Monday 18 March 2024

Today is Monday the 18th of March in the 5th week of Lent.

IAMSON sings, ‘Always With Me’.

I can make through the day
When you're with me on the way
In my heart and mind you'll stay
I can make it through the night
When I'm clinging to your light
You will make the darkness bright
For you are always, always with me
For you are always, always with me
In the calm and in the storm
When it seems I'm all alone
It's your hand I find to hold
In each hour of unrest
When it seems I've nothing left
You speak peace in every breath
For you are always, always with me
For you are always, always with me
In the morning, in the evening
When I'm waking, when I'm sleeping
When I'm arriving, when I'm leaving
You will have me in your keeping
Even from my mothers womb
Never hidden from your view
I was always known to you
When I fade away in death
You will catch my final breath
You will take me to my rest
For you are always, always with me
For you are alway, always with me




Today’s reading is from the Gospel of John.

John 8: 1-11

Early in the morning Jesus came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?’ They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, ‘Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.’ And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, sir.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.’

‘Making her stand before all of them.’ Observe the scene… Be present to it…Hear the tone of the accusing voices. Where might the man involved have disappeared to?

Jesus bends down and writes with his finger on the ground. What is he writing, do you think? How do you imagine him doing so?

Watch as the Pharisees keep questioning him… It’s not the response they expect.

It’s their condemnation that Jesus seems to abhor. How does that speak to you?

As you hear the passage again, you might choose to put yourself in the place of the woman. Watch Jesus closely. Listen to his voice. Hear Jesus as he asks the woman where everyone has gone. Notice your reaction.

As a closing prayer, bring to God whatever is in your heart, whatever is on your mind. “Neither do I condemn you.” Let those words resonate in your prayer.

You have given all to me
To you Lord I return it
Everything is yours
Do with it what you will
Give me only your love and your grace
That is enough for me.
Amen.