God’s love letter As I was thinking about what to write this month, a couple of lines from one song, kept going round and round in my head. It’s not a particularly modern song, indeed, I wasn’t even born when it was written, but its words you may be familiar with, these words were ‘love letters straight from my heart,’ from the song, Love Letters, written in 1945 with lyrics by Edward Heyman and composed by Victor Young. February is of course, the month in which we may celebrate Valentines Day, with ‘Love letters straight from our hearts,’ written to our nearest and dearest. Certainly our consumerist culture, will encourage us to spend money on cards and gifts for our loved ones. As with many celebrations, one size doesn’t always fit all … whilst many will enjoy the romance and the opportunity to express their love at this time of year, what about those who have lost their loved one, or whose relationship has broken down, or who are still searching for ‘the one?’ How do we hold these tensions, whilst celebrating the love that so many have found? Valentines’ day will closely be followed by Shrove Tuesday, if chocolate and roses aren’t your thing, then maybe pancakes, lemon and sugar are, before we potentially put all these things to one side and celebrate Ash Wednesday and enter the season of Lent, with its themes of Fasting, giving and prayer. Lent, is an intentional season of preparation as we prepare to remember the events of Holy Week, culminating in Jesus death on the cross to save us from our sins, before joyfully celebrating his resurrection, and the assurance that we can enjoy eternal life with God, on Easter day. The whole bible is a ‘love letter, straight from the heart of God,’ and we see that most clearly expressed in the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, which tell the story of Jesus life, death and resurrection, Gospel, literally translating as the GOODNEWS. So this Lent, why not spend a little time each day, reading from God’s love letter and commit to reading just one gospel in the 6 weeks of Lent, Mark is the shortest gospel and the most action packed, page turner! This love letter straight from the heart, the bible, is Good news for all of us, no matter what is happening in our lives and for all time. May God bless you Rev Heather
Sunday before Lent Year A: Matthew 17:1-13 & 2 Peter 1:16-21Don’t just stand there; do something –these are familiar and urgent commands, designed to spur us from complacency into action. In our Gospel reading this morning, Peter essentially barks out this imperative in response to witnessing the induction of Jesus into the faith heroes’ hall of fame, by virtue of his appearance on the mountain with Moses and Elijah, not to mention his glowing transfiguration. Overwhelmed and awed by the whole event, Peter did what most of us do in pivotal and poignant moments: Carpe Diem! Seize the day! Capture the moment! Let’s make some dwellings; let’s make it a Kodak moment, preserve it for all posterity. Let’s get to work! C’mon guys, get the stuff we need to make dwellings --- boards, hammers, nails. James, John, don’t just stand there with your mouths hanging open! Get busy! Do something!Busy! Busy! Do this! Do that! Got to get to work! Produce! Achieve! It’s built into the very fabric of our culture, even our religion. And I’m reliably assured – not reassured, let me say – that busyness is not something that disappears, when we start collecting our pension – I have lost count of the times I have been told ‘I don’t know how I ever had time to work! I’m busier know than I have ever been.’And yet, this busyness is the source of the most common lament I hear, ‘we’re tired’. Having bought into the myth of identity based on accomplishment, ‘we’re tired’ but if we don’t accomplish anything, then we don’t know who we are.Meet someone for the first time and after exchanging names and where we’re from the next thing we want to know is, ‘what do you do?’ Our doing is who we are. So Peter’s insistence on doing something is completely natural; but Gods voice from heaven interrupts his babbling to say, ‘Hush! This is my son, whom I love with him I am well pleased. Listen to him.’ Did you get that Peter? Quit talking and doing and for once in your life, simply pay attention, listen!It’s absolutely true that Christ’s call to discipleship issues forth in all sorts of doing, but only as our response and not as condition for our identity as Gods precious children. This identity comes only as a gift, pure grace, free and undeserved. Yet I sometimes wonder if we have all but forgotten simply how to ‘be’.The trick as in most things, is balance. Knowing when to ‘do’ and when and how to just ‘be’. Learning to take our calling seriously, but not too seriously! To let go of our need to be in control and to listen for the voice of God so that our actions aren’t merely the proverbial running around like headless chickens, but instead are true acts of discipleship that flow from a being that is formed in the awe and wonder of God’s gracious love for us.If we turn to Peters account of the transfiguration in 2 Peter, his own, possibly, eye witness account and suddenly there is no mention of building shelters. Indeed, if we look at all three gospels, alongside each other, they all record things slightly differently, Luke adds in that Peter didn’t know what he was doing, Mark goes even further and says for they were terrified.And we shouldn’t be surprised by this, after all eyewitness accounts will often vary. When I was 17, I happened to witness a bank robbery. All sounds very dramatic, and I suppose to an extent it was, I was about to cross the road, with my sister, who happened to see absolutely nothing, when out of the Abbey National, ran a man carrying a gun, who ran across the road, right towards us, before, leaping into a car and being driven off at high speed. Now of course, I was interviewed by the police and although I could recall some details, height … average, build … average … sex … male, ok I knew that … age … no idea … car …. Well, It was a dark colour, maybe a sort navy and had four wheels … what was he holding in his hand … well that I can still see although of course I don’t know the make or model 😊 as it turned out I was a completely useless eyewitness …. But I can remember to this day how it made me feel. Peter was there at the transfiguration, very present, with supernatural events unfolding close-up and shining with glory. Even though terrified, and no doubt blinded to some details, he would never forget the moment and how it made him feel and so when he tells the story for himself, he leaves out the whole business about the shelters and makes no mention of his confusion and fear. What he focuses on is the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ and the voice of ‘Majestic Glory’ confirming Jesus as God’s Son. Everything else had become insignificant in the light of that glory.In his re-telling, he speaks of the present darkness and then looks forward to the day that will dawn when the morning star rises in our hearts. For him, and he hopes for his readers, his personal encounter on the mountain confirms this – that Jesus will come again in glory. He should know: he was there! On Wednesday we begin our Lenten journey, today we hear the words of God from heaven, words which a few years earlier affirmed Jesus at his baptism, and which know prepare Jesus as he begins his journey to suffering and to the cross.Lent calls us to rediscover our spirituality, to be, to quit our frantic babbling and to pay attention, to consider whose we are in our baptism, God’s precious children, forgiven, loved, held and only from that identity, gifted, called and sent to do Gods work in the world. If we don’t get the ‘being’ part, then the doing will only be chaotic, frustrated attempts at self-justification or else grounded in fear and devoid of any joy. If all our doing seems mad and pointless, we need to learn again to behold the mystery, to enter a quiet place of awe. There will be more than ample opportunity and compulsion for living out our call to discipleship, to taking up the cross. But in order to be able to do that, at least for now, don’t just do something! Sit there! Listen and be refreshed.Let’s pray Most gracious God, we give you thanks for all the doings in our lives, the opportunities for meaningful work, vocation and relationships. Yet, Lord, we know that in those relationships, we must be grounded in an identity that comes only from you. Remind us of our baptismal calling as your precious children, loved, forgiven and held; and from that identity send us out to do your work. Help us to recommit ourselves to that identity, so that our work for you might become more meaningful in this Lenten season. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen
