When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion
We were like those who dreamed
Our mouths were filled with laughter
Our tongues with songs of joy
Then it was said among the nations
The Lord has done great things for them
The Lord has done great things for us
And we are filled with joy
Restore our fortunes Lord
Like streams in the Negev
Those who sow with tears
Will reap with songs of joy
Those who go out weeping
Carrying seed to sow
Will return with songs of joy
Carrying sheaves with them.
Psalm 126
The Psalm you have chosen opens with a theme of restoration.
We know that for you Peter and Lois there have been many days, weeks, months, years of pain, of grief, of loss, of descent
But this is a song of ascent
A song of hope
And today this is your song!
The song talks of dreamers
This connection, this relationship is a gift, a surprise, something you had never dreamt of
Allowing you to dream again, to dream some new dreams
(We have noticed how dreamy you have been in the last few weeks)
And as it is in this psalm, you have friends from all over the world, among the nations who do say of you at this time “The Lord has done great things for them”
And we can see in your faces, even without words, you are saying today
“The Lord has done great things for them!”
The second verse of our psalm today talks about sowing in tears
I want to testify to the way I personally watched Peter and Lois do this
From my read of scripture and my experience of the messy, broken world I come up with few givens in life
Pain, mess, brokenness – unavoidable
Our only solid ground is in God
There is a painting by a New Zealand artist Colin McCahon, (which I had on my wall as a student but I saw again recently), one of his moody New Zealand landscapes which has the prophetic writing underneath saying
“Tomorrow will be the same but not as this”
Change and continuity
Change is inevitable
God is our continuity
And part of the grace and generosity of the Holy Spirit is that there is nothing,
Nothing that we will face that by trusting faithfully, that gritty, tough honest, humble, hanging on and going through it with God,
There is nothing that does not transform us to be more like Jesus
This is a miraculous reality
A reassurance for us all
This is the miracle I have witnessed in both Peter and Lois
I have watched them, each of them, dig deeper into Jesus
To faithfully trust in the goodness of God
When it is hard and dark and lonely
And this deepened, honed, tested and matured faith is the fruit we see in Lois and Peter
For us it is a challenge and encouragement
For them it is the foundation on which they now build this marriage
They share this foundation of a whole hearted commitment to Jesus
Deep belonging in the body of Christ (not just to each other but to their family, their faith communities and to the wider church)
And they share a passion and a calling, a commitment to seeing the kingdom come where there is pain and darkness and injustice
Not many people are prepared to relocate to be a prayerful presence in the slums of Kolkata
Not many people are prepared to dedicate their medical career to the gritty areas of child protection
Again for us this is a challenge and an encouragement
For Lois and Peter it is their shared foundation
Therefore they will of course continue to sow not only in their own tears but in the tears of others, sharing the pain with them and seeking for them this hope and restoration that they themselves are finding.
As I was praying this week I had a sense of both the whirlwind of this romance
It has been surprising and moving and sudden
But at the same time I think we all share a sense of something still and restful and peaceful at the core of this relationship that has the mark of God in the centre
So this is the new dawn
Although the reality is that it’s late in the day today
There’s a new dawn here
Peter and Lois you have asked yourself
“Can I find rest here, in this relationship?”
“Can I make home here, in this relationship?”
And the answer is “yes”
And “Can our marriage, committed in Christ bear this fruit that the Psalm today talks about, the fruit of the kingdom of God?”
The answer is “yes”
Jenny Duckworth, 21.2.14