Reflection for Sunday 2nd August 2015

Proper 13B/Ordinary 18B/Pentecost 10
August 2, 2015

2 Samuel 11:26 - 12:13a and Psalm 51:1-12 • Ephesians 4:1-16 • John 6:24-35

Some thoughts on this weekend’s readings are being written very last minute, but I think there is something here timely and important.

From St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians we read, Ephesian 4:1-3 “therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

In the last few weeks I heard someone speak about a group of people and that they’d like to “weed out” some of the difficult personalities.  This was immediately following a discussion about how the most important thing to the heart of God is our “relationships”. 

It is completely understandable and logical, that we will have some people that we are able to get along with more than others, but this doesn’t mean we should be so “wise in our own eyes” (arrogant), as to think that there is no merit in these other people.

One thing that I have observed through my involvement in one particular organisation, that of Street Chaplaincy, is that everyone has their gifts.  There are people on the street that I am not going to be able to connect with, so I thank God that I work with a team and I celebrate our differences… most of the time J 

I have also noticed that some people think that if you disagree with their ideas that you are “against” them.  We can’t ever live in true freedom if we think that liking someone, being their friend and even loving them, means that we must agree and approve of all that they think, do and say.

How wonderful it is, that God gives us families to grow up in.  Families have personalities that, if they were to choose, or we were to arrange it, they’d be placed with other more like minded types.  But families are the perfect example, and learning place for our lives in community.  Sadly, families can be just like the community and reject differences instead of embracing the learning opportunity of accepting differences, celebrating them and still loving unconditionally.

Speaking of family; our first reading for this weekend is the story of Bathsheba coming to live with King David and the story told by the Prophet Nathan to make clear to David just exactly what he had done.  Bathsheba was called to David, became pregnant and so David tried to cover up his act by calling her husband back from the war.  It didn’t work and so David organised for the husband to be placed on the frontline where he was killed in battle.

We are not told how Bathsheba felt about being called to David.  He was the King; therefore, did she have any say in the matter? 

The story or parable that the prophet tell to King David was about a poor man with a pet lamb – just one.  A rich man had a need to feed a visitor, but didn’t want to sacrifice his own flock and so he took the poor man’s lamb.

We always think that the poor man is referring to Bathsheba’s husband.  Indeed it is, but when you think about it, the innocent that was killed was the husband…. This puts the one most hurting to be Bathsheba.  Bathsheba was taken, fell pregnant as a result, lost her husband and then was taken to be just one of the King’s many wives.   The stories over the years have suggested that maybe Bathsheba was deliberately parading for the King to see her naked and these slights on her character, I suspect, would most certainly have been there from the very start – but are they warranted? 

We know that Bathsheba was beautiful.  We know that she was without her husband home.  This brings to mind a film that a friend told me about, “Malena”.  You can read the summery on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mal%C3%A8na

The film is set in the war and Malena is a beautiful woman whose husband has gone to the war… sound familiar?  I have not seen the film and don’t think it is one that I’d advise but the story goes that this woman was hated and rejected.  Why?  Her only crime was that she was very beautiful and men and young boys fantasised about her. 

Towards the end of the film the townspeople lash out at Malena, believing her to be something of a whore and they beat her and shave her head.  Did she do anything deserving this?  She was beautiful.

A beautiful woman such as Malena was safe while happily married, but as soon as her husband was away there was trouble.  Now, an interesting conversation was had during one of my tutorials at university; Many of us were single mothers and we realized that something we all had in common was that, as single women, we were never invited to the BBQs or social events of “friends”.  I can vividly remember the first time that anyone other than family invited me to a BBQ and I think I cried…. Didn’t end up going, but I was so touched at the genuine friendship and a gesture that hadn’t occurred in so many years.

But why do I tell you this?  I believe that Bathsheba was hurting.  She was the brunt of accusations… she was the reason her husband was killed… she was the one who lost her husband, her dignity, the respect and acceptance of the community… she lost everything… and she would also lose the child she was carrying.

So often, we look at others and perceive them to have things….  Others would have looked at Bathsheba and been so jealous… she was so beautiful and now she was the Kings wife, living in the lap of luxury.  Can’t you just hear the gossip? 

I recently came across a book, “Have you filled a bucket today”.  It says that we all carry invisible buckets.  When your bucket is full, you are happy and confident.  When someone says mean things it empties your bucket.  We need each other to fill our buckets, and we do this by supporting and encouraging. 

Some people are bucket dippers.   They are the gossips and bullies who might have empty buckets themselves and seem to think that they can feel better by emptying someone else’s bucket, but that just makes two empty buckets.  You fill your own bucket more when you are encouraged, but also when you actively fill someone else’s.

The message in the story of King David is not just about the sin that he committed but it is for us all to reflect on how we might also be “taking the poor man’s lamb”.  

Are we taking from someone else’s bucket, erroneously thinking that they have more than they deserve? 

Are we getting in the way of the gifts that God has given to another person because we are jealous and think that this person or that person already has so much? 

We need to actively let go of controlling situations because we feel that someone has something we want.  In the end, all we are doing is emptying both their bucket and our own….  What we do need to do is to set our minds on a bigger focus and that of the Kingdom of God

John 6:27- 29 “ Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal."  Then they said to him, "What must we do to perform the works of God?"  Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent."

