Author: Martin Scott

Karen Ashton – in Baltimore

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by Martin Scott
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Gayle showed me yesterday this post from Karen Ashton and I asked if I could republish here. Karen is wonderfully ordinary and wonderfully extraordinary. She has walked and walked and prayed and currently is in the USA on the East coast. Gayle and I met Karen in Romania and she is high up, way high up on those we respect and are provoked by to hunger after Jesus and the ways of the kingdom. If you have a few minutes read her post.

Greetings from Baltimore – Day 12 – Thursday 16th January 2025

So here I sit in Baltimore, it’s difficult to know what to say today … the places and days seem to pass so quickly (in such a blur of pushing through) … and yet so slowly (long, straight roads stretching ahead) … it’s hard to take it all in … and my head is tired (the cold seems to take another level of energy) … but I guess here is a safe place to process my ponderings …

… in so many ways everything here is so familiar (I’ve seen enough tv and movies to have ‘seen it all’) … and yet everything is so very, very different (“guns, loans, gold”, weird showers, no prices, no pavements … just touches the surface) … it feels a long way from home … and there is so much that the glossed over media version doesn’t even begin to touch on … the crumbling around the edges … 

… in many ways, after Philadelphia, the last few days have been easier … it can often take a while of walking in a new place for connections to ‘open up’ … (credit to those amazing people who were open enough to be found in the early days) … but connections started to come and I’ve been welcomed and loved and cared for by some incredible people (and had the precious covering of their prayers) … and walking the stretches in between cities can often be lighter … the open space between … 

… but as I walked further into this beautiful gateway city of Baltimore … with it’s row houses, vibrant neighbourhoods and glistening waterfront … the wind literally started blowing harder … (and it was an icy wind at that!) … this is a deeply historic city … with a complex past … a fierce, diverse, largely working class rooted community … that has proudly played a significant role in US history … but, some also claim it as the birth place of red-lining (a practice in which financial services are withheld from neighbourhoods that have significant numbers of racial and ethnic minorities) … and have deem it to be a “Tale of Two Cities” … and yet again the difference between neighbourhoods is stark … and as you walk between them, both sides of the ‘American dream’ clearly slap you in the face … 

… and as I marched and wandered into and around this city … praying for ancient gates to be opened (for the King of Glory to come in) … I finally found myself arriving at the McHenry fortress … to find the gates literally being shut in front of me (I guess even now, over 200 years later, they still don’t want to let the British in! šŸ˜‰) … a fairly discouraging (though interesting) end to a long detour … 

… and in the face of it all, I wondered again why I’m here … what on earth am I doing here? … little Karen … who’s taken it upon herself to wander over from the edges of Europe … to a whole new continent, that I don’t really have the first clue about … I’ve come from little old Rochdale (the birthplace of Co-operation) … to a nation so recently founded in bloodshed (like most are I guess, if you go back far enough šŸ¤·ā€ā™€ļø) … where so many have died (in wars and wars and wars) … when you’re founded in a time of ‘kill or be killed’ … it’s perhaps not surprising that there seems to be so much fear here (and perhaps much to be feared?) … people seem to build their walls high here … and fiercely protect their independence … and their right to ‘defend themselves’ … 

…. and I wonder if maybe that’s part of what I’ve been asked to carry through these lands … the opposite spirit … vulnerability … defencelessness … interdependence … his kingdom ways … 

… to not be afraid to walk in dark places … not because I’m bigger and stronger and have a gun (I couldn’t be less so) … but because the light shines in the darkness and the darkness will not overcome it … to know his love … his white hot, burning love … and to walk in the power of the knowledge of that love … knowing that perfect love drives out all fear … 

… I’ve been reminded a few times on this walk, of walking down from Romania through Turkey to Antioch … following a lot of the routes the early crusades took … armies marching to slaughter thousands, (in the name of Christ – how can we get it so wrong?!) … and being struck, at the time, by the significance of me walking those same routes in completely the opposite spirit … a lone woman … totally vulnerable and defenceless … without any kind of weapon (just a plastic knife to cut up my cheese šŸ˜‰ ) … not by might, nor by power, but by his Spirit

