Tag: glory

Dead to the World

Posted on by Olaf

A sloth chooses to live in remote seclusion within the tropical rainforests of South America.  Everything about a sloth is slow and deliberate.  It is such a loner that it seldom interacts even with fellow sloths. Not perhaps quite as dead to the world as when you see a dog sound asleep on its back but, by any definition, a sloth is about as withdrawn as they come. When you consider the way some Christian groups have chosen to withdraw from society throughout history, you might think there are some parallels.  Some monastic orders have withdrawn completely and other individual ascetics lived as hermits in caves – whether this was an attempt to please God or to keep themselves from temptation is unclear.  Other monasteries make a point of interacting with society and might be said to be ‘in the world but not of the world’. Then there are Amish communities seeking to be self-sustainable; they are hard-working people but choose to live very differently to the rest of society as they eschew modern transport and technology.  So many different approaches – that of the chameleon who blends in, the sloth who withdraws or the rhino who charges … what’s your understanding of how Jesus calls you to live?

  • ‘Enemy-occupied territory – that is what the world is’ – C S Lewis

Heaven’s above

Posted on by Olaf

What did Brian Cox, Brian May and Sir Patrick Moore have in common? It’s true that they loved music – Brian Cox being an accomplished keyboard player with two bands, Brian May being the legendary guitarist with Queen whilst Sir Patrick was a keen pianist and player of the xylophone.  However, their main bond was in their love of the night skies!  Brian May is an astrophysicist and generously bought Sir Patrick’s house in Selsey allowing him to live there for a peppercorn rent when finances became tight.  Patrick wore a monocle from the age of 16, becoming a specialist on the moon and an eccentric TV presenter who built an observatory in his back garden housing a 12 ½ inch reflector telescope.  The fascination of these three astronomers is shared by many, not least the mysterious astrologers from lands afar who followed a star.  We all want to know more about what is up there in the heavens above, whether it holds solutions for the problems of the earth and where the location is of Heaven itself.

  • ‘The love of heaven makes one heavenly’ – William Shakespeare

HOLINESS

Posted on by Olaf

Who is sufficient for these things?  The Way of Holiness is the path all those who follow Jesus are to travel and yet it is holy ground we often struggle to find, let alone to walk on or manage to stay on.  Moses found holy ground when he was not looking for it – his response was to take off his shoes and hide his face.  Ezekiel, Isaiah, Daniel, Paul and John all had visions of God in his awesome holiness and were overwhelmed.  When mortals come before the immortal, to be overwhelmed is not surprising but how do we approach the One who dwells in ‘unapproachable light’?  How can we who are so flawed in our human condition come into the presence of God who defines perfection and holiness in himself? Even the most beautiful diamond is a poor representation of the pure radiance of Almighty God.  What’s it to be – shadows and lies or truth and beauty?

  • ‘God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honour and might for ever. Amen’ – 1 Timothy 6:15-16

Dancing

Posted on by Olaf

Moving rhythmically to music is something that comes easily to some but seems impossible to others. In common with the ability to paint, sing or play a musical instrument, it’s something most people would like to do better.  From the earliest age, we are all encouraged to express ourselves through words, drawings and actions.  Not everyone is a Wordsworth or a Michelangelo but we are all principal actors in the drama of our lives. You could say that we are also principal dancers in the ballet of life.  We dance to melodies only we can hear so sometimes our movements seem strange to others who do not hear those tunes or feel those rhythms. 

  • ‘Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance’ – Carl Sandburg
  • ‘We can't always choose the music life plays for us but we can choose how to dance to it’ – Unknown

Straight and True

Posted on by Olaf

There is a famous saying about Marmite spread – ‘you either love it or hate it’!  The same could be said of golf – just speak to a ‘golfing widow’ or to someone who has just played the perfect shot … swish, click, a bounce on the green and you have a happy golfer.  Where it began is debatable – France, the Netherlands, China, Persia and England are all possibilities but the earliest claim is back to the Romans in the first century BC.  The game was called ‘Paganica’ and involved players using a bent stick to hit a stuffed leather ball.  However, the modern game of golf originated in 15th-century Scotland where the first written record of golf is James II’s banning of the game in 1457 as an unwelcome distraction to learning archery.  James IV lifted the ban in 1502 when he became a golfer himself.  The aim of golf is to be able to hit a ball straight and true but, like life itself, it takes lots of practice.

  • ‘Golf is the closest game to the game we call life.  You get bad breaks from good shots; you get good breaks from bad shots – but you have to play the ball where it lies’ – Bobby Jones

a life of WORSHIP and WONDER

Posted on by Olaf

Life is made up of a rich tapestry – dark and light threads, bright and dull colours, rough and smooth textures.  You may have heard it said, turn the cloth one way and it is messy, a bit ugly with tied knots and makes little sense; but then, turn it over, and it is a fine woven lovingly embroidered tapestry telling a beautiful life story.  Do you see your life as a work of art full of worship and wonder or as a mess?  The Embroiderer calls us to a relationship where the wonder brings out the worship.  Or as Thomas Carlisle puts it: ‘Wonder is the basis of worship’.

in your DREAMS

Posted on by Olaf

Dreams can be powerful to shape us, for good or bad.  It is in that subconscious dream-world that we find some of our hopes and fears interacting in a space where we can also meet with God and hear him speak.  How can we know which dreams are plagued with phantoms, which are the often outrageous fantasies and which are the ones that can have meaning? Joseph and Daniel were given understanding of dreams and it shaped destinies of people and nations.  Young and old alike can be inspired by dreams and visions – the fact is we need more people who are: