Eternal Echoes

Out of the mouths of babes...

I've just been to one of our local primary schools to take an assembly, I consider it a real privilege to represent the church in this way, we are very fortunate to be welcomed into schools and allowed to tell the Christian story, and to pray with the children inviting them to join in if they wish to...

Today I told the story of the first Pentecost (introducing it as the church's birthday).... how hard it must have been to wait for 50 days, and how amazing it  must have been when the wind came rushing through and tongues of fire danced over their heads... how astonished they must have been when they opened their mouths to speak and so many different languages came out!

The children were enthralled, I must simply story tell more often...

They were so engaged that they had questions, the teachers Okay-ed a Q&A time...

Here are a few questions:

Was Jesus a Christian or a Jew?

Was it just like a giant people birthday cake with magic candles?

What language does God speak?

Is the church having a birthday party, and will you be having cake?

Can we come?

Is God still exciting?

A few deep questions there...

As we approach the celebration of Pentecost I ask myself, is this still exciting, how should we be celebrating, do I believe that God might show up in power, even today???

Thank you children for waking me up. thank you Lord for the awesome privilige of sharing your story...

2 Cor. 3:17-4:1 (MsgB) 
    They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We're free of it!  [18] All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.
    [4:1] Since God has so generously let us in on what he is doing, we're not about to throw up our hands and walk off the job just because we run into occasional hard times. 

Black and white vs. grey...

Read this thought provoking post from Sky Lowe-McCracken...

We do not have the death penalty here in the UK I am very grateful for that, but we do have to deal with ethical questions and moral dilemmas... abortion and euthanasia have both hit the news recently. It is easy to make black and white statements, easy to draw lines not to be crossed until we are faced with crossing them, or watching a loved one suffer...

A friend gave birth to her 4th child, a baby boy, he looked perfect, but in fact there was no part of his body formed properly, his internal organs would fail, he was blind and deaf, he could barely eat, the prognosis was grim, he would not live for more than a few weeks, his parents made a brave choice, they brought him home and loved him, they cared for him and he died peacefully in his mothers arms at 4 days old...

Pregnant with her 5th child she accepted tests to scan for the same condition in this baby... she decided that she would have an abortion if the gene were detected, for if it was the case the child would not live... this baby was healthy... he is now 18. I cannot condemn or criticise her for her decision to abort if the worst was confirmed, this was a grey area...

When Chris was in intensive care we made a similar decision, as he suffered set back after set back and we were told to expect the worst, we took the decision that should he deteriorate more that only pain relief and no further medical intervention should be taken... his tiny body had been shocked and prodded enough... he pulled through and we did not see our worst fears confirmed. But I did sit with parents where this was the case, little Neal died in his mothers arms following surgery.. he was 3 months old... I had sat with her as she held him for the first time, she would only hold him once more, the tubes removed his last touch was his mothers arms not a ventilator or a needle... was she wrong, should she have decided otherwise

It is easy to be black and white when you have never been faced with grey... but how often is that really the case?

There is a huge difference though between refusing further intervention and taking a decision to end a life, reports from the continent make me ask seriously if a line needs to be drawn, when do pain and suffering make life so intollerable that we can make a pronouncement on the life of another human being... when will maddness step in, how will these things be regulated.... when are we showing compassion and when are we simply playing God.

What does it mean to be human, and is there ever an end to hope?

Hard questions, grey areas... Lord grant us your compassion, your wisdom and your peace as we walk thorgh the hard stuff...

Family musings

They are all growing up so fast....

I wrote poetry once...

I wrote poetry once,

Back in the days when I was sure of my words..

And my thoughts ran clear and unhindered

Over a smoother river bed.

I wrote poetry once,

In the days when my soul would thrill at your Word

and words came easily to mind,

I wrote and things made sense.... to me any way.

But now there are boulders in the stream,

Questions unanswered cause the water to swirl

and turn back on itself crashing and rolling out of control...

and the thoughts are hard to catch,

uncertanties abound.

I wrote poetry once,

Will the words flow again?

Struggling

I am struggling at the moment... I think the Quiet Day (afternoon) went well, but I am not sure, I try not to be too prescriptive wanting to be a facilitator and enabler, I believe God spoke in a powerful way to everyone present... but I am consumed with feelings of self doubt, wondering if I could do better...

Partly also because for me wisdom is in part an expression of the Holy Spirit, the feminine side of God revealed, I do not go so far as to name Sophia- because I believe that is stretching things, but if we are made in Gods image then there must be a female expression... also Jesus words, in Luke 7.vs. 35- wisdom is known by her fruits.... the fruits being the Holy Spirit- so wisdom is the Holy Spirit... am I stretching and misinterpreting....??? I ned to find a safe place to voice these things and a retreat time for a neighbouring Circuit is not the right moment...

