Sunday Worship - Sunday 14th February
Good Morning! And happy Valentine's Day!
If you haven't seen it already here's our Valentine's display at Church. Reminding the people of Wollaton that they are LOVED!
Welcome to this morning's service.
Worship today is led by Rev Christine Fox and is also being held on Zoom. Our Zoom services are every other week and if you are not currently on our mailing list please contact Rev Christine: christineamfox@gmail.com
Click below on the red play button to start the video. You can also find the service on YouTube here if it isn’t working on the blog.
God Bless x
If you'd like to connect with Grangewood please contact us.
Rev Christine Fox: christineamfox@gmail.com
Children's and Family worker - Jessica Bullett: Jessicagrangewood@outlook.com
Thank you to all those who have been part of putting together this weeks service.
Below you can find this weeks Message. Click here to find the whole worship sheet.
Message - Rev Christine Fox
Put yourself in the shoes of Peter, James and John – just imagine if your friend Jesus – who you thought was a pretty special kind of person – but as far as you knew was as human as anyone else – suddenly at the summit of a mountain climb, just changed supernaturally before your eyes! We know how frightened they were because two of them were totally speechless and Peter only managed to say something that he probably regretted the moment the words were out of his mouth. Though they were frightened this was the most incredible thing that had ever happened to them –and Peter maybe thought it was going to last – but as soon as he’d offered to build shelters, they heard the voice of God telling them “This is my Son whom I love – listen to him!”
The disciples had seen hints of glory before, in the way Jesus showed love to all who came to him for healing, and in the wisdom of his words, but now that glory burst out into their sight and hearing – and as if they needed any further confirmation that Jesus was God – Elijah and Moses were there – the two heroes of the scriptures who had met God on mountain tops before – so their presence now revealed Jesus to be divine.
Ears and eyes and hearts opened to the truth of Jesus. This is the essence of what we would call a spiritual experience. Many people still experience the presence of the power of the creator of all things – but it’s the friends of Jesus who know that this is the power of One who intends only good for creation.
The moment didn’t last – Jesus and his disciples soon were walking back down the mountain – his clothes back to their normal dullness – and Jesus holding them to secrecy. But that experience of the power and the reality of God in Jesus was intended for their good.
But how could it be good for such an experience of God to end? There’s a song that says ‘I wish it could be Christmas every day’ – but we know in our hearts that the high points of celebration are high because they aren’t every-day. So down the mountain we go, back to the every-day. But we never forget the mountain top.
For each person the mountain top experience will be different - maybe literally a sense of God’s power as we survey a view laid out before us, or it may be a trembling inside when we speak of God’s Spirit at work in our lives, or for some it could be an unexpected peace at a difficult time. Some see the glory of Jesus during a time of prayer, or feel him near when listening to music. A few may have heard what they can only explain as God speaking words of encouragement to them. These moments are often few and far between in our lives but those words of God to the disciples – this is my Son - listen to him – can help us to see how those glimpses of glory can strengthen us for the way we live in the every day.
The natural flow of a river is downwards. If we are to go with the flow of Jesus’ Spirit – it will be from the high of our experience of him back to the daily tasks and people we meet in our everyday. We began by trying to put ourselves in the shoes of the disciples in their mountain top experience. If we are to help all different kinds of people to understand their experiences of God’s presence we must put ourselves into their shoes. This week we had a meeting exploring what it means to be an Inclusive Church. We admitted that though we think we are inclusive of everyone, we inadvertently exclude some people. But we also remembered that in Jesus we have a brilliant example to follow.
What was God’s one and only direct message to Jesus’ friends? It was to listen to Jesus, the son that he loved. Jesus was radically inclusive – he listened to and he accepted everyone. He put himself in their shoes
It is a joy to experience the glory of Jesus – sustained by the knowledge of his power, let’s not keep it to ourselves – but as we make the descent from the mountain top, I urge you, in all kinds of everyday encounters to ask yourselves - what would Jesus do or say? – After all it seems that this is the thing God wants from us. Amen