The joy of teaching

Then Jesus took his disciples up the mountain and gathering them around him, he taught them saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek. Blessed are they that mourn. Blessed are the merciful. Blessed are they that thirst for justice. Blessed are you when persecuted. Blessed are you when you suffer. Be glad and rejoice for your reward is great in heaven.

Then Simon Peter said, “Are we supposed to know this?” And Andrew said, “Do we have to write this down?” And James said, “Will we have a test on this?” And Phillip said, “I don’t have any paper.” And Bartholomew said, “Do we have to turn this in?” And John said, “The other disciples didn’t have to learn this.” And Matthew said, “May I go to the toilet?” Then one of the Pharisees who was present asked to see Jesus’ lesson plan and inquired of Jesus, “Where is your anticipatory set and your objectives in the cognitive domain?”

And Jesus wept.

⁴ Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud ⁵ or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. ⁶ It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out.⁷ Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

A while back we found ourselves looking at this passage and comparing it to ourselves. How do we show love? What parts do we struggle with?

Patience? Pride? Faith?

We had all the descriptions of love written on separate heart shapes and symbolically threw away the areas we struggle with. This was to show that our faults will not get in the way of our love.

As we sat round a large bowl of water which was surrounded by candles we said contemplated these words:

God’s Message, the God who created the cosmos, stretched out the skies, laid out the earth and all that grows from it, Who breathes life into earth’s people, makes them alive with his own life  “I am God. I have called you to live right and well. I have taken responsibility for you, kept you safe. I have set you among my people to bind them to me, and provided you as a lighthouse to the nations, To make a start at bringing people into the open, into light: opening blind eyes, releasing prisoners from dungeons, emptying the dark prisons.

Sing to God a brand-new song, sing his praises all over the world!  Let the sea and its fish give a round of applause, with all the far-flung islands joining in.  Let the desert and its camps raise a tune, calling the nomads to join in.  Let the villagers  round-up a choir and perform from the tops of the mountains. Make God’s glory resound; echo his praises from coast to coast.
From Isaiah 42

Here we stand on the edge of the land, at the brim of the wild ocean, dark and impenetrable waters, surrounded by swirling currents, confusing eddies, unseen obstacles beneath the surface, uncertain dangers hidden from view, winds that whip and whirl and disorientate, mists that obscure the view and cloud the horizon, waves that crash and crush, that wear away the shore, erosion and destruction, water whipped up that threatens to overwhelm, chaos and fear.

We are called to be islands in the ocean; a promise of peace, a haven in the turmoil, a place of stillness and shelter, a harbour of nourishment and supply, rest and repair, a lighthouse in the confusion, a sign of safety in the midst chaos, pointing to the rock on which all can anchor in confidence.  Shouting and singing, into the eye of the storm, praise of the Lord of the elements, maker of land and sea, wind and rain, sun and storm.

We then said the bold together:

In the chaos and confusion of modern living
Make me an Island
In the pain of relationships ripped apart
Make me an Island
In the storm of expectation and pressures
Make me an Island
In the anguish of catastrophe and disaster
Make me an Island
In the dead waters of loneliness
Make me an Island
In the fog of rootlessness and uncertainty
Make me an Island
In the swirling eddies of spirituality
Make me an Island
In the battering of depression and grief
Make me an Island
In the whirlpool of fear and panic
Make me an Island
In the lives smashed and ravaged by abuse
Make me an Island
In the heart of the churning ocean of culture
Make me an Island
In love for you and your people
Make me an Island

as we each floated a candle in the water, we lit it saying…
Make me an Island

As we watched the candles we commented on the importance of having another candle near it for when they got wet so they could be relit.

We so often need the support and encouragement of someone near us.

We finished with these words,

Make us an island

This led me to be waiting outside Morrisons on my friend Simon who was going to join me in this adventure. While I was waiting I bought a big issue of a guy and he in turn gave me two chocolate coins, fantastic, I love chocolate coins. As I chatted to him and told him about my plans, he suggested I should buy choc ices and so I did.

Next, Simon and I found ourselves armed with 40 choc ices and plenty people walking by. As we started trying to give people free ice cream, we got some funny looks, some wide swerves and some confused rejections but within all that we got some smiles, surprised faces and happy people.

