Saturday 25 May 2013
Long time, no Blog!
I have not written in this blog for a long time. I don't know if there is anyone out there who reads it anyway.
For some reason, Blogger is not letting me write this post in paragraphs, so here is the collection of some funny sketches about Church/Christianity that I was trying to write about and I'll write another post about comedy and Christianity.
Friday 12 August 2011
Understand, pray, love.
Having written about marriage before, I now find myself in the unhappy situation of thinking about divorce. Not my own, I might add, but the potential divorce of two people I love dearly. When I listen to the sadness of their situation, my heart reaches out to both of them and particularly to their child. I find myself wondering what I should say, what I should think and what I should do - if anything.
In my former work as a lawyer, particularly in the very early years, I worked with people who were getting divorced and it struck me how you would always talk to the ‘wronged’ party in a divorce. There was always so much bitterness and hurt on both sides that sometimes I would get home from work and burst into tears having taken on some of the pain that they were experiencing. It seemed to me that - almost unavoidably - divorce is a battleground from which noone, even the bystanders, escape unscathed.
If you read the statistics about divorce, they are equally as gloomy. People who divorce are likely to be in poorer health, their life expectancy is lower, they are more likely to suffer from depression, suffer financial problems and find difficulty in forming future relationships. But worst of all is what it does to the children. The children of divorce are likely to name their parents divorce as the most significant and damaging thing that ever happened to them. As a result, they are more likely to have dysfunctional relationships as adults, they are more prone to substance abuse and depression and they are less likely to achieve well academically. That is the doom and gloom side from a purely secular approach. It would be unbalanced of me not to mention that I can think of several very good friends and family members too who have gone through the process, healed and come out of the other side. They carry battle scars but they have survived.
So, what does the bible say about marriage/divorce? Well, here is a quick round up:
“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up” – Ecclesiastes 4:9,10
“Take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth. For the Lord God of Israel says that he hates divorce, ‘for it covers one’s garment with violence,’ says the Lord of hosts. Therefore, take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously’ – Malachi 2:15,16
“Marriage is honourable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge” Hebrews 13:4
“Now to the married I command you, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband and a husband is not to divorce his wife” 1 Corinthians 7:10,11
And, most importantly, what Jesus said about it:
“Haven’t you read, he replied, that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female’ and said ‘for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they two will become one flesh’ So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.’ “Why then,” they asked “did Moses command that a man could give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?” Jesus replied “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife...and marries another woman commits adultery”. Matthew 19:13-15
It seems pretty unequivocal then, the bible does not advocate divorce. It is not a surprise really, if you consider the Golden Rule then divorce cannot really be compatible with it. It seems highly unlikely, therefore, that any decision to get divorced would ever be a spirit-led one. Or is it that simple?
In the world that we live in today that promotes individualism, the importance of ‘me’, ‘my satisfaction’, ‘my achievements’ “because you’re worth it” are so prevalent; the idea of obedience to God is quite counter-cultural. When I spoke to one of my Christian friends and asked her opinion about whether you should continue to be married to someone who you didn’t feel ‘in love’ with anymore her response was – I thought – pretty harsh:
“Of course, God hates divorce. If necessary, your life should be a living sacrifice in obedience to God.”
I winced at that! Surely, our loving God does not demand that of us. It is only one view, of course. Didn’t say Jesus said that he came that we should have life and have it to the full? However, perhaps our worldly perception of what having a ‘full’ life is has been subject to the cultural bombardment that we get through the media. Consumerism – have this, you need this, you’re entitled to this....I must admit when I think of living life to the full, one of the first thoughts that springs to my mind is the Pepsi Max advert with guys jumping out of aeroplanes and surfing and taking it ‘to the max’. The packaged, consumer version of a full life. The satisfaction or fullness that Jesus was talking about was a life in obedience of God. Not always easy. In fact, it can be really, really difficult.
