Thy name is an ointment poured forth

'Jesus! the very thought is sweet: in that dear name all heart joys meet: but oh,than honey sweeter far the glimpses of his presence are.' (Hymn 177 A&M)

Those words bring so much thought (and even more if you are of an age to remember the classical, beautiful hymns Ancient and Modern.)

Sitting on the sea of Galilee brought so many thoughts of Jesus. His life, his ministry,his miracles, his parables, his rejection,his suffering, his great love of us all which overwhelmed me in that setting. You cant think on the name of Jesus and not have many other compounding thoughts.

I read these anonymous words:

'A thought lay like a flower upon mine heart,

and drew around it other thoughts like bees.'

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne

wildflowers of Israel

'All good things around us are given from heaven above. We thank the Lord, we thank the Lord, for all his love.' (Christian hymn)

You know how it is when a song gets stuck in your mind and wont leave you alone. Ever since I saw the beauty of Israel in spring with wildflowers on the verges, deep deep arid wilderness and the crystal clear waters of the sea of Galilee I have been singing these words. Even this winter morning with the cold frost, the wind off the snow, and the stark beauty of naked winter trees emerging through the fog these words come to mind. But more so, when I sing them I am not only thinking of all these precious God given gifts,and all else that makes my life good, but I am also thinking of those who do not see them, or do not have such a life that they can sing, those freezing cold in a park, homeless. Those without food this day, or yesterday and no hope for tomorrow.

Lord teach us to be aware and of all out bounteous gifts, to share.

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne

Overlooking Capurnaum. Every place that the sole of your foot treads

' Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon,that have I given unto you.' Joshua 1:3

Do you ever sense you are exactly where God wants you to be?

Yesterday I visited the nursing home to see some parishioners who are now residing there. Its a place I like to be on a Sunday morning after the first service. One of the domestic staff noticed my open communion box and commented how he misses church because he works Sunday. He said he came to a church two Sundays ago but the services had finished and the doors were shut. It so happened the church he came to was where I worship. I was able to inform him of the service times and playtime days for the family and other activities 'out of usual service times', like messy church.

Sometimes I think the ground we stand on is occupied by Christ and other ground is untrodden territory that is full of promises. There is a need to spread our feet across as much of the land before us as we can...................for Christ's sake.

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne

Write on a scroll what you see

'To the saints who are at..........................' Ephesians 1:1

To even be able to draw one person back to Christ is a 'spine tingling' experience because you know you are in the thick of God's working in their lives.

This week I had a lovely experience of two people who 'returned to their first love.' A lady in the doctors surgery approached me saying.....I have forgotten your name but I want to come to your church with you.' and then a family member said, ' 'I want to be on the school board where my daughter is attending but I have to be a Christian, so I am learning again about how to do that, will you help?.'

I shot an arrow prayer up saying: 'Alleluia Amen, come Lord Jesus.'

Never give up praying for those who have been distracted by worldly events and beliefs. Their door to faith is ajar and through you, God will come and open it wide.

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ

Anne

Peace, deep peace.

' And the peace of God which transcends all our powers of thought, will be a garrison to guard your hearts and minds in Christ.' ( Phil. 4:7 (Waymouth)

There is something 'deep' about the wording of some texts that is so meaningful. An older lady was talking to me about the 'shock' she had after visiting the doctor where he mentioned to her the need for open heart surgery. She went on to tell me of the deep peace she has right inside her being. A peace, she said, that is beyond understanding. She told me of the holding cross she had from me and how it brings her such comfort and draws her into this peace.

Sometimes, in fact often, the storms of our lives rage like a storm across the ocean but you know, under the surging waves of a stormy ocean there is utter calm at its depth. Things sit on the ocean depth for centuries undisturbed while the surface rages.When we find that depth of calm there we have God's peace.

'Far far away, the roar of passion dies, and loving thought rise calm and peacefully, and no rough storm, however fierce overhead, disturbs the soul that dwells, O Lord in you.' (HB Stowe)

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne

fishing

'Launch out into the deep.' Luke 5:4 KJV)

I pick her up once a week at 9.15am. She is wheel chair bound and can do nothing for herself except speak. We set out for a social morning with the church scrabble group. (She isn't 'churched' but asks lots of questions. ) Its been 15 years since she has been out and about for a drive in the community, she says. Totally housebound, isolated and looking for mental stimulation and friends we found her deep in the community.

When Jesus said to launch out into the deep he didn't say how deep to go and I guess that how deep we go into the community will depend on how much we are prepared to leave the comfortable shore. Jesus told the disciples to launch out into the deep because that is where the fish are.He knows, he made the deep and all that is in it.

How far are you launching out or are you sitting comfortably on the shore?

