Harmony of Grace

I have often written about my attraction to nature, particularly to climbing mountains. I have discussed at length how I feel acutely aware of God's presence with me when I am sitting on top of a peak, looking out over the vast beauties of God's creation. The problem is that in recent months, I have been swamped. Overwhelmed with meetings, assignments, seminars, and the urgent needs of every oom and tannie in the church, I have had no time to retreat into the wilderness to connect with God in a deeply intimate manner. Reading Into the Silent Land by Martin Laird has reminded me of a deep truth that many of us (myself included) often forget. We do not need to venture off into the wilderness to connect deeply with God. While these sacred moments in nature help us to become more acutely aware of God's presence with us, God is within each of us and we can connect with God even in the middle of our busy lives. "We can never get closer to God because God is already within us...

The word p e r f e c t ion  comes with a whole lot of baggage. We all know that no-one is perfect, and yet we are told that practice makes perfect. To be a perfectionist is sometimes seen as a crutch, while at other times we are encouraged to strive for perfection. The founder of Methodism, John Wesley, taught about an idea called C h r i s t i a n P e r f e c t i o n and asserted that followers of Christ could experience this ideal. In Genesis, we read that God created the world and humanity and declared that it was good. Many claim that this implies that God's original Creation was perfect. D a n i e l l e S h r o y e r suggests that perhaps "a more appropriate view of creation would be not perfection but potential. God designed the world to develop and function in a certain way, while allowing for creation to live freely into its potential. Sometimes creation will live up to and into its potential, while other times it will renounce it.... Potential reminds us once agai...

  "God writes the Gospel not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers, and clouds and stars." - Martin Luther I have always been someone that connects with God through the beauty of God's creation. I regularly try to retreat into nature, but in recent years, these moments have been few and far between. No matter how busy we are and how much noise we fill our lives with, sometimes we are unexpectedly forced into situations where we will hear God's voice loudly and clearly as if spoken through a megaphone. Last Friday, I experienced one of these special occasions.  I was attending an art exhibition in Bethlehem with my wife and child. It was held in an airplane hangar at our local airport. While I am certainly not an art connoisseur by any stretch of the imagination, I thoroughly enjoyed walking through the exhibit, appreciating the beautiful paintings and the emotional responses that they brought up within me. Due to the late opening of the exhibition,...

Hebrews 5:5-10 Today's reading informs us that throughout his life, Jesus offered up prayers and petitions to God with fervent cries and tears. We also learn that Jesus' prayers were heard by God, not because he was God's Son, but because of his reverent submission and obedience to God. This realisation should be so encouraging to us as Christians today. Just as Jesus had a direct line to God, so do we also have direct access to God through the Spirit of the High Priest who lives within us, Jesus Christ. There is no greater honour and privilege that we have as Christians than to pray. Even when the world is falling apart around us and we don't know what to do, we can pray. Even when we do not have the words to say, the Spirit intercedes on our behalf. And yet prayer is still one of the most neglected spiritual practices in our world today. Perhaps it is because people have a false that they have to say the perfect words or set aside the same amount of time every day to ...

Mark 9:2-9 There are certain times during our lives where we feel closer to God. Perhaps it is during certain seasons such as Christmas, Easter or even Lent. Perhaps it is at a certain time of the day, when we set time aside to pray or read our bibles. It is great to have these special moments in our lives when we feel closer to God but unfortunately, we cannot stay there forever. In our reading this morning, while on the mountain and overwhelmed by the experience of Jesus’ transfiguration, Peter wants to set up tents to prolong the experience that he was having. Peter was perhaps the first of many to try and make this sacred experience more permanent. As much as we would like to, no-one gets to stay on the mountain forever. All of us that meet with God in special moments have to eventually return to the real world. Often, the real world is not a nice place to be. There is much pain, heartbreak and evil waiting for us at the bottom of the mountain. The good news of the Gospel story is ...

