‘Bigger Tent, Please!’ by Rev. Neil Urquhart

On Sunday we brought our 4 worship centres together in ConneXions to celebrate God alive among us. We were well short of the aggregate of our 4 usual Sunday morning services, but had a tremendous buzz as 230 souls belted out God’s praise, hushed in prayer, responded positively to messages, and around 150 were served soup, bread, coffee/tea & baking in the café & Fullarton Hall afterwards. 

Such larger occasional gatherings are designed to encourage us to see that we are part of something much bigger, a United Irvine Church, which is also much more in other church communities which gather to worship & witness across the area. 

We homed in on 2 Bible passages: 1. Isaiah 54:1-8 addresses a beleaguered & belittled band of Israelites exiled to a foreign land, judgement for their complacency, corruption, & contempt for God’s Will & Ways. Lament, sorrow, & pained tears have been their food & drink, leading to repentance and a re-tuning into what God has to say. Redemption is coming, hope is dawning, childlessness will be replaced with myriad children. 

“Sing, barren woman, who has never had a baby. Fill the air with song, you who’ve never experienced childbirth! You’re ending up with far more children than all those childbearing women.” God says so! “Clear lots of ground for your tents! Make your tents large. Spread out! Think big! Use plenty of rope, drive the tent pegs deep.

You’re going to need lots of elbow room for your growing family…” (Isaiah 54:1-3 / MSG)

It is my belief & hope that this is God’s Word for God’s People today as we recognise the ageing demographic in the majority of our churches today. Where are all the children & younger people? Yet, there is such a spiritual hunger in younger people today and we are trying to position ourselves through our involvement with local schools and service to our communities to help many people step closer to and enter the ‘life in all its fulness’ which Jesus brings. 

2. The Luke 5:1-11 passage describes an amazing catch of fish which Jesus guides Peter, James & John to and their subsequent calling to follow Jesus in fishing for human beings through God’s Love & irresistible Grace. The exhausted fishermen have completed a nightshift without catching even a minnow! Land-lubber Jesus, son of Joseph, tells them to cast their nets in a particular area. Peter’s reply is significant, and one we do well to imitate, “Okay, because you say so, I will let down the nets.” 

Where are we to invest our resources, time, energy & skills in sharing God’s Love & Good News? Surely wherever we live, work, & play, ever ready for God’s generosity to flow through us, intriguing & interesting people to find out more about ‘Who’ makes us tick. But what might stop us from casting nets & loosening our guy ropes & heart strings to embrace & include others in our circle of care & prayer? 

Deafness, Lethargy, Fear, Distraction, Narrow Mindedness, Short Sightedness, Pride, Mistrust, Distrust, Dislike of the sea, lake, fish, people, etc? Jesus says to Simon Peter, “There is nothing to fear. From now on you’ll be fishing for men and women.” They pulled their boats up on the beach, left them, nets and all, and followed him.

If we can hear & heed Jesus instruction I think we’ll be needing bigger tents to accommodate the many more ripe & ready to be caught by Jesus Love & Life.