If you are looking for worship that is creative and biblical, reflective and theological, participatory and challenging, then Sanctuary First may well be for you. During the month of May we are going to reflect upon the result of living in ‘ A Cross Shaped Space” each day. You’ll be able to down load all your daily Bible readings and prayers from the Sanctuary First site. We’d love to have you join with us and engage with this service. Here is a taste of some of the material you will encounter. Have a listen to this meditation A Cross Shaped Space

Now have a read at one of the reflections relating to the barriers we put up preventing us from moving through the cross. I wrote this with the story of the poor widow in mind who ended up giving her all at the temple treasury. it got me thinking about the times when we putup our weakness and poverty as barriers to trust and faith in God.

A POOR WOMAN AT THE CROSS SHAPED SPACE

It’s strange isn’t it?
We all do it.
We make excuses
I mean we use our
Perceived weakness
Like a barrier
to keep people out.
To hide from ourselves.
We use
the things
the feelings
the attitudes
we have inherited
to define us.
Then we say
Sorry I can’t
I’m hopeless
I’m different from you
I’m not educated
I’m poor
I ‘m schizophrenic
I’m homosexual
I’m single
I’m married
I’m just a partner
I’m working
I’m tired
I’m not in charge
I’d love to but ..
I can’t

Its strange isn’t it
Something
Clicks and you
Simply change
You do something
You go out on a limb
You make a promise
You give something away

That’s what I did
I literally gave my poverty away
I opened my purse
I gave all I possessed to God
I can still hear it clinking in the box
Two little pennies
I had no more excuses left
I gave my weakness away
I walked through
A cross spaced shape
Into freedom
I felt strong
For the first time
In my life.

She wasn’t going to make a scene
She detested violence
The voices were raised
The crowd was jostling
This was not about her.
She knew that.
This was always bigger than her.
Bigger than she could ever be
She smiles and cries and feels the pride well up
He looked dazed but not defeated
She thought
Tired but not exhausted
If only she could give him something to eat.

Her emotions were running riot
She wanted to take him home
Talk sense to him.
Everyone mother should have her son home for Passover.

She felt a tinge of anger well up.
He should have stayed a carpenter like his father.

Oh Joseph
I miss you Joseph,

Why was this happening to her son?
She blamed the crowd he had got mixed up with.
Prostitutes and publicans
Peter and James should have know better.
As for Judas she had never liked him
She had told Jesus on a number of occasions
She had warned him about the company he was keeping.
In fact his whole family had told him.
He was going too far
He had become too radical
She should have reigned him in.

Tears from no where streamed down her face
As she looked him over
He was his own man
God’s man
Son of Man
She smiled
She sighed
She knew
More than most
There was more to him than met the eye

She remembered the words of the old man Simeon
More than thirty years ago
The sword he spoke of was now “piercing her heart”

So many regrets
Memories flood back
In a flash
She remembered
Her fear
Her joy
Her shear naivety

When heaven entered her kitchen
She was just a girl
She had sang a song
And called Him her Saviour
What she knew
She always knew
He was never really her son
He was never really hers
He was always for everyone
The Light of the world
The Bread of Life
The way
The Truth
The Life
She knew it all to be true
She knew it
All from a mother’s glance

Graffiti
scrawled
on a concrete wall
an initial
scribbled
on a wooden desk
a pattern
stained
on a textbook
a tattoo
mark
on naked skin

Who are we?
Vandals,
Carvers,
Artists,
Sculptures?

