Worship
Make this your song of prayer and dedication to God.
Jesus, be the centre,
Be my source, be my light,
Jesus.
Jesus, be the centre,
Be my hope, be my song,
Jesus.
Be the fire in my heart,
Be the wind in these sails,
Be the reason that I live,
Jesus, Jesus.
Jesus, be my vision
Be my path, be my guide,
Jesus.
Be the fire…
Jesus, be the centre,
Be my source, be my light,
Jesus.
Sermon on the Mat: The right perspective
Robert Cumming was a distinguished art critic. One day he was in the National Gallery in London, studying a painting by the Renaissance artist Filippo Lippi. It showed Mary holding the infant Jesus on her lap, a couple of saints nearby. The colours and composition were amazing, but Cumming couldn’t help but notice that the proportions were wrong. Other critics had said this before: the hills looked as though they might topple out of the frame, the kneeling saints looked awkward and uncomfortable.
But then Cumming had a revelation. This painting by Lippi had not been painted to hang in a gallery. It was an altarpiece, designed to be hung in a place of prayer.
Self-consciously, the art critic dropped to his knees in the middle of the National Gallery and looked up at the painting. And suddenly he saw what the other critics had missed. When he looked up from his position of humility, the painting was perfectly proportioned. The hills were in their rightful place, the saints looked settled and Mary’s gaze was focussed straight on him, intense, but kind.
There had never been a problem with the painting. It was the people looking at it, their perspective, that was wrong. ‘Robert Cumming on bended knee had found a beauty that Robert Cumming the proud art critic could not.’ (story from Pete Grieg, The Vision and the Vow)
Anais Nin, the French novelist, said ‘We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are.’ This seems very true to me at the minute. I don’t know how you are feeling 1 week into our 2nd lockdown. But listening to all the chat, it seems that the pessimists are predicting months of this, the optimists are sure there’ll be a vaccine by Christmas, while those who like to be in control are preparing themselves for another lockdown in the new year.
The reality is that we are in uncertain times, and no one knows what is to come. Apart from God.
That is normal. Not the ‘new normal’ (!) but the way things have ever been. We have never known what the future holds. The only difference is that this year, that fact has become undeniable. Starkly clear. And not everyone can cope with that.
We want the future to be predictable. We want to feel in control. Going back to Lippi’s painting, we don’t want to fear that our world is about to topple around our ears. We crave security.
The only place to find that security is in God. In John 14, the disciple Thomas said, ‘Lord we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way.’ And Jesus answered, ‘I am the way…’ We don’t need to know what is happening. We don’t need to know where we are heading. We just need to trust God. He knows.
That is easier said than done. But I do firmly believe that those who are able to trust, to take each day as it comes and know that God is in charge, those people are coping better with lockdown than those who are used to feeling they’re in control of their own lives. They never were in control, not really.
The only way to make sense of this world is on our knees, because only when we see things through God’s perspective can we really understand. Even then, things seem misty. We won’t see clearly this side of heaven. But seeking God’s perspective puts us in our place: as known and loved individuals asked to trust the one who made us.
I don’t envy those who have to make decisions at this time. I pray that they will have God-given wisdom and insight. But I do know what wisdom looks like. Proverbs 9:10 tells us,
‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.’
In the words of Jesus (Matthew 6:25-34)
‘Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear… your Heavenly Father knows…
Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness,
and all these things will be given to you as well.’
Prayer
Father I thank you that when I stop and pray,
I gain your perspective on my life and your world.
Help me to see things as you see them,
to be angry at the things that anger you,
and to know that there is nothing more important than trusting you.
Amen.
Please pray that –
- There will be healing of divisions in America, and acceptance of the result of the presidential election.
- Those who live alone or are in difficult living situations will find support during this 2nd lockdown.
- That even though churches cannot meet, we will see and hear how God is at work and be encouraged.