Seeing life from the side

A week ago I made a spontaneous decision to go downtown Chicago and watch the first preview of the Lookingglass Theater's production of, "East land." The only thing I knew about the play was that it is a musical, a new musical. The read through took place in the summer of 2011 in Grant Park, Chicago.  A year on, and here is the finished product.

I love the Lookingglass Theater. this is the third production that I have seen and they are always great. very creative, highly imaginative, and compelling enough to keep it's audience attentive throughout the entire show, even without an intermission.

And so I booked the last ticket to the preview - not knowing it was a preview until the show's director stood at the front and gave us an introduction to watching a preview. The good thing is that the tickets are cheaper than the main season and usually the average audience member will not notice any difference and indeed it all looked great to me. Because I bought the last ticket, it was one right at the front and at the end of the row. Having been to previous productions and seen the way that the set uses all parts of the theater, I wasn't bothered that my seat was at the end or the front.

However, the best part was that I did not sit in my designated seat. The usher asked me and my neighbor if we would mind moving as they needed our seats for wheelchair access. The great thing was that we were moved to the side and onto the elevated section. So we, my neighbor (whose name I discovered was Lauren) and I watched fromt eh side.

Watching the play from the side gave me a bunch of insights. First, watching from the side meant that I could see the rest of the audience and their reactions to what was going on. But even better, was watching the actors from the side. Every nuance was on show, and I discovered that actually watching from the front we miss so much. We get to see the mirror image but really the real image is the one from the side. What happens on the side is the added picture to what we already see.

If I was to watch your life from side on, and if you were to do the same with me, what would we see? Would I like your answer and would you agree with mine?

The real thing

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death...

(Isaiah 6:1-8)

The law was weakened by the sinful nature...  the only way that we can stand before the Most Holy God is through Jesus Christ. It is hard for us humans to get this... God is HOLY. I find it hard to find words to describe this word: HOLY. Sacred, hallowed, pure, without blemish, worthy, revered... I am not sure which one to use here. The prophet, Isaiah, realized how holy God is when he saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted and angels were flying around. Even the angels knew how Holy God is and so they covered their faces because who could look at the Most Holy God and live. So they covered their faces, and their feet and used the other 2 wings to fly. They were calling back to one another, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory. 

Isaiah realized he was in the presence of HOLINESS and that was nothing to take lightly. His reply was a cry - probably a loud cry with all the flying around going on, "Woe to me... I am ruined." Being in the presence of holiness showed Isaiah's need for cleanliness. One of the angels did something that would hurt; he touched Isaiah with a LIVE COAL, a hot, flaming, live coal. But instead of burning his mouth, the coal took his guilt away and his sin was atoned for. He could do nothing else but be awestruck by God. 


Sometimes I take God so for granted that I take His holiness for granted too. I forget that while it is true that I am made in his image, fearfully and wonderfully made, and a fully loved daughter of the Most High King, that identity comes with responsibility and I am not at liberty to do what the heck I what I want and when I want. I think that this is what the Apostle Paul is getting at in his letter to the Romans. 

Right before this passage, Paul writes in a "out of his mind" way. Really, if Paul were to say all that he says here in a modern day context, he would be put away for literally being, "out of his mind." It is pretty funny in a scary way:

"I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. That's sin living in me... that's not my true self....the self that is in Christ... For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it..."

If you are confused, that's OK, because so am I... and so was Paul. He knows that while he lives in this world, sin is still alive and well... but because of God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful humanity to be a sin offering, Jesus Christ did our work for us on the cross and therefore the requirement of the law was fulfilled by his atoning sacrifice. 


OK, in short, for those who are in Christ Jesus, there is no condemnation because the Spirit who gives life has set us free from the law of sin and death. 


END OF STORY...or is it...?


We are controlled by the Spirit... not by our stuff which causes us to sin... but that kind of transformation takes WORK. 


Next time... the work of transformation.

