What do you say to unbelievers when asked those difficult questions like why does God allow murders to happen?

1 Cor 1 v20-31 Responding to Difficult Questions

In the next of our series responding to questions asked by our Congregation, Karen, our Discipleship Ministry leader took as her starting point 1 Corinthians 1:20-31

Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling-block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

 Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no one might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’

Two "Don't Worries"

On reading many of the Big Questions that were provided back in January, I found myself wanting to say two words - don't worry  - but especially with today's question:

What do I /should I say to non-believers when they ask difficult questions, like why does God let murder happen?

Firstly, I want to say don't worry through sympathy because I've been in plenty of situations where I've been asked difficult questions and haven't known what to say. It is often very difficult when put "on the spot" at work, with friends, neighbours or family members. However, being asked questions is a normal part of being a Christian in the world. In the 1 Corinthians v20-31 passage Paul says that

Jews look for signs and Greeks look for wisdom

implying that in his day, different groups of people were searching for answers in different ways too.

But secondly, I want to say don't worry because today's question includes the word should

What do I /should I say to non-believers when they ask difficult questions, like why does God let murder happen?

The word should implies that there is a standard, right and proper "good Christian" answer that we should be able to give whenever called upon to respond which inevitably leads to feelings of inadequacy and guilt because none of us can instantly give this perfect answer every time.

I'm not sure where the word should comes from but I suspect that our families, schools and society can put expectations on us growing up or we put other expectations on ourselves and somehow these get transferred into our beliefs about God and Christian faith. Paul says the direct opposite - he explicitly said that God chose the Christians in the Corinthian church because they weren't wise and didn't have all the answers themselves:

Consider your own call brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many of you were powerful, not many were of noble birth but God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to share the strong.

As in so many New Testament passages, Paul shows us that God knows we're not perfect but uses us nevertheless. God's kingdom is counter-cultural and upside-down. In God's kingdom's it's the ones who realise their lack of wisdom who God can use in a way that the self-assured and self-wise can't.

What do the un-wise have that the worldly wise don't? How can God use them? Paul says that as Christians

we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles

The un-wise realise their inadequacy and dependence on Christ. When we do that we shift the whole way we respond to others. We know longer think there's a right answer that we should provide but can learn to trust Jesus "in the moment".

Two Hierarchies

The question seems to imply a trickle down hierarchy of wisdom like that on the left, where answers flow from God to good church goers/Christian believers and on to unbelievers we might meet, with criminals at the bottom. Whereas I think Paul is teaching us that the real wisdom hierarchy is like the one on the right - us, the people we meet, criminals, whatever are all "in it together" like the hierarchy on the right. As human beings we all sin and need God's  grace and forgiveness whether we've broken the criminal law or not.

At communion we often say words which express our need of Christ

Come to this table, not because you must but because you may.

Come, not because you are strong, but because you are weak.

Come, not because any goodness of your own gives you a right to come but because you need mercy and help.

Come, because you love the Lord a little and would like to love him more.

Come, because he loved you and gave himself for you.

Come, when you are fearful, to be made new in love.

Come when you are doubtful, to be made strong in faith.

Come , when you are regretful, to be made whole.

Come, old and young, there is room for all at the Lord's table.

My Answer

It was some time after I'd chosen to preach on this question that I realised a particular significance for me. I have met some female murderers and those convicted of manslaughter and other crimes. They haven't got forked tails and horns but look just like us. And they ask difficult questions too and, perhaps more interesting, they can provide insights which can help us.

Journalists write clever slogans about murder and other crimes but often the story behind the headlines is much more complicated. When I led prison bible studies, the women liked a series about the story of Joseph best.  Joseph felt abandoned by God when he was in prison in Egypt and their instinct was the same. However, I don't think the feeling is restricted to those "on the inside".  When awful things happen and we hear about atrocities, we can feel a sense of abandonment too.

