Word in the Hand

Mark’s Gospel is the shortest of the Gospels; the oldest and, in many ways, the most down to earth. It doesn’t seem to have the agenda that the Jewish Matthew puts on his or the Gentile Luke on his. It’s an easy Gospel to read – the memories of Peter; a straightforward man. So this End of Days chapter is not really about THE END but it is a bit of a wake up call. Our relationship with Jesus, my relationship with Jesus, is very often guided by the idea of his humanity. That he lives a normal life; that I can imagine the type of person he is; that I can empathise with what he is trying to do – as a man. I often pray to him as a brother - as he tells us to, and feel comfortable with the idea – although, obviously the most ideal of brothers. And that can be a problem – that we forget that Jesus always carries within him that otherness that is God; that is as much him as his humanity. the Incarnation isn’t a body going spare with God in it – he is God made Man. And so his Mission isn’t just...

Reflection It’s funny how some things that the Lord tells us seems to mean more to him than others. Surely, more important to where the Gospel writers are coming from; everything the Lord says must be important you would think? Yet even Jesus seems to have his favourite subjects. Jesus is watching a woman in the Temple; one of the little ones; the poor ones; the ‘don’t really matter’ ones and perhaps, as he is watching her, he is reminded of his own mother. Perhaps he is reminded of the scrimping and saving that she had to do before and after Joseph’s death. After all; there was no likelihood that they were a well-off family. Joseph was no more than an odd-job man and their place in the community is suggested by the comments of those who hear Jesus preach – ‘this is only the carpenter’s son’, ‘only Mary’s son’ – with the veiled addition of ‘who does he think he is?’ Yet it seems that Jesus is certainly brought up to be a good Jew; to know about the traditions of his faith; to know them...

I was one voice, Lord Singing your faithfulness and your compassion A song that repeated my own heart ‘I will love you always’. The heavens caught the air Stars bursting with melody across the skies The metre marking light speed In praise of Love eternal. As above, so below The rhythm of Earth’s lifeblood throbbed. The cadence of the tides Love’s own heartbeat. The compass of the Universe turned Drawing harmony and counterpoint together Creation wove the score in rainbow shades A celestial symphony. Magnificent, but too much I am just one voice in this song of the spheres And all so far above me I have lost my place. Only a sigh, Lord But a remembering of where we first met In the pause between breaths In the rest of a heartbeat. That is where you are, Lord The music refined by the mystery of your Presence Your song to me in the spaces between ‘Always, I will love you’. wordinthehand09

I rest in the Sanctuary of the Lord Knowing that God alone is my refuge. I am deafened by the worlds demands Overwhelmed by its rages and torments The seas swell and the mountains quake The uproar of mans greed echoes through the night Angry voices call out for revenge Broken hearts for rescue. But not here Here is a Holy Place This, my refuge Deep as a mountain pool Hopeful as the dawn sun The home of the Most High Heart’s ease is here Soul’s friend is here Spirit’s food is here My Lord and my God The Lord speaks and the world melts away Be still and know that I am God Be still and know Be still wordinthehand09

Reflection If we ever worry about how well we are, or are not, doing at being a good Christian; at being Christ-like; we should not be too hard on ourselves. Think about the disciples that lived and were taught by Jesus, all those years ago. They had the benefit of weeks, months and years in his company; of understanding the importance of sheep and fish and vineyards; of seeing the mannerisms and nuances that accompanied the parables and the teachings. They had the benefit of ‘being there’. And yet, still they got it wrong; regularly and outstandingly. They saw what Jesus did and still did not always see that they were meant to be like him. Maybe they saw his behaviour as eccentricity to attract the masses or to ridicule the Temple. They were right and (at a push) left hand men; there must have been some authority in their closeness to the Lord; something that marked them out as ‘better’. Surely they were not meant to be poor, persecuted or meek; surely they were not to be servants and...

