the adventures of retirement
In Sunday’s Lectionary, the Psalm speaks of the kind of dependence on God that only those who have experienced trouble in their lives can really know.
However, I don’t say that trouble is good. Some people come through OK, and some don’t. Far better to make the world a good place.
Please pray for;-
Churches, often having to think whether their heritage helps or hinders the work of Christ,
People travelling long distances, especially refugees, and people working in the travel industry,
Farmers, whose fortunes depend so much on the weather, the markets, fuel costs, disease.
However, the world is far from tranquil. J’s prayer for Ukraine is here.
And Jesus’ world wasn’t tranquil either. At the start of the Luke reading in Sunday’s Lectionary, we read about the violence of the Roman Empire. Yet in this violent world, somehow Jesus managed to preach the Good News of God’s realm in human life – where least become the greatest, and the greatest become least; where love rules; where those in power will her the truth;…
You may not be able to make it out, but the Pennine Way runs just below the top of this valley-side. I’ve sometimes walked along it, and looked down on those rocky lumps on the steep slope, and experienced a small amount of fear…. as a consequence of which I’ve carefully avoided falling off. Fear has its uses.
And so both the New Testament readings in Sunday’s lectionary carry an element of threat. How can a loving God allow us to read such stuff? But a loving God also doesn’t want us beloved children to be complacent and get ourselves into trouble as a consequence.
Complacency can be dangerous. How many people thought that NATO had no purpose any more once Russia was no longer communist? But socialism wasn’t the problem.
Tranquil morning here, anyway…
At least, for this breed; not yet for most sheep around here…
Meanwhile, in next Sunday’s Lectionary, Jesus refers to two local tragedies. People had been congratulating themselves for not being involved – but Jesus warns them, they are no better than those who perished. In any case, if you are caught up in tragedy, do you really need other people to be crowing because they got away with it? No, you need some solidarity.
Praying “Your will be done on earth as in heaven” today – but it seems so far to go from here. By what steps will God’s will be done on a suffering earth? God knows.
…frogspawn this morning near the crossover between horse and pedestrian paths.
In Sunday’s lectionary, it’s written in Genesis that Abram “believed the LORD; and the LORD reckoned it to him as righteousness.” When I read the rest of this passage, I see that Abram (soon to become Abraham) was obsessed with leaving a physical inheritance, his literal descendants. Paul makes much of this verse, in Romans 4 and Galatians 3 and elsewhere – and turns it to a very different purpose. What matters is not your physical inheritance – it’s not your parentage or ancestry or race – it is faith. The People of God is now wide open – to everyone who chooses God, regardless of inheritance.
Presbyopia makes it harder to sew a button on my trousers, especially if button, trousers and thread are all black. But the headtorch I usually take for winter pre-dawn walks makes all the difference – it’s much easier again!
In Sunday’s Lectionary, people tell Jesus, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you” – and that all seems like a different world, far away from comfortable Europe. But it now crosses my mind, not so far away after all.
This was the world of Jesus – oppression and violence. And in such a world, he called people to love and justice.