Holy week

'Fight the good fight with all your might, Christ is thy strength, and Christ thy right' (TIS 594)
In the Christian life there is a somber feel about this particular week as we journey  with Christ towards the cross and I think particularly of Good Friday. I wonder about the world that surrounded Jesus at that time. A harsh condemning world that saw no way of ridding itself of Jesus other than to destroy him. His only hope of the love of God being kept alive was through a few faithful disciples. What an amazing job they did at the expense of their own lives.  I can recall a time in my life where Holy Week and especially the most holy day of this week, Good Friday were sacred. There was no shops open, there was no hype in preparations to go away for the long weekend, there was no football matches or horse racing. There was a quiet in the community.  In many ways we are few, the followers of Christ, and we need to keep up a vigilance for Him. We need to be more and more out in the world, visible, our voices being heard and our actions being seen.
As a society the significant  Christian festivals were granted as   holidays because they were holy-days. They were granted so society could have a day from work to go to church.
Blessings for your journey this Holy Week.
Anne, servant of the Lord

Inside the church of the Holy Sepulcher the sight of the crucifixion and burial of Jesus in Jerusalem.

Growing love

(Paul writes) May the Lord make your love for one another and for all people grow  more and more and become as great as our love for him. Thessalonians 3:12
What a blessing it is to know how God works in our lives. Sometimes we may think its an age, a maturity thing that causes us to grow in love for other people,but not so. Paul says, ' may the Lord make your love  one another and all people grow

. Our love for others comes from the fact that Jesus first loved us and at any age that can motivate us by the power of his Spirit to love others. In our day to day life we touch so many people, often on the edge of society and somehow there is a greater understanding within our selves, a greater understanding of who we are when we know that what we do comes from the Lord.
I think of my love of the elderly and those who are isolated and alone, those with disabilities and my love of all who society passes by, the persons unseen and unlovable.
Who has the Lord made you love?
In the musical Les Miserables there is line. 'To love another person is to touch the face of God.'
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

Glorious things of God are spoken

The Lord has done great things for us and we are glad. Psalm 126:3
Think on these things and be blessed:
 The hand of God as he creates each new day from the autumn morning sunrise to the glorious sunset, - skies of breathtaking  colour and beauty. (did you see the glorious sunset last night?) Those soft rays of the first light coming over the horizon touching the mountains and shifting their dark brooding colours into shades of grey and  soft blue and as the morning light travels across the valley all creation stirs into life, orchestrated by the warbling of the magpies. Magnificent! Our God is a mighty God. He reigns.  Lucardo says:
You have been sprinkled with forgiveness. You have been spattered with grace
You have been dusted with kindness, you have been immersed in it
You are submerged in mercy. you are the minnow in the ocean of God's mercy - let it change you.
Blessings for this moment, this day, this week, this life.

Morning has broken

Anne, servant of the Lord.

Talk to God

At Gethsemane, Jesus went off alone and knelt down and prayed. 'Father if you will, take this cup of suffering away from me. Not my will, however, but your will be done.' Luke 22. 41-42
One of our images of the Easter events is the picture of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. He is kneeling alone in deep earnest prayer and he must have been experiencing such inner anxiety in his suffering and confusion. One minute he is asking God to take away his suffering and the next he is submitting to God's will. Its really hard to find peace when something is on our minds. Its really hard to find peace when we have to submit to something we know is right but would rather not have to go through with it. When something is on our mind we have a habit of tossing it about on our beds at night and sleep seems far off. William Barclay tells this story: A pianist said of Chopin's nocturne in C sharp minor: ' All is trouble, until the person in the piece talks with God. Then peace comes.'  The same thing is true of Jesus. He went into the Garden of Gethsemane  in the dark; he came out in the light -because he talked with God. He went into Gethsemane in agony; he came out with peace in his soul - because he talked to God. The same thing is true for us if we talk to God.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord

Garden of Gethsemane

This is God

I will sing forever of your love, O Lord. Psalm 89
What is God? Who is God? So many times people try to answer this question. Its a question that is wrestled with, tossed about, and attempts are made to discern it but you know, for me its a simple as Martin Fisher quotes: 'If you don't know what's meant by God, watch a forsythia branch or a lettuce leaf sprout' and I love the quote (anon) I said to the almond tree: 'Speak to me of God' and the almond tree blossomed. That's God. There is God
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne, servant of the Lord

Sunbeams

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.  TIS 768
There is no way you can go outside an the early morning such as today as the sun breaks through the night, and  not  be in awe of God. The morning is rich in sunrise colour, the earth so fresh from rain and falling from the sky are rays like star dust falling to earth in multiple soft colours. Adeline Cullen Ray says: 'Whenever I see sunbeams coming through the clouds, it always looks to me like God shining Himself down onto us.The thing about sunbeams is they're always there, even though we can't see them.'Same with God.' May we always praise God in wonder over the way he brings our days into the present, arranging the stars and moon to pass and the sun and light to arrive.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord