It's been a busy time of year for me during the past few weeks. The snow caused a fair amount of disruption here in Melness and Tongue. So I've had even less time than usual for keeping you all up-to-date.
Our three children, and my Mum, all arrived for Christmas a few days before Christmas. Their first day here was filled with wall-to-wall sunshine. Mum and I enjoyed a short walk across the Rhian Burn and on towards Varrich Castle.
Just before we set off, from the front door of the manse, I snapped the above photo of Ben Hope, which I think is my favourite winter photo so far! Blue sky, thick snow, and the sun glistening off the snowy branches in the foreground.
The air was very cold and crisp, and the snow was firm and crunchy. It was easy to walk on, although I nearly went on my neck at one point where the snow had fallen on ice underneath!
When we got down to the river it was very noisy. Not the usual tinkling of water, but the sharp cracking and snapping of the ice sheet which had built up overnight.
The tide had been in during the bitterly cold night, and the air was very still. There were no waves coming up-river from the Kyle of Tongue, and the surface of the river had frozen hard with an inch-thick layer of ice.
As we arrived at the river, the tide was going out. The ice sheets had dropped onto the rocks in the river bed, and it was snapping and cracking as the water removed its support.
As you can see in the photo above, the river bed is a chaotic jumble of broken ice slabs, tipped at crazy angles, and shining on the low winter sunshine.
When we returned back to the bridge across the river on our way home, it was just two minutes after noon, on the day after the Winter Solstice. The sun was very low in the sky, shining over the rugged peaks of Ben Loyal, that Queen of Scottish Mountains. The sunlight was reflecting off the water in the river, the broken ice slabs, and the snow on the mountains and bushes. It was a glorious scene, and I am pleased I was able to capture it, and share it with you in the photo below.
As I write this post, it is more than two weeks after the Solstice. Sunset has already retreated half-an-hour later in the afternoon, and we are well into the New Year. I wonder what lies ahead in our journey with Jesus.
I have been thinking about our worship services. It is nice that we have a pattern to them. Hymn, Prayer, Talk, Hymn, Readings, Hymn, Sermon, Hymn, Prayer, Hymn. It makes our services predictable for the people who usually attend. It gives me a framework around which to weave the message for this week.
But it occurs to me that our Sunday services are not at all the way that Jesus spent his time with his disciples.
Jesus did attend the synagogue regularly. He read the readings sometimes, and when he did, he gave the message. But on one occasion someone asked Jesus to heal him, in the synagogue, on the Sabbath, and Jesus did just that, and he was chucked out.
Jesus spent most of his time, meeting with people, in groups, usually in the public places, but sometimes in their homes. He introduced people to the awesome, loving, power of the God who created the universe, his Father. Travelling with Jesus was exciting, unpredictable, and there was no hiding place. People met with God, who knew their deepest needs, and satisfied them.
I wonder if the framework of our Sunday services is too much like a fence between us and God. The framework keeps us from getting so near to God that He might speak to us or even touch us. We can hang around the fringes, without any risk that we might have to speak or even do something. God is awesome and majestic, and if we don't know the depth of his love, then we might feel afraid of Him.
When we journey along the road of life we don't know what lies around the next corner. If we are keeping close to Jesus, the one who knows the way ahead, then we can travel securely, safe in the knowledge that we are loved and cared for.
I think that we will be dismantling the fence, and coming closer to God, in the weeks that lie ahead.