Reflection Many of us feel that this life is a journey and that the time that we spend here, whether good or bad, are footsteps that lead us towards the Kingdom and towards God. Some of us are fortunate enough to be sure that we are always on the right path; that we are doing our best and that Jesus is with us already as we travel. Our prayers are full of hope and thanks for his company. On the other hand, some of us are less confident about the pathways; less sure that the turns we take are still heading the right way; less optimistic of Jesus’ presence and are struck by the feeling we are struggling to do it on our own. For those of us who feel blinded by our own doubts and fears –prayers have a different meaning. When we pray it is a calling out to the dark; asking for God’s hand, God’s eye, God’s voice. ‘Let me know you are there!’ But not really expecting an answer. And then, suddenly, the dark replies; but it is not dark, it is light; blinding light full of Grace. After all your...

Reflection Recently, we have been talking about becoming less – less of who and what we want to be; less of what the world expects; less involved in ambition or climbing social ladders. As we give away more and more; how should becoming less and less make us feel? As we give up more, we become poorer, and what does that mean? What it should mean, and certainly why anyone would want to do it, is that we become happier and more centred in who we are. Once we have turned the idea of less being a negative we can start to appreciate what it is we are doing. We all know that there are ways where ‘less’ turns what seems a negative into a positive; we can lose weight; we can become less stressed; we can de-clutter our houses and our lives. Once we start discarding what we don’t really want we can start to focus on what we do really need. Like martial arts practitioners, climbers or even fishermen we can pay attention to what is important, to what the goal is. I wonder if that is why Jesus star...

Reflection One of us I was told on good authority this week that there are now over 60,000 ‘Christian’ denominations in the world all claiming to know the Truth. Only a few years ago it was 30.000; what is happening to the Truth? It seems that, like beauty, Truth is in the eye of the beholder and if you don’t agree, then you are not one of the chosen; not one of us. People are being exiled or founding new churches on the strength of a translation, an idea, a tradition, a taste in music or prayer. As had been mentioned recently we are in danger of becoming church-ians. How dreadful; how human. Jesus warned us that our faith would mean that we would be criticised and persecuted; that our faith would set brother against brother but did he mean within the faith itself? Surely not? What happened to the communities of the early church who lived wonderfully together? When did being a Christian mean judging other Christians? It seems since forever; as the disciples did it; Paul’s communities ...

Reflection Turning the World upside down When you look at the world that we live in and then read or hear about the world God wants us to live in; It’s really no wonder that God had to send his Son to us to teach us God’s way. There is really no time in our lives that we are taught that it is ok to be last, some of us have problems with being second! In our lives we are meant to progress and even that doesn’t mean climbing over others on the way to the top – it certainly means making sure that your own needs and desires are considered as important as everyone else’s. And isn’t that right? Isn’t that what equality is all about? And didn’t God make us all equal? So, if we are all equal, how can it be right that we be last? Amazing how good we get at arguing our case. Jesus came into the world in the most un-godly way – born of a woman of no account, in the worst of conditions and most unremarkable of places. The world would almost accept it if this pathetic start then soared into astoni...

Reflection Who said it would be easy? I have said it before – I am a plain man. I know what I know - fish, tides, sail. The calling I could not deny. There is something to him that reminds of the stories told by the seafarers – of sirens who sing across the oceans. When he speaks there is nothing to do but listen; when he looks at you – you never want him to look away. There is some truth of that in why I am here, I admit it, yet I am a plain man. And sometimes that is how he seems – a plain man - he asks a plain question – and the answer is clear – love, kindness, compassion, forgiveness. But the answer is not what you have been living; as though he has called some truth out of you that did not fit the world. The answer complicates your simple life by showing that it is wrong; a simple truth that reveals a life of lies. When he asked ‘who do you say I am?’ why didn’t I just go with the others? I wanted to; I wanted him just to be a man; to be my friend and companion; to be my teache...

Reflection Can you hear me? What I like most about the healing miracles is that the Lord almost always makes contact with the sufferer; he touches them with his hands; he makes mud out of dirt and spit, or just spit. It is as though the creator in him just has to make a few minor adjustments that quality control didn’t catch when they were first made. Of course, that’s not true – God sees all of us as perfect and our imperfections are usually judgements that we make on ourselves and on others. But if that is the case then why heal them – why should the Lord enter into the same judgement space as us? We end up looking at the argument around suffering – if God can stop it (so easily) then why doesn’t he? But maybe the miracles aren’t meant to deal with the physical bodily healing – impressive to the onlookers but easily dismissed or explained away now. Maybe they are there to give us another message It may well be that the blind and the dumb man were actually no ‘better’ once they were h...