In a nutshell

Matthew 7:12
The Golden Rule
“In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.

All boiled down
the law and the prophets
summed up in a nutshell
seems so simple.
Yet to live by these few words is
as slippery as the shell on a hazelnut
or as gnarled as the shell on a walnut
or as layered and brittle as the pistachio shell
giving rise to that old adage
of cracking the nut with a sledgehammer.
For such strength and determination
have to be employed
to breakthrough the surface
and penetrate the defences
that keep us at a distance
and prevent us
from doing to others
as we would have them do to us.
With the shells removed
even the nuts that proved
the hardest to crack
can provide sweetness
and sustenance.
Laying ourselves open
and being invited into
the heart of another
calls for a love and respect
that is at once
tender and tough
and vulnerable and persistent.
The rule for life
summed up in a nutshell.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

That moment

Psalms 42:1-6
Why Are You Cast Down, O My Soul?
To the choirmaster. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah.
As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”
These things I remember,
as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
a multitude keeping festival.
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.
My soul is cast down within me;
therefore I remember you
from the land of Jordan and of Hermon,
from Mount Mizar.

The fallow deer and the rabbit posed
for all the world like Bambi and Thumper
and gazed as the Brownie House came to life
as girls yawned, stretched
and tumbled out of bed
pausing midst their chores
of getting ready for the day
and setting up breakfast
to marvel at the wonder
of God's beautiful creation
An insight into the peace and the calm
that God wills for all creation
And that shared moment of awe
will remain
to be recovered and cherished
in moments less calm
and in days less carefree
That moment when we saw God
in the bunny and the fallow deer.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Living Word

Isaiah 55:10-11
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Success
What does it look like?
Like seed for the sower?
And bread for the eater?
Success for the word of God
brings fulness
and purpose
Full hearts
resolved to share
in the work of the Word
that God casts adrift
in the world
to quench the thirsting soul
and bring new life
Encouraging tender buds
of new growth
Enfolding gnarled roots
that have lost their way
Embracing fragile shoots that emerge
in response to the warmth of the Word
until all are watered and fed
by the Word of Life.
Success
is the Word of God
made flesh
in the world

Breath of God

Psalms 104:1-6
God the Creator and Provider
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
O Lord my God, you are very great.
You are clothed with honor and majesty,
wrapped in light as with a garment.
You stretch out the heavens like a tent,
you set the beams of your chambers on the waters,
you make the clouds your chariot,
you ride on the wings of the wind,
you make the winds your messengers,
fire and flame your ministers.
You set the earth on its foundations,
so that it shall never be shaken.
You cover it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.


I can pictureGod
riding on the wind
stirring up the earth
Gently whispering in one breath
Whipping up a hoolie in another
Tickling and teasing
Raging and storming
Bringing warmth
Or icy blast
Weaving in and out
of the clouds
as though in some giant Quidditch game
Drifting along on the breezes
with a playful lilt
always looking for the golden snitch
that gem to be cherished
Gently lifting up
and dusting off
and setting down again.
All the while
covering the earth protectively
Radiating light
Dispelling darkness
Gently caring and chiding
Encouraging and enticing
Drawing like a magnet
those who perceive
the stirring
of the breath of God
and enfolding them in love beyond imagining.
God - beyond our horizon
and closer than air.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Did God say?

Genesis 3:1-5
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die. ’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

Sowing those first seeds of doubt
the serpent worked her way in
twisting words
playing semantics
causing humans to question
the truth that God intended we know
- that we are created in the image of God
Already we are like God
That is not ambition
It is not getting above our station
It is how God created us
- in the image of God
And still life conspires
to convince human beings
that they are less
that they are worthless
that they have no status
and deserve no other existence
It takes practice
and determination
to tune out those voices
low and insistent
that murmur within us
and reclaim
our God-given identity
as beloved
created in the image of God.
But there is more:
When we have reclaimed that identity
for ourselves
our work then
is to reclaim it for others.
Brushing off the layers of ash
and getting to the core
We are beloved of God
Created in the image of God.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Digging deep

Isaiah 58:9b-12
If you remove the yoke from among you,
the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
if you offer your food to the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you continually,
and satisfy your needs in parched places,
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters never fail.
Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to live in.

In the cold light of day
when all is set before us
The choices we must make
seem obvious:
Lifting oppression
Halting the slander
Feeding the hungry
Easing others' burdens
And the rewards seem worth seeking.
The trouble is
although the way seems clear
it is not instinctive.
It involves us turning aside
from what has become our default mode:
the struggle to keep ourselves afloat
and to guard against austerity
by holding tightly to what we have
To let go
and trust in God's providence
seems like reckless folly.
To trust that we shall be satisfied
in our caring for others
requires a strength
that is not yet ours.
And so our sojourn
in the wilderness
involves our dredging
for that inner fortitude
that has yet to become
our way of life.
To rekindle
the divine spark
that God has placed
deep within us
until it becomes
the foundation on which
lives are rebuilt.
A quest for justice becomes
a quest for our inner God.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Active Fasting

Isaiah 58:6-7
Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?

The journey into the wilderness
is not about finding ourselves
or even seeking
the meaning of life
It is about opening our eyes
to the world around us
To see the need of our neighbour
To pick up on the unspoken cues
the longing behind the smile
the spark that is no longer there,
extinguished when hope took flight.
It is about recognising our kinship
with the man and his dog
begging on the city steps
or the young woman
sitting in the shop doorway
or the elderly veteran
whose once proud bearing
is now stooped and dejected.
To journey into the wilderness
does not require us to travel far physically
but to take huge steps
in our understanding
of our sisters and our brothers
who make this pilgrimage with us
To bear their burdens
and lighten the load
with love and grace
lived out in mercy and compassion
with steps more faltering than sure
and a hunger born of justice.
Is not this the fast that God chooses?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad