The Impossible Divide

We’re all looking for God. Some of us admit it. Others of us don’t.

The thing is, our efforts to find him always fail. Prayer, meditation, ritual, repetition, fasting, feasting…. You name it, we try it. Pretty much every religion ever invented requires us to do things. But whether we are as saintly as Mother Teresa or as evil as Adolf Hitler, we fail to reach God. It’s an impossible divide to cross.

So God reached out to us. He came in human form, died for us (Good Friday) and then rose again (Easter Sunday), breaking death and bridging the impossible divide. The impossible divide to cross was crossed with a real cross.

What we could never do, Jesus did for us. Because of what Jesus did, we can cross the impossible divide and know God. Forty-two years ago, I prayed a prayer that changed my life. Here it is. If you pray it too, please write and let me know. Happy Easter.

Lord Jesus

I know you are alive and are still changing lives today. Please change mine.

Forgive me Lord for my life lived without you.

I invite you in right now as my Lord and Saviour.

Please come and change me.

Please come and bridge the impossible divide.

Amen.

Late Fragment

A fond farewell today to Mon, a former colleague at Emap. This is a short poem read at the service by her granddaughter Sarah-Jayne. Beautiful.

And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself
beloved on the earth.

Late Fragment by Raymond Carver

Air New Zealand and The Hobbit

If all safety video's were like this we'd all pay more attention! One of the highlights of our trip!

 

Lost party, lost country, lost way, lost mind

David Cameron has lost his party, lost his country, lost has way and lost his mind.

He’s lost his party. (Not that I mind- I don’t vote Tory). The Times records it as ‘Cameron Reels from Huge Revolt on Gay Vote’. 60% of his MP’s are at odds with him on the vote, with warnings from the party they may lose the next election because of it.

He’s lost his country. We are a cautious bunch, careful with change and protective of our roots. Our roots are Christian. Marriage is between one man and one woman. It’s been that way since we became the country we are today.

He’s lost his way. How can a gay marriage be consummated? How can a gay marriage be for ‘procreation’?  Is he really going to change the law and delete all the references to ‘husband and wife’?

He’s lost his mind. Usually pragmatic and clear thinking, he has been persuaded to move in a direction that cuts against all we are, all we have been and all we should be.

Freedom

His name was Rene Mouchotte and he was a Free French Second World War pilot. The former newsreader Jan Leeming first came across him when she chose to sponsor a name on the Battle of Britain memorial in Kent. Having been given his name, she turned detective.

He died at the age of 29 after yet another battle in the skies. His grave was in Paris. Not knowing how to contact any living family, Jan left a note on his grave. Four months later she was contacted by Rene's sister, now aged 101.

Jan found out that the sister had never received his war medals after the war. More detective work. Because he had used an alias name for safety (as the German's had announced they would execute any Free French flying in the British Air Force), his medals had never been properly dealt with.

Three weeks before Rene's sister died, she was presented with his medals - the Croix de Guerre and Legion d'Honneur from the French and the Distinguished Flying Cross from the British.

An amazing end to an incredible story of one of the many who gave his all for our freedom.

"Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."

Winston Churchill

Another Day, Another Galaxy

This week, astronomers discovered another galaxy. This one is big enough to accommodate five of our Milky Way galaxies inside it.

Back in 2004, scientist discovered that new-born galaxies are still being produced and that the universe is still growing.

The bible says ‘I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous, your handmade sky-jewellery, Moon and stars mounted in their settings. Then I look at my micro-self and wonder, why do you bother with us? Why take a second look our way?.... God, brilliant Lord, your name echoes around the world.’

To which I would add ‘God, brilliant Lord, your name echoes around the universe.’

No Greater Power (2)

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

                John 1: 14