Evening Walk

I live in a beautiful part of England, in the county of Dorset. Corsets coastline is part of the UNESCO world heritage Jurassic Coast.

Last evening I went for a wander to the Fleet lagoon.The Fleet lagoon lies between Chesil Beach, a large shingle barrier, and the impounded mainland Dorset shore, just west of Weymouth and the Isle of Portland. It is a natural lagoonal inlet with features of a percolation lagoon. It is largely natural, with a predominantly rural catchment and adjacent shoreline, partly because the lagoon bed and the majority of the shore has been owned and managed privately by the Ilchester Estate for over 400 years.

As you can see from my photos I was treated to a spectacular sunset.

Jesus blesses the children

I love this painting, the look on Jesus’ face, as he blesses the child.I am intrigued as to what is going through the mind of the boy laid on the ground. What words is Jesus saying that make him appear spellbound.

New wine , new order

 

 

Wedding at Cana

John 2;1-11

 

Now as we know in the time of Jesus weddings were week-long festivals. banquets would be prepared for many guests and the week would be spent celebrating the new life of the married couple. Often the whole town was invited and everyone would come. To accommodate many people careful planning was needed and to run out of wine was more than embarrassing: it broke the strong written laws of hospitality. Running out of wine brought shame, it says we don’t care about you, it insults the guests by saying you’ve already drunk too much, it says we are too poor to buy more.

So what makes this wedding any different.

 

When you look at the text it is actually Mary who is the key, John mentions Mary first and follows on that Jesus and his disciples were also guests. Mary’s presence takes precedence. So is Mary Key to this to this event.

Mary is the one who notices that the wine is running out. women’s intuition she sees the muttering and shuffling among the servants. So she mentions it to Jesus only to receive the reply “dear mother that’s not our problem, my time has yet to come”

But as we know Mary it’s not put off by this and she orders the servants to do what ever Jesus tells them today.  I want to take you back to to the Christmas story trying to Mary as young girl in a conversation with the angel.  Mary is told.” He will be great and will be called a son of the most high. The Lord will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever: his kingdom will never end.

Mary questions as to how this will happen she is told,the holy spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the son of God.

Mary has known all along that Jesus was born to be special. And perhaps she knows that this was actually the time for Jesus to actually show the person he was born to be the son of the most high.

For Mary perhaps she may have expected it to be made clearer earlier who was especially after the episode and at this Jerusalem Temple when he was only 12, no doubt she had been waiting and wondering for this to happen for him to show his hand so to speak. To show the the messiah written about in Jewish texts was actually present as a guest at the wedding.

I think the key is Jesus’ baptism, we don’t know if Mary was there and witnessed the dove and the voice saying “this is my son, whom I love. With you I am well pleased”

The holy spirit came upon Mary and now it was on Jesus

The holy spirit had descended to Jesus and rested and stayed with him. This is the starting point of Jesus’s ministry after years of working as a carpenter. The prophesies had been fulfilled.  As we say all things come about in Gods time.

This was the time.

But did Mary expect a miracle, I don’t know, perhaps she was sure this was the time. Tradition says that Joseph was dead, so she properly was used to asking for her sons help in all situations. Something all mothers do!!! My son would defog say I do!!!!

Jesus does eventually show his hand, in a big way. He doesn’t just go and find a couple of full wineskins from somewhere. No!

He approaches the servants and instructs the servants to fill the six large ceremonial jars usually used for ritual washing to the brim with water. I should imagine that the servants were rather confused because the washing was long past. However, they did as Jesus said. Now as we know the ceremonial jars contains 20 to 30 gallons of water so the need for six would indicate a large gathering. So maybe an important family, the embarrassment of running out of wine would have been unthinkable.

The water becomes wine, not just a mediocre wine, it was the best. Which in itself bought astonishment because at a wedding the best was served first and as time went on the quality of the wine would diminish.

This miracle signalled change in order. It is often said of this passage that it Signals the beginning of a new era, which it does in more ways than one, because it signalled the start of Jesus’s ministry and the time when he would leave his home and Mary. He would no longer be there.

Mary had to let go of her son, Jesus. He was not on this earth solely for her, he was and is here for us all if we want him.

