And God turns up!

Be still and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10
I hear so many  of the older people saying that in the isolation and quiet their 'awareness' is  becoming so acute. There are birds in the garden, tiny birds, that they don't recall hearing  sing in such beautiful harmony and unison with one another as they are now. There is a beautiful rose bush outside their window that only weeks ago was stripped in the destructive hail storms now blooming with mass and colour that they don't recall having seen so beautiful before. And I wonder in this time of quiet and stillness in and around our homes, how God's Glory is impacting on you? Can you see it? Can you feel it? and what is God saying to you?
  I read this quote from  Clement of Alexandria  (c150-c215)Wonder at  things that are before thee, making this the first step to further knowledge.
May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

Beauty from brokeness

There's a bear in there

Comfort, O comfort my people,says your God. Isaiah 40:1
There  is a quote I like from Mother Teresa which says 'we can do no great things only small things with great love.'  What an opportunity lies before us in how we can not only do things with love but in doing, bring God's comfort to others and all from our homes. its a great opportunity for God to open our eyes so we can see the ways we can be more useful. Even in isolation I go out once a day  for a lovely walk in fresh air and sunshine. As I was walking yesterday I saw someone had put a teddy bear in their front window and I later discovered that others were doing this also and it is there for the children so when they go for a walk they can go on a bear hunt and see how many bears they can find in peoples windows.I also heard of a person who had put a hand written note in every letterbox in her street which said. 'I am here, I am well and I am able to shop for you, run errands etc  here is my name and  phone number.. Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. I like this Celtic Prayer: As the rain hides the stars,as the autumn mist hides the hills, as the clouds veil the blue of the sky, so the dark happenings of my lot hide the shining of your face on me yet if I hold your hand in the darkness it is enough since I know that though I may stumble in my going you do not fall.
May the Lord himself give you peace at all times and in all ways.
Anne Servant of the Lord.

We can do no great things only small things with great love.

Changing life

Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help. Psalm 22:11
Difficulty and hardship is among us. We have been shut of from our worship places and gatherings. Life is different but we are not shut of from God. There is no need to shout at him across the spaces between you and the church. He is not locked inside the church buildings but is nearer than you think and he knows your thoughts. May our isolated homes become our house of prayer and may we unite  in timely prayers, separated yet  as one.
And don't forget or overlook the little bird sounds coming from the hedge for God  will be found in all places and in all ways.
May the Lord himself give you peace at all times in all ways.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

There is a darkness hanging over our world.

Peace under my feet.

God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. Romans 5:5
We are in anxious times and our world is shifting and changing and we don't know how long this will be for.  Anxiety and panic has raised its head in community  yet I can sit outside on this glorious sunny day without a cloud in the sky and its calm and its peaceful and its still.I see the rose bushes recently stripped bare by a viscous destructive hail storm now with full growth and beautiful roses. I see in our burnt out forests new growth springing out of hundreds of  chard  tree trunks from the recent catastrophic fires and the green farm lands rising from a parched drought stricken earth.I see God is  with us. Recovering and restoring brokenness. Recently reread and sitting in my mind are the words (adapted) from the prayer of St Patrick. Peace before me. Peace behind me. Peace under my feet. Peace above me. Peace within me. Let all around me be peace.
May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

Peace like  a river.

Peace in heavenly music.

My security is in his promise to be near me always and in the knowledge that he will never let me go. Portion of Ps 23 from Psalms Now. (Leslie F Brandt)
The beautiful song of the magpie filled the otherwise silent morning  with its glorious singing. Just one, just solo, right outside my window as if singing just for me. Sometimes it can be hard to find God's joy in a year that has gone so terribly wrong for us with a long drought, catastrophic  bush fires,unprecedented damaging  hail storm  and now our whole world as we know it is changing due to the corona virus. Perhaps isolation may come for many of us and I would see  a down time as special times with God. To be still, to be quiet and to listen to the bird songs. Heavenly music carries with it a reassuring peace and presence. I love this little prayer(anon) If you have heard the sound of birdsong in the morning air then you will know that heaven's music is everywhere.
May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in all ways.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

Dressed in his black and white tuxedo.

Sir, give me this water.

