Here I am!

•August 19, 2013 • 3 Comments

The cry of the lost.

Where are you?

Where are you? I can’t see you.  Where are you?  I can’t find you.  Where are you?  You should have been here hours ago.  Where are you?  I need you.  Where are you? I’m panicking now.

Where are you?  I cry in anger, in frustration, in fear, in pain.

Where are you?  A plea for assurance, reassurance, comfort and peace.

Isaiah 58:9-14

9 When you beg the Lord for help,
    he will answer, “Here I am!”

Don’t mistreat others
or falsely accuse them
    or say something cruel.
10 Give your food to the hungry
    and care for the homeless.
Then your light will shine
    in the dark;
your darkest hour will be
    like the noonday sun.

11 The Lord will always guide you
and provide good things to eat
    when you are in the desert.
He will make you healthy.
You will be like a garden
    that has plenty of water
or like a stream
    that never runs dry.
12 You will rebuild those houses
    left in ruins for years;
you will be known
as a builder and repairer
    of city walls and streets.

13 But first, you must start
respecting the Sabbath
    as a joyful day of worship.
You must stop doing and saying
whatever you please
    on this special day.
14 Then you will truly enjoy
    knowing the Lord.
He will let you rule
    from the highest mountains
and bless you with the land
of your ancestor Jacob.
    The Lord has spoken!

This passage comes from two sides.  It is both an assurance that God is here – but also a reminder of how we must behave.

When we’re afraid, in pain or anguish, we can lash out – especially at those who least deserve it.  But, we are not to be cruel, to mistreat other, to please only ourselves – that will not help anybody.  It will not help others, and it certainly won’t help us.  It won’t make us feel any better, any more secure, or make our life any brighter – it will only add to our problems.

But what are we promised?

God promises a rebuilding.  For places left in ruins – for however long; for the lost; the hungry; those wandering the desert.

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God is the builder and repairer.  What a powerful metaphor.

How many of us long for rebuilding?  In lives; in relationships; in things we have got wrong; things we have knocked down or others have knocked down for us?  Places where we need someone to come along and restore and remake.

That is what God promises.  He is the builder, the repairer, the water.  Maybe not today, maybe not as we imagine – but it is his promise that he will do it.  To build strong and firm lives of blessing to him, to ourselves and to others.

Lord,
you know I long for rebuilding,
for restoring,
for making fit for purpose again.

There are parts of my life that have been smashed apart,
feel as though they are in ruins,
maybe not for many years –
but it feels like it,
or maybe actually it is many years,and I am becoming desperate.

Thank you Lord,
that you are here in my life,
when I recognise it
and when I don’t.
that when I beg to you,
you are here to help.

Lord,
I pray for rebuilding,
not in may imagining,
but in yours.

Lord,
today,
I invite you into my ruins
to do the work you need to do,
that I may be a garden nor a desert,
a person who treats others well,
a house for you.

Posted in bible, calling, faith, God, hope, justice, Lectionary, Religion, theology
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Listen and Learn

•August 15, 2013 • Leave a Comment

How we English love to watch and endlessly discuss the weather.  Presumably because we live in a country where the weather can, and does, produce anything.

Luke 12:49-56

Not Peace, but Trouble

49 I came to set fire to the earth, and I wish it were already on fire! 50 I am going to be put to a hard test. And I will have to suffer a lot of pain until it is over. 51 Do you think that I came to bring peace to earth? No indeed! I came to make people choose sides. 52 A family of five will be divided, with two of them against the other three. 53 Fathers and sons will turn against one another, and mothers and daughters will do the same. Mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law will also turn against each other.

Knowing What To Do

54 Jesus said to all the people:

As soon as you see a cloud coming up in the west, you say, “It’s going to rain,” and it does. 55 When the south wind blows, you say, “It’s going to get hot,” and it does. 56 Are you trying to fool someone? You can predict the weather by looking at the earth and sky, but you don’t really know what’s going on right now.

Jesus warns against those who think they know everything about the weather – but forget that they know nothing about the rest of life’s conditions!  As many have found out to recent cost, it’s no good knowing it’s going to rain, and not knowing the condition of the drains.

