Author: admin

There is a persistent lie that says we are beyond the love of God. We write poetry and cry from our hearts in our fear that we have acted beyond the mercy of God, only to be reminded day after day God’s mercy and love for us extends beyond our wildest of imaginations. God does not abandon us to darkness.

I tell myself my future is lost,
All that I hoped for from the Lord.
The thought of my affliction and homelessness is wormwood and gall;
Remembering it over and over
leaves my soul downcast within me.
But I will call this to mind,
As my reason to have hope
The favours of the Lord are not exhausted, His mercies are not spent;
They are renewed each morning, So great is his faithfulness.
My portion is the Lord, says my soul; therefore will I hope in him.

Lamentations 3:17-26

There are days when the question, “How Long?” wears heavily in our souls. There are days when this question can seem to be the only question left to ask, with an answer that feels far away or impossible. God meets us in this question and we don’t need to be afraid to ask the question on our hearts. It is okay to tell God how long we have waited. God, give us the strength to wait for the answer that rests in our hearts. Give us the courage to continue to wait with hope.

Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhage for twelve years; and though she had spent all she had on physicians, no one could cure her. She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his clothes, and immediately her hemorrhage stopped. Then Jesus asked, ‘Who touched me?’ When all denied it, Peter said, ‘Master, the crowds surround you and press in on you.’ But Jesus said, ‘Someone touched me; for I noticed that power had gone out from me.’ When the woman saw that she could not remain hidden, she came trembling; and falling down before him, she declared in the presence of all the people why she had touched him, and how she had been immediately healed. He said to her, ‘Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace.

Luke 8:43-48

When I must depart one day, do not depart from me. We practice and learn how to trust God with our lives, in small and ordinary acts everyday. These choices, when we allow ourselves to see God’s faithfulness helps us to also trust God in death. To trust that when we depart, God does not depart from us. Or from those we love. But that the one who was faithful in life remains faithful in death.

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord”

Romans 8:38-39

Success in the world can leave us empty. When we have gained everything but lost ourselves, our relationship with our God and the love that connects us to all creation, we find ourselves wanting more. Everything we have and can gain, is a blessing to serve the love we were made from and made for.

We may not always or even often turn to God in prayer or with the actions of our lives and intentions of our hearts, but God’s love is always active beyond our silence.

For God alone my soul waits in silence

Psalm 62:5

God hears our cries and prayers as we ask for faith through doubt, healing in pain and forgiveness for when we have forgotten God’s love. May we always turn to our God when lost and afraid, trusting in God’s ways and in the Spirit of Christ that seeks us out when we are lost, confused and overwhelmed.

‘I believe; help my unbelief!’

Mark 9:24

“Agape” is a particular form of love, the kind of love God has for creation, an unconditional and gracious love. How do we live in that love? How have we walked away from it? Do we know ourselves to be a part of the God of love or do we feel distant from it?

For you are all children of the light and of the day; we don’t belong to darkness and night

1 Thessalonians 5:5

“Arise and Shine” was the call of Advent, as we anticipated God who has come into the world. All too often we have fallen asleep, complacent in the world and weary of the works of justice and mercy we are called to. The almost lullaby nature of the song calls this to mind.

The refrain “Stop, Listen, Feel, Believe all your lives” recalls us to the light we celebrate in faith.

Be still, and know that I am God

Psalm 46:10