Whist listening to Richard’s talk on SoundCloud, you can follow along with the visuals used. Click here to view the slides that accompany Richard’s talk.

Whist listening to David’s talk on SoundCloud, you can follow along with the visuals used. Click here to view the slides that accompany David’s talk.

(From Christ the Creator, Carpenter, Gardener and King, sermon series)

Children love dress up don’t they? When I was little, I’m pretty sure there wasn’t sheer abundance of off the peg fancy dress costumes that you can get nowadays – and if there was, my Mum certainly told me there wasn’t. However, unlike me, my Mum is pretty good with a needle, thread and a quilt and so as kids our fancy dress dreams were realised, especially if you wanted to be a pirate or a character that needed a cape.

My daughter Emilia, thanks to her Mum’s decidedly limited ability with fabric, has thanks to friends hand me downs and tesco, has at different times has loved being Elsa, Rapunzel, Anna, Cinderella, Moana. The Disney princess roll call. I’m sure you’re familiar with some of these characters. These cute princesses whose tales are told through film (and many other money making spin offs) are often stories of rescue, some (thankfully) are stories of strong women forging their own path, and yes, more often that not, there’s a handsome prince.

And it’s true. That, once upon a time, when I was little, I used to want to be a princess. A princess who had a carriage, a tiara and a palace. I wanted the full Disney princess life. I think at some point I was convinced I’d marry Prince William – sorry Rob. A life of songs and dancing, a life of parties and fun and adventures – which always had a happy ending.

But alas, my story didn’t quite work out like that. There’s no castle, no glittering tiara, no life of constant parties – thank goodness, and there’s certainly no singing mice and woodland creatures who help me to do the housework at home. I am not a princess and that’s OK (fake sob).

Over the last three weeks, we’ve been looking at some different titles or roles given to Jesus. Lloyd started us off with Christ the Creator, reminding us of the Triune God – Father, Son and Spirit and of the truth that Christ was present from the very beginning of the creation of the world.

Cath taught us about Christ the Carpenter – Christ the man, who lived a human life and who came to shape and create each of us into His likeness.

Last week, Hugh reminded us of Christ the Gardener, the one who was there at Eden and who cried out to his Father in Gethsemane. The one who rose in glory and was mistaken for a gardener on the first Easter day. He showed us that Christ, through his love for us, seeks to challenge us, to prune and weed out those parts of us that aren’t worthy of him.

And this week, we are rounding this short series off by beginning to explore what we mean when we say ‘Christ, the King’.

At the very beginning of the Gospel of Mark, we read –

“The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God. It is written in Isaiah the prophet “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way” – “a voice of one calling in the desert, ‘prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him” and so John came, baptising in the desert region and preaching”. (Mark 1:1-14).

I love the gospel of Mark. It’s short – you can read it in one sitting if you’ve an hour or so to spare and it’s absolutely to the point. I love to imagine the writer hastily recording as much as he could about Jesus. Mark the writer, recording all sorts of extraordinary little details that speak to the fact and history of his writing. I imagine him, Pen in hand, a sense of urgency, a fervour that means he had to preserve these stories about this man – this Jesus, for future generations – for the sake of the world. And, in typical style, Mark gets straight to the point from the outset. We are presented with ‘the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God’. Jesus is the Christ. It’s not his surname, in fact, it was a long time before I realised once I’d become a Christian that ‘Christ’ wasn’t one of Jesus’ names, but instead was a title, given to him based on the beliefs that people had. ‘Christos’ – it's a Greek word. The NT was written in Greek and the use of ‘Christ’ tells us what Mark knows to be true. Jesus is a royal figure, he is ANOINTED and he is the Son of God. Jesus of Nazareth is Jesus Christ – the Messiah. He is the one who was foretold, the one who would establish God’s rule on earth. He’s the rescuer. Jesus is the LORD – He’s God Almighty. What a pronouncement. This Jesus is no mere man. This Jesus is no mere King. He’s THE King. Forget Chesney Hawkes – the I AM is the one and only.

After that opening fanfare, Mark continues, telling us the story of Jesus’ baptism. He writes –

“Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptised by John in the Jordan. As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:9-11)

I love this. Let me tell you why.

