Spiritual Exercise for Epiphany

For those who would love to go on retreat but don't have the time to go away - here is something you can do by putting aside some time at home. This spiritual exercise will take you through to Epiphany or the feast of the Magi. Epiphany is the climax of the Advent/Christmas Season and the twelve days of Christmas, which are usually counted from the evening of December 25th until the morning of January 6th, which is the Twelfth Day.

Advent is marked by expectation and anticipation in preparing to celebrate the coming of Jesus. Christmas Day celebrates the birth of Jesus, the incarnation of God and lasts for Twelve days until Epiphany, January 6, which looks ahead to the mission of the church to the world in light of the Nativity.

The term epiphany means "to show" or "to make known" or even "to reveal." We remember the coming of the wise men bringing gifts to visit the Christ child, who by so doing "reveal" Jesus to the world as Lord and King.

As with most aspects of the Christian liturgical calendar, Epiphany has theological significance as a teaching tool in the church. The Wise Men or Magi who brought gifts to the infant Jesus were the first Gentiles to acknowledge Jesus as "King" and so were the first to "show" or "reveal" Jesus to a wider world as the incarnate Christ. This act of worship by the Magi, which corresponded to Simeon’s blessing that this child Jesus would be "a light for revelation to the Gentiles" (Luke 2:32), was one of the first indications that Jesus came for all people, of all nations, of all races, and that the work of God in the world would not be limited to only a few.
The day is now observed as a time of focusing on the mission of the church in reaching others by "showing" Jesus as the Savior of all people. It is also a time of focusing on Christian brotherhood and fellowship, especially in healing the divisions of prejudices in the church.

The Exercise - read through the passage Matthew 2.1-12 and consider that the journey began long before we see the account in Matthew. Take time to reflect on all, some or one of the following aspects of the journey and consider how it relates to you. As you do this you might want to think about it specifically for the year that has passed and anticipate the new year ahead.

1) The decision to set out - what was it that got the Magi to go on this journey?
Question to consider - What are the desires at the heart of me which draw me to something more?

2) Coping - the light of the star fades or is covered in cloud for some of their journey.
Question to consider - What keeps me going when the way ahead is not clear?

3) Travelling together - travelling in community
Question to consider - Where do I find companionship / community on my faith journey?

4) Facing barriers and blocks on the journey - Herod's deception sought to block the journey of the Magi.
Question to consider - Where have I encountered things which might seek to oppose / deceive/ destroy me and act as barriers to my journey?

5) The moment of encountering mystery - a surprise ending to the Magi's search for a King
Question to consider - Where have I found and encountered God in unexpected ways on my journey - where have I been surprised by God?

6) The choice to give - brought and offered gifts
Question to consider - Where have I received the giftedness of others and what gifts has God given me that I might share with others?

7) Going home by another way - changed by their experience, their encounter with mystery
Question to consider - How am I changed by my encounter with God or where my sense of who God is has been changed or is changing?

By entering into their story we can be helped to find meaning in our own story.

This is a great exercise to do at the close of the year - a bit like an examen of consciousness where we discern the movement of God in our lives. I did this last year and am taking time to look at it again this year.

Advent

Our Advent time on Saturday focused on the Prince of Peace and I used some different poems and meditations to help us to engage with the peace of Christ. Paying attention to Advent is so helpful for me. Even if I can only snatch 5 or 10 minutes to still myself and wait for God. As I slow down and sit in silence I find I become much more conscious of God's presence. These poems can be used for prayer and meditation, for simply sitting with or for reading out loud to ourselves and letting God's peace pervade us.

Silent God

This is my prayer –
That though I may not see
I be aware
Of the silent God who stands by me

That though I may not feel
I be aware
Of the mighty love which doggedly follows me

That though I may not respond
I be aware
That God – silent, mighty God
Waits each day
Quietly, hopefully, persistently
For me
For me alone

The Peace of Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

Wendell Berry

Emptiness Before God

Leader: Emptiness before God;

All: Fill me with the deep wisdom
Fill me with the great compassion
Fill me with the serene peace [pause]

Leader: Peace with God;

All: Let forgiveness flow
Let love come forth
Let energy return [pause]

Leader: Harmony with creation;

All: Deep peace of the shining stars
Deep peace of the running wave
Deep peace of the flowing air
Deep peace of the quiet earth
Deep peace of the Prince of Peace [pause]

Leader: Belonging to God;

All: Eternal Creator keep me
Beloved companion, Jesus, hold me
Gentle Spirit smile on me. Amen

I'll come back and blog on this again with some other poems and meditations.

Hope for a Tree cut Down

Was having a wee surfing session and led me onto this link - a church in Washington State called the Church of the Beloved. There's a verse in Job 14.7-8 which says

For a tree there is always hope.
Chop it down and it still has a chance—
its roots can put out fresh sprouts.
Even if its roots are old and gnarled,
its stump long dormant,
At the first whiff of water it comes to life,
buds and grows like a sapling.

