That Happy Certainty - Gospel | Culture | Planting
  • Writing
    • Not in Vain: 1 Corinthians Devotional
    • Explore Lamentations
    • eBook: Good News People
    • eBook: Filtered Grace
    • Gospel Coalition Articles
    • Church Society Articles
    • Threads Articles
    • Explore Ecclesiastes
    • Explore Galatians
    • Evangelicals Now Articles
  • Book Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Join Us
Writing
    Not in Vain: 1 Corinthians Devotional
    Explore Lamentations
    eBook: Good News People
    eBook: Filtered Grace
    Gospel Coalition Articles
    Church Society Articles
    Threads Articles
    Explore Ecclesiastes
    Explore Galatians
    Evangelicals Now Articles
Book Reviews
Interviews
Join Us
  • Writing
    • Not in Vain: 1 Corinthians Devotional
    • Explore Lamentations
    • eBook: Good News People
    • eBook: Filtered Grace
    • Gospel Coalition Articles
    • Church Society Articles
    • Threads Articles
    • Explore Ecclesiastes
    • Explore Galatians
    • Evangelicals Now Articles
  • Book Reviews
  • Interviews
  • Join Us
That Happy Certainty - Gospel | Culture | Planting
Church, love

Furniture demolition, cups of tea, and being church…

I spent a couple of hours yesterday morning joining a mate as he helped clean out a flat lived in by one of his distant elderly relatives. The old lady in question is suffering from dementia and had been moved out of this top-floor flat in west London to live with family up in Scotland.

As we attacked old beds with saws to make them fit down the stairs, lugged 60’s design chairs down four flights, and then shifted it all into a minibus, we realised the reality is we were stripping an apartment of a lifetime’s worth of collected possessions. Old hoovers and chairs and pans off to the dump, pictures and books and crockery to the charity shop; it was a pretty sad moment really.

I would hardly have said there was much there that was in anyway unnecessary – it didn’t make me suddenly want to streamline my material existence (although, that wouldn’t be a bad thing for me to do!). But it did ram home the realisation that at the end of the day all these bits will be left behind. Whether it’s being mowed down by a bus in my mid-twenties, signing out at seventy-five, or just being carted out of my home to somewhere, where for a few years, they’ll sit me in front of a TV for most of the day and feed me my meals; we will leave this stuff behind us.

Yet it wasn’t just furniture being left behind. As we chatted over cups of tea made in very retro china cups there were stories. Stories of a battleaxe of a Christian lady. Stories of the many gatherings in the flat as she opened up her home in loving hospitality. Stories of a woman who loves playing her part in God’s body. And as the day went on two things happened: the flat got barer and barer, but also more and more people turned up to help out. Again and again, “Hi I’m a friend from her church” was the opening line. No sermons, no singing, but definitely church in action.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
April 6, 2008by Robin Ham

About Me

 

Hello, my name is Robin. Welcome to That Happy Certainty, where I write and collate on Christianity, culture, and ministry. I’m based in Barrow-in-Furness in South Cumbria, England, where I serve a church family called St Paul’s Barrow, recently merged together from two existing churches, St Paul’s Church and Grace Church Barrow.

Available Now: Advent 2021 – Finding Hope Under Bethlehem Skies

A fresh look at Advent through the book of Ruth. Why not order a bunch for your church to read through Advent together here. 100 for £1 each!

‘Not In Vain’ – 1 Corinthians 31-day devotional

Follow me on Twitter

My Tweets

Top Posts

  • What we think about God is the most important thing about us: Discovering Tozer's Wider Paragraph
    What we think about God is the most important thing about us: Discovering Tozer's Wider Paragraph
  • A Short Liturgy for the Commissioning of a New Church
    A Short Liturgy for the Commissioning of a New Church
  • A Prayer for the Pastor of the Church in Ephesus (Revelation 2:1-7)
    A Prayer for the Pastor of the Church in Ephesus (Revelation 2:1-7)
Refill on inspiring Christian links each week and join 1,153 other subscribers...

Thank you for subscribing! Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM
This error message is only visible to WordPress admins

Error: No connected account.

Please go to the Instagram Feed settings page to connect an account.

“If we could be fully persuaded that we are in the good grace of God, that our sins are forgiven, that we have the Spirit of Christ, that we are the beloved children of God, we would be ever so happy and grateful to God. But because we often fear and doubt we cannot come to that happy certainty.”
- Martin Luther

© 2018 copyright That Happy Certainty // All rights reserved //
loading Cancel
Post was not sent - check your email addresses!
Email check failed, please try again
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.