We’re all trying to say
The same thing
I’m unique
I’m someone
I’m vulnerable
I’m ephemeral
I’m passing
O God
Don’t forget
My name
Remember me
In your Kingdom

Of course the song has profound lyrics reminding us that too often when we’re just about to achieve something it slips out of our grasp. When we are about to face up to ourselves or face up to our past the moment comes and we find ourselves chickening out. Too often we let things slip because it is the easiest option. Thinking about slipping reminded me of the importance of having salt when we’re facing icy conditions. The rock salt under your feet gives you confidence and it keeps your feet on the path. It gives a whole new meaning to the words of Jesus when he said “You are the salt of the earth”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Oh God
This is such a slippery slope we’re all on.
We’re sliding all over the place.
People are losing their direction.
Some have fallen by the way.
And you want me to be the salt,
to be the grit under my neighbours feet,
to be the salt that melts the ice of unbelief.
Too often Lord,
I’m all over the place
I panic
Help me trust you
Help me speak out
Give me the courage
To stand
And melt cold cold hearts
Lord
Hold on to me
that I might prevent others from
“Slip Slidin’

Sore feet

Sore head

Sore heart

So tired

So sorry

So what

Walking back home

Still seeking

Still weeping

Still reaping

Say something

Say nothing

Say everything

Walking back home

No promises

No comprimises

November

To slow

To know

To say

Nothing

Instead

I’m Forgiven

Words fail me

STICKS AND STONES

Sticks and stones

And broken bones

And terrorists and mobile phones

And babies cry alone

Children play

And mothers pray

Their children will be suicide bombers

Its a strange world

We live in desperate times

The lines of right and wrong

Have all been redrawn

And suicide means – taking sides

For some its just another day

To hide To pretend

To say, “Its gonna be alright”

Knowing nothings right

And never will be

Till the guns stop

And soldiers go home

And poppies fall

In Albert Hall

And all around is silent

No one speaks a word.

A couple of Sundays ago i was preaching on the text from Psalm 46. ” There is a river that makes glad the city of God. What a wonderful thought. I wonder what the city of God “being glad” sounds like ? Its a wonderful image.

There is a River

I think this river is

Laughing with me

It too has a place in the city

God has given rivers a future

Now i know why it’s  singing in tune with the stones and the fish

Its presence lifts your spirit

It really knows how to move

It never stays still

A river is always going somewhere

Flowing

Faster

Slower

Deeper

Broader

I want to move with the river

I want to to race the river

I want to swim in the water

I want to catch a fish in the river

I want to flow like the river

Lord let the river of life flow through me

Today

Yesterday

And forever

Although it was a Bank Holiday weekend we were delighted to have a number of friends join with us in the worship.  We were pomoting the C40 programme. this is our made up Discipleship programme. So if you want to join the Challenge text  Bible 40 to the following mobile number 80806. When you do this it will cost you £1.50 per week. I hope you join in he challenge and then return to tis blog with yourown questions and answers. So look out for the first C40 post tomorrow morning.

Recently I’ve been reflecting upon the whole notion of confidence.  We mere mortals need to be more humble as we pass through time into eternity. Especially those of the evangelical kind. Sometimes we can act as though we know everything, or we can give that impression. We leave no room for doubt or those who might want to question.

Dare I say it, I’m sure when growing up I was even part of that merry band. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we cannot speak of what we have come to understand with a certain amount of confidence. Peter  in his epistle tells us to be ready to give a reason for the hope that we have deep within us.

I’m simply saying we need to remember, we don’t see or understand the complete picture. We  only see through a glass darkly, as Paul says in Corinthians 13. Anyway here are some musing on the topic. While You read  have a listen to ” Gabrel’s Oboe, “Gabriel’s Oboe” from the Mission. I find this piece of music has a wonderful reassuring quality saying all will be well.

TIME ETERNITY ON THE TANNOY

To be standing in the midst of chaos

Like a traveller passing through the night

To feel there’ll be no tomorrow

If you don’t get on the next flight

An announcement on the tannoy

Tries to re-assure your mind

But the voice is so familiar

You  could be listening to yourself

To be walking in the midst of protest

Like a prophet fool of doubt

To know there will be a judgement

Even if the Jury’s out

Then you read a headline in the newspaper

Of what you dreamt the night before

And it sounded so familiar

Like the opening of a door

To be stumbling on the edge of freedom

Like a blind man gaining sight

To take one step forward

And begin dancing in the light

And a voice like a thousand rivers

Roars a welcome not yet heard

And etermity spins in silence

Leaving time to close the door