Colourful Dreamer

We walk in their footsteps those women so afraid of loss and grief. Afraid of life lessened and dulled. Past dreams shattered amidst uncertainty and death. We walk in their footsteps. They were afeared and yet  they followed  all the way  to  the darkest places Gethsemane, Antonia Golgotha, the tomb. They followed in despair farewelling life as hope unravelled. At the end Jesus was not there. Too much life to be lived, too much hope to be to be held. They were afraid those women as life erupts in love. He has gone ahead! We walk in their footsteps.

This Sunday is Pentecost Sunday. The timing is based on how the writer on Luke-Acts describes it in the Book of Acts, rather than how it is described in the Gospel of Luke, or John's Gospel - on Easter Sunday. In Acts it is big and dramatic and makes such a grand story. No wonder we went with that version. Personally I prefer the John version. It is small and intimate. Jesus breathes the Spirit of Peace into the disciples - and they are changed. The danger with the Acts version with all its drama is that we long for that, or dismiss it as something that happened 2,000 years ago. Not for us thankyou. The invitation of John is to pay attention to when the Spirit of Peace has been breathed into us, and what difference that has made. I wrote this little reflection this week about where I am at. In short, the Spirit of Peace has been breathed into me. I don't know when. Maybe while I joined 13 others and cycled for 7 days from Aoraki to Oamaru. Not dramatic. But life giving. So whil...

We gather this Christmas looking for joy longing for hope holding our grief for what has been and what is and what will be We see a babe lying in a manger bed There we find God present in: Mary’s pain and doubt wonder at the unknown giving birth in this stable cave; Shepherds washed in fear and uncertainty, blinded by angel armies deafening song, calling them on; Joseph’s bewilderment as his simple life takes undefined turns wishing for life as it was, as it should be; mothers wailing gut wrenching despair holding their murdered sons, sacrificed on Herod’s paranoia and resentment; Foreign Magi risky questing and wise searching entering hostile lands looking. We see a babe lying in a manger bed There we find God present in our story our grief Christmas joy. God declares this world and all people worthy For God is with us present utterly committed even now ushering hope and wholeness gif...