Cross from Anvil Pottery/St Beuno's

 

On my recent visit to St Beuno's in North Wales for a (brief) silent retreat, I bought the cross pictured as a reminder of my times at St Beuno's, but also as a pointer to the journey ahead,

Anvil Pottery is relatively close to St Beuno's, situated in the village of Llanrhaeadr in the Vale of Clwyd. It was fitting to buy something that was made nearby, and a reminder of what we each can do. That links very much to my thinking and reflecting at St Beuno's around what God calls me (and each one of us) to do.

The Celtic style of the Cross speaks to me of mission and pilgrimage as I consider the implications of where God is now calling me to be and what God is calling me to do. In very many ways that is daunting, but I can have confidence because God does not call us to go on our own, but rather walks the road with us.

That's an encouraging thought as we enter a new year. 

I am currently reading Nigel Tranter's novel about the life of Columba (simply titled 'Columba'), and that, too, is a good reminder of the struggles and joys as we take the opportunity to do what God asks of us. Columba found that it led him places that he had not expected and that he did not want, but, as he also discovered, God's places are always places of blessing.

Letters from Father Christmas

I have just read J R R Tolkien's Letters from Father Christmas, a delightful and imaginative set of letters which he, 'as Father Christmas', wrote to his children over a period of just over twenty years. The first letter was penned in 1920 when the eldest child was just 3, and continued through the childhoods of the three other children.

He recounts the adventures of Father Nicholas Christmas and his associates, often enhancing what he is saying with drawings of the events taking place at the North Pole.

It was a great reminder of what we might call the 'magic' of Christmas, and of the different customs and traditions that can emerge in families. We always do this ....  

It is sometimes said, and with good reason, that we risk overwhelming Christmas with all sorts of secular and commercial matters that have little to do with its essence. 

However, I always like to remember the immensity of what we are celebrating when we say Emmanuel - God-with-us. I don't think we can do too much to celebrate Christmas. The birth of a baby at Bethlehem has had such a massive impact on the life of this world. It deserves a big cellebration, a very big celebration. There is so much mystery in the fact that, as the carol puts it, 'Love came down at Christmas.'

What Are You Doing For Christmas?

 Reflection offered at the 'midnight' service for Sawston Free Church via Zoom - acknowledging a variety of sources which I have 'lost')

What are you doing for Christmas?  That question has somewhat different connotations this year; and, indeed, some of us might well have answered it differently, just a few weeks, or even days, ago.  Christmas is looking different.  Boris has been accused by many of cancelling Christmas.  Well, I am prepared to accuse him of quite a lot, but not of that.  Because Christmas is not cancelled,  Christmas is difficult.  Christmas is different.  But – unto us a child is born!  The light has come.  The Chrismas message of peace and love is alive and well.  Christmas is happening.  And, though the answers may not be easy, or we would expect or hope, we still, even at this late moment, might, as it were, ask of each other: what are you doing for Christmas?  Or, perhaps, what does Christmas mean to you?  How does Christmas fit this strange landscape in which we find ourselves?

But think of the questions Mary and Joseph might have faced.  When’s the baby due?  Where are you going?  Where are you going to stay?

2021 is census year in Britain.  It is due on March 21^st.  But, fortunately, we don’t all have to go back to our burthplace in order to be counted, as appears to have been the case for Mary and Joseph.  At least, they had to go to Joseph’s birthplace.  And so they got caught up in what must have been a somewhat amazing population movement and it’s hardly surprising that, when they got there, they couldn’t find anywhere to stay.  And that’s how they came to be in a stable – so the story goes.

In many ways, it’s a quite incredible story.  Surely someone would have taken pity on Joseph and his heavily pregnant wife.  Surely there was a room somewhere for someone in this situation.  But then the story is incredible – that God should come to earth and share our human experience – but that’s what Christmas is all about.

It all seems quite remote from things like reindeer and tinsel, mince pies and balloons.  So many things have been built on across the years.  And that’s fine.  Traditions grow and develop.  It’s fine so long as we remember the essential Christmas message – that God came to earth in human form and so demonstrated his amazing love for us. 

The stable and the shepherds remind us that God comes to those who don’t fit in.  The wise men and their gifts remind us that God comes to those who do.  The angels remind us that what is offered is summed up in that tremendous word ‘peace’ – Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favour rests.

What are you doing for Christmas?  I’m celebrating the birth of Jesus, born in a stable in Bethlehem, God come to earth to offer love, and joy, and peace.

Godly Play Style Nativity by Zoom

With the current situation we need to continue to adapt. I was leading a Christmas Eve family service by Zoom for Sawston Free Church and so, with the help of Bob Hartman's 'Lion Storyteller Bible' and some Godly Play material, devised a 'sort of'' nativity play, following a Godly Play style - with stable, holy family, shepherd, innkeeper, wise men, angels, a few animals and the 'people of the world' - a reminder that Christmas is still happening.

Emmanuel - God is with us, and how we need all the peace, love, joy, hope and faith that comes with that.

Happy Christmas!

 

Praying with our friends in Vellore

Zoom has some real benefits. I was delighted, today, to be part of a prayer gathering between a group from Cambridgeshire Ecumenical Council and a group from the Diocese of Vellore, and to have the opportunity to offer a brief reflection on the conversation we had around the challenges, particularly by way of coronavirus, currently affecting our two communities.

It was interesting to see that, despite the profound differences between the two locations, that there were marked similarities between the issues we have faced and the responses we have made. In India food rations have been sent to the families of pupils at home because of closed schools while in England we have been supporting an increased use of foodbanks. Just one example. We have also both faced the difficulties when churches could not meet for worship.

In responding to the conversation I mentioned that some in the UK have been claiming that Christmas is cancelled, but that is definitely not so. God continues to make a difference in our world. Citing some words of Lesslie Newbigin I suggested we need to remain positive. Newbigin once said: “Mission begins with a kind of explosion of joy. The news that the rejected and crucified Jesus is alive is something that cannot possibly be suppressed. It must be told. Who could be silent about such a fact? The mission of the church in the pages of the New Testament is like the fallout from a vast explosion, a radioactive fallout which is not lethal but life-giving.”

Defining 2020

 

2020 will go down as a year unlike any other, defined by different ways of doing things, a different set of phrases - and immense gratitude to those who did so much to keep life on track. 

