I’m a very keen photographer. I got my first serious camera in 2007, but it is only in the last five years that I’ve been really, really serious, starting with an invitation from Nikon to join a photography workshop in Iceland. In a matter of days, I went from “that looks interesting, but….”, on to: “I can’t miss an opportunity like this”.
That moment was the beginning of a snowball effect. In a completely new avenue of life, I rediscovered what I should have known without having to think about it. It takes a mix of learning, experience and opportunity to achieve full potential, whatever it is that you are doing. Without being too immodest, I’m pleased to say that I’ve captured some truly amazing landscape photographs, the best of which are a daily reminder of the astonishing beauty in the world. I also know that there is still more potential to be grasped, and much more to be learnt.
When matched to the words of hymns, some of the more stunning landscapes help draw us into the inspiration and power of the words, especially at a time when we are unable to sing them with our usual Methodist fervour.
It never ceases to amaze me that after hours of reflection and thoughtful preparation for a service, there are still occasions when the spirit touches me afresh as a preacher, right in the middle of leading worship. God speaks in heart stopping moments of inspiration and wonder, even at the moment of delivery.
As our opening hymn, I’d chosen to play a beautiful recording of Servant King (Singing the Faith 272), with a different backdrop for each verse. As I reflected on the words and images, I realised more than ever, how privileged I was to be able to share snapshots of the beauty of creation whilst declaring This is OUR God. The milky way captured in California, the aurora from Norway, sunsets from New Zealand and Canada and a lily pond from Mauritius: just a few of the far flung places in which I’d captured glimpses of the glory of God.
Those thoughts multiplied as we moved from the opening hymn, to the prayer of adoration celebrating that inspiration, developing into our prayer of confession, as I silently lamented the cancellation of my tour of Patagonia planned for last April, and still on tenterhooks for the rescheduled trip next April. Just as God’s glory is to be found in every corner of His world, so too the tragedy of the Covid-19 pandemic is as ubiquitous. It’s incubation and viral transmission sustained because of our shameful lack of care and concern for the very beauty we had been celebrating. Its impact being felt the most in those places where, in complacency, our leaders stood on their own tower of babel, as self-appointed conquerors and masters of creation, rather than its stewards and servants.
This is our God, the SERVANT King, who calls us now to follow him, to bring our lives as a daily offering of worship! So! Let us learn how to serve, for it is Christ, we’re serving.