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Psalm 2. The Lord laughs. Day 3. Jan 3rd

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Psalm 2

 1 Why do the nations conspire[a] 
   and the peoples plot in vain? 
2 The kings of the earth rise up 
   and the rulers band together 
   against the LORD and against his anointed, saying, 
3 “Let us break their chains 
   and throw off their shackles.”


 4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs;
   the Lord scoffs at them.
5 He rebukes them in his anger
   and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,
6 “I have installed my king
   on Zion, my holy mountain.”

 7 I will proclaim the LORD’s decree:
   He said to me, “You are my son;
   today I have become your father.
8 Ask me,
   and I will make the nations your inheritance,
   the ends of the earth your possession.
9 You will break them with a rod of iron[b];
   you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”

 10 Therefore, you kings, be wise;
   be warned, you rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear
   and celebrate his rule with trembling.
12 Kiss his son, or he will be angry
   and your way will lead to your destruction,
for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
   Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

When that nations conspire, and the people plot, when the kings rise up, and the rulers band together against the Lord, what does the Lord do.

He laughs. He scoffs at them. He holds them in derision.

Therefore, O Christian, be not afraid when people conspire, plot and rise up and band together against you. Make the Lord your refuge, and you will be blessed. Leave it to him to rebuke them in his anger, and terrify them in his wrath. 

This is one of the Messianic Psalms, traditionally supposed to refer to Christ, the Messiah.

Genesis 3 and Genesis 4, The Fall, Original Sin, and the Murder of Abel. Day 3

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Image by William Blake
Genesis 3

The Fall
 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
And so be on your guard. Trickery and deceit comes subtly and cunningly. And in the guise of friendship and concern. It is wise to quietly interrogate proffered friendship and concern from those you hardly know. That is how “mentors” become tormentors.
* * *
And so temptation starts, “Did God really say?”
I have heard these words spoken to me, for instance when I am absolutely sure I have heard God’s voice advising a course of action. And God’s advice is often challenging, even senseless, to the rational mind. Because the jewel God requires of us is faith, he may often call us to do something which is senseless to the rational mind.
I have spoken these words myself, mainly when I want to be transgressive and not obey what seems to be the Godly course.
So be on your guard when you hear, “Did God really say?”

 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

“You will not certainly die” the serpent says. The life of faith, the life of a Christian, is never easy. It requires a rigorous application of the mind, as well as the heart. So often voices sound certain, knowing, authoritative, as the serpent’s does, with our good at heart. I might have been deceived too. The safest source might be to stick to the truth revealed to you, when bedazzled by competing arguments.
* * *
And it’s  human nature: prohibitions only serve to make forbidden fruit more desirable.
I am wondering if there is a parenting application here—the fewer the rules, the less trouble you have with your children. So rather than say no computer games, no sweets…point out the pleasures of reading, the pleasures of health. Parent by winning hearts and minds rather than by rules…which create the instant temptation to break them.

 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.
Tasty and attractive. The channels for the first temptation.
Pleasing to the eye, a masculine temptation; good for food, a feminine temptation??

She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 
Eve as the de facto leader of the family!! Eve sounds like a lot of women I know.

7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

With sin, comes shame. And the instinctive need to conceal shame.
 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

And until one repents, that is the other effect of sin. One hides from the Lord. Skips one’s time of prayer. Prays about tangential things. Reads scripture instead of praying. Allows oneself to get distracted during times of prayer. If blogging is your spiritual discipline, then you blog about things far from where your heart really is.
These are all the instinctive reactions of one who continues in sin he will not repent of.

 9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”
One of the great questions, God asks man. “Where, exactly, are you?”
It is a good question to address in one’s quiet times. Where exactly am I?

 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
The heartbreaking effects of sin. One hides from one’s friend, because your friend would confront you with your sin, and require you to repent. One hides one’s true self from enemies, from the community. You lose some of the joy of friendship.

 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
The inextricable connection again between guilt and shame.

 12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
The next consequence of sin—You blame someone else!!

 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
The next consequence of sin—You blame someone else!!

 14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
   “Cursed are you above all livestock
   and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
   and you will eat dust
   all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
   between you and the woman,
   and between your offspring[ and hers;
he will crush your head,
   and you will strike his heel.”
Christ will win the victory but not without pain.

