DON't BEAT YOURSELF UP... TURN UP AND...

This was Chris Blake's reflection at Fitzroy's Passion Worship event on Sunday November 19th 2023... I thought it needed shared... Thank you Chris for the permission...

 

He is here - where 2 or 3 are gathered together in His name

• His love is far bigger than we can imagine - we can’t escape it, as that last

song said in our highs and in our lows he is there loving us

• He is further beyond our understanding than we can dream

• Before you were conceived he knew you and loved you

Lord we worship you

But sometimes we just can’t:

And It’s OK when you can’t respond.

It’s Ok when you can’t understand.

It’s OK even when you can’t believe.

Don’t beat yourself up

Just turn up

Tell God you can’t

Allow Him to answer

And maybe worship will come

At the darkest time in my life when my first wife died I could do none of

those things and I had the most extraordinary experience of my faith life.

I was held - I knew “The peace that passes all understanding” - it was way

beyond understanding - I was so angry at God…

In the depth of your pain, He is seeking you out and His patience and

perseverance won’t let you go

Don’t beat yourself up

Just turn up

Tell God you can’t

Allow Him to answer

And maybe worship will comeAt times it isn’t that dramatic:

Life is just very busy

Life is just very ordinary

Worship, well worship just gets left out - there’s no time, no energy

He is seeking you out and His patience and perseverance won’t let you go

Don’t beat yourself up

Just turn up

Tell God you can’t

Allow Him to answer

And maybe worship will come

Church is boring, the band’s not great, I can’t sing those songs and the

congregation

Are all a bit weird

where 2 or 3 are gathered together in His name - People who share in His

forgiveness and love are gathered, He is here, His Spirit is with us.

Don’t beat each other up

He is here

Just turn up

Tell God you can’t

Argue with the song

Allow Him to answer

And maybe worship will comeSometimes the world seems so bleak, so dark and full of pain. Everything

seems to be going the wrong way…

and worship and even faith itself seems at the edge of possibility.

And then a light shines in - as with the extraordinary prayer of lament and

faith from Bethlehem Bible College this week - expressing trust in God’s

loving presence at a time of utter darkness in the devastation in Gaza.

A light shone in at other times:

- Dietrich Bonhoeffer had faith despite the darkness of the Jewish holocaust.

- Desmond Tutu had faith despite the darkness of the murderous apartheid

regime in South Africa…

- Father Alec Reid had faith despite the darkness of the Northern Ireland

Troubles - go and see the film about him on Wednesday evening.

Don’t give up

Just turn up

Tell God you can’t

Tell Him of the darkness of the world - pour out the sadness

Be lifted by the faith of others

And maybe worship will come