麻豆约拍

Good morning. On this day in 1918, Moscow became the capital city of revolutionary Russia. It usurped the position held since the 18th century by St Petersburg 鈥� home of the Tzars with its grand palaces and canals. Visitors to these two cities today, will be struck by the opulence of one, compared with the functional, almost wearisome streetscape of the other. They are both wonderful cities, but with different stories, told before and after a revolution. The Russia of St Petersburg, while glittering and spectacular, collapsed under its own weight, while Moscow with its brutalist apartment blocks celebrates the power of revolution, but longs for a flash of bling.聽The Danish philosopher and theologian S酶ren Kierkegaard is reputed to have said 鈥淟ife can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.鈥� Just as Russia cannot airbrush out its St Petersburg past in favour of its Moscow present, neither can we as we reflect upon our own life experiences. The Bible offers a helpful pathway to deal with the tensions which flow from our attempts to reconcile our past stories with the present day. Regrets, mistakes, even the paralysis of being bound by the awfulness of past memories can be released by the knowledge of God鈥檚 grace. Grace which forgives, accepts without condition and helps to write the next chapter of our continuing story.Prayer: May it be that today we are offered the opportunity to be released from a memory, a regret or a mistake which has up to now defined us, or even held us to ransom. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you. Amen.聽