The woman said to him. " Sir, the well is deep and you do not have a bucket. Where do you get that living water." John 4:11
As a child I recall going with my parents to visit a lady who lived alone in her home on the top of a hill. When she first went there as a young woman she had all she needed except access to water in the creek below her home. The hill was too steep to go down and carry back a bucket of water let alone do that several times in a day. To pipe it to the house was not manageable yet she knew she could not live without water. She asked for help, for someone to show her how she could access this water so vital to life. A small group of men from church, strangers to her, organised a system of poles,wires and pullies that ran from her home to the creek with a bucket attached and she could operate the pullies to pull the bucket of fresh,water back to her home. All her life, until she passed away at 86 she was able to access the water. We all need water to live  but how much more we need the 'living water' that Jesus offers us. It is accessible, it is life giving, it is free, it is forever. All we need do is ask Jesus to show us how to access the living water.
May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

Show me the living water.

Deep in our heart.

For as the scriptures said: Out of the believers heart shall flow rivers of living water John 7:38
Imagine a heart so filled with God's love that it flows out rivers. Not streams, not puddles not a stagnant body of water sitting in the heart, but water that flows from the heart like a river, watering and drenching all that flows from it, all coming from a heart full of the knowledge and love of God.
Deep in our heart sits the most precious thing, a space  filled with out deep and sacred love of God. Its like God lives there.
I was reading a parable from the Upanishads which says: In the body there is a small shrine. In that shrine there is a lotus. In that lotus there is a little space. What is it that lives in that little space? The whole universe is in that little space because the creator, the source of it all is in the heart of each one of us.
May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways.
Anne, servant of the Lord

not a lotus but a beautiful tulip opening out like an opening heart.

Sing, sing,sing!

O come, let us sing to the Lord, let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving. Psalm 95:1
Today is a day to sing to the Lord. The sky's are grey, not red and black and they are weeping volumes of wet soaking rain. The air is clear and crisp, not smoke filled and blowing a strange wind.. The dry parched and  burnt land is turning green and the farmers dams are full and creeks are flowing. You can almost hear the dehydrated trees clapping their hands for joy and the little birds are singing a new song from their tiny beaks. There are sounds not heard for so long like the kookaburra laughing and  the chorus of crickets singing in the evening. Praise God and let us make  a joyful noise unto the Lord.
May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in all ways.
Anne,servant of the Lord

And the darling blackbirds are taking a bath.

God's creatures - God's creation

Since we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely and let us run  with perseverance,the race that is set before us looking to Christ, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. Hebrews 12:1
Life is a pilgrimage as we look here and look there for God.  One pilgrim called Sister Giovanna (1660 Feast day 1 March) said,  'By being a pilgrim my heart learns to hear the cries of the  refugees,the poor, the impoverished, those arriving and those departing.' I reflected on my life, my calling and how I went to Jerusalem  with all the baggage, the pain and suffering of loss in the bush fire crisis and specifically to lay down the lives of ONE BILLION of our wildlife destroyed in the fires. This weighed heavily on my heart.  I stood at the Western Wall of the Old City of Jerusalem, the Wailing Wall, the most Sacred and Holy place for Jews and placed my prayer note in a crack in the wall to be later burnt by Rabbi's in prayer offerings to God. I lit a candle for them all  in the Church of The Holy Sepulcher, the most Sacred and Holy place for Christians and I offered intercessions daily in the Eucharist in St Georges Cathedral. I came home feeling the weight of it all lifted and with a God inspired blessing to do a memorial service for them all of prayers and candle lighting.
I wonder have you gone away, at times to seek God,  heavily burdened and have come back with a blessing?
May the Lord himself give you peace at all times in all ways.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

And I lit a candle in the most Sacred and Holy place for Christians

A miracle?

The  Eastern Wall steps to the old city of Jerusalem

Then Jesus and his disciples came to Jerusalem, and he entered the temple. Mark 11:15
A section of the wall of the old city of Jerusalem has a wide expanse of steps leading up to a massive gate that is  permanently closed. This gate is said by Jews and Muslims to open at the second coming of Jesus. This area of the city wall is called the Archaeological Park and the steps are the very steps Jesus walked to enter the city. On a section of the wall at the top of the steps there are ancient inscriptions in Hebrew, names and  words of  thanks for a healing. I suspect we would call this graffiti but no, the names are real and there is a sign on the stone wall which says, 'If you have received a miracle, write your name here.'   I suspect we have all seen or had a miracle in our lives but there are many skeptics. For some time now at the Covenant Care Day Hospice, in our prayer service a couple have been asking for prayers for their grandson who is blind, he is 14. This particular day they revealed with great humility that the doctors carried out a procedure of inserting a tiny stick like implant into one of his eyes. He now sees colour, movement and shapes and the vision is said to improve with time. A modern day miracle? Yes, no doubt about it. The prayers of us all have been heard. Do we write this young lads name on a wall as having received a miracle? ? No, we write it in our prayers and we hold it in our heart forever.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

