Flicker

Annie and I went to a Taize service last night at St. Mary's, the parish church here in Charlbury. It was a moving and much-needed experience. This form of worship has some solemn joy in it that speaks to me of the holiness of God. It is a time of singing, scripture, and silence. In that high-arched sanctuary where Christians have worshipped for 700 years, it was very good to be in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

It was Candlemas. Appropriately, the service was candle-lit, and each one of us was invited to light a candle in prayer at one point in the service. In both our morning service at the Baptist church and this evening one, the theme of trusting God has been repeated. I was reminded of my need for Him and my own baseness and inability to handle the new challenges I am facing without His daily support.

In the morning the message was about possessions: are they a source of security of a millstone around our necks? The answer is pretty clear -- our possessions can easily weigh us down. Yes, we have physical needs, as food, shelter, water, but we hesitate to trust God to provide them, feeling safer when we can accumulate wealth and provide them for ourselves. We trade joy for this security, feeling the need to protect our possessions at all costs so that we have time and freedom to do little else.

"Like an almond tree that blossoms at the first hint of spring, a breath of trusting makes the deserts of the heart burst into flower again."

As we listened to the above meditation from Brother Roger and sang:

"It is good to trust in the Lord our God,

Trust and hope in the Lord our God."

I saw glimpses of events in my future life, things that I dream and worry about -- from the essays I have to write, to the vocation I long to find, to the marriage I may or may not ever have. I dream and worry, but these things are already complete in the mind of God.

"Our darkness is never darkness in your sight.

The deepest night is clear as the daylight."

We spent some time praying together after the service, for the town, for our hosts and fellow students, for our loved one, for each other. I know that God has a plan for us, reasons for us to be in England, purposes to fulfill.

His plans are so intricate, and he makes them so simple for us:

Trust and obey.

"Amonge ws synfull wrechys he oweth to be magnyfyde."

-from Mankind