{"id":3154,"date":"2021-03-25T06:00:28","date_gmt":"2021-03-25T06:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/?p=3154"},"modified":"2021-02-24T19:11:30","modified_gmt":"2021-02-24T19:11:30","slug":"thursdaythought%e2%80%8b-lent-week-5-a-truth-speaking-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/thursdaythought%e2%80%8b-lent-week-5-a-truth-speaking-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"#ThursdayThought\u200b: Lent Week 5 &#8220;A Truth-Speaking Journey&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"660\" height=\"372\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wKf02Gr7Pvc?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-GB&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span>\n<h2>Words of Eternal Life<\/h2>\n<p>Welcome to Thursday Thought, a short devotional series which compliments our Sunday services as we journey though the season of Lent, based on material produced by Engage Worship. To begin, take a moment to be still, to be in the presence of God, and to ready yourself to hear from Him.<\/p>\n<p>Today, we reflect on the theme of Word of Eternal Life. Our Scripture Reading is John 6:60-69:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong><sup>60<\/sup><\/strong>On hearing it, many of his disciples said, \u2018This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?\u2019<\/p>\n<p><strong><sup>61<\/sup><\/strong>Aware that his disciples were grumbling about this, Jesus said to them, \u2018Does this offend you? <strong><sup>62<\/sup><\/strong>Then what if you see the Son of Man ascend to where he was before! <strong><sup>63<\/sup><\/strong>The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you \u2013 they are full of the Spirit and life. <strong><sup>64<\/sup><\/strong>Yet there are some of you who do not believe.\u2019 For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. <strong><sup>65<\/sup><\/strong>He went on to say, \u2018This is why I told you that no-one can come to me unless the Father has enabled them.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><strong><sup>66<\/sup><\/strong>From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.<\/p>\n<p><strong><sup>67<\/sup><\/strong>\u2018You do not want to leave too, do you?\u2019 Jesus asked the Twelve.<\/p>\n<p><strong><sup>68<\/sup><\/strong>Simon Peter answered him, \u2018Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.\u2019 Amen.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Jesus, like the rest of us, experienced varying degrees of popularity. Human beings are fickle, as you have probably experienced for yourself.<\/p>\n<p>Jesus was popular when he came across as the powerful Messiah the people had been waiting for. For example, they liked him a lot after his miraculous healings, and celebrated him at the triumphant entry into Jerusalem which we remember on Palm Sunday. At other times, the crowds abandoned him and left him lonely and isolated.<\/p>\n<p>John 6 starts with Jesus flying high in the approval ratings. Everyone loves food, and a miraculous feeding of thousands would always be a popular move. Later on, however, as Jesus makes some rather grand claims about himself, the religious leaders become a bit nervous. Once it starts to sound like Jesus is advocating cannibalism, everyone simply slips away. Rather than having to get their heads around what Jesus might mean, most people in the crowd see which way the wind is blowing and follow their peers to the next popular celebrity.<\/p>\n<p>Some, however, are loyal. When queried about this by Jesus, Peter comes out with his famous creed:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cLord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.\u201d (vs. 68-69)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>There is such beauty in these simple words of trust. These are the words of someone who has spent long enough with Jesus to know that however hard his latest teaching might be, the very source of life is within him and so going elsewhere would be foolish indeed.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t know if you\u2019ve had this experience, but sometimes when we speak the truth our popularity drops too. However gently you may challenge your friend\u2019s habit of spreading rumours, or however carefully you may put your reasons for not attending a questionably themed office party, those around you may still hear it as criticism. And nobody likes being criticised!<\/p>\n<p>Spend a moment reflecting on this question: Are there times when you\u2019ve tried to speak out God\u2019s truth, but it has made you unpopular or rejected?<\/p>\n<p>For Jesus, speaking the truth was not a popularity contest. His words were \u201cfull of the Spirit and life\u201d, \u201cwords of eternal life.\u201d More than wise sayings or religious slogans, these words have transformative, divine power, if we have \u201cears to hear\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Practical steps: Spend some time in the words of Jesus today. This could involve:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Choose one passage of Jesus\u2019 words, and commit it to memory.<\/li>\n<li>Write a tune (or find an existing tune) to set a section of Jesus\u2019 teaching, so that you remember it and carry it around with you.<\/li>\n<li>Listen to an audio Bible version of Jesus\u2019 teaching.<\/li>\n<li>Create a poster with a verse from the gospels and hang it somewhere you will see it regularly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>None of these things are \u201cends in themselves\u201d: the point is to soak yourself in the words of Jesus, and allow the Holy Spirit to take them from your head to your heart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Words of Eternal Life Welcome to Thursday Thought, a short devotional series which compliments our Sunday services as we journey though the season of Lent, based on material produced by&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3155,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[336],"tags":[429],"class_list":["post-3154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reflections","tag-lent-2021"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Week-5-Dev.jpg?fit=960%2C540&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8z2vw-OS","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4055,"url":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/lenten-reflections\/","url_meta":{"origin":3154,"position":0},"title":"Lenten Reflections","author":"admin","date":"24 March 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"We are now in the period of 'Lent', which is what we call the 40 days leading up to Easter. 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To begin, take a moment to be still, to be in the presence of God, and to ready\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Reflections&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Reflections","link":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/category\/reflections\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Week-2-Dev.jpg?fit=960%2C540&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Week-2-Dev.jpg?fit=960%2C540&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Week-2-Dev.jpg?fit=960%2C540&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Week-2-Dev.jpg?fit=960%2C540&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":583,"url":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/words-from-calvary-lent-study\/","url_meta":{"origin":3154,"position":2},"title":"Words from Calvary Lent Study","author":"admin","date":"1 February 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Please join us for our Lent Studies. Running each Sunday evening from 15th February to 22nd March at 7pm in the sanctuary. We will be studying Words from Calvary six fascinating study sessions, where we will look in detail at the last 12 hours of Jesus' life and the seven\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Words from Calvary2","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Words-from-Calvary2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":768,"url":"https:\/\/www.clincarthill.org.uk\/index.php\/message-from-our-locum-joan-kilpatrick-feb-2016\/","url_meta":{"origin":3154,"position":3},"title":"Message from our Locum \u2013 Joan Kilpatrick \u2013 Feb 2016","author":"admin","date":"10 February 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear Friends We seem to be moving along at quick at a pace this year mainly due to the fact that Easter is very early, by the time you read this Lent will almost be upon us \u2013 Shrove Tuesday on the 9th and Ash Wednesday on the 10th! 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