My friend Gyuri from our sister church in Romania shared this with me this week. The message is simple - prayer in the morning is best! Thanks Gyuri!

Poem - The Secret

I met God in the morning
When my day was at its best,
And His Presence came like sunrise
Like a glory in my breast.

All day long the Presence lingered,
All day long He stayed with me,
And we sailed in perfect calmness
O'er a very troubled sea.
 
Other ships were blown and battered,
Other ships were sore distressed,
But the winds that seemed to drive them
Brought to us a peace and rest.

Then I thought of other mornings,
With a keen remorse of mind,
When I, too, had loosed the moorings
With the Presence left behind.

So I think I know the secret,
Learned from many a troubled way;
You must seek Him in the morning
If you want Him through the day.

The Man He Killed
By Thomas Hardy

Had he and I but met
By some old ancient inn,
We should have sat us down to wet
Right many a nipperkin!

But ranged as infantry,
And staring face to face,
I shot at him as he at me,
And killed him in his place.

I shot him dead because --
Because he was my foe,
Just so: my foe of course he was;
That's clear enough; although

He thought he'd 'list, perhaps,
Off-hand like — just as I --
Was out of work — had sold his traps --
No other reason why.

Yes; quaint and curious war is!
You shoot a fellow down
You'd treat if met where any bar is,
Or help to half-a-crown.

Today is a good time to remember a special event 100 years ago, when in the midst of one of the great times of wholesale death and death, the Great War of 1914-1918, a special note of Christmas hope and peace resounded even until today. The Christmas Truce of 1914.

War is not glorious. It is horrific. People die. The Great War was probably the worst, as 16 million soldiers and civilians died. 

However even in the midst of greatest tragedy the love of Christmas can still shine! Let us too shed a little light of love.

In the Middle East sheep and goats often look similar. I have seen this in Cyprus, and this photo of a mixed herd near Mt Ararat shows how difficult it can be to immediately tell the difference between the two types of animal.

In Matthew 25:31-46 Jesus tells us that at judgement God will divide the sheep and the goats. So what is the difference between the two?

The sheep fed the hungry, helped the poor, invited strangers......... The goats did not.

The sheep served others. The goats wanted to be served!

Yet both were in the herd, and appeared to follow the shepherd. What if we therefore had both in our church herd today? The goats who come to think what can I get out of church? Will it be a good show? Do I feel righteous for coming? And the sheep who come only to give and serve, and how can I help to build up the church today?

These are serious spiritual questions as they will affect our eternal future. 

The question is which animal are you?

We recently looked at Hosea and his love for his wife Gomer despite her continued sin.

Marriage is a sacred institution and when we are young we all dream of fairytale weddings, and of course living happily ever after.

Christ himself of course has a bride.  Wait, I thought Christ was unmarried?? Who is it?

In Ephesians  5:25-27 we read Christ loved the church so much as his wife he was willing to sacrifice himself for her, as he did upon the cross. What were the waters of cleansing mentioned? Baptism of course. But importantly this washing was through the word, meaning it requires OBEDIENCE to God's commands. Christ after all wants to present the church as perfect.

In 2 Corinthians 11:2 Paul also eagerly desires to present the church as pure. This is the ernest desire of any minister or leader.

Yet Ephesians 5:24 makes it clear we are to submit to Christ, not to people! We are responsible to each other, and to call each other higher.

We should also realise the wedding has not yet happened. In Revelations 19:7-9 we read it will be in the future! What a great occasion it will be. Imagine being there. What a party!

But the church must be kept pure. A white dress should mean a white dress!