Writ large

2 Corinthians 3:1-3

Ministers of the New Covenant

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Surely we do not need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you or from you, do we? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all; and you show that you are a letter of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

A living testament

Writ large in human hearts

Flesh and bone

wrought by the Spirit

Shaped and fashioned

to be a beacon of hope

signalling new life

and new beginnings

and new possibilities

through Christ.

What a legacy.

What a trail to blaze.

Letters of Christ

written in the Spirit.

Glory to God!

Lord of all

Matthew 8:23-27

Jesus Stills the Storm

And when he got into the boat, his disciples followed him. A windstorm arose on the sea, so great that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep. And they went and woke him up, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a dead calm. They were amazed, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”

Lord of the skies, the hills, the sea

Of beauty and majesty

At home in the calm

and the storm

Teach us how to love and revere

the vagaries of the elements

and in them to glimpse you

commanding the waves

calming the storm

teaching us faith.

Courage or Daring?

Luke 13:31-35

The Lament over Jerusalem

At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’ ”

Jesus'willingness to put himself in danger, to refuse to turn away from the reckoning that even those around him, slow as they sometimes were, could see was coming, might be seen as courageous or foolhardy.

But perhaps there is something else: In courage, there is also fear. We can't make a choice to be courageous unless we feel the fear of the options before us. Although some might show courage in spontaneous situations, mostly, courage is something we choose over fear. We have to know the inherent dangers to actively choose to overcome those and be courageous.

And so, Jesus, in choosing to press on toward Jerusalem, displays something of himself - that he is open to fear yet chooses to go on anyway. In his words and in the choice he makes, we see deep into Jesus' character, we are party to the vulnerability that he displays for us. That vulnerability that fears rejection, that fears pain, that fears death, the vulnerability that allows Jesus to choose courage and set his course for Jerusalem. 

And, alongside his vulnerability, fear and courage, we see also compassion. Compassion that wants to shelter a bruised and broken city, hell-bent on destruction - a compassion that knows rejection as those he yearns to shelter refuse to be turned away from the course they have set.

Vulnerability, fear, courage and compassion - the sheer humanity of Christ displayed for us in these verses today with an invitation to embrace who we are at our most vulnerable and fearful with courage and compassion. 

In Christ we are invited to be who we are, to love who we are, even as we are accepted and loved by one who knows us and who stretches out wings in which we may shelter.

Thanks be to God.

Nothing new?

Ecclesiastes 1:9-10

What has been is what will be,

and what has been done is what will be done;

there is nothing new under the sun.

Is there a thing of which it is said,

“See, this is new”?

It has already been,

in the ages before us.

Nothing new under the sun...

This passage could be an ode to Social Media - it seems the same jokes and memes appear time and again, recirculating in different guises for different occasions. 

It can be quite tiresome.

And yet, there is also a wealth of creativity and ingenuity.

People paint evocative word pictures.

They capture stunning images of the beauty - or of the squalor- around them.

They share, they interpret, they judge, they implore. Touched by a something in the created world, they draw others in to be moved or appalled too. They gather forces and garner resources.

And much good can be harnessed through a tired media.

Just when we're about to give up, something marvellous happens and faith is restored - faith in God, faith in human nature, faith in human kindness.

For, in the end, no matter how much we have seen or done or how much we've grown weary, we can all be kind, practicing kindness that links us to one another, to creation and to the God of creation today.

Nothing new under the sun?

Yet, still there is kindness.

With a gentle spirit

Galatians 6:1

Bear One Another’s Burdens

My friends, if anyone is detected in a transgression, you who have received the Spirit should restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness. Take care that you yourselves are not tempted.

Not with judgement

Or condemnation

But with gentleness

Not by casting out

Or ostracising

But by restoring

Acknowledging wrong

but then embracing

with love

Making space 

for making amends

Forgiving and restoring

as we have been

forgiven and restored.

With the gift of the Spirit

we are charged

to be gentle.

Here is water...

Acts 8:36-38

As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.

For the Eunuch to whom Philip explained the scriptures, baptism was a perfectly logical next step in response to the word.

When did we last feel the spontaneity of faith, the urgency of response to God's word?

When did the Spirit so move us that we could do no other but respond in faith and in love?

And when did we last facilitate such spontaneity, cutting through the rules and the red tape, simply opening the word and making room for the Spirt to work?

Where, today, is God calling us to be conduits of grace? A question with which to wrestle in these days of Lent.

Praying love

Ephesians 3:18-19

I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

The knowledge of God's love

It's breadth

And length

And height 

And depth

Beyond our imagining

To pray that

for our neighbour

is a gift beyond measure.