David's Pen

The Bystander’s View   A teenage pregnancy that must surely end in an abortion. The betrayed husband who must surely seek a divorce. The appalled family, scrabbling for stones to throw. The former friends spitting as you pass. The future is written in the past. It's the law. This must lead to death. And yet it doesn’t… The pregnant girl and her husband, trekking to Bethlehem, away from the hatred. The fear and pain of that first labour. The slamming doors, the lack of help. Here in the street, a carpenter and his wife. It's inevitable. This must lead to the death of the mother and her child. And yet, they survive… A house at last, normality. But what did Simeon mean, 'a sword will pierce your side'? Wise men might know the answer, but they bring attention of the wrong kind. Herod's murderers. Jesus' friends. Gone. All his power against one small child. Only one possible result. And yet, they escape… Great holiday, b

If you were God, how would you move people from their existing ideas about yourself and about how therefore to live, to more healthy ones? You're God of course, so you could simply exercise your power and change their thinking and behaviour. But you're also a God whose loving nature precludes forcing people - "Love does not insist on it's own way." You could instruct prophets and have them speak the truth, but two issues arise - firstly, the prophets are human and will have a flawed understanding of who you are so unless you force them to speak precise words (oops can't do that), what they speak will be coloured by what they already believe. And if you do manage to get them to say something utterly radical to their hearers, they will likely be cast as heretics and killed. So, here you are, watching people sacrifice because that's what all the nations around do - it's a belief they have imported because they have inter-married (which you advis

Back in the day, before we set off on our epic journey up north to visit parents or to the wilds of Dorset  to go on holiday, there would be much map searching and route plotting. Lists of directions and alternative routes, debates over timings and potential stop-off points. Time-consuming but satisfying, arrival wasn't the start of the adventure, the journey was a part of it. Today, of course, we plug in the postcode of the destination into the Sat-Nav as we get into the car and just do what we are told. Turn right, turn left, slow down, speed up, stop, you've arrived. Very easy, very convenient, especially when you're sense of direction is as bad as mine. Was reminded of all this today on holiday. Walking from the apartment up into the old town of Paphos. Got the map out, plotted the route, made some changes on the fly when we saw something we liked. Sense of achievement when we got there, lots of fun on the way - not much to see in the town itself, happy when w

There is a theology that suggests that there is a hierarchy within the Trinity which is supposed to be reflected in human relationships. In particular, the Son is seen as being 'under' the Father, lending authority to the notion that wives are 'under' their husbands. Now, it should be stressed, that in both these cases, there is no suggestion that being 'under' role is less significant than being 'over', nonetheless, this is a reflection of the Godhead and not  therefore open to cultural interpretation.  Adherents to this view, point to the way in which Jesus submitted himself to the authority of the Father; only saying what He gave him to say and only doing that which he was given to do, ultimately resulting in his obedience to death on a cross. These examples of behaviour demonstrating that Jesus understood and was faithful in the execution of his role as subservient in his relationship within the Trinity. By extension, a simple reading of Ephesi

18  “You must not commit adultery. Kings who would live after the time of Moses and the great Patriarchs who lived before him, often had multiple wives or those who bore them children. Abraham was married to Sarai but had a child with Hagar, Jacob was tricked into marrying both Leah and Rachel, David had eight wives and Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. Meanwhile, Moses himself appears to have had two wives, though whether they were both alive at the same time is not clear. As these examples perhaps demonstrate, how much easier it is, when things become difficult in a relationship, to avoid dealing with the roadblocks to genuine depth. How much easier to find solace elsewhere than to work through the issues that prevent us finding it where we should. How often, the grass is greener. In any friendship, when we scratch the surface of another person we discover that which we don’t like, that which triggers the worst in us, that which will require commitment and humi

17  “You must not murder.   We’ve begun to see that all the commands are rooted in the character of God – a God who is love. It’s easy to see that killing someone isn’t very loving! But let’s pause for a moment to ask why? Love, the Bible tells us, ‘does not insist on its own way’ – it gives choice. Put simply, death precludes choice – it steals that which is at the heart of love – it is the most profound opposite of love. And this thought finds its home in this command. The Hebrew from which this is translated certainly encompasses the command not to take someone’s life unjustly, but it casts wider than that. Rabbinical tradition includes the broader concept of not stealing someone’s life – and in recent times was used by Rabbis as a command against kidnapping or enslaving. For Moses, such thoughts would have resonated profoundly. Firstly, he did steal someone’s life, literally, he killed the Egyptian. But his people, who he was called to lead to freedom, had been ensl