Monthly Archives: December 2011

Treading into the unknown

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I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year
‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’

And he replied,
‘Go into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God
That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.”

These opening lines of a poem by Minnie Louise Haskings, were used in King George VI’s Christmas Radio broadcast at the start of World War II, in 1939 . He used them to speak to a nation and Commonwealth that was facing very uncertain times, in the upheaval of war. His life has been immortalised this year in the very moving film  ‘The King’s Speech’, showing how he faced down his own inner demons and difficulties.

We are again in uncertain times, but the message of this poem seems relevant to me for any year. None of us know what it may contain, nationally, internationally or personally.    I am looking ahead into a year of big changes. A house move, ordination and a new job to adjust to. Somewhere before all that lot, there is a degree to finish.  Fortunately I am one of those oddities who enjoys change and challenge, and am looking forwards to these new directions, but even so, the scale and pace of all this change feels quite daunting at times. What has been on the horizon for a long time, is almost here.

I know that I am not up to what God is asking of me, and never have been, but fortunately He knows that too. I am in good company. Almost everyone God asked to do something for Him in the Bible felt the same way. Moses certainly did.  On one occasion he said to God,  ” You have been telling me  “Lead these people” but you have not let me know whom you will send with me”  and God replies:

“My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest”   Exodus 33:14 

That is all I ask, and all I need as I set out on this newest adventure with God. I don’t know what else the year may contain, or what may be demanded of me, but I do know that He has promised to be with me every step of it. My prayer like Moses, is for a continual awareness of His Presence, and to be able to rest in His enabling.                       My prayer for me, and my prayer for you.

Give this to Jesus for me ( From Sheila Bridge’s blog)

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Give this to Jesus for me

For the second year in a row I have been given something by a small child and asked if I could ‘give it to Jesus’! Last year a little boy at the crib service was left holding one of the gifts from the King and was most concerned what to do about it (we took it to the crib and put it beside the manger).

This year 6 year old Jake breezed into Kid’s Club and handed me a card. At first I assumed it was for me and was about to say thank you but a raised eyebrow from Jake’s mum standing behind him warned me to take a second look. ‘To Jeasus’ it said in wobbly writing.

Well, what would you have done?

I’m deeply honoured by the association but it still felt kind of rude to open someone else’s post so I stammered a bit and eventually said ‘Thank you Jake, that’s really kind, I’ll make sure he gets it’.

Two things  touched me about this exchange. The first was that Jake was the only person I knew who’d actually sent a card to the one person whose birthday we are celebrating.

Secondly I have a lot to learn from such  total and utterly simple confidence. He had no doubt what so ever that I would be able to pass on his card.

As adults, how hesitant are we?

How cynical have we become?

How complicated do we make things?

How unsure am I when I come to God that he will even hear me, let alone respond. Yet this is the God who says ‘Ask, Seek, Knock’,  all of which are instructions simple enough for a six year old.

Later I did, in fact, open Jake’s card. It said ‘Dear Jeasus’ Merry Christmas and Happy New Year ‘love from Jake’.

Brilliant! The child is a genius. We can learn a lot from children, no wonder Jesus said ‘Unless you become like a child, you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven’.

‘Thank you Jake’ – and that comes from Me and Jesus!

Holy Gifts

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Holy Gifts
 
 
Taken
Chosen
A life lifted from obscurity
Held in hands that hefted galaxies
Hallowed  by an ask
To sustain
The Word
 
 
Blessed
Given grace
To bear the weight of favour
Daughter of Eve,
Giving God a thankful heart
By holding His, within
Her own
 
 
Broken
Lanced by sword
That pierced Father, Spirit, Son.
Blood of her blood
Poured out for those
That clamoured for
His death.
 
Given
Her whole life
Offered on the altar
Of surrender
A readiness  to be God’s Yes
Shared out to hungry hands
To feed  a world
With grace
 
It has been my habit for the last 12 years or so, to write a poem at Christmas to include as a tiny  gift with the cards I send. Most often they come out of my own journey, and its juxtaposition with the wonder of the Christmas Story. It helps me keep it fresh. I never want to lose that awe. On a much smaller scale, when I was a midwife, I was privileged to bring large numbers of babies into the world, and it always was just that. A privilege and a wonder. No two births are alike, and each one is a miracle. 
 
I have been living with these four words for most of this year, in a variety of ways. Taken, blessed, broken, given. 
They are known as the shape of the Eucharist, based on Jesus’ actions as he shared bread with his disciples or the the huge crowds by the Gallilean shore, taking a tiny, seemingly insignificant gift, ( five loaves and two fishes)  blessing it, breaking it and sharing it out to all. Making the miniscule feed the many. 
 
They have come up, time and again, most recently within Henri Nouwen’s book,                  Life of the Beloved, where he brackets them under the larger heading : Becoming the Beloved.  He says “ Becoming the Beloved means letting the truth of our Belovedness become enfleshed in everything we think, say or do.”                                                     A beautifully succinct way of expressing the two great Commandments, and the description of a life’s journey into Love. 
 
I sit several times a day in chapel, facing an icon that depicts Christ looking steadily forwards and holding the words.
“You did not choose me, I chose you.”
It echoes with my own journey on this path to ordination, that began with a gargantuan struggle with the call God was placing on my life, and reminds me daily that this is all about Him, and I am simply an offered loaf in His hands. 
 
Mary’s life  continues to inspire and challenge me. I wrote about her in Bringing Love where Love is absent, earlier in the year, and when thinking about this year’s poem, I looked in a variety of other directions/angles but came back to her, as a whole lot of thoughts over the year seemed to come together and distil. 
 
 
 
 

Beatbox Nativity

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This was such a good, literal and seasonal example of my last post Singing the Next Verse      I just had to add it here.

Reverend Gavin Tyte, a  vicar from Uplyme in Devon who puts a  creative take on a very familiar story.  It has been entered for a competition and  you can vote for it on the following site and see many other examples ( in a wide variety of styles) of the Nativity Story told in 3 minutes or less.

http://bit.ly/vQJQCR!