Joseph's case was complex, with many reasons why he was in prison:

·        jilted Potiphar's wife wanted revenge

·        Potiphar was too busy with his work and not attentive enough to his wife

·        human traffickers took Joseph into Egypt and sold him as a slave, but that was only after his jealous brothers nearly killed him

·        but Joseph must have been a terribly sibling himself, continually boasting about his superiority

·        and Jacob favoured one wife and her children over others which was always likely to cause trouble

·        Jacob's mother Rebecca deceived her husband Isaac and both their parents made mistakes too and so on and so on back to the beginning of the bible where Adam and Eve turn away from God and think they can do things better themselves on their own

So my personal answer to the question about murder is that God gives each one of us the freedom to make choices and make mistakes and each one of us is affected by the choices we make and the choices others make which affect us - for good and ill - including murderers, you and me. We all sin and are affected by sin and only Jesus, the sinless one, could break the cycle by coming to earth and absorbing the hurt on our behalf.

That's my answer to the difficult question about murder - a variation of Romans 3: 22 for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God - and it chimes with Jesus' response to the woman caught in adultery too when he told her to sin no more but also challenging her accusers about their own sin.

How I would respond

However, I wouldn't always respond to the question in the same way. Going back to the two wisdom hierarchies and realising our own limitations can stop us concentrating on our own predicament and leave us free me to think what the other person needs in a situations. There isn't a "one size fits all" answer for all circumstances.

There may be times when a pastoral response is appropriate and it's best to say nothing but show support or ask:

·        is there a particular situation that's on your mind?

or times when it's best to dampen conflict

·        shall we talk later when things are a bit calmer?

·        Do you really want to know what I think or are you just trying to have an argument?

And you can don't have to be personal, you can draw on other sources:

·        Jesus tells a story about a woman caught in adultery ...

·        The Question Course says that God knows what suffering is like, because he himself suffered loss

But sometimes you just have to be brave and open your mouth and give an answer that's honest and authentic for you at that particular time.

There are some practical tips:

·        read the bible, listen in church, try to understand the words of the hymns and these will come to mind  in different situations

·        pray that God will help you in that moment

·        keep conversations  grounded in Jesus rather than abstract philosophy about God

·        but mainly just open your mouth and trust that God will use you for his purposes and help you find helpful words as Jesus promises us.

Don't worry - God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise

The God who cares

For the first Sunday Special of the year we planned to get people to think of all those questions that intrigue, perplex, interest you about faith, God and life itself.

Little did we think that 48 hours before atrocities would be committed in Paris that shocked the world.

No wonder that Sunday that people asked lots of difficult troubling questions about the troubled world we are all too conscious of.  Why is so much war and so much terror linked with religion, where is God in such a troubled world.  The questions came thick and fast.

And over the next two or three weeks those were the kinds of questions we addressed.  We went on to look at other troubling questions too.

In February’s Sunday Special we found ourselves reflecting on the way the Psalms touch our emotions not just with songs of praise but with poems of lament too.

It tied in with the program we have been following since last September.  We have been using a DVD and set of resources produced by Fischy Music Bring it All to Us.   They are a collection of songs for all ages based on emotions expressed in the psalms.

It’s good to give children access to this wonderful collection of prayers and songs in the Bible, not least because so many of them are laments.

In some ways it’s troubling to share difficult psalms of despair with children … but in other ways very timely and appropriate.   Our children live in the same world as we do … they have times of strain and stress as they are put under all sorts of pressures at school … and all of them will be alongside children in their schools with very troubling and difficult problems, often mental health problems.  It can be difficult for them as our adult world has chosen all too often not to address child mental health problems as child mental health services have taken a back seat when it comes to funding and general provision.

A fortnight and more ago Felicity, Andrea and I turned to making plans for today’s Sunday Special.

I for one have had enough of troubling questions.

I wanted to go for something that was calmer, quieter, something uplifting and positive.  Something in a word ‘nice’.

It’s all well and good being absorbed with the troubles of the world, but there is so much to celebrate and so much to rejoice in … let’s have that as our focus today.

And so we homed in on the song we sang earlier in the service.

It’s a lovely song that captures the warmth of a God who cares for us with a care and a love that will not let us down.

It’s a song that’s inspired by a set of Psalms that all use one particular image.

