Matthew 26:38 Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” (NIV)
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2026%3A36-45&version=NIV
For 5 years I worked in Bedford where John Bunyan lived and was imprisoned. There was a statue to him, and a museum, and a Bunyan Trail. I found the place where he was baptised and visited Elstow, the site of Vanity Fair and the wicket gate. I read both Pilgrims Progress, 1 and 2, and Grace Abounding. He thought himself the greatest sinner for thoughts he had. His life was a pilgrimage and he wrote about the pilgrimage of life.
Last Monday, the Evergreen group, a group of people in their seventies who meet every month, chose and sang songs of praise for their meeting, including this one. As a result, we also sang it yesterday, on Palm Sunday at the end of the service.
This hymn has held a special place in my heart for over 60 years. Singing it as a young boy sparked a love for singing hymns that has stayed with me ever since. Though much of the service went over my head back then, the name Jesus was sweet to me.
Yesterday, we sang it again. This time, a particular verse that spoke directly to Jesus, acknowledging his many aspects, struck me. In this version by LOr she repeats that verse at the end.
O Jesus, shepherd, guardian, friend,
my Prophet, Priest, and King,
my Lord, my Life, my Way, my End,
accept the praise I bring.
Dear God, I wake in the night and cannot sleep, and my thoughts turn to You. I look out the window and see the branches swaying in the breeze. Those trees will soon have leaves. When I was young, faith was easy, a blanket wrapped around me. As I grew older, doubts came, and I was glad to let go of that belief and not have to live up to that difficult way – always falling into what I saw as sins and having to ask forgiveness and trying to live better and never managing it. Without you, I could live as I pleased. Now, after many more years, I want to find my way back. I know You are the only source of wholeness, and even though certainty escapes me, I pray, hoping to know Your presence. Thank you that hope remains and love and creativity and the qualities I think of as yours even though I may never know you quite so simply. But I don’t know what will happen today. Your will be done. Open my heart and my eyes to see the signs you leave for me. Perhaps, I will find you in the people I meet. Amen.
Dave Bilbrough – Abba Father. An early worship song from the 1970s.
This song is from Songs of Praise in 1997 in Eastbourne with Dave Bilbrough and Lou Fellingham singing. Stuart Townend is on the keyboard. This performance has a wonderful breezy effect sung outdoors near the sea. It is a song we sang on Sunday at my current church, based on 2 Corinthians 5, where verse 17 in the NIV says ‘ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!’
In October 2023, I am planning to walk the Pilgrim’s Way. I will start from Winchester on 13th October and will be going via Merstham to Oxted, so quite close to Nutfield, probably on 19th October if I stay on schedule. This is instead of the annual Nutfield walk.