4/1/09

“I am a very ordinary sort of man.
I have few personal ambitions and no political aspirations.
I just want to live and let live.
Life has been kind to me in the main
and I have tried to live by the Good Book.
I do not profess to be a good man, but I aim to be.
I would like to leave the world a better place than I found it,
but I have no exaggerated ideas of my ability to do so.
I have hitched my wagon to a star,
A star of hope, the star of Bethlehem.”

Gordon Wilson

(Whose daughter was killed by a bomb)

I think it is a great blessing when people find their work.
I often think that I am as rich Croesus, not in money,
but rich because I have found my work.
In that work I have something
to which I can devote myself heart and soul,
and which gives meaning and inspiration to my life.
Even though I have lots of difficulties,
and there are many gloomy days in my life,
I count myself among the fortunate.
This is not the road on which one perishes.
This is a powerful stream that will bear me safely to port.

Vincent Van Gogh.

God’s call is mysterious;
it comes in the darkness of faith.
It is so fine, so subtle,
that it is only with the deepest silence within us that we can hear it.
And yet nothing is surer or stronger,
nothing is so decisive and overpowering,
as that call.
This call is uninterrupted:
God is always calling us.

Carlo Carretto

Today we are in danger of being drowned in bad news.
Jesus began his ministry by announcing good news.
What was the good news?
That the kingdom of heaven had come.
The kingdom stands for the fulfilment of the promises,
the fullness of God’s blessings,
in short, the new order of things.
Forgiveness is available. Recovery is possible.
God’s love is unconditional
and is available to us in Christ.
All we have to do is recognise our need,
and seek his help with humility and sincerity.
Unless we repent we can’t hear the good news.

Ideally words should always be preceded by deeds.
When people who have done something
begin to speak, people listen.
Their words carry enormous weight.
They have real authority.
The weakness of a lot of words arises from the fact
that they are not preceded, or accompanied,
or even followed by deeds.
At the root of innumerable wrongs in our world
is the discrepancy between word and deed.
It is the weakness of Churches, parties and individuals.
It gives people and institutions split personalities.
Lord, grant that what we have said with our lips,
we may believe with our hearts,
and practise with our lives.

Jesus often went off to a lonely place to pray.
Yet, the same Jesus who prayed in lonely places said,
“When you pray go into your room,
and pray to your Father in secret.”
This means that the lonely place
is not necessarily a place far away,
or that by “room” he means four walls
that separate us physically from others.
The room is the room of our innermost heart.
The room is with us at all times
We should make it a place to which we can go
to find rest and spiritual recovery
when the world is too much with us.
Then we will discover that the inner room
is not empty after all, but is occupied
by the God of love who dwells in all of us

Touching

Many of us are afraid to touch other people.
We give a few coins to a beggar,
but make sure there is no contact between us,
not even eye-contact.
Jesus didn’t stand off or keep his distance.
He wasn’t afraid to touch others.
He touched lepers, sinners, sick people,
and even the dead.
Physical contact is precisely what gives people,
especially sick and wounded people,
a sense of warmth and joy.
By the very act of touching another person,
we accept that person exactly as he or she is.
Lord, give us a warm heart and kind hearts.

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is like the child’s dream of a miracle.
Through forgiveness what is broken is made whole again,
what is soiled is made clean,
and what is lost is found.
Nothing greater can happen to a human being
than that he or she is forgiven.
Those who are forgiven are no longer trapped in their past.
They are set free – free to move forward again.
The Lord not only forgives our sins,
but helps us to learn from them.
We learn about our own weakness.
We learn about the goodness of God.
And we learn to be compassionate towards others who sin.