Psalms 57, 61, 63, 91

Psalm 57

In the shadow of your wings I find protection,

until the raging storms are over

61,

Let me live in your sanctuary all my life

Let me find safety under your wings

 63,

As I lie in bed, I remember you;

All night long I think of you

Because you have always been my help

In teh shadow of your wings I sing for joy

I cling to you

And your hand keeps me safe

He will cover you with his wings

you will be safe in his care;

His faithfulness will protect and defend you.

Psalm 91

Whoever goes to the LORD for safety,

whoever remains under the protection of the Almighty,

²can say to him,

“You are my defender and protector.

You are my God; in you I trust.”

³He will keep you safe from all hidden dangers

and from all deadly diseases.

⁴He will cover you with his wings;

you will be safe in his care;

his faithfulness will protect and defend you.

God will put his angels in charge of you

to protect you wherever you go.

¹²They will hold you up with their hands

to keep you from hurting your feet on the stones.

It’s a  lovely image of God taking us under his wing.

And sometimes we need that image, that sense of the protection and the love of God.

And this has been just such a week.

We have been thinking of Dick since he was taken ill before Christmas.  Diana has worked her socks off to get Dick an appropriate place in a care home where he could be looked after and receive the care he needs.

On Monday morning I received a text to say an interview with Dick had been arranged for Wednesday morning and he would be admitted to the Grange on Pilley Lane on Thursday.

And then it came as a tremendous shock to hear on Tuesday morning that Diana had collapsed and died.

Our thoughts and prayers are very much with Dick and with Lesley and Wayne, Thomas and Samuel, and with Graham and Sheryl and Bethan too.

It felt touch and go for a while whether Dick would actually move … and then on Thursday afternoon Lesley and Graham were able to move their father into a room in the Grange.

Our hope and prayer is that Dick can settle there and be as well as he can be.

When it came to turning to prepare the service for this morning, our theme had already been chosen.

I turned up those readings … and somehow they seemed to speak very much of the care of God with us.

The song too had a sense somehow of speaking very much into all that we were as a church family feeling.

We your children

You are the one who will call us

You are the one who will draw us

You will always be for us

You are our God.

You are the one who will find us

You are the one who’s behind us

You will always remind us

You are our God.

We, your children, come to you

We, your children, run to you.

You are the one who will lift us

You are the one who forgives us

You will always be with us

You are our God.

You are the one who will call us

You are the one who will draw us

You will always be for us

You are our  God.

We, your children, come to you

We, your children, run to you.

The songs are interpreted in sign language – it’s been one of the wonderful developments of the way we sing in church.  A lot of the actions we put to the songs we sing now use sign language, often Makaton, and in this instance British Sign Language.  It’s a really good way of getting into our way of thinking signs that are full of deep meaning for people who use sign language.

Some of the songs we have sung on Sunday Speical Sundays have simply used the signs of the sign language as our ‘actions’.

Each song also has a video background that doesn’t use the sign language so much.

This was one of those songs where it seemed good to learn the signs for the simple chorus, but then sing the song through with the video background.

How appropriate it was to see all manner of people who can say ‘we, your children, come to you.

Many people come towards the light, and among them people using walking aids and people using wheel chairs.

I for one was not in a mood to be asking big and troubling questions … it’s one of those moments to sense the support of friends and family around, and one of those moments to sense the support of God, the God who takes us under his wing and cares for us with a care and a love that will not let us go.

The choice of that particular song then seemed doubly appropriate.  There was one other Psalm associated with the song … Psalm 23.

I come back to it time and again.

And this week I have come back to it again.

It’s a lovely Psalm as it prompts in our thoughts so many lovely images.

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:

he leadeth me beside the still waters.

He restoreth my soul:

he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil:

for thou art with me;

thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me

in the presence of mine enemies:

thou anointest my head with oil;

my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life:

and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

It’s a Psalm that for me goes to the heart of the faith that is so important.

There can be no escaping that dark valley – and sometimes it can be very dark indeed.

But there is the promises of a presence that remains with us as we walk THROUGH the darkness of that valley …

That’s the promise I want to hold to now of all times.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil:

for thou art with me;

thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Where is God when I need him?

There with us through the deepest darkness.  Always at our side – even at those times when we don’t know it.