One memorable element is undoubtedly the NHS clap. For several weeks we went outside at 8pm on a Thursday to bang drums, pan lids, spoons, whatever - or simply to clap as we applauded the commitment of NHS staff in addressing the Covid challenge.  

Of course, there were many other key workers, supermarket staff, delivery drivers, teachers, etc etc. Where would we have been without them? Where would we be?

A lot has been said of late about Christmas being cancelled. Actually, that's not true; but it is going to be different. But, as we continue with the challenges of these strange times, it remains that case that we can celebrate that, in the words of the carol, 'love came down at Christmas'. Let's do that by finding some specific way, we who are the Body of Christ, to express that love.

Fiesta with God

Nouwen, cited in “Arrivals and Departures” (ed. Ford) says in a quotation from “Gracias”  - “the poor are a eucharistic people, people who know [how] to say thanks to God, to life, to each other. They may not come to Mass, they may not participate in many church celebrations. But in their hearts they are deeply religious because, for them, all of life is a long fiesta with God.”

I am struck by that idea of life as a fiesta with God. That’s how it should be - but how rarely is it the case! I am also struck by the stress on gratitude. That should be our approach to things, but also is too often lacking. So much can be changed by how we approach things.

On Retreat at St Beuno's

 

I just got back yesterday from a few days' silent retreat at St Beuno's Jesuit Spirituality Centre. As always, it was a real gift of space and an important opportunity - at a time of transition - for me to reflect on both what has been and what will be; and I want to stress the importance for us all of making such opportunities on a regular basis. Mostly, I am not able to identify such an amount of time nor go somnewhere so conducive, but snatched moments of reflection are also important.

One of the joys of St Beuno's is being able to walk in the surrounding countryside, though I am not currently used to the hills. But the other really helpful thing is the opportunity for Biblical reflection and prayer.

God is wherever we are. There is no need to go to north Wales. But how good it is to come to the special place, to find that quieter space, to know that I've got that little bit of time.

Send in the Clowns

I’ve reading ‘Arrivals and Departures’ a collection of Henri Nouwen extracts put together by Michael Ford, reflecting something of Nouwen’s travels and his restless nature. In the mix, there are, inevitably, some really helpful insights. A little piece from ‘Clowning in Rome’ particularly struck me, a powerful reminder that God.s people are not necessarily to be found where we are looking or where we expect.

This little reflection on the circus helps us see that. “Clowns are not in the centre of the events. They appear between the great acts, fumble and fall, and make us smile again after the tensions created by the heroes we came to admire. The clowns don’t have it together, they do not succeed in what they try, they are awkward, out of balance, .. but ... they are on our side. We respond to them not with admiration but with sympathy, not with amazement but with understanding, not with tension but with a smile. Of the virtuosi we say, “How do they do it?” Of the clowns we say, “They are like us.” The clowns remind us with a tear and a smile that we share the same human weaknesses ... “

Yes, God, send in the clowns - we so need them!

Liturgical Procession Mug

 

This Alison Gardiner mug, depicting a liturgical procession, was actually - and appropriately - bought in Norwich Cathedral where I have participated in a number of such processions over the last twelve years, including the farewell service for the last Diocesan Bishop and the welcome service for the current Diocesan Bishop, both Bishop Graham.

It is also one of the two (along with Ely) Cathedrals where I have the priviledge of preaching. At Norwich it was at the annual Carol Service for the emergency services in 2012.

One of the joys of the role I currently hold is the opportunity to be present at (and sometimes participate in) great ecclesiastical occasions as an ecumenical guest. A reminder that we are all part of the one Body of Christ.

Panama Mug

 

Today's mug - well, it's more like a tankard today - comes from Panama and our time there in the early nineties. The design imitates a classic mola design, 'molas' being pictures created using a form of reverse applique by one of the Pamamanian inbdigeneous groups, the Kuna. They are usually extremely colourful, and depict a wide range of subject matter.

The one on the mug is both muted and abstract but, for me, still a reminder of the colour and vibrancy of Panama. It reminds me, too, of the value of art and craft, and how that can speak to us. I have often had on my study wall a mola fish, a reminder of how that is such a significant symbol, and a mola butterfly, which always speaks to me of new and transformed life. And that is so what our faith is about.

Cotteridge Mug

In my last post, in which I served from 1998 to 2008, part of my responsibility was as the URC member of the ministry team at the Cotteridge Church, a Local Ecumenical Partnership of the Church of England, the Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church.

Today's, in this little series of mugs, is a Cotteridge mug and depicts the church building, situated near to Kings Norton Station in Birmingham.  Like several of the others in this series, it is a strong reminder of partnership.

However, it is also a reminder for me of the importance of being rooted in the community, which was fundamental to the Cotteridge ethos.  The Coffee Bar, open six days a week, was central to the life of the church.  Indeed, I remember being told of the person who wandered into the building after the Sunday service, looking for the normal Coffee Bar service and who, on realising what was happening around them, commented: o, of course it's closed on Sundays; it's a church!
 

Vellore Mug

 

This mug comes from the Diocese of Vellore in the Church of South India. It depicts St John's Church, Fort, Vellore, where I preached on the first Sunday of our summer 2019 visit to Vellore. Cambridgeshire Ecumenical Council has a twiunning link with the diocese and the visit was part of the link.

It was thus, as with all such visits, a mark of partnership, but also, for me, a reminder that the church reaches different contexts. We were made extremely welcome and that is, or always should be, a mark of the church. It is quite something to follow a liturgy that has much in common with my usual experience in worship in such a different location. It was a reminder that God does not recognise the boundaries that we frequrently see as so important.

Berlin Christmas Markets Mug

In December 2018 I represented the United Reformed Church at a consultation in Berlin organised by the Presbyterian Church USA. It was a consultation for European and Middle Eastern partners, and proved to be a fascintaing exploration of the challenges of mission in our particular and differing contexts.

It was particularly interesting to be partnerd with Middle Eastern churches who undoubtedly face significant challenges in what is often a troubled context. 

We live in a changed and changing world and it is often difficult to know how to proclaim the Gospel. But it is important to remember that God is so much bigger thsn we are, and has a much bigger picture.

In Berlin we went, one evening, to the Christmas markets, where I got this mug, portraying a bnnch of Berlin schenes, a reminder of the need to offer the light and love of Christ in a very mixed-up world.
 