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne

in the wilderness

' What is that coming up from the wilderness................perfumed with myrrh and frankincense.' Song of Solomon 3:6

I worked for 10 years in the desert of the outback and I thought that was a wilderness until I saw the wilderness of Israel that the bible talks about. Now I understand more the wilderness of Moses, the wilderness of Jesus, the wilderness of the 10.000 refugees pouring into Turkey from Syria, the wilderness of the thousands homeless in China from natures catastrophe this day and even the wilderness of the elderly I visit in the nursing home, lost in their dementia, wandering.

But in my prayers what encourages me so is that God led the Israelites out of the wilderness, Jesus survived the 40 days in the wilderness and so too will God be with those who are in their wilderness today.

Nurture those you may encounter who are in their wilderness, give them comfort, encouragement and hope.

Fenelon said:

The heart that serves and loves and clings, hears everywhere the rush of angel wings.

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ

Anne

shepherd of the flock

' When he has brought out his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.' John 10:4

Tears poured down the face of the young lady as she poured her heart out to me about the grief in her life these past few days. She was heartbroken, overwhelmed and anxious about what the future holds for herself and her young child. Sometimes its so hard to know what to say but into my mind kept coming the image of the shepherd going ahead of his sheep, an image so vivid as I reflected on the shepherds in Israel, always leading the flock, always present, knowing them all by name, always watching over them.

As we prayed together I shared this image with her and reminded her that Jesus is our shepherd. He is always with us, always going ahead, always in our tomorrows that we are anxious about.

(Anon)

God is in every tomorrow, therefore I live for today, certain of finding at sunrise, guidance and strength for the way: power for each moment of weakness, hope for each moment of pain, comfort for every sorrow, sunshine and joy after rain.'

In all situations, imagine the shepherd and be at peace.

Blessings

Anne

sunrise on the sea of Gallilee

Matt 2:22. .....he went away to the district of Galilee..

I found myself slipping into the original mold of reflection writing this morning as I looked at the sun rise. It was God's glory that parted the skies , separating day from night in a brilliant, mass display of deep, deep orange colours, highlighted by the crisp cold winter air and a chorus of Currawongs and I thought of sitting at the sea of Galilee looking at the sunrise on the other side of the world in such a very special place and my thoughts are of a faithful God who never fails to deliver a sunrise for us each day, who never fails to give us the gift of a new day, the present.

Chrissy Greenslade wrote:

'The waking day surrounds me, and folds me in calm wings, and gives me all the strength I need, to face what each day brings.'

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne

Ephesus

'.............and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me.........' Matt 10:38

More and more my call to serve Christ was affirmed as I travelled the Holy Land. I saw first hand the places where Christ lived and had his ministry and where the early Christians, especially Paul, outreached under hardship, showing great endurance. Imagine planting the gospel in a pagan, hostile world, miles from home?

I read these words this morning (anon)

The symbol of Christianity is not a cushion, but a cross. What has my faith cost me this week? Would those folk I spend my working hours with be surprised if someone told them I was a Christian? Or do they automatically know, not so much by what I say, but by what I am?

For the sake of Christ Jesus and all who have gone before in his name..............keep fighting the fight and leaving your mark.

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne

who like me his praise should sing?

'Praise my soul the King of heaven, to his feet your tribute bring...' TIS 134

The first serious frost was down this morning and there was a glittering of white sparkle as the sun tipped the frosty ground. It reminded me of a white, tiny sequenced, ballroom gown, shimmering across the floor.

There was a carpet of God's love of multi coloured autumn leaves covering the path that I playfully kicked as I walked, reminiscent of childhood.

The quiet was broken by the call of the currawongs and a new day was dawning full of God's Glory.

In the rush of life it can sometimes be hard to find the calm of God's peace yet one step out the front door and the voice was almost a whisper...a whisper from God.....peace, still,quiet,calm,rest,reflect,refresh...

That one step aside with God is the best medicine for the soul one could ever wish for.

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne

The reason for the season

' I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.' John 10:10

I am soaking in the Easter season in multiple thoughts and reflections of its meaning, very life giving, and I think of others that perhaps we have brought life to as well, this Easter.

The display on the east wall at church was simple but thought provoking as it was created by JAFFA (our group for people with disabilities) and it told of how they felt about the risen Christ.

And

at Messy Church (a large group of community families that are unchurched) I was blown away by the response from a four year old about what she didn't like and what did she like. Many of the children responded to the question with.....'I don't like carrots, I don't like dogs......I like ice cream....but this little one of four said so seriously, so thoughtfully. 'I don't like it that Jesus died but I do like it that he is alive again. That makes me feel sooooooooooo good!

Inclusion, welcome, love and embrace. That's the reason for the season.

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne

Easter/anzac day

No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. John 15:13

The Easter event could easily be forgotten in the flow on today as we reflect on Anzac Day, yet in the tension of this our thoughts can be of the ultimate sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of thousands of men and women in war for their countries.

I reflect on my experience when I visited the Somme a few years ago. Heart breaking, numbing, emotional,utter grief and disbelief at the thousands upon thousands of lives lost, yet there was a spirit of peace that hovered over the Somme. Its almost sacred, indeed it is sacred ground.

