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So, I went to bed last night wondering what I was going to write about this morning. What story would I tell? Which past assembly might I share?

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And I woke up this morning wondering the same thing….until I opened the blinds in the kitchen and saw the sunshine! 🌞🌞🌞

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It’s a sunny, sunny morning and we have the promise of a beautiful day ahead of us and I thought, “Do you know what? I’m going to focus on that!”

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I’m going to focus on the good, I’m going to focus on the positive, I’m going to focus on those things that really lift my spirits…..such as a beautiful, warm, sunny day! So what about you? What makes you feel good? What lifts your spirits?

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There is lots of less than positive stuff out there just now, lots of worry, stress, fear, confusion, anger, sadness, mourning, BUT there is also lots of good. I (mostly) love our daily walk in the woods (mostly, not fully, because they normally include at least one argument between Thea and Isaac! 😆); I have loved watching the woods change over the weeks. The trees were all bare when we started out (however many weeks ago that was), then the bluebells appeared and were so abundant, and the wild garlic, then the leaves on the trees. It’s been wonderful. Add to that, the beck flowing through the woods, so the sound of trickling water. I love it!

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We have a neighbourhood WhatsApp group and there have been so many lovely things shared on it – gorgeous photos people have taken when out for their walks, offers of help, someone setting up a foodbank drop off point in their front garden, free books, free plants. And there have been several birthdays, when a bunch of neighbours turn up outside someone’s house to sing happy birthday to them. It’s been really great.

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So today, amidst everything less than positive that’s surrounding us at the moment, despite everything that’s less than positive at the moment, take at least some time out today to enjoy the beauty of the day, to enjoy the beauty that is out there, the positive that is out there….and then turn it into praise! God is good……all of the time……

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Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udyVpOp_0H4&fbclid=IwAR3pwJ436qn9zORMLPFwbLp7A1Gk2dqiTWTITTcQmavvv8XkyallWwtAxdc

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In Him we live and breathe. Amen. Enjoy this gorgeous day!

Morning. Julia again today.

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So me and the cat have had a night time routine for a while. It used to simply be that I would give Timmy attention on his favourite cushion each evening before bed until he started sucking his tail, which I presumed meant he was all settled in to go to sleep. It was a very soothing routine for all involved.

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However, one day I foolishly played with him with some wool. And so, the routine has changed forever. Now every night, he will wait while I clean my teeth, and then lead me to the room where he knows the wool is. Before I am allowed to go to bed, I must indulge Timmy in a game of catch the increasingly chewed string.

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If you think that of course I am happy to bow to Timmy’s every whim just because he is a delightful tiny creature, you are absolutely correct. Even if I am sleepy, I don’t mind playing with him – my favourite bit is when he somehow gets 3 to 4 paws stuck in the wool at once, or when he ends up swinging on the curtain like a deranged, furry Tarzan. Precious moments.

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As you can gather, like many others before me, my life is very much ruled by the cat. This got me thinking, what other things ‘rule’ our lives? What are our influences, or our motivation in the way we live? What things do we want? Take a moment to talk to God about these things.

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Sometimes we’re driven by really positive things – for example: love for the people in your life, the desire to make things better, or pursuing interests. However, negatives also take hold, sometimes without us realising. Things like fear, anger, or even guilt can ‘rule’ you as well.

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I think it’s good to be aware of the things that drive you.

People reading these Daily Zeph posts may have noticed that sometimes (often) Zeph team members accidentally comment as Zephaniah Trust rather than ourselves. It’s because on each Facebook post there’s a little dropdown option list at the top of who you want to comment as, and you have to select your personal Facebook account to be you. You have to remember to check at the top of the page every time it reloads. (This can be a challenge…)

The upshot of this is that you keep having to look up to remember who you are.
Could the same be said of real life…?

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Some wisdom from Tumblr (I think):

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To what extent can we choose what influences us? In Matthew 6 verse 33, Jesus tells people to “seek first the Kingdom of God”. If we look to God, and the love that he has for us, it puts our various other influences in perspective.

God can help us with the negative influences that have hold over us – whether that involves healing or something else. We are not on our own.

