Luke 17:11-19
I'm well, I'm well. Look, I'm well. Look at yourself George, your skin is normal too.
Where's Mike? I don' know, he was with us a moment ago. Oh dear, I hope he's OK. Let's hurry to the priest as fast as we can and get sign off as healthy. Wow, that man was something special. When I get to the synagogue I'm going to pray and praise God like I've never done before. I can't believe it, that man must have a special link to God.
Yes this story is one of the great mysteries for me. Today the lesson I am taking is that I need to acknowledge God and Jesus wherever I find them. Of course, remembering to give thanks in every situation too.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Make a Joyful Noise
Psalm 98
Praise the Lord!
The sun is shining on my garden. Leaves gently dancing with the breeze. The gold of the broom glowing more brilliantly in the late afternoon sun. I have memories of roaring oceans crashing on land.
I trust the Lord?
How about you?
Praise the Lord!
The sun is shining on my garden. Leaves gently dancing with the breeze. The gold of the broom glowing more brilliantly in the late afternoon sun. I have memories of roaring oceans crashing on land.
I trust the Lord?
How about you?
Friday, May 31, 2013
Reminders
Deuteronomy 5:1-22
The act of writing a shopping list often is enough to help me to remember what I intend buying. Have you ever been in the situation that you had to walk back into the room that you have just left in order to remember why you left the room in the first place?
Moses is giving the new generation of Israelites a reminder of what it was that God said to their parents and grandparents in the Ten Commandments. He wanted them to start their new life in the new country on a right footing with God so that "your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you" (v16).
We know the Ten Commandments, we were taught them as children, particularly the one about parents. I wonder why parents always focus on that particular commandment? As a child I had a problem with that. Today I realized that there are a lot of missing from the Ten Commandments. God leaves many of our choices about our behaviour to our freewill. Moses learnt this to his cost, the cost of not entering the Promised Land.
Help me Father to remember your Law of Love in all my behaviour and that my brother Jesus is a constant playmate. Theoretically I want allow him to influence me in all I do, help me to put this desire into practice.
The act of writing a shopping list often is enough to help me to remember what I intend buying. Have you ever been in the situation that you had to walk back into the room that you have just left in order to remember why you left the room in the first place?
Moses is giving the new generation of Israelites a reminder of what it was that God said to their parents and grandparents in the Ten Commandments. He wanted them to start their new life in the new country on a right footing with God so that "your days may be long and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you" (v16).
We know the Ten Commandments, we were taught them as children, particularly the one about parents. I wonder why parents always focus on that particular commandment? As a child I had a problem with that. Today I realized that there are a lot of missing from the Ten Commandments. God leaves many of our choices about our behaviour to our freewill. Moses learnt this to his cost, the cost of not entering the Promised Land.
Help me Father to remember your Law of Love in all my behaviour and that my brother Jesus is a constant playmate. Theoretically I want allow him to influence me in all I do, help me to put this desire into practice.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Joan d'Arc
Psalm 144:1-12
What am I doing here? What next? What has God really equipped me to do? What are my gifts and talents and how do they fit into Our father's plan for furthering his kingdom. I wish I knew the answer. All I can do is live with him. And I wish I really did do this. I want to be attuned to God's desires for my life.
His tasks for me are varied, using my hands for practical things such as cleaning and gardening and praising him with my lips in silence and in witness.
Usually I follow the Daily Lectionary but today I noticed that it is the day to celebrate Joan d'Arc. As a Brit I am not sure that Joan really is a Saint but she was in my mind. Yesterday I used her as an example to describe the meaning of the word siege to a group of francophone students. Joan followed where she believed God was leading her.
What am I doing here? What next? What has God really equipped me to do? What are my gifts and talents and how do they fit into Our father's plan for furthering his kingdom. I wish I knew the answer. All I can do is live with him. And I wish I really did do this. I want to be attuned to God's desires for my life.
His tasks for me are varied, using my hands for practical things such as cleaning and gardening and praising him with my lips in silence and in witness.
Usually I follow the Daily Lectionary but today I noticed that it is the day to celebrate Joan d'Arc. As a Brit I am not sure that Joan really is a Saint but she was in my mind. Yesterday I used her as an example to describe the meaning of the word siege to a group of francophone students. Joan followed where she believed God was leading her.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
The power of the Creator
Deuteronomy 4:15-24
Perhpas I should have left yesterday's opinion until today but I seldom look ahead before writing. My reason is that though there might be a wonderful passage with the germ of an erudite thought glimpsed for tomorrow there maybe another passage that screams "Me, I am the one for today". Yesterday it was the earlier part of Deuteronomy 4 that seemed to press upon me.
