tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69518231823588549992024-02-07T19:20:35.803+00:00Alphaeus and friendsconversations overheard by the friends of a 1st century AD resident of GalileeDavid Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02687907718352597621noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951823182358854999.post-82686349259888088892018-03-30T20:28:00.000+01:002018-03-30T20:28:23.437+01:00The parables and the Cross<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqU-ij45qgKIabG3ORlVLa29hbsk0j-_Kr2iZpsGGc7vlQJcNSUKnDvq_As_FKhOfXlv8pItAyoZfQxixSlJ0pbKJKp4V2m5TWXkpnBAJtEnEIt7p2gfCQLhnPyxt7ekolhK53yuzf6-Q/s1600/Parables+and+Cross+picture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="376" data-original-width="483" height="155" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqU-ij45qgKIabG3ORlVLa29hbsk0j-_Kr2iZpsGGc7vlQJcNSUKnDvq_As_FKhOfXlv8pItAyoZfQxixSlJ0pbKJKp4V2m5TWXkpnBAJtEnEIt7p2gfCQLhnPyxt7ekolhK53yuzf6-Q/s200/Parables+and+Cross+picture.jpg" width="200" /></a><b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Jesus' parables</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">glimpsed through characters with Jesus</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">on the road to the Cross...</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i> </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>A reflection for Good Friday</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane</i><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">They
went to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, ‘Sit
here while I pray.’ He took with him Peter and James and John, and began
to be distressed and agitated. And he said to them, ‘I am deeply
grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake.’ And going a little
farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were
possible, the hour might pass from him. He said, ‘Abba, Father, for you
all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want,
but what you want.’</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>The gardener</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>(the parable of the sower)</b></span></div>
<span id="goog_820454113"></span><span id="goog_820454114"></span><br />
<span style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;">‘A farmer went out to sow,’ I once heard you say. I sit in the dark under my favourite tree in the old garden where <i>I’ve</i> sown and tended these long years - watching. Watching you wretch with sorrow, your friends inattentive and slumbering. <i>They</i>
hardly look good soil. But I suppose some would say this patch of
ground was unpromising, yet it brings peace enough to folk who come. You
seemed the Good Farmer, scattering seeds of gentleness, care, wisdom.
But now… The clouds part for a moment and a shaft of moonlight
illuminates your face. You look straight at me, your eyes glistening
with tears. I hear those ancient words, ‘those who sow in tears shall
reap in joy.’ But how are <i>you</i> now going to reap, thirty-, sixty, a
hundred-fold? A tear rolls down my own face.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Jesus is betrayed by Judas and arrested</i><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Immediately,
while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived; and
with him there was a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief
priests, the scribes, and the elders. Now the betrayer had given them a
sign, saying, ‘The one I will kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him
away under guard.’ So when he came, he went up to him at once and said,
‘Rabbi!’ and kissed him. Then they laid hands on him and arrested him.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Judas</b></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b> </b></span>(the parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids)</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />‘Be ready!’ you said. Well, here I am Jesus, as ready as can be. Like those bridesmaids you spoke about, my lamp is lit and stoked with spare oil. And the lamps of all these oh-so-friendly compatriots of mine: they’re ready too, to cart you away. Oh yes! I’m ready to cash in — on my investment in your friendship, on the chief priests’ fear, on your folly. And here I find you in the most predictable of places. You, ready? If you’d known you’d have run. Only… you hold my gaze like someone prepared, someone knowing — as someone one, well… ready. Are <i>you</i>, in fact, the wise one here? Am <i>I</i> the fool? I grip my lamp so my eyes may see. But my heart — you see its in darkness, don’t you? I never <i>was</i> ready for you. But don’t shut the door </span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">— </span>please…<br /><br /> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Jesus is judged by Pilate</i><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Pilate
asked them, ‘Why, what evil has he done?’ But they shouted all the
more, ‘Crucify him!’ So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released
Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be
crucified.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Pilate</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>(the parable of the rich fool)</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />I’m scared. Not that I’ll admit it, to you Jesus or anyone. Last night my wife had a dream, and woke screaming and wrenching my hair, ‘<i>Don’t touch that man Jesus</i>,’ she screeched; she’s scarcely let up. ‘Build up your wealth and power,’ they say, ‘then eat, drink and be merry,’ they say. I’ve done all that. Yet now I’m scared — scared of losing it all. Scared of death. Aren’t we all?… But you’re not, are you? — though this very night it’s <i>your</i> life being demanded of you, not mine. If not of wealth and power, what <i>do</i> our lives consist of? What <i>is</i> the truth? I’m scared, Jesus, I’m scared.<i> </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Jesus is scourged and led out to be crucified</i><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">And
they clothed him in a purple cloak; and after twisting some thorns into
a crown, they put it on him. And they began saluting him, ‘Hail, King
of the Jews!’ They struck his head with a reed, spat upon him, and knelt
down in homage to him.</span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">After mocking him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>A soldier</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>(the parable of the Good Samaritan)</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br />Take this right-hook, Jesus — <i>mmmmph</i>. And this whip on your back — <i>whack</i>. There’s nothing like a good roughing-up of a crufixee to get the adrenalin going. It’s almost as much fun as being on the Jerusalem-Jericho road. You’ll have walked it many a time, I’m sure mate, with much fear and trembling. The bandits, eh? You see, they’re OK — when you’re one of them. That was my apprenticeship, you see, before I got conscripted… Now, don’t give me that look. Like you care, or something. Like your my father — or my <i>mother</i>. Here, take another one — <i>oooph</i>. Blimey, you’re still standing, still… <i>don’t give me that look</i>. Maybe your own mummy will be by your cross, to peel you off afterwards and sling you over her donkey, to bandage you up in some nice hostelry. Oh, but the bandages will be burial cloths, won’t they, and the hostelry your grave — sorry mate… <i>[agitated]</i> Alright, so I’m evil scum… No, that’s not what you’re thinking, is it? <i>[softening]</i> Look, I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes (OK, so we’ve taken your shoes — sorry). You could be the guy next-door, and I’d care for my neighbour. I’m rota-ed to do the nails today. And I’ll try and do it right. You know, as painless as possible. OK, that’s not possible. But, I am on your side, you know…<i> </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>A bystander carries the cross</i><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">As they led him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and they laid the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Simon of Cyrene</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>(the parable of the lost sheep)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I’d lost my way. In life, in everything. Marriage a mess. My children: they never want to see me. My old business partners — my friends — now turn their backs. I’ll tell you the whole tale one day. But there I am, wandering into Jerusalem, one lost soul with thoughts only to drift and drink myself under the table at the festival. And then ‘Oi, you!’ from a Roman soldier, ‘carry this you lazy sod.’ I’m grabbed round the neck and thrust under this almighty wooden cross to drag up the hill. Then the criminal turns to look at me. And I know in an instant it’s that Jesus of Nazareth. It’s like the world stops, there’s just him and me. And though he’s bleeding like a sacrificial lamb, he smiles and nods and says, ‘Come on, Simon.’ How did he even know my name?! I was one in a hundred in this crowd, in a thousand even. I was lost, but now I’ve been found by Jesus. Like a lost sheep. Yes, like a lost sheep.<i> </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Jesus is crucified</i><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>A disciple </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>(the parables of the pearl of great price and the treasure in a field)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You are the pearl of great price. Yet they’ve strung you up on a necklace in the sky. You are the treasure hidden in the field. Yet you will now be buried in the earth again. How can they do this? You were my pearl, my purpose, my point in life. You still are. Can you hear me? you must hear me: you still are. Your stories, oh your stories: they drew me in, they delighted me, they baffled me — and then finally I saw: they were all about you! So I threw away my shovel. I had dug and found the treasure… Can you hear me? you must hear me: you still are my treasure. You always will be.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Jesus on the cross: his mother and his friend</i></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">When
Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside
her, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’ Then he said to
the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple
took her into his own home.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Jesus’ mother</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(the parable of the prodigal son)</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You were always were a prodigal, my son. So good — yet free-spirited. Caring — yet such gay abandon. Saving so diligently, then giving it all away. Working so faithfully for your father and me, then throwing it away for your nomadic lifestyle. ‘Come back,’ I cried (how many times?), but you never did. ‘<i>These</i> people are my mother and my brothers and sisters,’ you said. How <i>could</i> you, after all we’d done? Instead you fraternised with drunks and sluts and fraudsters, as if you were trying to make a point… Oh, Jesus my dear, what am I saying. I’m so sorry. I just love you so much. And I <i>know</i> you love me. I just understand so little… Your ‘heavenly’ Father: how often you spoke of him, and how lovingly. He will welcome you into his home, my darling. He’ll be standing with his arms open wide for you — he’ll be running to greet you, even now. Yes, he is, my darling — running to greet you…</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Jesus dies on the cross</i><br /><span style="font-size: xx-small;">At
three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema
sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’
When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, ‘Listen, he is calling
for Elijah.’ And someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a
stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, ‘Wait, let us see whether
Elijah will come to take him down.’ Then Jesus gave a loud cry and
breathed his last.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Jesus</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>(the parable of the mustard seed)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One short life. Lived in one small place. That’s all it’s been. Will it matter for anything?… Those friends, all gone now, deserted — <i>were</i> they just poor soil after all?… I’m just one small seed. What was it I said? I can scarcely think. A mustard seed, that’s right. (Yes, I was pleased with that one.)… Ah, seeds, they take me back, right back to the beginning. The seed of Creation, where it all began. It was good, I can picture it so vividly… Is this now a second moment of Creation? A new Creation — a new <i>type</i> of Creation: Resurrection? ‘Unless a seed falls to the earth and dies, it will remain just a seed’ — those words feel familiar, did I say that once? How long ago it seems. ‘But if it dies it will bear much fruit’… The earth looks such a long way down suspended up here. And everyone is so small, so very far away… I am just a small mustard seed, and it is <i>my</i> time to fall to earth… I’m falling, falling, into the darkness…</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT3xngl5qzPz4mOrV6_J9tVd7MWq7G0-E0zozXwpN59TeS1AzfZvHkKw0_ntXpouwDFjpstjGydf_U3CDdELhaipgbv31mIScJnaoa7VFVJuFGbnNdIHDFLzvhi9pq14NkjhAEqOKSWLU/s1600/UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_7ba.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="1024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT3xngl5qzPz4mOrV6_J9tVd7MWq7G0-E0zozXwpN59TeS1AzfZvHkKw0_ntXpouwDFjpstjGydf_U3CDdELhaipgbv31mIScJnaoa7VFVJuFGbnNdIHDFLzvhi9pq14NkjhAEqOKSWLU/s320/UNADJUSTEDNONRAW_thumb_7ba.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">-------------- </span></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkuqgGJcnMsCp_4u9S_1gadZ5u09UfapBGHkaIIFzh6dpCaTsDae7CZ12Lrzxuo_rqu0C0WRdsu506diOpre9G5CIKDQeauj3qIA8Qhu6c97wdWYRaCcogqDTXyQANaDJNP7_Ip1o-8Us/s1600/Jerome's+friend+very+small.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkuqgGJcnMsCp_4u9S_1gadZ5u09UfapBGHkaIIFzh6dpCaTsDae7CZ12Lrzxuo_rqu0C0WRdsu506diOpre9G5CIKDQeauj3qIA8Qhu6c97wdWYRaCcogqDTXyQANaDJNP7_Ip1o-8Us/s1600/Jerome's+friend+very+small.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><b>Alphaeus</b> adds:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="text Gal-5-23" id="en-NRSVA-29169"></span></span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">The Scripture passages are taken from the Gospels of Mark, Luke and John.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Clipart from Reverend Ally <a href="https://reverendally.org/clipart/">https://reverendally.org/clipart/</a> </span></span></span>David Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02687907718352597621noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951823182358854999.post-28764701755536385632017-12-03T22:06:00.001+00:002017-12-03T22:10:00.611+00:00The PCC (Parochial Capernaum Council) meeting<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>A sketch</i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMfhyX6DzcLkutU5y8vfQiNGofLl7y-3xfOtUwJ6VKkKMUziTDp6B1eGp9_85cAs_RnVMeRnkiNlvpV_u_qw8BZbXVBZ6EnN9bRIOtTEDBzbP-Lfnp24AvzRxZZy8wqxl7IAWFKvYoc3Y/s1600/Capernaum+picture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1128" data-original-width="884" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMfhyX6DzcLkutU5y8vfQiNGofLl7y-3xfOtUwJ6VKkKMUziTDp6B1eGp9_85cAs_RnVMeRnkiNlvpV_u_qw8BZbXVBZ6EnN9bRIOtTEDBzbP-Lfnp24AvzRxZZy8wqxl7IAWFKvYoc3Y/s200/Capernaum+picture.jpg" width="156" /></a></i></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Jesus and three of his disciples — Peter, Judas and Mary Magdalene — are at Peter’s house. They are having a meeting. </span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Peter</i>: So, welcome friends to our ’umble abode-by-the-sea for tonight’s meeting of the Parochial Capernaum Council. We seem a bit thin on the ground today. A nasty old night out there, I know.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jesus</i>: A big thank you to your mother-in-law, Peter, for her kind hospitality.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Peter</i>: She’s been so grateful to you for making her better.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jesus</i>: I’m grateful she stayed better too. One of my first healings — so a bit of hinge moment. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Judas</i>: Mmmm… excellent biscuits she does, too.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Peter</i>: Always the first with the hand in the tin, eh, Judas? So, Jesus, over to you, you’re in the chair. What’s today’s agenda?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jesus</i>: No, you lead, Peter.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Judas</i>: Him?! It’s always him — or James and John. ‘The dream team’ indeed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Peter</i>: Some people’s stocks just can’t help rising, you see Judas. Jesus knows who’ll never let him down.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Mary</i>: You men — why’s everything a competition?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Peter</i>: You’d know a bit about men of course, eh Mary?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jesus</i>: My dear children… We’re here for some planning: part of our teaching programme.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Judas</i>: Thought the teaching was your job, Jesus.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Peter</i>: I’m up for it. So what do you want us to teach?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jesus</i>: That’s up to you. What do you think people need?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Judas</i>: Good financial management. That’s the heart of things. Neglect your finances and the whole thing collapses. I could do a course. I’ve picked up good tips off the synagogue guys: how to get people to give, Roman-tax avoidance, that sort of thing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jesus</i>: Money skills are certainly important, Judas. And you’re quite right, we should all use the talents we’ve got — we need you in the team. But let’s not start there.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Peter</i>: Guerrilla resistance skills. We’ll need those to secure your kingdom, Master. I can see a great teaching plan: Part 1 — Verbal Subversion, or ‘How to pull the rug out from under your enemies whilst pretending to love them’. You’re a past master at it Jesus. Then Part 2 — Combat Skills. I’ve an old sword stashed away — bit rusty, never used it, but I’m going to need it one day I know. So guys, agreed? Great! Let’s go.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Mary</i>: Oh put the male macho stuff away, Peter. This isn’t the bleeding Apprentice.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Judas</i>: I’m with you, there, luv. Alpha males, eh?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jesus</i>: Mmm, ‘Alpha’… You could use that, if you wanted. Start people with the basics. Call it ‘the Alpha course’ perhaps. Just seeding a thought…</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Peter</i>: ‘In the beginning was the word, and the word was Alpha.’ Oh no, I’m starting to sound like John.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Judas</i>: We could keep it going all the way to Omega. Franchise it. What a money-spinner that’d be.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jesus</i>: The Alpha and the Omega - mmm, powerful… But we shouldn’t encourage people to run before they can walk. Spiritual safeguarding’s central — we need to nurture good practice.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Judas</i>: Mmm, compulsory pastoral modules then — a good income stream…</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jesus</i>: Mary, you’re very quiet. What ideas have you got?