Daytime view

John 8:12-20

The first time I went to Salt Lake City we arrived at night. Our hotel was on South Temple, just down the street from the towered and steepled temple. It was December. The streets and temple gardens were illumined by many Christmas lights which added to those of the temple. It was an awesome sight. I let Stephen have the room on the front of the hotel and took the one one the back with no spectacular view except a long low office block for myself.

Next I grouchily opened my curtains. I like a nice view from my bed. That is one reason we bought our current house - our bedroom window looks onto a cliff where blue-tits and blackbirds play. I was amazed. The backdrop for my dismal city view was snow-clad mountains.

How different the view was in the daylight. How different our view of life will be if we look at it in God's light.

This photograph was taken on a later summer visit to SLC. It shows the splendour of the temple lighting, without the added effect of the Christmas lights. Unfortunately I do not have a photograph of the magnificent mountains which I saw that morning which attested to the natural beauty of the place and my bad judgement!

What can be done about?

Romans 4:13-25

Uncle Steve died last December, he was 102 years old. Auntie Clem once said that she thought he was a vegetarian because he was too lazy to chew meat. For years he was the only vegetarian I knew. His family were the only Quakers I knew –apart from people they introduced me too. In their house I met Waldo Williams, another Quaker who I had heard about on the news for being in prison for refusing to work until conscription was finished. Uncle Steve went on Aldermaston Marches.

The meeting house in Milford Haven was overflowing for his memorial. The reflections attested to his brilliance as a captivating physics teacher, his literary ability in both English and Welsh – he was a Bard of the National Eisteddfod. He was still raising money for the local branch of the United Nations when he was 100 years old. He refused his telegram from the Queen (much to his wife’s chagrin). When he retired he came home and announced that he was going to Ghana to teach for two years. Letters were read from Ghana. Tales were told of letters and emails he wrote to bring awareness to little known problems. He liked Popeye the Sailorman. All the speakers said that they were the better for having known him. In a gentle and mischievous way he helped people to realize their gifts and potential. He asked questions that you did not want to be asked and always with a twinkle in his eye.

My family was small, his was big, he included me on trips with his daughters. I felt included and loved. He did not rely on ‘works of the Law’ he lived the underlying principles of the Law (Love the Lord your God with all your heart and your neighbour as yourself).

When he spoke in a Meeting it was not to tell us that we are sinners – we know that already - but “What can be done about...?”

Mighty Waters

Psalm 93

Ocean swell, crashing waves, mighty Mississippi, towering waterfalls or just a bubbling brook gently washing moss grown rocks- I love them all. Each is a reminder of our Creator God. Whenever I can I spend time just watching the miracle of the flowing watching, whatever the speed and strength.

Stand on a ledge above the incoming tide at Druidstone- their is a special ledge that our family loves, we line up and watch. When the tide is out the ledge seems to be a nothing, a kink in the cliff. The magic of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. I took every opportunity to walk beside them on my journeys between Houston and Champagne. How can a river be so wide? Seven falls near Colorado Springs, we visited many years ago but the glory of the rainbows in the falling water is etched in my memory along with other waterfalls, big and small hiding in the Rockies or Grand Tetons or clinging to the Pembrokeshire coast. Bubbling brooks- the first to speak to my heart is in Port Lion. I met it as a teenager. There are many others including the little Ry de Baudemont passing near our house but the special part is only on view from a rocky footpath.

v2 Your throne was established long ago;
you are from all eternity.

By myself I can do nothing

John 5:30-47

This is Jesus talking. The man who started his public ministry by headline making miracle of turning water into wine, the man who returned the Jewish leader's daughter to life when everyone knew that she was well and truly dead. Here he is saying that he can do nothing by himself.

I get up in the morning, I go downstairs, I fill the kettle with water, I make tea, I drink tea, I start to think, I read my Bible and say my prayers and sometimes in all this- even the reading and the praying I think about the fact that God is with me and that he might have a plan for my day. I am not a miracle worker. My tea is tea. How much more so than Jesus should I take God into my head. Jesus wants my relationship with God to be the same as his. An awesome challenge for a control freak.

¹⁹ Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. ²⁰ For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.²¹ For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. ²² Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, ²³ that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

Now if you call yourself a Christian

Romans 2:12-24

A good Jew kept the Law. It was the guide for all actions. God had given the Law and it was perfect. To go against the law was to go against God. To love God was to love the Law. To fail at keeping the Law was to sin.