We live in a strange society where it is hard to give away free stuff, a society that feels it needs to earn everything it receives. Free stuff even gets rejected sometimes when the person has received it, shown by a lonely choc ice found later that had been thrown away.

However, I will continue to give away free stuff as it’s fun, as I love seeing the delight on people’s faces and as I follow a generous God who loves blessing his people.

We got back on Sunday feeling shattered and pleased to see that Lovefilm had a delivered our next dvd to watch, Blue Valentine was the film of choice.

For those who haven’t seen the movie, it’s a drama about a couple whose marriage is struggling starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams.

I loved the film, it’s well-directed with great acting, captures your attention and makes you feel the emotions that are being portrayed. However it was hard to watch after witnessing the beginning  of marriage for two sets of people.

Today marriage is sometimes described as pointless, as just a bit of paper and I can understand why people think this. But being only 9 months married I’m still a beginner but I can say that after getting married there was a deeper connection, a deeper vulnerability, and a bigger sense of responsibility for this other person in my life. I heard it said that it isn’t love that keeps the marriage together but marriage that keeps the love together. When hard times occur, marriage is a lot harder to run away from and when you get through the trials a stronger bond will be awaiting you. However having said that I know that some marriages don’t work and there isn’t an easy answer to fix things but I don’t feel I can comment on that as I haven’t had any experience with that. What I do know at the moment is that communication is key and that each person feels they are being listened to.

Sharing my life with someone has really helped me to understand that happiness is real when shared and I hope this will be true for my friends who have just began this new adventure.

Francis Chan has previously released a couple of books ‘Crazy Love’ and ‘Forgotten God’. In each of his books his passion, boldness and humility seep through the pages and I respect what he has to say so I’m interested in his new book. He has also released a video that describes the reason he wrote the book and to get people interested in it.

So here it is:

10 cities

7 countries

Epic trip.

We returned a couple of days ago from our 3 week interrailing experience around mainland Europe and it was an amazing experience meeting new people, tasting local food, sampling the beer, and seeing all sorts of different places. Here are some highlights from our brief encounters:

Brussels, Belgium

Eating green waffles with apple mixed in the dough and pink waffles with raspberries.

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Almost getting killed by bikes but then taking revenge when we had our own.

Berlin, Germany

Understanding the importance of the city throughout history.

Prague, Czech Republic

Mix up in communication leading us to split one person’s three course meal between two.

Vienna, Austria

Seeing the beautiful city from a Ferris Wheel.

Salzburg, Austria

Our four-hour trip lead me to hear music from Debbie.

Munich, Germany

Experiencing the buzz of the beer gardens and witnessing ‘blade night’ (i.e. hundreds of people on roller blades).

Venice, Italy

Happily and frustratingly getting lost in the winding alleys and eating a lot of pizza.

Innsbruck, Austria

The Aviemore of Austria where we got the cable car to above 2000m.

Zürich, Switzerland

Learning about the crazy swiss and seeing stunning stained glass windows.

Of course this is only a snippet into the adventure and I’m sure the stories will eek their way out in different subjects. Now it’s time to get back to routine and to keep that wonder which was rediscovered on our travels alive as go about life in Glasgow.

I’ve actually been reading them as I try to suss out who I’m going to vote for, along with looking at the bad quality and design of some of the leaflets (looks like the cuts are actually impacting the government…). Today I received info on SNP and the Scottish Christian Party and one of them definitely put me off voting for them, can you guess which one?

If you guessed Scottish Christian Party, you are correct! Their leaflet successfully told me that they are against homosexuality and that I shouldn’t vote for the Greens because they are for it. Right… so what are you for? How will you help social justice in Glasgow? What are you doing about renewable energy?

Some of you reading this will be saying that I should do more research and shouldn’t decide who to vote for from reading leaflets but the fact is this is the research that many will only do.

Who am I going to vote for? I did a political compass last night http://www.scottishvotecompass.org/ and my views come closest to the Greens, then Lib Dem, SNP, Labour and at the bottom, Conservative. Will this be the way I vote, erm, I’ll decide on Thursday…

Oh and if you didn’t know, there’s also a vote on AV.