The are many deeply troubling events and situations in our world just now. Over the past year or two many of the old certainties, both political and personal, seem to have been swept away. And so it was for Jesus’s Disciples after His death and resurrection and for His followers ever since, but if our faith means anything, it must speak to us in troubling times as well as times of joy and celebration.

At such times, we need to choose either to live by the ways of the world or by the ways of God. That doesn’t mean separating ourselves off as a holy huddle focussed in on ourselves, hiding away from a world of dubious motives and evil actions and having anything to do with the other people living in it. No, we’re called to be in the world but not living by many of its cherished values; to be God-centred rather than self-centred.  In Advent, as we start a new church year, we have a few weeks to pause and reflect on what Jesus the Christ really means in our lives; and how we might respond to that realisation.

In our tradition, we re-tell the story of Jesus each year. I find that leaving the old year behind at the end of November and starting a new year on the first Sunday of Advent gives me a boost, just when I need it, when the days are short and winter is really beginning to take hold. It’s that sense of anticipation, that waiting to see what’s going to happen, that pause before the busyness of the festive season.

However, once things have started, most of us want to get to the conclusion as quickly as possible, preferring things to happen at once if not before. However waiting is an important discipline in our lives. The scriptures remind us that “those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength”. In fact, patience is a wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit, allowing us to take our time and live in the moment rather than always wanting to have arrived at some point in the future.

In Jesus’ time, people had waited a long time for the coming of the Messiah.  We all might long to see more decisive action from God; bringing justice and peace to our world and some stability and certainty, not least in the Holy Land where such appalling things are happening. In the Christ Child there is a clear sign of God’s commitment to us, in spite of our waywardness. In Jesus, God is with us, as one of us, a mystery “which passes all understanding” and one that we need time to reflect on. God’s gift to us in this season of expectant waiting, is the space to prepare ourselves to be able to sense and accept all that God longs to give us.

Let us keep a watchful Advent, so that when the time comes, we may celebrate with joy the one who came, the one who will come again, the one who promises to accompany us each step of our life’s pilgrimage, however uncertain the times.

Blessings
James

I’ve been away this past week or two in Cheshire staying with my sister who is convalescing after sustaining a number of fractures. It has been a very frustrating time for her as she is not able to do much and is largely immobile. I have in the course of this also spent quite a lot of time on trains, which to my surprise ran largely to time.

As I travelled, a quite appalling situation has been unfolding in the Middle East. We have seen just how low humanity can stoop in the way that people treat other people. The history of conflict teaches us that increasing the level of violence rarely achieves anything except escalation, until eventually there has to be a sitting down to talk about it and resolving things through negotiation. Along the way there is generally an appalling loss of life and often many of those killed and maimed are not ‘combatants’ but innocent men, women and children.

Contrasting with some of the worse aspects of the human condition, I have witnesses many acts of kindness during my time away. Random acts of kindness to strangers on trains and at stations as well as the kindness of friends and neighbours of my sister who have brought round cakes, meals, flowers and those who have just dropped by for a bit of a chat.

Whilst I was in Cheshire, the rains from Storm Babet struck. This was of course a day or two before they arrived in Angus and Aberdeenshire then coming on to Sutherland and Easter Ross. Massive amounts of rain running off fields and overwhelming the culverts and brooks resulted in a great deal of flooding around my sister’s village and I spent a happy day bailing out a cellar until someone kindly lent us a pump to keep the water below ground floor level!!

We watched as cars and lorries rushed at the flood waters outside the house and every so often one would stop, the engine overwhelmed by the 18 inches of water. On one occasion a lorry driver was very abusive to a driver whose car was stranded in the middle of the flood, using language that I wouldn’t dare repeat here, because his progress was being obstructed, but one or two of those who passed by stopped to offer advice or see if they could help. Sadly we were marooned and couldn’t get out without letting water into the house – perhaps I should have taken a pair of waders:-)

In the Gospel this Sunday, Jesus says:

“‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

I give grateful thanks that many of the people that I encountered during my time away seem to embody that message and I hope and pray that others will see their example and do likewise.  Our world and particularly the Middle East so desperately needs that.

Blessings
James

I have recently been reviewing a book for the Church Times. The author is Annie Worsley who was an academic – a physical geographer whose specialism was landform. She and her family had visited the Highlands of Scotland for many years and in particular the more remote parts of Wester Ross. A decade ago she and her husband decided to trade in their busy lives in the North West of England and settle on a couple of old crofts in South Erradale to the West of the Torridon Mountains. They were both fond of walking and climbing and looked forward to getting better acquainted with this remote area. 

However as in many things in life, the best laid plans … Annie developed a debilitating autoimmune condition as a result of Lyme disease which reduced her to what she describes as “muddleheadedness and painful hobbling”. As so often happens, the plans we make are rendered worthless by events beyond our control. This was the case for Annie and her husband who were not able to tramp the Western Highlands together.

However Annie was a keen photographer and observer of the natural world.  She was able to get out for short slow walks and also observe the world around by looking out of the windows. So for several years she recorded what was happening in the vicinity of their home at Red River Croft in pictures and copious notes.  The book “Windswept”, that I was sent to review, was the result of her observations, reflections and recollections.  Annie adapted to her changed circumstances and her delightful book is testament to that.

Well that set me thinking about the extent to which God controls what happens in theworld. While Scripture affirms the sovereignty and power of God, it also provides examples when God doesn’t seem to be able to accomplish something. For example in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus seems to be unable gather Israel because they were unwilling –

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”

Matthew 23:37-38

or in the second letter of Peter we read –

“But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.”

2 Peter 3:8-10

Of course many in our world will never come to God or to repentance. But even so God’s will isn’t simply imposed on us.  Without ‘free will’, we’d just be robots not free agents, able to respond to those around us and to the the God who loves us. As Peter says in his first letter –

“For it is God’s will that by doing right you should silence the ignorance of the foolish. As servants of God, live as free people, yet do not use your freedom as a pretext for evil. Honour everyone. Love the family of believers. Fear God. Honour the emperor.”

1 Peter 2:15-17

In Mark’s Gospel we read –

 “And looking at those who sat around him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.’”

Mark 3:34-35

Well brothers and sisters, through prayer and reflection we can endeavour to discern the will of God for us in our lives and make the most of the opportunities that open up, even if they may not be what we initially desired, hoped for or planned.

Blessings
James

It seems to me that sometimes in church we seem to see creation as something that happened. It’s as though God ‘did creation’ in under a week, rested a while and that’s it. There are of course subsequently instances of God’s revelation but it’s always revelation that happened ‘way back then’ and is recorded in Scripture. From time to time in the Hebrew Scriptures God appeared through the odd burning bush a few smitings and getting the people of Israel out of a jam occasionally, such as out of the hands of the Egyptians. God also sent various prophets to try to get the message across, to no avail, the people just killed them.

Finally, rather fed up, God sent his only begotten son to show sinful humanity how it should be done, even to the extent of laying down His life. God knew that most people wouldn’t get it, but that the penny would drop for a minority and that would make all thedifference. Christ’s ministry was then written up in the Gospels and added to by revelation to the Apostle Paul and to St John the Divine and then that was it. There’s nothing further to be said except continuous praise and thanksgiving to God.

Now I stress that this is only how it sometimes seems.  That’s not what I believe and for me that understanding of things just doesn’t work. God may have rested on the Sabbath, but come Monday morning, was back in the office continuing the work of creation as part of continuing revelation. God’s revelation occurs not only in what was created but also in the ways of creation, in it’s development and evolution, but also in the lives of individuals, communities and cosmically. 

The evidence is all around us, if we only have eyes to see and ears to hear, but sometimes it’s revealed in living ‘parables’ that many neither see nor hear, what is all around them if they only stopped to look and listen. None of this denies the truth of Scripture, it’s just that it doesn’t end there. If one believes, as I do, that God’s continuing revelation is a part of who/what God is then it follows as night follows day that creation must be continuing because that’s a fundamental part of the nature of God.

I find it awesome how God’s creation can so often adapt and change no matter what humanity does to it: spoil heaps, poisoned ground, polluted air and contaminated seas and waterways, creation has considerable in-built ability to bring forth organisms and communities that can colonise and ameliorate.  However the problem is that it’s not always on a timescale that’s helpful to humanity. That of course is why we have a climate crisis.Now that is something to reflect on this month, in this the Season of Creation.

Blessings
James