Here are a few thoughts about ‘Abiding’ from our Carol service yesterday.

In those days a Chaplain was abiding at Silcoates keeping watch over a flock by day and sometimes by night….
I’ve often been charged with making the Bible up.
That’s because remembering the bible (RB) is different to using a printed Bible and it is interpreted differently.
We look inside ourselves, and around us, in family, community and the world for help in the task of interpreting.
This is the most basic of contextual theologies.
How does this story apply to me?
A 4 year old boy told me the story of the man who couldn’t walk whose friends helped him to see Jesus. Maybe you remember it too. They made a hole in the roof and lowered him down to see Jesus face to face. In his version the man shared a slice of watermelon with Jesus. Why not? Jesus gave the man back his dignity. The man gave Jesus some of his watermelon.
One of our problems with printed Scripture is we think the version on the page contains all the details of an actual event.
The boy made it the encounter into a real relationship through the sharing of the watermelon.

We are all children to some extent. We tell stories differently and we tell different stories.
When I first came to be the Chaplain I heard many adults say: ‘I stopped going to church when I was….’ It was often during teenage years. My finding is that didn’t mean ‘I left faith behind’ but rather faith changed, as indeed it should. It changed in meaning, importance or practice for example.
At school that’s what we expect. We all continue to change and grown but we also all continue to abide with each other in this space by God’s grace.
What stories do you tell?
Where are you abiding?

In our life and our believing

The love of God