John Ellerton, 1826-93)

Photograph courtesy of Elsa McTaggart – sunrise on Lewis, 2021