Skip to main content

"Welcome to my home..."

That's how one guide, originally from one of the outlying indigenous communities, greeted us for our jungle hike.
(Picture me with sunhat, long trousers, my "birthday" boots PLUS shin guards to protect from snake attacks stressing as to what lay ahead!)

Born and brought up in the rainforest, Lorrono our guide spoke of learning the "rhythmn" and "life" of the jungle rather than human beings trying to "dominate"  and "overcome" it. "That way lies danger and death!" he warned.
As he spoke with us on our expedition I sensed that there was great humility and respect for a force greater than himself, plus a sense that he recognised that his life was totally dependant upon this awesome power beyond....
He was not to simply sit back, do nothing and let this power "be" but, over time, to learn the ways to live well, to be fruitful according to this power beyond...
This, he confessed had taken much time, patience, pain and suffering - as well as the help and advice of others as he sought to discover the abiding power at the core of his "home" on earth...

Isn't that also our calling,too, as Christians; to discover the power beyond (God?) within whom we live and move and have our being and to live in God and enable God to live in us - wherever on earth we may call "home"....?

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Insufficient words....

... that's what I felt like when, having moved on to the (equally beautiful and 'touristy') town of El Calafate, I ventured to see one of its main 'draws' - the Perito Moreno Glacier.... Some fifty photographs (from the water facing it and from the organised viewpoints above it)  cannot capture its magnitude, all shades of white and blue shimmering in the sunshine... It is as large as the whole surface area of Buenos Aires and is "in equilibrium" (ie the amount of ice breaking off at its end - and I witnessed that several times - is equal to the amount of snow replenishing it day by day.) It travels some 2 meters every day and, as often happens, has "cut off" one side of the vast Lago Argentina lake so that the water level one side is some 3 meters higher than the other. In time the natural forces will find a way to redress this inbalance and the sheer force of water will eventually cause the glacier to "rupture" - with great force a...

Beginnings...

A journey begins with one step and (with some trepidation) I start my sabbatical. The hope? To rest, have time out to reflect on calling,  ministry and what it might look like in the future - personally and within the context of Ruthin.... So, a prayer: Loving God , in my journeying and my resting, in my listening and or reflecting please guide me and lead me afresh to the light of your truth, Jesus. For I ask in His name... AMEN .

Pain, suffering, healing and hope....

I wonder how you would describe the mystery we celebrate when we participate in the Eucharist? Having made contact with Revd Mark Simpson, another fine anglican priest sponsored by CMS, I was invited to join him at the Saturday night Street Church based in Rio's (notorious) city centre... For me, it was a moving expression of what I understand to be a priestly role and a humble living out of what I understand 'Liberation Theology' to be about... This theological thinking, expounded by Gustavo Guiterrez ( amongst others) sees the Gospel as an expression of God's love for all, but with a particular emphasis on God's siding with the poor, the downtrodden and oppressed - all those (like the street dwellers of Rio) who may feel they are outside society's (and God's) love... Such a theology is not only to be expressed in the Gospel but also in the way we, as Christian's, share God's love, care and concern in practical ways.... All this was to be witne...