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Peter</i>: <i>[uppity]</i> I thought I was chairing this.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Mary</i>: Thank you, Master. You hear what folk are crying out for. ‘Teach us to pray,’ they’re saying.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Judas</i>: Prayer — excellent idea! The Pharisees have got some great materials. ‘Impress through Prayer’, they call it. Tips like standing in as public a place as possible — common sense, really.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Peter</i>: I worry about you, mate… Mary, this was your idea — which means, according to the ancient tradition we would never wish to break: you’ll be doing it. What’s your big idea?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Mary</i>: Sitting together on the beach.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Peter</i>: The beach?! What’s that got to do with prayer? That’s the Lake. That’s work.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Mary</i>: <i>[ignoring him]</i> That’s where I meet God. The calm, the stillness. Or in a storm — doesn’t matter. Gather some pebbles, meditate, listen to God together.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Peter</i>: Wouldn’t float my fishing boat, I’m afraid. Though we could do a beach bar-b-q — that’d make it worthwhile.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Judas</i>: And who’d be paying for that, then?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Peter</i>: <i>[sighs]</i>… Jesus, you’re the one being quiet now. Prayer — surely this is you’re gig.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jesus</i>: Thanks for asking, Peter. As it happens, yes, I’ve got something brewing. ‘Our Father,’ it starts… Haven’t got further than that yet. I’m sure it’ll come, though.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Mary</i>: You see, Master, you’re the centre of this, not us. All these big ideas, but the only thing that matters is you’re there.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jesus</i>: Thank you, Mary. Profound, as ever. I will always be with you. Even when I’m gone.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Peter</i>: Gone?? Oh, of course, healing duty calls again. I wondered what all the racket was outside. You’d think your devoted fan club would give you a rest in this weather.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jesus</i>: Never a dull moment in the PCC, eh, Peter?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Peter</i>: So, meeting closed. And the ball’s in your court with this prayer thing then, Master.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jesus</i>: The ball’s in all of our courts. Let’s go — and I hope you’ve been praying.<br /> </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1OKkoHDjhghcXITSes-fIUEcIbKznAoZXlgoxoVhQBISRr-S8qNk4OcQBrEOR4VyTuwcDwVTDpMDHRcnXbP8rBHF7A8hUro-w_8v40gxyhTgtFxSAulzf23FtBCxZBIvRi4jZxex-fKk/s1600/DSC_0289.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1OKkoHDjhghcXITSes-fIUEcIbKznAoZXlgoxoVhQBISRr-S8qNk4OcQBrEOR4VyTuwcDwVTDpMDHRcnXbP8rBHF7A8hUro-w_8v40gxyhTgtFxSAulzf23FtBCxZBIvRi4jZxex-fKk/s320/DSC_0289.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkuqgGJcnMsCp_4u9S_1gadZ5u09UfapBGHkaIIFzh6dpCaTsDae7CZ12Lrzxuo_rqu0C0WRdsu506diOpre9G5CIKDQeauj3qIA8Qhu6c97wdWYRaCcogqDTXyQANaDJNP7_Ip1o-8Us/s1600/Jerome's+friend+very+small.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkuqgGJcnMsCp_4u9S_1gadZ5u09UfapBGHkaIIFzh6dpCaTsDae7CZ12Lrzxuo_rqu0C0WRdsu506diOpre9G5CIKDQeauj3qIA8Qhu6c97wdWYRaCcogqDTXyQANaDJNP7_Ip1o-8Us/s1600/Jerome's+friend+very+small.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Alphaeus</b> adds:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Sketch written for a discussion on church-based discipleship groups for the <a href="http://swmtc.org.uk/" target="_blank">South West Ministry Training Course</a>, Nov 2017. </span></span>David Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02687907718352597621noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951823182358854999.post-88759962726555262272017-10-22T21:56:00.002+01:002017-10-23T12:01:59.924+01:00The Three Crosses<br />
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<a href="http://ica.themorgan.org/manuscript/page/157/76991" target="_blank"><img alt="http://ica.themorgan.org/manuscript/page/157/76991" border="0" data-original-height="370" data-original-width="392" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij8CY5lHq8kbo6D590I90s6X7xoVSnRxNzugRNGkXpBYpY1SqaqejAPYa8-2rRR9nUHsnexlHJ65WDhguj3uMT7K5Ktubr7IXHRe_Osk5YpKAqkiStITvB2aIo-gQ_OtHrKZYaspknQtw/s200/Three+crosses+painting.jpg" title="Portrayal of the crucifixion of Christ in Utopia - Book of Hours ca. 1500, Paris" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>A sketch</i></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i> </i></span></span></span>The two thieves crucified either side of Jesus... </span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">...are now in heaven.</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">They are sitting at a table outside<span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span>'The New Jerusalem Arms', enjoying</span></b></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> a drink and the</span></b></span> panoramic view over the Celestial City. </span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Reuben</i>: So, the New Jerusalem, eh? What an f-ing beautiful place! ‘F’ for flipping fantastic, of course.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Simeon</i>: Isn’t our language smooth these days! And yes — sparkling crystals and jewels everywhere.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Reuben</i>: I’d have grabbed them and ran, in our past life. Mind you, I wouldn’t know what half these precious stones even are.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Simeon</i>: We should ask old St John to give us a tour. He seemed quite the jewel expert in his Revelation epic — cornelian, chrysolite, jacinth: I mean, what <i>are</i> they?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Reuben</i>: All John’s stuff’s just Greek to me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Simeon</i>: Old Jerusalem — that seems another world now. It was quite some view of the city we had from our crosses, wasn’t it?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Reuben</i>: There you were, greasing up to Jesus, going down in history as the goodie-goodie. And now you’re claiming you were admiring the view!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Simeon</i>: That’s what I tell folk around here, anyway — got to keep up appearances. I might have been a thief, but at least I’m the respectable one.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Reuben</i>: Status counts for nothing here, you know that!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Simeon</i>: I know, I know. Look at James and John!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Reuben</i>: Yeah, what a laugh, eh? They go pitching in to be at the left and right hands of Jesus. And look who it was?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Simeon</i>: Us! Yeah, who would believed it. Top moment in human history, and look who’s in the photo frame with Jesus — Youtube hits and the rest? You and me, mate! </span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmHNsTBMv7sOetTl85mKKVfYoSPfoJ5_C-XMq2vaShCDY24K166_kOf-1iaE6yqLTloBNoAaqIMj7GeWT2bcNzORH40a3LxsO-avutLSyaxs7j3dt5IMLiKV9YrlhtIv7kQD2CEU91tx8/s1600/Cross+-+mantlepiece+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="377" data-original-width="283" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmHNsTBMv7sOetTl85mKKVfYoSPfoJ5_C-XMq2vaShCDY24K166_kOf-1iaE6yqLTloBNoAaqIMj7GeWT2bcNzORH40a3LxsO-avutLSyaxs7j3dt5IMLiKV9YrlhtIv7kQD2CEU91tx8/s200/Cross+-+mantlepiece+small.jpg" width="150" /></a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Reuben</i>: Proved a good bet, that crime, as it turned out! Only joking! You said we got what we deserved. Well, it turns out we’ve <i>all</i> got a whole lot more than we deserved...!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Simeon</i>: Weird place, the Kingdom of God, eh?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Reuben</i>: Anyway, do you know what the first thing Jesus said to me was when I arrived?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Simeon</i>: What was that, then?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Reuben</i>: ‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘<i>You’re </i>thanking <i>me</i>?’ I say. ‘Yes,’ he says. ‘What for?’ I say, ‘foul-mouthing you?’ ‘Keeping me company,’ he says. My jaw fell out the sky.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Simeon</i>: He said just the same to me. ‘Couldn’t have done it on my own,’ he says! I was flabbergasted.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Reuben</i>: Me too. I was totally stumped what to say. So you know what I go and do? This tune comes to me, and I start humming, ‘always look on the bright side of life, eh, Jesus?’ And he just cracks up: ‘something like that,’ he says.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Simeon</i>: And let me guess, he then goes all serious. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Reuben</i>: Yeah, how do you know? He says, ‘I mean it.’ And I look puzzled but have a stab: ‘because you were human?’ I say. And he says, ‘Yes.’ Then he looks like he’s going to add something but then hesitates and seems to change his mind, and goes on. ‘You accompanied me to the edge. That was a lonely place,’ he says. ‘What you did for the least of these, you did for me,’ he says. ‘What are you talking about, Jesus?’ I say. And he says, ‘you were with me in my pain and in my need. <i>You</i> were ministering to <i>me</i>.’</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Simeon</i>: Blimey, mate. Turns things upside down alright, doesn’t he? We were ministering to <i>him</i>?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Reuben</i>: Well, <i>I</i> was, he said! Yeah, both of us, of course.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Simeon</i>: You know, what he said about appreciating it being because he was human, and then he might have said something else? I think I know what it was.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Reuben</i>: Just because you spotted he was the Son of God, you now think you know his thoughts, eh? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Simeon</i>: That’s just it, you see. To your question about whether he appreciated the company because he was human, I think he was going to say, ‘Yes. And No.’ And then he would add, ‘It’s also because I’m God.’ </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Reuben</i>: You’re getting ahead of me there, mate!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Simeon</i>: You see, I didn’t do much better with what I came out with, when Jesus thanked me. I blurted out, ‘Two’s company — but wasn’t three a bit of a crowd?’ — knowing you hadn’t shown him huge respect. I’m sorry, mate!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Reuben</i>: Well, thanks a bundle. That’s our friendship gone! So what did he say?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Simeon</i>: He said, ‘three was just perfect!’ And I thought, ‘doh, oh yes, it would be, wouldn’t it?’</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Reuben</i>: I’m still not following you.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Simeon</i>: Look around you — it’s because there’s three of them here, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And there always was.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Reuben</i>: Oh, I get it. No I don’t actually, this three-in-one thing, but I can see it, so that’ll do.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Simeon</i>: Jesus hardly needed to say it then, but he still added, ‘having two for company, it made me feel at home’.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Reuben</i>: What, like <i>we</i> were the Trinity?! Well, that’s a thing! So the Romans thought they were doing a three-for-the-price-of-one offer on punishment / entertainment / call it what you will, and they were really helping Jesus out…</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Simeon</i>: …and setting up a model of the Trinity. Profound, eh?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Reuben</i>: So… that’s got me thinking. Which of us was which, then?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Simeon</i>: The Father and the Spirit, you mean?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Reuben</i>: Yeah. You’re the one who pretends to have some sense of responsibility. So you’ve got to be the Dad.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Simeon</i>: And you’re the wild, unpredictable one — the Spirit, obviously!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Reuben</i>: Looks like we’ve got it sussed. So, how do we make the most of this? — our celebrity status as Right- and Left-Hand companions for Jesus on the Cross — and now Father- and Spirit-substitutes too?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Simeon</i>: Not quite the point, I think!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4J9xZVNmPW9B6CtrlYH9UHFWSkjTvw4orZjbcQAEKgRsWA8sbxgeEOdoIwTbOPydbDrII8MtNl215i6ff-Z34MVWEKMir2Hrh0AuTtmuB3_9t26LYdHCeceW_wW-xrVbvhafY9RyEgr0/s1600/zz+rublev+troitsa+with+beer.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="616" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4J9xZVNmPW9B6CtrlYH9UHFWSkjTvw4orZjbcQAEKgRsWA8sbxgeEOdoIwTbOPydbDrII8MtNl215i6ff-Z34MVWEKMir2Hrh0AuTtmuB3_9t26LYdHCeceW_wW-xrVbvhafY9RyEgr0/s320/zz+rublev+troitsa+with+beer.png" width="256" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Reuben</i>: But something to wind James and John up with. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Simeon</i>: Alright — let’s have some fun. Come on….<br /><br /> </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkuqgGJcnMsCp_4u9S_1gadZ5u09UfapBGHkaIIFzh6dpCaTsDae7CZ12Lrzxuo_rqu0C0WRdsu506diOpre9G5CIKDQeauj3qIA8Qhu6c97wdWYRaCcogqDTXyQANaDJNP7_Ip1o-8Us/s1600/Jerome's+friend+very+small.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkuqgGJcnMsCp_4u9S_1gadZ5u09UfapBGHkaIIFzh6dpCaTsDae7CZ12Lrzxuo_rqu0C0WRdsu506diOpre9G5CIKDQeauj3qIA8Qhu6c97wdWYRaCcogqDTXyQANaDJNP7_Ip1o-8Us/s1600/Jerome's+friend+very+small.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Alphaeus</b> adds:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The four Gospel writers each relate the men crucified with Jesus differently: see <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=luke+23&version=NRSVA" target="_blank">Luke 23 vv32,39-43</a> for the most well known account, but also by contrast <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+27&version=NRSVA" target="_blank">Matthew 27 vv38,44</a> and <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+15&version=NRSVA" target="_blank">Mark 15 vv25-32</a>, and particularly that of John <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+19&version=NRSVA" target="_blank">John 19 v18</a> who refrains from comment on the men's actions.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">See <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=rev+21&version=NRSVA" target="_blank">Revelation 21</a> for </span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">John's vision of </span></span><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">the celestial city</span></span>.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Sketch written for a Biblical relection for <a href="http://swmtc.org.uk/" target="_blank">South West Ministry Training Course</a>, Mar 2017. </span></span>David Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02687907718352597621noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951823182358854999.post-10015403490595919792017-10-19T21:54:00.001+01:002017-10-22T22:17:54.909+01:00The slaves<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfBFUg_PwYVfOOw65Oy3zpPFBVsHTZIOYQ6EhQu-gvNVTwANy1nS5Axeq1qUa8_OGN73Hq7wV0IF1k9ZPst1d5oOccC8EiwPD1K7HPSPTikjCHyU8t954_6DdjLaUS3ZrqyaPFYbDv9xA/s1600/DSC_0346.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfBFUg_PwYVfOOw65Oy3zpPFBVsHTZIOYQ6EhQu-gvNVTwANy1nS5Axeq1qUa8_OGN73Hq7wV0IF1k9ZPst1d5oOccC8EiwPD1K7HPSPTikjCHyU8t954_6DdjLaUS3ZrqyaPFYbDv9xA/s200/DSC_0346.JPG" width="133" /></a><i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A mini-sketch</span></span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Two Roman slaves, characters in Jesus’ story of the wedding banquet, are in conversation...</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">(Gallio is confident and up-beat. Felicio is a somewhat depressive Eeyore-type<span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span>character)</span></i><b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Gallio</i>: Fancy us starring in one Jesus’s stories, eh? <i>Us</i>!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Felicio</i>: We’re hardly stars. We’re just part of the furniture - as ever. Always taken for granted.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Gallio</i>: Of course! 'Go here’, ‘Run there’ - our life in a nutshell, eh?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Felicio</i>: It’s a good story, though, I suppose. Fancy anyone turning down an offer to a feast like that! I would I have given anything to tuck into that succulent spread - and those flagons of wine. But it’s our lot again - serving: yes, gorging: no.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Gallio</i>: Those arrogant, stuck-up folk - insulting our king like that, refusing his invitation. I wanted to punch them to pulp, to save him the job later.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Felicio</i>: Glad you didn’t. Wouldn’t have been good for either of our careers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Gallio</i>: Yeah, I’m carefully clocking up the years of service and the gold stars. You’ve got to be strategic - I’ve got my sights set on earning my freedom, alright. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Felicio</i>: Mmm, freedom. Jesus tells a story about slaves, but is there a mention of freedom for us in it? No. We’re obviously just part of the furniture to him too. And I thought he would be our saviour.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Gallio</i>: Ah, but think who’s he’s talking to. The walls have ears, you know - plus Roman officers patrolling everywhere these days, all with their <i>own</i> slaves. One hint of slave insurrection, and Jesus would be meat served up at <i>their</i> next banquet. They all remember Spartacus!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Felicio</i>: ’suppose so…</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Gallio</i>: Plus look at who came to the banquet in the end!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Felicio</i>: What do you mean?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Gallio</i>: “Then the king said to his slaves, ‘go into the main streets, and invite <i>everyone</i> you find.’ ” Where are us slaves half the day, as we ‘go there’ and ‘run there’? On the streets. He meant slaves too.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Felicio</i>: Slaves? Us? Invited to the great banquet?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Gallio</i>: Yep! Us.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Felicio</i>: Wow!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Gallio</i>: So Jesus <i>was</i> preaching insurrection after all. It was buried in his story. Oh, that <i>was</i> clever!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Felicio</i>: I’m so relieved. My faith is restored.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Gallio</i>: It’ll take a while, though, freedom. In the meantime, do keep restraining me when I wanna throw a punch and kick-start the rebellion.