Colourful Dreamer

The colourful wooden houses of Bryggen     Fløibanen Funicular Day four was a day to explore some of the beautiful city of Bergen. We had arrived the night before after picking up the wonderful Rebekah from the airport on the way into town. Our accommodation had no parking so we had to walk awhile to get there. Once there we found ourselves in the heart of the touristy area. Below us was the Fløibanen Funicular that goes up Fløyen Mountain. And we were on the edge of Bryggen which features colourful wooden houses on the old wharf, once a centre of the Hanseatic League's trading empire. Our accommodation was upstairs with great views. But also little heating and the ceiling matched the sloping roof line. I hit my head so many times trying to do simple things like get into bed and getting stuff out of my bag. It was like being in Kate's Dunedin student flat again. But it was so convenient, so warmth could wait a day or two...

This Sunday I am preaching at the church I attend. So this is my way of putting together some thoughts that will turn into that sermon. They might be helpful for someone so here they are. “And behold a woman having a spirit of infirmity 18 years” [1] . Or as the NRSV puts it “And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years” [2] . We slide past that line. And yet here is the crux. Behold – and invisible woman, invisible for 18 years, is seen by Jesus. The bible for me is not the word of God, as it is sometimes called, but the vehicle through which the Eternal Word of God who was incarnate in the person of Jesus, speaks to us. I could put some more Trinitarian language in that, but you get the gist. And for me that means these books are not rules to obey, or a collection of verses to quote for particular purposes, but books of theologies, each with their own understand of God, each with their own invitation to their faith communities and to...