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Even with the positive things that drive us, if you rely on stuff like interests or achievements to be your only source of happiness and meaning, it’s too much pressure and they can end up feeling empty.

But with the security of having God at the centre, you can enjoy and celebrate other things that drive you in the light of them being gifts from God. That way, both God and his gifts are life-giving.

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Let’s pray that God will be at the core of our lives, and that he will help us with everything else.

Have a listen to this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5AkNqLuVgY

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Amen! Enjoy your Tuesday!

Morning! Welcome to Monday’s Zeph@10am with Jenny. I thought I’d share a happy poem with you this morning……

Funeral Blues – W. H. Auden

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message ‘He is Dead’.
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

 

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I first came across Auden’s ‘Funeral Blues’ whilst watching ‘Four Weddings and a Funeral’. Little has stuck in my head from the film (except that it definitely featured some weddings and a funeral, and woman with the nickname ‘Duckface’), but this poem stuck. It made it into my notebook of collected poems. I thought I’d share it with you today, because it seems to reflect something of the song – not Psalm – of David that I’m looking at today. It’s not in Psalms. It’s in 2 Samuel 1:17-27. Perhaps you’d like to have a read now.

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I double-checked the meaning of the word ‘psalm’ this morning. It means a sacred song, so this is definitely not a psalm. However, it is a song of David and in my meanderings through his life, it comes at one of the most significant points. Saul, and his son Jonathan, have been killed in battle against the Philistines. For David, it finally lifts the danger that he has been fleeing and hiding from for so long, as the person who was trying to kill him is dead himself. It removes the barrier to God’s promise for his future taking place, and he is about to be anointed king. But it also marks the loss of his closest friend.

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I commented last Monday that I wasn’t sure how much I really liked David. From what I had seen in his Psalms, there was a lot of whinging, if we’re being honest. David was quite keen to see the enemies of God (i.e. the enemies of David) fail and be punished. With that as the back drop – with David’s biggest enemy dead – the tone of this song is unexpected. It could have been a song of triumph. It is not. It could have been a song of praise to God that his enemies had indeed got their comeuppance. It is not. It goes quite some way to restore David’s character in my estimation. He chooses to ignore all the attempts to kill him and instead focuses on Saul’s strengths – he was a mighty hero, good with a sword, swift and strong. He was beloved and gracious. His leadership brought great wealth to his people. (Red dye for fabric was more difficult to come by and expensive).

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The thing that struck me most about this song, however, was not its content so much, but rather, ‘he commanded that it be taught to the people of Judah’ (v18). David took control of the political narrative if you like – but chose to take it in a direction that another person may not have done. He could have cast aspersions on his political predecessor, but he didn’t.

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Like David – and Auden – we are currently in mourning. We may be mourning a particular person. Too many families have lost someone recently. We are all mourning the loss of normality; seeing people; taking part in our normal activities. We all have an event that we had been looking forward to that is now curtailed or cancelled. Perhaps take a few minutes to tell God about those particular things, and how you feel – poetry not required!

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There are those who hold similar power to David in our own country and across the world. Unfortunately a global health pandemic is also a political event. The two cannot be separated. Governments will rise or fall as a result of their handling of the situation. There will be politicians everywhere who will be trying to control the political narrative. Let’s pray now for a few more David’s, attempting to keep the narrative positive and constructive.

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Unlike David, we do not have the power to control the narrative across a whole nation. We do, however, have control over our little bit – our corner of social media, our kitchen table, our socially distanced interactions. We can choose to be genuine, or to put on a front. We can choose to be helpful or unhelpful in our responses. I’ve seen too many friends feeling pushed off social media lately because of the unkind or unhelpful responses of other people. Given how few our interactions are at the moment, let’s pray that God will help us make sure that those we do have are a force for good in the world.

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“Finally, brothers [and sisters], whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.” Philippians 4:8
Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr8QoQKmXfk

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I think it might be time for a coffee? Have a good day!

Friday greetings! This is John welcoming all who pass by to zeph@10 … and smugly smiling at the thought that he doesn’t have to remember who he is commenting/liking as this morning!