Apart from the individualistic consumer culture that we live in which daily bombards us with the message that we should fulfil our individual needs, there are lots of other things which can attack a marriage. Here are a few:
• Selfishness and neglect
• Infidelity
• Past hurts
• Memories and ties from previous relationships
• Low self-esteem
• Poor communication
• Alcohol, drugs, gambling, pornography, lust, obsessions
• Worshipping other Gods – not necessarily an idol in old-fashioned terms but other idols; an ‘ideal’, an addiction, money, power, television, the internet, ‘a dream’,alcohol, sport – anything that we put before God or that gets in the way of our relationship with God.
And, of course, as C S Lewis points out so brilliantly in the Screwtape Letters, the devil will get hold of whatever your weakness is and work away at it. It is easy to forget that ultimately, all of our battles are spiritual ones and I recommend - when picking teams - it's best to go for the one who has already won!
What to do then as a friend of a couple contemplating divorce? The first thing is certainly not to cast any judgement.
‘Let he who is without sin cast the first stone’.
Well, given that I am certainly not without sin, but admit readily to my own greed, selfishness, anger and sinfulness, it is certainly not for me to judge. Perhaps it is better to try and UNDERSTAND.
I feel the most constructive thing that I can do is PRAY. I know that prayer is powerful and I know that prayers get answered.
It is also not my place to criticise – again, Jesus taught us to ‘look at the log in our own eye’ before offering to take the twig out of someone elses. I know that I should be loving and gentle and kind – because that is, after all, the love that gets shown to me by God. Perhaps it is better just to LOVE.
I wonder if divorce could ever be God’s will? What if the marriage is violent, abusive, oppressive? Would the biblical teaching on divorce apply then? Would God expect someone to stay married to someone would beats them? I don’t think the Church of England would expect that, in fact, the Church of England have now become much more accepting of divorce in that they will allow divorcee’s to marry in church. I guess this is an acknowledgement of human weakness and the need for forgiveness and that, ultimately, it is for God and not man to judge.
It has also made me aware of the importance of praying for my own marriage. And, I pray this prayer for myself and other married couples. Please join me to pray for your own marriage or the marriages of others:
• Lord, I pray for protection for those who are married – protection from anything that may seek to harm or destroy it from the slow-burn of neglect to the passion of anger or jealousy, from selfishness or recklessness, from plans or desires of others, through to struggles and difficulties, trials and losses.
• Please fasten our hearts from temptations outside of our marriage that may be destructive to it. Set us free from past hurts, memories that are painful, irritations and annoyances. Please free us from grudges and arguments that harden our hearts.
• I pray that we are not jealous or angry. I pray that you heal low self-esteem that leads to such feelings.
• Lord, let nothing take root in our habits or routines that strangles the marriage or pushes us apart. If it is already there Lord, I pray you weed it out and destroy it.
• Help us Lord to remember our bond of friendship, understanding, forgiveness, commitment and generosity.
• Help us to always remember why we were married in the first place and allow us always to retain the ability to rekindle and nurture that most basic love that started this marriage.
• I pray that those committed in marriage will be so committed to you Lord that they will not let their marriage go array with your strength and love. I pray that we will grow stronger in our marriage every day and will never leave the legacy of divorce to our children.
• In Jesus name I ask this. Amen.
In my former work as a lawyer, particularly in the very early years, I worked with people who were getting divorced and it struck me how you would always talk to the ‘wronged’ party in a divorce. There was always so much bitterness and hurt on both sides that sometimes I would get home from work and burst into tears having taken on some of the pain that they were experiencing. It seemed to me that - almost unavoidably - divorce is a battleground from which noone, even the bystanders, escape unscathed.
If you read the statistics about divorce, they are equally as gloomy. People who divorce are likely to be in poorer health, their life expectancy is lower, they are more likely to suffer from depression, suffer financial problems and find difficulty in forming future relationships. But worst of all is what it does to the children. The children of divorce are likely to name their parents divorce as the most significant and damaging thing that ever happened to them. As a result, they are more likely to have dysfunctional relationships as adults, they are more prone to substance abuse and depression and they are less likely to achieve well academically. That is the doom and gloom side from a purely secular approach. It would be unbalanced of me not to mention that I can think of several very good friends and family members too who have gone through the process, healed and come out of the other side. They carry battle scars but they have survived.
