Fourth Sunday in Advent  Samuel 7:1-11,16 Magnificat,  Romans 16:25-27, Luke 1:26……….

 

Do you ever wonder if Mary really understood all that saying “yes” would hold?   Without yet being married, she was about to become pregnant in a society which would happily stone those caught in adultery – not to mention what her betrothed would think of the idea.  With the Angel’s words “Do not be afraid” ringing in her ears, I imagine her heart may have many times, been beating hard with fear.

 

Our reading comes from the Gospel of Luke.  We know from Luke’s introduction at that beginning of his book, that he was writing after other accounts had been written, and he had carefully investigated these things so that his reader, Theophilus could be assured of it’s accuracy. 

 

It is from this Gospel that we have the most complete version of the virgin birth, a stumbling block to many people, hopefully not to us, who know that all things are possible with God – after all, if God is God he can do anything.  Throughout the Bible there are stories of people who gave birth to sons whose birth was impossible without God’s intervention.  Sarah was barren and old, and it seemed Elizabeth, Mary’s cousin, was headed in that direction also.  But this message to Mary is different.

 

In most of the previous instances, the Angel or message from God came to the male.  Mary spoke with the Angel directly.  In every other case the woman was married.  Mary was engaged, but still single, and had not had relations yet with Joseph.  This was a baby that would be conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit.  This would be the son of God.

 

It is true that our society and the story of faith tradition has been male dominated, but here we see one of the times that God surprises all by directly visiting his Angel to Mary…. Just a young woman! 

Don’t get me wrong, It isn’t that God didn’t do this at other times.  We know that there were prophetess’s, significant women such as Abigail, Rahab, Esther, Naomi & Ruth and the Judge Deborah of the Old Testament.  I believe that God is no respecter of people, status or gender, but our cultures have been male dominated.  One thing we do know is that God delights in using those that “nice” and “influential” society would overlook. God looks with favour on, and has concern and love especially for the poor and the rejected.

 

We know that King David was the youngest of his family.  He was considered so inconsequential that he wasn’t even invited to the family feast with the prophet Samuel.  Samuel himself, was born as an answer to prayer.  His mother Hannah had prayed fervently and when Samuel was born, her praise, recorded in the Bible, is similar to the Magnificat appointed to Mary, which we read today as our psalm.

 

From the book of Samuel comes our first reading where we read that King David desired to build a house for God.  The word of the Lord comes to the prophet Nathan and we discover that God doesn’t want David to build him a house, but instead God promises to make David a house and promises that THIS house and kingdom shall be established forever.  It is a prophecy about Jesus – the descendant of David. 

 

The amazing insight we have about King David in this story, is that God was his priority.  King David was once a shepherd boy of no consequence but through God he become a great King.  Now as a great King he desires to do something for God.  David is described often as being a man after God’s own heart and the Lord’s anointed.  Now we glimpse the heart of God as we note God’s response to David’s desire to give to God.  And what do we note?  Instead of God saying, “yes… thanks for that David, I will have one of those…” He turns back with promises to establish David’s throne forever.  That little inconsequential shepherd boy is in no way inconsequential to God.

 

Mary is a young girl.  We don’t know much about her from our Bible accounts but we know that she found favour with God.  I find it interesting that the Angel’s greeting is firstly to tell Mary that she has found favour with God.  I suspect, we get so caught up in our ideas about things of faith… working out what is what with our faith and our own understanding of God, that we forget, or maybe don’t even realize, that more than anything… God loves us.

 

Knowing that God loves us is vital.  Both Mary and King David were loved by God, but that doesn’t mean that everything in their life was going to be easy.  King David faced many battles of life and death before the promises of God were fulfilled, but knowing these promises and the love of God, he was able to face those battles with integrity and faith.

 

Mary was greeted with the favour of God and told that she was chosen to bare the son of God.  It was a huge…. No, HUGE responsibility – and that is an understatement.  It was explained to her that the Holy Spirit would cause this to happen, making it completely different from others like her cousin Elizabeth, as this was to be a virgin birth.

