O Jerusalem, I am with you.
If you love me – keep my commandments
I will give you an advocate: the Spirit of truth to be forever with you.
O people, hear me when I say: Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you.
O Jerusalem, you will not see me in a little while but you will live, because I live.
You will not be orphaned, for one day, you will know me, and know that:
· I am in my Father
· And you are in me
· And I in you
O people, hear me when I say: Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you.
Jerusalem…
City for whom I weep – Listen to my voice.
People whom I love – Keep my commandments
Welcome the spirit that I send.
For I am going away and I am coming to you.
O people, hear me when I say: Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you.
Rejoice in my going. The world overtakes me but it has no power over me.
I do as my God commands but I do not go lightly and I leave you not alone.
O my people hear me when I say: Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you.
Leviticus 26:12
Ever present in your midst, I will be your God, and you will be my people.
Reflection
When God makes a promise, we can be certain it will never be broken. We are intimately linked to the God who created us and continues to provide for us. God, ever present in our midst, makes us aware of his constant love and concern. But no relationship is a one-way street. Being God’s people requires something on our part. It is the movement of invitation and response that is at the heart of our spiritual journey. God invites us into a covenant, and we respond by accepting God’s word and responding with love and generosity.
We see covenants throughout the Bible. Covenants are not exactly contracts in the way we think of contracts today, though there is some similarity. A covenant is essentially a relationship, but it’s a relationship that has been
formalised. There are blessings that come if the relationship is kept, and there are penalties that come if the relationship is broken, and a covenant is simply the terms of that relationship.
O God our Sovereign, we know that you look with special compassion upon:
· the poor
· the needy
· the lonely
· the outcast
· the refugee
· the political prisoner
wherever they may be in this beleaguered world.
Fill us with the knowledge that you expect us:
· the rich
· the haves
to reflect that same compassion and caring.
Keep us honest, Holy One, in our service and in our living, that our lives may be true reflections of the One whose name we claim and bear.
Benediction
So now we leave this space of worship and while so much of the road ahead is uncertain, the path constantly changing, we know some things that are as solid and sure as the ground beneath our feet, and the sky above our heads.
We know God is love.
We know Christ’s light endures.
We know the Holy Spirit this there, found in the space between all things, closer to us than our next breath, binding us to each other, until we meet we again, Go in peace.
Amen.
Suggested Listening O Jesus I have promised – www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNz-33V1V8A Wherever you go I will follow – www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh5jnx8GC4Q God of Promise – www.youtube.com/watch?v=G26HDdqCyGw