But one question remains that I had noted to address today …

Why does God look after us?

I simply want to return to those few words from 1 John 4.

This is very nature of the God we believe in.

For he is the God of love who cares for us come what may.

Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Whoever loves is a child of God and knows God.⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.⁹ And God showed his love for us by sending his only Son into the world, so that we might have life through him.¹⁰ This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven.¹¹ Dear friends, if this is how God loved us, then we should love one another.

There is a wonder in nature with the rhythm of life.

How often in a family as one departs another arrives.

So it has been for us this week too.

As one departs, so one has arrived.

We have a grand daughter – with the arrival of Edith Marie to Phil and Lynsey.

A new life to celebrate even in the middle of a time of such sadness.

Where do animals go when they die?

Prompted by the question one of our young people put, Where do animals go when they die? today's Parade Service was built around care of animals and the response our Christian faith gives to that question.

This was the summary that appeared on our service sheet.

Where do animals go when they die?

Back at the beginning of January we asked people at church to jot down the questions they had always wanted to ask at church – people did just that from the youngest to the oldest in our church family. And since then we have been taking a look at the questions they asked.

It was one of the younger members of the church family who asked this question and it seemed a good one to come to in today’s service as we welcome families from Scouting and Guiding at church.

We’ll start with a celebration of the animals around us in the world of  God’s creation … and especially of the animals around us in our homes.  There are lots of people who have pets and today we are going to celebrate those pets we look after.

We’ll delight in the world of God’s celebration.  We humans are part of that animal kingdom but given a special responsibility of care for the world we live in as part of the Bible’s celebration of creation in Genesis 1.  It’s man’s inhumanity against man that leads to the disaster of the flood: it’s not just people who are given a chance to start all over again, it’s animals too.  The animals of God’s creation are celebrated wonderfully in Psalm 104, a Psalm that is the inspiration of two of the hymns we are going to sing this morning.  The age old favourite about  ‘all creatures great and small’ and the other by an American campaigner for the care of animals and for the environment, Carolyn Wynfrey Gillette.

It’s Psalm 104 that suggests that animals like humans return to the dust they came from – wonderful echoes of the thought that in modern science that we are all made of star dust!  Through our faith in Jesus just as humans have that wonderful hope of resurrection celebrated throughout the New Testament so the whole of God’s creation, animals included, come in the fullness of time to be part of the new heaven and the new earth of God’s creation, a conviction expressed wonderfully in an ancient hymn to Christ in Colossians 1:15-20

 And this was the even briefer note:

To all things … new life

So many things you’ve made

How wisely you’ve made them all

The earth is full of your creatures.

All of them depend on you

You give them food and they eat

When you take away your breath,

They die and go back to the dust from which they came.

But when you give them breath,

They are created;

You give new life to the earth …

And in Jesus bring all things

On earth and in heaven

Back to yourself.

Psalm 104 and Colossians 1:15-20

And this is a set of rough notes that takes you through the all-age service.

Welcome and entrance of the Scouts and Guides

Call to Worship

Lord you have made so many things,

How wisely you made them all

The earth is filled with your creatures.

A time of praise and worship with Hy-Spirit

Prayer and the Lord’s Prayer

As our service begins with praise and worship and we share in prayer – it’s good to give thanks to God and praise him for the world around us

Think through the slides first –

The world of God’s creation – the beautiful world –

Plants and water

Soil and seeds

Rocks and air and erosion

All animals – big and small and little and large

We need to take care – to be care- takers of this wonderful world of God’s creation

The world is in our hands

So let’s put those pictures together and join in a prayer of thanks to God for the gift of creation

Share together in the prayer

We thank you, Lord, for the gift of your creation.

We thank you for plants AND for water,

We thank you, Lord, for the gift of your creation

We thank you for soil and seeds,

We thank you, Lord, for the gift of your creation

We thank you for rocks and air,

We thank you, Lord, for the gift of your creation

We thank you for all animals.

We thank you, Lord, for the gift of your creation

 We thank you for all these gifts

and ask you to help us be good and wise caretakers of this beautiful earth.

Now let’s think of the animals in our lives – pets other animals that you keep – get some people to tell us about the pets they have, the animals they keep

What are they?