So, what does the bible say about marriage/divorce? Well, here is a quick round up:
“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up” – Ecclesiastes 4:9,10
“Take heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his youth. For the Lord God of Israel says that he hates divorce, ‘for it covers one’s garment with violence,’ says the Lord of hosts. Therefore, take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously’ – Malachi 2:15,16
“Marriage is honourable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge” Hebrews 13:4
“Now to the married I command you, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband and a husband is not to divorce his wife” 1 Corinthians 7:10,11
And, most importantly, what Jesus said about it:
“Haven’t you read, he replied, that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female’ and said ‘for this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they two will become one flesh’ So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.’ “Why then,” they asked “did Moses command that a man could give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away?” Jesus replied “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife...and marries another woman commits adultery”. Matthew 19:13-15
It seems pretty unequivocal then, the bible does not advocate divorce. It is not a surprise really, if you consider the Golden Rule then divorce cannot really be compatible with it. It seems highly unlikely, therefore, that any decision to get divorced would ever be a spirit-led one. Or is it that simple?
In the world that we live in today that promotes individualism, the importance of ‘me’, ‘my satisfaction’, ‘my achievements’ “because you’re worth it” are so prevalent; the idea of obedience to God is quite counter-cultural. When I spoke to one of my Christian friends and asked her opinion about whether you should continue to be married to someone who you didn’t feel ‘in love’ with anymore her response was – I thought – pretty harsh:
“Of course, God hates divorce. If necessary, your life should be a living sacrifice in obedience to God.”
I winced at that! Surely, our loving God does not demand that of us. It is only one view, of course. Didn’t say Jesus said that he came that we should have life and have it to the full? However, perhaps our worldly perception of what having a ‘full’ life is has been subject to the cultural bombardment that we get through the media. Consumerism – have this, you need this, you’re entitled to this....I must admit when I think of living life to the full, one of the first thoughts that springs to my mind is the Pepsi Max advert with guys jumping out of aeroplanes and surfing and taking it ‘to the max’. The packaged, consumer version of a full life. The satisfaction or fullness that Jesus was talking about was a life in obedience of God. Not always easy. In fact, it can be really, really difficult.
Apart from the individualistic consumer culture that we live in which daily bombards us with the message that we should fulfil our individual needs, there are lots of other things which can attack a marriage. Here are a few:
• Selfishness and neglect
• Infidelity
• Past hurts
• Memories and ties from previous relationships
• Low self-esteem
• Poor communication
• Alcohol, drugs, gambling, pornography, lust, obsessions
• Worshipping other Gods – not necessarily an idol in old-fashioned terms but other idols; an ‘ideal’, an addiction, money, power, television, the internet, ‘a dream’,alcohol, sport – anything that we put before God or that gets in the way of our relationship with God.
And, of course, as C S Lewis points out so brilliantly in the Screwtape Letters, the devil will get hold of whatever your weakness is and work away at it. It is easy to forget that ultimately, all of our battles are spiritual ones and I recommend - when picking teams - it's best to go for the one who has already won!
What to do then as a friend of a couple contemplating divorce? The first thing is certainly not to cast any judgement.
‘Let he who is without sin cast the first stone’.
Well, given that I am certainly not without sin, but admit readily to my own greed, selfishness, anger and sinfulness, it is certainly not for me to judge. Perhaps it is better to try and UNDERSTAND.
I feel the most constructive thing that I can do is PRAY. I know that prayer is powerful and I know that prayers get answered.
It is also not my place to criticise – again, Jesus taught us to ‘look at the log in our own eye’ before offering to take the twig out of someone elses. I know that I should be loving and gentle and kind – because that is, after all, the love that gets shown to me by God. Perhaps it is better just to LOVE.
