A Pause in Lent 6

OK I am not sure what happened to a Pause in weeks 4 and 5, but am back for this last week.

The bowl above is an example of Kintsukuroi - the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold in the cracks, to made something every more beautiful. It is said to have originated in the 15 Century when a Japanese Shogun broke a favourite tea bowl and sent it to be repaired, but the usual repair job, of using staples, detracted from the beauty of the bowl. Disappointed the Shogun asked some Japanese craftsmen to help and the art of Kintsukuroi was born.

I love this idea of gold being poured into the cracks to make something moe beautiful and to me it is a lovely picture of what God does for us, through Jesus. Through Christ we can have the cracks in our lives filled with gold, through Christ we can find value in the cracks and the scars of life, we can find new purpose and meaning, we can see the beauty of 'imperfection', we can love ourselves and others in spite of flaws because God loves us that way, He loves us unconditionally.

At this start of Holy Week and  as we approach the Cross and the Resurrection may you bring your cracks and broken pieces of your lives to the one who fill them with gold and make them more beautiful.

A Pause in Lent 3

I have been doing a Mission Shaped Ministry Course run by Fresh Expressions over the past few months and this weekend was an overnight stay. At the end of it, in small groups, we had to come up with a short worship service. Our group chose God's Grace we played this song by Neil Diamond - Pretty Amazing Grace. I am not sure if Neil Diamond intended it to be about Jesus, but I do think the words just show so much about God's grace in our lives.

Pretty amazing grace is what You showed me
Pretty amazing grace is who You are
I was an empty vessel
You filled me up inside
And with amazing grace restored my pride

Pretty amazing grace is how You saved me
And with amazing grace reclaimed my heart
Love in the midst of chaos
Calm in the heat of war
Showed with amazing grace what love was for

You forgave my insensitivity
And my attempt to then mislead You
You stood beside a wretch like me
Your pretty amazing grace was all I needed.

Stumbled inside the doorway of Your chapel
Humbled in God by everything I found
Beauty and love surround me
Freed me from what I fear
Ask for amazing grace and You appear

You overcame my loss of hope and faith
Gave me a truth I could believe in
You led me to a higher place
Showed Your amazing grace
When grace was what I needed

Look in a mirror I see Your reflection
Open a book You live on every page
I fall and You're there to lift me
Share every road I climb
And with amazing grace You ease my mind

Came to You with empty pockets first
When I returned I was rich man
Didn't believe love could quench my thirst
But with amazing grace You showed me that it can

In Your amazing grace I had a vision
From that amazing place I came to be
Into the night I wandered
Wandering aimlessly
Found Your amazing grace to comfort me.

Pretty amazing
Pretty amazing
Pretty amazing
Pretty amazing
Pretty amazing
Pretty amazing
Pretty amazing
Pretty amazing

You overcame my loss of hope and faith,
Gave me a truth I could believe in.
You led me to that higher place
Showed me that love and truth and hope and grace were all I needed.

A reminder to us that God's grace is sufficient for all our needs and is freely available to all who look for it.

This has been a busy and amazing weekend as this morning I was ordained as an elder in the Church.

God's grace is pretty amazing!

This post is part of A Pause in Lent hosted by Angie.

Pause in Lent 2

I am getting prepared for Messy Church, which is on next Saturday and came across this craft idea - Pretzel Prayers. I did know the story of the pretzel, so though I would share it with you

Pretzels are not actually mentioned in the Bible. In about AD610 a monk was baking unleavened bread for Lent in his kitchen. Through the window he could see children praying. He decided to make treats for the children as a reward to reciting their prayers, so he used up the leftover pieces of dough to create strips folded like the arms of a person praying. The shapes were called pretiola, Latin for 'little reward', from which the word 'pretzel' has been derived. Since the, pretzels have remained a popular Lenten food and there are lots of different shapes and recipes.

So next time you are eating a pretzel think about the arms being crossed in prayer.

This post is part of A Pause in Lent hosted by Angie

A Pause in Lent - 1

I am joining in again this year with A Pause in Lent, hosted by Angela here.

I find it hard to believe that we are actually in Lent again - it seems no time since it was Advent. I think this is a sign of the times we live in - we are so busy that time really does seem to be moving quicker. I began to reflect on the busyness of our lives - we try and pack so much stuff into them, we are always dashing here or there (or is that just me?). Even in this time of Lent we can be so busy, there are so many different online or email devotions we can sign up that we would never have time to read them all!

So this Lent time, in the run up to Easter I am going to pause and reflect. I am following devotions in one book only and am not signing up to different emails (or at least I am now going to unsubscribe from a lot of them). I want to put God back where he belongs - first in my life! I want to spend time just being with him, instead of always rushing about, even if that rushing about is doing church activities. I am going to learn to say No to things if I have to .

So what am I giving up for Lent - the act of 'busyness'.