Many questions come from this passage,

Is there something you are holding close that you need to let go of?

Maybe God is asking you to do something, asking you to step out in faith that letting go will be ok.

New wine is a symbol for the coming of the kingdom, the new order, and in this new wine we are saved.

Verse 11 says

“What Jesus did here in Cana of galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory and his disciple believed”

We believe in the new wine, the new order and when we share in this wine shortly, we must remember Mary for whom this wedding signalled the what we know now as the beginning of the end

Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

my wonderful gift

Advent

Wonderful Advent Reflections written by a friend, they are so good I just had to share them

 

Advent reflections based on everyday objects.

Jo Neary, Advent 2015

 

Advent 1: a bunch of keys – hope                

Jeremiah 33: 14-16, Luke 21:25-36

 

The keys we use every day unlock and lock our houses keep them and us safe.  In prison the keys held by the wardens control the freedom of those locked inside.  The “key to something” is the best or only way to achieve something.

 

In the prophecy of Jeremiah 33:14-16 we hear how God will fulfil the promise made to Israel that they will be redeemed, that a new shoot will spring up, that the key to redemption and freedom is the justice and righteousness that Jesus will bring.  In Luke 21:25-36 we are reminded that the Kingdom of God breaking through on earth will bring huge change, we should expect that change to come and expect God to act in the world. The key to change in the world is Jesus and his Kingdom.

 

When you unlock your doors, pray that your heart will be unlocked to see the justice of Jesus at work in the world now. What can we do to live justly in the world today?  When you lock your doors at night, pray for those who are not free and for those who are imprisoned.  Come Lord Jesus.

 

Advent 2: a phone – God’s message to the world

Malachi 3:1-4, Luke 3:1-6

 

A phone means we can contact help when we need it.   A phone helps us keep in touch with loved ones.  A phone can send a message, a photo, a video and connect us to the rest of the world.

 

In Malachi we hear that God’s messenger comes to prepare the way for the Lord’s arrival. We are reminded that when the Lord comes there will be consequences, his presence will purify and refine the world.  The message in Luke is to get ready, to make our paths straight, to smooth out the rough bits, broadcast to the world that God is coming.

 

What message about God might we be able to tell in our lives?  How can we share something about Jesus with whoever we speak to regularly on the phone?  What blessing or prayer could you write in a letter or Christmas card this year?  Come Lord Jesus.

 

 

Advent 3: a glass of water – John the Baptist

Zephaniah 3: 14-20, Philippians 4:4-7, Luke 3:7-18

 

When we turn on the tap fresh water gushes out.  Water to wash in, to clean things, to satisfy our thirst, to refresh our gardens.  Water sustains life.  What sustains us?

 

In Philippians we are reminded that instead of worrying we must pray.  Connection with God through prayer sustains our Christian journey and refreshes us.  In Luke we hear how John baptised with water, encouraging people to say sorry for all they have done wrong.  Jesus will baptise us with the Holy Spirit: we are forgiven and receive new life in Christ.  The Holy Spirit is God at work in our lives today.

 

Pour a glass of water and give thanks for the clean water that we have access to.  Pray for the whole world to have access to clean water.  Drink the water and feel refreshed.  Reflect on the things in your life you would like to be washed clean, say sorry for the things that are wrong. Drink again and know you are forgiven. What is God calling you to now?

Come Lord Jesus.

 

Advent 4: a towel – Mary

Micah 5:2-5a, Luke 1:39-45

 

A towel dries us after a bath, wipes our hands in the kitchen, mops up spills and even wraps up a new born baby.

 

Micah hints at the birth that is to come, the hard work and labour that will bring forth the shepherd for the flock.  Luke reminds us of the Holy Spirit at work in both Elizabeth and Mary and the way God uses his lowly servant Mary to fulfil his plan to fill the hungry, to scatter the proud and redeem his people.

 

For many people around the world a hot shower and a clean towel is just something to hope for.  As we use our towel today pray for those who are longing for safety and security: Lord lift up the lowly.  Think of a new born baby, wrapped securely in a towel and held tightly by his mother: the hope of new life is the hope that Jesus brings to his world.  What do you hope for the world? Come, Lord Jesus.

