David's Pen

Here’s what shepherds do: They stay out on the hillside in the dark and cold whilst everyone else is snuggled up, cosy and safe at home. They place themselves in harms way so that predators have to first deal with the shepherd before they can get to the sheep. They identify with the sheep; they wear sheep-skin to look and smell like the sheep, they get to know the sheep individually – and in so doing, become ostracised by the rest of humanity. They plot the route to the next pasture and go ahead to test the ground and create as smooth a path as possible. They remain alert to dangers and fight off predators, risking their own safety for the well-being of the flock. They come alongside the reluctant sheep, they prod and urge-on the slow sheep and they go looking for the lost sheep, carrying them back when they find them. It’s a broadly thankless task; when everything goes well, the sheep barely acknowledge the shepherd. When things go wrong, they are the first to complain. It i...

Our wonderful and majestic God dreamed of a place in which we could enjoy His love and the love of one another. Yet no sooner was the plan begun than the forces of evil ran amok, creating chaos out of the good things that God had begun to create. So, He stretched out His mighty arm and in the picture language so familiar to those first hearers, He pushed back the waters into the heavens and under the earth – holding back the evil that sin had permitted. And then, He swept the waters that were left aside to create dry land – space for a paradise in which we could begin. But that same sin that Satan had introduced contaminated that place too as mankind chose allegiance to the Father of lies rather than loving relationship with the Father of lights. In so doing, we exiled ourselves from that wonderful place, moving outside of the protective canopy of God’s safety and into the maelstrom of Satan’s fury. Nevertheless, God continued to extend His hand and not only protected us from the...

He should be in bed. Should have been in bed for some time. But he wasn't. He was clambering over the roof and sliding down the wall, onto the ground. Jesus and three of His friends were just a few feet away as he drew himself into the shadow, realising just what a mistake being wrapped in a white, highly visible, sheet was. He really should be in bed. He loved his parents and wanted to honour them, and bed was where they believed him to be. For a moment he hesitated, almost beginning the climb back onto the roof and then to his space next to the upper room. But that brought back the flood of memories from the extraordinary evening. The pride he saw in his Father as Jesus invited him, as the youngest child present, to ask the age-old question: "Why this night, why this way?", the moving interruption of Mary as she broke the alabaster jar and the extraordinary changes Jesus had made to the formal prayers: "This is my body..." And now it was too late, with t...

From time to time, I see articles in the press, or documentaries on TV that seek to expose the misuse of the benefits system. You'll have come across them too - the picture of the family that can't afford to put food on the table, but there's that big, flat-screen TV on the wall. Now, I'm sure there's the same cross-section of the good, the bad and the ugly in every socio-economic group, which means that there are sure to be some 'bad apples' out there. But some recent experiences have helped me see a different dynamic - here they are, the 4 B's. Buffets Been on holiday... got suckered in to the 'welcome deal' of four buffet meals, taken across the week. Interesting observation (other than that it wasn't the greatest deal...) -  how people respond to the risk of missing out… When the food level in any one of the many selections began to get low, a little queue formed, trying to make sure that they didn't miss out. I noticed the re...

There is a beguiling whisper in Christendom, that for the sake of the Kingdom, one should move on from pain without gaining an adequate response to what you believe to be the cause of it.  Beguiling, because it carries echoes of Godly values: words and phrases such as forgiveness, reconciliation, unity and respecting those put in authority over us. Yet too often the motive isn't ultimately about love, it's about fear. Fear that the result will be conflict which might end in division, that it will be a bad witness, that outsiders might see through the veneer of relationship that sometimes masquerades as Christian love.  But the scripture says: "Come, let us reason together, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow" It says that the first step, is to reason together, to get to a place, under the Holy Spirit, where we are convinced of our sin and the depth of its consequences. To acknowledge the scarlet. Only then can we repent and se...

A friend posted a poem that spoke of what God is like and how that affects us and how we are. It inspired me to have a go - to describe as simply and concisely as possible, what I believe about God, about the world and how it impacts us. A God of love created, Creatures free to be loved and to love. People to enjoy His goodness, To be raised to the heights above. A Triune God created, In His image, He created us all. Body, soul and spirit At one, until that fall. Lovingly He placed us In a perfect world of joy, With angels called to nurture, To care and not destroy. But one who God had trusted, One who He called ‘light’, For status, he lusted And turned the day to night. Now torn apart by choices, Disfigured, disabled and blind. The enemy silences voices, Warps body, soul, and mind. Yet still God declares it is worth it, The risk, is worth the pain. The joy of knowing you, With a love that will never wane. He thought o...

As Passover approached, everyone’s thoughts naturally turned back to that first Passover. A time when Israel had been oppressed and held captive by the then world power – Egypt. A time when a man had arisen who understood power and majesty and who had led the people out. A time when the ruler of that world had turned away from compassion and had hardened his heart until the enemy of our souls had him in his thrall. A time when that Pharaoh had sent the army to destroy God’s people. And a time when faith was demonstrated through the sacrifice of a lamb, which, in its innocence, took away the sin of the people. And they naturally projected that scene onto their present circumstances: Israel, oppressed by the current world power – the Roman Empire, but with the hope of one who wielded power, one who the people had rallied to in their tens of thousands. Easy for Peter and the others to cast the Romans into the role of the Egyptian enslavers with Herod, or Pilate, or even the Empe...