News

News

Reflection May 2020

 

Faith doesn’t have to be complicated - Reflection for May

 

Pamela Scott DCS

 

 

 

I don’t often get a chance to watch films due to evening meetings etc but during this time of Lockdown, if there is nothing worth watching on the TV (Let’s face it, that is most evenings!), then my husband and I will watch a film on Amazon Prime.  It was common practice that we always chose comedies as that was one genre we agreed on but as the time has gone on we watch many different films and enjoy most of them.  Last night we chose one called ‘Andy’s Rainbow’, I would advise if you get a chance to watch it, please do…it brought several, much-needed, tears to my eyes.

 

 

 

Without giving too much away it is about a young man, who has Special Needs and stays in a care home, and a young lady called Rayne, who has had a difficult upbringing and is undertaking community service at the home.  While she is working there, her and Andy strike up a friendship and during their time together finds in Andy a caring, thoughtful sole of deep, get simple faith.  He also has had a difficult life but sees the good in everyone, constantly looks at a children’s book about Noah and tells Rayne about Jesus and how everyone should be his friend.

 

 

 

As the film progressed, Andy told Rayne that he wasn’t frightened of going ‘HOME’ as he would meet his family who also had Jesus as their friend.  He was obsessed by rainbows and assured her that a rainbow was God’s promise that although things will be hard, God is always there to walk with you and help you cope.

 

 

 

As I have reflected on this film, I realise that we often try to complicate faith.  I personally spent seven years training to be a deacon.  We study, which isn’t bad in itself, but may make us then overcomplicate faith.  In Mark 10: 14-15, Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not stop them, because the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  I assure you that whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”

 

 

 

Faith is not mainly intellectual.  It is a childlike act of trusting in Jesus.  The Christian faith is not contained in volumes of theology books or complex religious rules.  It is just the simple reality that “Jesus loves me; this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong; they are weak but he is strong.”

 

 

 

It really is that simple.

 

Amen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reflection April 2020

 

How did Jesus feel during Holy Week?

 

Pamela Scott DCS

 

 

 

Since we are now in Holy Week, I have been concentrating my reading around the final week of Jesus’ life.  It is a story, which is so vital to our faith and one we know so well.  That week from Palm Sunday, the triumphal entry of Jesus riding on a donkey into Jerusalem.  I time where we can only imagine the scene, the noise, the exclamations of ‘Hosana’, the crowds watching this joyous occasion.  This leads on to the scene of Jesus being disgusted by the moneychangers and the merchants in the temple.  Yet again there would be crowds of people creating lots of noise.  Moving on to the scene where Jesus is with many friends and others enjoying a meal, during this meal a woman breaks open a bottle of Nard and pours it on his head.  At this meal there were many people, chatting, laughing, having a cheerful time.  We move on to the Thursday, known as Maundy Thursday, when Jesus celebrates the Passover meal with the 12 disciples.  The conversation became a bit more serious with Jesus explaining he would be betrayed, maybe some chatter to begin with, then quiet contemplation.  Then in the garden of Gethsemane, a place that Jesus should have been surrounded by his close friends but when he took Peter, James and John with him to pray they couldn’t even stay awake.  All he wanted was some support, he knew what was going to happen, he knew he would have to go through it alone so all he wanted was for them to keep watch while he prayed.  Jesus was then arrested, mocked, spat on, humiliated and much worse and during that time there was no-one he knew and trusted.  He was on his own when they crucified him.

 

 

 

I think about how Jesus went from being surrounded by many people he knew and trusted to being on his own.  In a way this is how many of us are feeling just now.  We used to be surrounded by people we know and trust, people we saw every day, every few days, every week, to being in a state of isolation.  Some being lucky to have family members in the same house others being completely on their own, almost feeling abandoned.  If we are lucky to get out, we may see others at a distance, through a window or over a fence but there is still that sense of being on your own.  This may give us a small insight into how Jesus was feeling.

 

 

 

We are fortunate that we do not have to go through what Jesus had to for us.  We do not have to die on a cross…he did!!!

 

 

 

We will come out the other side, we will be able to meet our family and friends, give them a hug.  In a way that is what happened on that first Easter morning, when Jesus rose from the dead to be with his friends again.  He could have meals with them, talk with them and journey with them.

