Over at Revgals Songbird asks us: Twenty years ago, I was on a Pastoral Search Committee, and one of the questions we asked the ten candidates we interviewed in the first round was to tell us their three favorite passages of scripture. I loved hearing the variety of verses quoted and even learned some that I didn't know, such as the last line of one of this week's lectionary passages:
He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)
For today's Friday Five, list your five favorite passages/verses from the Bible and tell us something about why you love them.
First I'd like to tell you a bit about my encounter with the Scriptures, I did not go to Sunday School as a young child, in fact church did not feature in my life at all. When I was 12 I can remember an intense desire to own a Bible and pestered my mum until she took me to buy one. I remember being faced with a shelf full of Bibles and did not know which to choose, in the end I picked out a pretty KJV with impossibly small print.
I set out to read that impossibly small print thinking that the way to read it was cover to cover, needless to say I get giving up, but I kept trying ... The Scriptures really came alive to me though when my son Chris was diagnosed with congenital heart disease, with the help of a Congregational Church Minister I bought a New International Version Bible and began to mine it's pages for words of life and promises, that brings me to the first verse on my list:
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1. John 11: 4 "When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.”- I am not really one to lift verses out of context but this promise leapt from the page as I sat next to Chris's intensive care bed when he was only 2 years old. Through the years it has been a verse we have clung to and occassionally hurled at heaven in desperation. Next week Chris starts a course to explore a call to ordained ministry; to God be the glory! You can read Christopher's own testimony here.
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2. The second verse I have chosen is one that I often pray, taken from the story of the Woman at the well from John 4, this verse speaks about worship. To do it justice I offer you part of the passage:
19 “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”
21 “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
Firstly I love this whole encounter and have written about it several times, buthe verse concerning worship- that true worshippers will worship in Spirit and in truth really stands out, in what I believe is a spiritually thirsty world people need to encounter true worship! And true worship is what we are called to. We are constantly asked what it might look like- I think that,that question is the wrong one, rather we should ask ourselves, how should this be, or where is my heart when I come before God...
3. The third verse I have chosen is this from Matthew 11:28-30 :
28-30"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."
Taken from The Message version of the Bible this verse sustained me through depression, and still sustains me through tiredness and discouragement, it holds within it echoes of the divine dance ( Perichoresis) that God invites us to participate in. I love the picture of relaxing into the rythms of grace, of learning in Christ to live freely and lightly...
In my darkest night this verse kindled a flame that never dies away!
4 . My fourth choice is actually a whole chapter- Genesis 1 with its amazing first verse: In the beginning God! This beautiful poem/song of creation has caused so many arguements, mostly because it has wrongly been treated as fact. Only last week as I began to work through the E100 with our Bible Study class three people expressed amazement at the truth that can be conveyed through mystery and myth, previously they had dismissed any thoughts on Genesis 1 &2 as they had just not been able to accept the simplistic God created the world in 7 days account, as a poem/song they were able to relate to it in a new and exciting way!
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5. Goodness I would love to be able to choose nother 5, or even 10, but this last choice today has to be from 2 Corinthians 4:
5 For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. 7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 8 We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; 9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
We have this treasure in jars of clay... reminds me that I am fragile and vulnerable, weak and prone to mistake, and yet God has trusted me with the good news, his treasure is in me, and will shine through me...
To quote Anthony. B. Robinson from "Good News in Exile"... describing his search for a new way of talking about conversion, seeking out a Biblical response to people's longings he says:
" I believe that new hearts and minds are the level to be working at, and it is at this level that many of our congregations long to be addressed. They are waiting I believe for their pastors to say: People something is at stake here, something that makes all the difference in the world"
This morning I as looked out across my garden it seemed that winter had arrived, bare branches reached skywards where only a few months ago there were flowers and green shrubs. Now the leaves have fallen, and the bare branches of many of the shrubs have been pruned back.The scene in monochrome, even the vegetable beds that Tim has been working on so hard are waiting for the new season, the soil has been dug and the beds prepared but they are bare, open to the winter rains and frosts...
