Faith

Numbers 22:1-21
Psalm 106:1-18
Romans 6:12-23
Matthew 21:12-22

Matthew 21:12-22

Faith, a topic that can be revisited endlessly. What mountains would I like to be moved and tossed into the sea?
David and I read the passages in the lectionary together at about 5 54am every weekday morning though it is considerably later at the weekends. My mind does not always function well at that time of day. Usually I try to grasp one word from the readings which I try to dwell on to write this blog. Sometimes I am so disfunctional at that time that I have to read the passages again later to be able to concentrate on a word. Today I wanted to concentrate on the word 'favor' from the psalm but as I moved through my morning chores the end of the gospel began to haunt me.
I began to think about Jesus' miracles. Did the guy who was let down through the roof believe that he would be healed or was it just that his friends believed and he thought "Well we might as well give it a try". Did Jairus tell his daughter that he was going to fetch the healer so that she would be well? Did she 'die' believing that Jesus was on his way. The lady who touched Jesus' cloak obviously believed for herself that she would be healed. The widow of Nain's son did not have faith that he would be raised because he was already dead when Jesus came on the scene. Lazarus might have believed that Jesus was on his way and therefore when he died he might have had an inclination that Jesus could heal him, he might also have felt let down as Jesus did not come in time.
What I was wanting to do was to be able to prove to my friend that even though his sick brother might not have strength or faith to believe that he would be healed it was sufficient that those around him had the faith in the healing for him.
I thought about the times that we and many friends had prayed for our sick son Matthew, he was too much of a newborn to have faith as we know it. Many people prayed, all over Britain. Matthew died. I do not believe that is a reason for me not to pray, that God will not answer my prayers. I think our daughters can attest to that (see April 6 entry).
As I was coming our of church yesterday David and I were discussing my friend Pat. She gad cancer twice, a stroke and heart problems. She was a walking miracle but I know that there were times when she was so sick that she relied on the prayers of her friends to bring her to the place where she could believe for herself.

Trespass

Numbers 20:1-13
Psalm 102
Romans 5:12-21
Matthew 20:29-34

Romans 5:12-21

Thus was a sign on the cliffs at Broad Haven. The sign has not been there for years but it always gives me an uncomfortable feeling when I walk up the cliff from the beach towards Druidston. The sign was a the edge of somebody's yard though it was difficult to tell where the bracken, gorse and heather of the cliff ended and the yard began. I suppose the people of the house did not want all the children straying in their hide and seek onto the grass beyond so that they would have a comfortable hiding place behind a large gorse bush. Smooth grass in that area is rare so older cliff walkers may well have been tempted to venture beyond the normal rough vegetation for the treat of a rest on the lawn.
Trespass being a word of more than four letters and me being slow of reading I had to ask the meaning of the word because it just did not seem to fit in church and on a sign designating the edge of a yard on the cliff. "Keep out" I was told. I had visions of angry an angry farmer with his shotgun, bulls and snarling dog protecting the area. I was almost so terrified that I felt very brave whenever I achieved walking near the sign.
Thus it was with great delight that I embraced the 'new' prayer book with its sins instead of trespasses. I could pray without confusion as to where I was to walk. Unfortunately many churches embrace a current relationship with Christ but not when it comes to sins. As Becky's godfather Jim put it "You have a problem with walking on your neighbor's yard." Yes I do but whatever the sin I think it is better 'not to go there'.

Seek

Numbers 17:1-11
Psalm 105:1-22
Romans 5:1-11
Matthew 20:1-16

Psalm 105:1-22

Yesterday I found a missing credit card. I knew it was in the house somewhere but it is a large and full house which had been in more turmoil than usual because of the 55 boxes of 'stuff' out of the kitchen. The credit card had been missing for over a week. I had looked in all the obvious places- my 'secret' place for cash known only to every member of the house, underneath my sock basket, in amongst the underwear, just lying on my desk, in the box of papers that came off my desk, in the key drawer. The card was to be found nowhere. Nobody could remember anything about it apart from the fact that it had arrived in the mail.
It would not be quite correct to say that I found it. I was sitting writing the blog yesterday when a little thought said to me to look in the credit card file- and that was where it was. My searches had achieved nothing except knowledge of where the card was not but if I had not done the searching I would not have done the thinking or entertained the thought that it might be in the filing cabinet.
True I was not seeking God though it could be argued that a credit card is almost considered a god in this materialistic society.

