The 27 Minutes on Pause

Modern technology is a wonder - I love technology and gadgets.  New technology is perhaps my weakness but yes I have resisted the Apple Watch!  However  my children live in a world long since moved on from VHS and the mad dash to get a cuppa during the adverts.  They live in a world where television can be paused and adverts are to be fast forwarded except in the run up to Christmas or birthdays.  This week was no different - the television paused whilst breakfast was organised and 27 minutes later the children returned to the box.  They watched the end of their programme and the next programme, still 27 minutes behind the rest of the street.  

And that made me wonder how many of us live our lives somewhere behind the pace, not realising that actually the rest of the world is 27 minutes ahead of us (so to speak).  We are reluctant to embrace the world as it is and having hit the pause button, we are now living in our time, wondering why the world has stopped making sense.  No matter how hard we try to catch up we never seem to make up those 27 minutes, and those who live 27 minutes ahead seem alien, and always grumpy with us because we are always trying to drag them back in some way.  

For some it is the world of politics where some of us are trying to understand those results and wonder how we missed the signs.  For some it is the loss of loved one and for a while the world stopped for us - and although we are functioning again, we still haven't caught up to real time, living a little off the pace wondering why life doesn't add up.  For some it was that cruel word that damaged our self-esteem and we paused, never feeling that confident again.  .  More of us live our lives 27 minutes behind others than we realise - just for some the pause lasted a lot longer, and potentially, sadly some never push play again, permanently stuck in one place.  

Many believe the Church is stuck on pause, and yes the Church isn't necessarily the most up to date institution.  But I want to reassure you that the Church is quickly learning how to fast forward the adverts and is catching up - locally and nationally.  We aren't there yet but we are working on it, and Church, definitely in Blantyre Old, but also around the country there is much that is happening that is adventurous, forward thinking, challenging, and life enhancing.  You might think we are about Sunday best, prejudice and judgement, but actually the Jesus we follow is about community, love, grace and hope.  Jesus lived so far into the future that all of us are catching up with him! 

But as the Scriptures say,

“No one has ever seen,

no one has ever heard,

no one has ever imagined

what God has prepared for those who love him.”

But God has shown us these things through the Spirit. (1st Corinthians 2:9-10)

Is your life on pause or do you feel you are still trying to catch up?  For the television we push the power button and the television jumps back to real time.  If we push the power button of God, we could simply end up in the right place at the right time.  Regardless of what caused your "27 minute pause" - God can heal the time lost, and bring you to a time that is right for you - because he loves you and he wants you to enjoy life in all its fullness which is found when we live in the present, not the past nor the future but the present.  And remember all time is in God's hands. Another famous Scripture about time - there is such a thing as the right time.  (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 NIV)

There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:

2     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
3     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
4     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
5     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
6     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
7     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
8     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

Blessings,

Sarah

God gives....an Easter Sunday Perspective

Reflection:  God gives….
On Maundy Thursday I spoke about embarrassment and the fact that God was willing to bear what we would find so embarrassing.  To die on the cross was a shameful thing for within Jewish scripture God himself said it was shameful death.  God was willing to embarrass himself – to show to the world what looked like ultimate weakness, that he had lost control and everything was spiralling downhill.
For God, for humanity there is no bleaker moment in history – to hang God upon the cross and think we have won some battle…
And yet very few truly knew it was God upon the cross – Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.
And in the lowest moment of all – even Jesus felt abandoned – my God, my God, why have you abandoned me?
And yet Jesus also said – in your hands I commit my Spirit – because Jesus knew, deep down, in the part of us that this world cannot touch that God was there, with him, waiting for him.
If there is anything I truly love and believe in is the wonderful honesty and humanity of Christ.
At Christmas we say, we sing, God Immanuel – God with us.
Jesus is God – of that I have no doubt.  His presence though, his earthly presence gives us permission to be human.  So often we place unfair expectations on ourselves…
There was a woman who I loved and who was an angel in her own right but I swear she had the biggest guilt complex.  She worried constantly that God would judge her or strike her down if she had a bad thought about another, and regularly confessed them to me.  I pray that when she reached those pearly gates God just hugged her.
Did Jesus get frustrated at people?  Yes
Did Jesus cry at the graveside of a dear friend? Yes
Did Jesus party and enjoy himself?  Absolutely. How many water into wine jokes have you heard?
Did Jesus feel close to God, loved and appreciated? Yes
Did he feel scared, frightened, wanting to run away from his responsibility?  So much so he sweated drops of blood in the garden of Gethsemane.
Did Jesus have close friends and did he know the ups and downs of family life?  Yes – at times his family thought he was mad and wanted to hide him away. A close friend betrayed him for money, another denied he knew him, and they all legged it.
This Jesus is the Jesus we celebrate today who sits at the right hand of God, speaking on our behalf, walking with us through the ups and downs of our lives.  He isn’t looking for polished perfect human beings who when they call themselves Christians stop being bitter, hurt, disappointed, heartbroken.  Yes he calls us to live faithfully, to live with more love, more patience, more self-control, more joy, live in peace, with goodness and kindness and humility, just as he did. But he knows, he knows folks what it is to be human and that is what God gives us this Easter.
The permission to be human.
However God is more than that and so he wants to remind you this Easter that just as the cross was the not final scene, nor is what we see now the grand finale.
The resurrection of Jesus gives us a glimpse of what is yet to be for us.  In the story as recorded in John Jesus doesn’t let Mary touch him because he hasn’t yet seen his Father.  The resurrection restores and heals the body though the scars remain – we are who we are, scars an’ all.
We celebrate not a continuation of this broken world, but a new heaven and a new earth, where we will walk with God and there will be no more tears nor suffering nor death for all the old ways are gone.
Through Jesus we are given permission to be human and the opportunity to grasp the divine.  And like Jesus, through prayer, through friendship, through time with God as individuals and corporately in worship, we will overcome all things with faith, hope and love.
I pray this Easter you will know the presence of God with you.
Happy Easter.

Dark Skies - Glimpses of Light

Drifting through my head at the moment in the changing weather - the sky is brooding and dark, yet without warning the sun shines through a gap and there is hope.  I love seeing glimpses of the blue sky - for me it suggests there is something greater beyond what I can see and touch.  The blue sky reminds me of space, of stars too many to count, of the infinity of space and beyond (okay a little Toy Story but you know what I mean).

Sometimes we get so caught up in the now that we lose sight of the bigger picture.  There is always stuff to do - task lists that are never complete, the taxi service for our children or parents, the community groups or charities we help, and so much more.  We are heading towards holiday season where we all think about slowing down, resting, reflecting and wondering who we are and where we are going.

I hope that the brooding dark clouds that have gathered will pass, the clouds shift and the sun shine through.  And as the blue sky stretches across the horizon may we know that we are part of something far greater and all that we do will have an impact on the skies of others.

For now I pick up the children, look forward to the next meeting and pray for blue sky thinking in my church and my community.

Isaiah 40:28 - “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth, He will not grow tired or weary and his understanding no one can fathom.”