If you wish to switch some of your time from television or Facebook, you might try reading the story Phoebe by Paula Gooder. Phoebe is based on the New Testament woman of the same name, mentioned by Paul in his letter to the Romans.

Romans 16:1-2
 
I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church at Cenchreae, so that you may welcome her in the Lord as is fitting for the saints, and help her in whatever she may require from you, for she has been a benefactor of many and of myself as well.

The book is a relaxing and easy read, mixing fiction with Gooder's  New Testament knowledge and learning. The story involves many interesting characters, some of whom are based on people mentioned by Paul in his letters.  

Cenchreae, where Phoebe lived and now known as Kechries, was a small port close to the inland city of Corinth in Greece and served Corinthian trade coming from the East. As a deacon, Phoebe would have had organisational duties for her congregation and, in also calling Phoebe a 'benefactor', Paul shows how highly she was regarded. In New Testament times most people who were classed as benefactors were male, offering support and financial help, so for Phoebe to be assigned these titles suggests she was a woman of substance. It appears also, from Paul's commendation, that he entrusted here as the carrier of his letter to the Romans.

At the end of Phoebe Gooder spends a considerable amount of (useful) time explaining, in layman's language, current knowledge about the world in which Paul and Phoebe lived. 

This would make an excellent Christmas or birthday gift for a church-goer or, of course, you could always treat yourself.

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Do not go gentle
Dylan Thomas

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because there words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

I do like Dylan Thomas's honesty.

My mother was not one to rage - just stoically and determinedly stick with it till the end. And for that I admire her. To her last moments, she had a smile (albeit weak) for the carers who attended her and she wrinkled her nose affectionately at us, her relatives, even though she was unable to speak.

The determined attempts to keep alive someone who is  imminently near to the end of their time on this earth does puzzle me. Well, not perhaps for those with little or no belief - for them Dylan Thomas's words may well be a balm. But for those who profess a Christian faith and a belief that there is something more wonderful after this earthly life, it does puzzle me. What are we so scared of? What am I so scared of? And does that fear say something about my faith - or lack of it?

These are all quite unnerving questions for a person of faith. And I have to go back to those words of Paul to quieten the stormy waves in my head.

Verses from Romans Chapter 8

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 
So, I take time to pause, to be silent, to allow these words to swirl around my whole being. And, as I do, a sense of peace - almost serenity - seeps in slowly.

And that, I guess, is faith.

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Some scholars dispute the authorship of the letter to the Ephesians - based largely on style of writing and emphasis. Both of these are not typical of Paul and have led some academics to believe in the pseudonymous authorship of this letter - also of Colossians, 2 Thessalonians and the Pastoral letters (Timothy and Titus).

Perhaps that surprises you, but it was a relatively common ancient practice to attribute written material to a certain 'school' of thought by saying that it was by x,y or z. The intention was not necessarily to deceive but to give credit to the person attributed. If these epistles were not written by Paul, then it was probably known as such by the early church - although we have no written evidence of this.

But whatever your view on the authorship of Ephesians, it remains a beloved part of the canon of our scriptures. In chapter 3 there is a beautiful prayer that the author addressed to God. Very famous words, but I am about to bastardise them! It was written in the second person plural to the Christians in the church at Ephesus, but if you change the you's to I's it reads as a very personal prayer.

Why not take a few quiet moments to commune with God and speak these words?

Ephesians 3:14-21 - modified

I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth takes its name.
I pray that I may be strengthened in my inner being with power through the Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in my heart through faith, as I am being rooted and grounded in love.
I pray that I may know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that I may be filled with the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to accomplish abundantly far more than I can imagine, to him be glory forever and ever.
Amen.

Thanks be to God for the word.

And may you be rooted and grounded in the deep soil of God's love, as Christ dwells in you - within your trunk, your leaves, your fruit - throughout your being.

God's blessing be upon you.

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Happy New Church Year to all. Today (29th November 2009) is Advent Sunday - the first day in the Church's year - and the first day in the Advent Season when we prepare for Christmas. Advent comes from a Latin word adventus, which means 'coming' or 'arrival'.

During Advent we think of two particular times of waiting for an arrival. We remember the people of God waiting for their Messiah (annointed one) to appear. As Christians, we believe that this waiting was fulfilled in the birth of Jesus Christ into our world - the appearance of God into our human day-to-day messiness. The two jargon words that Christians use for this appearance of God in the form of Jesus are 'manifestation' and 'incarnation'.

Many Christians follow a prayer scheme during Advent. The one I shall use this year is shown here. However, if you're a bit slow off the mark, or missed the bookshop there are some excellent on-line resources to help.

You might like to try looking at Ignatian Spirituality's Advent resources. In particular, I liked the look of the weekly on-line retreat at Making the Parts Whole.

The other waiting for an arrival that we remember in Advent is the Second Coming or Parousia, as it is technically named! The Bible teaches that one day Christ will come again in glory - we have no idea when - but Christians throughout the ages have yearned for this coming.

But I always feel a little anxious that, at this time, we do not forget Christ's other way of being manifest in the world - and that is through us. We are all made in the image of God and therefore bear many marks of God's identity. We can squash these down or build them up in our lives - we have choices.

Take a few minutes to dwell on the words of Paul of Tarsus - if we take these seriously, they are truly life-changing.

1 Corinthians 3.16:

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

Colossians 1.27:

To them God chose to make known how great... are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Christ in me, Christ in you - wow! We can be temples where God dwells within and like John the Baptist we can say, 'He must become more and I must become less'.

Enjoy Advent. (personally, I love all the lights!)

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