Blessed are the eyes that see Jesus’ presence
Dear Friends,
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
This month begins in the World Church with Candlemas on Sunday 2nd February.
Every year Candlemas reminds us of what happened when Jesus was presented in the temple in Jerusalem by his mother Mary and Joseph as per Jewish religious custom. On that day Simeon, an old man guided by the Spirit, and a prophet Anna were waiting in the temple to see the Messiah. Simeon recognised the child Jesus and praised God, and sang a song. ‘Jesus was a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to the people of Israel’. Anna also praised God and spoke about the child Jesus to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. Those who understood Jesus were able to rejoice in the temple.
From Luke’s Gospel, we can understand Jesus’ ministry. He sent 70 people to do mission, and as they returned back they were rejoicing because the demons submitted to them. But Jesus said to them “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!” Regardless of our age, we can see Jesus’ presence in our midst. We have more opportunities to see Jesus’ presence even today in the vulnerability of children too and to share His love and care in our society and elsewhere in the world. I understand today over three and a half million children live in poverty in the UK. They are vulnerable, disadvantaged and need to be taken care of by us in the UK. In other countries in the world also children are the invisible and voiceless sufferers either along with their parents in the family or deliberately vulnerable, disadvantaged and abused due to other existing situations in the society.
LTCC’s ‘Children in Need’ project to support children in Sri Lanka is still welcoming every one of us to get involved in being with children in Sri Lanka in the process of their different stages of development in their life journey. Even a small effort may bring Christ-like witness to the care of vulnerable children.
This month I am leading a group of 38 pilgrims to the Holy land from 16th Feb to 23rd Feb. This is an all-age, multilingual, multicultural, inter-denominational and international group. Five of them are young people. Your continuous prayers for this pilgrimage are much appreciated.
I remind and invite you all to begin our Lenten journey with a joint Service at River Court Methodist Church on Wednesday 26th Feb at 8:00 pm and to regularly attend the five Lent studies during this year’s Lent. Please approach your Prayer Group Co-ordinators for more details on this.
May God bless you all in this new month!
In His Service
Revd Jessie Anand, Minister, LTCC 1st February 2020