Over the summer we are looking at a number of biblical characters - as chosen by whoever is leading the service. Hence, you will get the chance to learn something about Moses, Peter and Esther. For my two services during that time I have decided to look at two of the women from the Old Testament, Ruth and Hannah. I find both of their stories fascinating, they give an insight into some of the social customs of their time; they speak of love and devotion; they show that despite the gap in time and culture, many of our basic concerns are similar - do we belong? What is our role in this community? What can we pass on to our children?

Ruth is the Moabite widow who comes to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law Naomi. She is saved by social customs that provide for the feeding of the poor and her deceased husbands inheritance is ensured by her marriage to one of his kinsmen. My reading of the story is that Boaz loved Ruth, but their marriage is essentially a business transaction. That may go against the grain in our understanding of marriage as a love match, but we still have traces of it when the bride is "given away" and marriage still provides a legal protection for both partners and the children of that relationship that the modern custom of living together fails to provide unless specific steps are taken to draw up a contract.

Hannah is the senior but childless wife of Elkanah, who because of her infertility has to face the taunts of his second child-producing wife. It is one of the marriages that causes me to smile when people hold up the monogamous whole-life pattern of marriage as the biblical model. In fact biblical models cover a whole host of social customs and the constant themes are about faithfulness, responsibility, care for one another within the social customs of the time. One of the themes in the Hannah story is about the role of a childless woman, Hannah believes she is not fulfilled until she has a child, Elkanah loves her, sons or no sons. When Hannah does have a son she dedicates him to God and he becomes Samuel - one of Israel's great prophet leaders. In her joy Hannah sings a wonderful hymn of praise which will be mirrored by Mary when she learns that she is to bear Jesus. 

So I would encourage you to come a learn something about our own lives, relationships and calling from the stories we hear over the summer - in all of them we are called to live as the people of God, honouring the saints who walk before us and preparing the ground for those who will follow.

Have fun

Craig

“The first casualty of war is the truth,”  - and so it is hard for us to really know the truth and there are no easy answers to any of the above - we will each start from our own perspective and arrive at a variety of views. But God begins and and ends with truth, and it is God who has set the plumb line and God who will judge just how plumb is the modern State of Israel.

Where is God in any of this? - Where are we? do we have any relevance? any voice? any role? In Ephesians our individual story is set within the context of God’s whole story, we are part of creation, connected to the whole of humanity and chosen, adopted, precious to the one who made all things. “In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit” - having heard the word of truth we must live the word of truth - the plumb line falls on us just as  it falls on those in power - we must live with honesty and integrity, seeking the truth, speaking the truth, living the truth - sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. - in doing so we assist in holding up the plumb line to those who hide the truth, who use their power and their influence to create a Kingdom of injustice and unrighteousness.

Genesis 1:26-31

Job 38:1-11

This is a reflection on last weeks Summer School - a couple of days spent visiting various locations around Cumbria from a Hill farm, to some small environmental projects to a wind farm to Sellafield. The connecting theme was creation and the environment and from a reflection on Blakes The Tyger, set to music by John Taverner we ask the question "Did he who made the Lamb make thee?"

How are we to use the power of creation? Hill farms creating a managed pastoral landscape seems like a natural use of creation - yet the economics may be unsustainable, the social conditions make it difficult for future generations. Small communities using sustainable energy like ground heat source, micro wind and solar energy - consuming less energy using renewable energies.

How do we react to other forms of renewable energies? Wind Farms, tidal barrages, nuclear power stations. Is this creation, this technology to be used? If we are concerned about global warming, limited goal and gas resources then these solutions are better than conventional power stations - but each has problems and the environmental lobby are divided about the way forward.

Blake contrasts the awesome power of the  - Tyger, Tyger, burning bright/ In the forests of the night,/What immortal hand or eye/Could frame thy fearful symmetry? - with The Lamb, the classic pastoral setting - Jesus the sacrificial lamb - “Did he who made the lamb make thee?” Is that pastoral setting the voice of innocence? -  Are those small efforts in village hall and suburban street, so worthy,  nothing more than quaint feel good efforts? The real decisions are about wind, tide, nuclear, coal, gas - are they God’s gifts to us? how are we to use them? Do we use our God given creative skill to exploit every resource available to us? Each has a cost - economic, social, environmental - can we include a theological cost? a creation cost?