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Change ? I hear a lot about how the world is never going to be the same again…I do hope so, but change comes painfully, one gut-wrenching moment at a time… we need some constants in there with us.
Listen: https://soundcloud.com/johnfroud/the-rock-song

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Bear with me while we have a look at a familiar (old assembly) story from the Gospel. It’s the man who couldn’t walk but is taken by his friends to see Jesus because they know he can fix him. Luke 5: 1-26. It’s Luke telling the story so there’s not much detail and we have to fill the gaps from our experience and our imagination. (Frant on Luke’s general lack of attention to detail available on request). Luke says, “Some men came carrying a paralysed man…” That’s all ? How many of them? Are they friends ? We might assume that, or it could have been a random mission to get people to Jesus, because he can fix them…? (an aside here—how come the same writer in Acts 12 tells how the angel got Peter dressed and even names the servant girl?) Space here to read the Scripture (both if you’re quick)

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Back to the story…
Even friends might have found it difficult to persuade him to come with them. Excuses ?
“I can’t”
“I don’t want to”
“No-one can fix me”
“He’s too busy, other people are more important””
“What if he sees how rubbish I am?”
I could manage most of them— and some more…
Pray that we can remove our blocks to letting Jesus deal with our issues…

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When they get there, they can’t get in. Embarrassed at being conspicuously needy, I would be asking to go home, “Thanks, lads, you’ve done your best. Take me home. We can have a cup of tea.”
Do his friends give up ? Certainly not. Unlike their immobile friend, they are not risk averse. They move to take him up the stairs on the outside of the house. On his stretcher. This is seriously scary. One tilt to the side and he’s flying through the air. Front end higher and he slides off, taking friend(s?) with him to the bottom of the steps. It would be understandable if here he were to say, “Thanks, lads, you’ve done your best. Take me home. We can have a cup of tea.”

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On the roof (flat, obv.) they set him down and start to clear a stretcher-sized hole in the roof. One of them fetches ropes. The terrified man is now desperate, pitch rising. “Thanks, lads, you’ve done your best. Take me home. We can have a cup of tea—and a biscuit, I’m sure I’ve got some biscuits.” The answer, yes, almost always, will involve food. Perhaps they had a biscuit, or a Chorley Cake, or…(supply your own comfort food) for him in his moment of stress?
Pray that we can help soothe others’ fears with a right word, or action, or cake at the right time

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Carefully, without tilting to one side or one end, they let him down, in front of the crowd and, brilliantly, right in front of Jesus, who without pausing, does the business and sends him, walking, apparently without leaping, home.
Luke doesn’t tell us how the householder with a hole in his roof felt about the whole thing.

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Much gratitude (if grudgingly) to the people we know (friends, family, Zephyrs) who know what we need, who go to considerable lengths (sometimes using unorthodox means) to make it happen, who fill the gap in our abilities to do what is necessary.
Pray as God leads; as you cope with stroppy people who don’t want to do what you know they need; as you’re carried; as you come face to face with Jesus; as you walk free…

Listen: https://soundcloud.com/johnfroud/04-this-thing-called-love

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Thank you, team zeph! Go and be yourselves in this day…

Morning Zephyrs! Julie here. How’s your day going?

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I don’t know whether you’re the same, but when someone asks me how I am or how my day is going, I find myself doing a swift assessment before I answer – Who is this person? How well do I know them? Do they really want an honest reply or are they just making polite conversation? Then I adjust my response accordingly…

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I spend some of my time supporting children who, for all kinds of reasons, may be struggling with tricky, complicated feelings – “heavy feelings” as I like to call them. You know, the horrible ones that weigh us down. It’s really important for our wellbeing that we notice those feelings, acknowledge them and the impact they have on us, so that we can process them and live life alongside them.

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If you’ve ever lived alongside someone who’s going through a hard time and struggling with it, or indeed if you have ever been in that position yourself, you may have noticed that it can be tempting to ignore the heavy feelings, in the hope that they’ll go away and stop burdening us. You’ll probably also have noticed that feelings don’t like being ignored and, if we attempt it, they’ll just keep on trying to get our attention, expressing themselves in more and more unwelcome ways until they are impacting on everyone around us.

