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What is an oath?

28/1/2017

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During the past month we have heard a lot on the news about Oaths – in fact a particular Oath which was made on 20th January in Washington DC.  However, what exactly is an Oath?  Well the Oxford Dictionary describes an Oath as “A solemn promise, often invoking a divine witness, regarding one's future action or behaviour”.
During our lifetime we may find ourselves making many oaths and promises.  Even in Church, we make them before the Lord.  At Baptism, promises are made either by the candidate, or on their behalf if the candidate is a child.  In the ceremony of Holy Matrimony, couples make vows to love each other forever.  In Ordination the Ordinand makes promises to serve the Lord faithfully in the congregation.  At Confirmation the candidate makes the promises made on their behalf at Baptism their own.  
With the latter in mind, those who are preparing for Confirmation this year will be continually reminded of this.  Confirmation is not a ‘passing out parade’ or an ‘end to Sunday School’ or an ‘I no longer need to go to church’.  It is important that Parents, Godparents, and indeed all of us, make sure that each candidate is aware of this and set them a good example of Christian living.  Confirmation is about the person publicly professing a living faith in the Lord Jesus and showing a desire to take their place as a believer within the life and worship of the Church.
Every year, on the Thursday of Holy Week, I remind myself of the Oaths which I made at my ordination in 2009.  Along with this I read the passage from Psalm 116 verses 12 - 14 – “What shall I return to the Lord for all his goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. I will fulfill my vows to the Lord, in the presence of all his people.”  
I am continually reminded in the answers that I gave, being similar to that at Baptism and Confirmation, that no one can fulfill the vows in their own strength.  The replies are:  By the help of God, I will.  
Sometimes the help which the Lord gives us comes through other people.  So often someone says or does something that is a little encouragement to help us or lift us.  Over the next few weeks let me encourage you to pray for and support those who are preparing for confirmation and help them to take their place within the life and witness of Christ’s church.

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New year... new beginnings...

7/1/2017

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How does the turn of a New Year make you feel?  As I said in Church on New Year’s Day, for me it always comes with mixed emotions.  As we reflect on the past, both enjoyable times and not so enjoyable, we should always be thankful for what the Lord God has done. 
In Psalm 90 verse 12 we read, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom”.  However, we can never be sure how many days we have on this earth, and there is no ‘normal’ time scale on the length of life, so how can we really number our days?  
In my own studying of the Scriptures, when I come across a verse that I find difficult to grasp, I often read it in different translations.  In the New Living Translation of the Bible this verse is translated as this – “Teach us to realise the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom”.  The dictionary definition for the word Brevity is ‘shortness of time’ and it comes from the Latin word ‘Brevitas’ which means brief.  We all like to think that we will live forever, but the Psalmist reminds us that this is not the case.  In telling us to number our days he is reminding us that no matter how long we live, in the grand scheme of things, life is indeed short.  It is out of realising that we won’t live on earth forever that we gain a heart of wisdom.
In my opinion to ‘number our days’ doesn’t mean to put an actual digit number on each day, for example at the time of writing these thoughts I have been alive for 12,270 days.  I think it means to come to a realisation that one day life as we know it will end, so therefore preparations need to be made for when that day does come.  So to number our days means to live each day as if it is our last, with inviting the Lord Jesus to be in the centre of everything we do.
One of my late Grandmothers favourite hymns contains these words: 
Life at best is very brief,
Like the falling of a leaf,
Like the binding of a sheaf, Be in time!
Charles Harrison Mason, who wrote this hymn, knew what it meant to number his days.  In the last verse he tells us exactly what we must do in order to number our days.
Sinner, heed the warning voice,
Make the Lord your final choice,
Then all heaven will rejoice, Be in time!
Come from darkness into light;
Come, let Jesus make you right;
Come, receive His life tonight, Be in time!
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