I was reminded that the early pioneers to America, whilst pioneering – had arrows shot at them! Pioneering can be tough!

When we consider the Lord’s Prayer, Gods desire is that things on earth may be like things in heaven. We are reminded in the prayer that we ask for Gods kingdom to come so that both heaven and earth are joined under God.

I wonder if God has a comfort zone?

Assuming for a moment that he has, God stepped out of his comfort zone to create a planet and then populate it with all sorts of goodies, including human beings. He then had this fantastic idea to build into this planet a thing called ‘being spiritual’. So that all the things on the planet will recognise him and the trees of the fields will sing for joy! And humans can be in a perfect relationship with him and one another, ‘on earth as in heaven’. 

Okay it creaks around the edges, well quite a lot, but I like the idea of God being a ‘planet pioneer’. He has the odd arrow fired at him, complaints about this and that, loads of humans who just turn their backs and don’t get it. However against this background God decided to stabilise things and set up a new venture called the, ‘Human Church’. To make it work he again stepped out of his comfort zone and sent Jesus, His son, (yes God has a Son) on a mission into the interior. It didn’t look too bad at first, water to wine, bread and fishes, boat trips, days out at the beach. But if only he would keep his hair on and stop whilst the going was good! But no, as he matured into full on pioneering mode he became even bolder and the more he antagonised certain groups of people, then he began to find himself in trouble. Eventually he overstepped the mark and was done away with, much to the relief of those whom he antagonised. Some of his mates, well they were on board at the start but when it came to the crunch, where were they?

But something clicked with those blokes, his mates, who having run away now had a different appetite for pioneering. However they stayed together albeit under something of a cloud (well you would be if you said or made promises you couldn’t keep and when the going got tough had legged it)! So they went off fishing, but God the pioneer hadn’t finished with them yet, and neither had Jesus. He knew they had to eat so he got a barbeque going on the beach; he gave them a shout to bring some of their fish and to have a bite. Normally pioneering isn’t as scary as this, but they thought Jesus was a ghost!  So to see Jesus standing by the barbeque calling out for his lunch, well that was a bit scary! For Jesus had been killed on the cross; but here he was risen from the dead, what a Pioneer this man has turned out to be. Remember that time when they saw Jesus walking on water (Pioneers can do amazing things),

All in all it worked out quite well, they all made up and forgave each other and said sorry and I love you. So Jesus said, ‘I’m off now, over to you.’ 

‘Well, hang on a minute what do you mean, ‘Over to you’ – What kind of pioneer are you Jesus?’

‘Well, I’m the kind of pioneer that says you’re ready, off you go! He said just that, he said his mates were ready to take it from then on! 

Okay Jesus made some promises, and we know he is good at keeping promises. But the wilderness is not an empty space which is all cuddly and soft; it is full of those things called human beings.  God then had another good idea, one that Jesus helped put in place. He gave them his Spirit to help decide how to build the human church. Yes, a human church, the kind of place where he and humans could connect. He obviously knew that it would be a potent mix; he is after all a pioneer God. He clearly thought that this is a good idea because it’s been working for years and years now and there doesn’t quite seem to be an end to it… well, not at the mo’.

Actually I think God is quite pleased with his human church, because God told Jesus that it would be Jesus’ church, Jesus would be the head of the church. That takes some courage, to be the head of the human church, it keeps him busy and there is no-end of complications with the humans, but somehow he makes sense of it. And it works, amazing!

Just a thought!

Stay blessed.

You may be reading this and not be a Christian. That’s okay but this is a message for those who are Christians.

You see I was troubled for a while about some of the life style choices I am being asked to make, and I should say, have made. There is confusing multi-messaging coming from many different sources, some Christian, many secular. I am frequently being asked to live in a certain way, I need to have a body honed to perfection, groomed to an acceptable level, and I need to smell great and have the right clothing to hang on this perfect body. I am also told to live in a certain way, yes have values and views but I must accept others values and views but not allow my views to hurt or distress anyone. I need to eat, but I don’t want to be a secret eater to please all those who disagree with my eating habits. I’m a carnivore. I can have political views, I can have religious views, I can have no view at all; but I must live with consideration for all other people and not do anything to harm them.

Now I have a problem with all of that.

