In Search of the Mystery of God

Strange to think that, though an infinite qualitative difference and separation lies between Creator and Creation, as between artist and art, yet God's presence runs through creation, as radio waves do a hand or a head. Which means that the turmoil and terror, the devastation and cataclysm of peoples and nations, of cities and homes, and the wrenching and twisting of the tortured creation in J...

Hmm. Temptation. Choice and decision. It's a struggle for us, isn't it. Many pious people, and indeed the orthodox teaching of many churches, claim it is blasphemous to say Christ was really tempted in the desert, since he was fully God and God can't be tempted by evil. No, he just appeared to be tempted in order to vanquish the devil. But Jesus was also fully human, and the writer to...

An extended prayer time this morning due to the long reading about Cuthbert's last weeks. The Pharisees and the scribes have all had their go at trying to catch Jesus out and find a pretext for having him arrested. Now its the turn of the other major sect, the Sadducees. They ask their knock-down question that proves the stupidity of the notion of 'resurrection'. It is interesting that...

Jesus has just cleansed the Temple. Now comes the challenge of authority. But in good rabbinic tradition, he answers the question with a question. The marvel of the interaction is the utter inability of the chief priests and scribes to see the hypocrisy of their position. But as in all these stories, we can never see ourselves as uninvolved bystanders. We, too, are so often in their position, blin...

"Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Teacher, rebuke your disciples" "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out." Indeed they would. The very fabric of creation shudders at the presence of her creator. This is the most explicit claim Jesus allows to be made of his real identity, hidden for so long . Perhaps he allows it knowing tha...

Cuthbert, now in his early fifties, senses his body beginning to feel the strain of his years of asceticism. He wants to spend his last remaining days in prayer and praise on his beloved Farne, so after just two years as bishop, he decides to retire. He takes one final tour around the diocese, visiting monasteries and other places, giving words of encouragement and exhortation. In the course of wh...

People have speculated for years what it is about children that belongs to the kingdom of God. Personally, I think its a bit like children and Christmas - that sense of uncontainable excitement and the exuberant thrill of expected joy and delight. Everything else goes along with this - trust, simplicity, and a sense of wonder; and a lack of baggage - greed, prejudice and anxiety, you know, all the...

This story of the healing of a young lad brought to Cuthbert on a stretcher reminds us of the paralytic lowered through the roof in front of Jesus. Here the story happens in a remote and mountainous region that has never been identified. However, further details from the Anonymous Life of Cuthbert (an earlier 'Life' from which Bede draws) tell us it happened half way between Hexham and Car...

Another of Jesus' parables about Israel failing to share the wealth of God's rich blessing on his people. The rich man is not named, but the one from outside the gate is given a name, Lazarus, and is therefore known by God. He ends up standing by Abraham's side, where Israel expected to find itself. The shock in the story, however, is not that the rich man is punished, or that the poor...

Encounter, not meeting, changes us, and we are left different. Something touches our inner being, and we begin to flower. Or wither. Encounter has the power of life or death. Mountains are metaphors of encounter with God - "who will ascend the mountain of the Lord?" asks the psalmist. The Ark on Mt Ararat. Moses on Mt Sinai. Elijah on Mt Carmel. Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. The S...

The parable of the unrighteous manager always throws folk. But its a parable, not a story. The key is in v9 : 'And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.' They may receive you? Who? Eternal dwellings? Really? How does that work? The parable is about God and Israel. The master's prope...

While the parable of the Prodigal Son, so familiar to many of us, is perhaps meant to tell of the relationship between God, Israel and the Gentile world, its sheer humanity works on many levels, not least the personal. It is difficult not to feel the intense and desperate love the father has towards both his children. Who could fail to be moved by it? This is our God. Cuthbert is both a pastoral a...

Cuthbert again travels to Carlisle on administrative purposes. While there, word reaches his old friend, Hereberht, who lived as a hermit on the most isolated of the islands in Derwent Water in the Lake District. It remains uninhabited to this day (apart from occasional wild campers!), and is still known as St Herbert's Isle. The conversation between them is so foreign to most of us in this da...