 

Bright star-maker God,

travel with us

through Advent

shine into our dark corners

 lead us into ways of justice

 warm us with joy and wonder

 bring us to new birth.                                         Ruth Burgess

Lest we forget

“Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing.” Col 3;15

We have heard the Exhortation this morning and I would like  to read you the poem  from which it is taken.Written  by Robert Laurence Binyon (1869-1943), it was published in The Times newspaper on 21st September 1914.

For The Fallen
With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England’s foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

Today we remember not only the soldiers written about in this poem but all those who have died as a result of more recent conflicts.

Remembrance Sunday draws human beings together in a way is almost unique.  Young and old gather to remember and reflect, each allowing some aspect of the reality of war to touch their being. Some who gather will bring new or not so new memories of active service. Some will carry in their heart the memory of a specially loved one who made the ultimate sacrifice. Many will be stretching their imaginations to try to grasp what those people must be feeling. All will be praying that as time rolls forwards human beings will find ways of resolving their differences and repelling aggressors which do not involve warfare.

Today I carry my great grandfather, served in the dorset rifles setting foot on foreign soil on  23^rd novemebr 1914. it is his medals that I am wearing today. My great grandmother was fortunate that he returned, although as with many, life in the trenches it took its toll and he died not many years after leaving my great grandmother with six children. My great uncle was on the HMS Hood and I have at home a copy of the last ever photo of him taken with his brothers and sisters. My son said to me a while ago whilst watching a TV program about the HMS Hood. His words “ I have just witnessed the death of my Great .great uncle. I hadn’t really thought about in that way.

So today and again on Wednesday a period of silence is observed.  What does that silence say. There are two kinds of silence.

One is because no one wants to communicate. This is the frosty, thick, awkward, hostile, silence which is an outward expression of irreconcilable hostility.   And it is often a prelude to violence. The guns and bombs begin only after the talking has stopped.

The other sort of silence is calm and mutual, it is the recognition that what matters is so much more than we can ever say that we might as well honour that fact by shutting up for a bit.

Can you imagine what it must have been like on that Christmas Day when hostilities stopped, all be it for a short while and silenced reigned. One wonders if hostilities could stop for a short while why did they resume.

I wish to share with you an extract from memories of a soldier on the Christmas Day truce

“It was rather foggy actually at first that morning but when the fog cleared we began to climb out of the trench and wave and then quickly jump in again in case they shot at us. But nobody did shoot and eventually several people got out and some of us went forward beyond our barbed wire.Anyway eventually a couple of chaps met in no man’s land and shook hands and turned round and waved and we all cheered and then we flocked out like a football crowd. Sort of running as fast as we could – it was very broken ground and people fell into shell holes and things – but still we all got into the middle eventually and we began to all shake hands and then we began to swap things like cigarettes and cigars and chocolate and cognac and we gave them a bit of rum and so on and everything got very friendly and happy and we stayed out there the whole of the day.I have a letter here I wrote on Boxing Day 1914: ‘It was a beautiful day – the ground was white with frost. Some of them were trying to arrange a football match but it didn’t come off. Talk about peace and goodwill – I never saw a friendlier sight. We tried to explain to each other that we bore no malice.’

Then the silence ended and hostilities resumed.

The silence of Armistice Day – the silence of Remembrance Sunday – is this sort of silence. It is the recognition that in order to do justice to what has happened, to do justice to the cost of war – its sacrifice and shame – we do not need to tell another story or sing another song. Rather we need to be silent together. No words are enough to convey how we feel.

But we know too that the power of remembrance is that while it connects us with sadness it also inspires us in hope.

It is our duty this day to ensure that those who in the cause of peace have given, and continue to give, of their life, their health, their youth, are honoured and remembered. But in our remembering we must also vow to give of ourselves for the good of humanity, especially of the generations yet to come; who will themselves one day stand in silent remembrance and grow in hope, we are called to stand with each other, to remember, yes, and to be agents of change, through God’s love, justice and peace.

Our reading this morning taken from Colossians ch3

“Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing.”

We are called to be one ,belong to one body and to live in peace.

