Mary Magdalene evidently loved her Lord very much.

She was not content to just walk away from the empty tomb, but peered in again and saw the angels in the tomb where Jesus should’ve been. It would seem the magnitutde of the event had overcome her. When Jesus approached her, she was facing the wrong way and did not recognise his name at first. Upon hearing her name though she was overjoyed. Her spiritual eyes were opened and she turned around and realised who was speaking to her.

Jesus then speaks on the family of God, that she is a child of God. Although makes a distinction in his relationship with God, as the eternal Son, and her status as an adopted heir.

He then tells her to tell the other adopted children of God about what he is going to do. At which she obeys immediately.

Do I love my Lord as much as Mary Magdalene? Do I suffer from moments of spiritual blindness?

A slightly different Saturday from usual, for me anyway, as I ushered (with a few others) the wedding of Tim and Joy. Alas, it involved an early start, as even though the ceremony commenced at 2pm, I had agreed to ferry the groom and best man to the church in good time – 11am! Fortunately, once the groom was installed, everything went like clockwork as each stage, from entrance of bridal party, through to exit of husband and wife, executed. Everything was modest, subtle and low-key, much in line with the personalities of Tim and Joy. This was also a great opportunity to meet many of their friends and family in their great diversity. May God bless their marriage abundantly.

Today was one of those days where I’m glad to be alive. Tim, a good friend of mine is getting married tomorrow and we went through the motions of its rehersal this evening. He and his fiancee make a wonderful couple and, whilst I’m no expert in these matters, I think they know what they’re doing. It was fascinating just watching people milling around, doing flowers, setting up refreshments, as well as absorbing the information required for me to do my part tomorrow. Saying that, even if it doesn’t all go completely to plan, as long as this is the start of a blessed lifelong special relationship, it’ll be a perfect day.

For the director of music. According to gittith. A psalm of David.
O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.
From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise because of your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger.
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?
You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honour.
You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet:
all flocks and herds, and the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.
O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
Psalm 8

In this evening’s violin lesson, I started off being challenged to play various scales from memory. I started off OK with G and A major, but came unstuck on a chromatic starting on G! The rest of the lesson was in a similar vein, with a revision of most of the stuff I’ve learnt over the past few months to see what I remember, and also to see if I’ve improved. My teacher reckons I’m a lot better than even just a month or so ago. I’m not entirely convinced, but I’ll take her word for it. 🙂

Well, after a week away feeling ill, and many weeks with dodgy ankles, tonight’s football game felt normal for once! No longer were my ankles feeling fragile, nor was my immune system fighting off an infection. The only reason I couldn’t run around the pitch like everyone else was because I’m hopelessly unfit! Saying that, I managed to score a cracking goal by a combination of fluke and er…fluke. 🙂 Oh well, things are looking up!

As Abraham came before God to pray for Sodom and Gomorrah, a number of things are can be seen, things which should affect our prayers.

To start with, Abraham is prompted by God. God let’s Abraham know what will happen to the cities on the plain, that for their sins he will destroy them, and lays it on Abraham’s heart to plead for them. We should be careful that our own prayers are prompted by God.

Abraham’s prayer is specific, he does not speak in general terms. He addresses God about the righteous and the wicked. He knows the mind of God, knowing that God is righteous and knowing that appeals to God to spare the righteous. We should seek to know the mind of God, to know his will , through his word, that we might be specific in our prayers.

He also perseveres. This is not to say he is presumptious in asking what he wants, but that humbly persists, seeking God’s will. We should earnestly pray to God, seeking his will and persevering humbly.

An interesting, if slightly busy day. First port of call was ABC Music in Kew to source a replacement digital piano for the church. The main considerations were quality of tone, as this instrument was to be used to aide worship, and compact size, so it would fit where it would be used. As such, I’d shortlisted a Roland EP-760, even though I’d never seen or touched one. On arrivial I headed directly to the model they had on display and, after obtaining permission, gave it a try – I thought it was perfect. Only issue was the price, quite a bit more expensive than prices I’d seen online in other shops. This was mentioned to the assistant who asked where I’d seen it – I mentioned the online store and he duly checked it to verify (after all, I could just pluck numbers out of the air otherwise!) He said they’d try to match it, but needed to check with those in the know and disappeared to find out. I was very pleasantly surprised when he returned to say they’d match it, and I left the store with keyboard (and bits) under arm, after paying for it obviously, a very happy customer.

Went down to Hounslow to play some snooker in the afternoon with David – I think he’s getting better, 3-3 frames. A draw!

Spent the evening at Uxbridge Road Tabernacle to listen to a talk on “Men and women”, and how the worldview of the bible on sexuality differed from the view of the world – specifically the media. An interesting contrast of what the bible says men and women should be – holy, godly, virtuous, and what the world through the media suggests – selfish, out for number one. This is not to say everything is obviously black and white, but that Christians need to think about everything they do, that they might do God’s will.