If you have a spare few days…

Posted on November 20, 2008 by Kath

There isn’t much better, in my far from humble opinion, to do with your time than go to L’abri. That’s pretty much all I have to say. Really. But if you need some reasons…

It’s a place to go and ask honest questions of life the universe and everything, a place to discover answers and discover that the answers you had might need rethinking. It’s a place to live in community, to work, to wash dishes, to clean and cook, it’s a place to drink copious amounts of tea and play speed scrabble in the breaks, it’s a place to delve into the tape collection like a child in a sweet shop.  It’s a place to talk, to discuss, to listen and be listened to, it’s a place to stop and think, a place to breathe and realise that God is way way way bigger than you give him credit for.  It’s a place to put down the things you carry and see what is worth picking up again, it’s a place to explore the wealth of space between the question and the answer, it’s a place to ponder the nature of reality and discover all our expert ways at hiding from reality. 

I’ve spent the last 3 days there, and although that’s far from enough, it was enough to stop and breathe again, to stop and remember that God is. It was enough to be reminded that reality is to be lived in, not hidden from. Enough to remind me that God is real, that I love pondering the questions of life, and that I am more broken and messed up than I like to admit. 

It’s not an easy place to go to, one of the things I love and hate about the place is that there aren’t many ‘mountain top’ moments, I don’t generally go and have uber experiential mystic moments with God, but in the breathing, eating, washing up, falling asleep listening to tapes moments I discover that God is in this mundane, in the ordinary, and so he is in the ordinary of all of life. This is no place to escape reality but a place that makes living in reality all the more possible. 

So, next time you’re wondering what to do with a weekend, or a week off, book in. 

Advert over.

Posted in From the basement | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Wishing.

Posted on November 10, 2008 by Kath

Last night I was on a panel of Christians answering questions on why trust the Bible, (believe me I have no idea why I get myself in these situations). I’m not the greatest fan of being on such panels (mainly because of my pride in hating looking stupid in front of people), I generally forget simple answers to questions like “why are you a Christian?”, or “why did Jesus have to die”, you know, unimportant unlifechanging questions like that. My mind goes blank and I can never think of anything useful to say except 3 days later. ANyway, this isn’t a blog post about my inability to be articulate on demand.

This is a post wishing things could have gone differently. Wishing that amidst the important stating of the reasons why the Bible is trustworthy from a historical and archeological basis we’d covered more reasons to read the Bible. I wish we’d told stories of how this book is freakishly lifechanging, stories of how God has wooed us in it, challenged us through it, walked off the pages into our lives and more. I wish we’d shown that this is a book with power, a book to be taken seriously, a book which is dangerous and subversive to read, I wish we’d made more of it’s speaking to every human condition, more of the God who reveals himself in it, more of the wonder of the massive story of redemption, love, hope and justice contained within it’s pages, I wish we’d talked of the Father who wrote so much to remind us of reality, to speak to us of His love and call for us to come home. I wish we’d talked of the hope on offer, the deep reality that our lives are eternal and how our decisions have consequences. I wish I’d talked of the affect the words on a page have on me, to move me, to make me cry, laugh, mourn, dance and more, because this book is infected with the Spirit who brings to life words on a page. No other book has this much power, this much influence, this much reality.

I guess part of the reason we love other books, other words, and what they do to us inside is because they speak of the truth of the human condition, they speak truth about our experiences and because they point us to the greater story of our lives. Last night I wish we’d explored the stories, the words, the power and beauty of a God communicating with his people and his battle to bring us home. I wish we talked more of the God the Bible brings to us.

This morning I read one verse from this book and it grabbed me, shoved me against a wall and got in my face about where exactly I was seeking refuge, was it in my Maker, my true shelter, my defender, or in TV to bring me peace hope and joy. Thinking about it now it seems obvious which one to choose, but all last week I chose the latter rather than the former. This morning one verse turned my world the right way up, reminded me of reality and caused me to seek God, to enjoy his refuge and love and turn from stuff that just isn’t as satisfying or thirst quenching. I wish I’d talked more of that kind of affect of the Bible last night.