Yesterday I re-potted a couple of my orchids, even these indoor plants have entered into a time of waiting, their stalks have been pruned back, their colourful exotic flowers are gone for this year, and I have moved them to a place where they will receive just the right amount of warmth and light for the waiting time....
There seems to be little life in the garden, and the orchids look like dead sticks, but all is not what it seems, new life is simply waiting to burst forth when the time is right, but for now this bit of creation has entered into the waiting time.
In contrast to the quiet and stillness of my garden are the local shops where even in the village Christmas has arrived with full force, adverts in the local Co-op tempt us not to wait until Christmas Day to begin feasting, while in a neighbouring village the lights have been on for weeks now. If I turn on the television I am bombarded with adverts, the radio offers the same constant feed of consumerism, preparation is all about consumption.
No wonder we are weary, we have lost the ability to truly rest, and have forsaken the wonder of waiting, replacing anticipation with headlong rush of activity adding stress to a season that sends bank accounts and relationships spiraling into disaster. How tragic that parents are judged not by the love, care and concern that they have for their children but by the size of the parcel they are able to provide. I speak to mothers who sacrifice bedtime stories and cuddles for part-time jobs simply in order to buy that latest toy for a child whose head has been filled desire for a toy that has been advertised solidly from September onwards. I speak to families stressed out by not being able to buy the approval of relatives and friends. I hear it from my own children as living on student loans they struggle to resist the perils of the season!
I want to stand in the centre of our towns and shopping centres with a big placard that simply reads STOP! I wonder if I did, how many people would take the time to come and see just what I was up to, and why I wanted to break into the frenetic activity I find around me. I want to invite people to take time out from tinsel, and to give themselves a breathing space. In that space I pray that some form or perspective might begin to dawn...
I am aware that I am repeating myself. I have said so much of this before, and at the risk of sounding like a broken record I will continue to say it. We need to STOP! Advent is not about chocolate filled calenders it is a season of repentance and fasting just as Lent is, it is also a season of preparation, one that calls us not to look to the babe in the manger but rather to the risen Christ WHO WILL COME AGAIN. Last Sunday's gospel reading brought with it the challenge not to get caught up in dissipation and drunkenness but challenged us instead to look beyond the cares and desires of this world.
Do I struggle with all of this? Oh yes, I was brought up to believe that Christmas was all about presents and feasting. I feel guilty if I don't enter into the spirit of the season, but through my struggle I want to encounter the Spirit who made the season a cause for celebration, the Spirit who opened the virgins womb and made the incarnation a reality. That same Spirit is the one who brought life to the lifeless body of Jesus and raised the babe of Bethlehem restoring him to heavens glory. It is that Spirit, the Holy Spirit whose fire I want to fill my life in and through the coming celebrations, and because of that I need the season of Advent, not so that I can prepare through purchases filling my life with clutter. Rather I need to be emptied, I need time out from tinsel, for although it is particularly noticeable at Christmas time, glitter and tinsel beckon to us through out the year in one way or another.
So I am taking time out, to seek the one who calls to us; he sees that we are weary and burdened, and he invites us aside. He offers us rest, and if we chose the road to radical recovery, and long, no yearn to live a life free from consumerism's grip and look instead for contentment, he promises to walk with us and work with us.
We can choose to take permanent time out from tinsel, and in doing do we might just find that we really have something to celebrate!
Jan over at Revgals is offering a Thanksgiving Friday Five, asking questions about customs and traditions. As a non-American member of the group ( a Brit) I will not be celebrating Thanksgiving- next Thursday will be a normal day of work for me and I will not be eating any special foods, and my children will all be working on their studies at various their Universities around the country.
