Monday just gone, I took a train to Liverpool to meet up with three friends with whom I shared a cancer treatment journey, and who have stayed in touch.  Out of fifteen who began as a UK-wide support network, five have died, and mostly the rest of us keep up some degree of infrequent contact.

The four of us had a lovely time in this beautiful city, rode  the tour bus, strolled along the  water front, and stayed in a Travelodge overlooking the Albert Dock.

Yesterday I watched news reports of riots and fights... violence and abuse where just days earlier we had strolled and watched the world go by...

Tomorrow I'm back to Liverpool to meet another friend, who I met as a 'cancer blogger' back in the day, and we will intentionally go to the waterfront for lunch.

These friends and I have little in common, other than a medical diagnosis a long time ago.  We live in different places, have different political opinions, have different views on faith/religion/spirituality, different hopes and different fears... but we do have love... and tolerance, respect, tenacity, determination.

I guess one can focus on violence of a minority or the respect, tolerance and resilience of the minority.

Jesus told us to love our neighbours, and to pray for those who persecute us... sometimes either of these feels impossible, but that's maybe when they become all the more important...  All you need is love?  Well, so long as it is love lived out...   

This morning I took a wander around the grounds of the sailors' church, Our Lady and Nicholas, in Liverpool.  Truly a fascinating space, with sculptures, memorials and spaces simply to sit and be.

Among them, a 'Homeless Jesus' identical to the one in Glasgow, and others all around the world.

Homelessness is a complex and challenging issue affecting too many people on too many places.  Being reminded that 'whatever you do (or don't do) for the least of these members of my family, you do (don't do) for me' is always sobering. 

A little belatedly - I am now on Annual Leave and didn't get this posted on Sunday.

We ended our series with a very brief look at Esther, before trying to identify what we thought God might be saying to us through the series as a whole.  

The key phrases that stood out for me in response to the series as a whole were...

• 'Don't judge a book by its cover'
• 'There is always a 'people group' who are in 'exile', whether marginalised, persecuted or otherwise 'othered'
• 'The story of Ruth was the first story I remember from Sunday School; I have always loved it.  I now realise there are always new things to learn from it' (someone in their 80s )

A lot of folk were particularly drawn to the story of Ruth, though David (a younger son and a flawed human) and Esther (a woman in an exploitative/abusive/patriarchal situation) and Daniel (old and bold) got a few mentions.

It felt like a good series, and in some senses a timely series.  I think folk will be glad to be back to normal (not least as I've made them think quite hard!).  I am grateful to them for engaging with what may have felt a challenging and very different approach to scripture and worship.

Here, should you want then, are the Esther questions...

• What comes to mind when you think about the story of Esther:
  • Do you think it is a true story, is it a myth or a mixture of the two?
  • This is one of the stories of the exile (when the Hebrew people were in Babylon (Persia) why do you think they are included in the Bible?
    
    
• Scheherazade and Esther?
  The ‘Thousand and One Nights’ or ‘Arabian Nights’ is a well-loved collection of folk tales of Persian origin, described as being told by a young woman called Scheherazade to a king who was choosing his bride in a similar way to that described at the start of Esther. Some Persian traditions say that Schererzade was the mother or grandmother or Xerxes, and that this influenced the story of Esther. Some scholars see the similarity as a cultural influence.
  • How much do you think that the stories we read in the Bible are shaped by or reflect the culture and context in which they were first told or shared?
  • Do you think there can be truths to discover from traditional folk tales and legends, if we are able to ‘suspend disbelief’?

• ‘#MeToo’
  • The ‘#MeToo’ movement was a response to the abuse and exploitation of women. Some Bible stories involving women certainly appear exploitative to modern readers.  Do you think there the story of Esther, and her predecessor Vashti, might be like this?  For example, think about the behaviour of the King both in dismissing Vashti or using a beauty contest to select Esther.
    
    
• Where is God in this?
  • The original Hebrew text of the book of Esther is one of only two books of scripture that never mention God by name (the other is Song of Songs). Did you know this already?  If not, does it surprise you?  Either way, what might this story say to us about God?
  • There is a Polish, Jewish ghetto prayer from the time of the Third Reich that, translated into English, says this:
    
    

I believe in the sun, even when it isn’t shining

I believe in love, even when I can’t feel it

I believe in God, even when God is silent

What do think about this prayer?  How, if at all, does it chime with your own experience? 

• For Such a Time as This…
  • Have you ever used these words, or something similar, and if so, why was that?
  • Have you ever tried to make sense of events, or to find a ‘meaning’ for something that happened? How did that feel?

• What do you like or dislike about the story of Esther and why?

It's that annual 'I really must clear this desk, tidy this office, and recycle all this stuff' day. So, finally, all the Advent resources have been re-shelved;  Lent, Holy Week and Easter are back where they belong; the new stash of stuff I bought to replace the stash of stuff I bequeathed last year had been put in a box (so I can forget I have it and buy more net year!).

Annual leave begins officially on Monday (though Vicar School time kind of ended on Wednesday) and I have four whole weeks of not doing either of my roles... which is very odd but very needed.

Just need to get my house and garden tidy enough for tomorrow's church barbecue, conduct Sunday's service and then, DV, I'm done!

Sunday will be the fourth and last of my little series on Sunday School favourites, with a very quick (and woefully inadequate) look at the story of Esther.

What has struck me as we've shared these stories is the way the Holy Spirit is still very active even when my logic for the series was about as deep as 'these are four well known stories beloved of Sunday schools, two men, two women, job done'

We had David the week of the general election, and Ruth as the headlines on migrants/refugees/asylum seekers continued to dominate the news.  We had Daniel with thoughts of freedom of religion and peaceful protest, and end with Esther just as across the ocean a woman might face the 'for such a time as this' challenge.

As a church we've hosted a General Election hustings, agreed to refresh a room for use as a Warm Hub, begun a thorough-going review of police and procedures, welcomed oodles of visitors to our services, and been faced with questions of how to respond in a 'Jesus' way to complex matters.  And yes, for the umptieth time in my life, there have been the 'for such a time as this' allusions about my own ministry.

As year one of bi-vocational ministry draw to its end, and I have four weeks away from both roles, it's certainly been an adventure so far.

So, today, I'll cherish the 'hmm' moments and be grateful to the one who calls and equips me to do this stuff the best I can.