Doing Life with God

Thursday 27th June 2024 15:14

Over the summer our worship continues Sunday at 8.00 and 10.00 and 4.00pm and Tuesday communion at 2.00pm. But most other things stop to enable families to have a summer holiday together and to encourage grandparents to have time with their grandchildren. In a way the church is demonstrating its values with our actions showing that we think time with God is our top priority and time with our families is our second priority. 

Jesus describes this rhythm of life in the parable of the vine in John 15. When we are struggling with life, the gardener picks us up and supports us on the trellis and washes our leaves, when we are overly busy, then the gardener prunes off some of our activities so that all our energy goes into that which is most fruitful and once a year there is a dormant phase, when we simply rest in God. 

In a way the clue is in the word abide or remain or dwell which comes 10 times in this passage. It means, where do we make our home? Or where does our mind go when we are not busy? Or where does our money go when we have paid the bills? One of the aims of the Christian life is to do life with God to eat breakfast and chat about the things of God; to sort our inbox and be with Jesus; to cook dinner and to be with Jesus. As we learn the skill of practicing the presence of God then slowly but surely the fruit of the Spirit grows in us, and we grow in patience and kindness and gentleness.

So, this summer, let’s do life with God.