I was happy to find the card and grateful to the 'little voice'. Two causes for rejoicing-the finding and the method of finding.

City

Numbers 16:36-50
Psalms 101, 109 :1-4, 20-30
Romans 4:13-25
Matthew 20:1-16

Psalms 101,

To me a city is a large town with a cathedral or a large bustling metropolis. Of course St David's with a population of less than 2000 is an exception to this rule. It has a cathedral but no streets bustling with people unless it is a summers day and there are coaches of tourists in town. Almost at the opposite extreme is Houston, fourth largest city in the US and with a population of around 2 million.
All sorts of people living together, moving together, shopping, commuting, worshiping, praying- presumably very much like the city of God- without the shopping.

Elephant through the eye of a needle

Numbers 16:20-35
Psalms 97, 99, 100
Romans 4:1-12
Matthew 19:23-30

Matthew 19:23-30

I have an Indian Bean, must be about 3/8inch at its longest. Inside the bean is almost a whole zoo, an elephant, a giraffe,... all tiny carved out of ivory. I also have a very large needle used for sewing sacks. I am sure I could easily get the elephant through the eye of the needle. How often do I try to bend circumstances and claim them to be God's will? I hope never because with God all things are possible.

The bean came from the British Empire Exhibition in 1924 or 1925. My mother's family went to visit the exhibition. The photograph is of Uncle Winston, Grandma and Mother outside one of the halls at the exhibition.

The red is the bean, the little white specs are the animals, with some imagination you can work out that the one nearest to the needle is the elephant.

All Generations and Rice or Macaroni Pudding

Numbers 16:1-19
Psalm 89:1-18
Romans 3:21-31
Matthew 19:13-22

Psalm 89:1-18

My first thought when I read this verse was "What would David have thought if he knew that Jesus, the Son of God, would be one of his descendants?" David was not perfect but he reverenced God.
By the time I knew my grandparents they had stopped going to church regularly but I know they, especially my Grandma loved God. She sang hymns as she she cooked and I am sure she did not do it just because I was there though the hymns she sang might have been influenced by my presence.

Jesus wants me for a sunbeam

Jesus is a friend of little children

All things bright and beautiful

They might not be theologically correct but Grandma sining them in her aged voice demonstrated a love for God and a relationship with him. These facts were lost on me as an eight year old but now as I reflect on those times they become dear to me. I pray that I can exude a relationship with God to the succeeding generations in the same way that Grandma did to me. Just quietly go about my life with Jesus as my constant companion.

And what did Grandma cook? Everyday she made a rice or macaroni pudding for my grandfather. I was allowed the skin.

Rice or Macaroni Pudding

1 tbs short grain or pudding rice or 2 tbs macaroni
1 1/2 cups of milk
1 tbs sugar

Place all the ingredients in a greased ovenproof dish.
Bake at 300 deg F for 2 hours


How do I crop the photograph?

Deeds

Numbers 14:26-45
Psalms 66, 67
Acts 15:1-12
Luke 12:49-56

Psalms 66, 67

Brave knights in shining armor rescuing maidens imprisoned by evil uncles high up in stone castles. Those are valiant deeds. We read tales of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White, tales of Medieval warriors such as Richard the Lion Heart and Joan d'Arc and tales that Psalm 66 lists of God leading the Israelites through the Red Sea and desert. We hear of King David, how he fought and killed Goliath when nobody else in the kingdom was brave enough to try. This was the beginning of the Israelites conquering the Philistines.
God's deeds are awesome indeed.
I do not believe that it is a coincidence when I have been thinking of a person and they call me or when I have an overloaded day and one of my appointments calls to cancel. To me these are instances of God's awesome deeds. Similarly I have been prompted to call people and that was just what they needed that day.
How am I going to carry out God's deeds today?

