Post by JEM on Jun 8, 2020 12:12:53 GMT
JOHN GODDARD'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY 2020 MARCH 24th
Thought for the day...
All by myself
Don't wanna be
All by myself
Anymore
I love a little melancholy in my music, and Eric Carmen (apparently riffing on Sergei Rachmaninoff) managed that with his classic 1975 hit.
And this may be how some of us are feeling as we wake up today on the first morning of the COVID-19 lockdown. Yes, we need to stay home and that means we will be more physically alone than we are comfortable with. We are social beings (even the more introverted of us...) and we do not cope well with cages, even the gilded cages of our comfortable homes.
However, we don't need to be alone. Yes, we need to stay home, but Facebook and Skype, WhatsApp and Zoom, and the rather more prosaic phone and text all allow us to be communicating with one another, supporting one another, encouraging one another, consoling one another, challenging one another whilst retaining appropriate social distancing. We can be together even whilst we are separated.
Perhaps this is the time we will remind ourselves that we are not solo artists but part of a rich and varied community band. To my shame it has taken this crisis for me to learn the names of some of the people on our street, and once this crisis is over we will hopefully be even better neighbours to one another.
The book of Genesis, that beautifully poetic book of origins that opens the collection of books we call the Bible, describes the creation of humanity in this way: 'Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness... So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.' Christians are monotheists - we believe in one God. But we also believe that in the heart of God there is something resembling community as Father, Son and Holy Spirit love and interact - or dance as the more poetical theologians would have it. And we are created in the image of this God, for community, and to thrive together - to dance the divine image within us. A few weeks social distancing will not change that.
Probably top of my 'bucket list' once travel becomes possible again is to visit the trees of the northern Pacific Coast of the USA. Sequoia sempervirens - the coastal redwoods - are among the largest and oldest living things on our beautiful planet. One of the ways that they manage to be so tall without being vulnerable to storms is that their roots interconnect with the other redwoods around them. They grow together in groves, supporting one another, and as such they can grow tall and old. An isolated, lonesome pine might be a good subject for an old song, but it is no way to live and no way to be.
Let us stay connected, for together we are rooted in Christ and created in the image and likeness of God.
JOHN GODDARD'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY 2020 March 25th
Happy 9 months to Christmas Day day! Perhaps more often referred to as the Feast of the Annunciation, this is the day Christians traditionally remember Gabriel's visit to Mary and her remarkable response to God's revelation. You can read all about it in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 1, verses 26 to 38. (Why not read it now, we can wait...)
In the midst of all the incredibly significant theology in this passage, with God's loving rescue plan for creation focused in the event of incarnation, it is Mary's response that holds me today: 'Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.' Such trust. Such grace.
True, it's not her first response. Not unreasonably she is initially perplexed, and she does have questions: 'How can this be...?' But her considered response, as her heart races and her mind whirls, is yes - 'Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.' I don't know whether Mary realised that her response echoed that of Isaiah the Prophet in Isaiah 6, or that her faith mirrored the faith of the young woman in Isaiah 7 who has the courage to name her baby Immanuel (God is with us) despite living in scary times of fear. But her response is clear - let it be.
Let it be is not the same as 'Whatevs'. This is not a 'Que sera, sera, whatever will be, will be' response. It is a considered, faithful, generous 'yes' to the mind-bendingly scary situation in front of her. Let it be.
Thought for the day...
Happy 9 months to Christmas Day day! Perhaps more often referred to as the Feast of the Annunciation, this is the day Christians traditionally remember Gabriel's visit to Mary and her remarkable response to God's revelation. You can read all about it in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 1, verses 26 to 38. (Why not read it now, we can wait...)
In the midst of all the incredibly significant theology in this passage, with God's loving rescue plan for creation focused in the event of incarnation, it is Mary's response that holds me today: 'Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.' Such trust. Such grace.
True, it's not her first response. Not unreasonably she is initially perplexed, and she does have questions: 'How can this be...?' But her considered response, as her heart races and her mind whirls, is yes - 'Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.' I don't know whether Mary realised that her response echoed that of Isaiah the Prophet in Isaiah 6, or that her faith mirrored the faith of the young woman in Isaiah 7 who has the courage to name her baby Immanuel (God is with us) despite living in scary times of fear. But her response is clear - let it be.
Let it be is not the same as 'Whatevs'. This is not a 'Que sera, sera, whatever will be, will be' response. It is a considered, faithful, generous 'yes' to the mind-bendingly scary situation in front of her. Let it be.
There is much about the times we are living through that is scary and disorienting. We cannot control this virus, and we cannot control the actions of those around us. But we can choose how to respond. We can speak our 'Let it be' as we commit to staying home. We can speak our 'Let it be' as we commit to staying in touch, picking up the phone and being there for neighbours and friends, and perhaps most challenging of all we can speak our 'Let it be' when we have the courage to ask for help and the grace to receive help as it is needed. Let it be.
And for those of us for whom this is all too much, and we cannot respond as Mary responded, we can still hear Gabriel's words, 'The Lord is here... Do not be afraid.' Amen?
