A short address at St. Columba's on Sunday 10th April 2011 Compline Service
Let us pray
May my words and our hearts be always acceptable in thy sight O Lord our strength and our redeemer.
Seaside Rock - the minty sweet which is a tradition in the UK to bring home and share with loved ones - Rock Usually a red case white centre and lettering contained within which has its location right through it .... cut Blackpool rock anywhere and you see blackpool ... unmistakably through it.
What is at the centre of seaside rock defines what it is, where it is from ... no questions as to its origins.
It is impossible once it is set to remove what is at the heart of Rock Candy
In our lenten series we are looking at the theme ... rediscovering the joy of coming to church and today we are looking at the Joy of Love. I would suggest that at the heart of church has to be love
I wonder do we display that quality of love in all circumstances ... right to the core of our being. Is our church, our lives defined by love.
Love is an amazing gift which the church can share with the world. We are called to live unconditional love in our lives.
Love has to be one of the values which underpin our personal lives, our relationships with friends, family, it has to be the value which underpins our discussion at vestry, in our staff meetings, bible study, youth group.
Love is expressed in what we say and how we say it.
Things go horribly wrong when love is replaced with negativity, with hatred, suspicion.
To define what Love is one simply has to look at 1 Corinthians 13 ...
I read this from a contemporary Paraphrase The Message
If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end
The more I hear of and experience St Columba’s today it is great to know that we are indeed a church which does have love at the centre of all that we do. Having said this we cannot be complacent
Our love is centred around what happens at worship every sunday, at Holy communion, morning and evening prayer, compline, all age worship.
But doesn’t end there - it extends by each of us loving those we come in contact with day in day out, it is there when the stranger enters our building and receives a welcome, it is there in homes right through the week, it is there in how we interact with each other, in clear communication, it is there when we meet at vestry, it is there at choir practice, mums and tots, ladies guild, mothers union
Love has to define who we are day in day out.
We are called to love God first and foremost
and then we are called to love others as a response to how God has loved us.
It is my prayer that we may always be a community who love God - by doing this we find the joy of love
We come here this evening as we commission the vestry it is my hope and prayer that mutual love and affection which has defined who we were in the past year will continue to grow and continue to define who we are as vestry members, as parishioners this coming year. Not just love between us, but love which reaches out, which looks after our whole parish.
The vestry do set the tone for the parish ... If our business is carried out in love that will be evident for all... We are called to be a family looking out for each other, encouraging each other in love. The kind of love which is genuine, serving others as our Gospel reading reminds us to do day in day out.
We are called to spread that love in all that we do, in all that we say and all that we think. When we replace the centre with anything other than love and care then we are in danger of going down some really unhelpful and complicated side roads.
May we be people who keep love for God first and foremost and then love for all at the very core of who we are individually and corporately as a church.
May the vestry, and this church as a whole be a church where people, wherever and whenever they encounter us see our love for God and for them as the defining marks of everything that we do. May we continue to Grow in God’s Love and Share that love with others
Let us pray
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