Grass in the Morning

Numbers 13:31-14:25
Psalm 87, 90
Romans 3:9-20
Matthew 19:1-12

Psalm 87, 90

Looking out of the window

Looking out of the window

The jewels of dawn sparkle,

God-given gems of morning

Leaves dance for joy at the wonder of God's way

Graceful dawn grows into day.

Peace.

But there is turmoil within.

How can we buy another car,

computer, pay for college, travel afar?

Is money my God?

Untidy and unclean,

Will the house ever gleam?

Is my home my God?

Read, rest, friends to meet

dress, shop, party, eat

Am I my God?

Quell the storm of my eternal motion.

May I drink in the water of your peace

Until I become a well-spring for another's thirst.

image URL

http://www.factbook.org/wikipedia/en/media/b/b1/dew_arp_300pix.jpg

Lord of the Night

Numbers 13:1-3, 21-30
Psalm 88
Romans 2:25-3:8
Matthew 18:21-35

Psalm 88

Lord of the Night

Make your home with me Lord Jesus.

Come to me, in the night

Majesty, glorious presence, vision of light.

Your voice calls through my sleep

Blackness fills my world, I am lost I weep.

Awake sinner, sing my song

Do not despair I have loved you long.

Words unknown make melody in my heart.

Radiating light cuts the darkness apart-

a sharp sword piercing the gloom.

The shaft of steel turns golden, fills my room.

Great love, freely given,

Sacred God, out of heaven.

Blessed Creator

Beautiful Savior

Make your home with me Lord Jesus.

Taste

Numbers 12:1-16
Psalm 34
Romans 2:12-24
Matthew 18:10-20

Psalm 34

Rich dark chocolate, raspberries, sea bass, dried apricots, Thai peanut sauce. These are some of my favorite things. Eating good food is a pleasure and a treat.
How do we usually celebrate? We go out to dinner. Good food gives a sense of well-being. So it is with the Lord.

8 Taste and see that the LORD is good;
blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.

Millstone for a Necklace

Numbers 11:24-33
Psalm 119:97-120
Romans 1:28-2:11
Matthew 18:1-9

Matthew 18:1-9

300 lbs to 2000 lbs makes quite a heavy necklace. Beautiful though. Usually millstones are made of granite not polished like a kitchen counter top. It could be quite attractive if it were polished, rather like black onyx. The weight would be the major problem but when they find me at the bottom of the ocean at least my jewelery would suffice.

Causing a child to sin, to move away from God. We know how expert children are at spotting the the minutia of adult behavior. Lord save me from my granite necklace.

Debt, Obligation

Numbers 9:15-23, 10:29-36
Psalm 80
Romans 1:1-15
Matthew 17:14-21

Romans 1:1-15

Something needs to be done, obligation or debt. I have to do something. I have something I need to give you. I must not forget or avoid it. I want to give you something. I want to give you the knowledge of the love of God. I want to thank you for the knowledge of the love of God that you have shown me.

