'Why are you?' - Weekly Reflection 20th July 2025

In one of the many memorable scenes from the film ‘Oh! What a Lovely War,’ * wounded soldiers have arrived back in ‘Blighty’ and are awaiting onward passage to various hospitals.  The film is interspersed with songs popularised at the time, many with a dark gallows humour.  As they wait at a London train station a song begins to emerge with the lyrics being simple and repetitive, reflecting on the futility of war.   “We’re here because we’re here because we’re here because we’re here. We’re here because we’re here because, we’re here because we’re here,” Sung to the tune of ‘Auld Lang Syne.’

In 1 Kings 19, we read the story of Elijah and the contest with the prophets of Baal. And in verses 9 and 13 we hear God address Elijah and ask him this question, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

Now that is a good question to tuck in our back pockets and think about regularly.

(If you want to explore this question then I can highly recommend ‘Invitation to Silence and Solitude’ by Ruth Haley Barton.’

And when should we be asking that question, ‘what am I doing here’ – or perhaps to make it more pertinent, ‘what am I doing here for God’s sake.’

It may seem rather odd, but I have often pondered on why a bird suddenly takes flight from sitting on a fence or in a tree. What makes them decide to do that, or is there no decision involved, purely natural reflexes. A life lived around reproduction and survival.

This leads us into asking philosophical questions about the cognitive behaviour of the human species.

Are we merely atoms bouncing around randomly like a giant pin ball machine.

Or do we have purpose and agency to determine our course of action?

Well for many of those young men fighting in WW1 there was little or no choice. The external circumstances beyond their control brought things about to the point where they ended up wounded and waiting on a London train station to go to hospital.

It was the stoic philosophers who pondered this and came up with a school of thought about our choosing how to react especially to external circumstances beyond our control.

At the heart of Stoic philosophy lies the concept of understanding what is within our control and what is not. According to Stoics, only our own actions, thoughts, and feelings are under our direct control. External events, the actions of others, and the past or future, are outside this sphere. Recognizing this distinction helps individuals focus their energy and attention on what they can influence, thereby fostering a sense of empowerment and serenity.

Victor Frankl's seminal book ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’ is Frankl’s account of his time in the Nazi concentration camp. His insights into our ability to find meaning despite great adversity has offered solace and guidance to generations of readers since it was first published in 1946. He speaks of watching the light of hope dissapear from men's eyes and knowing that in a few days they would be dead.

So, when should you ask the question, what am I doing here?

Well, as those who confess faith in God mediated through Jesus and empowered by the Spirit, as those who believe that God’s plans and purposes are being worked out primarily through human agency, surely that question is to be asked wherever we find ourselves and whatever we find ourselves doing, ‘regardless of the circumstances’ we might find ourselves in.

However, those ‘circumstances’ might have left us beaten, broken, bruised and battered, as they had for Elijah. But read 1 Kings 19 carefully and prayerfully and you will notice how God met with Elijah, how God gently restored Elijah, how God recommissioned Elijah.

(If you want a good succinct study on life application for today check this out. Study 7 WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, ELIJAH? - Words of Life Ministries CIO)

Peter, like Elijah, was restored and recommissioned, and in so doing Jesus spoke these words, “I tell you the truth, when you were young, you were able to do as you liked; you dressed yourself and went wherever you wanted to go. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and others will dress you and take you where you don’t want to go.”  John 21.18.

We may not have a choice on where we go but we always have a choice on our response and can say to God as Jesus did in the Garden of Gethsemane, ‘your will be done,’   or God, in his love and graciousness says to us, ‘your will be done.’

The choice is always yours and always mine to make.

For God’s sake, for the world’s sake and for your own sake, make sure that it’s the right choice!

For God is working his purpose as year succeeds to year and offers us an invitation to particpate...

https://youtu.be/yb75RsKBKvI?si=iBpDuG9rr0Gz03Jb

(And this is a very interesting version of this hymn classic!)

 

* Oh! What a Lovely War is a 1969 British epic comedy historical musical war film directed by Richard Attenborough

 

 

 

 

'Mind your head' - Weekly Reflection 13th July 2025

 

‘What yer bumpin yer noggin on?’

Not literally, like a low hanging branch, although that is also a real danger for me as I run or cycle along the canal tow path, but what things seem to keep bubbling up that have something of a theme developing.

