A Cross Word

I read recently about two UK Christian women who have been barred from wearing a cross whilst at work.  They are taking this to the European Court of Human Rights.  The UK government intends to oppose their case, arguing that wearing a cross is not a 'requirement' of the Christian faith and, therefore, employers can ban employees from doing so, and can dismiss them if they insist.

My questions are - why would employers ban anyone from wearing a cross?  What possible harm can it do anyone?  Presumably then, other workers are allowed to wear items which are considered to be 'requirements' of faith.  Why would these give less offence to people of other faiths, than a cross does to folk who are not Christian? What has happened to human rights in this country?  What has happened to live-and-let-live, tolerance, acceptance and respecting other people's beliefs?

Maybe we should look at make the wearing of a cross a 'requirement' of the Christian faith?

But I forget myself.  Christ did not come to bring us rules, regulations, codes and laws: He came to bring us freedom.

Weathering the Storm

Here in Scotland, we have recently had more storms than we have experienced in the past. The storm of last Tuesday (January 3rd) was so strong that it moved our very heavy shed off it's base!

Today I was tidying up in the garden, and around the greenhouse in particular. Having lost a greenhouse to a fairly wild storm on 31 May, my daughter and I had taken the precaution of removing the panes and stored them in the (now leaning!) shed. However, there were a couple of panes we could not remove - one in the roof skylight, and one just above the door.

Tuesday's storm removed the skylight one for us, which we have rescued and brought inside. However, the one above the door is still in place: this pane is, by far, the smallest pane of them all.

What struck me was that we don't have to be big and strong to weather storms. All we really need is to be securely anchored - and sometimes that happens best when we are very small - because we are not relying on our own strength but are, instead, standing on the Rock.

Hurray!!!

I've finally submitted my latest (and late) assignment! I'm so relieved I had to share this with someone! Now for the next one, due all too soon. Why am I doing this?

Heros

As a wee bit of fun, have been doing some of those "which character are you?" quizzes. Got me thinking. Although I would love to be one of the amazing fictional characters (although maybe only for a wee while!) there are also some real people that I would like to emulate.

Elizabeth Barratt-Browning - for her poetry; Fi Glover or Sandi Toksvig - for their use of language and quick wit; Judith Chalmers - just to visit all the countries that she has!!; Jane Austen - oh to be able to write like that!; Jackie Pullinger - what an amazing woman with an amazing relationship with God! And, from the Bible - Joshua!

So. Who you would like to be? Especially which Bible character?

A NEW YEAR

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
To anyone who reads this blog - I wish you all that's best for 2008.

I wonder what this year will bring? As usual for this time of year, I was thinking - reflecting on last year and pondering on my hopes for this new one. One of them is that I can grasp the pure joy of the fact that I have a relationship with God!!

Another is that I can find happiness in the simplest of things. I watched Michael Parkinson's final show - a compilation of his memorable interviews. Amongst them was a clip from 1980, of Larry Adler (on harmonica) and Itzhak Perlman (on violin) playing Summertime. At one point, Larry Adler smiled at Itzhak Perlman - and it was a smile of sheer enjoyment! What struck me was that he was smiling out of the sheer pleasure over the music that they were making. He was not smiling because he was being admired by Michael Parkinson, his guests, the studio audience and all those watching at home. He was not smiling because he was famous and rich. He was not smiling because he held centre-stage. He was smiling with the joy of making music with another great musician.

In this age of celebrity, and the desire of so many to be famous for the sake of being famous, I pray that we can all treasure the simple pleasures of life, most of which are found in God's creation - the natural world and people.

Luke 2: 7

And she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

How wonderful is this!

"The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love. He will rejoice over you with singing."
Zephaniah 3:17