Good Friday

Posted on March 21, 2008
Filed Under Christianity | 1 Comment

May God draw close to you all this Easter.

Isaiah 52:13-53:12 (The Message)

 It Was Our Pains He Carried

“Just watch my servant blossom!
Exalted, tall, head and shoulders above the crowd!
But he didn’t begin that way.
At first everyone was appalled.
He didn’t even look human—
a ruined face, disfigured past recognition.
Nations all over the world will be in awe, taken aback,
kings shocked into silence when they see him.
For what was unheard of they’ll see with their own eyes,
what was unthinkable they’ll have right before them.”

Isaiah 53

Who believes what we’ve heard and seen? Who would have thought God’s saving power would look like this? The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling,
a scrubby plant in a parched field.
There was nothing attractive about him,
nothing to cause us to take a second look.
He was looked down on and passed over,
a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.
One look at him and people turned away.
We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—
our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.
We thought he brought it on himself,
that God was punishing him for his own failures.
But it was our sins that did that to him,
that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
Through his bruises we get healed.
We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost.
We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way.
And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong,
on him, on him.

He was beaten, he was tortured,
but he didn’t say a word.
Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered
and like a sheep being sheared,
he took it all in silence.
Justice miscarried, and he was led off—
and did anyone really know what was happening?
He died without a thought for his own welfare,
beaten bloody for the sins of my people.
They buried him with the wicked,
threw him in a grave with a rich man,
Even though he’d never hurt a soul
or said one word that wasn’t true.

Still, it’s what God had in mind all along,
to crush him with pain.
The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin
so that he’d see life come from it—life, life, and more life.
And God’s plan will deeply prosper through him.

Out of that terrible travail of soul,
he’ll see that it’s worth it and be glad he did it.
Through what he experienced, my righteous one, my servant,
will make many “righteous ones,”
as he himself carries the burden of their sins.
Therefore I’ll reward him extravagantly—
the best of everything, the highest honors—
Because he looked death in the face and didn’t flinch,
because he embraced the company of the lowest.
He took on his own shoulders the sin of the many,
he took up the cause of all the black sheep.

(taken from biblegateway.com)

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The End of Religion Review

Posted on March 20, 2008
Filed Under book review | Leave a Comment

You might remember that I posted about a book which I had been given called The End of Religion by Bruxy Cavey. Robbie Mac has written a review of the book, which you can read here. I really recommend that you read this book. It is really readable and I am quickly getting through it. It is definitely one of those “I don’t want to put it down” books. I also find myself murmuring along whilst reading, much as I did with Frost’s Exiles, saying “Yes” and “Exactly” and “Why has it taken me so long to find a book like this?” Highly recommended read.

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Religion

Posted on March 18, 2008
Filed Under thoughts | 2 Comments

I have been musing over the past few days and have a question I’d love to read responses from. I’ve been thinking about religion and all of the unhealthy and unhelpful things that arise from it. However, I wonder if there is good in religion too - mmm, what do you think?

Dog Sledding

Posted on March 12, 2008
Filed Under current affairs | 1 Comment

For almost two weeks now we have been learning about and watching the Iditarod dog sled race which takes part in Alaska. It’s been really amazing watching this 1150 mile race of endurance across the Alaskan wilderness. One thing which has really been eye opening is the relationship which the musher has with his/her dog team. For the first half of the race the team seem to be really getting to know and understand each other. We’ve seen mushers strapping themselves to their sleds along with their dogs in order to get through a snow storm or just to get the rhythm and momentum going. Then somewhere along the race something clicks and the whole mood changes. The relationship between the dogs and between the dogs and musher reaches a new level. There seems to be a deeper connection between all. The musher is relying on his/her team to get him/her to the finish line in Nome. The dogs are relying on the musher to give them rest, provide their food, to be a vet, to encourage and hug them. We watched the winner, Lance Mackey, coming into Nome live on the internet this morning. Just at the edge of the town, before all of the hype, he stopped his sled. He then went to each dog and praised it and gave it a hug. Then they continued knowing they had completed a job well done, although by no means easy.

Why am I writing about this? I’m not really sure to be honest. I’ve been thinking about what the musher and dogs can teach us as Christians. Maybe God is our musher and when we are in the rhythm with him things tick along and we work well together, intuitively? Sometimes though God needs to tie himself to the sled with us in order to get on the right trail? Maybe we can be taught about Christian relationships and community through this? It has been a joy to watch this race full of highs and lows.

Even the end of the race is nice. The last person in gets the red lantern award, which basically symbolises that they were last, but they persevered and finished the journey and should be very proud of that. If you want to look and see what I’m on about then go to the Iditarod website.

Any thoughts will be good.

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Birthday Rainbow

Posted on March 9, 2008
Filed Under family news | 3 Comments

Our family is kind of weird as our children have birthdays right by each other and so do Jonathan and I, so his was yesterday , today is my turn. I rack up another year today and have reached the grand age of 33.

I think God caught my attention a few hours ago - maybe he sent me a birthday gift. Two years ago on my birthday God told me he was going to send me a rainbow to remind me of his promise to us (Jonathan and I). At that stage our Canada application had been in just four months and was already seeming like an age! A month before whilst praying about Canada we were given words from Jeremiah “… I’m going to plant you in this land”. We took that to be a promise from God. So on my birthday two years ago God did send me a rainbow, in fact in the course of that day we saw two at different times.

Roll on two years to today. It’s been really beautiful here today (not warm, but sunny). One thing I love about my birthday is that it signals an end to winter and the beginning of Spring. A couple of hours ago it got quite dark and there was a hail storm, then it continued to rain but the sun came out. I wasn’t really taking much notice, but suddenly inside something told me to go and find the rainbow. Sure enough there was a huge rainbow stretched over our back garden. Jonathan then reminded me of the rainbow a few years ago. Why do I think this might be a gift from God? Well, our visa is slowly being processed now for Canada, but we have the human concerns of “Will we be able to afford a house?” “Will Jonathan’s graphic design business take off and provide an income?” and so on. I think the rainbow today was God reminding us again that he is going to plant us in the land. He is in control and we should not worry.

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