 “I regret to inform you…”

As a consequence of some of the major wars, WW1, WW2, the Vietnam War the following words were used in a letter sent to surviving family members:

‘I regret to inform you…’

There is a moment during the film ‘ Saving Private Ryan’ which shows a middle age woman washing dishes, as she looks out of her window she sees a car driving up to her house. She goes to her front porch to receive the visitors, one an army officer and the other a priest. The woman collapses knowing this can only be bad news. Three of her four sons have been killed whilst fighting the enemy: ‘I regret to inform you…’

Five words that indicate profound suffering and which can crush an individual, bringing devastating loss. Confronted by loss of life these five words are never welcome. A family is torn apart by grief, indescribable loss and irreparable separation. ‘I regret to inform you…’. I wonder; with so many millions of telegrams sent to so many people during the First World War did this form of expression, at its source, retain its meaning? Did it became impersonal, just words on a paper, relentlessly day after day the words were typed; only the person’s name was changed. Was this a mini war industry; needing an army of people who could only responded in this way to death and sadness? Those receiving such a letter were left to respond to this, the most intrusive correspondence, full of tragedy, unbearable. It is heart breaking.

I was intrigued when a fan of a Premier Football Club posted the following tweet:

‘Leave my club.’

It was a three letter comment to the owner of a Premier football club. My intrigue was sparked by a number of thoughts,

Did the fan own the club?

Did he think he owned the club?

Maybe he was the main shareholder?

Or was he some bloke who had invested a considerable amount of his life to supporting this club and that endows him with a sense of ‘ownership’?

Jumpers for goal posts

Taking one for the team, but what if someone cheats?

In playing any sport or game one of the first things to learn is that there are rules. We then accept that rules are there for guiding, informing and enabling us to familiarise with the standard of the game, building balance between opposing teams or players. 

Chucking jumpers down to make goals on a makeshift pitch; the ‘rules’ are kinda agreed, they may be added to as the game progresses but the important thing is to get on with the game… 

The Holy Grail of American Sport.

Body armour, helmets, full contact sport – The American Game

Having won three Super Bowls, been four times ‘All First Team All Pro’, Rob Gronkowski announces his retirement at the great age of – wait for it – 29 years old!

What! 29 nine years old, wow! Maybe it’s the word ‘retire’ that catches my eye.

I cannot imagine what it is like to have a member of my family linked to a serious crime. For my name and my family’s name to be linked to a deed that forever will remain marked down in history for its infamy.

It seems to me that there are a great many programmes on the television delving back into recent history and reviewing crimes that have shocked the nation. One recently was about the infamous Jack the Ripper; an unsolved series of crimes that cost the lives of 5 women. Or more recently a review of ‘The Yorkshire Ripper (13 women killed, and seven attempted murders). There is no shortage of appetite when it comes to looking at crimes of the past. Occasionally family members are interviewed and all are shocked by the deeds done by their family member. On occasions legal anonymity hides the perpetrator of an evil deed; at others someone is named and shamed but little proof to convict creates anonymity.

Grandpa was a gardener; in fact he was a great gardener. He worked for the Laird up at the big house in Clackmannanshire, Scotland. It became his occupation. He took up the job as a gardener when he came home from the ‘great war’. He eventually became the head gardener so he must have been good. His garden at home was as beautiful as the garden he was paid to look after – he was more than the sum of the parts. He understood what he was doing and gained great results. It was his vocation. Being a soldier was not his vocation.

Mum and dad were great gardeners, my sister and brother in law have a great garden, and friends have great gardens…

But I am not a gardener!

I know a man who jumped into a raging river torrent. The river was raging over the waterfall and there was someone in the water being dragged into its undercurrent. This man didn’t stop to have a conversation with anyone about what to do. He didn’t ask himself or others for that matter, about courage. He didn’t stop to consider what a hero looked like. He just reacted to a very tough situation and without thought plunged into the turmoil. As a result someone’s life was saved.

When I went scuba diving on a regular basis with the diving club I knew that there were strict guidelines to follow to be a safe diver. Consequently, I also know that it only takes a minute or so for someone who is panicking to drown. I was taught that if you had to rescue someone who was panicking and thought they were going to drown to approach them very carefully and with caution, they will grab you and use you to hold onto in an attempt to save themselves, and you might end up being the victim. Better to wait until they were ‘half drowned’, whatever that means?

Guilt: a word that may or may not figure too much in your thinking.

‘An awareness of having done wrong or committed a crime, accompanied by feelings of shame and regret’ (Thanks to Encarta Dictionary: UK)

When we think of guilt we may think of law courts. Recently a fire officer, distraught and devastated at not rescuing those trapped in a burning building, used the word ‘guilt’. He ‘felt guilty’.  It is possible to feel guilty for a number of reasons, as guilt carries with it a set of feelings that are associated with shame, regret, sorrow, pain and injury.

There are a small minority of people who commit acts and they have no remorse, no feelings of wrong and have no regret. I wonder if with the decision to condemn Jesus to death Pilate had any remorse, regrets; or even negative thoughts?