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Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Balancing act


The Holy Trinity by Azrael Nekhbet

Genesis 22:1-14 Psalm 13 (Jeremiah 28:5-9; Psalm 89:1-4, 15-18) Romans 6:12-23 Matthew 10:40-42 Propers for the Thirteenth Sunday of the Year which is celebrated on 26th June 2011

These readings invite me to a focus .
Or perhaps to focus.
We know that one of the seductive things about sin
is that it presents itself
as an answer.
The sin answer is....if I have piles of stuff then I will be happy
or - If I can only force people to do what I want then everyone will be happy
And Even....if I stick to the rules is a seduction.

The story of Abraham
is that we are not to trust in stuff
or our own view of the world
even (if we can identify the rules) we are not to trust what we take to be the absolutes.

There is only one absolute.
God the LORD
So when I wake in the morning
my prayer should not be :
- give me lots of wealth
- make my enemies do what I want
- or even, let me be good

It should be that I am seeking, always seeking
to be in God's presence
and to allow God to be present in my life.

I will not (even cannot) always understand all that God might be doing
This is what is happening to Abraham.
So I need to focus
not nearly so much
on keeping the rules
or playing what ever games I have invented
as to be making sure I am closely related to God all the time.

This is not always easy.
We may not even want it
But it is the only and the best way to go.

This week
Two things that I can do every day that I believe draws me closer to God....critique this...
is this because I want God to be like this...or is it because I am responding to God's Spirit in me...doing what God wants.-

  • What if we just say...each day I will deliberately commend myself to God...and when I need to make a decision I will try and stop and listen to how God might be speaking to me.

  • Can I also hold one person before God this week? Perhaps even someone difficult.....and carry them in my heart and journey with them, as Abraham does.

We do not need to make up a road for ourself. We need rather to trust the relationship.

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