Jesus – then and still
Deep learning
Do you have a current verse or passage that God is burrowing into your heart? This has been a major one for me for the last 3 months or so…
Continue reading “Deep learning”Unpacking forgiveness
Forgiveness – The ideas attributed to forgiveness are often pre-packaged with a whole host of assumptions, a tonne of pain, a few shovelfuls of offence, confusion about moving forward etc etc etc and when you’re in the middle of a knot it can be pretty tricky to figure out which is what. It’s also pretty often that the knot itself is what gets in the way of being able to forgive when we assume more is meant by it than is so.
Continue reading “Unpacking forgiveness”Hypocrite
I looked up the word hypocrite. Scary stuff.
Continue reading “Hypocrite”To read at Easter
I wrote this little series of posts over the Easter weekend of 2014. I would go to my computer around the times significant events took place on the days of crucifixtion-death-resurrection, read the Scriptures, try to immerse myself in them and this is what I posted at intervals.
“Moonlight streamed through the olive trees and though He asked us to watch with Him – we fell asleep. In years to come we agonised together over so many failings, the fact we slept, just one. Excuses and justifications – full bellies and wine, full days and fear – all true, but excuses. We slept though He asked us to wait. We slept though he asked us to watch. We slept though He asked us to pray. We slept while He sweat drops of blood on the ground. How could we? How could we!……….. We did”
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Exodus 12:42 Because the Lord kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the Lord for the generations to come.
Thirsty
I wonder if Jesus ever got His drink of water from the woman at the well? It does tell us He was walking from Judea to Galilee and that He was tired and sat down there. Reasonable enough to be tired since it would have been at least a two day walk between the two places. A walk they undertook quite frequently.
I wondered if asking her for a drink was just a conversation starter… while it may have partly been, I recon He was genuinely thirsty too, but the story doesn’t fill in that detail as it flips over to the way the conversation went. Telling her to go get her husband was certainly a way of honing His point being that she didn’t have one – and He knew it.
So He communicates with someone from a region where the people typically ignore/hate/despise each other. Much is made of the fact Jews wouldn’t associate with Samaritans but the feeling was entirely mutual. It was just as big a deal in terms of race/history, that she spoke to Him as well.
He asks to drink from her vessel as he has nothing to drink from – this is just not done!
He then suspends His own need for drink and food to have this conversation. He engages with her, knowing her sin, knowing her story, and knowing her thirst. All three things concurrent. All three things making her who she was. All three things making her receptive… but not just receptive – READY.
While things were seriously messed up between the people groups, they did have shared ancestors and history. Both regarded the other as wrong.
But she knew her beans.
She knew there was a Messiah coming. Not just as rumour… but belief. Her readiness enabled her to not defend her sin or reject Him. She grabbed His message and told everyone she could to come hear what He had to say. And they did. And instead of being unwelcome, He stayed there for two days. And many came to believe in Him. And not because they had no sin, but because they did.
Last words
Last words are so important.
When my Grandma died, her last words were to Grandpa.
Continue reading “Last words”Passover-Easter-Communion series 1/8
Every night that I go outside, I find myself looking up at the moon and saying “Hullo Lord”. Not because I’m mistaking the moon for Him, or heading into some weird form of worship, but because the moon is a great reminder to me that He has set many ways to communicate with us, and in a sense the moon is one of those.
Continue reading “Passover-Easter-Communion series 1/8”Passover-Easter-Communion series 2/8
If you lived and worked in two different time zones, you would obviously need to keep track of the time in both places. The calendar we are used to is not the same as the calendar spoken of in the Bible. Because of this difference most of us are unaware of the days on which many recorded Biblical events happened, or the days on which God set His “appointed times” (moed).
Continue reading “Passover-Easter-Communion series 2/8”Passover-Easter-Communion series 3/8
Mary and Joseph were both from the tribe of Judah (2000ish BC). It also seems that they were both descended from King David (1000ish BC). Mary a descendant of King Solomon, and Joseph a descendant of another of David’s sons – Nathan. That means, all the kings of Israel/Judah were in Mary’s lineage. While Jesus was not Joseph’s blood son, he was Josephs lawful son, and was of royal blood any which way you looked at it.
Continue reading “Passover-Easter-Communion series 3/8”