God Restores

At our Gatherings we are asking the question What is God doing? One of the things God does & is doing is Restoration

When I think of God’s restoration my immediate thought is Psalm 126 which talks about God restoring the fortunes of his people. The Psalm is split into four parts – there’s a story. a song, a prayer and a promise – have a look and see whether you can spot them.

God’s story is a restoration story – he is restoring human beings to the place that they were designed for. Each of us has a story of God’s restoring work. At least one story. These are stories of having our fortunes turned around, of experiencing freedom from captivity. BUT WE ARE SO GRUMPY that we forget God’s restoring work. In the Old Testament we see God’s people losing out because they got grumpy – moaning and grumbling about a perceived lack of provision crucially forgetting what God had done for them.

There is lots going on our lives – much that can make us grumpy. There are disagreeable things, things we don’t ‘get’ that frustrate us. People annoy us, little things irritate us & get under our skin. We make mountains out of molehills and are easily drawn into what one Bible version called “idle controversies”. We, the church, are so grumpy that we lose our grip on the story we have & the song of restoration that should be on our lips.

We owe the world around us some JOY!

When I reflect on God’s work of restoration in my life as the Psalm says: my mouth fills with laughter and my tongue with songs of joy. In other words I am joyful and communicate that joyfulness to others. Are you joyful? No? Try reconnecting with the story of restoration in your life and see what happens.

Last week at Base Camp I was telling the story of Kairos again – it’s great to have a story – and what a story! Every time I tell it (which is quite a lot!) I am reminded of God’s faithfulness- it is a story of restoration, of embracing new freedoms as a church. It’s been challenging & difficult at times, we’ve had to count the cost & pay a price but the prize is being able to say “The Lord has done great things”.

The next part of our church story is being lived out at the moment- how we closed MSCs in faith so that others could emerge. Two new MSCs this week, one the week before. More to come as we live out the adventure of restoration together in a community of communities.

In the midst of the challenges of living – do remember the story of God’s restoration in your life.

Seek in your communities both existing and emerging to sing the story of restoration. Don’t let grumpiness cost you the joy of the adventure we have with our restoring God.

Mark