蜜芽传媒

Spiritual reflection to start the day with Rev Richard Frazer of the Church of Scotland.

Good morning.
One of the privileges of studying at New College in the early 1980s, the School of Divinity at Edinburgh University, were its wonderful teachers. Several of them were good at encouraging what was already in us waiting to come out instead of cramming us with information that we would usually forget after the exam time had passed.
In our last year, one of our favourite teachers was about to retire and some students sang his favourite song for him at a party we held, 鈥淎 Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square鈥�. The nightingale has the most beautiful, enchanting song, but is unlikely to take up residence in central London.

I鈥檝e often wondered if there is something about that song, which he clearly loved, that summed up his theological approach, his faith, if you like. The life of the Spirit can take us by surprise, can arrive unsummoned and unexpectedly, like a Nightingale singing in Berkeley Square.

Maybe, for all our reason and rationality, for all our intellectual rigour and assumptions, in science as much as in theology, the life of the Spirit will defy our texts and our clever summaries of what it all means, and enchant us with her surprising freshness. I believe that鈥檚 why this fine and humble teacher loved that song. He knew that there was more to the life of the Spirit than could be contained in theological study.

Spirit of Life, breathe your song into our hearts and re-enchant our lives. You are present in each moment, your song sung in every place, yet so often, we fail to listen. Surprise us today as we open our hearts to your summons, speaking to us in places, people and every day experience. Amen.