… and so I guess here I come again … to fight that different kind of war … I come, like my King came, not with an entourage, on a big horse … but just as one little wanderer (with maybe a friend or two) … setting off tomorrow … walking towards Washington DC … the seat of power of a pretty dominant nation … acutely aware that I have nothing to offer, but the love of God … and the seed of his kingdom … a love that overcomes and overwhelms … a love that takes us into real freedom … brings us out from behind our walls, and into the wide open spaces of his kingdom life … a love that calls us not to greatness (in the eyes of this world) … but to humility … ‘that the first would be last’ … ‘that I would love my neighbour as myself’ … a love that calls us to sacrifice … to lay down our lives … a love that caused a King to lay down his life … that’s the kind of kingdom I want to live in … and that’s the kind of King I want to follow … 

… and so I pray again for a turning … a turning from the running and the rushing … the pushing forward … the drive to collect more and more to ourselves … the pressure to work and earn and consume … as we struggle to live under Empire … in this extreme, distorted version of capitalism … (where greed seems to go unchecked … and is even praised) … may our eyes be opened to see that our value is not in how much we can consume (despite what all the relentless adverts might tell us!) … may we find the stillness again … may we be still … and make room … find the open spaces … may we hear your still, small voice amongst the clamour … may a spirit of generosity rise up within us … may it not be about what we can get … but about what we can give … may we truly see that we are blessed to be a blessing … and as we choose to walk in that opposite spirit … to live counter-cultural lives … to lower our walls and make ourselves vulnerable … to give and give and give … to love and love and love … may the seeds of your kingdom be planted wherever we walk! 

Tomorrow, I’m aiming to walk towards the outskirts of Washington (and will travel to stay with friends in Arlington) … then Saturday we will walk into central DC together … many thanks again to all of you who ‘walk’ with me … I’m so very thankful for you šŸ™‚ … for Christ and for his Kingdom x

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‘Open’ Zoom Date

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Updates

I have set the next Open Zoom date for Tuesday, February 4th, 19:30 UK Time and the focus will be on the direction of movement in eschatology. The centre being from heaven to earth and the goal being the restoration of all things (‘ta panta’, the ‘all things’ of creation).

If attending please either read the pdf that I have written or watch the video that I have recorded. (The pdf is in greater detail and includes a critique of the ‘secret rapture’ / Dispensationalism.) Please read / view one or other…or for the keenies both! Here are the respective links:

Eschatology_directionDownload

Love how the video captures me looking speechless – must have been something so clever I said that it blew me away?

If planning on attending the link for the Zoom meeting can be found here:

Open Zoom Feb. 4th

I hope we can focus at some level on what would be the practical application to life if we held to an expectation of ‘God/Jesus arriving’ rather than ‘we departing’.

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Eschatology: video ‘There to Here’

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Theology

This video is around 12 minutes long and it sits alongside the pdf I wrote little while back. The link to that article is found at:

https://3generations.eu/PeediePress/media/documents/Eschatology_direction.pdf

I cover in that pdf some of the history of ‘the secret rapture’ and Dispensationalism with the main focus on the ‘restoration of all things’, the renewal of creation. The video simply summarises this aspect of movement from heaven to earth. I will set a Zoom meeting with an open invitation and in that session I will summarise the content, respond to feedback, and I hope we can explore the practical implications for all eschatology begs the question: ‘in the light of this how do we live?’ If you plan / hope to come to the Zoom session please either read the pdf or watch the video.

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Yes… but

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Biblical Observations

I am back to Genesis again in my readings as I have set up a plan how to read through the Bible in a year. Some parts later I will struggle with – all the ‘begats’ and the intricacies of the sacrifices and I am sure my mind will wander and I will not have ready every word. Today I was reading of Mr. Abraham and how it just drops in as normative comments about him and his brother that they have children ‘also to their concubine…’ Women come close to being owned, and there seems an absence of romance and commitment to the ‘one and only’. All who take the Bible seriously of course want to insist on following the trajectory of Scripture with a ‘yes that is there, but continue to read and see where this takes us’. In the case of marriage it takes us to a situation of exclusive committed relationships. Trajectory, follow the story.