Lent: Springtime of the Spirit

Each year the trees give us a lesson in renewal
First the bud, then the blossom and finally the shoot.
Spring dresses the trees in a new role,
And makes them young again.
But this is possible only because in autumn
They let go of their old leaves
And in between endured a period of nakedness.
Lent is the springtime of the spirit
Lord, help us not to be afraid to let go of old habits
And to face our spiritual poverty
In order that you may renew us, and so at Easter
We will feel young again in our discipleship

Jesus often went into the hills to pray.
He preached his most famous sermon from a hilltop.
He was transfigured on Mount Tabor,
died on Mount Calvary,
and ascended to heaven from Mount Olivet,
It seems that he loves hills and mountains.
Why was this?
Was it that he grew up among the hills of Galilee?
or was it because heights enlarge our vision
and cause our spirit to soar?
Lift us up, strong Son of God, That we may see further.
Strengthen our faith that we may see beyond the horizon.
and when the valley closes us in,
Help us to remember the views from the hilltop.

The following prayer was found written
over the door of a church:
“Lord, make the door of this house
wide enough to receive
all who need human love and fellowship,
narrow enough to shut out
all envy, pride and strife.
Make its threshold smooth enough
to be no stumbling block to children,
nor to straying feet.
Make this house a house of prayer
and a gateway to your kingdom.”

In Christ there is no trace of darkness.
His light shows up the darkness in us.
His truth shows up our lies.
His integrity shows up our falseness.
His generosity shows up our selfishness.
His peace shows up our conflicts.
His openness to others shows how closed we are.
However, we should not be afraid of his light.
Rather, we should rejoice in it.
Compared to his light other lights
are mere flares in the night or candles in the wind.
Christ, radiant Light of the World,
guide our steps in the way of truth and goodness,
and lead us through the gloom of the world
to the kingdom of unfailing light.

Like a Grain of Wheat

Each of us is like a grain of wheat planted by God.
Just as a grain of wheat must die so as to produce a harvest,
so we must die to self in order to bear the fruits of love.
The dying to self is a gradual process
and happens in little ways.
Every act of humility involves dying to pride.
Every act of courage involves dying to cowardice.
Every act of kindness involves dying to cruelty.
Every act of love involves dying to selfishness.
Thus the false self dies, and the true self,
made in God’s image, is born and nurtured.
It is by giving that we receive;
It is by forgiving that we are forgiven;
It is by dying that we are born to eternal life.

Death of the Good Shepherd

Jesus said: “ I am the Good Shepherd:
The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep.”
Jesus did not have to suffer and die
He had a choice
He chose to suffer and die because he cared
About the flock God had entrusted to him.
What Jesus wants from us is not our suffering
But a life of love and service
Such a life will inevitably bring suffering
But Jesus supports all those who follow him
Down the road of faithful love and generous service.

Death and Resurrection

As we go through life we all experience little deaths.
We get a foretaste of death when we live
in bitterness, loneliness, sadness and despair.
In times like these the world closes in on us,
and we seem to have one foot in the grave.
But we also experience little resurrections.
When we know love, acceptance and forgiveness;
when we open our hearts to others and to life,
the world opens up and we emerge from the tomb.
Lord, may the splendour of your resurrection
scatter the shadows of death,
and enable us to walk in radiant hope
towards the kingdom where there are
no more shattered hopes or broken dreams.

Defending the Christians before the Emperor Hadrian,
Aristides, a non-Christian, said of them:
'These Christians love one another.
They never fail to help widows.
They save orphans from those who would hurt them.
If a man has something,
he gives freely to the one who has nothing.
If they see a stranger, Christians take him into their homes
and treat them as a family member.
And if they hear that one of them is in jail,
or persecuted for professing the name of the redeemer,
they all give him what he needs.
If it is possible, they bail him out.
If one of them is poor and there isn’t enough food to go around,
they fast several days to give him the food he needs.
We are dealing with a new kind of person.
There is something divine in them.'

