Nurturing Growth, Encouraging Rest

A woman who did justice

Esther was a young Jewish girl living in Persia in the 5th century BC. Some Jews had returned from exile to Jerusalem but others, like Esther and her cousin Mordecai, were still in exile. They faced threats to their existence from those in power and this is exactly what happens in the book of Esther.

But let’s set the scene. King Ahasuerus relies to a large extent on Haman, who is his right hand man. Esther has entered the royal household as a member of the king’s harem and is participating in a year-long preparation for a beauty contest. She wins the contest and becomes queen. So, although the name of God is never mentioned in the book, we can trace the hand of God right from the beginning as he sets Esther in place, ready to be his instrument for justice in the sinister turn of events which is about to unfold.

Haman, a man who is thirsty for power and recognition, is outraged that Mordecai will not bow down to him and, when he learns that he is a Jew, he manipulates circumstances to make sure that the king issues an edict to exterminate the Jews. Mordecai and all of the other Jews respond with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and many of them lay in sackcloth and ashes Esther 4:3. Eventually Esther hears about Mordecai and, through a series of messages back and forth between them, Mordecai asks Esther to do the unthinkable and approach the king to plead with him on behalf of the Jews, with the immortal words: And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this? Esther 4:14.

To approach the king without being summoned meant instant death unless the king held out his golden sceptre. But there was a greater cause here. As Mordecai puts it: For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Esther 4:14.

Esther’s courage and dependence on God

She asks Mordecai to gather all the Jews in Susa and to fast for three days and three nights. Meanwhile, inside the place, she and her young women will do the same. Then she will go to the king – and she says If I perish, I perish Esther 4:16. Here, although we are not told explicitly that they prayed, it is understood implicitly. Thus we see Esther’s reliance on God first and foremost, before she did anything. We also see her courage in taking on this assignment. Dependence on God and courage are required by people who fight injustice for God.

Esther’s wisdom

In her plans to approach the king with her request, Esther uses wisdom. She takes her time – after her initial approach, when the king extends his sceptre and promises her anything she wants, up to half of his kingdom – she invites the king and Haman to a feast which she has prepared. At the feast, when the king asks what she wants, she says she would like them to come back again tomorrow and she will tell him then – which she does.

The king does not kill Esther and, in a humorous reversal of fortunes, the gallows which Haman had planned to hang Mordecai on are in the end used to hang Haman. The king gives Haman’s house to Esther and he sets Mordecai over the house of Haman.

Esther’s persistence

But of course Esther wants much more than this. She wants justice for all of her people. So again she approaches the king and we are told that she fell at his feet and wept and pleaded with him to avert the evil plan of Haman the Agagite and the plot that he had devised against the Jews Esther 8:3. Again the king extends the sceptre to her and she asks him to revoke the edicts made by Haman against the Jews – which he does.

Thus, Esther is the instrument whom God uses to bring justice for his people.

Fortunes are reversed and the Jews gain mastery over those who hated them. On the day when they were supposed to have been killed, they killed their enemies. The significance of this is enormous because, if all of the Jews had been killed, the story of God’s salvation through Abraham and his descendants would have ended. There would have been no fulfilment in Christ and therefore no birth of the Christian Church. So the story of Esther is not only a story about the Jews but is also part of our Christian heritage.

How can we emulate Esther?

Some of us may be placed by God in situations where he wants us to fight injustice, like Esther did. We will be required to exercise faith, courage, wisdom and persistence as we do it.

Others of us can support those who are on the frontlines in the fight against injustice, with our prayers and other resources. For example, Covid-19 has emphasised the imbalance between rich and poor nations in the world. I have had two vaccines and there are millions of people in other countries who will have to wait until 2022 or even later for theirs. Tearfund currently has a fundraising project to help those living in poorer countries in their fight against Covid-19. That’s one way we can fight injustice.

And all of us are called to act justly. Thomas McComiskey, in his commentary on the Minor Prophets, gives this definition: one gives back what is due and beyond that, as one is able, to deliver the oppressed and to punish the oppressor.

What would that look like?

