Month: September 2021

From yesterday – note not everything against the prevailing culture is Christian! More later.

God shine a light we pray
to lighten the dark spaces,
both outside
and inside the church.

Even before sunrise, there were noticeable changes of air temperature as I walked along. I would be walking in a relatively comfortable wooded area, then hit the hotter air out in the open – perhaps it had blown down from the hills.

In Sunday’s Lectionary, Jesus tells his disciples, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” As Leonard Hofstadter says, “No, it’s not crazy it’s, uh, uh, it’s a paradox.” Strangely, this paradox of life and death does make sense as you begin to live it. Also, we see in the language of this whole passage how much the way of Jesus and his disciples is set against the prevailing culture. Maybe that time is coming again.

Since watching a TV show celebrating ‘only fools and horses’, I can’t get the theme song out of my head, especially, “no income tax, no V-A-T” – which also echoes the point of another TV show featuring David Jason, “the darling buds of may” (which I never watched BTW) – the dream of living without taxation.

For me, that dream is a nightmare, because it means I don’t matter. It means health doesn’t matter, education doesn’t matter, safety doesn’t matter. I pay taxes because people matter. Not that I enjoy being parted from my money, though.

Sunday’s set of Lectionary readings starts with Wisdom (characterised as female) shouting at the street corners and in the public spaces. I can’t be sure if that’s the intention, but I feel some frustration surfacing in this reading. In these public spaces, the domain largely of men (who decide what happens), this woman’s voice (Wisdom) is straining, shouting, pleading to be heard.

Misty morning in Harlow

Not a lot today because… But am I right in thinking that road sign are getting harder to see because of less trimming of foliage.

I pray for these wide fields.

I pray for the people who work the land.

I pray for the people who will eat the bread.

God bless them all.

Looking forward to the prospect of less dreary(though not very wet) weather. More in due course.

A longer walk today, including a bit of moorland. I like moorland.

There is much in the world to pray about…
Please pray also for those who can’t get out into the open country.

Who do we honour in our congregations? Really? Now read the section from James in Sunday’s Lectionary… It seems to me that as churches become more embedded in the societies around them, they become more attuned the the ways of those communities, and sadly this sometimes involves being nice to the rich (who might fill the collection plate) and neglecting those in poverty. Every so often maybe we need a bit of disturbance to induce a rethink – and to take some risks. What James advocates for individuals surely goes for churches as well.

An old station seen today, very picturesque, but I can’t help being sad it’s not a station anymore and there isn’t a railway anymore. Apart from the beauty of trains, we’ve now discovered how many green transport options have been lost for ever.