Our reading is from the Letter to the Ephesians 3.14 – 19<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nFor this reason I bow my knees before the Father,\u00a0from whom every family\u00a0in heaven and on earth takes its name.\u00a0I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit\u00a0and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.\u00a0I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth\u00a0and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\n<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve had that reading on my noticeboard for the last 8 \u00bd years – it\u2019s the one we had read at my licensing service. It meant a lot to me coming here because it was the passage that inspired our vision in my last parish. We wanted to be a church that was becoming rooted in God, growing together in faith, and reaching out with love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now as I look back on my time here as a chaplain, the reading speaks to me in a further way. I love the stretch of the last sentence. \u2018I pray that you may have the power to comprehend what is the breadth, and length, and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chaplaincy is partly about exploring the breadth and length of God\u2019s love. Churches can be a bit of a bubble, focussed especially on those who belong, or those who might belong, or on those who have the right sort of faith or live in the right sort of way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Working as part of the Chaplaincy Team here has helped me to see more fully how God\u2019s love is at work in everyone, whatever their faith or beliefs, whatever their abilities or challenges, whether they are easy or hard for me to love, whether they are insiders or outsiders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I have learnt to see God\u2019s love reflected in these very different people – in what they have taught me, and what they have given me. My understanding of \u2018the kingdom\u2019 has expanded to include significant conversations and relationships in which God is never mentioned and faith is not on the agenda, but healing and discernment and vocation and love are very much present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What anchors us in all this breadth and length is our movement along the other axis – our exploration of the height and depth of God\u2019s love for us. To enable us to reach out with love we need to be rooted and grounded in that love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some of us have shared that exploration in our conversations, especially during the retreat each year. And one way that I have been rooted in God\u2019s love over the years is through this gathering – here or on the other campuses – sitting around a little IKEA table – sometimes just two or three of us – opening ourselves to the quiet presence and the deep love of God, here in this place, in the middle of a busy week, as the life of the university goes on around us – stopping to connect, and be open, and receive – so that we may be filled with all the fullness of God, and strengthened in our inner being.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I guess we will each have spaces in our lives where we renew that connection, and learn that openness. Spaces where we draw deeply on God\u2019s love, and are then able to live that love more fully in the world. Jo read us something from a book by a Cornish writer yesterday in our team meeting which expresses something of this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/pre>\n\n\n\n\nA harbour is a haven in unsettled waters. It is a starting place for adventure and a place of rest, repair and restoration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is a shelter from the storm where ballast can be rebalanced. It provides a means of orientation by providing a fixed point for navigation, and it can be a place of mooring and un-mooring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A harbour is a symbol of going out from and returning to a Still Centre; the source and object of hope.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Spend a few moments of quiet, opening your hands on your lap, and allowing your breathing to slow
In the quiet, connect to the still centre\u2026
Open yourself to the love of Christ which surpasses all knowledge\u2026
Rest in the presence of God\u2026
God in all things, we thank you for breadth and length of your love reaching out to all people and to all the world - and we thank you for inviting us to share with you in that reaching out
We thank you for the depth of your love, and for spaces like this where we can rest in that love, find our still centre, and become more deeply rooted and grounded in you.
<\/pre>\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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