Where's the map?

My children used to watch a TV show called Dora the Explorer. I have no idea whether it is still around, probably not. When I had small children I thought I would never lost track of children's TV shows, but I did. Anyway, each episode there was a problem which Dora had to fix, all the while avoiding "Sniper", a sneaky fox, intent on disrupting her mission.

To get to where she needed to go Dora has a magic map which lived in her backpack. There was a song which went with finding the map, the words where simple, "Where's the map" repeated a few times to a memorable little tune. In a world in which the words "uncharted territory" are something we hear from all sides, we might find ourselves wanting a magic map. We negotiate all sorts of new things in our lives, but usually there is someone around who has done something which connects - getting married, starting a new job, having a family.

Everyone flying by the seat of their pants is unsettling and, although it is true, I don't think it is helpful to draw direct parallels between the uncharted territory God's people have often entered and this. However, what we can learn from the Biblical experience is that fear breeds anger and anger takes a hold of sanity and good judgement and erodes it.

There is nothing wrong with emotion, with anger and fear and anxiety, those are our human lot. Start reading the Psalms, you will find there every aspect of human experience - including rage, something which we often soften by missing out verses which mention a belief in God's vengeful action. Psalm 58, for example, has some horrible requests of God, although 58:8 makes me smile,

"Let them be like the snail that dissolves into slime;"

My point is having and appropriately expressing our emotions, allowing our inner voice is important. Dora always saw Sniper, acknowledged him but then figured out a way to move on with her mission. I will end with Psalm 27:1 - the rest of the Psalm is linked here.

"The Lord is my light and my salvation;    whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life;    of whom shall I be afraid?"

What are you praying for?

It is a well known fact that people "find religion" in times of crisis. I have been thinking about that after a Facebook post which asked whether current events are what it would take to bring the nation back to God. I kinda wondered what that meant. What does it mean to be brought back to God?

Lent is, of course, about being brought back to God. We work on our return. This year, the unexpected turn of events, is leading us to a different sort of journey. It will be a journey which relies on less externals and more of the basics of life. Perhaps that is how we can view returning to God, as finding the basics of life.

So, what are you praying for? No doubt all of us wish for some sort of miracle, for the safety of our loved ones, for the health of our elders.... the list is long. But that is the point, whilst it is real, whilst we should hold these things before God, we have to be careful that our prayer does not become a laundry list of demands. I have pasted two scenes from the movie "Bruce Almighty" below.

In the first Bruce is dealing with the laundry list of prayers as he takes on the responsibility for being God. In the second, Morgan Freeman invites him to "be the miracle". You might want to watch them if you have time. This is the point of prayer, to learn to be the miracle as well as to ask for the miracle. Prayer pulls us in ever closer to the heart of God and, in doing so, teaches us to be people of God. Yes, we are called to pray for others and for our world but we are always, always called to conversation with God so that our difficult questions can rest, at least somewhat, in arms which have cradled us from before our birth.

https://youtu.be/n0cG11lTS1E

https://youtu.be/CO5K227sues

An abiding theme

My parents retired to a small fishing port on the southwest coast of England, called Brixham. Brixham, like many small towns has some claims to fame; William of Orange's landing there is celebrated by his statue - disrespectfully used by the seagulls as a perch.

Probably the most enduring thing to come out of Brixham is the hymn "Abide with Me".

We talked a bit about abiding yesterday.

The author, Henry Francis Lyte, was vicar of Brixham and was approaching the end of his life when he penned the hymn. It is often thought of as a funeral hymn. when I was growing up it was often used as a hymn at Evensong - in the winter it was already dark and cold (and often rainy) outside and the hymn was comforting - although I don't think I understood a word of it beyond "abide with me".

In these times, my memories of thinking about going out in the cold to get home seem familiar. We all had somewhere to go, somewhere to be, something to do but there was a sense of lingering in the warmth and glow of the church. You can take that on many levels but we have to often weather the storm in order to get where we are going, the hymn reminds us of God's constancy and presence, no matter what we face.

Recording of hymn