Up front anxiety

Today's post is related to one that written by Seth Godin @

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2012/05/perhaps-your-anxiety-is-specific-to-magicians.html

I will not quote the post in it's entirety as Seth has done that one very well for himself but here's the gist of what he says. 

Seth begins by titling his post as follows:

"Perhaps your anxiety is specific to magicians"

He then goes on to say that people who have "up front" jobs; musicians, actors, magicians etc., may have natural anxiety levels because they are always up front in their jobs. However, after further reading of this post, he says that actually anxiety is experienced by anyone who has ever had to be a part of something they cannot ultimately control - ie. all of us. The piece I like about it is that Godin suggests that being anxious about something might be a good indicator of who much one cares about what they are doing...

Whenever I hear the word, "anxiety" (an emotion that appears with annoying regularity especially on preaching weeks like this one), I remember that the Apostle Paul told us not to be anxious about ANYTHING, but in EVERYTHING, by prayer and petition, present our requests to God. Once we have done that, we can TRUST that the peace of God, which passes ALL understanding, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

So, perhaps we can let our anxiety be free by giving it over to a faithful God who KNOWS that we will be anxious and knows that we wil be anxious over the things for which we care, and therefore He will take care of them and honor the work that we have invested in that about which we care.

We care, so let the anxiety out the door... or as Godin says, good riddance to it... and present your requests to God and PEACE will follow. 

The choice of freedom

I seem to be following a pattern here... the choice of joy, the choice between life and death and now I am looking at the choice of freedom. Most of the reason for thinking around freedom is because this weekend I am preaching and we have temporarily stepped away from the Lectionary and have been looking at the Apostle Paul's letter to the Romans for the past 2 weeks and once again this week.

Paul writes:

"Let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. Rather, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not think about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature. 
Accept those whose faith is weak, out quarreling over disputable matters..."


Freedom. It was for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened by a yoke of slavery."

The Apostle, Paul, is writing to the Galatians. He is mad that the Galatians are being so easily led astray by the Jewish Christians who are telling them that they have to follow the law and be circumcised. Paul says, NO. That was the old law and we are now under the new law - the law has been fulfilled and Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection. One can almost hear the sarcasm in his voice; wait, was it God or humans that set you free, he asks???

So, I have come to believe that all of life is a choice, especially when one follows Jesus Christ. It's a choice. God does not force His way into our lives; He does promise us that the only way to live fully is to live in Him and that could seem like we are being blackmailed into following Him because how else could we live? But actually there is only one way to live and that is to live IN HIM.

Jesus said, 

"Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with them, and they with me." 

Jesus did not say, "I will bang down the door until you let me in..." Jesus does not barge into our lives unasked, uninvited; He gives us that choice to respond to His call. 

And that is where the freedom comes in. Every time.... and it doesn't stop when we make the choice to follow Jesus Christ. We make choices every day. The choice to talk to a stranger just because we know God is prompting us to do so. The choice to walk a little further so we can see the flowers along the way. The choice to take more time than we might have done with a friend who just wants to talk for longer... The choice to invite another driver into our lane and not cut them off.... or use inappropriate hand signals just like everyone else does. The choice to not go to Starbucks one more time and instead buy the person on the street coffee instead. The choice to be in the world but not of the world because the world is crying out for a different way of living and we know the God who made them and loves them and longs for them to know Him too. 

So, as the Apostle Paul says, 

"You my brothers and sisters, were called to be free.... serve one another humbly in love....Love your neighbor as yourself."

So choose life... choose freedom....

The choice between life and death

I have never preached a sermon without notes....never that is, until 2 weeks ago. And the entire reason for doing so is that I felt so strongly about the topic about which I was preaching. I was a mess all week, lost a few pounds in being anxious about doing such a thing, worried that I would completely clam up and while it sounded great in the dining room, when I got to the pulpit it wouldn't sound so wonderful after all.

