Sitting Between Ramah and Bethel

I read the Bible story of the prophet Deborah…

Musing… the challenge of stereotypes – previously national leaders had been strong warriors leading the troops into battle… Deborah was a woman…

Ruth Rice, in ‘Slow Down, Show Up & Pray’, writes about mental and emotional health… telling her own story… supporting those in her local community…

She refers to the Deborah story, pointing out: ‘Deborah sat between Bethel, that is, the house of God, and Ramah, that is, the house of weeping.’

Musing… Some sit in Bethel… their house of God… with meetings and services. Others sit in Ramah… with their own weeping and the weeping of others. Deborah and Ruth show us how to sit between them.

‘Premier Christian News’ tells of a priest who’s been arrested for giving an anti-war sermon in Russia:

Father Ioann Burdin of the Resurrection Church in Russia’s western Kostroma ‘…told parishioners about “Russian troops in Ukraine shelling the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv, Odessa, Kharkiv and killing citizens of Ukraine – brothers and sisters in Christ.”

A message on the parish’s website reads: “We, Christians, cannot stand idly by when a brother kills brother, a Christian kills a Christian,”

Musing… Father Burdin is sitting between his Bethel and his Ramah

I had coffee with Frank yesterday. Frank had an alcohol addiction. He went through the AA 12 step programme and later came to the Christian faith that he holds strongly today. Frank talked about leading his friends through the 12 step programme, taking them from their addictions to a new freedom…

Psychiatrist Carl Jung wrote: ‘Alcohol in Latin is ‘spiritus’ and you use the same word for the highest religious experience as well as for the most depraving poison’.

Musing… Frank, sitting between his Bethel and Ramah… between two ‘spirits’…

Musing… Me… sitting between my ‘Bethel’ – my church… and my Ramah – weeping friends… and the Jesus who shows us by his words and actions how to sit between his Father-God and weeping people…