Parish Magazine Item

From The Rectory

Obviously, I would like you to come to your parish church, well, pretty much every week, unless you are really infectious or otherwise unavoidably prevented from doing so. But if you do miss a week, you can normally catch up on sermons on the Warbleton Church website, here: warbletonchurch.org.uk/sermons-talks

A poor substitute would be to read a little summary or a copy of the handout in the parish magazine, but in case you missed this particular week and haven’t caught up online, or as a helpful reminder, here are some jottings on Psalm 126, which was the Psalm appointed for Sunday 7^th April (today as I write), The Fifth Sunday of Lent, in the Church of England’s Lectionary.

Psalm 126 (page 623 in the Bibles in the pews at church)

Sorrow & Singing

[To get maximum benefit from this, you should now read Psalm 126 and keep it open before you. I suggest The New International Version, which we use in church and which you can easily find online but there are lots of other good modern translations available]

How do you feel? Really? Almost always there are reasons for both sadness (v1, vv4-6) and / or happiness (vv2-3, vv5-6), which we can also see in the Psalm.

(1) REMEMBER with gratitude that God restored his people in the past (vv1-3)

Verses 1 and 4 speak maybe of a captivity (literal or metaphorical?) or of some other kind of restoration. It is as if God saved the people while they were asleep! He did it for them without their help. They awoke from their nightmare and had to pinch themselves. It was like a dream come true!

Likely the Psalmist is looking back to The Exodus when the people stood and watched as God saved them from slavery in Egypt. Possibly he is thinking of the return from exile in Babylon. We would think of the death and resurrection of Jesus, when he redeemed and set free all who trust in him.

AND SO, because of what God has done in the past, we should:

(2) PRAY with confidence that God would restore his people in the future (vv4-6)

The “Negev” (v4) means “dry” / “barren”. It was the southern desert region towards Sinai. When heavy rains fell in the mountains, streams would appear in the Negev. Although a natural phenomenon, this seemed like a sudden “act of God”, like a miracle. The waters brought new life and dramatic transformation, sometimes overnight. We have probably seen that kind of thing on nature programmes on the telly, as the desert blooms.

Sowing (vv5-6) is a bit different. It involves planning and investment, hard work and slow long-term hope. God could of course restore us suddenly and without us doing a thing. But he may want us to pray and act. Although the people of Israel did not save themselves from slavery in Egypt and never could, they did at least have to walk through the waters as the Red Sea parted.

We should commit our fortunes, and those of our family, community, nation, world and church to the Lord. But this Psalm finds its ultimate fulfilment in the resurrection hope of heaven and The New Creation. Our lives may involve many sadnesses and tears, but we can know that the end of the story is a joyful harvest. Jesus is like the first fruits of the resurrection. Or the first bluebell of spring. Jesus Christ is risen indeed! And so the resurrection is coming! That is a solid basis for gratitude and confidence.

The Revd Marc Lloyd