But I have celebrated Thanksgiving in the past, and was struck by truly celebratory nature of the occasion. For each of the three years that we lived in Texas (Katy, just outside Houston) we were invited by three different groups to celebrate with them. The first two times we were made welcome and treated as members of the family, we helped with some of the food preparation and joined in with the games and fun before and after the meal. I was struck by the way that the celebration was rooted in true thankfulness and that the reason for the first thanksgiving has not really been lost (despite the fact that most turkeys came from supermarkets, and that some of the pumpkin was canned!). I was also struck by the family centered nature of the occasion and was pleased when on the third occasion we joined a group who took Thanksgiving meal and celebration to a park in a poorer area of the city. Turkeys had been donated, four of them were cooked at home and four of them deep fried (yes really) at the park. Side-dishes were prepared and people were invited. We ran a shuttle of cars to take meals and blankets to folk who were housebound and laid on games and music for the whole of the afternoon. It was a truly community centered event.
Here in the UK many churches continue to celebrate Harvest, but it is a shadow of a celebration in comparison, the date is not set, and many folk don't celebrate at all. We have it seems become separated from the land. I know that the reasons for this are varied, and that our history is very different to that of the Pioneer settlers. but I do wonder if we are missing something vital and important.
When I look back through our Chapel records I see accounts of village feasts, and of communities working to bring the harvest home. I am also reminded that the land was not and is not tame, that the elements can make or break a harvest, they remain beyond our control. I live and minister in a rural area, and I wonder if the community centered nature of harvest is something that we need to re-visit, and I wonder how we can truly creatively do so. Perhaps as Jan hinted in the poem she quoted celebration is a cure for apathy- and that we need to put on a red dress, bake a cake, and share our lives more often!
Sophia over at RevGals is preparing for a special weekend, and that has got her thinking about the special rites of passage in our lives which we participate for ourselves or in which we support and bless others: baptism, confirmation, marriage, ordination, graduation, funerals, etc. Such important days, so exciting and joyous, but also sometimes anxiety provoking or deeply painful....So, this week, please share five memories of such sacred moments with God and her holy people from your life and the lives of those you love.
Here are a few of my special days....
1. My wedding day. Tim and I were only 20, and not a few folk were rather skeptical about whether we would still be married 6 months later.... 27 years later we are still in love having traveled through many of love's and life's ups and downs!
20th Feb. 1982
2. The birth of each of my children... no details!
All 5 just after the twins were born 14th March 1989
3. Graduations so far; Paul's graduation from Katy High School in Texas at the Houston Astrodome. Mind blowing for us as nothing quite like it happens in the UK. (Sadly we have no digital images of that) Emma's graduation at Canterbury Cathedral in Nov 20
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Next Summer we will have 4 graduation ceremonies to attend as Paul and his wife Louise, Chris, Jo and Jonathan all graduate with their first degrees! ( we hope!)
4. The day I dropped Chris off at Cliff College to begin a degree in Theology, it may sound like a small thing, but it was huge... for anyone who does not know Christopher's story you can find it here.
Chris with friends in Cliff College grounds.
5. Recently for me promising to serve the Congregations here in the Snaith and Selby Circuit at my welcome service last month.
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These are only a few of the many special days I have celebrated in my life, some have been happy occasions and some sad. I was glad to have been able to be there when my mum died recently. I wouldn't have missed being there.
Yesterday my face book status stated that I was "in a liminal space..... waiting to say goodbye...." today although my status reflects the fact that I have been doing some work the liminality of grief remains.
Questions flood my mind, did I tell mum I loved her, or did I forget to say those all important words too often.... did she know? Regrets mix with moments when I chuckle to myself as memory floats through my mind.
I spent this afternoon preparing Church Council agendas, and although I feel that I am doing so from a strange place I welcomed the distraction. We are waiting to hear the results of the necessary autopsy, the coroner only received details today so it looks like we might be waiting for a while.
I think that saying goodbye is a deep human need, I need the ritual of a funeral to help me to move on. I won't forget, and I won't cease to experience grief, and I am sure that the lighter memories will continue, they must do as there are so many of them.... mum once took her watch to a jewelers to have it mended as the mechanism had stopped working. She wound it everyday, but it had seized. The jeweler tried to explain the workings of the watch to mum, but she was adamant that he took it in to repair it. She returned a week later to be presented with a bill for £5.00- it was for a new battery!
