the adventures of retirement
There are patches of bright green on the hillside, where the sun is showing through the clouds. No doubt, birds have been singing every morning, but I’ve noticed them recently.
God of love and mercy,
help me pray for my enemies,
never neglecting truth or justice,
never neglecting love.
About now is the day of the latest sunrise. It’s the dead time, between Christmas and New Year. As it happens, this morning is also cloudy and wet. It’s all a bit dreary.
Nevertheless, I believe that Christ is alive. I don’t need angels.
My father would have been 111 today. Nelson. I’ve noticed that the England men’s cricket team have avoided the bad luck allegedly associated with this number of runs by getting out before reaching it. Inevitably, there’s talk of not showing enough character etc. – but I don’t think character has much to do with it. I don’t know how to solve the team’s problems, but there is just one thing I can offer;- a batter can only be as good as the bowlers he or she is accustomed to facing. You can be the best batter in the world, but you will be outclassed as soon as you meet a bowler the like of which you’ve never seen before.
In Sunday’s Lectionary, the writer of John’s gospel says about Jesus… “He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him.” The human world can be an unwelcoming place. Many people are experiencing that hostility right now.
Some are only a hair’s breadth away. It is mild outside, but when you run out of money for the meter, outside temperatures are still too cold for indoors. The cold, cruel world seeps slowly into your home.
It’s often hard to be welcoming – but I believe it’s an essential part of our faith. Who knows? We may be entertaining Christ.
The reading from John’s Gospel in Sunday’s Lectionary starts at the very beginning, “In the beginning was the Word…”. I am accustomed to hearing this read at night in dimly-lit churches, and the air of mystery is beautiful. But “in the beginning” is radical nothingness, something beyond either the beauty or the menace of a dark night. Darkness itself is a thing, but what is it when there is no-thing? The big-bang theory is something I find troubling – I cannot understand what it means to have limits to the realm where there is time and space and eventually people to observe these things. What is beyond these limits? Nothing. Not even the thing called ‘nothing’, but no-thing. I’ve heard of the explanation ‘finite but unbounded’ – just as the surface of a sphere is finite-but-unbounded. I’m sure it works geometrically, but I still can’t get my head round it. I’ve heard of the block universe and many such things but it is still weird to me.
In any case, I wouldn’t want my faith to depend too closely on a particular bit of science, which always risks being overwritten by a new understanding.
So maybe here’s somewhere my head just can’t go. I trust. I trust that in the darkness, and in the nothingness; God is. And the ‘word’ of God, that which was expressed in the loving life of Jesus; is.
In the Lectionary for next Sunday (2nd January), the readings from Jeremiah and Ephesians both speak of abundance. With 21st century eyes, I have problems with abundance – how can you have a lot without taking from (i) those who have little and (ii) the planet, and without adding dangerous gases to the atmosphere? Well (i), God’s provision on this planet for all humanity is abundant – there’s plenty for everyone if we could only get ourselves sorted out; (ii) I believe there’s even scope for economic growth, if it’s the growth of clever stuff, of ingenuity, of intellectual and undemanding goods, and sustainable services.
Anyway, look in the Bible and it’s more than merely the material world that’s abundant – it’s also God’s kindness and mercy and the hope he brings at the start of every year.
Sad to hear of the death of Desmond Tutu – someone who made a real difference to the world, in difficult circumstances. I thank God for him and for his life.
Merry Christmas!
I have developed a new way of drinking coffee, crouched forward, so any drips fall safely beyond the new armchair…. I think it may only be a temporary measure.
It sounds as if it’s unlikely to be a white Christmas here. However I’m checking up from time to time on what it’s going to be like 400m higher, on Boxing Day, on the way back from D’s.
Meanwhile we wait to celebrate once again the coming of Jesus, ‘Immanuel’, God-is-with-us. Not sure that gorged with chocolate or hungover or sprout-inflated is the best way to remember, but hey, it’s a celebration. BTW I don’t think I’ll be drunk personally, for several reasons.
Today is the last normal day for a while.
God of love, we pray
for everyone who dreads the British Christmas,
looking forward to days of enforced aloneness, when
everyone else seems to be making merry;
may they be held in love.
We pray for everyone who chooses to be alone,
and celebrate their choice.
We pray that all people will find a new
uncovering of what Jesus means.
In ALDI, I overheard a woman being reunited with her lost chicken and duck parfait. She was very grateful. “It wouldn’t be Christmas without this”, she said. I have a different idea of what’s essential for Christmas – Jesus, but I didn’t say anything. But who is right? By restricting social activities or shopping, would that ‘cancel Christmas’?
After all, there were midwinter festivals before people like me decided it would also be a good time to celebrate ‘God-with-Us’, Jesus. What makes Christmas Christmas? Is it the lights and the food and the booze? Or is it Jesus? FWIW I still think it’s Jesus.
The Lectionary for Christmas Day, in one of the options, includes Psalm 96, which begins like this;- “1 O sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth.” Christmas is a lovely festival, but looking at the supermarket ads and TV trailers, it all looks a bit samey. How can we recover that sense of wonder that God is doing a new thing in our lives and in the life of the world?
In an age where greed is more open and more in your face than it used to be, and encouraged by our leaders, then maybe the Jesus way is starting to look like a real alternative.
Perhaps this a thing for reflection – what cause has God given you to sing a new song this year? What cause has God given the world to sing a new song this year? For me… I am encouraged to see that there seems to be fairly widespread enthusiasm for looking after our atmosphere. Whether that translates into willingness to make the hard choices we shall surely need over the next few years… that is another matter.