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There can be a link between how well we recognise and handle our own feelings and how we relate to others – being kind to ourselves increases our ability to be kind to others, builds empathy, and makes us more emotionally resilient so we can support those who are struggling. And the world has never needed us to do that more than now…

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Our God is a God of community, of connection – the Gospel is all about humanity being stronger together than we are apart. This morning, in the midst of all the turmoil about if and when the lockdown conditions will change, I thought it would be good to spend some time blessing and supporting ourselves and each other, so that we can better bless and support others around us, using words from the Corrymeela Community, who are offering daily prayers in a time of pandemic, recognising that the world needs community like never before.

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Read the first line of the Corrymeela Prayer below, and spend a moment or two thinking about how you’re feeling following the government announcements at the weekend and the first steps towards a new normal – and all the ensuing debate. Worried? Confused? Anxious? Angry? Concerned? Happy? Glad? Uncertain? If you want to, add your prayer to God on the end of the sentence below…

“God who speaks from out of the whirlwind, and hears sighs too deep for words…”

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Now, spend a moment or two remembering that our feelings come from who we are, from our experiences, from the boats in which we find ourselves sailing the storm – and the feelings of others may not be the same. Let us remember that our own uncertainty will make it harder to recognise the different perspectives of others, and pray…

“As we come to terms with what we do not know – a timeline for return, a safe social distance –as we struggle to make sense of the world around us and imagine what life will be like, ground us in our kindness.”

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Pray that we will remain grounded in kindness as we encounter others – in the real world or online – both those with whom we share common ground and those with whom we differ…

“May a gracious word begin our next encounter, a patient thought accompany our coming breath, so that with little left in our control, we may control ourselves with grace and faith and compassion. Amen.”

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“Let my teaching fall on you like rain; let my speech settle like dew. Let my words fall like rain on tender grass, like gentle showers on young plants.” (Deuteronomy 32:2) May our words be blessings…
Watch and listen:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6EkmvRxfHo

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May we be light in the dark corners today. Amen.

Have good days, Zephyrs – be gentle with yourselves if you need to be, find moments of rest and restoration, joy and peace, and may you laugh, so that you can pass these things on to others…

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If you want to follow the Corrymeela Community’s daily prayers in a time of pandemic, you can find them here…
https://www.facebook.com/Corrymeela/

Good morning, my little windy ones (Zephyrs) (see yesterday’s post)!! How are you all today?

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So there’s a little bit of deja vu to the start of my post today; you might have noticed that already! Last week I started off by talking about how Isaac desperately needed (and wanted) a haircut but wouldn’t let me do it – he wasn’t THAT desperate! Well yesterday, it happened!!!!!

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Last week he was not ready to let me loose on his head but then when we heard at the beginning of the week that hairdressers would not be opening before July….that was just too much to bear (as was the amount of hair on his head)!

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He’s a complex character though, is our Isaac and even though he’d decided he now wanted me to cut his hair, I knew I had to tread carefully throughout yesterday. I had to make sure Thea didn’t ask him about it, I had to make sure I didn’t mention it until it was time to actually do the deed. Too much attention given to it and he’d have backed out. And if he knew I’d mentioned it was going to happen on facebook, so loads of people knew, then I’d have had no chance!

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I have learnt, over the years, when to be patient with him, when to take a step back, when to encourage, when to push, what is better left alone, which battles are worth fighting and which I just need to ignore.

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All of this took my mind to Psalm 139. I know it’s one we’re pretty familiar with but go on, go and have a read of it now……go on, off you go!!

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I’ve got to know our Isaac pretty well over the last 11 years but Psalm 139 reminds us just how well God knows us. He know us intimately; all our quirks, all our foibles, our good bits and our less good bits….and He loves us still! Even down to knowing the number of hairs on our heads (appropriate for today)! That in itself is staggering but then, consider the size, scale, magnitude and complexity of the universe. And then reconsider that fact that God knows each and every single one of us intimately. It’s no wonder v6 says,’such knowledge is too wonderful for me.’

