Sermons I Missed - SoundSage

Why “Hiraeth Community”?

A couple of people have asked me why the name ‘Hiraeth Community.’ To answer that, let me take you back … back to the dark old days we used to call the global covid pandemic.

Because, it seemed to me, in the midst of all the madness and uncertainty, that people were searching. Genuinely searching while experiencing all sorts of new struggles. Whether it was people I encountered online or ‘facemask to facemask’ People were longing for something more than, facetime, furlough and pharmaceuticals.

I was also well aware already of this word, this concept we have in Wales of “Hiraeth” - I knew that it fitted pretty well with that longing, nagging, yearning that I sensed in others and experienced myself. On my Instagram a definition of Hiraeth popped up on my timeline. This is what it said:

"a deep sense of longing for home - perhaps a home we've never visited - a yearning for place or person that goes beyond this existence."

And I was like, “Yep, that’s it - that’s what we’re feeling.” Those who believe AND those who don’t yet believe.

So out of that, I thought “Hiraeth Community.”

A way of sharing the hope we have because of what Jesus did for us.

Sometimes Christianity can be presented as a cure for all our common problems - but I was learning that it’s important to acknowledge that we live in this awkward space, where we know there is something more, there is something better. We’re certain of it because of what Jesus has done and promised and yet we still pray “Your Kingdom Come.”

No one was satisfied with the way things were in 2020 - no one is ever truly satisfied with the world, or themselves. Something deep within us knows there’s more than all this. And for believers, we know who the king is, we know what he’s like, and that just intensifies the desperate hunger that we have for the fullness of his reign to be our daily reality.

So the tagline of this small digital endeavour became:

“helping those who long for home to find their way and finish strong.”

It’s funny isn’t it so many people spend thousands of pounds and years of their lives - travelling the world to find themselves … but do we ever try and answer the question “Why are we all so lost???”

Each of us are longing to find ourselves, our place, and our purpose - we have a Hiraeth for real identity, real home and real meaning.

If I could channel my inner Dai Woolridge for a moment - we’ve all got the longing for belonging

I’M CONVINCED THAT THE ONLY THING THAT CAN REALLY SATISFY THAT LONGING, THAT HIRAETH - IS JESUS.

A song that spoke to me in those dark days of Global shutdown was Graves into Gardens - with these opening words:

I searched the world

But it couldn't fill me

Man's empty praise

And treasures that fade

Are never enough

Then You came along

And put me back together

And every desire

Is now satisfied

Here in Your love

So that’s what it’s all about - Hiraeth Community - for those longing for home, wanting to help people to find their way and finish strong.

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You remember the story I hope that you do

Of God who created, everything, everyone even you

When the God who spoke created, He created it good

& mankind could enjoy it just as he should

But the problem with people that you’ll soon come to see

Is that no one is good, not you, no not even me

Who exactly is ‘good’ that’s an important question

Answering that is life’s most important lesson

Give me a rule & I’m sure to break it

If it looks good to my eyes then I’m sure to take it

We see this in life as we fight & we thieve

& we see it in the beginning with God’s Adam & Eve

“All that I’ve made is given to you freely

Every fruit, every veg, it’s yours, the lot, really

But you mustn't eat the fruit from that one seed

No rules but that one.” the Lord God decreed

& so they enjoyed it the world they’d been given

Living with God on earth as in heaven

They ate & they drank & were never in need

Living life as they ought, how the Lord God decreed

Except until one day when a foe not a friend

Came to whisper his lies & God’s laws to amend

"Really? He said that, he outlawed that seed

Are you sure you heard him right, what the Lord God decreed

Did He really say that? In God can you trust

Restricting your freedoms, He treats you like dust

A God who denies you puts me at unease

Take a moment & think what the Lord God really decrees

He knows you’ll be like Him when you eat from that tree

The fruit He’s forbidden will help you to see. Knowledge of ‘good’ & what’s ‘evil’ proceeds

That’s why He stops you, the Lord God in decrees.”