Today I am reminded to worship the creator rather than the created. Our God is the Creator of the universe. He is the power behind the beauty of the earth and the raging of the storm.
I need to remember Him and his glory as I travel the peaceful canal this morning. Such times are good opportunities for telling God how wonderful he is.
Monday, May 27, 2013
"You are about to enter"
Deuteronomy 4:9-14
On long journeys we played "First to spot the tower". Well maybe it was a spire or a castle turret or Blackpool Tower. It is exciting coming to the journey's end and seeing a glimpse of the sights to be investigated and pleasures enjoyed.
Moses had journeyed for forty years through the desert leading the Israelites to the Promised Land. Now within sight of the glorious destination and anticipation of a land flowing with milk and honey he knew that he had reached his stopping point. God was forbidding him the reward of the journey. He had weathered rebellion and fear. He had developed such a special relationship with God that his face shone after divine encounters. The Israelites were in awe of Moses. Yet they were going into the Promised Land, he was not.
And why? Not because, as a youth, he has killed a man and hidden the body. Nor for marrying a non-Jew or for not circumcising his sons. Nor was it for sending his wife back to her home because he was too involved with his work to be a husband and father. No it was because of impatience and its allied behaviour that Moses was denied access to the Holy Land.
We expect our political and religious leaders to be beyond reproach with regard to divorce, murder, sexual activity and other 'biggy' sins. We forget that God judges in a different way, a way that I do not want to understand. All I can say is "Thank you Jesus for being my Saviour". This is the only wau that I can come to terms with my lifestyle of petulance and criticism.
On long journeys we played "First to spot the tower". Well maybe it was a spire or a castle turret or Blackpool Tower. It is exciting coming to the journey's end and seeing a glimpse of the sights to be investigated and pleasures enjoyed.
Moses had journeyed for forty years through the desert leading the Israelites to the Promised Land. Now within sight of the glorious destination and anticipation of a land flowing with milk and honey he knew that he had reached his stopping point. God was forbidding him the reward of the journey. He had weathered rebellion and fear. He had developed such a special relationship with God that his face shone after divine encounters. The Israelites were in awe of Moses. Yet they were going into the Promised Land, he was not.
And why? Not because, as a youth, he has killed a man and hidden the body. Nor for marrying a non-Jew or for not circumcising his sons. Nor was it for sending his wife back to her home because he was too involved with his work to be a husband and father. No it was because of impatience and its allied behaviour that Moses was denied access to the Holy Land.
We expect our political and religious leaders to be beyond reproach with regard to divorce, murder, sexual activity and other 'biggy' sins. We forget that God judges in a different way, a way that I do not want to understand. All I can say is "Thank you Jesus for being my Saviour". This is the only wau that I can come to terms with my lifestyle of petulance and criticism.
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Uphold widows
Psalm 146
Widow is not a normal word for an infant but it was one that I learnt at an early age. I was taught "My mother is a widow". My father died when I was just over two years old.
My parents were upwardly mobile and ambitious. Not for them was the life of staying, like their parents in the same county. They left Derbyshire for Norfolk and then moved on to Pembrokeshire. With each move my father moved up the chain of command in his business. Then my maternal grandparents did the unthinkable. They decided to move near my parents. It was soon after this unwise move that my father was diagnosed with cancer and died a year later. My mother, not a churchgoer, would then say how God was looking after her by sending help, both physical and financial. We spent a lot of time at my grandparents house. During the remainder of her life, another fifty-one years, Mother increasingly relied on God to provide for her in times of trouble such as when she failed to complete her tax forms and was threatened with imprisonment or needed mortgage payments from an empty bank account.
At the end of her life Mother was a devout Christian who went to church and lost no opportunity to tell if God's goodness to her.
Widow is not a normal word for an infant but it was one that I learnt at an early age. I was taught "My mother is a widow". My father died when I was just over two years old.
My parents were upwardly mobile and ambitious. Not for them was the life of staying, like their parents in the same county. They left Derbyshire for Norfolk and then moved on to Pembrokeshire. With each move my father moved up the chain of command in his business. Then my maternal grandparents did the unthinkable. They decided to move near my parents. It was soon after this unwise move that my father was diagnosed with cancer and died a year later. My mother, not a churchgoer, would then say how God was looking after her by sending help, both physical and financial. We spent a lot of time at my grandparents house. During the remainder of her life, another fifty-one years, Mother increasingly relied on God to provide for her in times of trouble such as when she failed to complete her tax forms and was threatened with imprisonment or needed mortgage payments from an empty bank account.
At the end of her life Mother was a devout Christian who went to church and lost no opportunity to tell if God's goodness to her.
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