Thursday, 19 March 2026

Twenty Seventh Day of Lent - Blessed on the Hills

 

By Petrine Kent Credit: petrinakent.com

“Blessed are the poor in spirit,

    for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 Blessed are those who mourn,

    for they will be comforted.

5 Blessed are the meek,

    for they will inherit the earth.

6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

    for they will be filled. Matthew 5

It was only recently that I realised that there are is the Sermon on the Mount.....and the Sermon on the Plain.  (My dyslexia almost brought this up to date as Sermon on the Plane.) Sermon on the Mount is more spiritual.  It fits nicely with our western world.  This sermon addresses pride and power.   Tomorrow we fly down to the plain. 

PRAYER: As I draw close to you I cannot help but become more like you. 

Wednesday, 18 March 2026

Twenty Sixth Day of lent - Lost Sheep

The Council by TJ Cunningham
Credit: cunninghamfineart.com

 3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. Luke 15

Yesterday I heard a tribute to the Rev Jesse Jackson who has recently died.  He was exulting a congregation, making them know that each one of them mattered.  He ran through a detailed list, "if you are prisoner, if you are young, if you live on an housing project, if you were born into a family that could not care for you."  He went on and on.  The list became a poem.  

Each one of us matters.  We matter to our creator.  

PRAYER: We are all known. We all matter to you.  We praise you and thank you that we are seen and loved.  


Tuesday, 17 March 2026

Twenty Fifth Day of Lent - Friends

 

Hiking c 1936 by James Walker Tucker
Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle Upon Tyne

5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. 6 Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give. Matthew 10

My saying is that you only need one good friend, and all the others are a bonus.  Jesus has 12 chosen male friends.  He asked his friends to work with him.  Freely receive, freely give.  We are also called friends, and take part in the experiencing experience of wonder and discovery.  With Jesus anything is possible. 

PRAYER:  May I aways know that with you, anything is possible. 


Monday, 16 March 2026

Twenty Fourth Day of Lent - Mary

 

 "Nagara Māryām"
Credit: British Museum Oriental Department. 

Both gender and race appear to be a problem for us humans.  Jesus is born into this world.  But his mother has been chosen.  Mary is someone who appears to have incredible insight and fortitude.  She is aware of the how crazy it is that she is the one foretold.  She is aware that the answer to the problems of Israel (and the world) comes in humility, vulnerability and poverty.  

Jesus is the one to turn the whole world upside down.  

47 “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,

48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.

    For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me,

    and holy is his name.

50 And his mercy is for those who fear him

    from generation to generation.

51 He has shown strength with his arm;

    he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;

52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones

    and exalted those of humble estate;

53 he has filled the hungry with good things,

    and the rich he has sent away empty.

54 He has helped his servant Israel,

    in remembrance of his mercy,

55 as he spoke to our fathers,

    to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” Luke 1


PRAYER: We rejoice that you came to us in such humility. 
May we never abuse the trust you have put in us.

Sunday, 15 March 2026

Twenty Third Day of lent - The Wedding

 

The outdoor wedding dance by Pieter Brueghel the younger
Credit: Sotheby's (for sale - £800,000-1200000)
Things go wrong.  Things go right.  It's hard to make sense of it.  Why in 2010, were 32 Chilian miners rescued, when the next week at Pike River, 29 miners died in New Zealand/Aotearoa?

But amazing things do happen, and the story below brought a bit of peace and joy for an instant in time to one couple and more importantly their families.

2 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2 Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. 3 When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4 And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” 5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

 6 Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.[a] 7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8 And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. 9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11 This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. John 2 1-12


PRAYER:  Thank you for the joyful experiences of the everyday.

Saturday, 14 March 2026

Fourth Sunday in the Feast of Lent - The Path Less Trod

 

The Wilderness in Israel
Jesus shows us that the powerful status quo of our age can be resisted, both as a community, but also by individuals. He is tempted to enjoy the great power and wealth he possesses.  How difficult it must have been when his Council John sent a message asking him if he was the promised saviour, to not then ensure his cousin's safety from the hands of Herold.  But Jesus has come as 'The Lamb of God', He was to take the same hard path into the wilderness first taken by John.  He to was to be murdered brutally. He invites us to follow this path.  Gulp, let's go.

