David's Pen

John tentatively put the key in the lock and turned it. He’d spent most of the day without the physical presence of, well, of whoever… and his brain was insisting on recalling the time with him as a false memory, an hallucination. He didn’t know whether he preferred the idea that he was going quietly mad or that God was waiting for him in his flat. He opened the door hesitantly and heard nothing, realising that he was feeling disappointed along with an internal sigh of relief. He hung up his jacket on its peg and went into the kitchen to get a well-deserved beer. God was sat at the table with an open can in his hand whilst another one was on the side, waiting for him. Disappointment was quickly exchanged for shock and he gaped, open-mouthed. “Thought you’d want a beer after the day you’ve had. It’s not the best I’ve ever tasted, but it’s cold.” And with that, he picked the spare up and tossed it to John. “Nice flat by the way, you keep it tidy when there’s no one else to see it – t...

 Numbly, and with some trepidation, John followed him inside. Would other people see him? Was he some kind of ‘holy ghost’ that only he could see? The answer was quickly answered, “Two of your finest eclairs, one espresso and one latte please.” The assistant smiled and replied: “You’re in a very good mood this morning!” “Ah well, that’s because I finally get to have some time with my good friend John.” Then, turning to said friend, “Pay the lady, John – you know I never carry any money!” Once they had their purchases they headed for a table away from other ears and John spoke first: “Ok, this is freaking me out. I don’t know what to call you or who you are or how long you’re going to stay or what any of this is about - I mean, I thought you were the holy spirit or something, but if you’re holy, surely, you’d have run away from my anger and swearing…” His new friend smiled and nodded. “John, I am who I say I am, but you don’t really know me. You’ve heard about me, and you’ve t...

  John’s brain was revving more than the car, which had stalled and come to a halt in the middle of the road. He rationalised: The Holy Spirit, is a, well, a spirit – not a middle-aged man in T shirt and jeans sitting next to you in your car. And yet he was fairly sure he hadn’t given anyone a lift, the car had been empty, other than him, when he had started. True, he had been in a tearing hurry, but a stranger getting into the car next to you is something you’d surely notice. He began to sweat – maybe the pressure he was under had finally made him crack. There wasn’t really a man impossibly in the car next to him, it was a trick of a disturbed mind, the lack of sleep, the slight hangover, the pressure of the interview… The stranger shook his head: “No, you’re not cracking up – well, no more than normal.” Then with another chuckle, “But I love the fact that you’re so surprised by an answered prayer that you’re more ready to believe in your own insanity than that it has been ans...

  John was running late. Again. He was so late that he was regretting squeezing in his quiet time before leaving.   He was caught up in the school run traffic and unless he got a parking place near the office, he’d be late. And not just for the start of work, but for the interview that so much rested on. He knew deep down that it was his own fault, but that was just adding to the angst. He decided to pray as he drove, briefly closing his eyes and putting his hands together before remembering that he was driving. He opened his eyes and put his hands back on the wheel, hoping that God would overlook the non-standard prayer posture. He wanted to do it right in order to make it more likely that his prayer would be answered, even whilst recognising this sounded a lot like superstition. Distracted, he began: “O Lord, maker of heaven and earth, sovereign Lord, the one who…” he interrupted his own prayer, realising that time was of the essence, “Actually, what I really need right ...

Forming, moulding,  rhythms set in motion. The heartbeat of love, a dance of joy and delight, the creator creates Words breathing from heart bringing to life Sparkling, sharing, A twinkle in eye love without bounds His beauty imprinted Relationship ignited God's heart delighted And then to the fall Heartbreak for all Gods longing for Met with fingers up And sod off, We can do it alone, from the ones that he loves The rhythm now broken Relationship shattered The heartbeat still there but now there's a barrier Out of the greenery, out of gods presence Living now harder without the gardener Death has now come in God's heart is still longing His beauty still moulding His desire for our healing And heart for us living Have never faded or diminished or wavered Wholly for, sending his all, his son Plan into motion, A vulnerable solution borne of love not control Who he is displayed for all Ever hoping, ever longing Love and Humility ki...

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 ...

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 ...

20  “You must not testify falsely against your neighbour. The first commandment that we looked at warned us not to make false images of God because t he law (Deuteronomy 19:15-21) specified that the testimony of one witness was not sufficient to prove a case, however, the testimony of two or three witnesses was conclusive. There was no CSI, no Inspector Morse, no ‘Silent Witness’, no jury. The investigation of a case was limited to the credibility of the witnesses – and if two or three agreed, that was enough to convict. Clearly, those motivated by malice could conspire to testify against someone: John and Jane, having a grudge against Fred, might drag him before the judge saying: “We saw Fred steal that fruit” Provided their individual testimonies agreed and the witnesses were therefore credible, poor Fred would be found guilty. To mitigate this risk, the law instituted the famous ‘eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth’ clause. If the witnesses are shown to be bearing fa...

8  “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind, or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea.   9  You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the  Lord  your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me.   10  But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands. What is God like, how are we to know Him? It’s a fundamental question that has been asked down the ages and still is. When Moses went up the mountain, it is what the people waited to discover – Moses was going to meet with God and find out what He was like on their behalf. When it looked like he had died in the process, they had Aaron make an image of God. One way or another, they wanted something tangible to see – ...

“Hear O Israel, The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the  Lord  your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might. ” This passage, from Deuteronomy 6 is known as the Shema (from the Hebrew “to hear”.) It comes after the commandments themselves and acts as a summary. Indeed, when asked what the greatest commandment was, rather than picking one of the ten, Jesus quotes from the Shema, arguing that all the commandments flow from this. So, what does it tell us, what context does it provide? ‘Hear O Israel’ As Moses reminded them, they went into Egypt as seventy persons, but by now outnumber the stars in the sky. Israel had become a vast multitude, yet God was addressing them as one nation. From the disunity of twelve tribes had come the community of one people. ‘The Lord our God, the Lord is one’ In the same way, God, who had begun to reveal Himself as three persons through the ‘First Book of Moses (Genesis), is nonet...

We know that God is just, we know too that in God’s Kingdom, mercy triumphs over judgment, that His grace means that we don’t receive what justice alone might demand. Yet there seems to be something ingrained that leads us to presume that punishment is part of God’s plan. When someone is caught in criminal activity, they receive a punishment that society has deemed appropriate. Once the culprit has served their time or paid the fine, we often speak of the ‘slate being wiped clean’ – after all, they have paid their debt to society. It becomes a transaction: I did x, society inflicted y, we are all square. Of course, nothing has changed as a result of the transaction. The punishment might well make the perpetrator more reluctant to be caught, but that might as easily result in more circumspect crime than in reformed behaviour. In truth, there is very little evidence that even the most disproportionate of punishments has much impact on the level of crime. (Perhaps as a perceptio...