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Felicio</i>: And in the meantime now, look! We’ve got a taste of freedom - all those left-overs from the banquet we can scoff as we clear up. I’ve no problem picking up the crumbs from under this table.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY6ops2oOqDSv6FNfQWi8lupW0QaHZLFQJ1_GbZkbj3FGiBRaleDhrKTc032XZcXJdOWcCOrrQHsHomSC8wb0xH69NSRiYE1ue29xYNYepp9jW_qztpOblfDdNU11zKRHvZHtAiMaL1WI/s1600/DSC_0220.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1067" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY6ops2oOqDSv6FNfQWi8lupW0QaHZLFQJ1_GbZkbj3FGiBRaleDhrKTc032XZcXJdOWcCOrrQHsHomSC8wb0xH69NSRiYE1ue29xYNYepp9jW_qztpOblfDdNU11zKRHvZHtAiMaL1WI/s200/DSC_0220.JPG" width="133" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /><i>Gallio</i>: Our very own feast. Come on.<br /><br /> </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkuqgGJcnMsCp_4u9S_1gadZ5u09UfapBGHkaIIFzh6dpCaTsDae7CZ12Lrzxuo_rqu0C0WRdsu506diOpre9G5CIKDQeauj3qIA8Qhu6c97wdWYRaCcogqDTXyQANaDJNP7_Ip1o-8Us/s1600/Jerome's+friend+very+small.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkuqgGJcnMsCp_4u9S_1gadZ5u09UfapBGHkaIIFzh6dpCaTsDae7CZ12Lrzxuo_rqu0C0WRdsu506diOpre9G5CIKDQeauj3qIA8Qhu6c97wdWYRaCcogqDTXyQANaDJNP7_Ip1o-8Us/s1600/Jerome's+friend+very+small.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Alphaeus</b> adds:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This conversation follows a story Jesus told about a wedding banquet (see <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mt+22&version=NRSVA" target="_blank">Matthew 22 vv1-14</a>).</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The sketch was written for <a href="https://freedomsundayglobal.org/" target="_blank">Freedom Sunday 2017</a> (linked to <a href="http://www.antislaveryday.com/" target="_blank">Anti-Slavery Day</a>), which raises awareness of modern-day slavery.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">With thanks to Marcus Sidonius Falx (alias Jerry Toner) for his informative and entertaining book about Roman slaves, <i><a href="https://profilebooks.com/how-to-manage-your-slaves-by-marcus-sidonius-falx.html" target="_blank">How to Manage your Slaves</a>.</i> </span></span>David Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02687907718352597621noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951823182358854999.post-87810598096044228812015-06-07T22:03:00.002+01:002015-06-07T22:03:31.641+01:00The Trinity trio<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It’s after the festival of Pentecost in Jerusalem. Jesus' three close friends - Peter and brothers James and John - are having a drink in the Jerusalem Arms. </span></b></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>A sketch</i></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAR4scrF3yDSlMxJeWeGQ_OuIkbbpEClgW8ZlRJcfSFWY8Jc32N8Eax71fBawgogpOw2exem3b9cWBTJj6bguSVLK9OKaN6Put4p2TCPCduc8JQTVuJPl8l3QCabzZdxLy7TeTM0lWdTU/s1600/edinburgh+pub.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAR4scrF3yDSlMxJeWeGQ_OuIkbbpEClgW8ZlRJcfSFWY8Jc32N8Eax71fBawgogpOw2exem3b9cWBTJj6bguSVLK9OKaN6Put4p2TCPCduc8JQTVuJPl8l3QCabzZdxLy7TeTM0lWdTU/s320/edinburgh+pub.jpg" width="179" /></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i></i><br /><i>Peter</i>: Well, who would have guessed it. From fish to fame. Pilchards to preachers… Cheers - to the future!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>James</i>: To the future! The trouble is, in this future the others are looking to us for a lead, aren’t they?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>John</i>: They’re never going to let us live that one down, James, about us bidding for the top spots in Jesus’ kingdom.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Peter</i>: You’ve got to carry that cross now, John!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>James</i>: So why three of us? Oh I get it, you’re here, Peter, to keep the peace between us brothers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Peter</i>: No! It’s good management strategy - oh, I hadn’t told you, I’ve signed on for a management course at Jerusalem College. We’ve got some serious retraining to do! Three - it gives resilience. If one us drops dead - and, let’s be honest, the chances are pretty high of someone knocking us off, now we’re marked men - then there’s still two left. Bets for who’ll be first!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>John</i>: No, there’s something deeper about being three than that. I’ve been thinking…</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>James</i>: You’re <i>always</i> thinking, bro. Lighten up! Cor, those interminable hours trapped on a boat with you with your philosophical ramblings. I felt like stuffing a dead fish in your mouth many a time.</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm-MwT4b5DwDBkzpV7us9jtwynR6y0rt_8WCjiWyyKjuhjfVhU3iZ7lI2SZ_fvw24GnDhlW1yAMLekdC1gbj9qQkD6xJ23-NJps4nZqRPUgKNTEQ2qXgVsZgQiBGq63LxGzbf1LBqQoRo/s1600/fish.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="83" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm-MwT4b5DwDBkzpV7us9jtwynR6y0rt_8WCjiWyyKjuhjfVhU3iZ7lI2SZ_fvw24GnDhlW1yAMLekdC1gbj9qQkD6xJ23-NJps4nZqRPUgKNTEQ2qXgVsZgQiBGq63LxGzbf1LBqQoRo/s200/fish.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>John</i>: And you’re always breaking my train of thought! Where was I?… Oh yes, three. Three of us, three of them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Peter</i>: You’ve lost me there, mate. Three of who?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>John</i>: Three of God.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>James</i>: Three of God? Keep your voice down! That’s blasphemy. We’ll be strung up before you can say ‘shalom’.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>John</i>: Well, for starters, Jesus clearly saw his Father as different to him. Whilst also the same. ‘I and the Father are one’, as he said. And then he talks about the Spirit, as if it makes up the party.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>James</i>: And wasn’t it a party he gave us at Pentecost! Don’t know if the ‘high’ was legal, but it was good!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>John</i>: There you go, trivialising things again!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Peter</i>: I was always a bit envious of the Greeks and the Romans with all their different gods. They have such good stories about how the gods get on with one another - or don’t. It looks like they’re part-right, then. Thankfully <i>our</i> God seems to get on with himself rather better.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>James</i>: The Roman gods don’t seem to get on well with people, either. Zeus was my favourite at school. I loved the stories when the gods killed people. But what a travesty, given the truth…</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>John</i>: …that it’s the other way round - people killed God…</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Peter</i>: <i>[pause]</i> And yet he doesn’t blame us. That beach bar-B-Q Jesus did. I was just relaxing after an all-nighter. Then the fish weren’t the only things being grilled, as Jesus turned the roaster on me. But I’ve never known love like it before.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>James</i>: It really did change you, didn't it, mate? The slushy love stuff is normally John’s territory.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>John</i>: Jesus was always talking about how much the Father loved him. Yet he allowed him to die. Not normally good for family dynamics. Yet it turns out they were suffering together - carrying the world’s grief.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Peter</i>: One moment you’re talking about Jesus and his Father as separate, the next like they’re one God. This is where I struggle. I just can’t get how two can be one - let alone three!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>James</i>: Numbers never were your thing, eh Peter?! Those days at Capernaum Primary. It was always so good to know there'd be someone lower than you in the class, eh, ’Simple Simon’!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>John</i>: But that’s fine. Not understanding God as three, I mean. Jesus wasn't challenging us to understand. He was inviting us to participate.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Peter</i>: Participation - absolutely. ‘Follow me’, he said. Action, my kind of man. If he’d meant to a theological college, I’d have stayed right on my boat. He was calling us to a life, a life like his. Mind you, if I’d known that life could mean an early grim death, I’d have stayed right on my boat too.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>James</i>: We’ve burned our boats now, though. Well, not literally - I’m getting some useful rental income on ours at the moment.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Peter</i>: John, getting back to what you’re saying about Jesus inviting us to participate. I get the action bit. But I know you - I’m sure you’ve got something deeper.</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA3xVP94kazd_8fBxMXLm_CnzJtSA_IKLfYzB127A0kcHkHYdlvZpp0klEgG403KPpnEOHddwPO_N5k4sdXtwHTGN39JvdJNQcF23-haUablXIAN6A9G3smtXDlXFDgaI3t3S_P0pJBcQ/s1600/Trinity+picture+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA3xVP94kazd_8fBxMXLm_CnzJtSA_IKLfYzB127A0kcHkHYdlvZpp0klEgG403KPpnEOHddwPO_N5k4sdXtwHTGN39JvdJNQcF23-haUablXIAN6A9G3smtXDlXFDgaI3t3S_P0pJBcQ/s200/Trinity+picture+2.jpg" width="119" /></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>John</i>: As it happens, yes. Miss this one and we miss the whole point. God, as three, relate to one another. They always have, they always will. But in coming to earth, Jesus was like their ambassador, inviting us to join them - join the family as it were. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>James</i>: You mean joining them in heaven.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>John</i>: Only heaven’s come to earth. Living with us, Jesus showed we can be part of the family now. We’re children of God, that’s the key. And children aren’t left outside in the cold - they’re in the house, the heart of the family.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Peter</i>: So when Jesus said to us, ‘follow me’, he was sort of saying, ‘follow me into the company of the three-bits-of-God.’</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>John</i>: Yes. We’ve scarcely scratched the surface of this one.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>James</i>: You’re ahead of me, bro. Meanwhile, back on planet earth - which is where Jesus came to, remember - we’ve got to have a plan to bring to the other guys (and girls - Jesus didn’t leave them out, I’m not going to - I’m a changed man too!). Peter, as the main man, over to you.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Peter</i>: Well, what Jesus did was invite people, wasn’t it? To follow him. And I’m starting to get it: into the heart of God. So that’s now our job. Inviting people, into what we’ve already started to experience.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>James</i>: We need a slick term for this three-in-one-God thing. Bro, you’re our classics expert. What can you come up with?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>John</i>: mmm, ‘tri’ - three, ‘unity’ - as one. So, how about calling the three-in-one-God thing, as you call it, ‘trinity’?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Peter</i>: Brilliant. I always knew it was worth staying friends with you at school. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>John</i>: There’s three in God, three of us. Back to where we started.</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiovQE2ViXauiTwpnxCJ5nZddO34JMPrO4CT3Lf-XFlhXD_3fDuLEGN5kB9MAYTRHAtyFUGa5HOYLntLxNPQjv_izG44xOlVyb57GC9vRGI9v3of5eRvBACtB1Ef_aIlwCqvBQzVVG3bdI/s1600/Trinity+1.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiovQE2ViXauiTwpnxCJ5nZddO34JMPrO4CT3Lf-XFlhXD_3fDuLEGN5kB9MAYTRHAtyFUGa5HOYLntLxNPQjv_izG44xOlVyb57GC9vRGI9v3of5eRvBACtB1Ef_aIlwCqvBQzVVG3bdI/s200/Trinity+1.jpg" width="192" /></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>James</i>: Tell you what, for some fun getting this across to the others, we could do a sketch! Now, which of us should be the Father, the Son, and the Spirit?…</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Peter</i>: I’m staying out of your brotherly squabbles! We’ve got work to do - let’s get some more beers...<br /> </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkuqgGJcnMsCp_4u9S_1gadZ5u09UfapBGHkaIIFzh6dpCaTsDae7CZ12Lrzxuo_rqu0C0WRdsu506diOpre9G5CIKDQeauj3qIA8Qhu6c97wdWYRaCcogqDTXyQANaDJNP7_Ip1o-8Us/s1600/Jerome's+friend+very+small.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkuqgGJcnMsCp_4u9S_1gadZ5u09UfapBGHkaIIFzh6dpCaTsDae7CZ12Lrzxuo_rqu0C0WRdsu506diOpre9G5CIKDQeauj3qIA8Qhu6c97wdWYRaCcogqDTXyQANaDJNP7_Ip1o-8Us/s1600/Jerome's+friend+very+small.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Alphaeus</b> adds:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">I apologise to theologians for the abuse in this conversation of the development of Christian understanding of God as Trinity. Many decades (even centuries) are contracted here into a short conversation.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span></span>David Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02687907718352597621noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951823182358854999.post-25781959425602273042015-05-25T23:06:00.000+01:002015-05-26T22:02:50.298+01:00Planning Pentecost<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">God the Father and God the Son discuss sending the Holy Spirit at Pentecost</span> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>A sketch for Pentecost</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiovQE2ViXauiTwpnxCJ5nZddO34JMPrO4CT3Lf-XFlhXD_3fDuLEGN5kB9MAYTRHAtyFUGa5HOYLntLxNPQjv_izG44xOlVyb57GC9vRGI9v3of5eRvBACtB1Ef_aIlwCqvBQzVVG3bdI/s1600/Trinity+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiovQE2ViXauiTwpnxCJ5nZddO34JMPrO4CT3Lf-XFlhXD_3fDuLEGN5kB9MAYTRHAtyFUGa5HOYLntLxNPQjv_izG44xOlVyb57GC9vRGI9v3of5eRvBACtB1Ef_aIlwCqvBQzVVG3bdI/s200/Trinity+1.jpg" width="192" /></a></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Father</i>: Welcome back to heaven, son! You’ve kept in touch well, but I’ve still missed you.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jesus</i>: Good to see you too. Mind you, my head’s still spinning from the Ascension. That was quite some ride you gave me.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Father</i>: Indeed, your once-in-a-lifetime experience of heavenly teleporting… Anyway, I’ve got two things on the agenda: reviewing how things went for you on earth; and the next stage, sending the Holy Spirit.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jesus</i>: Ah, so many stories to share about earth with you. We’ve eternity for that! Sending the Holy Spirit, though: I suggest we crack straight on. I told my friends to wait, and humans don’t find waiting easy. To be honest, those years plugging away as a carpenter: great to have had a normal job - but the patience <i>was</i> a challenge. A thousand years aren’t like a day to them, you know! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Father</i>: That’s something the Spirit can help them with, then - patience - add it to his list. By the way, I suggest we keep referring to our Spirit as ‘he’. It’ll keep things simple - and it makes writing up the minutes easier.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jesus</i>: There’ll be other PR problems too. Such as the name. ‘Holy’ sounds remote, when we’ll be with them - and even in them! And ‘Spirit’ - it’s a tougher concept for them than ‘Father’ or ‘Son’. Rather ethereal, hard to grasp.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLj040gfx6Ydr4nzTfcDj0DeUIjIaKWP93FG03DJBYCo9A2CourBq81ETSy9VHAVXqCjwqobQ3qMLDMLX7EtQXCSICxNvE199M0fz2rs-idZXCxF7W5rEJbiW_hUCR1jW1Ym4fY8sx2zQ/s1600/Water+-+ethereal.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLj040gfx6Ydr4nzTfcDj0DeUIjIaKWP93FG03DJBYCo9A2CourBq81ETSy9VHAVXqCjwqobQ3qMLDMLX7EtQXCSICxNvE199M0fz2rs-idZXCxF7W5rEJbiW_hUCR1jW1Ym4fY8sx2zQ/s200/Water+-+ethereal.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Father</i>: It’s hard to pin him down for these family chats, too! A threesome we may be, but hardly the tidy nuclear family with the Spirit! He’s always on the go. We’ve only got to have thought of something and he’s off doing it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jesus</i>: I’ve seen him from the other side of the fence now, too. When you’re <i>in</i> creation, you know it’s him holding the whole thing together, giving you all your food, your air - breathing all life, in fact.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Father</i>: He’s due for another long-service thank-you medal, don’t you think? How long is it now since we created everything?? - I lose track… Anyway, we now need to focus on this new stage. So what was it like for you, being filled with the Spirit?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jesus</i>: How did I put it? ‘The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.’ I was putting words to my experience…</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXFCdMZ48omWF9Gz9JYw2F1R8R0hh0c_YCDey-AZGBM6k6qA4-QRxdaObcvuL-9KDBglnCN_TeaayDKPSkMyM1VTDiTeUVSMKmTrU_YiFj_-uREWpgVs_0tb_ANFE4qJD18W98d4npOYA/s1600/sky+with+contrails.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="142" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXFCdMZ48omWF9Gz9JYw2F1R8R0hh0c_YCDey-AZGBM6k6qA4-QRxdaObcvuL-9KDBglnCN_TeaayDKPSkMyM1VTDiTeUVSMKmTrU_YiFj_-uREWpgVs_0tb_ANFE4qJD18W98d4npOYA/s200/sky+with+contrails.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Father</i>: Mmmm, the ‘wind’ image - I like that. Let’s come back to it. But carry on.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jesus</i>: Each day, wrestling in prayer, knowing I was your Son, yet also being intensely human. And it is a very intense experience - as we meant it to be. There’s so much to see and feel, to enjoy and to suffer, so much that exalts the spirit, but so much too that is very hard to make sense of.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Father</i>: Humbling for you - thank you. Tell you what, I could give you a medal for humility! No, perhaps that doesn't work…</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jesus</i>: Anyway, through all that, each day the Spirit filled my capacity to love people - and, believe me, some of them aren’t that lovely! We could at least have chosen a period of history when personal cleanliness was more advanced…</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Father</i>: And what about healing people, how was that for you? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jesus</i>: Quite extraordinary! I train as a carpenter, I work as a healer and teacher - how does that work?! The Spirit, he gifts you far beyond what you think you could do - and it’s as if it <i>is</i> you and it <i>isn’t</i> you at the same time.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Father</i>: We will always be something of a mystery!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jesus</i>: Yes! But the wonderful part - and I say this with both my ‘God’ and ‘human’ hats on - is that all of this brought transformation to people. That’s the heart of the next stage too, of course - the Holy Spirit transforming people, through people. ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water’. I was rather pleased with putting it that way.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Father</i>: Blatant plagiarism of Isaiah, son!</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX95pINvMcPunvlRG5sjl_ZguspmsuJN59YM07bs0tKYqv2qmouZ9ZRG43hI27kqSLCjNVwVR9jSPJEHXlV-qjDiwrxBoTRXEEBhXBKdykKl1Jx24kVtcCDVIMLK2CWDFSu2hSMAbc-zQ/s1600/Waterfall+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX95pINvMcPunvlRG5sjl_ZguspmsuJN59YM07bs0tKYqv2qmouZ9ZRG43hI27kqSLCjNVwVR9jSPJEHXlV-qjDiwrxBoTRXEEBhXBKdykKl1Jx24kVtcCDVIMLK2CWDFSu2hSMAbc-zQ/s320/Waterfall+small.