Sunday, March 27, 2011

No Boatbuilding this Sunday

Rubbish at an annex of The Granary

Pots at the garden centre

Polyanthus at the garden centre

Sunday for me is a special day, but it is not sacrosanct, i.e., it is not sacred - a day set aside exclusively for the worship of God. What’s special about Sunday is that it is a time when Christians come together to worship God, to praise Him, to give thanks for His merciful love and to pray for the wellbeing of those who are experiencing difficult times - those in need, the sick, the poor and the destitute. It is a time when Christians fellowship with one another, a time for sharing and getting to know each other better, not just as acquaintances or nominal members of a church, but as members God’s family. The spiritual relationship between one another through the power of the Holy Spirit has to be experienced before it can be appreciated. Those who are embraced by the bond created by Christ Jesus through His sacrifice on the cross are truly blessed.


There is only one real purpose for the Christian and that is to love Jesus and glorify God for ever* which is the same thing. By loving Jesus you give glory to His Father.


Now today, I have rested from boatbuilding, not because it is a Sunday, but because I’ve had enough of sticking bits of lead together to make keel weights for ‘Sharpy’, a roof rack keel boat I am slowly building.


Instead of setting up my workbench by the garage on this fine sunny afternoon, I took my wife to Battlesbridge for a visit to The Granary, which is in fact an old mill house where there are numerous antique shops. She wanted to see a guy named Wally who restores old photographs, and a really clever chap he is. From faint, torn and tattered images he can transform them into brand new photos resembling the pristine originals. (That reminds me of what Jesus does by transforming sinful people into persons resembling Adam before he fell from grace. The real transformation comes when they are made in the image of Christ. All men are in the image of God, but before rebirth by the power of the Holy Spirit they are badly flawed, unable to help themselves.)


Before we made our way home we called into an adjoining place where there are for sale, many weird objects which I would define as rubbish or garbage. Whatever people see in buying such junk I cannot imagine. We also called into Battlesbridge Mills Garden Centre which has been revamped with fresh displays of flowers, shrubs, trees and a collection of ceramic pots suitable for large plants.


Links

*Westminster Shorter Catechism

http://www.reformed.org/documents/WSC.html

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