Stornoway Salvation Army - Sunday Link - Sunday 3rd May 2020

SUNDAY 3RD MAY 2020

GOD’S LOVE IS SURE This Sunday is Candidates’ Sunday. Candidates Sunday is an opportunity for everyone, from the youngest to the oldest, to be provided with the space and the opportunity to listen and respond to God’s call on their life. It is now seven years since I was accepted as a candidate before entering officer training in September 2013. I never imagined then what God would have in store for me. I can testify to the truth, however, that he has always remained faithful to me and given me the power to do all that he has called me to do in his name. I am convinced that I could never have done any of it without his unchanging love and commitment to me.

As we transition from winter to summer through this springtime, we see some of the biggest changes happening in the world around us. The colours of the world change, the weather changes (briefly), the clocks change, the wildlife changes. We are living through times where the way we live our lives has been changed and could change again any day. How good to have the assurance of God’s unchanging love and mercy ever present in our lives no matter what. I have reflected some more on this in my thought this week.

There will be a big change for us this week however, as we move our operations to the Golf Club (pictured) in order to give us more space and capacity to scale up the level of support we are providing. We are also hoping to establish from this building a closer working partnership with Citizens Advice Bureau and the Foodbank in order that it may become a United Response Centre where we can make the best of everyone’s expertise and pooled resources. This way we hope to meet the needs of our community in a more effective way, recognising that once lockdown restrictions are reduced the need for many will not simply go away. The economic impact will have implications that last for much longer. It has taken a lot of effort to get to this stage, and I would appreciate your prayers that God will keep enabling us and inspiring us to do all we can to play our part in this crisis well. Please pray that the centre will be a success and that people will benefit from it. Above all, pray that the unfailing love of God will be seen by those who make use of it.

I hope that you all are continuing to be aware of God’s loving arms around you through these trying times. I remain confident of bright days ahead because I know who holds the future. When I committed my life to officer service those seven years ago I didn’t know what would happen, but I knew then as now whatever happens in the world, there will be God. ‘Everything is changing in the world today, There's one thing reliable in every way, Other things may alter but it's clear and plain That the love of God is just the same.’ (Gen. John Gowans)

The Salvation Army Stornoway Corps 59 Bayhead Stornoway HS1 2DZ

“We exist to worship God, to support each other and to serve our community. ” REGISTERED CHARITY NO: 214779 AND IN SCOTLAND: SC009359

Corps Officers Lts. Callum & Emma Newton Callum.newton@salvationarmy.org.uk

Telephone: 01851 703875 Mobile: 07493 880058

@stornowaysalvationarmy

Something to listen to...

Sunday meetings at 11:00am and 6:00pm.

Music broadcast all week.

Listen online at www.fortressradio.online

Enjoy another ‘30 Minute Gospel Music Hymn Sing’ with many songs that I’m sure you’ll know and be able to sing along to with great pleasure and blessing. I’m sure you’ll enjoy the ones you don’t know too! I know people enjoyed the first one I shared and I hope you’ll equally enjoy this second one. It’s a great way to spend half an hour giving praise to the Lord. Find it here: https://www.youtube.com/w atch?v=kOC7PEmmtHo

Psalm 136: 1Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever. 2Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever. 3Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever.

Very few things, these days, are built to last. A phrase which has become very popular in recent times is ‘planned obsolescence’. This is whereby a product is designed to deliberately fail, slow down, become irreparable or in some other way have its lifespan shortened to force customers to purchase a replacement. Technology companies are especially accused of deliberately shortening the life of their products in order to force customers to upgrade to the latest and greatest model. Despite it resurfacing strongly in recent years because of the ‘Tech Giants’, the origins of the phrase ‘planned obsolescence’ go back at least as far as 1932. Bernard London wrote a pamphlet in the USA entitled ‘Ending the Depression Through Planned Obsolescence.’ In essence, London proposed to have the government impose a legal lifespan on consumer goods to stimulate the economy by forcing people to keep replacing them. What this ultimately means then, is that there are things that my grandparents bought years ago that would still work to this day, but I’m not sure the same will be true of products I have bought even just 10 or 20 years from now.

But it’s not just products that don’t last forever. The human nature is that we tend to change our minds a lot. Our feelings don’t seem to last forever. What we once thought looked great, we’re not so keen on now. Someone we used to really get on with, we might have lost touch with. Television shows we could never miss, become a bit boring to us. Food which once made our mouths water, becomes not quite so exciting. Despite all of this, God’s love lasts forever.

