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My Justice Journey

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First Published June 2022 on Twitter as part of a Conenxional Social Media campaign sharing personal journey’s of justice.

A piece of #MyJusticeJourney.
Learning to be one piece in God’s big picture.

This puzzle piece appeared in our daughter’s room when she was a toddler. We have never worked out where it came from – but through it God spoke to me about being one small part of God’s big picture – and now it sits framed in my office to remind me.

When it comes to matters of justice; migration, discrimination, poverty, and more, I often feel overwhelmed by their scale and great need, or intimidated by the amazing contributions of others who strive for justice. What difference can I make? How can I be good enough?

Reading so many inspiring #MyJusticeJourney threads this week has been overwhelming at times too. But for me, that’s where this single puzzle piece comes in. I am only one piece in God’s big picture – a picture I don’t control or fully see. But that is enough. I am enough.

This puzzle piece reminds me God has not made me responsible for solving every injustice in the world. God has made me me, responsible for my small piece. Offering my gifts and graces, passions and skills as one piece among many that make up God’s big justice jigsaw.

Humbly offering what I can, in the opportunities God places before me, to contribute to seeking justice. One piece at a time. Because I am enough.

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Where to find happiness and contentment

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Read: Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

The parable of the prodigal son may be a familiar one to you. Son number 2 comes of age and asks his father for his inheritance, heads off and lives the high life of parties and frivolity. But then the money dries up, he works and even eats in the squalor of the pigsty and decides to take the emotionally difficult journey back to his father to see if his father might allow him to work for him – not as a son, but a servant.

On seeing his son on the way home, the father runs to meet him, embraces him and throws a huge party to celebrate his return. Son number 1 isn’t happy though, he feels like his brother is being rewarded for deserting them. Son 1 has done everything right, perhaps even borne extra responsibltiy as a result of his brother leaving the family firm.

Th father gets why Son 1 feels this way – but also challenges him. Everything I have s yours, he says, but this is not about the money, it’s about my love for you both. Your brother was lost, we thought he was dead – but he is alive and found.

In the money driven economy of the western world, it can be so easy for earthly riches and our societal and institutional responsibilities to become the focus of our living, activity and even our whole being. But this parable reminds us that what really matters to God is not our earthly activity, but our willingness to come to God, who is a perfect and loving parent, and find welcome and love beyond measure.

Follow Up: Luke 15 tells of 3 ‘lost’ parables – the lost Sheep, Lost Coin and Lost Son. We often look at each separately, but there can be value in looking at the whole chapter together too. What threads and themes do you notice?

Today’s reflection is also available in Worshipping Together, a monthly worship at home resource.

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There is always hope for everyone

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Read: Luke 13:1-9

Pilate is documented in the bible, and other historical documents as someone who did things that irritated the local Jewish population. Today’s reading connects with one such story, when a group of Galilean pilgrims offering sacrifices in the temple had been slaughtered in the temple by Pilates troops. Human blood mixed with the blood of animal sacrifices that were so central to Jewish worship – the Temple itself was meant to be a spiritual place of worship – and Pilate had polluted and desecrated it.

It’s a gruesome event of history that might leave us wondering how on earth a human in a position of power and resposibility can be so inhumane. But the question Jesus is asked about this event is perhaps just as worrying. ‘Have these Galileans suffered like this because they were worse sinners than other Galileans?’.

There is a danger we all face, as Christian people to think of ourselves as holier than others. As less tainted by sin. History tells us the church has done much damage to itself by having an attitude of looking down its nose at other people, and too often it has resulted in people feeling rejected by the very community in the world they should have discovered a welcome.

Jesus responds with a parable of a fig tree that bore no fruit. The owner of the tree thinks it should be cut down, but the gardener, who knows about these things, says wait a little longer, I’ll give it some nurture and care, and let us see what happens next year.

The parable teaches us that we should never give up on the hope that someone might bear fruit by repenting and turning to Christ. We are called not to be judge of others, but to nurture and care for all the trees in the orchard that is our community, with the conviction that there is always hope for everyone to discover the truth of God’s saving grace.

Follow Up: Who is there in the circles of your life who you long to see discover Jesus for themselves. Make a list of their names and pray for them daily.

Today’s reflection is also available in Worshipping Together, a monthly worship at home resource.

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Protected under Jesus’ wings

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Reading: Luke 13:31-35

My Aunt & Uncle have a farm, and at one stage they had chickens in their orchard. During the day the chickens would roam free, but come dusk, they had to bring the chickens into the coup to keep them protected from foxes. But even then, on occasion a fox did occasionally manage to somehow get into the coup and cause devastation.

In today’s passage from Luke, Jesus has been approached by some Pharisees, warned that Herod wants Jesus dead. Jesus responds by saying king Herod is like a destructive fox, contrasted with his own desire to draw all those he cares for under his wings like a hen does with her young chicks.

There were no modern-day chicken coups in Jesus’ day, and while owners of chickens may have developed some protection from foxes and other predators, the hen’s role of protecting chicks would be an exposed and vulnerable one.

