   ... 
ANNA:  Hello and welcome to our 
final morning here of Virtually
Keswick Convention, great to 
have you with us wherever you 
are
joining us from.  We have 
enjoyed your comments coming in 
from
all places far and wide, Peru to
Perth shirr, here are a few we
have picked up.
JOHN:  Lovely one from Spain, 
watching from Valencia, enjoying
the stream there.
ANNA:  Derwent - our new Herd is
joining us for his first Bible
reading.  Interested in the 
pastry and coffee as well.
JOHN:  From the Rushton's.  Our 
granddaughters joined us,
first
convention was as a 4 months old
and met her husband here,.
ANNA:  Who would have thought, 
meeting husbands and wives.
I'd like to thank my husband for
coming to the garden to enjoy
Keswick, happy an verse I, lots 
of you experiencing in your
gardens.
JOHN:  It is the final day, our 
banquet in the word of God
continues, as part of this 
morning, we will declare God's 
word
together in song, it is great 
been having EMU with us, today
Christopher Ash, what a blessing
it is to have a saviour who
wept.  Then after that, we will 
have our seminar, today's
seminar fascinating, a number of
people thinking about,
rethinking how to do church in 
light of the fact that we can't
meet as we once did.  Stick 
around for that.  Let's take a
moment to pray.
Father we come to you this 
morning and acknowledge that we 
are
needy people in a needy world 
that we are broken people in a
broken world.  That we are 
sinful people in a sinful world.
Fathers we have so many 
blessings in this life but all 
too
aaware of the heartache and sin 
that mars so many lives.  Praise
you, we have a saviour who wept 
and shed his blood on the cross
that we might weep no more.  
Help us to grasp afresh or maybe
even for the first time what it 
means that Jesus is the hope of
the world.  In His name we pray.
Amen.
ANNA:  Amen.
JOHN:  Come those whose joy is 
morning son and those weeping
through the night, come those 
who tell of battles won and 
those
struggling in the fight.  May 
this next song be an 
encouragement
to us all.
ANNA:  One heart, one voice oh 
church of Christ rejoice, that 
is
one of the things I am really 
missing this year, the church
gathered together and singing 
with one voice in praise of God,
hopefully we have all been 
lifting our voices from shore to
shore, maybe next year we will 
be able to be here together
singing praises to God our King.
JOHN:  God willing, talking of 
next year, for a normal Keswick
Convention, takes over 650 
volunteers, it is a lot of 
people. 
Next year, the website for 
applications for next year is 
open so
you can apply now to volunteer 
if you would love to.  Either
volunteer to be part of the 
welcome team or kids and youth 
team
or something in the background 
which is just as vital.  For the
full list of all the things you 
can do, if you wanted to
volunteer, go to the Keswick 
Ministries website and found out
how you can volunteer and sign 
up if you want to.
ANNA:  In a moment we will hear 
about great resources to keep
you going throughout the year, a
number of devotionals, as well
as books on Christian living.  
First Jonny Carswell has
recommendations to keep us 
refreshed in the gospel truth.
JONATHAN:  In Psalm 6 the 
Psalmist cries out to God and 
say, I
am faint!  If we have gone 
through a time of suffering or 
grief
we have known that feeling for 
ourselves, we want to recommend
some books specifically going to
help people who are walking
through that time of feeling 
faint.  The first one is written
by
Colin Smith and I had a chance a
couple of days ago to speak
with Colin about his book, for 
all who grieve.
JONATHAN:  Colin thanks for 
joining us, you have written a 
book,
for all who grieve, includes 
case studies, real-life stories
that happened in your church, 
tell us a little bit about that.
COLIN:  Well there was a couple 
in our congregation, who
experienced the tragic and 
sudden loss of their son, after 
I
walked them through the funeral 
and the early stages of grief, I
asked them if they would be 
interested in meeting with other
couples who had gone through the
same experience.  Within a week
we had in our front room a 
gathering of couples who all had
in
common the loss of a child and I
can hardly begin to explain
what that experience was like, 
as they shared what they had 
gone
through and going through still 
and began to open the Book of
Lamentations.
JONATHAN:  You preached through 
that in your church, tell us why
the Book of Lamentations, why 
does this speak into these
situations?
COLIN:  God has given us a book 
of the Bible lamentations, about
grief sorrow and loss, I have 
been a pastor for many years, I
had never preached a series on 
the Book of Lamentations, I
thought, why not?  This is 
something that every person
experiences loss in multiple 
ways and God has given us an 
entire
book of the Bible that speaks to
that, when we grieve, this
brings together some of the 
stories of the people within the
group and great themes of 
lamentation that speak to every
experience of loss and all of us
through that multiple times in
the course of our lives,.
JONATHAN:  When we are wearied 
and burdened, it is hard to turn
to God's word, that is where we 
find healing,  Tumbling Skies,
this is designed for those who 
are in dark times mentally or
spiritually, these are wonderful
gems that will fix our eyes on
the God of the Bible, lift our 
spirits by the renewing of our
mind and transform us to bring 
us from dark times into as it
were, the morning.  I have used 
them on numerous he cases, I
recommend to you.  The next one 
is Keswick, persevere.  These
are both designed to help people
going through hard times get
into God's word.  If you buy 
those two devotions, Colin's 
group
for all who grieve, should be  
22, but we are doing the 3 for
 9.99 if you are weary and 
burdened, turn to God's word and
rejoice in all that he has done 
for you.
Excellent Bible teaching is at 
the heart of Keswick Ministries
not just at our convention each 
summer but throughout the year. 
Through books and digital 
resources, this Bible teaching 
is
accessible to everyone.
I am Elizabeth McQuoid.  It is 
my pleasure to be able to
introduce to you our growing 
range of resources.  All 
designed
to encourage us to love and live
for Christ in his world.
We have a number of different 
series you can plug into.  Our
food for the journey 30 day 
devotionals, and  365 edition 
provide
food for your soul.  Keswick 
speakers written theme books on 
a
wide range of foundational 
issues to help us grow as 
disciples. 
For individuals and small-groups
our Bible study guides help us
dig deep into God's word and our
yearbooks give a snapshot of
the teaching given each year at 
the convention.  For 2020 we
have 3 new devotionals, joy, 
persevere and pray.  Each one is
an
opportunity to look at what the 
Bible says about a particular
theme.  A good friend of the 
convention Audrey, says how she 
has
enjoyed the joy, food for the 
journey book.
God wants us to have joy, 
unspeakable, full of glory.  
This book
of daily readings will ignite 
the flame of joy in your heart. 
Helped me and it isn't just 
about circumstances - it is 
about
knowing God and delighting in 
him.  I love this book, I hope 
you
will too!
In addition to our books we have
a wealth of digital material,
go to the website and you will 
find our talks to listen to or
download.  You can watch 
previous Keswick Convention 
meetings on
Clayton TV or packages on memory
sticks, CD's and DVD's, and
music by essential Christian.  
We would love you to subscribe 
to
our YouTube channel, find the 
talks and the full programme of
this year's Virtually Keswick 
Convention.  One other one is 
our
launch to podcasts.
We have 2, Keswick Convention 
podcasts, interviews with 
speakers
in the lead up to the 
convention, it is a mix of 
testimony,
theology and reflection.
Then our second podcast, talks 
given over the last 25 years of
the convention and especially 
chosen to be helpful in the
present time.  Both podcasts are
available on iTunes and Spotify
as well as your favourite 
podcasting apps.  Enjoy.
We have a lot of resources 
available.  Our prayer is that 
these
materials would inspire and 
encourage us throughout the 
year,
strengthening our walk with the 
Lord from one convention to the
next.
JOHN:  My goodness, what an 
absolute treasure trove of Bible
teaching, I will be making the 
most of that, download a talk 
and
listen to it as you are doing 
the shopping or going for a jog 
or
doing the gardening, whatever is
helpful for you.  The website
is the place to go to, find the 
resources, to find out more
about the books mentioned.
Now the next song.
In Psalm 103 we read praise the 
Lord my soul!  All my innermost
being praise his holy Lord.  
Praise the Lord my soul and 
forget
not all his benefits.  We are 
going to sing his praises 
together
now, please would you join us.