However, my fears were not realized. Rather than being relieved, I was actually more certain that what I was preaching had run so deep in me that to have created a manuscript or notes would have been stupid because the words were so deeply in grained in my psyche. The particular message was all about life.... or rather the choices we make between life and death.

Most of us might think that we don't ever get to choose life or death. After all, we have no opinions over whether or not we are physically born and we have very little control over when, how we die but we have EVERYTHING to do with how we live, not withstanding extraordinary events or tragedies.  Of course I get this directive to live life from Scripture so here we go.

I think one of my favorite people in the Bible is the gospel writer, John - at least he is among the top of the list for now. I have read through his gospel a few times and dipped in and out of it many times. However, during my time in the UK I was deeply embedded in his first letter. I am learning that the Word of God is indeed alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; judging the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. And so John's first letter did exactly that - penetrating the deepest recesses of my heart. I had heard a sermon some time ago about life and was challenged to look into the matter for myself. John starts off his letter with these words:

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at, which our hands have touched - this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete."

So John starts us off with him trying to find words to explain to us what has happened. John was a disciple of Jesus and not only that, was one of the three, along with Peter and James, that formed the most intimate inner circle of disciples. Scholars believe he was one of the youngest of the disciples, possibly in his late teens and definitely no older than early twenties. He got to have nearly 1000 days, nearly 24/7, 365 with Jesus, the Son of God, the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Chosen One, the One who would be the Atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world.... John probably wouldn't have admitted it at the time, but he was in one heck of a privileged position. 

However, I digress....

In these opening words in his first letter, John is trying to help his readers get a handle of just who this is - that which was from the beginning. Now, John is really into letting us know that the only One who was from the beginning is THE one. The I AM, God, Almighty, Holy and Awesome. Perhaps he knew the beginning of the Pentateuch - Genesis starts with, "In the beginning, God..." John begins his Gospel with, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made..." John is wanting to emphasize that God was and is the beginning. there was nothing before because God has always been. However, for our human being understanding, John starts with, "That which was from the beginning..." Then he goes on to describe to us, by using the human senses, who this was....from the beginning. John is trying to help us listen to, hear, touch and know the LIFE. "The life appeared... and made his dwelling among us and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us...."

All through John's writings; the gospel, the letters and Revelation, are the themes of life and death and light vs darkness. what John is telling his readers is that there is no life apart from Christ. 

I have struggled with the verse, John 10:10; "I have come that you may have life and have it to the full." Other translations say, "in abundance," or "more and better life than they ever dreamed of," but whichever translation is used, the word in Greek is "life."  The girl's name, "Zoe," is also from the Greek word meaning, life and this is the essence of what John is getting at when he quotes Jesus. I have struggled with this verse because I don't believe I have gotten to the core of what this word means and what Jesus was saying. 

I had a hard conversation with a good friend recently. she is really struggling in many ways and this topic of life came up with her. while I was sharing my thoughts on life, she cut in and said something along the lines of, "Well, I am alive, I am breathing."  I thought about this comment for a moment and was careful in my reply as she is hurting and I didn't want to accuse her of not being alive. So I wondered if the medical definition of being alive is not the same as the way in which Jesus would describe it. Jesus is saying that without the life that He offers, we are not really alive. yes, we are sucking in air, using it and expelling it, but is that really the God definition of life? Not according to John. having life is only possible because we are in Christ and have abundant life through Him and the important thing to remember is that there is nothing in all of creation that can give us this kind of life. Creation is part of the Creator's genius and the only One that can give us life is the one that sustains life and is the source of life. 

However, God's desire is for us to have it. But he will not force it on us. it is not our automatic right. Jesus said, "I have come that they may have life." John said, " We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us." 

Choose life. Choose to live in Christ. Make the choice between life and death.  

