Day 32 – Faces

All of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit…For it is the God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2Corinthians 3: 18; 4: 6)

 

You know those times when, in the middle of a crowd, someone’s face looks familiar? The writer CS Lewis suggests the moment we finally see the face of Jesus will be such a time. He says: “We will know that we have always known him, for he was present in every loving turning we made to one another, however fleeting.” In all committed relationships there is a vulnerable journey involved – living under the loving gaze of another, daring to trust ourselves as being loved and accepted for who we are, learning to live without masks. The journey of faith is no different. We are held in the steady, secure gaze of one whose love is true.

(Extract from Dust & Glory by David Runcorn)

 

For Reflection and Prayer

‘Come’, my heart says, ‘seek his face.’ Your face, Lord, do I seek. (Psalm 28: 8)

Children's Home Monrovia (DS)

Kelvingrove Gallery (AMN)

Day 31 – Darkness

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. (1Corinthians 13: 11-12)

 

Darkness actually expands our vision and sensitivity: we see much further at night. Without regular sight of that vast wilderness above us, we are impoverished and fall prey to strange assumptions about ourselves. Darkness also helps to interpret the light. Every artist knows how closely dark and shade must work with light if a face is to be revealed in its fullness and depth. The dim, foggy vision of which Paul speaks is not the failure of faith. Rather, it flows from faith. It may even be our greater witness to this world that we do not know or see clearly. Testimony is not to what we know. It is to the mystery of a vision and purpose for this world that is God’s alone. To live there, our capacity for unknowing must be infinite.

(Extract from Dust & Glory by David Runcorn)

 

Prayer

Lord, help me to deepen my capacity to contain unknowing and to walk in the dark with you.

 

Remember in Prayer

Those whose way is unclear; those who feel overwhelmed by dark thoughts; those who yearn to see light at the end of the tunnel.

 

Day 30 – Storm

Helensburgh Pier (DS)

Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. (1Kings 19: 9-13)

Elijah lived in violent and turbulent times. He is exhausted, angry and despairing of life. There in his mountain exile, Elijah finds that God answers no questions and takes no sides. Nor does he offer much comfort. Instead, God stages a drama – a whirlwind, an earthquake, a fire – but God is in none of them. Then comes – what exactly? ‘Sheer silence’. No one knows quite how to translate these words. Elijah’s journey was from the mountain of his powerful achievements for God – from thunder and fire – to this silent, divine ‘nothing’. His faith must be recentred outside all human measures of presence, power and significance. What is here for him? Just God. We too need to lay down the burdens of faith and work to be deeply recentred, if we are not to despair. In the heart of the storms, with whatever we grasp of the world’s anguish, we wait in the ‘sheer silence’. And what is here for us? Just God.

(Extract from Dust & Glory by David Runcorn)

For Reflection

Faith is not an escape from a difficult world. It is a way of being present in the midst of it.

Prayer

Teach me, Lord, in the midst of this world’s anguish, to find the eye of the storm.

Day 29 – Time

 

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance…
a time to seek, and a time to lose… 
I have seen the business that God has given to everyone to be busy with. He has made everything suitable for its time… God has done this, so that all should stand in awe before him. (Ecclesiastes 3: 1-4, 6, 10-11, 14)

 So much of our relationship with time is anxious. We argue and fight with it. The supposed lack of time is one of the miseries of our age. Our resources for daily living are preoccupied with finding ways of doing things more quickly and so ‘saving’ time. The writer of Ecclesiastes would call this kind of living ‘vanity’, literally ‘empty’. It is a waste of time.

We need another place to start from.
Time is God-given.
God allows time to be time.
Time is not working against us.
Time gives life its direction and priorities.
All finds its beauty in time.
Thank God for time.

(Extract from Dust & Glory by David Runcorn)

 For Reflection

Many of us would say lockdown has given us more time on our hands. How have you used that time? Has it been fruitful or painful? Have we felt blessed or cheated during this period?

 Prayer

Lord, teach me, in the present season of my life, to embrace its gift, to be faithful to its calling and to discover its beauty.

Day 28 – Decision

“Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. For with the judgment you make you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get. (Matthew 7: 1-2)

 Nothing frustrated Jesus more than encountering a life that was shaped around a judging spirit. Jesus was constantly confronted by religious devotion that had become narrow, mean, excluding and loveless. It angered him even more when it was presumed to reflect what God was like and what was therefore required of his followers. So why do we do it? Why do we limit our choices and decisions so quickly (and religiously) when so much more is on offer? What is it we fear about the wide, unfixed ‘menu’ of the life that Jesus invites us to. Just say ‘yes’ to life, says Jesus, and it will say ‘yes’ to you.

(Extract from Dust & Glory by David Runcorn)

For Reflection

Think about the most difficult choices you have had to make. How did you judge what was the best course of action? In retrospect, would you have chosen a different path?

Remember in Prayer

Those who are judged unfairly because of how they look, what they believe, their lifestyle choices; those who have difficult decisions to make today.

Day 27 – Building

The Bridge during construction (DS)

To the exiles… May grace and peace be yours in abundance…. Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in scripture: “See, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.” To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe. “The stone that the builders rejected has become the very head of the corner.” (1Peter 1: 1-2; 2: 4-7)

 To urge people to build with material that has been rejected by professional builders as flawed and unsuitable is not only foolish, it is surely dangerous. But God does exactly that. We too are living stones. We are also flawed, unpromising and left far behind when judged by the preoccupations of this present age. But all the usual measures of what makes us acceptable, impressive or useful have been reversed. Something quite new is going on here. We should expect a church built on such a foundation to look foolish, sound irrelevant and be easy to mock and despise. We will never be impressive building materials – but nor was Jesus. If Jesus, the rejected one, is the foundation stone of life, we are being shown a completely new way of knowing ourselves and of seeing and knowing God.  Beyond all probability, we are living stones in a building no-one thought wise or possible.

(Extract from Dust & Glory by David Runcorn)

 Prayer

Lord, I offer myself, flawed and unsure, to be part of what you are building.

Day 26 – Laughter

   

After the sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And suddenly there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it…But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for he has been raised, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has been raised from the dead, and indeed he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him.’ This is my message for you.” So they left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. (Matthew 28: 1-2, 5-8).

 The poet Anne Sexton was often left bruised in her pilgrimage through faith and life but in one of her most moving poems she imagines meeting up with God, who surprises her by producing a pack of cards and playing poker with her. She thinks she has won. Then God trumps her with a fifth ace! He cheats. He breaks the rules. But her response is not outrage. She loves it! The poem ends with her and God doubled over each other in helpless laughter at their ‘double triumphs’. Resurrection is God’s fifth ace. He has broken the rules. You just have to laugh, don’t you?

(Extract from Dust & Glory by David Runcorn)

 Prayer

Lord, teach me to trust enough to laugh.