Anyway there is a free CD to download of their music and it's quite lovely so thought I'd share.

http://belovedschurch.org/hope/

Brian, John Drane & Street Pastoring

So heard Brian speaking in Perth a couple of weeks ago and he was really thought provoking. He has a real gift of saying stuff simply with lots of clarity and he makes sense. Bought the book 'Everything Must Change' and I'm about a third of the way through. He is, as ever, challenging the orthodox view but I like what he says. Basically it boils down to "there is not a lack of orthodoxy (right belief) it's the lack of orthopraxis (right practice) that's the problem." We're back again to the fact that in our experience we can 'be saved' and believe the right things but they can make no difference to what we do - how we actually live. It's the challenge from Shane again - back to the fact that we need to live differently.

"The versions of Christianity we inherited are largely flattened, watered down, tamed...offering us a ticket to heaven after we die, but not challenging us to address the issues that threaten life on earth."

He asks 2 questions "What are the biggest problems in the world?" and "What does Jesus have to say about these global problems?" The other thing he said at Perth was "What are the big questions being debated in the church?" - well I guess that would be penal substitution ( Steve Chalke, John Piper, NT Wright anyone), are we predestined to go to heaven, does God heal today, baptism as a child or adult, speaking in tongues... etc. etc. - not really in the same ball park with the big global issues are they?

"All who find in Jesus God's hope and truth discover the privilege of participating in his ongoing work of personal and global transformation and liberation from evil and injustice. As part of his transforming community, they experience liberation from fear of death and condemnation. This is not something they earn or achieve, but rather a free gift they receive as an expression of God's grace and love."

The added bonus, not looked for, was that John Drane was there too and spoke for a few minutes at the end. John Drane is a bit of a long standing hero of mine predating Brian. He said something that really stuck with me.

God doesn't belong to us - to Christians - this is God's world and he is at work in it with or without us.

I think that's really worthwhile remembering and it had extra resonance as I went out that night - first night - Street Pastoring in Dunfermline. It wasn't that I was going out to take God onto the streets - it was that I was going out to join God, who was already out there waiting on me.

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Joyeux Noel

Thinking about Advent -which is probably my most favourite time of year, I came across a blog

http://rethinkingyouth.blogspot.com/

He has some great Advent suggestions on his site - mostly aimed at youth but really for anyone. Here's a flavour;

This clip is from the award-winning French film "Joyeux Noel" which tells the true story of the remarkable (and unofficial) 1914 Christmas truce during WWI. In this scene, based on true accounts, German, Scottish, and French soldiers are all barricaded in their trenches on Christmas Eve. A German soldier begins to sing a Christmas carol and eventually the enemy soldiers of the other trenches join in. This eventually prompts them all to come up out of their hiding places, call a truce, and celebrate Christmas together. It's an excellent film, dramatizing both the darkness we acknowledge in Advent and the possibility of the light to come. Show this film to your youth, or just enjoy it yourself.

Here's the clip

Enjoy!

Street Pastors Launch

Street Pastors will officially launch tomorrow night in Dunfermline. We had a press launch on Monday. See the following link to the article in the Dunfermline Press.

http://http//www.dunfermlinepress.com/articles/1/31587

I'll come back to this later but for now - I need to rush as I'm hearing Brian McLaren this evening in Perth - looking forward to that...

God's Infinitely Outreaching Love

Had a busy day - had to travel up to Aberdeen for a meeting and travelled by train. Had to change trains once on the way up and then on the way down and it was freezing! But it was one of those days where I was very conscious of God. Like Larry Gillick says, God is infinitely outreaching in his love and he comes to us according to us - he communicates his love in ways that relate specifically to me. He reaches out to us all the time and sometimes we miss it but today travelling back home I realised God had come to me today in different things I'd seen. The first was standing at Inverkeithing station I watched a swan flying by towards the sea - what an awesome sight - flying white against the grey clouds, big and graceful; then travelling past Aberdour when the train is really near the shore - there on a rock in a freezing sea was a seal - I love seals; then tonight travelling home I could only get a seat on the 'wrong side' of the train - usually like to be on the side by the sea. It was too dark to see anything anyway but I happened to be sitting westward so saw a spectacular sky as the sun was setting over Montrose Basin - and it felt like it was all just for me. God coming in his infinite love to bless me. Just like God saying - "Dot will love this"

Then standing at Inverkeithing waiting on the train back to Dunfermline I laughed cos I'd just been reading Shane Claiborne "Irresistible Revolution" all the way down on the train, which I'd borrowed from Mark, then as I was standing waiting for my train, another train drew up and sitting right in front of me head stuck in a book was Mark.

This might seem weird to you but it makes perfect sense to me and there's such a sense of intimacy with God - knowing I'm loved.