ANNA:  We come now to our time 
in the word and today Martin
Ayers will be reading to us from
Psalm 6 he is a pastor of a
church in Glasgow and  at 
Keswick Ministries we are keen 
to
resource the church, they have 
been coming to Keswick for a
number of years now, we asked 
him, how has it helped?
MARTIN:  We have coming for a 
few years, we find it a great
environment, brilliant to be in 
the surroundings of the north
lakes we can have a holiday in a
great location and also find
the spiritual refreshment from 
the Keswick Convention, we are
thankful for the children and 
youth ministry and the way that
has been of huge benefit to our 
kids and the chance to be part
of something bigger.  We also 
find the convention is a good
place to commendator families in
our church and to people who
would consider being part of the
team and being trained and
equipped to serve in the summer 
but in a way that from the
convention can be brought back 
to local church life.  So we
think it is a great place to 
step away from our coal face of
ministry and be on holiday, but 
be spiritually refreshed by the
teaching and the surroundings.
ANNA:  Some words from Psalm 
119.  Teach me Lord the way of 
your
decrees, that I may follow it to
the end.  Give me understanding
so I may keep your law and obey 
it with all my heart.  Direct me
in the path of your commands for
there I find delight.  Lord use
your servants Martin and 
Christopher that by the power of
your
spirit, you might do this work 
in us today.  Amen.
JOHN:  Amen.
MARTIN:  The Bible reading is 
Psalm 6.  Psalm 6.  (On screen)
CHRISTOPHER:  Well good morning 
on this Friday morning.  I want
to speak to you from a Psalm 
which is full of tears every 
night
I flood my bed with tears.  I 
have been thinking quite a bit
recently about the sadness that 
sin brings into the world, the
sheer depth of sorrow and it 
maybe just because I am getting
older or maybe it is the 
lockdown and the race riots and 
the
troubles.  I find myself 
thinking about this more.  I 
imagine a
number of you watching this, you
will have on your hearts those
dears struggling with 
debilitating illness, life 
threatening
sickness the dull pain of broken
marriages and the sadness of
relationships that break, the 
tears of the childless, the
weeping of the bereaved, the 
aching emptiness of those left
behind by the suicide, the razor
sharp sword of a
false
accusation, the fearful tears of
a break down.  All manner of
things make us sad.  Sometimes I
imagine like me as you think
about these things and you pray 
and you weep.  Psalm 6, if that
is you, Psalm 6 will bring you 
hope because Jesus weeps. 
Psalm 6 will take you by the 
hand and bring you to a place of
confidence and even joy in the 
midst of tears.  For all sorts 
of
links with psalms 1 to 5, Psalm 
1, the one who loves God's love
is going to prosper, Psalm 2, 
the King, the Messiah, the Son 
of
God is going to rule the world. 
From Psalm 3, 4, 5 we are in
pressure and enemies and 
distress and difficulties and 
the
marker of Psalm 6.  All of that 
is still there.  The pressure,
the distress the difficulties of
God's King, but the mark of
Psalm 6 is sadness.  It feels 
very sad at the beginning.  Yet
most wonderfully in Psalm 6 the 
sadness will lead to gladness. 
So come with me, if you will to 
the first of what are
traditionally known as the 7 
penitential psalms.  It has been
said that the Psalms give us a 
window into the human soul of
Jesus.  I think that is true, 
the gospels give us occasional
glimpse into how he feels his 
sorrow or confidence or joy, but
not very often do we see his 
inner life.  But the Psalms 
throw
open the shutters and enable us 
to see and to feel something of
how Jesus feels in his full 
humanity on earth.
So come with me into this 
extraordinarily intense psalm. 
Psalm 6 has two really big echos
in the New Testament and the
first is this: near the 
beginning of the Psalm David 
says "my
soul is greatly troubled" you 
may remember if you are a Bible
reader that in John's gospel in 
Chapter 12 in the shadow of the
cross, the Lord Jesus says my 
soul is greatly troubled.  That 
is
an echo of psalms like this and 
other psalms where similar
things are said.  We will come 
to the other echo later because
it is very striking.
I want to take verses 1 to 3 to 
start with and I want you to
come with me to feel the weight 
of God's wrath.  So, we don't
know quite what was going on in 
David's life at this point.  He
talks about foes in Verse 7 and 
been prominent in the other
psalms as well.  He had plenty 
of enemies, we don't know 
exactly
when or where this was.  We do 
know he feels under the anger of
God.  "Oh Lord rebuke me not in 
your anger or discipline me in
your wrath" those words anger 
and wrath, they are words that 
are
used elsewhere in the Old 
Testament, Deuteronomy 29 about 
the
destruction of Sodom and 
Gomorrah, they are strong and 
hot
words.  I think I mentioned, I 
think yesterday I have been
working with Steve Midgley about
anger in the Bible, what I
didn't say then is when you read
through the Bible looking for
anger, you find that the 
majority of references to anger 
are
actually speaking about the 
anger of God.  And David 
certainly
understands that.  David 
understands that all the 
troubles we
experience on earth have their 
origin in the wrath of God.  So
let me just ask a question to 
help us to get into this: how do
you respond when something goes 
wrong?  It maybe a trivial
thing, maybe caught in a traffic
jam or a washing machine
broking down.  But of course it 
maybe serious, maybe bullying in
the workplace, maybe a life 
threatening illness, break up of
a
marriage, dementia, losing 
someone dear.  Many of you will 
be
experiencing these things and 
more but the question is, how do
you respond when something 
happens?  I know for myself 
sometimes
I grumble.  I complain about the
government, about the person
who has rung me from the doctors
and always someone to blame. 
Sometimes I try to be stoical.  
I read about a journalist, he
says, I have to deal with the 
cards I have been dealt, 
sometimes
we internalise it, bottle it out
and it feeds depression or
mental instability.  David does 
something we rarely do, he
understands that every mishap, 
everything that goes wrong in 
the
world happens because we are 
sinners in a world under God's
righteous judgment and curse.  
Not always of course particular
difficulties from particular as 
I understand sometimes but not
always but that is the big 
picture, Romans Chapter 5 says 
sin
came into the world and then 
death came into the world 
through
sin and all the shadow of death,
all the troubles that we
experience from that and David 
understands that.  Now, you and 
I
need to take this seriously, 
sometimes it is not uncommon 
really
for people to say, I don't 
really like this idea of an 
angry
God, I was reading a review of a
book, by an American pastor and
I think the book was called 
"sinners in the hands of a 
loving
God" intended as a corrective to
the very famous sermon in the
18th century, 1741 of the famous
American pastor theologian,
Jonathan Edwards, sinners in the
hands of an angry God.  This
was saying, I don't want an 
angry God, but a loving one 
instead.
Article 1 of the prayer book, 
God is without body part or
passions.  God is without parts 
and that is an old fashioned way
of saying that you can't 
construct God in your mind, from
preexistent constituent parts of
like theological Lego, you
can't take a bit of this and 
that and put them together and 
make
God the shape you think he ought
to be.  But it is a fundamental
thing is, - you can't separate
God's attributes from his being.
So God doesn't have love as a 
quality; he is love.  Not that
there is an essential Godness of
God and stick love on.  He
doesn't have light, he is light.
He doesn't have holiness, he
is holy.  Therefore because his 
attributes are who God is, you
can't separate them.  His 
holiness is a loving - his love 
is a
wrath for holy love, his 
holiness is a - you can't 
disassemble
God and put him together again 
with the Lego parts that you
like.  In particular God's 
anger, his righteous anger, so
different from our anger is 
inseparable from his goodness.  
If
God were not angry we sill and 
injustice and wrong, God could
not be good.  If he didn't hate 
evil, he couldn't be love.  If
he didn't burn with fury, he 
couldn't be holy.  David feels
that, he feels the pain of being
under sin.  There is nothing
particular in this psalm that 
David confesses, but he feels 
the
wrath of God and he really feels
it verses 2 and 3, "be gracious
to me Verse 2.  Heal me, my 
bones, my inward strength is
troubled, my soul also, my, the 
core of my being.  Greatly
troubled.