Forgive us Lord for making your life giving Word a little bit dull. Forgive us for the abomination that is and please encounter us with You through it each day. Remind us of the power of your Word of life.

Posted in From the basement | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Nothing

Posted on November 6, 2008 by Kath

Nothing really to write about. Nothing really. I could write about our shiny new house, with palatial style bathroom, I could write about my new job and all the questions of identity that little number throws up. I could write about elections, Obama and the joy of someone who is a little bit articulate becoming in charge of the good old U S of A. Or how he’s probably imperfect and flawed and it’s about time we were realistic about our leaders. I could write about how strange it is not to be doing full time Christian work anymore, I could write about my new obsession with Life on Mars. I could write about the endless wondering in my head trying to understand the space between the question and the answer, the questions of how on earth we can remain certain whilst retaining so much of the stuff we just don’t know. I could write about how awesome Martyn Joseph was last week, and the way music grabs your soul, squeezes it and leaves you always crying for more. I could write about my friends generosity to me whilst I have been unemployed. But you know what, I think I’ll go to bed instead. Nothing really to write about anyway…

Posted in From the basement | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Autumn

Posted on October 26, 2008 by Kath

I think officially autumn is my favorite season, if not purely for the brilliant splashes of colour around the place, then for the dark nights and the chance to curl up on sofas with cups of tea and read books under blankets, for the crisp blue sky days full of possibility and the ever closeness of the Christmas season. To quote Mr Plass once more:

“When I’m in heaven, tell me there’ll be seasons when the colours fly,

Poppies splashing flame, through dying yellow, living green

And autumns burning sadness that has always made me cry, for things that have to end.

For winter fires that blaze like captive suns, but look so cold when the morning comes,

I love the way the seasons change.”

Here are pretty autumn pictures:

In other news, tomorrow we move into our new house, I’m looking forward to not being a nomad anymore, although something has just clicked in my brain to warn me from ever getting too settled here on this earth. Eternity seems so out of reach for much of the time but these times of having no fixed abode remind me that this world is not my home. As beautiful and wonderful as it is, it is still messed up, it is still in rebellion against it’s Maker, there is still so much more to come. There will be a day when our tears will be wiped away once and for all time.

Posted in From the basement | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Dear Diary. Pt 568

Posted on October 17, 2008 by Kath

This week has been an ‘interesting’ week. I’m not entirely sure I’m going to go into all the details here on this public space, but suffice to say our Landlord has been through a pretty shocking and horrible event in the last week. Grim enough to ensure a few journalists turned up on our doorstep last weekend. And horrible enough for him to phone on Wednesday morning and ask us to leave the house so he could have it back. You’ll understand how grim his week has been when we said, ok we’ll be out by the weekend. There is no legal reason for us to do that, we have a contract until December. But it’s the right thing to do.

Wednesday then turned into an interesting day. After the chat with our Landlord we headed straight to the pages of rightmove, and lo and behold found another house that met our needs, which is frankly bizarre as it took us about 3-4 months to find the house we are in, 4 bed places to rent in our area just don’t come up. So we phoned the letting agency, looked around the house and the wheels are in motion to move in at the end of the month. If you fancy praying that would happen please do.

Thursday involved many forms filled in, a trip to Guildford to ask my Dad to be the guarantor of my rent, the realisation that I’m now fairly jobless and homeless, packing up my life once more and attempting to fit the contents of our house into one room so that we can pick them up easily when we move to the new place.

Today I move back to Hove, Actually. So for another week or so this blog will be correct once more in it’s titles. Mostly we’re fine, we have places to stay, the advantage of this body of Christ thing again. We’re still loving each other in the stress and meh God’s pretty much given us a new house in a better location with 2 bathrooms 🙂 . I’m not sure my brain can cope with His goodness as it’s blowing my mind right now. I’ll keep you posted on any further developments.

Posted in From the basement | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment