Category: bible

2017: Advent Faith #6


(Photo: Lindy Twaddle)

Jeremiah 1:4-10  (NIV UK)

4 The word of the Lord came to me, saying,

5 ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
      before you were born I set you apart;
      I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.’

6 ‘Alas, Sovereign Lord,’ I said, ‘I do not know how to speak; I am too young.’

7 But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not say, “I am too young.” You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,’ declares the Lord.

9 Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, ‘I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.’

Reflection

A religion that skates over the top of our real experience of life is going to hold few attractions for the man or woman of our times.

We want a faith that addresses us where we are … reaches deep into the secret fears and deep-seated anxieties that are part of the reality of our personality … faith that brings strength or peace, or answers to nagging questions that refuse to go away.

Prayer

Lord, teach us how to speak about our faith in you – without arrogance or embarrassment – but with the gentle integrity of someone who knows the One they speak about. Amen.

 

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Church of Scotland Advent Calendar
Journey daily with characters in the Nativity through video, reflection and prayer

 

TIP … from the blog
Circle me, Lord
includes a video of a 6-year-old sharing the benefits of encircling prayer when our faith falters.

2017: Advent Faith #5


(Photo: Lindy Twaddle)

Hosea 6:1-6  (NIV UK)

1 ‘Come, let us return to the Lord.
     He has torn us to pieces
            but he will heal us;
     he has injured us
            but he will bind up our wounds.
2 After two days he will revive us;
            on the third day he will restore us,
            that we may live in his presence.
3 Let us acknowledge the Lord;
            let us press on to acknowledge him.
     As surely as the sun rises,
            he will appear;
     he will come to us like the winter rains,
            like the spring rains that water the earth.’
4 ‘What can I do with you, Ephraim?
            What can I do with you, Judah?
     Your love is like the morning mist,
            like the early dew that disappears.
5 Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets,
            I killed you with the words of my mouth –
            then my judgments go forth like the sun.
6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
            and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.

Reflection

This faith of ours is not about whether the cups and plates are washed right, or whether the correct procedural hoops have been negotiated; or whether we have “gone through channels”. It is about love – and love is risky and messy and disruptive and scary.

Prayer

Lord, you have no interest in the externals of religious practice and procedure – why did we ever think you had? With you, Lord it is all about the heart. Set my heart right with you … keep my heart right with you. Amen.

 

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Church of Scotland Advent Calendar
Journey daily with characters in the Nativity through video, reflection and prayer

 

TIP
The wells of salvation
The blog post that inspired me to adopt a theme of the month.

2017: Advent Faith #4


(Photo: Lindy Twaddle)

Micah 5:1-5a  (NIV UK)

1 Marshal your troops now, city of troops,
            for a siege is laid against us.
      They will strike Israel’s ruler
            on the cheek with a rod.
2 ‘But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
            though you are small among the clans of Judah,
      out of you will come for me
            one who will be ruler over Israel,
      whose origins are from of old,
            from ancient times.’
3 Therefore Israel will be abandoned
            until the time when she who is in labour bears a son,
      and the rest of his brothers return
            to join the Israelites.
4 He will stand and shepherd his flock
            in the strength of the Lord,
            in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
      And they will live securely, for then his greatness
            will reach to the ends of the earth.
5 And he will be our peace
            when the Assyrians invade our land
            and march through our fortresses.

Reflection

In those dark moments when we wonder if anyone cares, or if we matter to anyone, a feeling that crushes us and weighs us down … an emotional dead weight on our soul … in those moments of emotional confusion … when the outlook is bleak … the faith of the Church rings across the centuries, sending a message of confidence and hope into the very fibres of our soul: ‘a mother may forget her child’ (Isaiah 49:15), but God will never reject us, or forget how important we are to him.

Prayer

Bethlehem today is a bustling town full of issues and hurts, pressure points and broken dreams. Lord, comfort your children there, and in all the other Bethlehems, wherever the divide between possibility and reality is so painfully obvious.

 

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Church of Scotland Advent Calendar
Journey daily with characters in the Nativity through video, reflection and prayer

 

2017: Advent Faith #3


(Photo: Lindy Twaddle)

Micah 4:6-13  (NIV UK)

6 ‘In that day,’ declares the Lord,
 
      ‘I will gather the lame;
            I will assemble the exiles
      and those I have brought to grief.
7 I will make the lame my remnant,
            those driven away a strong nation.
      The Lord will rule over them in Mount Zion
            from that day and for ever.
8 As for you, watchtower of the flock,
            stronghold of Daughter Zion,
      the former dominion will be restored to you;
            kingship will come to Daughter Jerusalem.’
9 Why do you now cry aloud –
            have you no king?
      Has your ruler perished,
            that pain seizes you like that of a woman in labour?
10 Writhe in agony, Daughter Zion,
            like a woman in labour,
      for now you must leave the city
            to camp in the open field.
      You will go to Babylon;
            there you will be rescued.
      There the Lord will redeem you
            out of the hand of your enemies.
11 But now many nations
            are gathered against you.
      They say, ‘Let her be defiled,
            let our eyes gloat over Zion!’
12 But they do not know
            the thoughts of the Lord;
      they do not understand his plan,
            that he has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing-floor.
13 ‘Rise and thresh, Daughter Zion,
            for I will give you horns of iron;
      I will give you hooves of bronze,
            and you will break to pieces many nations.’
      You will devote their ill-gotten gains to the Lord,
            their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.

