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June
June
Reflections from the Glebe House
“I was just thinking...
...joy changes everything”
The well-known children’s hymn goes: “I’ve got that joy, joy, joy, joy deep in my heart” but as we look around us at the state of world, often it seems joy is in very short supply. Wars in Iran, Ukraine and the Middle East, infighting and turmoil in politics, rising costs of living putting a squeeze on everyone, and not to mention the rain and cold we are still getting in May, means that often maybe we feel discouraged and pessimistic rather than joyful, and that’s even before we think about our own issues and problems which can weigh us down considerably! Faith, joy and hope are required in order to penetrate the gloom caused by depressing events, and maybe as Christians, we have a valuable gift here that we can offer to our world.
When I look back over my life, I can think of several occasions in which the joy of people around me has both challenged me and invited me to change. It was the joy of Christians praising God in a concert that convinced me that God was real and led to me accepting him into my life as a teenager; and a few years later, again, it was the joy and reality of Christians who I knew had something I didn’t have but desired that led to me asking to be filled with the Holy Spirit and be propelled out into ministry. Joy, in a sense, is infectious; it lights up the room and makes people want what they feel they haven’t got, at least that has been my experience.
And we are an Easter people! As Samuel Shoemaker says: “The sweet mark of a Christian is not faith, or even love, but joy.” This joy is different to happiness. Happiness depends upon our circumstances; joy is constant because it comes from a relationship with Jesus and remains with us whatever we go through. If you are a Christian you do have the joy of the Lord in your life through his presence with you: a wonderful gift to us and our world!
I love that hymn: “Count your blessings” and maybe concentrating on all we have in Christ and also all the blessings he gives us is an attitude we should develop to lift our spirits and help us be those infectious people that make others want to be around us and discover what we have. I realise that this comes much more naturally to certain personality types, but can we maybe pray that Joy becomes the hallmark of both our individual lives and also the life of our church, and determine to concentrate, not on what is happening to us and around us, but rather in who we are in Christ and all the good things he is doing in us.
So will you join me in praying that at Carnmoney we are known as a joyful, hopeful people? The following is a prayer used recently on Lectio 365, which I have begun to pray daily. Please join me in praying this prayer regularly over the coming year:
“Holy Spirit, fill my mouth with laughter and my lips with rejoicing.
Let the joy of the Lord be my strength, this day and every day.
Let the peace and the delight of your presence change every bit of my day today.
Beam on me with love and let my life be like radiant sunshine to all who I meet.
Amen.
Andy
Rev. Andy Heber
Rev. Carol Harvey and Harry
May
May
Dear Parishioners,
“Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord…
They will be like a tree planted by the water…
it never fails to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-8
Here we are into May and the weather is beginning to get a little warmer. This is a relief to us all given the price of oil! But let’s put those negative thoughts behind us and rejoice as we witness the world around us beginning to blossom and the grey winter landscape - hallelujah - in technicolour!
Trees once bare now stretch out bright green leaves, and yes, the May is out - we can cast a clout! (that’s your winter undergarments for those too young to know!). Gardens burst into life, and longer days invite us outdoors. There is something joyfully hopeful about this time of year - a sense that new beginnings are not only possible, but already unfolding.
For many of us, May feels like a deep breath after the long journey through winter and early spring. It is a season that reminds us how faithful God is, as season follows season. I cut back a large peony tree a few months ago; it was bare and desolate looking with stark branches reaching heavenwards. This week, I looked at it to see greenery bursting out of those branches - every day there was more! Seeds planted months ago finally push through the barren looking earth. Isn’t nature wonderful!
You know, when you think of it, our spiritual lives can be a bit like that. Sometimes our spiritual life may feel a bit barren - it’s not bearing fruit. Sometimes we feel like those stark branches reaching up and longing for that new growth. What can we do? May is a good time to ask yourself - what seeds has God planted in my life? What quiet growth is happening beneath the surface? How can I feed that spiritual need, quench that spiritual thirst? Taking time to be quiet, spending time, just you and God - that’s a great way to start. Take advantage of the quiet day we are having this month. If we get booked out we can reserve another day! This is your opportunity to water what God has already planted. You know that growth will produce such wonderful fruit in you, fruit that can be seen as you experience and acknowledge the love of God and pass it on through your connections. Yes, May is a season of connection. A friendly chat over the fence as you tend your garden, a connection in the park as you comment on the beauty of creation. Community grows the same way your garden grows - through attention, patience and love. So we welcome newcomers warmly, maybe an invitation to have a cuppa together, a simple phone call asking how someone is doing can be a powerful act of care. So check in on those who are vulnerable or sick. Be a wheelbarrow for your neighbour in need - help carry his burdens. And after all that, don’t forget to be grateful.
We have so much to be grateful for, and gratitude changes how we see the world. When we recognise the gifts that God has given us, it transforms the ordinary. We take notice of the little things and the painting before us, all around us - our life - is no longer ordinary but extraordinary - from sepia to technicolour! Dear friends I wish you a multicoloured May time.
God bless,
Carol
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