Be Still And Know

Psalm 86:11 NLT  'Teach me your ways, O Lord, that I may live according to your truth! Grant me purity of heart, so that I may honor you.' As I mentioned before, I recently took my Trinity certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. It was the most demanding and intensive learning experience I’ve ever participated in. Throughout my course I had to concentrate, for my background is training, not teaching. Training demands I impart skills, while teaching demands I communicate information.   Walking God’s ways is a lifelong process of learning. Anyone of us can get stuck along the way. We often confuse information with knowledge. But true knowledge is when I know how to apply all the information I have gained. There are so many teaching resources today that none of us can fail to know a great deal about our Christian faith. Yet, how this information influences the way we live our lives is more complicated. It does demand an undivided heart since many of the cultural norms that surround us pro

Psalm 130:7-8 NLT  'O Israel, hope in the Lord; for with the Lord there is unfailing love. His redemption overflows. He himself will redeem Israel from every kind of sin.'  How hopeful are you? The media bombards us with reasons for anguish. But hope can still be born within the human heart, arising from trust, desire and aspiration. For me, circumstances joined with my mood and perspective can all too easily kill hope in its infancy. All that grows from such barren soil is cynicism and self-interest.   I have recently been doing some research into the early Church, in the days before the emperor Constantine legalised Christianity. The Christians met in secret for fear of persecution and therefore it was challenging for individuals to convert. The wider community, however, was grateful to the Christians, for everyone knew that in times of plague or famine, the Christians would offer care, financial help and support. They lived as instructed by Jesus, which is why we read in Acts that while not everyone joined

Psalm 130:5-6 NLT  'I am counting on the Lord; yes, I am counting on him. I have put my hope in his word. I long for the Lord more than sentries long for the dawn, yes, more than sentries long for the dawn.' During the coronavirus lockdown, for many of us, life changed radically. Living with our families, or alone, the rhythms that measured our day were gone, as we no longer had to travel to work. We now had to build a new daily routine. Positively, this offered many people a grace gift of freedom.   God was as present in the stillness that fell across our cities and neighbourhoods as when they had been filled with the sounds of commuters and shoppers. In the Oratory we re-evaluated everything we were doing. Jayne was working from home. So we rejuvenated out rhythms of prayer. We considered how we related to God in the anxieties that surfaced within us. We took the opportunity to engage more frequently and intentionally with God.  One family spoke powerfully of how they discovered something they had always lo

Psalm 130:4 NLT  'But you offer forgiveness, that we might learn to fear you.' Being forgiven means to have a debt paid off. When I had to give up work to care for the one I loved, I began to run up debts. When she eventually died after 18 years, I faced up to the debt I’d accumulated. I discovered the weight of it as I failed to find work with a suitable salary to service it effectively. That weight was lifted when an aunt left me some money in her will. As one might expect with God in charge, the inheritance matched the entire debt. In an instant, it was wiped out. The relief was immense. I wondered, if God had taken care of this obstacle, why was I worried about anything in life? It proved a profound learning point.  In our walk with God we each are aware of sin; it drives a wedge between us and God. We’re also aware of his love and forgiveness, so do not need to carry the weight of sin on our own shoulders. The problem is I often want to keep a foot in both camps. I want God most definitely, yet I also en

Psalm 130:3 NLT   'Lord, if you kept a record of our sins, who, O Lord, could ever survive?' One thing the coronavirus lockdown has done is to test our ability to spend a lot of time with whoever else lives with us – although, of course, living alone brings with it different challenges. For many people, the rhythms of leaving and returning from work, attending church gatherings (large and small), having personal space, all disappeared.   I reflected on how fortunate we were to have a house with many rooms and a large garden. There were open and enclosed spaces we might occupy together and alone. We were thrown back upon our own resources, individually and as a couple, and these were tested.   We resolved to talk, pray and reflect. Some in the church quickly decided the pandemic was God’s judgement, but is this the character of God? Surely God seeks to woo and win hearts rather than enforce his kingdom.   As mentioned earlier, governments anticipate three pandemics a century. There was the 1918 flu pandemic th