He feels the pain of it and he 
cries oh Lord, Verse 3, "how
long?"  It is worth reflecting 
on the how long.  There is 
always
something slow about suffering, 
one old writer says that every
experience of the anger of God 
is a kind of fore taste of the
eternity of hell.  That is why 
it feels long.  You and I know 
in
experience that our pleasures 
whiz past us past, happy days
gone, in sorrows, minutes feel 
like hours, days feel like 
years. 
Those minutes waiting for an 
ambulance, the hour in the 
doctors
waiting room, the anticipation 
of a difficult conversation with
a boyfriend or girlfriend.  It 
goes on and on.  How long?  
David
understands and he takes this to
God, he understands that every
death is because of sin.  Every 
disease is because of sin, every
pandemic is because of sin.  
Often not individual sin but 
still
sin.  Today's mishap, tomorrow's
set back, yesterday's sadness. 
Sin lies before them, behind 
them all and behind sin the
righteous anger of God.  David 
gets that.  Most wonderfully
Jesus knew that.  My soul is 
greatly troubled.  Jesus had no
sins of his own, Jesus was 
sinless one, carrying the burden
of
our sin, the troubled heart, the
sorrow of the sin for whom he
died.  He had no sin of his own,
but he felt the burden of our
sin in its weight and sadness.  
My soul is greatly troubled.
It is reflecting that the wrath 
of God hurt Jesus more than
God's displeasure can hurt us in
this life.  Perhaps I can
illustrate this with a silly 
illustration, imagine in a 
family,
you have a rebellows child and a
loyal child.  The Father says
to the difficult child, you have
done wrong.  The difficult and
rebellious child doesn't care 
very much, learned to be 
hardened
towards his Father's discipline.
But when the Father says to
the loyal and obedient child you
have disappointed me, tears
come into their eyes.  If you 
take that little illustration 
and
then extrapolate it to the 
sinless heart of the Lord Jesus 
you
begin to grasp that as one old 
writer put it, the more tender
the heart, the deeper the pain 
and Jesus in his perfection,
innocence, love for the Father, 
sensitivity, he feels the burden
of the wrath of God with 
infinite agony.  My soul is 
troubled,
troubled.    Martin Luther says 
of this psalm, Christ cries out
for his people as if he were the
one and he was experiencing
what happened to them because of
his exceeding love.  The Psalm
is the lamenting voice of our 
loving Jesus who went there for
us.
Feel the weight of God's wrath, 
that's the beginning.
Then second, Verses 4, 5, 6 and 
7.  Weep for sins as David wept
and as Jesus wept.  David begins
to put his troubles into prayer
Verse 4.  Turn O Lord.  The 
Bible talks about two kinds of
turning.  There is a turning of 
people, men and women turning to
God in repentance, turn away 
from living for self, and turn 
to
God in repentance and faith.  
Then turning of God to us and, 
the
turning of God to us has got to 
happen first in a way, David
understands that, he says "turn 
O God, O Lord" there is a
paradox because in ray praying 
turn O Lord, he is beginning to
turn.  He know that God needs to
turn if he is to have any
chance of turning.  I don't know
if you have ever tried to turn,
to repent, New Year's day, New 
Year's resolution, I will turn, 
I
will be a different person, a 
new man, a new woman, I will 
turn. 
Augustine, the church Father 
what was a pastor all his 
working
life as a Christian.  He said we
find it a tough uphill struggle
to twist ourself from the 
earthbound desires.  You try 
turning! 
You can't do it.  You haven't 
got it within yourself to turn
from living to self.  You need 
God to turn to you and so do I.
The Lord Jesus with no sins of 
his own, he turns to the Father,
turn Father, deliver my life, 
save me for the sake of your
steadfast life.  Verse 5.  No 
remembrance of you, nobody 
giving
you praise, the reasoning is 
that, we exist on this earth in
order to praise the God who 
gives us life and everything 
good
and worthwhile in life and if I 
die says David and stay dead,
you won't be praised as you 
ought to be praised.  So he is
praying for resurrection.  But 
then in Verses 6 and 7 he weeps
and he weeps and he weeps.  
Verse 6, it is very intense I am
weary with my moaning.  We had 
that in the last psalm.  
Moaning. 
Every night I flood my bed with 
tears.  It is very strong,
literally something like I cause
my bed to swim around the room. 
It is a sort of extraordinary 
amount of weeping that causes a
flood.  I drench or even desolve
my couch with my weeping, tears
and tears.  Verse 7, my eye 
wastes away because of grief.  
The
eye, in Bible imagery, as in 
ours, the eyes are kind of index
of
life isn't it?  We take about 
something having bright eyes, or
a
twinkle in the eye!  A twinkle 
in your father's eye, the index
of life but now it wastes away. 
Sometimes you see someone who
has been sick for a while and 
see dull eyes that somebody is
suffering and some of us I am 
sure watching this will know 
what
it is to sit by the bedside and 
see the empty eyes of one who
has died.  David says "I am 
nearly at that, my eye wastes 
away
because of grief it grows weak."
One old church writer Calvin, 
wrote that it was as if David 
sees
hell open to receive him and the
mental distress that this
produces exceeds all other 
sorrows.
David feels that.  The wonderful
thing is that Jesus weeps. 
Jesus who lived on this earth to
bear the shadow of death and
then death itself for sinners 
who came to rescue a people, he
wept, he wept at the grave of 
Lazarus his friend.  He wept 
over
Jerusalem, he was overwhelmed 
with sorrow in the garden of
Gethsemane, he prayed the letter
to the Hebrews tells us, with
loud cries he wept and wept and 
wept.  I don't think we begin to
know how much Jesus wept for 
sins.
So let me ask you, as I ask 
myself, have you ever wept for 
sins? 
Carolyn and I were meeting the 
other day with a couple of
friends and we were talking and 
praying about a very sad thing,
a Christian fallen into doing 
and something wrong and it was a
sad and a grievous thing.  We 
noticed tears in the eye cans of
one of our friends., she had 
tears in her eyes because of the
sheer sadness of sin and it was 
a touching thing and moving
thing but it was a right thing 
that grief, to walk in the
footsteps of Jesus.  So let me 
ask you, perhaps, you have been
haunted by the memory of some 
sin in your own life.  Perhaps
long ago, perhaps wasted years 
before you come to Christ and
looked back in sadness, 
thinking, I wish I didn't waste 
those
years, or something said that 
you deeply regret or some lost 
or
some greed or malice or deceit. 
But the memory ways heavily on
you "I so wish I hadn't said 
that or seen that or done that" 
how
can God love me?
It is a good thing to weep for 
our tears, one old writer says
that Satan can better endure his
own fire than our tears. 
Because he sees a man or woman 
weeping; not just because of the
consequences of our sins, but we
are all sad about that.  But
sees a man or woman weeping for 
their sins and he knows he is
losing them, it is a
good thing.  Scottish writer - 
if you have
felt anguish of spirit under a 
sense of deserved wrath, let it
cease when you find the man of 
sorrows presenting all his
anguish as the atonement for 
your soul.  There is hope 
because
Jesus wept.
In a lovely old hymn, he took my
sins and sorrows and made them
his very own, bore the burden of
suffering and died alone. 
Think of Jesus weeping, he was 
weeping for our sins.  It is a
good thing to be grieved by sin 
as John a church Father says if
you don't weep here, you will 
weep after death but to no good
purpose.  You weep here for your
sins, you trust in Jesus, there
is hope.  You harden yourself 
here and it is one day it is too
late.
So Verses 1 to 7 in the Psalm 
are very, very sad.  There is a
deep sorrow and many tears.  If 
you were to set this Psalm to
music, Verses 1 to 7 you would 
have to set them a minor key,
might have a flute or something 
like that acompanying them, it
would be sad.  But in Verse 8 
there is a sudden transition and
suddenly in a major key with 
confidence and trumpets 
sounding. 
Verses 8 to 10 we felt the 
weight of God's wrath, 
understood
just begun to understand that is
why it is a difficult world,
that is why the sadness in the 
world.  We have begun to weep 
for
sins as Jesus wept.  But in 
verses 8 to 10 and you and I if 
we
believe in Jesus, we can be sure
of Jesus - listen to the King
speaking in Verse 8.  The King 
has wept for sinners, Verse 8
"depart from me you workers of 
evil" if you are a Bible reader 
I
wonder if that reminds you of 
anything?  On that day says 
Jesus,
near the end of the sermon on 
the mount, the son of man will 
say
to people who thought they were 
insiders, depart from me, all
you who do evil.  You get it 
again in Luke Chapter 13, depart
from me all you workers of evil.
