Posts

Showing posts from May, 2013

The still of the night

The still of the night. People often speak of the still of the night. A beautiful image of peace and calm. What tranquility. What a joy to be caught up in such a place. And yet, the still of the night often seems the most tumultuous of places. A place filled with darkness, filled with fear and doubt and questions, with worries that you can do nothing about... Until morning... Until light comes... But that light will come. In fact that light is there... And recognising that, we come full circle, and can think once more, of the still of the night. In the light things always seem better. With the light, life is always better. The light doesn't mean we won't see darkness, but that we will know the light will prevail in the end... Walk in the light... And sit and lie in the light... And know that light always...

Barriers

BARRIERS What are our strongest barriers ? Are they the physical barriers of walls or fences, are they the borders of countries where borders still exist, or are they the barriers we erect in our minds. Walls can be knocked down, fences climbed and the borders of countries passed with the right documents... But what about those in our mind? The barriers we put up because we're nervous or afraid of someone or something. The barriers we put up because we're unsure of ourselves. The barriers we put up because we think we're right and they, whoever 'they' may be, are wrong. Those barriers aren't broken easily and they are the most damaging barriers of all. They are the barriers that create intolerance, dislike, even hate. And they are the barriers that prevent the recognition of the reality that by ourselves we can do or be little, but with others of all shapes and sizes and colours and backgrounds, we have the chance to touch lives, to change lives; to be to

Lord, give us some perspective

Lord, give us some perspective... Reading through the twitter feeds, there are so many needs. So many worries from people - all different. There's Oklahoma, Iraq, Afghanistan's still there too. And the IF campaign, and people starving, and oh, same sex marriage too. And of course there's the Holy Land, today its a bank robbery, but every day there's the pain of separation, desperation, fear of attack for some. But it is the land of the Holy One, and in Him we're reminded to trust, because through all the pain he's there. And through all the pain, through the worries, he hints at a lesson in compassion. He's been through pain, he accepted pain and he still feels pain today. The pain of seeing us lose perspective about what's really important; lose hope, forget the victory over death he has won for us all. Whilst pain is real today we need compassion and we need perspective. To remember those in places where suffering has become such common place t

Pentecost 2013

There’s a story told of a husband and wife both of whom were doctors - one a doctor of theology and the other a doctor of medicine. One day their daughter answered the front door, and the person at the door asked for ‘the Doctor’. The daughter replied, "Do you want the one who preaches or the one who practices?" The gift of the Holy Spirit was certainly given to enable us to preach, but it was also given to practice – to go out and be Jesus to others… As we celebrate the birthday of the Church, we celebrate that we are part of the institution that is empowered to do that – we are part of those privileged to be given a chance to serve God and serve others, whilst enjoying the worship and fellowship and support with others. But one of the problems of the Church over quite a long period now has been that, too often, we’re happy to admit defeat; too often we’re happy to say we can’t do, rather than wondering what God can do through us; too often we’re happy to try and come up

Justice, Isaiah and Jesus

The reading from Isaiah (ch.61) is quite unusual - because it's initial verses are well known not so much because of the words of Isaiah himself, but because they were the words quoted by Jesus in the synagogue at Nazareth. There Jesus stood to read and quoted part of these verses, 'the Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. he has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour' (Luke 4:16-19) and then he proclaimed, 'today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.' That is how important the passage from Isaiah is - important enough that Jesus should quote part of it as he continues to outline his ministry. And it is no surprise that Jesus quoted a radical message for his ministry, because however gentle we sometimes make it sound, it was radical. He came to challenge the corruption of aut