As for me, I am certainly not filling my time with work, but I cannot simply sit and watch the wallpaper, nor can I do much else. I am thankful for the support we have been given, so many messages and cards, so many promises of prayer, and promises of time out and time off when I need it.
We have chosen the coffin, the readings and songs, (mum wanted a humanist ceremony and I respect that), and now we wait for the wheels of medicine and law to turn to the point where we as a family can gather and are able to say goodbye together...
Telling stories helps, but it is also causing me to reflect upon how the clinical nature of death in a modern world and the dispersed nature of many families means that we find ourselves in a strange place. Someone asked me today where I was from, I had told him that mum and Steve lived in Essex. I have no answer to that for even my grandparents roots are scattered around the country, and I was born and raised in the Far East. As I read Nehemiah this morning I began to ponder whether we live in a constant state of exile without realising it....
I am sitting in my now empty shelved office, in a house that is almost completely packed into boxes, the freezer is defrosting and the fridge is cleaned and empty. We have eaten take away (out) for the last two nights as the cooker in the Manse exploded yesterday, which was quite a relief as I didn't feel much like cooking after clearing and sorting all day....
We did take a trip out to the beach today to return trophies, and drop off some magazines so we stayed for fish and chips and chatted with friends...then it was home again to the final bits of packing and sorting before the removals lorry arrives tomorrow morning.
Tim and I will take some final bits to the recycling centre before we drop off a few library books to a current ERMC student who has promised to return them for me, some are Wesley House books but the wonderful Barbara has said she will deal with that ( amazing woman!!!), she deals so patiently and gracefully with a bunch of mad ordinands!!!
Finally I have just carried out what is possibly my final act of ministry to the people of Downham Market, for the last 6 years we have used a prayer "post box" as an installation in services and prayer tent outreaches. I have always promised folk that their prayers were between them and God, so tonight I proffered those prayers along with a brick of incense I burned them, using our BBQ as a fireplace. I was surprised how emotional I felt as the incense filled the air and the prayers and their box were offered as a sacrifice of intercession and care.
And so tomorrow we move on, there will be another prayer box filled with new prayers and thoughts, some will be similar, but none will be the same... I love that thought, we are all unique, we may be similar but we are different, we are special and we are loved by the one who created us more than we can possibly imagine....
...that is as true in Norfolk as it is in Yorkshire, and so we move on..............
I have just come home from an evening stroll to our local pub where Tim enjoyed a couple of pints of real ale and I enjoyed some good red wine. We were chilling out at the end of our holiday, Tim and Jo have enjoyed some decent sailing and I have enjoyed the coastal scenery and walking, and a good sail on Thursday evening.
We celebrated 60 years of North West Norfolk Week on Friday with a Hog Roast a dance and fireworks... all followed by two more days of sailing for the Snettisham Regatta. Tim and I spent a lazy Saturday afternoon walking and talking finishing with a superb buffet meal at the Snett. Sailing Club...
Today after a lie in I headed for the coast to se Tim and Jo finish well in the regatta, we had a late breakfast there and waited for the prize giving. They have both come home with new sweatshirts! Then the packing loomed large again and we cleared a good deal of stuff from the dinning room and tackled some washing before eating a rather strange meal of "stuff" from the freezer!
It has been a good week, a frustrating week, and a sad week. I love the Norfolk Coast and am sorry to be leaving it, but know that I am leaving it for new adventures. I will miss many of the friends we have made over the last 6 years, but know that those friendships will not cease....
I ask myself where God has been in all of this and know that s/he has been in the laughter and the tears, in the joys and frustrations, in the questions and the answers. S/he has been before, beside, in, and behind us. There when we have least expected it, and in the wings of the butterflies and calls of the birds. S/he has been there in the conversations we have had through out the week, sometimes running deep, at others touching as lightly but perceptibly as the breeze.
In this relaxed setting we encounter a hunger in folk for the touch of God, for a depth of living and a real spirituality that transforms, and we have felt privileged and inadequate to stand in that place. Flawed, yet covered by grace...