That is the role Jesus longs to play for us. Jesus went on to Jerusalem as succumbed to the most horrendous and tortuous walk to Calvary, the place of his public crucifixion. Jesus spread his arms of love on that cross and we believe that through his sacrifice and resurrection 3 days later, we find forgiveness, acceptance and love beyond measure.

Jesus longs to protect us from the evil that wants to destroy the hope in our lives. The evil that says we are not worthy. The foxes that distract us from his immeasurable love. The Pharisees were not willing to receive his protection – not willing to trust in Jesus. Are you?

Follow up: Spend some time in prayer this week.

Ask Jesus to help you to see the evils around you which threaten your relationship with him, and nestle into Jesus’ wings of love.

Today’s reflection is also available in Worshipping Together, a monthly worship at home resource.

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Dazzled by Jesus: a reflection through the eyes of Peter

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Read: Luke 9:28-36

I saw Jesus. I knew it was him, but he looked different: his face a ball of white light, his clothes so dazzlingly white that it hurt my eyes to look at them and I shielded them with my arm (dreams can seem so real sometimes).

Then I saw the other figures, two of them, and they were talking to him. It seems strange, but I knew straight away who they were: Moses and Elijah. They were all in white, all three of them enveloped in this amazing light, brighter than the sun.

And they were talking with Jesus, like they knew him already, like it was something they did everyday. But it was more than that: Jesus was at the centre of the three; he was the greatest of them. I thought a lot about that later: imagine it, the Jesus we’d walked with, eaten with, spent so much time with: greater than the greatest of our prophets.

And suddenly I realized I wasn’t dreaming, that this was real. It felt like somehow I’d slipped into another world. And I was terrified. Typically for me, I started gabbling, blurting out anything that came into my head, trying to make the situation seem normal: some nonsense about building shelters for them, James told me afterwards.

Then it got scarier: we were caught up in the cloud, James and John and I. My heart was pounding so hard in my chest I thought it was going to burst and I was quaking all over. If I was going to die, to be struck down because I was unworthy to be in the presence of God himself, I wanted it to happen quickly. And painlessly.

Instead we heard a voice: it seemed all around us, loud and booming, yet it also spoke quietly as a whisper into our ears: ‘This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.’ I fell at Jesus’ feet and when I got up, the cloud had gone and we were alone with him.

He didn’t give us any explanation: just told us not to say anything to the others, to anyone, until he was raised from the dead. We didn’t understand what he meant then – it only made sense a long time afterwards.

James, John and I didn’t talk about it much among ourselves. I think we were all trying to work out what it meant, but we couldn’t quite get there. I only knew that I’d had my confirmation: this man Jesus, my friend and teacher, he was the Christ, the Son of God: he’d come at last!

Follow Up: How do you see Jesus today?

Today’s thought for the day is also available in Worshipping Together, a monthly worship at home resource.

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Loving those it is hard to love

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I feel it in my fingers
I feel it in my toes
Love that’s all around me
And so the feeling grows

‘Love is all around by the Troggs, 1967.

Love is a word we use often, and in varying ways. We might say we love our spouses, children, parents, family, friends, colleagues – but would likely describe that love in different ways.

Read: Luke 6:27-38

The word we find in scripture translated as ‘love’ can one of a number of expressions of love:

  • Eros – intimate love and/or sexual passion
  • Philia – affectionate love within friendships and community
  • Storge – love within family relationships
  • Philautia – self-love, caring for ones own well-being
  • Xenia – love shown through hospitality to strangers
  • Agape – unconditional love – of God for his people.

It is this agape love that we find in these verses in Luke’s gospel where Jesus says to his disciples to love, not only those it is easy to love, but those it is really, really, hard to love.

Why? Because this is what God is like. Loving, generous, merciful and kind.

The more we live a life of agape love, the more we discover about the character of God – who is gracious, kind and merciful. And the more we inhabit the character of God in our lives, the more holy, and whole we become. For in living a life of love, we experience more of God’s unconditional love for us and all the world.

Follow Up: Show love to others this week. Think of what you’d really like someone to do for you, and do it for them.

Today’s thought for the day is also available in Worshipping Together, a monthly worship at home resource.

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All in the crowd were trying to touch him

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Reading: Luke 6:17-26

Today’s reading comes in two parts. Firstly, we hear of a crowd. They have come to Jesus to hear him, but also experience Christ’s power by being healed of diseases and unclean spirits. The diseased and those suffering with unclean spirits lived to varying degrees, lives of isolation, away from the rest of society to avoid the risk of others being infected. We can no doubt relate to that sort of life in a much clearer way now than we would have a couple of years ago.

Jesus, being the Son of God and life of love he is, listens to them, shares with them and brings them healing and wholeness – and the opportunity to live as part of the community again.

In the second part of the reading, Jesus is speaking to his disciples, though it is possible from Luke’s ambiguity that the crowd was still around them. To the disicples Jesus shares the Lukan version of The Beatitudes we discover in Matthew’s gospel (Matt ch5).

