Last Sunday was also Low Sunday, the Sunday after Easter and in early Christian times it marked the end of the ceremonies surrounding Easter baptisms. Our minister, the Rev’d Mark Lawrence, referred to Low Sunday in his opening call to worship, the theme of which was the sixth Beatitude “Blessed are the pure in Heart”. We began with the hymn “When we walk with the Lord, in the light of his word” which is a favourite of ours ably sung to our new organ played this week by Rod Smith. Mark followed this with prayers of praise and thanksgiving.
This week there were two bible readings, the first, Psalm 51 of King David and the second from Matthew, chapter five, the Beatitudes. In the first David writes a prayer seeking God’s forgiveness for his wrongdoings, and in the second Jesus preaches his Sermon on the Mount, containing the nine Beatitudes in which we can be blessed.
There followed prayers for others in all walks of life, including prayers for those living in troubled areas of the world as we prayed for peace all encompassed in the Lord’s Prayer which we said together.
Mark continued with his sermons on the Beatitudes speaking about the sixth “Blessed are the pure in Heart for they shall see God”. He explained that the reference to the heart was not just a physical reference but a reference to the centre of life, the fountain and seat of all things. It is an attribute which seeks an undivided heart, which is free from sin and free from guilt. He contrasted this with a story of King David who fell from grace but after he behaved very badly in the eyes of God due to his wicked ways, he asked for mercy, and God’s mercy is at the heart of the gospel; and so David became a spiritual leader, proclaimed as such by generations which followed. God in his mercy shows us that his ways are higher than our own.