PRAYER:  Give me everything I need, and cannot get for myself. 

Friday, 13 March 2026

Twenty Second Day of lent - Childhood

 

By Rose Datoc Dall Credit: altusfineart.com
Are children innocent?  When do they become guilty?  All people are not equal, and some have massive disadvantages over others.  We are born guilty.  It was all stacked up against us.  Yet if we have the desire in our hearts to be good, we can be.  It is the spirit of the living Creator in us that makes us good (or holy). 

We believe that Jesus was fully filled with the spirit of the Creator from birth.  He is the human embodiment of the Creator here on earth.  Was this like King Henry V, walking incognito amongst his soldiers before Agincourt, getting an  impression of their mood?  Not one bit.  It was King Hal, leading from the front, but as a child, not a superhero. 

Here is Jesus, as a child, aware of how things are, and what has to be done.

41 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. 43 After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

 49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them. Luke 2:41-49


PRAYER:  I come to you as a child.  I bow before you as the kings did.

Thursday, 12 March 2026

Twenty First Day of Lent - Birth

Credit: Laurenjturnerfineart.com
So much of the gospel is based on things which our modern day culture says is myth.  This is made plain because it is impossible.  Repeat the story enough, and people will believe it.  Like a well trodden path, it becomes a thorofare, and no one questions it. 

Not true.  It has constantly been questioned, and perhaps no more so than in this present age.  Other faiths make funny faces, just as we do about their epic stories.  One famous doubter called Thomas said he would need to meet Jesus, and feel his physical pain.  He did,  For me, this is what I need too.  Reality.  An experience I can look back to and recall, and recount. So what of a virgin birth?  Well meet Jesus and see what you think then.

 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:14

PRAYER:  All I know is that my relationship with you is real. That is all that matters.

Wednesday, 11 March 2026

Twentieth Day of Lent - Malachi

St John the Baptist, by Lynda Miller Baker,
Credit: Saatchi Art.  (Not for sale)

 "I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come," says the LORD Almighty. Malachi 3

We are reassured.  We will be informed.  We will know, and the covenant of security and love. everything we need and desire will come to pass.  I love the verses that  reassure me that I will not miss the message, miss the boat, miss the excitement.    My fears are allayed.  

PRAYER: Thank you that your plan will come to pass, because you are out of time and have seen the conclusion and the beginning at the same time. 

Tuesday, 10 March 2026

Nineteenth Day of Lent - Micah

Cueva de las Manos, Argentina.
Credit: Encyclopaedia Britannica

 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.

    And what does the Lord require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy

    and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6.8

I think of the time, many many thousands of years ago.  Before written texts.  When all humans lived a 'stone age' culture.  Hunter gathers.  And I believe they had the same Creator God.  The same Lord who desires justice, love. Mercy and humility.  I trust that these people walked as Micah desired, and one day I hope to meet them.

PRAYER:  May I walk a simple life with you.  May we walk together.

Monday, 9 March 2026

Eighteenth Day of Lent - Joel

 

Flamenco Coast by Tom Si
Credit: artpal.com

“And afterward,

    I will pour out my Spirit on all people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy,

    your old men will dream dreams,

    your young men will see visions.

29 Even on my servants, both men and women,

    I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

30 I will show wonders in the heavens

    and on the earth,

    blood and fire and billows of smoke.

31 The sun will be turned to darkness

    and the moon to blood

    before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

32 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved; Joel 2

It can all happen in a day.  There are days that change us for ever.  A birth, a significant event such as acquiring a disability, passing a course. getting a new job, falling in love, getting married....and death.  

We know there will be a great day ahead of us.  I am ready.

PRAYER: Creator of all, we walk boldly forward with you.

Sunday, 8 March 2026

Seventeenth Day of Lent - Zephaniah

 

Hasidic in a circle of light and joy
Credit:cberlinart.com

Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,

    Daughter Jerusalem!

15 The Lord has taken away your punishment,

    he has turned back your enemy.

The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you;

    never again will you fear any harm.

