Todays readings:

Psalm 43:3

Genesis 5:22-24

Hebrews 11:15 - 16

Not, it has to be said, the most straight forward to read for a glimpse of hope, it has to be said.  Methuselah's longevity (the Genesis) and the opportunity to turn back (Hebrews) are a tad odd to say the least, when read, as they are, out of context.  So it has to be the psalm:

Send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me; let them bring me to your holy mountain, to the place where you dwell.

In this plea, for guidance and direction (is that tautologous? probably), must be an underlying hope - that if God does indeed send forth light and truth, then direction can be found.  At this dark time of year, we are always glad to lights to show us the way, to keep our feet (or our cars) on track. 

Whenever I read texts like this one, I am reminded of the old, old, hymn 'lead kindly light'...

Lead, kindly Light, amid the encircling gloom,
lead thou me on;
the night is dark, and I am far from home;
lead thou me on.
Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see
the distant scene; one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that thou
shouldst lead me on;
I loved to choose, and see my path; but now
lead thou me on.
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears,
pride ruled my will: remember not past years.

So long thy power hath blest me, sure it still
will lead me on,
o'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till
the night is gone,
and with the morn those angel faces smile,
which I have loved long since, and lost a while.

John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

I cannot honestly say I completely understand the hymn, but the last part of the first verse - "I do not ask to see the distant scene, one step enough for me" -  always speaks to me.  We don't need a super highway with glaring lights, so that the ultimate destination is in clear view, all we need, all we desire, is light enough for the next step.  The hope, then, is that the light to show us that next step will be there.

God of truth and light, in the foggy reality of daily life, when the way forward is so often obscured from view, grant us light enough to take the next step, and then the next, until, in your time, we reach our destination.  Amen.

Today is World AIDS Day.

I had planned on giving this blog a one day red colour scheme, but the platform doesn't offer one (at least not to my free blog!)

Since the 1980s when widespread awareness began, countless people have fallen pray to this disease, transmitted as it is by body fluids, passed from parent to child, lover to lover.

A lot has been done to develop better treatments, so that in the west it can almost be seen as a chronic (albeit life limiting) condition in a similar way to some metastatic cancers.  No, I'm not saying the two are equivalent, in case that sentence offends anyone, they clearly aren't, just noting that, in the west we take for granted amazing medical facilities that most of the world could only dream of.

To find out more, go here. 

Today's readings, according to the Northumbria Community cycle for prayer are

Psalm 116:7

Isaiah 49:15-16

2 John 12

Of these, the one which seems to speak most obviously of hope is the Isaiah:

"Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!  See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me."

It is one of the most misappropriated verses of scripture, all too often read as applying to an individual...  both Charles Wesley (Arise my soul, arise) and Charite L de Chenez (before the throne of God above) mistakenly understand this as "my name is written/graven on his hands".  Actually the words refer to Zion, to the People of God, and read in its wider context a different sense emerges...

Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the LORD has comforted his people, and will have compassion on his suffering ones.
But Zion said, "The LORD has forsaken me, my Lord has forgotten me."
Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.
See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.
Your builders outdo your destroyers, and those who laid you waste go away from you.
Lift up your eyes all around and see; they all gather, they come to you. As I live, says the LORD, you shall put all of them on like an ornament, and like a bride you shall bind them on.

Isaiah 49: 13 - 18 NRSV

It is not that God has scrawled 'my' name in the divine hand with a cosmic biro in order to remember to bless me... what a rubbish God that would be!  No, it is far more powerful than that.  Grave, inscribed, carved, gouged... you begin to see how people read this across to the nails of crucifixion (not entirely justified but even so).  God is incapable of forgetting any detail of God's people... symbolically the city or nation is indelibly marked on God's hand.  Perhaps if tattooing wasn't proscribed by OT Law, that would be an appropriate contemporary image. ;0)

Can a mother forget the baby that is suckling from her?  Of course not!  So, says God, it is with me, but more so.  No matter what, I will never forget you, abandon you or lose interest in you.

And so we find hope... not that 'my name is written on God's hands' in some individualist way, but that no matter what life throws at us, God is there, incapable of forgetting us, or anyone else, because we are all indelibly marked on God's very self.

"I will never forget you" - Lord can it be so?  Never, ever forget us, forget them, forget even me?

Grant us all the assurance of your eternal remembrance, hope for our darkest hours

Amen

As I have an evening meeting, I decided to stay at church and grab a bite from M&S for tea.  One item I bought was their new 'Christmas Pudding Smoothie'... Well, I thought, no soy, no peppers, give it a go...

Imagine drinking liquidised Christmas pudding... W.E.I.R.D.

It's for a good cause, supporting Shelter, but I don't think I'll be buying another one.  I'll stick to tea!

Today's PAYG used this song as it's way in to a reflection on part of Isaiah:

In my dream when I'm asleep
I' m running through the streets
Searching high and low
And when I find the One I love
Hold the One I'm dreaming of
I'll never let Him go

I give the years away
For one golden day
Cause all I long for most
Is mine when He comes close to me

Music calling from the sea
Washes over me
And almost gets me there
I'll let the wild wind carry me
Beyond the things I see
Yeah I'll go anywere

I'd give the years away
For one golden day
Cause all I long for most
Is mïne when He comes close to me

If I'm honest, I struggled with the idea of "giving the years away" for "one golden day"

So I wonder, for whom or for what would you give it all away, if indeed you would?  I guess it reminds me a bit of a saying from Stanley Hauerwas that stuck in my mind to the effect that 'if nothing is worth dying for, in the end you die for nothing'.  So perhaps the song is a reminder about priorities, about what really matters, and about how we spend the time and energy we do have?

What do you think?