Reflection

Real faith is always vulnerable to mockery by a world that sees only the superficial, temporal, material fact and lacks the spiritual insight to see deeper, truer, eternal values and realities at work in every situation.

To the eye of faith, God is never absent.

Prayer

Thank you, Lord, that no matter where we are in our life, or where we have been – your love holds out the promise of new beginnings. This changes everything! Amen.

 

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Church of Scotland Advent Calendar
Journey daily with characters in the Nativity through video, reflection and prayer

 

2017: Advent Faith #2


(Photo: Lindy Twaddle)

Micah 4:1-5  (NIV UK)

1  In the last days
     the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established
         as the highest of the mountains;
     it will be exalted above the hills,
         and peoples will stream to it.
2  Many nations will come and say,
      ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
          to the temple of the God of Jacob.
     He will teach us his ways,
          so that we may walk in his paths.’
     The law will go out from Zion,
          the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
3  He will judge between many peoples
          and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide.
     They will beat their swords into ploughshares
          and their spears into pruning hooks.
     Nation will not take up sword against nation,
          nor will they train for war any more.
4  Everyone will sit under their own vine
          and under their own fig-tree,
     and no one will make them afraid,
          for the LORD Almighty has spoken.
5  All the nations may walk
          in the name of their gods,
     but we will walk in the name of the LORD
          our God for ever and ever.

Reflection

The promise of God is that he doesn’t need us all to be great theologians, or startling preachers; or even very brave – just to be courageous enough in our Christian witness to let him use our little knowledge, our little faith, our small amount of understanding as he can do, and will do – to demonstrate his power.

Prayer

Lord, thank you for your promise, that takes away our fear. We see the world differently when we see that it is still your world. We deal with the future differently when we understand that it is still your future, and that you hold us now, and will hold us then. Amen.

 

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Church of Scotland Advent Calendar
Journey daily with characters in the Nativity through video, reflection and prayer

 

2017: Advent Faith #1


Medina/Rabat, Malta (Photo: Irene Bom)

During our Presbytery meeting in Malta a few months ago I recruited three of my colleagues (and one spouse) to join me in putting together a series of daily posts for Advent 2017 (December 3 to 24).

Rev. Laurence Twaddle, minister in Geneva, will kick us off with reflections on FAITH; Rev. Kim Hurst, minister in Malta, has prepared reflections on HOPE featuring some of her poems; and Rev. Andrew Gardner, minister in Brussels, will shine a light on the theme of JOY. Most of the photographs for the series are by Lindy Twaddle.

Generally, I will introduce the theme for the week on Sundays. To round things off, for the 4th Sunday of Advent (24 December) I have a prayer sheet on the theme, “Love is the greatest”.

Week 1: ADVENT FAITH

By way of introduction to this week’s theme, a reading, short reflection and a prayer to set you on your way.

John 20:24-29  (NIV UK)

Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, ‘We have seen the Lord!’
     But he said to them, ‘Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.’
     A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, ‘Peace be with you!’ Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.’
     Thomas said to him, ‘My Lord and my God!’
     Then Jesus told him, ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’

Reflection

‘blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.’ (John 20:29)

Fortunately for us, seeing the risen Jesus in the flesh is not a prerequisite for a vital relationship with him. “For we live by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor 5:7) – blessed faith, lived out day by day, moment by moment.

Advent Prayer: Keep Us Awake

‘Keep alert, for you do not know when the time will come.’ (Mark 13:33)

God our rock and our salvation
so much of faith is waiting
like a pregnant woman waiting in hope
like a people under siege, holding out till relief comes
like the soul lost in the darkness,
unable to see even a glimmer of light
yet stumbling through the night because somewhere out ahead,
day will surely break
God be with us in our waiting

Living God, keep us awake in faith,
faith that acts;
when our faith grows weary, strengthen us
when our faith grows fearful, give us courage
when our faith grows despairing, give us witnesses
and when the faith of others falters,
may we be a light in their darkness.

Source: the Christian Aid website.
 

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Church of Scotland Advent Calendar
Journey daily with characters in the Nativity through video, reflection and prayer

 

More in the series

Forgiven and forgotten


Downtown Lausanne (Photo: Irene Bom)
 

“How happy is the one whose wrongs are forgiven,
whose sin is hidden from sight.”

