More reasons to be cheerful

Another day done and I can reflect on more privilege-laden happenings:

The joy of engaging with those who are suffering from the debilitating effects of dementia; an awfulness in which the sea of confusion slowly comes in and leave less of the beach for the person to exist on until they are overwhelmed and lost in the waves. Yet, even when the tide has come in, the enagagement with those who are now all at see in the shape of the Eucharist, the surfacing of the person as the Lord's Prayer is recalled and said from a small reef amidst it all, the lights coming back on - drawing merely upon the past remembered or making connections because of the externally, never to be forgotten?

I know what I think :-)

And then more engagement with someone who mourns the loss of a loved one. The privilege of being asked to make special that last moment when a departed loved one is in the same physical place with them for one last time. Surely one of the most important roles a cleric can have as we seek to make sense of a life now ended and point to a hope made real, and realised, in the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Christ.

An then there was the opportunity to discuss love and duty and to explain how 1 Corinthians speaks of a love that makes a habitation, a shelter, for the focus of that love in the storms of life. To join the dots such that we realise that love calls us to do what is right and that duty is merely the obverse side of thc coin we call love - and reflect on the reality that those who march away to protect strangers, in doing so, exhibit a greater love - one which may call on them to lay down their lives.

Add to this the usual round of conversations with funeral directors and people seeking simple answers to astounding questions; the challenges of seeing sin break lives and those broken merely seeing it as 'bad luck' - how do we explain that playing in the train track is likely to get you hit by a train and knowing the words 'sin, self and selfishness' all need to feature in the cast list at the end of the tragedy before you - and still restore them gently?

And yet, as ever, we manage it because to do it any other way would be to potentially cause us to stumble too!

Just a glimpse at a day where blessing and the Christ have been found in amazing quantities - another day when the privilege of a dogcollar and and ever-present, loving, God make bed a happy place to reflect on and look excitedly for the next day to come.

Lord - I love you!

God on the Waterways

Having just completed a couple of weeks on the inland waterways and found myself even more impressed than I was before with the early Victorian motorway system that is the British canal system (Spaghetti junction is nothing when you realise you're on a mainline relief canal or going over, and under, other canals in the same way that motorways do these days). The engineering, the brickwork and the toll houses and other industrial architecture all conspire to make for something that is in reality a national treasure.

Add to this the flora and fauna and you suddenly find yourself in incredibly urban and industrial settings with such a plethora of wildlife that you forget the locality and become lost in the immediate. The many Grey Heron that grace the banks and the blur of iridescent blue as a kingfisher hurtles by combined with the Canada Geese and Magpies (were we really worried about them both all those years back?).

I've found in the waterways, standing on the back of the boat (no it's not a barge - it's a narrowboat ;-) ) steering and praying, thinking and enjoying being family - playing card games, listening to the children play guitar and the odd pint of black sheep and the like (weight stalled just above the  90kg mark, wonder why?), to be one of the most relaxing things ever. The recharging of batteries and the seeking confirmation of current directions and hints of new has been wonderful and yet I've missed the church family and am chomping at the bit to get prayer, study and opportunities engaged with and can't wait to be back.

And so it strikes me as I think of the encounters I have had this holiday to talk with people, hear their stories and see needs unmet (like the people, largely ignored, begging on the streets) which spur me on to think about how we might act how fortunate we are in this nation of ours. How privileged we are to have the relative wealth and opportunities, the social welfare system (which we need to fight for) and the many blessings that surround us.

So, as Sunday beckons I am drawn to the call for us to be salt and light - that none will be in the darkness and that we will bring flavour and benefit the world we inhabit.

Please pray for your community this morning (and every morning) - resolving to be the difference in it and to make it a better place because you can (regardless of faith or lack of it).

Living the Word - Changing the world

Pax