Mr Robert Williams led our worship at Ashley last Sunday morning and he was welcomed by our steward Bunty Hodgkins. Neil and Jill Barnett provided the music on organ and keyboard.
Robert invited us to share in some words from Psalm 93 as his call to worship “The Lord is King and has put on robes of glory”. We sang the great hymn of adoration and praise “All things praise thee, Lord most high” with great feeling and enthusiasm, following which Robert led us in
a prayer of praise, adoration and confession.
There were two bible readings, the first by Gerry Maxwell from the First Book of Kings, chapter 19 which told of the prophet Elijah and his conflict with the prophets of Baal and the heathen gods. The second, read by Margaret Maxwell, from Matthew, chapter 14, the story of Jesus
walking on water in Lake Galilee. We said our prayers for others remembering those in leadership of our new Government and for those suffering turmoil in their lives.
“God’s fearful people” was the theme of Robert’s address, explaining there is a deeper understanding of God’s dealing with people when we read about Jesus walking on water to meet his disciples who were in a boat sailing to the far side of the lake after the miracle when they had
fed the 5,000 of five loaves and two fish.
After a sojourn in a quite place Jesus came to the disciples walking on water between three o’clock and six in the morning. The disciples were
terrified but Jesus calmed them down and the waves subsided. “God is there with us in the many journeys of life” said Robert and Jesus comes to us in our daily experiences. As Elijah made many journeys for the Lord, as recounted in the Old Testament, so the Lord was with him, as he
is with us today on our journey of life. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom”, said Robert and we need to trust in the Lord in the vagaries of life and we should not be afraid to board the boat in faith. God is aware of our storms and he is with us as we keep our eyes fixed on
Jesus.