In the creation account in Genesis 1, we are told that the Spirit hovered over the waters. What an image. I love the idea of God’s presence, existing, creating, choosing. Creating something from nothing. The Hebrew verb used here for ‘hovered’ better translates as fluttered. So, the Spirit of God ‘fluttered’ over the face of the waters… In the Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Scriptures (Targums), the same passage was translated like this –

“And the earth was without form and empty, and darkness was on the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God fluttered above the face of the waters like a dove, and God spoke, ‘Let there be light’”.

Do you see it? There were three involved in the creation of the world – God, God’s Spirit and God’s word. The same three are present at the baptism of Jesus. The Father, who is the voice from the heavens, the Son – who is the word (cf John 1) and the Spirit, fluttering like a dove. From the very beginning of history, God was trinity. The rescue, redemption and rebirth of the world is the work of that same God. The God of creation is the God of salvation, he is the hope of all humanity.

It's so awesome and so challenging.

As Christians we worship ONE GOD, not three. We don’t worship a god who takes on different forms. We don’t don’t worship three separate gods. We worship one God in three persons and the incredible beauty is that those three persons know, love and glorify each other. We worship one God whose very essence and reality is LOVE. We worship one God whose love is so great that He seeks to pour it out. We worship one God who created a world not so that we could serve him and give things to him – God has no need of us – but instead God chose to create, to share, to love and to pour out grace and blessings.

Perhaps you’re here this morning and you’ve spent your life feeling a bit lost. Perhaps you’re here this morning and you’re wondering what the point of it all is? Perhaps you’re here this morning and you’ve lost sight of your purpose and passion? Perhaps you’re just feeling a bit off, flat and unfulfilled?

If that’s you, then please listen to what I’m saying today. The Lord of the heavens and earth, the King of Kings and the Spirit of God, present, alive and active in the world today is what you need. Twenty years or so ago, Rick Warren, the American pastor wrote a book called ‘The Purpose Driven Life’. It was a runaway success. He talked about the human condition, the reality that as humans we try to find purpose and meaning in many things – success, wealth, popularity etc. And yet, even when we achieve those things that we think will make us happy, we find that they don’t. We are on a hamster wheel of busy, of wanting more and more. Of thinking – if I get this, then I will be happy. If I buy this, then I will be happy. If I do this, then I will be happy…

But here’s the thing, if we live that way, we are doing nothing more than chasing after the wind. Because from the beginning of creation, the Creator himself, out of his endless love made us to focus our lives on Him, not on ourselves. And as soon as our focus shifts from self to Saviour, we find that life begins to fall into place.

Earlier this year, on the 6th May, the world witnessed the pomp and ceremony of the Coronation of King Charles III. The eyes of the nation were on one man. A day of pageantry and colour, of spectacle and riches. And yet, within the ceremony, amidst the media reporting of who was wearing what and who was sitting where was a ceremony of history and gravity, of humility and faith.

Part way through the service at Westminster Abbey, was the anointing. The part of the ceremony that the new king submits with humility to God and is set apart. It’s intensely private and personal. A special screen was placed to preserve the quiet of this holy moment. (Slide) The Anointing takes place before the investiture and crowning; the Dean of Westminster pours holy oil from the Ampulla into the Coronation Spoon, and the Archbishop of Canterbury anoints the Sovereign on the hands, chest and head, just like the kings of the Old Testament were anointed. The oil is a special and secret recipe containing olive oil, orange blossom, roses, Jasmine and cinnamon. The olive oil comes from the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, symbolising the deep historical bond between the coronation, the Bible and the Holy Land. It’s a moment between man and God. A time of blessing and commitment. The king choosing the King.

Amidst all of the dazzle and spectacle, there’s a simplicity. A poignant reminder for those who believe of the reality. That whilst the Kings and Queens and Kingdoms of this world will fall and fade, the Kingdom and Kingship of Jesus will reign forever.

Christ’s forever Kingdom is one that tips the rules and expectations of the world on its head. You see, not only do we worship a God who is love, we also follow the teachings of one who brings good news! Do you know what the first words of Jesus recorded in Mark’s Gospel are? They’re words that get right to the heart of the matter – like I said, Mark doesn’t hold back!

‘Repent and believe in the good news’.

What good news? What’s this message we need to hear?

