It was great to see so many of us (together with various past St Jude’s members) at St Andrew’s Cathedral Evensong last Thursday. We had to brave some wild weather, so well done for being there! Our choir sang brilliantly, and we enjoyed the particular mode of engaging with God that choral evensong provides. I was struck again by the BCP service, particularly the confession prayer, which, when prayed in a heartfelt way, really brings us, in the gospel, to God’s throne of grace. A few of us also enjoyed a meal together afterwards.
For those who are interested, choral evensong at St Andrew’s Cathedral takes place regularly, on Mondays and Thursdays at 5.15 pm. All are welcome. We plan to hold another of our own evensong services here at St Jude’s later this year (date TBA).
The prayer book Psalm for this Sunday is Psalm 86, which contains the intriguing verse 8: “Among the gods, there is none like you, O Lord: nor are there any deeds like yours.” Is this an acknowledgement that the other gods actually exist? The short answer is, “No.” Our God is not merely the best God but the One and Only. However, he is also far superior to the ways in which the other gods are described. He is supremely powerful, cares about the tiny details of our lives, shows amazing patience (“slow to anger”) and loves to show mercy. He is very different from the gods imagined by the nations that surrounded Israel. No-one has ever imagined a god that would love and save a wayward mankind at such a cost as our God has done by the gift of his Son. Truth is stranger than fiction.
All of this is good reason for us to be passionate about the church’s mission to take the gospel of Christ to the ends of the earth. We will be encouraged about this on Mission Sunday, 2nd August, with Rev. Stephen Gibson from Anglicare.
