Eternal Echoes

Peace...

What is this peace,

unsought,

unsolicited,

unleashed...

..invading my soul?

Why should this peace

touch me?

Am I

known

beyond knowing,

loved

beyond loving,

cherished

for who I am?

*

Deep in my heart,

deep in my soul.

you whisper is a resounding YES...

*

A YES,

a yes to all of my

questions,

when I question myself

when I question you,

there is peace,

only peace...

..and I am loved.

 I am Loved.

Jesus said:

"I am leaving you with a gift--peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don't be troubled or afraid.

Jn 14:27

We are going to have a party..... and there's more...

Had a great discussion at Women's Fellowship this afternoon, they know that they won't get a traditional switch off your brain talk from me now and come prepared to chip in. Today we looked at Jesus parable about the Lost Coin and discussed what it is to be lost, how we feel when we get lost/ loose something. We went on to ponder what some of the things we may have lost are and came to the conclusion that we don't do as much celebrating together as we might...

...and so next time I lead the "meeting" in November we are going to have a party, the challenge is for each one to bring a non-churchy friend and enough finger food for two. We are going to sing some songs, have a quiz and play some games.

As for more, some of the members have become more aware that while we drink tea the mums and children from the ballet class that follows us are waiting outside, and so from next week we are going to invite them in for tea/ coffee and we are going to make squash and biscuits available for the children...

All in all a good afternoon...it's amazing what happens when we really talk and listen to one another!

On loving myself!

I have joined my local fitness centre, there is a gym, a swimming pool, a sauna and a steam room... today I booked a session with one of the trainers to work out a cardio and strength routine that will help me develop the muscles and stamina. Next year I hope to be fitter for sailing and more able to cope with strong winds, and also to be fit enough to complete an open water swim with my daughter Emma.

I have almost always been an active person and swam competitively as a teenager but as I grow older I began to loose confidence in my physical abilities, but over the last year I have started sailing and managed to my astonishment to complete a 67 mile bike ride, add to that the fact that with Tim I won  a couple of trophies in the North West Norfolk Week sailing competition and I have a new found confidence and am going to to have a go at getting fitter again.

A few years ago I would have shrunk from this challenge, I was unhappy with my weight and my appearance, I was very down on myself as a physical human being and therefore denied a part of my created self. Today I am able to take a more integrated view, seeing myself as a whole person and learning to love my physical self again despite the fact that I am not perfect! The result I am confident enough to go to the gym! I brings a whole new meaning to Psalm 139, I offer you these words from the Message version:

Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out;
      you formed me in my mother's womb.
   I thank you, High God—you're breathtaking!
      Body and soul, I am marvelously made!
      I worship in adoration—what a creation!
   You know me inside and out,
      you know every bone in my body;
   You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
      how I was sculpted from nothing into something.
   Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth;
      all the stages of my life were spread out before you,
   The days of my life all prepared
      before I'd even lived one day.

vs. 13-16

The sacrament of touch......( two poems)

 

She received them

gratefully, and although they

swamped her hands

they brought a smile

to her face,

their warmth reminded

her of her mothers love,

bringing memories

of childhood,

cherished

and carefree…

 

They were offered

in love,

a simple gesture of care

springing from

a well of compassion

that only a few

would understand…

 

 and as lives touched

for one holy moment,

black leather

became a sacred offering…

****

Help me please…

he held my hands

looked imploringly into my eyes…

...help me;

we did of course,

a bed was arranged

(and paid for),

a breakfast will be provided…

(tomorrow we will call on others to help...)

 

… he hugged us,

craving human touch,

grateful for this drop in his ocean of need…

 

did we give? truly give?

I ask myself the question,

and I know the answer is

both yes and no…

 

Help me please…

he held my hands,

and I cannot help but see

his humanity,

and my lack of it…

 

did I withhold a sacrament?

****

O Lord teach me what it is to follow you....

teach me to pray,teach me to act, teach me to see you in the midst of life's grit and grime...

Sharing experience, sharing stories, sharing life...

Last Wednesday Tim and I went sailing, there is nothing remarkable about that, we go every week during the season if we can, and we often share a meal with friends there afterward. We usually begin by talking about sailing but normally the subjects change and as conversations flow then more intimate details are shared. As we drove home that evening I pondered the depth of friendship and fellowship we had shared and pondered the fact that although church should be more like that quite often it simply isn't...

What is missing? 

I am left wondering that following a BBQ I held yesterday for a number of folk from the three churches in my care...

How can it be that folk have worshiped together and "worked" together for so long and yet don't really know one another? I ask that question in the light of a couple of comments made last night by folk who felt that they had managed a really good chat with someone they'd known for years for the FIRST time!

So I am left wondering; I wonder if faith and worship are such private experiences that we don't talk about them, we come out of a service and head to the hall for coffee, but we don't talk about our experience. Is it that we don't have the ability or the language to talk to one another about our struggles ( surely we shouldn't have any) or our experience of God ( maybe that would make us super-spiritual and nobody would understand)?

Why don't we talk about prayer, promptings of the spirit, difficulties and dare I say it differences?

Have we so separated ourselves from our faith that we cannot move from worship to fellowship with any form of ease? Is that why sermons and hymn prayer sandwiches are "preferred" to dialogue and interaction?

How can we live out the gospel: "Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other."(John 13:34-35) if we don't even know one another?

Just looking through the gospels it becomes obvious that Jesus and the disciples shared deeply in their lives together, eating together and talking together  were central to their experience. In Acts we read of a church that shared, it wasn't a church of Sunday best only- it was a church of dirt and grime, of everyday life and struggles, of joy and celebration and of sharing!

There should be nothing missing- but I am still left wondering why so often there is.....