Determining the trajectory is a challenge, such as we see in the history of the church. Slavery was one such challenge as it is not confronted head-on in the pages of Scripture. It seems that Bishop Lightfoot was one of the first scholars to posit that the gospel message itself refuted slavery even though there was not a specific text that did so. Thankfully no one seriously suggests that slavery should continue, though of course ‘modern slavery’ continues disguised and until consumerism (‘I saw, I took, I ate) is overturned there will always be a tendency to enslave others.

This concept of a trajectory is embraced by all – it is simply that we differ as to what issues are included. And as with the slavery debate when one adds a trajectory that goes beyond the pages of Scripture that the challenge grows. (In using the phrase ‘beyond the pages of Scripture’ I do not mean beyond the ‘story’ that unfolds, a story that culminates in a ‘new heaven and a new earth’ – i.e. a whole new, fulfilled, order.)

Pages / texts and story / trajectory – how do we determine our approach? Consider how Christians differ:

  • Violence and war… plenty of that within the pages.
  • Despotic / sovereign rulers who are endorsed by God.
  • Same-sex committed relationships.
  • Nationalism that protects borders.
  • and… and…

Thankfully at the same time as reading Genesis I am also reading the Gospels. There is a trajectory, and Jesus distorts many previously held norms; Paul then seems to suggest that we live within a fallen oppressive world system, but are not to live by the mythical story of empire, but by the story from the empty tomb that tells us there is One who is the first-born of all creation.

Probably the differences within the Christian community as to how we approach various issues can be used to provoke progression in understanding, rather than division. Anyway all goes to say, I am interested to see what fixed point I will see differently at the end of the year when I finish up in Revelation… will I see ‘a new heaven and a new earth’?

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Personal faith or ‘Personality faith’

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Personal Perspectives

I theoretically like all the personality tests and approaches, and one that I have been drawn to is that of the ‘Enneagram’. Like other similar approaches it does not box one in but helps one to see what box one is already within. I say I theoretically like it as I probably pay no attention to it when it comes to myself! But ever so useful for all other people on the planet. It helps / could help them to grow to maturity. Anyway that is enough self-disclosure for the year.

We love to think that our faith in God is ever so objective. There is God out and over there and we know exactly who HE is and we have a relationship with that person called God. We read in Galatians 4:9 how that perspective is somewhat skewed:

Ā Now, however, that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God (emphasis added).

I know the God who is the one I have created and as my faith strengthens so does my belief in that God, hence if I truly have some knowledge of God the image of God I have will change and develop. There will come a day when I know as I am known, but until then there will be a process that is incomplete. (I cheekily wrote in the paragraph above the word ‘he’ in capitals, though sadly it is not cheekily enough. There is an old joke about a preacher who was very clear on male headship (for headship read ‘top dog’) and an implicit underlying white-superiority belief and that they died and thus experienced a major shock post-death when they discovered that she was black.) I grew up with the ‘hell-fire’ belief and when I first met people who held to a view of unconditional immortality my ‘faith’ was given a knock as I thought ‘why then be a Christian’ if it is not to escape the wrath of God!!! It was not my belief in eternal punishing (side note: not the same as eternal punishment) that was shaken but my belief in ‘my’ God that was shaken – my belief in MY God.

Back to personality types and faith. I am not likely to end up with an expression of faith that includes genuine meditation and quietness. I am too busy trying to justify my being by activity for that (one could at this point say ‘too immature’ but my personality has a strong gift of denial within it so that observation would not stick). I will not drift that way simply because it is not ‘me’ as I present myself to the world.

In certain charismatic circles I have noted a combination of personality numbers 8s and 6s (enneagram number). The faith of the 8s in that setting are convinced the world is an evil place and we need to be vigilant and are in a state of war. Add to that their incredible knowledge of Scripture and they can teach where things are at and where it all goes. Then along come the 6s who have a strong sense of anxiety and know the world is not safe. The 8s confirm that their anxieties are based in reality and as their anxieties inevitably raise their level of concern over the future so they look for authority to help them find a safe place. Surprise, surprise the 8s end up as the anointed leaders and the 6s the wonderful followers, with any younger 8s among them on track to become the next generation of leaders. A marriage made in heaven… or something a little different to that!

