Harmony of Grace

Genesis 9:12-17 The beautiful image of the rainbow may seem like a strange symbol to reflect on during the often solemn, penitent season of Lent. But there is a profound joy and hope that we can experience as we partake in the season of Lent. In the story of Noah, after the great flood ravaged the Earth, God provided a sign of hope for future generations of God's followers. The image of the rainbow is an important reminder that even during times of turmoil and despair, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. It is a sign of God's steadfast love which promises not destruction, but hope and reconstruction. The story of the flood and the rainbow also reminds us that God invites us to partner with God and be agents of transformation in our world. As we rejoice in the rainbow, perhaps we can also be reminded to paint our own rainbows in the world. Against all the evil you see in the world, against all the injustice and corruption you observe in our nation, dare to paint a rainbow...

Pink and Khalid sing a beautiful song that talks about how it hurts to be human. To struggle is to experience a core part of what it means to be human. Even before you were formed in your mother's womb, you had to struggle through countless obstacles, fending off 250 million other sperm to win the race and make it into this world.  Every day, I watch my 7-week old daughter struggle (with wailing and tears) as she tries to communicate her needs to us. In a few months, she will no doubt struggle to get acquainted with her limbs as she attempts (and fails many times) to crawl and walk. Some of life's struggles are necessary for efficient development. Some may seem pointless, or even unfair. Yet, we can take encouragement that human beings have proven to be able to endure great struggles. The bible is full of stories of great men and women who endured great struggles, both internal and external, for the cause of Christ. I think of Jesus' life and ministry on Earth. No other hum...

Image Source:  Steve Halama   In a world that is so overwhelmed with evil and corruption, I am sure many of us wish that we were living in a fictional world where literal superheroes existed.  How great would it be if we could call on a superhero to come and fix all of our problems?  Unfortunately, we are unlikely to see a literal superhero fly in and save the day by defeating the villains of our story. But that does not mean that heroes do not exist in our world today. One of the reasons that the biblical stories appeal to me so much is because they remind me that ordinary people can be heroes too. They might not look like the superheroes that we have come to know and love in movies and books, but they live heroic lives of honour and valour. Every time that a person assists a widow, or stands up for a person's rights, or helps alleviate poverty and hunger, or brings a criminal to justice, I believe that heroism is taking place. As much as there are people bringing d...

Image Source:  Jason Blackeye It has been five months since my last blog post. This has been the longest break that I have taken since I began  Harmony of Grace three years ago.  When our church in Bethlehem decided to close our Sunday services back in March, I committed to sending out daily audio devotions over Whatsapp and Facebook. This has taken up a lot of my time and effort so I decided to take a break from posting written blog posts during this time.  While researching and writing a new article for SUMag recently, I realised how much I missed writing. I am excited to announce that I am going to be posting regular blog posts to this page once again.  I will continue to send out daily audio devotions until our church is able to meet again. If you have not been receiving these and you would like to then please like our church's FaceBook page here:  Bethlehem Methodist Church . This past week, I sent out my hundredth audio devotion and recorded my t...

Image Source:  Jason Blackeye All of our favourite stories have happy endings. However, just because a story has a happy ending, does not necessarily ensure that it is a good story. The greatest storytellers understand that stories need to have lows as well as highs, anti-climax as well as climax, conflict as well as resolution. Try to imagine a story that never had any moments of conflict or struggle. The protagonist is born into a loving, wealthy family, she never fails at anything and she dies rich at an old age having achieved all of her dreams. First, the entertainment value of this story is not very high. I don't think there would be any major film studios battling for the rights to turn it into a movie. Second, I don't think that the protagonist in this story would appreciate their wealth and success because they had never experienced a life without it. A happy ending in and of itself does not make a good story unless there were serious moments of conflict that...

Image Source:  Quino Al We are faced with a landslide of hopelessness and despair. It is difficult to blame people for being afraid to bring children into a world as seemingly broken and cruel as the one we are currently facing. It is easy to be consumed the never-ending spiral of negativity. Without minimizing the severity of the issues that are stacked against us, I would like to argue that we still have a sliver of hope to cling to. For those of us who identify as Christ-followers, we believe that we have a saviour who became one of us, fully human. He suffered as completely and utterly as any human ever could. Not only did he go through excruciating torment on his personal journey to the cross, during his crucifixion he took the sins of the world upon his shoulders and experienced the anguish and pain of the entirety of humanity - even to the point of crying out in the words of the Psalmist, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?...