 

Recently I had the opportunity to talk to my school students about Jesus.  I had been teaching them Christmas carols and so they had many questions.  One question was, “how did Jesus get His powers”.  And the simple answer, hopefully simple enough for the children to understand, is that Jesus is the son of God – Jesus is God inside.  For us, we say, God made flesh.

 

Mary would have hardships.  She was initially rejected by Joseph – at that point she didn’t know that he would change his mind.  To be rejected by your betrothed is hard.  To be thought of as an unfaithful adulterer is hard.   To travel to Bethlehem when you are nine months pregnant is hard.  Then to find there is no where to be housed is hard, let alone it being when you are about to give birth.  To give birth is hard.  To give birth in a strange stable must have been hard… then to try to clean up and sleep under those conditions must have also been hard.  To be told in the middle of the night to flee to Egypt had to be hard.  And the list might go on.

 

In all those hardships, Mary needed to know, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that God loved her…. And that God was with her and would never leave nor forsake her…  because I’m sure there were times that it felt that surely it could have been easier.  I have no doubt that there were many tears along the way.

 

In all those hardships, it was the love of God that enabled Mary to persevere.  I have no doubt that it was also the love of God revealed to Joseph that empowered him to also take on the responsibility of Mary and the child.  I am sure that the rumours of Mary’s pregnancy, which wasn’t a child by Joseph, was known in the community.  I’m also pretty sure others didn’t believe Mary’s story of the child being from the Holy Spirit, therefore Joseph, along with Mary, must have felt the judgement of others and the burden of everyone’s opinions.

 

It is the love of God, the assurance that they found favour with God that enabled these people of God to say, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”  It is the love of God that enabled them to say, “YES, LORD.  Let it be with me according to your word.”

 

Our own faith journey will not always be easy.  There will be times when we will be personally challenged and there will be times when we will be challenged as a church community.  Some would even say, if we are not being persecuted for Jesus sake, are we even doing anything?  Therefore, hardships are a given.  And so we need to know that God loves us.

 

Where would we be if Mary didn’t say “yes”?  Mary said “yes” and gave birth to our salvation.  We are all called to bring Jesus to community.  We are all pregnant with the Gospel… we carry it and need to reveal the Gospel to the world.  We are all asked to say, “Yes”.  Before we do, let’s take a moment to rest in God’s presence and know that we are chosen, favoured, and we are loved.

 

Readings and reflection Wednesday the 16^th December 2020

Isaiah 45:6-26,      Luke 7:19-………..

Have you ever been passionate about a subject that no one else seemed to get?  If so, you may have found yourself trying to explain the subject and saying more or less the same thing in many different ways, in the hope that at some point the penny will drop and others will understand.

Isaiah had a lot to say.  If we can grasp the mood of the reading we notice that it is not unlike how we might get if we are passionate about a subject and trying hard to make someone understand.  There are some points that Isaiah repeats over and over, and there is a good chance that these repeated things are the main point of his message.  What did you pick up from it?  Do you recall?  “Thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (he is God!), …. I am the Lord and there is no other…. “ Over and over, as if to say, “How can you not understand this?”

The people were acquainted with talk of God but who is this God and what is he like?  The reading tells us that he made the heavens, formed the earth and created human kind.  In poetic language we read that He commands the skies to shower righteousness that salvation might spring up. 

There are many things going on at the time of Isaiah, and this word was a declaration of good things, of which God wanted them to know that HE was the author.  Just as it was a word for the people of God at that time, it is an eternal truth that God is the author of the blessings of righteousness… and the fruit of that blessing is salvation.

 

Righteousness being dropped on earth like showers is like heaven coming down; the answered prayer, just as we pray the Lord’s prayer, “May your kingdom, your will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven”.  Salvation is the fruit that springs, and righteousness is also the fruit.  Salvation and righteousness we find in Jesus.

 

John’s disciples came to Jesus, basically asking for confirmation about what John had declared.  John, inspired by the Spirit of God, had declared Jesus to be the Lamb of God, but then, very humanly, and also wisely, asked for confirmation….

Previously, the people had asked John who he was and he answered honestly that he wasn’t the Messiah.  There was a sense of genuine inquiry and excited expectancy with the questioning of John, but with this questioning of Jesus there seems to be a sense of doubt.  Perhaps they expected something different.