I believe that true spiritual wisdom is far far from worldly wisdom and intelligence... and because I find myself full of questions I struggle...

Then a BBQ at the beach tonight with the sailing club crowd, only there weren't many there and sometimes I feel like a fish out of water... tonight was one of those nights... the other family at the club who go to church are extremely straight laced about behaviour, we like to enjoy a beer, they don't really half a pint sipped very slowly but that is the limit, their teenager is neat and tidy... mine are musicians (enough said!)... we live in different worlds, yet we worship the same God.... and I wonder if we have got it all wrong... but I cannot be anything but me!

Sometimes I feel as if my life is under a microscope, and I don't like what I see...

So I'm back to that psalm from yesterday...

I love you O Lord my strength ;

come be my strength and my song, for without you I am nothing.

Seeking Wisdom

Well I think I have got it together.... the questions and thinking points for the afternoon retreat group...

I am trying not to be too prescriptive whilst giving them direction on a tough subject...

We are going to begin the afternoon with a time of worship.., singing Jeus be the centre and lighting candles from a central candle to signify his light within us and being open...

Using stones both rough and polished as meditation aids...

I love running these events, but this one has challenged me at a deep level!

Here is the programme outline

Seeking Wisdom

A society that votes for "my pocketbook" instead of "my neighbour’s good" hasn't killed ethics. It's just taken us to an ethical environment that is profoundly immoral.

For those of us who are people of faith, what does it mean to be the body of Christ in a culture that is centered on success to the exclusion of everything else?

Session 1

• 2 Chronicles 1 1-8- Solomon asking for wisdom and being commended for it

• Proverbs 3: 13-20- The Benefits of wisdom

Questions to consider

Why do/ do we neglect to ask for wisdom?

Would we recognise wisdom?

Would we seek to use wisdom correctly- wisdom for wisdom

What area of your life do you need wisdom for right now? (personal/ family/ church/ community/ future…)

Session 2

• Wisdom is known by her fruits- Jesus- Luke 7 vs. 35
• Greater than Solomon, greater than Jonah- Luke 11: 29-36

Questions to consider

If wisdom is known by her fruits, is wisdom a spiritual gift?

Jesus greater than Solomon greater than Jonah- which area of Jesus teaching- look especially at the Sermon on the Mount is most relevant for you right now?

How are you going to respond?

More thoughts and comments later...

Stopped in my tracks...

I have had a long hard week, the prolific posting has helped me to think as I write and I have completed two 3,000 word assignments and started on another one,  along with this I have been busy putting together a quiet day for tomorrow...

On top of that the weather has been bad and I have had a cold so for two days I  have not been out for my usual walk... Today I did walk in the wind having dashed out between storms, the children have had a busy week too, Jo had her end of season concerts with NSO, Jon has started Macbeth rehearsals for tour this summer and he and Ed had an open mike gig last night .. they have been invited back.... Chris is struggling, we go back to hospital next week, but he has little energy, hopefully the next op will be sorted out soon and he will regain the use of his foot. Tim has had meetings every night and we have been quite stressed and stretched..

Anyway, I collapsed onto the sofa this afternoon, and opened Celtic Daily  Prayer to today's readings... Psalm 18...it wasn't even the first verse that was indicated in the reading but it hit me between the eyes...

A simple statement...

I love you, O LORD, my strength.

.....my Lord is my strength and my song, and my strength when I am weak

He makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to stand on the heights.

And I love because he first loved me...

just those words...

I love you O Lord my strength....

were enough for the moment and I spent a little time in his presence...

Five words, Friday Five...

I thought and thought and I have to say I truly cannot think of any.... but I do have an excuse.... I lost my two front teeth early and as they showed no sign of growing back my parents sent me for elocution lessons, and by the age of 6 I was taking classes with the Guildhall College of Music and Drama in London....

So you see one talked absolutely perfectly..... until one went to High School where one lorst the accent quickly to avoid being flushed....

Wisdom revealed

Proverbs 3:13-20

        You're blessed when you meet Lady Wisdom,

            when you make friends with Madame Insight.

     She's worth far more than money in the bank;

            her friendship is better than a big salary.

       Her value exceeds all the trappings of wealth;

            nothing you could wish for holds a candle to her.

        With one hand she gives long life,

            with the other she confers recognition.

      Her manner is beautiful,

            her life wonderfully complete.

     She's the very Tree of Life to those who embrace her.

