Orange Juice And TV Crime Shows.

Life can be strange. No matter where we go no two people are the same. Some people sit and meticulously watch their favourite TV programs and Soaps or music. Other people get involved with their various wee social groups around the clubs, societies and churches.

I noticed this recently while we were relaxing at home. I had recently watched the movie “Brassed Off” for the umpteenth time. And my favourite one-liner in it is when the late Pete Postlethwaite pronounced a song title  wrongly. He pronounced Rodrigo’s Concierto D’Aranjuez as “Concierto Orange-Juice”. The line always makes me giggle. As I was listening to the music being play through my computer and my wife was sitting watching some CSI crime dramas on television involving corpses and vicious crimes, It occurred to me that our interests couldn’t be more different in these scenarios. But we were happy together in our own wee world.

The church I attend is pretty much like that too. We have the younger ones all enjoying their wee groups with Crèches and Sunday Schools. We have the older children all getting together with their youth groups or the music groups. Then we have the church workers and organisers all running about carrying out their various functions. And the older folk all happy sitting in their wee social groups in the same seats week after wekk. And it all balances out. And they are all happy in their own wee church circles.

In the Book of Ruth it tells an account of Ruth – a Moabitess -  and how she had to move into a new social and cultural circle. She wasn’t an Israelite. But she married one. Sadly he died and Ruth decided to come back to Israel with her mother-in-law, Naomi. While in Israel she went out to glean corn from the fields for food and while she was there she was noticed by the owner of the fields, Boaz. Boaz enquired as to who she was…..

Ruth ch2 ⁽¹¹⁾And Boaz [approached] and said to her, "It has been fully reported to me all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before ⁽¹²⁾The LORD repay your work, and a full reward be given you by the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge."

After a life of upsurge and sadness things started to calm down for Ruth and Naomi. And she was happy looking after her mother-in-law in their own wee world.

The same it is in our churches. Despite all our personalities, differences and quirks when we sit in our churches and Christian gatherings isn’t it good just to sit and enjoy the company of other people. People from all walks of life and all levels of life who just come together to just enjoy each other’s company in Jesus. And all is happy in our own wee circles.

I remember many years ago being taken to a breakfast hosted by one of the Christian Businessmen’s organisations. I have never felt so out of place anywhere in my life. I wasn’t a businessman. And I have never had any designs or desires of owning my own business. But these guys were listening to a talk on how Christians should conduct themselves in their daily businesses. I watched as they then afterwards passed around their business cards to each other. I never felt “the harmony” because I wasn’t suited to that particular social circle.

Pauls tells us in 1^st Corinthians ch12….

⁽¹²⁾For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being  many, are one body, so also is Christ. ⁽¹³⁾For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body - whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free - and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. ⁽¹⁴⁾For infact the body is not one member but many.

So when we go and sit in our groups in church, let’s acknowledge and enjoy the differences we can see with each little social gathering. The Holy Spirit will guide each group and each person in His own time and in His own way.

Just like my wife and I. She was sitting watching her crime drama about dead bodies and I was listening to a brass band playing “Orange Juice”. And we were happy. Contented. At peace in our own wee circle.

Ephesians ch2: ⁽¹⁹⁾Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens           with the saints and members of the household of God,⁽²⁰⁾having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,

Bind Us Together, Lord. Bind Us Together
With Cords That Cannot Be Broken.
Bind Us Together, Lord. Bind Us Together
Bind Us Together In Love.

There Is Only One God, There Is Only One King
There Is Only One Body, That Is Why We Sing.
Bind Us Together, Lord. Bind Us Together
Bind Us Together In Love.