Mark 1:12-15 Lent is a season in the Christian Church where we relate to Jesus' time spent in the wilderness. After Jesus was baptised, he went out into the wilderness for 40 days. Here, he resisted temptations from Satan and prepared himself for his coming ministry to the world. Lent is a 40-day season that begins on Ash Wednesday and ends on Palm Sunday. In many church traditions, Christians will use the period of Lent as an opportunity to "give up" certain delicacies (such as eating particular foods or watching TV) as an act of fasting.  Fasting helps us draw nearer to God. As we crave that which we have given up, we are reminded of Christ's temptations in the wilderness and we are invited into a moment of prayer and sacrifice to God. Sometimes during Lent, instead of giving something up for 40 days, I like to commit to taking up a "good deed" during this time. This could be reading a few chapters of my Bible every day, handing sandwiches out to those in ...

One of my favourite past-times has been to read a few chapters of a book in bed before I go to sleep at night.  Recently, I have struggled to keep up with this habit. I would love to use our newborn baby as an excuse, but if I am honest, it has been an issue for a few months already. I regularly find myself opening my book, reading a few paragraphs, getting distracted, re-reading the same paragraphs, giving up and then putting the book away and picking up my phone. Whilst trying to determine the problem, I realised that before reading my book, I usually watch a YouTube video or scroll through social media. I find that my brain tends to shut down during these activities where I am mindlessly absorbing information fed to me off of a screen. I need to be more intentional with the way that I use my time.  How often do we experience similar struggles when it comes to our spiritual disciplines? Many of us want to read our bibles more, pray more and worship more. We remember when we ...

A night sky full of stars is a beautiful sight to behold. These days, because of the light from cities, many people do not often get an opportunity to experience this beauty (although thanks to Eskom we might have more chances than we would like!) In order to truly experience the majesty of the night sky, you need to find the perfect spot and you need to be willing to gaze patiently for a good amount of time. You need to let your eyes adjust fully to what you are looking at. The true beauty of star-gazing comes to the forefront when you sit patiently in complete darkness, identifying the many constellations and spotting shooting stars and passing satellites.  Many Christians experience their faith in a similar way to star-gazing. They separate their spiritual and secular life. They will go to church on a Sunday, read their bibles and pray - all of which are seen as spiritual things, but then they will "readjust" their vision when they are at work, or school, or doing any o...

Image Source:  Chris Lawton For the past few years, because of the theological studies that I have been doing, I have been required to read many books from a wide variety of authors. Many of these books have been enriching to my personal spiritual life. Others, while interesting and valuable, were much more difficult to get through. Because of all this required reading, I have neglected reading books that nourish my soul. "I can't imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once." - C.S. Lewis I have recently been uplifted by re-reading one of my all-time favourite books, Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. While certainly not perfect, this book has always held a special place in my heart. As I read through the familiar words, I was reminded of the first time I experienced God's grace in those pages. I actually found myself tearing up as I was overwhelmed by an incredible sense of God's love for me. I believe that it is important to read ...

Image Source:  Jordan Whitt In the book of Exodus, we read a story of Moses tending his sheep. Moses suddenly notices a burning bush and God's voice speaks to him through the bush. God instructs Moses to take off his shoes because he is now standing on holy ground. Holy ground is considered to be anywhere that God is. In Old Testament times, this was thought to be specific places. As Christians, our understanding of where God is has changed. God is living in our hearts. Furthermore, God is all around us. Early Rabbis tell this story of the burning bush and pose the question: "Did the tree suddenly burst into flame when Moses walked past or was the tree burning the entire time? Perhaps this was merely the first time that Moses had become aware of it? God's presence was always there. Moses had probably walked past that spot many times. But it was only when Moses became aware of God's presence there and was ready to respond to it that it became "holy ground...

Image Source:  Robertina For some reason, whenever I return to East London from Pietermaritzburg (or vice versa), I find myself contracting a bit of a cold. We will shortly be heading back home to East London after a busy year and this got me thinking if there are any sure-fire ways that could prevent me from getting sick in the coming weeks. My first thought was the old proverb: "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." I then thought back to all of the advice I have received over the years about staying healthy: "Take your multi-vitamins daily," "stay warm when it's cold outside," "make sure you dry your hair when you get out the shower," etc... Unfortunately, I don't have the one right answer and if I'm honest, I don't know that there is one. I think if there was any fool-proof way to prevent sickness, we would all be doing it. We often seem to have a similar experience in our spiritual journeys and no matter how hard we try ...