It is a clear echo of this
psalm.  The King says to those 
who trouble him, depart from me,
go, scram!  Away!  Forever!
It is a paradox that at the end 
of this psalm Jesus who felt the
anger of God against sinners now
expresses that anger against
inpenitent sinners, in his human
nature he felt the wrath and
divine nature in judgment.  He 
knows he can say this because he
knows that God hears his 
prayers.  Three times Verse 8 
and 9 the
Lord has heard the sound of my 
weeping.  The Lord has heard my
plea, Verse 9.  The Lord accepts
my prayer, ask of me Psalm 2. 
I will give you the nations, the
King who prays, weeps for sins
and for sinners.
One day at the end of time, the 
son of man will speak these
words of confident authority to 
all who will not turn from sin
and so he is sure Verse 10 all 
my enemies will be ashamed and
greatly troubled.  There is 
greatly troubled, earlier in the
Psalm my soul is troubled says 
the King.  Greatly troubled.
Here is the thing, either 
troubled for you and I, or at 
the end
of time you and I will be 
greatly troubled, when we bear 
the
penalty.  They will turn back, 
put to shame in a moment, we had
that in Psalm 2.  Wrath is 
quickly kindled, one day it will
happen and then too late.
So as we get to the end of this 
intense psalm, I want to give
you as I give myself 3 things to
learn from it.  First of all
there is a warning, in the New 
Testament Jesus says "depart 
from
me" he doesn't say them to 
wicked outsiders.  He says them 
both
in Matthew 7 and Luke 17, he 
says them to sniders, Lord, we 
did
thing in your name, we are 
insiders, he said them to people
who
were in church but not in 
Christ.  So they were in a 
Christian
church, they thought they were 
insiders, perhaps they came to
the Keswick Convention but 
weren't truly in Christ.  They 
didn't
really turn from sins and feel 
sorry for sins.  And so Jesus
says, be warned, one day those 
words will be heard.  Depart 
from
me and when they are heard it 
will be too late.  That is the
first thing of warning.  There 
maybe a warning, he
is giving you
opportunity to repent and 
return, you need to do so as a 
matter
of you are  urgency.
We need to share the longing 
that, we need to shed the 
longing
that - we grieve, we know it 
will be there until the day of
resurrection, we long to be away
from sin.  So depart from me,
maybe in this life, there are 
times when we need to say, we 
need
to keep our distance from evil. 
We are going to be in the
world, we are going to love 
those in the world.  We are 
going to
care for those in the world and 
we are not going to share their
values and we will say depart 
from me in that sense. 
Particularly in the Christian 
church, because when things are
hypocritical and wrong get into 
the Christian church, it is
important as Christian churches 
we exercise discipline and
church discipline is really 
saying depart from us as an echo
of
those final words depart from 
me.  Church discipline is 
saying,
if you are not prepared to 
repent, you need to leave the
fellowship of Christian church 
and we pray you will repent that
you maybe restored to fellowship
before it is too late.  There
is that depart from us, it is an
anticipation from the depart
from me, the challenge to be 
free from sin as best as we can 
by
God's grace.
But the main thing we learn is 
comfort.  It is a wonderful
longing in a world that is full 
of tears, to know that the day
will come when the son of man, 
the Lord Jesus Christ will say
definitively, depart from me, 
you workers of evil.  At that
point all causes of sin and 
therefore all causes of 
suffering
and tears and therefore 
everything that causes trouble 
and
sadness in this life will be 
banished forever.  And there is
great hope in that.  Jesus who 
weeps for sins will gather into
his kingdom every man, every 
woman, every child who has been
grieved by sin.  Has begun to 
learn with this Psalm to weep 
for
sins.  And then with him he 
shall hear with wonder and joy 
the
final exclusion from the new 
heavens and new earth.  What a
wonderful day that will be.  
Free from sickness and pain.
Friends I will give a pause, 
there is something weird about
stopping at Psalm 6.  I am 
preaching Psalm 7 later in the 
summer
and I could keep going, another 
psalm a day, only we would be
going for a while until we got 
to 150 but, I hope that with me,
these psalms have been some 
blessing to you as they have 
been to
me.  Let's be quiet for a moment
and as we reflect on hope
because Jesus rules.  Hope 
because Jesus has saved, hope 
because
Jesus slept and Jesus is 
righteous and today hope because
Jesus
wept.  Let's have a pause and 
then I will finish with a very 
old
prayer, I think it is somehow 
appropriate.  So just a moment 
of
quiet before we do that.
We know O Lord Jesus Christ that
while you were on earth, you
did every night water your couch
with tears for us.  Grant us so
to repent for our 
iniquities, so we may hear 
after, where all
tears wiped from all eyes and we
ask it for your name's sake. 
Amen.
ANNA:  These psalms have been a 
real blessing for us, as we
contemplate God's tears over 
sin, we move to the cross and 
the
deadly cost borne by God's son, 
he loves us that much that he
was willing to give of himself 
for our sake.  The magnitude of
that love is quite 
incomprehensible.  Well we are 
going to sing
with EMU now my song is love 
unknown.
JOHN:  And that brings us to the
end of our Bible readings for
this week.  Now I think I speak 
for us all when I say a huge
thanks to Christopher Ash for 
explaining God's word so 
helpfully
for us this week.  I found it 
encouraging, the way I have been
left for something to think 
about for my own discipleship 
but he
has given us a rich picture of 
our saviour.
ANNA:  It doesn't end there, we 
have our kids club at 11:15 and
then our youth section, go to 
the website and click on the red
or green tiles.  If you want 
someone to pray 
for you, email
prayer@keswickministries.org 
where a prayer team is waiting 
to
pray with you.
JOHN:  Thank you to those who 
have given financially this 
week. 
Please go to the website and 
donate.
ANNA:  In a moment our coffee 
break after which our final
seminar session, today something
a bit different for you, a
panel discussion on the topic of
the local church, hope in and
through the local church.  
Adrian Reynolds is going to be
chairing it and he will be 
joined by Efrem Buckle, Sonia
Crossley and David ham.  They 
will consider how things have
changed during lockdown and 
lessons learned.  There will be
question and answer after, with 
all the participants.  Mull over
those difficult issues and text 
in on the number below. 
Meanwhile, grab a cuppa and a 
biscuit and see you here at 
11:15.
JOHN:  Welcome back, so glad you
have decided to join us,
hopefully you have cake and 
something cool to refresh you, 
if
you are looking for hope hunters
or Keswick youth for kids, do
go over to the Virtually Keswick
Convention website, click on
the red and green tab and find 
all you need.
ANNA:  We have got something 
different for you today, we have
a
panel discussion on the theme of
hope in and through the local
church.  Adrian Reynolds, is 
going to be joined by Efrem 
Buckle,
Sonia Crossley and Robin Ham, 
all who work in different 
contexts
as they consider how the 
ministry has changed as a result
of
lockdown and what lessons can be
learned.  As previous days,
question and answer session 
after.  Do text in as you get
thinking of the questions.  Over
to you Adrian.
ADRIAN:  The ministry, to 
shepherd the flock.  So it 
doesn't
change but the context in which 
we exercise that ministries
changes and we have all 
experienced that and we continue
to
experience it.  We thought it 
would be great to interview 3
people ministering in different 
contexts, to ask them how to
exercise that goal, to learn 
from them, prompt some questions
and encouraged at the what the 
Lord is doing.  First of all,
Efrem.  Tell us about your 
yourself and the context you are
ministering in.
EFREM:  Hi, I am Efrem Buckle, I
aware two hats, firstly I am a
pastor of a church in Southeast 
London, in Lewisham, church
called Ecclesia, planted around 
16, 17 years ago.  We are based
on a small housing estate just 
in central Lewisham there.  My
other hat is working as Director
of training and mentoring for
London City Mission, which is a 
mission agency supporting the
church of London to reach those 
who are the least reached
communities in the city, so we 
have missionaries in virtually
every Borough working with 
churches, reaching out to the 
least
reached of 
the city.
