Day 1 Spirit of Truth

Holy Spirit Reflections

Artwork and Verse by the Rev’d Paul Collings

Spirit of Truth

Holy Spirit, Truth divine,

Dawn upon this soul of mine;

Word of God and inward light

Wake my spirit, clear my sight.

Samuel Longfellow 1864

John 16:13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

Lord, can I know your truth divine  

In this world of lies, defeat?

How can I delve the deepest mines

Your honesty to there greet?

Where can I find that surety firm,

Where find your grace and there learn

Your promise hold, outlive deceit,

Where justice and mercy meet.

Spirit of truth. long promised light

Guide me, show the way that’s right.

Show my selfish pitfall  ways

Turn my dark-nights; brighten days.

The future far I dread, perceive

The ends I fear, even grieve. 

Show the next step, the way I should go 

And there your truth divine to know.

Come Holy one truth promised long,

Prove to you that I belong. 

Write your own name on my poor heart

Your grace in me Lord, Impart.

Purge my motives, cleanse, redeem

Wash in your life-giving stream.

Source of all truth,  Spirit Divine 

Speak your truth, my life align.

7. Lessons from Bonhoeffer

Today’s St Nicholas Methodist Online service is available here.

Locked Down but Not Out

Reflections on Grace when facing  Dark Times. 

“The blessedness of waiting is lost on those who cannot wait, and the fulfilment of promise is never theirs. They want quick answers to the deepest questions of life and miss the value of those times of anxious waiting, seeking with patient uncertainties until the answers come. They lose the moment when the answers are revealed in dazzling clarity.” - Dietrich Bonhoeffer - Christmas Sermon

Psalm 37:7

"Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not fret when people succeed in their ways when they carry out their wicked schemes."

Galatians 6:9

"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

 I’m fed up with this waiting,

Of being so locked down.

I ask through my impatience, 

Release me, Lord right now.

Yet when I reconsider 

the paths that others shared;

Enforced by their internment;

Lives cruelly impaired.

My plight it seems so paltry

Compared with their poor fate;

Incarcerated, put to death,

The end of their long wait.

I hear the Psalmist  words.

Be still before the Lord;

Wait patiently in his good time

And with his will accord.

You call me now to follow

And wait your purpose here.

To weary not in doing good

But wait and to endure

Lord help me in this lockdown,

To see your greater aim

 Wait upon your sacred  will

And in your grace remain.

Forgive my hasty heart, Lord.

I seek a waiting mind

To patiently, to rest content

And there your peace to find.

6. Paul’s Imprisonment

Locked Down but Not Out

Reflections on Grace when facing  Dark Times. 

Romans 8:37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

How often have we sung the hymn

“My chains fell off my heart was free”

Yet failed to know its deeper core.

How Paul and Silas, in cell grim

Their freedom lost, how could they  plea

But sing and  praise their dear Saviour.

Their crime, inditement, and the charge

Was that they witnessed to a peace

Of Christ’s redeeming life outpoured.

Yet on that night earth shook at large

As tremor opened door, release

Their captivity, escape afford.

But in the turmoil Paul firm stood

And quelled the jailers deepest fear

Who thought that he would take the blame -

What penalty the cost, what could

He do his own life now to clear,

And save his family’s honoured name.

The bible narrative relates

The jailer asked how to be saved

“Believe the Lord in Jesus take

Your Saviour here for you he waits.”

And so the turnkey saved from grave

With all his family awake.

Lord, when locked down, entrapped by fear,

Help me to hear, to sing once more

“My chains fell off my heart is free:”

Help me to “rise and follow thee!”

And as I see you there adore

Emboldened stoop, and bow my knee.

5. Legion’s Dilemma

Locked Down but Not Out

Reflections on Grace when facing  Dark Times. 

Luke 8 (Selected) Jesus was met by a man from the city who was possessed with demons; and who had not put on any clothing for a long time, and was not living in a house, but in the tombs...... and they came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting down at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind; 

Amidst the gravestones of despair

A man lies naked in his liar

A tortured soul of inner pain

No sanity, no peace to gain.

A thousand voices in his head

That scream their mantra, ‘want him dead!’

As chained restraints contain this soul

His lifelong sentence taking toll.

The people fear this maniac

And shun his nearness, dread attack.

His outburst scare the gathered crowd

As Legion bellows, shouts aloud.

‘What do you want of me Jesus

You Son of God most high, what fuss?”

As there the master travels near

In tenderness he stops to hear.

Then out of love Christ takes control

And drives out demons; miracle

As into grazing pigs he throws

The evils spirits to vale below.

At last he’s free, his mind restored

His body clothed and now adores

Sat at the feet of he who healed

To bathe in perfect love revealed.

O Lord of peace, of soothing balm,

I pray for those who know no calm

Their tortured minds, in tumult held

Where peace from battle is withheld

.

Lord in the winter of their souls

Your Spirit rise give back control

For them your healing grace behold

Your lasting peace safe know enfold.

Faith in times of crises 5

 

Today’s reflection is selected by Dr JP Hunter

The Way of the Cross

Mark 8:34 Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”

You never said it would be easy, Lord.

You never promised us a smooth ride,

a trouble-free passage.

You never said, “Follow me,

and I will give you health, wealth and happiness.”

So help us not to expect it.

When temptation comes knocking –

as it did for Jesus in the wilderness,

as it does for all mortal, human flesh –

then give us strength of will, to remember that the Christian journey

is not about smooth waters and easy pathways,

or about worldly glory,

but about keeping our eyes firmly on Christ as our guide,

treading in his footsteps, and trusting in him

to bring us safely home.

Having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

You never said it would be easy, Lord,

but you have promised to tread every step of the way with us,

as you have trodden it before us,

in love, sacrifice and grace,

bringing us safe along the rocky road of discipleship

that leads home to you.

© Catrin Harland-Davies (abridged).

4. Job’s Depression

Locked Down but Not Out

Reflections on Grace when facing  Dark Times. 

Job 19:25-27  I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

The Man from Uz, Gods close dear friend 

Was deeply tried and tempted sore.

Evil prevailed but did not end

As faithfully he prayed, adored

Jehovah Jireh who provides,

The one who strengthens, cares and guides.

The witness of this righteous one,

Though strife and loss, as peril claimed

The life of those he loved, now gone,

As anguish cruel his mind enflamed.

But yet, he speaks beyond belief

Though even pain finds no relief.

For deep within Job’s faithful heart

Stirs light far greater than the dark

That would consume, take life apart

And banish goodness, leave its mark.

I know that my redeemer lives

This, this the challenge that he gives.

Lord, when such trials come, raise their face

And tempters thoughts my life outpace.

When evil harms my mind, depress

And all seems lost without a trace

Help me to say as you forgive,

I know that my redeemer lives

3. Psalmist Lament (Paraphrase of Psalm 13)

Statue of King David in Bethlehem

Locked Down but Not Out

Reflections on Grace when facing  Dark Times. 

Must I stay here, to fear and fret

How long will you, my Lord Forget,

How long, will darkness hide your face, 

Despair the only lasting trace.

How long will battle of the mind 

Wrestle my thoughts and there to grind

The daily sorrow of my heart,

As enemy tears life apart. 

Look on me Lord, to me reply 

Bring Light, awake my sleeping eyes,

As death seems now the only end;

Against my enemy defend.

The foes are waiting for my fall.

 In victory to sneer, to call,

Rejoicing on my sure demise,

I feel downcast, no hope to rise. 

Lord, I will trust, your love assured  

My heart delights, my soul is cured.

I’ll sing your praise, my saving Lord

And by your goodness I’m, restored!