So I call myself a Christian. What is my guide? The Bible? Christian tradition?

How did Jesus keep the Law? By following the underlying principle of the Law - to love the Lord your God with all your heart and your neighbour as yourself - even if what you are doing is not conventionally correct.

Little Miracles

John 4:43-54

The royal official's son was healed the moment that he asked Jesus to heal him. I do not have any experience of this but I do know that there are many times that I have thought "Ah I must contact...." ... a friend or a student. Then they contact me without me making any effort.

An amusing situation happened to me last week. I was shopping in Waterloo, the same place of battle fame. I idly thought that perhaps I would meet some of the people who go to our church and live in Waterloo. It was unlikely since I was going to the pet food shop and they do not have a pet. I went to the electronics store for playtime. I like to wonder round and decide what kitchen appliances I might buy to replace the ones I had to leave in the States. I was on the hunt for a toaster. The electronics store shares a parking lot with Tom and Co. I did my business, the necessary and the unnecessary.

Then I thought I would give my husband a treat and attend to the chore that he had to do in Waterloo the following day. The tire depot was just down the street, it would not be out of my way and it would be a lot less busy on a Friday afternoon than a Saturday morning. The queue was not long, I handed in my keys and a voice said "Jane". We know few people in this country and not many of them in Waterloo. It was indeed the people who I had wondered if I would meet at the other stores much closer to their home. It was a pleasant way to pass the time which otherwise would have been tedious. Why were they at the tire depot? They had had a flat tire. Instead of a relaxing walk in the forest they were

towed to the store. I think that God works in very peculiar ways.

The branch of an almond tree

Jeremiah 1:11-19

What do I see? Not the branch of an almond tree.

Today I see my ordinary everyday life, nothing extraordinary. A few cars and lorries passing by the window, the sun warming the grass, the melting frost, twigs bulging with budding foliage, the cliff with last year's brambles, there is nothing unusual or special today. Just life.

I do not see the gentle man at the monastery where I go to buy beer and jams made at a neighbouring abbey. I am told the beer is good. I know the bramble jam, the rhubarb and apricot is good and the apricot is the best I have ever tasted. I do not see Bob Felice but I remember his comments about laundry frozen on the washing line- frozen washing gives me a kick too.

The cliff is not at the coast, we do not have an ocean for a garden but the sedimentary rocks of Ittre resemble those of the Pembrokeshire coast. Those rocks which are battered daily by the mighty Atlantic. We have spent many hours as a family walking the beaches and cliff paths, marveling at creation.

I see golden forsythia, everyone except me has a forsythia bush. I wonder if Lee Jackson still has the one which I gave him?

A small amount of scree transports me to the majestic hills of the English Lake District and the mighty Rocky Mountains.

Sometimes a fence will remind me of a barrier between God and I but today nothing special, just the ordinary things bringing to mind the extra ordinary life that God gives us.

Mark 3:31-4:9

Psalm 24

I needed a babysitter. Two people in our Fellowship group could baby sit but they did not have transport and we lived in a couple of villages away from the church. Another couple had transport but no time. Yes the one pair brought the others who babysat and the first ones came and picked up the others when I came home from work. They were my family. Everywhere we go the lord seems to provide a family for us.

But what really brought this particular evening of my life to my mind was Psalm 24, not the passage from Mark about Jesus' claim as to who were his family. Our church was very fond of Graham Kendrick's "Lift up your heads O you gates". The chauffeur for my babysitters used to be the leader for this song so I never read Psalm 24 without thinking about him and the special times of worship we shared in at Wollaston and the practical love of the fellowship group.

Now that we live in the transient society of ex-pat Brussels it is even more important to be family.

Joseph's Dream

Matthew 1:18-25

The really famous dreaming Joseph is the one we all heard about in Sunday School- the spoilt guy with the designer label coat. But today we remember the other Joseph - the one who took Jesus' mother as his lawful wedded wife and raised Jesus as his own.

Why did Jesus go against what was the right and proper thing to do? Because God spoke to him in a dream. How does God speak to us?

