Today's readings:

Psalm 39:13

Isaiah 5:1 - 2

Luke 22: 54 - 62

The quest for peace in these verses gets ever more difficult!  The Luke has Peter denying Jesus, the isaiah is a metaphor about a vineyard (and sounds almost worthy of Song of Songs!) and the one verse from the psalm, well it's bewildering.

I'm not going to force it.  I'm just going to accept that, on this day when winds of (reportedly) over 160 mph have swept across parts of Scotland, peace is an elusive concept.

Last Sunday we touched, ever so briefly, on the idea of a prophetic imagination, that sees beyond the reality of here and now to what might be.

My glimpse of peace is a back-and-white furry friend curled up and snoozing while the windows of my flat rattle and whirrr in the wind, rain lashes the window panes and darkness closes in apace.

Where is peace, now, oh God?

Storms rage, buildings break apart, seas roar...

Where is peace, now, oh God?

Peter denies Jesus, tempers flare, violence spreads...

Where is peace, now, oh God?

Scripture stands silent, words devoid of signs...

Here is peace, now, from God

A cat curled in slumber whilst the wind rattle the glass

Here is peace, now, from God

Jesus restores Peter, hope is renewed, vision restored

Here is peace, now, from God...

...

...

...

Be

Be still

Be still and know

Be still and know that I AM

Be still and know that I am God

Today severe winds have hit Scotland, and, for insurance reasons, that meant not being able to be in the Gathering Place.  It appears that a building just round the corner is 'unsafe' as the road was closed at some point late morning (after I'd left for home with all the stuff I needed for the the next 24 hours!).

Anyway:

Lunchtime Advent Reflection...

Manse living room...

Person bearing sandwiches and home-baked mince pies...

Job done!

The real blessing of being in a tabernacling church, whether it camps in its own back garden or somewhere else, is this refusal to be thwarted by events.

Probably not many people had a black and white cat racing in and out of their act of worship today, but it didn't seem to faze my folks (or Holly) too much.

Hopefully the wind will abate and normality be resumed  tomorrow... and I might yet get started on the work I had planned for this morning!