Minister's Musings - A different perspective

On Wednesday afternoon I was part of a group from St Stephens who enjoyed a harbour cruise on the Providence. (The advertising brochure reads, “As the name Providence suggests this vessel offers divine care of all on board...”) It was a perfect day for such a trip and of course we anchored for a while to indulge in a sumptuous afternoon tea. I had my camera and took a total of 107 photos.

It was interesting to note how difficult it is to identify parts of the city and its suburbs when looking from the harbour. Most of the familiar landmarks or features don't stand out as much or are dwarfed by something else. I borrowed a pair of binoculars and was able to catch a brief glimpse of the roof of St Stephens – it wasn't where I thought it should be and of course we only needed to travel a little further and I had lost it again! 

Sometimes we meet people or situations which force us to begin to look at things from a different perspective. We begin to look at what should be familiar to us and suddenly we are not sure of our bearings – we may even lose sight of where we live! It seems to me that such an experience can arouse very strong emotions ranging from joy to anger. I am reminded of the account in Luke chapter four of Jesus reading from Isaiah and then proceeding to talk about this familiar passage from a different perspective – Jesus escaped the enraged crowd ..... just. On other occasions we are told that the common people heard him gladly – they enjoyed the different perspective.

Have a good week.

Alex