Puzzled

Acts 10:17-33

Puzzled, that's more me. Is it my idea or is the voice in my head really from God. Why Belgium? Why not a different part of the USA or even Canada or Britain. But Belgium, with my linguistic ability. Yes I am puzzled. After three years here I am still puzzled as to the picture on the jigsaw. Peter was puzzled but almost immediately there was a clue, three strangers, Gentiles at that. Then the Spirit spoke loud and clear  "Go".
Peter went. Against his traditional beliefs he went.
What hang-ups do I need to shed?

Seeing distinctly

Acts 10:1-16
This morning I forgot to take my glasses to work with me. I can see without them, reading is just that much easier with their aid. This fits in well with the one word which I heard clearly in the readings this morning. In the version in the link it is "clearly" but in the NIV it is "distinctly".
Other people being forced to give up their prejudices is one of my favourites. Thus I always read about Peter's dream with great delight, it gave me courage to be different. Cornelius, he was just obeying God. But today I see him differently. Firstly he had courage to send for Peter. No shall I shan't I. He did it, whatever rebuff he might receive. Why, because of that one word clearly/distinctly.
3One afternoon at about three o’clock he had a vision in which he clearly saw an angel of God coming in and saying to him, ‘Cornelius.’
Cornelius was terrified but he had the confidence to obey.
And me?

Dorcas

Acts 9:32-43
Dorcas Mundy was one of my charges at Woodlarks Camp. I went there for three summers. Able bodied and handicapped, helpers and helped, we all returned annually. Dorcas Munday was the first Dorcas in my life. She had a fantastic smile and sense of humour. I expect she still does but we have lost contact. Today I 'googled' Dorcas, every time I read this section of Acts I think of my Dorcas.

As a  child I easily accepted that Jesus healed people. He was part God, he could do anything. But this is not Jesus, it is not Paul it is Peter. The dead became alive. A miracle happened, a momentous miracle happened. A dead person, other than Jesus, walked and talked, lived.
Past tense, an event happened 2000 years go. But now? Yes I believe that miracles happen, present tense.

Change of plan

Acts 9:19-31

Today I decided that I would weed the part of the garden that is not overrun with weeds. It is my aim to gradually increase the size of this patch. Maybe I am 75% of the way towards my objective. It is tea-time. Time for a little sit and a refreshing drink. A change from the battle with the thorn bushes.
Paul took no rest. He was determined to eradicate the world of the infidels and blasphemers who were gaining a foothold in the Jewish nation. They needed to be exterminated. He was resolute in his endeavour.

Scene 1 saw Paul as a man on a mission leaving Jerusalem.
Scene 2 Paul arrives in Damascus still with a mission. But he is now planting and not uprooting.

Announcing a change of plan can be difficult. Pride is delicate. This is one of the instances where I admire Paul.

My husband

Mark 6:1-6
To me, my husband is the man who comes home about 6pm. switches on the tv, puts his feet up on a stool and waits for the kettle to be boiled, his tea brewed, pour and delivered to him with a piece of cake. He may or my not mow the grass or mend the dishwasher.
To the world of ethylene chemical engineering  that same man is an expert, a holder of patents, a writer of papers and chair of seminars, a holder of degrees from both Oxford and Cambridge Universities. Why can he not load the dishwasher in a logical fashion?
Perhaps we should try to take a little distance from our family and try to appreciate the whole person, not just the part involved in our own life.

Stephen's sermon

Acts 7:44-8:1
I do not like Stephen's sermon. We have been reading it for the past few days.
I am too much of an establishment person.
All I can do is pray that I am open to the prompting of the Holy Spirit and do not put my hands over my ears.

Coincidence?

Psalm 107:1-32
Judges re the Old testament readings of the week in the Episcopal Daily Lectionary. The Closer to God/ WordLive readings are also from Judges. we are reading the same passage twice, sometimes on the same day. Our Home Group is studying a book on "The fruits of the Spirit" Last night the fruit was goodness, based on Psalm 107. Today the lectionary psalm was 107. A psalm which lists God's goodness to his people.
Fruit are the way a plant propagates. Through our acts of goodness God's kingdom can grow.

Harvest

It is harvest time. I got quite worried when I went by a newly harvested field last week. The ears seemed empty. The field was patterned with mounds of chaff and straw. Either the ears had been empty and discarded when the combine harvester passed through or the farmer had decided not to bail the straw at the same time as threshing and gathering the grain.
The latter seems to be my conclusion. I drove passed a field which was being harvested and was able to watch the grain pouring into the hopper and the residue straw lying in almost neat rows on the shorn field. There is labour aplenty. Late at night we hear tractors returning to the farm having worked long past dark. Evening strolls are accompanied by the thunder of heavy farm machinery. Strong headlights rove up and down the standing wheat, felling and threshing. Later the baler arrives.
The farmer works. He is reaping the fruit of his labour. It is hard work, long hours.