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jesus</i>: Of course, but I had to learn my Isaiah from scratch, don’t forget!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Father</i>: And a job well done. Water’s a good image, in fact. I like it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jesus</i>: And another one - sticking with Isaiah, describing his experience of us as being like fire. I felt that in me too - powerful, unquenchable. And what I was doing was like bringing fire.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Father</i>: I sense another PR challenge.</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMUt8skOTHr8RuhoXqMViD0JBJXIxS2Pm1k33Wel_UBIscX4BcdphRUxXe9qjBR_O4xvrPceCO3ouW-akKI0n0YblBg7hH2-2ldFmqg0OzjISNq4f4jK1my1GJ9u4MG3UQh6ZsppHQmN8/s1600/fire+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMUt8skOTHr8RuhoXqMViD0JBJXIxS2Pm1k33Wel_UBIscX4BcdphRUxXe9qjBR_O4xvrPceCO3ouW-akKI0n0YblBg7hH2-2ldFmqg0OzjISNq4f4jK1my1GJ9u4MG3UQh6ZsppHQmN8/s1600/fire+1.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jesus</i>: Too true! People see fire as destructive. The only thing we destroy is the bad, leaving the good purer and more beautiful. I saw the benefit in people when they were cleansed like this, it was deeply redemptive. So fire’s still a good image to work with.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Father</i>: Excellent… I see a plan coming together.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jesus</i>: Well you’re the master!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Father</i>: We’ve got these three images: water, wind, and fire. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jesus</i>: Earth… wind… and fire… Very neat. Very elemental.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Father</i>: But not all practical. Your friends, they’re gathered in a room, is that right?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jesus</i>: Yes - they’re expectant, but nervous.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Father</i>: So, we do a launch event of the next stage, with them in the room. Wind - that’s the easy one. Fire, we’ll have to control for obvious health and safety reasons - we must give the Spirit strict boundaries! But water - no. We don’t want a flood. Bad associations - Noah and all that. Let’s keep it simple: wind and fire. Water will have its own moment, with baptism.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jesus</i>: Genius!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Father</i>: Just good teamwork. And for timing - soon, you suggest? Pentecost is coming up. A festival, so lots of people will be there. And a great marketing hook for the birthday of the church too.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jesus</i>: I was very sad to leave my friends. But so exciting now we’re moving to the next stage.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Father</i>: Which just leaves giving the instructions to the Holy Spirit. I’ll crack on and write up those minutes… Only kidding - I know he already knows! The only one for whom ‘being there in spirit’ actually means being there...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jesus</i>: The world awaits! Pentecost here we come.<br /> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIOnXPCWUMK4VrGJuTtZOQat0GeX9mqfJDw7GgSX7OenqBHr0IDrjtKy0a-oaIPM0bJEVa4mG1RV8vBypprLV8dPz174MaxCDiB1u0O_A_yhMWmkZY_Tw8f1Z1FWnKctzhZUFWL7m49fQ/s1600/light.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIOnXPCWUMK4VrGJuTtZOQat0GeX9mqfJDw7GgSX7OenqBHr0IDrjtKy0a-oaIPM0bJEVa4mG1RV8vBypprLV8dPz174MaxCDiB1u0O_A_yhMWmkZY_Tw8f1Z1FWnKctzhZUFWL7m49fQ/s200/light.jpg" width="120" /></a></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkuqgGJcnMsCp_4u9S_1gadZ5u09UfapBGHkaIIFzh6dpCaTsDae7CZ12Lrzxuo_rqu0C0WRdsu506diOpre9G5CIKDQeauj3qIA8Qhu6c97wdWYRaCcogqDTXyQANaDJNP7_Ip1o-8Us/s1600/Jerome's+friend+very+small.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkuqgGJcnMsCp_4u9S_1gadZ5u09UfapBGHkaIIFzh6dpCaTsDae7CZ12Lrzxuo_rqu0C0WRdsu506diOpre9G5CIKDQeauj3qIA8Qhu6c97wdWYRaCcogqDTXyQANaDJNP7_Ip1o-8Us/s1600/Jerome's+friend+very+small.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Alphaeus</b> adds:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">OK, so I'm not party to conversations in heaven. I've brought my imagination to the inner workings of God. Maybe we have to create him in our image a little to have any chance of penetrating his mysteries... </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The story of the subsequent pivotal events of Pentecost can be found in <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=acts+2&version=NRSVA" target="_blank">Acts 2</a></span></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">. </span></span>David Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02687907718352597621noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951823182358854999.post-17881540063502057932015-04-07T12:04:00.000+01:002015-05-25T22:21:50.955+01:00Forget gravity, says Sir Isaac<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>A Sunday newspaper journalist interviews Sir Isaac Newton for a special article in the Easter Sunday edition</b></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A sketch for Easter</span></i></div>
<br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Journalist</i></span></i></span>: Good morning, Sir Isaac - may I call you Sir Isaac? It is a privilege to speak with you.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Newton</i></span>: These chats are a pleasant distraction from my work. All that maths does make my head hurt sometimes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Journalist</i>: Not only are you are the most famous scientist of today, you are now very popular with the apple industry. All that free promotion for them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Newton</i></span>: They <i>have</i> rather played on that story of the apple falling on my head for their commercial ends! Still, it’s helped me get my message across too: that gravity is a law of nature.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxunnSggtvKuqFt9GtslMlYhstSj_e0zN_2kzpzqt7LRwOsNhOdj4VFkEyFytx0WB3eanz04acR1KTnqGPRBBQJsgIPH1w0UGs9D0VZCAS7BkoT8ySYe6bzxgfcBtkM2Q33uUJitu2Pok/s1600/parachuting+boris.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxunnSggtvKuqFt9GtslMlYhstSj_e0zN_2kzpzqt7LRwOsNhOdj4VFkEyFytx0WB3eanz04acR1KTnqGPRBBQJsgIPH1w0UGs9D0VZCAS7BkoT8ySYe6bzxgfcBtkM2Q33uUJitu2Pok/s1600/parachuting+boris.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Journalist</i>: ‘What goes up must come down’, you might say.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Newton</i></span>: Well, yes - that’s very neatly put, I must say. Let me just jot that one down…</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Journalist</i>: But not everything does, does it? Come down, I mean.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Newton</i></span>: Such as?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Journalist</i>: Well, bread. Bread rises - and it stays up. Well, my wife’s does (she does a lovely loaf, you know). Magic. None of your gravity working there.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Newton</i></span>: Aaah, bread is like a building material - bake it and it becomes like bricks and mortar. It can then support itself against gravity. Mind you, don’t let my wife know I’ve compared her bread with bricks and mortar. You won’t publish that, will you?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Journalist</i>: Trust me - I’m a journalist… Moving on, what about the sun? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Newton</i></span>: What about it?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Journalist</i>: Well, it rises too. And then sets. Then rises again. It’s like the chicken and the egg - which came first, the rising or the setting?</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOjyyxo1PHJk1gz87wUzDXws8mXGBkbcRDg-JRBp9iR-3L0Qt1-JAiuskRUcMNz6F3U6tJpzP78VOv4bEOkUJFghoRgYoUHj0PFKPzXbIpkHzHKR7OD9FIw5leAY0ZnyAKOZJ97PZtduo/s1600/eclipse.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOjyyxo1PHJk1gz87wUzDXws8mXGBkbcRDg-JRBp9iR-3L0Qt1-JAiuskRUcMNz6F3U6tJpzP78VOv4bEOkUJFghoRgYoUHj0PFKPzXbIpkHzHKR7OD9FIw5leAY0ZnyAKOZJ97PZtduo/s1600/eclipse.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Newton</i></span>: Aaah, now we’re talking planetary motion. Galileo cracked that one. He died the year I was born, you know - a bit of trivia for your readers! It’s taking a while for his ideas to get popular, though.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Journalist</i>: We did a slot on him just the other week, in fact. The earth going round the sun, and all that.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Isaac</i>: Exactly! Well done. I’ve just written a book about all this, which you can get at a very good price from selected bookstalls. It’s called <i>Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica</i>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Journalist</i>: Mmmm, catchy title! - and handily written in Latin too, I believe… In it you say the behaviour of the universe is entirely predictable. That what goes up must come down. That if things <i>appear</i> to rise, it is entirely explainable by physical laws.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Newton</i></span>: That’s right.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Journalist</i>: So that applies if a <i>person</i> appears to have ‘risen’, then? Jesus, for example. It <i>is</i> Easter, after all.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Newton</i></span>: Aaah, that’s different.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Journalist</i>: Different?! If I may say so, Sir Isaac, you seem to be undermining your own best-selling book!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Newton</i></span>: No, this is a different thesis entirely - actually, it’s the really exciting one. Gravity pales into insignificance. And it’s not my theory at all - it’s God’s. (Most of us Cambridge dons are clerics as well, of course - we ‘do’ God too.) But personally I call it ‘Levity’.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Journalist</i>: Levity? That sounds a good name for an Easter bunny.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Newton</i></span>: Oh dear… Levity, as in <i>levis</i> - Latin, you know for ‘light’. As gravity is from <i>gravis</i> - ‘heavy’. It comes back to a good old classical education… We so often feel burdened by life - by fear, by guilt - like gravity inside us, you could say. Levity is the opposite - when all that’s taken away!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Journalist</i>: Mmm, but what does this have to do with Easter?</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKM-tnMc8MVQtVgF_SNrFM-xKotcNF17Ffy_ogsJ9Pee-CfzvZbSwR4SVv7tsRZ5HfhGKYBEBoQuAwbSfkzzyc0ZK0EvXrL2-ECn-73ZZzJX9Z8dT6eZ5iQg8Zjg1nt-wgz3qIaCYZoWw/s1600/wheel.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKM-tnMc8MVQtVgF_SNrFM-xKotcNF17Ffy_ogsJ9Pee-CfzvZbSwR4SVv7tsRZ5HfhGKYBEBoQuAwbSfkzzyc0ZK0EvXrL2-ECn-73ZZzJX9Z8dT6eZ5iQg8Zjg1nt-wgz3qIaCYZoWw/s1600/wheel.jpg" width="271" /></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Newton</i></span>: It’s the resurrection, don’t you see? It blew gravity away. Our <i>internal</i> gravity, that is, the things that drag us down, defeat us, even kill us. If it blew physical gravity away we’d all be in trouble! - we’d float away to goodness knows where - maybe some godforsaken planet where <i>no-one</i> knows any Latin... The resurrection, you see, blew open the door to another world, where God raises things up. Because that’s what he does.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Journalist</i>: So when’s your <i>Levity</i> book going to be published?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Newton</i>: I’ll leave that to the real church people. I don’t want to hog all the big ideas!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Journalist</i>: …Well, Sir Isaac, that wasn't the direction I saw this interview going. But you’ve given our readers much to debate over their Easter bunny - sorry, rabbit - stew. Thank you.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Newton</i>: The pleasure’s all mine. <i>Gratias tibi ago</i> (that’s ‘thank you’, by the way!)</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkuqgGJcnMsCp_4u9S_1gadZ5u09UfapBGHkaIIFzh6dpCaTsDae7CZ12Lrzxuo_rqu0C0WRdsu506diOpre9G5CIKDQeauj3qIA8Qhu6c97wdWYRaCcogqDTXyQANaDJNP7_Ip1o-8Us/s1600/Jerome's+friend+very+small.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkuqgGJcnMsCp_4u9S_1gadZ5u09UfapBGHkaIIFzh6dpCaTsDae7CZ12Lrzxuo_rqu0C0WRdsu506diOpre9G5CIKDQeauj3qIA8Qhu6c97wdWYRaCcogqDTXyQANaDJNP7_Ip1o-8Us/s1600/Jerome's+friend+very+small.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Alphaeus</b> adds:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Whilst Newton believed in the resurrection, his 'theory of levity' is, of course, a fictional supposition. A more conventional account of the resurrection can be found at <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mk+16&version=NRSVA" target="_blank">Mark 16 vv1-8</a></span></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">. </span></span>David Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02687907718352597621noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951823182358854999.post-77492401844254276012015-01-22T22:49:00.000+00:002015-05-25T22:31:01.892+01:00The Interview<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>An imagined job interview with God </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>A sketch about being drawn to new horizons</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i> </i><b><br /></b></span></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgubIsux_OVyH5KINwiWa1tnyxHw_giDBZmbCtW2csY3n-g5DzPNDt5qigEp_wB2WJeW1XeY1Q14KeVXB5Wozu8ifwD891TDCAWbisXvMXNuqOlrD1HJhr7UWG-xOXRtan5T05l8iHT_xg/s1600/Seal+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgubIsux_OVyH5KINwiWa1tnyxHw_giDBZmbCtW2csY3n-g5DzPNDt5qigEp_wB2WJeW1XeY1Q14KeVXB5Wozu8ifwD891TDCAWbisXvMXNuqOlrD1HJhr7UWG-xOXRtan5T05l8iHT_xg/s1600/Seal+1.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>God</i>: Come in, sit down, make yourself comfortable… Thank you for coming for the interview today.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Person</i>: This is an interview?? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>God</i>: Yes, but probably not like interviews you’ve done before. You’ve already got the job… So, have you any questions?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Person</i>: I’ve already got the job? I don’t even know what the job is!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>God</i>: Ah, but that doesn’t matter.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Person</i>: Doesn’t matter??… How do you know I can do it, then?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>God</i>: I wouldn’t have given it to you if you couldn’t do it. And I’ve a good record - I’ve never yet given someone a job they couldn’t do. I’ve been in the business a wee while - you could say I created the whole concept of recruitment. Or ‘partnership’, as we prefer to call it, not ‘recruitment’. You will be working <i>with</i> us, not <i>for</i> us. Trinity Training and Transformation, we call ourselves.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Person</i>: Trinity Training and Transformation?? T-T-T, eh?! A three-letter acronym - all very slick and contemporary - no doubt you’ve got a zappy logo as well!… You mention training - so what training do I get, to do this job that I’m meant to be able to do - but still don’t know what it is?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>God</i>: Training? You of little faith! Your whole life has been your training for the job I have for you. I’ve been watching over your life, and guiding it - and if you want to think in terms of business lingo, yes, you do tick all the necessary competences. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Person</i>: But <i>I’ve</i> been making my own choices in life. What if I’d gone a different route in life to what I have done, and not tick all the boxes - what then?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>God</i>: Ah, you wouldn’t be redundant - I would have another job for you. I'm creative like that. And everyone can always be a partner.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Person</i>: Look, you’re starting to be a bit presumptive, if I may say so. A bit controlling, even. It’s up to me whether I join your partnership.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>God</i>: You walked in the room, didn’t you?…</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Person</i>: ...Mmmm… What’s with this ‘Transformation’ thing? It sounds like it involves change - I don’t like that. The world is fine just the way it is, thank you very much.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>God</i>: Really??</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Person</i>: Well… no, of course not - there are plenty of very annoying people I can think of who could do with changing! And you should watch the News - there’s terrorism everywhere, the NHS is going down the pan - the world’s a mess, it really is.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>God</i>: Great - you’ve got the picture - you’re a natural partner! - people need help. And sorry to have to break this to you, but that includes you, of course! But that’s part of the genius of our programme - every partner is transformed themselves at the same time as helping transform other people. Win-win!… Sorry, just allowing myself to be drawn into one of those sales cliches. It’s not about winning. But it is all good.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Person</i>: It’s all good? Including the terms and conditions? What’s the pay?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>God</i>: Why does it always come down to pay?! As I say, we would be partners. The risk is mine as much as yours. And we entirely share the benefits. But seeing as you ask, the benefits couldn’t be better.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Person</i>: Such as??</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>God</i>: What you already have - you’re a partner already - complete security, and everything you need. For life, of course. (And for ‘life’ think ‘eternal’ here, of course.) No company car, though.</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmiFrBsg6P_jrt-dJtbENBxrrfap0OHRiZ8dLlvC26lTqnx2Wtzz1H7EnfRJCEIXWG7JxgXils9ZEJGM5ejQC8_r4FcSC_WZWKsh5m-JKKeQcOFfdh2YtswxcLcU0yXx5zF8uV4q69AxU/s1600/Seal+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="129" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmiFrBsg6P_jrt-dJtbENBxrrfap0OHRiZ8dLlvC26lTqnx2Wtzz1H7EnfRJCEIXWG7JxgXils9ZEJGM5ejQC8_r4FcSC_WZWKsh5m-JKKeQcOFfdh2YtswxcLcU0yXx5zF8uV4q69AxU/s1600/Seal+3.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Person</i>: Ah, shucks, and there was me starting to dream… But hang on, you mentioned the word ‘risk’ a moment ago, didn’t you? What’s the risk?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>God</i>: The risk? The risk is that you don’t know where the job will lead you - rather like how this conversation has gone. You don’t know what the outcomes will be when you start. You don’t know who I will ask you to work with!…</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Person</i>: So if I don’t know where the job will take me, how can you possibly expect me to take it up?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>God</i>: You haven’t asked about references.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Person</i>: References?? I didn’t even know I was coming to an interview, so I haven’t got any references - I don’t happen to carry them round with me!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>God</i>: No, not references for you, references for me. That’s how you decide about the job, whether you take it up or not.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Person</i>: So, ummm, who are your referees, should I know??</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>God</i>: Ask around, there’s no shortage - people who’ve done jobs with us before, people doing jobs with us now. Some of these references people have written down, but word of mouth works well too. And you are a referee too, of course! You’ve already done jobs with us before - and I’m not aware you’ve felt let down! It’s just that this interview format may be new to you - but that’s all part of the training and transforming experience.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Person</i>: So, err… when would I start??</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>God</i>: Well, no time like the present, I would say! Let’s go and meet the people you’re working with - though just to mention first, don’t expect others to have had an interview quite like this - we don’t use a bland uniform selection process here - it’s all tailored to be perfect for you! And congratulations for taking up the job - your job! So…if you’re ready?… we’re through this door here…</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkuqgGJcnMsCp_4u9S_1gadZ5u09UfapBGHkaIIFzh6dpCaTsDae7CZ12Lrzxuo_rqu0C0WRdsu506diOpre9G5CIKDQeauj3qIA8Qhu6c97wdWYRaCcogqDTXyQANaDJNP7_Ip1o-8Us/s1600/Jerome's+friend+very+small.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkuqgGJcnMsCp_4u9S_1gadZ5u09UfapBGHkaIIFzh6dpCaTsDae7CZ12Lrzxuo_rqu0C0WRdsu506diOpre9G5CIKDQeauj3qIA8Qhu6c97wdWYRaCcogqDTXyQANaDJNP7_Ip1o-8Us/s1600/Jerome's+friend+very+small.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Alphaeus</b> adds:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The tailored selection process of Samuel in the Old Testament and of Jesus' apostle Nathanael in the New Testament featured in last Sunday's set Bible readings in the </span></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Church of England </span></span>(<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20sam%203&version=NRSVA" target="_blank">1 Samuel 3 vv1-10</a> and <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+1&version=NRSVA" target="_blank">John 1 vv43-51</a>). </span></span>David Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02687907718352597621noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951823182358854999.post-59499738500811580302014-04-25T20:54:00.000+01:002015-05-25T22:34:50.829+01:00The Spirit and the Cross<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b> </b></span><i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">A reflection for Good Friday</span></i></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Imagined reflections of Jesus, on the road to the Cross...</b></span><b></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane</i><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">They went to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, ‘Sit here while I pray.’ He took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be distressed and agitated. And he said to them, ‘I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake.’ And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. He said, ‘Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want.’</span></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiOV05LO5Iq84BXFIHLM1imqrwPKqZBh01p3cr14zX-xakAIGMwWYcwge8TgazFIUV3n2mmeZwVjBf7N8aUnKGm2X1x2C7OG4JSvXzq2_7Y7x-UASYXmuEXh0VhI4pHp6W4nHrTOGcqj8/s1600/Green+circle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiOV05LO5Iq84BXFIHLM1imqrwPKqZBh01p3cr14zX-xakAIGMwWYcwge8TgazFIUV3n2mmeZwVjBf7N8aUnKGm2X1x2C7OG4JSvXzq2_7Y7x-UASYXmuEXh0VhI4pHp6W4nHrTOGcqj8/s1600/Green+circle.jpg" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Peace </b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />'Peace, in the Garden of Gethsemane?? <span style="font-size: small;">Peace, </span>God’s peace, can be found in the most unlikely places. The turmoil, the anguish are overwhelming. My passion for the world, my passion for my Father, have collided head on with my own frailty, my own mortality, and - yes - my own fears. Yet here, with my Father, in prayer, his immeasurable love lifts me once again, lifts me me out of the fear, to new strength - to new peace. Peace with my mortality, peace with my Father, peace with the world. Now I am ready - ready to face the road ahead, the road to death.'</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Jesus is betrayed by Judas and arrested</i><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">Immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived; and with him there was a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, ‘The one I will kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard.’ So when he came, he went up to him at once and said, ‘Rabbi!’ and kissed him. Then they laid hands on him and arrested him.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiOV05LO5Iq84BXFIHLM1imqrwPKqZBh01p3cr14zX-xakAIGMwWYcwge8TgazFIUV3n2mmeZwVjBf7N8aUnKGm2X1x2C7OG4JSvXzq2_7Y7x-UASYXmuEXh0VhI4pHp6W4nHrTOGcqj8/s1600/Green+circle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiOV05LO5Iq84BXFIHLM1imqrwPKqZBh01p3cr14zX-xakAIGMwWYcwge8TgazFIUV3n2mmeZwVjBf7N8aUnKGm2X1x2C7OG4JSvXzq2_7Y7x-UASYXmuEXh0VhI4pHp6W4nHrTOGcqj8/s1600/Green+circle.jpg" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Faithfulness </b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />'Friends. It’s been good to have my friends these last years. We’ve shared much together, as I’ve nurtured and encouraged them, and stuck with them through some testing moments as a group. Now in this moment I stand face to face with betrayal. Oh, Judas, my friend… Yet it is not mine to condemn the faithlessness in others - it is only to remain faithful to them, always, come what may. Judas, feel my breath on your face - my breath of acceptance, forgiveness, believing the best of you even now… And yes, the other friends are now melting away too - those protestations of fearlessness and commitment seem a long way away now, the manly courage evaporating in the heat of this danger. They may be faithless, but God remains faithful to them, eternally.'<br /><br /> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Jesus is judged by Pilate</i><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">Pilate asked them, ‘Why, what evil has he done?’ But they shouted all the more, ‘Crucify him!’ So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified.</span></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiOV05LO5Iq84BXFIHLM1imqrwPKqZBh01p3cr14zX-xakAIGMwWYcwge8TgazFIUV3n2mmeZwVjBf7N8aUnKGm2X1x2C7OG4JSvXzq2_7Y7x-UASYXmuEXh0VhI4pHp6W4nHrTOGcqj8/s1600/Green+circle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiOV05LO5Iq84BXFIHLM1imqrwPKqZBh01p3cr14zX-xakAIGMwWYcwge8TgazFIUV3n2mmeZwVjBf7N8aUnKGm2X1x2C7OG4JSvXzq2_7Y7x-UASYXmuEXh0VhI4pHp6W4nHrTOGcqj8/s1600/Green+circle.jpg" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Patience </b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />'There sits Pilate, riven with anxiety about the political decision he’s got to make - his heart moved, his conscience disturbed by the presence of someone in front of him who seems to have all the time in the world. Indeed, I have waited since the beginning of time for this moment of redemption for the world. There is no rush, let things take their natural course… I know people need time to work things out, to make their decisions their own, to find the integrity and resolve they know is in them. And I can give them all the time they need, I can be patient. But how sad that people so often give in, hasten and misjudge - and look what the consequences can be…'<i> </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Jesus is scourged and crowned with thorns</i><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">And they clothed him in a purple cloak; and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on him. And they began saluting him, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ They struck his head with a reed, spat upon him, and knelt down in homage to him.</span></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiOV05LO5Iq84BXFIHLM1imqrwPKqZBh01p3cr14zX-xakAIGMwWYcwge8TgazFIUV3n2mmeZwVjBf7N8aUnKGm2X1x2C7OG4JSvXzq2_7Y7x-UASYXmuEXh0VhI4pHp6W4nHrTOGcqj8/s1600/Green+circle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiOV05LO5Iq84BXFIHLM1imqrwPKqZBh01p3cr14zX-xakAIGMwWYcwge8TgazFIUV3n2mmeZwVjBf7N8aUnKGm2X1x2C7OG4JSvXzq2_7Y7x-UASYXmuEXh0VhI4pHp6W4nHrTOGcqj8/s1600/Green+circle.jpg" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Self-control</b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />'I understand them, those soldiers - typical adrenaline-filled young men, intoxicated in the moment with the power they hold over this pathetic Jewish rebel. Anger rises in me - but it is anger <i>for</i> them, not <i>at</i> them - anger at the distortion of their true selves that they have become, their slavery to the cycle of violence. Which is why I’m here today, to save them from that, to open up a better way. And so, this moment with me may be the only glimpse of God these young men ever get - seen in my self-control. And <i>they</i> know that’s strength, not weakness.'<i> </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Jesus carries the cross</i><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">After mocking him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.</span></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiOV05LO5Iq84BXFIHLM1imqrwPKqZBh01p3cr14zX-xakAIGMwWYcwge8TgazFIUV3n2mmeZwVjBf7N8aUnKGm2X1x2C7OG4JSvXzq2_7Y7x-UASYXmuEXh0VhI4pHp6W4nHrTOGcqj8/s1600/Green+circle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiOV05LO5Iq84BXFIHLM1imqrwPKqZBh01p3cr14zX-xakAIGMwWYcwge8TgazFIUV3n2mmeZwVjBf7N8aUnKGm2X1x2C7OG4JSvXzq2_7Y7x-UASYXmuEXh0VhI4pHp6W4nHrTOGcqj8/s1600/Green+circle.jpg" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Joy </b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />'Joy - can there really be joy today? Certainly there is joy ahead. I know my Father - I know grief cannot be the end. What my Father does he does in superlatives, and the other side of desolating grief must be pure joy. Yes, that lies somewhere beyond. But joy now?? being led out to die?? Well, yes, even now, welling up in precious waves. Between the floods of sorrow and pain, I feel my Father’s love for me even in this. And as I shoulder the burdens of the world, I myself am lifted momentarily by the joy that this will bring the world. Joy, I discover, also comes in the most unlikely places.'<i> </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem</i><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. But Jesus turned to them and said, ‘Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For the days are surely coming when they will say, “Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.” Then they will begin to say to the mountains,“Fall on us”; and to the hills,“Cover us.” For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?’</span></span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiOV05LO5Iq84BXFIHLM1imqrwPKqZBh01p3cr14zX-xakAIGMwWYcwge8TgazFIUV3n2mmeZwVjBf7N8aUnKGm2X1x2C7OG4JSvXzq2_7Y7x-UASYXmuEXh0VhI4pHp6W4nHrTOGcqj8/s1600/Green+circle.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiOV05LO5Iq84BXFIHLM1imqrwPKqZBh01p3cr14zX-xakAIGMwWYcwge8TgazFIUV3n2mmeZwVjBf7N8aUnKGm2X1x2C7OG4JSvXzq2_7Y7x-UASYXmuEXh0VhI4pHp6W4nHrTOGcqj8/s1600/Green+circle.jpg" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Gentleness </b></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">'Sometimes the truth needs to be spoken - how can I not warn them of the traumas yet to come. But it is how it is spoken that matters so much. Gentleness. ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.’ So many things are burdens that needn’t be. My gentle way soothes the sores, sows trust, lifts the heart. Some say it’s not a manly quality. But all my disciples have valued it, the men and the women - and even the toughest ones are showing signs of being more gentle now. Being with me, seeing God in action, is rubbing off.'<i> </i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Jesus is crucified</i><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Generosity</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">'Generosity is about giving - open-handedly, warmly, freely, without expecting return. Could I give any more than I am right now? No. I am giving my body, my love, my overwhelming affection for the world. I am giving away my power. I am surrendering all those false images of God as the ultimate Controller and Dominator. I am giving the love that fills the universe. I am giving my life.'</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Jesus on the cross: his mother and his friend</i></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, here is your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Kindness</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">'This is what happens when you are immersed in the love of the Father, when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, when every fibre of your being is consumed with love for others. Even when in your darkest hour, kindness to those around you just can’t help leaking out. My mother - oh, how I grieve for her. She bore the Son of God inside her, she bore him into the world, and now she bears my sorrow as only a mother can. I can’t stretch out my arm to embrace her. I can scarcely swivel my head to look into her eyes. Yet my few words cascade down upon her like a waterfall of kindness, immersing her, embracing her. She’s wracked with sorrow but she is safe.'</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Jesus dies on the cross</i><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">At three o’clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, ‘Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?’ which means, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, ‘Listen, he is calling for Elijah.’ And someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, ‘Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.’ Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">'The last drops of my life are draining away. The chord to my Father is breaking, breaking, down to its final thread… The darkness of death, the darkness of the world is enveloping me. The light is going out… The dawn will come - our light, our love will rise again. But when? How long, how hard will be the night?? Will my Father be with me, or will I be alone? Will it feel an instant - or an eternity?… Greater love has no man - greater love has no God - than this… '</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkuqgGJcnMsCp_4u9S_1gadZ5u09UfapBGHkaIIFzh6dpCaTsDae7CZ12Lrzxuo_rqu0C0WRdsu506diOpre9G5CIKDQeauj3qIA8Qhu6c97wdWYRaCcogqDTXyQANaDJNP7_Ip1o-8Us/s1600/Jerome's+friend+very+small.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkuqgGJcnMsCp_4u9S_1gadZ5u09UfapBGHkaIIFzh6dpCaTsDae7CZ12Lrzxuo_rqu0C0WRdsu506diOpre9G5CIKDQeauj3qIA8Qhu6c97wdWYRaCcogqDTXyQANaDJNP7_Ip1o-8Us/s1600/Jerome's+friend+very+small.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Alphaeus</b> adds:</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">St Paul describes the 'fruit of the Spirit' as </span></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="text Gal-5-22">love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, </span><span class="text Gal-5-23" id="en-NRSVA-29169">gentleness, and self-control (<a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=gal%205&version=NRSVA" target="_blank">Galatians chapter 5</a>).</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Scripture passages are taken from the Gospels of Mark, Luke and John.</span></span>David Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02687907718352597621noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951823182358854999.post-31438134936298879142014-04-20T22:00:00.001+01:002015-05-25T22:38:59.718+01:00"Get your Wonder Water here! Resurrection guaranteed!"<div style="text-align: right;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFtNyb3gXeTomqh2JqY8QKN2Jpp0wf2ekRImUAQNSWLOixBrOL95luJlbhpquDiO-JQltL_nV2TD0rBdxfAL6TCB3dgFjGaMkgGK6nu_J92xPR556Ukppp3Ke93FtFZZg8R-rhfEa_joE/s1600/Bottle+outside+yellow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFtNyb3gXeTomqh2JqY8QKN2Jpp0wf2ekRImUAQNSWLOixBrOL95luJlbhpquDiO-JQltL_nV2TD0rBdxfAL6TCB3dgFjGaMkgGK6nu_J92xPR556Ukppp3Ke93FtFZZg8R-rhfEa_joE/s1600/Bottle+outside+yellow.jpg" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs3gk0fXUBB_qbJQOVVc34J97RyAP6X8TNidCTV2Ha6PTOOLP5_x6mW0uLN39s6503DLaa6bk_xuPYgXOIK13bRzn2rr2dAYx_t9s3sA6cKfHFWkJAfaQPBcSp5gJ-rfzom9Ri79gjnN0/s1600/Jerusalem+small.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs3gk0fXUBB_qbJQOVVc34J97RyAP6X8TNidCTV2Ha6PTOOLP5_x6mW0uLN39s6503DLaa6bk_xuPYgXOIK13bRzn2rr2dAYx_t9s3sA6cKfHFWkJAfaQPBcSp5gJ-rfzom9Ri79gjnN0/s1600/Jerusalem+small.jpg" width="320" /></a><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span></b><i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">a sketch for Easter</span></i><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></b><br />
