Year A Fourth Sunday of Advent 22 December 2013
Isaiah 7:10-16 Psalm 80: 1-7, 17-19 Romans 1: 1-7 Matthew 1: 18-25
Last week I had an awesome experience where my students, beginning with the very littlest began asking lots of questions about God. I don’t know that I answered them all adequately but I tried my best in the little time that we had while still remembering that we were in the midst of a singing lesson and needed to get back on the singing track.
I wish that I had more time to explain things more fully and tell the story that we are to hear at church this weekend. The first question was, “I thought Jesus was God’s son, so how come the song talks about Joseph being his father?”
This week’s readings center around the theme of prophecy fulfilled and that prophecy being that a virgin shall be with child.
Isaiah 7:14 “14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”
The purpose of the sign was so that people would believe that God was active, involved and interested in his creation. Immanuel – God with us! God wants a relationship with us.
The Bible is full of miracles and each time there is a miracle it was to prove God’s reality and sovereignty. But each time there was a miracle there were a variety of responses. Many people who witnessed or heard about the miracle believed that something supernatural had happened and on a superficial level they believed in God, but pretty soon the majority turned away. They still acknowledged that something happened but they didn't want to give credit to God.
Why would this be?
If we experience a miracle and credit it to God it means that we need to respond.
Joan Osborne sang the song “One of Us”, with the pertinent lyrics “If God had a face what would it look like? And would you want to see If seeing meant that you would have to believe in things like heaven and in Jesus and the saints and all the prophets”
To believe in the virgin being with child not only means that we believe God did a miracle, but it is to believe something about the character and person of Jesus – that he is truly the son of God. To believe that Jesus is the son of God means that all he did and said is true and deserves acceptance.
Our first reading is a prophecy which assures the people that God is with them. They had been unfaithful and their king was wicked and yet God gives them this message of hope.
From this website: http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/virginbirth.html I found some interesting information about the supposed existence of virgin births that happen in nature. This really has nothing to do with our story because a miracle (by my definition at least) is something that does not occur in nature. Let me note here that I've come across a theologian who claimed that one day we will understand that Jesus’ miracles were nothing more than his superior knowledge of how the universe works and all the miracles will be explained away as a natural phenomenon. I believe the man was a heretic breeding doubt and disbelief. In the end it all comes down to one thing; Is God God? If God truly is then all things are possible.
Other cultures also have stories about a virgin birth. These occur among the Greek and Roman gods and Asian gods also. I find this interesting and think that God really does aim to make himself known to all people – it is an opening, just like when Saint Paul was in Athens and saw the altar to an unknown god. Paul went on to proclaim and make the unknown God known.
Some would say, “Does it matter if Mary was a virgin?” The Isaiah prophecy has caused some commentators to wonder if the word that is translated virgin should be “Virgin” or “young woman”.
We have historical evidence for the existence of Jesus that goes beyond Christian literature, and so on this and on the account of the stories of Jesus we can have reason for our faith. Yet we find clarity and expansion on this specific prophecy in the Gospels where the story of the virgin conception is told in detail.
This young virgin, Mary, lived in a time when those found guilty of adultery could be stoned to death. Being pregnant out of wedlock was a sure sign of adultery – although her one possible saving grace could be that she was engaged to Joseph and so people would assume that the child was his. Joseph knew that this was not his child.
This comment from the website Evidence for God, (http://www.godandscience.org/apologetics/virginbirth.html#top) makes a lot of sense in regard to the Virgin conception:
“….Of course, the Bible describes the virgin birth as a miracle that resulted from the action of the Holy Spirit. We don't know exactly what was involved, but it would probably require at least some genetic source from the Holy Spirit.
Regardless of the method by which Jesus was conceived, it would have been very risky to document and claim that He was born of a virgin. In the Middle East there were "honour killings" for women who conceived out of wedlock, so to speak of a virgin birth was extremely dishonourable. In fact, the Bible alludes to some disparaging remarks made by the opponents of Jesus. In addition, if you look at the anti-Christian literature at the time, much of it focused on this aspect of Christianity. This makes one wonder why, if Christians were just making up a religion, they say something that would offend virtually everybody in the Middle East. It makes no sense to make up something offensive, unless it were true.”
In many ways, most of us are like Joseph. We are people of faith, but people who doubt also. We can’t help but see that some things are hard to believe and we are logically going to be skeptical about weird things like virgins being with child.
When Joseph discovered that Mary was pregnant he decided that he would divorce her quietly. I should explain that their version of being “engaged” was rather different to ours and there were certain expectations and traditions that went along with it.
Joseph was a man of faith, yet he did not recognize the hand of God and so God had to be more direct with him and sent an angel to tell him the truth about the child that Mary was to give birth to.
Matthew 1:20-23 “But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).”
We discover two things about Jesus from this passage. His name, Jesus, indicated his purpose - To save. The prophetic name, “Immanuel” which means “God with us” proclaims to us the truth of his nature – He is God. John 1 tells us that the word was God and the word became flesh and dwelt among us”. This is Jesus. What will we believe?
The prophecy has been fulfilled and miracles witnessed. But God knew that even if someone was to come back from the dead there are some who will still not believe. In fact that is what Jesus did. He rose from the dead and is still alive today. What will it take for our belief?
Sometimes I think that we as Christians, who proclaim the truth of God and the evidence of God all around, are God’s way of giving people every possible opportunity to come to him and when they don’t they will not be able to say, “but Lord you didn't show me you were real”.
Remember that we might be the only Bible that some people read.
Two final things:
There are signs and witnesses of God all around – are we willing to see?
We are the signs and witnesses of God – are we willing to be?
Monday, December 16, 2013
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Advent 2 8th December 2013 Prepare!
Year A Second Sunday of Advent 8 December 2013
Isaiah 11: 1-10 Psalm 72: 1-7, 18-19 Romans 15: 4-13 Matthew 3: 1-12
IT is the second Sunday of Advent. Our first Sunday message was to “wake up”, but this Sunday we look at what we need to do be prepared for the coming of Christ. We look at how people prepared for Jesus first coming, consider how to be prepared for his second coming, but most importantly we reflect on how to prepare or check for our own personal acceptance of Jesus in our lives .
Just before Jesus began his ministry there was this man we know as John the Baptist, who came and prepared the way for him. It is important that we look at what John did and what his message was because, in oh so many ways, this is what we need to be doing to prepare ourselves to receive Christ.
Matthew 3:1 “In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.””
This is how John prepared the way; he encouraged them that the Kingdom of heaven had come near and that the people should therefore repent.
We know that the kingdom of heaven had come near, because we know that God himself had taken on human flesh and been born as one of us. At this point in the story Jesus is believed to have been about 30 years old.
When we read the stories of the Bible we can make two possible mistakes. One mistake is to imagine that the people of the Bible times were nothing like us. The other mistake is to imagine that the people of the Bible were exactly like us. Somewhere in between is the truth. These were a people born in another place and time and into a culture that was very different from our own and yet these were flesh and blood people with hopes and dreams, ambitions and fears and desires – very much like us.
Just as the message would be pretty unpopular in our culture, I wonder how popular John’s message was when he urged the people to repent. If we look at more of the Bible stories we can see that the poorer and more humble of the people were very ready to accept that they were people who fell very short of the perfection of God and they were aware that they couldn't meet the requirements to be accepted by him. Even the Scribes and Pharisees, who were known for being self-righteous and indignant about their own goodness, came to John to be baptized and accepted his message of repentance.
In today’s society I’m pretty sure that if I proclaimed this same message of John the Baptist, I would most certainly offend and be condemned as a loony (no one believes that they fall short. I have met so many men who have told me how they are really good blokes and deserving of good things!!). But let us look at what this message really is and see if it is something we need to do today.
Firstly, has the kingdom of heaven near?
When Jesus came to earth we can understand that the kingdom of heaven had come near in a very real and tangible way, but Jesus then ascended to heaven. What has happened since then is that Jesus sent the promised Holy Spirit to his followers. The Holy Spirit is God in us. Yes the kingdom of heaven is nearer than ever, it is all around and among us. “Emmanuel” – GOD IS WITH US! (and Christmas (the celebration of God with us) is everyday!)
Now we need to look at the part of the message that urges us to repent. Do we need to repent and what really is repentance?
Often people think that repentance has to do with an intense feeling of remorse and self-loathing…. This is wrong! Repentance actually means to change your mind and go back another way. Essentially this is not about the emotions, but a very definite decision made by the intellect that we need to change our thinking.
Do we and the world around us in the year 2013 need to change our thinking?
Romans 15:4 “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.”
Does the world seem to be in need of hope? I think that the answer to this is so obvious that the question is really rhetorical. We learn from this letter to the Romans that all things written in scripture are written for our encouragement and to give us hope. If John the Baptist had a message that gave people hope some 2013 years ago then that same message is meant to provide even more encouragement and hope for today.
The people of John’s time were waiting for the “Messiah” (the anointed one who would reconcile humanity with God) and he seemed to be a long time in coming, and they’d all but given up. When John came with his message to repent we can’t possibly know the full extent of that message in the hearts of his listeners, but we can only imagine. Yes, there were some who had knowingly been doing something that went against God’s law, but more than that was an underlying belief that all this God stuff, as revealed in the Jewish law, was not real.
Now, don’t get me wrong…. This was a different culture to ours and all were very much believers in a spiritual reality, but just what that reality was and how it all worked had become rather confused with the customs, beliefs and traditions of the people around them. This chosen people were surrounded by Baal worship, the Roman gods, Greek philosophies and many forms of religion that we would deem to be sects, cults and even occultic. Just like today, many popular ideas became accepted that were not true to God’s revelation and we need only to see the differences between the Saducees and Pharisees to realize the varieties of popular thought, and or, confusion.
The call to repent was a call to acknowledge the error in thinking and believing as much, if not more so, than the actions of the individuals who repented. It is from our beliefs come our actions – and we find this confirmed by John’s words when he warns the pharisees and scribes to produce fruit in keeping with repentance…. In other words…. Show, by your actions, that you are “fair dinkum” about what you believe.
There is a question now for us. Do our actions show what we believe? Or… What do our actions tell people that we believe?
When we have pondered that, we need to then ask how can we pose this same message of John’s to our own community. What is it that we need to ask them to change their mind about?
In order to receive Christ, people in the year 2013 need to see the error of their thinking. They need to be convinced that they need Jesus in their lives. This is a generation that has everything they need in a physical sense and most things that they want so why would they want or see any need for God or Jesus in their lives?
Isaiah 11 tells us about the nature of Jesus and about the Good News that we, the church are meant to be proclaiming to the world:
Isaiah 11:1-5 “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD— and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.”
The “shoot from the stump of Jesse” refers to Jesus, as Jesse was the ancestor of Christ. We know that the Holy Spirit was with him and this same spirit he gives to us – we HAVE this Holy Spirit… and it is wisdom, understanding, counsel, might and knowledge…. It is a Spirit of insight which doesn't judge by outward appearances. It doesn't leave the homosexual outcast, but it doesn't condone evil as good either. It sees through the outer actions and perceives the heart, and it cares for the poor and is concerned with justice.
A long time ago when I made an adult Christian commitment, it came about through a church in Brisbane where I was awe struck on my first encounter with them because of the amazing mature wisdom of the youth. I’d never come across it before and sensed the hand of God beyond any doubt. I suspect that the group had no idea of the impression they made…. It was surely the Holy Spirit at work.
We need to so receive God and his Holy Spirit that we too shine with this Good News. There is hope for this world and this life and the life beyond, but it can only be found by REPENTING!! We need to repent of our beliefs that we can find wisdom and understanding, counsel and knowledge ANYWHERE else but through the Holy Spirit. It is true that there are pieces of wisdom in many places, but the gifts of wisdom, knowledge, understanding and counsel from God surpasses all.
This Sunday, I ask us all to see where we need to change our mind…. Where we need to acknowledge the supremacy of God and turn our lives around to reflect this.
Isaiah 11: 1-10 Psalm 72: 1-7, 18-19 Romans 15: 4-13 Matthew 3: 1-12
IT is the second Sunday of Advent. Our first Sunday message was to “wake up”, but this Sunday we look at what we need to do be prepared for the coming of Christ. We look at how people prepared for Jesus first coming, consider how to be prepared for his second coming, but most importantly we reflect on how to prepare or check for our own personal acceptance of Jesus in our lives .
Just before Jesus began his ministry there was this man we know as John the Baptist, who came and prepared the way for him. It is important that we look at what John did and what his message was because, in oh so many ways, this is what we need to be doing to prepare ourselves to receive Christ.
Matthew 3:1 “In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.””
This is how John prepared the way; he encouraged them that the Kingdom of heaven had come near and that the people should therefore repent.
We know that the kingdom of heaven had come near, because we know that God himself had taken on human flesh and been born as one of us. At this point in the story Jesus is believed to have been about 30 years old.
When we read the stories of the Bible we can make two possible mistakes. One mistake is to imagine that the people of the Bible times were nothing like us. The other mistake is to imagine that the people of the Bible were exactly like us. Somewhere in between is the truth. These were a people born in another place and time and into a culture that was very different from our own and yet these were flesh and blood people with hopes and dreams, ambitions and fears and desires – very much like us.
Just as the message would be pretty unpopular in our culture, I wonder how popular John’s message was when he urged the people to repent. If we look at more of the Bible stories we can see that the poorer and more humble of the people were very ready to accept that they were people who fell very short of the perfection of God and they were aware that they couldn't meet the requirements to be accepted by him. Even the Scribes and Pharisees, who were known for being self-righteous and indignant about their own goodness, came to John to be baptized and accepted his message of repentance.
In today’s society I’m pretty sure that if I proclaimed this same message of John the Baptist, I would most certainly offend and be condemned as a loony (no one believes that they fall short. I have met so many men who have told me how they are really good blokes and deserving of good things!!). But let us look at what this message really is and see if it is something we need to do today.
Firstly, has the kingdom of heaven near?
When Jesus came to earth we can understand that the kingdom of heaven had come near in a very real and tangible way, but Jesus then ascended to heaven. What has happened since then is that Jesus sent the promised Holy Spirit to his followers. The Holy Spirit is God in us. Yes the kingdom of heaven is nearer than ever, it is all around and among us. “Emmanuel” – GOD IS WITH US! (and Christmas (the celebration of God with us) is everyday!)
Now we need to look at the part of the message that urges us to repent. Do we need to repent and what really is repentance?
Often people think that repentance has to do with an intense feeling of remorse and self-loathing…. This is wrong! Repentance actually means to change your mind and go back another way. Essentially this is not about the emotions, but a very definite decision made by the intellect that we need to change our thinking.
Do we and the world around us in the year 2013 need to change our thinking?
Romans 15:4 “For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures and the encouragement they provide we might have hope.”
Does the world seem to be in need of hope? I think that the answer to this is so obvious that the question is really rhetorical. We learn from this letter to the Romans that all things written in scripture are written for our encouragement and to give us hope. If John the Baptist had a message that gave people hope some 2013 years ago then that same message is meant to provide even more encouragement and hope for today.
The people of John’s time were waiting for the “Messiah” (the anointed one who would reconcile humanity with God) and he seemed to be a long time in coming, and they’d all but given up. When John came with his message to repent we can’t possibly know the full extent of that message in the hearts of his listeners, but we can only imagine. Yes, there were some who had knowingly been doing something that went against God’s law, but more than that was an underlying belief that all this God stuff, as revealed in the Jewish law, was not real.
Now, don’t get me wrong…. This was a different culture to ours and all were very much believers in a spiritual reality, but just what that reality was and how it all worked had become rather confused with the customs, beliefs and traditions of the people around them. This chosen people were surrounded by Baal worship, the Roman gods, Greek philosophies and many forms of religion that we would deem to be sects, cults and even occultic. Just like today, many popular ideas became accepted that were not true to God’s revelation and we need only to see the differences between the Saducees and Pharisees to realize the varieties of popular thought, and or, confusion.
The call to repent was a call to acknowledge the error in thinking and believing as much, if not more so, than the actions of the individuals who repented. It is from our beliefs come our actions – and we find this confirmed by John’s words when he warns the pharisees and scribes to produce fruit in keeping with repentance…. In other words…. Show, by your actions, that you are “fair dinkum” about what you believe.
There is a question now for us. Do our actions show what we believe? Or… What do our actions tell people that we believe?
When we have pondered that, we need to then ask how can we pose this same message of John’s to our own community. What is it that we need to ask them to change their mind about?
In order to receive Christ, people in the year 2013 need to see the error of their thinking. They need to be convinced that they need Jesus in their lives. This is a generation that has everything they need in a physical sense and most things that they want so why would they want or see any need for God or Jesus in their lives?
