All in it together

from Helen

Last week was a very special week as Ian and I went to the Queens garden party in Buckingham palace. It was an amazing experience. Now I am not going to spend the whole time telling you all about our time there. I did notice a number of things though. One was as we queued to get in there was a feeling of we’re all in this together. Another was that we ended up asking other couples to take photos of us and we would then take photos of them as well. We were all telling each other to enjoy the day. Other women were annoyed by their fascinators vowing never to wear one again not just me ! We were all excited by the opportunity to see the Queen and other members of the royal family. 

There was a feeling of togetherness, we were all enjoying the same experience but in different ways.

In our readings this morning we heard about this feeling of togetherness, we heard about people trying to work together, to be in unity with each other and to understand one another. In the reading from the book of Acts (16:9-15) we heard of the first believers stepping out from all they knew to share the good news with others. They had to find ways that they could reach out to other people, some of whom they already knew but they now needed to go out and share with them the gospel, the good news that had changed their lives and brought them togetherness in their belief. 

As if this wasn’t enough for a test to faith and togetherness  an angel appeared to Paul in a dream sending him to somewhere completely different to what he knew. 

Paul and his companions going to Macedonia and other places on the way would have been thrust into a different culture, a different language, different ways of believing perhaps. He went and all he knew was that he was going to spread the good news of Jesus and to share in prayer with the believers already there. As Paul and his companions did this they would be experiencing togetherness and the feeling of being in this together with the fellow believers out there. 

Lydia whom he met in Phillipi offered understanding, the understanding of faith and unity as she and her household were baptised. It was through baptism and acceptance of Jesus that she experienced this incredible feeling of being in it together that comes when we meet people who share our faith.  Her background was not important and the obvious differences with Paul, as he was an outsider, didn’t matter as they shared something. That something was faith, Lydia’s confession of belief and her baptism made her part of the family of God.

In the gospel reading (John 14:23-29) we heard of Jesus offering the disciples peace and the promise of the Holy Spirit and this was offering the experience of the strength that the Holy Spirit would bring, the unity that the believers were to share. The disciples had walked with Jesus, they had seen amazing things and now they were being given the Holy Spirit, the comforter who would help them after Jesus ascended. They had unity, they experienced that feeling of being in this together. 

We have unity with Christians across the world.  Whenever I conduct a baptism I remind people that the child to be baptised will be joining the family of God throughout the world. As baptised Christians we are part of the worldwide Church, we are part of the family of God. This means that we have unity, and a sense of togetherness with Christians in the U.S., in Australia, in Jerusalem, in Baghdad, in Syria, in Afghanistan and lots of other places.  Again I will not bore you with my tales of life for me but, as you know I recently went to the holy land. It is an incredible place to go, for you get to walk where Jesus walked and you get to meet the Christians who are there. One of the most humbling moments is that when you meet the Christians there you meet people for whom life is difficult as they try to live their faith out in a place where the Christian religion is in the minority. For Palestinian Christians life is very difficult as they don’t have freedom of movement due to the separation wall. The most amazing bit is that they ask you to pray for them and then they ask if they can pray for you. There is an amazing sense of unity and a sense of togetherness as you worship God who came amongst us, died for us, rose from the dead and walks with us each day. 

We are all experiencing the joy of knowing God, the strength of faith to guide us through our lives and most of all this feeling of togetherness of being part of the family of God. Being part of the family of God means being there for each other, understanding each other’s difficulties and joys, working together and praying for one another. 

It is not just about being there for each other, it is not just about experiencing life together with fellow believers, it is about reaching out. It is about reaching out to those in need. Those for whom life is difficult, it is treating every person as if they were the most important person in the world. It is about loving as Jesus loves, it is about taking our faith and making a difference by being as Jesus to others. This means looking to be more and more like Him each day and we can only do this by spending time with Him, praying and reading our Bibles. 

When we do this then we remember that yes we are all in this together but we are in it worshipping our Saviour who has shown us the way to live and whom we are to follow day by day. 

May we remember what it means to be part of the family of God as we seek to be more like Jesus and as we remember that we are part of a huge family. AMEN