MPH 8/10/15

 

What do you want me to do for you?

Jesus said to Bartimaeus ” what do you want me to do for you”

Bartimaeus replied  “that I might see again”.

If that question was addressed to you by Jesus,our Lord and Saviour,what would your answer be?

If we read the whole of Chapter 10 in Mark’s Gospel we will see a large and huge contrast.

The first parts of the chapter are concerned with the disciples and others understanding the Kingdom of God.  They wrestle with divorce, they mull over having to give things up to follow Jesus, they argue over who will be the greatest, who will be able to sit at Jesus’ right hand in glory.  They prevent the little children coming to Jesus and they can’t get their heads round the death that Jesus predicts is coming.  They are struggling and arguing and getting it wrong and being amazed and then we meet Bartimaeus.

Bartimaeus who has nothing – not even a first name recorded in Scripture.  Bartimaeus who has to beg for money because he cannot work and has no value in society, Bartimaeus who lives on the outskirts of Jericho because he isn’t welcome in the centre of town.  Bartimaeus who can’t see anything, yet recognises Jesus.

A blind man recognises Jesus, when his disciples are struggling to understand.  A blind man knows who he is “Son of David” when the disciples still struggle to call him Messiah, a blind man who wants Jesus to have mercy on him when the disciples are wanting to know who will receive the most power from Jesus.  A blind man, who the people walking alongside Jesus try to stop from getting at Jesus.

This is the man who halts the Lord’s progress to Jerusalem, who receives love and compassion and attention from him.  It is the least little beggar who Jesus stops to serve “What do you want me to do for you?” he says.  The mighty king asking the humble beggar what he might do to help him.  All Bartimaeus wants is to be able to see – yet of anyone in this chapter of Mark it is him who sees most clearly.

Your faith has made you well Jesus tells him.  Bartimaeus has been called by Jesus, he has been healed by Jesus, he immediately follows him on the way – he becomes one of his disciples.

It takes a blind man to see God’s Kingdom at work in the world.

So where are we in this?

Are we like the disciples – struggling to understand who Jesus is?  Are we like those who try to stop Bartimaeus getting to Jesus – do we get in other people’s way?  Or are we the one in need today, do we need Jesus’ mercy and grace? Are we able to cast our own pride aside and ask Jesus to have mercy on us?

Too often we use our lack of understanding as an excuse – but faith is not about knowing every answer it is about trusting.

Sometimes we say the cost is too much – how can the cost be too much for eternal life?

Sometimes we get in the way of others – our attitude, our lack of compassion, our lack of generosity, our desire to keep things our way prevents other people from even getting to Jesus.

Are we too afraid to fully depend on Jesus and be prepared to have him serve us?

What do you want me to do for you? says Jesus

Perhaps we need to ponder that offer in our lives.  What do we want the Saviour of the world to do for us? How can we trust and depend on him that much to be willing to let him serve us?

How can we let go of ourselves: our desire for power, for money, for control, for organisation, for perfection, for things our way and let God serve our needs?

Bartimaeus painted by Chris Higham

James set out a warning !!! My sermon for today.

James 3.13-4.3,7-8a

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. 14But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. 15Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. 16For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. 17But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. 18And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for* those who make peace.

4Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? 2You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet* something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.

7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

I had an encounter with the devil this week, don’t be worried. He was crouched at the feet of a bishop in a stain glass window at St Andrews church in West Stafford, Dorset. I think it was the first time I’ve actually seen the devil depicted in a stained glass window.It was most opportune as the epistle this morning talks about the devil.

James warns us of the power of the devil this morning, how the devil sneaks in in a quiet way. James suggest in v 14-16

“But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth.

Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish.

For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind.

And in the gospel this morning we hear of to disciples arguing with one another as to who was the greatest. Not really an attribute that Jesus would expect to hear from one of his disciples. Would James consider they were thinking in earthly terms and not in heavenly terms, I think so So does the devil exist., is the devil trying to come between us and our faith.

C.S Lewis wrote about the Devil in his humorous fiction ‘The Screwtape Letters’.These letters consist of imaginary letters from a senior devil to a junior devil, instructing him how to tempt a young man away from Christianity. Eventually they fail, and are consumed with wrath as their intended victim passes triumphantly into heaven.

