Wednesday 13th May 2020, Station 12: Jesus appears at the lakesideYou can almost image the scene as the apostle John tells it. Just as the sun is coming up the mist is clearing. Jesus had just instructed them to cast their nets and they are now full and heavy with fish that are big and plump. They see that really welcoming figure of Jesus by the warm fire with the aroma of fish cooking on it and bread by the side. How welcoming must that have been for those men who were hungry and yet glad to see their friend Jesus again. No longer dead but alive and eating with them like old times.Jesus spent a lot of His time on earth eating and drinking. For Jesus, it was important to gather people around the table and at that table both discipleship and evangelism took place. We see countless examples of Jesus eating with people throughout the Gospels particularly in the Gospel of Luke. For example, in Luke 5, Jesus eats with tax collectors and sinners at home. In Luke 7, Jesus is anointed by a woman in the home of Simon the Pharisee during a meal. Then, in Luke 9, we see Jesus feeding the five thousand. There are also countless references to food throughout the Gospel, even when Jesus is not eating. During the last supper, Jesus uses the bread and wine, undertaking one of the most significant moments of His entire ministry. The meals Jesus shared with others were not only significant, but also life-changing. Here are five lessons we can learn from the meals Jesus shared.During Jesus’ ministry on earth, everything was centred around meals. There was the wedding at Cana, a dinner with the reviled Zacchaeus and the Last Supper. Jesus was even criticized for eating with the tax collectors and sinners (Matthew 12:16). Eating together is one of the most important and practical means for overcoming any barrier that separates us. It is also an incredible way to share and fellowship. Whether you are bringing one person to your table or many, you can honour the gifts God has given you and love people the way Jesus loves them. It doesn’t matter if the meals are fancy, home-cooked or take-out. What matters is that they involve other people and that they connect us.There is Power in Sharing a MealThe act of eating meals plays a significant role in the gospels. It’s important to note that Jesus shared meals with all sorts of people. There are even scholars who refer to this trend as Jesus “eating His way through the gospels.” When Jesus shared meals with people, it gave him the opportunity to enter the lives of the people with whom He was eating. Many of the meals that Jesus is recorded eating in the gospels are also accompanied by times of teaching, healing or other miraculous work. In short, we see that there is power in the time that we share meals with others. We too have the power to use our eating time to connect and share with those around us, even though at the moment we are unable to share the physical food, we can still share that spiritual food of gathering with each other albeit through zoom.We have the opportunity to not only feed the needy, but share in our eating with others. We live in a needy world and we should do everything we can to connect with others, especially those who are hungry and suffering. Galatians 6:10 says, “As we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” Sharing is not only our priority, but also our ministry. I think that it is amazing that even in this lockdown people are still willing to contribute food to the food bank, which helps families in need.Come and have breakfast Jesus says. Jesus is inviting us to be refreshed, renewed and nourished in and through him. Come and sit and eat with him.Let us PrayLord, the resurrection of Your Sonhas given us new life and renewed hope.Help us to live as new people in pursuit of the Christian ideal.Grant us wisdom to know what we must do,the will to want to do it, the courage to undertake it,the perseverance to continue to do it, and the strength to complete it.Amen.Pauline Cummins
Thought for the day Unconditional loveI have always been a cat lover and had cats since childhood. After my last cat passed away following a long life of chasing birds and bringing home the odd dead thing, I went through a period of really missing having a pet around. A year or two went by and I decided that I would bring the subject up with my husband and after a lot of persuasion he agreed to go down the route of having a dog.We went to several dog homes and finally chose a Jack Russell called ‘Sadie’ from the Dogs Trust in Loughborough. When we saw her, she was quivering in a corner and looked like she could do with a loving home.Little did we know that she was a bitey, snappy and fearful creature who had never been loved and knew nothing about how to play. 3 years later she is a loving softy. This I think is because we gave her a lot of love and attention and she in turn learned to trust us. I believe that we all want love and attention and Jesus tells us to love each other. Whether we are humans or animals, we are at our best when love is shown. I now have a dog that follows me everywhere and enjoys human company. What a change! I am never sure what I want in life is really what I need. My dog Sadie’s story is what I really needed at the time, and probably still need as there are times when I feel down and she really picks me up, giving that unconditional love.God is able to do that in our lives, giving us love unconditionally if only we put our full trust in Him. I know that God’s love for me is unconditional – even more than Sadie’s love.Pauline Cummins