Grasp your own destiny, take life by the horns

Eat from that tree, look there's no thorns

The fruit looks so tasty & ripe from that seed

Eat it now both of you that’s my decree”

The serpent had tricked them, they bought all his lies

Following him not God looked best in their eyes

Eve took it & ate & then gave it to Adam

& he ate it & enjoyed it but at once a great chasm

A divide had appeared, not one you could see

Between Adam & God & His beautiful Eve

God came to greet them & He noticed their deed

At once His heart sank, they’d broken His decree

“Not me, Blame her, she’s the one who led me astray”

“Not me either, the serpents the one who made us his prey”

“He asked if you loved us then why you decreed?

What was so terribly wonderful about that seed

& now we know it’s not the fruit that’s the problem

It’s our hearts, not the rules, our inability to follow the

Naked we stand here, ashamed rule breakers

Rebelers against you who loved us & made us"

They were right of course when they surveyed the scene

Everything, all creation had somehow lost its sheen

God hadn’t come to dwell as before

He’d come to judge them for breaking His law

The verdict was labour, hard labour at that

For the man the kind that breaks your back

For the woman in childbirth she’d know her sentence

& death to all people, each one of their descendants

But God wasn’t happy to simply hand out that verdict

A promise came also, so sweet you should’ve heard it

“A rescue will come to you both from her seed”

A rescue how wonderful, what the Lord God decreed!

“It won't be pretty what He’ll have to do

To live & to die before making things new

But I promise to you, to the creatures I love

We can be together again if you trust in His blood”

“Who is Good?” Not Adam, not Eve

My guess is that it isn’t you either, I’m certain not me

Only one was good & you know Him as Jesus

He came from the Father to save us, to free us

It was love in the beginning & love in the end

Love that created & love that repaired

“God Is Love.” I’m sure you’ve heard

But that Love is seen in the incarnate WORD

Jesus it was who spoke the creation

Jesus it was who gave live through oration

Jesus it was who banished from Eden

Jesus it was who promised to save them

Jesus it was who took on our flesh

Jesus it was who died our death

Jesus it was & Jesus it is

It’s always been Jesus, everything is His

Jesus it was, that promised seed

He’s what’s good, just as the Lord God decreed

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Contemplating and meditating on the 7 Cries of Jesus on the Cross recorded in the gospels. In this prayer, a reflection on what Christ has achieved as much as what He said, and we're challenged to trust God in the most difficult of circumstances.

Far too often we let circumstances and suffering cause us to turn away from the Father. But Jesus, at the end of it all, knew into who’s hands to commend His very self.

Lord help us to do likewise

Written and read by Sammy Davies

Inspired by Luke 23:46

It isn’t easy

Choosing light when darkness surrounds

Trusting God

When life has been so hard

And yet

Here walks Jesus

Beaten

Mocked

Scorned

Entrusting Himself

Into His Father's hands

Life is a shadowy place

Through which we all traverse

Why would we not entrust ourselves to the Father too?

Choosing You, our God

Is never an easy thing to do

Suffering and circumstance

Call us, all too often, away from your care

But Jesus knew, when all was said and done

That You, our Father in Heaven

Are worth giving our lives too

So, we commit ourselves today

Rescue us from the power of those around us

Preserve us in the presence of our persecutors

Make Your face shine on us

Let us experience Your salvation

Do not let our cries go unanswered

Save for the boasting of our enemies

What lies before us

In Jesus

Is ever so sweet

Give us eyes to see through this momentary darkness

To glimpse Your wonderful light

Amen

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Contemplating and meditating on the 7 Cries of Jesus on the Cross recorded in the gospels. In this prayer, a reflection on what Christ has achieved as much as what He said, we can consider how the old sacrifices were repeated day after day, year after year. With respect to those old sacrifices, they were “finished” only to be repeated the next.

It should overwhelm with thankfulness that what Jesus is done is complete indeed. And yet we are still longing for His work in us to be completed.