Perhaps if we think on a global scale, it is playing our part to redress the balance between the rich and poor nations in the world – by the choices we make in what and where we buy things; by the choices we make to recycle our waste; by the choices we make to conserve energy. There are lots of organisations which will help point you in the right direction, but if you are needing some help, Tearfund offers us many options.

And if we think on a personal level, doing justly might mean simply settling a debt, whether that is a debt of money, or a debt of time or work or other resources which you owe someone. Or maybe it’s a debt of forgiveness you owe to someone – something you have been putting off till now. Maybe it’s time to pay that debt.

Where is God calling you to fight injustice?

How is God asking you to do justly?

Do Justice

Sometimes we can struggle with the justice of God. We would rather talk about his love or his grace or even his mercy. We fear his justice.

But, while the cross is evidence of God’s love, it is also evidence of God’s justice: the old hymn ‘Beneath the cross of Jesus’ talks about the cross being the ‘place where heaven’s love and heaven’s justice meet’.

In his justice, God could not overlook our sin. But none of us could deal with it. So, in his love, he gave his only Son who gave his life in order to meet the demands of a God who hates sin – but who loves the sinner. God the just God dealt with our sin.

But God also wants justice for the nations. Jesus was the servant whom Isaiah talks about – God calls him my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights. God sent him to bring forth justice to the nations (Isaiah 42:1).

As CS Lewis says in the Chronicles of Narnia:

Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight. At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more. When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death, and when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.

In the meantime, we as God’s people are called to express God’s justice in the way we live in the world. If justice is important to God, it should be important to us. Sometimes we struggle with this too, because we don’t want to dilute the message of salvation into a message of (merely) social justice.

And yet, throughout history, God’s people have been at the forefront of fighting injustice in God’s world. A number of Christians were involved in the campaign to abolish the slave trade, led by William Wilberforce. The civil rights movement in the US was led by a Baptist minister, Martin Luther King. The Church was involved in opposing the apartheid in South Africa.

Nowadays, we are familiar with organisations like TearFund, Christians Against Poverty, International Justice Mission and many other organisations which fight against poverty, modern day slavery and other forms of injustice today. Rather than diluting the gospel, many Christians involved in these kinds of organisations are being the hands and feet of Jesus as they fight injustice in the world.

Indeed, if we are not involved in good works, our faith is futile. As James says:

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. James 2:14-17

So we as Christians are invited to join God in doing justice in a world which is so often filled with injustice. But what does that look like?

What woman in the Bible can you think of who fought injustice?

Justice, Kindness, Humility

What do justice, kindness and humility have in common? Which of them are traits which you aspire to? Which of them do you admire most in others? Which of them would you say are attributes of God?

They are all found in this verse from Micah, one of the minor prophets in the Bible:

He has told you, O man, (O woman), what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8

Justice, kindness and humility are all attributes of God – and I believe they are also characteristics which the people of God are invited to emulate.

The theme of Micah’s prophecy is judgement and forgiveness. He beautifully balances the divine attributes of justice and mercy and of course in chapter 6:8 he calls the people of God to respond – because although God is coming in judgement, he is offering forgiveness for those who turn to him. How are the people of God to respond to his forgiveness?

Doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly with God are the appropriate responses of God’s people to his redemptive acts.

But what does it mean to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with God?

I recently spoke at a women’s event about this and I thought I would summarise the content here, in case it may be helpful. I don’t know about you, but I can always grasp a truth more easily when I see it illustrated in some way. So let’s look at three women of the Bible who illustrate these three qualities for us.

Can you think of a woman who illustrates doing justice? Who would you choose?

Book review: Is it Abuse?

Domestic abuse is a term which is hard to define. It incorporates domestic violence but it is not limited to domestic violence. It can include emotional abuse, economic abuse, sexual abuse, and/or spiritual abuse.

It is a complicated issue – one which is hard for victims to talk about and one which is hard for others to understand.

Whatever face domestic abuse takes, it is almost always driven by a sense of toxic entitlement.

This long-awaited book is a real treasure for those who care for victims of domestic abuse – and for those who are wondering whether what they are seeing and/or experiencing is actually domestic abuse.

