One of the ways we can still come together to worship the Lord, is by praying at the same time. In this way, whilst we are physically separated, we are together spiritually. With this in mind, I will be saying morning prayer at 9:30 am tomorrow morning. I hope as many of you as possible will set aside that time for your own prayers, whether that is a set office, or your own private prayers.
The Mass/Eucharist readings for today are:
- Ezekiel 37: 1-14
- Psalm 130
- Romans 8: 6-11
- John 11: 1-45
I’m sure you’ll alll know the song, By the Rivers of Babylon. That song comes from Psalm 137 and is a sing of the Jews in exile in Babylon.That was a very important time for the people of Israel, a time when they had to work out what it meant to be the people of God when they were in exile from the Promised Land, and could no longer worship in the Temple in Jerusalem.For the Jews, the Temple was far more than just a place of worship. For them, it was the whole universe, in symbolic form. God was at the centre, in the Holy if Holies then, at various distances from God came the people of Israel, the Promised Land, the Gentile world, the wilderness and, finally, chaos. So, for the Jews, the loss of the Temple was very much like the end of the world.Although we probably don’t see our churches in the same way, they’re still very important to us, as Christians. And, at this time, we’re also in a position of not being able to worship God in the place we want to.That’s very difficult for us. We know this situation will come to an end and we’ll be able to return to our churches again but, at this time, we don’t know when that will be.So, whilst we’re waiting for our churches to open again, perhaps we could think about the people of Israel when they were in exile, and take a leaf out of their book. Just like them, we might be separated from our normal place of worship but, like them, we can still worship God, wherever we are, simply by remembering that we are his people, and living in obedience to the Gospel.The Gospel reading for Sunday is the story of the raising of Lazarus. The raising of Lazarus points us to the Resurrection of Christ and assures us that, for the faithful, even death is not the end. And if God will raise his people, even from death, we have nothing to worry about in the present situation. So long as we remain faithful, he will raise us up from our present difficulties too.So let’s heed the lesson learned by the people of Israel in exile and be God’s people by remaining faithful in the present difficult situation. And let’s look forward to the time when the stone will be rolled away from our churches, and we can be together to worship the Lord in them once again.
God bless you all
Fr Stephen
Parish Church of St Mark Chadderton 