Bright

Numbers 3:1-13
Psalms 75, 76
Galatians 6:11-18
Matthew 17:1-13

Matthew 17:1-13

Today the weather is bright. The sky is blue, there is not a cloud to be seen. The breeze is gentle. I went for a walk in the University of Illinois Arboretum. 75 degrees, very pleasant. I could imagine that it was just such a day when Jesus, Peter, James and John set off up the mountain. I wonder if Jesus told them why they were going up the mountain of if they were so used to his mysterious ways that they just did as they were told without asking any questions.
In 1972 or 3 David and I went on vacation to Nassereith in the Austrian Tyrol. The Tyrol is near to Italy and Germany so announced that we would go to as many countries as possible. One day we went to Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany.The weather was bright and sunny, just like today. I marched David up a mountain because I thought it would be neat to cross over the border between Austria and Germany on top of a mountain. It was. But by that time the mist had come down and we could hardly see where we were going. We do have a photograph at home of the sign between the two countries. You can see the mist, it is gray and dismal and the weather was cold. We are on our jackets and hats and gloves. It was the usual overcast, dampen the spirits sort.
The mist that descended on the guys on the mountain was bright. That in itself would be terrifying enough. How often is a mist bright? Eerie. Unnatural, but that is often the way with God and the special circumstances that He brings into our lives.

Driving to Champaigne to see Becky's plays and bring her back to Houston.
Please pray for a a safe journey.
I plan to look at the readings this evening but but I have a long journy ahead. I need to get to at least Memphis.

Stronghold

Ecclesiastes 8:14-9:10
Psalms 61, 62
Galatians 4:21-31
Matthew 15: 29-39

Psalms 61, 62

When the day dawns and the clouds are black
The dog is green and the children are red
The socks are grey and the gas is out
Where do you go?

The sun is hot and the car won't go
The clock has stopped but the world has not
And all the chocolate has gone out of the box
Where do you go?

The quarters are used and the coffer is empty
There's only C's and D's to be seen the A's have gone
When the floodgates are open and the troubles rush in
Where do you go?

To the stronghold that is higher than me.
The the central keep on the high crag
To the protection of Jesus and the Comfort of God
Which is the Holy Spirit.

In plain words how do you react when you have an disastrous day when seems to go wrong? God is a safe haven.

Crumbs and Dogs

Ecclesiastes 7:1-14
Psalms 56, 57
Galatians 4:12-20
Matthew 15:21-28

Matthew 15:21-28

We ate fish yesterday. Fish is the dogs' favorite. They move from one to the other of us squeaking giving little wags of the tail and cocking their head on one side with a hint of a twitch of the ears. We are well practiced in eating our own food but Ernest and Windermere do not give up. There is always a faint chance that there might be a scrap left in the serving bowl or cooking pot that might just fall their way when we do the dishes. Persistence and optimism, a belief in a positive outcome, faith.

Liver `a l'orange

Ecclesiastes 6:1-12
Psalms 24, 29
Acts 10:9-23
Luke 12:32-42

Acts 10:9-23

I love eating and liver `a l'orange is my favorite way to look liver.* You fry the liver with slices of orange and Italian seasoning and serve it with rice pilaf. Yummy. A great delicacy in Britain is pressed ox tongue. Boil the tongue, squeeze it into a bowl which is just large enough to hold it. Put a plate on top and then a great big pile of books and leave it to get cold. Slice and serve with salad. Now oxtail takes a very long time to cook, about eight hours but it is well worth the weight. I liked my mother's tripe and homemade brawn. I got David to like brawn but I was not successful with tripe.
If I am talking about food that does not appeal to you then I have used the orange recipe with pork chops and I think it work quite well with tofu.
Peter was having a similar problem. He was hungry and kept day dreaming about food whilst he was praying but all the food that came to him was obnoxious and unpalatable. He would rather go hungry than eat any of that, even the thought of it made him want to vomit.
God had other plans. As Peter came back to reality the reality was that he was being sent into an unclean house to talk and eat with unclean people. That is they were unclean if you followed the rules and the taboos of Peter's upbringing.
It is the clean who are in church.