St Cuthbert's Day Cuthbert is aware that the hour of fulfilment of his prophecy to Aelfflaed concerning her brother, King Ecgfrith, is drawing near. So he goes to Carlisle to be with the queen, to be with her when it happens. As it happens, he is on a tourist trip round the city (still worth a visit, incidentally), when the event takes place. What is especially interesting here, though, is the...

Jesus certainly doesn't opt for the quiet life or avoid confrontation. No 'softly, softly' here. He won't let conformity or 'tradition' stand in the way of the coming of the Kingdom of God. "This daughter of Abraham". Jesus heart-wrenching compassion, and anger, are palpable. Who wouldn't want to follow him? Come, let the mustard seed in you grow. The only reaso...

It's an age old question, 'why do bad things happen to good people?' Or in a more modern setting, 'if there was a God, why do innocent people suffer?' The stock answer was, 'they must have deserved it.' But Jesus will have none of it. Instead, once again, he uses it in exactly the same way as he does the parables of the thief in the night and the master returning home -...

"Two thousand years and he ain't showed yet" runs a 10cc song. Jesus' warnings about being ready in the middle of the night seem to have anticipated precisely this waiting. Down through the centuries these words have rung. The devastating familial breakdown at the end of the reading is a direct quote from Micah 7. It relates to non-complicity in 'wickedness', waiting for th...

The last two words of TS Eliot's third poem, 'The Dry Salvages', in The Four Quartets. We are approaching Lent and the wilderness is in view. The horizon draws nearer. The desert where all is stripped away and we are left naked and exposed. We, as human beings, created from the soil of the earth and breathed into by God, thus becoming 'significant', were tasked with being God&#...

Aelfflaed, daughter of King Oswiu, sister of King Ecgfrith, half-sister of King Aldfrith, was some 20 years younger than Cuthbert. She had been given to Abbess Hilda of Hartlepool at the age of one by her father in thanksgiving for a victory in battle. She was known for her skill in surgery and care for her patients. She had a special affection for Cuthbert, as he appears to have had for her - lik...

Solitary life turns out not to be so solitary after all. Here we catch a glimpse into the constant stream of visitors travelling by small boats across the waters to land on Cuthbert's shore. Folk suffering from distress, despondency, depression, despair, illness. And he has time for them all. Each one listened to, each one treated with careful attention, and each leaving with a unique word or...

The disciples ask Jesus to teach them a prayer. After all, that's what wandering rabbis do for their disciples, like John the Baptist. So he teaches them the prayer we say every day. But right at the beginning is this enigmatic request, 'Give us today our daily bread.' Later, of course, at the Last Supper, Jesus breaks the daily bread and says 'This is my body given for you'. A...

Another story about ravens, the first birds named in the Bible. Corvids are renowned for their intelligence and their ability to form relationships with humans. They still exhibit this kind of behaviour in bringing gifts. But this story has more to it than just gifts - there is a special relationship established between two of God's servants. Once again, Jesus scandalises his hearers. A parabl...

Cuthbert has a go at self-sufficiency. He tries growing wheat, but that doesn't work, so tries barley instead. And then the corvids come. Again. I do know this feeling - had exactly the same problem with the corvids stealing all the barley seed I planted. Tried telling them off like Cuthbert, but it didn't work - they were just back again next morning. So I'm with Bede on this one! Jes...

How do we do it? How do we turn the world on its head? 'The greatest is the least', 'Lord, shall we call down fire from heaven on these insolent people?' It just doesn't sink in through their thick skulls. Or mine. But I am convinced that the closest person to a saint in my parishes is a quiet 92-year-old widow with a gentle smile and a sparkle in her eyes, who says her prayers...

It's just tucked away at the beginning of the narrative, almost designed not to be noticed. 'About eight days later...' Eight days after Peter had confessed Jesus as the Christ of God. Eight days after he said 'take up your cross...' and 'what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but forfeits his soul...'. Eight days later we arrive at the Transfiguration on...