Daily Worship

Passing the knowledge on

45rev November 10, 2020 0 0
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Psalm 78: 1-7 (NRSV)

1 Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
    incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a parable;
    I will utter dark sayings from of old,
3 things that we have heard and known,
    that our ancestors have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children;
    we will tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
    and the wonders that he has done.

5 He established a decree in Jacob,
    and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors
    to teach to their children;
6 that the next generation might know them,
    the children yet unborn,
and rise up and tell them to their children,
7     so that they should set their hope in God,
and not forget the works of God,
    but keep his commandments;

How do we remember God and pass that knowledge on? Many ways of course. In this Remembrance tide we most noticeably do this by speaking of those who have kept the faith and gone before us leaving a significant legacy. This is the week in the year when we especially remember faithful service personnel.

One of my heroes of the faith is the Reverend Geoffrey Anketell Studdert Kennedy – ‘Woodbine Willie’ as he was known to the troops on the front line of the western front in WW1. Before joining the Army as a Chaplain in 1915 Studdert Kennedy was a Parish Priest in the Church of England in Worcester and outside his old church today stands the war memorial he had erected on his return. It is an amazing piece of art. A crucified Jesus on the cross and yet his head is raised up alive looking out on the world. A theology of the cross which artistically represents the risen one remaining with us no matter what. ‘The man for others’ as Dietrich Bonhoeffer the German pastor, theologian and Nazi martyr described Jesus – the man who remains by our side, always.

PRAYER:

Bless us Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.