The charismatic world is the Christian world I have inhabited for some 50 years so is the one I know best; other expressions probably could be viewed similarly using the same kind of lens. In other words our faith is not simply objective but is our faith, we connect to God (and to ‘god) through who we are, through our personality. That is how it always will be for it is not possible in that full sense for me to enter into God’s world, or to know God… wonderfully s/he enters my world, meets me.

One of the challenges regarding maturity is that we can mature in ‘our’ faith, but in reality the faith we have is simply being strengthened through greater knowledge, that then goes on to re-enforce our behaviour. That sadly is not a true reflection of maturity. A big part of maturity probably includes a measure of uncertainty. And given that I am certain of that…

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The triumph of protest

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Theology

The ‘protest of all protests’ follow on from the triumphal entry to Jerusalem which was in fulfilment of Zechariah 9:9 as Jesus rode in on a donkey. There is the very graphic contrast to Pilate’s entry with great pomp and military presence coming in through the gate at the opposite side of the city, as he did annually. The might of Rome on display; time for all to honour the ‘peace’ and order the Empire brings. At the same time, at the opposite side of the city comes a humble miracle-working carpenter from the margins riding on a donkey. In fulfilment of Zechariah he comes as ‘king’! The contrast was great. Here is the wider text from Zechariah (vv. 8-17) with a few highlighted areas:

Then I will encamp at my house as a guard,
so that no one shall march to and fro;
no oppressor shall again overrun them,
for now I have seen with my own eyes.
Rejoice greatly, O daughter Zion!
Shout aloud, O daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you;
triumphant and victorious is he,
humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
He will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the war horse from Jerusalem;
and the battle bow shall be cut off,
and he shall command peace to the nations;
his dominion shall be from sea to sea
and from the River to the ends of the earth.
As for you also, because of the blood of my covenant with you,
I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.
Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;
today I declare that I will restore to you double.
For I have bent Judah as my bow;
I have made Ephraim its arrow.
I will arouse your sons, O Zion,
against your sons, O Greece,
and wield you like a warriorā€™s sword.
Then the Lord will appear over them,
and his arrow go forth like lightning;
the Lord God will sound the trumpet
and march forth in the whirlwinds of the south.
The Lord of hosts will protect them,
and they shall consume and conquer the slingers;
they shall drink their blood like wine
and be full like a bowl,
drenched like the corners of the altar.
On that day the Lord their God will save them,
for they are the flock of his people,
for like the jewels of a crown
they shall shine on his land.
For what goodness and beauty are his!
Grain shall make the young men flourish,
and new wine the young women.

Humble and riding on a donkey – the ‘king’ would come on a war horse when coming to conquer, but on a donkey when they came in peace. The people welcome Jesus, the prince of peace, at that gate crying out ‘Hosannah’ which literally means ‘save us’. Save us? We should not reduce this through a narrow evangelical lens, it is the cry for Messiah to come and for the true shalom to be in the land… as Zechariah says, protection, peace and a wonderful extent of shalom from ‘sea to sea’. Little wonder that those who were oppressed were the ones gathered at the gate crying out for salvation; a salvation that was not primarily about internal transformation but about societal and institutional change.

That entry could only lead to the Temple. Compromised and aligned to political and economic structures that promised well being to all who complied; Jesus made a whip and disturbed in no uncertain terms (turning the tables over was graphically disturbing) and told those who ‘sold doves’ that the system they were supporting and propagating had to end.

The den of robbers (and the prophets equated oppression of the poor to the taking of life / murder) was to fall; there had to be a house of prayer (God save us) for all nations (us = all).

Jesus did this all those years ago. Is he the same yesterday, today and forever?

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A time to protest

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Theology

The ‘cleansing of the Temple’ maybe should be termed the ‘protest of protests’, being a major protest against the twin powers of religion and mammon, or perhaps the three-fold cord that is not easily broken of religion, mammon and politics.