I try to be alert to such things and ask if it is something God is trying to teach me.

Recently for me it has been about pioneers and settlers.  A well known and classic example would be the European expansion of the Americas. (Not making any value judgments on the rights and wrongs of this colonisation)

Initially Europeans stayed on the coastline and only later began to explore deeper inland.

To venture into unknown territory took a special kind of person, a pioneer. Someone who was curious about what lay on the other side of that mountain, or the far side of that valley.  They carved out a path for others to follow and then for them to settle. This symbiotic relationship between the pioneer and the settler is in the warp and weft of human society.  Both are necessary for flourishing.

For those of a certain age you might remember the musical Oklahoma and the song, ‘The cowboy and the farmer should be friends, one likes to chase a cow and one like to push a plough…’

Last Friday (11^th July) was the Feast Day of St Benedict, the Father of Western Monasticism.  (480-547) One things Benedict had no time for was for wandering monks going from monastery to monastery. This was referenced during a session on ‘Community’ as part of our ‘Practising the Way Course.’   The Course — Practicing the Way

One of the vows monks make is to stay in one monastery until they die!

And yet we are called to apprentice under Jesus of whom we read ‘had no place to lay his head.’  (Matt 8.20)

And what would we say to Paul, who certainly travelled huge distances.

Then we have the celebrated peregrini, the Irish monastic exiles who left Ireland for Britain and continental Europe from the sixth century onwards.  Very much part of the culture of the West Country and in fact a peregrine falcon forms part of the diocesan emblem for the Diocese of Truro. (Peregrine means tending to wander, and comes from Latin peregrinus, meaning "foreign" or "pilgrim".)

So, which is it, to stay or to wander?

I have also listened to another podcast from the ‘Leaving Egypt’  series (and there’s another fascinating story about Israel, wanderers and pilgrims and then becoming settlers with everything firmly established around Jerusalem and the Temple.)  

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4SsSsbG2VcwxWIrMp4b4v2?si=015bc456b2ba4359

Reuben Slife tells a story of settling down in a small town in Ohio in America, a town that once was big and busy with heavy industry that has subsequently gone. Reuben talks of staying and settling rather than ‘getting on his bike and going to look for work.’ (A quote from the late Norman Tebbit who died recently) Because moving breaks up community and negates establishing roots and relationships.

Our family know something of the challenge and stress of regular moving, especially during school years for our children. As a Church Army Evangelist (Church of England Lay Minister) we travelled the length and breadth of the UK.

This is a reflection in every sense of that word, and I am still chewing over all of this and pondering about it all. Staying and building community and investing in where we are in this atomised and transient world we live in certainly has a huge appeal.

And I also reminded of the story about ‘letting down your bucket.’  This was story told to me by an American friend, Bill Heflin whom I got to know while living in Newmarket. The story comes from Booker T. Washington who delivered a speech in which he told a powerful story of a ship lost at sea for many days. The sailors on board this distressed vessel were without hope, exhausted from hunger, and dehydrated to the point of death. Finally, someone spotted a boat far away. A signal was sent from the lost ship: “Water, water. We die of thirst.”

The other ship signalled back, “Cast your bucket where you are.”

The sailors were confused. Their signal was obviously being misinterpreted. They tried again. “Water, send us water.” The same response was delivered: “Cast your bucket where you are.” The men were beside themselves with frustration. “We’re going to die of thirst because these people don’t understand what we’re trying to say!” Desperate, they signaled again. Same response. Then a fourth and final time. Same response.

Finally, the captain of the lost ship said, “I don’t understand what it means, but we’ll die if we don’t try.” He took a bucket and let it down into the ocean. When he brought it up, the captain couldn’t believe his eyes. The bucket was filled with sparkling, fresh water! What he did not know was that he was very near the mouth of the Amazon River, which deposits fresh water far into the ocean. What these sailors had needed all along was right under them. Their thirst was satisfied.

Two final comments. 

Remember the people of Israel wandering through the desert.  ^'In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted. So the cloud of the Lord was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the Israelites during all their travels. -Exodus 40:36-38

And to those in exile Jeremiah writes, ^‘But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. Jeremiah 29.7.’

We move at God's prompting and wherever we are we seek to settle and invest in that place. 

