Perspectives - Espace spirituel anglophone RCF - page 9

Fairness is not to be expected from God, even if scripture insists that he loves justice, equity and right. When he pays us wages, they are an advance against what he expects from us in the future, not the reward of merits we think we have achieved.

The news is full of images of people displaced by war, ethnic cleansing, economic distress. Climate change is making things worse, and a pandemic is the last thing we needed. Or is it? Some displacement can be a positive choice; we could do worse than rediscover the true nature of holidays.

We inhabit an innocent world. But we live in a world of lies and illusion. Unlike us, the natural world and all things in it are true to themselves. We may not always like that truth, but it is what it is. For example, we don't like it when our cat catches birds. But it's what cats do. He's only being true to himself. Truth is. It's an absolute ; the only reality. The cat is living in reality. But when we veer from the truth, knowingly or not, we are entering the world of illusion – unreality, where we will lose ourselves.

In the days before selfies and video clips, people who went on holiday sent one another post cards: “Having a wonderful time; wish you were here”. There's a scene in the bible, in St Mark's Gospel, which we heard a few weeks ago, where we come nearest to seeing Jesus in holiday mood. It's a little snapshot really. The disciples have just come back from their first missionary outreach, sent out two by two to preach the good word and evangelize, taking no money, no snacks for the journey, wearing just what they stand up in ... And they've come back, weary, hungry, and because they are a bit excited by the adrenalin rush, ready to share all they have experienced with whoever is ready to listen. And Jesus, knowing exactly what they need, encourages them to take a little recovery time, away from the crowds, where they can debrief and generally unwind.

In his talk last Sunday, Derek referred to the woodpecker- or rather the varieties of woodpecker - as an example of God's extravagance towards us.

I want to talk today about the archaeology of otherness. As a subject, otherness is seldom discussed in the historical accounts of man's self-discovery; and yet it's one of the key underlying themes of human evolution.

Heartache: it's something most of us have felt at some time or another. But it's hard to describe. It can be a pang, a sudden pain in the heart, almost physical and often it's a sign of regret. Or it can be a dull ache, sometimes passing, sometimes persistent and often resulting in tears.

'm sitting, holding a wooden cube in my hands. It's about the size of a Rubik's Cube, if you remember them, but you can't manipulate it; it's a solid block. On each of its six faces a very short prayer is inscribed. The block is meant to sit on the meal table so that whoever is saying "grace" can choose a side to read or can roll it like dice and see what turns up.

One of the subjects we’ve been looking at in depth in our house group recently is blessing. The practice of blessing is common throughout the Old Testament, but is also encouraged and practised in the New. Jesus speaks of the blessedness of people who bear various characteristics such as meekness, poverty of spirit, peace-making and so on (Matthew 5; 3 – 12), and He and the apostle Paul both encourage us to bless those who oppose and persecute us – quite a contrast with the natural reaction of hitting back at those who hurt us, preferably harder than they hit us!