It rained all day yesterday, and we barely set foot outside the door. We did get some stuff done at home, but I find it even harder to have a sense of achievement now than when I was working. At times I felt like my child self, watching the rain roll down the window pane in the long school holidays. There have been four days with thunder so far this month, which would be a lot even for a summer month, let alone February.
Stay with us, God, and give us strength to stay with you. May we live as Christ, and take on his power to love.
One of Sunday’s Lectionary readings bothers me. It’s written in 2 Peter 1:20 and 21… “First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” (The writer has already claimed his authority and right to be listened to, by saying that he witnessed the transfiguration.) The thing is, every prophecy is a matter of interpretation. The listener/reader too needs to be influenced by the Spirit of God. Even what seems to be an obvious meaning isn’t obvious when you poke around a bit. And some prophecy is obscure in the first place. The New Testament is full of reinterpretations of Old Testament prophecies. When the people* got together to decide what writings go in the Bible and what writings are thrown out, there was loads of discussion and prayer, based on how people interpreted what was written. How else would we have any idea what is the word of God and what isn’t? Anyway, what distinguishes a ‘prophecy’ of scripture from the other bits?
I have some sympathy with the writer. We fallible humans have very good ways of talking ourselves out of the challenge that scripture offers. What the writer said needs to be said. Scriptural prophecy has its gritty bits and we can’t ignore them. But we must make sense of them. Also, “one’s own interpretation” is obviously a bad idea: interpretation is something that in some way – by talk or praying or social media – in some way is a community activity**. And that community needs to be full of diverse people, people whose opinions we find it hard to stomach. So yes to 2 Peter – but maybe I’d want to interpret 2 Peter!
* All men AFAIK – that alone should make us want to think again. ** But having disabled comments on this blog I haven’t yet worked out how to make the comment box appear again.
We pray for the people of Hanau, for the families and friends of those who were murdered, for those injured in body and mind, those who will now remember this every day of their lives. God bring healing we pray. Give healing for the darkness in the soul that does this stuff. Give healing for the darkness in our soul that treats another human being as rubbish… …for we all are loved, we all are wonderfully made by you. Let the light of love shine in this time of darkness.
We made a good visit today to the Elizabeth Gaskell’s House Museum. She and her minister husband were part of what some people might describe as the Mancunian liberal elite of Victorian times. But she and her friends both knew and cared passionately about the lives of people in poverty. And they made a real difference to people’s lives. …as do many people today.
A quick visit from a plumber and the leak is sorted. A day and a half of minor hassle. It doesn’t compare to having six feet of foul water in your kitchen and needing eighteen months to have a home again.
Our Father in heaven from the heavens come blessing and curse, and we have spoilt the sky and turned the controls of the weather towards trouble. God forgive us, and give us hope of a better future.
Give energy and insight to the scientists and engineers who are trying to find ways for us to live with minimal fossil fuels.
Give courage to us when we need to make big changes in the way we live.
Soon, soon, we pray, bring honesty back into the public discourse, and confront us truthfully with what we need to know.
May the love of Jesus Christ be around us everywhere we go.
Moses goes up the mountain: Jesus takes Peter, James and John up the mountain. The mountain is a place of mystery, a high up place where we can see what is hidden to people on the plains, or a clouded place where we can hardly see at all, and what we can see is confusing, shapes with no scale. Jesus’ companions see something they’ve never seen before, and a door is opened to a truth of who Jesus is – for Jesus is the fulfilment of ‘the Law’ (Moses) and ‘the Prophets’ (Elijah). Then the door slams shut and the mysterious strangers are hidden in the cloud. Jesus’ mates wanted to make shelters for Moses and Elijah, because the mountain is also a dangerous place. But they cannot nail down the holiness of the place – the holiness will have to live only in their memories, for God is always on the move. The two mysterious visitors have gone as quickly as they came. I suspect that people like to make ‘shelters’. Churches are like shelters for Christians’ faith and worship, far from the frightening, edgy world outside. God in a church is almost tame. But I’d like to consider it possible that God is also ‘out there’, the Law is being tested and the prophets are speaking ‘out there’ too.
Anyway, even the best of shelters isn’t perfect, and a device in the bathroom has sprung a leak which is coming through to the kitchen. We’re in the middle of a couple of days without a water supply until a plumber comes.
