Today has been gray and rainy - and is often the case in August, the temperature has dropped: the air is fresh and crisp. Snow is not too far up in the mountains. But no complaints, the gardens have been parched, and with the rain, the grass and the trees are a fresh green.
I am working through my long list of things to do, but am not getting very far with the Malawi report. The Association for Haiti is set up, the postal account opened, I've met with disenfranchised clergy: Paul Holley and John Beach. For the latter, I don't bother to go over the past, I will never know exactly what went down in the discussion between him, Roy T and Maree. No point bothering about it, but I am putting things in writing now.
Lunch with John Bingham; I've set up a meeting tomorrow for him to meet Christian Guillermet. Perhaps something fruitful can come out of that for both of them.
Adrian has left - Keith is relieved, so am I. He is loosing the plot, as others seem to be as well....
Where has God been in my life today? In the ease with which we set up the association today together with someone from Emmanuel Church: no strangeness, no hard feelings, just the wish to get on with things; with Shauna sending in her proposals this evening for the music; with John^s friendship. In Keith's smile - for the moment he seems happier and better balanced. Let us hope that this is the way back for him.

Weak links and strong links

Now that I have started writing lists every day of what I should do - not because I am organised, but because otherwise I will forget, I realise how many balls I have juggling in the air. I wanted to write down everything I do to compare with my initial daily list, but I couldn't even find the spare paper to do it.... Pathetic in a way.....
I am desperate to finish the Malawi report before leaving for the UK on Monday so that I can leave my beloved laptop here and really take a break (even from blogging and writing). But I haven't even started really writing yet, so I can see another week-end going in the bin....
Where have I encountered God today? In Maree over lunch, in John while we both commiserate over the Bishops (CoE) Open Letter, in Olaf when he comes home late this evening, miaowing in the bushes along the railroad line across the road, in Keith while we go shopping together. Olaf now lies contentedly next to me on the sofa - this room is our together room.
Over lunch I tell Maree about the appalling behaviour Kenneth Kearon has exhibited. She is very angry. I keep on thinking that the negative reactions I get from others like Roy T, John Beach or Kenneth Kearon are due to the fact that they are looking for a weak link. Maree makes me aware of the fact that it may well be the opposite: they are reacting viscerally to a strong link. More to think of as I prepare to meet John Beach tomorrow on my turf in my office. By that time the Association for Haiti will have been set up.

What is my Good News?

Feedback from different people on my sermon have left me thinking: what is my Good News?

I have been focused on explaining the Bible and trying to make links with everyday life as we see it today, that I have forgotten what my more transcendental message is - beyond the fact that the fundamental messages of the Bible are still relevant. The different books were written by real people for real people: the people there aren't some kind of perfect, plastic heroes: they were human, with failings, feelings and warts and all.

I think back to the texts I chose for Jane's Bible Study Group: "Trouver sa voix, trouver sa voie" - 1 Samuel and Exodus. Saul hears a voice, but does not know it is God; Moses tells God that he cannot speak for him because he is a bad speaker. I am challenged to find my voice - I am realising that I am challenged even to know what to say. I am challenged to listen - what is the Good News?

We have a God - not several but one, an Entity that IS. Which means that we are not left to our own devices on this earth, which would be frightening, even in today's age of enlightened knowledge. Not only are we not on our own, but this means that our life has a sense and a purpose. It is part of a bigger picture - cosmic, transcendental, whatever.

We have a God who is the creator of all that is, was and will be. He is our origin and at the origin of all that is around us: the earth, creation, nature. Again we are part of a larger web of relations and existences. Each one of us has been created by us - we live by His Grace - even if our mothers took the deliberate decision to let us live instead of aborting.

And because we have been created by Him, we have a relationship with our Creator - a relationship that is commensurate to our capacities to comprehend it. Other things created by God will have other relationships with Him: ours is that of a relationship with a Benevolent existence - which does not set to hurt us for His pleasure. His relationship with us goes further:

We have a God who loves us: collectively and individually. He has shown it to us collectively by sending us His Son, letting Him die for us, and then resurrecting Him, and ascending Him to Him.

Our God who loves us, and who therefore was even willing to meet us in human form, is a humane God who suffers with us, cries with us, laughs with us and worries with us. His love for us is constant; He is constantly with us. We are never alone or left to stand alone.

Through Jesus, He promised to send us His (Holy) Spirit to accompany and guide us - only we don't always get it. The accounts in the New Testament of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit are there.

I would say that this is the summary of my Good News: We have a God who loves us, and who does not leave us alone. He is with us, through the presence of His Spirit.

I however also have a lot of questions still:

How does the Holy Spirit manifest itself today?

Where are our prophets of today? Who are they? We seem to be left with priests, bishops and the congregations. What other roles should there be that no longer are? But if we listen, we can perhaps hear the Holy Spirit and its guidance, but how to discern when it is our own wishful thinking, or that of others?