Renew Your Mind

In the Upper Room, hours before his arrest and with the knowledge of what was to come weighing heavily upon him, Jesus speaks to His Father. He speaks private, passionate words but he does not speak them privately, as he has done in the past when he has withdrawn to spend time alone with his Father. These were spoken at the table, for the disciples to hear, and John records them in his gospel. Is he sharing with his closest friends a glimpse of what his suffering will make possible- a relationship with God as Father? "Father, the hour has come.... I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, ...

The journey of Holy Week is rich in resonance- in the path Jesus travels we hear the footsteps of Adam, of Moses, of Rahab, of David.... "After Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the Kidron valley to a place where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, because Jesus often met there with his disciples. So Judas brought a detachment of soldiers together with the police from the chief priests and the Pharisees, and they came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. Then Jesus, knowing all that was to happen to him, came forward and asked them, 'For whom are you looking?' " John 18: 1-4 The first betrayal happened in a garden. It was the act that sent man and woman out of Eden on their journey, seeking a way back home. And now it is again in a garden, a place pregnant with the promise of rest, renewal and life, that death is traded instead. God creates us with fre...

Stephen Cherry writes this: Untie my Depths My mind is still, my body is at rest; you are my desire But I am alone; alone with a knot- a knot in my depths. A tight, congested inner tangle, I would love to tease it out. I pull a strand, the whole know tightens. I leave it alone. It does not go aways. I raise my feelings to my throat, the energy is caught below, I raise my thoughts high in my head, they are anchored to the knot. What is this multi-threaded mass? Who or what makes it rest here? It drags me down, seals me within, constricts my soul. Disentangle me, Lord. Unpick my inner knot. Unravel my complexity. Unweave my deepest confusion. Untwist the channels of spirit within. Pull apart the strands. Prune the nuisance strings. See my spiritual sclerosis and soften, soften, soften. Stretch me from without. Bless me from above. Breathe your Spirit through me and, by your mercy, untie my depths. Stephen Cherry 'Barefoot Prayers- A medit...

And so it begins...this week we walk in the steps of Jesus, on his final journey towards the Cross. His journey has been heading relentlessly towards Jerusalem- towards a clash between the Kingdom of God and the powers of this world. This was never going to be a straightforward journey- from the moment that Jesus turned away from the temptations of the Devil to make it easy, to take the smooth highway of popularity and power. On this day, we long for it to be simple, so we give branches to the children to wave, and palm crosses for the old folks to tuck into their bibles, and we sing Hosanna! But when we read the accounts of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, it's not such a simple story. He rides on a colt, a young donkey, hardly the steed of a conquerer-in fact, could this not have looked foolish? And Luke writes that as the crowds around him waved their branches and sang psalms of praise, Jesus himself wept: "The whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God jo...

Hebrews 12:1-3 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. We have been on a great journey, through the pages of the Bible almost from beginning to end. We have shared journeys of national importance, and private, personal travel. And we have seen that most journeys are complex things, more than a straightforward movement forward, but usually holding in tension excitement and fear, promise and challenge, good news and bad. And now, surrounded by this great crowd of witnesses, we stand on the brink of the Last Journey- as we fix our eyes o...