Pilgrim

I have previously posted on here about my experience of depression.  it is with some relief that I can now say that I have emerged from that long dark tunnel and someone has gone and turned the lights on again! I am even back at work, with two new beginnings.  A lecturer post at a local University and working for a colleague of mine in a private practice.  Both roles mean that I can devote myself to doing a job that I enjoy wholeheartedly, and I am blessed to be working with wonderful people. Thank you to all the health professionals who have helped me along the way especially my GP who has been fantastic and for the counsellor who both challenged and cajoled me into seeing from the past into a future that I wasn't sure existed any more.  And to my family without whom I am sure that things would have been so very different. My future is again interesting, so for all out there who experience mental health (or ill health) issues, hold on, there are people out the...

Chapter 10 in Luke comes in three parts and so I will deal with each in turn. 10: 1-24 Sending out the 72 Jesus sends out the 72.   Well perhaps, in the NRSV he sent out 70.   There are a number of ideas and suggestions as to whether the number is meaningful, did the number 72 stand as a symbol for the nations of the world?   Was there an association with the number in the Sanhedrin.   The most common understanding however is that this is indicative that the Gospel is meant not just for Israel but for the whole world. There is a lot of work to be done.   The opposition is becoming more dangerous, (Jesus is sending out the 72 to be like lambs among wolves; if you take that image literally for a moment it is not a pleasant thought.)   They are to eat and drink anything offered; not only are they not to be picky; they will probably be entering Gentile houses and may have to eat food that is prohibited to Jews.   They are not to stay in mu...

It’s all downhill from here. Some years ago I had a dream about this episode, which is odd as I didn’t used to read the Bible regularly.   I dreamt that I met Jesus on his way down the mountain from the Transfiguration.   I don’t know why that was the time and place, but in my dream it just was.   I was sad and angry that Jesus was going to his death in Jerusalem, and I wanted to protect him.   I called out to him, and gaining his attention I pleaded with him, warning him of the danger.   He put his arms around me and we were one in that moment.   In my sleep I cried tears of sadness and love. I am still not sure what it means but I am always reminded of the dream when I read about the Transfiguration and the immediate aftermath. We have just witnessed something a bit special.   It is special enough to walk on water, stop a storm by telling it to stop, and raise the dead.   But this is something else.   We have just seen someth...

Today, we have celebrated the baptism of young Tobias, and during the baptism, we, all of us, as a church family reminded ourselves of what we believe in.   We shared the words of the creed.   By doing so we recall a covenant made with us by God.   It is worth noting that we don’t say that we expect each other to fulfill a set of rules or challenges.   We don’t promise to set up committees, even though they are in their own way important.   The promises we all made were to love, to teach and to live by example, and we promise all this not by our own efforts but with the help of God. It is a relationship that needs trust, reliance and faith if you like.   We have heard from scripture today that speaks into situations of faith. Paul writes to the Church in Galatia, which was in what is now Turkey.   It would have actually been a collection of house groups, certainly not a cathedral or an organized mega-church or anything like what we see today. ...

Notes on Luke 9:1-27 If we assume and accept the arguments put forward by NT Wright (ex-Bishop of Durham) are valid.   That the Gospels all speak of the life and death and resurrection of Jesus being the means by which the God of Israel physically came into his own creation to return that creation from the exile.   An exile produced by the breach in relationship between God and humanity as described in the Genesis creation myth.   It is really important that we read the Gospels with this underlying canvas or picture in mind.   It is hard but it can be very fruitful and I believe will help to keep the Gospels relevant and challenging to us today. Chapter 9 in Luke sees Jesus sending out his newly commissioned 12 apostles, (Chapter 6) on a mission that heralds in Luke the coming of the Kingdom of God.   In fact Luke has Jesus telling them to preach the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick, a marker itself of a new age.   Mark has repentance as his k...