Psalm 59:16
But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love;
for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.1 Corinthians 2:9
No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.
Two passages to consider today. I love singing, I love to hear people singing and the last couple of Sundays on Songs of Praise, there has been a competition between various choirs to become the Gospel Choir of the Year. If you missed these programmes, you can and should watch them on BBC I-player. The choirs are made up of a real mix of people, some younger, some older, some with mixed age groups, some with predominantly white folks, some with predominantly black folks and some with a real mixture of skin colours. They all sound a bit different from each other, they are all praising and worshipping God thanking him for his strength and for his love and they all sound wonderful. I never fail to be moved when listening to a good gospel choir, they are indeed capable of making a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
We have read before that if we turn to the Lord for whatever reason, it is because the holy spirit lives within us. The above verse from the book of Psalms assures us that when we turn to God, he will be our protector, it will be a safe place and it is all down to the love he has for each one of us who turns to him. To thank him whether in prayer, whether in song or by our actions and behaviour towards others, is the right thing(s) to do. It is also the right thing to do to pray for those who do not have this safe place in their lives, those who choose to try and find their own safe place excluding God which inevitably can turn out to be more of a dangerous rather than safe place.
Our second reading tells us that heaven will be more wonderful than anything we have seen, anything we have heard or any wonderful thing we have ever imagined. This made me think that if I am moved by the sound of a great gospel choir, what will it be like when I hear something even greater? I have been blessed to see many beautiful things and places in this world, what can be more beautiful than the things we have seen in real life or in photographs? Even when it comes to imagining what ‘wonderful’ looks like, we are limited because we can only imagine this in earthly terms where, in heavenly terms, it will be better than we can ever imagine and that is as close as we can get in this life to guessing how wonderful heaven will be in the presence of the living God.
Prayer – Creator God, We see all the things of this world that you gave us, but we know that you have promised a heaven to those who love you. Help us share with others that you are preparing a forever home for everyone who loves you and that home is more wonderful than anything we can ever imagine in a place that is also more wonderful than anything we can ever imagine and in the presence of a God and saviour who loves us more than we can ever imagine. Amen.
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