I truly felt that day, as I looked at 10,000 names of soldiers who had no known grave, of hundreds of cemeteries scattered along the road sides, that Christ was deeply present. He knows our sacrifice, he knows our suffering, he knows our grief, our desire for peace and he is forever in it.

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne

Good Friday.

So Jesus came out wearing a crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them. 'Here is the man.' John 18: 5

Let our minds transport us back to a part of the world that throbs with the words and wonders of Jesus himself.

In the 1800's William How wrote this hymn:

It is a thing most wonderful , almost too wonderful to be true

That God's own Son should come from heaven, and die to save a child like me.

I sometimes think upon the cross and shut my eyes to try and see

The cruel nails and crown of thorns and Jesus, crucified for me.

Let us gaze on the wonders of the day and see Jesus pinned to the cruel tree, not by nails, but by love for you and for me.

Peace.

Anne

inclussion..........for Jesus sake.

'And I will raise them up, I will raise them up at the last day. (TIS 535)

There is a growing sense of thoughtfulness around issues of those who gather and worship with us at church who have a disability. I have been so blessed this season of Lent as I have worked with the disability group at church preparing for Easter. There have been sessions of colouring in and cutting out, creating and making, talking and singing...............all about the Easter story.......not just to hear and learn the story but to serve the congregation in such a way that all are include, all are blessed. This Palm Sunday the activity of the Disability group JAFFA was the centre of reflection in the sanctuary. What a blessed moment, what a humble moment as people reflected on the seasonal focus point, and reflected on the hands that had created it.

Inclusion is the key to life........isn't that the gospel message?

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne

Jesus loves me

' Jesus said: People who are well don't need a doctor, but only those who are sick. I have come not to call respectable people, but outcasts. ' Mark 2:17

Have you ever broken something precious and then arduously tried to put it back together gluing each piece bit by bit?

I was attempting to glue a broken chip back onto a much loved ornament and as I worked at it (sometimes with frustration) I thought of how God must labour over the lives of broken individuals...............you know, the ones that society casts aside...........broken, hurting, unloved people...............God's people.

Then I reflect on how on how God can change lives and how he can use us to be his hands, his voice and his feet, his advocates. Who of the unloved are you going to love today..........in the name of Christ.

The Easter message is that God can change prostitutes like Magdalene into disciples and broken reeds like Simon Peter into rocks...... (Fulton Sheen)

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne

' resurrection'

' I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord.' John 11:25.

There is something so special about the autumn. God brings a sense of freshness, of quiet, of colour and emptiness, of fog and mist, of perfect reflections on still waters, a beauty so deep.

I think in every season we can see the Glory of the Lord if we are looking. Multiple layers of life and death.................all seeming to die, before it lives....................resurrection 'stuff' that brings to mind the Easter message.

Take a moment..................just a moment and marvel at a tree in colour, then look again in a little while at its emptiness and then in spring look again........................and see layer upon layer of the Glory of the Lord'

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne

open their eyes

' I was born blind but now I see.' ( John 9)

How many times do we hear but we don't see. The penny doesn't drop then one day, we suddenly see what we have been hearing. Over and over I kept 'seeing' the face of this blind man as suddenly the revelation hit him...................the man who gave him sight was JESUS, Saviour of the world ................what a spiritual revelation what an epiphany for him.

I think of us all as we set about our day and wonder about the people God will put in our path that are blind, that perhaps hear but don't see. I know that I set about a day with passion and desire, a passion and desire to serve the Lord, to help the blind to see.................to see not just the light of day, but the light of Christ.

We are Christ centred, healing people to a hurting world.....................through Christ we can open the eyes of the blind.

With dignity and integrity I want to add.....................go get them!

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne

God is in his house.

' let all the world, in every corner sing: my God and King. TIS 105

The early morning autumn mist hovered over the summer grass with haunting beauty and trees, sentinel like seemed to have no base in the fog, just towering upward from the mist,

still,

quiet,

peaceful,

slowly moving.

The gentle, fresh breeze rippled across the grass and onto my face , refreshing like the Spirit of God.

Lord, I care not about position in heaven. Let all those bent on having power rule as they may. Give me only a small place close enough to see your face. (Calvin Miller)

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne

For heavens sake.

' Never be lazy in your work but serve the Lord enthusiastically.' Romans 12:11

There is a saying which says: 'What on earth am I doing for Heaven's sake!' Now we can say that in the context of something we have done that hasn't quite gone the way we wanted it to or we can say it in a prayerful way, depends where we put the emphasis.

Yesterday I was sitting in 'Messy church' amongst many 'unchurched' families and I glanced across at a young couple. The dad was nursing their child . It was a sacred moment as I realised that through 'Messy church' this young couple were not only learning about God and the love of Jesus but they were giving this child an introduction to Christian life. The revelation almost put me on my knees before God.

What on earth are you doing for heavens sake?

Grace and peace from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Anne