A few things probably need to be clarified as we look at the passage(s).

  • The temple: not a big ‘church’ or ‘cathedral’ but something much more than that. If we do not grasp what the temple was then we might think Jesus was simply seeking to maintain some sacred space where prayer could be made and commercial trade was kept separate. A certain level of money exchanging took place to enable the sacrifices and Temple tax to be maintained so the exchange of money per se was not Jesus’ focus.
  • Jesus did not create a whip to attack anyone, indeed only one Gospel (John) says he created a whip and that (almost certainly) was used to drive the animals out of the temple. The driving out was far more than an explosion of anger against people – he was pushing against something far deeper.
  • [An incidental third aspect is that John puts the cleansing right at the outset of Jesus’ ministry leading some to suggest that there were two cleansings, however it is far easier to suggest that John puts it early on, immediately following the water to wine miracle for theological reasons. The one cleansing follows Jesus’ entry to Jerusalem and that context is important.]

The Temple

The temple and the buildings that were associated with it (‘in my Father’s house are many rooms’, storehouses etc.) occupied something like 20-25% of the area of the city. Jerusalem was not a city with a large ‘cathedral’ in it, rather the Temple was more or less the city. The high priestly family were one of the richest families in town, the temple was an economic institution as much as it was a religious one. It governed much of the politics, with a mutually beneficial relationship between the Roman powers and the Jewish powers (the Sanhedrin met in the Temple).

The economic power of the Temple meant that they could offer loans to those who farmed the land, thus keeping the poor oppressed; this coupled with the taxation system imposed from Rome meant there were many who lived at a subsistence level. (‘Blessed are the poor’; the despising of the ‘tax-collectors’ make a lot of sense in that culture.)

There is one aspect that is highlighted in three of the Gospels – ‘those who were selling doves’ (Matt. 21:12; Mk. 11:15; John 2:16). Only John mentions other animals (cattle and sheep) but he focuses on those who were selling doves. Matthew and Mark do not specify other animals and only mention ‘those who sold doves’; Luke does not specify what was being sold. The economic system as a whole is the broad focus while the sharp focus was on those who sold doves. Why? Doves were allowed for sacrifice for those who could not afford something bigger, it was the sacrifice made by the poor of the land (and one that Jesus’ family made after his birth, the stipulated ‘sin offering'(!!) after the birth of a child – thus indicating their economic status and also that the translation ‘sin offering’ is not appropriate – another subject, another time).

The system in place was essentially one that not only maintained the status quo but actively perpetuated inequalities, and all in the name of ‘God’. Little wonder John puts the cleansing right after the water into wine miracle; the water jars for ritual cleansing become the containers for celebration, indeed the text is somewhat offensive for when it says that the guests were already intoxicated (Ī¼ĪµĪøį½»Ļ‰ John 2:10) when Jesus turned the water into wine. The contrast of the old religion and what was on offer from Jesus is very stark. It is then, in John, we read of the cleansing of the Temple and the identification of Jesus as the eschatological Temple.

The protest is not about ‘sacred space’ but goes much further into societal restoration. Given that the historical context is that of the triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Matthew, Mark and Luke give us this context) I will in the next post tun my attention to that context.

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Leaving the land of the dying

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Personal Perspectives

Jimmy Carter has passed away yesterday, 29th December, aged 100 years old. Not perhaps your ‘normal’ president but a humble man who was involved in humanitarian work and expressed clear faith in the Living God. His grandson in May this year said:

He really is, I think, coming to the end that, as Iā€™ve said before, thereā€™s a part of this faith journey that is so important to him. And thereā€™s a part of that faith journey that you only can live at the very end. And I think he has been there in that space.

And he himself said when addressing the Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia:

I assumed, naturally, that I was going to die very quickly,ā€ Carter told the congregation at . ā€œI obviously prayed about it. I didnā€™t ask God to let me live, but I asked God to give me a proper attitude toward death. And I found that I was absolutely and completely at ease with death.

Profound words from the mouth of someone no longer present in the land of the dying.