A Mug from Lindisfarne

Lindisfarne, otherwise known as Holy Island, is another of special (or 'thin') places which has become a place of pilgrimage. In 635 Aidan came from Iona and founded a monastery on Lindisfarne, and so the Christian message has gone out fronm there for centuries.

This mug, which I bought when we holidayed there in 2011, serves as a reminder of our opportunity to explore the island and, as we did so, I reflected on its long Christian history.

It gets me wondering, in all sorts of places, about the saints who have gone before - and I wonder, too, what are the little actions that we can take for God that may have ripples so much greater than we expect or imagine.

 

Traditional Hungarian Design

Today's mug is decorated with a traditional Hungarian design, though bought in Romania when on a church twinning visit, so another reminder of partnership and of international links. The congregants of the Reformed Church in Romania are Hungarian speaking, and of Hungarian origin. In Temesvar/Timisoara, where we visited, they are in an area that has moved from country to country as different nations have gained supremacy. It is also an area that was behind the Iron Curtain (remember that) not so long ago.

The links we developed there are a telling reminder of how things can change, even when we may have thought for years that they won't. I have always found it good to visit and learn from Christians in other situations, and have been fortunate to have a variety of such experiences.

It's an important reminder that God - and the church - doesn't see our boundaries.

 

A Mug from Iona

 

Iona is a special place, one of those locations sometimes described as 'thin'. Of course, we can fully encounter God anyway, but that does not mean that there are not places which seem particularly holy or which have special significance.

A place can become so because of a moment of encounter with God. It might be a great cathedral. It might be the top of a hill. It might be somewhere, like Iona, that has become a place of pilgrimage.

Strangely, despite spending my youth and early adulthood in Scotland, I have only been to Iona once, and that just for the day with my then two small children. It was more than worth it all the same, and I hope to return some day.

The mug I bought on that visit to Iona is a reminder of that day, but also of the important role that pilgrimnage can play in the Christian journey. Whether God calls us to go across the world or just across the street, it's good to respond to that call and discover those special places and experiences that God has lined up for us.

Costa Rican Mug

It was back in the summer of 1991 that my wife and I landed in Costa Rica with a very large suitcase, as we didn't know when, again, we would see anything else that belonged to us. We were about to spend six weeks learning Spanish prior to flying on to Panama where we were going to live for the next (almost) three years.

And then, we ended up back in Costa Rica for a few days, attending the annual Synod of the Methodist Church, which had congregations in both countries, and received this commemorative mug, marking a significant anniverary. It is good to mark significant occasions. 

I wonder which events in your life most deserve a commemorative mug?

Zimbabwean Mug

The psalmist writes in the last phrase of Psalm 23, verse 5 - my cup overflows. As we start Advent, and as a 'sort of' calendar, I thought I'd look around my study and see what some of the things in it might say to me as they remind of things I have done or that mean something to me.

I have a number of mugs and that seemed a good place to start. This particular one, with hand-painted elephants, comes from Zimbabwe, a country I have visited a number of times. It is a reminder of my many friends there and of the places of I have visited and things I have done. It speaks of lively worship, of economic hardship, of deep spirituality, and of a country that has so much potential.

That is a reminder that we all have potential and, with God's help, we can realise it. 

But the mug from Zimbabwe is also a reminder of the struggle to obtain reliable and clean supplies of water, and that there is so much that we take for granted in the UK. 

Let's thank God for all the ways in which our cup overflows.

Be Grateful For What You Have

Snoopy says some great things. There is a lot to learn from such little bits of ‘philosophy’. One I really like is – BE GRATEFUL FOR WHAT YOU HAVE. So often it seems that the grass is greener on the other side. We want all sorts of stuff that we don’t have. There’s a lot to learn from this little saying, which can do a great deal to keep us on track. The apostle Paul has a slightly different version of this – And my God will fully satisfy every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus – Philippians 4:19. It doesn’t mean God gives us what we demands. But it does mean that God is with us, sustaining and strengthening us.

Exile

 One more comment from Stefan Paas’s article “Pilgrims and Priests” and that is to note the relationship that he suggests with the experience of exile that plays such a strong role in what we call the Old Testament. It is a challenging place to be, and yet, in the end, it is also a rewarding place. Our life in a highly secular society has many parallels with that of the exiled Israelites. We are out of our comfort zone. We struggle to make sense of things. It can produce a crisis of faith. How can this be? How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?

As Paas says – “much of the Bible is written in situations of displacement and uprooting. The narratives of exile and diaspora may help late–modern Christians in the West to reconnect their cultural experience with the experience of the ancient prophets who witnessed about God in situations where everything seemed lost. Let us not forget that the crisis of exile was for Israel a crisis of faith.”

We can and should be positive about exile, but never entirely so, and that does not mean that it is easy. But it does, and should, remind us of our reliance on the immense love of God, a reliance that is needed not just in the difficult moments, but always. God has the bigger picture.

Paas again – “Israel was to learn what the church may have to learn today: that being uprooted and becoming weak may be the key to understanding more about God and God’s world. God has not abandoned us, not at all. He has led us into a new environment, where we are far more vulnerable and thus far more dependent on him. Christian institutions have crumbled, Christian power has disappeared. Yet it might very well be that only by losing the “God of our ancestors” and the “God of our land” will we see how great and merciful God truly is.”

Quotes are from an article "Pilgrims and Priests: Missional Ecclesiology in a Secular Society" in ANVIL – Journal of Theology and Mission – Church Missionary Society  Vol. 35 Issue 3 - (2019)

Mission As Art

We live in a world where we want things to count. We want that with which we engage to matter, to be a means of achieving something, to do stuff. That tends to include our understanding of mission. What is the mission? What is it doing? What are we achieving through it?

 

Sometimes I think it would be so much better if we just saw mission as a matter of being faithful God. After all, that’s the call – not to be successful, but to be faithful. Mission is not ours, it’s God’s – and we do well to remember that. We need to accept that there is a big picture of which we are tiny part.

 

I like Stefan Paas’s suggestion that we should see mission as art.

 

“Rather than using traditional militaristic or business metaphors, we might think of mission as creating art. Art radiates beauty and meaning that does not depend on its possible usefulness. On the contrary; precisely because of its lack of usefulness, art helps us understand that goodness and beauty are not necessarily useful in terms of impact or money. Mission might be a work of art. It is a cause of joy and gratitude; it is a work of free and undemanding love; it is serving a God who is sheer love and beauty.”

