From one pace to the next

 As Lent began this year I remember saying that we were taking things slowly. There were ideas of books that you could read over the period. This week, as we enter Holy Week, we are preparing for things to speed up again. As we enter into Holy Week we do so knowing that we are walking with Jesus the last week of His time on earth. This week is a challenge, it is full of emotion, for me a number of years ago it was a time when I injured myself. One Holy Week I helped strip the altar on Maundy Thursday, I propelled backwards and was caught by the Verger. I was told to sit and be quiet in the vestry. Earlier in that week I had put a ring on my finger and it had got stuck. My finger had started to turn blue and the quickest help for me to have the ring removed was a fire engine. I didn’t expect a full fire engine to pull up at the Vicarage with flashing lights and sirens. The next year I fell over walking to a school. I was rushed into the school office and my wounds were tended to. The head teacher thought I had been attacked and was going to phone the police. I explained that I had simply fallen over. The year after that - Holy Week happened without me injuring myself or anyone else.

I told some people and it was felt that I was entering into Holy Week in much too graphic a way. I agreed.

Holy Week the first time was certainly dramatic, it was certainly confusing, it was certainly sad. From the excitement of entering Jerusalem with Jesus being hailed as King and being greeted with palm branches to the Friday with some of the same people calling for Jesus to be crucified, we go through a series of emotions.

As we enter into Holy Week we are encouraged to praise God, we are encouraged by Maundy Thursday to remember Jesus’ last meal with the disciples, a meal at which He gave us a way to remember Him as we share in the Eucharist together. Then, of course, on Good Friday there is the pain of remembering Jesus on the Cross and the fact that this was all done for us. Jesus died so that we might live forever and know Him, so we could have a relationship with Him.

It is fast paced, and I wonder how easy it is to move from one pace to another so quickly. Maybe it is all ok really. We are looking with the knowledge that everything is going to be fine. Love has won. God has won, and as we remember we do so knowing that the love of God is with us always.

Maybe this means that we can approach this week expecting to be transformed. We don’t have to rush but we can be quiet and slow paced if we want, all we need to do is to take time and think. To think about the love of God. To take time to pray that we will be more like God every day.

I would like to finish with a prayer from my choice of Lenten book this year.

Let us pray

Holy God, help me to walk the way of the cross of Jesus. As I let go of my way, may I find the path to life in your holy Way. Amen.

Courage to love

 There were once two little boys who decided to buy their mother some flowers. So they went out to look for a nice bouquet, however the only one that they really liked was too expensive, so they thought that they would buy her a nice house plant instead. They did this and presented it to their Mum who was really pleased. Then the younger of the two boys explained, “Well, Mum we saw a lovely bouquet, it was really pretty and you would have loved it, it had a huge ribbon across the top of it on which were the words, ‘rest in peace’, we know that you always ask us to give you a chance to rest in peace so we would have bought it for you but we didn’t have enough money.” The Mum reassured her sons that a house plant was a much better idea!

Today is, of course, Mothering Sunday, a day when we give thanks for Mums, and all those who have loved us and cared for us as Mothers. We think also of our own role in loving and caring for others, and we are reminded of the greatest love of all. The love of God for us, His children.

Today we also give thanks for our mother Church, which is Newport Cathedral, and of course Mary, the mother of Jesus. I like to think of the Church that I grew up in as well, this Church nurtured me and helped me grow in my faith.

Our readings this morning have reminded us not just of mothers but also of our call to love and get alongside those in need.

In the Old Testament reading (Ex.2:1-10.) we heard of a mother protecting her child. She knew that if the Pharaoh of Egypt at the time had known that she had a son he would have killed him. This was because Pharaoh felt threatened by the people he had as slaves. These people were Hebrews and Pharaoh was worried that if they grew in number they would turn on him and enslave him instead.

The mother of the baby had kept him hidden, but she knew she couldn’t do this forever. She placed him in a basket and his sister took him to the Nile. It is the type of story which would have you hanging on for more if you didn’t already know what happened.

Pharaoh’s daughter found the baby, and then ended up asking for his own mother to look after him in the Pharaoh’s palace. It really is an amazing account. The man who would have killed the baby boy ended up with the boy being brought up in his palace by his own birth mother. Incredible!

Moses, the little boy, was protected and looked after. He then grew up and was used by God as someone who would help to set the Hebrew people free from slavery.

When you hear this you can never believe that God wasn’t looking after His children, the Hebrews. In the same way that Mothers look after their children despite all setbacks God does the same for us.

In the reading from the gospel according to Luke (2:33-36) we heard of a mother being warned of awful things to come. Mary was warned that she would be hurt. This happened when Jesus was a Baby. He had been taken to the Temple and a man named Simeon had realised that in Jesus was the salvation that they were waiting for. Not just this, but after this moment of excitement he then told Mary and Joseph that their son was going to suffer.

I came across a little poem the other day, which talked of some of the Mums in the Bible and it said,

Had I been Joseph's mother

I'd have prayed

protection from his brothers

"God, keep him safe.

He is so young,

so different from

the others."

Mercifully,

she never knew

there would be slavery

and prison, too.

Had I been Moses' mother

I'd have wept to keep my little son:

praying she might forget

the babe drawn from the water

of the Nile.

Had I not kept

him for her

nursing him the while,

was he not mine?

--and she

but Pharaoh's daughter?

Had I been Mary,

Oh, had I been she,

I would have cried

as never mother cried,

"Anything, O God,

Anything...

--but

crucified."

