Skywatch #48

Lichen?, originally uploaded by duopastorale.

To everything there is a season...
Ecc. 3:1

Forgiven & Healed

Image by Rosh PR via Flickr

If I am guilty—woe to me! Even if I am innocent, I cannot lift my head, for I am full of shame and drowned in my affliction...Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated. You will forget the shame of your youth and remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.
Job 10:15 Isaiah 54:4

“He died to take away all our guilt and shame”, are words we hear often in our communion service. This morning I was encouraged to stop and think about this amazing truth. We may find it relatively easy to confess the guilt of our wrongdoing and receive forgiveness, with the grace to put our sins behind us, but the shame that we often carry can silently sit in the bottom of our souls, clinging to us and affecting every breathing moment. Our sins speak to us of what we have done, whereas our shame changes the way we think about ourselves, the result of our own sin or the sin committed against us, perhaps through simple putdowns from the past or more serious abuses.

Last night in our service, we were asked, “what does the Kingdom of God mean to you?” For me, it is ultimately about freedom. I believe that Jesus came to set me free to be who He created me to be. And yet again I feel the Spirit showing me how I am bound, even by that shame that holds me back. But the light of His Spirit shines into our darkness that we might see and bring all to the cross where all our guilt and shame will ultimately be forgiven and healed.

Mary Did You Know?

Mary did you know from bob mata on Vimeo.

Spring Is Here!

More Spring, originally uploaded by duopastorale.

We are having some amazing Spring weather here this week! If it weren't for the bare trees, you would think it was May. Today called for a wander to Hampton Court Palace where the daffodils were reported to be awesome, and so they were. I apologise not for posting 2 daffs in a row. Hope you enjoy your weekend, especially to all those mothers out there :)

Skywatch #47

Spring, originally uploaded by duopastorale.

Your Record Is Cancelled!

Jesus The Christ: The debt paid in full.
Originally uploaded by Jack Duval

'...He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the written code...

that was against us...he took it away, nailing it to the cross.'
Colossians 2:13-14

How would you like to have a list of all your sins and shortcomings made public? Not a pleasant thought, eh? Does such a list even exist? It does, and it's a lengthy one. It details all the bad decisions you've made, the hateful acts, the unforgiving attitudes, the prejudices, the greed, the lust, the lies; the Bible says God has recorded them all. But you've never seen the list, have you? No, and neither has anybody else. That's because He forgave all our sins and cancelled the record of the charges against us.

Knowing full well that the price for our sins was death, 'Christ died...once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God' (1 Peter 3:18 NIV). Christ both 'forgave' and 'cancelled the written code...that was against us...' Jesus set aside His divine robes and put on our sin-stained garments of shame: the shame of hanging naked before His friends and family; the shame of failure where it seemed for a while that satan was the winner and Jesus the loser; the shame of our transgressions as 'He...bore our sins in his body...so...we might...live for righteousness' (1 Peter 2:24 NIV).

Is there a limit to His love? If there is, David the adulterer never found it. Nor Paul the persecutor. Nor Peter the liar. Nor the thief on the cross. And you won't find it either. When Jesus cried from the cross, 'It is finished,' God wrote 'Paid for in full' over every sin you'd commit - from the womb to the tomb!

Used with permission from UCB Word for Today. Free issues are available here for the UK and Republic of Ireland.

He Is Higher

He is the image of the invisible God,the firstborn over all creation; because by Him everything was created, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and by Him all things hold together. He is also the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He might come to have first place in everything. For God was pleased [to have] all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile everything to Himself by making peace through the blood of His cross — whether things on earth or things in heaven.
Colossians 1:15-20

Light & Dark

Image by duopastorale via Flickr

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me, and the light around me will become night”, even the darkness is not dark to You. The night shines like the day; darkness and light are alike to you.
Psalm 139:11-12

It’s not pleasant living in darkness; physically, spiritually or emotionally. That dark place can make us feel that God has abandoned us. The light of His Presence can no longer be felt, and the light at the end of the tunnel has gone out. The dark night of the soul is not a place we seek out, yet God often allows us to go there, perhaps through sickness, depression, stress, loneliness… The comfort here is that God is with us. He has promised. The dark places cannot survive the brightness of His glory and through it all He will ultimately bless us and bring good out of struggle.

Serving God With One Eyebrow

Image by cobalt123 via Flickr

The strong spirit of a man sustains him in bodily pain or trouble...
Proverbs 18:14

David Rabin was a professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University. When he was forty-six he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's Disease. He knew what would happen. Stiffness in the legs, then weakness; paralysis of the lower limbs and then the upper. Eventually his body would no longer obey his commands. He could form words only with the greatest difficulty, and eventually not at all. He lost his ability to treat patients and could no longer go to the hospital to work. He would have had a brilliant academic career; now he couldn't even turn the pages of a book. But there was one thing he would not surrender: his spirit!

One day he heard from a fellow physician who also had Lou Gehrig's Disease, about a computer that could be operated by a single switch. That switch could be operated by anyone, however physically challenged, who retained the function of just one muscle group. David Rabin still had enough strength in one part of his body - his eyebrow. So for the next four years he used it to speak to his family, tell jokes, write papers and review manuscripts. He carried on a medical consulting practice. He taught medical students. He published a comprehensive textbook on endocrinology and achieved a prestigious award for his work. And he did it with the only thing he could control, a single eyebrow. The Bible says: 'The strong spirit of a man sustains him in bodily pain or trouble.' David Rabin proved that's true. With a spirit that refused to give up, and one eyebrow, he served God and blessed the world around him!

Used with permission from UCB Word for Today. Free issues are available here for the UK and Republic of Ireland.

May the words of my mouth - Tim Hughes

May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of my heart
Bless Your name, bless Your name, Jesus
And the deeds of the day and the truth in my ways
Speak of You, speak of You, Jesus

For this is what I'm glad to do
It's time to live a life of love that pleases You
And I will give my all to You
Surrender everything I have and follow You
I'll follow You

Lord, will You be my vision, Lord, will You be my guide
Be my hope, be my light and the way
And I'll look not for riches, nor praises on earth
Only You'll be the first of my heart

I will follow
I will follow
I will follow You

Rules Or Relationship

walking the dog
Originally uploaded by Yersinia

Not that we are adequate in ourselves...
2 Corinthians 3:5

Have you ever watched someone walking a dog on a lead, when the dog doesn't want to go where its owner is going? The owner is constantly tugging on the lead, pulling the dog from here and there, telling it to 'stop that' and 'come back here.' That's the way a lot of us live. We are on a 'law lead.' Our lives consist of 'Stop that; come back here; don't do that.' Only it's in terms of 'Read your Bible; pray; go to church; pay your tithes; witness.' Now, these are certainly the things we should be doing, but God never meant us to do them at the end of a lead. What a difference when you see a dog and its owner that have a strong relationship. The dog doesn't need a lead to go for a walk. Its owner can just speak a word and the dog responds. Now we're not comparing ourselves to dogs, we're comparing performance-based Christian living to relationship-based Christian living. Big, big difference!

Paul writes: 'Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.' When God redeemed you, He wrote His law in your heart and mind (Hebrews 10:16). That means He wants to relate to you from the inside. You shouldn't need an external system of rules to 'keep you in line,' because you have internalised God's Word and you have a desire to obey and please Him from your heart.

Used with permission from UCB Word for Today. Free issues are available here for the UK and Republic of Ireland.