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Have a listen and a watch of the images that accompany this song.

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Now we could discuss the use of the word ‘indescribable’ in this song, the fact that is normally carries negative connotations, but how about we put that to one side and just be awed by the sheer enormity of God, who is actually beyond any description! And then be further awed that He sees the depths of our hearts and He loves us just the same! Have a lovely day, all of you. Know that you are loved xx

Morning Zephyrs. Sorry I’m late – I had to check the spelling of Zephyrs. Julia here today- this is Roughley Cottage.

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The darkest night I have ever seen, is when we went on a family holiday to Roughley Cottage in Scotland when I was a teenager. It was an old farmhouse, and had no electricity- it still had old fashioned gas lamps for light on an evening! It was pretty remote, with the only neighbours for miles being the new farmhouse down the road. It was a great cottage – it had a little lake next to it with a little rowing boat, and we would go walking in the surrounding countryside every day.

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One day in particular, we had gone out for a walk and mistimed getting back. We reached the edge of the field with Roughley Cottage at the other side at around dusk. I say field – it was still a good 30 mins walk or so to get across it. Because it was so remote, there was no light from nearby streetlights or anything like that, and it was soon incredibly dark. The can’t see your hand in front of your face kind of dark. The only thing we could see, weirdly, was the vague outline of my sister’s wellies, which were unexpectedly incandescent. We did not deem this enough of a guide however, and so we all joined hands and made our way, in single file, across the pitch black field.

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It is incredibly weird striding out in complete darkness. At one point the person leading us all did a complete U turn – the rest of us noticed and spoke up immediately, but it was pretty startling that this could happen without realising you were doing it.

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I don’t remember whether they were there the whole time, or if they emerged at some point, but there were 3 pinpoints of bright light in the sky ahead of us. They looked like stars, although there were no others in the sky. We might have thought they were streetlights, except there weren’t any for miles. Anyway, whatever they were, we gladly walked in their direction.

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Eventually, we reached a fence – the edge of the field! This was good news – even though it was an electric fence, and since we were all holding hands we received a communal electric shock! We just needed to follow it until we found the gate.

We later discovered, that had we followed it 2m to the right, we would have reached the gate… However, we went left and started fumbling up the hill. But with the fence nearby (which we were now carefully not touching) we knew that we could find the way.

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We found our way home when my brother noticed some light – the 3 pinpoints in the sky? – reflecting off something, and realised it must be the little lake next to the cottage. We “gracefully” climbed over the fence and scrambled down the hill- massively grateful, and filled with relief, to be home.

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When I sat down on the Monday after Sunday to prepare this post, I didn’t know what to write. I’ve always found starting to write things tricky, as many frustrated teachers will tell you, alongside many witnesses of late night day-before-the-deadline sessions at my university library! But this time was different. I would have loved to write about some solution, or piece of wisdom to make everything fine. But I don’t have the details of the happy ending where my brother finds the way home. I don’t even have the electric fence. But, maybe the fact that I don’t is where the pinpoints of unexplained light come in.

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In Risen, St Peters youth group, on Sunday, we looked at Acts 3, where Peter and some others passed a lame man begging at the doorway of the temple. They didn’t have money to give him, but Peter said, “ I don’t have any silver and gold, but I do have something else I can give you. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, stand up and walk”. We discussed this story, and one of the points that came up was that it was a good job Peter didn’t have any money on him- I’m sure the man appreciated the healing much more than he would have done for a few coins.

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There are times when we feel hopeless, like there is nothing we can do in a situation, or nothing we can give. But a wise quote I once heard was that sometimes “our weaknesses become our strengths, because that is what we trust in God for.”

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Whatever we haven’t got – hope, strength, answers – we have got a God who has shown us we can trust him time and time again. And no matter what we have got – darkness, grief, fear – it will never be too dark for God to be with us.

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Here is one of my favourite songs. I don’t know if all the lyrics quite fit what I’m thinking – namely the bit where it says “whom then shall I fear?”, because lack of fear isn’t necessarily something that will resonate with everyone at the moment. But maybe that makes it all the more important to hear the rest of the lyrics, since God is so firmly with us whether or not we’re fearful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM14VZVu0og

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Let’s pray that we can remember that God is the one we can trust, and the one we can rely on – no matter what.

