Powering up

What to do when you actually have to do it by yourself! When there is no one standing over your shoulder telling you what to do next.

We might call this the Masterchef challenge!

The readings for this week are those for 9^th May 2010 the 6^th Sunday in Easter. Acts 16:9-15, Ps 67, Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5, John 14:23-29

What the early Christians had to learn was how to be Christian, how to be Christ indeed, when Christ was no longer with them.

Jesus’s promise to be with his disciples always was fulfilled through another promise. That of the Holy Spirit.

It is the Spirit who will teach us how to know God’s life active and present in our own lives.

We might note:

Intuition: part of our spiritual training is to learn to trust the leadings of the Spirit. When we feel deep within the promptings, perhaps to contact somebody, to be silent, or to speak, to go somewhere.

Can we pray for discernment and trust to be guided?

The early apostles seem to develop this. Paul finds he is able to trust his intuition about dreams, about plans, about people.

The Positive Movements of the Spirit

What do you make day by day of how God’s Spirit has dealt with you? And can we trust that?

If we think back over the last day or so and ask: For what am I most grateful, we begin to detect those places where we have been on the same side as God! Or if we ask Where am I most alive? This is the resurrection question, of course, because where we are ‘alive’ there Christ is!

Is it when we take time to be with someone, or when we prepare ourselves properly, or in a particular place….

Gradually we build up a profile of how we work well with God and how God works well with us.

If we flip the coin, perhaps asking “where do I experience death, or where do I feel awful?” we also find those dark places where we have chased God away.

What we see in the Acts of the Apostles is how the disciples learn to trust these discernments of the Spirit.

The fulfillment of the promise of Jesus, that he would not leave us friendless is in the person of the Spirit, who we have to learn to trust.

Developing our intuition,. And interpreting our experience!

New Learning

This week can we pray each day for the Holy Spirit to be close to us and to lead us. This is a surprisingly effective prayer!

Can we take a little time to

o Be a little more intuitive

o Note where we function well, feel alive, discover we are close to God!

o Note, also, where the reverse happens and pray for strength to act differently

A good wife

Readings for this SundayJuly 06, 14th Sunday of the Year, Gen. 24:34-38,42-49,58-67.
Ps. 45:10-17 or Song 2:8-13. Rom. 7:15-25a. Matt. 11:16-19,25-30.

I went last week to see the film "Mongol" which is about the emergence of Genghis Khan
the great conquerting ruler of the Mongolians
It is a wonderful, but bloodthirsty film,
the film is held together by the story of the marriage relationship
between Temudgin (who became known as Genghis Khan) and the girl Borte who he chooses as his wife (when he is 12!!)
It is a literary device that we encounter in these reading as we read the beginnings of the story of how Isaac and Rebecca, the second of the line of patriarchs and matriarchs,
meet and begin phase two.
They are (like the Mongolian stories) legendary in scope.
You are left wondering just how it could all come together
in such an ordered and fruitful way.
We see in the narratives, the 'hand of God'
and it is named as such.
It is of course a reflection written after the fact
and we often observe that 20-20 hindsight is a wonderful;
What we do see in hindsight
is that God's care, comfort and guidance
are available when we open ourselves to them.

There is perhaps the hope that
what we come to see clearly looking back
we also begin to appreciate in the present moment
This is about what we might learn and understand
as we mature spiritually
and how we might then live our lives confident
that God supports and sustains us.
Equally well Romans reminds us of the nature of the struggle with sin
that it is serious, hard and needs attention

when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand

Paul says, and today's Gospel reminds us that another spiritual reality is that God is there to be with us when the going gets tough.

‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’

These insights are all reflections on how God deals with us.
As we look back we see with 20-20 hindsight
the truth of God's promises.
Our day to day vision is not always that good,
partly because we don't take time to look.

Each day we are invited to understand more of what God promises us.
And to live out of that promise.

This week
As you look back where have you been aware of God's plan for your lief?
What is God doing for you?
How is the struggle with sin going? Are there particular things you need to address?
Where do you seek God's comfort and support? Are you also being invited to be part of that support for other people?

God of our future, God of our past
give us the eyes of faith to see
that you are dynamic and active in our life
give us wills that trust your promise
and comfort us when we find things difficult.