Isaiah 11 tells us about the nature of Jesus and about the Good News that we, the church are meant to be proclaiming to the world:
Isaiah 11:1-5 “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of might, the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the LORD— and he will delight in the fear of the LORD.
He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.”
The “shoot from the stump of Jesse” refers to Jesus, as Jesse was the ancestor of Christ. We know that the Holy Spirit was with him and this same spirit he gives to us – we HAVE this Holy Spirit… and it is wisdom, understanding, counsel, might and knowledge…. It is a Spirit of insight which doesn't judge by outward appearances. It doesn't leave the homosexual outcast, but it doesn't condone evil as good either. It sees through the outer actions and perceives the heart, and it cares for the poor and is concerned with justice.
A long time ago when I made an adult Christian commitment, it came about through a church in Brisbane where I was awe struck on my first encounter with them because of the amazing mature wisdom of the youth. I’d never come across it before and sensed the hand of God beyond any doubt. I suspect that the group had no idea of the impression they made…. It was surely the Holy Spirit at work.
We need to so receive God and his Holy Spirit that we too shine with this Good News. There is hope for this world and this life and the life beyond, but it can only be found by REPENTING!! We need to repent of our beliefs that we can find wisdom and understanding, counsel and knowledge ANYWHERE else but through the Holy Spirit. It is true that there are pieces of wisdom in many places, but the gifts of wisdom, knowledge, understanding and counsel from God surpasses all.
This Sunday, I ask us all to see where we need to change our mind…. Where we need to acknowledge the supremacy of God and turn our lives around to reflect this.
Monday, November 25, 2013
Reflection ADVENT 1 December 1st 2013
Year A First Sunday of Advent 1 December 2013
Isaiah 2: 1-5 Psalm 122 Romans 13: 9-14 Matthew 24: 36-44
Extra, Extra, Read all about it! Once again it is ADVENT, and it is so exciting. We are all so crazy busy that we don’t know which way is up and the world seems to be spinning at a pace that literally makes us dizzy. When you are dizzy you cannot find or walk a straight path, and this is the physical, emotional and spiritual condition which many of us find ourselves in this crazy time.
The message of the readings at this point in our Church Calendar is, “WAKE UP”!!!!
Our dizziness has made us faint and we need to wake up from this faint and see the path clearly and walk it.
The Isaiah tells us a prophecy:
Isaiah 2:3a “Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.””
What I find so interesting about this reading is not just the actually prophecy but this desire that exists in the people to go up to the mountain of the Lord and learn his ways. I don’t know about your experience, but I don’t find that many people are keen to go to church to find out about God and his ways. BUT…. I do find that so many people are searching for truth. There are many kinds of truth that people get all tied up in and zealous about. Last week I talked about the prosperity doctrine, in the world there are many “self-improvement” ideologies People these days are also often zealous about food. More and more people are concerned about the kind of food we eat and the proof is found in our supermarkets where there are options for organic food and free range eggs etc… foods that are marked as vegetarian and then there are all kinds of dietary things going on like gluten free and lactose free and the many ideologies that go along with these.
We are living in a time where we should be healthier than we’ve ever been, smarter than we’ve ever been and many of us think that we are, but I do question this. We may have lactose free milk, but it is because our bodies can no longer handle the lactose and my body can no longer handle gluten. I can access all kinds of things on the internet, including much wisdom, but am I really any smarter? Much more conflicting information available just means I can justify almost anything I want to believe. I am bombarded with political correctness and so many of the moral values that were once held as sacred are now out there in the media as the complete opposite of that which I was brought up with.
If the reading from Isaiah is about the end times, and it is the end times when people say, “hey let’s go learn about God”…. I think that we have actually gone way past the end times…. Or else they are yet to come…. Perhaps there is yet to be a time when people will realize that with so many conflicting ideas comes major confusion and lies that placate our aching consciences. Perhaps people will actually begin to yearn for an absolute truth that is beyond our comfort zones, but the yearning will be so great that they will won’t to know the truth even if it convicts them of their own – dare I say that politically incorrect word – SIN.
The question I often pose, I will ask again; would you rather a lie that made you feel good or the truth that made you uncomfortable? A lie - or Truth???
It is time to wake up from our slumber. We’ve been squandering the wealth given us. What wealth is that??? The truth!
We’ve been given the truth. And the truth really is good news! Gospel is a word that used to have connotations of absolute truth, but Gospel actually literally means “Good News”. It is truth and the truth is GOOD NEWS! The Gospel is the message of the New Covenant that was put into being by Jesus. Our Roman’s reading exhorts us to be clothed in Christ. This is what the Good News is all about. The law of God was completed and fulfilled by Christ. When we are “clothed” in Christ (which is a part of our baptism), we take on the spiritual condition of Christ, which means we are totally accepted by God, regardless of the reality of our human condition.
Romans 13:11-12 “And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armour of light.”
Now, if we are to wake up and really live by the truth we need to actually live as though we believe the words of the Gospel and the words of this week’s Gospel tell us to keep watch.
Last night a friend told me about his experience in the defence force. While on training in the reserves he was told to keep watch and also he was told not to fire. As the night progressed he and one other person took turns at sleeping and keeping watch. He heard rustling and knew the enemy was approaching, but because he was told not to fire he didn’t know what he should do. He woke up the other person who also had no idea…. So they did nothing. In the end they were captured and because of their inaction the rest of the group and the group camped next out were all captured. It was only an exercise, but you can see the possible consequence if it had have been real.
Who was at fault? Well my friend was told it was his fault, but it seems obvious that there was a huge lack of proper education and understanding as to what actions to take which was really the fault of the trainer as much or more so, than my friend’s own inaction.
And this is my question for us; what education do you need for yourself, to be sure that you are properly equipped to be keeping watch for the coming of the Lord?
In the New Testament we find that teachers of God’s way, will be held accountable and we know that in the Old Testament that the prophets were held accountable for speaking or not speaking God’s word. If the prophet didn’t give the message then his was the fault, but if he gave the people God’s message and the people didn’t respond, then they were held accountable.
If you are a Christian but not reading God’s word and not involved in the Christian church, YOU are going to be held accountable for squandering the wealth of God’s truth. You will be caught out on the “day of the Lord” because you were asleep. This is what I think is the prime message for this first Sunday in ADVENT…. The time of preparation…. It starts with waking up.
Matthew 24:42-44 ““Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
Isaiah 2: 1-5 Psalm 122 Romans 13: 9-14 Matthew 24: 36-44
Extra, Extra, Read all about it! Once again it is ADVENT, and it is so exciting. We are all so crazy busy that we don’t know which way is up and the world seems to be spinning at a pace that literally makes us dizzy. When you are dizzy you cannot find or walk a straight path, and this is the physical, emotional and spiritual condition which many of us find ourselves in this crazy time.
The message of the readings at this point in our Church Calendar is, “WAKE UP”!!!!
Our dizziness has made us faint and we need to wake up from this faint and see the path clearly and walk it.
The Isaiah tells us a prophecy:
Isaiah 2:3a “Many peoples will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.””
What I find so interesting about this reading is not just the actually prophecy but this desire that exists in the people to go up to the mountain of the Lord and learn his ways. I don’t know about your experience, but I don’t find that many people are keen to go to church to find out about God and his ways. BUT…. I do find that so many people are searching for truth. There are many kinds of truth that people get all tied up in and zealous about. Last week I talked about the prosperity doctrine, in the world there are many “self-improvement” ideologies People these days are also often zealous about food. More and more people are concerned about the kind of food we eat and the proof is found in our supermarkets where there are options for organic food and free range eggs etc… foods that are marked as vegetarian and then there are all kinds of dietary things going on like gluten free and lactose free and the many ideologies that go along with these.
We are living in a time where we should be healthier than we’ve ever been, smarter than we’ve ever been and many of us think that we are, but I do question this. We may have lactose free milk, but it is because our bodies can no longer handle the lactose and my body can no longer handle gluten. I can access all kinds of things on the internet, including much wisdom, but am I really any smarter? Much more conflicting information available just means I can justify almost anything I want to believe. I am bombarded with political correctness and so many of the moral values that were once held as sacred are now out there in the media as the complete opposite of that which I was brought up with.
If the reading from Isaiah is about the end times, and it is the end times when people say, “hey let’s go learn about God”…. I think that we have actually gone way past the end times…. Or else they are yet to come…. Perhaps there is yet to be a time when people will realize that with so many conflicting ideas comes major confusion and lies that placate our aching consciences. Perhaps people will actually begin to yearn for an absolute truth that is beyond our comfort zones, but the yearning will be so great that they will won’t to know the truth even if it convicts them of their own – dare I say that politically incorrect word – SIN.
The question I often pose, I will ask again; would you rather a lie that made you feel good or the truth that made you uncomfortable? A lie - or Truth???
It is time to wake up from our slumber. We’ve been squandering the wealth given us. What wealth is that??? The truth!
We’ve been given the truth. And the truth really is good news! Gospel is a word that used to have connotations of absolute truth, but Gospel actually literally means “Good News”. It is truth and the truth is GOOD NEWS! The Gospel is the message of the New Covenant that was put into being by Jesus. Our Roman’s reading exhorts us to be clothed in Christ. This is what the Good News is all about. The law of God was completed and fulfilled by Christ. When we are “clothed” in Christ (which is a part of our baptism), we take on the spiritual condition of Christ, which means we are totally accepted by God, regardless of the reality of our human condition.
Romans 13:11-12 “And do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armour of light.”
Now, if we are to wake up and really live by the truth we need to actually live as though we believe the words of the Gospel and the words of this week’s Gospel tell us to keep watch.
Last night a friend told me about his experience in the defence force. While on training in the reserves he was told to keep watch and also he was told not to fire. As the night progressed he and one other person took turns at sleeping and keeping watch. He heard rustling and knew the enemy was approaching, but because he was told not to fire he didn’t know what he should do. He woke up the other person who also had no idea…. So they did nothing. In the end they were captured and because of their inaction the rest of the group and the group camped next out were all captured. It was only an exercise, but you can see the possible consequence if it had have been real.
Who was at fault? Well my friend was told it was his fault, but it seems obvious that there was a huge lack of proper education and understanding as to what actions to take which was really the fault of the trainer as much or more so, than my friend’s own inaction.
And this is my question for us; what education do you need for yourself, to be sure that you are properly equipped to be keeping watch for the coming of the Lord?
In the New Testament we find that teachers of God’s way, will be held accountable and we know that in the Old Testament that the prophets were held accountable for speaking or not speaking God’s word. If the prophet didn’t give the message then his was the fault, but if he gave the people God’s message and the people didn’t respond, then they were held accountable.
If you are a Christian but not reading God’s word and not involved in the Christian church, YOU are going to be held accountable for squandering the wealth of God’s truth. You will be caught out on the “day of the Lord” because you were asleep. This is what I think is the prime message for this first Sunday in ADVENT…. The time of preparation…. It starts with waking up.
Matthew 24:42-44 ““Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Reflection for 17th November 2013
Year C Proper 28 17 November 2013
Isaiah 65: 17-25 Isaiah 12 2 Thessalonians 3: 6-13 Luke 21: 5-19
The Gospel reading for this week flies in the face of a prosperity doctrine. A prosperity doctrine, for the uninitiated, is one where the followers claim that the Good news about Jesus Christ is this: Believe in God and follow him and all good things will happen. You will become prosperous in all that you do if only you do God’s will.
It sounds great in theory, but life is more complicated. And just between me and you, a prosperity doctrine is an offense to those of us who follow Christ and have had bad things happen, as it invites judgment as it questions why, and “why do bad things happen?” is a question that much of the Bible deals with.
A Prosperity Gospel is a popular Gospel in our “Me” society. We would like to think that we should be rewarded supernaturally in a physical way for our faith in God, and we would like to think that those who do not have faith would be frustrated in their endeavours. But this is not the way things are.
Isaiah 65: 19-20 “ I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more. “Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years;”
There are so many scripture passages that speak of the redemption of God’s people and our first reading is one of these. It speaks about the wonderful things that God will do, but if we read between the lines we will understand that God proclaims these things because the reality of life is very different.
We read Isaiah prophesise that there will be no weeping or crying. He proclaims this because in his experience and ours, there is much weeping and crying. Isaiah also says there will no longer be an infant who lives but a few days. He says this because in life there are infants who are born, wonderful gifts of life, only to have that life cut so very short. Isaiah also speaks of the old living out their days. The reality of our life is that many die who do not live to see their grandchildren or great grandchildren and that gift of life is taken away.
A prosperity doctrine is karma re-invented. Karma is the idea that we get what we deserve. So that would mean that if we are good people who follow God then we will be rewarded with physical signs of God’s favour which will communicate to all that we are favoured by God. But this is not the way our God works and it is simply not the truth about life.
I’m sure we all know of people who we think are so good and wonderful, but then some tragedy strikes.
Luke 21:12 “But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name.”
Here is the reality of the Gospel. Don’t get me wrong, the Gospel is truly good news, but we cannot deny that this is the reality of those who follow God. Why were these early followers of Jesus put out of synagogues or thrown in prison? I’m fairly sure it wasn’t because of their ability to bow to the societal conventions of their time. In a religion where keeping the law of God was the way to God’s favour, these people proclaimed the grace of God where the only sacrifice demanded was that one which had already been accomplished, made by Jesus on the cross.
“You will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name.” Have you ever been brought to account for the faith you have in God. Perhaps I should put it this way; if you could go to jail for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?
So many people do really and truly have faith in God and have really and truly accepted the Good News and the sacrifice of Jesus, but think that there ends the need to do anything else. We now need to look at the message that St. Paul writes to the Thessalonians:
2 Thessalonians 3:8-9 “….we worked night and day, labouring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate.”
When we speak of the Good News of the Gospel we proclaim that it is a message about Grace (God’s undeserved favour) and that all one needs to do to be “saved”, (ie. Become one of Gods people and “right” with God), is to accept the sacrificial gift of Jesus and believe in him, confessing him as Lord. Essentially this is an intellectual acknowledgement, but here we read the exhortation to imitate those who evangelised the Gospel by the way they lived their whole life.
It gets a little tricky trying to explain how our actions need to match our beliefs because we need to first understand fully that we are not saved by these works, but only by the GRACE of God. Yet I must pose the question; do our actions match our belief in God? If we do truly believe in God and the message of the Gospel why are we so blasé about the state of our churches? Why are we not promoting and proclaiming the Good News? Why is the church diminishing in number?
I wonder if most of us have actually been living in the false convictions of the prosperity Gospel…. Living by the law of Karma instead of the grace of God. That is; “I’m a pretty good person and I believe in God, therefore I deserve to be rewarded”.
You know that if we lived by the law of Karma we’d be in big trouble because pretty much all of us break the absolute greatest commandment. Yep, you heard me. Most people will think they keep God’s commands because they treat other people well, ie… loving others as ourselves. News Flash!! That is the 2nd greatest command. The first is to love God with all your heart, mind and soul. Therefore, it is awesome great news that God’s grace means that none of us get what we actually deserve, but by being clothed in Christ we receive the blessings that Christ deserves.
Now, we need to note that on this earth Christ was crucified. It is a fact of life that if we are his followers there will sometimes be conflict and even persecution.
Luke 21: 16 – 19 “You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. Everyone will hate you because of me. But not a hair of your head will perish. Stand firm, and you will win life.”
These horrible things may happen to us simply for being Christian.
If we are following a false Gospel we will be omitting these realities of life on planet earth and always looking for the path of least resistance and personally I really like the path of least resistance. Don’t get me wrong, if we are in a time of blessing we should rejoice and relish that time, understanding that it is a gift and let it refresh us as we prepare to stand firm in the knowledge and grace of God no matter what happens.
We need to know, beyond any shadow of doubt that God cares passionately and grieves when we are grieving and hurts when we are hurting. In our reading from Isaiah we get a sense of this and we read about the promises for a better life where there will truly be no weeping, but for now we need to stand firm and get real about what we believe.
The Christian life is tough. Will you live it, or opt out?
Isaiah 65: 17-25 Isaiah 12 2 Thessalonians 3: 6-13 Luke 21: 5-19
The Gospel reading for this week flies in the face of a prosperity doctrine. A prosperity doctrine, for the uninitiated, is one where the followers claim that the Good news about Jesus Christ is this: Believe in God and follow him and all good things will happen. You will become prosperous in all that you do if only you do God’s will.
It sounds great in theory, but life is more complicated. And just between me and you, a prosperity doctrine is an offense to those of us who follow Christ and have had bad things happen, as it invites judgment as it questions why, and “why do bad things happen?” is a question that much of the Bible deals with.