ADRIAN:  Now you have been 
running live streams on a Sunday
morning, they are great at one 
level, but don't enable us to
connect well, what are some of 
the issues in terms of 
connecting
and how have you been addressing
those?
EFREM:  I guess working out how 
to do it.  We struggled with the
technology, hadn't done it 
before.  At first trying 
different
platforms, cameras etc, 
fundamentally we decided on 
having the
church as a kind of studio base,
where we would stream from and
then had the challenge of being 
able to connect with zoom.  The
more elderly within our 
congregation, found it difficult
to have
to download and app and set up 
an I diction and  ID and then 
put in a link. 
Then started YouTube, to make it
easier to access, to click on
one link and see it.  That had 
its detractions, wasn't the same
kind of feel of community among 
the church members, everybody
else could see who else was on, 
on zoom, but not on YouTube.  So
pro's and cons.  Especially 
trying to consider those who 
are,
don't have a smartphone maybe or
don't have a computer.  You
know, we have had to try and 
work hard at keeping in touch. 
Also on a pastoral level, the 
challenges of being able to
actually see people and get a 
really good sense of where they
are at rather than trying to 
achieve that through messages or
phone calls.  If somebody is in 
a difficult space and trying to
you know, remain out of reach, 
it is a lot easier for them to 
do
that and so, there have been the
odd occasion, where we have had
to pop around and see someone, 
these are some of the challenges
we have had to work through as 
far as that is carried.
ADRIAN:  I guess some groups are
isolated and continue be
under to the new rules, what are
your experience of helping to
reach and connect with those 
isolated groups Efrem?
EFREM:  Yes, that has been a 
real issue within the work of
London City Mission and the 
missionaries working around 
time. 
You have got missionaries who 
are used to frequenting care 
homes
and nursing homes and with the 
necessity for shielding, not 
been
able to have that access.  In 
many cases they have had to 
resort
to letter writing, whether by 
hand or computer.  Dropping the
letters through the door and 
using that as a means of staying
in
touch and cards.  There have 
been a few doorstep 
conversations,
where missionaries supporting 
Foodbanks and then having
conversations at the end of the 
path.  There are a couple of
missionaries who are working in 
Kings cross for example, working
with the street population 
there.  Normally a transient
community, connect with, in 
person, know the hang outs and 
so
on.  Many of them don't have 
smartphones and so on, so what 
they
have taken to doing, in addition
to making phone calls and
trying to connect that way.  
Some burning CD's with messages 
and
music and inspirational items 
that they can just put in their 
CD
player because they don't have 
access to the internet and
YouTube links and so on.  So it 
is meant some quite ingenious
creative approaches just like 
the those working with youth
groups and been doing on-line 
gaming tournaments, in doing 
that
they have had a short devotion 
whilst all the young people
connected with the headsets and 
facilitate the tournament and
then point towards a zoom Bible 
study and couple of our
missionaries have actually said 
they have had a really good
engagement from young people who
have actually connected with
the zoom Bible studies and found
that a really accessible way
for them to actually get 
involved in, in interacting with
the
Bible.  So yes, definitely 
seeing some hopeful signs there.
ADRIAN:  It is great it works.
EFREM:  Indeed.
ADRIAN:  Tell us about funerals,
they have had to be small, they
can be now up to 30 people in 
England.  It is different in
different country but tell us 
particularly about some of the
challenges that you see in terms
of helping people to grieve
well?
EFREM:  Yes, it has been 
particularly difficult.  In the 
black
community we have quite strong 
customs and traditions as it
relates to funerals and what 
happens in the time of 
bereavement
bereavement is very much a 
community experience and so
therefore, you know, for example
in the Caribbean community they
have the nine lights and 
fundamental people go around 
every
night once the person has 
passed, that will go up often 
until
the funeral.  In the time the 
support, there is prayers,
singing, reminiscing, lamenting,
people bring food and drinks
and help prepare for the funeral
etc and so that has been almost
totally eliminated by reason of 
Co-vid.  So it is not just the
attendance to the funeral or 
even the reception that is 
extended
to guests after the funeral but 
even leading up to the funeral
and so people have again tried 
to shift that to a remote
experience and all be it, you 
know, it is a fore substitute, 
it
has provided an outlet.  I think
one of the most common things I
have done is manage their 
expectations and to really come 
to
terms with the circumstances.  
Bereavement is difficult and
terrible at the best of times 
and that can be hard to take in
and come to terms with.  Let 
alone not being able to grieve 
in
the way you would.  Helping 
people to accept this is what it
is,
but you can prepare for a 
memorial service, where you can 
have a
more corporate sense of closure 
at the later date.  Even though
this is limited and restrictive,
you can come together when the
restrictions, in the hope that 
restrictions relaxed further
still and have something that is
more in keeping with what you
are used to.  About trying to 
find the glimpses of grace 
really
as it relates to the whole 
experience of bereavement.
ADRIAN:  Thank you that is 
really helpful.  That may have 
raised
questions for you about how you 
connect and we have got a live
Q&A at the end of the recorded 
sessions, we would love to 
answer
your questions, send in your 
questions if you have them.  Not
just called to connect with 
people but to care for them as 
well. 
I am delighted that Sonia has 
been able to join us, tell us
about yourself and the ministry 
that you have in Sheffield.
SONIA:  Hi I am in the west end 
of Sheffield, a pastoral worker
here, a team of us that do that,
my area of focus is developing
a biblical counselling ministry,
I do some biblical counselling
and building up a team of others
who are good at that too.  The
business of trying to connect 
the truths of God's word and the
gospel to the nitty-gritty of 
everyday's life.  The things 
that
people struggle with in normal 
circumstances and more.  We have
been busy,.
ADRIAN:  When lockdown began, 
did you put everything on-line 
or
was there a different strategy?
SONIA:  It has been a steep 
learning curve, we have learned 
a
lot.  The nature of counselling 
is that you are meeting in the
flesh, face-to-face and there is
a joy in that, I think some
people on our team have found 
that really easy to transitions
on-line to doing it via zoom or 
whatever.  They like it, less
distractions going on and get 
through it effectively.  Others
struggle.  We miss the nonverbal
kues, having those times where
you are looking away or 
concentrating on something else,
we
found it hard to stay focused 
for usually an hour and 20 
minutes
is what our sessions were 
before.  So yes, something that 
has
changed during this period, we 
have kind of recognised whether
you are on the receiving end or 
the giving end of this kind of
input.  You get fatigued and so 
we have tried to kind of
industrial it down to its 
barebones, what do we need to 
do, how
to make it efficient, whittle it
down to 45 minute sessions,
perhaps more streamlined, a bit 
more home work to reflect on
things where they are thinking 
about things, before they might
have done with us but now they 
are coming back with reflections
on that.  That has been 
interesting.  Then also just 
used the
opportunity to kind of develop a
way of dropping the counselling
word, perhaps making it easier 
for people just to be connected
up and have a conversation with 
that pastoral edge do it.  So
offered even one off phone calls
for people, where they can
phone and chat to someone, off 
load and know that someone will
pray for them.  We encourage our
team members to make sure they
pray at the end of the phone 
call, that can be followed up 
with
a repeat or one off session.  So
it has been exciting to see the
team kind of adapt for the new 
circumstances.
ADRIAN:  I guess some of that is
having to adapt and compromise
at some stage.  But will there 
be some of those things that you
will carry forward once
face-to-face?
SONIA:  I think short pastoral 
phone calls we weren't doing 
much
before but I think on both sides
there is a bigger uptake of
that.  I have got a variety of 
people with skill and experience
on the team.  Some would be 
reluctant to offer intense
counselling but are keen to have
a 20 minute phone call to chat
and listen and offer to pray 
with someone.  On the receiving
end, a lot of people are worried
about the counselling word. 
But to think, I will chat to 
someone, tell them what is going
on
in my life and know they are 
going to pray for me.  There has
been a big uptake of that, we 
will try and continue that 
beyond
this time.
ADRIAN:  Has lockdown given rise
to particular issues in
people's lives?
SONIA:  Yes, for sure, I think 
we have had a number of
surprises, but we have been 
surprised that folk who are 
perhaps
previously struggling with just 
the pressure of life, maybe it
was showing itself in issues 
like anxiety or depression, I 
think
some of them have found that 
actually lockdown has provided a
time of rest almost jumping off 
the conveyer belt of life and
having a chance to actually slow
down and take stock and it has
done them good.  I think others 
have found that actually, they
have now recognised they were 
running a bit fast before or
perhaps a bit overwhelmed with 
their own plans and like to be 
in
control and the whole issue of 
having that all snatched away 
has
actually raised new issues 
during this time.  So there has 
been
differences in that way.  I 
guess it is a biblical principle
isn't it that in times of 
pressure and stress, we get a 
bit
exposed.  God uses those times 
to bring to the surface things
that are rumbling in our hearts 
anyway, perhaps get a clearer
view of those in times of 
pressure.  Stuff comes out of us
and
it gives us an opportunity to 
grow in self-awareness, perhaps
just thinking through things 
like, what are we most fearful 
of? 
What kind of things in our plans
do we feel most 
thwarted in,
our deepest fears and longing 
exposed during this time.  Those
have come up.
ADRIAN:  Do you think that post 
lockdown is beginning to come
out of that, there will be 
additional issues coming to the
surface, I am thinking of 
repentance.
SONIA:  Yes I think so, one 
thing I have noticed, I am sure 
we
have, there is an intensity to 
our repentance on the domestic
fronts that has perhaps raised 
all sorts of interesting issues
that were perhaps rumbling along
before, that have been heated
up during this time and I think 
also people have been reluctant
to necessarily share what is 
really been going on behind 
closed
doors and so I think, we can 
often misread it as people 
involved
in pastoral ministry, things 
that might look fine at the 
moment,
I think we might find as people 
rejoin some sense of community
and come back into their 
community of church that 
actually we
need to be really good listeners
for the next few months, people
have a lot they want to off load
about and I think there will be
a real variety of experiences of
lockdown for some it will have
been perhaps the hardest time of
their lives and for others will
have sailed through quite 
enjoying a slightly slower pace.
We
will need to be superaware of 
just the fact that different
people experience things very 
differently and may well be a
tidal wave of emotions that 
people want to express and 
things
that have gone on, they suddenly
feel able to share and want to
share.  So, yes, I think trust 
will be an issue too.  You know,
I think on a health front we are
not going to be fully confident
that we are safe with each other
at any closeness and proximity,
I guess that translates to the 
deeper issues as well.  If we
can't trust each other to be 
physically close to, less likely
we
will be sharing at the deeper 
level too I think.
ADRIAN:  Thanks, perhaps some of
those issues of caring have
raised issues for you, again you
can send in questions and we
will do our best to get around 
some of those later on in the
seminar.  It is great we are 
joined with Robin Ham, Robin it 
is
great to have you with us, tell 
us about your context and where
you are serving the Lord.
ROBIN:  Thanks yes, we live in a
town called Barrow, in a town
southwest Cumbria, if you are 
coming to Keswick, exit at
junction 36 and keep on driving.
We came 5 years ago, to
explore planting a new church 
with the Church of England,
pioneer Curacy, it was from 
scratch and we have been going 2
and
a half years now, kind of 
average during that time maybe 
sort of
15 to 25 people that kind of 
size, as part of my role I 
colead a
kind of an informal network of 
churches from different
denominations, across town the 
Barrow Mission Community.
ADRIAN:  A lot of churches been 
thinking, how can we do things
on-line?  You had a completely 
different approach, tell us 
about
that and what happened as a 
result.
ROBIN:  Yes, people using the 
phrase, facing the same storm 
but
different boats, different 
situations, circumstances and I 
think
for us the boat we were in as a 
church was that we had had a
difficult 6 months previously, 
said good-bye to some key people
in the church moved away.  Only 
a small church anyway, kind of
struggling with the sense of 
critical mass, the building that
we
were renting, we were finding 
more and more difficult to use,
some of the ministry, becoming 
more limited.  So January,
February time we were thinking 
okay, what might we need to
radically change in order to do 
gospel ministry long-term?  So
for us, as the kind of the storm
came, the storm of Co-vid, and
lockdown, the boat we were in 
wasn't so much, how we keep
everyone going and keep the 
ministry plate spinning, but we 
have
got nothing to lose, nothing to 
lose.  People sometimes talk
about a kyros moment, a moment 
ripe for change, so for us, one
of the things we have been 
praying about and then exploring
over
the last couple of months 
whether it is the right time for
our
church and another church in the
town to consider becoming one. 
To consider kind of merging and 
joining together.  Because this
is a time where we are all 
throwing everything up in the 
air,
everything thrown in the air and
see where it lands.  Why not
throw the most fundamental of 
thing, the church and could we 
do
things differently, and going 
forward for the gospel.  In
ministry, the danger that your 
identity is brown up in the
ministry, you are involved in 
starting something and 
temptation
to think, this is my baby, 
vulnerable to think, what if the
future of the gospel isn't in 
this particular church under 
this
name but actually this is the 
right moment to think even 
beyond
that and so there is almost like
sense of, if not now, when?  I
don't want to pre-empt any of 
the conversations the two
conversations have on the 
ground, but it feels like you 
can
almost trace God's hand in this 
season and you feel, this is
actually the perfect time to 
think outside of the box.
ADRIAN:  That means you have had
space to think of new things
you could be doing, tell us what
they are and why you have done
them?
ROBIN:  I think in some senses 
it almost felt like a blank
canvas, had our Sunday 
gathering, which we wanted to 
sustain,
but one of the things that I was
conscious of earlier on, was
the way in which there was this 
sense of our lives being
disrupted, you know, all the 
routines and the rhythms that we
had were kind of going out of 
the window, you know, going to
work, church, you know, going to
the gym, coffee shop, the
school run.  It was all up in 
the air.  You can remember 
howdies
- how disorientating it felt, 
all the information  coming
through, interesting how new 
rhythms fell into place.  The 
clap
for carers and the 5:00 p.m. 
government briefings and Joe 
Wicks
exercise class.  We asked, how 
as Christians do we almost form 
a
new set of rhythms a new set of 
rhythms in this lockdown
landscape?  How we disrupt the 
disruption if you like with the
gospel of grace?  So one of the 
things I started doing was
Monday to Friday, I would kind 
of 1:30 p.m. Bible reflection on
Facebook live, encourage people 
to connect in and look at the
Bible.  We called it "brew and 
chew."  You had your brew and 
you
chewed on the word together.  We
did it at the start of the
afternoon.  That was a good slot
to draw people together.  There
was that sense of giving people 
a rhythm.  That was good for me
as a Christian in this strange 
landscape but the sense of
actually coming together and 
creating a new rhythm to live 
out
the gospel in the disrupted 
days.  Normally we would work
through a book of the Bible in 
that time.  Little by little,
often using material I had 
written previously, so low
maintenance in terms of prep 
time.  But one of the things we 
did
for 2 weeks, we looked at 
rhythms, gospel rhythms.  How to
live
out this kind of this holy 
disruption which is what we 
called
it.  So we used John Owen's idea
of a union with Christ,
something that doesn't change 
being the basis for our 
communion
with God, or kind of our daily 
walk and how we can kind of
create rhythms that help us live
out that daily walk.  So talked
about putting our hope in the 
rope of God's word, a time when
many people are feeling 
hopeless.  Framing our days with
prayer,
resists overwhelm with rhythms 
of rest, we talked about kind of
turning down the volume of this 
endless noise and information
and kind of making quiet spaces 
to be with God.
I think certainly again for me, 
it was important to kind of
spell that out and to kind of 
grow those rhythms and gospel
values in this new landscape.  
There is a quote I love by a
writer called Annie Dillard, how
we spend our days is how we
spend our lives.  I think it was
a really helpful kind of thing
to do for us as Christians to 
think through, how we spend our
days in lockdown?  How does the 
gospel shape our days?  Shape
our rhythms?  But I think for 
those looking in, it kind of
almost gave a concreteness to 
kind of a gospel perspective, to
a
grate perspective, to the good 
news of Jesus shaping your
perspective in this situation.
ADRIAN:  Thanks Robin, again if 
you want to raise some questions
perhaps prompted by some of the 
things you have heard Robin talk
about, send them along and we 
will do our best to answer them.
