For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 2 Corinthians 2.15 You've all experienced it if you've been outside for any reason at the moment: you're running along, or walking to the supermarket, and someone comes around the corner on to the same path you're on and they're coming towards you. Either you or they cross the road - maybe the streets by you are so empty like they are by me that you run in the road. Maybe you try to smile, to imitate some kind of friendliness, but we each - and rightly so right now - are avoiding each other like we stink.
I'm not saying don't do this. Stick to government advice: stay at least 2m from anyone when you're out for your necessary trips. But it was an experience like this that made one of my church pastors think of this Bible verse for today's LOOK UP IN LOCKDOWN post. And I wonder if there are ways, right now, that our "aromas", our presence (physical, virtual, in a letter or card, or a gift ordered online), could be as the pleasing aroma of Christ is to God. Something that when it is received, it is loved and wanted and good. I baked ginger parkin the other day (today is the 3rd day since, so we finally get to eat it), from my grandad's recipe. And the smell, even just as I mixed up the mixture, was amazing! I'm not sure I can even describe it! It filled me with a warmth, and a want, and a thankfulness! Can my actions, thoughts, words, deeds bring that to someone after, but also during, this lockdown time? In my pastor's words: 'How to encourage that to happen in each of us is worth pondering.' As always: Stay safe, and take care!
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Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life." John 14.6a Maybe right now you're still coming to terms with how quickly our human-made systems are weakening and struggling. Health, education, economic systems; right now we see how fragile they really are, and how the sense of security they give us is not true.
I remember the first time I felt like I might not be able to handle this crisis. The a week before the lockdown, my house had been in quarantine anyway as I'd picked something up at the school I work in and was showing the covid-symptoms. So by week 2 of lockdown, we'd already had 2 weeks of total not leaving the house ever, and it was starting to look like that wasn't going to change any time soon. I missed people, and felt like a bird in a cage - all classic things lots of people are feeling right now. But I wasn't sad, just annoyed. Then I went to ASDA - we'd had our shopping brought to us before, because we weren't allowed out, so this was the first time I'd left the house, and there were signs up, sharing the measures they were putting in to try and help people get what they need. Certain hours on certain days for NHS staff, limits on how many of something someone could buy. They even had a similar announcement over the tannoy system. And I found I was nearly in tears at these things! It became real. I relied on these systems, and took them for granted that they were freedoms and abilities I'd always have! I didn't think I'd be in a position struggling to make a normal meal because I can't seem to get all the ingredients for anything!! Yet here I am. Here we are. I got over that falling-apart-ness, for the time-being anyway. I came to realise more and more that my life does not depend on those systems. They help my life, certainly they do. And I'm more grateful than ever for them. But I'm not dependent on them for my being, my identity, my capacity to go on. And neither are you. Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life." Follow that way. Seek that truth. Live that life. It is more fulfilling and dependable and purposeful and useful than anything else in all the world. Stay safe, and take care! Then the Lord said to Moses, "Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when they look at it, shall live." Numbers 21.8 I was really stuck with this one for a while... both the verse and the comments just confused me a little, and I wasn't really hearing anything in them. So first off, I want to share that experience because that's ok - especially those who are creative among us, we often expect ourselves to come up with all the ideas always. And sometimes that comes from other people expecting that of us! That we can turn any topic or comment into something creative, or that we have a view on everything that they want to hear. Well often; but not always. And that's ok.
This has been my experience with studying the Bible too. Sometimes, some texts are just confusing. I pray for God to explain to me what they mean, or how they could possibly show the God that the rest of the Bible says God is, and who Jesus - the Word become flesh - shows God is! But I don't get the answer. That's ok too. God will speak to me in that passage when God knows I'm ready or I need it. So first off, don't be afraid to park things for a while - somewhere you can come back to them, again and again, but not somewhere you're anxiously seeing them all the time and worrying about your lack of inspiration! Secondly - this image. When I kept coming back to my church's post for today, there was one line that the imagery stood out to me. It was talking about the story that comes before the above verse, where the people had done wrong, and this is what had made a way for the snakes that were biting and killing them all to come into the camp. And they came, all together, and corporately confessed what they'd done, crying out to God, realising that what they did had caused this bad thing to happen. And their deep introspection and genuine remorse and pain and suffering moved God to act. Then that imagery I was talking about: 'We too can move heaven during this lockdown...' I think the rest of the image speaks for itself. Stay safe, and take care! Love your neighbour as yourself. Matthew 22.39 Today's 'LOOK UP IN LOCKDOWN' post focused on this verse, but on the latter part of it, which I've never really tried to focus on before. I don't know! It feels awkward to me!! It's the cliche - 'you can't love others without first loving yourself' or something to that extent! But this paragraph from today's thought stood out to me:
'Can you take care of yourself in some way? It may be exercising, or picking up the phone, or baking a cake, or reading a good book. If you are in direct contact with sick people, it may be finding someone you can really share your fears with. It is okay, and important, to give yourself some love. If you do, the chances are you will be better able to live out the first part of Jesus' words, and love your neighbour as well.' As awkward as I find the idea of 'self-love,' there's definitely some truth here. Now I'm not talking about the overflow of gimmick-y quotes on Instagram sharing that self-love can heal anything, because actually I think that is just wrong. I think we can't heal ourselves with our love, but we can look after ourselves in good, healthy, kind and loving ways. Taking time out to do the things that bring you peace, like I was talking about a couple of days ago, and steering clear of things that stress you out - that's important right now. You are no support, or kindness, or love to anyone, if you are a fearful or stressed out mess. That's not to say we don't all have seasons or times when we are that (and in those moments we need the love of others to keep us going physically and remind us of God's love to keep us going spiritually), but if there are things we can do now to look after, and love, ourselves, then doing so might give us the space we need to be able to love others more truthfully too. As always - Stay safe, and take care! But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, "You are my God." My times are in your hand; rescue me from everything against me! Psalm 31.14-15 (ESV + translation mine) Today, the other of our pastors shared this verse. She was thinking about when she had a scare recently - which I know many can relate to, especially those who live with vulnerable people at the moment. She wrote:
'Let's make time to sit with God and ask Him to strengthen our trust in Him. And to lead us to passages in His Word, that will deepen that trust. For when I was scared, God led me to the above verse. He reminded me that my life, and your life too, is not in the clutches of Coronavirus, but safe, in the Hands of the God who will always do what is best for us.' So I made that time, and I pictured what God's hands might look like. Often, myself included, we imagine God's hands holding us. Probably from the kids' church 'He's Got the Whole World in his Hands' over and over again, drilled into us!! But today as I sat, I saw God's hands extending outwards from me, in all directions. Holding life at bay. One hand cupped above my head, the other ready to catch me if I needed it - like when you're walking along a balance beam or a slack line and you get someone to walk along beside you holding out their arm, nearly touching you, but not quite. Like that. Just in case. One hand pointing out forwards, hands blocking danger from front and back, curling and reading to protect from left and right. "In your hands" indeed - right in the centre of all God's hands! "My times are in your hand" - there is nothing that God doesn't know about, doesn't go through with me, and doesn't see coming. Let's make time to sit with God and ask him to strengthen our trust in him. And to lead us to passages in the Bible that will deepen that trust. And then to help us picture in our minds - in words, images, objects, stories - what that looks like, for us, today. Hang in there, everyone. Stay safe, and take care! |
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AuthorI'm a recent Cambridge Theology graduate now studying for a Masters in Biblical Studies and blogging about all sorts of things! I'm interested in faith, Church, theology, social action, the great outdoors and being creative, and all of those things - along with many more - come through in my posts!
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