The word of ‘good news’ here is euangelion (angelos – messenger and eu, which is a prefix meaning ‘joy’) and the ‘repent’ here means ‘reverse course’. Reverse course, back up and go this way. Listen will you, to this GOOD NEWS, listen up to this news that BRINGS JOY. This news is life changing and history making. This gospel, this good news is something that has been done for you that changes your status forever!

Has anyone ever offered you advice on the best way to live? Social media is full of it at the moment. I’d never really paid much attention to ‘reels’ as they’re known. Feeling old, but the other day, I fell down a bit of a reel black hole. The social media algorithm deities felt fit to feed me video after video of people’s shiny daily routines, strategies for coping with anxiety, ways to apply makeup and look younger, advice on how to parent, advice on what to eat, how to eat and when. Wow – I was sucked in. Before I knew it, I’d lost a good twenty minutes watching some lady show me how she cleans her house after the kids have gone to bed. It was a whole series of mini episodes… I mean… come on. I put my phone down and I’ll be honest, I felt 5% inspired and 95% less than. Scientific figures – obviously.

Tim Keller puts it like this – ‘How do you feel when you’ve been given good advice on how to live? Someone says ‘Here’s the love you ought to have, or the integrity you ought to have,’ and maybe they illustrate high moral standards by telling a story of some great hero. But when you hear it, how does it make you feel? Inspired? Sure. But do you feel as though your burdens have fallen off? Do you feel as though something great has been done for you and you’re not a slave anymore? Of course you don’t. It weighs you down: This is how I have to live.

Here’s the thing -

You can’t meet their expectations and standards. You can’t be them. You’re still you, with your flaws and successes and pride and burdens. You can’t meet the standard of insta perfect. Those things are what they are, mostly make believe. Smoke and mirrors.

But the good news of Jesus is different. God loves us that much that he chooses to know us not on the basis of what we’ve done or haven’t done, but on the basis of what Jesus has done in history for us. For you and for me. This is what makes following King Jesus so completely different to every other philosophy or religion there’s ever been.

We weren’t created to exist alone, to be the centre of our own kingdoms. We weren’t created to be self absorbed, to be self centred. We weren’t created to do it all by ourselves. We were created to centre our lives on God. Jesus calls us to follow him. To make him our first priority – our priority above our family, our work. It’s radical. Jesus is saying, choose me. Choose me, choose love, choose the King with such passion and priority that the other things fade away. The other priorities that the world says are important become distant. Following King Jesus is not a means to an end. He’s the end in itself. He’s the one – the ultimate.

It’s like with the Disney stories or fairytales from when we were little. More often than not, the King or Queen, the hero of the tale saves the day. The people aren’t left to their own messes and devices. Things are put right. The true hero – the true King, well, he makes every thing new. Each of us is offered a fresh start. Under the sovereignty of King Jesus, we can begin again. Under his Kingdom, if you choose to live with your life centred on him, everything will begin to heal. If you’ve been living feeling as though there’s a piece to the puzzle missing, if you welcome Jesus into your life, you’ll find that the puzzle becomes complete. If you’ve been wandering around feeling broken, you’ll find that in Jesus’, you’ll begin to heal. You see, he is the King. He is the Lord. He is love itself.

There’s another little story in Mark. In chapter 4, Mark writes about Jesus and his disciples crossing over to the other side of the lake.

“That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side”. Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown” (Mark 4:35-38)

This must have been quite a storm. These disciples – who the text tells us were experienced fishermen, thought they were going to die. What does Jesus do?

“He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet, be still!” Then the wind died down and was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him”. (Mark 4:39-41).

I love this story. Jesus speaks with authority and power. ‘Quiet! Be Still’. The Word at the beginning, speaking power into this situation. Jesus speaks with the power of God. In ancient cultures, it was believed that only God could control the seas, such was their power and potential for destruction. And here, we have Jesus – the King of Kings speaking to the storm and it becomes still. Glass lake still.

And yet, Mark tells us, that even when the wind has died down, the disciples were still afraid.

I think we’ve all experienced this haven’t we? Feeling afraid. We live and face things that we feel powerless to overcome – the news, work, illness – whatever it might be. Those of us with faith might often feel worst. Our heads telling us that we believe in God’s power on the one hand, but our mind casting doubts left, right and centre, causing us to feel even worse in the process. Living a life of faith is not easy.