 16 To the woman he said,
   “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
   with painful labour you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
 And he will rule over you  
The conflict between the sexes in a nutshell. The woman will desire, want (to own, control, possess, have?) her husband.
And he will rule over you. Oh dear! The Bible wasn’t written in 2011, was it? Though we still see the Genesis opinion of the roles of the sexes embedded in social mores. It is considered forward and shameful for a woman to propose marriage, for instance, in almost every culture, or to be too forward in bringing this happy state of affairs to pass. And in the vast majority of families, the man is still the principal financial provider, and the vast majority of families are financially reliant on the man’s work and skill. 
“And he will rule over you.” Dear Lord, this is a most unpolitically correct statement. What were you thinking of? Please let me know. Love, Anita
Joking apart, C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity tries to take on these rapidly-becoming-unfashionable
statements. He says that it is always best for men to set “the foreign policy” of families, because women tend to be emotional mother bears when it comes to protecting nest and nestlings, home and hearth. Hmm. There is something to that.

 17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
   “Cursed is the ground because of you;
   through painful toil you will eat food from it
   all the days of your life. 
18 It will produce thorns and thistles for  you,
   and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
   you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
   since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
   and to dust you will return.”
God sets a link between work and food in place. And this link is essential for man’s emotional, psychological and, even perhaps, physical health.
This curse was partly lifted after the flood, when God sets a connection between seedtime and harvest in place, and was lifted to an even greater extent at Calvary.

 20 Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.
 21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side[e] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

Exiled from Eden for a long season to a life of toil.

Genesis 4

Cain and Abel
 1 Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth  a man.” 2Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.
   Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 
I have often felt vegetarian may have been closer to God’s will. But given that the good Abel kept flocks, it’s probably okay to be a carnivore—as long as you eat compassionately raised, free-range meat (IMO). It’s costs more, but one’s conscience is at peace—and that’s worth a lot.

3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor.
Why, why, why, did God not look on Cain and his offering with favour? Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering. There is no suggestion that this was a carefully thought out offering. However, when Abel gave an offering to God, he really gave it!! The first-born, the most precious of the flock in Jewish thinking, and the best and tastiest portions–the fat portions, (hey, those ancient Jews knew something!!).

 So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
The original sin of Cain. When we see God apparently look with more favour on someone else, our first reaction may be to be very angry, and have our faces downcast. However, the righteous reaction is to revise our lives, and to see if there is any sin in our lives, or anything, other than his sovereign will, which keeps his favour from us.
And to accept that we are actors in his play, and that he chooses our roles, and so it is rebellion to become very angry, and have our faces downcast.

 6 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?
Ancient words with modern relevance. Who has not been a bit angry, and had his face downcast when they have seen someone else apparently more blessed by God?
And God suggests a way that we too can experience the mysterious thing called his favour. If we do right, we too shall be accepted.
Acceptance by God. The best kind of acceptance. The only one which really counts. And God can make things happen.

“But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”
When we are not doing the right thing, sin is ready to pounce on us, and control and master us. Instead, we must control our sinful impulses.
Does Cain accept God’s advice?
Do we?

 8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
Jealousy can be deadly. So much of man’s endeavour, consciously or unconsciously, is to become one who is envied—for his wealth, success, spouse, kids, looks, lifestyle, whatever.
But jealousy can cause deadly harm.
Cain killed Abel for no reason other than that he was more blessed and favoured by God.

 9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
   “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
The deadly circle of sin begets sin. Jealousy and sulking beget murder, murder begets insolence and untruthfulness.

 10 The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you
And when we are wronged—this is the best advice: Relax. There is a just judge. He hears innocent blood cry out. He puts those who wrong the innocent under the curse of his disfavour, the curse of restlessness among other things. And the curse of futility, of barren endeavour, working the ground which no longer yields crops for you.

“You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”
The land in Jewish Old Testament thinking (God’s thinking?) was the good. Being driven from the land was one of the worst things which could happen to the ancient Israelites.
The punishment of Cain was “to be a restless wanderer on the earth.”  Hmm, I have at last settled down 6 years ago in Oxford, and 5 years ago in our house. We love being rooted, and enjoy the blessing of that. An immense saving in time is one of the blessings of being rooted, having everything set up, and being able to work without the immense waste of energy that moves and being uprooted involves. Thank you, Lord, for roots.

