Sharing Our Faith Together

Lest We Forget

by Stuart Malkin 11 August 2020

The words” Lest we Forget” are normally associated to war but they have so much to say to us on a broader picture. Many years ago at Newmount there was a wonderful lady called Mary who was a true Methodist of her day. She was a Church Steward and took that responsibility very seriously. She also had a remarkable sense of humour, occasionally a little wickedly. Someone you could would always remember!

Luke 17:11-19

As Jesus made his way to Jerusalem, He went along the border between Samaria and Galilee. He was going into a village when he met by ten men suffering from a dreadful skin disease. They stood at a distance and shouted “Jesus, Master! Take pity on us!” Jesus saw them and said to them, “Go and let the priests examine you.” On the way they were made clean. When one of them saw he was healed he came back praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself to the ground at Jesus feet and thanked Him. The man was a Samaritan, Jesus said, “There were 10 men who were healed: where are the other nine? Why is this foreigner the only one who came back to give thanks to God?” And Jesus said to Him, “Get up and go: your faith has made you well.”

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How easy it is to remember and also forget! I wonder if you have been on holiday and built up tremendous friendships? Invariably, on the last day, you promise to keep in touch. On driving home these characters are talked about, time goes by, Christmas comes and cards are exchanged, more time goes by and these people are almost forgotten.

In the reading from Luke 17 there are 10 men who have a special need and Jesus knew about that need as they stood a distance from him. He gave them an instruction that they must have found strange.

“Go and let the priests examine you”

The first thing that must have gone through there minds was, you must be joking, we are the unclean. Nobody comes near us so why should the priest examine us! However, prior to this they had personally recognised Jesus and asked for pity. Did they all trust him at this point? They experienced healing on their way, it doesn’t say if they went to the priests. However, if they were to be accepted into the community wouldn’t it have to be by the top men of their world?

This is where LEST WE FORGET is important to us. We have had the opportunity over few or many years to gather together and either see or hear Christ in the fellowship, and in doing so go out into the world after experiencing His healing, but not always in the way we have thought. How often do we truly go back to the healer as an individual or corporately thanking him. The fellowship will come out of this darkness if we recognise the power of thankfulness. Thank you Lord must be our everlasting, he is forgiving lest we forget.

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​Prayer

Father God we have so much to come to you with, the world’s problems with the virus seem to be top of the list. We ask your healing hand to be involved in all that’s being done to find an answer.

At this time we also pray for those who are being affected directly, both locally and throughout the world.

Amen