 

Quote is from an article "Pilgrims and Priests: Missional Ecclesiology in a Secular Society" in ANVIL – Journal of Theology and Mission – Church Missionary Society  Vol. 35 Issue 3 - (2019).

Do Numbers Matter?

There is a great deal of talk about the decline of the church in our day, and the reducing numbers. In the UK context within the traditional denominations, that is certainly a big part of the picture and needs to be taken seriously. Numbers are declining, and we wish that was not so. We love the stories that buck the trend. I was delighted to read a report today that mentioned how one church in the Synod has recently tripled its membership. Would that every church had done the same. Of course, it is also relative. This church - and, yes, it can happen - had reduced to one member, so my rejoicing was caused by the fact that a couple had joined. That does not mean that it is not a genuine good news story - because it is. Everyone matters. That fact lies at the heart of the Gospel. We should not ignore the reality, nor the challenge, of the declining numbers. But we so need to remember that they are only a small part of God's much bigger story.

As Stefan Paas says, "To accept numerical growth of the church as the purpose of mission is to instrumentalise evangelism in the service of statistics. Conversions are important signs of the coming kingdom of God; they are the first fruits of the eschatological harvest. But, as Jesus says, “There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10). If church growth is the justification of evangelism, one sinner who repents is not enough. He or she will not turn our statistics. If church growth is seen as the purpose, and thus the ultimate justification of mission, the work of evangelism becomes driven by numbers rather than persons."

Quote is from an article "Pilgrims and Priests: Missional Ecclesiology in a Secular Society" in ANVIL – Journal of Theology and Mission – Church Missionary Society  Vol. 35 Issue 3 - (2019).

How Long?

 (Rather longer than my usual posts - but a reflection for these times - sermon based on Psalm 90 preached at Clare United Reformed Church (Suffolk) earlier today)

Psalm 90, verse 13 – Turn, O Lord!  How long?  Have compassion on your servants.  Or, as The Message version puts it – Come back, God – how long do we have to wait? – and treat your servants with kindness for a change.  That really seems like a word for today, doesn’t it?  How long?  How long is this going to go on?  How long before we can see past this virus?  How long until we get back to normal, or, more probably, move on to a new normal? 

We are all longing for some kind of settled set of circumstances, for a situation in which we are not constantly worrying whether new restrictions are suddenly going to be imposed.  We might well call on God to make a difference.  

It is interesting that this psalm, like this virus, offers a stark reminder of human frailty. 

It is a psalm that says something of the majesty of God.  God is awesome, and we do well to remember that.  The psalm speaks of the timelessness of God.  That is not inappropriate on the weekend when the clocks go back.  We are so governed by the clock.  We rush around, checking the time, ruled by our schedules.  When we were in Panama in the early nineties, I discovered that the hot and humid climate meant that my wrist reacted badly to wearing a watch, and so I stopped, and, to some extent, joined the Panamanian much more relaxed attitude to time – things happen when they happen.  Things happen when we are ready for them to take place.  To our minds, you just can’t do that.  It produces chaos.  You just don’t know where you are, or where you should be.  But, you know, actually, you can.  It does work, especially when it is the way in which everybody was operating.  You know, it was really liberating to stop wearing a watch and, mostly, not know exactly what time it was.  The real difficult was that I had to re-learn the conventional UK way when I returned, and I think it took rather longer than it should have.  Indeed, I am not quite sure that I have entirely got there yet.

Of course, we can’t ignore time, and commitments to do things at particular times, but perhaps we might make more of the bigger picture.

God, our great God, cares for us.  That is the other big thing to say here.  God accompanies us.  God sustains us.  God values us.  God loves us.  That is really important, and not least in these difficult times.  We need to know that God is with us.  We need to know that God cares about us.

This psalm is described as a prayer of Moses.  That’s there in the title.  Now, whether there is any truth in that or not, I don’t know.  I suspect not.  But what authors often did was to attribute their work to someone better known in order to add weight to it.  I want you, in your imagination, to come with me and Moses on a trip and to a place that he describes at the end of his life in a moment recorded at the beginning of Deuteronomy 34.  

We read: Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, and the Lord showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, the Negeb, and the Plain – that is the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees – as far as Zoar.  The Lord said to him, ‘This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, I will give it to your descendants.’  I want you to try and imagine hearing this psalm through Moses, standing there at Pisgah, Moses, at the end of his life, having done so much for God, but just taking a moment to contemplate the immensity of God, of God’s grace and love.  And yet, realising, as he stands, looking at the promised land, that he is not going to get there.  He has been headed in his direction all his life.  Tantalizingly, he can see it, but it is just out of reach.  He is able to look.  He can see the wonder of what lies ahead.  But he is not going to get to embrace the experience.  That is for someone else.  He is content to leave things with God, but that won’t have stopped him wishing that it were different, that he would have been the one to lead the people into the promised land.  After all, that’s been the whole point of this journey. 

Now, I am not going to suggest that we are in the same situation – because I don’t think we are.  But I do just wonder if there are a few links to be made.  We wish that this thing were over, that the virus had gone.  That’s a natural wish – just as Moses wished to get into the promised land.  Unlike Moses, we do have an expectation, and a reasonable one, that we will get to the other side of it.  But, for now, we have to be patient, to accept that things are as they are, even though we look for a better day.  Do you remember those words of the queen in the speech she made back in April – “We should take comfort that while we may have more still to endure, better days will return: we will be with our friends again; we will be with our families again; we will meet again.”

The psalm accepts that there are difficult times, but it reminds us that God is with us.  As Christians, we should be people of hope.  I fervently believe that – but the hope to which we are called is not a hope that buries its head in the sand.  Jesus himself calls us to weep with those who weep.  Sometimes I think that we have forgotten how to lament and the place that lament should have in our faith and theology.  When I think of the psalms as a whole, what tends to come first to my mind is the great notes of praise that they sound.  It is good to give thanks to the Lord.  O come, let us sing to the Lord.  And so on.  But actually there are only twenty one praise type psalms, while there are 58 psalms of lament.  That is more than a third of the psalms.  So, let’s lament our situation.,  There is nothing wrong with that – and it takes us to where we started and the cry of verse 13 – Turn, O Lord!  How long?  Have compassion on your servants.  