And here, Jesus, instead of calming their fears and saying ‘there, there, it will be ok’, instead, like all good teachers, asks a question. He says ‘Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?’. You see, the disciples were afraid of the storm, the storm had power, but Jesus – this King Jesus, well, he had infinitely more power. Jesus, who loves us, has power beyond our comprehension. His Kingdom has power that has no end. Jesus, in his power and through his wisdom, allows things to happen that don’t go according to our plans. He allows things to happen that we don’t understand or make sense.

I think I can understand why the disciples felt at the very least some disquiet in the calm.

King Jesus demands our all.

That’s a big ask. A radical ask. It’s an ask that requires our whole self.

We are called to centre our lives around him, to follow him. Through King Jesus we are faced with the truth that He loves us! He knows better than we do. He is infinitely wiser than we can imagine. His love is eternal and his mercy and grace is deep.

What a challenge that is – what a joy and what a challenge. Jesus calls for us to die to self and to be born again. He calls us to know Him, to live for Him and to spend eternity alongside Him. And the amazing thing is, that because of Jesus, our story does have a happy ending.

Perhaps today, you need to reverse course. Perhaps God is speaking to your heart and there’s something you need to do. Perhaps today, you need to come before God and lay at his feet the mistakes you’ve made. You need to reverse course and let him in.

Perhaps today you need to come to Jesus for the first time. Maybe you’ve been going to church for ages but you’ve never really said, Jesus, you’re my King, be the centre of my life. Maybe for you, today is the day to take that first step.

Perhaps today, you simply need to worship him. To enthrone him in your life in his rightful place. To say thank you Jesus, for all you’ve done and for all you are. Thank you for your love and grace.

For the amazing thing is, no matter what we’ve done, or where we’ve been, no matter how many times we’ve failed and fallen, we are each called to be sons and daughters of the King – so I guess I can be a princess after all.

Prayer – It can be a funny thing. On the surface, it seems so simple, but often we struggle to make time for it. We struggle to do it, to think it, to even remember to talk to God. Perhaps you can relate to that? Perhaps you feel a bit like you never really pray at all?

How many of us have it as a regular habit? How many of us turn to prayer as our final port of call? The place we go when we’re desperate? How many of us have the best of intentions but at the end of a long day, find ourselves falling asleep or scrolling our phones instead of actually talking with God, saying simple things like “Thanks God, thank you for today”, telling him about our days and what we’ve found hard, asking for help?

As I said, it’s a funny thing. For a long time, I tried to be someone I wasn’t when it came to prayer. I sought to set aside a specific time, a specific place, a specific way to pray. I thought that if I would do that then I’d find some sort of holy grail. Kind of like those Instagram photos you get of people with their Bibles and their stickers and a freshly brewed cup of coffee – the perfect Bible study, or so the photo would suggest. If I got the scene right, then I’d be able to pray – right? Well, wrong. For me, it didn’t work like that. I never managed to make the time work. I’d beat myself up about it. I’d sit down to pray and something would happen – a phonecall, a text, a toddler – whatever it may be. I’d get distracted and my mind would wander. I never managed to stay quite as focused on God as I told myself I should. The reality fell far from my ideal.

That didn’t mean that I didn’t pray, it just meant that I was failing to meet my own standards. I’d set myself up for failure. I tend to believe that everyone prays – even those who claim to have no faith. At times of crisis, I believe we are wired to call on who we know to be God. We know we can’t find the answers inside of ourselves – it’s the way the Creator made us.

But you see, here’s the thing, I came to realise that God just wants to hear from me. From you.

And so, if you’re finding it hard to pray, I want to encourage you to slowly build prayer into the daily rhythm of your life. On the drive to work – just don’t close your eyes… praying for people as they walk past, when you’re brushing your teeth at the end of the day. When you’re out for a run - not me, or walking the dog or cooking the dinner – all of these times are perfectly good. Perfectly good to say to God – I love you. Jesus, I need you today. Help me to be more patient. Thank you for today. Thank you that I’m not alone. Help me to slow down. Give me the words to say to my friend. God, thank you for walking beside me.

If you do pray, have you ever wondered, even as a passing thought, ‘do my prayers make a difference?’

When faced with the giant problems and situations of this life – wars, famine, oppressive governments, terminal diagnoses etc. The quiet, desperate, murmured prayers of our hearts can feel like childish whispers. Falling into an ether to which there can be no response, no difference made.

