Day 12 - Above the watery abyss

I want to tell you about two church services; both involved thoughts on creation and were topical!

David and I cruised through the Bay of Biscay which is notorious for bad weather. Our outward journey was fine, calm and sunny. We enjoyed many things that the ship had to offer: David enjoyed a whisky tasting session and I attended several Christian fellowship meetings. I had agreed to lead a service of Holy Communion at our last meeting, so I made notes, prayed and rested. The next day I reviewed my notes and put the service together. David asked why I was bothering as I would not be well enough to lead the service and no-one else would come anyway! The twenty-five feet high waves in a gale force wind were no problem. Our anti-sickness drugs worked brilliantly. I should have been brave enough to talk about Jesus calming the storm… eighteen of us shared bread and grapes. Inside the ship we walked about as if drunk – reeling from wall to wall in the corridors but otherwise life went on as usual. However, if you looked out of the windows, it was as if God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss (Genesis 1:2 MSG). We were waiting for God to speak and act.

A visiting preacher took a service recently. In it the concept of Minecraft was explained to a generation who accept that computers exist but that they are for WORK not play. I may have this wrong but I think in Minecraft, you create your own world, just as God did. But you have to be on guard for creepers, skeletons, zombies and the Ender dragon who come out in the darkness to wreck your world. This sounds all too familiar if we think of Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un, Netanyahu's regime and the leaders of Hamas.

After chaos brooded, God intervened and into the inky blackness God spoke: "Light!” And light appeared (Genesis 1:3 MSG). In Minecraft a beacon of light reaches up to infinity, protecting whatever is close to it. In John’s gospel we read: Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” John 8:12 (NLT)

I am relatively computer literate. Coming from a time when shorthand and typing were essential skills to acquire, I find using a keyboard easy. I can create a PowerPoint presentation and for everything else there are sons and grandsons! I first heard of Minecraft when I overheard two women talking in a café. One assured the other that Minecraft was a force for good and worth investing in for her children.

I first heard God being mentioned when I was six or seven. My mum’s dad had died and she was crying. “Umpa has gone to heaven to live with God” she told me. I was puzzled that she was crying as I knew Heaven was a good place. We sang about it twice in the Easter hymn I had learned: There is a green hill far away without a sinty war. Since then I have come to see Christianity as a force for good and that having the light of Jesus beside me is a jolly good thing. He saves me in the storms of life and promises me a safe haven at the end.

Elaine Kinchin