Precious Memories

The topic of my meditation a few days ago was living in the present. Nothing new there! What it went on to say however was that being in the present didn’t mean forgetting the precious memories we have of the past or giving up our dreams for the future, only that we don’t dwell on them.

We all have precious memories that define who we are today . Memories, that we might have shared with others - or not, that mark a pivotal point in how we understand and relate to the world. Often they are little things that would seem trivial or of little consequence to others, but they live on in our memory years, even decades after the event. If someone was to write a story about our life, who we really are, and how we got to this point, these memories would have to be part of it. A number of them would probably involve ‘thin places’ , those places where the everyday world and the spiritual world intersect for just a moment, those moments when you feel especially close to what Paul Tillich calls ‘the ground of all being’.

And I wonder if that isn’t just what the gospel writers did when they were writing 4, 5, 6 and more decades after the death of Jesus. Their writings are based on what they had heard and read about this man. Could they in fact be including some of their own precious moments, things that had spoken to them from what they had heard and read? I wonder? It makes reading the gospels a lot more personal if what is in them also tells us something about the writer, just as our ’precious moments’ tell us something abut ourselves.

The story of the loaves and fishes was obviously a ‘precious moment’, as it appears in all three of the synoptic gospels: Matthew, Mark and Luke. While there are minor variations such as to when it occurred in Jesus’ ministry , how big the crowd was, etc., it is obviously the same story. What was it about this story that it was picked by three of the gospel writers as a ‘precious moment’?? Was it that there was enough for all, with some left over, even against all logical reasoning? I know that one of my ‘precious moments’ involves exactly that; when for no apparent or logical reason there was enough and more to meet the need.

It is an interesting exercise to take those ‘precious moments’ in our lives and see if there is a ‘precious moment’ in the story of the Gospels that links up to it. Try it sometime and you might be amazed at the insight it will give you not only into the gospels but also into your own life experiences.

Comments

'God's Presence'

“God's presence is incarnated in the times and places when and where people are willing to be vulnerable and allow the spirit to work unimpeded.” ~ Quoted anonymously While reflecting on this statement, the story of the woman with the hemorrhage kept coming into my mind. It is told in all three of the synoptic gospels, but with a difference: in Matthew the woman does not come forward to admit publicly that she had touched Jesus’ cloak. If we look at the story in Mark and Luke, we see in both accounts that she was unnoticed in the touching the hem of Jesus’ garment, even by the disciplines, and could have just gone away healed and unknown [as she did in Matthew]. But although she was frightened of what Jesus might say to her because, after all, she had made him ritually unclean, she came forwarded and admitted that she was the one who touched him. And THAT act was what made the most difference to her life. Yes, she had been healed physically...

This, too ...

‘By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going.’ -Hebrews 11:8 Dr. Theresa Tam, Chief Public Health Officer of Canada, says this, too, will pass . Dr. Eileen de Villa, Medical Official of Health for Toronto, says this, too, will pass . Justin Trudeau , Prime Minister of Canada, says this, too, will pass . But will it really??? Some days this feels like an unending struggle with just one tiny step forward and not just two, but more like a dozen steps back. Of course I’m talking about COVID-19 with all its associated variants. We might even be forgiven for rewriting that well known quote from Ecclesiastes to read…. For everything there is a season,…but just not for this ! Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a French priest, might well have been talking about COVID when he penned the lines below: We should like to skip The ...

"A Leap of Faith"

"Leap of faith - yes, but only after reflection" - Søren Kierkegaard "Much of Kierkegaard's authorship explores the notion of the absurd: Job gets everything back again by the virtue of the absurd (Repetition); Abraham gets a reprieve from having to sacrifice Isaac, by virtue of the absurd (Fear and Trembling); Kierkegaard hoped to get Regine back again after breaking off their engagement, by virtue of the absurd (Journals); ... the Christian God is represented as absolutely transcendent of human categories yet is absurdly presented as a personal God with the human capacities to love, judge, forgiver, teach, etc." (ex cerpt from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy - emphasis mine) Just what does Kierkegaard’s ‘leap of faith’ mean . . . especially if we consider that, as he also postulates, religion is ‘absurd’ [or as the dictionary says, ’ inconsisten...

Challenging Faith

“All giving constitutes a challenge to faith because there is no guarantee of a return.” When I heard this statement as part of a sermon on Rogation Sunday, my ears pricked up and my mind started to spin. The rest of the sermon had things to say as well, but this sentence is still the one that has stuck with me. It made, and is still making me think! For those of us who identify ourselves with the church, whenever we hear the word ‘givings’ our minds go immediately to what we put on the offering plate each Sunday and for that we expect, but are not guaranteed, that the church will be there for us when we need it; for weddings, baptisms, funerals and other rites of passage. However what intrigues me about this quotation is that first word. “ ALL giving constitutes a challenge …” And how true it is! Each time we ‘give’ something away and it doesn’t have the expected return, it is upsetting and we have all had that experience. I remember many years ago s...