Thoughts for TodayFrom the real world, sublime and challengingRio de Janeiro 1 – and the Sugar Loaf Mountain – Sweet….Salvador gave us a first taste of Brazil in all its diversity. After a three day sailing we arrived at dawn in the Guanabara Bay of Rio de Janeiro. It was the Portugese explorers who named the place ‘River of January’ as it was discovered on 1st January 1502.The extraordinary statue of Christ the Redeemer appeared out of the clouds and said ‘Hello and Welcome!’ The granite and quartz Sugarloaf mountain beckoned us from a height of 1290 feet. Two cable car rides took us first up Urca Hill (now connected to the mainland by reclamation) followed by the three minute last leg in the bubble car to the summit of Sugarloaf. The photo shows this last leg.Sugarloaf? The name emanates from Rio, and there are many mountains around the world so named. The 17th century practice of transporting refined sugar by ship in clay conical moulds resembled a ‘Sugarloaf’. As we looked over to the ‘loaf’ we were greeted with the sign ‘Where brands meet people’. At our destination we also shared the ‘loaf’ with the Marmoset monkeys.The slogan had me thinking of where advertising leads us? I was looking for soft brown sugar the other day, along with flour of any sort. Every time I see sugar now I think of the ‘loaf’. The essentials of life have taken on a new significance in recent times. Brands have taken a back seat. I left the supermarket empty-handed and sugar-free on that occasion! I have since sorted it out with patience. We are so used to immediate supply of so many commodities. The history of sugar supply is ancient, a rare commodity and it was transported many miles before sugar beet factories came about in Britain.I used to take in the aroma of the British Sugar factory in Newark-on-Trent when I was a young man ‘on the beat’ there.We human beings enjoy sweet things, but of course nothing in excess.The prophet Jeremiah mentions sugar cane in the Lord’s words “What use to me is frankincense that comes from Sheba, or sweet cane from a distant land?” (Jeremiah 6:20)We remember what gives us sweetness. Very often it is words of encouragement, affirmation and forgiveness. These may be from family, friends or strangers, through whatever platform of communication - enriching sweetening and transforming us.Thank you Rio for your insights from the ‘loaf’…as the sweet words from Proverbs (16:24) inform us “Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body”.Rio 2 next time from Christ the Redeemer…..…….Blessings! Edward and Jane
Today we hear once again those famous words from Thomas; “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hands in his side. I will not believe.”Fair enough, you may think, well done Thomas for saying out loud what we and the disciples must all have thought at the time. I think that all the disciples needed a certainty about whether Jesus was alive and the fact that Thomas was absent when he first appeared gives them another opportunity to require that proof, that concrete physical proof as it were.Once again Jesus offers the opportunity for the disciples to reach out and come to him. Scripture doesn’t say whether Thomas actually puts his fingers in the scars, or his hand into the spear wound, but this is a direct command from Jesus and tradition has assumed from Jesus’ words that Thomas did take this step. In the painting by Caravaggio, which is on our service sheet today, we graphically see Thomas’ forefinger entering the gash in Christ’s side. Indeed Christ is guiding Thomas’ fingers into the wound with his left hand, while his right hand pulls back the tunic that covers his chest. Christ’s calm expression contrasts with the intense and surprised reactions of Thomas and the other two disciples (the figure on the left is most likely Peter with John next to him). The dramatic tenebrist light further accentuates the moment in which Thomas encounters the bodily wounds of the risen Christ. Caravaggio’s figures, are painted in earth tones, and are meant to be representative of the common man. This painting by Caravaggio is most wonderful, he uses common people to show us this holy moment, no halos or angels bathed in light, just common folk, bathed in light and shade as is our life and in a very theatrical form, with simple and torn clothes. there’s a thought to ponder?Notice the light on Thomas’ forehead, which gives us the insight that man receives enlightenment by Christs’ reflected light. Notice too that Thomas is almost scientifically examining Jesus’ body, Christ not wanting to withhold anything from him, that too should speak to us today.This picture does seek to answer the questions we all have thought, from time to time. For me, it helps me navigate my thought processes, we must have the confidence to “ask, seek and knock” as Jesus says in Matthew 7:7In doing so the door of understanding, of enlightenment will be opened to us and out of this enlightenment we can then, like Thomas, say. “My Lord and my God.!” Whether Thomas makes this response on behalf of the whole group of disciples or it is his own personal insight is not easy to tell. What is true is that group of believers is growing, first Mary Magdalene, then John and Peter, now Thomas.But for each of them it is only the start, for revelation is only a beginning; how you make it live and breathe in your own being is what counts. Thomas took his new found knowledge of Jesus into his heart and carried it across continents into the heart of India. Christ was his fuel for the journey, indeed the truth that Thomas told still lives on in India to this day. This Truth told then now lives with us; Where will we carry it, to our neighbours, our nation or perhaps even to our enemies?One thing for sure is, this truth we cannot, must not and shall not keep it to ourselves.Jesus Christ is risen.He is risen indeed, Alleluia.Let us Pray.King of glory, while we doubt, we fail, we turn away, yet your faith in us remains strong.May we experience that divine strength coursing through our souls and bodies and minds, so that our doubts may become the source of new knowledge, leading us to see you more clearly and be drawn into the heart of your love for all creation.Amen
