This is an amazing paraphrase of Job 1, by Anton Van Reenen. In this time, when churches have been closed, I think this is so precious. Read and enjoy:"There was a day that Satan came before the Lord, and the Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my church, how they gather every Sunday, and praise and worship My Holy Name. They do this year in and year out, every Sunday morning, all over the world. From the time the sun rises in the east until the sun sets in the west, My Name gets glorified, like a wave washing over all the earth.”Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Have you not blessed them with health, wealth and prosperity, with which they have built beautiful church buildings, and filled it with amazing technology? Have You not blessed them with all manner of talents that they bring together in these beautiful churches they built and worship You with beautiful music that appeals to their senses?”“But if You stretch out Your hand, and take all that from them, strike them down with a plague or even just the fear of a plague, they will go quiet and worship You no more. This wave of worship, running from the east of the earth to the west, every Sunday morning and evening, will stop, and all will go quiet. Who will worship You then? Who will still make Your Name great?”And the Lord said to Satan, “They are in your hand.”So, Satan unleashed a deadly virus upon the earth, and soon churches closed all over the world. Everyone, Christians and Gentiles hunkered down in their homes, and everything went quiet and Satan was standing there, watching, waiting. All the angels were standing in heaven, watching, waiting. God was standing there, watching, waiting, as a great silence fell over all the heavens and all the earth.Suddenly one angel called out; “Listen!” Another called out; “I hear it too, it’s coming from the East”. In a small living room, in a locked up house, came the sound of a piano being played, and a voice singing;“Holy, holy, holy,Though the darkness hide Thee,Though the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see,Only Thou art holy; there is none beside Thee,Perfect in power, in love, and purity!”And another angel called out “Listen, over there, in the West!” The sound of a guitar, coming from a bedroom could be heard with a voice singing;“All hail King Jesus, All hail Emmanuel!King of kings, Lord of lords, Bright Morning Star!And for all eternity, I’ll sing Your praises,And will reign with You, throughout eternity”Slowly, from all directions on the earth, the sound of instruments and voices could be heard, louder and louder, until it became a symphony of worship, rising up to heaven. A cacophony of song, praising God, declaring His greatness, thanking Him for His grace, His mercy, His forgiveness. Songs of dedication and declaration, songs of encouragement, songs filled with the joy and peace that can only come from God, sung by thousands of men and women, young and old, wherever they were, accompanied by whatever means they had.And God turned to Satan and said; “Did you notice, today is Friday, but My people, having been freed from all the business that filled their lives, worship Me every day of the week, for they still know that "I Am!" The wave of worship that runs from Sunrise in the East until Sunset in the West now circles the earth, every day, as the earth circles the sun.”And all of heaven fell down on their faces and worshipped God, calling out “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His Glory!”And Satan turned and walked away, defeated as he has been since the day of Calvary.I want to encourage you today, in this unprecedented time in the history of man, to not let your voice go quiet. To not pack your instrument away. All of creation and all of heaven is standing still right at this moment, waiting, watching. Now is the time to make your voice heard throughout the heavens, now is the time to pour out your heart before God.Our churches might be empty. Our musical instruments silent. Our high tech gadgets useless, but it cannot compare to the instrument God gave you, your VOICE to worship Him. He is not looking for the crowds, just an audience of one. Seek Him in this time. Draw near to Him through worship. If you have never done this before, discover the beauty and blessings that come with intimate, personal worship of God. Your intimate worship of God is all heaven desires to hear! Satan tried to shut us up, but he just released a whole new sound and wave of worship of the church! A church called "YOU"
Dear Friends,At this time of challenge and change in our national and church life we are all having to rethink how we do things.The Ecumenical Planning Group for Thy Kingdom Come had lots of exiting plans for this year and as our building are all closed these have been put on hold till next year when we hope we will be able meet together in praise and prayer again. However, although we cannot meet together we can still pray and the ecumenical planning group hope that this year we can encourage all Christians across Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire to do just that. Please find attached two videos to help start people thinking about Thy Kingdom Come and prayer between Ascension and Pentecost again, one is a call to prayer at this time and the other is an encouragement for people to pledge to pray and light up the world with prayer. These videos can all be circulated in your churches and across your communications networks.There are also resources available from the Thy Kingdom Come website www.thykingdome.global for adults, young people and children. There is a daily prayer app your can download as well as a childrens Adventure Prayer Map, which is an online prayer game for primary age children and there is a short invitation video attached that you may like to share to encourage others to download the map, the app and join in.What are we doing in Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire Throughout the ten days there will be a number of ways to engage with Thy Kingdom Come across the region, plans are coming together quickly and it has been so encouraging to see people work together from across the churches and across the region, what we hope to provide is: • A short launch event video with contributions from the Bishop of Bedford and Rev. Rosemary Fletcher of St Albans Methodist Circuit.• Daily prayers from families and church leaders from across the churches on social media.• Evening prayers on video• A short celebration event video on Pentecost Sunday with contributions from Archbishop Angaelos and Soul Survivor.Information about how you can access all of this will be circulated nearer the time but please do watch our Twitter feed and Facebook page. Our goal is help inspire and encourage prayer across the churches at this time when our nation needs so much prayer. If there is anything happening in your locality regarding Thy Kingdom Come please do let me know as I would love to be able to share stories of prayer in these days on our website and through our communications networks.Please do join us to pray Thy Kingdom Come in 2020.Many thanks for your ongoing support and I look forward to seeing many of you on our Zoom meeting on 11th May at 7.30pm to hear about how your area and your churches are responding to the current situation regarding COVID 19.With warm wishesDoralDoral HayesEcumenical FacilitatorChurches Together in Hertfordshire
Over the past few weeks, we have been working hard to support The Food Bank with the distribution of food parcels to those in need. Behind the scenes, we are co-ordinating volunteer drivers, rotas and delivery schedules of much-needed food and other important items. We are also supporting our friends at the Salvation Army who are busy shopping and co-ordinating prescription delivery. All of this activity is in response to the COVID-19 and our commitment to follow our Lord Jesus Christ 'Love your neighbour' the greatest commandment of all.
