Asking the right questions

 Mark 10:51

Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see again.”

Confounding the critics

who assert that Jesus’ healing

upset the economy

disrupted the income 

of folk who relied on the charity 

of those around them

Jesus asks: What do you want me to do for you

Ceding control

Making space for options

Oh that our faith was similarly spacious

making room for diversity

in all its forms

But that takes humility

and the acknowledgement

that we don’t have answers

especially when we don’t even know

the right questions to ask.

Human propensity

 2 Corinthians 4:6-7

For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.

Some days I wish 

that I didn’t have feet of clay

Then, perhaps, I wouldn’t f**k things up so much

Other days, I catch a hold of myself

when I’m trying to single-handedly save the world

and I breathe a sigh of relief

that it’s not down to me

And I’m sure the world is glad, too

With that insight

I will carry on

using for good the power that is mine

and leaving the saving of the universe

to God

whose light shines in the darkness

Audacious hope

 

2 Corinthians 3:12

Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness,

Boldness

Borne out of hope

What does that look like?

Is it like picking up a megaphone

in the pedestrian precinct

to tell folks they’re going to hell?

Or is it like taking a peek behind the altar

to see what the priest keeps stashed there?

Maybe it’s sidling into a pew without genuflecting

the holy statues are covered up just now - maybe Jesus can’t see either 

Or maybe it’s practising the quiet belief

that holding one view does not exclude another

that ambivalence is possible in a complex world

Not just possible 

but necessary if peace has any chance 

of breaking out

Now that’s an audacious hope.

That’s what boldness looks like.

(Liz Crumlish Lent 2024)

What is truth?

 

John 8:31-33

Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?”

What does it mean to be free?

What does it mean to know truth?

Does knowing truth bring freedom?

More questions than answers

And maybe, just maybe,

those questions

are the very things that will bring freedom

the very stuff of truth

Not trapped by certainties

or by lies

there is potential for discovery

and room for stretching

The possibility

of reaching out

to what is beyond ourselves

and, almost accidentally,

stumbling upon a kind of freedom

and a provisional truth

that will do for now.

Carried by love

  

Isaiah 63:9

It was no messenger or angel

but his presence that saved them;

in his love and in his pity he redeemed them;

he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.

How often you carry us, O God

without our knowing

or acknowledging your presence

We imagine our independence 

We overestimate our ability

And all the while

yours are the arms that bear us

setting our feet on solid ground

Yours is the whisper of a call 

that beckons us onward

Yours is the cadence of a song

that invites us to dance

As in days of old

stay with us

And make your presence known

that we may know your rhythm 

in all of our days

How shall we sing

 Psalms 96:1-4

O sing to the LORD a new song;

sing to the LORD, all the earth.

Sing to the LORD, bless his name;

tell of his salvation from day to day.

Declare his glory among the nations,

his marvellous works among all the peoples.

For great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised;

How shall we sing a new song

How shall we marvel

at the beauty and the wonder of creation

How shall we declare the greatness of God

as the world cries out for peace

and creation weeps for healing

How shall we behold beauty

in the groans of the earth

and see the goodness of God

in the midst of suffering

By knowing that God the Creator

sits beside us, silently weeping

for all of creation

By remembering that God the Creator

has given us the means

by which to heal the earth

and to share its resources

By resolving, alongside God the Creator

to use our power for good

to counter violence with peace

and to practice love in our everyday

Knowing, remembering, resolving,

We shall sing a new song

Live into covenant

 

Peden’s Pulpit, Failford

Jeremiah 31:33

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Covenant

takes relationships

to a whole new level

Covenant

cuts through the small print

enacting ethos and essence

Covenant is not aspirational

It is an embodied commitment

May we embody the love of God

written on our hearts

invested in all we encounter today

 

(Liz Crumlish Lent 2024)

Holy Ground

 

Exodus 3:3-5

Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”

Finding holy ground

means turning aside

Leaving the familiar track

to make room

for possibility

New perspective emerges

from a passion ignited 

in the vulnerability 

of turning aside

taking off our shoes

and standing on holy ground

No time to lie low

 

John 7:1

After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He did not wish to go about in Judea because the Jews were looking for an opportunity to kill him.

This is no time to lie low

Already a marked man

A man on a mission

Making himself visible 

For the poor

The hungry

The grieving

The marginalised

The sick

The homeless

The oppressed

The depressed

The fearful

The terrorised

The refugee

The fugitive

The outcast 

No time to lie low

Risking his life

For all at risk