… Which reminds me of a great Jim Wallis quote re the resurrection, my paraphrase … the resurrection was an act of civil disobedience in that the Roman seal on the tomb was broken by someone other than the appropriate Roman official – this act was punishable by death, therefore the resurrection was an act of civil disobedience punishable by death!

… there’s a radical thought for lent!

dave

Walk to Jerusalem (extract)
Gerard Hughes

“The source of most pain is in the conflict between the reality we would like to encounter and the reality in which we find ourselves, in our inability to shape reality to our own requirements. Yet the obdurate quality of reality, its refusal to be shaped to our demands, is a blessing., because it forces us out of the prison of our own conditioning, our narrowness, and frees us from the grooves of our habitual thinking. The raising of Lazarus is not only telling of a physical miracle performed two thousand years ago, it is describing a present reality for all of us. The God who raised Lazarus is the God now holding us in being. He is constantly saying, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will never die.” And he constantly calling each of us by name and saying “Arise, come forth.”He calls us through the facts in which we find ourselves. Every situation is an invitation to arise out of our imprisoning tomb and walk into freedom. Our problem is our love of the tomb, our preference for the familiar, our fear of freedom and terror at change. In pain, fear, anxiety and failure, perhaps especially in those states, we need to ask, “What is God saying to me through this?” Even in the darkness of despair, if we feel life is no longer worth living, we have to ask what the darkness is saying. God is not saying, “Take your own life,” but he is saying, “Your present way of life is intolerable. Change it and live.”

Trouble for me is I suspect that even if I committed to the idea of going for a walk each week (as Clare suggests) to commune with the Almighty it could become just as fettered – it seems to me the defining, constucting, limiting, knowing, organising, controlling, rota…ing etc etc of ‘God experience’ often leads to a sense that he has left the building!

Think I find Him in the surprising places, in mystery, in good questions, in a lot of people, certainly in service of others and service from others, in risk, in play and especially when ever I touch on love.

Went to a friends funeral this week (with Jon and Claire) and was moved to tears by a powerful spiritual experience (in a church building!) – guess what struck me was the honesty, love, art, happiness, people, good memories.. etc that Jan left behind – it was so moving to hear such lovely facets of her Godlyness… Miss her xx

i too struggle to find god in the formal construct of the ’service’… that’s probably my problem, but even so, i feel less and less willing to do the ‘church’ thing. i find myself suffering from all the opposites of what dave’s beautiful words are about. i want to be outside, unfettered, enjoying god in the creation and in my own creativity. i think that’s what i’m supposed to do, even though convention says otherwise.
one day maybe i’ll do something like walk the camino… but in all honesty, i still think i’ve achieved a lot when i make into and back from the city centre. so it feels like i still have a way to go.

By the way, I so envy you your sabbatical experience. I have, for many years, wanted to walk the Camino. I now fear I may, at worst, ’shuffle off this mortal coil’ before I get the chance or, at best, shuffle on a couple of plastic hips…