Actions & Consequences

1 Samuel 22:6-23 tells the story of what happened next after David had sought sanctuary, food and weapons from the priest Ahimelek at Nob. It’s a sad story, with Saul’s paranoia and murderous rage being given free rein, and Doeg the Edomite willing not only to betray David by telling Saul what he had seen but also to kill not only the priests at Nob but the innocent infants, children and livestock there. It’s a sober reminder to us all that ‘a man reaps what he sows’ (Gal 6:9) and that there are always consequences to our actions.

We live in a fallen world, marred by sin. Saul, by this time, is thoroughly consumed by jealousy and terror, unable to listen to reason, seeing conspiracy and treachery everywhere. Being in a position of power in this state was disastrous for individuals (85 priests were killed in one day) but also for a nation called to be the people of God. Doeg the Edomite was unscrupulous, wishing to curry favour with the king, so when other officials balked at the command to kill God’s priests, he had no such qualms. David wrote about him in Psalm 52, reflecting that the evil man must be left to God’s justice. It must have been extremely difficult for David to see evil flourishing all around him, but he promised Abiathar, the only survivor of the senseless massacre, protection. (1 Sam 22:22-23) We cannot avoid the consequences of sin around us, but we can act in right ways ourselves when we see evil flourish.

February Fun Day

We had a great family fun day this week during the half-term holidays,with 117 people attending.The theme was love (it was Valentine’s Day and Ash Wednesday)..Our thanks to all who helped and to all who came!

 

We had lots of craft activities based on the theme of love:

Lent Bible Studies

Throughout Lent, we will be looking at everyday household objects and Bible passages and seeing how the two connect (for our faith is lived out in the everyday world, which for most of us, most of the time, is quite ordinary and humdrum.) A friend of mine made the comment yesterday “I love the things you bring out of things that happen to you.” Jesus did exactly that, telling stories about the ordinary stuff of life – sheep, building, weddings and so on – and linking these to spiritual truth.
Throughout Lent we will be looking at the book “At Home In Lent” by Gordon Giles and meeting on Fridays at 12 p.m. from 23 February until 22 March to have lunch together and to talk about all we have read to see how we can apply these things to our lives. You are welcome to join us.
The first everyday object in the book is the door. The first Bible passage is in Revelation 3:20-22, where Jesus stands at the door and knocks.
Holman Hunt’s famous painting ‘Light of the World’ (which I saw regularly when I lived at Keble College, Oxford) shows a door with no handle on the outside. We are the ones who must open the door to Jesus when He knocks.
Doors let people in (and keep people out.) They are the gateway to our homes. Easter reminds us of the extraordinary lengths God went to to enter our world to be available and present to our lives. Let’s open the doors of our hearts and welcome Him in.

Ash Wednesday, Valentine’s Day

Today is both Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day – and our Family Fun Day at GPCC between 10 a.m. and 12 p.m.
Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, that period of time leading up to Easter when traditionally we give up something we like (coffee, tea, biscuits, chocolate, a game or hobby) to focus our minds on the suffering of Christ and to prepare ourselves for Easter. Self-denial, Jesus said, is a necessary part of following Him: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” (Mark 8:34)
This is not a popular teaching. Denying ourselves goes against our natural instincts and against the world’s ways. Lent is not a highly regarded part of the Christian calendary by anyone looking on. We must prefer the slushy romantic ideals of a highly secularised Valentine’s Day to the idea of suffering and sacrifice.
But Lent, like Advent, is all about preparation, and it was God’s love which motivated His giving (John 3:16), so the two celebrations are actually inter-connected. Just as in Advent we have to let our hearts prepare Him room, so in Lent, we have to learn to grow up, to see suffering (and life) the way God sees it. That giving of self, that sacrifice of Jesus, was the ultimate expression of love. In this period, we learn to walk in the ways of our Saviour, ways that end in death AND resurrection.

Musings on a burn

Just under two weeks ago I burned my arm when taking a dish out of the oven. I misjudged the distance and caught my wrist on the oven shelf which was understandably hot. A thin line of a burn formed, the visible evidence of my lapse.
Initially it hurt and went red, a sign that my body’s immune system was working as it should. After that, it no longer hurt, though the red weal was enough to draw comment from others.
This morning I woke to intense itching from the burn and found the protective layer of skin peeling off. This is the next stage in the healing process. Gradually the burn will fully heal; I may be left with a scar, but often, the miracle of healing leaves us with no visible reminder of our folly.
This itching stage is irritating if not painful. It can be hard to resist the urge to scratch; it can be hard not to peel the top layer of skin off. Rather like the child who wants to pull the wobbly tooth out before it is ready, I’m impatient to move on to the next stage, to ‘hurry’ healing along.
Often we are impatient for the next stage, for the next thing that God will do. We see the signs of spring – lighter mornings and evenings, snowdrops bursting forth in fragile glory – and we long for spring itself – but we still have more than a month to go! We see signs of God working in people’s lives – perhaps a question or a conversation – and want to hurry them into the kingdom of God, aware of the urgency of our need of salvation.
But there is a time for everything, God says, and no amount of impatience will change that. Change, healing, salvation – they all take longer than we wish. I know if I scratch my burn and peel skin off before it’s ready, I will actually delay the healing process. I know that waiting is not a waste of time, however frustrating it feels. One morning soon I will wake up and see healed skin, knitted together by God. How I need to transfer this faith to the spiritual world and wait for God to do what only HE can. He doesn’t need my interference (however well-meaning that is.) He will work for good at the right time.

Musings on song lyrics

My grandchildren are involved in a musical theatre and dance class and are learning songs from ‘Matilda the Musical’ as part of this. ‘Matilda the Muscal’ is a show based on the Roald Dahl story of a little girl who overcomes the constraints of a vicious headteacher to flourish and grow. There’s a strong emphasis in the show on Matilda’s resourcefulness and intelligence and on the need to challenge injustice:

‘Even if you’re little, you can do a lot,/ You mustn’t let a little thing like ‘little’ stop you’ goes one song (‘Naughty’). The song rails against what it perceives as fatalism in stories (citing the nursery rhyme ‘Jack and Jill’, the tragedy ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and the fairytale ‘Cinderella’) as examples of this attitude which is deplorable. The song urges resistance: ‘Just because you find that life’s no fair/ It doesn’t mean that you just have to grin and bear it/ If you always take it on the chin and wear it/ Nothing will change.’

I understand the tenor of the song and there is indeed a place for defiance and a refusal to accept injustice. Much change over the centuries has come as people, including Christians, have spoken out and campaigned against evil; the motivation for social justice and change has often come from Christians who know God’s ways over the world’s ways. But I still find elements of the song disquieting, particularly the line ‘Nobody else is gonna put it right for me/ Nobody but me is going to change my story!’

This is where I part company with the song, where I cannot agree with the lyrics. Because the Gospel story tells us that this is a lie. Only God can ultimately change our story. Moses had to speak up for justice to Pharaoh, but it was God who struck Egypt with plagues and parted the Red Sea to allow His people to move into freedom. Only God could save us from our sin by stepping into our world and changing us and the world through His Son, Jesus.

Resistance and a passion for justice are definitely part of the Gospel message. But the notion that it’s all down to us, that we are the only ones who can change our story, is not true. Christianity is the story of God changing our story and doing for us what we could not do for ourselves. Self-help won’t get us to heaven. Only Jesus can do that for us.