A Prosperity Gospel is a popular Gospel in our “Me” society. We would like to think that we should be rewarded supernaturally in a physical way for our faith in God, and we would like to think that those who do not have faith would be frustrated in their endeavours. But this is not the way things are.
Isaiah 65: 19-20 “ I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more. “Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his years;”
There are so many scripture passages that speak of the redemption of God’s people and our first reading is one of these. It speaks about the wonderful things that God will do, but if we read between the lines we will understand that God proclaims these things because the reality of life is very different.
We read Isaiah prophesise that there will be no weeping or crying. He proclaims this because in his experience and ours, there is much weeping and crying. Isaiah also says there will no longer be an infant who lives but a few days. He says this because in life there are infants who are born, wonderful gifts of life, only to have that life cut so very short. Isaiah also speaks of the old living out their days. The reality of our life is that many die who do not live to see their grandchildren or great grandchildren and that gift of life is taken away.
A prosperity doctrine is karma re-invented. Karma is the idea that we get what we deserve. So that would mean that if we are good people who follow God then we will be rewarded with physical signs of God’s favour which will communicate to all that we are favoured by God. But this is not the way our God works and it is simply not the truth about life.
I’m sure we all know of people who we think are so good and wonderful, but then some tragedy strikes.
Luke 21:12 “But before all this, they will seize you and persecute you. They will hand you over to synagogues and put you in prison, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name.”
Here is the reality of the Gospel. Don’t get me wrong, the Gospel is truly good news, but we cannot deny that this is the reality of those who follow God. Why were these early followers of Jesus put out of synagogues or thrown in prison? I’m fairly sure it wasn’t because of their ability to bow to the societal conventions of their time. In a religion where keeping the law of God was the way to God’s favour, these people proclaimed the grace of God where the only sacrifice demanded was that one which had already been accomplished, made by Jesus on the cross.
“You will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name.” Have you ever been brought to account for the faith you have in God. Perhaps I should put it this way; if you could go to jail for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?
So many people do really and truly have faith in God and have really and truly accepted the Good News and the sacrifice of Jesus, but think that there ends the need to do anything else. We now need to look at the message that St. Paul writes to the Thessalonians:
2 Thessalonians 3:8-9 “….we worked night and day, labouring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to offer ourselves as a model for you to imitate.”
When we speak of the Good News of the Gospel we proclaim that it is a message about Grace (God’s undeserved favour) and that all one needs to do to be “saved”, (ie. Become one of Gods people and “right” with God), is to accept the sacrificial gift of Jesus and believe in him, confessing him as Lord. Essentially this is an intellectual acknowledgement, but here we read the exhortation to imitate those who evangelised the Gospel by the way they lived their whole life.
It gets a little tricky trying to explain how our actions need to match our beliefs because we need to first understand fully that we are not saved by these works, but only by the GRACE of God. Yet I must pose the question; do our actions match our belief in God? If we do truly believe in God and the message of the Gospel why are we so blasé about the state of our churches? Why are we not promoting and proclaiming the Good News? Why is the church diminishing in number?
I wonder if most of us have actually been living in the false convictions of the prosperity Gospel…. Living by the law of Karma instead of the grace of God. That is; “I’m a pretty good person and I believe in God, therefore I deserve to be rewarded”.
You know that if we lived by the law of Karma we’d be in big trouble because pretty much all of us break the absolute greatest commandment. Yep, you heard me. Most people will think they keep God’s commands because they treat other people well, ie… loving others as ourselves. News Flash!! That is the 2nd greatest command. The first is to love God with all your heart, mind and soul. Therefore, it is awesome great news that God’s grace means that none of us get what we actually deserve, but by being clothed in Christ we receive the blessings that Christ deserves.
Now, we need to note that on this earth Christ was crucified. It is a fact of life that if we are his followers there will sometimes be conflict and even persecution.
Luke 21: 16 – 19 “You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers and sisters, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. Everyone will hate you because of me. But not a hair of your head will perish. Stand firm, and you will win life.”
These horrible things may happen to us simply for being Christian.
If we are following a false Gospel we will be omitting these realities of life on planet earth and always looking for the path of least resistance and personally I really like the path of least resistance. Don’t get me wrong, if we are in a time of blessing we should rejoice and relish that time, understanding that it is a gift and let it refresh us as we prepare to stand firm in the knowledge and grace of God no matter what happens.
We need to know, beyond any shadow of doubt that God cares passionately and grieves when we are grieving and hurts when we are hurting. In our reading from Isaiah we get a sense of this and we read about the promises for a better life where there will truly be no weeping, but for now we need to stand firm and get real about what we believe.
The Christian life is tough. Will you live it, or opt out?
Monday, September 16, 2013
Reflection for 22nd Sept 2013
Year C Proper 20 19 September 2010
Jeremiah 8:18 - 9:1 Psalm 79: 1-9 1 Timothy 2: 1-7 or 1 Timothy 3:14-4:6 Luke 16: 1-13
I have a shameful confession. Although I hate the idea of reality shows and especially Big Brother, I’ve been suckered into watching recently. Last night a man was voted out, who grabbed my attention. Matt, was a soldier and had served overseas at least twice. He was not very reactionary and wasn’t bothered by the lack of niceties that bothered some of the other house mates. His experiences obviously shaped his attitude, and this is interestingly related to the readings for this week.
Just to give you the overall picture of the readings; the first reading is a lament over the state of affairs in which Israel is in captivity, but more than that, it is a cry from someone who has long been in captivity and expecting the saving hand of God, but the time for rescue seems to have come and gone with no hope in sight.
The Psalm continues the lament and shares the reality that rescue is long overdue. The 2nd reading which is a letter from St. Paul to Timothy gives instructions about praying for the nation and about conduct that will be found in the last days when people have given up on God because he seems so long in responding.
All these readings portray hope deferred and the broken-heartedness that comes as a result, but our Gospel reading is a little different and somewhat puzzling. It is the story of a manager of a rich man’s house, who is accused of mishandling things and about to lose his job. He decided that he needed to ensure his place in the hearts of people just in case he was cast out, so he goes about reducing the bills owing to his master, thus endearing him to his master debtors, but also bringing payment to his master. He is commended and Jesus even seems to commend the shrew manager.
Luke 16:8- 13 ““The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
It is a most puzzling Gospel reading, but in light of the other readings perhaps we can start to understand what message there is for us.
I suspect this was as radical a statement in Jesus time as it seems to us today. After all, aren’t we taught that to be God’s people we must be completely honest and aren’t we also taught that we are not to chase after wealth…. ??? The last part of the reading where it says that no one can serve two masters and, you cannot serve both God and money, is the only part that we feel comfortable with. So what is going on here?
The audience of Jesus contained the Pharisees who were concerned about money and wealth. This parable had them deriding Jesus, so it is clear that they were not impressed, which also tells me that they understood the meaning of the parable without explanation, but we need a little help.
Our lives revolve around money. Our status and self-identity are often tied up in our finances. The religious of Jesus day were people of status and, it would seem, people of wealth. God ensured wealth for the priests by making provisions for them in his law, but instead of this being a means to contentment, it became something that they coveted and something that they used to lord over the people.
There have been people who’ve taken vows of poverty because they assume that is the requirement of God. There have also been people who have preached prosperity because they believe that is what God does for us. Each group have their pet verses on their leash to display to any who question their way of living. Both are right and both are wrong.
In the Big Brother house this year there were two sections. One section was called the half-way house. Everything was smaller, meals were reduced, and every luxury was halved. Matt, from Big Brother, showed and told the viewers that he was content just to have a roof over his head. It didn’t bother him. He knew he wasn’t starving and he knew that he was safe. When he was sent on overseas service as a member of the defence force he didn’t know if he would come back alive. His experience shaped his priorities and his need for luxury was put into perspective. When he had luxuries he enjoyed them, when he didn’t he was still content because really, all was well.
This is what we need to learn about the kingdom of God.
God does delight in providing for us and I believe that just like a parent, he delights in giving very, very good gifts. But it is important for us to understand that there is a plan for God’s kingdom on earth and as part of that we may live our lives in discomfort of all kinds. You need only to read the book of Job to know that this is true, and to know that God loves to give lavishly you need only to read about the life of King David and King Solomon.
The shrewd manager used wealth to achieve a purpose. Here is the point of the parable. Wealth is like the Sabbath. It has a purpose and that purpose is for Good, but if we do not understand God and his Grace we will continue to get it out of order and the created thing, instead of being a tool, becomes a God.
1 Timothy 3:4 “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.”
From the letter to Timothy we see the potential for the same mistake. We humans strive to get it right, but get it wrong if we aim to live by a black and white law of God. The Pharisees were experts at trying to get it so right that they got it wrong. Under the Old Covenant there were foods that were off limits and there were rules about who could marry who. But the New Covenant is a better covenant only if we live it by the same way that we received it – which is by faith and by the spirit of God alive in us.
Just as Matt from Big Brother had his attitude shaped from his experience, the shrewd manager had his attitude shaped from his experiences, and the threat of a life on the streets begging motivated his actions. We find that our reading from Jeremiah shows us a people who are also shaped from their experiences, that of being in captivity and long overdue for rescue.
This maybe where we are at now; way overdue for rescue….. “Where are you Lord?”. The tendency at these times is to oscillate between the extremes of being just like the world and trusting in our wealth to save us, or legalistically follow the law of God in the hope that this will ensure his blessing. Both of these are wrong.
We need to understand that we live in a materialistic world yet not be mastered by it. Our priority in our life must be that to which God has called us. That life to which God has called us is sure to involve some element of working with money, but it must always be the tool and not the object.
Another often misquoted text from the letter to Timothy is that of women not dressing with elaborate hairstyles etc… but instead being dressed with good deeds. People have often taken this to mean that woman shouldn’t dress in a particular way, yet we read in the Old Testament about the lavishness of those in the court of King David and King Solomon. Clearly lavishness is not the problem, but attitude is. Whether God has blessed us with the lavish – which living in Australia is often the case, or whether our lives are modest, we need to live with eternity in mind.
Our priorities need to be in keeping with the reality that this is not our only reality, but that there is a bigger reality of our spiritual life which will endure beyond this life. We, like the manager, will be called before God to give an account of how we have managed that which he has entrusted to us. In what ways have we been faithful stewards of that which he has given us, and what he has called us to do?
How will we fare?
Jeremiah 8:18 - 9:1 Psalm 79: 1-9 1 Timothy 2: 1-7 or 1 Timothy 3:14-4:6 Luke 16: 1-13
I have a shameful confession. Although I hate the idea of reality shows and especially Big Brother, I’ve been suckered into watching recently. Last night a man was voted out, who grabbed my attention. Matt, was a soldier and had served overseas at least twice. He was not very reactionary and wasn’t bothered by the lack of niceties that bothered some of the other house mates. His experiences obviously shaped his attitude, and this is interestingly related to the readings for this week.
Just to give you the overall picture of the readings; the first reading is a lament over the state of affairs in which Israel is in captivity, but more than that, it is a cry from someone who has long been in captivity and expecting the saving hand of God, but the time for rescue seems to have come and gone with no hope in sight.
The Psalm continues the lament and shares the reality that rescue is long overdue. The 2nd reading which is a letter from St. Paul to Timothy gives instructions about praying for the nation and about conduct that will be found in the last days when people have given up on God because he seems so long in responding.
All these readings portray hope deferred and the broken-heartedness that comes as a result, but our Gospel reading is a little different and somewhat puzzling. It is the story of a manager of a rich man’s house, who is accused of mishandling things and about to lose his job. He decided that he needed to ensure his place in the hearts of people just in case he was cast out, so he goes about reducing the bills owing to his master, thus endearing him to his master debtors, but also bringing payment to his master. He is commended and Jesus even seems to commend the shrew manager.
Luke 16:8- 13 ““The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings.
“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own?
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
It is a most puzzling Gospel reading, but in light of the other readings perhaps we can start to understand what message there is for us.
I suspect this was as radical a statement in Jesus time as it seems to us today. After all, aren’t we taught that to be God’s people we must be completely honest and aren’t we also taught that we are not to chase after wealth…. ??? The last part of the reading where it says that no one can serve two masters and, you cannot serve both God and money, is the only part that we feel comfortable with. So what is going on here?
The audience of Jesus contained the Pharisees who were concerned about money and wealth. This parable had them deriding Jesus, so it is clear that they were not impressed, which also tells me that they understood the meaning of the parable without explanation, but we need a little help.
Our lives revolve around money. Our status and self-identity are often tied up in our finances. The religious of Jesus day were people of status and, it would seem, people of wealth. God ensured wealth for the priests by making provisions for them in his law, but instead of this being a means to contentment, it became something that they coveted and something that they used to lord over the people.
There have been people who’ve taken vows of poverty because they assume that is the requirement of God. There have also been people who have preached prosperity because they believe that is what God does for us. Each group have their pet verses on their leash to display to any who question their way of living. Both are right and both are wrong.
In the Big Brother house this year there were two sections. One section was called the half-way house. Everything was smaller, meals were reduced, and every luxury was halved. Matt, from Big Brother, showed and told the viewers that he was content just to have a roof over his head. It didn’t bother him. He knew he wasn’t starving and he knew that he was safe. When he was sent on overseas service as a member of the defence force he didn’t know if he would come back alive. His experience shaped his priorities and his need for luxury was put into perspective. When he had luxuries he enjoyed them, when he didn’t he was still content because really, all was well.
This is what we need to learn about the kingdom of God.
God does delight in providing for us and I believe that just like a parent, he delights in giving very, very good gifts. But it is important for us to understand that there is a plan for God’s kingdom on earth and as part of that we may live our lives in discomfort of all kinds. You need only to read the book of Job to know that this is true, and to know that God loves to give lavishly you need only to read about the life of King David and King Solomon.
The shrewd manager used wealth to achieve a purpose. Here is the point of the parable. Wealth is like the Sabbath. It has a purpose and that purpose is for Good, but if we do not understand God and his Grace we will continue to get it out of order and the created thing, instead of being a tool, becomes a God.
1 Timothy 3:4 “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.”
From the letter to Timothy we see the potential for the same mistake. We humans strive to get it right, but get it wrong if we aim to live by a black and white law of God. The Pharisees were experts at trying to get it so right that they got it wrong. Under the Old Covenant there were foods that were off limits and there were rules about who could marry who. But the New Covenant is a better covenant only if we live it by the same way that we received it – which is by faith and by the spirit of God alive in us.
Just as Matt from Big Brother had his attitude shaped from his experience, the shrewd manager had his attitude shaped from his experiences, and the threat of a life on the streets begging motivated his actions. We find that our reading from Jeremiah shows us a people who are also shaped from their experiences, that of being in captivity and long overdue for rescue.
This maybe where we are at now; way overdue for rescue….. “Where are you Lord?”. The tendency at these times is to oscillate between the extremes of being just like the world and trusting in our wealth to save us, or legalistically follow the law of God in the hope that this will ensure his blessing. Both of these are wrong.
We need to understand that we live in a materialistic world yet not be mastered by it. Our priority in our life must be that to which God has called us. That life to which God has called us is sure to involve some element of working with money, but it must always be the tool and not the object.
Another often misquoted text from the letter to Timothy is that of women not dressing with elaborate hairstyles etc… but instead being dressed with good deeds. People have often taken this to mean that woman shouldn’t dress in a particular way, yet we read in the Old Testament about the lavishness of those in the court of King David and King Solomon. Clearly lavishness is not the problem, but attitude is. Whether God has blessed us with the lavish – which living in Australia is often the case, or whether our lives are modest, we need to live with eternity in mind.
Our priorities need to be in keeping with the reality that this is not our only reality, but that there is a bigger reality of our spiritual life which will endure beyond this life. We, like the manager, will be called before God to give an account of how we have managed that which he has entrusted to us. In what ways have we been faithful stewards of that which he has given us, and what he has called us to do?
How will we fare?
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Reflection on Readings for proper 14, 12th sunday after Pentecost 11 August 2013
Year C Proper 14 11 August 2013
Isaiah 1: 1, 10-20 Psalm 50: 1-8, 22-23 Hebrews 11: 1-3, 8-16 Luke 12: 32-40
Luke 12:34 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
When I read that sentence from this week’s Gospel reading I wonder what my treasure is and what it is that I treasure. There are many things that I treasure and I wonder if other people can tell even more clearly than I, where my treasure lies.
This previous weekend I was somewhat upset with myself. I was working on Friday night and so I had to pass on my job of helping at the kids club to someone else. Admittedly, I had prepared the story and on my way to my work gig, I set up the data projector with the story loaded and ready to go, but I felt a bit like I was putting my gig in front of my responsibility to God.