Unfortunately, this is a fact of life.  We often expect something different.  The expectations that people had of the Messiah proved to be vastly different to the person that Jesus was, and this became a huge offense and a stumbling block to many.  Is God doing something now which we can’t see as being from God because it doesn’t meet our expectations.  What does our reading tell us?  “Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker; Wil you question me about my children?”

 

God is God and we have no place as the “clay” to say, “What are you making”?  We are living in such an intense time where so many things are questioned.  Even our traditional right and wrong is on trial, so how can we navigate to stay on the path of truth?  Perhaps by keeping God as God.

 

Recently I have had the opportunity to speak to children about what Christmas really means.  When they want to know how long ago it was when Jesus was born, I ask them, what year is it?   2020.  

While some theologians might quibble about the actual year, there was a time in the history of the world when people thought this event to be so significant that we needed to mark the birth of Christ by counting our years from the time of his birth.  What saddens me, is that the majority of society today don’t realize that the person, Jesus, called the Christ, is a real person.  We beg permission to teach religious instruction in state schools, seemingly forgetting that our faith is built on historical facts with eternal significance.  To omit the truth of these facts is a travesty.   No wonder we struggle to navigate the path of truth when we fail to declare facts of faith and fail to remember that God is God.

 

To answer John’s disciples, Jesus answers by pointing out the facts that were plainly seen.  He reminds them the blind see and deaf hear etc…  Jesus is pointing out that the fulfilment of the prophet’s writing is taking place.  The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.  He sent me to preach good news to the poor.  He sent me to give sight to the blind etc…  In other words, “It is obvious… why do you doubt?” 

 

If we look at the miracles of Jesus, then carefully examine Jesus, who is the visible expression of our God in heaven, we will see that the miracles come out of a heart of compassion and love.  It isn’t to prove that he is who he says he is that he performs miracles, but because of his mercy, his compassion and his very great love.  The miraculous healings were the fruit of Jesus Love and mercy.  However…. by this fruit we know the nature of Jesus is God.

 

In Jesus, righteousness has dropped from heaven.  Heaven has come down – the kingdom of God is on earth as it is in heaven… and the fruit of this is righteousness and salvation.

 

As Isaiah tells us, God did not speak in secret.  He has made himself abundantly clear, so why do we have so much trouble in knowing the truth? 

Is it that we are blinded by our expectations?  Is it that we are offended by the truth?  Jesus came to open the eyes of the blind.  And with the declaration of Isaiah saying, “For I am God and there is no other”, ringing in our ears we realize the deity of Christ.

 

Is our Christianity just a belief which we can adapt as it suits us ?– If so, we make God into our own image.  God is God and not our wild imaginings.  God’s word has been clearly spoken… His name is Jesus.

May we ever have our eyes opened to see beyond our expectations.  Our God is love and the fruit of his love is salvation and righteousness – all things good.  May we always know that God is God. 

Lord may your word (our Lord Jesus Christ) dwell in us and bare much fruit to your Glory.  AMEN.

30th August 2020 To gain life, by losing life......

Proper 17 (22) Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost Year A August 30, 2020

Today we ponder; what does it meant to take up our cross and follow Jesus? “Love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honour”. Where do we see examples of this in the world around us? Perhaps it is easier to think of examples where there is failure to do this.

I have a group of friends from when I was at high school. There are five of us girls, who catch up every now and then. Our group is a precious support for each of us. Two are married and three of us… are not. What is clear, just from looking at our group and those around us, is that the human race has great difficulty generally, in keeping healthy and wholesome relationships.

The general thought might be that selfishness is the problem. Yes, we do often behave selfishly, but I believe fear is the root of the problem – we fear losing something of ourselves and so we behave selfishly to guard ourselves. While it is wise to have a good strong sense of boundaries to protect ourselves from those who would take advantage and disrespect our being, it is a fine line between having good boundaries and putting up a wall. The boundaries are healthy and something we do out of respect for others and ourselves, but a wall is something we build out of unhealthy fear.