Psalm 130:1-2 NLT  'From the depths of despair, O Lord, I call for your help. Hear my cry, O Lord. Pay attention to my prayer.' There are times when I ask some uncomfortable questions. The advantage of such thoughts is that they hijack any attempt to navigate life through superficiality. While I may at times get by in life, I’m only really surviving, not flourishing. At such moments, where do I turn?  If I turn in on myself, which is the strongest of temptations, I find little relief from my anguish and confusion. For all I find is what I already know. If, however, I will make the attempt to look towards God, then I stand a chance of finding some crumbs of encouragement which may, much as they did Hansel and Gretel, lead me away from my lostness.   The fact is that the sense of despair is internal. It’s rooted in my current mood-induced perspective. It isn’t real. In one way I am always a physical expression of my prayer and my utterance reflects my life. I’m invited to acknowledge that God both hears and res

Psalm 119:102-104 NLT  'I haven’t turned away from your regulations, for you have taught me well. How sweet your words taste to me; they are sweeter than honey. Your commandments give me understanding; no wonder I hate every false way of life.' During the spring, as I was weeding a border in the Oratory garden, I became aware of the buzzing of a bee. Bees work continuously to collect pollen from flowering plants, one reason for ensuring gardens are filled with flowers from early spring into early winter. However, today was unusual for I consistently heard the buzzing of bees. Pausing to take a refreshment break, I stepped into the shed to remove my wellingtons and heard it. Later that day, I heard the buzzing again and eventually located a bee on some blossoms next door. I watched the methodical way in which it entered every flower to collect as much pollen as possible. I could see it building up around the bee’s legs. Returning to my task, I lifted a forkful of weed-laden earth and out fell a white-tailed be

Matthew 7:17-19 NLT  'A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire.' Working on the garden continually reminds me that everything in nature is connected in some way. The cuttings from the mower provide a useful mulch that nourishes the grass. They also draw down the birds. Each morning as I gaze out upon the lawn, I draw pleasure from its patterned finish, reflect on the work required to produce that finish, and recall the thoughts that God woke within me as I walked up and down, mowing. These thoughts are the fruit of my desire to encounter God. I assume I’d have missed them, had I neglected to create space for God in my day.   It is often difficult to make time for God. It’s not just the demands life places upon us but, as many discovered this year, it is our own hard-wiring that is difficult to manage. We like being busy

Isaiah 29:5 NLT  'But suddenly, your ruthless enemies will be crushed like the finest of dust. Your many attackers will be driven away like chaff before the wind.' Last autumn, when the leaves fell, bad weather stopped me clearing them, which meant a lot of work when spring arrived – eight hours of it. As I scarified the lawn, I reflected how this process matched my own walk with God. Looking out across the grass, you would never assume that a large part of the greenery was in fact damaging the lawn, preventing new growth, suffocating good grass and creating a spongy, water-retaining membrane which encouraged the garden to flood in heavy rain. I compared this with my own life. Apparently ordered and subject to God’s leadership, in fact mixed in with the good was an ever-increasing amount of debris, easy to ignore.   Effective, practical discipleship demands I closely scrutinise my life, my behaviours and my thought patterns. It’s all too easy for me to become drawn into life, and fail to see how I drift towar

Matthew 13:29-30 NLT  “No,” he replied, “you’ll uproot the wheat if you do. Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn.” Last autumn and winter, Jayne and I couldn’t get out into the Oratory garden, because of the bad weather. We had extended a flower border over the summer and we knew that the weeds would fight back. When the good weather returned in March, our fears were confirmed.   Weeding was not simply a matter of digging and lifting unwelcome grasses. I often had to lift a whole plant in order to extricate it from the weeds, which seemed to establish themselves in the very heart, making it difficult not to destroy the plant with the weed. The clearing work took three weeks, and I considered what I might learn from it.   The reflection proved helpful. Too often I look to God to change my behaviours and habits, aspects of my life that I feel control me. How lovely if a simple praye