The weekend progressed and I worked again on Saturday night, which meant that I didn’t get to church. It also meant that I wasn’t able to provide the music for the Saturday night service and I was grieved because it seems that I will be missing most Saturday nights this month and I feel I’m letting the church and God down.
But wait…there is more… After two late nights I slept in. When I woke and realized that I’d already missed church I went back to sleep again…. I did have a lot of sleep to catch up and had been fighting off that flu that kept threatening me. I planned to visit another church that night, but I wasn’t feeling well and had a basketball game in the afternoon, which was pushing me physically and emotionally over the edge. I just went home and felt sorry for myself and guilty.
What was really bothering me was that I have always had a strong commitment to church and lately it seemed that maybe my treasure was simply selfish me.
I remember hearing people say, “you have to have time for yourself”… “a little “Me” time”! It’s a bit of a catch phrase and an indication of a couple of things; one, that we have pretty hectic lives, and two – really I think in this modern day our only treasure is ourselves. I hear from nurses how sad it is that many sick people don’t have families to care for them – they are all too busy with their own lives and caring for someone else that they claim to love is not possible – and I’m not talking about long term sick elderly people, I’m talking about those who’ve had an operation and need support just until they recover.
If we look to our Old Testament readings we find that God seems to be confusing, because after prescribing the various intricacies of the sacrifices he then seems to not want them.
Isaiah 1:13-17 “Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations— I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood! Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.”
What can we discern that the ancient Israelites were treasuring?
It outwardly would seem that God was their treasure.
There were outward signs, which other nations could easily see, and a visitor to the area would also say the same, “Oh how these Israelites love God! Just look at how particular they are about making sacrifices to the Lord.” When there was a new moon they made it a holy festival to the Lord and they were fastidious about the Sabbaths. They were a very religious nation.
Sometimes we need to be careful about how we judge from outward appearances, because God saw big trouble in the hearts of these very dedicated and religious people. Yes they kept the Sabbaths, but they neglected to understand the heart of God. They failed to understand that if any of God’s people were hurting then God couldn’t care less about the Sabbath. He cared about wiping the tears of the one in trouble.
The people just didn’t get it. And I fear that neither do we.
I hate that I missed church this weekend, but I know that it is really “no skin off God’s nose”. He is not a God who needs me to be at church…. I am a person who needs the nourishment that I get from church. Can you see the difference and the implications? This is why Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for mankind and not mankind for the Sabbath. It was never meant to be a religious requirement to appease a wrathful God, but a gift to enable mankind to refresh and maintain proper perspective about things like caring for one another.
Now there is another very important aspect that I must discuss. The Israelites were fastidious in keeping God’s law because they knew that in keeping his law they would be blessed…. And they sure did want His blessing. So I ask you again, where do you think their treasure was?
Very much like us when we neglect God’s ways because we need a little “me” time, the Israelites were their own treasure. They treasured themselves and if keeping the Sabbath and the festivals meant that God would bless them than that is what they would do. They kept the Sabbath because they thought that keeping the Sabbath would give them supernatural blessing. And God was exhausted with them.
It is a pretty natural and human thing to bargain with God. That is what the Israelites were doing. Basically they were saying, “If I do this for God, then he will bless me”. I remember bargaining with God once. I probably have done it in various ways at various times but certainly the most striking example is when I was expecting my first child and was bleeding. I did so much bargaining with God. All to no avail and I eventually miscarried and probably learnt a valuable lesson. God is God and he is merciful and wants to bless us, but his blessing is not dependant on our good works, but his blessings are simply dependant on his love and sovereignty.
Christianity is not like any other religion, unless we miss the point. When we miss the point we do what the ancient Israelites did and turn the Good News into religion. In every religion there is a list of dos and don’ts and Christianity can easily fall into this same way. But that isn’t the way that God wants it to be. The reason that we have the Holy Spirit is so that we can understand that we have no set of rules, but instead we have a relationship with the God who created us. With His Holy Spirit in us we have his law in our heart, and his is a law of love and care and concern.
I have a job which means that I’m going to be working often on weekends. Shift workers are the same, doctors and ambulance men and nurses, just to name a few. While it should be obvious to others that our treasure is God, it should be obvious to them because of our Christ-like heart and not because of our business in religious activity.
Luke 12: 35,36 ““Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him.”
The service that we need to be doing might be very different from what you’ve previously thought. If you have thought, “I don’t need to be in Church to be a Christian and I do lots of caring for others, so I’m fine by God”; you have missed the point. And on the flip side if you are very active in Church activities and functions but don’t reach out to others around you, who may need no more than your friendship, you’ve also missed the point. Our life in Church and our interactions with those outside of church go hand in hand.
Our New Testament reading from Hebrews gives us examples of people who were commended for their faith. These are people who were in communion with God and when God told them to leave their comfort zone they did. More than that, when these people left that comfort zone, they didn’t see the blessing. Yes, you read correctly… they DIDN’T see the blessing. They obeyed God, but for years and years they could not see the fruit of God’s blessing.
Hebrews 11:13-16 “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”
My eldest daughter has left to live in Cairns. She is working and going to University there. I sent her a little gift a couple of weeks ago and sent her another little one this week.
We are called to be the children of God and our treasure is that city that he has prepared for us, but in his mercy he does bless us along the way, but it isn’t because of our Good Works. It is because of his great love and his RELATIONSHIP with us.
I would hope that my daughter is old enough that she won’t treasure the silly little gifts I send her, but instead she will realize that the gifts are a sign of my love and my commitment to be in a relationship with her. And I assume that it is the relationship that she will treasure.
In the same way, it is our RELATIONSHIP with God that we are to treasure above all…. Not the doing of things for him so that we can feel justified, or the keeping of God’s law so that we can treasure his blessings.
I remember having friends who, when rumours were going around about me, I thought they would know better and never believe such craziness. I assumed that because of our relationship they would understand what was really going on – but they didn’t and it seemed that what I thought was a real relationship, was actually only a superficial one - what a disappointment!
Just like you do a close friend, a parent or child, with whom you really do understand and treasure, we need to realize that God’s greatest desire is for us to understand his heart and have a real relationship with him. Understanding His heart will mean that we will act with compassion in areas we may not have thought about previously, or cry out for justice in other areas, or stand up for the greater good somewhere else. And so, with this in mind, where is your treasure? Is it in your relationship with God?
Isaiah 1: 1, 10-20 Psalm 50: 1-8, 22-23 Hebrews 11: 1-3, 8-16 Luke 12: 32-40
Luke 12:34 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
When I read that sentence from this week’s Gospel reading I wonder what my treasure is and what it is that I treasure. There are many things that I treasure and I wonder if other people can tell even more clearly than I, where my treasure lies.
This previous weekend I was somewhat upset with myself. I was working on Friday night and so I had to pass on my job of helping at the kids club to someone else. Admittedly, I had prepared the story and on my way to my work gig, I set up the data projector with the story loaded and ready to go, but I felt a bit like I was putting my gig in front of my responsibility to God.
The weekend progressed and I worked again on Saturday night, which meant that I didn’t get to church. It also meant that I wasn’t able to provide the music for the Saturday night service and I was grieved because it seems that I will be missing most Saturday nights this month and I feel I’m letting the church and God down.
But wait…there is more… After two late nights I slept in. When I woke and realized that I’d already missed church I went back to sleep again…. I did have a lot of sleep to catch up and had been fighting off that flu that kept threatening me. I planned to visit another church that night, but I wasn’t feeling well and had a basketball game in the afternoon, which was pushing me physically and emotionally over the edge. I just went home and felt sorry for myself and guilty.
What was really bothering me was that I have always had a strong commitment to church and lately it seemed that maybe my treasure was simply selfish me.
I remember hearing people say, “you have to have time for yourself”… “a little “Me” time”! It’s a bit of a catch phrase and an indication of a couple of things; one, that we have pretty hectic lives, and two – really I think in this modern day our only treasure is ourselves. I hear from nurses how sad it is that many sick people don’t have families to care for them – they are all too busy with their own lives and caring for someone else that they claim to love is not possible – and I’m not talking about long term sick elderly people, I’m talking about those who’ve had an operation and need support just until they recover.
If we look to our Old Testament readings we find that God seems to be confusing, because after prescribing the various intricacies of the sacrifices he then seems to not want them.
Isaiah 1:13-17 “Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations— I cannot bear your worthless assemblies. Your New Moon feasts and your appointed festivals I hate with all my being. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood! Wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight; stop doing wrong. Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow.”
What can we discern that the ancient Israelites were treasuring?
It outwardly would seem that God was their treasure.
There were outward signs, which other nations could easily see, and a visitor to the area would also say the same, “Oh how these Israelites love God! Just look at how particular they are about making sacrifices to the Lord.” When there was a new moon they made it a holy festival to the Lord and they were fastidious about the Sabbaths. They were a very religious nation.
Sometimes we need to be careful about how we judge from outward appearances, because God saw big trouble in the hearts of these very dedicated and religious people. Yes they kept the Sabbaths, but they neglected to understand the heart of God. They failed to understand that if any of God’s people were hurting then God couldn’t care less about the Sabbath. He cared about wiping the tears of the one in trouble.
The people just didn’t get it. And I fear that neither do we.
I hate that I missed church this weekend, but I know that it is really “no skin off God’s nose”. He is not a God who needs me to be at church…. I am a person who needs the nourishment that I get from church. Can you see the difference and the implications? This is why Jesus said that the Sabbath was made for mankind and not mankind for the Sabbath. It was never meant to be a religious requirement to appease a wrathful God, but a gift to enable mankind to refresh and maintain proper perspective about things like caring for one another.
Now there is another very important aspect that I must discuss. The Israelites were fastidious in keeping God’s law because they knew that in keeping his law they would be blessed…. And they sure did want His blessing. So I ask you again, where do you think their treasure was?
Very much like us when we neglect God’s ways because we need a little “me” time, the Israelites were their own treasure. They treasured themselves and if keeping the Sabbath and the festivals meant that God would bless them than that is what they would do. They kept the Sabbath because they thought that keeping the Sabbath would give them supernatural blessing. And God was exhausted with them.
It is a pretty natural and human thing to bargain with God. That is what the Israelites were doing. Basically they were saying, “If I do this for God, then he will bless me”. I remember bargaining with God once. I probably have done it in various ways at various times but certainly the most striking example is when I was expecting my first child and was bleeding. I did so much bargaining with God. All to no avail and I eventually miscarried and probably learnt a valuable lesson. God is God and he is merciful and wants to bless us, but his blessing is not dependant on our good works, but his blessings are simply dependant on his love and sovereignty.
Christianity is not like any other religion, unless we miss the point. When we miss the point we do what the ancient Israelites did and turn the Good News into religion. In every religion there is a list of dos and don’ts and Christianity can easily fall into this same way. But that isn’t the way that God wants it to be. The reason that we have the Holy Spirit is so that we can understand that we have no set of rules, but instead we have a relationship with the God who created us. With His Holy Spirit in us we have his law in our heart, and his is a law of love and care and concern.
I have a job which means that I’m going to be working often on weekends. Shift workers are the same, doctors and ambulance men and nurses, just to name a few. While it should be obvious to others that our treasure is God, it should be obvious to them because of our Christ-like heart and not because of our business in religious activity.
Luke 12: 35,36 ““Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him.”
The service that we need to be doing might be very different from what you’ve previously thought. If you have thought, “I don’t need to be in Church to be a Christian and I do lots of caring for others, so I’m fine by God”; you have missed the point. And on the flip side if you are very active in Church activities and functions but don’t reach out to others around you, who may need no more than your friendship, you’ve also missed the point. Our life in Church and our interactions with those outside of church go hand in hand.
Our New Testament reading from Hebrews gives us examples of people who were commended for their faith. These are people who were in communion with God and when God told them to leave their comfort zone they did. More than that, when these people left that comfort zone, they didn’t see the blessing. Yes, you read correctly… they DIDN’T see the blessing. They obeyed God, but for years and years they could not see the fruit of God’s blessing.
Hebrews 11:13-16 “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”
My eldest daughter has left to live in Cairns. She is working and going to University there. I sent her a little gift a couple of weeks ago and sent her another little one this week.
We are called to be the children of God and our treasure is that city that he has prepared for us, but in his mercy he does bless us along the way, but it isn’t because of our Good Works. It is because of his great love and his RELATIONSHIP with us.
I would hope that my daughter is old enough that she won’t treasure the silly little gifts I send her, but instead she will realize that the gifts are a sign of my love and my commitment to be in a relationship with her. And I assume that it is the relationship that she will treasure.
In the same way, it is our RELATIONSHIP with God that we are to treasure above all…. Not the doing of things for him so that we can feel justified, or the keeping of God’s law so that we can treasure his blessings.
I remember having friends who, when rumours were going around about me, I thought they would know better and never believe such craziness. I assumed that because of our relationship they would understand what was really going on – but they didn’t and it seemed that what I thought was a real relationship, was actually only a superficial one - what a disappointment!
Just like you do a close friend, a parent or child, with whom you really do understand and treasure, we need to realize that God’s greatest desire is for us to understand his heart and have a real relationship with him. Understanding His heart will mean that we will act with compassion in areas we may not have thought about previously, or cry out for justice in other areas, or stand up for the greater good somewhere else. And so, with this in mind, where is your treasure? Is it in your relationship with God?
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Reflection on readings for 23rd June 2013
Year C Proper 7 23 June 2013
1 Kings 19: 1-15 Psalm 42 & 43 Galatians 3: 23-29 Luke 8: 26-39
I’d have to say that this here is one of my favourite scriptures and it is especially my favourite today. Elijah had just proclaimed the sovereignty of God in his show down between the prophets of Baal and the sacrifice to God, where the one true God answered dramatically by sending down fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice and also consuming the prophets of Baal. After this, you would think Elijah would be full of self-confidence, but instead, with great fear, he receives the message that Jezebel is out to kill him, and he runs.
1 Kings 19:3-5 “ Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.”
Ever felt like that?
In the Christian community we almost dare not admit it, because we’d be deemed as one lacking in faith. You’d be judged as a flawed and immature Christian.
Elijah would have to be the most mature and strong man of God, and yet if he were among us, would we reject him for his honest, fearful and broken heart?
In the Psalms that are listed for this Sunday we see the sentiments that may have been expressed by Elijah as the same sentiments expressed by the psalmist;
Psalm 42:2-3 “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
But the story of Elijah doesn’t finish there. After crying out to God and falling asleep, God wakes him and feeds him. He is nourished by God and yet he remains despondent and falls asleep again. Again he is awoken by God, and fed and encouraged, and warned that the journey is too great for him. There is no condemnation from God. There is only care and comfort and encouragement and nourishment. Still it doesn’t change the despondency or even depression that Elijah is experiencing.
There are so many lessons about depression and grief in this passage. I hope you can sense some of them without me having to draw them all out.
At this point in time, after being woken and feed twice by God, Elijah sets off into the desert for 40 days until he comes to the mountain of God, where he goes into a cave to sleep – again. Then God speaks;
1 Kings 19:9b-11 “And the word of the LORD came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”
God already knew what Elijah was doing there, but Elijah needed to express his grief. Elijah was in the presence of God already but was told to go outside and be in the presence of the Lord and that the Lord would also pass by.
While Elijah was in the presence of the Lord on the mountain he experienced a great and powerful wind which tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks. Can you imagine how scary that was? And what was the point of it all? To show that God was not in the wind.
Then while Elijah was in the presence of the Lord on the mountain there was an earthquake. OH MY GOODNESS! I can just imagine Elijah being precariously perched on the mountain while an earthquake is happening, having barely recovered from the powerful wind, just regaining his balance and beginning to relax and then and earthquake shakes his being. And what was the point of it all? To show that God was not in the earthquake.
After this there came a fire…….. same story… God was not in the fire.
In the lives of God’s people there sometimes seems to be storm after storm and we find ourselves battered and shaken, and even depressed. We, as Christians are in the presence of God always because we carry him in us, but sometimes we feel that God is in the storm. Other Christians might even believe and have us believing that we are lesser Christians and this is why there are storms in our lives, erroneously indicating that God is “IN the storm”. AND other Christians will often erroneously judge our faith maturity by our inability to keep smiling through these storms…. I believe that God was showing Elijah something important that we all need to know.
Elijah was a prophet of the Lord and everything he’d done was to proclaim the word of God and for his reward he had been hunted and threatened. The people had seen the mighty work of God and yet it wasn’t enough… they still turned against Elijah.
The storms in our life are like the wind that batters us while we are in the presence of God – But don’t be mistaken – God is not in the wind / storm/ earthquake/ fire.