 

 

 

What we have to remember is that in this time of difficulty, when we can’t meet who we would want to meet, talk face to face with those we want to, we have Jesus with us.  We may feel isolated from our family and friends, but He is there, always wanting to hear from us, always holding our hand, always surrounding us with his love. 

 

 

 

May we always know the peace of Christ.

 

March 2020 Reflection

 

Spiritual and Physical Darkness

 

Pamela Scott DCS 

 

My husband and I were given a present at Christmas of three hyacinth bulbs, compost and a plant pot.  The compost was added to the pot and then the hyacinth bulbs were planted.  The instruction was to place the pot in a dark place for ten weeks.  The darkest place we have was the loft, so duly it was put there for ten weeks.  

For many people we can feel at times that we have been put in the dark, away from all that is familiar, hidden from out family, friends and God.  Maybe even at this time when we have been instructed to stay home, stay away from work, school, friends, family and church, we feel like we are in the dark, we have been abandoned, we are in a spiritual and physical wilderness.  What do we do to bring about some sense of normality, after all there are only so many times we can clean out cupboards.  How do we cope?

 

Maybe like the hyacinth bulbs we just have to wait on the Lord. 

 

Two days ago, the hyacinth bulbs were removed from the loft.  They had grown.  They may have been pale, but they were strong.  To our eyes the loft is dark, but there must have been some light in that darkness that allowed them to grow the way they did.  We might feel we are hidden from God but as we read in Psalm 139, verses 11 and 12, we certainly are not,          

 

‘If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me  

and the light become night around me,”  

even the darkness will not be dark, to you;  

the night will shine like the day,  

for darkness is as light to you. 

 

We definitely are not hidden, God sees our needs, our concerns, our worries and the things that cause us anxiety. 

 

Whatever we go through, led God lead us, and one way to do that is pray.  Let him know exactly how you are feeling.  With God having such a loving nature, he will understand and help us through. 

 

God Bless you all. 

 

(P.S.  The leaves of the hyacinths are now a vibrant green and the flowers are a deep purple.)

 

February 2020 Reflection

 

Pamela Scott – Deacon 

It was my mum’s 70th birthday at the beginning of February.  I wracked my brains to try and get her something that was special and meant something to her.  I suddenly had a brainwave, remember her favourite poem is “Footprints in the Sand” by Mary Stevenson, so I got a copy framed for her.  The poem is as follows: 

 

One night I dreamed a dream. 

As I was walking along the beach with my Lord. 

Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life. 

For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, 

One belonging to me and one to my Lord. 

 

After the last scene of my life flashed before me, 

I looked back at the footprints in the sand. 

I noticed that at many times along the path of my life, 

especially at the very lowest and saddest times, 

there was only one set of footprints. 

 

This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it. 

"Lord, you said once I decided to follow you, 

You'd walk with me all the way. 

But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life, 

there was only one set of footprints.

 

I don't understand why, when I needed You the most, You would leave me." 

He whispered, "My precious child, I love you and will never leave you 

Never, ever, during your trials and testings. 

When you saw only one set of footprints, 

It was then that I carried you." 

 

 

It got me thinking about how God is always there to help us during all the difficult times in life, but there are others who can help us too.  Disciples of Christ.  We often think disciples were those men and women that followed Jesus while he was here on Earth.  However, we are all disciples following in the footsteps of those who went before us in faith. 

 

I remember one day several years ago, as a family, we were walking along the beach as we often did when the kids were younger.  My husband was walking ahead with our daughter and I noticed my son was following his dad, he stretched his legs so that he could step into his dad footprints.  Once Gary noticed he took smaller steps so that he could more easily allow his feet to fall into his dad’s footprints.  This is a picture that speaks to me about discipleship.  In our faith we always follow in someone’s footsteps.  It may be a parent, teacher or a hero we have read or heard about – none of us are the first to tread the path of faith.  We also leave footprints for others to follow, footsteps that will guide others.  It may be a child, a friend or a recent Christian.  Whoever it may be we should never allow them to walk alone. 

 

So let bless others and be true disciples of Christ. 

 

‘All people will know that you are my followers if you love each other.’  John 13:35

 

 

 

Subcategories

Site Search

Useful Articles