How do you look after them?

What do you do to care for them?

Let’s share a prayer for the animals in our lives and for all the wonderful gift of animals in our lives.

Think through the slides first.

We thank you Lord, for the gift of your creation

We thank you, Lord, for the gift of animals in our lives.

We thank you for animals that comfort us, delight us and give us companionship.

We thank you for dogs and cats, birds and hamsters, guinea pigs and fish.

We thank you, Lord, for the gift of animals.

We also thank you, Lord, for animals that give us wool and feathers to keep us warm. We thank you for animals that give us milk, cheese and eggs to help us grow and to keep us healthy.

We thank you, Lord for the gift of animals

We thank you for horses, donkeys and oxen that work hard on farms around the world.

We thank you, Lord, for the gift of animals.

We thank you, Lord, for animals that eat plants and fertilize the soil, making it richer and more fertile for new growth and new life. We thank you, Lord, for the gift of insects, and especially bees, to pollinate fruit and vegetable plants for us to eat and flowers to give us joy.

We thank you, Lord, for the gift of animals.

We thank you, Lord, for being our Good Shepherd, for seeking us when we are lost, for showing us water to quench our thirst, and for leading us to green pastures.

Help us to share our blessings with others and to help others have clean water and green pastures to feed and nourish their families, too.

In Christ’s name, Amen.

  

There’s a wonderful Psalm that celebrates all the wonders of God’s creation – all the creatures of God’s world too – all creatures great and small

One of my favourite Psalms

Psalm 104

Praise the LORD, my soul!

O LORD, my God, how great you are!

You are clothed with majesty and glory;

You created the moon to mark the months;

the sun knows the time to set.

You made the night, and in the darkness

all the wild animals come out.

The young lions roar while they hunt,

looking for the food that God provides.

When the sun rises, they go back

and lie down in their dens.

Then people go out to do their work

and keep working until evening.

LORD, you have made so many things!

How wisely you made them all!

The earth is filled with your creatures.

That’s a lovely verse – the one we started the service with

LORD, you have made so many things!

How wisely you made them all!

The earth is filled with your creatures

A Hy-Spirit Song

Today is St David’s Day – he had a love of the beauty of God’s creation – the wonder of God’s world.

The story is told of that moment when he was preaching and a dove landed on him – the care and the gentleness, the love and the tenderness, the beauty of the world of God’s creation.

There’s another Saint that’s linked with the wonderful world of  God’s creation and the wonderful world of animals – St Francis – the dove that he holds in his hand.

Holding a bird – the tenderness, the gentleness, but you have to have a strength, a courage too.

Someone who ‘listened to God, who took care of creation, and who ministered to animals.

‘St. Francis grew up in a wealthy household, and as a young man, he decided to give up all his riches – even his nice clothes – to serve God and others. He treated all animals with respect and, it is said, once preached to a flock of birds.

‘Animals are indeed important in our lives. We live with them. We play with them. They give us comfort and joy. But animals also help to nourish us. Today it’s good to honour both our pets and those animals who give us food, work on our farms, and are part of the cycle of life on our earth.

‘As the son of a wealthy merchant in Assisi, in Italy, Francis could have lived a life of great pleasure. Instead, he lived a life of great service and great sharing.

‘Eight hundred years later, we are asked to share, just as Francis of Assisi was asked to share and serve. We are all asked to be the hands and feet of Christ whenever we see “the least” of our human family in hunger or in thirst.

In many countries of the world, animals are an important part of people’s lives. Animals pull ploughs, provide eggs and milk, pollinate plants and fertilize soil. Animals are truly a gift and a vital part of creation.

As we honour our own animals this day, we also honour the role of animals in feeding the hungry, all over the world.

We pray to seek out people in need, wherever they might be. We pray to serve them with our gifts, our blessings and ourselves

We are going to sing a grand hymn of St Francis –

13 All creatures of our God and king 1,2,3 and 7

Back at the beginning of January we asked people at church to jot down the questions they had always wanted to ask at church – people did just that from the youngest to the oldest in our church family. And since then we have been taking a look at the questions they asked.