Darby Strickland, who prefers to use the biblical term ‘oppression’, is a biblical counsellor who has a lot of experience of working with women in oppressive marriages. She is well-placed to help us learn to identify domestic abuse and to better understand its impact on its victims – whether women or children.

As well as drawing from her research and experience, Darby gives us questions to help us process the material; inventory questions which we can use to screen for different kinds of abuse; and case studies, exercises and worksheets to train helpers and assist victims.

Chris Moles, who works with domestic abuse perpetrators, says of this book:

The clearest and most complete work on understanding the dynamics and impact of abuse.

If you suspect that you – or someone known to you – may be in an abusive relationship, it is imperative to seek help. Reach out to someone you trust who can help you to find help.

A new milestone

Yesterday, the UK reached what the BBC called ‘a grim milestone in an abnormal year’ -the number of deaths related to Covid-19 is now officially 100,000.

Lord, my mind struggles to take in the depth of suffering on a global scale. I cannot imagine it. The sheer numbers overwhelm me. 100,000 in the UK alone. 2.16 million worldwide. Oh Lord!

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it. Psalm 139:6

Lord, my heart struggles to take in the depth of suffering on an individual level. What each one represents – in terms of suffering, pain, loss, grief – I cannot fathom. I try to imagine what it was like for a NI missionary in Brazil to die there, in the midst of the chaos of the pandemic. Or for an elderly care home resident to pass away, anywhere in the world, without the presence of their loved ones. Or for a young person in a hospital, hooked up to machines, gasping for breath, frightened, slipping away from life, from their hopes and dreams, from their future. Each number is a person. Each one of those 100,000 mattered. Each one of those 2.16 million mattered. Oh Lord!

For you formed their inward parts;
you knitted them together in their mother’s wombs.
Psalm 139:13

Lord, my soul struggles to begin to understand how to hold all of this with what I know of you. On one hand, my soul cries ‘Do you not care?’

“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” Mark 4:38

Lord, on the other hand, I choose to hold on to what I know to be true: yes, you do care.

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. Matthew 10:29-31

So, Lord, with my mind, heart and soul struggling, I cry to you.

Hear my cry, O God,
    listen to my prayer;
from the end of the earth I call to you
    when my heart is faint.
Lead me to the rock
    that is higher than I. Psalm 61:1-2

Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning

On this first day of 2021, I’m thinking about John O’Donohue’s phrase ‘unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning’.

Though your destination is not yet clear

You can trust the promise of this opening;

Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning

That is at one with your life’s desire.

What kinds of things unfurl? A feather unfurls; a flag unfurls; a rose bud unfurls; a leaf unfurls.

I think also of the image of birth. A baby, who has been for 9 months wrapped snugly in his mother’s womb, at the moment of delivery is thrust into the world – and unfurls.

The baby doesn’t understand what’s happening. There is pain involved, discomfort, a sudden change of temperature, noise, a quick gulp of air and a cry. But all of this is necessary for birth. The baby leaves the safe place of the womb and ‘unfurls into the grace of beginning’. A whole new adventure awaits.

So, as we stand at the beginning of 2021, we have left behind a year fraught with difficulty, disappointment, distress and death – and many of us are afraid of what the new year may bring. We don’t sense a spirit of adventure, but rather a fear of the unknown, of what we don’t understand and don’t know.

We are loathe to ‘unfurl ourselves into the grace of beginning’. We are like tightly coiled springs – we have learned to prepare ourselves for bad news. Sense the tension in your body for a moment. Become aware of shoulders held too close to your ears, or tension in your back, or hands or teeth clenched.

How can we ‘unfurl ourselves into the grace of beginning’? The leaf, the rose bud, the baby has no option but to unfurl, if life is going to continue.

As we ‘unfurl ourselves into the grace of beginning’, we can relax our tense bodies, we can rest our weary souls – and take the hand of the only One who knows what is ahead.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;

Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;

Soon you will be at home in a new rhythm,

For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

Four-course meal or just dessert?

Do you read your bible regularly but feel that God isn’t speaking to you? Are you looking for something fresh for the new year? Are you not sure where to start?