The moral of the story?  Don’t take pride in what you do know, try to take more notice of the things you usually overlook.  Don’t shout loudly about your pet subject, and fail to listen to what others have to say about things that matter to them.  Don’t think you know everything – there is much we all have to learn.

This applies in all situations in life, and in faith.  Never assume we know it all, and have nothing to learn.  There is so much others have to share and teach, if only we listen.  I think it is also a warning to not get so caught up in church life that we fail to see what is happening around us in our community.

We can only truly live out our faith if it is rooted in the real lives of what is going on around us.

Forgive me Lord,
when I think I know everything.
Help me to listen,
to hear,
to learn
and to respond

Posted in bible, faith, God, Jesus, Lectionary, life, Religion, theology
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Faith

•August 14, 2013 • 1 Comment

George Michael told us all we “gotta have faith…”  Depeche Mode told us to “reach out and touch faith” (you can take a girl out of the 80s, but you can’t take the 80s out of the girl!)  If only it were that simple.

Faith is confidence or trust.  It is not believing the ridiculous, it is stepping out with God.  Faith is what helps us to live God’s ways, to respond to his call.

Hebrews 11:29-12:2

29 Because of their faith, the people walked through the Red Sea on dry land. But when the Egyptians tried to do it, they were drowned.

30 God’s people had faith, and when they had walked around the city of Jericho for seven days, its walls fell down.

31 Rahab had been a prostitute, but she had faith and welcomed the spies. So she wasn’t killed with the people who disobeyed.

32 What else can I say? There isn’t enough time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets. 33 Their faith helped them conquer kingdoms, and because they did right, God made promises to them. They closed the jaws of lions 34 and put out raging fires and escaped from the swords of their enemies. Although they were weak, they were given the strength and power to chase foreign armies away.

35 Some women received their loved ones back from death. Many of these people were tortured, but they refused to be released. They were sure that they would get a better reward when the dead are raised to life. 36 Others were made fun of and beaten with whips, and some were chained in jail. 37 Still others were stoned to death or sawed in two or killed with swords. Some had nothing but sheep skins or goat skins to wear. They were poor, mistreated, and tortured. 38 The world did not deserve these good people, who had to wander in deserts and on mountains and had to live in caves and holes in the ground.

39 All of them pleased God because of their faith! But still they died without being given what had been promised. 40 This was because God had something better in store for us. And he did not want them to reach the goal of their faith without us.

A Large Crowd of Witnesses

12 Such a large crowd of witnesses is all around us! So we must get rid of everything that slows us down, especially the sin that just won’t let go. And we must be determined to run the race that is ahead of us. 2 We must keep our eyes on Jesus, who leads us and makes our faith complete. He endured the shame of being nailed to a cross, because he knew that later on he would be glad he did. Now he is seated at the right side of God’s throne!

This passage also reminds us that having faith does not always make for an easy life, or that things will go, what may be termed “well”.  It doesn’t say, “Have faith and breeze through life”, it reminds us that even the most faithful had their trials.

That is a comfort.  It’s not just me, something I’ve done, or not done;  I’m not being singled out for a hard time; I’m not being “got at”.  That is how life, until God returns in all his glory, is.  Faith may help us live with life, it doesn’t get rid of the difficult parts.  And if we feel we are suffering, despite our faith, we are in good company.

Lord,
I don’t understand
why,
however faithful people seem,
despite the good things they do,
life still throws up it’s difficulties.

But I thank you,
that it is not because of anything
we have,
or haven’t,
done wrong,
but human life
in all it’s facets.

Thank you especially
for your promise
that you have something better in store.

I pray
for the time when that will be,
when suffering, hardship and pain
will be gone
and what you have in store for us all
will be here

Can I have the same song again?  I can can’t I, it’s my blog.  This really is the most awesome, beautiful, helpful and truthful song.  It means so much to me and has kept me going on some of the worst days.  God promises are not imagined, they are real and will be realised one day, way beyond our expectations.  To be able to trace the rainbow through the rain… Read it’s story here

Posted in bible, faith, God, Lectionary, life, Religion, theology
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