And the bells rang and rang

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was  Joseph, of the house of David. Luke 1:26
The Church of the Visitation in Nazareth is said to be the site where the Angel Gabriel came to Mary with a call from God to be the mother of Jesus. As I stood in this very large, but beautiful church I reflected on 'our call' by God to follow him. A call to become one of his disciples in this time and in this place he has set us in.  As I was reflecting there was a Eucharist happening in  the area of the high altar and as the liturgy came to the point of consecration the Sanctus bells rang and kept ringing. The priests voice kept strong and fluent, then the church bells began to ring, one by one rising in volume and number until they filled the church with music, yet the priests voice could be still heard, calling people into the sacred moment and I was filled with such a knowing of Christ's love and his call on my life. If I could have, I would have laid prostrate on the floor. How do you recall God's call on your life to follow him. Was it dramatic and perhaps overwhelming like Mary's call or was it the still small voice of God.Ponder on these things and be filled anew with  his love.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ
Anne, servant of the Lord

Church of the Visitation Nazareth.

And I laid their names on the altar

'......As they went out, they came upon a man from Cyrene named Simon; they compelled this man  to carry the cross  with Jesus.' Matthew 27: v32
As I walked down the Via Dolorosa in the Old City of Jerusalem I passed a large number of pilgrims with hand held crosses making their way through the Stations of the Cross to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. Some were singing and many were crying, obviously moved by the experience and as I came to the small side chapel marked as the place where Simon offered to help Jesus carry his cross, I stepped inside a moment while the pilgrims passed and reflected.. 'Who in our lives do we help to carry their cross? Who do we walk alongside helping to carry their load, their burdens and to my mind came many who I walk alongside in life and many who walk with me and I laid  their names on the altar of the Chapel of Simon of Cyrene.
Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Anne, servant of the Lord

Via Dolorosa - The way of the cross

The war psalm

Be still and know that I am God. Ps 46:10.
There is a stillness and a calm about the morning and the only sound is the silence. Lately this type of day has not been seen much. The catastrophic fires, the mega hailstorm, the wind that blows erratically with a pace about it we don't  often see and in itself creating massive dust storms. Sometimes we feel quite helpless as all of this rages around us but we remember in our helplessness that God is the helper.  Listen to God - he may use anything to break through - not an earthquake, but a still small voice.

The Lord your God is with you.

The sun will shine again

'.....we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to seize the hope set before us.' Hebrews 6:28
There is hope in the blade of green grass growing on the verge.
There is hope for the burnt trees. They will sprout again.
There is hope for the dry burnt earth as gentle rain falls on its bed of white ash.
There is hope for the farmer that his dams are filling with fresh beautiful water..
There is hope for those who have lost all. The sun will shine again.
There is hope in the more calm of the day where the sky is blue not red and black
There is hope for the remaining wild life being found, fed and nursed.
There is hope. There is hope. There is always hope.
May we never lose hope.
May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

one green growth pushing through with hope

He has given us a new birth into a living hope. 1 Peter 1:3
There among the debris of bone  dry grass all but given way to bare soil, lay a collective of fallen branches from a tinder dry tree and  leaves that  have fallen prematurely. It was here I came upon a tiny flower its leaves and blooms trying to defy its surrounding circumstances and it was smiling with colours of pale blue and green upright stems. It was just tiny but its presence packed an enormous  punch in an environment that had all but given up surviving in the dry parched land. Its presence lifted my spirit and I called the flower  hope as I lifted my eyes from the gift to the giver.
May the Lord of Peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways.
Anne, servant of the Lord