 13 Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
 15 But the LORD said to him, “Not so; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the LORD’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
Mercy and justice always meet in God. Cain is punished, yes, but because he appealed, he is still under God’s protection, oddly enough to a greater extent that even Abel was. See Mark Buchanan’s take on this http://theoxfordchristian.blogspot.com/2010/06/life-is-unfair-and-thats-okay.html.

 17 Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. 18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.
 19 Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock.21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes. 22 Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of[g] bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah.
 23 Lamech said to his wives,
   “Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
   wives of Lamech, hear my words.
I have killed a man for wounding me,
   a young man for injuring me.
24 If Cain is avenged seven times,
   then Lamech seventy-seven times.”
The horrid spirit of Cain, taking a magnified vengeance, 77 times over. Lord, preserve us from this forceful spirit.

 25 Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth,[h] saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.” 26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.
   At that time people began to call on[i] the name of the LORD.
The story of redemption continues, despite all detours.

Psalm 2. The Lord laughs. Day 3. Jan 3rd

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Psalm 2

 1 Why do the nations conspireb]’>[b];
   you will dash them to pieces like pottery.”


 10 Therefore, you kings, be wise;
   be warned, you rulers of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear
   and celebrate his rule with trembling.
12 Kiss his son, or he will be angry
   and your way will lead to your destruction,
for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
   Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

When that nations conspire, and the people plot, when the kings rise up, and the rulers band together against the Lord, what does the Lord do.

He laughs. He scoffs at them. He holds them in derision.

Therefore, O Christian, be not afraid when people conspire, plot and rise up and band together against you. Make the Lord your refuge, and you will be blessed. Leave it to him to rebuke them in his anger, and terrify them in his wrath. 

This is one of the Messianic Psalms, traditionally supposed to refer to Christ, the Messiah.

Genesis 3 and Genesis 4, The Fall, Original Sin, and the Murder of Abel. Day 3

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Image by William Blake
Genesis 3


The Fall

 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

And so be on your guard. Trickery and deceit comes subtly and cunningly. And in the guise of friendship and concern. It is wise to quietly interrogate proffered friendship and concern from those you hardly know. That is how “mentors” become tormentors.

* * *

And so temptation starts, “Did God really say?”

I have heard these words spoken to me, for instance when I am absolutely sure I have heard God’s voice advising a course of action. And God’s advice is often challenging, even senseless, to the rational mind. Because the jewel God requires of us is faith, he may often call us to do something which is senseless to the rational mind.

I have spoken these words myself, mainly when I want to be transgressive and not obey what seems to be the Godly course.

So be on your guard when you hear, “Did God really say?”


 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”


“You will not certainly die” the serpent says. The life of faith, the life of a Christian, is never easy. It requires a rigorous application of the mind, as well as the heart. So often voices sound certain, knowing, authoritative, as the serpent’s does, with our good at heart. I might have been deceived too. The safest source might be to stick to the truth revealed to you, when bedazzled by competing arguments.

* * *

And it’s  human nature: prohibitions only serve to make forbidden fruit more desirable.

I am wondering if there is a parenting application here—the fewer the rules, the less trouble you have with your children. So rather than say no computer games, no sweets…point out the pleasures of reading, the pleasures of health. Parent by winning hearts and minds rather than by rules…which create the instant temptation to break them.


 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.

Tasty and attractive. The channels for the first temptation.

Pleasing to the eye, a masculine temptation; good for food, a feminine temptation??


She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 

Eve as the de facto leader of the family!! Eve sounds like a lot of women I know.


7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.


With sin, comes shame. And the instinctive need to conceal shame.

 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

And until one repents, that is the other effect of sin. One hides from the Lord. Skips one’s time of prayer. Prays about tangential things. Reads scripture instead of praying. Allows oneself to get distracted during times of prayer. If blogging is your spiritual discipline, then you blog about things far from where your heart really is.

These are all the instinctive reactions of one who continues in sin he will not repent of.


 9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”

One of the great questions, God asks man. “Where, exactly, are you?”

It is a good question to address in one’s quiet times. Where exactly am I?


 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

The heartbreaking effects of sin. One hides from one’s friend, because your friend would confront you with your sin, and require you to repent. One hides one’s true self from enemies, from the community. You lose some of the joy of friendship.


 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

The inextricable connection again between guilt and shame.


 12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

The next consequence of sin—You blame someone else!!


