Bob Warwicker's blog

For a couple of weeks now, random leaves have been turning yellow or brown and falling off. Maybe this is normal.

From the Lectionary for Sunday… Isaiah 50:9a: “It is the Lord GOD who helps me; who will declare me guilty?” How can we be sure? How can be sure we haven’t got it wrong and are just following our own idea of what would like God to be? Of course there are tests – we compare what we stand on with what other believers stand on, especially those unlike us. We use the Bible (although that means different things to different people). We pray. We think. But somewhere at the back of all this, the uncertainty remains – am I really on God’s side? Or am I just believing what makes me comfortable?

PS I reckon that “Am I on God’s side?” is the same question as “Is God on my side?” – Not that God will stop loving us, come what may.

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.