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| The Wilderness in Israel |
From our account of Jesus in the Wilderness I read 'surviving victoriously'. This is not easy. It is hard work. It involves endurance, but it also reinforces a sure foundation. This includes a foundation of knowledge and certainty. It involves building on what is already known and established. It reminds me of the longer term hope and vision, that over rides present discomfort.
PRAYER: Thank you for what you have given me, which can never be taken away.
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| King Solomon by Gustave Doré Credit: fineartamerica.com |
King Solomon followed his father King David with the family's mix of 'Inspiration' and 'Perspiration'. He was a wise ruler, but he was also flawed. Decadent, and hedonistic, he was not a great role model for Christian virtue. He demonstrated what unchecked power can lead to. But we see the Creator using this king, and their creativity to bless the world. Even today David and Solomon's words are chosen to celebrate the Lord in every church, every Sunday, and every day in between.
Bless the Lord, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
2 Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
3 Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
4 Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Psalm 103
PRAYER: In the morning we praise and honour you. At midday we lift your name high. As the sun sets we glorify your name and through the night we meditate on your Word.
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| Le Roi David with the Artist, by Mark Chagall |
We all know that David was not perfect. The temptations for those with royal power are seen in failed celebrities everywhere. We read that David knew that his Lord was with him, and above him. Israel flourished under a just king, just as all countries do. That's what you need, but the two rarely sit together.
21 Then the people asked for a king, and he gave them Saul son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, who ruled forty years. 22 After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.’ Acts 13
PRAYER: Under stress, I turn to you immediately. Better to be with you before things get tough.
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| The Throne of Charlemagne Aachen Cathedral Credit: Mediastorehouse.com |
So now we live our lives in a fog, with an awareness of the Creator, but no certainty (for the majority). We crave the other comforts; pleasure, irresponsibility and control/power over others. If this were not so, we would solve all the problems of the world almost instantly. There is no real reason why we cannot.
And so the people of Israel rejected the idea that the Creator would be their supreme king, and opted instead for Saul. They were warned that they were choosing subjugation, and they chose that.
We too have this choice.
4 Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah 5 and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.” 6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord. 7 And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. 8 According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you. 9 Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.” 1 Samuel 8
PRAYER: You are my God and my King. I worship you alone.
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| Moses and the Tablets- Marc Chagall Erica Meyerovich Gallery, San Francisco |
Clarity and boundaries in relationships are also both healthy and liberating. Young children, where the boundaries are unclear, appearing and disappearing, become insecure. They carry 'floating anxiety', and this affects their behaviour and mood. Relationships where there is jealousy and suspicion absorb negative energy and stress, leading to great unhappiness.
Our Creator has given us clear boundaries. The do's and don'ts.
These were famously summarised (attributed to St Augustine) as "Love God and do as you please."
This is the beautiful law that sets us free, rather than constrains us.
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20 And God spoke all these words: 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 7 “You shall
not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone
guiltless who misuses his name. 12 “Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. 13 “You shall
not murder. 14 “You shall not commit adultery. 15 “You shall not steal. 16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour. 17 “You shall not covet your neighbour’s house. You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour.” 18 When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance 19 and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.” |
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| St Augustine in the Slave Market in Rome. |
The concept of slavery is abhorrent. Yet humans seem to be doing this to each other for thousands of years. Even today many people are restricted, controlled and lack access to justice. How could a county like Britain condone and justify slavery? It is an irony that the myth of England goes that it was in seeing slaves from Angle-land that St Augustine's heart was softened and this persuaded him to send missionaries to our God-forsaken cold damp corner of Western Europe.
The story of the bible is one of 'being lead out of slavery'. There is physical slavery, and there is spiritual slavery. Which is more significant? Jesus understood this and compared it to bread and water. There is bread you will eat, and you will then be hungry again. There is water that will refresh you, but only for a time. There is spiritual bread, and water, that will fill you forever. This is what we really need. Then all things are possible.
3 Then Moses said to the people, “Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery, because the Lord brought you out of it with a mighty hand. Eat nothing containing yeast. 4 Today, in the month of Aviv, you are leaving. 5 When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites—the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey Exodus 13
PRAYER: You have set me free, and all freedom emanates from this. Thank you.
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| Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Model |
What is a Nation? What has it been over the millennia? It is part of 'the onion' of our lives. In this model, we live at the centre, surrounded by family, community, nation, continent, and the world. But which ring has the strongest ring for you? I remember when the European Union attempted to build up a sense of regional identity over national identify as a subterfuge to nationalism. We were in Burgundy at the time. It was not particularly successful. The 'Nation' is a shared concept in our collective heads. But every head is different.
The nation of Israel has been significant to us in Europe for over a thousand years. The bible speaks of the Creator relating to this people as a nation. There is a special relationship with this community. Small county church have ancient stain glass and painting attempting to depict the Holyland.
In the West we emphasis the power and unique qualities of the individual. In the South and East, it is the community which is the starting point. Both are important and significant. They coexist.
