Day: 1 And God created the world

The Picture

The Verse:  Genesis 1:31

"God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good."

The Thought

We all know the story of Genesis and the creation of the world.   Whether you believe that God created the world in 7 days or whether you believe in the Big Bang and evolution theory, the outcome as a Christian is the same.  The world is undeniably beautiful and God is evident in every aspect of His perfect creation.  The raw power of the sea, the mind-blowing vastness of the night sky or the gentleness of a butterfly.  These things never cease to astonish me and leave me breathless in awe.

I want to spend this Lent looking at God’s awesome creation and the promises He gives to me through His Word.  My particular focus is to be creation and nature.  If God gives so much beauty to each element of his creation, He has given it to me equally.  I need to look at all the ways He speaks to me through what He has made, all the reminders of His love, His power and His awesomeness.  He speaks in a still voice or a giant roar.  I need to stop and listen
I started off with this verse, because it reminds me that God created the perfect world and put man in it as a perfect being.   The rest of it is history.  We went bad and we seem to be doing our darndest to make the world go bad too.  Yet every day, some little thing, like a crocus, or great big thing like an earthquake, reminds me of His great power.  Who am I not to sit up and take note?
The photo above is from NASA and the world from space is a sight I would love to see.  I think it is the most gorgeous thing.  When we were in Namibia last year, we stopped in the middle of the desert one night and looked at the stars.  Joseph was amazed and stared for ages until suddenly getting uncomfortable and asking to get back into the car.  I asked him why and he said, "I feel a little small."  I feel a little small when faced with creation.  And yet I feel precious and loved.

The Prayer
Father God I thank you for your creation.  Thank you for the perfection of your world.  Let me hear your voice in the songs of birds or the gurgle of a stream.  Let me savour your power shown through the sea.  I recognise that I am tiny, but am precious to You.
I also pray that You would use these thoughts of mine to reach out and touch another person, somewhere in the world, that they may just stop and look around them and be amazed.  Let them see You in the beauty of nature and listen to what You have to say.
I love you Lord.

Shrove Tuesday - It's Pancake time!!

Shrove Tuesday

Shrove Tuesday is the day before Lent starts: the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. It's a day of penitence, to clean the soul, and a day of celebration as the last chance to feast before Lent begins.
Shrove Tuesday is sometimes called Pancake Day after the fried batter recipe traditionally eaten on this day.
But there's more to Shrove Tuesday than pigging out on pancakes or taking part in a public pancake race. The pancakes themselves are part of an ancient custom with deeply religious roots.

Shrove Tuesday gets its name from the ritual of shriving that Christians used to undergo in the past. In shriving, a person confesses their sins and receives absolution for them.
When a person receives absolution for their sins, they are forgiven for them and released from the guilt and pain that they have caused them.
In the Catholic or Orthodox context, the absolution is pronounced by a priest.
This tradition is very old. Over 1000 years ago a monk wrote in the Anglo-Saxon Ecclesiastical Institutes:

In the week immediately before Lent everyone shall go to his confessor and confess his deeds and the confessor shall so shrive him.
Anglo-Saxon Ecclesiastical Institutes

Shrove Tuesday celebrations

Shrove Tuesday is a day of celebration as well as penitence, because it's the last day before Lent.
Lent is a time of abstinence, of giving things up. So Shrove Tuesday is the last chance to indulge yourself, and to use up the foods that aren't allowed in Lent.

During Lent there are many foods that some Christians - historically and today - would not eat: foods such as meat and fish, fats, eggs, and milky foods.
So that no food was wasted, families would have a feast on the shriving Tuesday, and eat up all the foods that wouldn't last the forty days of Lent without going off.
The need to eat up the fats gave rise to the French name Mardi Gras ('fat Tuesday'). Pancakes became associated with Shrove Tuesday as they were a dish that could use up all the eggs, fats and milk in the house with just the addition of flour.

The origin of pancake racing

Pancake races are thought to have begun in 1445. A woman had lost track of the time on Shrove Tuesday, and was busy cooking pancakes in her kitchen.
Suddenly she heard the church bell ringing to call the faithful to church for confession. The woman raced out of her house and ran all the way to church; still holding her frying pan and wearing her apron.

But we are happy to just eat the pancakes!!! Without racing down the road with them... 
What is your favourite filling?  I love caramel and ice-cream!

Tomorrow I will start my Lent series on My Natural Faith.  If you do stumble across this page (or if you have followed my link here) please join in.  I would love to hear your comments and thoughts as I share mine.  Please don't expect anything too fancy - this will just be me thinking out loud

Hmm - not God's most rapid response member.....

I am horrified to see that it is a year since I started this blog.  That was after my return from our church's ladies weekend last year and now I have just returned from this years.
I felt so inspired and so excited about starting this but was daunted by it, hence the long pause while I tried to be brave enough to start.  But I felt a real sense of peace about this, and I hope I can do it justice.
Next week is the start of Lent and I feel I would like to do a study on God in nature.  I'm going to call it my Natural Faith series for Lent 2011.
While we were on the week-end away, one of the ministry assistants, Michelle, had created a wonderful prayer walk around the grounds of the house we were staying in.  It was while I was doing this walk that I got the idea for this series.  I felt that this could be a good kick off point.  I would love it if people shared this journey, but equally, I am happy to do it alone.   
Watch this space - you never know, I may actually listen to God this year!

I have a vision

God has been making it very clear to me that he wants me to do this. Today at church he bombarded me with ideas. I agreed that if the name was available - I would start this. I haven't shared this yet, but once I know where I am going with it I will post it. Until then this is just a start.