a prayer for serena

My wonderful mother-in-law passed away two weeks ago. i was honoured to be asked to pray for her at her funeral service. Many people were kind enough to thank me for 'my' words. so i thought others might find the words helpful too:

Heavenly Father,
We come before you to say 'thank you'.
Thank you for the life of Serena.
Sister, Mum, Granny, Auntie, Friend... and so much more.
You gave her as a gift to us, and so reluctantly
we give her back to You.

Look after her, Lord.
In our eyes she deserves the best.
We commend her to your safekeeping
trusting in the grace, love and mercy of Jesus,
the judge of all.
Amen.

Help us Lord, as we look to live life without her.
Strengthen those who's loss is felt so deeply.
Help us to keep her memory alive in our hearts;
each act of kindness
each show of love
each sparkling smile and infectious laugh.

We will miss her.
But we thank You that for a little while
we were graced with the presence of one who,
in so many ways,
reflected Your own wonderful character.

May we now go on to remember her and respect her memory
by living our lives likewise,
that this world might become a better place,
To the praise and honour of Your name, Jesus,
Amen

what chance?

of Wales beating Austalia today?

of to the rugby world cup match in cardif. Can't believe i have a ticket - God the gracious (via my friend nick) has come up trumps again.

A poem?

Tim @ eholiness blogged about noticing the bees early yesterday morning. It reminded me of a poem that evokes the same sort of feeeling. its a bit corny, but i like it!

the little cares that fretted me

i lost them yesterday

out in the fields above the sea

among the winds at play

among the lowing of the herds

the swaying of the trees

among the singing of the birds

the buzzing of the bees.

these foolish fears of what might pass

i lost them yesterday

out in the clover scented grass

among the new mown hay

among the swaying of the corn

where idle poppies nod

where ill thoughts die and good are born

out in the fields with God!

Easter or Spring?

It's awesome the way God seems to have orchestrated Easter to coincide with the onset of Spring! (well for us in Western Europe at least!) Spring has the same message as Easter. Life is possible out of seeming death.
It' a beautiful day here, and I've just seen the first Swallow of the year. He (or she) has just flown in from Africa, possibly even The Cape where we spent part of our winter. he comes here 'by instinct' - God has put a knid of homing device within him. He is here because he expects to find warmth, life, food, growth and reproduction. All that and more is what Jesus had in mind for us as he suffered the brutality of his death, his darkest hour, his winter.

The swallow expects his Spring, he flies a few thousand miles to find it, God lays it on plate for him. The quesion is, are we expecting to find our Spring? We, like the swallow instinctively know where to find it. Are we willing for the journey? If we go we can be sure Spring will be there, for the Good God , Jesus himself, has laid it on.. a cross.

Has Woody Allen been reincarnated?

Reading Donald Miller, Blue Like Jazz for the second time (got to the end first time round and decided i just had to go back and highlight all the 'cool' things he says!) he is like a Christian Woody Allen - all angst and introspection - but not just about girls, about most things in life, especially his Christian faith. Some seriously funny bits, so be warned. he is a new breed of Christian writers, like Rob Bell, who are sort of re-defining the Christian Faith for this generation. So much of what they say resonates with me. It is not so much that they deconstruct the previous Christian worldview, which is fairly obvious and easy for anyone, it is that they write from their own experiences and from their own hearts about why that worldview (or perhaps churchview) does not work for them. They then paint a picture of what the way of Jesus looks like to them.

Miller writes from the experiences of his friendships, and disarmingly passes on his friends wisdom, as if he hasn't got his own views. But he has, and they are 'beautiful' as he would say. Oh, and he doesn't want to talk about 'Christianity' anymore 'because what does that mean anyway?' he wants to talk about 'Christian Spirituality' - Whatever term he uses, let him, he does it so charmingly in a way you want to go with him, even if he is a bit 'flaky and all'.

WHAT is it like to live in African poverty?

Just been to South Africa and had to think through what it must mean for the millions of Black 'peasants' living in sub human conditions alongside people (myself included, for 3 weeks) who 'have it all' and some. it was helpful to hear this track which Bob harris played on his Saturday night show. its called "living like a refugee aint easy", by the Sierra Leone's Refugee allstars. worth a listen.
SIERRA LEONE'S REFUGEE ALL STARS - a documentary film

What about a new years resolution?

first blog of the year.
not sure if i have got anything to say really.
well at least i got started.