Monthly Archives: October 2026

I was glad….

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The Lord spoke to Moses: “Tell the Israelites to take an offering for me. You are to take my offering from everyone who is willing to give. This is the offering you are to receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze; blue, purple, and scarlet yarn; fine linen and goat hair; ram skins dyed red and fine leather; acacia wood; oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; and onyx along with other gemstones for mounting on the ephod and breastpiece. They are to make a sanctuary for me so that I may dwell among them.

(Ex 25.1-8)

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord!”

(Ps 122)

“Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern he had seen…. But Solomon built a house for him. Yet the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands, as the prophet says, ‘Heaven is my throne and the earth is the footstool for my feet. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is my resting place? Did my hand not make all these things?.’

(Ac 7.44,47-50)

“For where two or three are gathered together in my name I am there among them.”

(Matt 18.20)

What is it that makes the psalmist glad, when he is invited to join the procession to God’s house? When we read in Exodus of the precious materials used to create the tabernacle, and in 1 Kings of the extraordinary wealth which was poured into the temple constructed by Solomon, it is easy to imagine that the gladness stemmed, at least in part, from experiencing so much beauty at close quarters. And perhaps in part that was intended – that the materials used, and the skill exercised by the gifted craftspeople should all tend to glorify God and to demonstrate the honour and majesty of his Name among his people. After all, God commanded that these things be done, and gave detailed instructions to Moses about everything! It is hard for us to imagine the impact which these two structures would have upon the people who lived around them, the contrast with their own circumstances was so great.

The tabernacle and the temple were visible signposts to the glory of the unseen God, to his majesty and to the worship which is due to him – there is nothing too precious to be devoted to his service. They would humble and awe the worshipper, lifting them out of ordinary concerns to concentrate on God and take part in the celebrations and corporate praise. But what part do buildings play for the people of God today? We are God’s chosen, redeemed and adopted into his family through our Lord Jesus, who came to fulfil the Law and the Prophets, to move out of the temple and set aside the need for ongoing sacrifice, and to usher us into God’s glorious presence without any other intermediary than himself. We no longer need a special building in order to meet with God, or to worship him in acceptable ways. We no longer have to go to a particular place in the world in order to meet with his people.

Our buildings are simply a means to an end – creating shelter for a community of believers where they may meet in order to worship together. Yes, it is good to make them seemly, comfortable enough, and above all useful as tools in the work of the gospel. But I think that the centuries of institutional power and wealth which the church has enjoyed in Western Europe has led to a serious preoccupation with externals, with buildings and display, which take our energies, and our resources away from the business of following Jesus in our broken world and making disciples in his name. When a group of people meet in a tin-roofed hut in rural Uganda, they are the body of Christ in that place and he is present in power. When a group of people meet secretly in a disused car-park in a country where Christians are persecuted, they are the body of Christ in that place and he is present in power. Our gladness in going to the house of God is in meeting with his people, and sharing with them in his presence – the building does not matter…

When our church buildings become more like art galleries, museums and ancient monuments – soaking up money and time and distracting God’s people from loving him by loving his world – then something has gone badly wrong. We were not called to be custodians of historical relics, those who keep looking back, but people who look to a new creation and new beauties of which this world carries only a faint echo. How do we work this out in our own local context? May God give his children wisdom and courage to let go of things, and lay hold of our hope in what He is doing!

Who am I fooling?!

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I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. My soul will boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me: let us exalt his name together.

(Ps 34.1-3)

Jesus told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a pharisee, the other a tax man. The Pharisee posed and prayed like this: ’Oh God, I thank you that I am not like other people – robbers, crooks, adulterers, or heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.’

Meanwhile the tax man, slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said, ‘God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.’” Jesus commented, “This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face, but if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.”

(Lk 18.9-14, the Message)

For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift…. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded.

(Rom 3.22,23,24&27)

Everything that we have – right living and right thinking, a clean slate and a fresh start – comes from God by way of Jesus Christ, that’s why we have the saying, “If you’re going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God.”

(1 Cor 1.31, the Message)

Truly, God’s word penetrates deeply and illumines the realities of our private thoughts, cherished pet sins, and ungodly desires. We can be putting on a great act for those around us, but God is never fooled by that, and some of Jesus’ strongest words of condemnation were for the hypocrites, whose religiosity masked hearts of stone, adamantly resistant to his message of the kingdom of God.

I was brought up short recently during preparation for our study in Romans, by that simple assertion that boasting – in race, in covenant promises, in possession of the Law – all so dear to the Jewish people – is totally excluded by the reality of God’s grace in Jesus Christ. I am not a Jew, but a Christian, who has known so many blessings and privileges through her life, protected from so many of life’s trials. On one level, I know that I have nothing to boast about – as a sinner I am utterly dependent on grace.. but I know my heart and my fears and insecurities, and I know the conversations that happen in my head. I know that inner voice of self-congratulation and the subtle judging of other people which goes on, it sounds very like the pharisee in Jesus’ story.