And above all I love the sentiments in this song that no matter where we are when we get up in the morning or where we lay our head at night we can all drink deeply rich draughts of live giving water from the well of God’s love. (cf. John 4)

Therefore, where ever you are it is time to go to the well and let your bucket down...

https://youtu.be/ufeGQidJ0bI?si=8gI148cYWdG6-D7g

 

 

 

 

  

 

“Curiouser and curiouser!” - Weekly Reflection 6th July 2025

Where do butterflies go when its wet?  That was today’s question, not from our grandchildren who have been with us for the weekend, but from my own curious mind.

This was prompted because our small array of growing vegies are attracting a lot of butterflies. With today’s downpour it was a natural question to ask.  And at six-years-old the boys are also asking a lot of questions.  We try and answer as honestly and in the most straightforward manner we can.  Plus, we name all sorts of things and try and explain their function. For example, in the kitchen, what is this for? That’s a trivet and it used for putting hot things on so that they do not burn the top surface on the cupboards.

In the shed and garden tools, explaining all the basic tools I have and their function. I imagine they will forget most of this, but hopefully over time they will pick these things up and they will be stored in their memory bank.

Then as we were watching Rosie and Jim (another thing grandparents do, introduce your grandchildren to all those ‘classics,' Thunderbirds, Supercar, etc.) This episode of Rosie and Jim featured a ‘life-lesson’ about firefighters with them visiting a school and showing their skills.  Key of course was knowing what to do in case of an emergency, phone 999.  My question to my daughter, ‘this was when we had land lines, what happens with mobiles?’   Look at your phone dad and you will see every phone has an ‘emergency call feature’ that doesn’t require a pass code to access the phone.  The boys have been taught this to access an emergency call and then to phone 999.  And you can also add an ICE (in case of emergency) number on there as well. Today’s life lesson for me and an ICE number added!

On Tuesday evening we hosted our regular Connect Group (Home Group) as we continued our exploration of Practising the Way. A comment from the ‘teaching’ was that some people have a closed mind and others have an open mind. An open mind that is always curious, never pulls up the drawbridge, always asks questions and is on a quest to know more and more and more.  

I have been listening to a series of podcasts called ‘Philosophize This!’ – as you can guess this explores philosophy and follows the development of philosophy through the ages. I find it fascinating that an underlying tow in all the philosophies is the need to have an open enquiring mind.

Probably best known is Socrates and a quote attributed to him, "The unexamined life is not worth living."  This carries a profound meaning that invites us to examine our own existence and choices. Socrates believed that a life devoid of introspection, self-reflection, and critical thinking is essentially meaningless and lacks value. 

The Apostle Paul recognised this pursuit by Greeks philosphers, but for him, following this particular path, would not lead to true wisdom and knowledge about the human condition and living the best life. 

1 Corinthians 1.20-25 ' Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.

In context I get what Paul is saying, but he manifestly was someone with an 'open mind' otherwise he would never have embraced and proclaimed Jesus as Messiah.  This cannot be about not having an enquiring mind. 

And there is an awful lot that the Scriptures have to say about ‘Lady Wisdom.’ 

A simple reflection this week (it has been a fun and yet exhausting weekend!) and a simple challenge. Are you constantly curious, always asking questions, always seeking to learn and know more about all sorts of things.  

Do you look at things and wonder why, how, who?  I remember on honeymoon in the Southwest and stopping the car when I saw a man sat by one of those boxes that register traffic. I went and asked him how it worked. In those days it was pneumatic pressure that registered vehicles passing over the tube.

And butterflies – they shelter in nooks and crevices and occasionaly under broad leaves from wet weather - a good reason to build bug hotels!

Now, do you know why they are called butterflies?

 

 Appendix

The Elephant's Child - by Rudyard Kipling (From ‘Just So Stories’ 1902)

 

I Keep six honest serving-men:

       (They taught me all I knew)

     Their names are What and Where and When

       And How and Why and Who.

     I send them over land and sea,

       I send them east and west;

     But after they have worked for me,

       I give them all a rest.

 

     I let them rest from nine till five.

       For I am busy then,

     As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea,

       For they are hungry men:

     But different folk have different views:

       I know a person small—

     She keeps ten million serving-men,

       Who get no rest at all!

     She sends ‘em abroad on her own affairs,

       From the second she opens her eyes—

     One million Hows, two million Wheres,

       And seven million Whys!