 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

The next consequence of sin—You blame someone else!!


 14 So the LORD God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,

   “Cursed are you above all livestock
   and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
   and you will eat dust
   all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
   between you and the woman,
   and between your offspring[ and hers;
he will crushyour head,
   and you will strike his heel.”

Christ will win the victory but not without pain.


 16 To the woman he said,

   “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
   with painful labour you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband,
 And he will rule over you  

The conflict between the sexes in a nutshell. The woman will desire, want (to own, control, possess, have?) her husband.

And he will rule over you. Oh dear! The Bible wasn’t written in 2011, was it? Though we still see the Genesis opinion of the roles of the sexes embedded in social mores. It is considered forward and shameful for a woman to propose marriage, for instance, in almost every culture, or to be too forward in bringing this happy state of affairs to pass. And in the vast majority of families, the man is still the principal financial provider, and the vast majority of families are financially reliant on the man’s work and skill. 

“And he will rule over you.” Dear Lord, this is a most unpolitically correct statement. What were you thinking of? Please let me know. Love, Anita

Joking apart, C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity tries to take on these rapidly-becoming-unfashionable

statements. He says that it is always best for men to set “the foreign policy” of families, because women tend to be emotional mother bears when it comes to protecting nest and nestlings, home and hearth. Hmm. There is something to that.


 17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

   “Cursed is the ground because of you;
   through painful toil you will eat food from it
   all the days of your life. 

18 It will produce thorns and thistles for  you,
   and you will eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your brow
   you will eat your food
until you return to the ground,
   since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
   and to dust you will return.”

God sets a link between work and food in place. And this link is essential for man’s emotional, psychological and, even perhaps, physical health.

This curse was partly lifted after the flood, when God sets a connection between seedtime and harvest in place, and was lifted to an even greater extent at Calvary.

 20 Adamnamed his wife Eve,because she would become the mother of all the living.

 21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side[e] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.


Exiled from Eden for a long season to a life of toil.


Genesis 4

Cain and Abel

 1 Adammade love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain.She said, “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man.” 2Later she gave birth to his brother Abel.

   Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. 

I have often felt vegetarian may have been closer to God’s will. But given that the good Abel kept flocks, it’s probably okay to be a carnivore—as long as you eat compassionately raised, free-range meat (IMO). It’s costs more, but one’s conscience is at peace—and that’s worth a lot.


3 In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. 4 And Abel also brought an offering—fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, 5 but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor.

Why, why, why, did God not look on Cain and his offering with favour? Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering. There is no suggestion that this was a carefully thought out offering. However, when Abel gave an offering to God, he really gave it!! The first-born, the most precious of the flock in Jewish thinking, and the best and tastiest portions–the fat portions, (hey, those ancient Jews knew something!!).


 So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

The original sin of Cain. When we see God apparently look with more favour on someone else, our first reaction may be to be very angry, and have our faces downcast. However, the righteous reaction is to revise our lives, and to see if there is any sin in our lives, or anything, other than his sovereign will, which keeps his favour from us.

And to accept that we are actors in his play, and that he chooses our roles, and so it is rebellion to become very angry, and have our faces downcast.


 6 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?

Ancient words with modern relevance. Who has not been a bit angry, and had his face downcast when they have seen someone else apparently more blessed by God?

And God suggests a way that we too can experience the mysterious thing called his favour. If we do right, we too shall be accepted.

Acceptance by God. The best kind of acceptance. The only one which really counts. And God can make things happen.


“But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

When we are not doing the right thing, sin is ready to pounce on us, and control and master us. Instead, we must control our sinful impulses.

Does Cain accept God’s advice?

Do we?


 8 Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

Jealousy can be deadly. So much of man’s endeavour, consciously or unconsciously, is to become one who is envied—for his wealth, success, spouse, kids, looks, lifestyle, whatever.

But jealousy can cause deadly harm.

Cain killed Abel for no reason other than that he was more blessed and favoured by God.


 9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”

   “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”

The deadly circle of sin begets sin. Jealousy and sulking beget murder, murder begets insolence and untruthfulness.


 10 The LORD said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 11 Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its crops for you

And when we are wronged—this is the best advice: Relax. There is a just judge. He hears innocent blood cry out. He puts those who wrong the innocent under the curse of his disfavour, the curse of restlessness among other things. And the curse of futility, of barren endeavour, working the ground which no longer yields crops for you.