Moses is an example of someone who initially built a wall. He ran away from Egypt in fear. Moses was living in the desert for many years because of his fear and I wonder how many of us, have figuratively run away to the desert out of fear. This happens a lot in families and the pain is considerable. We live ok, but the vastness between some significant relationships and us seems possibly insurmountable. God used a burning bush to get Moses’ attention, and then spoke to him about going back to Egypt – the place from which he’d run. In returning, Moses would be facing the pain of past failure and lost relationships. If God required Moses to face his fears, do we not think God might ask the same of us? What do we imagine God might require of us?

Today’s reading from Romans reminds me of the poem Desiderata by Max Ehrmann (1927) – Are you familiar with it? It begins, “Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons”. If you haven’t seen this poem, I recommend you look it up, as it is well worth its place, framed and hung with pride in many homes.

  It echoes our reading “Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good;” and in particular, “If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.”… Each line of this Romans reading could be a whole sermon, but some stand out as being a little jarring, “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.” That’s a little tough to say the least.

This year while locked down for COVID I did some research and decided I wanted to do the Seder meal. The Holy Thursday New Testament version of the Passover - The event which God enacted through Moses, where plagues were visited on the Egyptians and finally many were killed in the Red Sea. In one section of the meal we were instructed to dip our finger into the red wine and place drops of wine on our plate. Each drop from the cup of salvation signified something, but most interestingly, was the one signifying the pain and loss, suffered by the Egyptians. It is a solemn acknowledgment of the enemies’ pain and loss.

If you have ever had friends who’ve fallen out with each other you will know the truth of “there are three sides to every argument…. His, hers and the truth.” There are people in our lives who persecute us. They are clearly in the wrong, but why do they do what they do? Only God knows! And most times they think they are in the right. We can put clear boundaries between them and us, but God reminds us to bless them and not curse. The Israelites reverently acknowledged the sorrow of their enemies though it was an event of their greatest victory and their deliverance by God.

On Wednesday’s I meet with a few Street Chaplains for prayer. One man who comes to the group is an incredible example of this in action - of blessing those who persecute us. I’ve often heard him pray with genuine love for those who persecute him. Is he broad shouldered and someone who nothing bothers? Quite the opposite. He is sensitive and feels the weight of the persecution, but he is smart enough to understand that each person, generally thinks that their actions are right – and even if not – we are told to love – so he does.

It does seem to me, that God’s ways are often upside down to what we think. I remember once hearing a person in a Christian organisation say, “If only we could remove those people who are problems.…”and she had certain people in mind. The hilarity of that statement was that I was sitting there, knowing full well how many thought that she was the problem person that we could do without.

Now, Jesus had an understanding of who He was, and He knew that He was to be crucified. He was to be the Lamb of God – who would atone for the sin of the world. His disciples should have had some idea also, as this term, Lamb of God, John the Baptist declared over Jesus at the baptism in the river Jordan.

  Our Gospel reading begins with the words, “from that time”…. From what time? That time was the high point where Peter declared Jesus to be the Messiah and then Jesus told him that on that rock he would build his church. I guess Peter felt firmly established in the scheme of things and had a vision in his head about how the next while was going to play out. Jesus explains the truth about how things would play out and Peter knows that this is vastly different from his own vision. Jesus says to him, “Get behind me Satan” – how that must have cut deep!

 There is an important message for us in this. We can be God’s right hand person, with vision and ability to build a church, but we can be possibly standing right in the way of what God’s actual plan is.

  In the same way that it seems sensible and logical to ensure that only like-minded people, who believe all the same things are in a Christian organisation, so too it seems foolish that the Saviour of the world should die on a cross. This is the logic of mere mortals and fortunately for us, God understands a lot more than us.

  Our logic, compared to God’s logic is what I like to call “Duck Logic”. There is a particular Monty Python skit, where a woman is accused of being a witch and the people want to burn her. A calm and logical voice interjects and suggests that there is a way to prove if she is indeed a witch. That voice asks, “What do we do with witches” the crowd replies, “Burn them”. “And what else burns”….. “Wood”…. And what do we know about wood”…. “It floats on water”… “And what else floats” "ducks”…. “So logically, if she weighs the same as a duck, then she is a witch…”

What is true about this skit is that if our logic and understanding is limited, our conclusions will be wrong. Our understanding of the universe is limited and our conclusions can be wrong. Peter, though well-meaning and with some knowledge and considerable standing in the group, got it wrong. There is a message of warning here for us all. How can we get it right?