A few days earlier (26th December) John Cobb passed away, a few weeks shy of hi 100th birthday. Who is John Cobb, I hear you ask… He belonged to the school of Process Theology, very articulate and a prolific author. Process Theology is not viewed as being too orthodox, but theology per se does not bring us to a knowledge of God. One of the last (perhaps the last) essay he wrote is on Thomas Jay Oord’s page:

Amipotence vs. Omnipotence

Orthodox (and what is that?) or not it is well worth a read, and for it to be a challenge; he writs beyond the personal but here is one quote:

[T]here is a strong tendency for those who feel secure in their relations with other people to love them. If we know that God loves us, it is much more likely that our feelings toward God will be loving. But also, we are more likely to love Godā€™s other beloved creatures.

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With us

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Theology

Christmas day – the arbitrary day that was chosen centuries ago to mark the entry of God in the most personal (and human) way possible:

[T]hey shall name him Emmanuel, which means, ā€œGod is with us.ā€

That whole chapter of Matthew seems to be about the end of Exile with the return of God to Zion (e.g. Isaiah 42)… the long night of Exile over and God present. That is the eschatological hope when finally it will be announced ‘God’s dwelling place is with humanity’ and there will be no break in that presence. One significantly wiser than me, used three prepositions to describe human interactiveness: ‘to’, ‘for’, ‘with’. we can do things ‘to’ people – even when not considered abusive it is colonial and based on inequality, power being the dominant element present. God does not do things ‘to’ us. ‘For’ is a move forward and probably is at times necessary. To do something ‘for’ someone else can be generous and kind, but there is a dimension beyond that: ‘with’ and ‘among’. That is the activity of God that we bear witness to in this season. He will be called ‘Emmanuel’. Or as John puts it ‘he moved into our neighbourhood’, and as Matthew closes his Gospel with ‘I will be with you always…’

The effect of being with us is that he will ‘save his people from their sins’ (Matt. 1:21). Yes, universal application, but in context to ‘his’ people, the Jews of his day who were suffering an ongoing Exile for their sins. God with us brings that to an end – end of exile at every level.

So we celebrate, and are called to witness to the irruption of God into our world at a personal level. I am deeply provoked by the challenge to ‘carry’ the presence of God in a way that is noted; not noted through manifestations, but through the testimony of others. That testimony has to be largely ‘I felt released from my sins’, not simply in the sense of forgiveness as we understand it, but the weight, the effect to be gone, witnessed to by wholeness and well-being. He was called ‘Emmanuel’, so all followers at some level, and collectively, should be known by ‘God was with us’. This is why I believe in transformation of a world caught up in exile.

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The presentation of life

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by Martin Scott
Posted in Personal Perspectives

The crossā€¦ death, dying in my place etcā€¦

We have been in the UK for a few days and set the date to arrive for the funeral of Lucie Moore, passing away at 44. She was born literally a few doors away from where Sue and I lived, and the Moore family have always been a connection and more than that an inspiration of faith, humility and above everything love.

The parish church in Luton was packed with a real testimony of Lucie’s amazing impact. Never one to shout out about her own achievements but present were family, work collegues, University contacts, neighbour, friends from childhood, inter-faith groups. Hugely moving, and of course premature at 44 years old, but a testimony to a life lived to the full and for the transformation of our world.

(Her focused work was as CEO of CEASE.)

Got me thinking too about death and the death of Jesus. With the death of Jesus (and for this I owe my developing thoughts to Andrew Rillera’s published work in Lamb of the Free) it is more about the presentation of life to God – if Jesus was not raised from the dead then we are still in our sins (1 Cor. 15), and though the redemptive work on earth is finished with the cross, but beyond the cross in the hours that were the other side there was the continuance of work leading into an ever-continual intercession. Death of the saints? I am sure that there is the presentation of life, our life’s work to heaven’s presence.

I am sure that for Lucie her life’s work are having a continued impact, not simply through inspiration, but an impact into our world. I was provoked. One life, today to respond and act, and every cup of cold water given noted by heaven. Changing the world through one cup at a time, a life presented to God.

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