ANNA:  Thank you so much 
everybody, it is really great to
hear
how those different ministry 
areas have been affected by
lockdown life.  To begin to what
changes might take place as we
all emerge out of the other 
side.  We are delighted to have
everyone on the line with us 
now.  Hello to Adrian.
ADRIAN:  Hello, John and Anna,.
ANNA:  Where are you joining us 
from?
ADRIAN:  I am in market 
Harborough south of Leicester,.
ANNA:  I will hand you over to 
Adrian.
ADRIAN:  Thank you for leading 
us so well this week, we have
been blessed by your leadership,
thank you.  I have am joined by
Sonia and Efrem and Robin, thank
you for your time.  We have
done a quick costume change from
the recorded videos, this is a
short opportunity to catch up 
and follow on with some deeper
questions.  Efrem I want to 
start with you, a few people 
asking
questions about this and I have 
got a question about it too.  It
looks like live streams are here
to stay.  How can we as
Christians and churches make the
most of live streams going
forward?
EFREM:  Yes, I do have that 
sense also that live streams are
here to stay and I am, in the 
same boat of actually thinking
about how do we incorporate this
into our church life?  We
definitely seen benefits of a 
greater accessibility of the
ministry of the church, people 
further afield connecting, 
people
who are often on the fringes of 
church life becoming more
consistent in their connection 
and I do believe that if
approached properly and 
faithfully it can help draw 
people in
from the fringes into the actual
physical present life of the
church and so, I am, I think 
that there is a few things that 
can
be done, I think fundamental 
overarching all of it is
intentionality actually being 
intentional about how we use 
this
momentum that we are, we have 
experienced and I think for 
people
who have been engaging and are 
continuing to engage with
streamed services and streamed 
church life, I think the
intentionality can look like 
first of all just recognising 
that
actually, our gathering together
all be it remotely is mandated
by scripture, as we respond to 
Hebrews 10 Verse 25 that exhorts
and instructs us not to neglect 
gather together as believers
even more as we see the Lord 
approaching, drawing near, I 
think
that having that intentionality 
to recognise that our time of
gathering, even remotely is, it 
is a sacred moment when we are
joining in the heritage of the 
church of ages as the people 
of
God, separating aside from other
duties distractions even and
actually devoting ourselves to 
the Lord in worship and, you
know, it is often been said that
Christianity is not a spectator
sport but a partaker sport if 
you like.  So there is that 
sense
of recognising that even as we 
participate in gathered worship,
fellowshipping with one another 
all be it remotely, there is a
sense of consistency with the 
church of ages and it is a 
genuine
expression of worship that God 
delights in.  You know sometimes
people can kind of get confused 
by the difference of proximity
and presence.  You can have 
somebody in your life who is a 
very
present person in your life but 
they are not actually by
proximity near to you.  They 
maybe based in another city or
place, but through messaging and
phone calls and so on, you have
a real sense of their presence 
in your life and I think that we
will see more of this as 
Christians as we are intentional
about
recognising that the sacred 
nature of our fellowship and
appreciating that it is 
substitute as was mentioned not 
just to
give into convenience and become
consumer oriented Christians
where we switch on, tune in, in 
the moment and allow that to
substitute us being able to 
gather together.  We should
endeavour to do our utmost in 
our worship of the Lord and if 
our
utmost is, I can only connect 
remotely at present, then fine. 
I
think that for those churches 
that are, re-establishing 
physical
gatherings, there is going to be
the consideration of, you know,
what does that look like in 
terms of how we configure our
services to actually be able to 
be accessible to a streamed
audience.  Also some 
practicalities for us, we have 
had to
reconfigure our meeting space 
and so we have got lighting and,
you know, everything is kind of 
really kind of in close
proximity to the speaker in 
order to make that work, cameras
there and so on.  We will have 
to think through, okay, how we
now adapt the use of this space 
and the technology in order to
be able to continue to stream a 
decent quality whilst at the
same time accommodating those 
who are gathered.  That is some 
of
the thoughts we have been 
wrestling with definitely.
ADRIAN:  The insight about 
proximity and presence is 
important. 
Works the other way around, 
because someone is physically 
nearer
to them, doesn't mean we are 
closer to them.  Sonia, that 
raises
the question about the mixed 
mode, some people will be able 
to
meet with us physically, some 
people not allowed to meet, some
people choose not to meet 
perhaps because of anxiety.  How
we
serve the people in the church 
who are not able to be with us,
either because of they are not 
allowed to or sensitivities?
SONIA:  That is a significant 
question we have to wrestle 
with,
it is slightly different 
sometimes thinking about it
corporately.  My work is mostly 
one to one.  So, for a lot of
people, even those who are very 
self-protective and need to be
at the moment, there are 
creative ways in which you know,
you
can, I tried to have a 
counselling session with a lady 
in her
garden through the window the 
other day.  But trying to work 
out
how do we, those of us in 
ministry are getting excited 
about the
new opportunities we have to 
actually physically gather but I
guess it is how we serve each 
other well and love each other
being aware of the sensitives 
and concerns that people will 
have
because some of them are totally
rational.  There are real risks
with us meeting and being close.
Some of the concerns are a bit
more irrational but nevertheless
need understanding.  So I think
there is the sort of important 
thing that we need to make sure
the people we are ministering 
too have a sense of agency that
they are getting to choose how 
to do it.  What they want to do
and what they are comfortable 
with.  I think also a sort of 
case
by case approach, you know, 
people we are trying to meet 
with
and what are their particular 
concerns and worries, all sorts 
of
complexity, particularly with 
the elderly.
ADRIAN:  We have heard a lot 
about the lockdown creating a 
sort
of a difficulty,.
SONIA:  Can't hear you sorry.
ADRIAN:  Never mind I will go to
Robin instead and perhaps ask
him a question.  Robin you taked
about holy disruption and being
able to rethink, how you embed 
that in the life of a church, 
the
lockdown is given an opportunity
for it.  But how to embed it in
the church?
ROBIN:  It is worth saying up 
front these past 4 and a half
months have been killer, they 
have been crazy, this 
desire to
evaluate and reflect and 
recognise we need to take it 
easy as
well, surveys done about people 
in ministry, 3 months ago they
felt energised, now they feel 
exhausted.  So I think it is
important to recognise that and,
you know, August is a great
time to just turn the volume 
down on life.  On ministry, on 
what
life looks like and takes it 
easy to be able to reflect.  I
guess as we do the prayerful 
reflection it is, it is about
having imagination isn't it?  
About seeing beyond the way we
have always done things, you 
know, we have these kind of 
sacred
cows, whether it is a church 
level, that service, meeting, or
it
is within our individual lives, 
family life and routines and
patterns, in a way that sacred 
cows have gone to market, which
ones we want to bring back?  So,
I guess it is a chance that to
be radical.  But also, 
recognising that, you know, 
there is an
expectation thing, some things 
will change and some things we
will want to do differently but 
some things won't change.  That
is okay, it is not that we need 
to completely do everything
differently but yes, there is a 
mix and we have got to manage
that expectations.
ADRIAN:  Thanks Efrem back to 
you for a moment, briefly to ask
you a specific question.  We are
often thinking about how we
help one another.  But leaders 
of our churches are tired, they
are often empty, are the 
particular things that you would
say to
church members and attenders 
ways they can help their leaders
at
the moment?
EFREM:  I think there are a few 
ways.  One I would just
encourage people to consider 
carefully their expectations, so
often our church leaders are 
expected to be able to basically
be
the jack of all trades and 
master of them all.  So okay,
churches in lockdown, so go to 
streaming, why does the stream
look like that?  Okay church is 
reopen, how come we are not open
yet?  I think people's 
expectations can, just, you 
know,
reevaluate them and reflect on 
them is helpful.  It shapes our
attitude and posture towards our
leaders.  So also just being
encouraging and supportive and 
all of that in addition to 
really
praying with a consistent  
consistency, our leaders carry a
great weight at
the best of times and when 
things get challenging, a small 
word
of encouragement goes a long 
way.  Any leader will tell you
that.  I will definitely say 
that.
ADRIAN:  In ever increasing 
measure!  Talks about times 
being
tough there, Sonia, I don't know
if you can hear me, I hope you
can.  One of the things you 
mentioned earlier about how it 
is
often in times of stresses we 
learn things and the Lord does
business with us.  Say more 
about that.  Often when times 
get
difficult.  We hunker down and 
put up the barriers, how we 
learn
the discipline of learning from 
those times and growing as
Christians?
