Good morning and welcome to Wednesday. My name is Alan and we have made it half way through the week.

REFLECTION:

As lock down begins to lift I wonder how are our relationships with those around us?

How are we doing with those we live with? How are our relationships with our work colleagues? How about with our neighbours?

As a family we have started new routines during lockdown. We gather to worship and pray each morning and we take weekly walks together.

For us Wards our connections on our street are going really well. This is the strongest sense of community that I have felt with our neighbours that I can remember since arriving in Sheffield 26 years ago. And I know that this sense of community is blessing others.

We’ve had the privilege of inviting a neighbour on to the Alpha course that James Brown and Elle are currently hosting online.

God is good and he is as busy as ever, he’s not restricted by lockdown, far from it! As the song ‘Waymaker’ says, even when we don’t see it you’re working!

So I am expectant that as lockdown lifts we will see God using us like never before. Today’s passage is 2 peter 1:12-21. Listen to verses 16-18 now.

For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.  He received honour and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”  We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

Let’s take a moment to remember just who is writing this letter – the clue is in the name of the letter: Peter!

Yes, this letter was written by Simon Peter himself. You know the one, the hot headed guy who denied Jesus, the one who climbed the mountain with Jesus, who saw him transfigured… glowing and glorious with Elijah and Moses. One of the disciples who was there with Jesus throughout his ministry.

But he didn’t have all the answers… he wasn’t as well schooled as the Rabbis and the teachers of the law. He hadn’t been to bible college. He didn’t have a degree. He simply shared with them what he had seen, we were eyewitnesses of his majesty!

Peter knew the stories of God found in the Old Testament. He was familiar with the exploits of King David, he knew the story of Moses and the parting of the red sea. He celebrated the festivals, he went to synagogue, he knew the songs, he prayed to God but it was not enough.

He was challenged by politics of his day. He saw that things needed to change. He wanted to be part of the transformation of the nation. Peter longed for God to do something in his time… in his day!

So Jesus chose him, took him from his simple life of fishing and trained him. He chose him as his little rock – the rock on which Jesus would build his church.

Sure he had his moments where he questioned, when he questioned if God could use him. He heard Jesus rebuke him telling him to “get behind me satan!” He rejected Jesus in Jesus’ darkest moment. He thought he’d failed. He had to battle the voice of the enemy. He thought he was disqualified from being used by God…

But God dusted him down, reminded him of who he was… not a failure but a work in progress. Not perfect but a child of God. And he used him powerfully.

And here he is, approaching the end of his life telling his readers about his mission to them. V16…

“For we did not follow cleverly devised stories when we told you about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in power, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.”

He didn’t spin a yarn… he wasn’t clever… Just an eyewitness to his – to Jesus’ – majesty. He had seen God at work… and he simply told people about it.

So what about us? How about you and I?

We know the stories of God’s activity as found in the bible.