Am I the only person who goes into a social gathering protecting herself from hurt and rejection by an inner assertion of her own moral worth and innate value? How easy it is to make assumptions about those around us, and silently, with quiet inner relief, to add up the sums and decide we’re ok, because of something, anything in others that doesn’t quite meet our approval – morals, habits, characteristics. How deadly is this temptation to continually compare myself against others in a critical way, looking for things that will enable me to feel a bit better about myself! Human pride is so devious, continually changing ground and colour, hiding in plain sight because we simply don’t recognise its latest disguise! It is my pride which drives me down this horrible, mean path of inner judgement and self-elevation; it is pride which wants to think well of myself and which writhes under the weight of gospel truth – that truth which demonstrates that I have simply no reason whatsoever to be pleased with who I am… who I am apart from Christ that is!

I want to learn to live differently, now that I have been shown this fact about myself and see it for what it is – sin. I want to be changed by the inner working of Jesus’ Spirit, to abhor such behaviour, and instead to embrace his love for my fellow sinners. And I think one of the most powerful means to changing is to embrace the things I can boast about more effectively! I can and must exalt my Saviour, praising the love with which He loved and loves us, praising his saving power and complete work on our behalf; praising his perfections which are ours by faith in him. He is altogether worthy of praise and adoration, and absolutely worth boasting about! Not in some possessive way, but in the best kind of boasting – we have this gift, this good news which is for everyone who will believe, and so we shout about it in order to invite those who do not yet know him to come and find out.

Heavenly Father, I thank you for your mercy in showing me the truth about the way pride still pollutes my behaviour and my thinking.

Thank you for the forgiveness which Jesus has won for this sin, and for the power of your Spirit within to transform and purify me, so that I become victorious over it.

Go on driving out false human pride, out of every place that it hides, and fill me instead with that humble thankfulness which sees my need, and then rejoices in my Saviour’s complete provision. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

The creeping cold…..

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Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, “I find no pleasure in them” – .. Remember him – before the silver cord is severed, and the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the well, and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind.

(Ecc 12.1,6&7, 13)

Praise the Lord!

I will extol the Lord with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly. Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them. Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever. He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate…. He provided redemption for his people; he ordained his covenant forever – holy and awesome is his name.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.

(Ps 111.1-4,9&10)

I was sharing recently with a close friend of many years, a woman at my own age and stage of life. We have a few aches and pains, our husbands are nearing retirement, we have grandchildren and also the needs of elderly parents on our minds. We have years of church commitment behind us, across a variety of contexts, and a deep desire to go on in faithfulness and honouring the Lord in our later years. But we are tired of living in a national context of declining churches and growing indifference/hostility to faith; we have seen many initiatives come and go in our congregations – apparently bearing little if any fruit. We are tired of praying for straying and lost family members, and seeing no change in their lives. We are tired of raising our hopes only to have them dashed again and again – isn’t it wiser to avoid getting hopeful in the first place?

Well, no, that’s not what our scriptures teach us!

The author of Ecclesiastes could certainly identify with world-weariness, with the cynicism – deadly and insidious – which arises so readily in a life buffeted by the reality of a fallen and painful world, where joy and sorrow are continually intermixed, and as we age, it becomes normal to expect less and less, to guard ourselves against disappointment. It is very easy to say, with the Teacher of that book, that all is futile! But look how the book ends, with a passionate exhortation to the reader to consider another attitude, a different path which can lead to a different outcome and way of living.

We are called to ‘remember our Creator’, which by definition implies recalling that we are created – we are limited, and He is not; we are mortal, and He is not; He is worthy of praise and also of our awed and humble worship. A healthy fear of God is the basis of wisdom, because it is the recognition that we are not in control of our lives, and only by looking to and depending upon him can we have any hope. As followers of Jesus, those whom God has adopted into his family eternally and who live now with him, we have even more reason to depend upon this God! He has shown his love for us, once and for all, and he will never renege on that act of salvation. His compassion will not fail us, and his redemption of us is assured.

We know that we can gradually become physically very cold without realising it, so also we can gradually lose our spiritual warmth, and fall into what we call ‘realism’, when actually, we have become cynical about God, about his purposes and his power to keep his promises. If the enemy of our souls can get us into that condition, we become not only sad within ourselves, but a danger to other believers instead of a blessing to them!

I think there is a place for grieving when life has turned out less sweet than we had hoped; when church is harder and lonelier than we would like; when we aren’t seeing the answers to prayer we hoped for. But, if we are genuinely following Jesus, that involves moving onward, and therefore leaving behind the habits, thoughts, and experiences of the past. We are being invited every day to step into the next part of God’s plans for us, and while they may be different from our past life, and different than what we hoped for, yet we are invited to trust that the future can yet hold fruitfulness, joy and hope – right up to the day when he calls us home!

Heavenly Father, I pray against the creep of cynicism in my life, in my thinking and in my faith. I pray for your Spirit within to keep me tender hearted and expectant that your power and love are undiminished and you will lead me to new fields of service, and reasons to give thanks.

Help me to focus my reading, my praying and my whole life on following Jesus, releasing the past with thanksgiving, and looking to the next step in faith, because you are so gracious and compassionate and your will is to be glorified in me. You are my Creator, I am your creature and also your child, adopted into your family and given the family likeness – let this truth guard me from the cold, and burn within to keep me warm for you in the days ahead, for Jesus’ sake, Amen.