All has been quiet on the bloggy front as Tim, Jo, Chris and I have been travelling up and down the North Norfolk Coast with Wildgoose( boat) in tow. Chris and I are the shore crew, while Tim and Jo have been racing. They have won two trophies so far and lying second in the weeks points to defend their title. Chris and I have been walking, enjoying the sea and the sun and taking photos, here are a few:
Tim and I are slowly packing our belongings for our move to Yorkshire in two weeks time. We were offered a team of packers but turned the offer down in favour of having a good sort out, so we are packing for ourselves.
So far we have made half a dozen trips with a fully loaded Vauxhall Zafira, to the local recycling center ( whose efficiency is excellent, over 80% of all that would have previously ended up in landfill is now reused and recycled). We have also given away a number of things on free-cycle and held a profitable yard sale, making over £100.00 in a few hours.
All of this is very sobering when I stop to contemplate the level of consumption that this amount of surplus reveals. I want to be able to travel lighter, to have less and to be free to do and be and give more, and yet it is so easy to accumulate things without thinking. So many of the things that we have accumulated hold no emotional attachment, and may be nice to have, but are truly unimportant.....
Those things that are important are things that cannot be replaced, photographs and letters, journals from years ago that chart the transforming work of the Holy Spirit in my life. Precious things that hold real memories. But the memories are the most important and those need nothing but the intention to sit and relive them.
Memories were created last week at my mother-in-laws' 70th birthday celebrations, cousins aunts and uncles, grandparents, parents and children got together for a rare few hours, hours that cannot be replaced. That time itself was precious....
At our leaving service one couple spoke movingly about the way that Tim and I were willing to give time, and although there have been occasions when that is true I must admit that I am not always a willing giver of my time. But I want that to change.
Turning again to the gospels I am challenged by the way that Jesus traveled lightly, I know that his circumstances were different to mine, but so were his priorities, and it is his priorities that challenge me. He was a giver of time, a listener and a storyteller on the one hand, he knew when to withdraw and spend time with God on the other. I want to travel more lightly, with my hands less full so that they will be ready and able to embrace others.
Clearing and sorting are proving to be quite therapeutic!
I am sitting at my desk and trying to take a step back to think about the last twelve days;I feel as if I have been caught up in a fast moving soap opera script, and the writers have just taken a break to focus their attention elsewhere!
Twelve days ago my home started filling up with family members, they were coming to celebrate my eldest sons' wedding, by the day of the wedding there were 14 0f us at lunch time. Paul and Louise's wedding was a joyful family occasion.... and we moved on
... to a yard sale, because we are moving house, and raising funds to send my youngest daughter Jo on a mission trip to Zambia....
Preaching is normal for a Sunday, but with the busyness of the week it proved a challenge, our minds were preoccupied any way as n Tuesday we dropped Chris and his girlfriend Ness at Downham station...
Chris was to be admitted to the Royal Brompton Hospital for surgery, which was thankfully a great success... it has been a long time coming!
While Chris was in hospital with Ness wonderfully supporting him we prepared for another wedding, this time for a young friend. We helped to set up the reception venue and sorted out various instruments for the band at the ceremony, I was privileged to be invited to preach ...
....Tim and I stayed for the wedding speeches and headed off to London to collect Chris and Ness....
Time for a rest???
No, time to travel down to Essex for a family get together to celebrate my mother-in-laws 70th....
Followed the next day by 2 services, first my final service and sermonin Downham Market, and then a Circuit farewell service where God was praised and we were thanked for our ministry...
... a rest?
Well not quite because to add to the excitement Emma my eldest daughter was left stranded by an ineffective train service. Tim and I are grateful to Ann and Mike her boyfriends' parents for rescuing her!...
And now, I am sitting at my desk trying to take stock, next to me is a pile of prayers and blessings written during yesterdays service by the folk who were there. The prayers are for our whole family, and we are grateful, and not a little overwhelmed...
No wonder I can't think.....
Right, back to the packing in 20 days we will be living in Yorkshire!!!
Through all the changing scenes of life, In trouble and in joy, The praises of my God shall still My heart and tongue employ.
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