But let that not be the whole story.  Let us mix in that our context is as a community of hope.  Because, as the rest of the psalm reads, and I am back with The Message version as, with the psalmist, I say to God: “Surprise us with love at daybreak; then we’ll skip and dance all the day long.  Make up for the bad times with some good times; we’ve seen enough evil to last a lifetime.  Let your servants see what you’re best at— the ways you rule and bless your children.  And let the loveliness of our Lord, our God, rest on us, confirming the work that we do.”

'Watership Down' and Transformative Leadership

I recently came upon a fascinating piece on leadership. At least, I found it really interesting.

It comes from Faith and Leadership work at Duke Divinity School in the United States and Gretchen Ziegenhals reflects on what we can learn from Richard Adams’ 1972 story Watership Down.  The piece itself – found at https://faithandleadership.com/rabbits-rapscallions-and-transformative-leadership - is not recent, having been written over eleven years ago, but offers some useful thinking on good and effective leadership.

 

Ziegenhals suggests that, though it might seem an unlikely source for a leadership model, Hazel, the rabbit at the centre of the story, provides exactly that. She says: “Hazel does not set out to lead. He is an “outskirter”, one of the rank and file of ordinary rabbits. He gets wounded and limps through much of the book. Yet, as the novel unfolds, Hazel learns the qualities that make him into a transformative leader: courage, humility, compassion, as well as the ability to innovate, to integrate opposing ideas and to deal effectively with change.”

 

Hazel is not looking for leadership, but he comes to exercise it effectively. Of particular note is his recognition of the importance of listening, and his ability to innovate, especially as he deals with new situations. He builds community.

 

As Ziegenhals puts it; “Like Paul’s descriptions of the church as one body with many members, the rabbits learn what it means to be a warren of individuals living and working together.”

 

These reflections have certainly got me reaching for my copy of Watership Down.

Where is God calling us to put our energy today?

I received today the report of a consultation that I attended some time ago, and was especially struck by the reminder of the first question we considered on that occasion – which was: where is God calling us to put our energy today?

It is a really good – and important – question. It is so easy for us to get caught up in all sorts of lesser agendas. We get side-tracked by a whole range of things. Many of these are important, but not more so than this critical question.

 

I wonder if we are looking and listening for where it is that God wants us to put our energy, recognising that it might well be something that we are not expecting.

Just a little task ...

Closing worship reflection at my last Synod Meeting as Moderator of Eastern Synod prior to taking ip a post as Moderator of the National Synod of Scotland.

The reading was 1 Kings 19:11-16

I feel just a little bit like Elijah.  Elijah is coming to the end of his ministry.  There are just a few things left to do to wrap things up.  And I thought those things were all in Eastern Synod; but now I discover, they are not.  They’re in Scotland.  And, as my brother said in a message to me, it’s cold up there.  But still – like Elijah, it’s important to listen to God.

Elijah had had a tough time.  There’s the encounter with the prophets of Baal, recorded in chapter 18, with its remarkable ending, but then he flees the dreaded Queen Jezebel, and now, on the mountain, he’s looking for God.  How interesting that God is so often not what you expect to find God.  Not in the great wind.  Not in the earthquake.  Not in the fire.  And then the sound of silence.  And God’s voice comes, with a few little tasks to undertake.

Actually, Elijah’s were pretty big things.  Because – what’s the task set for Elijah in today’s passage?  Well, all he has got to do is to anoint a couple of kings and a prophet.  All in a day’s work.  Actually, if we read through the rest of 1 Kings and into the first couple of chapters of 2 Kings, we find that Elijah ends up with one or two other things to do as well.  But in today’s passage he is to anoint Hazael as King of Syria, Jehu as King of Israel and Elisha as his own successor as prophet.

I am rather hoping that my task might prove not quite as daunting.  But, whatever it is, I think there are three pointers in this passage that might help me, and might just help you as well.

The first is that challenging question – what are you doing here?  I wonder how we would answer if God were to ask that question of us now, here.  What are you doing here?  What are we doing here?  What are we up to?  What are we doing for God?  Now, I am sure there are answers that we can give to those questions.  But we need also to ask whether we are doing what it is that God wants us to do.

The second thing here for me is that central comment of Elijah’s in his response – I alone am left.  And I think that comment is important because we all sometimes feel like that.  I have felt like that, here in Eastern, but it happens, and it’ll happen in Scotland – and I will think: why did I leave Eastern?  When it is really not going well, when it even seems as though God is absent, how do we carry on?  When we feel that we are the only one left, have we what it takes to continue?

But that really brings me right to the third comment I want to make which is something about whether we are ready for God to surprise us.  I have comment on that aspect several times over the last few days.  You see, I think we are pretty good at mapping out what we think God should do, and I wonder how we cope when God has other ideas.  I can’t help thinking that Elijah wasn’t expecting to undertake a trio of anointings at this point.  But that was the task for the moment.  Are we ready to do what God wants us to do without question?  We need always to be ready to respond to God’s call, just as Elisha was.

As the commentator, Walter Brueggemann, says of this passage: “The address to the prophet who is still licking his wounds is a massive imperative: Go!  Go back to the conflict.  Go back to the trouble.  Go back to the risk.”

Is it time to ditch singing in church?

Probably not!  But it's an interesting thought. I am currently reading Andrew Dunlop's Out of Nothing: A Cross-Shaped Approach to Fresh Expressions and was struck by a comment he makes - "I regard communal singing as one of the most countercultural aspects of church - even though I happen to like it."

Is he on to something? It is certainly true that, aside from football matches and karaoke, church is one of the few places where adults regularly sing together - and it clearly feels very strange to unchurched folk on those occasions when we get them to come to church, usually for some special reason. We are having to re-imagine music in church thanks to the pandemic, and it is proving quite challenging - and I just wonder if there is a long-term lesson to learn. I am certainly not advocating removing music from church. It contributes a great deal, and will continue to do so. Music, after all, is a large part of life. It is just communal singing that is not so universally practised. 

Of course, there are few things more moving than a large congregation singing, whether enthusiastically or meditatively - but that's not what most of us experienced most Sunday before all this started back in March. Might there, at least, be room for a more mixed economy of how we do music in church?

Defining Fresh Expressions

 I am reading Andrew Dunlop’s Out of Nothing – sub-titled A Cross-Shaped Approach to Fresh Expressions. Clearly, Fresh Expressions id not the only form of church that exists, but I am interested in (and supportive of) what he identifies as the marks that make it church.