In our Gospel reading Jesus informs us, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?”

Jesus came to bring us life and that life is abundant and to the full. In the Greek language of this verse about losing our life, it defines the particular kind of life, as being our psychological life. This is about our mind and will. Can we surrender our mind and will to God? When we deliberately commit to God and surrender to the Lordship of Christ in our lives, we gain the Spirit life of God, which is the abundant, spiritual and eternal life of God.

  We have been given free will. Our mind and our will is our own. Are we going to go our own way? We are free to do so, but what will it profit us if we gain the whole world but forfeit that life that God wants to give us?

The paradox of losing life to gain it, is easy for those who feel that they have nothing to lose, but God calls to us all, to realize that all that glitters in this life is not gold, but sometimes it is fool’s gold. What do we imagine we are losing when we give our life to God? Most will immediately think about their life style, but I suspect God is less concerned with those material things and a whole lot more concerned about our relationships and how we treat each other. It is obvious that we are not getting it right on our own, as we’ve already spoken about how we live in fear and build walls in our relationships instead of bridges.

  We have failed relationships left, right and centre and blessing those who curse us is actually beyond us – we can’t do it. I can’t will myself to do it unless…. I have God’s life empowering me.

  There is that part in the Lord’s Prayer, which I believe to be crucial; it is where we pray, “Your Kingdom come, your will be done”. This is the element of surrender. I choose not my own Kingdom and my own will, because the important thing is God’s Kingdom and God’s will.

  Day to day we will still battle to get it right, and day to day we need to remind ourselves, not my will, but yours be done. And then, we begin to live the adventure. Not necessarily free from pain and sorrow, but never meaningless. It is a life filled with miracles, if we can open our eyes to see them. Living the Spirit filled, abundant life we start to realize that God’s will is to prosper us and not harm – to give us a hope and a future. The first step and every step after is to submit our will to God. I have decided to follow Jesus – no turning back, no turning back.

The "In-Between" Time. Reflection 24th May 2020

Easter 7 Year A  24^th May 2020

•  Acts 1:6-14  • Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35  •  1 Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11  • John 17:1-11

The in-between time;

In the Story of our faith we reflect on this time when those early followers of Christ, the witnesses of his resurrection, were with him just prior to his ascending into heaven.  It was a unique time in the history of our world.  Jesus had died, had risen and was there with them.  Can you imagine all the emotions?  These witnesses were joyful and filled with wonder.  Their hope that Jesus was the messiah was confirmed, but at this time there were many questions about what it all meant for them and what was going to happen.

In the year 2020, just as some of the isolation restrictions lessen, we are also in an in-between time…. we are all in a time of question.  What is God trying to tell us?  What does all this pandemic of the Corona Virus mean for our faith journey?  What is happening?  When will it be over?    Where is God in it all?

The followers of Jesus asked him, “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?”  He replied, “It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses….”

When things happen that turn our world up-side down, we want to make sense of it all and we ask all kinds of questions.  It is most frustrating that we often either don’t have any answers, or we make up some that are incorrect and build our lives on error.

Jesus’ answer to his followers is that there are somethings that we don’t have the authority to know.  God gave us our brains and this is a gift we should use, but when we don’t know the answer we need to be super careful that we don’t make something up to suit us – but instead we focus on what we do know.

Over the years there have been many who have claimed to have had the end time, or the time of Jesus return, revealed to them.  Many had a tragic end as they were shown to be cult leaders, deceiving their followers and destroying lives.  But there are others too, who are well meaning and Christians, and they seek to understand the time that we are living in. 

Many often worry over things and get caught up in conspiracy theories. It wouldn’t surprise me if some of those conspiracy theories are correct.  However, this all reminds me of a clock I once had that said, “Live as though Christ died yesterday, rose today and is coming tomorrow”.

