These are words of people who were full of joy, and happy to be going to their holy and sacred place of worship with fellow worshippers. They were full of anticipation that in their worship they would meet with the living God, the One who loved them and supplied all their needs. They enter the sanctuary with a deep sense of awe and wonder, and with reverential fear. They would be in the presence of God.
In a similar fashion, 175 years ago, worshippers entered St. Paul’s parish church in York Street, a sacred space, a holy place, where people would come to worship Almighty God, to thank and praise Him, the One who supplied all their needs.
In those days, Sunday was the pinnacle of the week for Christians in many denominations, the day set aside to honour and praise God, their creator. They, like the patriarchs of old, entered into God’s holy presence with reverent awe and fear, and to receive His blessings as they worshipped.
We have lost the awe and wonder of Almighty God, the One whom we have come to worship.
Compare that with what we see in many churches today, including St. Paul’s/St. Barnabas’. The joy that once flooded the hearts of St. Paul’s parishioners each Sunday seems to have grown cold, and an attitude of casual indifference when crossing the threshold from the secular to the holy, crossing the demarcation line between the profane and the sacred. Surely, no one can disagree that we have lost the awe and wonder of Almighty God, the One whom we have come to worship.
Since the doors first opened for worship at St. Paul’s, 175 years ago, the faith of the faithful has been under attack by the evil one, who never rests from trying to weaken and destroy our faith, and to divide us. The old adage is true: ‘united we stand, divided we fall.’
United we stand, divided we fall.
First came the Enlightenment period in the mid-19th century, when many scientists and philosophers declared that man did not need God; science was the religion, and scientists and philosophers were the high priests. And we must not forget Darwin’s evolutionary theories, and that’s all they were: theories.
Then came two world wars that greatly changed the attitudes of society, with all that was true being challenged, even the truth of God’s Word. But the Word of God never changes. These were difficult times, with difficult questions being asked of the Church. Scepticism had taken hold of society, and absolute truth, even of God’s Word, was questioned. But the truth of God’s Word will never fail, for it created the world and all in it.
The Word of God never changes.
Sadly, the faith of many was not strong enough to stand firm against the onslaught of the spiritual warfare that was being waged by Satan for the souls of God’s faithful. It was the same kind of spiritual battle Saint Paul wrote about in his epistle to the young church at Ephesus, warning and encouraging them to hold fast to the truth of God’s Word whatever was happening around them.
Ephesians 6:12
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
They were to stand firm, strengthening each other and encouraging each other in the faith.
So, how faithful are we, are you, in today’s world? How does it measure up to people like the Ephesians? How are we to measure the faith of all who claim to be members of St. Paul’s/St. Barnabas’ church in comparison with our forebears?
We who have a genuine love for our parish, not the building, but the parishioners, must pray the kind of prayers prayed by Nehemiah and Daniel, who prayed for God’s people and themselves:
Nehemiah 1:5–6
And I said: ‘I pray, Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments, please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father’s house and I have sinned.’
Daniel 9
And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, ‘O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments.’
We have all fallen short of the glory of God, and now we must, each of us, repent of our failures, for we are all complicit in the slow demise of our church, St. Paul’s/St. Barnabas’. We have not been faithful as God wants us to be.
As we approach the celebration of 175 years of worship in this most holy and sacred place, let each of us plead with God for His mercy, to forgive us our sins. We need, again, to discover who God really is: His majesty, His glory, His power, and His might, to learn again of the sacrifice of God’s own Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who gave His life for our sin. His blood can wash the sins of the foulest sinner clean. We must repent.
We must repent.
The victory of sin and death that Jesus secured for us on the cross is ours for the taking. But to take hold of it we must turn again to God, sacrifice what we have become on the altar of confession, and let the Lord Jesus Christ restore us again.
Theodore Roosevelt once said, “With every great victory, a great sacrifice is needed.” With Christ going before us, and the cross of Christ as our standard, let us take up that cross, going forward into the world, just as the saints of old did in their time.
St Paul & St Barnabas · WWW.SPBBELFAST.CHURCH
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