1 Kings 19:12b “…And after the fire came a gentle whisper.”
Elijah stood in the presence of the Lord and spoke with him, explaining his pain again to God. This time God gives him a direction to go back the way he came and anoint Hazael King over Aram.
It is said that a prophet is never accepted in their home town. Jesus came to his own, even though many rejected him and Elijah was sent back also, and in our Gospel reading we find that a man who’d be cured of demon possession was sent back to his home town to proclaim God’s message. Regardless of whether we are accepted or not, we are called to proclaim Gods message to our own people, and to our own community.
Coming back to that Gospel story, it is one where Jesus was travelling just outside of his “home parish”… he did this at times and we read of his interactions with Samaritans and other Gentiles. In our Gospel reading Jesus encountered a man who wore no clothes and who lived among tombs. This man was often chained, but he broke the chains. If I was Jesus companions I’d have felt rather scared. It brings to mind the story of Beauty and the Beast.
In today’s politically correct climate it could be argued that Beauty and the Beast is a harmful story, as it teaches little girls to put up with abuse at the hands of a beast. The flip side is that it is true love that sees through the beastly exterior and sets free the imprisoned prince within. Call me a romantic, but I like to think that this flip side was the actual intent of the author and it matches perfectly with our Gospel story.
The prince – a son of the living God was imprisoned by the demons that kept him separated from all that he loved and kept those who love him separated also. Jesus saw through the beastly exterior and set him free.
In both our Old Testament reading and our Gospel reading we can see that the judgments we make on people can keep them imprisoned. We can judge other Christians depression as being a lack of mature faith and we can judge outsiders as beasts who have no prince within. Our vision is limited by our lack of love and understanding.
Before the coming of Jesus into our lives we were all sharers of the beastly reality that we could not live up to the standards of God, we were imprisoned by our own humanity. And still we remain imprisoned unless we realize the Gospel message.
Galatians 3:23 “Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed.”
Apart from Jesus we are all subjected to the consequences of our fallen humanity and destined to live separated from the one who created and loves us. If we look at our lives with natural eyes we can still only see the beast – that creature that fails to live up to the perfection of God’s perfect law. If we think that we are better than that we are really only fooling ourselves because a quick look at some of the most confronting scriptures shows us that we all fall short of the glory of God.
But God sees the royal children within the beast and set us free by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, but more than that…..
We who are IN CHRIST are clothed in Christ.
When God looks at us he sees his perfect son. That is how Paul, in Galatians 3:26 can say, “So in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith”. Many modern translations, aiming to be politically correct state that we are “Children of God”… all true, but when we understand how God looks at us and sees his son, it seems that “sons of God” means a whole lot more. My relationship with God is not conditional on my ability to keep God’s law, it is conditional upon my relationship with Christ and I’m so grateful for that.
Galatians 3:10-12a, “For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.” The law is not based on faith;…”
If we think that we can earn our way into heaven we are gravely mistaken. If we think we can work out our own salvation this way we have “fallen from Grace”. Grace is the unmerited favour that we have from God because of our relationship with Jesus, but once we start to try and earn our own salvation we become once again cursed and lost and there is no other sacrifice that can save us because we’ve not truly accepted the sacrifice of Jesus…. We haven’t understood that we are only saved by faith and not in any way saved by good works. In fact, this is an act of abominable disregard for Christ’s complete and sufficient sacrifice.
FAITH – complete faith in God is all that we need. We can be despondent and grieving and still have complete faith in God. We can still have that beastly human nature and our faith in Christ means that we are completely saved.
Galatians 3: 14 “He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.”
By FAITH we receive the promise of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit came on the feast of Pentecost. This feast was the feast of the receiving of the law. The Holy Spirit is God in us, the deposit of heaven within us and it is the true law of God. The Holy Spirit at work in us and allowed to fully live through us breaks through our beastly nature and brings God’s nature into our being. How it does this is between us and God and through our relationship with him.
This is amazing Good News! God himself is the author and perfector of our faith. But are we open and receptive to the Holy Spirit or are we striving foolishly in our own strength?
Clothed in Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit the beast is transformed. You may not sense it, but God sees it and his opinion is all that matters.
1 Kings 19: 1-15 Psalm 42 & 43 Galatians 3: 23-29 Luke 8: 26-39
I’d have to say that this here is one of my favourite scriptures and it is especially my favourite today. Elijah had just proclaimed the sovereignty of God in his show down between the prophets of Baal and the sacrifice to God, where the one true God answered dramatically by sending down fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice and also consuming the prophets of Baal. After this, you would think Elijah would be full of self-confidence, but instead, with great fear, he receives the message that Jezebel is out to kill him, and he runs.
1 Kings 19:3-5 “ Elijah was afraid and ran for his life. When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servant there, while he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush, sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the bush and fell asleep.”
Ever felt like that?
In the Christian community we almost dare not admit it, because we’d be deemed as one lacking in faith. You’d be judged as a flawed and immature Christian.
Elijah would have to be the most mature and strong man of God, and yet if he were among us, would we reject him for his honest, fearful and broken heart?
In the Psalms that are listed for this Sunday we see the sentiments that may have been expressed by Elijah as the same sentiments expressed by the psalmist;
Psalm 42:2-3 “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”
But the story of Elijah doesn’t finish there. After crying out to God and falling asleep, God wakes him and feeds him. He is nourished by God and yet he remains despondent and falls asleep again. Again he is awoken by God, and fed and encouraged, and warned that the journey is too great for him. There is no condemnation from God. There is only care and comfort and encouragement and nourishment. Still it doesn’t change the despondency or even depression that Elijah is experiencing.
There are so many lessons about depression and grief in this passage. I hope you can sense some of them without me having to draw them all out.
At this point in time, after being woken and feed twice by God, Elijah sets off into the desert for 40 days until he comes to the mountain of God, where he goes into a cave to sleep – again. Then God speaks;
1 Kings 19:9b-11 “And the word of the LORD came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
He replied, “I have been very zealous for the LORD God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”
The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.”
God already knew what Elijah was doing there, but Elijah needed to express his grief. Elijah was in the presence of God already but was told to go outside and be in the presence of the Lord and that the Lord would also pass by.
While Elijah was in the presence of the Lord on the mountain he experienced a great and powerful wind which tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks. Can you imagine how scary that was? And what was the point of it all? To show that God was not in the wind.
Then while Elijah was in the presence of the Lord on the mountain there was an earthquake. OH MY GOODNESS! I can just imagine Elijah being precariously perched on the mountain while an earthquake is happening, having barely recovered from the powerful wind, just regaining his balance and beginning to relax and then and earthquake shakes his being. And what was the point of it all? To show that God was not in the earthquake.
After this there came a fire…….. same story… God was not in the fire.
In the lives of God’s people there sometimes seems to be storm after storm and we find ourselves battered and shaken, and even depressed. We, as Christians are in the presence of God always because we carry him in us, but sometimes we feel that God is in the storm. Other Christians might even believe and have us believing that we are lesser Christians and this is why there are storms in our lives, erroneously indicating that God is “IN the storm”. AND other Christians will often erroneously judge our faith maturity by our inability to keep smiling through these storms…. I believe that God was showing Elijah something important that we all need to know.
Elijah was a prophet of the Lord and everything he’d done was to proclaim the word of God and for his reward he had been hunted and threatened. The people had seen the mighty work of God and yet it wasn’t enough… they still turned against Elijah.
The storms in our life are like the wind that batters us while we are in the presence of God – But don’t be mistaken – God is not in the wind / storm/ earthquake/ fire.
1 Kings 19:12b “…And after the fire came a gentle whisper.”
Elijah stood in the presence of the Lord and spoke with him, explaining his pain again to God. This time God gives him a direction to go back the way he came and anoint Hazael King over Aram.
It is said that a prophet is never accepted in their home town. Jesus came to his own, even though many rejected him and Elijah was sent back also, and in our Gospel reading we find that a man who’d be cured of demon possession was sent back to his home town to proclaim God’s message. Regardless of whether we are accepted or not, we are called to proclaim Gods message to our own people, and to our own community.
Coming back to that Gospel story, it is one where Jesus was travelling just outside of his “home parish”… he did this at times and we read of his interactions with Samaritans and other Gentiles. In our Gospel reading Jesus encountered a man who wore no clothes and who lived among tombs. This man was often chained, but he broke the chains. If I was Jesus companions I’d have felt rather scared. It brings to mind the story of Beauty and the Beast.
In today’s politically correct climate it could be argued that Beauty and the Beast is a harmful story, as it teaches little girls to put up with abuse at the hands of a beast. The flip side is that it is true love that sees through the beastly exterior and sets free the imprisoned prince within. Call me a romantic, but I like to think that this flip side was the actual intent of the author and it matches perfectly with our Gospel story.
The prince – a son of the living God was imprisoned by the demons that kept him separated from all that he loved and kept those who love him separated also. Jesus saw through the beastly exterior and set him free.
In both our Old Testament reading and our Gospel reading we can see that the judgments we make on people can keep them imprisoned. We can judge other Christians depression as being a lack of mature faith and we can judge outsiders as beasts who have no prince within. Our vision is limited by our lack of love and understanding.
Before the coming of Jesus into our lives we were all sharers of the beastly reality that we could not live up to the standards of God, we were imprisoned by our own humanity. And still we remain imprisoned unless we realize the Gospel message.
Galatians 3:23 “Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed.”
Apart from Jesus we are all subjected to the consequences of our fallen humanity and destined to live separated from the one who created and loves us. If we look at our lives with natural eyes we can still only see the beast – that creature that fails to live up to the perfection of God’s perfect law. If we think that we are better than that we are really only fooling ourselves because a quick look at some of the most confronting scriptures shows us that we all fall short of the glory of God.
But God sees the royal children within the beast and set us free by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, but more than that…..
We who are IN CHRIST are clothed in Christ.
When God looks at us he sees his perfect son. That is how Paul, in Galatians 3:26 can say, “So in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith”. Many modern translations, aiming to be politically correct state that we are “Children of God”… all true, but when we understand how God looks at us and sees his son, it seems that “sons of God” means a whole lot more. My relationship with God is not conditional on my ability to keep God’s law, it is conditional upon my relationship with Christ and I’m so grateful for that.
Galatians 3:10-12a, “For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.” The law is not based on faith;…”
If we think that we can earn our way into heaven we are gravely mistaken. If we think we can work out our own salvation this way we have “fallen from Grace”. Grace is the unmerited favour that we have from God because of our relationship with Jesus, but once we start to try and earn our own salvation we become once again cursed and lost and there is no other sacrifice that can save us because we’ve not truly accepted the sacrifice of Jesus…. We haven’t understood that we are only saved by faith and not in any way saved by good works. In fact, this is an act of abominable disregard for Christ’s complete and sufficient sacrifice.
FAITH – complete faith in God is all that we need. We can be despondent and grieving and still have complete faith in God. We can still have that beastly human nature and our faith in Christ means that we are completely saved.
Galatians 3: 14 “He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.”
By FAITH we receive the promise of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit came on the feast of Pentecost. This feast was the feast of the receiving of the law. The Holy Spirit is God in us, the deposit of heaven within us and it is the true law of God. The Holy Spirit at work in us and allowed to fully live through us breaks through our beastly nature and brings God’s nature into our being. How it does this is between us and God and through our relationship with him.
This is amazing Good News! God himself is the author and perfector of our faith. But are we open and receptive to the Holy Spirit or are we striving foolishly in our own strength?
Clothed in Christ and filled with the Holy Spirit the beast is transformed. You may not sense it, but God sees it and his opinion is all that matters.
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Reflection 2nd June 2013
Year C Proper 4 2 June 2013
1 Kings 18: 20-39 Psalm 96 Galatians 1:1-12 Luke 7:1-10
It was a dark time for the Israelite nation. Those who pronounced judgment about the culture in which they lived were labeled crazy fundamentalists and trouble makers. They were persecuted and put to death or else lived in hiding.
Though it was a dark time, the sky was clear. There was drought. Food was scarce and the people sought a solution.
It is a dark time in many places in the world for Christians. Those who speak out and proclaim and proclaim that Jesus is the only way are labeled crazy fundamentalists who cause offense and are trouble makers. They are persecuted. In Australia and other western countries, those who speak out are branded as some kind of crazy, but there are other places in the world where their lives are in peril.
In this dark time, there is a drought of people in our churches. The Christian Church in Australia is diminishing.
What is the solution? It seems like Mission Impossible….
I’ve been reading articles for my course of study, the diploma of Anglican orders, and through this I have learnt a new word; syncretism.
The articles were dealing with the church of the unknown future and how, as a church we must change to “speak the language” of our current culture, but it warned against syncretism.
Syncretism is the melding of two opposing religious views.
I mention this because we find this issue in our readings for this week and I believe that God wants us to sit up and take notice. Forget about the future just for the moment, and let’s look at here and now. Are we already guilty of the sin of syncretism?
To explore this we’ll look at our first reading. It is supposed that the reason for the drought was that the people were hopping between two beliefs. They hadn’t deserted belief in Yahweh, their God, but they were also taking part in rituals that were identified as Baal Worship.
Baal worship included four things; the sacrifice of infants, immorality, Worship of nature and magical incantations.
Do we see these things anywhere today?
I’ll let you think about that, but add that you know that something is out of whack when a nation has laws to protect dangerous animals like crocodiles and yet abortion is readily available!
In our New Testament reading we find that the Galatians are struggling with this concept of syncretism. These people were those “on fire” early Christians who were quite radical and active. In fact they were so keen and active that they were hungry for more and more of what there might be to know about God. They figured that Jesus was a Jew and that God was revealed through the Israelite nation and therefore they figured that they needed to also take on the keeping of the Jewish law.
This was a common problem that St. Paul encountered and that he firmly, strongly and even fiercely fought against. It was an acceptance of the message of God’s forgiveness and saving power through his grace and through our faith in Jesus Christ, but then the people added that certain works were also necessary in order to be truly saved.
Having grown up in the Roman Catholic faith and education system, I know that in the history of the church there was a time when the priests sold “indulgences”. A certain amount of money “donated” to the church would ensure a shorter time for the soul in purgatory. However, when I was little I remember being told a certain amount of church attendance gave special grace… I was told that if you had a special petition you should go to church for nine first Fridays in a row and this would ensure God’s answer to that petition. There are many other forms and other denominations, unwittingly had their own more subtle forms – ie, Salvation was not sure unless certain prayer forms was said, or they knelt at the altar, or full emersion baptism, works of service, pray in tongues. Ultimately they’ve swapped one set of rules for another. These Gospel variations make their way to emails too – “pray this prayer and you will receive that thing you need”. Sometimes they are so close to being correct – but there is a slight difference.
The slight difference is that there is an underlying belief that God’s answer to our prayer depends on what we do, and not on God’s grace.
It shows that we do not understand God’s love and it shows that we do not actually have faith in God, but our faith is instead in an action. Adding certain works to our faith is like getting into a plane and then flapping your arms to keep the plane in the air.
Our Gospel reading tells the story of a Centurion who asked the Jewish elders to speak to Jesus on his behalf and to ask him to heal his servant. The Centurion was well acquainted with the Jewish ways and knew that if Jesus was to come under his roof and touch his sick servant, Jesus would be ceremonially unclean and unable to partake in the Jewish celebrations. So, out of politeness and thoughtfulness he declares that Jesus need not come to his house. He declares that Jesus need only say the word and the servant would be healed.
This Centurion knew that Jesus had power and he knew that he, as an outsider, had no right or authority to claim any special privilege, but he simply made his request. He had faith. He allowed Jesus to be the Boss! He acknowledged Jesus authority.
Jesus declared that the man had great faith and we often hear this from the Gospels and things like, “Your faith has made you well”, and we mistakenly think that if we had as MUCH faith, we’d see great things happen too…. But this is an error. The faith that heals is simply the fact that the person has “faith in Jesus” – that is the great faith, and the faith that heals…. Not some hypothetical volume of faith.
I’ll demonstrate with two chairs; one rickety and frail, and the other solid. I can walk around the rickety one seven times and praise it and offer thanks to it, but if I sit in it no matter how great my faith, the chair will fail me. On the other hand, I may not be sure about the solid chair and sit on it very cautiously…. It will still hold me… the object of my little faith is “faithful”.
And that is how it is with God. Will we have faith in him or will we have faith that the rituals or actions that we perform will somehow cause him to act on our behalf?
We can safeguard ourselves against syncretism by knowing and rejoicing continuously in the pure Gospel message that we are saved by the Grace of God and our faith in Jesus. FULL STOP.