There are some things that are not our authority to know, but we do need to “keep our lamps lit and burning”, and by that I mean, we live our lives ever awake in our faith.  We need to help each other in this.  If we learn anything from this time of “social Isolation”, it should be that we need each other.  It is with each other that we can keep focused.  It is only with each other that we find our place in the world.  What that place will be, can actually depend on how we treat each other.

St. Peter exhorts the early Christians how to live their life, and in particular he is addressing the leaders as he tells them to tend the flock of God.  It is interesting to note that Peter knew well what was meant by tending the flock, because this was his particular charge from Jesus on the fateful occasion when Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved him.  Peter was a born leader and comes across as someone who bounded in loudly expecting all to follow, but this view of leadership is not the picture that he now paints.  Instead he tells the leaders not to lord it over those in their charge, but to be examples of love and humility.

It is tricky being a leader.  I have come across people who don’t respect you as a leader unless you lord it over others.  But guess what?  These are usually people who are either misled or trying to make trouble.  When you treat people with love and care, they will respond.  Jesus did not lord it over people.  He gave all freedom.  Freedom to follow and freedom to walk away.

As a leader in this time of “in-between”, how can we know which way to direct our people?

We do not have the authority to know the times that the father has set but Jesus was given authority to make God known to us.  He was given authority to make known the “Name of God” – in other words, he makes known the son of God – himself.  Jesus is the visible expression of God and he has authority to give eternal life.  When we read the prayer of Jesus we start to understand the heart of God and how he desires his people to live in love and unity.  We know how Jesus led the people and taught them to love…. That love covers sin, that the greatest commandment is to love God and then flowing on from that love we are to also love one another.  These things are how we are to lead – and we in the church should all see ourselves as leaders in our own area of influence.  We all can encourage the priorities of Christ.

 Jesus prayed, “Protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.”

The readings today reveal aspects of our Christian life – what we are to do, and how to behave toward each other, but there is one important aspect that I haven’t yet mentioned.

At this point in our “In-between” story of the early Christians, they were a confused and frightened little group who had not yet experienced the day of Pentecost.  Jesus told them that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit had come upon them and then they would be Jesus’ witnesses throughout the region and to the end of the earth. 

One of my favourite Bible vacation school speakers talked about how the disciples went from pre Pentecost poverty to post Pentecost power.   These Christians had such a close relationship with Jesus and they had learnt so much from him, but a relationship with Jesus and divine knowledge was not enough.

It was God’s plan that the Holy Spirit would come.  Here was a time “In-between”.  

In retrospect, we should realize that this “In-between” time was not a void or a time of nothing.

I was speaking with some people who are Street Chaplains in Cairns, Brisbane and Toowoomba and one mentioned that it is worth reflecting on how we see this time in 2020 with all its restrictions.  Is this a time of interruption or disruption? The implication is that we either are just holding on and waiting until the “Interruption” is over so that we can get back to life as normal, or we see that life should change, adapt and evolve from this point.

It was because the early church was persecuted that the church finally went out to all the world.  In 2020 the church had become very insular and was dwindling.  Then the doors were forced shut.

This time is a divine opportunity.  Now that we can’t hide behind the church doors, will we go out into all the world and become his witnesses?  Will we recognize and present our relevance to our society?  I believe we have this time as an invitation by God to do so….. but will we? 

It is a passion of mine that Australians need to see that our faith is foundational and integral in our society.  We, the church, God’s representatives are vital to the well-being of society.  We have Chaplains in our defence force, Chaplains in our police force, yet people question whether we should have Chaplains in a State School.  YES we should.   Should we be teaching RE in schools  - yes we should.  Do we not realize that our faith and history are entwined and even if for this reason alone, RE should be taught. 

But know this – Our place in society is valid, and should be seen as integral because we LOVE.  We love with a love that conveys the supernatural love of God.

Jesus has prayed that we may be one, just as He and the Father are one.  Our being witnesses to the end of the world means that we are witnesses of the Good News of God’s love.  And in God’s love there is complete freedom – including the freedom to walk away.

The power we receive from the Holy Spirit is the power to be God’s witnesses.  To be an effective witness we cannot rely on our own strength because it will fail and fall.