In the reading that we heard from the 2nd letter to the Corinthians (1:3-7) we heard the word console. I have often thought of that word as quite a weak word, almost, ‘ah never mind, you’ll be ok’, but it is actually so much more than this. It expects more than a pat on the back, to truly console someone is to get alongside them, to be there for them, it is about showing true love and care. It can be easy to think that we are saying and doing the right thing for someone in need, but it is about more than this, it is about getting alongside a person. It is about going the extra mile. It is about giving things up for others.

It’s a little like the bravery of two women, the unconditional love of God and the knowledge that today as we give thanks for the example of love so we are to love in the ways that we have been loved. In the case of God’s love for us, this is unconditionally. As we give thanks today, may we also ask God to help us to love as He loves.

I am proud to be a member of the Mothers Union. This is a Christian organisation that is dedicated to ending poverty, violence and social injustice in the UK and around the world. For 150 years the Mothers Union has worked to help children, families, parents, all those in need by offering support and guidance. It was begun by a Mother who wanted to support other mothers, from different backgrounds in bringing up their children. Her name was Mary Sumner and she wrote a prayer which I would like to finish with. This prayer reminds us of our call to love, and support others.

Let us pray:-

All this day, O Lord,

let me touch as many lives as possible for thee;

and every life I touch, do thou by thy spirit quicken,

whether through the word I speak,

the prayer I breathe,

or the life I live.

Amen.

Overflowing Joy !

 I am the youngest child in my family. This means that growing up I had a brother and sister to advise me. It turns out that not everything they told me was true. Anyway, I remember a place in Chard where we used to stay. It was a house in which there were toys including toy boats. I was very little and my brother showed me that if you put enough water in the sink you could sail one of these boats. I liked the idea and later on decided to have a go myself. Then we all went out for the day. When we got back there was water everywhere. I had turned the tap on to play, but I hadn’t turned the tap off. 

I thought of that because we have come across overflowing and everlasting water in our readings today.

In the reading from Exodus (17:1-7) we heard of the people complaining as they travelled with Moses to the land that they had been promised. They were thirsty, so perhaps this seems fair enough.

After hearing this, Moses appealed to God, who used him to perform a miracle. By using a staff he was able to strike a stone and water came out. The place was named Massah and Meribah because the people had argued and questioned if God was with them.

In the Psalm (95) we heard of another theme in the readings this morning which is rejoicing because of all the good things God has done. I rather like the salutary warning that remembered Massah and Meribah. It is almost a warning to behave better, keep rejoicing because otherwise you will be known as arguing and complaining.

Keeping this idea of rejoicing in the letter to the Romans (5:1-11) we were reminded of the fact that because of what Jesus has done for us we can boast in His goodness. It is wonderful, my favourite verse is in this passage, “God proves His love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.”

It’s amazing and worth rejoicing in the fact that before God even knew if we would accept Him, He died for us. 

So far, there is a feeling of joy and hope in the readings. Hope in terms of a warning not to argue as bad things can happen. Joy that God helped the people and gave them another chance, joy in celebrating all that God has done and then as if that wasn’t enough we have the joy and reassurance that Jesus died for us. 

The gospel reading (John 4:5-42) reminds us that God loves us and wants to bring us all new life. I always picture the woman at the well running around afterwards and telling everyone about her encounter with someone who told her everything she ever knew about herself.  She wondered if He was the Messiah, the One promised by God who would help them.  After all, Jesus told her that she would gain new life and could receive more than water from the well, she could have everlasting life. 

We are offered this as well. God provides new life, and He promises that this life is everlasting. 

This is another need for us to rejoice, because just as Jesus did for the woman so He does for us. Jesus brings life, and everlasting water to us and all those for whom we pray.

In the reading from the gospel of John we did not hear just about a woman at the well but a non Jewish woman. Jesus a Jewish man speaking to a non Jewish woman would have been  scandalous.

Jesus was never bound by tradition, and he was never prepared to accept that people couldn’t reconcile their differences with God and with other people. He showed that God’s transforming love, grace and mercy are available to all. 

A while ago my husband and I went to Rome. We went to the Trevi fountain on Valentine’s Day. Our female friends were cross with their husbands that they hadn’t thought of something so romantic. The husbands breathed sighs of relief when they discovered that we were really going to watch the rugby !! 

Anyway in Rome there are many famous fountains at which people have their photos taken, and throw their coins in as they make a wish, but something that is not so well known is that these fountains also all have perfectly clean drinking water, and that’s what they were originally designed for. Water was a scarce commodity at one time in the city, and clean water was almost impossible to get, and so the authorities built the fountains. 

And in many places fountains or wells became the centre of a community, and even today this is still the case in some of the poorest parts of the world. People come to get their water, they share the local news and gossip, they chat to people about friends and family, they even discuss the local politics and so on.

The wells were a hugely important place where people found not just physical water, but met with people with whom they could discuss spiritual or physical needs or problems, as well as just those little bits of news which helped to keep communities going. 

They were a place of living water, and yet Jesus was saying that he was offering something even better ! And that is still what he is offering us today. He is calling us to look at ourselves, and to spend some time reflecting on who we are and what we are really called to do.  

Jesus saw potential in this woman, and he sees potential in every one of us. 

Jesus gives us that living water… An unnamed woman who was not a Jew, in spite of her hesitation and misgivings, she was drawn to the well to encounter Jesus, who gave her that drink of living water. So we also are drawn to encounter Jesus, that we too might drink of living water and never thirst again. We are called to rejoice, not to complain. God showed His love for the people on their journey by miraculously giving them water, they rejoiced, He died for us and He is always there to give us the living water. The water that is the best ever. 

I think that perhaps rather than thinking of water overflowing, we should be full of overflowing joy. Amen.