Psalm 136 was written for worship at a time when there was no technology to go wrong. It’s written in such a way that the person leading worship could encourage the worshipers to join together by simply repeating one phrase after each line. ‘His love endures forever’. Not only does this simple refrain enable the worshipers to join in, but it embeds in our hearts and minds the simple yet everlasting truth ‘His love endures forever’. During a troubling time in my life, an officer pointed me to a short verse in the songbook (1030) which says; ‘Let nothing disturb Thee, Nothing affright Thee; All things are passing, God never changeth!’. How comforting to know, even in these times of great uncertainty, all of this will pass away but God will always be God and his love and mercy lasts forever.

Today is Candidates Sunday in our Territory, a day in which we are given the chance to listen again for what God has to tell us about his calling on our life. It’s a chance to give thanks to God for the Officers, Envoys, Cadets and Candidates who have said yes to a calling from God into ministry in The Salvation Army. But its also a chance to consider whether we have given all we have to the Lord in the commitment of our body, mind and soul. A chance to consider whether he calls us to step yet further out in faith through leadership in this Salvation Army. When God made us, there was never any planned obsolescence. He never considered that we would ever be unusable in his service until the day he calls us home. There is no younger, faster, better spec version of you; you’re the only one God made! Therefore, the calling of God will be upon you in some way until you receive your promotion to glory. So what are you holding back?

It’s easy to feel too old, too young, too weak, too unworthy and underqualified to answer God’s calling. In many cases, that’s true! But I remind you that Paul struggling with his 8 calling to bear the torment of Satan said; Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it 9 away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. (2 Corinthians 12). There is no planned obsolescence in you who God created. Even in your greatest weakness, God demonstrates great power through your obedience to him. As the founder, General William Booth, once famously said; ‘The greatness of the man's power is the measure of his surrender’. Perhaps in your reflections today, you could make the commitment once more to surrender all that you are and all that you have to the Lord. Every passion, skill, intention, dream and desire for the Lord’s purposes, that he may use you most effectively in the way he intended you to be used to make the world and the Kingdom of God a better place.

We are going through a period of exile at the moment. Many of us have felt very helpless, perhaps even useless, by the enforced restrictions on our usual outreach. It’s not within our instincts as Salvationists to retreat from the battle. But I urge you, take this time to re-evaluate the calling God has placed on you. Listen in case he is calling you to step up to something new. Listen that he may be calling you to take a new bolder step of faith. Listen that he may be calling you into a new covenant. Listen that he may be calling you to be his representative in someone’s life. Listen for what he wants you to be prepared for when the lockdown is over, that you won’t have wasted the opportunity to learn what you need to know for the battle to come. If we all take time to do this, we will come back a mighty army under the influence of a powerful God. ‘Give thanks to the Lord of lords: His love endures forever’.

Prayer Focus Dear Lord, Keep us faithful, keep us joyful, keep us alert to your Spirit’s voice and obedient to respond. Involve us in the action; encourage us to be bolder and fearless, so that we may share in the glories of life in Christ. In the name of Jesus we pray.

Amen.

Please remember in your prayers…

• Officers, Envoys and Corps Leaders around the world who are supporting the people in their communities through this crisis.

• Cadets around the world as they look forward to commissioning in unusual circumstances. Please pray especially for Cadets Chris & Faith as they prepare to come and be our corps officers in Stornoway.

• Candidates around the world as they ready their hearts to enter Salvation Army Officer training.

S.A. Songbook 456 1. Dear Lord and Father of mankind, Forgive our foolish ways; Reclothe us in our rightful mind; In purer lives Thy service find, In deeper reverence, praise.

2. In simple trust like theirs who heard, Beside the Syrian sea, The gracious calling of the Lord,

Let us, like them, without a word Rise up and follow Thee.

3.O Sabbath rest by Galilee!

O calm of hills above, Where Jesus knelt to share with Thee The silence of eternity, Interpreted by love!

Take from our souls the strain and stress, And let our ordered lives confess The beauty of Thy peace.

5. Breathe through the heats of our desire Thy coolness and Thy balm; Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire; Speak through the earthquake, 4.Drop Thy still dews of quietness wind and fire, Till all our strivings cease; O still small voice of calm!

Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfvpFOEvDmg S.A. Songbook 568

All that I am, all I can be, All that I have, all that is me, Accept and use, Lord, as You would choose, Lord, Right now, today.

1. Often I come with my problems and cares, Running to You when distressed, But I must bring You the whole of my life – Lord, I must give You my best.

Take every passion, every skill, Take all my dreams and bend them to Your will; My all I give, Lord; for You I’ll live, Lord, Come what may.

2. Life has no purpose unless it is Yours; Life without You has no goal; All that fulfils me is doing Your will, Knowing that You’re in control.

Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRapoOsimKs Something to watch...

Bandmaster William Himes, while leading a weekend at Oshawa Salvation Army, gives some thoughts around music and God. He particularly highlights Wesley’s ’And Can It Be’ as well as sharing thoughts on his own song ’All That I Am’. I found this short sermon a real blessing to me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3bOSdXECKE