Reflection: Sunday 21st August and for the week ahead:Scripture:“My eyes fail with watching for your word, while I say, ‘O when will you comfort me?’ I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, yet I do not forget your statutes.” (Psalm 119 vv 82-3)Reflection:The Psalms are the most personal and timeless ‘Book’ in the Bible, a collection of songs and poems composed for all sorts of occasions. At one time called ‘The Psalms of David’ they were by no means all written by the shepherd who became king, though some of the most moving speak of his inmost thoughts and feelings. Others were written for public use on ceremonial occasions. Psalm 119 (at 176 verses!) is the longest of the 150 and is focused on what are here called ‘statutes’, but have many other names – decrees, precepts, commandments, ways, law, word… The Psalmist pours out the depths of his heart as he speaks of the ways in which he has experienced evil and suffering, while at the same time proclaiming that his knowledge of right and wrong is a gift that has come from God. Where we would keep wine in bottles in a cool cellar, his contemporaries kept it in skins hung by smoky fires, warming the wine but doing the skins no good – guarding one’s moral integrity may not be comfortable, but this Psalm encourages us to rejoice in knowing good from evil and to talk frankly to God in prayer. David Harmsworth
Reflection: Sunday 14th August and for the week ahead:Scripture:Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. (Letter to the Hebrews 12:1-2)Reflection:‘So great a cloud of witnesses’, what does the writer mean? Who are these witnesses? Why, they are the women and men of faith, the ‘saints’ who have gone before us. This is a text often read at All Souls and All Saints, when we remember those who have already ‘finished the race’. The thought that all around us is an unseen, unheard, but encouraging crowd of earlier believers and heroes of the faith cheering us on, is both comforting and gives us a strong imperative to carry on, to ‘run with perseverance the race that is set before us’, whatever that race looks like in our life. But the writer also makes sure that we understand that the one we are running towards, the one on whom our eyes must be fixed, is Jesus. Ponder this, as you run, walk, or slowly amble, this week. Revd Ylva Blid-Mackenzie