It was one of the younger members of the church family who asked this question “Where do animals go when they die?”

Has that ever happened?  What did you do?

We thought it was nice to have a little ceremony – and do a burial in the garden.

With my dog when I was little – the dog was taken away.

It’s good to celebrate the wonder of God’s creation – and the animals s around us in the world of  God’s creation … and especially the animals around us in our homes.  There are lots of people who have pets and today it’s good to celebrate those pets we look after.

In the Bible story it’s fascinating the way it unfolds – we humans are part of the animal kingdom but given a special responsibility of care for the world we live in as part of the Bible’s celebration of creation in Genesis 1. 

It’s man’s inhumanity against man that leads to the disaster of the flood: it’s not just people who are given a chance to start all over again, it’s animals too. 

In the ten commandments it’s not just people who are to have a day of rest each week – the animls that work on a farm are to  be given a day of rest that day too.

The animals of God’s creation are celebrated wonderfully in so many of the Psalms –

Jesus tells of the care God has even for the tiniest of birds … and he speaks of the care he has for people as a shepherd cares for his sheep.

But what of this question?

I love to come back to Psalm 104

That wonderful verse

LORD, you have made so many things!

How wisely you made them all!

The earth is filled with your creatures

Let’s read on in this Psalm

LORD, you have made so many things!

How wisely you made them all!

The earth is filled with your creatures.

There is the ocean, large and wide,

where countless creatures live,

large and small alike.

The ships sail on it, and in it plays Leviathan,

that sea monster which you made.

All of them depend on you

to give them food when they need it.

You give it to them, and they eat it;

you provide food, and they are satisfied.

When you turn away, they are afraid;

When you take away your breath, they die

and go back to the dust from which they came.

But when you give them breath, they are created;

you give new life to the earth.

May the glory of the LORD last for ever!

May the LORD be happy with what he has made!

I love that thought.

It’s Psalm 104 that suggests that animals like humans return to the dust they came from – wonderful echoes of the thought that in modern science that we are all made of star dust!

Then it goes on with that hope of life that comes again …

But when you give them breath, they are created;

you give new life to the earth.

May the glory of the LORD last for ever!

May the LORD be happy with what he has made!

 Through our faith in Jesus just as humans have that wonderful hope of resurrection celebrated throughout the New Testament so the whole of God’s creation, animals included, come in the fullness of time to be part of the new heaven and the new earth of God’s creation, a conviction expressed wonderfully in an ancient hymn to Christ in Colossians 1:15-20

Christ is the visible likeness of the invisible God. He is the firstborn Son, superior to all created things.

16 For through him God created everything in heaven and on earth, the seen and the unseen things, including spiritual powers, lords, rulers, and authorities. God created the whole universe through him and for him.

17 Christ existed before all things, and in union with him all things have their proper place.

18 He is the head of his body, the church; he is the source of the body's life. He is the firstborn Son, who was raised from death, in order that he alone might have the first place in all things.

19 For it was by God's own decision that the Son has in himself the full nature of God.

20 Through the Son, then, God decided to bring the whole universe back to himself. God made peace through his Son's blood on the cross and so brought back to himself all things, both on earth and in heaven.

In the fullness of time God brings the whole universe, the whole of his creation back to himself – God makes peace through Jesus Christ, through his death and resurrection, and so bring back to himself all things, both on earth and in heaven.

That’s the wonderful thought I would celebrate – that the whole of God’s creation is brought back to God in the fullness of time.

And now, in the present, our task is to look after that creation – and to care for the animals God has given us to look after.

We are going to sing a hymn by Carolyn Wynfey Gillette –

O God, your creatures fill the earth with wonder and delight,

When I wanted to use this hymn I had to write for permission and got a lovely letter back –

Not only do they have a dog called Molly that they treasure, but Carolyn and Bruce also have been fostering a little boy … in the letter they ask for our prayers for him

We appreciate your prayers for a wonderful five-year old boy who recently left our home after being our foster son for the past 19 months, for those caring for him now and our concerned family.

Sing to the Lord a new song!

Blessings on you and your ministry!

Grace and peace

Prayers of Concern

Finish with an age-old favourite

All things bright and beautiful