OzThoughts Monday 16th March 2009.

OzThoughts Monday 16th March 2009.

(Please forward this OzThoughts to your friends).

What is your reaction to the first verse of today’s reading from Luke’s Gospel? It simply says “By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently.”

My mind went back to July last year. I was walking around the East End of London and I paused for some time outside the Blind Beggar Inn. It was there, exactly 143 years before, William Booth had commenced the work for God that we now know as The Salvation Army.

A short time later, a little way along the road, I found the statue of William Booth that marked this historic commencement. I stood there for about twenty minutes waiting for someone whom, I thought I could trust with camera to take my photo at the statue. Eventually a young lady got off a bus and agreed to take the photographs.

I also needed to have my mobile phone unlocked from my Australian provider so I could add a suitable UK sim card. Many of the road side stalls had signs indicating they could do this and even a few shops has similar signs. However, as I looked at the workers in these places, I wondered if I would see my phone again.

As I walked around I saw men sleeping on the streets. I saw people whose clothing and demeanor indicated deep poverty. 143 years before I walked the streets of the East End, William Booth had seen similar scenes and went home to declare to his wife “Kate, I have found my destiny”.

It is clear now that what Booth declared as his destiny was, in fact, only a very small beginning of a great worldwide work of seeking the poor and lost and telling them that Jesus loved them.

Truly Booth could write and countless millions since have sung:

And now, hallelujah! the rest of my days
Shall gladly be spent in promoting his praise
Who opened his bosom to pour out this sea
Of boundless salvation for you and for me.


Luke 15:1-10 (The Message)

1-3By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, "He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends." Their grumbling triggered this story.
4-7"Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn't you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbours, saying, 'Celebrate with me! I've found my lost sheep!' Count on it—there's more joy in heaven over one sinner's rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.
The Story of the Lost Coin
8-10"Or imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won't she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it you can be sure she'll call her friends and neighbors: 'Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!' Count on it—that's the kind of party God's angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God."

.[Listen: Songsters: http://www.salvoaudio.com/audio/music3/mus_4261.mp3

or

Band and congregation: http://www.salvoaudio.com/audio/music3/mus_4085.mp3 ]


O boundless salvation! deep ocean of love,
O fulness of mercy, Christ brought from above.
The whole world redeeming, so rich and so free,
Now flowing for all men, come, roll over me!

My sins they are many, their stains are so deep.
And bitter the tears of remorse that I weep;
But useless is weeping; thou great crimson sea,
Thy waters can cleanse me, come, roll over me I

My tempers are fitful, my passions are strong,
They bind my poor soul and they force me to wrong;
Beneath thy blest billows deliverance I see,
O come, mighty ocean, and roll over me!

Now tossed with temptation, then haunted with fears,
My life has been joyless and useless for years;
I feel something better most surely would be
If once thy pure waters would roll over me.

O ocean of mercy, oft longing I've stood
On the brink of thy wonderful, life-giving flood!
Once more I have reached this soul-cleansing sea,
I will not go back till it rolls over me.

The tide is now flowing, I'm touching the wave,
I hear the loud call of the mighty to save;
My faith's growing bolder, delivered I'll be;
I plunge 'neath the waters, they roll over me.

And now, hallelujah! the rest of my days
Shall gladly be spent in promoting his praise
Who opened his bosom to pour out this sea
Of boundless salvation for you and for me.
Author: William Booth (1829-1912)
The Salvation Army Song Book: Song Number: 298

[ In preparation for Easter read a Christian book during Lent which is now. ]

Note: There will be no ATAW next Saturday, 21st March or OzThoughts from Sunday 22nd to Friday 27th March as I will be away from the computer.


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