There right after a crowd of the excluded and isolated in the towns and villages have been around them, Jesus declares what would probably have seemed to be back to front and upside-down. The poor, the hungry, the weeping, the hated, the excluded and the cast out because of the Son of Man – are all blessed.

But, Jesus goes on; the rich, the satisfied, the laughing – their satisfaction will not hold. They will hunger and be in need again.

The ‘Jesus Manifesto’ – as this code has sometimes been titled – turns worldly expectations, exclusions, and divisions upside down and says don’t look to the world for satisfaction – look to me. May we all seek to touch, not the temptations of the world which will not satisfy, but the generous and unconditional love and grace of Christ.

Follow up: Look to Jesus this week – and in worship and prayer seek to be satisfied through the blessing and love of Jesus.

Today’s thought for the day is also available in Worshipping Together, a monthly worship at home resource.

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The crowd was pressing in

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The idea of being in a crowd pressing in on one another is one we will not have countenanced over the last couple years. But think back to the last time you crowded into a concert hall, rock concert, theatre or cinema. Bodies close together, all anticipating the experience you have come to witness. Your eagerness to hear and see leads you to adjust your head position to get the best view.

Read: Luke 5:1-11

The crowd was not pressing in to get into the mosh pit. We are not told they were competing and tussling to get the best view. We are told they were pressing in because they were ‘eager to hear the word of God’ (v1).

What does your eagerness to hear the word of God lead you to do? How do you seek to listen to Jesus? Where has hearing from Jesus lead you to experience transformation?

In Jesus, his life, his words, his attitude and example, we meet and experience the goodness, grace and glory of God. Oh how eager we should be to encounter Jesus today! Whether in a crowd, where a few are gathered, or on our own – let us all position ourselves day by day to press in, and encounter Jesus.

Follow up: Take some time this week to read the rest of Luke 5. As you read, be eager to hear; how is God speaking to you day by day this week through these words of scripture?

Today’s thought for the day is also available in Worshipping Together, a monthly worship at home resource.

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To Unfamiliar & Unexpected

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In a pastoral conversation this week the person I was talking to reminded me of a story of a congregation turning up to a first service with their new minister. The congregation was full of expectation but the new minister was nowhere to be seen. The only person that was to be seen was a homeless person curled up just outside the front door asleep.

As the service began it was announced that the minister hadn’t turned up, when low and behold the homeless person walked up to the front, laid their sleeping back down and took off their coat to reveal themselves as the new minister. The congregation were shocked, and guilty that they had all ignored their sleeping homeless guest.

Luke 4:21-30

21 Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ 22 All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, ‘Is not this Joseph’s son?’ 

23 He said to them, ‘Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, “Doctor, cure yourself!” And you will say, “Do here also in your home town the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.”’ 24 And he said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s home town. 25 But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up for three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; 26 yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27 There were also many lepers[d] in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.’ 

28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. 30 But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

Our gospel reading today reminds us that God works in the unexpected places. Jesus is in Nazareth, and people can’t believe it is Joseph’s son. Jesus talks of how a prophet is not welcome in their hometown. Not welcome in their familiar surroundings. The words familiar and family come from the same Latin root, as words talking about the known and the intimate. It seems that here Jesus sows the seed that God may well call us out of our known and comfortable places to the unfamiliar and unexpected.

Follow Up: as the reading goes on, Jesus talks of God’s provision for Zarephath (1 Kings 17) and Naaman (2 Kings 5), both people who were deemed at the time to be ‘outside’ of the community of God’s people.

Read their stories and reflect on what God is saying to you through them today.

Today’s thought for the day is also available in Worshipping Together, a monthly worship at home resource.

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The right power source

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I don’t know about you but in my house there are a lot of devices that need a charging cable. Some charging cables are the same but others are different and it’s not unusual in our house to get confused between which is the right one. Get it wrong and the device won’t charge because the power is not getting to it correctly.

Luke 4:14-21

14 Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. 15 He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

16 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

18 ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
        to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
        to let the oppressed go free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’

20 And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21 Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ 

In our Christian lives, getting power from the right source is essential. The reading today begins by telling us Jesus was filled with the power of the Holy Spirit. This is a really important part of the story because in the verses that precede this one we have just witnessed Jesus put to the test. Tested to turn stones to bread; to find power in material things. Tested with having dominion over the world; to find power through ruling over others. Tested to command Gods very angels to save him from death; to find power through controlling life and death.

But Jesus has not found power in those places, but in God’s Spirit.

Sometimes the gospels might feel like they’re all about Jesus, and that may be true, but they are also all about the gift Jesus gives to us. Jesus did not just live and then disappear, Jesus left his Spirit with us so that we to can find the right power source for our Christian lives.

Follow Up: Read & Reflect on Isaiah 61 (the text Jesus quotes in today’s passage from Luke)

An extended address from Dan preached at Felpham Methodist Church is also available on Youtube:

Today’s thought for the day is also available in Worshipping Together, a monthly worship at home resource.

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