I think we had forgotten who we are as church, and what our purpose should be.  It could well be that this “In-between” time is an anointed and holy time of waiting, unifying with other Christians to become one.  Let us truly invest in this God-given time.  Exciting times are to come as the Holy Spirit does a whole new thing….  We pray that we see the open doors and we stop hiding in the shadows of stained glass window.  We pray that the Holy Spirit empowers us to be witnesses in our city, our region and to the ends of the earth.

Resurrection Sunday - Happy Easter :-)

RESURRECTION SUNDAY  2020

My favourite service, for many years, was the Easter Vigil.  Usually this would take place on the Easter Saturday, but the traditional idea of a vigil, is that it keeps going until the sun comes up.  The symbolic idea is that we are going from darkness and death to glorious light and resurrection. 

The sacred readings for this service tie together two stories.  The story of the Israelites escape from Egypt with the passing over of the angel of death and the salvation of the nation through the parting of the sea, is the first story.  The 2^nd story is, of course the story of the empty tomb and the discovery that Jesus had risen from the dead.

Both these stories are from the past, but they have a relevance for the future for all of us.  The egg that has become symbolic of this time is a bit of a mystery to most, possibly an important one, which I will explain a little later……

 

If you have been following my reflections you would already know a fair bit of the story we title the Exodus.  You would already know that the many plagues that were supernaturally sent, didn’t convince Pharaoh to let the people go.  So the ultimate plague, the death of the first born, was enacted.  The Israelites then set out.  They were no small group.  There were about six hundred thousand men.  The women, children and livestock were not counted but this was a huge number of people.  I imagine that they were rather slow moving and difficult…..  no mobile phones for communication either, but it seems that they had effective means for keeping all together and all was good until they reached the sea and discovered that Pharaoh had again changed his mind and sent the solders after the slave nation. 

You can imagine the distress and why some cried out, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us out here?”  Moses must have had very broad shoulders to take all the criticism.   The people fluctuated between wanting to follow Moses and then not trusting him and then probably calling him all the derogatory names that our society also calls our leaders.  It is nothing new really – especially when people are hard pressed, stressed and frightened.  (Yep – our leaders really, really do need our prayers and people to support them).

In a tiny way, at this time of isolation due to the Carona virus, we might understand the plight of the people.   Back in Egypt things were no good – but here they were in a place where they could see no escape and no future.  Many who have lost jobs at this time can not see their future either and that is possibly the hardest part.  However, our Israelites felt that they were most likely facing death – sooner rather than later.

I remember someone telling me about Moses’ position as he stood there in that moment; Sea in front, Egyptian army behind – God… your move…..

Moses knew that God was directing him every step of the way, but just like the others, Moses too was frightened at times.  It was a reassurance that God’s presence, a cloud of fire had moved between the Israelites and the Egyptians, but it certainly was an anxious time.  God’s instruction was to move forward into the sea.  But wait – you know the saying, “if it’s flooded, forget it”?  Well, this was way beyond that.  However, as Moses held out his hands over the sea, God made a wind to create a path of dry land in the middle of the sea, creating a pathway to the other side. 

I can imagine that the noise of the wind, the wall of raging sea and the frightened people would have been intense.  The deliverance was dramatic and frightening, but it also was sure and one more important aspect – It was what God did.

As far as those Israelites being able to save themselves, they were as good as dead.  The frightening reality is that the arrows of the army following could have reached them and the sea could have drowned them and then they had to trust God completely that the sea would not come back on them at any second and drown them.   After all, this was a nation…. Not a few righteous people, but a whole nation of the good, the bad and the ugly in all kinds of ways.

 A common reason that people give for not coming to church…. I’m not a holy person – I’m not religious – I don’t understand this God stuff….etc….   I actually believe that while most say this, the deeper truth is that they don’t want to confront the truth.  The truth that God can save them, but their fear that he will reject them.  They have painful experiences of unanswered prayers and therefore, a sense that God, if he exists, has rejected them.