Yet, here’s the thing. If we believe the Bible is the word of God, if we believe the words contained within, then we are taught that our prayers are incredibly powerful – our prayers – not just the prayers of others, of people who believe have greater faith, of those we compare ourselves to in the want to be more like them. The Bible tells us that our words – the cries of our heart have POWER.

If you were with us a few weeks ago, Pete spoke about three different aspects of the Lord’s Prayer – of heaven, of bread and of forgiveness. Well, if we look again to the prayer that Jesus taught, you will find that Jesus – the Son of God himself, God himself, tells us that our prayers are powerful enough to bring about change. Real change. Jesus tells us to pray for the coming of God’s kingdom on earth. That’s regime change. That’s change that can happen in the here and now and in the future. One of the incredible things about the Lord’s prayer is that when read in the common Gk of the NT, each verb ‘Hallow’, ‘Come’, ‘Forgive’, ‘Be done’ is in the imperative mood. This means that each verb can be read as a command. It’s assertive and forceful. Jesus teaches us to pray with conviction, with confidence, to approach the throne of God with reverence but with the knowledge that we are adopted into His family.

The apostle Paul encourages us to intercede for kings and all those in authority. We also have the awesome promise in the Old Testament where God calls on the people to pray at times of national uncertainty and disaster – “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sins and I will heal their land”. Here in the book of Chronicles, God’s forgiveness and the healing of the land is entirely dependent on the intercession of the people.

When we look at the crises in the world today, when we look at the problems facing our nation, we have to wonder – why is it, that Christians who claim to believe in the truth of God’s word, find it something of a struggle to spend time praying, to spend time interceding on behalf of others, on behalf of the land.

This is what it is to be an intercessor. To be someone who believes in the power of prayer and who believes the truth of Jesus’ words ‘thy kingdom come’.

This morning, we are going to be looking at a particular type of prayer – prayer on behalf of others, on behalf of the world.

In his book ‘How to Pray’, founder of 24-7 prayer, Pete Greig recalls occasions where the power of prayer and the words of intercessors have brought about change in the here and now. He writes ‘For instance, just a few days ago, I heard from Jonathan, a member of our church who works in London and arrived very early for a meeting in Westminster one morning in August. As he walked across the River Thames on Westminster Bridge towards the Houses of Parliament with two and a half hours to kill, he found himself thinking back to the terror attack that had taken place there the previous year. As he did so, he sensed a new and imminent danger so powerfully that he began to pray for protection (not something he’d usually do) and continued pacing those streets and praying for an hour. “It was so strange and so strong” he recalls. “I walked and prayed around that area praying for the safety of those who work in parliament and the offices nearby, the hospital over the bridge, the crowds of commuters. Eventually, around 7.30am, I stopped praying and stepped into a coffee shop near the bridge. It was just seven minutes later and one hundred yards from where I was sitting that a terrorist drove his car into cyclists and pedestrians in the precise place where I’d been praying between Westminster bridge and parliament. Greig writes, ‘we’ll never know for sure, this side of eternity, what difference Jonathan’s prayers made that day. But what we do know is that the attack on Westminster Bridge the previous year left 50 people injured and five dead, but this incident killed no one and left three people with only minor injuries.

Those three injured people received assistance within seconds of the attack because the vehicle immediately behind the terrorist happened to be an ambulance. What’s more, CCTV revealed the terrorist had been driving those streets for an hour before the attack, just as Jonathan had been walking them, sensing danger and praying for protection precisely against this kind of attack. Another coincidence was that on that morning, Jonathan’s wife Linda, had woken early (something she’d never usually do) with an urge to pray for him as he walked to work. It was strange because he commutes to London every day – to a different part of the city – and she’d forgotten he’d anything special on that day.

Some time ago, I used to think that there were some Christians who were just specially gifted to pray – they could do something that ordinary people couldn’t do. You’d hear people in church groups and conversation talk about others as ‘powerful intercessors’ and I used to think ‘I don’t even know what that means’. I have no idea. When I first started teaching, in a Catholic secondary, some of the students would be invited for intercessory prayers – to take part in a service at church, and I had some vague idea that it meant praying for others, but I didn’t know what it really meant. I never really bothered to find out. It was one of those things.

