Pam's Perambulation

Backwards and Forwards – Christmas Day 2

•December 26, 2012 • 3 Comments

There’s something about the Christmas break that gives you chance to take stock. Being out of the regular routine and the turning of another new year cause us to think back – and forward. Where have we been, and where would we like to go?

John Thorn [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

I don’t know about you, but I like to have a route all planned out – especially a route through life. What’s going to happen, when and how – and I get quite fidgety (ok grumpy!) if it’s not working out.

Henri Nouwen talks about surrendering ourselves to the future, not as a loss of autonomy, but as an act of openness and maturity. For if you are dead set on one path, who knows what you may miss if you don’t take a different way that opens up.

I guess we all get to a point when we think the best days of our lives are over and it’s downhill all the way. Nouwen reminds us,

The most important part of our lives may still be ahead of us

So, do we live our lives looking for what God is going to do with us, where he’s going to lead us? Are we open to what he’s going to do?

I’m disappointed I can’t find a video of the song I wanted to add to this, so I’ll give you the link to listen http://music.hopeandsocial.com/album/all-our-dancing-days, track 8, All our Dancing Days – when you think your dancing days are over – they’re not!

Are we still willing to dance with God? To join in the steps he leads us?

I can’t dance in reality, but I pray I can still dance to the tune God leads me in.

And the prayer from the book:

Lord,

wherever you lead,

let us follow.

Wherever we are taken,

let us go willingly.

Let us firmly believe

that the paths you point out to us

are the ones we must take.

Let us be eagerly on the road with you

This year for Advent, some friends and I are using Advent and Christmas Wisdom from Henri J. M. Nouwen. You’re welcome to join us on this journey. Feel free to comment here, or on Twitter using #adventbookclub

Also blogging on the #adventbookclub are:

http://www.likeasthehart.me.uk/

http://drbexl.co.uk/

http://clairemaxim1.wordpress.com/

http://runninglife.wordpress.com/

http://dorothy726blog.wordpress.com/

Posted in Advent Book Club, Christmas, faith, God, Religion, theology
Tags: dancing, follow

All in the Name – Christmas Season Day 1

•December 25, 2012 • 2 Comments

The story goes, that I was going to be called Theresa. I can’t remember how or why now, but anyway by the time my dad got to the Registry Office to register my birth, I had become Pamela. (Which no one ever dares call me anyway!)

I’m not sure my life would have been any different if I’d been called Theresa. I’m sure I’d still be the same person, with the same gifts and foibles.

Yet some people’s names tell stories, perhaps a family name, or a name chosen for a particular meaning. In the bible many of the people’s names had meanings. I think especially of Hosea whose children were given the most extraordinary names. ‘Unloved’ and ‘Not-my-people’ (Hosea 1:2-9) were never names high on the list for our children – and I can imagine those names might have had quite an impact on their lives.

And so today, on Christmas Eve, we turn to the Christmas Readings in the book.

from Wordle.net

And we consider the name of Jesus. Jesus was given his name by the angel, as he told Mary of his expected arrival

Luke 1:26-33

An Angel Tells about the Birth of Jesus

²⁶One month later God sent the angel Gabriel to the town of Nazareth in Galilee ²⁷with a message for a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to Joseph from the family of King David. ²⁸The angel greeted Mary and said, “You are truly blessed! The Lord is with you.”

²⁹Mary was confused by the angel’s words and wondered what they meant. ³⁰Then the angel told Mary, “Don’t be afraid! God is pleased with you, ³¹and you will have a son. His name will be Jesus. ³²He will be great and will be called the Son of God Most High. The Lord God will make him king, as his ancestor David was. ³³He will rule the people of Israel forever, and his kingdom will never end.”

Jesus name was packed with meaning. It had all the hopes of Israel bundled into it. It meant that God was here, as he promised. Here to save the world. Here to live in the world. Here to show us God’s ways. Here to save us from our ways.

Lord,

I thank you for coming to earth,

coming to fulfil your promises,

coming to show us the depth of your love,

coming to show us your way of living.

Thank you

that you know me

and love me

– not just my name,

but all of me.

Thank you for thinking I am precious.

For as I pray,

may I seek to live,

in

and through

your name

This year for Advent, some friends and I are using Advent and Christmas Wisdom from Henri J. M. Nouwen. You’re welcome to join us on this journey. Feel free to comment here, or on Twitter using #adventbookclub

Also blogging on the #adventbookclub are:

http://www.likeasthehart.me.uk/

http://drbexl.co.uk/

http://clairemaxim1.wordpress.com/

http://runninglife.wordpress.com/

http://dorothy726blog.wordpress.com/

Posted in Advent, Advent Book Club, faith, God, Jesus, Religion, theology
Tags: #adventbookclub, Advent, Henri Nouwen, Hosea, Jesus, Luke 1:26-33, name

An Invitation – Day 24

•December 24, 2012 • Leave a Comment

Do you ever get invitations to something you’d really rather not go to? Or when you’d really just rather stay home with a good book than make the effort of going out?

God came into the world because he wanted to join us. How awesome is that?! He wants to be a part of our journey, share our story.

We are not alone, God is with us. That is what Christmas is all about. God came into the world to be with us at all times an in all places. In our struggles, in our pain, in our questions, as well as in our joy – God is right there with us, born in the midst of it all.

In the words of Nouwen,

Christmas is the renewed invitation not to be afraid and let him – whose love is greater than our own hearts and minds can comprehend – be our companion.

Or to quote the dying words of John Wesley,

Best of all is, God is with us

This Christmas, and every day, may we remember the truth – God is with us

Thank you Lord,

for coming into the world,

not just that first Christmas,

but every day.

Thank you that you care about my story,

and want to share in it.

Thank you that you are always with me,

whatever experiences and emotions I go through,

that you are here

This year for Advent, some friends and I are using Advent and Christmas Wisdom from Henri J. M. Nouwen. You’re welcome to join us on this journey. Feel free to comment here, or on Twitter using #adventbookclub

Also blogging on the #adventbookclub are:

http://www.likeasthehart.me.uk/

http://drbexl.co.uk/

http://clairemaxim1.wordpress.com/

http://runninglife.wordpress.com/

http://dorothy726blog.wordpress.com/