Matthew 6:25-26 NLT  'That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life – whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? Look at the birds.' It has been a difficult and turbulent time for all of us over recent months. Many have spoken with me of their anxiety and fear. My Zoom account has been well used with many conversations and the opportunity to pray together. It’s a recognition that the familiarity of an ordered life provides some encouragement in disordered times.   One morning, gazing out of the window across the Oratory garden, I observed the birds busy on the feeders. Oblivious of the challenge of Covid-19, they simply went about their business. Soon the garden would fill with fledglings, still dependent upon their parents to feed them. I was reminded of Jesus’ words: “Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him

Psalm 40:1-2 NLT  'I waited patiently for the Lord to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry. He lifted me out of the pit of despair, out of the mud and the mire. He set my feet on solid ground and steadied me as I walked along.'  Pressing the pause button to create a genuine space within which to reflect is of great benefit. I love the way scripture tells us that Jesus’ mother, Mary, from the annunciation onward, pondered all the unusual interruptions in her life in her heart (Luke 2:19).   Another useful practice commended by David Steindl-Rast, is to pause between the end of the day and climbing into bed. Use that pause to review the day, stop and reflect. Sometimes I find the day has rushed past me. Did my day have hold of me, or did I have hold of my day?  I bought a hand mower for the lawn. I remember with pleasure pushing my dad’s old mower to cut the lawn at home. Even then I found the gentle sound of the drive chain and the swish of the cutting blades strangely comforting. I unpacked and assem

Colossians 4:5-6 NLT  'Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be gracious and attractive so that you will have the right response for everyone.' What is your first response, when something goes wrong? Is it for you and your family, or for others? When we face crises of any sort, usually our first thought is to worry about our own welfare and that of those we love the most. It’s a reminder of the fractured world we live in, into which Jesus brought the message of others first.   So, recalling the question: ‘Isn’t this surprising?’, we then ask ourselves a second question: “What’s the opportunity here?” This immediately slows our need for an instant response. We press the pause button and consider our circumstances in greater detail. This pause is a wonderful opportunity to consider our options. As scripture says, it is the fertile ground from which wisdom springs forth.  While the pause button is pressed, I can consider my situation from dee

Ephesians 5:15-17 NLT  'So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.' Opportunity is the possibility of doing something. We need to know what it is, but unless we take that opportunity, nothing will happen. Often, we prefer to give away decision-making to others, especially when the decisions appear difficult.   I’ve made two decisions, at different times, to start a business with a friend. Both times I decided to spend and proceed. On both occasions, the business didn’t give me any return on my investment. Do I regret the decisions I took? No! I knew the risks, and I learned priceless lessons from the failures. Fresh opportunities emerged; equally fraught with the possibility for future failure, yet also with potential success.  In a society infatuated with risk management, we can become reluctant decision-takers, fearing the potential dangers. This

Deuteronomy 4:29 NLT  'But from there you will search again for the Lord your God. And if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him.' My walk with God can be like a game of hide-and-seek. God never disguises or hides from us, of course: instead, feeling embarrassed about meeting God, I can choose, as Adam and Eve did, to hide. Or I ignore God until I come to my senses or so miss God’s warm embrace that I confess to whatever is keeping me from him.   So often I am caught up in the moment, or the project I’m pursuing, that while I may be committed to God, I’m not conscious of his presence. The Benedictine monk David Steindl-Rast suggests we ask ourselves, at least twice a day, the simple question: “Isn’t this surprising?” Its purpose is to awaken us to seek God’s presence within all that consumes our immediate attention.  The question provokes us to find God in life. It reminds me I am already redeemed and invited to live life through God’s kingdom lens. Rast states that we may not like