The first thing to say is that it is a form of church. It is not the only form that church can take, but it is genuine church.

 

The second thing is that fresh expressions emerge out of contemporary culture. These days church fails to ‘hit the spot’ for many. We need a church that relates to our culture.

 

The third point is that fresh expressions need to be established primarily with those who don’t already go to church. This is not a re-branding exercise to help those who are not satisfied with the existing model. This is trying to reach those who are currently not part of the Christian community.

 

As Dunlop says: “My understanding of the Gospels is that Jesus came to invite everybody to respond to living a life following him. If the message is to reach everyone, the church needs to find a way of reaching those  … who may have no background in church or Christian faith.”

 

That is a big ask, but that is the call.

Fellowship as a Holy Habit

Disagreeing doesn’t mean that we can’t have fellowship. We are different. We will disagree. Diversity is good. But we need to disagree well. However, I think it important to include this element in our thinking. We are human. Life, and the church, is messy, and can be chaotic. We need to recognise that, and not be too hard on either others or ourselves. It is also perfectly appropriate to hold different views on certain things. But we need to treat each other respectfully and in love. It is important to me that I can have, and be in fellowship, with folk with whom I disagree. It does not, of course, mean that any significant/serious issues should be ignored. Those are in a different category that is not part of this Holy Habit. 

In Romans 16 Paul specifically and personally greets a whole bunch of the Roman Christians. Quite a lot of people are named. That is significant. Together they form the Christian community in Rome. Paul wants them to get on with each other in the right way, to be in fellowship. That’s why he warns them about what can go wrong. 

But what does fellowship look like? It’s probably not all that easy to describe it. It looks like you and I getting on with each other, working together, supporting each other as we seek to be disciples … intentionally trying to form the Holy Habit of fellowship. I guess the word that works best is love.

We get a helpful description in 1 John 3:14-18 – “We know that we have passed from death to life because we love one another

............  This is a brief extract from my YouTube video, made for Eastern Synod, offering a reflecton on the Holy Habit of Fellowship - to see the whole thing - Fellowship as a Holy Habit (Eastern Synod URC)

Spiritual Formation

In many ways Henri Nouwen's Spiritual Formation follows on from his Spiritual Direction. Certainly it also has some really helpful pointers with respect to the spiritual life. I like what he says about our realising how hungry we are for God - "we need to begin with a careful look at the way we think, speak, feel, and act from hour to hour, day to day, week to week, and year to year, in order to become more fully aware of our hunger for the Spirit." 

Three things particularly struck me.

In the first place, he points out how we need to let the Bible speak to us. "The Bible does not speak to us as long as we want only to use it. But when we are willing to hear the Word as a word for us, sacred scripture can disclose itself, and its message can penetrate into the centre of our hearts." In other words, if we just treat the Bible as a book, it is not going to have much impact on us. We need to recognise that it actually is something else.

Secondly, he emphasises the importance of silence. "Without silence the Word of God cannot bear fruit. One of the most depressing aspects of contemporary life is the almost complete absence of silence." We live in a noisy world. We surround ourselves with sound. Sometimes we need to discover what the Simon and Garfunkel song once called 'the sound of silence'.

Thirdly, as followers of Jesus, we are part of a community. (Maybe that is a particularly helpful reminder in these days when there is so much talk about self isolation!) Nouwen says - "Christian spirituality is essentially communal. Spiritual formation is formation in community. One’s personal prayer life can never be understood if it is separated from community life." Of course, we need the solitary, the personal, the private. But we also need the corporate, and to remember that we are part of a community.

However, I think the little section of this book that I most like, and that made the greatest impact on me, is Nouwen's reminder that Communion is a feast that we are celebrating. It doesn't just help us along. It totally sustains us. As Nopuwen puts it - "Jesus never said, “Munch and sip” the bread and wine. He said, “Eat me up, drink me empty, take it all in. Don’t hold back. I want to become part of you. I want you to become part of me. I don’t want to be separate anymore. I want to live within you, so that when you eat and drink, I disappear because I am within you. I want to make my home in you, and invite you to make your home in me.” (See John 6:53–58.)"

Spiritual Direction

Henri Nouwen has long been one of my favourite writers. His gentle probing of questions around spirituality, ministry and relationships, especially our relationship with God frequently speak helpfully to me. Spiritual Direction is one of a number of Nouwen books that was not written as such by him, but put together after his death with editors using notes and unpublished scripts. I am glad that this additional sharing of Nouwen's insights continues.

In this book he considers the value of spiritual direction and, even more particularly, the importance of making space for God. It is a timely reminder in a society which places so many demands on us.

Just asking, as he does, simple, but important, questions is immensely valuable - "How is your prayer life? How are you making space in your life for God to speak?"  He recognises the value of letting the gospel stories soak into our lives and considering where we might be in those stories - "The more we let the events of Christ’s life inform and form us, the more we will be able to connect our own daily stories with the great story of God’s presence in our lives. Thus, the discipline of the Church, as a community of faith, functions as our spiritual director by directing our hearts and minds to the One who makes our lives truly eventful."

He also reminds us that to try and come up with all the answers is not likely to be a fruitful search. We need to recognise that God is bigger than us and, at least sometimes, to simply 'be' with God. There is nothing wrong with searching. The gospels tell many stories of people going searching for Jesus. There are things to be found, but there are others things that are beyond us.

Nouwen puts it like this - "To those with serious struggles and burning questions, I want to reach out with compassion and say: “You seek answers to what cannot be fully known. I don’t know either, but I will help you search. I offer no solutions, no final answers. I am as weak and limited as you are. But we are not alone. Where there is charity and love, God is there. Together, we form community. Together we continue the spiritual search.”"

Joseph

In Joseph: A Story of Resilience Meg Warner brings together her skills and knowledge of the Old Testament and of dealing with trauma. She explores the Joseph story with particular reference to the traumatic events in which he got caught up and, as she demonstrates, there is plenty to learn about resilience, and that is an important and much needed message today.

As she comments -  "Resilience allows a person to take stresses and strains in their stride and to continue on. This doesn’t necessarily mean that he or she doesn’t feel the cost or pain of a difficult or traumatic experience, or take some time out to come to terms with it, but just that the resilient person is able to pull themselves up afterwards and to continue on – perhaps noticing that the difficult experience has made them stronger, in some respect, than they had been before."

