This Is the Day

Readings and meditations from the Iona Community

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• Publisher: Wild Goose Publications
• Year: 2002
• ISBN:
  9781849520287
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Christian Rituals & Practice

Daily readings for four months from a wide range of contributors within the Iona Community. These prayers, liturgies, songs, poems and articles, which reflect the concerns of the Community, can be used for group or individual reflection and are intended t

Month 1 Day 1

‘NEW WAYS TO TOUCH THE HEARTS OF ALL’

With imagination and a sense of adventure

I think it is at least arguable that we now live in a post-Christian society and it is indisputable that institutional religion is in decline. I believe that there is a real danger of loss of nerve on the part of the churches. There is a great challenge and opportunity for discovering and experimenting with what the Iona Community describes as ‘new ways to touch the hearts of all’. A church-centred approach to mission is unlikely to usher in the kingdom or produce much more than temporary alleviation of present problems. But an approach that reaches out with imagination and a sense of adventure, seeking to reveal where God is already at work in the world, focusing on Jesus Christ and the promise of the kingdom, will lead on to the excitement and surprises that are inevitably part of the way of the spirit.

We must take account of the fact that, however formal religion may have declined, interest in religious and spiritual questions is as strong as ever, and many people still look to the church for leadership. This means that commitment to pursuing social justice through prophecy and service is an essential part of mission, especially in our secular society.

Norman Shanks

Month 1 Day 2

ECONOMIC WITNESS

Something must be done about the money boys

Sowing the seeds of the next war?

Fifty years ago, George MacLeod, founder of the Iona Community, wrote these words:

Something must be done about the money boys who run our world. It is urgent that the whole issue of international monetary finance be reviewed.

Have you ever queried the bankers? I have. Try the lower echelon of bankers, and most of them will say, ‘These things are too high for us, we cannot attain unto them.’ But a small minority will whisper, ‘You’ve got something there, boy; isn’t it extraordinarily cold weather for so late in the month of May?’

Try the upper echelon of bankers. I have. I wrote to the top man of a London bank, a charming man, asking his comments on a similar document to the Haslemere Declaration [a declaration about world poverty]. He replied that the figures were inaccurate. I immediately asked which figures, but had no reply.

They are in training for the job of international bankers. They know what is good for us. Don’t consult us, the paltry crowd. But do they know what is good for us? Or are they sowing the seeds of the next war?

George MacLeod

Prayer

May it not be long, Lord.

May it not be long

before there are no more beggars at the door

waiting for the crumbs from the tables of the rich.

May it not be long

before the northern exploitation

of the southern economies

is a fact of history,

not a fact of life.

May it not be long

before poor economies

cease to be havens for sex tourism,

child labour and experimental genetic farming.

May it not be long

before those nations we once evangelised

show us the larger Christ

whom we, too often, have forgotten.

May it not be long Lord.

May it not be long

before the governments of our nations

legislate against commercial avarice

and over-consumption which hurts the poor

and indebts them.

May it not be long

before Christians in this land

examine their economic priorities

in the light of the Gospel,

rather than in its shadow.

May it not be long

before we respond out of love,

not out of guilt.

May it not be long

before we find wells of hope

deeper than the shallow pools of optimism

in which we sometimes paddle.

May it not be long

before we feel as liberated and addressed

by your word

as those first folk did

who heard you summon the oddest of people

to fulfil the oddest of callings.

May it not be long, Lord.

Amen

John L. Bell

Month 1 Day 3

YOUTH CONCERN

Timothy and Paul

A	Timothy …
B	Yes Paul?
A	I’ve got a job for you.
B	Uh-uh!
A	Is that any way to speak to an apostle? Or reply to an epistle, come to that?
B	Right. ‘Here am I, send me!’
A	That’s better. I’m glad you’ve read Isaiah.
B	So what is this job?
A	I want you to stay in Ephesus.
B	Oh no, they’re weird – they do nothing but talk, arguing over the meaning of words. Or telling ghost stories.
A	I want you to lead them, gently but firmly, into better ways.
B	Lead them! You wouldn’t believe the arguments they have about leadership: about bishops and deacons and what they should be allowed to do, and how many wives they should have … and women – what they can and can’t do in church.
A	They need a clear line. I’ve got some thoughts, and I’II put them down when I’ve a minute … But meanwhile I want you to stay there to help them.
B	They won’t listen to me. I’m too young.
A	You know what I wrote to the people in Corinth: ‘If Timothy comes, see that he has nothing to fear among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord just as I am; therefore let no one despise him.’
B	Yes Paul, that’s fine, but when you’re young, people in the churches have a funny way of treating you. They’re so keen for you to be there: ‘Look, we’ve got a real live young person!’ But they don’t know what to do with you … how to listen to what you’re really saying … your story … or how to use your gifts.
A	Don’t let anyone despise your youth.
B	That’s easy for you to say!
A	Just be yourself. Recognise that God’s made you a special person – with a vision, with words to share it; a person who really cares for other people. Do not neglect the gift that is in you.
B	Oh Paul!
A	Oh yes, Timothy!

Jan Sutch Pickard

Month 1 Day 4

THE WORD

What’s special about the Bible?

She was a shy African woman. When teased by her loud-mouthed neighbour, she was tongue-tied, unable to produce a ready answer to her taunts. The reason for the scorn which was heaped upon her was the place that the shy woman gave to the Bible. Not only did she read it regularly; if any problem or dilemma faced her which she found difficult to cope with, she would go into her hut, turn to passages which she thought might help her, meditate upon them, then emerge to deal with the situation.

Things came to a head. In front of others, the neighbour took her to task. ‘There are all kinds of books in the world which can help us find how to live,’ she said, ‘yet you turn to just one, always the same one. Why, tell me, why? Why this one book?’

At last, the woman’s tongue was loosed, the words came. ‘Other books I read,’ she said. ‘This book reads me.’

Ian M Fraser

Month 1 Day 5

HOSPITALITY AND WELCOME

The guests were starting to arrive for the centenary celebration, and the de...

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