16 On that day they will say to Jerusalem,

“Do not fear, Zion;

    do not let your hands hang limp.

17 The Lord your God is with you,

    the Mighty Warrior who saves.

He will take great delight in you;

    in his love he will no longer rebuke you,

    but will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3

When you meet someone with the Spirit of the Creator in them, and you do not share a single common word, how do you know you have met a fellow believer? The answer is that you will share the same joy.

PRAYER:  You are my strength. I fear nothing,

Saturday, 7 March 2026

Third Sunday in the Feast of Lent - Resisting Evil

 

The Wilderness in Israel
The concept of the Devil is strange for our modern ears.  The Devil is the 'bogie man'. He is definitely male, and has a life of his own.  In my mind I see evil as the absence of light.  Without darkness, light cannot exist.  Goodness is the counterbalance to evil.  Evil forces run like an underground river beneath the surface of our society.  From time to time we see the river emerge.  We smell it, and acknowledge it as evil. Most of the time it is subtle and deceptive.  What looks good, is actually bad. be wary and question all titles.  The more emphatically pronounced, the more caution to apply. 

PRAYER: I am only interested in the light of your salvation.  I look to you alone.

Friday, 6 March 2026

Sixteenth Day of Lent - Amos

 

Lilian Lucy Davidson ARHA (1879–1954). Gorta
(previously known as Burying the Child), 1946
Credit: studiointernational.com

"The days are coming," declares the Sovereign LORD, "when I will send a famine through the land – not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD." Amos 8.11

There is a fame in the West.  The word of the Lord is what we need.  As with all famine, death, helpless and despair stork the streets.  The simple solution to famine is food.  Jesus offers us bread.  His bread fills you up are revives your soul.  His bread is freely given.  

PRAYER:  Without you we are nothing.  Thank you for saving me. 

Thursday, 5 March 2026

Fifteenth Day of Lent - Balaam

 

Flower Power by Aaminah Snowden
Credit: therosegallery.co.uk

28 Then the Lord gave the donkey the ability to speak. “What have I done to you that deserves your beating me three times?” it asked Balaam.

 29 “You have made me look like a fool!” Balaam shouted. “If I had a sword with me, I would kill you!”

 30 “But I am the same donkey you have ridden all your life,” the donkey answered. “Have I ever done anything like this before?”

 “No,” Balaam admitted.

 31 Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the roadway with a drawn sword in his hand. Balaam bowed his head and fell face down on the ground before him.

 32 “Why did you beat your donkey those three times?” the angel of the Lord demanded. “Look, I have come to block your way because you are stubbornly resisting me. 33 Three times the donkey saw me and shied away; otherwise, I would certainly have killed you by now and spared the donkey.”

34 Then Balaam confessed to the angel of the Lord, “I have sinned. I didn’t realize you were standing in the road to block my way. I will return home if you are against my going.” Numbers 22

The powerful will be brought down low, and the humble will be raised up.  Here is a wonderful story.  From the beginning to the end of the bible, it is the meek, the lowly and the down trodden who are never over looked by the Creator.  It is a wonderful thing when the powerful realise the errors of their ways and repent.  But sadly it seems rare, so it is worth celebrating when it happens.

PRAYER:  May I always be aware of your way, and listen to your voice through the meek.

Wednesday, 4 March 2026

Fourteenth Day of Lent - Isaiah

The very tame lamb by William Nicolson
Credit: Meisterdrucke.ie

 

Who has believed our message

    and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot,

    and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,

    nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,

    a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces

    he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

 

4 Surely he took up our pain

    and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

    stricken by him, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,

    he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

    and by his wounds we are healed.

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

    each of us has turned to our own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

    the iniquity of us all.

 

7 He was oppressed and afflicted,

    yet he did not open his mouth;

he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,

    and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,

    so he did not open his mouth.

8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away.

    Yet who of his generation protested?

For he was cut off from the land of the living;

    for the transgression of my people he was punished.

9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,

    and with the rich in his death,

though he had done no violence,

    nor was any deceit in his mouth.