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Since Monday, I have eaten, slept and played with the cat – and those pinpoints of light are just a little clearer. Let’s pray that we can see God’s light whatever today brings.

Amen! Till next time.

 

Morning everyone! I’ve landed on Yvonne’s favourite Psalm today – I wonder if anyone can guess which one it is?

 

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For those not familiar with Yvonne’s impish sense of humour, we’re looking at Psalm 56, which starts (in the NIV) with “Be merciful to me, O God, for men hotly pursue me.” A problem I’m sure we all relate to! (Well, maybe not John). However, I’m looking at the Psalm in the NLT and it starts rather less excitingly, “O God have mercy on me, for people are hounding me.” You might want to have a read now.

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For those who haven’t been following all the Zeph@10am sessions, I am working through the Psalms in my chronological Bible. It means they are interspersed appropriately throughout the story of David. In part, I’m doing it as a way of becoming more familiar with a Biblical character that I have only been acquainted with up until now, if I’m honest.

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You know what it’s like with acquaintances. You know their name, who else they’re friends with, maybe what they do as a job. You might know some of the significant events of their lives. For example, anyone acquainted with me probably picks up quite quickly that I have a son. You may have an impression of their character – either from what you’ve seen or things other people have said.

I’m reminded of the passage in Sense and Sensibility where Mrs Dashwood asks Sir John what Mr Willoughby is like. He responds, “As good a kind of fellow as ever lived, I assure you. A very decent shot, and there is not a bolder rider in England.” Pushed further on the subject, with Marianne trying to gauge Willoughby’s manners, “pursuits, his talents, and genius”, Sir John responds, “Upon my soul, I do not know much about him as to all that.”

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Until now, I think I knew as much about David as Sir John knew about Willoughby. He was certainly a very decent shot!

However, now I’m getting to know him better, both through the stories of his life and through his psalms, I’m not sure that I like him. There are too many inconsistencies in his character. He lies – and on one occasion those lies led to a priest and his entire extended family and livestock, save one son, being murdered. David was sorry, but it doesn’t stop him lying again later. He has two opportunities to kill Saul (who has been trying to kill him) but claims the moral high ground refusing to do so. Yet when someone he’d previously helped refuses to provide him with supplies, he sets out with 400 men to kill the man and all his family, and is only stopped from doing so when the wife intercedes. I’m trying to remember the cultural context in which he lived, but the inconsistencies in his character still rankle. The Psalms too, as Yvonne mentioned in one of her comments a few weeks ago, all start on a similar theme…. ‘O woe is me!’…… ‘People are being mean to me, telling lies about me!’….. and so on.

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No matter how much I may currently not be warming to David as a person, there is no doubt of one thing that shines out of the stories and his psalms. He knows that he is special to God.

You can see this clearly in the second part of Psalm 56 – after he’s got over his standard ‘woe is me’ rant.

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The verse that spoke to me most this morning was verse 8, “You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book”.

I think one mark of whether someone is just an acquaintance, or is truly a friend, is how much their suffering hurts you. We feel sympathy with people when they are going through tough times, but when someone is close to you – when they are someone who you really know and love – then you really share in their suffering. It becomes your suffering too.

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God loves us so much that our suffering doesn’t just hurt Him too. He goes further. He chooses to actively remember it, to store our tears, and record our pain. It seemed a little odd to me, because even as a parent, I don’t note down all the times Thomas got hurt, or upset. Once the situation has passed, then its forgotten.

But then I got to thinking a bit more. I do remember the important hurts in Thomas’s life – the things that caused significant pain or upset – because they are the events that have shaped the person that he is. They are the things that will influence how he will react in different situations, and how he will cope as life changes. The memory of them become part of my toolbox for helping him as he grows up.

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God remembers all the hurts we have suffered, and all the joys we have experienced too, because we are the sum of those experiences. The tears that I wept last night – God will remember those because the thoughts and the pain behind them will influence how I think and behave in future situations. He has collected them in his tear bottle. He’s added it to his toolbox of ‘things that will help Jenny’.