Move over

John 3:22-36

I used to edit the Lenten meditations at Holy Spirit Episcopal Church in Houston and then post them on a blog similar to this. We left Houston and now Evelyn Snow organizes the books and blog. The difference is amazing. Holy Spirit should be very glad that they have somebody doing such a professional job. Look at the difference between Evelyn's work http://hsehoustonmeditations.blogspot.com/ and mine here.

Yes I was in on the start of the work but God moved us to Belgium. Holy Spirit Houston now has a better product. Of course Holy Trinity Brussels now has meditations which they did not have before. God has His purpose.

I shall continue to write here and testify to the places where I see God in the small things of life.

I bought this pot of jonquils on the market at Braine le Comte. They are outside our kitchen window. I see them many times a day.

What do daffodils bring to your mind?

To me they one of the national emblems of Wales - that in itself in a long list- the life of St David, St David's cathedral, he services I have been to there - ordinations and pilgrimages, the bishop who encouraged me, the beauty of the coast.....Elizabeth, my friend in Houston and Maria, my friend of 43 years who lives in Bonn whose birthdays are 1st March, St David's Day.

^{Thank you Lord.}

The sacrifice of thanksgiving

Deut. 9:23-10:5

Psalm 50
Heb: 4:1-10

John 3:16-21

Psalm 50

I went to lunch at my friend Susan's house last Wednesday, over a week ago and I have not written to say thank you yet. It was a delicious lunch too. Why have I not done this? Have I been too busy? Of course I have. Then why did I have time to watch my favourite hospital soap opera? It was no problem setting aside the time to do that.

Susan gave me lunch. God gave me Susan. He has given me a lot of other friends too. How much effort do I use in my thanks to God and his gifts (the people he places in my life)? A good thank you involves time and effort.

Writing a check or making an electronic transfer for a lamb, or however they paid for their animal and wheat sacrifices in Asaph's era was easier than raising the lamb on the cold hills in winter. Ritual is easier than the unique. Ritual can be performed on over-drive. The unique takes a thought. I am an Anglican (in the UK sense of the word). I like the uniformity of our services but the effort which I exert towards God during a service is my sacrifice. It is my thanks and praise for the week.

Praising and thanking God for his wonderful world always seems so much easier when I see the sun rising or setting. Perhaps Asaph shared this sentiment.

Now to extend my thanks- to the lady in the patisserie who sympathetically tries to understand my attempts at French conversation, to Susan, ...

And in between times, in those times when I am between patisserie and Pointe de Poste to God himself.

The photograph is sunset at Middlekerk

New Life?

John 2:23-3:15

Did Nicodemus come at night because he was scared that other Pharisees would see him talking to Jesus or did he come at night because he was busy during the day? Other Pharisees came during the day, they even followed Jesus around, but Nicodemus came at night.

Nicodemus was an Important Person, he was a member of the ruling council. He was impressed by the miracles and knew that they could not possibly powered by anyone other than God. Pharisees were very devout and were searching for God. I am sure I would have been a Pharisee, somebody who worried about whether they were doing God's will, whether they had a deepening relationship with God. God said he would return and they expected it, just as I do. I try to teach. I try to share my spiritual journey with you as a guide to your spiritual journey- a map or a guide book - a Lonely Planet for the Soul.

A teacher should always willing to learn so that they can better teach. Perhaps Nicodemus had come for a lesson, to see this person who was pushing forth the frontiers of the evidence of God in the world. Jesus was as obtuse as usual. A new thought- new birth, a birth for the spirit.

Birth brings a change of environment. It is a release from the closeted environment of the womb into the world of independence. Our body survives without the umbilical cord, we take nourishment and grow. So it is with the spirit. We take nourishment and grow. And as with the wind we do not know where it will take us.

My Pen or is it my keyboard

Psalm 45

Alyce Pyle was fond of quoting "my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer." Alyce was the instigator of the Advent and Lenten meditations at Holy Spirit Houston. She had been involved in their production at her previous church. I had also mentioned them a few times to our priest but I did not have Alyce's success. Because of my interest I was asked to be on the committee formed to produce the first book. Thus I was introduced to Alyce. Alyce is short with a quiet voice. A small but determined woman who had been a big fish in her last church. But her life was different now. After one or two books the committee dwindled to mainly Alyce and I. Now Alyce is not really a practical person. I was more aware of this than she was herself so I let her sweat the organization of the book for a bit since she was determined that it was her book and then when she was in a real quandary as to what to do with a pile of meditations sorted it out into a form suitable to for the long-suffering lady who typed out the book and prepared it for the printer. As you can tell this was a long time ago, before the days of email.