I wonder if divorce could ever be God’s will? What if the marriage is violent, abusive, oppressive? Would the biblical teaching on divorce apply then? Would God expect someone to stay married to someone would beats them? I don’t think the Church of England would expect that, in fact, the Church of England have now become much more accepting of divorce in that they will allow divorcee’s to marry in church. I guess this is an acknowledgement of human weakness and the need for forgiveness and that, ultimately, it is for God and not man to judge.
It has also made me aware of the importance of praying for my own marriage. And, I pray this prayer for myself and other married couples. Please join me to pray for your own marriage or the marriages of others:
• Lord, I pray for protection for those who are married – protection from anything that may seek to harm or destroy it from the slow-burn of neglect to the passion of anger or jealousy, from selfishness or recklessness, from plans or desires of others, through to struggles and difficulties, trials and losses.
• Please fasten our hearts from temptations outside of our marriage that may be destructive to it. Set us free from past hurts, memories that are painful, irritations and annoyances. Please free us from grudges and arguments that harden our hearts.
• I pray that we are not jealous or angry. I pray that you heal low self-esteem that leads to such feelings.
• Lord, let nothing take root in our habits or routines that strangles the marriage or pushes us apart. If it is already there Lord, I pray you weed it out and destroy it.
• Help us Lord to remember our bond of friendship, understanding, forgiveness, commitment and generosity.
• Help us to always remember why we were married in the first place and allow us always to retain the ability to rekindle and nurture that most basic love that started this marriage.
• I pray that those committed in marriage will be so committed to you Lord that they will not let their marriage go array with your strength and love. I pray that we will grow stronger in our marriage every day and will never leave the legacy of divorce to our children.
• In Jesus name I ask this. Amen.
Friday 28 January 2011
Is Love a Name?
Last year my brother and his wife asked me to write a 'reading' for their wedding. I was, of course, delighted to do this for them. They got married in a beautiful setting but as it was a Civil Ceremony, the law dictates that there can be no religious words or references used during the proceedings. The reading must be strictly non-religious and approved, in advance, by the Superintendant Registrar.
I decided to write about the nature of love in marriage and how love is not just a feeling but something that you do. Where better to find inspiration about the nature of love but from the Bible? See if you can spot the influence of Corinthians 13 in the speech that I made:
Is Love a Name?
Love, within marriage, is not just a noun, it should be a verb too.
In other words, it is not just a feeling that you experience, a name for an
emotion. It is something that you do, something that you practise.
What does it mean to practise love? It means being patient, it means being kind. If you practise love you will not be jealous or judging. Instead, you will be gracious and accepting, you will wipe the slate clean – regularly - forgiving mistakes or poor decisions. To become a master practitioner, you will think the best of the person you love, believe in them, have hope in and for them and search for the truth with them.
Practising love is something that you will do together: you will bear, you will endure, you will have faith in each other; you will laugh, enjoy and begin to learn together that love is more than just a name of a feeling.
©Nicola Morgan, February 2010
I decided to write about the nature of love in marriage and how love is not just a feeling but something that you do. Where better to find inspiration about the nature of love but from the Bible? See if you can spot the influence of Corinthians 13 in the speech that I made:
Is Love a Name?
Love, within marriage, is not just a noun, it should be a verb too.
In other words, it is not just a feeling that you experience, a name for an
emotion. It is something that you do, something that you practise.
What does it mean to practise love? It means being patient, it means being kind. If you practise love you will not be jealous or judging. Instead, you will be gracious and accepting, you will wipe the slate clean – regularly - forgiving mistakes or poor decisions. To become a master practitioner, you will think the best of the person you love, believe in them, have hope in and for them and search for the truth with them.
Practising love is something that you will do together: you will bear, you will endure, you will have faith in each other; you will laugh, enjoy and begin to learn together that love is more than just a name of a feeling.
©Nicola Morgan, February 2010
Thursday 27 January 2011
Strictly Praying
This is not about being strict or disciplined. I’ve called it Strictly Praying so that my last line works.
