Reading: Job 38:1-7
Over the last couple of weeks Matt and I have had the privilege to spend some time with his cousin Julie and her husband Rob and their family. Julie has been fighting breast cancer for about nine years, and is at the end of a long and at times very difficult journey. She is unable to walk unaided, has difficulty speaking and tires easily. Yet we met her at Delish last Saturday, a coffee place in Floreat, where she sat in her wheelchair, had a cup of tea and engaged with us as best she could. That night Rob and Julie were going to a play with old and dear friends and while that was going to be tricky with a wheelchair they were both determined to get there. And they did!

Julie has revealed an amazing side to her personality, through terrible circumstances. She has been able to continue to live a full and active life, even though she has been progressively getting weaker and sicker. We have been humbled by the way that yet so near death she is able to live, really live. For Julie, doing the normal things in life with those she has a deep and long lasting relationship with, has been very important. So when we see her we do not come to say goodbye, we come to spend time with her as we would on any other day, doing what comes naturally.

Life brings to us so many good and bad things. Yet throughout all of life`s journeys there is a reality that is stronger than one could ever imagine. That reality is the connection we have to each other. The small intimacies that come from knowing and caring for someone, sharing with someone the pain and the joy of life, sharing what happens each and every day. This is how relationships are formed, nurtured and are prolonged and how we can support one another along the way. This is how Rob and their friends and family support Julie. In the recent film `Up`, about an old man who finds new purpose in life after an adventure with a floating house and a small boy scout, we find the same thing. We find that what is remembered most in life are the so called boring bits, the bits when we are just with one another, working, worshipping, talking, walking and eating together at the dinner table. By making these bonds as we go, we strengthen each other for the road ahead, which sometimes can be scary or heartbreaking.

In the reading today from Job God is the creator of the universe, the power bringing life and love to all things. Yet God cannot do it alone, for as Job found out bad things can and do happen to good people. The God who spoke to Job is the same God within and between us, calling us to be his hands and heart in this world, calling us forth into relationship with each other.

Yet these close connections do not just happen, they require a commitment to share ourselves, to give of ourselves, often over a long period of time. This is where prayer is so important. Prayer provides space for us to hear the call of God, to let go of the superficial trappings of life and instead give time and energy to those people and situations around us. It is this type of prayer that is essential to us all, for it reclaims our life for God and what God stands for. It enables us to respond to the prayers of others, not by magic, but by being beside one another on the journey. A journey that is full of ups and downs, and with boring bits, but where we can make a difference to one another if we can go the distance.