The Word in the Words

The Word in the Words


Words and the Word
Words of wonder
Words to inspire
Words to challenge
Words to comfort
Words to strengthen
Words to correct
Words to direct
Words to enlighten
Words to hear
Words to follow
Words to guide
And in all those words
The Word of God

We welcomed the Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, Brownies and Guides who are linked to Highbury to our morning service today.

The Beavers had had a sleepover and I had joined them on Saturday evening to do an astronomy evening looking at the stars.  Needless to say, the evening was cloudy and it was pouring with rain.  I got them acting out Taurus, the bull, being chased by Orion the hunter with the dog at his heels and a great Bear in the offing too!  Using Stellarium, a superb planetarium program you can find out more about on the astronomy pages of our highbury church web site!

In the early part of the service one of the Beavers read a prayer giving thanks to God against the backdrop of pictures of the Orion Nebula and stars in the making, the solar system, planet earth, the Voyager photo of planet earth as a tiny blue dot and the Hubble Telescipe deep field picture of countless galaxies.

Thank you God for the stars … even when we cannot see them!

Thank you God for the sun that gives us light and life

Thank you God for the world we live in

Thank you God for such a beautiful world

Thank you God for looking after us even though we are so small

Thank you God for all your creation

Thank you God that you are a great big God

Thank you God that you care for each one of us

Help us to look after your world

Help us to help each other

Now and always

Amen.

We then shared in a responsive reading of the Magnificat.

My heart praises the Lord;

FOR HE HAS REMEMBERED ME

my soul is glad because of God my Saviour,

for he has remembered me, his lowly servant!

From now on all people will call me happy,

because of the great things the Mighty God has done for me.

My heart praises the Lord;

FOR HE HAS REMEMBERED ME

His name is holy;

from one generation to another

he shows mercy to those who honour him.

My heart praises the Lord;

FOR HE HAS REMEMBERED ME

He has stretched out his mighty arm

and scattered the proud with all their plans.

He has brought down mighty kings from their thrones,

and lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things,

and sent the rich away with empty hands.

My heart praises the Lord;

FOR HE HAS REMEMBERED ME

He has kept the promise he made to our ancestors,

and has come to the help of his servant Israel.

He has remembered to show mercy to Abraham

and to all his descendants forever!

My heart praises the Lord;

FOR HE HAS REMEMBERED ME

I got the youngsters to describe the book they use in Beavers, in Cubs, in Scouts, in Brownies and in Guides that sets out the program they follow.

I went on to say that in church we use the Bible as our handbook.

I had a variety of Bibles on display on the Communion Table, including a Hebrew Old Testament, a Greek New Testament, a King James Bible from the 1700's, a John Wesley New Testament, a Message Bible and a Street Bible.

I then got everyone to look at a copy of the church bibles.

We started by looking at the cover of our Good News Bible with its wonderful logo.

It can mean lots of things: one of the best interpretations is that it shows four people reading the Bible with the cross at the centre!  I spoke of the way we need to open the Bible and read it for it to be of any value.

And then we found the start and finish of the Old Testament and the start of the New Testament.

We then looked at the very last verse of Matthew's gospel, the first verse of Mark's gospel, the opening verses of Luke's gospel and the last verses of chapter 20 of John's gospel.

Just as you can tell what a modern book is about by reading the blurb on the very back cover or by looking at the opening sentence, so too you can see what each of the Gospels is about by looking to the beginning or the end!

Matthew's gospel provides you with all you need to know about the teaching and the commandments of Jesus.

Mark's gospel really is the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God and we need to continue the story in the living of our lives.

Luke, the doctor, has researched his gospel using reliable documents and eye-witness accounts so that a 'friend of God' can have an ordered account of all that happened in the life, death and resurrection of Christ.

 And John's gospel is written so that we can know come to believe in Jesus Christ, and in believing have eternal life!

I then asked people to take a look at four pictures and work out what was common between them.

I recalled that at our Parade service in March, Matthew had asked us to remember in our prayers Fabrice Muamba, the Bolton player who had been taken ill and virtually died in a match against Spurs the previous day.

I had come across an account on the Bible Society web site of an interview Fabrice Muamba had recently given on Radio 5 Live.

Fabrice Muamba was on a BBC Radio 5Live special talking about his recovery from a heart attack.

In the half-hour-long interview, Muamba spoke to Reading striker Jason Roberts about how he's coming to terms with the situation – having suffered a heart attack on the pitch, technically died, made a remarkable recovery, and been told he'll never play football again – and the role of faith in his life.

At one point, the conversation turned to the Bible:

Roberts: Shauna (Muamba's then fiancée, now wife) said that she read Psalms to you every day, because you read the Bible every day. Did you hear any of them?

Muamba: ...she sat next to me and she read the Bible [to] me...Whenever it came to about 8 o'clock or 9 o'clock, everybody would have to leave my room...she would read a Psalm and then my dad would come in and we would all pray together...that's how my evening was every single day.

He went on to add 'you can't carry your car with you, you can't carry your wallet with you, you can't carry your money with you...but your family and God, what's important – that's always going to be important.'

How powerful the Psalms are.  

We went on to sing Stuart Townend's wonderful setting of Psalm 23.  Those words too speak into so many situations.


The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want.
He makes me lie in pastures green.
He leads me by the still, still waters,
His goodness restores my soul.

(Refrain)
And I will trust in You alone.
And I will trust in You alone,
For Your endless mercy follows me,
Your goodness will lead me home.

He guides my ways in righteousness,

And He anoints my head with oil,
And my cup, it overflows with joy,
I feast on His pure delights.

Refrain

And though I walk the darkest path,
I will not fear the evil one,
For You are with me, and Your rod and staff
Are the comfort I need to know. 

Refrain

Stuart Townend