Sometimes that 'good idea' you had seems very 'not good'.  This week, I am trying to find hints and glimpses of 'peace' or 'shalom' in the scripture readings offered by the Northumbria Community...

Psalm 139:5

Song of Songs 8:5a

Mark 1:35

With such minuscule readings, with verses (or even half verses) taken totally out of context, the task of finding that for which I seek becomes very difficult and indeed, very contrived.  Read out of context, these verses can seem quite menacing (Psalm 139:5) or bewildering (Song of Songs 8:5a).  So, I've had to look them up and find a bit of a context in which to do my 'seeking hints of peace.'  Unsurprisingly, the possibly sexually explicit, and at least highly sensual, Song of Songs is not the place!!!  So I was torn between the psalm, which is well-loved and often used as a source of comfort, and the gospel, which is complex.  In the end I opted for the gospel, with the one verse from above in red:

As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.  Now Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once.
He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up.  Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.  That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons.  And the whole city was gathered around the door.  And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.  In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed.  And Simon and his companions hunted for him.  When they found him, they said to him, "Everyone is searching for you."  He answered, "Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do."   And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.  (Mark 1: 29 - 39 NRSV)

The gospel of Mark is especially 'zap pow' all action, Jesus racing around hither, thither and yon, always teaching, always healing, always doing... and this little extract from a crazily busy chapter illustrates that.  Poor Jesus, even his attempt to get a tiny bit of space, a little bit of time to pray, is thwarted as everyone hunts for him - serious intent there methinks!  If even Jesus needed space for himself, time to 'be', to collect his thoughts, to commune with God, how much more so do we?

As I wrote yesterday, peace is not 'silence' or 'warm fuzzy feelings' or even 'escape from the hurly burly' yet within any of these perhaps we catch a glimpse of what it is.  Where or what for me - for you - is the equivalent of "while it is still dark, getting up and going to a solitary place..."?  Where or what are then moments where peace pierces out busyness?

Shopping malls with twinkly lights and canned carols

Internet sites with 'buy now offers' and email inboxes 'ping'

Bus queues, traffic jams, trains delayed

Deadlines at work, cards to post, bills to pay

Uncertainty ahead and pressures galore...

Come with me to a quiet place,

just for a moment,

just for a moment...

Be still,

Rest

Receive

I AM the God whose hand is on you to shield you [Psalm 139:5]

I AM the God upon whom you can lean [S of S 8:5a]

I AM the God of the quiet place [Mark 1:35]

(Yes, I AM the God of the busy place too

but for now,

for a moment,

come away and pray...)

God of Peace, grant us peace.  Amen.

Last night's meditative service around frankincense seemed to go well.  Loads of people came as the the senior Sunday school from our C of S friends joined us (they are keen to lead a service in the new year - whoo hoo).  No one was incensed (angry) so far as I can tell and everyone was incensed (given an incense cone to take away) whilst there (I never did get to grips with the thurible swinging!).

It might have been good to have spent more time with each element, I don't know, but we had a gently paced act of worship involving...

"body" prayers (use of posture, gesture)

symbolic prayers (use of artefacts and actions)

interactive intercessory prayer (using the aforesaid frankincense)

I'm sure it wasn't everyone's 'thing', but they were willing to give it a go, and I appreciate that greatly.

(Now just have to remember to take the myrrh to the guy leading next week's!)

Yesterday it turned colder in Glasgow.  The evening rain froze leaving cars with an unexpected sheen, and drivers forced to scrape the windows, unelss they were fortunate enough to have heated ones.  Then overnight the snow came...

Before light dawned, a view from my window.

Winter is surely here.

This morning our theme will be 'prophets and discoverers' (or in David Adam language, 'visionaries and discoverers') and we will read of Isaiah (from the NT) and Elijah (from the OT).  The link to peace gets a bit tenuous, so I won't be forcing it, though it strikes me, as I type that Nobel was so discomfited by the outworking of one of his discoveries that he instigated the famous prizes awarded for 'peaceful' or at least 'peaceable' works.

Peace is a bit of a 'slippery' concept, easier to say what it is not that what it is; sometimes only a via negativa captures what we try to express:

Peace,

Not merely absence of war

Not simply silence after shouting

Not a moment of stillness

Not relaxation after business

Not warm fuzzies deep inside

Not...

Peace

The je ne sait quoi that defies comprehension

That sneaks, unbidden, into hearts and minds

The sense that 'all will be well' despite all odds

That fear has evaporated

Hatred subsumed by love

Anger dispelled by forgiveness

Peace...

Undefinable

Unattainable?

Glimpsed in a newborn laid in a cattle trough

Won through the desolation of Roman execution

Confusing concept

For which we yearn...

Peace

May we discover fresh glimpses of it this Adventide

News reached me yesterday evening that another of the people I came to know and love in Dibley has died after a short illness, bringing to an end an era within that little church.  Sadly his wife is also quite unwell at the moment, and in recent days the two were in separate hospital wards (possibly separate hospitals, I'm not sure).

This former Sunday School superintendent (long before my time!) was also a member of the Magic Circle and had, until not that many years ago, regularly performed his tricks at church socials.  I recall him telling me that at the time he asked his wife to marry him, coming to his church (she had been a Methodist) and accepting his membership of the Magic Circle were non-negotiable!

The first year I was at Dibley, for the evening service on harvest festival, I invited people to bring along something that symbolised their own 'harvest' and to be willing to explain it.  Sadly, I didn't explain myself well enough, and a lot of what came were artifacts from decades past rather than recent activity.  This man brought his Magic Circle certificate and explained that 'to see the smile on the face of a child' was what it was about for him.

I never saw him perform his conjuring tricks, by the time I arrived his fingers were already too stiff and his mind beginning to slow down, but there will be many who look back fondly on the days when his prestidigitation entertained and amazed them.

RIP RC, go now to your eternal rest.