I have two thoughts for you this Easter season. I think both are valid for this time of year or indeed anytime we want to engage with the spiritual life. The first is about the value of stories and is particularly appropriate because we have been looking at Jesus’ stories during the Lent course. The second is about prayer and how to approach it.
In Jewish mythology there is the story of the teacher who gave his teaching only in parables and stories, which his disciples listened to with pleasure and occasional frustration. They clearly did not understand all that they were being told and sometimes they longed for something deeper and more complex. The rabbi was unmoved by their protestations and complaints. To all their objections he would say, "You have yet to understand my friends, that the shortest distance between a human being and a Truth is a story."
Another time he said "Do not despise a story just because it is simple. Many truths are at their heart very simple. A lost gold coin is found by means of a penny candle; the deepest truth is found by means of a simple story."
The truth at the heart of Easter could not be more simple – God Loves us.
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We must never wait until we feel like praying before we pray for others. Prayer is like any other work; we may not feel like working, but once we have been at it for a bit, we begin to feel like working. We may not feel like practicing the piano, but once we play for a while, we feel like doing it. In the same way, our prayer muscles need to be limbered up a bit and once the blood-flow of intercession begins, we will find that we feel like praying.
Tony Gilbert
Team Rector
God of Compassion and Justice,
We cry out to you for all who suffer in the Holy Land today.
For your precious children, Israelis and Palestinians,
Traumatised in fear for their lives;
Lord, have mercy.
For the families of the bereaved,
For those who have seen images they will never forget,
For those anxiously waiting for news, despairing with each passing day;
Lord, have mercy.
For young men and women,
heading into combat,
bearing the burden of what others have done and what they will be asked to do;
Lord, have mercy.
For civilians in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank, that they would be protected and that every life would count and be cherished and remembered;
Lord, have mercy.
For the wounded, and those facing a lifetime of scars, for those desperately seeking medical treatment where there is none;
Lord, have mercy.
For medical and emergency personnel, risking their own lives to save those of others;
Lord, have mercy.
For those who cannot see anything but rage and violence, that you would surprise them with mercy, and turn their hearts towards kindness for their fellow human beings;
Lord, have mercy.
For people of peace, whose imagination is large enough to conceive of a different way, that they may speak, and act, and be heard;
Lord, have mercy.
Mighty and caring God, you promised that one day, swords will be beaten into ploughshares, meet us in our distress, and bring peace upon this troubled land.
Amen.
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Three Valleys Team Ministry
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The Reverend Tony Gilbert and his wife Nicola