RELATIONSHIPS

It is not an easy task to follow last week’s wonderful blog written by Revd Mark.
Turning to the last lines of his prayer:

Blow among us, Spirit of God,
fill us with your courage and care.
Hurricane and Breath,
take us on a journey of love! 

My mind is led from the Day of Pentecost (last Sunday) to the coming Trinity Sunday. For six months we have moved along the journey of Jesus’ life on earth – hearing of his relationships with people – his family and his friends. His relationships with those who came for healing, those who expected and received his help.

After his resurrection Jesus told Mary Magdalene: “go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”
Later Jesus told the disciples “I will not leave you orphaned….. But the Advocate, (or the Comforter) the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything.”

So, on Trinity Sunday we celebrate the relationship within God the Three-in-One. Created in the image of God, we have the same inbuilt inclination towards relationship. The characteristics of loving and caring, of wanting to help others, wanting the best for them and working towards it are part of our nature.

My own personal journey of love includes celebrating with my husband this week our fifty three years of marriage. It has been a journey of many different experiences and ups and downs, of course. But together we have worked and loved and been blessed  to be able to laugh together too.

Recently I was present when various members of a family came together to celebrate the life of a much loved mother who had now died. Some of her children and also their cousins had been separated for many years and did not really know one another any more. As they hugged and remembered incidents from early childhood, laughter began to ring out in spite of the tears.

I agree with Kathleen Norris when she writes:

“Heaven is light to me, light-hearted and full of holy laughter. It is with a light spirit that I offer the following little litany –

A praising of God is what laughter is, because it lets a human being be human.
Laughter is a praise of God, because it lets a human being be a loving person.
Laughter is praise of God because it is a gentle echo of God’s laughter; of the laughter that pronounces judgement on all history.
Laughter is praise of God because it foretells the eternal praise of God at the end of time, when those who must weep here on earth shall laugh.
God gave us laughter – we should admit this and laugh.

“And when we are done with laughing, we might ask ourselves: Who is my neighbour? This may be the most important question we can ask, a matter of life or death for us, and our planet.”

Kathleen Norris Amazing Grace Riverhead Books 1998

I wish you laughter and all happiness.
Much love and many blessings

LucyA