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<b><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Jerusalem, a few days after the Resurrection.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b> </b></span></b></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Marcus is a stall-holder, selling bottled water.</b></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>..</b></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i> </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Marcus</i>: Wonder Water! Wonder Water! Get your Wonder Water here. Resurrection guaranteed!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Alphaeus</i>: Morning!… What’s this Wonder Water you’ve got, then?</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i> </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Marcus</i>: <i>[ignoring him]</i> ...As drunk by Jesus of Nazareth! You’ve heard the news, now be part of it! Resurrection guaranteed. Penny a bottle! five bottles for threp’nce!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Alphaeus</i>: Excuse me, excuse me!… <i>[finally gets attention]</i> So where did you get this water, mate?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Marcus</i>: Source guaranteed! There’s only one place - the well his mates got their water from, you know for the meal, night before he died.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i> </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Alphaeus</i>: That was just ordinary water.</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i> </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Marcus</i>: No, no! <i>Wonder</i> Water. How else do you think he came back to life?!<i> </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Alphaeus</i>: But he’s the only one who’s come back to life!</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i> </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Marcus</i>: He’s the only one of them who’s died! 100% results. Don’t believe me? Try it - nothing to lose!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Alphaeus</i>: But, er, why do you think it was the water??</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Marcus</i>: ‘Cos he said so, didn’t he? ‘Anyone who drinks the water I give them will live for ever’. You see, I’ve been following him, I know what he said. Wonder Water, that was his pitch - I’m just following in his esteemed footsteps - I’m a disciple, you see!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Alphaeus</i>: But he wasn’t talking about water from a well - he was talking about himself!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Marcus</i>: And you think <i>I’m</i> talking nuts?! You can’t drink a person! Wouldn’t look too good in these bottles, would it - what would you put in? - bits of leg floating around, an eye for visual impact - all topped up with blood?? This might be the Roman Empire, mate, but I don’t see that one getting past Trading Standards!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgliyxhQwg-Frr0djY3-qGjnPzBu4CrlPXJQsGOtnsv2KQEIsFLH4Hsj6R5jWr1VJHSqXViI_WZJtrhacNOsdtMR4I8MUmDj0j-IE1hdIkAxT2NMaNz2_OjYpFAPgoT09Qm-LsDdewU4Yg/s1600/Window+-+sun.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgliyxhQwg-Frr0djY3-qGjnPzBu4CrlPXJQsGOtnsv2KQEIsFLH4Hsj6R5jWr1VJHSqXViI_WZJtrhacNOsdtMR4I8MUmDj0j-IE1hdIkAxT2NMaNz2_OjYpFAPgoT09Qm-LsDdewU4Yg/s1600/Window+-+sun.jpg" width="70" /></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Alphaeus</i>: Quite true, that wouldn’t sell too well! No, he was talking spiritual stuff.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Marcus</i>: But he’s been walking around, they all say - though I haven’t seen him myself - or are you saying that’s all a load of cobblers??</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Alphaeus</i>: Well, it is weird. He’s had meals - he’s drunk water - though not your bottles, as far as I know! But he’s also somehow different - he’s appeared through walls, and things like that. The same - but different. It’s like this body he has: it’s a demonstration, that resurrection’s for everybody - that we can be the same but different too!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Marcus</i>: You’re not making sense, mate… Don’t have to believe me about Wonder Water if you don’t want to - that’s your choice! But it’s still the best mineral water around - here, look at the bottle, look at those minerals - it’s been underground, you see! Great value for a penny a bottle - and you look like a family man: I’ll do you my Family Special - a crate for a shekel - can’t say fairer than that!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Alphaeus</i>: Ah, you’ve got me thinking now - about things going underground. You see, Jesus’ body still had the marks of the nails from being on the Cross, and the other scars. Why do you think that was?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Marcus</i>: Is this some sort of riddle, mate? Let me guess… he’d popped into the make-up department of ‘Jerusalem J’ramatics’.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Alphaeus</i>: No, no - the scars were real. (Thomas did have a macabre idea - but I won’t go into that.) It’s like your mineral water: once it’s gone through the rock it’s never the same again. It’s still water, but even better - it’s the minerals from its experience under the ground that gives it its unique invigorating quality.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Marcus</i>: That’s what I’m trying to tell you! Actually, that’s good patter for my pitch - thanks!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Alphaeus</i>: Yeah, but what Jesus brings is in a different league - even from your water, dare I say so! You see, he’s gone through death, the most awful death, and that experience is now part of his new body - the nail marks are still there.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Marcus</i>: If I’d gone through that, I wouldn’t want to be carrying around some gory memento of it, reminded of the pain every day - ditch the past, the glory days are here!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Alphaeus</i>: But we can’t erase the past, can we? We can bury it, deny it, but we can’t erase it. That's what Jesus knew. But he showed we could <i>redeem</i> it, redeem the past - well <i>he</i> could, for us. Our past becomes part of something new and beautiful, even better than it was before - we become God’s new creation, if you like.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Marcus</i>: Well, you got me stumped there, mate. Quite a bit for old Marcus to chew over, I must say. Most guys coming by don’t even give me the time of day, so I appreciate that… But you know the most nutty thing about your story - you’ve given it to me for free! What’s the point of that?! You gotta make a buck where you can, a little here, a little there… So, a crate for you, mate! - it’s gonna be a hot day - I can see your family lighting up when you walk in with this under your arm!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Alphaeus</i>: Alright, it’s a deal!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Marcus</i>: And remember, any elderly relatives in the family - of course give them priority. Let me know how they get on - I have every confidence!<i><br /></i></span><br />
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<a href="http://www.snpcultura.org/vol_museu_judaico_exposicao_Crucificado.html" target="_blank"><img alt="http://www.snpcultura.org/vol_museu_judaico_exposicao_Crucificado.html" border="0" height="220" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj31k0vX43Y2vQTSGSIFdxn_KtROhZw73bY7bOjxDUe3YCvJWKJWMLdtMQA-f009Uy9-NUtQ3Q7RBIfO48apDey1g9pFxE5yL4aJkcIfw0ucso0EN1TMShlDjhaGiR4AfURJZ1mDJQLiTA/s1600/norman_adams_golden_crucifixion.jpg" title="Norman Adams - Golden Crucifixion" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkuqgGJcnMsCp_4u9S_1gadZ5u09UfapBGHkaIIFzh6dpCaTsDae7CZ12Lrzxuo_rqu0C0WRdsu506diOpre9G5CIKDQeauj3qIA8Qhu6c97wdWYRaCcogqDTXyQANaDJNP7_Ip1o-8Us/s1600/Jerome's+friend+very+small.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkuqgGJcnMsCp_4u9S_1gadZ5u09UfapBGHkaIIFzh6dpCaTsDae7CZ12Lrzxuo_rqu0C0WRdsu506diOpre9G5CIKDQeauj3qIA8Qhu6c97wdWYRaCcogqDTXyQANaDJNP7_Ip1o-8Us/s1600/Jerome's+friend+very+small.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Alphaeus</b> adds (for 21st century readers):</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">For the authorised version of the story, see John chapter 20</span></span><br />
<br />David Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02687907718352597621noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951823182358854999.post-60531098411562670662014-04-14T10:32:00.000+01:002015-05-25T22:41:48.354+01:00Punishment or Grace? The Cross<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>a reflection for Good Friday </i><b><br /></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Two individuals are walking with Jesus to the Cross, one on either side of him.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>One is Punishment, the other is Grace...</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Jesus condemned to death</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">They bound Jesus, led him away and handed him over to Pilate. The chief priests accused him of many things. So Pilate asked him, "Aren't you going to answer? See how many things they are accusing you of." But Jesus still made no reply, and Pilate was amazed. Pilate spoke to the crowd. "What shall I do, then, with the one you call the king of the Jews?" "Crucify him!" they shouted. "Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate. They shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!" Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them. He had Jesus flogged, and handed him over to be crucified.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><i>Punishment:</i> See, Jesus, you deserve it. That sense you’ve had of being special, unique, not deserving of punishment like everybody else - it was all your self-delusion. You’ve got what was coming to you - we reap what we sow, do we not? Roman justice is the best in the world; you don’t think you’re the one exception, do you?<br /><br /><i>Grace:</i> It was the people, and the religious authorities, who wanted to crucify you. They are the ones in error. But they are blind and don’t see what they are doing - they will see, in time, and be truly sorry. Meanwhile, I, Grace, am with you - you can forgive them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Jesus and the soldiers</b> <br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace and called together the rest of the company. They put a purple robe on him, then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on him. And they began to call out to him, "Hail, king of the Jews!" Again and again they struck him on the head with a staff and spat on him. Falling on their knees, they paid homage to him. And when they had mocked him, they took off the purple robe and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i> </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Punishment:</i> You think the soldiers are being cruel and unfair, don’t you? No, they know this is how the world works - they get punished, and in turn they pass it on to others - such as you. Its me, Punishment, who keeps everything in order, stops the world descending into chaos, maintains authority. I, Punishment, make things fair.<br /><br /><i>Grace:</i> Remember how you turned the order of things upside down? - showed forgiveness at every opportunity, showed that I, Grace, am the true and good pattern? You were right! It’s hard to hold on to me when all around preach punishment. But you have shown true poverty of spirit - well done, keep going - the kingdom of God will be yours.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Jesus carries his cross</b><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">'Who would have believed what we now tell? Who could have seen God’s hand in this?'</span></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> (Isaiah 53)</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><i>Punishment:</i> Quite! It takes some distorting of your rosy image of God being love, doesn’t it? And that’s because he’s not. He’s vindictive, punitive, demanding - just as everyone fears he is. Your story of the loving father who welcomed home the prodigal son with outstretched arms - pure fantasy, and pampering to what people want to believe.<br /><br /><i>Grace:</i> You and the Father are one - you were absolutely right - there is no need for a wedge to be driven between you. You and the Father both love the world - you are doing this together, you are suffering together. Love is an extraordinarily difficult road to walk sometimes. And take heart, no-one will ever have to walk the road you're on, the hardest-ever road, again.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Simon helps Jesus carry his cross</b><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">On their way through Jerusalem they met a man named Simon, who was coming into the city from the country, and the soldiers forced him to carry Jesus’ cross </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><i>Punishment:</i> What was it you said? ‘If anyone wants to be my follower, they must take up their cross and follow me’? You’ve burdened people - with guilt and obligation and self-loathing. This innocent young man, so dutifully thinking he is doing the good thing: look into his eyes - if you dare - and see his fear of what will happen to him if he lets down ‘The Master’.<br /><br /><i>Grace:</i> Yes, do have the courage to look into Simon’s eyes. Yes, he is conflicted, he doesn’t understand, he can’t make sense of the brutality of the Roman crucifixions, he does feel burdened by his guilt and his failures that he knows only too well. But the love for him in your eyes will dispel all of that. He may be physically burdened with a heavy wooden cross, but inside he will now be free - and he will follow you to the top of the hill even with joy. Take heart!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Jesus speaks with women from Jerusalem</b><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed for him. Jesus turned and said to them, ‘Women of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children.’</span></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i> </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Punishment:</i> You are cruel. You’re breaking so many hearts - particularly women’s. You were the ultimate charmer - kind-hearted, listening, making each woman feel special. You were their dream husband, and you knew you were leading them on. And now you ram it back in their faces - ‘weep for yourselves’, you say. Yes, they will, because you have let them down. They will never forgive you.<br /><br /><i>Grace:</i> Each word you speak sparkles like a gem to these women. They will take your words deeply to heart and be strengthened by them. And your presence with them now, sharing the suffering world with which they battle every day, will stay with them forever. You know the resilience women have, and you have given them the heart to endure.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Jesus crucified</b><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha which means The Place of the Skull. Then they offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it. Then they crucified him and divided up his clothing among themselves, throwing dice to see who would get each piece of clothing.</span></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><i>Punishment:</i> Man is made in God’s image, is he not? So look at the wonderfully creative ways man has devised to be cruel. Where does he get that from? I wonder... Or, perhaps God is just sitting there, casually rolling the dice of destiny - and ‘Ooops, there goes Jesus - oh, I am sorry about that. But nothing’s fair in the world, you should know that’.<br /><br /><i>Grace:</i> Taking responsibility. You are giving the most amazing lesson, in taking responsibility. Everyone has tried to avoid doing so - the religious people, Pilate - even the soldiers would say they’re just doing their job. But you are taking responsibility, not just for yourself but for everyone. The mess people have made of the world - you are showing them that God is not blaming them for it but shouldering their responsibility, their burden, their consequences. They will thank you and worship you for it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Jesus on the cross</b><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">It was nine o clock in the morning when they crucified him. The people stayed there watching him, the leaders jeered at him and the soldiers mocked him. Some women, his friends from Galilee, looked on at a distance. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Punishment:</i> So now you know what suffering is like. Now you know what the people you created have to go through. You were there when the world was created, so you say. Are you so pleased now? You regret it, don’t you? Now that you’ve seen into the jaws of death, you will suffer infinite regret, you will punish yourself, for all eternity.<br /><br /><i>Grace:</i> The darkness is indeed closing in. But close your eyes for a moment, and see the light. The smouldering wick will not go out, the light will overcome the darkness. The light of your Father’s love shines on you even now. And your light is - right now - shining into the world.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Jesus dies</b><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">It was about twelve o clock when the sun stopped shining and darkness covered the whole country until three o clock. And the curtain hanging in the Temple was torn in two. Jesus cried in a loud voice, ‘Father, in your hands I place my spirit’. He said this and died.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br /><i>Punishment:</i> This is it, then, Jesus. This is where you find out what is beyond death. Will it just be.... nothing? - a dark, cold, loveless, floating void? Or, will it be eternal suffering - what you’re enduring now, for ever? And that’s the path you’ve asked for, by taking responsibility for the evil of the world. For I, Punishment, was from the Beginning, and I will be Forever!<br /><br /><i>Grace:</i> You have shown the world the Father: that he is pure grace - your task is finished! Now you can rest in my hands. And I will carry you over the threshold, to the wonderful new life that your Father has created for you. I will carry many others through this door, but you are the first. So go, you are safe in the grace and love of God.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Jesus taken down from the cross</b><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">And when evening came, Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Joseph took the body down and wrapped it in a linen sheet </span></span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span class="text Mark-15-46" id="en-NRSVA-24865">and laid it in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="text Mark-15-46" id="en-NRSVA-24865"> </span><br /><i>Grace:</i> At last, peace. Peace for the world, peace for all people. The demon that is Punishment has died. I, Grace, have thrown open the door to eternal life. For I was from the Beginning, and I will be Forever! Grace and peace to you.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWOMYvvJfZeHpM9Y0DLgSPqinwqJYqFG_QvX29V3S-AcFzQFfFbh_q45HQPYubSJ5jERf1pRVfldl1iVnGxH5JBqEvo4Htjila8YUK9i6OG75aIfMck-K0AWukRCGmaOf5lN40ca8jqDU/s1600/Cross+-+mantlepiece+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWOMYvvJfZeHpM9Y0DLgSPqinwqJYqFG_QvX29V3S-AcFzQFfFbh_q45HQPYubSJ5jERf1pRVfldl1iVnGxH5JBqEvo4Htjila8YUK9i6OG75aIfMck-K0AWukRCGmaOf5lN40ca8jqDU/s1600/Cross+-+mantlepiece+small.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkuqgGJcnMsCp_4u9S_1gadZ5u09UfapBGHkaIIFzh6dpCaTsDae7CZ12Lrzxuo_rqu0C0WRdsu506diOpre9G5CIKDQeauj3qIA8Qhu6c97wdWYRaCcogqDTXyQANaDJNP7_Ip1o-8Us/s1600/Jerome's+friend+very+small.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkuqgGJcnMsCp_4u9S_1gadZ5u09UfapBGHkaIIFzh6dpCaTsDae7CZ12Lrzxuo_rqu0C0WRdsu506diOpre9G5CIKDQeauj3qIA8Qhu6c97wdWYRaCcogqDTXyQANaDJNP7_Ip1o-8Us/s1600/Jerome's+friend+very+small.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Alphaeus</b> adds (for 21st century readers):</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The Scripture passages are taken from the Gospels of Mark and Luke.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">With thanks to <a href="http://simonparke.com/" target="_blank">Simon Parke</a>, for the inspiration of 'The Punitive universe and the Gracious universe' </span></span>David Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02687907718352597621noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951823182358854999.post-30602068604876618222014-04-07T21:54:00.000+01:002015-05-25T22:44:03.044+01:00Breaking News - reporters witness Easter story <div style="text-align: right;">
