loved – Aspirational Adventures

Today at church we were pondering Psalm Sunday. After I had given a talk at youth group last Sunday about how Jesus turned his friends and followers heads regarding the Passover at the Last Supper he shared with his friends. I ended it by saying how we have to be careful not to get caught in just going through the motions with our services. So I thought I ought to be listening today for a new revelation.

Firstly, as we know as Jesus came in through one gate into Jerusalem Pontius Pilate and the might of the Roman army came in through the other. The Romans were expecting trouble. They knew about Jesus. They knew something was going on. They would have heard the followers cheering and shouting because the city wasn’t as big as our cities. It was probably the size of a small town. But also as we realise at Jesus’s trial, there had only just been an insurrection led by Barabbas where people had been killed. Probably Romans! So Pilate was prepared. I wonder too if he was miffed because Jesus had attracted the crowd he was expecting?

Roman had come in to take charge. But Jesus had other plans. He was going to let go of there needing to anyone in charge.

One of the questions our preacher this morning asked was “how does one see governments?” and people shouted out the negatives – warmongers, greedy, untrustworthy. But I think we also like government. I think we like the order it brings, how in the good time it brings stability, rules, security, as well as, in Europe schools, hospitals, Police, fire services, etc. We know what to expect from our govenments on the whole, and most of the time here in the Western world we can march [as with the American #nokings marches] and mainly get away without coming to harm.

But what does Jesus bring? Well he brings freedom but with freedom comes choice and choice leaves space for disagreement, for disorder, for chaos, for uncertainty.

To have to forgive each other and ourselves, and God and circumstances, is hard work. It is easier to blame, to pity, to take control. It is why we like our churches to have leaders, to have wardens, to have regular ordered services, to know what to expect and what is going to happen. I don’t think Jesus is like that. As with the Passover supper he goes and does the unexpected – from saying that a specific piece of bread is his body to washing his disciples feet, something a rabbi would never do – he turns things upside down.

Also unconditional love, as well as giving security and confidence to those who grasp it, also leaves the door open to do the unexpected, to give things a shake because we know God loves us even if we make a mistake.

The whole Jesus, unconditional love, forgiveness, I think, can make people feel unsure, confused, and in need of some order they can recognise. I also think that’s why there is so much talk of doing rather than being in Christian circles. It is much easier to search for the right job/ministry/place to live/person to live with etc than it is to step out into the world not knowing where we are going and what we are doing, Yet we can do this when we know we are fully forgiven again and again and again because we are love unconditionally by the Creator of the Whole Universe. It was this Creator who became human to show us how much we are loved and forgiven and to reunite us with these truths of what we were created for; to love and be loved, to forgive and be forgiven.

So let’s start living as free, forgiven, loved people and stop trying to “get it right”.

What Would You Unite For?

On the last day I drove my car [even though I didn’t at that time know it was the last day] I went to see a matinee of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. It is story I’ve got a lot of affinity with because I read it many times to my children when they were little and then played Mrs Beaver in a Bath City Church version twelve years ago.

The musical is great, though challenging at the beginning because the Pevensie children are all played by actors with dark skins which got me thinking about how that could have been possible. We’ve all just assumed they were white. Although it does say Lucy has fair hair so …. But it is good to be challenged to rethink what we’ve just taken for granted.

From the musical came a few questions I’ve been pondering. One of which relates back to the Unite marches and the division that could be seen there.

There is a point in it that they talk of Freedom from the White Witch. The White Witch is seen as bad because she makes it “winter but never Christmas”. But interestingly she has a large following who don’t seem to be following her through fear but for other reasons we never get to know.

I wonder, if we really talked to those people on the marches, instead of just presuming we know what they think, but get allowed to look through their Truth window what we would really see.

Over the weekend we chatted with some lovely friends and we got on to the empowered/powerless talk and the “why don’t they just get a job?”. We are all educated, all well read, all reasonably confident. We’ve all been willing to get on and do and we see our kids getting on and doing. Theirs are 10 years younger but still you can see how they deal with life. My daughter is going through a tough time at the moment but she is proactive and walking through it. They, and we, are all empowered people. We would all probably unite behind someone who would give everyone their freedom, support all, bring everyone “up” in the world.

Yet I look at a friend’s family who are addicts, keep getting in trouble with the Police, keep waiting for someone to help them up but are not able to do it themselves. They are, for whatever reason, powerless. I could see them uniting around someone who would tell them they are in the situation they are in because it is someone else’s fault.

But then on Sunday I went back to church for the first time in ages [I have popped in and out but this felt like a coming back] and during a very interesting sermon one of the things that struck me was, firstly the whole thing of knowing Jesus, but more importantly than that it was knowing that we were loved and accepted just as we are. And we need to know that deep deep in ourselves before we take it out to others. This, I believe, is where true empowerment comes from. Yes many are blessed/lucky to have it within themselves and to know, whether through understanding parents, friends, or healing, that they are accepted powerful human beings. But I think, even those who lead and look powerful are deep inside hurting and are not really and truly free.

But how do we know we are loved? I think too often the Church sees love as the congregation doing things, not of being and being accepted but of doing things for the Church and for God. But I think we need to, as Christine Sine said Slow Down a bit and see the wonder, the wonder not just around us but within us. Each of us are amazingly created people if we only believe that, if we are only bold enough to let others see our Truth window, for us ourselves to see our own Truth window.

Here’s a poem for Christine that talks of slowing down, of seeing the wonder. And as she says it is seeing the pain and suffering as well as the breathtaking beauty.

Walking in the fastest pace for noticing
Slow down,
Walking is the fastest pace,
For noticing,
For paying attention,
To the pain of our suffering world
And the breathtaking beauty
Of its wonder. 
Slow down,
Look, listen, touch,
Anchor yourself to the earth.
Absorb the input of your senses,
The details that speak
Of your aliveness,
In a world that seems consumed
By death.
Slow down,
Hold onto the sacrifices
Of love and compassion,
Be generous,
Embrace diversity.
Sit in awe and wonder
Of the One 
Who is making all things new. 

Christine Sine - Meditation Monday [22nd September 2025]

So how do we unite for Freedom? I think, we need to know we are loved and accepted for who we are not what we do, and need to slow down, see the wonder within and without, and work out what Freedom really means to us.