"On Giving Thanks"

Thanksgiving Is usually one of those ‘easy’ times for me. It is easy to be thankful living with abundance, in safety, with family and friends – so many things to give thanks for, so many blessings undeserved. Some years and for some people, it is not so. What would Thanksgiving mean to me then? How would I deal with it? I came across this prayer not long ago ~ For that which was For that which is For that which will be Thanks be to God And I began to wonder ~ Is the real meaning behind Thanksgiving not so much the ability to be thankful for those things we have in abundance? After all, that is easy. But rather to be thankful for everything we have been given or experienced in life, or are now experiencing: the highs and the lows, the mountain-top experiences and the valleys of death, the deserts and the abundant har...

Hiatus

As you may or may not have noticed, this blog has been silent over the past 7 months. This wasn't because there was nothing to write about but rather because there was too much! As with everyone else, my mind was struggling to find a place to rest, to find some normalcy and continuity in the day-to-day events. I heard from a friend this past week that she has used the last 8 months to write and published her first book! I was able to go on Amazon and immediately download the ebook format on my iPad... before she had even seen the first print copy. Truly miraculous!!! Our lives have been turned upside down first with the closing and then the cautious re-opening of non-essential work and gathering places. Churches developed a digital presence (if they didn’t already have one) that allowed them to post sermons and other material online. Once the churches were finally allowed to reopen, it was with a limited number of people in attendance and stringen...

An Allegory

Once upon a time there was a knight and his lady, who lived contently for many years in a southern kingdom. As they aged however, their manor became too big for them and so they decided to relocate in a northern kingdom where smaller quarters were available. They left their friends of many years with a sad good-bye and set off for new adventures. They settled quite happily in their new abode, and joined in all the activities and merry-making until one day, they had to drop out of some of the activities because of their declining years. No one came to ask them why they were no longer taking part. Instead the rest of the folk in that kingdom ignored them and it became very lonely for the knight and his lady The king suggested that they might be happier is a neighbouring kingdom and so they moved a short distance and set up house one more time. This time though things went well for many years. Then the king died. The heir apparent had many different ideas about what ...

"Property of Jesus"

Have you seen people wearing shirts that say "Property of Jesus" Perhaps you have seen them for sale in a Christian book store? Have you stopped to consider just what that motto says about the wearer, or more importantly just what it might say about you? 'Property' in a business dictionary, is defined as: " Quality or thing owned or possessed . In Law: Article, item, or thing owned with the rights of possession, use, and enjoyment,... " So if we are the property of another, then they have complete control over us. We are in fact their slave . According to the dictionary, a slave is " someone who is legally owned by another person and is forced to work for that person without pay ; a person who is strongly influenced and controlled " I wonder if the persons wearing these shirts ever consider what they are actually proclaiming? If in fact they are the 'Property of Jesus', does that not mean that they have no choic...

To Mask or Not.....

It was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Psalm 139:13-14(a) I have spent most of my life trying to fit in…. sure that there had to be something wrong with me. I simply preferred the company of a book or one or two friends to a more lively or congregant setting. I found myself unwilling to take part in discussions as my words were either ignored or met with upraised eyebrows. Over the years I worked at ‘fitting in’ until I finally realized that that wasn't who and what I was. Now the pandemic restrictions are being or have been erased, I find that old feeling returning. Perhaps you’re an extrovert and glad to be in the midst of people again, to eat inside restaurants and bars, to go to indoor parties, to take a bus trip, to go to the theatre, or to have people to your home. While on the other hand, I am not comfor...

Nelson Mandela

This quote by Nelson Mandela speaks so eloquently to me of what he must have experienced on his release from 29 years as a prisoner on Robben Island, as he tried to fit in again to the community he had left behind. I have heard over and over as part of the news coverage the Mandela was not a ‘church’ person, so I can only wonder about how his perception of that ‘might’ have altered over those years. I would wager that most of you reading this blog can also relate to a time or times in your own lives when on returning to a beloved place or meeting with friends from years previous, you have found that things didn't fit so well anymore. Sometimes we need events like these. We need to become aware of how we have changed, of where we have traveled, of what new things have become part of who we are. The church is the one place we can all go that remains for the most part virtually unchanged from what we remember growing up … and many continue to go precisely because wh...

NUDGINGS: a journey into the unknown

Search This Blog