Joseph makes his way through a series of traumas, but ends up demonstrating the value and possibilities of resilience. Joseph, admittedly, does not always respond well. He can be manipulative, even cruel. Resilience is not all good, but it has its part to play.

Warner makes this point well - "I’ve come to the conclusion, I think, that resilience is morally neutral – rather like fire or stories. We need resilience if we are to live well, but it can be a bit lethal if allowed to get out of hand. It is important, even necessary, to learn resilience in order to get on in our stressful and traumatized modern world. Without it, we are unlikely to be in a position to bring the full force of our own particular contributions and gifts to the world. Christians, however, will want to consider resilience within a framework of Christian ethics of behaviour. For a Christian, one’s own resilience can and must never be foremost – the quest for resilience should not be allowed to trump Jesus’ injunction to love neighbour as oneself in any but situations of the greatest crisis."

We do really need a bit of resilience, but better still to live well, demonstrating Christ's light as we love our neighbour.

Being Faithful

I mentioned Ben Norton's Espresso Scriptures a few days ago. I have been dipping into them the way they were originally intended to be read, one (or, in my case, usually two) at a time and allowing them to sink in and be pondered.

I was very struck bt one I read yesterday, and think it well worth sharing. I think it has a lot to say to, and about, today's society.

The Scripture is Psalm 89:2 - I know that your love will last for all time, that your faithfulness is as permanent as the sky.

Ben comments - I wonder when the last time was that you were faithful? So often we only hear about people being unfaithful, and being faithful is something that we take for granted. But I think that's the problem: if we don't focus on being faithful, we can slip into unfaithfulness. I am not just talking about relationships, but being faithful to who we are and what we believe in. The people who wrote the psalms really understood that God's faithfulness is an amazing concept, which brings some real security in life.

Spend some time this week thinking about what it was you wanted to achieve and who you wanted to become. And then ask yourself, "Am I being faithful?"

Models of Leadership - Peter - the 'rock that moved'

As we look at Peter we can identify -

a)  the commitment of the leader - Mark 1:16-18. Peter (Simon) left everything - family, house, friends, work, village - to follow Jesus.

b)  the responsibility of the leader - Matthew 16:18-19. Jesus has a task for each of us.

c)  the special experience of the leader - Mark 9:2-4. God gives us very special moments to inspire and support us.

d)  the leader's need to learn - John 13:5-10. None of us know everything.

e)  the failure of the leader - Mark 14:71-72. As leaders we are not perfect and need to recognise that we do not always do the right thing.

f)  the restoration of the leader - John 21:15-17. God forgives us.

g)  the proclamation of the leader - Acts 2:14. The leader should proclaim the message given to her/him by God.

h)  the prayer of the leader - Acts 3:1. Prayer is the source of our power.

i)  the vision of the leader - Acts 10:9-10. We should respond to the visions God gives us.

j)  the guidance of the leader - Acts 10:34. It is not the leader's task to take all the decisions, but sometimes we need to offer guidance and advice.

k)  the leader's depenence on the prayers of other believers - Acts 12:5.

Models of Leadership - Deborah - God's 'bee'

We are calling her God's 'bee', because that is what her name means in Hebrew. She, the first judicial official mentioned in the Bible, is a married woman - Judges 4/5.

Deborah produced the 'honey' of fellowship and community. She was available to the people.

Deborah produced the 'honey' of discernment as an effective judge.

Deborah produced the 'honey' of motivation - specifically, we read how she encouraged Barak to obey the Lord's command.

Deborah produced the 'honey' of support. Her presence imparted strength.

Models of Leadership - Jeremiah - Reluctant Leader

One of the church's challenges is to find good and ellective leaders. Many are reluctant to take on the task. If you are called to leadership, but reluctant you are in good company. There are many Biblical examples, notably Jeremiah. Moses was another.

Jeremiah was mocked and his life was threatened leading to his wishing to escape his prophetic calling. Maybe we also wish to abandon some aspect of our Christian service? But, maybe, like Jeremiah, we will also discover we cannot abandon our call. Jeremiah found that it was like a fire within him that could not be put out. God does call us to take risks, but always provides the resources we need.

Espresso Scriptures

I have been reading Ben Norton's Espresso Scriptures. It's a bit like a thought for the day, or for the week - and something any of us could do.

The book - published by Proost - started with Ben sending a daily email to a bunch of folk interested in spirital things.  There is a brief quote from Scripture, and then a brief reflection - a bit like a Bible study in brief, to put it another way. Ben himself calls it 'guerilla qorship'.

I think it's a great idea. Let me cite just one.

The Scripture is from Luke 10:39-42, quite a bit longer than many Ben uses -

She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’

But Ben's comment on this one is very brief -

Stillness is a lost art. Do you make time to do nothing but be still? Try seeking out some silence this week. It will be interesting to find out what you hear ...

God and the Pandemic

“The world is weeping right now. The initial calling of the Church, first and foremost, is to take our place humbly among the mourners. Grief, after all, is part of love.”

Tom Wright’s “God and the Pandemic” takes a realistic and helpful look both at what we might make of the pandemic, and at what we might say into the situation in which we find ourselves.

Rightly, in my view, he avoids both easy answers, but also blaming God. The most important thing for the moment is indeed to weep with the world. Pandemics and other major traumas are not there to be explained. In many ways what matters is to look through what is happening to what might be, whether that be reverting to life as we used to know it, or, as seems far more likely in the current circumstances, some kind of ‘new normal’ (though not one that we can yet define). Wright uses the Israelites facing famine as a model – “when the famine strikes the Middle East, they don’t say ‘Ah, this is because we’ve sinned’. They say, ‘We’ve heard there is corn in Egypt.’ They are not looking backwards at what might have caused the problem. They are looking forward to see what needs to be done.”

There is a lot to be said for such an approach. There is no doubt that we have messed up the creation. That is not a lead-in to saying that we have caused the pandemic. That doesn’t fit my theology at all. But what does work for my understanding is to look and see how we can grow the Kingdom, how can we more nearly make things be as they should. As Wright puts it – “one of the great principles of the kingdom of God – the principle that God’s kingdom, inaugurated through Jesus, is all about restoring creation the way it was meant to be. God always wanted to work in his world through loyal human beings. That is part of the point of being made ‘in God’s image’.”