That toolbox, knowing all that about us, is how God will keep our ‘feet from slipping’ and keep us walking in his presence, and his ‘life-giving light’ (Verse 13).

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Have a listen to John’s words. And as you do, thank God that He has a toolbox for helping you, and no matter who you are, and how inconsistent your character, you are still special to him.
Listen: https://soundcloud.com/johnfroud/im-special-to-jesus

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I don’t know how you are feeling today – whether happy, sad or somewhere in between. What I do know is that God is taking note, He’s remembering, because you’re special to Him and He wants to keep you walking in His light.

Have a good day!

Greetings Zeph at tenners. John here. Anybody recognise my first guitar hero?

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This is Big Bill Broonzy. Nobody is very sure where or when he was born. He died in 1958 when I was five. When I was 18 and never having heard of him, I bought a Big Bill album for 12/6 (62.5p) – the price is hand written on the back – in a second hand shop in Exmouth. It wasn’t what I was expecting. The cover said it was a Blues album. I knew the blues word from my dad’s jazz albums and was expecting something New Orleansish, I guess. I was, as they say, “Blown away” by the virtuosity of his guitar playing and the intensity of his singing. I knew something of the Civil Rights struggle of the 1960s, but here was the pain, travelling loud and clear through the years and across the ocean. People suffer in many ways.

Remembering today’s significance, we can pray for people whose circumstances prevent them from fully living.

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Carry on reading while you listen… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1bWf1ewsg0

I thought I’d quite like to play like that. No chance. He is the guitar equivalent of David “24 fingers” Wilkinson. I was new to the guitar and keen. I bought books. I watched guitarists’ fingers. I gave up. So, I don’t play like Big Bill and I am still really impressed by anyone who can. I note that Eric Clapton gets Andy Fairweather-Low to do the Big Bill bits. I learned – am still learning – to play the way I can play. I keep practising and every now and then I try again and fail again to copy Broonzy.

While this next track plays we could pray for those who have bought the dream that they can do anything and then found that they can’t. https://soundcloud.com/johnfroud/worth-every-tear-1

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God doesn’t want us to do what he didn’t make us to be able to do. None of the Zeph team were ever going to be Olympic high jumpers, We’re not built for that. But my colleagues are amazingly talented in so many ways. He didn’t make us all the same. Some he made teachers, etc. To some he gave the gift of apple pies. We had a lady called Hazel in the church at Shipley some time ago. If things had gone pear shaped for a family, Hazel would turn up on the doorstep with an apple pie.

I can’t do that either. Lets pray that we get to know what we can do for God…

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Different gifts…when Peter and John were strolling about in the temple in Acts 3, they were asked for money by a man who couldn’t walk. Peter’s reply stands as one the great statements of faith. “Silver and gold I don’t have, but what I have I give you.” And he helped him to his feet. That was a gift not much in evidence when he was in the Temple courtyard or putting his coat on to jump in the water…

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He’s not finished with us yet. God’s creation is a work in progress—and so are we. We pick up new skills, we gain new experiences (not always positive) and we are changed, often a tiny bit at a time, so we don’t notice till later. Teaching left me with skills and insights that are part of me now, but wouldn’t have been there if I’d started on this ministry when I was younger. Somewhere along the road Hazel learned to make those wonderful pies. Trust in God’s timing. Pray for an understanding of where we are and what is possible.

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I’m not always patient with what I see as others people’s sense of the possible… either way. Sometimes I get frustrated with an overestimation (nooooooooooo!) at other times, it’s an underestimation (go on! go on! go on!) of abilities.
Anyone ready to pray for an understanding of where other people are and what their gifts are so that we can gently (or otherwise!) encourage their ministries?