I, like many others, don’t put much time into prayer. I quite often say a quick please and thank you in the morning before getting out of bed and getting on with the business of the day. Sometimes a sorry (particularly if I’ve been heavy on the red wine the night before). However, when I do actually take the time to devote some real time to it, the results are quite amazing. More of what happens later.
I used to wonder why monks and nuns had chosen to remove themselves from the world and spend so much of their day in prayer and silent contemplation. Of course, I appreciate that there is no one answer to why someone makes that decision and that their reasons may be varied and complex as people are. I must admit, I did used to think that it was a bit of a waste of time, that if they so loved God and the message of Jesus then they would be better off out there in the world trying to do good works and help others. However, it later occurred to me that if you accept that you are created by God, that everything is meaningless in the bigger picture, then making sure that you have God at the centre of your life and communicating with him is probably the best thing that you can do with your time. (Incidentally, Ecclesiastes is an amazing ‘wisdom’ book and far from being despairing and cynical, it is full of hope – a subject for another blog post.)
I’m not going all Sound of Music on you, I’m not running off to be a nun anytime soon. However, it did make me think maybe I really ought to be spending a bit more time on prayer than I currently do. Earlier this week, through my letterbox came my free copy of New Wine magazine and after a quick flick through admiring the graphics and the quality of the paper, I actually read ‘How to Hear God’(which you can read by clicking here). This article reminded me about that thing called two way praying.
So, I sat down and asked God what he had in store for me that day. Nothing. So I waited a bit longer. Nothing. Tax return deadline is looming and I need to finish my accounts. But I waited. Nothing. It had been a whole ten minutes now and I really needed a cup of tea. Nothing. So, I opened my bible at Luke (if you have read my previous posts, you will realise I am spending a bit of time on Luke at the moment) and I turned to Luke 11 ‘Jesus’ teaching on prayer’ where Jesus taught the disciples to pray. We can probably all recite the Lords prayer and maybe often do it, as I do, mindlessly and without it saying or meaning a great deal each time we say it. I read through the familiar words in just this way. Nothing.
I carried on reading to the familiar passage of Luke 11:9-12 ‘ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you’ which explains that if your children ask you for something, you do not give them something awful instead and that we will give good gifts to our children (despite our handicap of being human, flawed and ‘evil’) so God will give us the Holy Spirit if we ask. So I read it again and knocked. Then God spoke. I read the Lord’s prayer again and, sure enough, the words ‘Forgive us our sins for we also forgive everyone who sins against us’ jumped out of the page at me. This set me off on a very interesting path of forgiveness that will be the subject of another post.
Sometimes we may not know what to pray. This doesn’t matter; ‘We do not know what we ought to pray for but the Spirit himself intercedes for us’ Romans 8:26. So, I think this is a note to self on prayer: persevere, keep doing it, keep on knocking, your persistence will pay. Keeeeep on praying!
ps. for the benefit of my overseas readers, we have a show in the UK called Strictly Come Dancing (the picture is of that show) which ends with the phrase 'Keep on dancing'.
I, like many others, don’t put much time into prayer. I quite often say a quick please and thank you in the morning before getting out of bed and getting on with the business of the day. Sometimes a sorry (particularly if I’ve been heavy on the red wine the night before). However, when I do actually take the time to devote some real time to it, the results are quite amazing. More of what happens later.
I used to wonder why monks and nuns had chosen to remove themselves from the world and spend so much of their day in prayer and silent contemplation. Of course, I appreciate that there is no one answer to why someone makes that decision and that their reasons may be varied and complex as people are. I must admit, I did used to think that it was a bit of a waste of time, that if they so loved God and the message of Jesus then they would be better off out there in the world trying to do good works and help others. However, it later occurred to me that if you accept that you are created by God, that everything is meaningless in the bigger picture, then making sure that you have God at the centre of your life and communicating with him is probably the best thing that you can do with your time. (Incidentally, Ecclesiastes is an amazing ‘wisdom’ book and far from being despairing and cynical, it is full of hope – a subject for another blog post.)