24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak. 25 When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. 26 Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is daybreak.” But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” 27 The man asked him, “What is your name?” “Jacob,” he answered. 28 Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.” 29 Jacob said, “Please tell me your name.” Genesis 32
PRAYER: May the nation of which I am a part see its need to acknowledge your authority and accept the salvation you offer, and turn from it's wicked ways, and worship you.
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| The Wilderness - Israel |
Jesus went into the wilderness on his own to be close to the Creator. He was away from distractions. But he was there with himself, his inner thoughts - spiritual influences, both the presence of the Creator, but also of the malevolent force we called 'the Devil'.
PRAYER: I acknowledge the powers around me. Powers to bless and build up, and powers to destroy and humiliate. Come close to me, as I come close to you, and save me.
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| Alex Honnold free climbs Taipei 101 Credit: Taipei Times |
The curious thing about our world is that it is full of wonder, beauty and plenty, juxtaposed with harsh heartless brutality.
Yesterday I heard Robert Alain, the French spiderman, talking about a recent 'free climb' of the building called Taipei 101. He was asked how one copes with the risk of imminent death. What Alain didn't say is that we all undertake similar acts of bravery every day. Just walking along a pavement next to a busy road, or traveling inside the car on the motorway... Life is full of risk.
I think that the flood story tells us that we are noticed. we are not alone. There is method in the madness. If we look, the signs of hope are about us, and we will arrive on solid land.
It may feel bleak, but Salvation is in the air.
8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth. Genesis 9
PRAYER: You have told me the story. You know how it ends. My trust is in you.
Siblings by Paul Klee- Credit: Wikioo
Yet each man kills the thing he loves
By each let this be heard.
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word.
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword!
Ballard from Reding Gaol by Oscar Wilde.
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13 Cain said
to the Lord, “My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving
me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a
restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” Genesis 4 |
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| Paintings in Chad said to be about 10,000 years old Credit David Stanley on BBC news website |
What do we make of the messages that humans have been around for tens of thousands of years?
The BBC recently published an article suggesting that the art work found in an Indonesian cave was 67,000 year old. The migration of humans from Mongolia into the American continent is put at 15,000 to 20,000 years ago. Then there is the strange business of the relationship between Homo Sapiens and neandertals. It's a long way of from the world described by Bishop Ussher in the seventeenth century.
The modern picture of humanity blurs the boundaries between species. When did humans start to reach out to their Creator? When did the special relationship begin. Humanity, though small in population, lived without books and organised religion far longer than it has with them.
I believe that the nature of the relationship is the same with all people, across all time. Indeed, the relationship remains will all created things.
"Ours not to reason why: ours to be and try."
To accept our existence gratefully, and to try to follow our Creator knowing that although the world can look beautiful and magnificence, it can also flip your boat over and leave you in the ocean to drown, the Creator is good, faithful and true.
16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians3
PRAYER: I look to you, my creator, as the child realising who their parents actually are.
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| Big Bang by David Parker Credit: Fine Art America |
This is my take on creation.
Into the vastness of space, the Creator released a handful of dust. Initially it spread out like a fine even mist. Then. as the equilibrium across the field of particles becomes unsettled, each atom pulls persistently on the next. Eventually the the nudging became irresistible, and the particles slowly moved towards each other. Proximity accelerates the movement following an exponential curve, doubling, tripling the speed of attraction; ever faster.
Within the freedom of space, the particles career at full pelt towards the same point. They collided in a 'big bang'. The impact was so great it creates fusion and fission reactions between the atoms. New elements are created, and releases enormous heat, greater than anything we have ever know. The explosion sends lumps of molten rock far out into space, spinning like the pistols of an engine, 4000x rotations a minute. Days fly past.
The physical world is created. Life, a seed, is set on it's inevitable and predictable trajectory. All is known to the Creator, within this unpredictable chaos.
As with the butterfly flapping it's wing over China, eventually causing storms over Canada, so the abstract art of diversity hones all that is, animate and inanimate.
Eventually there is a being that looks up. A being that not only lives with it's Creator, but also looks to know and understand. Like the baby who realises over time that these people who care for me, are like me, and that I can interact with them. That I am experiencing 'love', and we are having fun together. So too we all relate to our Creator, and realise they have been there all along, and without them this miracle would not be.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Colossians 1 :15 -17
PRAYER: You have always been with us. We see you more clearly now. We love and adore you.
Lighten our darkness, A New Day Dawns by Naomi Jenkins
Credit: Naomi Jenkins Gallery
we beseech thee, O Lord;
And by thy great mercy
defend us from all perils
and dangers of this night;
For the love of thy only son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
(Book of common Prayer. 1662)
Lent - the coming of Spring - the lengthening of the days.
From Ash Wednesday I have some daily reflections spanning wonderful Biblical stories. The first 20 days are from the Old Testament, and the next 20 are from the New.
Remember to rest on the sabbath!