(Psalm 32:1, The Voice)
 

If we freely admit our sins when his light uncovers them, he will be faithful to forgive us every time. God is just to forgive us our sins because of Christ, and he will continue to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

(1 John 1:9, The Passion Translation)

“All of our sins were paid for on the cross and we can do nothing to remove them, but confession acknowledges God’s faithfulness to restore our intimacy with him.” (source: The Passion Translation footnotes)
 

8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
       slow to anger, abounding in love.
9 He will not always accuse,
       nor will he harbour his anger for ever;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
       or repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
       so great is his love for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
       so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

(Psalm 103:8-12 NIV UK)
 

14 This is what the LORD says –
       your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:

25 I, even I, am he who blots out
       your transgressions, for my own sake,
       and remembers your sins no more.’”

(Isaiah 43:14, 25, NIV UK)

 

How remarkable that God has selective memory.

Prayer of confession

O Lord God, our Father most loving, we would not, even if we could, conceal anything from you, but rejoice rather that you know us as we are and see every desire and every motive of our hearts. Help us, Lord, to strip off every mask and every veil when we come into your presence, and to spread before you every thought and every secret of our being, that they may be forgiven, purified, amended, and blessed by you; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Charles Vaughan (1816-97)

from The Book of a Thousand Prayers by Angela Ashwin, #350

Do this remembering

“Do this in remembrance of me,” Jesus said. (Luke 22:19)

Do this. Take bread and wine, and share it with the gathered people of God. Do this. As a memorial. Words and actions from long ago, re-enacted and made real in the present, so we too may be fed. Not just once a year, like Passover, but as often as we do this. What a privilege.

Here is a prayer by Katherine Hawker that captures some of the drama as we do this remembering and discover Christ in our midst and in each other.

Prayer at the Table

Welcome:
And so we gather at the table.
We come from many places,
differing in age, differing in race,
differing in orientation, politics and even religion.
As we come together around the table
we discover that our differences are not something we tolerate
but that our differences are indeed a blessing,
the more difference we bring, the more fully we experience
the presence of the sacred in our midst.
So come, children of God, just as you are.
Wherever you are on this journey of life, you are welcome here,
here in this place, here in this community, here at this table.
Come, children of God, come and remember with us.

Remembrance:
We remember the stories that Jesus’ friends tell,
stories of bread broken and shared, feeding a multitude,
stories of being gathered together, enemy and friend, around tables,
stories of unlikely guests revealing the face of the sacred.
They say that
it was on a night of both celebration and betrayal
that he took the bread leftover on the table,
blessed it and broke it;
reminding them that it is
in the breaking that we become whole,
in losing our lives that we find them,
in serving that we are served.
As the grain scattered becomes one in the loaf,
when we eat this bread, we become one with one another.
They say that he took the cup also leftover on the table,
poured out and sharing,
remembering with them, the life-giving breath
even now pounding a rhythm through our veins,
the breath of life from whence we come
the breath that precedes and follows all that we can see.
As the grapes find life in the vine,
when we drink this cup,
we become at one with the source of life itself.

Blessing:
And so we pray:
Come, holy Spirit, come.
Bless this bread and
bless this fruit of the vine.
Bless all of us in our eating and drinking that our eyes might be open,
that we might recognize the risen Christ in our midst,
indeed in one another.
Come, holy Spirit, come.

— written by Katherine Hawker, and posted on Liturgy Outside.

Also see Gift #3: Re-minder.
And check out Jan Richardson’s post on The Cup of the New Covenant.

Forget not


Shop front in Gibraltar (Photo: Irene Bom)
 

A few selected verses from Psalm 103 as introduction to our November theme of the month: Remember

1 Praise the LORD, my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the LORD, my soul,
and FORGET NOT all his benefits –
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
14 for he knows how we are formed,
he REMEMBERS that we are dust.

17 But from everlasting to everlasting
the LORD’s love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children’s children –
18 with those who keep his covenant
and REMEMBER to obey his precepts.

Digging deeper

Why not make time in the next few days to read the whole psalm and commit a few of the verses to memory, so the psalm can minister to you now and in the future?

Also, check out the Expanded Bible version. Not only does it amplify the words, it also includes cross references.

From generation to generation


Do you recognize any of the names? I certainly recognize a few …

This weekend I was part of a Presbytery Local Church Review team to St Andrews Church, Gibraltar. On Saturday, at the close our meeting with the church leaders, I read this benediction based on Psalm 103:

As you go from here, remember this:
God’s love is from everlasting to everlasting,
from generation to generation.
Just as a father has compassion on his children
so God has compassion on those who fear him,
who listen to his voice,
and who do his will.

Go out in the knowledge
that the everlasting love of God goes with you.
Amen.

I got as far as “from generation to generation” when I teared up and had to ask our team leader to take over.

Let us pray

We join the congregation in praying for God to make something happen so there will be many generations to come to witness to the everlasting love of God in this place. We pray the same for churches everywhere.

Pray too for life-giving relationships between the different generations in our congregations, as we seek to be faithful followers of Jesus in our time.

CREDITS

Benediction from re-worship.blogspot.nl