Help

•March 15, 2011 • 2 Comments

So if we’re going to go on this journey, we’re going to need help.

Psalm 121

1I look to the hills!

Where will I find help?

2It will come from the LORD,

who created the heavens

and the earth.

3The LORD is your protector,

and he won’t go to sleep

or let you stumble.

4The protector of Israel

doesn’t doze

or ever get drowsy.

5The LORD is your protector,

there at your right side

to shade you from the sun.

6You won’t be harmed

by the sun during the day

or by the moon at night. 7The LORD will protect you

and keep you safe

from all dangers.

8The LORD will protect you

now and always

wherever you go.

 

We had this Psalm at our wedding.  I suppose there’s not much more of a launching on a journey than a marriage.  The coming together of two separate lives to form one new unit.  There has to be a sense of moving on.  Both people can’t continue to do things the way they always have, or that wouldn’t be much of a marriage.  New traditions and habits have to be worked out, new ways of living have to be developed.

This Psalm acknowledges two things:

In life’s journeyings, we need help, and

God is the one who can give us that help.

 

God made the heavens and the earth, and so that obviously makes him the best one to be our guide.

He is going to protect us – always.  He will keep us safe.  I’ve said before that I don’t think that means he will save us from the trials of life – that is not protecting; but in an over-all sense God watches over us and walks with us.

On the journey through life that he calls us to, God is always there – that is where we find our help.

If we are afraid this Lent to step out, if we know what God is calling us from, or leading us to – he is there.  The journey may be arduous, there may be some steep hills, some rocky crags or some difficult connections to make, but God is ALWAYS there.

 

Thank you Lord

that our help comes from you,

that we are not reliant on ourselves,

that you never leave us,

that you know how things are,

so we are safe in your company.

Give us the courage,

the strength,

the help we need,

to come on this journey with you.

Posted in God, Lectionary, lent
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Leaving home

•March 14, 2011 • Leave a Comment

Part of the Lent experience is journeying.  Considering where we are, what we are doing – and if that is where and what we should be.

Genesis 12:1-4

1The LORD said to Abram:

Leave your country, your family, and your relatives and go to the land that I will show you. 2I will bless you and make your descendants into a great nation. You will become famous and be a blessing to others. 3I will bless anyone who blesses you, but I will put a curse on anyone who puts a curse on you. Everyone on earth will be blessed because of you. 4-5Abram was seventy-five years old when the LORD told him to leave the city of Haran. He obeyed and left with his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions and slaves they had gotten while in Haran.

God calls Abram to leave his country, his family, all that was familiar, and go where he was showing him.  He had to move on if he was going to become what God wanted him to be.

I absolutely hate moving house, it is totally traumatic.  We once moved three times in 2 years, we just lived like snails, and only unpacked essentials!  Abram is 75 – but he does what God asks of him.

Journeying is part of the Christian life, maybe not physically, but we are at times called to leave behind the familiar, step out in faith, and go where God calls. There may be some things we need to move on from.  Habits that have taken us over, places where familiarity has bred contempt, things we no longer see because they are so familiar, or just new things to discover.

But journeying with God is not so much about where we are leaving from, but where we are going to. God called Abram from his familiarity, but he was also calling him to Canaan.  To a new life, a new way – and wow, what things God had in store!

SO what is God calling you to put down, give up, move on from – not just for Lent, but for the next stage of your journey?

And what is God calling you to?  What does he have in store for your life and mine?

 

Lord, our life with you is never static.

You call us to come with you.

Help us to hear your call

and to understand;

to know what to leave behind,

and to place our footsteps in yours.

May all our journeyings

be to the places you show us

that all may be blessed.

Posted in follow, Lectionary, lent
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Get lost

•March 13, 2011 • Leave a Comment

On our holiday a few years ago, Mr Pamsperambulation and I went for a walk one lovely evening.  Mr Pamsperambulation knew where we were going!  Somehow we got lost. Very lost.  And we no longer knew where we were to even know how to begin to put it right.  Eventually we managed to find a main road, and very fortunately for us, a pub.  In the pub was someone who was not only able to show us the way back, but was actually willing to put us in his truck and take us back to where we were staying.

Without the kindness of that man we would have been in big trouble, and at the very least had a long walk back in the rapidly fading light.

Sometimes we can get ourselves so lost, we no longer know which way to turn or how to get ourselves back to where we were meant to be.

The good news is, if we have made bad choices or taken a wrong turn, God does not leave us languishing in our error.

Spring Gathering by Andris Bergs, Hawes

Luke 15:1-10

 

1Tax collectors and sinners were all crowding around to listen to Jesus. 2So the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law of Moses started grumbling, “This man is friendly with sinners. He even eats with them.” 3Then Jesus told them this story:

4If any of you has a hundred sheep, and one of them gets lost, what will you do? Won’t you leave the ninety-nine in the field and go look for the lost sheep until you find it? 5And when you find it, you will be so glad that you will put it on your shoulder 6and carry it home. Then you will call in your friends and neighbors and say, “Let’s celebrate! I’ve found my lost sheep.”

7Jesus said, “In the same way there is more happiness in heaven because of one sinner who turns to God than over ninety-nine good people who don’t need to.”

One Coin

8Jesus told the people another story:

What will a woman do if she has ten silver coins and loses one of them? Won’t she light a lamp, sweep the floor, and look carefully until she finds it? 9Then she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, “Let’s celebrate! I’ve found the coin I lost.”

10Jesus said, “In the same way God’s angels are happy when even one person turns to him.”

When we are lost, God doesn’t write us of, put it down to experience, or leave us floundering.  He comes to find us.

After sin came into the world, and all the possibilities it brought with it, we were all lost – but God sent Jesus into the world to come and save us.

We are not left alone to struggle.

No one is ever too lost, too far buried, or too bad that Jesus does not continue to look for them, and give them the opportunity to come back.

God loves us SO much, he has come to seek us out, put us on his shoulders, and carry us back.  He is not satisfied and doesn’t give up looking until we are found.

Now that is wonderful love

Thank you Lord

that you love us so much;

that however far we have gone

you do not rest,

you seek us out,

put us on your shoulders,

and take us back to the place we are meant to be

Posted in Jesus, Lectionary, lent
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