I’m not going all Sound of Music on you, I’m not running off to be a nun anytime soon. However, it did make me think maybe I really ought to be spending a bit more time on prayer than I currently do. Earlier this week, through my letterbox came my free copy of New Wine magazine and after a quick flick through admiring the graphics and the quality of the paper, I actually read ‘How to Hear God’(which you can read by clicking here). This article reminded me about that thing called two way praying.
So, I sat down and asked God what he had in store for me that day. Nothing. So I waited a bit longer. Nothing. Tax return deadline is looming and I need to finish my accounts. But I waited. Nothing. It had been a whole ten minutes now and I really needed a cup of tea. Nothing. So, I opened my bible at Luke (if you have read my previous posts, you will realise I am spending a bit of time on Luke at the moment) and I turned to Luke 11 ‘Jesus’ teaching on prayer’ where Jesus taught the disciples to pray. We can probably all recite the Lords prayer and maybe often do it, as I do, mindlessly and without it saying or meaning a great deal each time we say it. I read through the familiar words in just this way. Nothing.
I carried on reading to the familiar passage of Luke 11:9-12 ‘ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you’ which explains that if your children ask you for something, you do not give them something awful instead and that we will give good gifts to our children (despite our handicap of being human, flawed and ‘evil’) so God will give us the Holy Spirit if we ask. So I read it again and knocked. Then God spoke. I read the Lord’s prayer again and, sure enough, the words ‘Forgive us our sins for we also forgive everyone who sins against us’ jumped out of the page at me. This set me off on a very interesting path of forgiveness that will be the subject of another post.
Sometimes we may not know what to pray. This doesn’t matter; ‘We do not know what we ought to pray for but the Spirit himself intercedes for us’ Romans 8:26. So, I think this is a note to self on prayer: persevere, keep doing it, keep on knocking, your persistence will pay. Keeeeep on praying!
ps. for the benefit of my overseas readers, we have a show in the UK called Strictly Come Dancing (the picture is of that show) which ends with the phrase 'Keep on dancing'.
Have it to the Full
My husband and I work with the youth group at Church and we were, recently, looking John 10:10. Now, I know I'm not going to win any awards for my film making here but sometimes it helps to have a short video clip to show the kids. For some reason, something on a screen can grab their attention - much more so than if one of us tells them that we are going to read a bible passage (which will probably be met with the whole lot of them getting their ever-present phones out to text or check messages or listen to something else). So, this is the short video clip that I made to introduce the passage to them:
Wednesday 26 January 2011
From the Mouths of Babes*
My youngest daughter is only five years old and she prays all the time: for Daddy to come home safely from his journey, for her sister to be happy, to find the bits of lego that she needs or her missing library book. What is amazing is that when either of my daughters cannot find something they will pray together to find it. They always do. They do this quite naturally without ever having read ‘For where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them’
It is very interesting to talk to my youngest about God because she is so natural about it. If I ask her what happens when she prays, she says she is talking to God.
‘Does he talk back?’
‘Yes,’ she says earnestly and looking at me like I’m a bit stupid ‘he talks to my heart’.
‘And how do you know it is God?’ I am clearly even more stupid now
‘because it IS! Only God talks to your heart like that.’
So what is the nature of this relationship between God and little children? It is far less questioning, far less intellectual, perhaps, than the one that we try and cultivate throughout our lives. It seems to be something that comes entirely naturally to them. Importantly, there is a distinction between their belief in childhood fantasy figures like Father Christmas or the Tooth Fairy. Both my children believe that these figures exist and, indeed, have both attempted to communicate with them too, leaving letters and treats out for them. The crucial difference seems to be that they do not pray to the fantasy figures, only God and they tell me, it is only God who talks to their hearts.