Sometimes we just need a plan that is better adapted to our stage of life. A young mother – or anyone who has full-time caring responsibilities – isn’t going to be looking for the same thing as someone with more time on their hands. (A young mother is just hoping to grab a quick McDo rather than a gourmet meal!)

Sometimes we just need a change. Most things – no matter how good – can become dry or monotonous or old if we keep them too long. (To go back to our food analogy, even the most ardent Brussels sprouts lover wouldn’t want them every day of the year!)

The Dwell Scripture Listening App will provide you with a plan to suit you. Whether that is reading the bible in a year or reading through the psalms more slowly, or anything in between, there are all kinds of plans to match your pace, needs and preferences. And you can choose from ten different voices to read to you, with a choice of music in the background as well. This past year, I had David Suchet read me through the bible, with cello and piano in the background!

But now I’m ready for a change – and for me it’s something slower. There’s a case to be made for reading the bible in a year – it provides you with the whole sweep of the bible storyline. (In foodie terms, maybe it’s like enjoying a whole four-course meal at once.)

But there’s also a case to be made for slowing down. This next year I am following the Anglican daily lectionary readings, taking one scripture passage a day and reading it as one would in Lectio Divina – reading over the passage a few times, sitting with it and inviting God to speak to me through it. (This method is more like taking the time to savour the soup – or lingering over the dessert.)

So think about your needs, your time, your stage of life, your preferences – and choose something accordingly.

And, whatever you do, enjoy your meal!

Can we bring good out of 2020?

If ever a word has been overused in a year, it’s been the word ‘unprecedented’ in 2020.

Meaning ‘never done or known before’, it has been attached to all sorts of events and experiences this year.

The exhaustion of unprecedented times

As Advent draws to a close, we think of how so many events and experiences that first Advent were unprecedented as well. From a virgin conceiving, to a King being laid in a manger, to hosts of angels appearing to shepherds in the fields at night – it all sounds like something unprecedented.

The unprecedented nature of this year has left most of us exhausted. Our minds are whirling to take in constantly changing information and to keep up with new rules and restrictions. Our emotions are in overdrive as we deal with loss, disappointment, frustration, anger, grief, fear, anxiety.

How did Mary keep up with all that was going on? Was she carried along in the whirl of it all? Did she ever wish she hadn’t been chosen to deliver the Messiah? Did she feel exhausted from the unsought attention which focussed on her and her baby, not to mention the physical exhaustion of delivering a baby after such a long journey?

We read more than once that Mary ‘treasured up all these things’ and pondered them ‘in her heart’ (Luke 2:19,51). Unlike the word ‘unprecedented’, the word ‘ponder’ is not one we use a lot these days but it means to ‘think about (something) carefully’. Similarly, the word ‘treasure’ means to ‘keep carefully’ or to ‘value highly’.

Precedented practices in unprecedented times

In these days – or weeks – of lockdown and restrictions for many of us, we have the gift of the time and space to ‘ponder’ and to ‘treasure’. Those of us in N.Ireland are facing 6 weeks of lockdown beginning on 26 December, including very strict regulations for the first week. How can we make the most of that time?

I don’t know about you, but in these unprecedented times, I find comfort in some of the precedented ways of cultivating our faith – what we call spiritual practices. Here is a suggestion for one way to ‘ponder’ the past year, to try to look for the good in it.

Steve Smith from The Potter’s Inn has compiled The Great Annual Examen – ‘an invitation to integrate all that has happened this past year in your life and to assimilate and to evaluate, to discard, to let go, to empty your hands so that you can fully reach forward into the New Year’. It is based on the Ignatian practice of the prayer of examen, which many people use daily as a way of praying through their day, asking God to pause them at moments which he wants them to notice.

Steve has written The Great Annual Examen to help us to do the same thing as we look back over a year. It encourages us to look at the year under 5 different categories: physical, emotional, vocational, relational and spiritual.

If that sounds like something you would like to do, click on the link and download The Great Annual Examen, free of charge. Allow yourself time to do it – Steve suggests you may like to take one category at a time; or you may like to take a whole day to complete the whole thing. You can hear Steve talk about it in podcast here.