*Liver `a l'orange (or pork chop or tofu)
about 6ozs of liver for each person - I prefer calf liver
2 oranges-
Italian seasoning
small onion- chopped
clove of garlic -crushed or chopped
boullion cube (Veggie Oxo)
1 cup rice
2 tbs flour


boil 2 cups of rice, add the oxo cube and stir until melted, add a shave of Italian seasoning and the rice. Cook covered until the rice is soft. (You could do this more elaborately with onion and garlic but I am a short cut cook).
Put the flour in a ziplock bag, add a teaspoon of Italian seasoning and gently toss the liver in it so that the liver is thinly coated with flour and seasoning.
Heat some oil in a frying pan and fry the onion and garlic, add the liver and the juice of one of the oranges, cover and cook for a few minutes, turn the liver and cook until the liver is done. Slice the other orange thinly and fry the orange slices with the liver.
Garnish the liver with the orange slices.

A variation is to cook the liver- or pork chops with the onion, garlic and orange in a baking dish at 375 F for about 30 mins. This takes even less effort.

City Walls

Ecclesiastes 5:8-20
Psalm 55
Galatians 3:23-4:11
Matthew 15:1-20

Psalm 55

I lived in a town with a 12th century castle behind the main shopping street so as a child medieval buildings did not impress me too much. I was about nine years old when we went to stay with my uncle near York. This was the first time that I remember coming into close contact with city walls. It is an eerie experience walking where soldiers trod centuries ago. In York centuries ago is a really long time. The walls are based on those laid out by the Romans, restored by the Danes and mainly built between the 12th and 14th centuries.
Whilst I was in college my Grandmother moved into a nursing home near York so I used to visit the city frequently and then we moved to a town about 30 miles away and I went to regular meetings in York. Later my mother moved to the area and so we would visit York. Who could not share such a city with their family. Our children all came to love the place. One day the girls and I were walking along the walls, taking the quickest route between two places that we wanted to visit when we saw the outline of a tic tac toe game etched in the stone. Walking along the walls became a normal route from one part of the city to another but the experience of walking along the ancient ramparts never became normal.
I always think of the walls as being built to keep out the invading armies rather than containing evil within, though I suppose The Plague was confined by walls. Walls, for good or ill present a barrier in either direction.
What bad am I keeping in that should be released or what good am I preventing from entering my heart and mind?

When I read the passages I try to take an image and let it wander in my mind rather choose a passage on which to pontificate or preach. I had great difficulty avoiding Ecclesiastes and Matthew today.

Testing

Ecclesiastes 5:1-7
Psalms 40, 54
Galatians 3:15-22
Matthew 14:22-36

Testing
Matthew 14:22-36

Series of events
Peter thinks he sees Jesus walking on the water. He cannot believe his eyes even though Jesus speaks to him.
Peter tests the situation. IF it is you THEN tell me to do...something really difficult, almost impossible.
Peter does it. Wow Lord it really is you and with your help I can do this.
A problem arises, in this case a wind.
Peter gets cold feet or should I say wet feet?
Peter yells for help.
Jesus reaches out his hand to help.
"Peter, what happened to your faith?"
All is calm but Peter is not walking on the water now.

Where am I? What impossible thing is Jesus encouraging me to do? How wet or cold are my feet?

Time Out

Ecclesiastes 3:16-4:3
Psalm 50
Galatians 2:11-21
Matthew 14:13-21

Matthew 14:13-21

Jesus took time out. His cousin had been killed. And the crowd still followed him wanting their own needs to be satisfied. Jesus being Jesus healed their sick and fed them. His compassion over-rode his own needs. He used his God given strength.

My Piece of Pie

Ecclesiastes 3:1-15
Psalm 119:49-72
Galatians 2:11-21
Matthew 14:1-12

Psalm 119:49-72

French & flourless chocolate cake, mincemeat pie deluxe, bakewell tart, homemade caramel icecream, or just apple pie. Sometimes you just need a protractor to make sure that everyone has the same amount because I am sure I do not want anyone to have a degree more than me! My natural instinct is to look critically at each plate and mentally measure each piece for equiangular distribution.

57 You are my portion, O LORD;
I have promised to obey your words.

God himself is my portion in life. That is a really big piece of pie. He is everything and can do everything- including helping me to take the smallest piece of pie without sulking.