The essential thing is to stand with the world. That is what Jesus did. As Tom Wright would encourage us to recognize – “Jesus does not need church buildings for his work to go forward. Part of the answer to the question, ‘Where is God in the pandemic?’ must be, ‘Out there on the front line, suffering and dying to bring healing and hope.’”

Gospel Challenges - Being a Neighbour

Matthew 25 reports something important about how we respond to others. We know it well; but do we live by it? I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me sonething to drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. ..... truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me!

Is it not an indictment on the church and society that we still can, all too easily, identify those who might be dubbed the outcast or the marginalised? We need to learn to take seriously Christ's instruction that we are to be seen as his hands, feet, voice - that we have the job of offering his love. We need to see Christ in our needy neighbour.

Gospel Challenges - Loving Enemies

Another big Gospel challenge comes on the question of enemies. Even the best of us really want to keep them at a distance. That is the best we manage. Some of us want to actively find ways of disadvantaging, if not actually attacking, them, but the words of Jesus turn us round from such an attitude: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. For Jesus love is the response to everything and everyone. So, I wonder what other Gospel standards it might be worth our while to measure ourselves against? Perhaps one would be our tendency to judge others, and the gospel instruction to refrain from doing so - do not judge others.

That instruction can be aligned to the poignant picture of the chap who goes round with a huge great log stuck in his eye trying to persuade others that they ought to scoop out the tiny specks that are there in their eyes. Is there not a lot here for us? Do we not repeatedly spend our time worrying about what we regard as the misdemeanours of others when we would do well to expend that energy sorting out ourselves?

Gospel Challenges - Forgiveness

Some of the most challenging aspects of the Gospel come in the Sermon on the Mount. For instance, there's the thing about revenge which links into Jesus' discussion with Peter about forgiveness. Peter bravely suggests that he would be prepared to offer seven loads of forgiveness and expects to be commended for his generosity. Instead, he is challenged to multiply his offer by seventy. and that is so ridiculous in terms of counting it up, that it clearly means forgiveness without limit. I wonder where we stand when we measure ourselves up against the Gospel's comments on forgiveness. I rather suspect that, like Peter, we tend to think that seven is a pretty good offer. We like to be forgiven; but there are limits to what we can seriously be expected to do. Jesus doesn't only say that we should be prepared to let someone take advantage of us, as we would see it. He says that we should willingly increase what they ask of us. The damage, as it were, should be doubled. How seriously do we take the challenge of these words - but if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.

Virus as a Summons to Faith

I have just read Walter Brueggemann’s “Virus as a Summons to Faith: Biblical Reflections in a Time of Loss, Grief, and Uncertainty”. It is an interesting reflection on what faith says to a time of pandemic.

Brueggemann explores how the Bible, especially the Old Testament, addresses such moments. Citing Jeremiah, he points out the futility of suggesting that God somehow magically sorts out the things that go drastically wrong – “More than any other witness in the Old Testament, Jeremiah leans most deeply and most honestly into the disaster of his people. He takes the failure of social assemblies as a sign of the death of the city. When the city cannot assemble for rites of passage it is sure evidence that social life has failed. Indeed among us, it is only the foolish who insist on assembling, among them pastors who insist that Jesus will protect us from the virus.”

However, he also makes clear that the note of hope is still to be sounded – “The prophet anticipates that in this place of waste, disaster, and devastation the sounds of festival celebration will again be heard. Life will resume in its rich social thickness. Amid the sounds of social gladness there will be songs of thank offering sung to the God who restores and revivifies.”

The point is that we need to be ready to move on, and actively looking to do so, tempting thought it may be to do otherwise. “In our moment of fear and insecurity, we may be tempted to hold on to what was once safe and secure. Prophetic tradition knows, to the contrary, that the future does not reside in old treasured realities. It belongs, rather, to bold faithful thought that evokes bold faithful action. This has always been the prophetic task, and it is now, in this freighted moment, our prophetic task. The new thing God is making possible is a world of generous, neighborly compassion.” The essential message is that God is with us, come what may, but, alongside that, is a reminder that change is part of the given patterns of life, and if there are things that are challenging us to a greater change than usual – “We can embrace a new normal that is God’s gift to us!”

Adjusting will be challenging – “newness is never cozy; it arrives through a struggle that turns out to be birth, though along the way the struggle might have been mistaken for death pangs. Newness is not easy for the God who will create a homecoming for exiles, according to this poet. Newness is not easy in creation that is too long in the grip of deathliness.”

Hearing God's Voice

God speaks in many different ways.

Moses saw a bush on fire, but not burning up. He went to investigate and found himself having an encounter with the living God - the God who, then and there, called him to lead his people out of Egyptian slavery to the new promised land, flowing with milk and honey. It's all there in Exodus 3 and 4 and, though he really did not want to go, he eventually did respond positively to the call of God.

Paul was stopped in his tracks by a blinding (literally) light on the way to Damascus - and he found himself going to join those whom he had originally been  planning to persecute - that's in Acts 9.

Isaiah also saw a vision - though he was in church at the time or, as we should really say, the temple. In Isaiah 6 we read about the amazing vision seen by Isaiah, and his fearful response to the call of God - woe is me, I am lost - for I am a man of unclean lips! But God gives him the cleansing touch that he needs so that he is able to change his response and say - here am I, send me!

Jacob had one of the most remarkable encounters with God. He wrestled with God - Genesis 32. This is one of the most interesting stories of the Old Testament, and we can be sure that after this Jacob was marked both physically and mentally.

Elijah was one of those who heard the soft whisper of a voice - 1 Kings 19. He expected something much more spectacular, but it was not to be. God just quietly and calmly told Elijah what he wanted him to know.

Samuel was sleeping when he thought he heard someone calling - 1 Samuel 3.

David had the prophet come by and anoint him with oil - 1 Samuel 16.

Jeremiah felt an inner compulsion - Jeremiah 1, but also Jeremiah 20:9.

For the Ethiopian official in Acts 8 it was an encounter with a Christian that led him to meet the one who would become his Lord. Philip, specially placed there by God, took the opportunity that opened up before him and this man, in his turn, responded to the opportunity.

For Lydia - in Acts 16 - it was the preaching of Paul that was the spur that moved her into a brand new experience that surely revolutionised her life. She responded to the proclamation of the Gospel.

And for John  Wesley it was a remarkable inner feeling that God had just touched him in a very special way - "In the evening I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther's preface to the epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone for salvation; and an assurance was given me that he had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."