Today's Northumbria Community Bible readings...

Psalm 91:1 - 16

1 Samuel 5: 1 - 4

Luke 4: 1-13 (again!)

Unusually we seem to have some fairly substantial chunks of Bible today, even if one is a repeat of yesterday (I suspect there is a transcription error online but as I don''t have my real live book version of Celtic Daily Prayer here I cannot check).

Reading them, just as they are, letting my mind go whither it wanders, I fond a sense of underlying mischief, if not in the readings themselves, then in their conjunction.

First Psalm 91.  Many readers know I spent a year of my training working alongside a Roman Catholic priest in Manchester.  For some reason, Mgr Paul decided I had a good enough voice to be used to cantor the psalm on their cantor's rota.  This meant standing up at the front of the church, in front of two to three hundred people before worship began to teach them the response, and then during worship singing the verses solo!  The first time my turn arose, the psalm for the day was Psalm 91, and the response was 'be with me , Lord, in my distress'... don't think I've ever found a more apt set of words!

S/He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust."  Surely he will save you from the fowler's snare and from the deadly pestilence.  He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.  You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day,  nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.  A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.  You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.  If you make the Most High your dwelling-- even the LORD, who is my refuge--  then no harm will befall you, no disaster will come near your tent.  For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.  You will tread upon the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.  "Because he loves me," says the LORD, "I will rescue him/her; I will protect him/her, for s/he acknowledges my name.  S/He will call upon me, and I will answer him/her; I will be with him/her in trouble, I will deliver him/her and honour him/her.  With long life will I satisfy him/her and show him/her my salvation."

(Source: Northumbria Commuinity website, pseudo-inclusivised by me)

The second reading is just plain funny, in my opinion.  The Philisitines capture the ark of covenant and carry it onto the Temple of Dagon where there is a giant status of said deity.  Next morning the statue is lying face down before the ark, so the Philistines stand it up again.  The next day it is face down and broken.  The idea that either Dagon bows before God's presence, or God causes the statue to fall over, I am not going to explore; simply to notice the comedic value of this little incident.

And lastly the repeat performance of the Luke passage.  Well, there's something endearingly human about that isn't there?  Is it that God thinks we need to hear it again (a spiritual explanation) or is it that the person who did the cut-and-paste job made a mistake?

I find myself wondering if a key element of joy is a sense of humour, a lightness of spirit that chuckles at the ridiculous, that smiles to itself at the memories, that refuses to get wound up by fallibility.

She who dwells in the shelter of the Most High...

... though her knees knock and her alto trembles...

Says to the Lord, "you are my rock and my salvation:

Be with me Lord, in my distress"

(Smiles at the memory)

The Philistines thought they had carried away God

And placed the 'holy thing' beneath the gaze of a statue

Which fell, prostrate, not once but twice

With shattering obeisance

(groans at the pun)

The scribe makes as error...

... Or the Spirit says 'repeat'

We read again of the allure of un-joy

And acknowleged our own potential to criticise

(wry smile of recognition)

Joyful, humorous God

Stir up our memories of your goodness again

Make us smile as we recall your enjoyment

Joyful, humorous God

Help us to spot the ludicrous, the ridiculous

And laugh as we recognise our own folly

Joyful, humorous God

Speak to us through the seeming glitches

And teach us to rejoice once more

Amen

This little news item from BUS/BMS is quite exciting, not least as it means there are now two ordained Scottish Baptist women working directly for the BUS (the other being my super, splendiferous mentee).  I am obviously thrilled that there are women being appointed to these roles, but I'm afraid there has to be a but...

I am still the only woman minister in sole pastoral charge of as Baptist church within the BUS... there are a few 'associates' (under the headship (even if notional) of a man minister) and a few chaplains... but this Rubicon is evidently rather too wide for many to cross, at least as yet.

It is one of those things that continually strikes me as ridiculous, that Baptists (English, Scottish, Welsh) will cheerfully appoint women to 'translocal' posts, even to overtly 'strategic missional' posts far more readily than to local churches... Union Presidents, Regional Ministers, Mission Co-ordinators, Youth Co-ordinators, tick, tick, tick, tick... but bog-standard minister-type person, ooooh, not so sure...

But, back to the good stuff, big congratulations to Judy on her appointment, and I look forward to seeing how the new BUS-BMS collaboration works out.

Last night I was doing some internet trawling of medical research papers (as one does) to investigate my hypothesis that my gammy wrists are a side effect of my current drug regime... I think I am on the way to demonstrating that I just happen to be someone with a rare side effect.  I won't stop taking the drugs, sore wrists/thumbs are definitely the lesser of two evils.... (high) risk of recurrent cancer vs sore thumbs/wrists... no brainer, imo.

Anyway, what made me smile was that the first research paper that seemed to affirm my hunch emerged from the alma mater of both myself and my tame oncology professor... so it must be trustworthy!

Today's readings:

Psalm 40:12

Numbers 13: 30 - 33

Luke 4: 1 - 13

Once again, it seems as if joy is in short supply.  The one verse from Psalm 40 is especially gloomy - the writer's sins outnumber the hairs on his head (which we cannot fail but hear in conjunction with the NT assertion that even the hairs on our heads are counted).  The Numbers reading is the report of the spies who were sent to inspect the Land of Promise, where Caleb offers a negative reaction - great place but peopled by giants. And Luke gives us the Temptations of Jesus.

So, hmm, yes, joy.  I think I have to come at this from a slight tangent, and work with the Luke:

Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert,  where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.  The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."  Jesus answered, "It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone.’"  The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world.  And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.  So if you worship me, it will all be yours."  Jesus answered, "It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’"  The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here.  For it is written: "‘He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully;  they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’"  Jesus answered, "It says: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’"  When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.

One way we can look at these temptations is that they run counter to the essence of joy-filled living.  The quick fix solution to hunger, as if material well-being was the only thing that matters.  The allure of power, achieved through questionable allegiance and dubious practices, as if power was an end in itself.  The publicity stunt to attract attention, as if celebrity was the key to success.

Joy somehow survives struggle, poverty, disease, hunger, even physical death.  That does not mean that we can ignore injustice or become narcissistic or ego-centric.  But joy is not the product of material satisfaction, it is something that both precedes and survives it.

Joy cannot be manufactured through power or celebrity, as the saying goes, 'money can't buy you love' or happiness, or fulfilment or anything else.

Perhaps these various readings, with seeming dearth of joy, lead us to pause and reconsider what motivates us, what we are seeking when we aspire to bigger better, brighter...  We won't find fulfilment in 'bread alone' we need God-given joy.

The X-factor winners have been named

The Young Apprentice has her prize

Soon Master Chef (the Professionals)

And Strictly will announce their winners.

Five minutes of fame,

Of celebrity,

Of public recognition.

And we are pleased for them:

That their goal has been reached,

Their endeavour rewarded.

But -

Do they have joy?

God of the wilderness,

Literal and metaphorical,

You alone are the source of joy

You alone give us the ability

To keep on

Keeping on

And on

And on

And on...

Fullness of life is not located in material wealth

Worth is not found in the power we wield

Acclaim does not arise from celebrity

Grant us instead

Dogged determination

Resilience against negativity

The assurance of your accompaniment

For these, surely,

Are the outworking of joy

Amen.

Now, I have yet to purchase any, so I don't know what it tastes like but I have found some soy free (and as it happens some are also vegan, so that's useful for some of my occasional visitors) fairtrade chocolate.... HURRAH!

It's available here ... just hoping they don't sue me for adding the link as a scary message popped up on the website when I tried to open in a new tab with a right mouse click!

I'm a happy soy-free chocaholic!