Alyce used to live across the road from our church so it was convenient for me to waste time in her house whilst my daughters were at choir practice. Almost every surface in the house was covered with ornaments. But Alyce gave thanks to God for them all. Alyce liked her things but she also liked giving them away. I have quite a few objects which remind me of Alyce. I drove her to speaking engagements for she had been a bigwig in the Episcopal Church Women. Alyce became my mother for a few years. We would have endless telephone conversations. Much to her son's amusement I gave Alyce a Mother's Day card for quite a few years. I was a daughter that she never had and she was a mother whom I needed. Alyce loved 'dos'. I remember I wore a plain red hat to a luncheon, the next time I saw Alyce I was given a far more elegant red hat.

Our family, the church is a truth. God does provide a family for us in his church.

When we found reluctant writers, those unsure of their ability, for the meditations Alyce would quote the first verse of this psalm. She never doubted that a thought would get to the paper because she kept this verse in her heart. I never doubted that I could string two words together in a moderately coherent sentence but Alyce encouraged me to listen to the small voice and commit the thoughts to paper. To be honest she was not really very interested in what I wrote. She loved to sing me the songs that she had written, I wonder what has happened to them?

Alyce may not be writing anymore, she has been suffering from Alzheimer's Disease for a long time but I hope she is singing. The last time I saw her she was - that is longer ago than it should be. I will keep writing, taping the keyboard, committing my little thoughts to the electronic screen and thank God for Alyce that "My heart is stirred by a noble theme as I write verses for my king; my tongue is the pen of a skillful writer".

Good Wine

John 2:1-12

Jesus went to parties. We presume that Jesus liked good wine. Jesus did miracles before this, at home, which we do not know about. Why else would his mother have told them to get him to solve the problem. Jesus did not like doing what his mother told him but after a minor sulk did it anyway. My conclusion Jesus was a normal guy.

After this his disciples believed him. Now it was worthwhile to follow Jesus.

I am writing this because I believe that it is worthwhile to follow Jesus. Not only for the life that he will provide after my death but also for his tender care and provision in the here and now.

Following Jesus' Example

Deut. 8:1-10

Psalm 63:1-8(9-11), 98

1 Cor. 1:17-31

Mark 2:18-22

Deut. 8:1-10

See some familiar words? How much of the Old testament or even Jesus' own words in the New Testament do I know in order to quote to the Devil or myself when I need keeping in line?

In church this morning we heard the story of Jesus using these words from Deuteronomy. The devil said to Him "Use your God-given supernatural powers to solve your hunger problem". God had given the Israelites manna in the desert. Jesus trusted God to calm his hunger. How much do I trust God to provide for me?

"Can anything good come from...."

Deut. 7:17-26

Psalm 30, 32

Titus 3:1-15

John 1:43-51

John 1:43-51

The nearest branch of my favourite Belgian grocery store is in Tubize. I was in Tubize one day and wanted to buy a birthday card for my Dutch friend. I went into every card shop but could only find cards in French. Now Tubize is about 2 kilometres from the border with Flanders, the Flemish speaking part of Belgium. Another day Becky and I were in the supermarket, as usual talking away in our mother tongue and there was quite a bit of nudge nudge "Des anglaise" from the other customers. Tubize has a reputation for being a 'has been sort of place', that is if it ever was 'a place'. It is an ex-ironworks town. Derelict ironworks, a mausoleum to a bygone more prosperous era, dominate the entrance to the town.

We go to Tubize because it is convenient. It is not the place to where anglophones or even residents of Ittre gravitate. But we have had cause to use its amenities twice in a crisis. The policestation when our car was broken into and my handbag stolen and yesterday we tried out the Emergency Room as I had a fish bone stuck in my throat. The service was fast, friendly and efficient even if we did have to muddle through in pigeon French on each occasion.

Fear of the reputation of Tubize might have prevented us from those 'rewarding' experiences.

Nathaniel seems such a normal guy with normal reactions. He says things as he sees them. In his arrogance he goes to meet Jesus. He is flabbergasted, almost speechless. He is impressed. he acknowledges that good can come from Nazareth. Sometimes God guides us into changing our opinion and it is painless, even exhilarating and encouraging.

