The man in the car in front of me had a rosary dangling from his mirror. Rosary beads are used by many Christians as a way of praying by saying particular prayers as they hold each bead in turn and meditating on specific events in the life of Jesus whilst they pray. There is always a cross on rosary beads, often with the figure of the crucified Christ on it. I was thinking how lovely it was to see such a public sign of the man’s faith and wondering if he used the beads for praying when he was stuck in traffic, for example. Then I noticed another thing. The man was smoking in his car. He would be blowing cigarette smoke onto Jesus! This just struck a nerve with me and seemed all manner of wrong!
I always find it unnerving and slightly amusing to find out where my own sticking points are about what is sacred or holy, what is ‘appropriate’ behaviour around places or items that we endow with a religious meaning. At home, we have a table. In church we have an altar. The table and the altar might be identical as items of furniture, but they have a different significance because of the building that they are in and the purpose for which they are used. Sometimes, in a congregation like ours, we find that we have very different ideas about what is holy, special or sacred, depending on our previous traditions. Jesus was very aware of how the religious leaders of his day had got caught up in ‘preserving’ the sacred at the cost of actually allowing the people to experience God through love and kindness. He railed against this, time and time again, for example, healing people on the Sabbath, when no work is meant to be done.
In our Commitment Service on Sunday, we used our Bedrock Beliefs as a basis for our commitment promises. Our Bedrock Beliefs describe the main tenets of our faith as Northern Lights MCC – God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, faith, the Bible, worship and what it means to be church. As individuals, we may believe more about any of these, but our Bedrock Beliefs were developed in a process where we could agree the basics, the bedrock of what we hold sacred as a faith community. It was powerful to hear these statements again and our responses to them as promises for this coming year. The Bedrock Beliefs give room for all of us to go deeper with God, to find more in the meaning of each statement and to incorporate what we hold personally sacred too. This week I invite you to give thanks for those things, places and people that draw you deeper into God’s presence.
God bless
Cecilia
I always find it unnerving and slightly amusing to find out where my own sticking points are about what is sacred or holy, what is ‘appropriate’ behaviour around places or items that we endow with a religious meaning. At home, we have a table. In church we have an altar. The table and the altar might be identical as items of furniture, but they have a different significance because of the building that they are in and the purpose for which they are used. Sometimes, in a congregation like ours, we find that we have very different ideas about what is holy, special or sacred, depending on our previous traditions. Jesus was very aware of how the religious leaders of his day had got caught up in ‘preserving’ the sacred at the cost of actually allowing the people to experience God through love and kindness. He railed against this, time and time again, for example, healing people on the Sabbath, when no work is meant to be done.
In our Commitment Service on Sunday, we used our Bedrock Beliefs as a basis for our commitment promises. Our Bedrock Beliefs describe the main tenets of our faith as Northern Lights MCC – God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, faith, the Bible, worship and what it means to be church. As individuals, we may believe more about any of these, but our Bedrock Beliefs were developed in a process where we could agree the basics, the bedrock of what we hold sacred as a faith community. It was powerful to hear these statements again and our responses to them as promises for this coming year. The Bedrock Beliefs give room for all of us to go deeper with God, to find more in the meaning of each statement and to incorporate what we hold personally sacred too. This week I invite you to give thanks for those things, places and people that draw you deeper into God’s presence.
God bless
Cecilia
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