If you took part in the launch of New Zeal last week, the atmosphere of praise, the beauty of the mercy seat and the stirring words of our Territorial Commander Commissioner Andy Westrupp will still be echoing in your mind—as it is in mine.
I was at Auckland City Corps for the event and afterwards interviewed several people about what they got out of the service. Almost unanimously, people said they felt that it was ‘all about the love’. How simple, and yet how profound.
As Andy said during his moving sermon, the earliest Christians only had this: ‘Jesus died, was buried and rose again’. He explained just what a radical departure this was from the rules of their native Judaism. Even today, we often fail to grasp this radical freedom: ‘We still struggle with this today: that no longer is our faith in God governed by a set of rules. Jesus was signalling a change in relationship—that faith could be just that, a relationship.
‘We’ve become so good at providing for ourselves it’s almost as if it’s dulled our need for God. We have robbed ourselves of faith. We have robbed ourselves of a belief in God’s real intervention in our lives today,’ challenged Andy.
In summary, he said: ‘I want to lead an Army that is desperate for God in these days.’ Yes and Amen. We long for you Lord. Let us discover, once more, your love.
But God has shown me that I should not call anyone impure or unclean … I now realise how true it is that God does not show favouritism.
… otiia kua whakakitea e te Atua ki ahau kia kaua e kīia tētahi tangata he noa, he poke … Nā ka puaki te māngai o Pita, ka mea, he pono ka kite ahau kāhore a te Atua whakapai kanohi.