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Forwards and Backwards in Faith

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02/03/2021

Day 11: Religious Profiling

"Whom do we spiritually underestimate? The elderly? The young? The poor? The wealthy? The disabled? What group would we have turned away from Jesus?"

And why would we do that?

Perhaps we all need to live with our discomfort and invite them on all in to our party with God!

28/02/2021

Day 10: Avoidance

Today's fast is avoidance - to "pay attention to the mechanisms that surface when we face the unknowable, uncomfortable or unavoidable."

I think that this last year has been a struggle for the majority of us. We've eaten more, slept more, snapped more, drunk more, retreated into our own worlds, become more controlling over the things we can control. Hand on heart - I'm pretty sure that I have ticked every one of those boxes.

It's been a pretty unusual, quite intense experience - but one that we have probably all learned from. Without the 'excess' of life, while we have been living this bare, stripped back existence, we have become to know ourselves better. Perhaps we can now recognise these behaviours I ourselves, spot when they are happening, take a moment and then address them.

For me...there's a couple in that list that I feel able to concentrate on today. What about you?

26/02/2021

Day 8 - Fixing it

This one is a work in progress for me. Learning to just leave things alone is a lifelong lesson. I would always be rather doing that not, but it's not always helpful - or kind.

It's easy to fall into this trap of offering advice, suggestions, comparison, etc to 'help' someone out with our experience or 'expertise'. Maybe it's because we are desperate to connect... to fill the silence....to fix it in anyway we can...

It's OK for things to be broken.
It's OK to feel pain.
It's OK to just let it be, to listen, to just be there..

25/02/2021

Day 7: Bridegroom Fast

"In this type of fast, the ache to eat an earthly meal serves to kindle an ache to partake of what the apostle John called the" wedding supper of the Lamb" (Revelation 19.9)

24/02/2021

Day 6: Speeding past sorrow

This week was the anniversary of my Granddad's passing. It's been quite a few years now, but I still remember it vividly. He was someone who was genuinely interested in people. He could talk for hours about what you were doing, what made you tick and push you to achieve more. After all this time i can still hold my time with him in my heart.

When John the Baptist died, Jesus took time. Time on his own, carving out space to pray in solitude.

Many of us have adjusted recently to a much slower pace of life. We take time now - because we have it. Do we use this time wisely though? We have all lost much this last year. Many of us have lost people we loved.

"Honour the losses in your life. Instead of speeding past sadness, slow down and be present to your emotions. With Jesus, sit with your sorrow and let loss do eternal work in your soul."

22/02/2021

Day5 - John12: 37 -43.
What has hardened our hearts? Is it,like the Pharisees, the fear of being thrown out of a circle of belonging? What are our human blinkers that stop us from openly declaring our faith in Jesus? I think that no matter how many times I am told that God loves me, there is always a tiny seed of doubt - so I am tentative. I should offer that doubt to God. I should take my question to Him. He will reassure me and reinforce my faith if I give him the chance to do so.

21/02/2021

Day4 - John 12: 29 - 36

Jesus, the Light of the world, our light in the darkness.

Do we truly appreciate this true light, or are we overwhelmed by the artificial light that surrounds us? Does the glaring neon of modern life distract us from the true light of the world, Jesus? We can become children of light by believing in the light and sometimes we can only see that true light by being surrounded by darkness. It that way it shines more brightly.

19/02/2021

Day 3 - John 12:20–28

A grain of wheat, giving up itself, produces many seeds. Jesus sacrificed himself for the sake of many - us. Are we prepared to sacrifice ourselves for others, not remaining the centre of our world but becoming the pivot point upon which we can turn and offer praise and worship to God?

As someone who has organised many performance opportunities for children of all ages, I often receive praise for the job I do. But it’s not about taking that praise for ‘my’ achievements for myself (that's not why we do it!) , but instead taking that praise and redirecting it to others - allowing each of those that took part to shine even more brightly.

In the same way, our daily lives shoukd reflect the shining light of Jesus. Like Connie Ten Boom, we should collect the praise we receive and redirect our successes back to Him without whom it would all be impossible.

18/02/2021

In Day 2 we are asked to fast regret. "Do not feed it. Do not give it space. Let it go."

I have always been prone to being blindsided by sudden memories filled with regret. Things I did. Things I didn't do. Things I said. Things I should have said.

There's nothing I can do about them. They are long gone and many of them will have been long forgotten by everyone else, but are, for some reason, kept close to me. Why do I do this to myself?!?! Regret is something I am keen to fast from...and I am hoping I can manage more than one day!

Bible Reading Day 2 - John 12: 12 - 19

The final section of this passage speaks mostly significantly to me today.

'The crowd that was with him' had already been following him for a while but were most important here in spreading the word. Without them there would not have been the crowds the shouts, the witnesses to the entrance to Jerusalem.

Do we invite people to witness Jesus? Do we invite them to church? Do we show them Jesus every day in all we do? Why wouldn't we want people to be part of this great celebration?

Let this not be something else to regret.

17/02/2021

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26/09/2020

So this is pretty much me.... 6 months in to a pandemic and restrictions in force for at least another 6, my area in local lockdown and school in full swing.

I am lost.... disorientated... bewildered... confused... Everything is supposed to be carrying on as normal in school but it is anything but.

I'm tired...to the bone.

But I know that my rest and peace can be found in God. He carries me when I am weary and guards my heart against ill.

I pray that all of you that feel the same as I do can also feel his strength.

He feels joy in our joy and shelters us when we feel low.

May the Lord watch over you all ###

30/06/2020

Reflections on a Zoom session hosted by on Sunday 28th June

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