Those who care about others pick up a lot of wounds.
There may be no great wounds,
only a multiplicity of little ones  –
a host of scratches, wrinkles and welts.
But there can also be a lot of invisible wounds:
the furrows left on the mind and heart
by hardship, worry and anxiety,
disappointments, ingratitude and betrayal.
These wounds are not things to be ashamed of.
They are badges of honour.
They are the proof of our love.
Jesus didn’t hide his wounds.
Neither should we.
By his wounds we are healed

May the Lord bless you
with the gift of the Holy Spirit.
In your moments of darkness
may his wonderful light shine on you.
In your moments of perplexity
may the Holy Spirit guide you.
In your moments of shame
may the Holy Spirit reassure and uphold you.
May the Holy Spirit transform you
into a shining reflection of the light of Christ.

The Vine and the Branches

Lord, you said:
“I am the vine, you are the branches.
Separated from me you can do nothing,
but united with me you will bear much fruit.”
Thank you, Lord, for the bond you formed with us.
And that you for the bond that exists among us
because of our union with you.
Thanks to this bond we have invisible riches
to share with one another.
Grant that we may never be separated from you,
so that we may produce in the world
the fruits of faith, hope and love.”

The wounded heart

If only the heart was right
we could give so much more.
But, alas, the heart is often empty.
It is often cold and unwelcoming.
It is often hard and unyielding.
It is often weighed down with worry.
It is often sad and lonely.
It is often in darkness.
It is often wounded.
And it is sometimes broken.
We have to heal the wounds of the heart
in order to be able to love.
Lord, touch our hearts and heal them,
so that we may be able to bear the fruits of love.

Amen.

Instruments of the Lord

“Go preach the Gospel to all nations”
This was the farewell command of Christ
He has no body now on earth but ours.
He has no hands but ours to raise up the fallen.
No feet but ours to seek out the lost.
No eyes but ours to see the silent tears of the suffering.
No ears but ours to listen to the lonely.
No tongue but ours to speak a word of comfort to the sad.
No heart but ours to love the unloved.
Lord, take pity on us, your timid and fearful disciples;
Give us the courage to witness to you in the world,
And so the Gospel will be preached,
And people will find their way into your kingdom

Do not let yourselves be guided
by the spirit of self-indulgence.
Look at the legacy self indulgence produces:
bad temper, fighting, jealousy, cruelty, meanness,
Revenge, fornication, idolatry and drunkenness.
These are ugly things ,and make life miserable.
Rather, let yourself be guided by the spirit of God.
Look at the legacy the Spirit brings:
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
These are beautiful things, and make life joyful.
These are a foretaste of the joy of heaven.
Spirit of the loving God, fall afresh on us. 

Nowadays, thanks to the security camera,
we are often being watched,
watched by a cold, dispassionate eye,
intent on catching us in wrong-doing.
The feeling that someone is watching us
is not a pleasant feeling.
But the feeling that someone is watching over us
is a lovely feeling.
God is not watching us.
God is watching over us.
The conviction that God is watching over us
gives us comfort in times of sadness,
strength in times of weakness,
and hope in times of despair.

Outside the church the noisy traffic flows past.
People rush hither and thither.
But I have left the world behind
and I am here before you, Lord.
I do not exclude my brothers and sisters.
I bring them with me,
for I know that they are equally dear to you.
I have nothing. Yet I know that because I have you,
I have everything.
I close my mind and open my heart, and so I am at peace.
Here I experience my true worth, which consists,
not in my possessions or achievements,
but in knowing that I am loved by you.

My faith is tested many times every day,
and more times than I would like to confess,
I am unable to keep the banner of faith aloft.
If a promise is not kept, or if a secret is betrayed,
or if I experience long-lasting pain,
I begin to doubt God and his love.
I fall into a chasm of disbelief and I cry out in despair.
But then the Spirit lifts me up again,
and once more I am secured in faith.
I don’t know how that happens,
save when I cry out earnestly I am answered immediately
and am returned to faithfulness.
I am once again filled with the Spirit
and firmly planted on solid ground.

(Maya Angelu)

Each of is capable of doing some healing,
because we have eyes that can see,
ears that can hear,
tongues that can speak,
hands that can touch,
and above all a heart that can love.
Lord, make us instruments of your healing power.
Where there is hatred let us sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

Amen.