Sharing God

Deuteronomy 7:12-16

Psalms 31, 95

Titus 2:1-15

John 1:35-42

Titus 2:1-15

I do not see Paul's list as an overbearing list of rules but rather as an attempted explanation of verses 11-14, an aspiration for my life. I want to be a constant witness for God in all that I do. The type of things which some wives did in Paul's day, and today even are not a guide to somebody looking for God. If I live the life that God wants - loving God with all my heart and my neighbour as myself- then there is no question as to how I react to my husband or employer.

Lent is typically a time of self-control. A time when we try to tame some of our excessive longings- our desire for chocolate and desserts, or wine and coffee. (Oh dear I used the picture for chocolate yesterday.) As one of our priests said last year in his sermon on Ash Wednesday it is a time for living a simple life.

Today I am taking that as meaning a time to avoid the excesses of the luxurious living in which we indulge in the western world. Gastronomic pleasures are very easy to indulge in Belgium. It is a time to concentrate on the lifestyle that God wants for us. A simple life based on loving God with all my heart and my neighbour as myself. Perhaps today I should actually go out of my way to talk to my neighbour instead of just being terrified of speaking French. Is my desire to share God's love with her less than my fear of speaking French?

I encourage you to share God's love today.

I believe that the same sentiment is reflected in John 1:35-42. John is also telling us to share God's love as John the Baptist sent his own disciples to learn from and share in Jesus' ministry.

Knowing God's Will!

Psalm 37:1-18

John 1:29-34

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him. How easy is it to sit still, even for an adult. I think I am sitting still and waiting patiently for a little bird to come to my bird feeder but actually I am drinking my tea, idly glancing at a book and shifting my feet to a more comfortable position. Really still is not what most of do well.

⁴ Take delight in the LORD,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Yes I delight God and everything that he has given me, including things and people who sometimes irritate me. They are all of them gifts from God and special in his eyes. AND (therefore) he will give you the desires of your heart. Hmmm. If I think God is wonderful he will give me a Merc convertible?

⁵ Commit your way to the LORD;
trust in him and he will do this:

Trust my way to God, no little morning 'to do' list without prayer and being still?

^{John 14:20} On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.

So if I give Jesus space to live in me His desires should be my desires, just as He and His father were at one with each other.

Jesus had His doubts and so did His cousin John. John asked God how he would know the "Lamb of God" and was told that it would be the person who he baptized on whom he saw a dove descend. And it turned out to be his cousin Jesus. I think that John did not hear a great shout, either when he went into the wilderness to start preaching or when he got the idea about a dove landing on somebody. I believe he was open to God's prompting. We can do that too.

Recently I at last mailed a parcel that had been sitting in my "in action" basket for almost a year. Some little niggle which I thought was inertia always prevented me from mailing it. When it was received it was just the right time for the gift. God works in little ways to further his kingdom. I hate writing things like this because it seems as if I am putting my self on a spiritual pedestal saying "God speaks to me". No, just occasionally I take the hint and the retelling may serve as a prompt for the future so that together we may align our desires with those of God- to further His reign of peace and love. And yes the knowledge of the gift of the cross is a foundation stone not to be overlooked.

I fou are wondering about the connection with the picture perhaps God is prompting you to send some chocolate as he has done more than once to me- but then I do live round the corner from a chocolaterie.

The Great Cloud of Witness

Psalm 95

The title is from Hebrews 12:1-14 which is one of the other readings in the Episcopal Church's daily lectionary for today. But my thoughts were sparked by Psalm 95. We visited the area where I was raised this last January. I walked on the cliffs as I have done many many times before. The wonder of God's creation never ceases to amaze me.

God is my rock. Whatever happens to me he is there. One small portion of cliff is much mightier that I.

The ocean is ever changing. It can be a gently rippling bed on which one could almost imagine walking or a thunderous and hurling mass of motion.

Creation is truly spectacular.

I did not kneel but I did stand in awe of the beauty of this world and thank God for all that he has done and will do for me. This thought led me to thank God for the many people who influenced me in my childhood and brought me into a friendship with Him. Those kindly ladies and gentlemen who are part of the jigsaw puzzle of my life.

Jesus went into the desert to be apart from the world. He had his moments of doubt. I wonder what else he contemplated? Did He wonder how he came to this place in His life and who had guided Him to that point?