At our church last Sunday, Keith Harrison welcomed Mr. Paul Savill, a circuit local preacher, who led our morning’s worship. Our service began with a call to worship from Psalm 139. Paul explained that this was a psalm which encouraged us to have confidence and trust in God’s love for us. We went on to sing our first hymn ‘’With gladness we worship’. Our second hymn ‘’There is a Redeemer’’ served to underline the sentiment in Psalm139, written some time ago by Melody Green in difficult circumstances, to express her continued trust in the love of God.
Our prayers of intercession focused on those who were finding life difficult in terms of poverty, migrants around the world, and those suffering from the impact of war in Ukraine and Russia, and in other parts of the world.
The readings for the day were from Matthew’s gospel, chapter 13, the parable of the weeds, read by Keith Harrison, and from Paul’s letter to the Romans, chapter 8, which spoke of the hope we can find from our trust and faith in God, read by Jill Harrison.
For his sermon, Paul chose to talk about the parable of the weeds. The title he gave to it was ‘’Wheat and Tares’. He told use that Tares were weeds which closely resemble wheat and can often be found in wheat fields. Unlike wheat, Tares are mildly poisonous and can be harmful to humans, and so can contaminate the crop of healthy and nutritious wheat. Paul went on to explain the parable described good and evil in the world, and how evil can quietly encroach upon everything good. We all want and need good to win over evil. We can be assured that the wheat will be harvested and that the tares will perish, because God will win.
To close, Paul referred to the reading from Romans, which spoke of the challenge to us all to seek out right from wrong, and to continue to trust in God’s guidance.