“You will be a restless wanderer on the earth.”

The land in Jewish Old Testament thinking (God’s thinking?) was the good. Being driven from the land was one of the worst things which could happen to the ancient Israelites.

The punishment of Cain was “to be a restless wanderer on the earth.”  Hmm, I have at last settled down 6 years ago in Oxford, and 5 years ago in our house. We love being rooted, and enjoy the blessing of that. An immense saving in time is one of the blessings of being rooted, having everything set up, and being able to work without the immense waste of energy that moves and being uprooted involves. Thank you, Lord, for roots.


 13 Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is more than I can bear. 14 Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

 15 But the LORD said to him, “Not so; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him. 16 So Cain went out from the LORD’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.

Mercy and justice always meet in God. Cain is punished, yes, but because he appealed, he is still under God’s protection, oddly enough to a greater extent that even Abel was. See Mark Buchanan’s take on this http://theoxfordchristian.blogspot.com/2010/06/life-is-unfair-and-thats-okay.html.


 17 Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch. 18 To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael was the father of Methushael, and Methushael was the father of Lamech.

 19 Lamech married two women, one named Adah and the other Zillah. 20 Adah gave birth to Jabal; he was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock.21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes. 22 Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of[g] bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah.

 23 Lamech said to his wives,

   “Adah and Zillah, listen to me;
   wives of Lamech, hear my words.
I have killed a man for wounding me,
   a young man for injuring me.
24 If Cain is avenged seven times,
   then Lamech seventy-seven times.”

The horrid spirit of Cain, taking a magnified vengeance, 77 times over. Lord, preserve us from this forceful spirit.


 25 Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth,[h] saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.” 26 Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh.

   At that time people began to call on[i] the name of the LORD.

The story of redemption continues, despite all detours.


Reunion with Lost Pets

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My pet rabbits Empress and Bandit

‘And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honour and glory and might forever and ever!”’ (Rev 5:13).

Every creature! Wow! Not only will we ourselves be healed, restored, and lost in the ecstasy of contemplating God and the Lamb, but every creature in heaven and on earth, and under the earth, and in the sea will join us.

We shall be healed, and all the sad, abused, dumbly suffering animals of all history will be healed with us. We shall ask their forgiveness. And since they are more generous than we are, we shall receive it.

We will stand together, and sing together.

I have loved animals all my life, and always has as many of them as my family would permit. A couple of years ago we had 9 pets (I live on an acre and a half in deep country, in Garsington, Oxfordshire)–rabbits, ducks, chickens, and a dog.

But decades of pet ownership do not leave one guilt free. There is always the dog we could have walked more; the loving dog we had to give away when we left America; the rabbit who died of myxomatosis; the duck mauled by the fox on the one night we forget to put her in her shed; the hen eaten by the fox on the one night we forgot to lock the coop.

From my dogs in particular, I have repeatedly sought forgiveness, because they return to me in dreams. My heaven will not be quite complete without dogs, so I was relieved to come across this passage via Charlie, Vicar of Kea Church in Cornwall (what a wonderful name for a church!) on whether there will be animals in heaven.

http://charliepeer.blogspot.com/2010/08/not-such-daft-question.html

 

 

 

Aspects of the Blessings of Failure

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A ruined church — from New Zealand’s war archive, 1918.

Here are three posts from other bloggers on a subject no one wants to consider so soon in a New Year.  And may this year be a year of blessing for all of us.

Failure is an option
Jessica talks about the pain of a church mess and failure
http://jezamama.blogspot.com/2010/11/failure-is-option.html

Can Failure in Ministry ever be part of His plan

Mary de Muth on a failure in ministry.
http://www.wrecked.org/church/god-success-and-failed-french-church-plants/

And, very sweet one this, John Piper on how he put soul, body and marriage together after a season of intense ministry (and perhaps ego-driven ?) work took its toll on each.
http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/john-pipers-report-on-his-leave-of-absence

Failure, and the precious jewels it offers is something I have meditated on for a long time, and am intimately acquainted with. No doubt, once my thoughts are better crystallized, I will share them here– though I am now in a season of blessing–which follows the brokenness, repentance, humbling and acknowledgement of weakness which a season of failure brings.

