While exploring the internet a few years back I found this wonderful skit that appeared as part of the HAMLET for Shakespeare’s 400th anniversary celebrations.

Click here for video

I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! it raises for me some very important questions about emphasis, to be or not to be that is the question. The phrase can take on very different meanings if we change the words we emphasize. The particular emphasis can tell us a lot about the speaker and also ourselves in the way it makes us feel.

When we read the Bible we might find ourselves unconsciously placing emphasis on one word or passage over another giving it a meaning steeped in our own experience. It is a helpful exercise in our intentional faith development to reflect on these tones in our text and consider how the use of other expressions might allow for a different understanding of the text.

A prelude to the Parable of the Good Samaritan: Luke 10:25-29

²⁵ On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

²⁶ “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

²⁷ He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

²⁸ “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

²⁹ But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

As you read this passage out loud what words you find you are naturally emphasizing?

How do these words convey a meaning from your experience?

there are times when I’m not certain if I am reading the Bible or the Bible is reading me!

I have had a some great conversations this week about last weeks video link “In my Blood it Runs” and I thank you for ways so many of you have engaged reflectively with the activity of standing there others might stand.

This week we move on to explore the other end of life, once again would love to hear you comments and thoughts about this look into Centenarians.

https://iview.abc.net.au/show/you-can-t-ask-that/series/2/video/LE1617H009S00

what do you notice?

what questions would you ask?

are there any though about care and support you have learned?

We certainly have faced a great many obstacles in these times which have caused us to feel a range of emotions from grief to stress. Our isolation from each other has left us wondering if other understand  what we are going through and it is easy to focus on things that are discomforting for us.
When Jesus was asked to reflect on what our top priorities must be he replied that it was to love our neighbor as our self. This priority of Christian living calls us to consider others and to reflect on how we view those who are separated from us by differences.

Over the next few weeks I am going to ask you to explore with me who our neighbors are and to stretch our thinking and our empathy beyond our normal limits. Each week there will be a link you can follow to watch or interact with something, you can follow the link by clicking on it and watch it right on your device.

This week I want to encourage you to watch the ABC program In my Blood it Runs which tells the story of a 10 year old Arrernte/Garrwa boy. As you watch it I urge you to consider and reflect upon your responses, allow your questions to form and your reactions to be felt as you consider the obstacles these neighbors of ours face in daily life.

https://iview.abc.net.au/show/in-my-blood-it-runs

I would also like you to practice leaving a comment below so that other may hear your prospective and that we might be able to engage in conversation.

If you need help with following link or leaving a comment please call Will and attend the Zoom tech tips session on Thursday mornings from 10-12.

for a few weeks we will take a short Break from Kingdom and empire AD as it moves to Pentecost and  and instead have a look at the Theologically reflective series Nooma.

The First in this series is called Rain and speaks of the relationship between God and us during difficult times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prVZv2Yq70Y&list=PLZqQAL59YuA1gCIbOPeBQ41knelWqM0FU

here are some questions for your thinking:

1. “Do you ever have one of those moments…like…if you could just freeze it? It’s so beautiful.” If you could freeze a moment from your life, what moment would that be?

2. What are some of the storms in your life? Is it raining in your life right now?

3. The Psalms speak about crying out to God. Read the following Psalms—34:17, 55:17, 72:12, 84:2, 88:1. What do you learn from these words?

4. What do you think God is whispering to you right now? How does His presence comfort you?

Feel free to keep a journal of thoughts bout these questions and bring them along to our drop-in-hang out Zoom times in our opening hours listed at the bottom of our home page.

After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

Acts 1:9-11

This first Sunday after Easter we have gathered again in Zoom, we feel the uncertainty of the season we are in as we huddle in our houses seeking those connections we can find.