And then I started to hear some Christians use the phrase ‘standing in the gap’. It’s a phrase I use a lot myself these days – but at the time, I didn’t really know what it meant. The best comparison I could make was with the tannoy announcement that you hear on the London Underground as you board and disembark – ‘Mind the Gap’. And so, I took the time to find out. If we look to the Bible we can find many accounts and stories of people ‘standing in the gap’. In the OT, Ezekiel 22, we find this - the Lord says, “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one.” The word picture painted in this verse is that of a wall with a hole or a gap in it. A wall was the best means of protection in ancient times. A breach in the wall made the people vulnerable. If there was a breach in the wall, defenders would have to swarm to that location and hold the breach. The gap would need to be repaired as soon as possible. If a breach was left unattended or unrepaired, the city would fall.

In this situation, in the book of Ezekiel, Ezekiel the prophet was looking for someone who had a righteous heart, someone with integrity, someone who would stand on behalf of the people and appeal to God to save them from His judgement. He cried out for someone to stand in the gap. In 22:30 – 31, God says through Ezekiel - “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one. So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord.” God sought ONE person to stand – not many, not a multitude, ONE. To intercede. But the people of Ezekiel’s time had turned away from God. They’d begun to worship idols and to live a life of corruption and sin. There was no one willing to stand for God and so judgement fell.

Similar wording is found in Psalm 106:23. This psalm summarizes the sins of Israel in the wilderness, primarily concerning worship of idols – in this case, the golden calf. Verse 23 explains, “So [God] said he would destroy them—had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him to keep his wrath from destroying them.” Moses “stood in the gap” and saved the people of Israel with his petition on their behalf. In standing in the gap, he “stepped between the LORD and the people” (Psalm 106:23, NLT). Moses had been chosen for that very purpose. He was the ONE.

We find the original story of Moses standing in the gap in Exodus 32:9–14: “‘I have seen these people,’ the Lord said to Moses, ‘and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.’ But Moses sought the favour of the Lord his God. ‘Lord,’ he said, ‘why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, “It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth”? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: “I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.”’ Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.”

This is an incredible story. Moses was the ONE willing to intercede, to seek God’s mercy. To stand in the gap between heaven and earth.

I’m sure you’ve heard of Hadrian’s Wall. Stretching from coast to coast and spanning three modern-day counties in the north of England, Hadrian’s Wall was part of the north-western frontier of the Roman Empire for almost 300 years. It’s 73 miles long and is build across some stunning countryside.

One such aspect is known as Sycamore Gap. It’s one of the most photographed places in the UK, brought to the big screen in the film ‘Robin Hood Prince of Thieves’. Take a look – (show slide).

I love this image of the single tree, standing firm, rooted in the earth along a wall that has seen years of history, battles and daily living. I love how this tree, this ancient image of life and strength is found in this natural gap in the landscape. Branches outstretched towards the heavens. Just looking at it reminds me of both my insignificance and my strength. Strength that comes only from knowing God, from talking with him, from praying and believing in the power of prayer. In the power of intercession and of a life walked with a God who cares.

Intercessors are those who ‘stand before God in the gap on behalf of the land’. They pray as mediators, as friends of both, they are those who plead with God on behalf of the people and with the people on behalf of God.

And there’s no magic to this, people who make the conscious choice to intercede, people who listen to the whisper of God – like Jonathan in our story, as he walked around London. We are all taught by Jesus to pray, to OUR Father, to pray and to will ‘Your Kingdom Come’. We are all called to inhabit that special place, that liminal space between heaven and earth. We are all called to follow the example of Jesus – the one who sacrificed everything for us, the one whose example we are called to follow, the one who is the ultimate intercessor, as it states in Romans 8:34 “he was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us’. To know Christ, means that you to are called to be an intercessor, to become aware – increasingly aware, increasingly in tune with the cries and cracks of a broken world, of damaged hearts, of powers and principalities that seek to destroy but with the knowledge that all can be overcome with the blood of the lamb, the power of Jesus and the presence of the Holy Spirit.

I want to encourage you this week to build time and space to pray, to be willing to be the one who is willing to stand in the gap. In Church Dogmatics, the theologian Karl Barth says that when we intercede, ‘we are set at God’s side and lifted up to him and therefore to the place where decisions are made in the affairs of his government’. We are called by Jesus himself to pray on behalf of the world – what an awesome honour this is.