            Hold her tight—and be blessed!

      With Lady Wisdom, God formed Earth;

            with Madame Insight, he raised Heaven.

   They knew when to signal rivers and springs to the surface,

            and dew to descend from the night skies.

It has been raining hard on and off all day, and I have been struggling to get to grips with the led meditations for a Quiet Day I am leading tomorrow.

The subject is Wisdom (concentrating on the gospel of Luke)- and why I picked that at the time I do not know;..... no that is not true I do Know, I am writing a piece for  Bible commentary for spiritual seekers and two months ago it seemed like a good idea to combine the two...

Bad idea!

Bottom line- Jesus is wisdom, he invites us to have eyes to see that , he is wisdom and wisdom flows through him by the Holy Spirit...

This wisdom is a spiritual wisdom, not worldly,  and the difference is huge...

It seems appropriate with the DaVinci Code so much in the news, bad reviews and all that I am looking at Jesus teaching that time after time took the wisdom of the Pharisees and Scribes and turned it on its head...

N.T. Wright comments

The lawyers... were trying to codify as much of the Jewish Law as they could, working out more and more complex possibilities of situations that might arise when one would need to know what was the right thing to do.

In short they were in the buisness of tying themselves and any serious followeres of the law up in knots...Jesus pointed out to that they had taken God's message, God's wisdome, revealed through the Law and the Prophets and made it incomprehensible, and impossible to follow.

They had covered up wisdoms true  light , and replaced it with a false wisdom that was constricting and exacting in nature, far away from grace. They loaded people up with heavy burdens and refused to lift a finger to help...

Through the DaVinci Code the church is being accused of a cover up.... falsley accused... but for many the intrigue and questions that are being raised about the institution of the Church is enticing and alluring...

The challenge we face is to allow true wisdom to be revealed in us... that we might be like Jesus full of grace and truth. How can we do this, by pursuing true wisdom, by being filled with true wisdom, wisdom from the Holy Spirit, that our lives might be shot through with wisdom just as Jesus was...

This calling is not beyond us, we do not need to defend God, we may need as a Church to apologise for hiding wisdoms light, for being like the lawyers and trying to pin down grace...

We may need to ask God for eyes to see revealed hunger in the people who are seeking after truth, no matter what strange form that takes...

I have been questioned on several occassions about the sanity of taking stalls into New Age Fairs. People remind me of the spiritual darkness I might encounter, (I would sooner deal with darkness than apathy)... they question my motives and methods... do I always operate in wisdom... I wish the answer was yes, but I do know this, when I place myself into Gods hands in that situation, he spaeks, words of healing and prophecy and people respond. This is the wisdom of Christ in action, going to those beyond the fringe and illuminating their path. His desire is to illuminate our paths too... what splinters do we have in our eyes that prevent us from seeing... For those who still question I take my pattern from Paul in Acts 17.

N.T. Wright continues...

The light of Christ has been in the world for 2,000 years. Are we any better at embracing it than Jesus contemporaries were? For that matter are we shining this light into the world so that they can see one who is greater than Solomon, greater than Jonah?

^{Lk 11:30-32 For as Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so also will the Son of Man be to this generation. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here.}

Engaging with the DaVinci Code- a hunger revealed

Last summer we took a stall into a New Age Fair,it was a quiet day as these fairs go and so we had time for some significant conversations. We were using the Jesus Deck and offering free readings (these cards show the gospel message through pictures). One young woman came for a reading, she had just read the DaVinci code, and was full of questions, surprised to find a group of Christians in an New Age Fair.

She was unsurprisingly fascinated by the personality of Mary Magdalen, and quizzed us about the possibility of hidden truth and a patriarchal agenda that conspired to hide the truth... as we discussed the Biblical portrayal of the early church she was surprised at the prominent role played by a number of women , and the place given to women in the gospels (particularly the gospel of John). As we talked she recognised that the hunger for truth that the DaVinci code had uncovered in her life was a spiritual hunger, a desire for something more, something beyond herself...

As is often the case in conversations like this I talked to her about the promise of the Holy Spirit, and the pursuit of wisdom (female gender .... go read proverbs)....

We offered to pray for her that in her search for truth that she would find the path of true wisdom...

She left us with the impression that actually Christians were OK

She left us having received something from us

She left with the idea that God might just be for her....

I pray for people like this young woman, people who have read the book and will flock to see the film, it is easy to stand on the outside and criticise, let us take the braver and more helpful step of going to them where they are, listening for the revealed hunger, or questions or even anger and seek to engage. For unconstructive criticism may only re-enforce the idea that we have something to hide....