I have often wondered if this is what Jesus meant when he said ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ...anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it’
There is a poem that I love by Elizabeth Jennings called Summer and Time which observes that children are able to live in the present moment without attempting to ‘mix up time’. They are not worrying about what they have done, what they will do but live in the ‘present hour’. I can see this ability slowly being chipped away at in my eldest daughter as she is conditioned at school into thinking through consequences, of considering how her actions will impact – and this is necessary and desirable, but slowly she is ceasing to just be in the ‘present hour’.
I do wonder if it is the point about being in the present moment in order to be able to communicate with God that is so important. This is something that we must work on maintaining or we lose it as we grow up and learn to ‘tease the sun-dial’. It goes along with the idea that Jesus teaches in Luke 12:22 ‘do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear.’ This is certainly true of little children. They do not worry about such things. Such distractions are of no concern to them as they will all be taken care of somehow which is what Jesus says ‘seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you’.
Perhaps we should endeavour to be in the present moment more, put more faith in God and not spend so much time lamenting our mistakes of yesterday and worrying about what to do next. Perhaps this would allow us to experience that still, small voice of God. I wonder if the way that children explore the world with fascination and joy, living in the moment and feeling God speaking to their hearts is what Jesus was talking about.
*Geeky reference: this reference, which is commonly used, is actually from Psalm 8:10
It is very interesting to talk to my youngest about God because she is so natural about it. If I ask her what happens when she prays, she says she is talking to God.
‘Does he talk back?’
‘Yes,’ she says earnestly and looking at me like I’m a bit stupid ‘he talks to my heart’.
‘And how do you know it is God?’ I am clearly even more stupid now
‘because it IS! Only God talks to your heart like that.’
So what is the nature of this relationship between God and little children? It is far less questioning, far less intellectual, perhaps, than the one that we try and cultivate throughout our lives. It seems to be something that comes entirely naturally to them. Importantly, there is a distinction between their belief in childhood fantasy figures like Father Christmas or the Tooth Fairy. Both my children believe that these figures exist and, indeed, have both attempted to communicate with them too, leaving letters and treats out for them. The crucial difference seems to be that they do not pray to the fantasy figures, only God and they tell me, it is only God who talks to their hearts.
I have often wondered if this is what Jesus meant when he said ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. ...anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it’
There is a poem that I love by Elizabeth Jennings called Summer and Time which observes that children are able to live in the present moment without attempting to ‘mix up time’. They are not worrying about what they have done, what they will do but live in the ‘present hour’. I can see this ability slowly being chipped away at in my eldest daughter as she is conditioned at school into thinking through consequences, of considering how her actions will impact – and this is necessary and desirable, but slowly she is ceasing to just be in the ‘present hour’.
I do wonder if it is the point about being in the present moment in order to be able to communicate with God that is so important. This is something that we must work on maintaining or we lose it as we grow up and learn to ‘tease the sun-dial’. It goes along with the idea that Jesus teaches in Luke 12:22 ‘do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear.’ This is certainly true of little children. They do not worry about such things. Such distractions are of no concern to them as they will all be taken care of somehow which is what Jesus says ‘seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you’.
Perhaps we should endeavour to be in the present moment more, put more faith in God and not spend so much time lamenting our mistakes of yesterday and worrying about what to do next. Perhaps this would allow us to experience that still, small voice of God. I wonder if the way that children explore the world with fascination and joy, living in the moment and feeling God speaking to their hearts is what Jesus was talking about.
*Geeky reference: this reference, which is commonly used, is actually from Psalm 8:10
Wilderness Part 2
Yes, I’m still on about the Wilderness and about Luke 4. There was just way too much to put into one blog entry.
There is a lot of Christian-bashing goes on out there in media-land. A lot of people who think that Christians are all crazy and deluded (and some of them probably are). Have a look at any discussion forum where the issue of Christianity is raised or discussed in the press or on YouTube or Facebook – anywhere – and people will be ridiculing it and finding flaw. The Bible gives them lots of material to throw at us in order to ridicule us when taken out of context. They can laugh at Leviticus, poke fun at Paul and rant about Romans. If you take passages out of their context and fling them around, they do sometimes seem quite ridiculous, out of step with modern-day thinking and ideas. Worse, they can seem oppressive and contrary to what we consider to be decent values now.
