蜜芽传媒

Spiritual reflection to start the day with Fr Philip Blackledge of Holy Trinity Scottish Episcopal Church, Melrose.
Good morning. One of the joys of my job is talking with people who don鈥檛 have a lot of knowledge of church or the bible - I鈥檓 a chaplain in the local school and it can really keep you grounded. One day in the caf茅 we run for children there, I asked a group of kids if they knew anything from the bible at all. There was a lot of general discussion about God and Santa, but I pressed them and asked them if they could remember any quotation from the bible. One child then unzipped his coat to reveal a rock band T-shirt with 鈥�666 the number of the beast鈥� written on it. Well I suppose I did ask.
It's funny that that part of the book of Revelation seems to hold such an allure for people. The beasts and the dragons, and the idea of the great spiritual battle. For many people, such ideas can evoke a type of thrill, but they don鈥檛 delve too deeply into them. But I鈥檝e seen people get into quite a mess toying with misguided thoughts about the supernatural. The superficial allure of the vampire is as strong as hero-worshipping of Superman. Both of those images are about the same thing 鈥� about having power, to use for good or ill. Our times seem to be dominated by powerful men who seek to impose their power on others. Yet the barefoot Rabbi whom Christians worship in Jesus did exactly the opposite. The All Powerful God of love was found helpless and powerless in the face of anger and hatred. If the example of Jesus was followed, what transformation might we witness.
Almighty God, you became weak and helpless, in the form of a new born baby, who grew to be a wandering preacher, who was left nailed to a cross, a symbol of failure. May we see you in all those who are powerless, vulnerable, cruelly treated. May we see your face in their pain, that we may do all that we can to care for them. Amen.