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>a school sketch for Easter</i></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd8nZ3VTTtNzckNl9xeadv2SEuvx0X9MK4Da0aa2znPN0VqzytbEIb9kVB4I_dvWQjx4hvA45_hwJ6n_UfNwnlXhxo8cI3lsJZ9oyDMWgTOmFbcdQJ2ey-WRtHWMR-IPoU4-KJFR1gxwA/s1600/Cameraman+-+Olympics.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd8nZ3VTTtNzckNl9xeadv2SEuvx0X9MK4Da0aa2znPN0VqzytbEIb9kVB4I_dvWQjx4hvA45_hwJ6n_UfNwnlXhxo8cI3lsJZ9oyDMWgTOmFbcdQJ2ey-WRtHWMR-IPoU4-KJFR1gxwA/s1600/Cameraman+-+Olympics.jpg" width="135" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>A junior News crew from Ded-C TV is in Jerusalem.</b></span><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There’s Breaking News, 'live' and exclusive, from </span></b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Jack the reporter in Jerusalem</span>. </b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Sophie is in the studio.</b><br /><br /><i>Sophie</i>: Now over to our reporter in Jerusalem. Jack, I hear there’s a lot of excitement.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jack</i>: Yes, Sophie, I’m standing at the gate of Jerusalem - and it’s all happening here today! Big crowds have gathered. There seems to be someone approaching the city, with loads of people following him.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Sophie</i>: And what’s the atmosphere - excited, tense?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jack</i>: Oh, great excitement. The cheering’s getting louder as the man’s getting closer. It’s starting to get deafening - I can hardly hear myself! Can you hear me OK, Sophie?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Sophie</i>: Yes, we can hear you, Jack. And who is this man, do you know?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jack</i>: I’ve been speaking to a number of people in the crowd and they say it’s someone called Jesus, from Nazareth. He’s a bit of a local celebrity, apparently. But hang on - things are happening right now - this is breaking news OK, live on Ded-C TV - where else! The man is climbing on something - and the something is moving - it’s a donkey, I think. Not very grand for a celebrity - you would expect at least a chariot! But apparently a prophet long ago said that one day a King would arrive on a donkey.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Sophie</i>: A king, you say?! Does he have a crown?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jack</i>: No no, there’s no crown - he looks really ordinary - he hasn’t even dressed up for the occasion! But everyone’s started to sing - it’s all very happy here, Sophie! They’re singing a song about him being the King of Peace. Well it’s not very peaceful round here, I can tell you - quite a din!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Sophie</i>: And what sort of people are in the crowd?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jack</i>: It’s a real family affair, Sophie. The happy crowd are starting to throw things on the road in front of him. The grown-ups are laying their coats on the road - like a sort of royal carpet. And children are climbing up the palm trees and pulling off branches (don’t do this at home, folks - your parents won’t be too pleased!), and throwing the palm branches on the road too.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Sophie</i>: And what are the police doing?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jack</i>: I can see some religious police now. They look nervous - it is getting pretty chaotic… Yes, they’re now speaking to Jesus… looks like they’re asking him to send the crowds away. They look pretty angry with him. But Jesus is just carrying on. Everyone is having far too good a party!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Sophie</i>: Well thanks, Jack. Our time’s out - we’ll have to stop there. But we’ll speak to you again as things develop in Jerusalem.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jack</i>: Thanks, Sophie. This is Jack, reporting from Jerusalem, exclusively for Ded-C TV News.<b> </b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>A few days later, on a Friday morning</b><br /><i>Sophie</i>: Jack, what’s been happening these last few days in Jerusalem? Is there still a party atmosphere?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jack</i>: Sophie, it couldn’t be more different. It’s early Friday morning in Jerusalem now. The crowds that gathered the other day eventually melted away. And since then the religious police have cracked down hard.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Sophie</i>: So where is the man from Nazareth?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jack</i>: I’ve been talking to the locals. Just last night, I understand, one of his own friends got some money from the police for setting him up so they could arrest him. And the police got this huge media campaign going in Jerusalem to turn everybody against Jesus. And now loads of people are baying for his blood.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Sophie</i>: What are the Roman soldiers doing? They have the real power, in Jerusalem, don’t they? - and they can be brutal.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jack</i>: The police got the Roman soldiers involved. And now it looks like the Romans have sentenced Jesus to death. And talking to people, it doesn’t seem like he’s done anything wrong. We could have a major miscarriage of justice happening, live here in Jerusalem, Sophie.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Sophie</i>: So how will he be killed?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Jack</i>: The Romans know how to make people suffer, alright. We’re family viewing, Sophie, so I can’t describe what they will do to him. But they call it ‘crucifixion’, and it is the worst imaginable way to die. It’ll be today - they don’t hang around. It’s no party anymore - there’s a dark mood in Jerusalem now.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Sophie</i>: Well thank you, Jack. We really appreciate you managing to be in the right place at the time and covering such a difficult story. We’ll get another report later.<br />.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.jacqui-textile.com/" imageanchor="1" target="_blank"><img alt="" border="0" height="93" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvh4IghBc4Dm6DMdsmxWD7cYPbeUkw_gqg_KXbt0wKNsAmgQP8VOhTxt2a69UYfQrYsDXsI7AWCJSkH7GTzDnBhqapRz1uB_xDVix4vhvv1zAa5554lXEPKx3Qra4aGkwUuwZxUa7a2no/s1600/Cross+-+Jackie's+small.jpg" title="stitched cross - Jacqui Parkinson" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">.<br /><b>That evening, Samuel, one of the TV camera men, records his own video diary</b><br /><br /><i>Samuel</i>: I can film most stuff - I’m a pretty tough guy, you have to be if you want to be a TV camera man in the Roman Empire - but I had to switch off the camera today - I just couldn’t film it. I just sat there on the hill, watching. We all did. This man Jesus, on that wooden cross, he was obviously in incredible pain. Yet amazingly he also seemed to be at peace - with himself and with everyone else. As he hung there he was kind to people - like the man on the cross beside him, and a woman who must have been his mother. At one point I’m sure he even caught my eye, really kindly, as if to say ‘I’m doing this for you’. After a while it went all dark - weird, like an eclipse or something (I couldn’t have filmed then, anyway, I don’t have one of those clever night cameras). And you know what it felt like? - like all the darkness and evil in the world was being sucked into Jesus - that he was there to absorb it all. At that moment it felt like we were sitting at the centre of the universe, that this was the most important place ever, that this moment would change the world for all time. And there was me, a camera man, and I didn’t film it! But I don’t care, I was there…<br /> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>. </i><br /><b>Sunday morning, and Amelia, one of the sound-crew, has been up since early morning. She is excitedly telling Lucy, one of the other crew, what she’s seen that morning</b><br /><br /><i>Amelia</i>: Lucy, Lucy! Something weird’s happened this morning! I couldn’t sleep last night - I was itching to get going after the Sabbath - it is SO dull not being able to do anything! So I got up early and went for a walk in Jerusalem. Hardly anyone one around - just the stray dogs and chickens pecking around in the dust. Then I heard these excited women running down the street. You know that man Jesus? you know, the one who the men watched getting killed on Friday? (those boys gawping at that poor man’s suffering - how could they!). Anyway, these women were babbling about having just seen him - I’m not kidding you! You would think they would be miserable - their best friend had died, and they’d gone to the tomb out of respect, I think. But no, they were, like, the happiest people I’ve ever seen! As they rushed past me one of them shouted to me ‘He’s alive!!’, as if telling me was really important - perhaps she recognised me as being one of the TV team and wanted the news spread. One of the others looked pretty chuffed that Jesus had chosen the girls to see first - the boys always think they’re the special ones! I was just gob-smacked - it didn’t make any sense, of course - it still doesn’t - but it also seemed so real! I sat down on this wall to think. As I was sitting there, at that moment one of those chickens laid an egg, right beside me. And I thought, wow, yes, a new life! From nowhere a new life appears - miracles are all around us! Lucy, it’s got me thinking - maybe this Jesus is alive again. We should get the boys onto this. Come on, let’s go and get them</span><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">! </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim-NUiqu4iLmBhO2NXC3DDpXbQoNuvrE7BfWcCeJL2vMDUDcbs5gS3T1uWHofESncjApN4zqniVIxyFGWGh9BPJIqgBTmWK63srmlNofn6UiKih-IcP9V3T71cuZYQno_R4OSm_ozoY9Q/s1600/Sunrise+through+trees.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim-NUiqu4iLmBhO2NXC3DDpXbQoNuvrE7BfWcCeJL2vMDUDcbs5gS3T1uWHofESncjApN4zqniVIxyFGWGh9BPJIqgBTmWK63srmlNofn6UiKih-IcP9V3T71cuZYQno_R4OSm_ozoY9Q/s1600/Sunrise+through+trees.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkuqgGJcnMsCp_4u9S_1gadZ5u09UfapBGHkaIIFzh6dpCaTsDae7CZ12Lrzxuo_rqu0C0WRdsu506diOpre9G5CIKDQeauj3qIA8Qhu6c97wdWYRaCcogqDTXyQANaDJNP7_Ip1o-8Us/s1600/Jerome's+friend+very+small.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkuqgGJcnMsCp_4u9S_1gadZ5u09UfapBGHkaIIFzh6dpCaTsDae7CZ12Lrzxuo_rqu0C0WRdsu506diOpre9G5CIKDQeauj3qIA8Qhu6c97wdWYRaCcogqDTXyQANaDJNP7_Ip1o-8Us/s1600/Jerome's+friend+very+small.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Alphaeus</b> adds (for 21st century readers):</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">For the authorised version of the story, see the Gospels</span></span><br />
<br />David Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02687907718352597621noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951823182358854999.post-78813809405536313432014-03-31T14:56:00.001+01:002015-05-25T22:52:24.569+01:00Life, law & laughter - people, Scripture & Jesus<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>an aid to reflection on the introduction of gay marriage in the UK</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Two old friends meet again at the Pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem, where the long-term ill used to go in the hope of being healed...</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Micha</i>: Rafael! Great to see you again. Where’ve you been all this time?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Rafael</i>: Micha, my friend! I’ve missed you! You wouldn’t believe it, I’ve been all round the country. It’s been so good to be able to walk - I’ve been making up for all those lost years.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Micha</i>: Well, you did hold the club record - how many years was it?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Rafael</i>: 38, I think. I lost count, to be honest.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Micha</i>: So what happened? One day you were here, the next you’d vanished in a puff of temple smoke.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Rafael</i>: Well, you know how everyone at the Pool here gets treated like animals… </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Micha</i>: Tell me about it!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Rafael</i>: …kicked by the Romans for being crippled vermin, spat on by the religious hobnobs for supposedly having brought it on ourselves by some past misdemeanour.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Micha</i>: Well, it is our fault. ‘My sin is ever before me’, and all that.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Rafael</i>: Ah, I’ll come back to that. Anyway… this guy comes along and sits beside me. Sits! On my level! Has anyone done that with you??</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Micha</i>: No - why would they want to??</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Rafael</i>: Well he did. And he sat there for ages, just quietly, not saying anything yet somehow listening to me, staring with me at the water… And after a while it felt like he was one of us - though I couldn’t see anything wrong with him.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Micha</i>: Ah, people have all sorts of hidden issues. With all the folk we get to observe, we know that well enough, eh?!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Rafael</i>: But not this one! And then eventually he asks, ‘do you want to get well?’</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Micha</i>: Like they do - as a joke, thinking they’re funny - ha ha…</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Rafael</i>: Only he wasn’t joking. He was kind. He meant it. And the emotion welled up in me, and I just blurted out that I couldn’t get down to the water in time. This place is all about success and failure: make it to the water and you’re saved, the rest of us, well we’ve failed. This place traps us - not by our sin but simply by not being able to make the mark. Tears were starting to run down my face by this point - I could be myself with this guy. I’d started to feel free already and I wasn’t even healed!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Micha</i>: Rafael, honestly - crying - call yourself a man?!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Rafael</i>: You know what, he was crying too… But when he next spoke, his tears looked to be of joy! Know what he said? ‘Stand up, pick up your mat and walk’!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Micha</i>: And, given that you’ve been walking since, presumably you did!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Rafael</i>: But even before that, it was remarkable. He said ‘stand up’ almost like a joke - but not a bad joke - a good joke - because it <i>was</i> a hilarious instruction. But he was smiling and laughing - <i>with</i> me, not at me. And it was like his infectious joy, his laughter even, ran through my bones, and my muscles, and all of me. And I was on my feet in a flash. And - sorry, I’m going to embarrass you again - I couldn’t resist giving him this enormous hug!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Micha</i>: Well… [sarcastically] It’s nice to know that things turned out so well for you. And nice of you to tell me so quickly. Maybe he could have sorted me out too - but obviously <i>I</i> don’t deserve it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Rafael</i>: I am sorry it’s taken so long. But the trekking round the countryside I mentioned, it wasn’t just a jaunt, or earning money from giving talks about the miracle (actually, I didn’t earn a shekel!). No, I followed this guy around - as lots of other people were doing.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Micha</i>: All placing bets on who he would heal next, I guess!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Rafael</i>: It wasn’t so much that he healed people (though he did) - somehow he <i>was</i> healing. He <i>was</i> life, to those who could see it - so human and alive, laughing and crying… And he said things that made so much sense - like one day he said he was ‘the door’ - sounds mysterious, but it’s like he was a door I’d gone through to freedom from being trapped by failure.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Micha</i>: So why have you come back here now? Where is this guy?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Rafael</i>: He’s come back to Jerusalem…</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5QEqcfw2itzNK01VbHxSetW74LIVek6cFIV0ENE9rDmtTqI3lDs6nnqcWRjIoZ3QgcTg1ZmMlBkorH9TMUKuw9smAPq-OOz0G8l_fUoyw_4IlqGczfpYegyXiaij8o6_juLAo7Jvf_tE/s1600/Spouting+mouths.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5QEqcfw2itzNK01VbHxSetW74LIVek6cFIV0ENE9rDmtTqI3lDs6nnqcWRjIoZ3QgcTg1ZmMlBkorH9TMUKuw9smAPq-OOz0G8l_fUoyw_4IlqGczfpYegyXiaij8o6_juLAo7Jvf_tE/s1600/Spouting+mouths.jpg" width="135" /></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Micha</i>: Hang on a minute, Rafael: look, the spring’s bubbling up… </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Great - like old times - Wager on the Water - who’s going to make it down first? Get your money out, mate!…<br />--</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-----</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">--<br /><i>Micha</i>: Bad luck mate - thanks for your money! You always did pick who you wanted to win, not who was likely to!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Rafael</i>: Quite true! I got another one wrong too, we all did. We didn’t think that this man - sorry, I hadn’t told you his name - it’s Jesus - would come back to Jerusalem.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Micha</i>: Why not, it’s the Passover soon.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Rafael</i>: Going back to that day - well, it was a game of two halves, alright, ‘cos it quickly all went downhill. I’d turned away for a moment to celebrate with a couple of the guys, and when I turned back he’d disappeared into the crowd. So, I trotted off to enjoy my new-found freedom and go the temple. And I was stopped in my tracks by one of the religious hobnobs. ‘It is not lawful to carry your mat’, he said, in that superior voice they do so well. ‘It is the sabbath’. I was gobsmacked.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Micha</i>: Well, he was right, wasn’t he? Why didn’t you leave your mat behind?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Rafael</i>: I was just enjoying taking my first deep breaths of the new life I’d been given, and those words - ‘It is not lawful’ - it was like being punched in the stomach and having that breath knocked out of me. Oh Micha mate, how can four short words - ‘It is not lawful’ - cause <i>such</i> problems? The lawyers spend so much time arguing about what is and isn’t lawful. The dissent, the conflict that gets stirred up! And the rest of us, if we’re on the wrong end of their judgements, they don’t even seem to notice the grief they cause, the pain, the condemnation. People simply get crushed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Micha</i>: But that's just it - the law’s only a problem if we don’t obey it - and then we deserve the consequences. The law is good: it keeps us on the right track, gives us boundaries - and we certainly need those - it brings order. It helps us please God.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Rafael</i>: But what if those boundaries get in the way of good being done? Jesus made me better on the Sabbath. It should be a no-brainer - but the lawyers classified that as work, of course!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Micha</i>: Naturally. The Sabbath is rooted in Creation - it’s holy because God himself rested. You can’t change the created order of things!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Raphael</i>: I know it’s hard to get because you weren’t there. But what was obvious was that Jesus wasn’t changing the created order - he was simply showing that the law has limitations.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Micha</i>: The law of God - limited? Only the law can provide solid rock to stand on - are you suggesting we have a joy-ride down the slippery slope into the world of the heathen?? It’ll be a short-lived one, I can tell you! ‘Happy are those who walk in the law of the Lord’.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Raphael</i>: But I’ve seen that Jesus brings life! He’s shown me that boundaries sometimes need to be understood differently. He reveals the created order as it really is. The law can numb us to this.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Micha</i>: I didn’t have you down as subversive! This Jesus has had a bad influence. Our lawyers know the Scriptures inside out!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Rafael</i>: It’s easy for the lawyers to make and obey the rules - they avoid the messiness of real life. They don’t sit and listen to people's stories of pain and confusion. They don’t sit and listen to a cripple…</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Micha</i>: OK, so what laws <i>does</i> Jesus teach?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Rafael</i>: He teaches how to <i>understand</i> it: that our Jewish laws <i>are</i> special because they point to God’s perfection - and freed to aspire to that ourselves, not trapped by our failures. Jesus always challenged us with how we could love other people better - and love God better. But a bit like I said he seemed to be life - he also somehow seemed to <i>‘be’</i> law, to ooze what it meant.