Where is my labour? Where do I spend my energy? Am I telling the story of Jesus' life? More to the point am I telling the stories of Jesus in my life so that those who hear can meet him for themselves?

The contract

Psalm 119:121-144
One of my favourite scenes in classic films is the contract scene in the Marx Brothers "A Night at the Opera".  It popped into my mind this morning as I read verse 126.
We cast off God's rules as if they are irrelevant. But what rules are they that we are ignoring. One day we  emulate Jewish tradition with our list of taboos. The next day we tear a line out of the contract to please our current whim. Today I am convinced that lying is bad, tomorrow I take different angle on the truth to suit my convenience or my friend's feelings.
I hope that I never let

Luke 10:27
He answered, ‘“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind” ; and, “Love your neighbour as yourself.” ’
stop being my spiritual contract

God speaking?

Judges 13:1-15

The man said "You are going to have a baby". The woman told her husband. He took over, he wanted to be told for himself how they were to rear the child. Did he really think the woman was imagining the whole story?
A dead baby, a miscarriage and two barren years, then one day in the cycle of my bible reading I read "This time next year you will hold a baby in your arms". And I did.
The words jumped into my heart as if they were meant for me. I have searched for them since but have not been able to find the passage I thought they were in - Isaac, not Samson, for this is what we are reading today, Samuel, John. Somewhere my special message is hidden.  I believe it was God speaking.
But now, what about the other times when I think God says "Act"? How I question the thought? Where is my confidence to follow the leading?

Afraid

Mark 4:35-41
I saw a shoelace on the hall floor. It was a chequered black and white tiled floor. Why did somebody leave a shoelace there. The family would do anything. I'll pick it up when my hands are  not so full. My arms were occupied with the laundry. I passed by  second time. The shoelace had moved. It was no shoelace, it was a snake.
I am terrified of snakes. Great courage is needed for me even to sneak a peek at a picture of a snake in a book. A snake appears in a film and I suddenly I have a need to be elsewhere. I had a problem. I was at home by myself with no prospect of help for it was early in the morning. Everyone had just left for work or school.
I was alone.
I prayed for courage.
I did it. I swept the snake out through the front door. And now I tell the tale.

Honestly, I am telling you...

Acts 4:32-5:11

I cannot read this passage without thinking of Bob. Bob was blown away when he first read the consequences of trying to pull a fast one on the Holy Spirit.
All he asks is for us to be truly honest, not to twist the truth so that  the glory shines on ourselves.

My family

Acts 2:37-47
Have I told you about Auntie Mary? We moved to Brookmans Park three weeks before Stephen was due. We knew nobody. We went to church, David, almost two year old Tom and I. The lady behind us decided to keep Tom quietly keep Tom entertained with fingers creeping along the back of the pew. She visited us during the next week, she stood and did my ironing.. When Stephen's time arrived Tom went to stay with her. This is more, much more than being taught and breaking bread together. It is more than a cup of coffee after church. It is as the Cursillo organization says
"Make a friend, be a friend, bring a friend to Jesus".
Mary was also instrumental is me reading my bible every day, a habit that I had allowed to lapse. Yes Mary was a member of the fellowship group that we joined at that church.
Now we have  new groups. Church seems empty when they are not in the congregation.

Spoilt for choice

Today there are too many choice.
The good life of Psalm 23
The security of Psalm 27
Peter's attestation in Acts 2: 22-36
and the great commission of Matthew 28:11-20

Maybe later...

Tent pegs

Judges 4:4-23
The highlight of my teenage summers was Girl Guide camp. I would go to more than one a year, sometimes with my own company and occasionally a national one. I would go to weekend camps too and if a girl doing a badge needed a spare camper, I was there.
When I first went to camp the tent pegs were big and wooden. Sometimes they split, especially if they hit too hard at the wrong angle. Later the pegs were metal, their problem was one of bending. The whack given to a wooden beg would crumple a flimsy metal peg.  Hitting in tent pegs so that the blustering Pembrokeshire wind did not pull them out of the soil was a science to me.
I could bang in tent pegs, wooden or metal, so that the westerly winds would not heave them out of the ground. It seems as if Mrs Jael Heber could also bang in tent pegs in just the correct way for the prevailing wind and soil. Sisera's head?  Totally different but Jael applied her life's lessons to the situation in hand.

Flabbyness

Judges 3:12-30
I have a friend whose father was an orthopaedic surgeon. He disliked having to operate on fat people because the flab got in the way of his work. It would slither around and make the operation more difficult.
What is my spiritual flab? What is getting in the way of the Lord's work?