The choice of joy

As the Apostle Paul was finishing up his words to the Philippian Church, he wrote these words;

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Why does Paul say, "...I will say it again: Rejoice?" He has told us to rejoice in the Lord always once already so why the underlining of saying it again? Because we are not good at rejoicing. We, for the most part, suck at it.  So Paul has to remind us to do it - again. 

Last year I wrote and thought about joy A LOT, mostly because I am not a naturally joyfully person. Some of my friends would disagree with me on this one, but I believe that God has, for the past few months, been teaching me how to practice joy, and usually to practice it when I least want to do so.

Back in 2008, I lived in Bend, OR. It was one of the most transformational years of my up until now existence. I met with a woman in her mid forties who is currently a teaching pastor at one of the larger churches in the city. She is married with four children, one of whom is now married (and to date has a baby boy). We talked about being a female pastor in a male world, wrestling with motherhood while pursuing a call to pastoral leadership and many other topics graced our accompanying coffee dates. I was anxious to glean from her what it was like to be a pastor and those things which I really needed to know and those of which I needed to be aware in my new vocation. One of the things with which she was considering was this whole idea of joy. Although her life was pretty great, she was always aware that it was too great and what bomb was going to drop out of nowhere for her or her family. So she started a pursuit of finding joy - in everything. It was actually highly prophetic as little over a year ago, her husband developed Lou Gehrig disease - completely devastating news as there is no cure. However, her work on the pursuit of joy, or rather, the "Joy Project," had been done without her knowing that this would prove unbelievable preparation for the next phase in her family's life.

I haven't kept in regular contact with her since 2009 after I left Bend, but I do see various facebook posts and occasionally read her blog. The tenacity and relentless pursuit of life and joy amongst difficult circumstances has been inspirational. No one chooses such life threatening illnesses...they are not tests sent to us by a loving God, they are not what we would wish for those whom we love or anyone in fact, but how we handle them and live our lives with them is how much we trust and know that our lives here are short and we had better make the most of them while we have life. Hard to do, I know, in the mist of tragedy and adversity, but, as the Psalmist puts it, our lives are but mist... and mist is gone by the morning. We are also fully loved and cherished and gifted by an Almighty and Holy God so there is way more to just enduring calamities than we might imagine.

And so, back to joy. I am experiencing a lot of joy right now and there is the thought at the back of my mind that the shoe is about to drop (the first one hasn't yet and so it can't be the other shoe) and this time of joy will be short lived. However, that is missing the point of true joy. The Apostle, Paul tells us to REJOICE, oh, and by the way, to do that IN THE LORD.... and to do it ALWAYS. It is not a happy-clappy kind of joy that is totally reliant on how I am feeling or the circumstances in my life but completely dependent on the source of our joy - THE LORD. Only when I rely - completely and utterly - on HIM, will I experience fully joy, the God-given, Holy, amazing joy - no matter what.

I think that is why Paul then goes on to tell us not to be anxious about anything - because, believe me, there is plenty to be anxious about if we look at our circumstances and uncertainty around us. So we get to choose.... but Paul asks us to choose this one....

REJOICE IN THE LORD ALWAYS!!!!

LENT - Day 3

It is Day 3 of Lent and for the first time in what feels like a long time, I have found a quiet place in which to sit and consider God’s Word. As soon as I thought about the word, “consider,” it reminded me of Jesus’ words in Matthew’s gospel although the TNIV does not use this word. This translation uses, “See.” I do not have my Greek New Testament with me and cannot check the translation of the word in question but nevertheless, thinking on the word, “consider,” has brought me to this passage in Matthew 6:24-34. 

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important then clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”

 Who of us is able to go through a day without worrying? And yet, this is the command that Jesus gives us; “Do not worry.” Do not worry about your life, what you will wear, what you will eat, what you will drink… and I wonder if Jesus has left the rest unsaid: Do not worry about anything because worrying wastes energy that could otherwise be invested into good things. By saying do not worry about your life, Jesus has said it all: do not worry. Worrying is pointless and useless and time consuming and does not give any pleasure to us, or to the people around us watching us worry.

“Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to their life?”

There is no point in worrying and I have come to believe that part of why worrying is so destructive and why Jesus commands us not to do so is because worrying is cumulative. We worry about the big things perhaps thinking that if we worry about those, the little things will pale into the background but that is not true. We can train ourselves to worry about the big things and then our minds get so focused on worrying, we become experts at it. Perhaps we think that by worrying, some good will come out of that exercise but all that happens is we find other things to worry about.

“You cannot serve both God and money.”

I believe this previous verse has everything to do with what follows especially as we live in an area of the world where money is being much talked about. One of the headlines this morning was of Lloyds Bank “suffering” a loss of millions of pounds because they mis-sold insurance policies. Hard on the heels of that headline was the next describing the outrage of the general public because senior level bosses are being “awarded” seemingly ridiculous sums of money in bonus payouts. Is the outrage really about the money being handed out to someone else or how unfair it seems that where one person financially gains, another one loses?

Jesus has commanded, “Do no worry,” and “No one can serve two masters…you cannot serve both God and Money.”

In this season of Lent, I am diving into Jesus’ command to not worry and it is not an easy thing to do (perhaps giving up chocolate might have been easier). In deliberately setting aside the very easy thought patterns of worry and to realize that while I can consider that I am fully responsible for figuring out how to pay for my life’s tasks, Jesus is asking me not to worry about how that happens takes some willful action. Do not worry. That is today’s command because tomorrow will worry about itself. 

Bless the Lord, oh my soul

Yesterday I was reading from one of Alistair Cooke's "Letters from America.”  Cooke was a Brit who lived a lot of his life in the USA, a lot in New York and was a talented journalist. He died in 2004 and his publisher, Penguin, released a new edition of the "Letters" in commemoration of his death. As a teenager I listened to the BBC broadcasts which Cooke continued to present until shortly before his death and they were fun stories of everyday life in the USA and odd, pithy things that everyone else looked over while Cooke noticed. 

One of his first accounts in the "Letters" begins with a story of a British diplomat friend who visited Cooke in the US. Cooke details that he is an expert on a peculiar type of goldfish, the goldfish in this case, being the American people (bear in mind that this was written in 1946 so when he refers to America, he is referring to the United States of the late 40s). When all there is are goldfish, it’s really hard to say what distinguishes the goldfish from other fish because the thing about goldfish is that no on

I have, for the past 2 months been a mackerel. However it has not taken long for me to be assimilated into the world of the goldfish. I am reminded of the “lobster in the pot” analogy. There were several things that I noticed when I first landed into the United Kingdom over 2 months ago and now I am forgetting those things at which I was first amazed. Everyone is grumpy; no one smiles, no one raises their head in greeting as they pass by their fellow human… we live in one of the most beautiful countries in the world and perhaps we have taken that for granted too.

So listening to the words from the opening song of the Midwinter conference from Chicago, I am reminded it’s not about me. It’s about LIFE. It’s about the ONE who give us life and the words of this song reverberate through my head.  We have been singing it at church here in Edinburgh… I love that… no matter where I am, I can be singing the praises of the Lord. These lyrics are great.

Bless the Lord, oh my soul, oh my soul,

Worship his holy name.

Sing like never before, oh my soul…

I worship your holy name.

What I heard today

The gospel changes everything it touches....

Will you use your influence well? Will you use it well for the whole gospel, for the whole person, for the whole world?

That is what we are called to do....

It's all about Downton Abbey

Life and death.... what has the New Testament letter of 1 John 1 got to do with Downton Abbey?

Downton Abbey is a fictional series shown on British television last autumn. The writer, Julian Fellows is the same man who wrote the screenplay to Gosford Park, The Young Victoria, and Vanity Fair, and his resume includes numerous other accomplishments of acting roles and novels. So writing a story about a fictional estate in North Yorkshire in England, UK, is not unfamiliar territory for this talented gentlemen.

