I’ve just found this song by Chris Rice and really enjoying listening to it in the evening. It seems to describe the rhythm of life really well, the beginnings and endings, without being really cheesy or triumphant. Living in the countryside the dawn chorus, the sunrise, the joy of spring arriving really help compensate for missing the hustle and bustle of being in a city. I think it’s good for my soul to see the wonder of the everday in the wildlife and garden around us.
It’s also helping me grieve the pain and suffering I see in daily life, through my role I’m often meeting people who are seemingly being ‘silenced by the grave’. In Jesus we have the hope that there is more than today and tomorrow, but a continuing praise and worship of our creator God that is endless and unfathomable. I am relying on this more and more as I encounter people who are dying too young, maybe from cancer, and maybe not, but still their life seems to be coming to an end, and it’s not fair. In particular I am especially cross with God about a friend of mine who’s spent the last 3 years being a star student at vicar school only to be diagnosed with terminal cancer. I don’t want to go on, because it’s not fair that she won’t get chance to be ordained too. I feel like going on strike. It’s just not right.
But of course the dawn still breaks, and the day still starts again, and as Chris Rice says, Gods praise goes on, however much we sometimes wish we could stop the clock. The excitement for me is how I see God around me in the people I meet. The people who don’t even know God loves them, but the spark of community or social action is flaming bright. The people who just turn up and help, the people who make me laugh out loud, with their funny memes, and the people who are just bonkers and say crazy stuff. My children hugging and nagging me, growing and challenging, I think that’s the praise I want to connect with, and give a ‘shout out’ tonight. I’m also praying you too know God’s comfort and safety as you sleep…
inspiredinyork 