But in the course of the book we learn about what we’re up against if we wish to remain strong in our face and resist the call of atheism.

It is a hilariously funny book yet; like all best humour it makes a serious point. Many of its readers have laughed at the jokes but have they ever ask themselves whether they believe that the devil exists or not.

Some Christians will dismiss the question as decided already. Jesus believed in devils they answer, so we have no right to do disagree with him. They point to passages in Matthews Gospel, where Jesus meets to men that are possessed by demons and begins the task of casting them out. The Bible tells us that Jesus spoke to the Demons, even if it was only one word GO !!

This proves some say that devils are real.

But others will reply there is no scientific proof that Demons exist.

Whereas it has been shown over and over again and when identical symptoms to those of the so-called demoniacs are treated as a physical physiological illness they can be killed.

If Jesus had said, you are suffering from a psychosomatic illness nobody would have understood. Whereas if he used the language and terminology which the patient knew it will be effective in ridding him of his belief that he was incurable and allow the idea that God loved him to have its therapeutic effect.

In the forward of ‘The Screwtape letters’ Lewis said that if asked whether he believed in the devil, with a capital D, he would reply No if you meant a, power opposite and equal to God existing in its own right from eternity. ‘God has no opposites’ he wrote. But he did believe that some angels had rejected God, and become his enemies.

It is quite proper to call these fallen Angels Devils with a smaller D. But Satan their leader is the opposite of the Archangel Michael, not of God.This belief is not essential to his faith, wrote CS Lewis, but he will hold to it until someone can prove it to be untrue –  and it is much harder to prove that anything does not exist than to prove it does.

The 19^th century French poet Charles Baudelaire was saying the same thing when he wrote

‘ My dear brothers,   never forget when you hear people praise the progress of the Enlightenment, that the devil’s best trick it Is to persuade you that he doesn’t exist’

James remind  us in v17-18 that the wisdom we need comes from above.

‘But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.’

And in v7 he tells how we should do it

‘Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded’.

We need to be on our guard for the devil slips in so quietly and we allow it by thinking of earthly matters and no heavenly matters.

Be still for the presence of the Lord

I have loved Paul’s letter to the Ephesians over the past few weeks.

This letter although written for new Christians converts in Ephesus, is so relevant for us today. The reading today talks of using our time wisely, not wasting it. It advises that we  make sure we are spending it doing a God would have us do.

So busyness for busyness sake is out.

We mustn’t feel that we HAVE to be doing all the time, because in always DOING ,how are we to discern how God have us spend our time.

In church this morning we sand “Be still for the presence of the Lord”. The Lord wishes us to allow ourselves to be still, to rest in his presence, to hear him, be at one with him.

He gives us permission to” NOT BE BUSY” but WE have to give ourselves that permission.

Ephesians 5,15-20  (Message Bible)

Don’t waste your time on useless work, mere busywork, the barren pursuits of darkness. Expose these things for the sham they are. It’s a scandal when people waste their lives on things they must do in the darkness where no one will see. Rip the cover off those frauds and see how attractive they look in the light of Christ.

Wake up from your sleep,
Climb out of your coffins;
Christ will show you the light!
So watch your step. Use your head. Make the most of every chance you get. These are desperate times! Don’t live carelessly, unthinkingly. Make sure you understand what the Master wants.

Don’t drink too much wine. That cheapens your life. Drink the Spirit of God, huge draughts of him. Sing hymns instead of drinking songs! Sing songs from your heart to Christ. Sing praises over everything, any excuse for a song to God the Father in the name of our Master, Jesus Christ.

Sunset Shoreline.

Hallelujah! You who serve God, praise God!

Just to speak his name is praise!

Just to remember God is a blessing— now and tomorrow and always.

From east to west, from dawn to dusk, keep lifting all your praises to God!

Ps 113;3 MSG

This photo shows a beautiful golden summer sunset shining on the Chesil beach, which forms part of the Unesco World Heritage Coast.

I particularly like the way the sun flare accentuates the silhouette of the fisherman and catches the crest of the breaking waves.