‘Reflection is the antidote to exhaustion’

Steve Smith

Change, change, change

Disappointed. Angry. Stoical. Relieved. Critical. Confused. Philosophical. Thankful.

Our emotions have probably changed as often as the rules in the run up to Christmas. As I read social media, I see friends who are bitterly disappointed at not being able to have their loved ones round the table. I see others who are thankful they have a table and are reminding us of those less fortunate. And then there are all the others in between – and most of us are probably swinging from from one end of the spectrum to the other, which is what makes this all so exhausting.

As I try to deal with the roller coaster of my own emotions, two things have been helpful this weekend. One is the honesty of Andrew Roycroft’s poem ‘Bethlehem Zero’ which compares our difficulties with those of the first Advent:

This year none of the pieces are in place,
no finishing touch,
just the rush,
headlong,
to make the best of things –
more make-do, than make-believe,
a clambering to retrieve
family under one roof,
to pluck some safety from the dragon’s teeth,
to make a place for joy again,
long looked for after labour pains,
the grace to hold our griefs
in one hand,
and with the other, just hold on.

This year has no precedent,
just more numbers from the government,
just more bitterness of argument,
sick hearts retching on hope deferred,
reading tight between the lines
for a Word
that might flare across the firmament
and speak deliverance.

But this year, we have made the best of things,
found shelter here against the odds,
adapted what has come to hand
rested in the grander plan
that underwrites this circumstance,
sees grace instead of blinded chance,
and lays in this manger ark
the Best beside the worst,
the Light amidst the dark,
the King among the filth.
And Mary cradles at her breast
the head of one who from obscurity
will carry heaven’s destiny
through thorn to crown,
dandles with her hand the heel
that, promised from eternity,
will crush King Death into the ground.

This year, we have no normal,
new or old,
but a different day,
a dawn,
a moment long foretold,
now here,
this year.

The second thing that helped me was the epilogue which Rev David Bruce gave at the end of the New Irish concert on Saturday. David scanned the storyline of the Bible, illustrating the desire which God has had from the beginning to be with us. Using examples from Genesis to Revelation, David talked about God’s promises throughout Scripture to ‘be with’ his people, ending each example with a phrase ‘it’s all he ever wanted’. And of course this desire culminated in the Incarnation, when Immanuel came to ‘be with’ us.

It’s not too late to hear David’s talk and indeed to listen to the whole wonderful New Irish Arts concert – get a ticket here and you can keep listening to it until 26 December. It will encourage you and uplift you.

As we all experience our own emotions this Christmas, let’s allow one another to process them in the way and at the pace that is most helpful to us. And let’s encourage one another to remember that, while loved ones may not be round the table with us, Jesus is.

Immanuel. God with us. It’s all he ever wanted.

The immensity of Christmas

It’s the fourth Sunday of Advent and we are preoccupied with plans which are constantly changing, based on current Covid-19 restrictions where we live. Christmas as we once knew it has been stripped away and we are left with…..what?

I have added Mary to our nativity scene this morning – this year I have decorated incrementally, in an effort to mirror the sense of anticipation during that first Advent. So here is Mary – what did that first Advent mean to her?

This beautiful poem called Annunciation was written by John Donne and expresses better than I ever could some of the mysteries of the incarnation:

Salvation to all that will is nigh;
That All, which always is all everywhere,
Which cannot sin, and yet all sins must bear,
Which cannot die, yet cannot choose but die,
Lo, faithful virgin, yields Himself to lie
In prison, in thy womb; and though He there
Can take no sin, nor thou give, yet He will wear,
Taken from thence, flesh, which death’s force may try.
Ere by the spheres time was created, thou
Wast in His mind, who is thy Son and Brother;
Whom thou conceivst, conceived; yea thou art now
Thy Maker’s maker, and thy Father’s mother;
Thou hast light in dark, and shutst in little room,
Immensity cloistered in thy dear womb.

Mary became ‘her Maker’s maker’ and her ‘Father’s mother’. She had Immensity ‘cloistered’ in her womb. What a mystery. However our experience of Christmas is diminished this year, this mystery remains intact, immense, immeasurable.