Pastoral Update #9

Hello, this is Friday 15th of May and this is the weekly Pastel update from St Columbus

Free Church. My name is Thomas and it's great to have this opportunity to be with you and

hopefully to give you a few words of encouragement. Last time I did this was three weeks ago and

we learned some new words in Gaelic. This week we're going to learn a new word as well

but it's not Gaelic this time. This week we're going to have a go at a Greek word. Now I should

probably say before I start that I am not really an expert in Greek. Do you know I'm not really an

expert in English either but I'm definitely not an expert in Greek but I know a few words and

one of the words that I know is one of my favorite words which is what I want us to think about

together today. The word is this macrothymia. Now Greek is a bit funny because it's got

different letters to what we have. This kind of U shaped thing with a long tail that's an M sound.

That's a which is easy enough. This thing that looks like a P is actually an R. I don't know why

but that's it. Or same as or. This one here looks like an egg with a line through it. That's a sound.

So we would have TH two letters. Greek you only need one. Then U and then we've got the M again.

E and A at the end. So macrothymia. And it's a brilliant word and I want us to think about what

it means. It's in two parts macro and thymia. Macro is the word for long and we still use that in

English. We think of micro and macro. So that word means long. Thymia is a word that's kind of to

do with your thinking, your mind, your temperament. So macrothymia very, very literally means long

thinking or long minded. Now when we translate that word into English we don't say long minded

or long thinkingness. The word we use is patience. Macrothymia is the Greek word for patience. And I

think patience is a really important word for us just now. I don't know how many weeks we are

in the lockdown I've actually lost count but we're a long way into it and there's probably still a

wee while left to go and even though some things are maybe gradually been loosened up and it is

becoming clearer that it's going to take maybe longer than we first thought or first hoped for

life to return to normal and that can sometimes be discouraging. But what I hope that the word

macrothymia is reminding us is that it's really wise and really worthwhile just to be ready to think

long term and to be patient in that context. Sometimes in life we want things to happen

straight away and we can get very frustrated when they don't but long thinking and patience can be

really helpful at a time like this. So if you're feeling locked down long and please don't be

discouraged, please remember that it will come to an end and we will get there and every week is a

step closer and as we've always said if we can provide you with any help or any support please

please always let us know. But the other thing I want to say about macrothymia and patience is

that it's not just about how we need to think. This word is actually teaching us about how God

thinks because the Bible tells us that God is a patient God. He is full of macrothymia and that

means that when God thinks of you his thinking is long term. And so you're not just a kind of brief

thought in the mind of God. It's not like you pop into God's mind every so often and he's like,

oh yeah, yeah, I forgot about them. It's not that God pays attention to you for a short period and

then moves on and forgets about you, not at all. God's mindset towards you is a mindset of long

thinking of macrothymia. God is patient with you and is absolutely committed to you. And that's an

amazing promise. The fact that God's mindset towards you, his thinking towards you is so long,

it will last forever. God's patience with you will never run out. His commitment towards you is

forever. So we might feel like lockdown is a bit long and we probably are really looking forward

to it being finished. But it's a good test in patience for us. But it's also an amazing reminder

of God's commitment to us. And I want you to take that away today if you can. That God's thinking

for you towards you is long. It'll never ever end. Thank you.