In Luke 4, the devil quotes the Bible at Jesus. It is when he was leading Jesus around trying to test him after forty days in the wilderness and he says ‘If you are the Son of God...throw yourself down from here for it is written “He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully...”. Now, at that point, that must have been just a little bit tempting. There he is, the devil, goading Jesus and – of course – Jesus could have done anything. Scripture has been quoted at him and it must have been tempting not to think ‘you know what, I am the Son of God and I’ll show you’. Of course, he didn’t. But what he did teach us was a valuable lesson in how to interpret and read scripture. Don't just accept it when someone quotes a passage at you, put it in context.
What Jesus did was put the quote that the devil had hurled at him back into its context: ‘It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test’’. He does not allow the devil to use Scripture that has been selected and used wrongly to tempt him into action.
As a former lawyer, I am – boringly enough – quite interested in interpretation of laws and rules. Jesus looks to the most important principles here in interpreting scripture. Later on, Jesus revealed what the key principles are when he answered the question ‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind’. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments’.
Well, that bit of advice that Jesus gave tells us a great deal about how to interpret the various rules and guidelines contained in the Bible. The Bible is a huge book, more like a library of books, and you can probably find passages in there to support more or less any argument if you look hard enough. But it is no good taking small passages or groups of words together and quoting them to prove that you have a point. It only works if you apply the key principles first; loving God and loving each other. So, when people are using passages to justify homophobia or sexism or prejudices, perhaps they should ask themselves whether they are applying the commandment on which all the Laws hang. These principles must be the ones that can guide us through the wilderness.
There is a lot of Christian-bashing goes on out there in media-land. A lot of people who think that Christians are all crazy and deluded (and some of them probably are). Have a look at any discussion forum where the issue of Christianity is raised or discussed in the press or on YouTube or Facebook – anywhere – and people will be ridiculing it and finding flaw. The Bible gives them lots of material to throw at us in order to ridicule us when taken out of context. They can laugh at Leviticus, poke fun at Paul and rant about Romans. If you take passages out of their context and fling them around, they do sometimes seem quite ridiculous, out of step with modern-day thinking and ideas. Worse, they can seem oppressive and contrary to what we consider to be decent values now.
In Luke 4, the devil quotes the Bible at Jesus. It is when he was leading Jesus around trying to test him after forty days in the wilderness and he says ‘If you are the Son of God...throw yourself down from here for it is written “He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully...”. Now, at that point, that must have been just a little bit tempting. There he is, the devil, goading Jesus and – of course – Jesus could have done anything. Scripture has been quoted at him and it must have been tempting not to think ‘you know what, I am the Son of God and I’ll show you’. Of course, he didn’t. But what he did teach us was a valuable lesson in how to interpret and read scripture. Don't just accept it when someone quotes a passage at you, put it in context.
What Jesus did was put the quote that the devil had hurled at him back into its context: ‘It is said: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test’’. He does not allow the devil to use Scripture that has been selected and used wrongly to tempt him into action.
As a former lawyer, I am – boringly enough – quite interested in interpretation of laws and rules. Jesus looks to the most important principles here in interpreting scripture. Later on, Jesus revealed what the key principles are when he answered the question ‘Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?’
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind’. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments’.
Well, that bit of advice that Jesus gave tells us a great deal about how to interpret the various rules and guidelines contained in the Bible. The Bible is a huge book, more like a library of books, and you can probably find passages in there to support more or less any argument if you look hard enough. But it is no good taking small passages or groups of words together and quoting them to prove that you have a point. It only works if you apply the key principles first; loving God and loving each other. So, when people are using passages to justify homophobia or sexism or prejudices, perhaps they should ask themselves whether they are applying the commandment on which all the Laws hang. These principles must be the ones that can guide us through the wilderness.
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