Mark 4:37-38 NLT  But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water. Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” How often do I sleepwalk through my days, failing to look for, let alone seek my Lord and saviour, in the circumstances of my life? So often the very monotony of life’s rhythm drowns out both the voice and presence of God. Yet God is present with me in every moment of every day.   Despite the scientists advising governments that every century they might expect three pandemics, when Covid-19 arrived, none of us was ready. The suddenness and seriousness of its arrival shocked every nation. In the UK, despite a long-prepared pandemic plan, politicians scrambled to find policies that might limit the spread and impact of the virus.  Much like the disciples, we realise we have a problem and then are surprised, if not offended, that Chr

Psalm 92:15 NLT  They will declare, “The Lord is just! He is my rock! There is no evil in him!” Who do you blame, when things go wrong? And why do we feel we need to do so? Non-Christians often say that God, if he exists, can only be evil, because of life’s tragic moments. For evil is the antithesis of the good, and what good God could countenance evil? This, however, still leaves the problem of who to blame for the unpalatable aspects of life. If, as the psalmist claims, there is no evil in God, then how might we account for the troubles we experience and see around the world?   And what about the evil we find in ourselves? All of us have evil thoughts. These usually seek to ensure our own benefit at the expense of another. So we can conclude evil is not some external force but one that exercises influence from within every person. Some give in to its charms, hence the repeated crimes across society. For me, evil’s the residue of my wilfulness; a wilfulness that seeks to stray from God. I lie, I cheat, I mis

Psalm 92:14 NLT  'Even in old age they will still produce fruit; they will remain vital and green.' Are we planning on being productive, as we get older? Or will we become risk-averse, building defences around us, to keep going? This can mean that we become fruitless, at that stage of life when we have accumulated a tremendous amount of knowledge about the ways of God.  When I was growing up, we had a very fruitful Victoria plum tree in our garden. Every year we took a family holiday at the end of August, but I yearned to return home. One of the excitements was to run into the garden, and my favourite task was to gather the plums. One year, I rushed into the garden but, to my horror, there was no fruit. Had we been robbed? No. Future years revealed it had finished fruiting. Mum and Dad kept the tree, for it still blossomed, yet that blossom no longer yielded a harvest. How many of us have stories of great exploits from our past, yet no longer produce fruit? Of course our faith blossoms and we come into leaf,

Psalm 92:13 NLT  'For they are transplanted to the Lord’s own house. They flourish in the courts of our God.' A desert Father once visited fourth-century priest and monk Abba Moses, in search of enlightenment. Abba Moses simply said to him: “Go, sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything.” When the government took the step to move the UK into lockdown in an attempt to slow the spread of Covid-19, it felt very much as if we were all being told to return to our cell. The jury was out on what this would teach us.  I had the joy of spending more time in the Oratory. We have a lovely garden and the spring sunshine accompanied this prime ministerial edict. My only challenge was that all my retreats and other face-to-face work ended suddenly. So I’d need to focus upon God for my welfare.  However, while the law restricted us to bricks and mortar, I’ve learned that Abba Moses’ original injunction was neither spatial nor material. Each one of us is a temple of the Holy Spirit. We can find the house of G

Psalm 92:12 NLT  'But the godly will flourish like palm trees and grow strong like the cedars of Lebanon.' I have on my desk a wonderful photograph of a large, aged tree flourishing within a barren landscape. It is a Cedar of Lebanon growing within its Lebanese homeland. Perched on a rock escarpment it defies nature, and dwarfs all other vegetation surrounding it. It offers me a powerful reminder that I can both survive and flourish in an inhospitable landscape. The Cedar of Lebanon is a slow-growing tree and takes years to reach its full height. This reminds me that we mature very slowly in God. That life is a marathon. God wants us to run the race “with perseverance” (Hebrews 12:1).  I was once a cross-country runner. I ran for my school and to win the race, I had to pace myself. There were obstacles along the route: five-barred gates and streams. I needed a strategy to ensure I stood some chance of finishing among the leading runners. On one occasion, when competing on unfamiliar territory, some ‘home supp