Sunday 11 January 2009

Walking on Water!!

At our Saturday prayer meeting one of our group brought along a pictue he had painted of Peter walking on(or sinking in)the water. A theme emerged for me of keeping our eyes on Jesus which inspired me to talk about Peter and the work of the Holy Spirit in his life on Sunday at Ashley. I was struck again by the way a man of such mixed temperament could be used so significantly by God - weaknesses and all.

There is encouragment here for us all. It is matter of stepping out and being used in the way that God sees fit. Peter was still struggling with his own Jewishness and what others thought of him after years of ministry (read Galations 2 - in the Message is powerful). I believe it was the tension between Peter and Paul that was a major factor, used by the Holy Spirit, to create the basis of the early church in all its wonder and freedom (possible in all its failures and sqabbles too !!).

The PowerPoint of the talk including the picture are included below.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Richard, would you mind bringing the original painting to church again? I would really like to have a closer look at the texture of those stormy clouds. It is a beautiful painting, and full of story.

Richard Backhouse said...

Thanks Sue; perhaps you dont realise just how much encouraging I need: So your interest in my work is just great. I shall of course be delighted to bring my painting -now in a frame-this Sunday. Look forward to seeing you and Bernard; hope he is now recovered.

I have another painting story to tell: But that can wait.