Moravian Messenger April 2019

APRIL 2019
messenger
moravian
‘Tis mystery all
On 1st December 2017 I had a heart attack and so missed out on the whole of Advent and Christmas in my first year of Moravian ministry. Lying on the trolley in a hospital corridor awaiting the emergency angioplasty procedure, I reflected on how glad I was to be alive and how grateful I was for the NHS. Perhaps curiously, God felt intimately close and I entrusted myself completely into his hands. Recovery was slow and steady and I was back to work full time just before the Holy Week readings, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and three Easter Sunday morning services.
What happened when Jesus died on the cross is a mystery. As Charles Wesley puts it:
'Tis mystery all : the Immortal dies! Who can explore his strange design? In vain the first-born seraph tries To sound the depths of love divine. 'Tis mercy all! Let earth adore,
Let angel minds enquire no more.
He left his Father's throne above - So free, so infinite his grace - Emptied himself of all but love, And bled for Adam's helpless race. 'Tis mercy all, immense and free; For, O my God, it found out me!
There's an Iona Community Christmas liturgy that shines some light into the mystery:
Light looked down and saw the darkness. 'I will go there', said light.
Peace looked down and saw war. 'I will go there', said peace.
Love looked down and saw hatred. 'I will go there', said love.
So he, the Lord of Light, the Prince of Peace, the King of Love, came down and crept in beside us.
This reminds me that God is always
ahead of us and always takes the initiative to come alongside us in the mess, the disunity, the violent chaos in which we find ourselves.
During the Last Supper Jesus took the cup of wine which symbolised his blood shed on the cross and said 'this is my blood of the new covenant'. Jeremiah speaks of God making a new covenant with his people, not like the old covenant that they broke. The foundational stories of God's relationship with the Hebrew people are full of broken covenants. God had made a covenant with Adam and Eve which they broke. God had made a covenant with Noah and his family that got broken. God made a covenant with Abraham and Sarah, and renewed it with Jacob, and this was broken. God made the new covenant with the children of Israel as he led them out of slavery in Egypt, and it wasn't long before that got broken too.
continues inside on page 39
PEC/ECP Retreat
(page 38)
Is the Qur'an Divine Revelation?
(page 40)
Church of England General Synod
(pages 43)
Dementia Warriors Café at Dukinfield
(page 44)
External
Witnesses Verifiability Transmission the Events
Intimate
Comenius' Criteria for Assessing Divine Revelation Internal
Nature of
Progressive Nature of the Revelation
Agreement between the Revelation...
Enlightenment
Bringing
Communicate the strength of the Holy Spirit
about a conversion