Our present website editor, Kevin, is away in sunny Spain for a few weeks so we have some deputies reporting.  Yesterday’s morning meeting is covered by a new contributor, Gareth Pennington.  Here is his report:

The morning meeting was led by Major Judith Payne, in the absence of Major Ian who was attending a service at Westminster Abbey.

  Major Judith Payne

The band brought us into a sense of worship before the meeting with an arrangement based on the song “Whiter than the Snow”.

Major Judith brought us into a call to worship reading from Genesis 1: 26-27 and Psalm 8, highlighting that God created human beings in his image, in the image of God he created.

Our opening song was SA Song 381 “Made in the likeness of God” and with this, Major Judith was able to introduce her theme for the meeting, looking at how we can be more like Jesus.

The congregation were posed with three questions:

1. How am I doing in terms of becoming more like Jesus?
2. What aspects of Jesus are growing in my life?
3. When can people see a reflection of glory in me?

This led us into a time of prayer, using General John Gowans’ chorus, SA Song book 328 “To be like Jesus” following which the Singing Company brought us a lively number entitled “He’s the best”.

  Singing Company

 

Scripture was taken from Matthew 28.

The Songsters sang “You are Loved” which helped us to remember that God loves us just as we are and nothing will ever change that.

  Songsters

SA Song 578 “Christ of Glory, Prince of Peace” was the congregational song before Major Judith’s message.

A disciple is someone who chooses to be with another person, to be like that person, an apprentice. They help you become a better person. As disciples, we are apprentices to Jesus, we listen to him and live our lives like him, but how often do we reflect on being disciples for Jesus? We are invited to work with God to be apprentices for Jesus. We are to be like everyone else, but also a little different.

We all have a different status in terms of our journey of discipleship. Some people are interested in what Jesus has to say; some individuals are followers but do not have a lot of commitment. Certain people are committed to serving and following him and some people have an intimate friendship with Jesus, through the things that he has shared with us.

God reminds us that whoever believes in him, will do his work, through great power. God cannot give us the power though, until he has given us his character, as he does not trust us with his power.

If we are not like Jesus to this world, nobody else can be. If we do not show to others the difference that Jesus makes in our lives, when will they ever get the chance to see it?

The chorus SA Song 313 “Fill me anew” gave time for reflection and reminded us that we should allow God to continue doing in our lives what he is already doing to make us more like followers of Jesus.

Our closing song was SA Song 850 “I then shall live as one who’s been forgotten”, to the tune of Finlandia.

The next part of this report is from Jean.

The second meeting of the day was led by Major Ian F Payne and was in the form of a Praise and Testimony evening.   The first song was SA Song 853 ‘I was sinking deep in sin’ with the Chorus ‘Love lifted me’.  This was followed by the Prayer Song SA Song 700 ‘For the joys and for the sorrows….For this I have Jesus’ and some voluntary prayers.   Bandmaster Nigel Lockwood in introducing the band item ‘My name is written there’ told how for many years he had played in the streets of London (in the Welsh Guards Band) on many royal occasions but he said that the music which meant most to him was the music with associated words.  He spoke of the time in a meeting in the Royal Albert Hall when the words ‘I know Thee who Thou art were sung and the line ‘I saw Thy footprints on my road where lately passed the Son of God’ became special.

The SA Song 883 ‘O happy, happy day’ was sung interspersed with testimonies from:  Ryan with a thank you to all those who supported the young people of the Corps;  Rex who is ‘Not weary yet’ and spoke of God’s amazing grace;  Mike Gibbs who urged us to ‘Rely on God’;  Charlie who explained how music brings life back into people with dementia and that we should be smiling Christian people; Greg who spoke how General John’s life’s theme was God’s love and every day we forget how much God loves us.  The greatest theological truth is ‘Jesus loves me this I know, For the Bible tells me so’.

The Songsters’ ministry was ‘I will worship you’.  Major Ian then read verses from 1 Corinthians 1:4-9 ‘ ⁴ I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. ⁵ For in him you have been enriched in every way – with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge – ⁶ God thus confirming our testimony about Christ among you. ⁷ Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. ⁸ He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁹ God is faithful, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.’

The meeting concluded with the SA Song ‘Whosoever heareth’.  It was good to have this time of praise and testimony and be reminded of the amazing grace of God for the whosoever and of His faithfulness.

Thank you for logging on today.  We hope you feel uplifted and blessed.  Have a good week.