THE Church For All service at Crediton Methodist Church on Sunday, September 20 was led by Pam Murphy. Her theme was ‘From Grumbling to Gratitude’. This is Peace Sunday and September 21 is International Day of Peace.

Lloyd led a fun Open Survey asking the congregation to answer questions with the reply either Not Enough, Enough or More than Enough. He asked if we had made different decisions where would we be now?

Hilary gave a quick resume of what happened before the story in Exodus 16. The Israelites were slaves in Egypt; baby Moses was left in the bullrushes and found by Pharoah’s daughter; Moses was a shepherd for 40 years and encountered God in the burning bush; Moses and Aaron asked Pharoah to set the people free; the 10 plagues and the parting of the Red Sea; Moses receiving the 10 Commandments on Mount Sinia.

Hilary then led a dramatisation of the reading of the wilderness grumbling and the provision of food and manna.

Pam said we looked previously at the need to forgive and benefits of forgiving and being forgiven. We now look at the human condition of discontent – our grumbling and the road from that to being truly grateful to God for his love and provision for us, for his forgiveness of us and our ungratefulness and sending His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ for our salvation.

When was the last time you had a jolly good grumble? We can all think of times when we have moaned – whether it was over small annoyances or serious faults. Maybe we have seen serious unfairness and the divisiveness it can cause or maybe we had cause to complain about customer service or the world in general. It is not pleasant and it can feel very uncomfortable.

Were the Israelite’s grumbles justified? Were they being ungrateful or did they have plenty to complain about, wandering in the wilderness with not a lot of comforts and sometimes needing something to eat and drink?

Pam spoke about examples where some people have experienced recently when the authorities insisted they be evacuated. There have been wildfires and floods here, in Europe and across the world, as well as people fleeing from war, oppression or poverty.

How would we feel if that had been our lot? Pam would have felt true gratitude for the rescue, yes, but maybe it would not have been long before she felt some degree of irritation and resentment about how everything was being handled and that frustration of not being in control of what was happening.

How often do we try to tell God what He should be doing instead of listening to Him and changing our own ways as Jesus showed us.

Maybe the Israelites were hungry and angry when they grumbled to Moses about all those wonderful things they had to eat back in Egypt?

Had they cried out to God in prayer about how they felt? No, they just moaned to Moses – yet God did provide enough food for their needs, which tells us their complaint was heard by God.

God sent quail and manna – bread of heaven – and enough for their needs but it could hardly be called a feast. They were to take only what they needed for the day – not hoard it up. Are we content with enough?

Do we even recognise what enough is? Or are we influenced by the way that the world works to always be looking for more? Does the advertising we hear and see make us feel discontent and constantly want new and more?

Maybe our grumblings are often about trivial things – maybe a task we do not want to do or the way someone else has, or has not, done something?

So, rather than grumbling, let us instead present our worries and concerns to God who sees and hears us, who loves and cares for us.

Think on this – Grumbling is talking to someone else about it; Lamenting is talking to God in prayer. Then we can make an intentional decision each day to think of things that we are thankful for and thank God for them.

Recognising with gratitude the blessings we have and finding ways that hep us realise and be grateful that life is a beautiful God-given gift that is plenty.

Some thoughts what might help have come to mind. One is that old chorus: Count your blessings, name them one by one, Count your blessings see what God has done.

Another is how St Ignatius of Loyola developed a prayer practice called the Examen, in which at the end of each day we reflect on how the day has gone, on day’s lows and highs, ending with what we are grateful for.

We bring it before God at the end of each day and give Him thanks as we settle for our God-given rest.

Bronwyn Nott

Crediton Methodist Church