Spirit of Power

Today, I have been to the Cockermouth (Agricultural) Show - a major event in the local calendar.  It's the first time I have been, as in the past two years here I have been away on the day.  I entered another world - that of farmers, and real Cumbrian culture. And I loved it. We saw varieties of sheep and cattle being judged, and I learned from a farmer-member of one of our churches what the judges are looking for. Including, for example, 'a leg in each corner'! We saw show-jumping and Cumbrian wrestling, which is different from any other as the combatants must remain in contact with each other at all times, with arms around each other, and hands clasped. We also saw a large amount of very expensive machinery: tractors and implements, Land Rovers and other suitable vehicles for off-road transport. The most expensive tractor on view cost £80,000!

And of course we had to sample the brews of our own Cockermouth brewery, Jennings. Not that I haven't tasted them before!

Tomorrow's theme is 'Spirit of Power, and the key text is from 2 Timothy: 'God has not given us a spirit of cowardice, but rather a spirit of power and love and of self-discipline.' It reminds me of what is stated at a baptism service, that we should fight against 'the world, the flesh and the devil.'  Militancy is something that we tend to eschew as Christians these days, but I have always been impressed that Iona community members are encouraged to see themselves as 'soldiers of Christ' - fighting against evil and injustice in all its forms. We are not meant to be push-overs as Christians, and there are certain things we must resist, whether in terms of our personal morality, or in terms of social trends. For example, McLaren reminds us that there are invisible realities like racism, greed, fear, ambition, nationalism, religious supremacy and the like - forces that capture people and pull their strings as if they were puppets to make them do terrible things. (p256)

The Holy Spirit gives us the 'power' to stand against these things, inspiring compassion and understanding.  Nowhere is this more obvious today than in social media. This somehow seems to give people permission to give vent to a whole torrent of abusive and hateful language, which needs to be assuaged by bold, truthful, compassionate responses.