Stirred Up!

Yesterday was important for Christmas Pudding makers. 

Because the puddings need time to mature, for Christmas Day, they should have been cooked by yesterday. I was well ahead of the game, as I made our puddings 2 weeks ago!

But many traditions have built up around making Christmas Puddings - as the recent Waitrose weekend paper and no doubt many other media have recalled. 

One of them notes the words of the special prayer used in many Church of England churches yesterday.'Stir up, O Lord, the wills of your faithful people, that they, bringing forth the fruit of good works, may by you be richly rewarded: through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen' 

At the local church we attended yesterday, that prayer came at the end of the service. The whole service had an element of stirring us up to think carefully about whether we were living in the way that would glorify Jesus, who is our true King.

I was reading last week of how St. Paul wrote a sort of farewell letter to one of his younger co-workers, Timothy, in which he challenges him. 'I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.' (2 Timothy 1.6-7)

I wonder how Timothy responded to that stirring challenge to get on with following Jesus wholeheartedly.

I know that for myself, I find direct challenges hard to take, while a warm reminder to do what I know I really want to do is much more effective. So I am encouraged that the God who made me, and loves me, has given me a spirit of power, love, and self-discipline.

Knowing that is a great reminder to be stirred up for the start of this week.

Best wishes,

Richard

Keeping in Touch

Royal Mail are up against plenty of competition, and they believe it is unfair. There are so many different ways in which letters and parcels can be delivered that Royal Mail are being squeezed. We shall see what the competition watchdog has to say. 

For ordinary people like us, there are so many ways to communicate, and to keep in touch with one another that we are often literally spoilt by our choices.

But because there are so many options does not necessarily make us any better at keeping in touch with one another. Assorted social media platforms give us the opportunity to be public about various levels of communication, and to touch base with one another, but the long letters of previous generations seem to find no modern equivalent.

Many are people who have told me in days gone by that 'you don't have to go to church to be a Christian'. Part of what they are saying is that an hour a week doesn't necessarily translate into a transformed life. But because we can pray anywhere and any time doesn't mean that we take all the available opportunities. Again, I am challenged by the relentless determination of the Psalmist, who loved to make a special effort to go up to the Temple in Jerusalem. 

How lovely is your dwelling place,
    O Lord of Heaven’s Armies.

 I long, yes, I faint with longing
    to enter the courts of the Lord.
With my whole being, body and soul,
    I will shout joyfully to the living God. (Psalm 84.1-2)

I am challenged by the outspoken passion and heart-felt desire to be closer to God. I wonder why I don't feel like this very often. Maybe it is because I don't shape my life in the way these people did. 

What joy for those whose strength comes from the Lord,
    who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
 When they walk through the Valley of Weeping,
    it will become a place of refreshing springs.
    The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings.
 They will continue to grow stronger,
    and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem.' (Psalm 84.5-7)

As we take time - and it always takes time - to focus on being in the presence of the God who loves us and wants to share life with us, then many things will be seen differently. These ancient pilgrims had to set their minds on a pilgrimage, for it didn't happen without careful planning and deliberate action.

At the start of this new phase of my life, I need to make sure that I do all that I can to be keeping in touch with the God who is my strength and my shield. How about you.

Best wishes,

Richard

Catch a Falling Star!

Have you seen the astonishing pictures taken over 300 million miles away?

I guess that I am not alone in having been amazed at the progress of the Rosetta space probe, and its tiny lander, Philae, as it has aimed at landing on a lump of rock and ice after travelling more than 4 billion miles in ten years. 

Knowing how often I get lost even with the advantage of maps and past experience, it is astonishing to know that the European Space Agency team, working together on this project for many years, succeeded in getting Philae to land somewhere that was over 300 million miles away.

The comet,  67P Churyumov Gerasimenko (I had to look up that name!), would have been thought of as a falling star in days of yore, as star gazers noticed these bright moving lights in the clear night sky. And in their own way, these people have managed to catch that falling star, to do some experiments on it.

But by working together, this group of scientists and engineers, over many years, from many nationalities and backgrounds, have done something which none of them could have done on their own.

And then the scientific experiments which were the reason for this amazing venture will help people to understand quite how life on earth might have developed, because all present theories are currently just theories.

The more scientists explore and experiment, the more we may understand our own origins. 'How did we get here?' and 'Why are we here?' are questions lurking in many of our minds.

The ancients also asked these sort of questions. 

The Psalmists put together many such reflections. 

'O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! 

Your glory is higher than the heavens. 

When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers — the moon and the stars you set in place — what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them? 

Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honour. (Psalm 8.1,3-5)

How often do we allow ourselves to be caught up in wonder at the size and beauty of creation? And do we look beyond the creation to the Creator? With dark nights, it might be easier to do some star gazing.

And yet I also reflect that the God who made the whole Universe, chose to come and live among us, because he loves us. 

'In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. 

So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son.' (John 1.1, 14)

In the run up to Christmas, we shall be confronted repeatedly by this astonishing truth about the God who made the world and all else. Wonderful!

Best wishes,

Richard

'Getting there!'

'Getting there!' 

In response to the question, 'How are you?', many give the 'Getting there!' update. This comment has the benefits of being brief and hopeful, and of deflecting other more intrusive questions. Perhaps that is why we so often use the expression.

So if you are wondering how Betty & I are doing in Banbury, in our new home, I can say 'Getting there!'.

Many things are different - the rooms are smaller, there are hardly any trees to drop their leaves, and we can see lots of sky from our bedroom window. 

We have made much progress on unpacking our stuff, and repainting some rooms, and this week or next, I may get round to unpacking the contents of the study!

But behind the response 'Getting there!' lies a deeper question about the intended destination. 

Where exactly is the end of the journey for which 'Getting there!' is a progress report? 

Many parents may recall the question from the children in the back of the car, when on a long journey on holiday, 'Are we nearly there?' 

Betty & I are very aware that we are on a journey, as we settle into Banbury, and we look the the Lord to lead us towards his intended direction and destination.

Again, I come back to the mature wisdom of the imprisoned Apostle, St. Paul.

'I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.' (Philippians 3.12-14)

The Apostle was clear that it was Jesus who has set both the direction and destination for his journey of life. Know that, and living in the light of it, makes all the difference for us, whatever is happening in our lives. 

Our prayer at this interesting new stage in our lives is that we will press on pressing on with the call of Jesus every day.

Best wishes,

Richard