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To finish, here’s Garth Hewitt’s song of how Mahalia Jackson (another singer) told Martin Luther King in a very public place what he should do.
https://soundcloud.com/johnfroud/tell-em-about-the-dream

Perhaps we can be more … discreet. Now, however you do it, “Go and make disciples…” Matt 28:19

Morning Zephyrs! Julie here. Who else loves sleep??? Biblical logic says we are blessed…

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I’m a big fan of the bits of the Bible that aren’t there, the gaps – I call them the hidden spaces. They’re the bits they don’t tell us, the bits that make us ask questions. What was Jesus writing in the dust when he interrupted the stoning of the woman caught in adultery? Why did Peter put his coat on before he jumped into the lake? Who was the young man following Jesus after he was arrested, the one whose linen cloth got pulled off and he ran away? Sometimes, the things we don’t know about a story can give us as much insight as the things we do…

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One of the biggest hidden spaces in the Bible are Jesus’ missing years. We hear briefly of his childhood and a story of him aged 12 – then nothing until he’s around 30. 18 missing years – presumably of not much to write about…

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What was Jesus doing during those missing years? Well, he was living, wasn’t he, a human life? Getting up each day, eating, washing, drinking, interacting with those around him, being part of a community, learning a trade, going to the temple, arguing with his brothers, interacting with his parents, walking the dusty streets and market places of his home, sleeping. He was living a human existence similar in many ways to our own. Not much to write about… Or is it?

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The Gospels present Jesus as a very physical being – we see numerous instances of him eating and sharing food; he sleeps on a cushion in the front of the boat; he weeps for the death of his friend; he heals people through physical touch; he uses food and drink to help his disciples remember him; his anger is expressed physically in the temple; the night of his arrest, his anxiety keeps him awake and praying.

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Often, either individually or collectively, we subconsciously separate the spiritual from the physical, elevating one above the other. We see our bodies at best as the temporary home for our spirits or souls, and at worst as the source of our earthly sins.

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In sending Jesus, God reminded us of his original creation intention – he created us, humans, in his image. We are sacred space.

The real challenge of Jesus, God in human form, is this – if everything he did, in all its glorious human physicality, is a holy act because he is God, then – if we are made in God’s image – isn’t everything we do, in all its glorious human physicality, also holy and sacred, even while it may be ordinary? In that light, doesn’t living our daily, physical lives become something to write about?

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In taking care of our bodies – feeding them, hydrating them, resting them, exercising them, treating them kindly, accepting them with love and compassion – we recognise God’s physical creation, his image, and treat it with grace.
If we prepare food for others, donate to food banks, make deliveries for those who need them, lend a listening ear, sit with them in their worry, speak to them on the phone – we recognise God’s physical creation, his image, and treat it with grace.
If we protect our own and our neighbours’ bodies from a potentially deadly virus by maintaining physical distance, we recognise God’s physical creation, his image, and treat it with grace.

Our everyday lives and tasks become sacred – “the ordinary is laced with grace.”

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That last quote comes from a book I’m reading, It’s Really All About God by Samir Selmanovic. He writes a whole chapter on recognising the secret of the ordinary and how it can transform our daily living faith. It’s very good.

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A couple of days ago, I was carrying out a daily task for one of my children which, in all honesty, I usually find tedious. And it’s ok to feel that way. But – after reading that chapter in my book – this time, partway through the task, a thought popped into my head – “Isn’t it a huge privilege that, out of all the people in the world, I am the only one that this fellow human being, full of God’s image, trusts to carry out this task for them?” An act of service. And suddenly, the ordinary became sacred, laced with grace.

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In these strange days, when we feel constrained, when much of the joy of life seems to have been sucked away, maybe there’s an opportunity to concentrate on those ordinary physical things – eating, drinking, resting, working, sleeping, weeping, laughing – and see them in a new light. An opportunity to recognise the holiness, the grace, the sacrament, the Godliness of our physicality, and of the ordinary…

Have a listen…
https://soundcloud.com/johnfroud/creator-god

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Learning to see God in the everyday, in the ordinary, and recognise it as sacred space, is a spiritual discipline – one that we can all practice and one that can be transformative. Small steps… Take some time, right now, to think of three ordinary things you are thankful for – list them, if you like, and give thanks to God for them…

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May you change the world today by seeing it differently. Keep shining those lights, Zephyrs!