At the time the Downton series was first televised in the UK, I was in the USA. I had heard nothing about it until I arrived back in Edinburgh in December and realized that it had been compulsory viewing for many on Sunday nights in 2011. However, a special screening of "Downton" was to be shown on Christmas Day; the Downton Christmas special. After a day of feasting and relaxation, I decided that in order get a glimpse of what the fuss was all about, I watched the special while sprawled out on the sofa, half comatozed with food and a little alcohol.

What I didn't appreciate, as about the stories of the Earl of Grantham,  the head of the aristocratic Crawley family, his staff, the Downton house and grounds and the wider community passed by me on the small screen, was that my interest would be heightened enough to wish to get the back story by watching the first 2 series now available on DVD. These were easily found as the series was available in this format and had found it's way into many Christmas stockings and under many trees belonging to several of my Edinburgh friends. 

So over the course of the past 4 weeks I have been enjoying Downton, beautifully without adverts,  alongside a young friend. This combines two of my favorite things to do: spending time with friends and watching good TV - the latter being something very hard to come by. We, my friend and I, have finished the first series and are one episode into the second. There are many stories contained with the series; not only with the Crawley family but with their staff and the community,  not to mention the relationship struggles and joys across the class divide.  The series begins in 1912 and runs through until 1919, encompassing scenes from British upper class life pre-WW1, the day to day running of a big house, and the events surrounding that time.

However, what I had not appreciated was that I would watch the series knowing how some of the stories would finish. Remember, I had watched the Christmas special so I know how some of these stories wind up!!! However, my young friend knows nothing of what will happen. So when Bates doesn't give an explanation for his unusual behavior, or Lady Mary has an argument with someone she loves, or ANYTHING happens that causes my companion to get worried and anxious about the future of any of the characters, I want to say to her, "Don't WORRY! It's going to be Ok.... " I can say this because I know the end of the story.... or the ends that I have seen in the Christmas special and she hasn't.

So as I was contemplating this I thought about how we live our real lives, right here and right now. We have many times and seasons of turmoil and fear, joy and wonder, crashing and burning, delight and expectation, not to mention the HOPE that we have though Jesus Christ. However, we (and definitely me) often live without reminding each other that we know the end....for we have seen the Christmas special :) We know that Jesus Christ defeated death and sin on the cross, that he was raised from the dead and now sits at the right hand of the Father and intercedes for us, loves us, calls us children of the Most High God, we are brothers and sisters of Jesus. We know the end of the story and what a fabulous story it is. However, we are presently in the middle of the story and sometimes life here on earth is hard, and painful and we struggle with ourselves and with our fellow human beings. We forget that we know the end because living in the middle is so hard.

Perhaps we need to remind each other that we know the end, and the end is great and good and we serve a good God who loves us and gave us life and continues to work and move on our behalf even when we can't see what's next. This is something I need to remind myself as I look towards a future that is not certain....but I can choose to think and live differently.... because I have seen the Christmas special...

Life across the ocean

I write this while sitting in the library at New College which is the library attached to the Divinity School of Edinburgh University. While sitting here, I think of the library in which I sat for 4 years in Chicago while writing papers, reading books, falling asleep at my carrel and doing more talking with fellow students than work occasionally!!

I have a short time in Edinburgh - my city of birth and the city in which I spent a considerable number of years. It has hit me on more than one occasion that it is good to be here and I need to keep reminding myself of the privilege of being able to be here for this long. However, I know that as I sit, whether it is in this library, or at my parent's house, around the dinner table of friends or in a worship service at church, in front of a fireplace or lying flat out in front of the TV,  my time here in Scotland is precious time and while I get to be here, I need to use it well.

I have been immersing myself in the first letter of John, the same guy who wrote the 4th gospel. It's all about life and death...more of this in the next few days.

In him was LIFE  and that LIFE was the LIGHT of all people...