SONIA:  I guess it is just the 
same for all the children of God
everywhere, it is the whole as 
we let Him shine the light of 
His
word into our lives and hearts 
we see some of the areas in 
which
we struggle under pressure.  I 
think anxiety and fear are 
coming
to the fore again as lockdown is
easing and people are beginning
to reemerge and regather.  
Different senses of perhaps
overexcitement and people taking
risk that are unnecessary, on
the other end of the spectrum, 
people fearful of what might be
ahead, that they might be 
holding back and not wanting to 
meet. 
I think we are relying on the 
fact that the Lord is working
individually with people, 
independently of the gatherings 
that
actually by His word and through
His spirit, His disciples are
growing in all sorts of ways in 
this time because the doors are
shut physically in shut, the 
gospel doors are wide open and
people changed day by  day.  I 
think times of pressures usually
God is doing something important
with each one of us.  Yes I
think talking about it.  Sharing
those experiences will be
encouraging all of us.
ADRIAN:  Sonia the question I 
wanted to ask you before it was
cut off.  It will have to be a 
brief answer.  Mental health
needs, we have heard how that is
an increasing problem, are
there one or two things we 
should be aware of as Christians
as
we try and serve one another?
SONIA:  Yes, enable those 
struggling to feel they have a 
sense
of choice about how they are 
going to meet with people.  We
don't want to force people into 
situations where they might feel
uncomfortable even if on paper 
there is no apparent risk. 
Loving each other well and 
sacrificially and needing to be
patient with people as we try 
and engage with them in 
meaningful
ways of ministry.  That might 
mean we keep going with virtual
and on-line encounters for 
longer than we might otherwise. 
That
is okay.  Trying to understand 
very much about how it is 
feeling
from their perspective.  I am 
quite slow at that.  Needing to
take time to get what it feels 
like from somebody else's
perspective, something I need 
help with.  I think that is 
where
you start yes.
ADRIAN:  Thank you, we have had 
a lot of questions about the
kind of the detail of meeting 
together again whether it is 
about
singing or how a live stream 
might work or what kind of
evangelistic opportunities you 
can take hold of.  We haven't 
got
time to address those.  There 
are lots of places where to get
information, Evangelical 
Alliance, Baptist Union, they 
have got
templates how to get your 
building ready.  We at the FIEC,
have
got stuff on leadership and 
tackle those kinds of things.  
There
are resources around, your local
diocese will have produced
guidance as well.  Have a hunt 
around and ask others.  Probably
there are questions that you are
thinking about in church life
that haven't been thought about 
by someone else.  I want to
thank you all, thank you for 
your help, insights, I hope it 
has
been helpful.  I will finish the
time by praying before I hand
back to John 
and Anna.  Heavenly Father thank
you, thank you for
every church that is represented
here, and by people who have
been tuning in.  Father we want 
to pray, whether through
lockdown or not, we want to say 
we are churches who are hearing
God's word and listening to you 
carefully, we want to pray
heavily Father, we will be 
churches of transformation, 
Father
use us in your service, so we 
are serving your mission, please
hear our prayer and answer our 
prayer, for we pray it in the
mighty and precious name of 
Jesus our saviour.  Amen, now 
back
to John and Anna in the Pencil 
Factory.
ANNA:  Thank you so much Adrian,
thank you to Efrem and Robin
and Sonia, it is a lot to think 
about as we consider our
expectations, moving into what 
they are saying is probably a
mixed mode phase of church, that
proximity and presencing and
how we serve and love others 
well during this phase.
Thank you for joining us for our
seminar, great to have you with
us.  Stay tuned for the Count 
Everyone In session, Pete and
Christine Winmill and the team, 
bringing an accessible session
aimed at those with learning 
disabilities.  Our final
celebration tonight at 8:00 
o'clock.
JOHN:  Everything that you have 
seen and heard this week,
available for you to watch 
again, go to the VKC website, 
check
that out.  If you have been 
encouraged, share it with a 
family
member or colleague, that leaves
me to say from and I, Anna good
bye, it has been wonderful to 
have you with us and we hope to
see you again, God willing next 
year for Keswick 2021.  Good-bye
and enjoy your afternoon.
PETE:  Well hello everyone and 
welcome back to Count Everyone
In, thank you for joining us on 
this final day of Keswick.  It
has been great hasn't it?  You 
probably know by now, I am Pete
Winmill, along with my wife 
Christine and Janneke Klos, we 
have
been bringing you short prayer 
and Bible verse to learn.  So,
for today, hope.  Because Jesus 
wept.
Our Bible reading is taken from 
Psalm 6 Verse 6 and Verse 8 and
9.
(On screen)
All our readings taken from the 
international readers version,
it is a joy to bring his word to
you.  It is over to Janneke
again, I wonder what she is 
going to tell us today, thank 
you
Janneke.
JANNEKE:  Yesterday we talked 
about the fact that Jesus came 
to
live on the earth as a man, a 
person just like you and me.  
Now
that means that Jesus 
experienced all human emotions, 
Jesus knew
what it was like to feel happy 
or to feel sad, he knew what it
was like to feel worried or 
afraid.  He even knew what it 
was
like to be angry.  Jesus 
understands all of those 
emotions
because he felt them.  Now there
are many examples in the Bible
where Jesus was really upset, 
where Jesus cried.  Just think
about the story of Lazarus who 
died.  Or even the story of 
Jesus
in the garden of Gethsemane on 
the night that he was arrested
when he prayed to God and cried 
about what was about to happen. 
Jesus knows and he understands 
what it feels like to feel sad 
or
overwhelmed.
So when we bring Him our 
sadness, and our tears, he won't
laugh
at us, he won't push us away.  
He won't say that our tears and
sadness doesn't matter.  He will
comfort us because he
understands how we feel.  Now 
Jesus doesn't promise to take 
away
or change the thing that is 
causing us to be sad.  But he 
does
promise to comfort us and to 
bring us peace.
Just like Jesus knew that his 
sadness would only last for a
little bit of time, so we can 
also know that our sadness won't
last forever.  Jesus will bring 
us peace.  Jesus will bring us
gladness and happiness.
CHRISTINE:  Thank you so much 
for that Janneke, some of these
things are difficult to talk 
about but it is good to know 
that
God really cares for us, that 
Jesus wants to bring us gladness
and happiness and that bad 
things don't last forever.  But 
it is
still good to talk to Jesus 
about them.  But you know?  Even
if
we can't talk to Him about them.
We can think about them and he
knows already what we are 
thinking.  And how we are 
feeling.  So
let's do our best to, to talk 
and put into words those things
that we are feeling but don't 
worry about it so much.  Maybe 
you
would just like to draw a 
picture about how you are 
feeling or
talk to someone else, remember 
that Jesus cares for you and
these sad times will not go on 
forever.  Of course, we can pray
about them too.  Let's do that 
right now shall we?  (On
screen)
It is over to Janneke for a 
final time for that Bible verse 
that
I am sure you all know by now!  
Can you sign it too?  I am still
struggle but I am going to give 
it my best go today, come on
Janneke, show us once more thank
you.
JANNEKE:  May the God who gives 
hope fill you with great joy. 
May you have perfect peace as 
you trust in Him.  Maybe the 
power
of the Holy Spirit fill you with
hope.
Romans 15 Verse 13.
PETE:  Thank you Janneke, I 
wonder how you did, great to 
hear? 
It has been good to be here and 
be part of Virtually Keswick, so
I want to extend a thank you to 
Christine and Janneke and in
being able to do this with me 
this week.  We are looking 
forward
to next year though, are you?  
Hopefully, to be able to meet
face-to-face at week 2 of 
Keswick next year.  By the way, 
if
there are things that you have 
seen we have done this week that
you think others might gain 
from, please go and explore our
Count Everyone In YouTube 
channel, have a look at our 
website as
well.  We would love to help you
and your church if you want to
find out more about how to make 
your church accessible to
whoever comes through the doors.
So thank you for a great week
and look forward to seeing you 
one day, face-to-face.  Thank
you!