In which I pursue happiness and the bluebird of joy,

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We all stayed up to see in the New Year with marzipan fruit cake, and Bailey’s Irish Cream, even Zoe and Irene.

Then today, since all of us are somewhat more introverted than extroverted, we decided everyone could be happy in their own way.

I read, prayed, blogged, wrote, and went for a solitary walk.

Roy who is now a dyed-in-the wool house-husband, finished seeing one of our books for our publishing company through press, and then tidied up the house, and assembled IKEA bookshelves for our ever-expanding library. I saw him whistling bustling around, keeping loads of laundry on the go, keeping the dishwasher running and the cabinets stacked (with Irene’s help) and generally restoring to the house to its pre-Christmas season order, and thought, “If that man isn’t happy, then what is he?” I checked, he confirmed my suspicion.

Christmas, luckily this year, hasn’t involved things. Roy and I specifically asked for no Christmas presents, as we have everything material thing we want, and so the girls made us huge lovely cards. We didn’t give any presents, except to the girls, and so Christmas was so simplified. We plan to repeat this every year. No, neither the Grinch nor Scrooge, just–at this stage of our lives– more interested in living well and in experience rather than in accumulation of stuff.

Zoe, 16, curled up with Classical Greek and Latin. I get pure happiness from learning a new language and getting good at it, and I guess she’s got that gene.

Irene, 11, who has waist length hair, spent the day with the new blow-drying and hair-style gadget Roy got her putting her long curly hair into extravagant styles, and admiring them. She wrote to her cousins and penfriends, and read some.

In the evening, Roy and I are going to a New Year’s day party with friends from St. Aldate’s. Ah, a New Year’s Day party, so much more sensible than a New Year’s eve party. At least, one can get to bed at a godly hour without the sense that you might be disrupting someone else’s party!

Leisure, free time. That’s been the most coveted commodity in our married life, and at last we have it.

Last Christmas Day, in New Zealand, I spent some time praying while the Christmas dinner was in the oven. (I have nothing to do with Christmas dinners, since Zoe and Roy love cooking). I saw a vision, maybe I should say a mental image, of our life. The direction it was flowing in which  absorbed a lot of our enthusiasm, creativity, and energy and interest was our family’s publishing company (in which a bunch of our friends also work part-time).

Roy then had a Chair as Professor of Mathematics, and though he was well-paid, it put time at a premium, and increased our stress with the additional demands on him.

I saw concentrating on Math would almost be rowing against the stream, that God’s provision and blessing was flowing on the publishing, and that we should row with the stream, go in the direction in which God’s blessing was flowing.

4 months later, Roy’s University had an early retirement offer–three times the usual settlement but we had to decide by Sept 2010. He left the decision to me. I decided on early retirement–at 47!!

It was a risk, of course, but we have so enjoyed peace, leisure, time, just living, being, that we would hate to trade it for a real job. And though, of course, we were prepared for downward mobility, that has not been the case at all, thank you, God.

What will this year bring? It’s in God’s hands, and God is good!

"Can a homosexual be a Christian?" theological musings by William Stringfellow

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The Good Shepherd





Can a Homosexual be a Christian. One might as well ask, can an insurance man be a Christian? Can a lawyer be a Christian? Can an ecclesiastical bureaucrat be a Christian? Can a rich man be a Christian? Can an infant be a Christian? Or one who is sick, or insane, or indolent or one possessed of power or status or respectability? Can anybody be a Christian? Can a human being be a Christian? All such questions are theologically absurd. To be a Christian does not have anything essentially to do with conduct or station or repute. To be a Christian does not have anything to do with the common pietisms of ritual, dogma or morals in and of themselves. To be a Christian has, rather, to do with that peculiar state of being bestowed upon men by God….

Can a homosexual be a Christian? Yes: if his sexuality is not an idol.
William Stringfellow, cited in Anthony Dancer, An Alien in a Strange Land: Theology in the Life of William Stringfellow (Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books, 2011), pp. 198-99.
Hat tip http://theconnexion.net/wp/?p=9170

I like this because, as a newer Christian, I naively assumed that a practising gay person could not be a Christian. On the other hand, I did not doubt that, despite the occasional schadenfreude, malice, gossip, and sheer untruthfulness I encountered in my church, those who said they were Christians were Christians. 


Perhaps that is the safest assumption: to assume that those who say they are Christians are Christians, and to leave the sorting out of sheep and goats to Him.