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Micah</i>: You mean he kept the law perfectly? I’ll believe that when I see it!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Rafael</i>: Much more than that. He seemed to be encouraging us, instead of looking for guidance to the law, to look at him, who he was, how he lived. And that any laws - from the past, even in the future! - were not rules to be slavishly obeyed, but that we should interpret them by looking at him - that the starting point for knowing what to do shouldn’t be laws but <i>him</i>…</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Micha</i>: A little egotistical, perhaps?? It all sounds worryingly loose. Very convenient and easy.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Rafael</i>: Believe me, having watched him, ‘easy’ couldn’t be further from the truth. He didn’t live by the luxury of rules - he lived much more riskily. In every situation, with every person, he applied thought and care and discernment, and imagination and courage - and infinite generosity. Plenty of laughter too, of course - there’s no law against that! The model of service and sacrifice. Which is what brings him to Jerusalem…</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Micha</i>: How come?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Rafael</i>: The resistance he’s faced from the religious hobnobs… (he’s eternally gracious that I dropped him in it that first day), it’s coming to a head. This man brings life! But the legal-eagles who steal life will get their prey and steal his. That first day even, I felt something of this darkness. ‘Don’t sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you’, he said. I could see sadness in his eyes, and he was staring beyond me as if he was talking about everyone. And now I understand: he can see the calamity that will come if we Jews, of all people, kill God’s representative… It’ll be blasphemy they’ll nail him for.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Micha</i>: Blasphemy?? I’m sorry, but he deserves it, then. Frustrating - that’s my miracle healing gone! But we’ve got to hold those boundaries… It has been good to see you back, though, Rafael.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Rafael</i>: You want to know my bet, Micha? - and this isn’t just wishful thinking! That <i>he’ll</i> be back too. The law will kill him, but that life that coursed through me - that joy, that laughter - how can it not do so for him??… Life will have the last laugh!.. See you around.</span><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiruYl82aGrLtJFyqvIISACIOGWcePaY8NiFcbIz5psagm85sKpRPM9MHIiVxYSHvqvdrK5XgM8CVa86sC8N1StDW9qabVA1tI4XIicmcRc1-kyXvTVLhWsWF5paN1mDruhKDBzhN_89rw/s1600/Cross+on+roof+-+Acer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiruYl82aGrLtJFyqvIISACIOGWcePaY8NiFcbIz5psagm85sKpRPM9MHIiVxYSHvqvdrK5XgM8CVa86sC8N1StDW9qabVA1tI4XIicmcRc1-kyXvTVLhWsWF5paN1mDruhKDBzhN_89rw/s1600/Cross+on+roof+-+Acer.jpg" width="135" /></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkuqgGJcnMsCp_4u9S_1gadZ5u09UfapBGHkaIIFzh6dpCaTsDae7CZ12Lrzxuo_rqu0C0WRdsu506diOpre9G5CIKDQeauj3qIA8Qhu6c97wdWYRaCcogqDTXyQANaDJNP7_Ip1o-8Us/s1600/Jerome's+friend+very+small.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkuqgGJcnMsCp_4u9S_1gadZ5u09UfapBGHkaIIFzh6dpCaTsDae7CZ12Lrzxuo_rqu0C0WRdsu506diOpre9G5CIKDQeauj3qIA8Qhu6c97wdWYRaCcogqDTXyQANaDJNP7_Ip1o-8Us/s1600/Jerome's+friend+very+small.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Alphaeus</b> adds (for 21st century readers):</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">How can the way Jesus handles people and handles Scripture help shape our approach as Christians to the introduction last weekend of gay marriage?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />For the authorised version of Rafael's story, see <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/" target="_blank">John’s Gospel chapter 5</a></span></span><br />
<br />David Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02687907718352597621noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951823182358854999.post-63813685291906226362014-03-24T12:35:00.000+00:002015-05-25T22:55:06.603+01:00Water (a tale of redemption)<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>a reflection on Jesus' approach to people</i></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.heqigallery.com/gallery/gallery3/pages/6-SamaritanWomanAtTheWell.html" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhH_cfpU2I_YAwUG73rn7gSGwCnxXgj9Txrb3NmWVKFhtNG3atjK8RXdH_S-1-x8S8vLDtlgnwAYA0SKW31ZyH7sNPTzzERTPxZk9ogdpKMlH4Y_sJWXfYSCdZo-ixy9q4c0mI1uDcHJaw/s1600/SamaritanWomanAtTheWell-HeQi.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.heqigallery.com/gallery/gallery3/pages/6-SamaritanWomanAtTheWell.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Samaritan Woman at the Well, by He Qi, China</i></span></span></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>A conversation between two women in a village in Samaria...</b><i> </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><i>Woman</i>: Hey, listen! listen!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Villager</i>: Just leave us all alone, you always have so much to say and nothing worth listening to.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Woman</i>: Honest, I’ve had this amazing encounter! I’ve been talking to this man at the well...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />Villager: Talking to a man? well, I never... Do I hear the sound of wedding bells - number six, eh?? Does Reuben know?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Woman</i>: No no! - this man’s a Jew.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Villager</i>: It gets worse! He must be desperate, chatting up a Samaritan woman!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Woman</i>: No, he wasn’t like that - he’s a prophet. He’s never been to the village before yet he knew all about my past!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Villager</i>: And that’s good, is it??!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Woman</i>: That’s the trouble with you lot. You all use the truth about me to condemn me. With him the truth has made me feel free! It’s like the truth of who he is has flooded through me and my past has been washed away. I never knew truth could be so good!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Villager</i>: Well, I must admit you do seem happier than you’ve been for a long time - since you were a kid, even - more relaxed, like you’ve taken a big swig of some magic healing potion.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Woman</i>: Funny you should say that! One minute this man and I were talking about water in the well - you know, how the dry weather’s affected its level, the usual sort of chat - and the next moment he was telling me about water that if I had I would never need to drink again.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Villager</i>: Useful!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Woman</i>: That’s what I thought. But he’s deep - he wasn’t talking about water-water at all. He was talking about water from God - you know, like from Isaiah, “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters...”. I never knew what that meant before. But the way he looked at me, I knew - and this is going to sound weird - that somehow he is the source of this living water. You’re right, I have drunk something!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Villager</i>: So why were you the chosen one to meet him? Oh yes, because you have to go to the well in the heat of the day because everyone ostracises you.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Woman</i>: But that’s just it, he shouldn’t have been there either, a Jew in Samaria. I’ve always known that’s a stupid rule - and he knew it too and was quite happy to break it. He’s like me, he breaks rules too. But I break the rules when it’s good for me - he broke the rules because he cared about me. It was like he was there just so that he could meet me - how could that happen?!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Villager</i>: Clearly a really good man. And I suppose you just left him there, didn’t offer him any hospitality??</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Woman</i>: A group of his friends turned up and started to give him a hard time for talking to me. I wasn’t going to hang around!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Villager</i>: Well, I’ll get some others and go and find him. He sounds too interesting to miss. Let’s see how far he’ll push his rule-breaking and see if he will actually stay in Samaria for a bit... <br /><br /><i>Later</i>...</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz8gpYvxinLnQMFC98Z11IK28HD-tIFejpnajARsDs3ZBKu25wj-RiQMWBmuSmK3ubeVuMjVAcHi4jHwzdqFQibn6eSBHe_4n5tKZMIxTs9MIFaDjsd9uJyBvPs4SWpdHFKlbYAMxeub4/s1600/Lemon+tree.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhz8gpYvxinLnQMFC98Z11IK28HD-tIFejpnajARsDs3ZBKu25wj-RiQMWBmuSmK3ubeVuMjVAcHi4jHwzdqFQibn6eSBHe_4n5tKZMIxTs9MIFaDjsd9uJyBvPs4SWpdHFKlbYAMxeub4/s1600/Lemon+tree.JPG" width="133" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><i>Villager</i>: And this man, who I learned was called Jesus, did stay a couple of nights, though his friends were all pretty grumpy about it. How can one person change the whole way life is, change people in our village, change our community? But he has. It’s like the water from the well has overflowed down into the village and we’re refreshed, renewed. And all through our friend here, of all people - the most unlikely of encounters...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">.</span>
<br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">That evening...</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Peter speaking to his brother Andrew...</b><br /><br />Andrew, Jesus is making me mad! We’ve got to stop him before he truly goes off the rails.<br />Being
an impetuous type myself, I’ve really appreciated his calm, peaceful
manner ever since I met him. He feels grounded, safe - like you can
really trust him. And then he just gets these mad-crack ideas - OK, so
we had to go through Samaria this time but not dilly-dally over it. And
then talking with a Samaritan woman, on his own - what is he thinking!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />He
worries me, Andrew. He just doesn’t care what people think. The only
thing he seems to cares about is other people. And it doesn’t seem to
matter who those people are, for goodness sake!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />I
have a theory, and it worries me if I’m right. Remember when Jesus got,
quote, ‘baptised’. And this thing like a bird came down on him, and
afterwards he said it was the Holy Spirit. Well, I’ve been watching him,
and there’s something so - how can I put it - <i>guided</i> about him. It’s
like he just follows some internal guidance as to what to do and where
to go and what to say. (I reckon all that early-morning praying he does
has something to do with it too.) He goes off on completely unpredictable
tangents, does bizarre things, and says really open things to people -
sometimes really challenging things - whilst obviously caring for them,
and you think ‘where did that come from??’. But the maddening thing is,
he’s always right! That woman, that village - they’re transformed, they
love him!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />Thanks
again for introducing me to him, by the way! It’s quite a ride with
Jesus, alright. He’s no tame, domestic rabbi, this one - he’s got a wild
streak! But boy, he’s good to be with!...</span><i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span></span></i><br />
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqpsMUNQvPl0hyphenhyphen5dw6yGS5viV0g5UVlLJAXN0zkisuL3I3Db-25YG6Ysu1ok3r5p2H_BbDV-VFm-FgFoaTriaDIP0oGGZ2pWhnQOOmihR38Xy6gHz_73rgnsqjiyhUlTM-wlQtmDYYlPM/s1600/sunset.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="132" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqpsMUNQvPl0hyphenhyphen5dw6yGS5viV0g5UVlLJAXN0zkisuL3I3Db-25YG6Ysu1ok3r5p2H_BbDV-VFm-FgFoaTriaDIP0oGGZ2pWhnQOOmihR38Xy6gHz_73rgnsqjiyhUlTM-wlQtmDYYlPM/s1600/sunset.JPG" width="200" /></a><br />
<i><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span></span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">-------------- </span></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkuqgGJcnMsCp_4u9S_1gadZ5u09UfapBGHkaIIFzh6dpCaTsDae7CZ12Lrzxuo_rqu0C0WRdsu506diOpre9G5CIKDQeauj3qIA8Qhu6c97wdWYRaCcogqDTXyQANaDJNP7_Ip1o-8Us/s1600/Jerome's+friend+very+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkuqgGJcnMsCp_4u9S_1gadZ5u09UfapBGHkaIIFzh6dpCaTsDae7CZ12Lrzxuo_rqu0C0WRdsu506diOpre9G5CIKDQeauj3qIA8Qhu6c97wdWYRaCcogqDTXyQANaDJNP7_Ip1o-8Us/s1600/Jerome's+friend+very+small.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><b>Alphaeus</b> adds:<br />for the authorised version of this story, see <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/" target="_blank">John’s Gospel chapter 4</a>.</span></span><br />
<br />David Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02687907718352597621noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6951823182358854999.post-73520619999896258272014-03-16T15:02:00.001+00:002015-05-25T23:03:41.802+01:00The Old Pharisees Club - with Paul and Nicodemus <div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><i>two old friends chew the theological cud - a sketch</i></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAit4uceKB65uEiLDEL1C4S_us0W_uKyg-FcvYKrblara8tCJTRSGlAkuvm6tkUukNu80JBiBdKOg9-iJVBUqUqUDNoyZTLj6V8AyMkqGWEHpHmP15xnJ_zKpr1m9B5Mul-zbRU_aGM5w/s1600/Roman+baths+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAit4uceKB65uEiLDEL1C4S_us0W_uKyg-FcvYKrblara8tCJTRSGlAkuvm6tkUukNu80JBiBdKOg9-iJVBUqUqUDNoyZTLj6V8AyMkqGWEHpHmP15xnJ_zKpr1m9B5Mul-zbRU_aGM5w/s1600/Roman+baths+small.jpg" width="171" /></a><br /><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Paul and Nicodemus meet, by chance, in the Roman baths at the Old Pharisees Club in Jerusalem (but not in a state of undress)…</b><br /><br /><i>Paul</i>: Well, if it isn’t Old Nic, my old Law tutor from Pharisee School - the man who taught me everything I know!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /><i>Nicodemus</i>:
Well, I never! Paul, young chap, good to see you - you flatter as much
as ever - you always were a political operator! And one of our brightest
pupils too - destined for the top. How things have changed for us both
since then, eh - kicked out for becoming followers of The Way.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /><i>Paul</i>:
Yep, and it looks like we both know the same trick of sneaking back
into the Pharisees Club to use the baths under cover of darkness - and
the mists of the sauna. Of course! - you’re an expert in sneaking round
in the dark. Going to see Jesus at night - what a coward - you’ll never
live that one down!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /><i>Nicodemus</i>:
I’m so maligned! I was just busy at work and couldn't get away to see
him during the day…. OK, alright, not my finest hour. But the thing was,
we were all in the dark, all of us Pharisees, weren’t we? We thought we
had it all, with our fine knowledge of the Scriptures - and we knew
nothing of God Himself. That night there was a chill wind as Jesus and I
huddled under the temple portico, but I felt a warm wind wrap round me
as Jesus spoke about the Spirit. When he talked about having to be born
again, it was like Jesus was banging nails into the coffin of the secure
life I knew, whilst at the same time ushering me to an open door that
light streamed through. So when <i>he</i> died, I was ready to nail my
colours to the mast and buy the embalming spices for him; somehow I
sensed that wasn’t the end, that there was a new birth coming… But here I
am, rabbiting on like I’m still your teacher! I understand you saw the
light in a rather dramatic way! Everyone’s heard the story.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /><i>Paul</i>:
The memory’s as clear now as it was that day - the light streamed in so
bright, it completely blinded me. I wasn’t just knocked off my pedestal
- Jesus took me out with a bloomin’ sledge-hammer! And how my eyes
were opened to how blind I’d been! - that we’d all been. And I know
you’re not in this camp, Nic, but some Jewish believers are <i>still</i> blind
to one thing - that in the church all are meant to be equal, including
Jews <i>and</i> non-Jews - because God loves everyone equally. You would think
that Jesus made that clear enough, with his radical inclusive love, but
still we persist in our sense of superiority over others. It’s like that
in the church in Rome - that’s why I wrote to them.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /><i>Nicodemus</i>:
Ah, your letter to the Romans… Let me slip my tutor’s hat back on for a
moment. I do worry a little that you thought you were writing the thesis for your doctorate - it’s not exactly easy reading for them!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /><i>Paul</i>:
OK, OK, so parts of it can read like a theological treatise! But I have
Pharisee School to thank for sharpening my legal mind so I could
present a watertight argument - and that’s what I’ve done; I was on top
of my game for that letter, I felt. And <i>I</i> think they will get drawn into
it - because I’ve blown holes in the Jewish tradition that we are
superior to Gentiles just because we’re ‘children of Abraham’. Yet
Abraham was initially a Gentile, of course! God chose a Gentile, so
proving that Gentiles were never really inferior for him. He has just
taken a long route round to make that completely clear! Jesus told you
the same thing, didn’t he?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /><i>Nicodemus</i>:
Yes, that was his punchline with me - and it was like being punched in
the stomach. ‘God so loved the world’, he said. I nearly choked. ‘God
loves the Jews’, I thought angrily. ‘He doesn’t love the Romans, the
heathen, the idolaters - he hates them. How could he love our enemies??’
I’m more of a pragmatist than you, Paul - theoretical arguments don’t
cut it so much for me, despite having climbed the Pharisee career ladder
- which is maybe why I didn’t give your Romans letter a 5-star review
for the Jerusalem church - sorry!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /><i>Paul</i>: Thanks - I knew I could count on you!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /><i>Nicodemus</i>:
But after watching Jesus love his enemies for those years, that’s what
won me over to see that God really must love the whole world. Even
including cowards like me!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /><i>Paul</i>:
We’ve come a long way, haven’t we - from a God of law to a God of grace!
And things being free just ain’t natural for people - it’s a
constant uphill struggle, I find, to help the churches to get it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /><i>Nicodemus</i>:
Well, Paul, I think you’re doing a pretty good job out there in
Gentile-land, if I may say so! Rather you than me doing the
away-fixtures… Talking of which… there’s late-night chariot-racing at
the stadium later - I must be off - fancy coming?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /><i>Paul</i>:
Thanks, but best keep my head down! Great to see you, though, old man.
Hope to see you around - and don’t teach anything I wouldn’t teach!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /><i>Nicodemus</i>: You're a cheeky one! But take care.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Note to 21st century readers:</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">See <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/" target="_blank">John 3</a> and <a href="http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/" target="_blank">Romans 4</a> (Church of England set readings for today) </span></span></span></div>
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<br />David Carringtonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02687907718352597621noreply@blogger.com2