Yes, there can be more! Sometimes a service will have its final ending using these words. Again words that we might not even listen to. Those of us of a certain age will remember the scratchy, crackly sound at the end of a vinyl record. The noise after the last track signaled to us that it is time to get out of our chair and turn the disk over or switch off. We have seen this week that the end of a service can be like that: words that we subconsciously hear, don’t particularly listen to but that trigger a reaction in us. But do we, can we, go in peace? Well, if we have participated in the service then we should be more likely to do so than when we arrived. However, there may still be other things on our hearts that we need to share with our brothers and sisters and receive prayer for after the service too.
Let me suggest something to you here: the whole point of the service is so that you can go in peace to love and serve the Lord. Now obviously that is the whole point of God’s salvation work and this is mirrored in the service. We meet with God, have our sins forgiven, worship, praise, grow, learn, become more the person that God created us to be and then go in peace. The service is a gift from God so that we can go with renewed peace. It is a place of recreation. It doesn’t matter how big, small, guitar-orientated or formally liturgical the church is. All types can be a place where we can receive God’s peace.
Question: do you see it as such, or have you slipped into seeing it as a Sunday morning chore before the promise of lunch, beer and a grand prix to watch? Has it become discipline and not pleasure? If the answer is yes then a conversation needs to be had with God as you are not receiving the gift that he wants to give you on a Sunday morning. You are made to be, and are most alive, when you are able to go in peace to love and serve the Lord. Make it a priority to be able to say a loud amen next time you hear that. Have a lovely weekend.
Something to listen to and think about. YouTube: Rich Mullens ‘Peace of Christ’.
John Martin-Jones
No comments:
Post a Comment