He gave bread to the widow, (2 Kings 4), water to the woman at the well (John 4), and turned ordinary water into good wine (John 2:1-10).

Sounds like a good pie to be eating.


Please leave a comment if you would like a recipe.

Chasing after the Wind

Ecclesiastes 2:16-26
Psalm 45
Galatians 1:18-2:10
Matthew 13:53-58

Ecclesiastes 2:16-26

The azalea leaves are hardly fluttering but the limbs of the willow tree swaying back and forth. almost playing a game with the magnolia giving evidence of a gusty wind. Wind that invisible force that can gently evaporate a pool or forcefully flatten a house. Tom and Stephen used to enjoy going to London. For them one of the highlights was walking through St James Park. In fall the sides of the paths were almost knee-deep, if you were 4 or years old as they were, in fallen russet crunchy leaves. The wind would blow down the avenue of trees picking up a few leaves and causing a flurry of airborne 'fairies' just asking to be chased. We might not have been chasing tha actual wind but it was certainly the cause of our playtime. Unseen but certain, like God Himself.

New Treasures and Old

Ecclesiastes 2:1-15
Psalms 41, 52
Galatians 1:1-17
Matthew 13:44-52

Matthew 13:44-52

We have just had a new kitchen floor - because the puppy ate the old one and we also had all the kitchen cabinets repainted. This involved emptying every cabinet and moving every item of furniture out of the room. We lived for a month in the entrance hall. Today I have finished emptying the last of the 55 boxes. The unwrapping has been a lengthy process. All the china needed washing, mainly because most of it had been languishing in the cupboard unused. It has been almost like having wedding gifts all over again. Today we ate our afternoon tea piece of chocolate off a plate that I have no idea where it came from and drank tea out of some cups that I bought in Cambridge. Because I was so terrified about breaking the delicate china on my journey home from the store on my bicycle I had the store deliver them for me. The deliver guys threw the box over the garden fence! One of the cups broke. So we had a story with the cups and just the pleasure of something new with the plates. Both enjoyable situations.

Jesus told some great stories. He is a well documented historical figure. Is he your friend today? He is mine he sent a friend to help with the unpacking and decorating the walls.

Ecclesiastes 1 :1-11
Psalms 68, 98
Acts 8 :26-40
Luke 11:1-13

Acts 8 :26-40

Interestingly the Scripture Union Closer to God notes which I read were also talking today about following the Spirit's promptings. My mother was a great one for announcing that God wanted her to do a particular thing and then doing everything she could to make sure that the event happened however much inconvenience it put to the rest of us. For this reason therefore I am very sceptical about people doing things "because God told them to". But I know there have been instances in my life when I have felt a nudge to do something other what I had planned for that day and the result has been a meeting that God intended.
I mentioned earlier (29 March) about the time that I had decided to go to a particular grocery store but on the way there felt inclined to go to a different one. Whilst I was in the breakfast cereal aisle I dropped a Cheerios coupon. Another customer picked it up, we got talking and realized that we were both Brits. She had just moved to Houston and was lonely. We don't eat Cheerios anyway so I gave her the coupon. When we came to part she could not find the coupon!

There was a time when I tutored some sisters who had been skipped a day of school - more than once. I wanted to say something. I did not want to threaten them with not tutoring them as I knew that I was a life -line to their completing the grade. I found some words about how I felt like not tutoring them if they continued to truant but that I loved them too much to do that. Later their mother thanked me for speaking to them. She had been praying about who to ask to have words with them.

Keith Warrington in Closer to God suggests that at the beginning of the day we ask the Spirit to be our teacher and counselor and then at the end of the day to think back over the day and write down five occasions when God whispered 'hello' in some way.

Weeds explained

Proverbs 25:15-28
Psalm 30, 32
1 Timothy 6:6-21
Matthew 13:36-43

Matthew 13:36-43

Here is Jesus explanation for the parable.
Watch out for anything or body that causes evil - including aspects of yourself (and myself)!