Open our eyes that we may see

And love came down

Sir, we wish to see Jesus. John 12:21
Its pitch black in the middle of the day and the sun at sunset is blood red. Smoke consumes our daily living and where is God I hear some say. We have just celebrated Christmas and  what is Christmas? Its love that came down to dwell among us in a world full of crisis. Its Jesus love which will never fail us and I can hear him say 'I will never leave you, I will never forsake you, come what may.' and amidst all the chaos and drama there are many tails rising of countless blessings and unexpected miracle and a multitude of neighborly love to strangers and friends and  animals. That is Jesus walking beside us asking no more of us than to love our neighbor.. Nelson Rockerfeller said:Never forget that the most powerful thing on earth is love.'
May the Lord of Peace himself give you peace at all times and in all ways.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

There are a multitude of Christmases in love

Bells and bush fires

'To you, O Lord I cry. For the fires have devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and flames have burned all the trees and fields. Even the wild animals cry to you because the watercourses are dried up, and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness. Joel 1:19-20
Bells have been a part of human life for many years. I recall some years ago the arrival of the bells to complete the set at St Saviours Cathedral in Goulburn, our Mother Church. They had been brought to Goulburn on the back of a semi trailer to be installed in the bell tower. They were all named after the ships of the First Fleet and now summons people to worship and on occasions of celebration and on times of  drawing a community together.  I can think of bells as church bells,dinner bells,school bells, fire bells, all used to gather people. In these terrible times when our country is on fire and lives, property, fauna and wildlife are perishing in unprecedented fire storms and mega fires,we lost the  church of St Saviour's  at Quaama near Cobargo. It had stood there for over 100 years a place of gathering, but the one thing that was left standing was the bell on its bell tower. I see this as a real symbol of hope. It will ring again in the future to gather people of that community  when the crisis is past,to grieve all the losses and to bring comfort and hope. How special is that. The one thing that gathers God's people has survived to gather yet again.
Let there be hope - let there be love.
Anne, servant of the Lords.

The bell --Retreat center Mittagong

Scatter joy.

Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means 'God is with us.'
On that first Christmas love came down and kissed the earth and the world was on the verge of change. One tiny baby, a tired mother and father, the donkey resting and cattle gathering around a stable manger as shepherds and sheep arrived to see where and why the star had led them. Love, that is what Christmas is about, and it is needed no less in our world today than it did on that first Christmas. There will be many, many hundreds of people experiencing horrendous loss, grief and a sense of hopeless  this Christmas with the massive drought and destructive,mega, unprecedented bush fires that are ravaging our country, but amidst  it all there will be stories of sacrifice and love. Euripides wrote: Love is all we have, the only way that each can help the other. 
May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

The shepherds are coming.

Hold fast to your faith

They shall know that I the  Lord their God am with them. Ezekiel 34:30 
How hard it is to think of the joy and celebration of the coming of Christmas in a few days while our country is a dust bowl of drought, burning up with unprecedented weather and mega fires and we are choking in thick smoke. Our wildlife, especially the koalas are being lost to the flames to say nothing of human life and property. I suspect many would say 'where is God.' Somehow I think the world would have been in a pretty bad state when God sent his Son Jesus to earth as a tiny baby, to be our Savior. We need to hold our trust in God, and never waver. I like this passage from Ezekiel 34 called The Good Shepherd: This is what God says: 'I myself will look for my people and take care of them in the same way as a shepherds takes care of their  sheep.  I will bring them back from all the places where they are scattered on that dark disastrous day. I will lead them to the mountains and the streams of their own land, so they may make their home amid the green pastures. I shall be their God, their Good Shepherd, they will be my people, they will be my flock.'  

Shrouded in thick smoke

Hear it in a bird song.

I will sing to the Lord for he has been good to me. Psalm 13:6
Some time ago an elderly lady asked me 'can you smell God, because every time I walk into the chapel I can smell this beautiful perfume.' Yes,' was my reply, 'We can smell God, you only have to pause at a rose in bloom, or catch  the sweet perfume  of the jasmine in the evening breeze and that is God. And another question. 'Can God sing to us because we can sing to him?', Again my reply was 'yes,  sometimes it can sound like the wind but then again like a tiny bird. Its all God's love. You can feel it in the wind, smell it in a flower and hear it in a bird song, to say nothing of the laugh of a kookaburra! Just stop a moment and listen.
May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in all ways.
Anne, servant of the Lord.

Baby Galah's sing out of tune!

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