Written and read by Sammy Davies

Inspired by John 19:30

Over

Finished

Accomplished

Your suffering has ceased

Our salvation achieved

For You came to make a way

And a way You made - through blood and tears

How hard we would otherwise struggle

To make ourselves acceptable

How burdensome the task

To make ourselves somehow ‘lovely’

How costly it had seemed to offer again and again

How costly was the single gift You gave

Once sacrifices were on repeat

But this Lamb is enough

You hung where our lives lead

And in rescuing, deliver us where You are

You have set us apart

So make us HOLY in our lives

You have changed everything for us

So LORD please change us

There is nothing we can do

So put us to the work You have prepared

Amen

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Contemplating and meditating on the 7 Cries of Jesus on the Cross recorded in the gospels. In this prayer, a reflection on what Christ has achieved as much as what He said, we're given a riddle to unravel. It’s a strange thought that the one who promised to fill us up - he thirsted. In an odd way it could make Jesus less appealing - after all you wouldn’t take business advice from someone who’s bankrupt would you?!

But Jesus, obviously, is different. He “became thirsty” precisely because he had come to stand in our place. He became poor in order that in him we would become rich. His thirst didn’t last - and because of His great love for us neither must ours.

Written and read by Sammy Davies

Inspired by John 19:28

Who knows what it is to hunger?

Who knows what it is to thirst?

Could God?

Creator of all things

Sufficient in Himself

We certainly do

In this world of our own making

Where few have too much

While many have none at all

We know what it is to hunger

We know what it is to thirst

We know life twisted and broken and emptied out

The Bread of Life on offer for us

Yet we turn aside

The Spring of Living Water

But we kneel at another spot

How can we be full?

How can our thirst be quenched?

When we have strayed so far?

The rich became poor

For our sakes

The innocent became guilty

For our sakes

The One who supplies all things ran out

For our sakes

If you will forgo all things for our sakes

Is there anything that You will not supply?

We thank You Lord Jesus

For that thirst

For Your real suffering

To set us free & to fill us up

Keep us close to

We would choose no other place

Than sat at Your table

Recipients of Your generous Grace

Amen

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Contemplating and meditating on the 7 Cries of Jesus on the Cross recorded in the gospels. In this prayer, a reflection on what Christ has achieved as much as what He said, we're confronted with the enormity of what Jesus succumbed to. The One who called himself ‘the Light of the World’ was enveloped in darkness. It is a profound juxtaposition which speaks loudly to those of us willing to listen.

Matthew includes details about supernatural darkness, the saviour's silence and the eventual return of the light which make this cry, the question of forsakenness, all the more powerful. The darkness reigned while Christ was silent. But at the sound of His voice once more light returned.

This prayer is an attempt to wrestle with the magnitude of what Jesus endured for our sake and to gently call us into a place where we desire His light and life to be experienced more and more.

Written by Sammy Davies

Inspired by Matthew 27:45-46

Before You spoke there was darkness

Without You, there is not

No life, no joy, no light

Yet into that darkness, You spoke and there was

First light, then - everything

And in Your light life & joy

But we chose something else

We chose to turn from You

To cling to the shadows

Life in the dark is difficult

Life in the dark is hard

Life in the dark is not what You desire

So, You came

Not just speaking into the darkness

But walking …

The Light of the World stepped down

Into the darkness we have created

The Light shone - but we did not recognise it

And darkness schemed, darkness conspired

To extinguish the Light so that death might reign

In darkness You hung

Creation in mourning for its Creator

The weight of our rejection on Your shoulders

In darkness You hung

And silence

For 3 hours darkness filled the air

And when You spoke it was not calling out the light

When You spoke it was despair at what darkness had brought

But despair is not the end

Darkness does not have the final word

Even then the light returned

At the very sound of Your voice death and darkness fled

And life and light came forth

The shadows receded and Your glory shone

We had chosen death

But You were bringing life

We rejected

But You reconciled

You who knew no sin

Became sin

So that we could be

The Righteousness of God

We still know darkness

Around us and in us

Speak again O Lord

Make it flee wherever it is found

Amen

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Contemplating and meditating on the 7 Cries of Jesus on the Cross recorded in the gospels.