God of love, as the rain falls from the grey, merciless sky, have mercy on us. Have mercy on the people of the Calder Valley. Have mercy on all who bear the burden. Forgive us our wrongs. Forgive us for all we have burnt when we didn’t need to. Forgive us the mess and poison of human existence. Renew us in our minds and in our feelings, so we can make our planet a new and friendly place, hospitable to a new generation.
Not been out much this week – the weather’s not been great, although not so spectacularly bad as on the weekends that sandwich this week.
The Lectionary readings trouble me a bit. Lots of people can trace in Matthew’s gospel the concerns of an early Christian community that’s already falling out with itself. (Of course, people in churches never fall out, do they?!) You can see this in the editing of the gospel, like the bit about being reconciled before you worship together. At the same time though, people like me go to worship or take part in communion with loads of relational loose ends in our heads. The worship itself helps reconciliation.
Also seemingly present in the way Matthew’s edited is the need to say that Jesus has not turned his back on Judaism, but developed it. And here is a very high standard of behaviour prescribed for the people of Jesus. There’s some of the same faultlines in the church that concern the letter writers. Is it all about where we put our faith, or about what we do? – Well, it’s about faith, but real faith has consequences for our actions (the big ‘therefore’ of Romans 12:1).
Anyway, what bothers me most of all in the high standard which Jesus prescribes for us is divorce. It’s obvious to me that sometimes people are better apart: although it’s almost always more complicated than I imagine. Bear in mind that marriage was different then – and divorce – for a start it was asymmetrical and unfair on women. Also remember forgiveness: let no-one imagine they are perfect, but also let no-one imagine they can’t be forgiven – by God if not by those they have hurt.
A lot of this stuff is about personal behaviour – about being naughty or nice, but we see elsewhere that there were also political dimensions to Jesus, like what he said about the Pharisees for example. And it seems to me that the personal connects to the political – if we respect our neighbour, we are more likely to respect someone on the other side of the planet.
The daffs by my right ear have turned from buds into flowers quite suddenly…
Happy Valentine’s Day everyone, whether you’re a one or a two.
Nice walk along the Trail this morning. Just glimpses of the tops of cumulonimbus capillatus incus above the lower clouds. Intense but short-lived pulses of graupel traced out the path in white…
Next Sunday’s Lectionary… There are some nuggets here, like the last verse of the Matthew reading, immortalised by Jimmy Cliff. …or like the distillation of all choosing in Deuteronomy 30:19, “Choose life”. Every choice is in some way a choice between life and death – of course we don’t think about every small thing that way, or life would be intolerable. But there aspects of every choice which are like this … like what to eat – is it healthy or not for me? How much harm was done to the atmosphere in transporting it to the shop or in farming it? Are the words I say going to drive someone closer to the edge? …or draw them back? There are ghosts of that choice ‘choose life’ in every decision, small or large. In Deuteronomy, choosing life means loving, obeying and being faithful to God. And the choice is spun as a matter of self-interest – choose right and you will prosper (as a people presumably). Maybe my motivation is different – wanting right to prosper, or God’s kingdom to prosper, or simply wanting to have some integrity. Anyways – ‘choose life’ – that’s it. And ‘let your yes and your no be no’ -it’s not about foul language but about bringing the troops in on your side. What you say isn’t made any truer by claiming God’s support. Also, be discriminating when you listen. Are you really convinced when someone says “I swear to God I didn’t do it”? No? Then you should also be sceptical when someone claims God is on their side. And of course that applies to my utterances too. Remember Alan Bennett* playing a paedophile teacher saying “that doesn’t apply to me”? Sorry, couldn’t find that on Google. Once again, Jesus is setting the bar high: maybe impossibly so. More on that later.
It may have been someone else – like Peter Cook
We worship you God, you alone. Fame, we can ignore it. Vast wealth, we can do without it. Power, we can let it go. For we worship you, God. You made the universe, set it all in motion, and presided over its development. You made the rocks and sun and moon and stars, and you give life. And we praise and thank you God. You made the furthest away thing, millions of years away, and yet you are close to us. You came into our world in Jesus, to give us a new start when we went wrong. And we praise you and thank you. Through Jesus Christ our Lord…
Once again, the Calder Valley gets it. How long will it be before they get adequate flood defences? It’s not fair – it’s not as if the people of Hebden Bridge are known for being petrolheads, or the people of Mytholmroyd burn vast amounts of coal.
God of love, have mercy on the people who have been hurt by the wind, the rain: homes, livelihoods, ruined, families broken, sudden fear, and the weary repetition of misery. God save all children of earth.
