A number of our regular congregation were on holiday last Sunday morning, but nonetheless we had a most uplifting service led by Mr Peter Williams of Market Drayton, who was welcomed by Bunty Hodgkins. Neil and Jill Barnett provided music from the organ and key board. As his call to worship Peter invited us to respond to alternate verses of the Te Deum “You are God and we praise you; you are the Lord and we acclaim you; you are the eternal Father; all creation worships you” and on a lovely summer’s morning this seemed most appropriate as we viewed the glories of the surrounding hills from our chapel on the hill. We sang “The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord”
Peter said prayers of praise, adoration and confession followed by the Lord’s Prayer. His prayers for others which followed a further hymn, centred on our troubled national life and the suffering being caused by wars and civil strife in many parts of the world at present. We also offered prayers for those nearer to home in need of comfort and support through present difficulties.
Neil Barnett read our morning’s bible verses from the Old Testament, the Second Book of Chronicles, chapter five. This was a graphic and detailed account of a magnificent event in which King Solomon, son of David, had finished the work on the Temple and held a ceremony in which the Lord’s Covenant Box from David’s city was placed in the Temple in the presence of all the leaders of the tribes and clans of Israel and countless musicians. There was nothing inside the Box except the two stone tablets which Moses had placed there at Mount Sinai as the people were coming out of Egypt.
Against the background of this story, Peter introduced his theme “Making God feel at Home”. He spoke of our often chequered responses when we have random callers at our homes. How do we respond? King David welcomed God with a longing for his presence and he built a Temple of great opulence bedecked with gold, silver and other precious items. His son, King Solomon, followed suit. God was worshipped in a most beautiful buildings on a grand scale, and although there were animal sacrifices, as was the custom of the day, God said these are not precious as each of us is. Do we prioritise his presence as of old when the Temple was filled with the glory of God?