In this prayer, a reflection on what Christ has achieved as much as what He said, we must acknowledge how differently He sees us, and our relationships, than we see ourselves and each other. What Christ was doing on the Cross was so massive, so far-reaching, that when its results are right before us we can scarcely believe our eyes.

We might call to mind the promise elsewhere that those who give up fields, family and friends in order to follow Jesus will receive 100-fold in His kingdom. As Jesus hung on the Cross, and directed Mary and John to one another, He declared this to be a present reality in His people, the Church.

Written and read by Sammy Davies

Inspired by John 19:25-27

What do we see?

When we look out across Your world?

When we gaze upon Your people?

Filled with wonder, awe and praise

Do we see this place, these people as You do?

There is beauty to be sure

But so too is there brokenness and sorrow

Life without You is a lonely thing

Life minus our creator is monochrome at best

While our hearts search for nearness, yearn for intimacy

Our experience is isolation born of suspicion and fear

But You. With vision so clear

You see

In truth the whole gamut of the work of Your hands

A creation filled with splendour and beauty

And a people not pushed apart but drawn together

We need not fear being alone when we are in You

God, our God, come near so that we would never be far off

You promised that what we lose in order to follow

We will receive back 100 fold in Your kingdom

When the world ridiculous us

You cherish us

When the world insults

You pronounce blessing

When family, friends, and colleagues abandon us

You tell us, “Child of the most High - Look! Here is your household.”

Lord give us those same eyes that see the truth in technicolour

Give us those eyes that, looking down from the cross

Saw what was being recreated in You

Give us those eyes to see

We pray in Jesus name

Amen

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Contemplating and meditating on the 7 Cries of Jesus on the Cross recorded in the gospels.

In this prayer, a reflection on what Christ has achieved as much as what He said, we are reminded that our requests, though they may seem large, are tiny compared for what Christ has in store for us. Jesus in his response to the thief went BIGGER and sooner than the meagre request. How much mercy was waiting to burst out for us in Christ!

Written and read by Sammy Davies

Inspired by Luke 23:39-43

Silently You suffered

A King concealed amongst criminals

Majesty unravelled and exposed

What a sight - even to those who hung stripped with You

To most a spectacle worthy of ridicule

But to some the truth at last revealed

How wonderful that You would enter in

How magnificent that You would stand in

How amazing that You would be our substitute

When questions and doubts and confusion abound

Your Cross supplies the answers

Your love, made broken flesh, the final word

Alone we are helpless

Alone we are exposed

But near You there is hope

Cause our faith to grow

Give us renewed conviction

Make us bold to approach our King

Even as we summon the courage to make our requests

Spying some small gift on some distant shore

You are preparing a lasting legacy to be received even today

Grace and Mercy are currency

So, silence the mocking in our ears

Silence the mocking in our hearts

Silence the fear that warns us to keep our distance

For You have said

To those who come

“Today - You will be with me”

Amen

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Contemplating and meditating on the 7 Cries of Jesus on the Cross recorded in the gospels.

In this prayer, a reflection on what Christ has achieved as much as what He said, we are reminded that the forgiveness that Jesus offers is of a different order completely to the forgiveness we extend. The grace of God is this, that before we could acknowledge our guilt or ask for His forgiveness, Jesus was making a way.

Written and read by Sammy Davies

Inspired by Luke 23:33-34

You have revealed to us the better way

To bless those who curse us

To pray for those who mistreat

You have commanded us

To love our neighbours as ourselves

With no statute on how they might act

But God, our living God, our God made flesh

You do not simply instruct and direct

But You go before us and have lived as we ought to live

When Christ, so innocent, took our place