We need to allow the fire of the Holy Spirit to come with power into our lives to sort out those superstitions and doubts that we have. It is the Holy Spirit who teaches us and leads us into all truths. In reality we are all a little guilty of syncretism – we unknowingly hold on to beliefs that are not 100% correct and we need to be in constant Christian conversation with others – through Bible study, church etc… and allow the Holy Spirit that is alive in each of us teach each other.
If we look back to the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal we will note that prophets of Baal perform many rituals and strive to invoke Baal to act, but when Elijah prays to God it is a simple prayer. It was not his volume of faith that enabled the great miracle – it was simply that his faith was in a great God.
So here is the solution to our Mission Impossible –
If the drought is to break in the decline of our numbers of Christians in Australia, we need to pray for that great fire of the Holy Spirit to turn our hearts back to him and burn up the areas where we are unwittingly worshiping false gods and accepting fallacies. We need to proclaim the pure Gospel without any additives and have faith that God will send the rain.
1 Kings 18: 20-39 Psalm 96 Galatians 1:1-12 Luke 7:1-10
It was a dark time for the Israelite nation. Those who pronounced judgment about the culture in which they lived were labeled crazy fundamentalists and trouble makers. They were persecuted and put to death or else lived in hiding.
Though it was a dark time, the sky was clear. There was drought. Food was scarce and the people sought a solution.
It is a dark time in many places in the world for Christians. Those who speak out and proclaim and proclaim that Jesus is the only way are labeled crazy fundamentalists who cause offense and are trouble makers. They are persecuted. In Australia and other western countries, those who speak out are branded as some kind of crazy, but there are other places in the world where their lives are in peril.
In this dark time, there is a drought of people in our churches. The Christian Church in Australia is diminishing.
What is the solution? It seems like Mission Impossible….
I’ve been reading articles for my course of study, the diploma of Anglican orders, and through this I have learnt a new word; syncretism.
The articles were dealing with the church of the unknown future and how, as a church we must change to “speak the language” of our current culture, but it warned against syncretism.
Syncretism is the melding of two opposing religious views.
I mention this because we find this issue in our readings for this week and I believe that God wants us to sit up and take notice. Forget about the future just for the moment, and let’s look at here and now. Are we already guilty of the sin of syncretism?
To explore this we’ll look at our first reading. It is supposed that the reason for the drought was that the people were hopping between two beliefs. They hadn’t deserted belief in Yahweh, their God, but they were also taking part in rituals that were identified as Baal Worship.
Baal worship included four things; the sacrifice of infants, immorality, Worship of nature and magical incantations.
Do we see these things anywhere today?
I’ll let you think about that, but add that you know that something is out of whack when a nation has laws to protect dangerous animals like crocodiles and yet abortion is readily available!
In our New Testament reading we find that the Galatians are struggling with this concept of syncretism. These people were those “on fire” early Christians who were quite radical and active. In fact they were so keen and active that they were hungry for more and more of what there might be to know about God. They figured that Jesus was a Jew and that God was revealed through the Israelite nation and therefore they figured that they needed to also take on the keeping of the Jewish law.
This was a common problem that St. Paul encountered and that he firmly, strongly and even fiercely fought against. It was an acceptance of the message of God’s forgiveness and saving power through his grace and through our faith in Jesus Christ, but then the people added that certain works were also necessary in order to be truly saved.
Having grown up in the Roman Catholic faith and education system, I know that in the history of the church there was a time when the priests sold “indulgences”. A certain amount of money “donated” to the church would ensure a shorter time for the soul in purgatory. However, when I was little I remember being told a certain amount of church attendance gave special grace… I was told that if you had a special petition you should go to church for nine first Fridays in a row and this would ensure God’s answer to that petition. There are many other forms and other denominations, unwittingly had their own more subtle forms – ie, Salvation was not sure unless certain prayer forms was said, or they knelt at the altar, or full emersion baptism, works of service, pray in tongues. Ultimately they’ve swapped one set of rules for another. These Gospel variations make their way to emails too – “pray this prayer and you will receive that thing you need”. Sometimes they are so close to being correct – but there is a slight difference.
The slight difference is that there is an underlying belief that God’s answer to our prayer depends on what we do, and not on God’s grace.
It shows that we do not understand God’s love and it shows that we do not actually have faith in God, but our faith is instead in an action. Adding certain works to our faith is like getting into a plane and then flapping your arms to keep the plane in the air.
Our Gospel reading tells the story of a Centurion who asked the Jewish elders to speak to Jesus on his behalf and to ask him to heal his servant. The Centurion was well acquainted with the Jewish ways and knew that if Jesus was to come under his roof and touch his sick servant, Jesus would be ceremonially unclean and unable to partake in the Jewish celebrations. So, out of politeness and thoughtfulness he declares that Jesus need not come to his house. He declares that Jesus need only say the word and the servant would be healed.
This Centurion knew that Jesus had power and he knew that he, as an outsider, had no right or authority to claim any special privilege, but he simply made his request. He had faith. He allowed Jesus to be the Boss! He acknowledged Jesus authority.
Jesus declared that the man had great faith and we often hear this from the Gospels and things like, “Your faith has made you well”, and we mistakenly think that if we had as MUCH faith, we’d see great things happen too…. But this is an error. The faith that heals is simply the fact that the person has “faith in Jesus” – that is the great faith, and the faith that heals…. Not some hypothetical volume of faith.
I’ll demonstrate with two chairs; one rickety and frail, and the other solid. I can walk around the rickety one seven times and praise it and offer thanks to it, but if I sit in it no matter how great my faith, the chair will fail me. On the other hand, I may not be sure about the solid chair and sit on it very cautiously…. It will still hold me… the object of my little faith is “faithful”.
And that is how it is with God. Will we have faith in him or will we have faith that the rituals or actions that we perform will somehow cause him to act on our behalf?
We can safeguard ourselves against syncretism by knowing and rejoicing continuously in the pure Gospel message that we are saved by the Grace of God and our faith in Jesus. FULL STOP.
We need to allow the fire of the Holy Spirit to come with power into our lives to sort out those superstitions and doubts that we have. It is the Holy Spirit who teaches us and leads us into all truths. In reality we are all a little guilty of syncretism – we unknowingly hold on to beliefs that are not 100% correct and we need to be in constant Christian conversation with others – through Bible study, church etc… and allow the Holy Spirit that is alive in each of us teach each other.
If we look back to the story of Elijah and the prophets of Baal we will note that prophets of Baal perform many rituals and strive to invoke Baal to act, but when Elijah prays to God it is a simple prayer. It was not his volume of faith that enabled the great miracle – it was simply that his faith was in a great God.
So here is the solution to our Mission Impossible –
If the drought is to break in the decline of our numbers of Christians in Australia, we need to pray for that great fire of the Holy Spirit to turn our hearts back to him and burn up the areas where we are unwittingly worshiping false gods and accepting fallacies. We need to proclaim the pure Gospel without any additives and have faith that God will send the rain.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Reflection for 12 May 2013
Year C Seventh Sunday of Pascha (Easter) 12 May 2013
Acts 16: 16-34 Psalm 97 Revelation 22: 12-221 John 17: 20-26
How would you feel if you knew that Jesus looked through the tunnel of time, saw you, and specifically prayed for you?
Every now and then, scripture gives us a glimpse of God’s future vision. We glimpse his concern and provision for the people of the future who would align themselves with him.
In this week’s reading we witness Jesus’ prayer for all believers, and he is specific about those who “will believe”, not just those who already do believe. It seems that Jesus was looking through that tunnel of time and he saw you, and he saw me, and he prayed.
Next question that comes to mind is; what do you think Jesus would pray about when he has you in mind? And following on from that question; would it change anything about your actions and priorities if you knew what he prayed?
We find the prayer that Jesus prayed in the Gospel of John:
John 17:20-21 ““My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.””
There are three aspects to this prayer;
1. That all believers may be one,
2. That we may be “in” the Father and the Son,
3. That our unity should be a witness causing others to believe that Jesus is the Saviour.
Looking at the first aspect it is strikingly obvious that mostly, we are not one. And if we travel down to the end result we might also note that people are not flocking to the Church, but the very opposite is true…. We find people are rejecting and repulsed by the notion of church and the reason that most will give for this, is that the Church is full of hypocrites. What they mean by this, is that the people in the church pretend to love one another, but they don’t. Those in the church are actually talking about each other behind their backs and putting each other down, and those outside the church notice.
There are times when the community comes together as one. Those are usually times of great hardship and tragedy, although I think that we, as a community, are even failing in this compared to what once may have been, and the reason would be that there are less and less Christians in the community and our values have become so self-centred that we barely care about others at all.
What we witness is that the climate of society as a whole is a reflection of its members. When there are many Christians that make up society we see a rise in care and concern for the poor, justice and mercy in our courts and general good will towards all.
It has been long acknowledged that we need to grow our churches, as the numbers are growing few. But how can we do this?
We have an interesting reading from Acts this week and we read that St. Paul was in a town where a slave girl, who was possessed by a demon that enabled her to earn her owners money by telling fortunes, was proclaiming that Paul and his companions were servants of the most high God and that they would tell you how to be saved.
The girl was proclaiming the truth.
It struck me as being a bit like those people who feel they have to tell you everything about Christ, assuming that you know nothing and that you need saving. While it is great to have zeal such that you may want to share everything you know about God, we need to be careful that we are not doing the devil’s work by doing just as this girl was doing.
But what was wrong with what she said – everything she said was true?
Yes, but we are told not to worry about what to say because the Holy Spirit will give us the right words at the right time. This girl was speaking truth, but it was not by the Holy Spirit, and I am guessing that the words were inappropriate for the time…. Otherwise St. Paul would have had no need to silence her by casting the demon out in Jesus name.
The Holy Spirit is God, and God is respectful of our free will. It is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance and not the authoritative words that may be well meant but seem to judge and condemn. In fact it is our witness as a true friend that will allow a person to listen to any of our words about God, and it is those actions of a true friend that will speak louder than any word. So what is really needed more than any memorized scripture is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit such that others can see Christ in us, and such that we can sense His promptings.
The second element in Jesus prayer was that we should be “in” the Father and the Son. This is to be indwelt with the Holy Spirit to the extent that we are surrounded by the Spirit and filled with the Spirit. The Spirit testifies about the Son. When we are one with each other and “in” the Father and the Son, the world will believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
It isn’t clever words that bring people to Christ. It isn’t “you beaut” programs, youth groups or children’s services that bring people to Christ. It isn’t superior knowledge or intellect that brings people to Christ.
We can drive ourselves to exhaustion trying to bring people to Christ by striving to be knowledgeable, clever, technologically savvy, having Bible studies, the best music and programs but they will all fail unless we are “in” God and one with each other.
The Gospel of John also tells us in John 17:26 “I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
Jesus has made the Father known, and will continue to make him known - So we see that even though we know God, we have much more to knowing to do. This reminds me of a clever saying that one of my students told me this week, “I know the one who is you and you know the one who is me, but I don’t know every one of you and you don’t know every one of me.” I don’t know where it came from – she read it in a book, but it illustrates perfectly the relationship we have with God… at least from our perspective – we do know that God knows ALL of us, but we need to continue in knowing him.
Our knowledge of God will never be complete while in this skin, but the Holy Spirit is God. If we are “in” God, we do not need to be concerned about our lack of knowledge but we can trust that the Holy Spirit will continue to teach us.
Our second reading contains exhortation and warning.
Revelation 22:12-13 ““Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
We can be confused into thinking that we need to do some religious activity, but scripture makes it very clear that these are not what God requires. What he does require, that demands our action, is that we love one another. Religious activity is an easy thing, but loving one another requires a whole greater level of sacrifice.
Christ in us is the only hope of glory. We cannot even do this one thing - to love one another, but if Christ dwells in us through his Holy Spirit, and we can give him the authority to live through us – such that we are “in” him and he “in” us, then he can love through us and in so doing we have hope of being one in Christ. We will then find our churches overflowing with those who’ve come to believe in Jesus because they’ve seen him living through us.
Acts 16: 16-34 Psalm 97 Revelation 22: 12-221 John 17: 20-26
How would you feel if you knew that Jesus looked through the tunnel of time, saw you, and specifically prayed for you?
Every now and then, scripture gives us a glimpse of God’s future vision. We glimpse his concern and provision for the people of the future who would align themselves with him.
In this week’s reading we witness Jesus’ prayer for all believers, and he is specific about those who “will believe”, not just those who already do believe. It seems that Jesus was looking through that tunnel of time and he saw you, and he saw me, and he prayed.
Next question that comes to mind is; what do you think Jesus would pray about when he has you in mind? And following on from that question; would it change anything about your actions and priorities if you knew what he prayed?
We find the prayer that Jesus prayed in the Gospel of John:
John 17:20-21 ““My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.””
There are three aspects to this prayer;
1. That all believers may be one,
2. That we may be “in” the Father and the Son,
3. That our unity should be a witness causing others to believe that Jesus is the Saviour.
Looking at the first aspect it is strikingly obvious that mostly, we are not one. And if we travel down to the end result we might also note that people are not flocking to the Church, but the very opposite is true…. We find people are rejecting and repulsed by the notion of church and the reason that most will give for this, is that the Church is full of hypocrites. What they mean by this, is that the people in the church pretend to love one another, but they don’t. Those in the church are actually talking about each other behind their backs and putting each other down, and those outside the church notice.
There are times when the community comes together as one. Those are usually times of great hardship and tragedy, although I think that we, as a community, are even failing in this compared to what once may have been, and the reason would be that there are less and less Christians in the community and our values have become so self-centred that we barely care about others at all.
What we witness is that the climate of society as a whole is a reflection of its members. When there are many Christians that make up society we see a rise in care and concern for the poor, justice and mercy in our courts and general good will towards all.
It has been long acknowledged that we need to grow our churches, as the numbers are growing few. But how can we do this?
We have an interesting reading from Acts this week and we read that St. Paul was in a town where a slave girl, who was possessed by a demon that enabled her to earn her owners money by telling fortunes, was proclaiming that Paul and his companions were servants of the most high God and that they would tell you how to be saved.
The girl was proclaiming the truth.
It struck me as being a bit like those people who feel they have to tell you everything about Christ, assuming that you know nothing and that you need saving. While it is great to have zeal such that you may want to share everything you know about God, we need to be careful that we are not doing the devil’s work by doing just as this girl was doing.
But what was wrong with what she said – everything she said was true?
Yes, but we are told not to worry about what to say because the Holy Spirit will give us the right words at the right time. This girl was speaking truth, but it was not by the Holy Spirit, and I am guessing that the words were inappropriate for the time…. Otherwise St. Paul would have had no need to silence her by casting the demon out in Jesus name.
The Holy Spirit is God, and God is respectful of our free will. It is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance and not the authoritative words that may be well meant but seem to judge and condemn. In fact it is our witness as a true friend that will allow a person to listen to any of our words about God, and it is those actions of a true friend that will speak louder than any word. So what is really needed more than any memorized scripture is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit such that others can see Christ in us, and such that we can sense His promptings.
The second element in Jesus prayer was that we should be “in” the Father and the Son. This is to be indwelt with the Holy Spirit to the extent that we are surrounded by the Spirit and filled with the Spirit. The Spirit testifies about the Son. When we are one with each other and “in” the Father and the Son, the world will believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
It isn’t clever words that bring people to Christ. It isn’t “you beaut” programs, youth groups or children’s services that bring people to Christ. It isn’t superior knowledge or intellect that brings people to Christ.
We can drive ourselves to exhaustion trying to bring people to Christ by striving to be knowledgeable, clever, technologically savvy, having Bible studies, the best music and programs but they will all fail unless we are “in” God and one with each other.
The Gospel of John also tells us in John 17:26 “I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
Jesus has made the Father known, and will continue to make him known - So we see that even though we know God, we have much more to knowing to do. This reminds me of a clever saying that one of my students told me this week, “I know the one who is you and you know the one who is me, but I don’t know every one of you and you don’t know every one of me.” I don’t know where it came from – she read it in a book, but it illustrates perfectly the relationship we have with God… at least from our perspective – we do know that God knows ALL of us, but we need to continue in knowing him.
Our knowledge of God will never be complete while in this skin, but the Holy Spirit is God. If we are “in” God, we do not need to be concerned about our lack of knowledge but we can trust that the Holy Spirit will continue to teach us.
Our second reading contains exhortation and warning.
Revelation 22:12-13 ““Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
We can be confused into thinking that we need to do some religious activity, but scripture makes it very clear that these are not what God requires. What he does require, that demands our action, is that we love one another. Religious activity is an easy thing, but loving one another requires a whole greater level of sacrifice.
Christ in us is the only hope of glory. We cannot even do this one thing - to love one another, but if Christ dwells in us through his Holy Spirit, and we can give him the authority to live through us – such that we are “in” him and he “in” us, then he can love through us and in so doing we have hope of being one in Christ. We will then find our churches overflowing with those who’ve come to believe in Jesus because they’ve seen him living through us.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
A story for Mother's Day when things are not as we might hope!
A LONG WAY FROM ORDINARY by Niki Vella Power
There was stomping and banging coming from the room upstairs.
“Uh-oh,” said Uncle Ben to his 10 year old nephew, Michael, “It sounds like cyclone Lilly has struck again.”
Michael and Lilly were twins…. You may have heard about them. They go to school, just like ordinary 10 year olds, and they catch a bus, just like ordinary 10 year olds, and sometimes they, but mostly Lilly, throw major temper tantrums, like some ordinary 10 year olds.
It is never a very good idea to throw a tantrum because someone always ends up in trouble and sometimes things get broken! Lilly knew this, but for some reason every now and then she just couldn’t seem to help herself and Michael and Uncle Ben would stay out of her way until she calmed down a little.
It was times like these that Uncle Ben called her “Cyclone Lilly”. She caused a lot of mess, just like a real cyclone, and everyone was just a little scared of her.
“What has upset her this time?” Uncle Ben asked Michael.
“I think it has something to do with the new girl at school,” said Michael, “She is a fostered girl and she gets in trouble all the time and for some reason it is making Lilly angry, but I don’t know why.”
The fostered girl’s name was Sarah and she didn’t live with her Mum or Dad, and instead she stayed with other people. She had lived for a long time with a lady by the name of Debbie who had other children, but when Debbie got sick she wasn’t able to look after Sarah anymore and so Sarah then went to live with a lovely couple, the Smiths…. But then when Mrs. Smith had her baby, she decided she couldn’t look after Sarah anymore and so Sarah was then sent to live with the Johnsons, Amy and John, who sent her to the same school as the twins. And that was all that Michael had been able to find out about Sarah.
Things became quiet again upstairs. It seemed that Cyclone Lilly had run out of wind, and after stomping and throwing and punching pillows she was just too worn out to do anything. She was lying on her messed up bed among all the clothes she’d thrown around.
Usually at this stage Lilly would start to clean up the mess she’d made, but this time she was too upset. When Uncle Ben knocked on her door he found her sobbing into her pillow.
“Lilly, I’ve got some hot chocolate for you if you feel like it?” He said, and then when she didn’t respond, he figured she needed some more time alone and so he left her and went downstairs.
Truly, there is something magical about a warm and sweet drink when you are not feeling very happy. By the time that Lilly came down for her hot chocolate it needed to be warmed up, but that was easy enough to do….. a whole lot easier than trying to find out what was making Lilly so sad.
Michael did his usual joke telling to try and lighten the atmosphere, but Uncle Ben knew that something had very seriously upset Lilly and the only way to deal with big hurts is to share them with someone older and wiser….. Uncle Ben was both older and wiser.
“So, Lilly, what has been happening at school?” asked Uncle Ben.
Lilly shrugged her shoulders and continued to sip sadly on her hot chocolate.
“Michael tells me that there is a new girl at school.” Said Uncle Ben, and he could tell by the look on Lilly’s face that this was something to do with the problem. “Is she a nice girl, Lilly? Do you get on okay with her?”
Lilly finally replied, “She’s okay, but the other kids at school are mean to her.”
“Oh?” that surprised Uncle Ben because Michael hadn’t said anything about the kids being mean at school. “Is that true, Michael?” Uncle Ben asked, so that he could confirm the matter.
“Yeah, I guess so,” said Michael, “they tell her that if they were her Mum, they’d leave her with someone else too.”
Lilly’s eyes were filled with tears again and she added, “And they say ‘your mum doesn’t want you’, and things like that.”
“Oh”, said Uncle Ben, suddenly realizing a whole lot more about why Lilly was sad.
You see, Lilly and Michael were living with their Uncle Ben while their parents were away on a secret mission. So, the new girl, Sarah, and Lilly and Michael had something in common, they were all living with someone other than their parents. Every child misses their parents when they are away from them for any length of time, and sometimes they might worry whether or not their parents really do love them. Uncle Ben figured that this was why Lilly was upset. She missed her parents and because the kids at school were saying mean things about poor Sarah’s parents, Lilly was feeling insecure and rather unsure about whether her parents really loved her.
“Lilly and Michael…..”, announced Uncle Ben, “we are going on a trip in the time machine.” He said it like it was a definite command. No questions, ifs or buts.
Uncle Ben had invented the time machine and given it to Lilly for her birthday. It was a very simple and safe version so that nothing could go wrong. You could go back in time to see events that had already happened, but you couldn’t interfere with anything, just simply watch it happen.
Lilly didn’t feel like taking a trip in the time machine as she was just feeling too sad and cranky, but Michael ran up to Lilly’s room and brought the machine down to the kitchen. Uncle Ben set the dial and they all held on to the machine and each other.
Everything went all swirly and made them feel just a bit dizzy, but when the spinning stopped they found themselves at a place called Shiloh where there was a priest called Eli sitting on a chair near the church. He was looking inside at a lady.
Lilly and Michael and Uncle Ben went in very quietly so they could hear what the lady was saying and as they got closer they realized that she was crying.
She cried out to God, “Lord, you rule over all. Please see how I’m suffering! Show concern for me! Don’t forget about me! Please give me a son! If you do, I’ll give him back to you. Then he will serve you all the days of his life.”
She kept praying that kind of thing over and over and crying. Then the Priest came in and said to her, “How long will you keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine.”
The Lady replied to him, “That’s not true, sir, I’m a woman who is deeply troubled. I haven’t been drinking wine or beer. I was telling the Lord all of my troubles. Don’t think of me as an evil woman. I’ve been praying here because I’m very sad. My pain is so great.”
Then Eli answered, “Go in peace. May God give you what you have asked him for.”
Then the lady left and so did Michael, Lilly and Uncle Ben.
As they all sat down outside on the grass Lilly asked, “Who was that lady, Uncle Ben?”
“Her name is Hannah,” he replied, “and there is more to her story that we need to look at, but we need to go just a little forward in time to do so”.
Uncle Ben took a packet of chewing gum out of his pocket. “Here, you’d better have one of these because all this time travel might make you feel a bit dizzy. This is a special type of chewing gum I’ve invented to prevent the spinning from making you feel sick.”
They each took a piece of chewing gum and Uncle Ben turned the dial on the time machine once again. They all held on as things started to spin again and chewed on their gum. Just as the swirling cleared Lilly let out a big burp. Michael laughed and as he did a huge burp slipped out of his mouth, which brought on more laughter and then the loudest burp of all came from Uncle Ben.
“Ha, ha, ha, Yep”, laughed Uncle Ben, “the chewing gum works well, but the side effect is a big burp.”
They calmed down and looked around them. They were in the same place as they were before, but some of the trees were a little bigger and outside the church was a boy, about 12 years old, dressed exactly the same as the priest.
“Hey look,” exclaimed Lilly pointing, “there is Hannah!”
Sure enough, there was Hannah and she was walking toward the priest Eli, while the boy raced over and hugged her. Eli met them at the entrance of the church and they saw her give the priest a robe, indicating that it was for the boy.
“What is she doing, Uncle Ben?” asked Michael.
“The boy’s name is Samuel, and he is Hannah’s son,” said Uncle Ben. Just listen to their conversation and see if you can work it out what is happening.”
Hannah’s husband then joined them and the priest put his hand on the husband’s head as if he was praying. Michael and Lilly leaned forward so that they could hear clearly.
Eli closed his eyes and said, “May the Lord give you and your wife, Hannah, children that can take the place of the boy she prayed for and gave to God.”
After this Hannah hugged the boy, Samuel, and then Hannah and her husband set off down the road.
Lilly could see that the boy wanted to cry, but he didn’t. Eli handed the robe to Samuel and Samuel took it into the house that was next to the church.
The children looked at Uncle Ben with wide eyes. Michael asked, “Does Samuel live with Eli, Uncle Ben? Why didn’t they take him home with them?”
Uncle Ben explained, “Samuel sees his mother just once every year and she brings him a new robe, just like the priest’s. Do you remember Hannah’s prayer?”
“Yes,” said Michael, “she prayed for a son.”
“And…” prompted Uncle Ben, “What else did she say in that prayer?”
Lilly answered him very quietly, “She said that if God gave her a son, that she would give the son to God.”
“That’s right,” said Uncle Ben, “and that the son would serve God for all of his life”.
“But, Uncle Ben…..” said Lilly, “Samuel is only a boy, and he obviously misses his mum. I could see that he looked so sad when she left. It’s not fair and it is just too hard.”
At that moment the automatic home function of the time machine started and the swirling this time took them by surprise. They chewed hard on the gum and within a few seconds they found themselves back in their own kitchen. They burped again, but they were feeling too sad to laugh this time.
Uncle Ben flicked the switch on the jug to make another hot chocolate for all of them.
“Michael and Lilly,” he said as they all sat down with their drinks, “you have to understand some things about the story of Samuel. He was no ordinary man. He lived in a time when there were many evil things happening and no one was listening to God, but not long after that event that we saw, God woke Samuel up in the middle of the night and spoke with him. It freaked Samuel out for a little while and he thought that it was Eli calling out to him, because hardly anyone ever heard God speak to them like that. When Samuel grew up he led people in the right way and it was him who anointed the kings of Israel. None of it would have been possible if his mother didn’t keep her promise to give him to God.”
“But he was sad and only a boy a long way from his mother and father…” said Lilly “didn’t she love him and want him with her?”
“Of course she did,” explained Uncle Ben, “but she trusted God and kept her promise. It was hard for her and hard for Samuel, but sometimes it seems that those who have hard things happen to them are those who grow to be the absolutely most extraordinary people, with the most extraordinary lives.”
He added, “Lilly and Michael, your Mum and Dad Love you so much. Don’t ever doubt that. They know that they have a job to do and they know that it is better for you to be here with me. The Bible tells us that all things work for good for those who love God, so we know that even when things are hard, and even down right horrible, in the end, if we stay true to God, those same things can be something that makes us extraordinary people. And do you know why?”
The twins looked at him and both of them with their heads cocked to one side and a frown on their forehead replied, “Why?”
Uncle Ben answered, “Because the God who created the universe loves you more than you can possibly imagine…. Even more than how much you love your mum and dad… and when you are a child of God you are a long, long, way from being just an ordinary kid.”
Finally Lilly smiled. Ah, what a lovely sight. A big grin with twinkling eyes and Uncle Ben knew beyond any shadow of doubt that she was one very special kid…. Even if she did throw temper tantrums!
There was stomping and banging coming from the room upstairs.
“Uh-oh,” said Uncle Ben to his 10 year old nephew, Michael, “It sounds like cyclone Lilly has struck again.”
Michael and Lilly were twins…. You may have heard about them. They go to school, just like ordinary 10 year olds, and they catch a bus, just like ordinary 10 year olds, and sometimes they, but mostly Lilly, throw major temper tantrums, like some ordinary 10 year olds.
It is never a very good idea to throw a tantrum because someone always ends up in trouble and sometimes things get broken! Lilly knew this, but for some reason every now and then she just couldn’t seem to help herself and Michael and Uncle Ben would stay out of her way until she calmed down a little.
It was times like these that Uncle Ben called her “Cyclone Lilly”. She caused a lot of mess, just like a real cyclone, and everyone was just a little scared of her.
“What has upset her this time?” Uncle Ben asked Michael.
“I think it has something to do with the new girl at school,” said Michael, “She is a fostered girl and she gets in trouble all the time and for some reason it is making Lilly angry, but I don’t know why.”
The fostered girl’s name was Sarah and she didn’t live with her Mum or Dad, and instead she stayed with other people. She had lived for a long time with a lady by the name of Debbie who had other children, but when Debbie got sick she wasn’t able to look after Sarah anymore and so Sarah then went to live with a lovely couple, the Smiths…. But then when Mrs. Smith had her baby, she decided she couldn’t look after Sarah anymore and so Sarah was then sent to live with the Johnsons, Amy and John, who sent her to the same school as the twins. And that was all that Michael had been able to find out about Sarah.
Things became quiet again upstairs. It seemed that Cyclone Lilly had run out of wind, and after stomping and throwing and punching pillows she was just too worn out to do anything. She was lying on her messed up bed among all the clothes she’d thrown around.
Usually at this stage Lilly would start to clean up the mess she’d made, but this time she was too upset. When Uncle Ben knocked on her door he found her sobbing into her pillow.
“Lilly, I’ve got some hot chocolate for you if you feel like it?” He said, and then when she didn’t respond, he figured she needed some more time alone and so he left her and went downstairs.
Truly, there is something magical about a warm and sweet drink when you are not feeling very happy. By the time that Lilly came down for her hot chocolate it needed to be warmed up, but that was easy enough to do….. a whole lot easier than trying to find out what was making Lilly so sad.
Michael did his usual joke telling to try and lighten the atmosphere, but Uncle Ben knew that something had very seriously upset Lilly and the only way to deal with big hurts is to share them with someone older and wiser….. Uncle Ben was both older and wiser.
“So, Lilly, what has been happening at school?” asked Uncle Ben.
Lilly shrugged her shoulders and continued to sip sadly on her hot chocolate.
“Michael tells me that there is a new girl at school.” Said Uncle Ben, and he could tell by the look on Lilly’s face that this was something to do with the problem. “Is she a nice girl, Lilly? Do you get on okay with her?”
Lilly finally replied, “She’s okay, but the other kids at school are mean to her.”
“Oh?” that surprised Uncle Ben because Michael hadn’t said anything about the kids being mean at school. “Is that true, Michael?” Uncle Ben asked, so that he could confirm the matter.
“Yeah, I guess so,” said Michael, “they tell her that if they were her Mum, they’d leave her with someone else too.”
Lilly’s eyes were filled with tears again and she added, “And they say ‘your mum doesn’t want you’, and things like that.”
“Oh”, said Uncle Ben, suddenly realizing a whole lot more about why Lilly was sad.
You see, Lilly and Michael were living with their Uncle Ben while their parents were away on a secret mission. So, the new girl, Sarah, and Lilly and Michael had something in common, they were all living with someone other than their parents. Every child misses their parents when they are away from them for any length of time, and sometimes they might worry whether or not their parents really do love them. Uncle Ben figured that this was why Lilly was upset. She missed her parents and because the kids at school were saying mean things about poor Sarah’s parents, Lilly was feeling insecure and rather unsure about whether her parents really loved her.
“Lilly and Michael…..”, announced Uncle Ben, “we are going on a trip in the time machine.” He said it like it was a definite command. No questions, ifs or buts.
Uncle Ben had invented the time machine and given it to Lilly for her birthday. It was a very simple and safe version so that nothing could go wrong. You could go back in time to see events that had already happened, but you couldn’t interfere with anything, just simply watch it happen.
Lilly didn’t feel like taking a trip in the time machine as she was just feeling too sad and cranky, but Michael ran up to Lilly’s room and brought the machine down to the kitchen. Uncle Ben set the dial and they all held on to the machine and each other.
Everything went all swirly and made them feel just a bit dizzy, but when the spinning stopped they found themselves at a place called Shiloh where there was a priest called Eli sitting on a chair near the church. He was looking inside at a lady.
Lilly and Michael and Uncle Ben went in very quietly so they could hear what the lady was saying and as they got closer they realized that she was crying.
She cried out to God, “Lord, you rule over all. Please see how I’m suffering! Show concern for me! Don’t forget about me! Please give me a son! If you do, I’ll give him back to you. Then he will serve you all the days of his life.”
She kept praying that kind of thing over and over and crying. Then the Priest came in and said to her, “How long will you keep on getting drunk? Get rid of your wine.”
The Lady replied to him, “That’s not true, sir, I’m a woman who is deeply troubled. I haven’t been drinking wine or beer. I was telling the Lord all of my troubles. Don’t think of me as an evil woman. I’ve been praying here because I’m very sad. My pain is so great.”
Then Eli answered, “Go in peace. May God give you what you have asked him for.”
Then the lady left and so did Michael, Lilly and Uncle Ben.
As they all sat down outside on the grass Lilly asked, “Who was that lady, Uncle Ben?”
“Her name is Hannah,” he replied, “and there is more to her story that we need to look at, but we need to go just a little forward in time to do so”.
Uncle Ben took a packet of chewing gum out of his pocket. “Here, you’d better have one of these because all this time travel might make you feel a bit dizzy. This is a special type of chewing gum I’ve invented to prevent the spinning from making you feel sick.”