 

10 Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,

    and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,

he will see his offspring and prolong his days,

    and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

11 After he has suffered,

    he will see the light of life and be satisfied;

by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,

    and he will bear their iniquities.

12 Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,

    and he will divide the spoils with the strong,

because he poured out his life unto death,

    and was numbered with the transgressors.

For he bore the sin of many,

    and made intercession for the transgressors. Isaiah 53

My mediations this lent are on Jesus - Lamb of God.  I think of Jesus' cousin John, when he was locked in Herod's dungeon, thinking, surely Jesus can get me out of this fix.  He sends his friends to check out if Jesus was the promised Messiah.  Yes indeed, but sadly no 'get out of Gaol free' card.

The Creator's approach is so different to the human instinct.  Are we made of the same stuff?  Well yes we are, because John, Jesus' cousin  responded with grace.  He was murdered, but we will never forget what he did.  All lives are short in the scheme of things.  John's short life was profound. 

PRAYER: You come to us as a lamb.  We receive you on our knees.


Tuesday, 3 March 2026

Thirteen Day of Lent - Elisha

 

Credit: Marko Prezelj Photo

10 Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, “Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed.”

11 But Naaman went away angry and said, “I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. 12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Couldn’t I wash in them and be cleansed?” So he turned and went off in a rage. 2 Kings 5

This reaction brings to mind Simon Yate's prayer as recounted in the bio-pic called 'Touching the Void'.

Yates, and his climbing partner Joe Simpson, found themselves with a terrible dilemma with Yates hanging by a rope over the edge of a precipice attached to Simpson.  Simpson realised that he would have to cut the rope to save his own life.    Yates reports that he cried out to God for a miracle.  He promised to dedicate himself to God if he survived.  Yates then said that he then felt nothing.  Nothing happened.   Absolutely nothing, and he realised that 'there is no God'.  Simpson cut the rope.  Yates fell down into an ice crevasse.  His legs were broken and his knee smashed.  But he was alive.  He saw light at the end of an ice tunnel, and painfully crawled down the tunnel, out into the light.  He then crawled across the base of the mountain for about a mile to the base camp, where he was greeted by astonished  climbers, and was taken to hospital. He was able to make a full recovery. 

PRAYER: I was created in Your image, not the other way round.

Monday, 2 March 2026

Twelfth Day of lent - Elijah

 

Credit:Daricemachel.com

9 “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” 10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” 11 As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”

12 “As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”

 13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’” 1 Kings 17

This is an interesting story of  dependence, faith and fortitude.  Previously Elijah had resisted starvation by living off food brought to him by ravens.  Trust his luck to request hospitality from someone who was also 'just' surviving, with her young son too.  But we believe that we do not live with a dispassionate Creator.  Sometimes the light of life is just kept alite, but it never goes out.  Like CS Lewis, who when asked about his faith after his newly wed wife called Joy died of cancer, said "it is hard not to say "God forgive God" (A Grief Observed.)" CS Lewis went on to describe the realisation that if God is dispassionate and inconsistent, then He is not 'Good', or there is no God.  His conclusion was to realise the happiness he had received 'gratefully', and to be at peace. 

For Elijah, we read that a miracle occurred (by definition, a very rare and notable occurrence) and all three lives were preserved.

PRAYER: Thank you for keeping the fame burning in me, and those around me.


Sunday, 1 March 2026

Eleventh Day of Lent - Love Songs

Song of Songs IV by Marc Chagall,
Musée national Marc Chagall in Nice, France

Falling in love is the most wonderful thing, especially when it is magically reciprocated.  The two lovers feed each other, and keep the flame alive.  How long can this fire burn?  Like the fire in an open hearth, it starts with light, sparks, flashes and risky clashes and explosions.  It settles down into a constant warmth, of mutually sustained energy.  The coal removed from the fire soon cools, but in the fire, the ardour is maintained.  When the source of the fuel is spiritual, it has that life that Jesus describes, as the 'bread of life', or the eternal spring of life giving water.  This satisfies for an eternity.

Listen! My beloved! Look! Here he comes, leaping across the mountains, bounding over the hills. Song of Songs 2.8

PRAYER: My love for you is eternal, and grows just as  living things do.