Thought for the day...
All by myself
Don't wanna be
All by myself
Anymore
I love a little melancholy in my music, and Eric Carmen (apparently riffing on Sergei Rachmaninoff) managed that with his classic 1975 hit.
And this may be how some of us are feeling as we wake up today on the first morning of the COVID-19 lockdown. Yes, we need to stay home and that means we will be more physically alone than we are comfortable with. We are social beings (even the more introverted of us...) and we do not cope well with cages, even the gilded cages of our comfortable homes.
However, we don't need to be alone. Yes, we need to stay home, but Facebook and Skype, WhatsApp and Zoom, and the rather more prosaic phone and text all allow us to be communicating with one another, supporting one another, encouraging one another, consoling one another, challenging one another whilst retaining appropriate social distancing. We can be together even whilst we are separated.
Perhaps this is the time we will remind ourselves that we are not solo artists but part of a rich and varied community band. To my shame it has taken this crisis for me to learn the names of some of the people on our street, and once this crisis is over we will hopefully be even better neighbours to one another.
The book of Genesis, that beautifully poetic book of origins that opens the collection of books we call the Bible, describes the creation of humanity in this way: 'Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness... So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.' Christians are monotheists - we believe in one God. But we also believe that in the heart of God there is something resembling community as Father, Son and Holy Spirit love and interact - or dance as the more poetical theologians would have it. And we are created in the image of this God, for community, and to thrive together - to dance the divine image within us. A few weeks social distancing will not change that.
Probably top of my 'bucket list' once travel becomes possible again is to visit the trees of the northern Pacific Coast of the USA. Sequoia sempervirens - the coastal redwoods - are among the largest and oldest living things on our beautiful planet. One of the ways that they manage to be so tall without being vulnerable to storms is that their roots interconnect with the other redwoods around them. They grow together in groves, supporting one another, and as such they can grow tall and old. An isolated, lonesome pine might be a good subject for an old song, but it is no way to live and no way to be.
Let us stay connected, for together we are rooted in Christ and created in the image and likeness of God.
JOHN GODDARD'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY 2020 March 25th
Happy 9 months to Christmas Day day! Perhaps more often referred to as the Feast of the Annunciation, this is the day Christians traditionally remember Gabriel's visit to Mary and her remarkable response to God's revelation. You can read all about it in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 1, verses 26 to 38. (Why not read it now, we can wait...)
In the midst of all the incredibly significant theology in this passage, with God's loving rescue plan for creation focused in the event of incarnation, it is Mary's response that holds me today: 'Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.' Such trust. Such grace.
True, it's not her first response. Not unreasonably she is initially perplexed, and she does have questions: 'How can this be...?' But her considered response, as her heart races and her mind whirls, is yes - 'Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.' I don't know whether Mary realised that her response echoed that of Isaiah the Prophet in Isaiah 6, or that her faith mirrored the faith of the young woman in Isaiah 7 who has the courage to name her baby Immanuel (God is with us) despite living in scary times of fear. But her response is clear - let it be.
Let it be is not the same as 'Whatevs'. This is not a 'Que sera, sera, whatever will be, will be' response. It is a considered, faithful, generous 'yes' to the mind-bendingly scary situation in front of her. Let it be.
Thought for the day...
Happy 9 months to Christmas Day day! Perhaps more often referred to as the Feast of the Annunciation, this is the day Christians traditionally remember Gabriel's visit to Mary and her remarkable response to God's revelation. You can read all about it in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 1, verses 26 to 38. (Why not read it now, we can wait...)
In the midst of all the incredibly significant theology in this passage, with God's loving rescue plan for creation focused in the event of incarnation, it is Mary's response that holds me today: 'Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.' Such trust. Such grace.
True, it's not her first response. Not unreasonably she is initially perplexed, and she does have questions: 'How can this be...?' But her considered response, as her heart races and her mind whirls, is yes - 'Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.' I don't know whether Mary realised that her response echoed that of Isaiah the Prophet in Isaiah 6, or that her faith mirrored the faith of the young woman in Isaiah 7 who has the courage to name her baby Immanuel (God is with us) despite living in scary times of fear. But her response is clear - let it be.
Let it be is not the same as 'Whatevs'. This is not a 'Que sera, sera, whatever will be, will be' response. It is a considered, faithful, generous 'yes' to the mind-bendingly scary situation in front of her. Let it be.
There is much about the times we are living through that is scary and disorienting. We cannot control this virus, and we cannot control the actions of those around us. But we can choose how to respond. We can speak our 'Let it be' as we commit to staying home. We can speak our 'Let it be' as we commit to staying in touch, picking up the phone and being there for neighbours and friends, and perhaps most challenging of all we can speak our 'Let it be' when we have the courage to ask for help and the grace to receive help as it is needed. Let it be.
And for those of us for whom this is all too much, and we cannot respond as Mary responded, we can still hear Gabriel's words, 'The Lord is here... Do not be afraid.' Amen?