Dear Friends
Helen and I are in the process of getting ready to attend a comedy gig. Looking at the paperwork we see that we originally bought the tickets in November 2019! And so after 2 cancellations and one re-scheduling, all due to the shifting sand of Covid restrictions, the occasion has arrived. We trust it will be have been worth the wait!
Of course for so many folk, aspects of life from the frivolous to the life changing, have been on hold, with I suspect the emotions that might accompany them similarly stalled. It’s going to be quite a journey to catch up on, mentally and even physically. Interestingly, paying attention to our bodies and minds was our focus at church last Sunday, developing our thinking from Luke 2:52, ‘And Jesus grew in stature and wisdom'. Helen our preacher writes;
"We can often think of our bodies in negative ways; feeling shame and guilt, worried that they are part of our ‘sinful nature’. Yet Jesus himself took on our form and was ‘embodied’ in a human body that grew in stature, to the fulness of itself. Our bodies are a wonderful gift from God, an integral and inseparable part of our spiritual nature, through which we experience God and which we can direct towards God, to reflect his glory and further his kingdom. We thought a little about how what’s going on in our bodies can both positively and negatively impact our ‘inner world’ (mind, heart, spirit); and how the reverse is also true. This suggests there is no separation between our bodies and our spirits/souls and that taking care of ourselves ‘spiritually’ involves taking care of our bodies, ensuring we get proper rest and recreation to be refreshed and renewed, in order that we might experience the love of God in our full selves. I found it very helpful to reflect on the phrase: ‘We don’t have a body, we ARE a body’, reminding us of our integrated self. Paula Gooder, whose book ‘Body’ I drew ideas from, reflects that we can think of a ‘beautiful body’ as a fully integrated 'self', with our physical self reconciled to and at peace with those parts of ourselves that we call our minds, hearts and spirits, so we can offer all of ourselves in service to the One who loves us.”
May we in our waiting and serving, be mindful of the God who loves the bones of us (and indeed all the rest!).
Keep safe
Keep in touch
Keep the faith.
Simon
Helen and I are in the process of getting ready to attend a comedy gig. Looking at the paperwork we see that we originally bought the tickets in November 2019! And so after 2 cancellations and one re-scheduling, all due to the shifting sand of Covid restrictions, the occasion has arrived. We trust it will be have been worth the wait!
Of course for so many folk, aspects of life from the frivolous to the life changing, have been on hold, with I suspect the emotions that might accompany them similarly stalled. It’s going to be quite a journey to catch up on, mentally and even physically. Interestingly, paying attention to our bodies and minds was our focus at church last Sunday, developing our thinking from Luke 2:52, ‘And Jesus grew in stature and wisdom'. Helen our preacher writes;
"We can often think of our bodies in negative ways; feeling shame and guilt, worried that they are part of our ‘sinful nature’. Yet Jesus himself took on our form and was ‘embodied’ in a human body that grew in stature, to the fulness of itself. Our bodies are a wonderful gift from God, an integral and inseparable part of our spiritual nature, through which we experience God and which we can direct towards God, to reflect his glory and further his kingdom. We thought a little about how what’s going on in our bodies can both positively and negatively impact our ‘inner world’ (mind, heart, spirit); and how the reverse is also true. This suggests there is no separation between our bodies and our spirits/souls and that taking care of ourselves ‘spiritually’ involves taking care of our bodies, ensuring we get proper rest and recreation to be refreshed and renewed, in order that we might experience the love of God in our full selves. I found it very helpful to reflect on the phrase: ‘We don’t have a body, we ARE a body’, reminding us of our integrated self. Paula Gooder, whose book ‘Body’ I drew ideas from, reflects that we can think of a ‘beautiful body’ as a fully integrated 'self', with our physical self reconciled to and at peace with those parts of ourselves that we call our minds, hearts and spirits, so we can offer all of ourselves in service to the One who loves us.”
May we in our waiting and serving, be mindful of the God who loves the bones of us (and indeed all the rest!).
Keep safe
Keep in touch
Keep the faith.
Simon
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