Someone who can write a book called Reclaiming the Sealskin
has to be worth listening to.
I guess I first started having Bible reading notes when I
was at Junior Church – we had a lovely little lapel badge which as I was a
little older I was proud to wear.
The International Bible Reading Association is still going
strong … and once again this year I
find myself using their Bible reading notes.
They have taken on a new format this year – Fresh from the Word has the
sub-title the Bible for a change.
And a wonderful foreword by Desmond Tutu
The Bible, he writes, is not some dry and
dusty list of rules. It is the story of
how we are created good in God’s eyes, how that goodness was damaged, and ho wwholeness is ours with God. Depravity came into the world through
individual choices, drip by drip. The Bible is an invitation to wholeness
instead of brokenees. We can choose
wholeness and a life of beauty. We can choose to work for peace in the small
choices that face us each day. Each of
us has the dignity fo these choices, whether we are rich or poor, from the
global North or South, in prios onr not.
The Bible shows us how. It is
about peace and reconcliaion. It is about jstice in your neighbourhood. It
is about joy and laughter.
The IBRA, Desdmond Tutu goes on to say has a rich
history. It goes all the way back to the
evangelical revival in the nineteenth century and
the creation of Sunday schools and
public education for all.
We are created by God to be a blessing.
The key word for Desomnd tut is association – we need each
other.
And so it is that this last week Annie Heppenstall, author
of Reclaiming the Seal skin has been the writer of our Bible reading
notes/ Her books are published by the
Iona community’s Wild Goose publications, she lives and
works in Birmingham and is a teacher
and counsellor.
Her readings have been around the theme of ‘the Greening
Spirit’ An intriguing title.
The Spirit restores life to decaying creation.
Pentecost, the coming of the Spirit is all about new life,
restoration of things that hage fallen apart.
It has a power on a collective scale – on the level of us
coming together in association with each other.
it is about the beginnings of the church – how great to celebrate birthdays today!
On the day of Pentecost the followers of Jesus are behind
locked doors because they are living in a destructive time and are in fear for their lives.
They are fearful.
They are on their own.
And then there comes upon them this power, this
strength, from God. And somehow it recreates them, it restores
them. It puts them together again.
The pour down on to the streets, are accused of drunken
behaviour – but nothing of the sotrt is going on as Peter explains.
He then draws on those wonderful words of Joel to show the
new thing that is happening.
What intrigued m ein
the IBRA Bible readings this week was that we were invited to read the words
that go before these words.
They come out of a period of destruction for the Jewish
people and they figure large in the
Jewish reading of the Scriptures on a special Sabbath day that falls between
the solemn holy days of the new year and
the Day of Atonement – this ‘special Sabbath emphasises the process of
repentance, lamentation, forgiveness by God and
restoration to relationship.
The whole passage in Joel is about the need when things have
gone wrong for restoration to happen …
It’s a passage full of promise and
hope …
Do not fear, O soil;
be glad and rejoice,
for the Lord has
done great things!
22 Do not fear, you animals of the field,
for the pastures of
the wilderness are green;
the tree bears its fruit,
the fig tree and vine give their full yield.
23 O children of Zion ,
be glad
for he has given the early rain for your vindication,
he has poured down
for you abundant rain,
the early and the later rain, as before.
24 The threshing-floors shall be full of grain,
the vats shall
overflow with wine and oil.
25 I will repay you for the years
that the swarming
locust has eaten,
the hopper, the destroyer, and
the cutter,
my great army,
which I sent against you.
26 You shall eat in plenty and
be satisfied,
who has dealt
wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame.
27 You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel ,
And my people shall never again
be put to shame.
God’s Spirit Poured Out
People will need to be part of that process of resoration … and so Joel moves on to say that that can happen
only by the strength of God …
28 Then afterwards
I will pour out my
spirit on all flesh;
your sons and
your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall
dream dreams,
29 Even on the male and
female slaves,
in those days, I
will pour out my spirit.
These are the words taken up by Peter.
It is as if the sotry of Christ is a story of restoration –
putting things together again after a destructive time.
Christ comes to bring wholeness.
A whole new way of thinking about the world, a whole new way
of looking at the world, a whole new world-view – that amounts to his msessage.
Believe in the Gospel – be part of the kingdom – on the road
to the cross.
We each have a part to play in that process.
Each of us a part to play.
We can think of brokenness but then we need to think of the
part we have to play in restoration.
We can only do that as we have a stgrength from beyond ourselves –
Moving on 6th June to visit John Lewis – still a bit fragile after his long stay
in hospital.
He was watching the D Day commemorations – I joined him – it
was the major event of the day with the world’s leaders together.
We were watching the event – a long speech by M Holland e of France.
And then the BBC cut away – but we could switch to the red button. John
being a French teacher, we did.
Then we watched the very moving pageant that followed – a
bit like the opening ceremony o fhte Olympic
Games and in its own way as
moving.
Well choreographed with big screen recording of the events –
on an enormous circular map of Europe spread
out on the beach we had a presentation of the story of the war – the occupation
by the forces of fascism taking the continent over. The resistance of mny. The D Day land ings. The reconquest of Europe . The celebrations … but still the darkness of the atomic bomb of
the awfulness of the death camps of the holocaust. And then the building of Europe
again.
A wonderful picture of the young Princess Elizabeth on one
screen and next to her the Queen of
today.
And as the actors came to an end they turned to the screens and there were pictures of the veterans who were
actually there.
Then they came out – and
it was a German veteran and a French
man. They shook hand s
The arena filled with children.
The hope of the future.
And the beginnings of what has become the European Union –
the obligation is to make Europe work – an alternative to the warring imperial
powers that had been at war for centuries – and
the hope of Europe . Our obligation is to work at making it work
with the commitment of those who went to war.
It was moving stuff.
How you do that we will have differing views on. It was powerful stuff.
I thought of the way the churches responded – by doing
things – the beginnings of Chrsitian Aid.
Of the way my father’s church twinned with Germany – and
Hans Werner Bartsch – a friendship.
The twinning that has gone on.,
We all have a part to play in the restoration.
That is the vision of Pentecost – sons, daughters, young
men, old men, even slaves, men and
women – the Spirit shall be upon them and
they have a jtask to do – to declare God’s word to make this restoration a
reality.
And that is the task we do.
We need to draw on the Spirit’s strength to do just that.
What strength do we need?
Our prayer exercise …
Focus your thoughts on your life of Faith and Prayer.
Think of the way you are called to be a disciple of
Christ. You may think of wonderful
blessings you have experi-enced, of things to give thanks for. You may be con-scious of weaknesses, things
that you would love to be different.
In your mind’s eye, picture a flower or maybe more than
one. Flowers need leaves to enable them
to flourish and roots to enable them
to grow.
Think about what you would like your life of faith and prayer, your life of discipleship, to grow
into. How would you like to see it
flower and flourish?
You may find it helpful to write your thoughts down around
the flower.
Now think of the things you need to draw on for those
flowers to grow - and write your
thoughts on the leaves.
Finally, think of the roots.
And delight in the way the roots that have given us that life of faith and prayer are deep in the love of God the Father,
as we follow in the footsteps of Jesus and
as we draw on the strength of the Holy Spirit.
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