Reflections for 12th July 2015

July 12, 2015  Proper 10B/Ordinary 15B/Pentecost 7

2 Samuel 6:1-5, 12b-19  Psalm 24  Ephesians 1:3-14   Mark 6:14-29

It seems to me that it is time to get back into writing reflections on the readings.  There have been many lately that I wish I had gotten around to writing about, due to the way those verses and stories have impacted and clarified my life.  Sometimes my life has actually enabled me to understand them at a different level also.

This week we look at stories of conflict.   There are people doing God’s will and people who want to kill, humiliate, denounce and even crucify those people.

Our Psalm begins with the facts;
Psalm 24: 1-5 “The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it; for he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the rivers.
Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD? And who shall stand in his holy place?  Those who have clean hands and pure hearts, who do not lift up their souls to what is false, and do not swear deceitfully.  They will receive blessing from the LORD, and vindication from the God of their salvation.”

King David was someone who understood, accepted and proclaimed the facts about God.  He understood that the Ark was something precious and sacred and that to have it was a sign of God’s blessing…. Actually it was a sign that God was real, mighty, and had chosen His people… the Israelites.  They were the chosen race and the Ark was the sure sign of that relationship. 
Our story tells of a happy day, of people celebrating their relationship with God and praising God… and their leader, King David, was leading the way.  He was dressed in the simple garments that were worn by the novice priests and not his normal royal attire.  In this way he was an example to the people of humble, servant leadership.  King David was a leader who willingly humbled himself before the people to serve and praise God.  And when anyone stands up as a leader there are an abundance of critics who will try to be the voice of doubt and disillusion and criticism, and the fly in the ointment was personified in this case by his wife, Michal.  She was the daughter of the previous King, Saul. 

Michal’s are everywhere.  They are the ones who tell you not to get involved, and they will always have a very good and logical reason.  The very best (and most dangerous) ones, are those whose reasons will even appear to be spiritual and scriptural.   I recall the story of the prophet, only identified as a man of God who proclaims one of, what I think to be, the Bibles most forthright prophecies.  1 Kings 13:1-3 “By the word of the Lord a man of God came from Judah to Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an offering. By the word of the Lord he cried out against the altar: “Altar, altar! This is what the Lord says: ‘A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.’ ” That same day the man of God gave a sign: “This is the sign the Lord has declared: The altar will be split apart and the ashes on it will be poured out.””.

Now the reason I tell you the story about this amazing prophet, is that after that amazing encounter with King Jeroboam, where the altar split and Jeroboam’s hand was withered as he tried to seize the man, the man was enticed to disobey God’s directive to him by another man of God.  And he died as a result!!! 

 The prophet was told to return home without eating or drinking, but another man of God informed him that God has said that he should eat and drink at his place.   Oh dear, what a dreadful deception is that of the well-meaning Christian who believes that they speak for God but have never heard His voice!

This very strongly brings to mind the many people who proclaim “Christianity”, by asking the question, “Are you sure that you are saved”?

I hear it so often and what it really means is that they are preaching to Christians and feeding them fear and doubt about their salvation.  There have been others in my life who’ve said things like, “but you can’t really be a Christian if you are divorced.”  Oh and there are many others.  They are Michal’s.  They belong to the church, they therefore have some kind of authority, and we listen to them because of it, and that makes them very dangerous.   What are we to do?

It was the relationship with God that made David dance before the Lord.  It was the Ark that embodied that relationship which declared and even proved that the Israelites were the chosen people of God.  What do we have today that marks our relationship as the chosen people of God?

Our reading from Ephesians tells us about our adoption into the family of God.  It states that we were chosen before the foundation of the world.  How can anyone make us doubt?  We are God’s and we belong to him, and were we chosen on the condition of any good deed or act?  According to Ephesians it is according to the good pleasure of God’s will. 

The “Ark” for the Christian is the seal of the Holy Spirit:  Ephesians 1:13-14 “In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory.”

The Holy Spirit not only assures us that we belong to God, but it is the Holy Spirit that enables us to discern what is good and what is not, however, we need to practise discerning and pray.  If an incredible prophet could be fooled into listening to the wrong person then we can too. 

On the flip side, we need to have confidence that in the end we will figure it out if we are like David and willing to be humble and submit all to God.

We look now at Herod.  Herod actually had a lot of respect for John the Baptist and it appears some hope in Jesus.  He didn’t actually put anything into action, but he did listen to John and obviously contemplated his words.  But in the end Herod thought more of his position than he did of God and of even his own conscience.   Herod was the opposite of Kind David.  He didn’t want to humble himself in front of his guests by saying to Herodias’s daughter, “You can have anything, but not the head of John the Baptist”.    So he valued his position and reputation more than he valued doing what he knew to be right.  He grieved, but he had John killed.

And when we give credence to those voices in the church that cause doubt and fear where there should be faith and peace, we are being Herod. 

We have quite a responsibility as the church.  I read in a small booklet that was distributed at our Church’s recent Synod gathering that our mission  is to Proclaim the Gospel, nurture believers, care for those in need, protect creation and transform unjust structures in society.   I looked at it and I wondered if we really do nurture and care, and whether we really would get our hands dirty in transforming unjust structures.    At the moment I’m facing some issues of bullying and I notice that in our “caring” we seem to advise walking away… ie.. Letting the bully have what they want.  Is this transforming unjust structures?

Now these are just my thoughts, but it seems that we have a choice; David or Herod.  Which king’s example will we follow?   Choose wisely or you may find yourself inadvertently beheading a prophet.