They each took a piece of chewing gum and Uncle Ben turned the dial on the time machine once again. They all held on as things started to spin again and chewed on their gum. Just as the swirling cleared Lilly let out a big burp. Michael laughed and as he did a huge burp slipped out of his mouth, which brought on more laughter and then the loudest burp of all came from Uncle Ben.
“Ha, ha, ha, Yep”, laughed Uncle Ben, “the chewing gum works well, but the side effect is a big burp.”
They calmed down and looked around them. They were in the same place as they were before, but some of the trees were a little bigger and outside the church was a boy, about 12 years old, dressed exactly the same as the priest.
“Hey look,” exclaimed Lilly pointing, “there is Hannah!”
Sure enough, there was Hannah and she was walking toward the priest Eli, while the boy raced over and hugged her. Eli met them at the entrance of the church and they saw her give the priest a robe, indicating that it was for the boy.
“What is she doing, Uncle Ben?” asked Michael.
“The boy’s name is Samuel, and he is Hannah’s son,” said Uncle Ben. Just listen to their conversation and see if you can work it out what is happening.”
Hannah’s husband then joined them and the priest put his hand on the husband’s head as if he was praying. Michael and Lilly leaned forward so that they could hear clearly.
Eli closed his eyes and said, “May the Lord give you and your wife, Hannah, children that can take the place of the boy she prayed for and gave to God.”
After this Hannah hugged the boy, Samuel, and then Hannah and her husband set off down the road.
Lilly could see that the boy wanted to cry, but he didn’t. Eli handed the robe to Samuel and Samuel took it into the house that was next to the church.
The children looked at Uncle Ben with wide eyes. Michael asked, “Does Samuel live with Eli, Uncle Ben? Why didn’t they take him home with them?”
Uncle Ben explained, “Samuel sees his mother just once every year and she brings him a new robe, just like the priest’s. Do you remember Hannah’s prayer?”
“Yes,” said Michael, “she prayed for a son.”
“And…” prompted Uncle Ben, “What else did she say in that prayer?”
Lilly answered him very quietly, “She said that if God gave her a son, that she would give the son to God.”
“That’s right,” said Uncle Ben, “and that the son would serve God for all of his life”.
“But, Uncle Ben…..” said Lilly, “Samuel is only a boy, and he obviously misses his mum. I could see that he looked so sad when she left. It’s not fair and it is just too hard.”
At that moment the automatic home function of the time machine started and the swirling this time took them by surprise. They chewed hard on the gum and within a few seconds they found themselves back in their own kitchen. They burped again, but they were feeling too sad to laugh this time.
Uncle Ben flicked the switch on the jug to make another hot chocolate for all of them.
“Michael and Lilly,” he said as they all sat down with their drinks, “you have to understand some things about the story of Samuel. He was no ordinary man. He lived in a time when there were many evil things happening and no one was listening to God, but not long after that event that we saw, God woke Samuel up in the middle of the night and spoke with him. It freaked Samuel out for a little while and he thought that it was Eli calling out to him, because hardly anyone ever heard God speak to them like that. When Samuel grew up he led people in the right way and it was him who anointed the kings of Israel. None of it would have been possible if his mother didn’t keep her promise to give him to God.”
“But he was sad and only a boy a long way from his mother and father…” said Lilly “didn’t she love him and want him with her?”
“Of course she did,” explained Uncle Ben, “but she trusted God and kept her promise. It was hard for her and hard for Samuel, but sometimes it seems that those who have hard things happen to them are those who grow to be the absolutely most extraordinary people, with the most extraordinary lives.”
He added, “Lilly and Michael, your Mum and Dad Love you so much. Don’t ever doubt that. They know that they have a job to do and they know that it is better for you to be here with me. The Bible tells us that all things work for good for those who love God, so we know that even when things are hard, and even down right horrible, in the end, if we stay true to God, those same things can be something that makes us extraordinary people. And do you know why?”
The twins looked at him and both of them with their heads cocked to one side and a frown on their forehead replied, “Why?”
Uncle Ben answered, “Because the God who created the universe loves you more than you can possibly imagine…. Even more than how much you love your mum and dad… and when you are a child of God you are a long, long, way from being just an ordinary kid.”
Finally Lilly smiled. Ah, what a lovely sight. A big grin with twinkling eyes and Uncle Ben knew beyond any shadow of doubt that she was one very special kid…. Even if she did throw temper tantrums!
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Reflection for 17th March 2013 Lent 5
Year C Fifth Sunday in Lent 17 March 2013
Isaiah 43: 16-21 Psalm 126 Philippians 3: 4b-14 John 12: 1-8
The ways of God often seem so unpredictable. Do you feel comfortable in your faith? Then it is possible you’ve fallen into the same ways as so many before and beware, because you are about to have that comfort challenged.
How much are the average annual wages for a labourer? Answer: Full-time earnings in Australia averaged $69,992 a year in the first quarter of 2012. (Seasonally adjusted wages – Bureau of Statistics.) Keep that in mind as we explore this week’s readings.
Isaiah 43:18- 21 “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild animals will honour me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.”
How strange that God would declare to his people to NOT remember the former things. So strange, that we would be foolish not to explore further and discover what God was really doing.
In the former days God had made a path through the sea and had fed his people with bread from heaven and had given them water in the desert. It is obvious that before God asks them to NOT remember, that he does intend to remind them. These people are reminded of the great things that God has done, but now he says to them, “Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old….”
To put ourselves in the shoes of these people, we need to realize that these are a religious people. They had the holy festivals that told the story of the Passover and they had every ritual of life that tied in with the law of God where sacrifices were given for sin and first fruits were offered to God and the first born was consecrated to God and needed to be redeemed according to the law of God.
These rituals and stories were a comfort and assurance of God’s love and favour. In much the same way, we have our own rituals and stories. We have our church services which tell the story of God and within the service we have confession and absolution and we have communion as both remembrance and reconciliation and unity with God. How delightful and comfortable our faith is!! It is just like that same faith of the people of God so long ago and just like the faith that St. Paul was brought up in – that of the Pharisees.
Uh-Oh! Have I hit a nerve yet?
We like to think that we have nothing in common with the Pharisees who were so hypocritical, but we need to understand that these were people who were brought up in the ways of God, knowing the stories and the rituals – much like us. Because they knew the stories and rituals so well, they didn’t understand what was happening when Jesus came – and they rejected him – not all of them, but certainly on the whole and as a group, they did not recognize God among them, and the reason was that they thought that they knew God and His ways. When Jesus did things that didn’t seem in line with what they thought and had known about God through their religion and traditions, and when they began to feel uncomfortable in their faith, they concluded that Jesus was a sinner who must be put to death.
It is certainly not a bad thing to have the rituals and the stories….. otherwise God would not have commanded them in the first place. The rituals and the stories should teach us and lead us ultimately to a personal and intimately close relationship with God. Praying to God should be as natural and as often as breathing.
If we look back to our first reading we will note that God does remind the people of the things that were done in the former days, but he then commands them to no longer remember them and no longer consider them because he is about to do something new. The implication is that he is about to do something that is so far exceeding the former things that there will be no need to remember them, and also that to move forward there is a need to let go of the past.
What is it that we are holding on to that God would have us let go of?
I’m reminded of the story of a little girl whose father often travelled away for work. He gave the little girl a gift of a toy pearl necklace. The little girls treasured the pearls for a very long time, but then she was faced with a problem: The father asked the little girl if she loved him. She replied that she did, and the father then asked her to give him her pearls. She refused for a long time, but eventually she gave them to her father, deciding that she loved him more than the pearls. The father then presented her with the gift of a genuine pearl necklace.
Our Gospel story is much like this. God has given us something amazing and good. In the Old Testament and for the Israelite people this was the stories, the rituals and the precious law of God. It set the people apart as sacred to God and confirmed God’s favour. BUT God, after bringing these things to mind then commands them to not remember or consider these things because he had something new to do in the future that would so pale the former things by comparison. Could the Israelites, the people of Jesus time, accept that they needed to see that what they had in their stories, rituals, traditions and law was only a shadow of what he had in store for their future?
The rituals and the stories were such a comfort…… the pearls were a comfort…… The important question is, which do we love more; the stories, the rituals, the law and the traditions, or God who gave them? And can we give them up to allow God to do something greater?
St. Paul came face to face with this reality when he declared things about himself in his letter to the Philippians.
Philippians3: 4-6 “even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh.
If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.”
St. Paul goes on to explain that he considers all that he accomplished in the flesh as rubbish. He explains that all his efforts were loss in Christ because he would rather have a righteousness that was from his standing in Christ. He declares that his former Self-righteousness only served to keep him separated from acknowledging his need for a righteousness that is in Christ – and separated from God.
In the time of Jesus there were many sinners who had accepted Christ. These people knew that they needed a miracle for God to love and accept them because they were aware of their failure – their sin. St. Paul is completely different from most people who came to Christ. His conversion was a dramatic miracle and it needed to be, because St. Paul thought that he was alright with God. He was even so zealous for God that he was striving to snuff out the young Christian church who he considered to be heretics.
Without the intense light of God’s truth, St. Paul may never have been able to see his spiritual blindness. Is it possible that we too need the miracle of God’s intense light to see the things that we are holding on to in God’s name, are things that we have made so synonymous with God that we love them more than God himself. Are we willing to put a personal and intimate relationship with God above all our traditions and rituals and prior understandings?
While I leave you to ponder that thought, I ask you to call to mind again the average years wage in Australia - $69,992. Can you now call to mind something that would cost about that much?
In the time of Jesus, a year’s wage was about three hundred denarii.
John 12:1-8 “Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’”
Hopefully the understanding of the incredible expense of that perfume now sheds new light on this reading….
I believe it would not have been only Judas who was thinking that this was a huge misappropriation of funds, but I bring this to your attention as a challenge to see that God has a heart that is firstly and foremost concerned about us placing him as number one in our lives. All our understandings about how we should do things in church, what is appropriate and what isn’t, etc…. these things will constantly be challenged and constantly be breaking God’s heart unless we so intimately connect with him.
The Pharisees constantly were at odds with Jesus and yet they thought they were doing God’s will. It seems possible that it wasn’t until this incident with the perfume that Judas decided he would betray Jesus…. It is more than likely that Jesus did not fit in with Judas’s idea of God – otherwise he would not have betrayed him.
Surely it seems completely sinful to spend so much on perfume….. we can all see that now, can’t we? It was a whole year’s wage and there are poor and starving people…..
What seems abundantly clear to me is that God must be number one in our lives and in our churches. Unless we are so connected with God and indwelt by his Holy Spirit we will never be any more pleasing to God than a Pharisee, and we may even be Judas……
Isaiah 43: 16-21 Psalm 126 Philippians 3: 4b-14 John 12: 1-8
The ways of God often seem so unpredictable. Do you feel comfortable in your faith? Then it is possible you’ve fallen into the same ways as so many before and beware, because you are about to have that comfort challenged.
How much are the average annual wages for a labourer? Answer: Full-time earnings in Australia averaged $69,992 a year in the first quarter of 2012. (Seasonally adjusted wages – Bureau of Statistics.) Keep that in mind as we explore this week’s readings.
Isaiah 43:18- 21 “Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild animals will honour me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.”
How strange that God would declare to his people to NOT remember the former things. So strange, that we would be foolish not to explore further and discover what God was really doing.
In the former days God had made a path through the sea and had fed his people with bread from heaven and had given them water in the desert. It is obvious that before God asks them to NOT remember, that he does intend to remind them. These people are reminded of the great things that God has done, but now he says to them, “Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old….”
To put ourselves in the shoes of these people, we need to realize that these are a religious people. They had the holy festivals that told the story of the Passover and they had every ritual of life that tied in with the law of God where sacrifices were given for sin and first fruits were offered to God and the first born was consecrated to God and needed to be redeemed according to the law of God.
These rituals and stories were a comfort and assurance of God’s love and favour. In much the same way, we have our own rituals and stories. We have our church services which tell the story of God and within the service we have confession and absolution and we have communion as both remembrance and reconciliation and unity with God. How delightful and comfortable our faith is!! It is just like that same faith of the people of God so long ago and just like the faith that St. Paul was brought up in – that of the Pharisees.
Uh-Oh! Have I hit a nerve yet?
We like to think that we have nothing in common with the Pharisees who were so hypocritical, but we need to understand that these were people who were brought up in the ways of God, knowing the stories and the rituals – much like us. Because they knew the stories and rituals so well, they didn’t understand what was happening when Jesus came – and they rejected him – not all of them, but certainly on the whole and as a group, they did not recognize God among them, and the reason was that they thought that they knew God and His ways. When Jesus did things that didn’t seem in line with what they thought and had known about God through their religion and traditions, and when they began to feel uncomfortable in their faith, they concluded that Jesus was a sinner who must be put to death.
It is certainly not a bad thing to have the rituals and the stories….. otherwise God would not have commanded them in the first place. The rituals and the stories should teach us and lead us ultimately to a personal and intimately close relationship with God. Praying to God should be as natural and as often as breathing.
If we look back to our first reading we will note that God does remind the people of the things that were done in the former days, but he then commands them to no longer remember them and no longer consider them because he is about to do something new. The implication is that he is about to do something that is so far exceeding the former things that there will be no need to remember them, and also that to move forward there is a need to let go of the past.
What is it that we are holding on to that God would have us let go of?
I’m reminded of the story of a little girl whose father often travelled away for work. He gave the little girl a gift of a toy pearl necklace. The little girls treasured the pearls for a very long time, but then she was faced with a problem: The father asked the little girl if she loved him. She replied that she did, and the father then asked her to give him her pearls. She refused for a long time, but eventually she gave them to her father, deciding that she loved him more than the pearls. The father then presented her with the gift of a genuine pearl necklace.
Our Gospel story is much like this. God has given us something amazing and good. In the Old Testament and for the Israelite people this was the stories, the rituals and the precious law of God. It set the people apart as sacred to God and confirmed God’s favour. BUT God, after bringing these things to mind then commands them to not remember or consider these things because he had something new to do in the future that would so pale the former things by comparison. Could the Israelites, the people of Jesus time, accept that they needed to see that what they had in their stories, rituals, traditions and law was only a shadow of what he had in store for their future?
The rituals and the stories were such a comfort…… the pearls were a comfort…… The important question is, which do we love more; the stories, the rituals, the law and the traditions, or God who gave them? And can we give them up to allow God to do something greater?
St. Paul came face to face with this reality when he declared things about himself in his letter to the Philippians.
Philippians3: 4-6 “even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh.
If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.”
St. Paul goes on to explain that he considers all that he accomplished in the flesh as rubbish. He explains that all his efforts were loss in Christ because he would rather have a righteousness that was from his standing in Christ. He declares that his former Self-righteousness only served to keep him separated from acknowledging his need for a righteousness that is in Christ – and separated from God.
In the time of Jesus there were many sinners who had accepted Christ. These people knew that they needed a miracle for God to love and accept them because they were aware of their failure – their sin. St. Paul is completely different from most people who came to Christ. His conversion was a dramatic miracle and it needed to be, because St. Paul thought that he was alright with God. He was even so zealous for God that he was striving to snuff out the young Christian church who he considered to be heretics.
Without the intense light of God’s truth, St. Paul may never have been able to see his spiritual blindness. Is it possible that we too need the miracle of God’s intense light to see the things that we are holding on to in God’s name, are things that we have made so synonymous with God that we love them more than God himself. Are we willing to put a personal and intimate relationship with God above all our traditions and rituals and prior understandings?
While I leave you to ponder that thought, I ask you to call to mind again the average years wage in Australia - $69,992. Can you now call to mind something that would cost about that much?
In the time of Jesus, a year’s wage was about three hundred denarii.
John 12:1-8 “Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’”
Hopefully the understanding of the incredible expense of that perfume now sheds new light on this reading….
I believe it would not have been only Judas who was thinking that this was a huge misappropriation of funds, but I bring this to your attention as a challenge to see that God has a heart that is firstly and foremost concerned about us placing him as number one in our lives. All our understandings about how we should do things in church, what is appropriate and what isn’t, etc…. these things will constantly be challenged and constantly be breaking God’s heart unless we so intimately connect with him.
The Pharisees constantly were at odds with Jesus and yet they thought they were doing God’s will. It seems possible that it wasn’t until this incident with the perfume that Judas decided he would betray Jesus…. It is more than likely that Jesus did not fit in with Judas’s idea of God – otherwise he would not have betrayed him.
Surely it seems completely sinful to spend so much on perfume….. we can all see that now, can’t we? It was a whole year’s wage and there are poor and starving people…..
What seems abundantly clear to me is that God must be number one in our lives and in our churches. Unless we are so connected with God and indwelt by his Holy Spirit we will never be any more pleasing to God than a Pharisee, and we may even be Judas……
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