Christian Screensaver: Midsummer Madonna

Mary & Jesus - this might become my Christmas card this year...

Keeping Connected - or how the Internet has become our latest spiritual domain

Proverbs 27:10 Do not forsake your friend and the friend of your father, and do not go to your brother's house when disaster strikes you--better a neighbor nearby than a brother far away. (NIV)

Audio version here

The Internet is an amazing vehicle of communication. Two Sundays ago, my new niece Eve was christened. I couldn’t fly over the Atlantic to be there, but my brothers took photographs and they have shared them with me over the Internet. I may be a brother who lives far away, but they keep me connected to family events through the Flickr photo site that we all share.

Flickr (www.flickr.com) is an amazing website because people from all over the world can share their photos of far away places and also upload their artwork on the site. As you know, I like to design stained glass pictures on the computer, as well as drawing political cartoons. I’ve built up a great community of friends who have the same interests from Poland, Japan, Scotland, Brazil and Australia, as well as many others from across the United States. It fascinates me to see how many creative people there are in the world. And I feel as though they are my brothers and sisters under the Creative Spirit of God.

The other night I was talking to a psychologist friend and somehow we started to talk about Carl Jung, who expressed a theory that humankind shares a collective unconscious in our minds. I used to wonder how that could be proven. These days, as I see the Internet becoming more of a shared reality across the world, I’m beginning to think that Jung was ahead of his time. The shared creativity of humankind, which is displayed on sites like Flickr, Helium, and Wikipedia links us altogether in a special way. It’s more than just communication; it’s almost spiritual.

So, physically I can be a brother far away from the rest of my family in Scotland, but I can also be a brother who connects with my family instantly in their homes or at their work via the computer screen. And I guess that’s how Christ works in our lives. Because He became one of us so long ago, He connects with our hearts and minds instantaneously through the presence of the Holy Spirit. He is not a Savior who is far away; He is right here as we are reading or listening to this devotional. Wow!

Prayer: Lord Jesus, You amaze us. Your presence in our lives is instantaneous and we are truly thankful for Your deep interest in our lives. Keep us aware of Your presence in everything that we say or do, and help us to share this loving knowledge with all whom we encounter this very day. In Your Holy Name, we pray. Amen.

Rag and Bone Man

Scottish Audio version here

Ezekiel 37: 14 I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the LORD have spoken, and I have done it, declares the LORD.'"

When I was a boy, the rag and bone man used to visit our street every summer. He came with his old chestnut-colored horse and a cart filled with castaway clothes. He usually wore a cloth cap, checkered shirt and leather waistcoat, along with some faded corduroy trousers and steel toe capped boots. He came ambling into our street, tooted his bugle, and hollered “Rag and Bohs! Rag and Bohs!” This let all the street urchins know that he had arrived.

Immediately, there was a hive of activity as kids scampered into their homes begging their moms to give them some old clothes to barter with the rag and bone man. From all over the street, like bees to a honey pot, children joyfully carried bundles of rags and brought them to the cart.

We waited reverently and expectantly as the rag and bone man examined our wares. Eventually, he would open up a large tan suitcase, which was full of cheap plastic toys and hand them out to all the kids with rags. Shrieks of delight resonated throughout the street as child after child received a gift. It was like Christmas in July and our spirits soared as we played with water pistols, plastic sunglasses and toy cameras. Then we would hear him give a gruff command to his old horse, followed by the clopping of hooves and squeaking of wheels. We would watch him go down the street until he turned the corner. Faintly, we could hear the bugle toot and the echoes of his call “Rag and bohs! Rag and Bohs!”

Before he arrived, our street was dead. After he was gone, something sacred occurred; we were all given new life. I learned all that I need to know about incarnational theology through a nameless rag and bone man.

Presence is everything.

Christ breathes His Spirit into our hearts and minds, our homes and churches. What once was dead can experience new life. All that we need to do is bring our bundles of burdens and cast them before Him. He takes them from us and in return He gives us the riches of His grace, the blessings of His eternal summer.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, enter into our lives so that we may know the power and blessing of Your sacred presence. Allow us to be touched by Your Spirit and to be changed by Your love. In Your Holy Name we pray. Amen.