What is the difference between love, passion, desire, lust, infatuation, affection and friendship?

Holidays, for many, enable time and opportunity to read a good book. High street stationers and airport concourses bombard us with ‘three for two’ paperback offers! Would any of your current literature prompt lively debate and discussion, as from that opening question or any of the following?

Do you think that love is primarily an emotion, or is it an act of the will? What degrees of intimacy are appropriate for particular stages in a developing relationship? How is it possible to maintain love if physical attraction wanes? In what ways ought human love to mirror the love of God? ‘Love comes from God’ (1John 4:7). What is this type of love whose origin is Divine? Does all love have its origin in God? If the Bible regards the sexual act as a God-given part of creation, should we be embarrassed by it?

Sitting up? The book that sparks these questions is Song of Songs, a love song of poetic beauty and intimacy, found in the Wisdom Literature of the Old Testament. The benefice Alpha fellowship group (all women!!) have asked to study the text at our next meeting. (Giggles guaranteed!).

I quote from T.Gledhill’s commentary; “In the Song we have an expression of God’s goodness in creating humankind in its complementary sexes. The mutual delight in physical beauty and sexual expression is all part of the creation upon which the Creator himself passed the verdict that it was very good. So the Song is a celebration of this aspect of creation. It is an invitation to contemplate our own humanity, to delight in its beauty, and to explore the possibilities involved in a relationship of love between a man and a woman. There is little moralizing in the Song (except perhaps for the idea that love cannot be bought). We have to look elsewhere in the broader biblical context for that. So, if we ask the question, ‘Where is God in the Song?’, the answer is ‘Nowhere and everywhere.’ He is nowhere explicitly mentioned, everywhere assumed.” End of quote.

Through the Scriptures, I (and all Christians) believe that God has spoken and still speaks his life-giving word into human lives in a particular and unique way. The only way to test that claim is to trust it and experience God’s word through the Bible for yourself. The Bible remains a best-seller. It is the book of life, for life. May the word of God restore you, this summer.

“The glory of God is a human being fully alive”. (St Iranaeus).

Wendy Gourlay

Saint Bartholomew Feast Day 26th August

Who was St. Bartholomew?

Bartholomew is listed in the Bible as being one of the twelve apostles He was with the other apostles after Jesus ascended into heaven, but we know little more about him. It is possible that he was the same person as Nathaniel, the man whom Philip brought to Jesus as mentioned in St. John's Gospel, whom Jesus described as "an Israelite, in whom there is no guile." Later traditions suggest that he preached in Asia Minor, northern India, and in Armenia, where he was flayed alive and then beheaded — the basis for his patronage of tanners. The emblem for St. Bartholomew is three flaying knives on a red background.

Biblical references to Bartholomew:

Matthew 10:1 – 4:

Jesus called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon (who is called Peter) and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Acts 1:13, 14:

When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

The Road not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveller, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference

Robert Frost 1874 - 1963

The Windows (extract)

Window

Lord, how can man preach thy eternal word?
He is a brittle, crazy glass,
Yet in thy temple thou dost him afford
This glorious and transcendent place,
To be a window through thy grace.

But when thou dost anneal in glass thy story,
Making thy life to shine within
The holy preachers, then the light and glory
More reverend grows and more doth win,
Which else shows wat'rish, bleak, and thin.

Doctrine and life, colours and light, in one
When they combine and mingle, bring
A strong regard and awe; but speech alone
Doth vanish like a flaring thing,
And in the ear, not conscience ring.