SUNDAY 26TH APRIL 2020
AN APRIL EVENING Emma, Isla and I have been able to take some exercise together most days by walking round the block from our house. It has been good to get some fresh air, and it has been wonderful to have some sunshine this week. Being born in to some very strange times, we don’t want Isla to get the impression that the outside world doesn’t exist! As the last few weeks have rolled on we have seen some interesting things as we have walked but none so interesting as the way that the natural world has just carried on as normal despite the restrictions on humanity. We have encountered chickens crossing our road (Editorial Note: No jokes please we’ve heard them all!), flowers growing in to full bloom, stag and deer walking down our road and around our house, and perhaps less excitingly, the midges seem to be carrying on as normal too. One of the changes in this last week or so is that there have been lambs appearing in the fields on Laxdale Lane; I managed to get a couple of photos and I have shared one of them here below. I was reminded of Katherine Tynan’s words ‘All in the April evening...I saw the sheep with their lambs, And thought on the Lamb of God.’ Hugh Roberton set the poem to some very evocative and beautiful music which The Salvation Army has, of course, adopted as a band piece as well as a Songster piece. It is as a band piece that I first heard it and, being the drummer, I had nothing to do for this one apart from listen. I always felt something powerful in the sentiment of the tune. Having since learned the words and the powerful imagery that the two combined present, I now know that the Holy Spirit is in it. I have shared some thoughts around the sentiment of the lamb of God in my thoughts this week as well as a copy of the words to ‘All In The April Evening’ and a link for you to listen to the musical setting. I commend it to you in your devotions this week. Although we may have been told to slow down or indeed stop, God continues to work in the world in all kinds of special ways. As we see new life flourishing in nature, I am reminded that God’s love for us springs new each morning with all the colours and vibrance of the natural world he created. ‘You can't stop God from loving you, His love is new each morning...From love like this no power on earth, the human heart can sever. You can't stop God from loving you, not God—not now, nor ever.’ (Gen. John Gowans)
The Salvation Army Stornoway Corps 59 Bayhead Stornoway HS1 2DZ
“We exist to worship God, to support each other and to serve our community. ” REGISTERED CHARITY NO: 214779 AND IN SCOTLAND: SC009359
Corps Officers Lts. Callum & Emma Newton Callum.newton@salvationarmy.org.uk
Telephone: 01851 703875 Mobile: 07493 880058
@stornowaysalvationarmy
Something to listen to...
Sunday meetings at 11:00am and 6:00pm. Music broadcast all week. Listen online at www.fortressradio.online
Enjoy a beautiful songster arrangement of a song book classic. Richard Slater, the Father of Salvation Army music and the first head of the music department, wrote the original song in 1887 at Clapton Congress Hall. He had been thinking about the Army’s use of the Robert Lowry song ‘Nothing but the Blood of Jesus’ and tried to similarly explain the salvation that comes through the blood of Jesus. The International Staff Songsters sing the beautiful newer arrangement here: https://www.youtube.com/w atch?v=TAHR042oH8k
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The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’...35The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” (John 1). It is one of the great juxtapositions of Jesus’ life, as the good shepherd becomes the lamb of God. A great leader and care giver, yet prepared to condescend to be the most vulnerable of all. It is John who first points out Jesus as the Lamb of God, he knew that Jesus was the realisation of the prophecies of a suffering servant. The sacrificial lamb to atone for our sin and reconcile us to God. John’s great testimony to his followers was that Jesus is the Lamb of God. When Philip meets the Ethiopian (Acts 8) he encounters him reading Isaiah’s prophecy ‘He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.’ (Isaiah 53:7) Then the Ethiopian asked Philip “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus’ (Acts 8:34-5). Philip’s great testimony to the Ethiopian was that Jesus is the Lamb of God. The message is that it isn’t just any man who can be sacrificed in order to take away the sins of the world. John spoke of Jesus as the Word made flesh (John 1:14) and someone whose sandals he was unworthy to untie (Luke 3:16) despite John’s own position as one of the great spiritual leaders of the day. John pointed to Jesus and said ‘But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin.’ (1 John 3:5) In other words, the purpose of the Word becoming flesh, the Son of God appearing on earth was to take away our sins. And just as the law of the sin offering in the Old Testament required a lamb without blemish to be presented to make atonement and grant forgiveness of sins, John is telling us the Lamb of God was without blemish ‘in him is no sin.’ John’s great testimony that Christ was the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world meant two very shocking things for his Jewish listeners. Firstly, that their promised, victorious messiah would die. And not only would he die but he would die as a sacrificial lamb dies, he would be slaughtered. The second was that the whole world would benefit from his slaughter and not just the Jews. In different parts of scripture, Satan is referred to as an accuser. Where Jesus reaches out to give us pardon and purity before God, Satan looks to cause us to falter and accuse us of wrong. Where the Lamb of God lays down his life to restore us, Satan seeks to build up his life by destroying us. However, we are given great hope in the vision of Revelation 12; 10Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day and night, has been hurled down. 11They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.’ It may have been a shock to the Jews to hear that the messiah was to be slaughtered, and surely it was still a shock to Jesus’ disciples when they saw their good shepherd humble himself to become the sacrificial lamb. Yet the calling to the cross for Jesus was the single strongest act of spiritual warfare ever completed. It is because Jesus was the spotless Lamb of God, that the accuser of us all has been hurled down. We all, whether Gentile or Jew, slave or free, black or white, male or female, young or old or anything else that might define us, we all triumph over Satan by the blood of the Lamb. Hallelujah! All who call on the name of Jesus Christ, the lamb of God, shall have the victory. But the triumph over the accuser will only come by the saving grace given to us by the blood of the lamb which requires our repentance and faith in Jesus, and by the spiritual power of our witness and testimony. As you may see lambs as you look out of your windows or on your permissible trips outside in the coming weeks, I invite you to think like Katharine Tynan did, to think a while on the Lamb of God. Consider John’s words “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” Do you truly understand the truth of those words for yourself? Are you washed in the blood of the lamb? If you were to meet someone as Philip met the Ethiopian, could you tell them the good news of Jesus as the Lamb of God and atonement for the whole world so that whosoever will may be saved? We shall have the victory, even when things start to feel like they are attacking us and Satan tempts and accuses us day after day, we shall have victory. And we should carry that victory to the multitudes who are yet to understand and receive it. Satan may press us, and in days of hardship like these he will take the opportunity to press hard, but we will triumph over him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of our testimony. Keep proclaiming it; “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”
Prayer Focus Gracious God, Give skill, sympathy and resilience to all who are caring for the sick, and your wisdom to those searching for a cure. Strengthen them with your Spirit, that through their work many will be restored to health. Amen. Please remember in your prayers… • People who are feeling lonely, bored and isolated. • People who are feeling ill, frightened and uncertain. • We have a major project in the pipeline to better support the needs of the community. Lt. Callum is working hard with various agencies to see the plan come to fruition but would appreciate your prayers that God will continue to open doors and speed the process in order that we can be up and running and serving as soon as possible. All In The April Evening All in the April evening, April airs were abroad; The sheep with their little lambs Pass'd me by on the road. The sheep with their little lambs Pass'd me by on the road; All in an April evening I thought on the Lamb of God.
The lambs were weary, and crying With a weak human cry, I thought on the Lamb of God Going meekly to die. Up in the blue, blue mountains Dewy pastures are sweet: Rest for the little bodies, Rest for the little feet.
But for the Lamb of God Up on the hill-top green, Only a cross of shame Two stark crosses between. All in the April evening, April airs were abroad; I saw the sheep with their lambs, And thought on the Lamb of God. Katharine Tynan
Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmQ45OXpOCM S.A. Songbook 79 1. Crown Him with many crowns, The Lamb upon His throne; Hark! how the heavenly anthem drowns All music but its own; Awake, my soul, and sing Of Him who died for Thee, And hail Him as Thy matchless king Through all eternity. 2.Crown Him the Lord of life, Who triumphed o'er the grave,
And rose victorious in the strife For those He came to save; His glories now we sing Who died, and rose on high, Who died eternal life to bring And lives that death may die. 3.Crown Him the Lord of peace, Whose power a scepter sways From pole to pole, that wars may cease And all be prayer and praise; His reign shall know no end, And round His piercèd feet
Fair flowers of Paradise extend Their fragrance ever sweet. 4. Crown Him the Lord of love; Behold His hands and side, Those wounds, yet visible above, In beauty glorified; All hail, redeemer, hail! For Thou hast died for me; Thy praise and glory shall not fail Throughout eternity.
Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW3Ka-0CZnI Something to watch... It is good to hear the testimony of others and praise God with them for how God has worked wonders in their life. The power of testimony is evidenced in the ‘Thought from the Word’ today. So be blessed by this video of solders in the USA sharing their testimony of Christ’s triumph in them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLGzQQ2ywyE