Tag: heaven

The Gateway

Posted on by Olaf

There are many famous gates in the world built to celebrate military victories or to proclaim national prestige.  Obvious ones include the Brandenburg Gate, the Golden Gate (known as the Gate of Mercy in Jerusalem) and Napoleon’s Arc de Triomphe at 49.5 metres high. Not to be outdone by France, North Korea’s Pyongyang’s Arch of Triumph finished in 1982 is three metres taller!  However, at 54 metres high, the Buland Darwaza built in 1576 AD by Mughal Emperor Akbar is the highest gateway in the world.  The pictured gate makes no pretences or grand claims but is simply evocative of ‘secret gardens’ and of things that are beyond.  Every gate is there for a reason but not every gate is noticed nor is the reason for it being there always understood.

  • ‘Still round the corner there may wait a new road or a secret gate’ – J  R R Tolkien

THE JOURNEY

Posted on by Olaf

How many times have you heard it said that we are all ‘on a journey’?  This is applied indiscriminately to individuals going through a time of change, organisations seeking to reinvent themselves, political parties going through necessary redefinition, countries facing upheaval and even churches dealing with difficult issues.  To say we are all ‘journeying’ is true but what does it actually mean – travellers we?  Some individuals and communities choose travelling as a lifestyle – travel writers make a living out of it, travel documentaries entertain, ‘travellers’ move on together in community, ‘tramps’ keep moving away from something that haunts. Would you say that your life is life a journey?  If so, where have you come from and where are you going?  ‘These boots are made for walking’ goes the old song by Nancy Sinatra – how many miles, how many tears, how many smiles?

  • ‘Life is just a journey’ – Princess Diana

Remembering

Posted on by Olaf

Some people still tie a knot in a handkerchief and most of us still write a list of some kind to help our memories.  It might be an old photograph, the whiff of a familiar smell, the lines of a poem or the sound of an old tune and our memories can be triggered.  They might just conjure up a face from the past, an event that happened, a past friendship or they could unlock a dam so that you are flooded with powerful emotions.  Why do we remember and what value is there in remembering?  How could a glass of wine and a bread roll have such profound significance for remembering?  The simple Forget-me-not flowers provide the clue!

  • ‘Perhaps nothing helps us make the movement from our little selves to a larger world than remembering God in gratitude.

CONTRASTS IN THE BIG STORY

Posted on by Olaf

Have you noticed the four major contrasts in the story which we belong to and which belongs to us as Christians?  There is God who is also Man and Father who is also Son.  Confused?  But then we have the Lion who is also a Lamb and the King who is also the Servant.  How about the contrasting sub themes – dead and alive, mercy and justice, flesh and spirit, now and the future, light and dark, free will and predestination, heaven and hell?  Have you got it all worked out?  Do you grasp a bit more of it than you once did? Can you see the big picture or is it a little blurred?  Where do you fit in?  So many questions so time for some answers!

The central character is God who calls us to join him in this story and make it ours.  So we see boat-builders, prophets, shepherds, angels, warriors, fishermen, and ordinary men, women and children woven into the Big Story – people like you.