Rambling for Kirwan Uniting Church Keep in Touch Newsletter 7 June 2020

I had a stonking cold the weekend before last. Of course, my recovery was down to “… pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” as James writes in the KJV (5:16). Myrl Eddy would want us to add “and a righteous woman”, and she’d be right. But those fervent prayers availed even more because of righteous Leisa’s effectual administration before bed of a hot whisky toddy, which I fervently drank. Here’s the recipe:

 

100ml whisky

Juice of a small lemon

Tablespoon of honey

Top up with boiling water

 

I knew that it was a cold, and not COVID-19, because I could smell and taste the ingredients. That recipe works every time, for a cold. The therapeutic mechanism is quite straightforward, it just helps you to sleep. And then a good night’s sleep works the real magic.

 

There are so many things keeping us from sleeping at the moment. Events in our own lives, in our church’s life, in political events in Australia and overseas. On the one hand, we feel powerless to do anything about them, while on the other, we lie awake wondering what we can do about them. The Bible says that we can’t do anything, of ourselves. We can be activist, but the Holy Spirit empowers and validates activism. Like James, we can pray fervently, but it is that same Spirit which presents our prayers to the Father in the name of the Son (it is Trinity Sunday, after all). Here’s how Psalm 127 puts it:

 

Unless the Lord builds the house,
the builders labour in vain.
Unless the Lord watches over the city,
the guards stand watch in vain.
In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for while they sleep he provides for those he loves.*

 

May God grant you restful sleep and the firm assurance that He is in control of those things, outside of our control, which keep you from sleeping.

 

*KJV again: He giveth his belovèd sleep.