The Flying Scotswoman

One of Britain's best known rail services has been rebranded. For the month of March, passengers travelling between Edinburgh and London will board The Flying Scotswoman. A visionary rail operator has taken this step to encourage more women to consider a career on the railways. To mark International Women's Day the southbound service at 5.40 yesterday was run by an all female crew.

International Women's Day aims to celebrate the achievements of women while calling for greater equality worldwide. The day serves as a reminder that although much progress has been made over the past century towards equality for women and girls there is still some way to travel.

Christian churches are sadly not in the forefront in the journey towards equality for women. It is clear from the New Testament that Jesus accepted women as equals. Luke names Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Susanna as key members of a larger group of women who supported Jesus in his ministry. Women were the first witnesses to the resurrection and were sent to share the good news with the other disciples. Several women were among the leaders of the early church. Paul worked alongside Pricilla and Lydia to name but two. Despite all that the Christian community today continues to restrict the full participation of women in many areas of worship, work, and witness.

International Women's Day this year calls us, female or male, to be 'each for equal' and suggests that 'an equal world is an enabled world'. With those claims in mind, perhaps during Lent this year Christians might reflect on the possibility that where inequality for women persists 'disabled' churches are unlikely to be fully functioning in the way God intends.

Now the green blade rises

Now the green blade rises from the buried grain;
Wheat that in the dark earth many days has lain.
Love lives again, like grain that sleeps unseen;
Love is come again like wheat that springs up green.

When our hearts are wintry, grieving or in pain;

Jesus touch can call us back to life again.

Fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been;

Love is come again like wheat that springs up green.

John M.C.Crum (1872-1958)

Spring officially begins in a little over two weeks. Across the country daffodils are already appearing. Trees and shrubs are producing new growth. The grass is green and growing. Soon it will be time to mow the lawn. Gardens that a month ago seemed lifeless now speak of the hope that winter is almost at an end. All around nature mirrors the promise of God that neither death nor the difficulties of this world have the final word. As we wait for Easter we do so in confidence, knowing that all that seems dead and bare in our lives will be brought to life when love comes again.

Pancake Day

Pancakes for lunch today. Being away from home on Shrove Tuesday doesn't have to mean missing out on the best part of Lent. Today's Leap Day seems a good opportunity to celebrate Lent in style. After all, Lent is a day longer in this Leap Year.

The foundations of Lent lie in the gospel accounts of the devil tempting Jesus. Fasting during Lent is based on Jesus' refusal to alleviate his hunger by turning stones into bread. Traditionally, Christians intending to observe the Lenten fast cooked pancakes on the day before Ash Wednesday to use up some of the foods they would be denied during the forty days of the Lenten fast.

The notion of Lent as a time for giving up things we enjoy persists in today's secular world as a result of an emphasis on this one aspect of the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness. The link between fasting and spirituality continues in many Christian traditions.

While in the wilderness Jesus battled more than the single temptation to use his power to feed himself. Both Matthew and Luke record two further tests that relate to the ministry Jesus would exercise during his earthly life. Forty days of isolation and temptation were a time of preparation for Jesus as he began his life's work.

Lent in its fullest sense is a season of opportunity rather than six weeks of obligation. Pancakes on a Leap Day are just the start.

Forty days and forty nights

Given the weather in Britain so far this year the forty days and forty nights of Lent seem more likely to resemble the Days of Noah than to mirror the Wilderness experience of Jesus.

Widespread rain and high winds have made this February the wettest on record for over 250 years. Daily news reports show both the damage done and the distress of those for whom this current inundation is not their first experience of flooding. Having made what preparations they can, they now watch and wait in fear of what will come next.

The ancient story of Noah tells of a similar experience. Noah, his family and an assortment of  animals sat on the ark and watched as the flood waters rose around them. But the waiting wasn't over when the rain finally stopped. It took months for the waters to subside and even longer before it was safe to leave the ark. Eventually, life on the outside was once again possible. A rainbow appeared and a new covenant between God and humanity was established. Noah and his family gave thanks to God and began the task of starting over. Noah's story is one of challenge and change.

We cannot know how long it will take for the floods to subside in the worst affected parts of Britain. Like those living through this challenging time we watch, we wait, we hope and we pray for a change in the weather. And perhaps, as we begin our Lenten reflection on the lives we live as people of faith, God will challenge us to consider how changes in our lives might contribute to creating a world in which life without fear of flood is possible.

Light upon the mountains

There's a light upon the mountains,
and the day is at the spring,
When our eyes shall see the beauty
and the glory of the king;
Weary was our heart with waiting,
and the night watch seemed so long,
But his triumph day is breaking,
and we hail it with a song.
Henry Burton (1840-1930)




The waiting is almost over. In a few hours it will be Christmas Day. At midnight on this Christmas Eve many Christians will welcome the Christ Child at Midnight services. And tomorrow it will be Christmas Day.

For a few more hours the watching and waiting continue. But now weariness is replaced by a sense of expectation. Soon we will welcome God in our midst. Our hearts sing. Hope is reborn.

Dreaming of a White Christmas

They said there'll be snow at Christmas

They said there'll be peace on earth.

But instead it just kept on raining:

A veil of tears for the virgin birth.

Here in the South of England hopes of a White Christmas are always something of a dream. Since 1960 there have been just ten snowy Christmas Days. Autumn 2019 has brought persistent rain that has left much of Britain waterlogged. Flooding is causing difficulties in some areas. Roads and rail services are affected at one of the busiest times of the year. As what the media describe as 'the great Christmas getaway' begins anxiety levels rise for those with plans to be away from home this year.

As we move towards Christmas Day the words of Greg Lake's 1975 Christmas song seem somehow prophetic. Christmas is too often not as we hope it might be. White Christmases aside, the hope of peace on earth too often seems unrealistic. In local communities, nationally and internationally, conflict and tension are a sad fact of life. Can we do other than weep as we wait for Christmas Day?

We are drawing near to the end of Advent. Christian churches will soon be telling once again the story of the coming of the Christ Child. Immanuel, God with us, has come to reawaken in each of us a hope that transcends human dreams. A hope that transforms a world waiting for the dream of peace on earth to become a reality. A hope not just for Christmas and Christians but a hope that could just change everything.

O come, O come Immanuel

O Adonai, and leader of the House of Israel,

who appeared to Moses in the burning bush

and gave him the law on Sinai:

Come and redeem us with outstretched arm.

(Advent Antiphon for December 18)

During the final week of advent many Christian traditions use a series of seven prayers known as the Advent Antiphons. Verses of the nineteenth century advent hymn O come, O come, Immanuel bring these together in a musical setting still used in many churches.

Used as prayers through the final week of advent these short prayers express the hope of redemption and deliverance from the darkness of exile. Most are based on Old Testament passages that remind God's people of their history. The God who has been faithful in the past can surely be relied upon to fulfil promises in the future. As the Christian community moves towards Christmas Day it does so in the sure and certain knowledge that this is no vain hope.

O come, O come, Immanuel.