A whole nation was saved by God.  The good, the bad and the ugly.   Some were faithful.  Some had enough faith to hope in Moses and the faith of others.  Some simply knew the stories of God’s interactions with their ancestors.  Some just wanted to be free and didn’t think much about God at all, although grateful that the blood of the lamb had saved their family from loss so far.

I imagine that as the sea came together again, separating the Israelites from the Egyptians, there must have been a mighty roar of relief and celebration at being so definitely delivered.

God saved his people.  They were free now and he had delivered them and by this act, even those who knew themselves to be the bad or the ugly, knew that they were not rejected, not abandoned or forsaken by God – but chosen as part of this holy nation.  They were, at that point in time, a redeemed nation because God had chosen them, and was giving them a fresh start….but it didn’t end there. 

These people had been brought from death to life.

Jesus had been crucified, laid in a tomb, and now our Gospel reading tells us that he had risen.  The two Marys came to the tomb in sorrow, but then an Angel appeared to announce Jesus had risen and then the ladies saw Jesus! 

Jesus had been brought from death to life.

These two stories are tied together to help us understand that Jesus’ resurrection is connected to all his people – The good, the bad and the ugly.

All are offered his gift of life.

People often get stuck on whether these are literal things that happened…. Can we believe the stories?  In the short time I’m here talking to you I can honestly say that I believe these are true, factual events.  My belief is not unfounded blind faith….  I actually have reasons for my belief and I understand if you need to know more, but don’t simply disregard the story of faith because you have doubt.  This story is too important – It is the difference of staying between slavery and death, or life and life eternal.

This year I decided to celebrate a Seder Meal on Holy Thursday (similar to the Jewish Passover remembrance meal).  In this meal there is an egg.  The egg is a symbol of mourning, but also a symbol of hope.  Hope for the Jewish people was the promise that God gave to bring them to the Promised Land. 

As Christians we mourn that life does not always reflect the life of God.  We mourn that there is sickness and sin and at this time we grieve that we can’t even reach out with the usual hugs to comfort our friends.  We mourn that Christ suffered undeserved rejection, crucifixion and death, but we rejoice in his resurrection because, not only is this a great story that Jesus is the Messiah, proved to be true in all that he claimed about himself, but there is a promise of life for us too.  There is hope in the promises of God.

Our Romans letter tells us that we who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead, so we too might walk in newness of life. 

We are all, the good, the bad and the ugly, all offered this life of God and love. 

So, our Pascal Egg is to remind us that sad things have happened.  The history of the world is one of great sin and injustices in every generation, but through Christ’s sacrifice there is hope.  There is a vision for a better way and a life that is abundant and eternal.  An egg is literally about new life and the life that is offered us through the resurrection on that wonderful morning.  Will we accept this gift of life?

Good Friday Reflection......

GOOD FRIDAY 2020 adapted

Jesus said, “It is finished!” 

Today is a day most holy.  But as we acknowledge this day, from the isolation of our homes, it has become sadly very clear to me that this day is irrelevant to so many.

The church doors have shut, and I’m wondering if the church bells are all broken and if this is this the day the music died?  Obviously not.   Imagine all the people living for today…. Someone recorded a version of this song – imagine as an encouragement to the world in isolation, reeling from the Coronavirus pandemic.  Imagine no religion, is what the song says….  Do people really know what they want?  Nothing to live or die for… above us only sky.  I’m sorry – but to me that is not a song of comfort or encouragement.

Let me tell you about where there is encouragement and where there is relevance:  I’m feeling so alone this day.  I feel like no one understands or has the perspective that I do.  Jesus was not understood.  Jesus was betrayed by a close friend – by one he loved, and whose feet he still washed, all the while knowing of the betrayal.  Jesus went to his death abandoned by his followers and denied by his best and most vocally loyal friend.

But don’t think that this is the relevance to your life part…. This is only the very tip of the ice-berg and my attempt to enable us all to realize that any horrible feeling that we have felt, Jesus too experience this.

Jesus knew that he was preaching the truth and he knew that he had a message that would bring life and goodness.  He knew he was the Messiah, the son of God and in fact he was the way, the truth and the life.  But today we remember that this mad crazy world said “NO”.    This world turned against him, mostly out of jealousy –it was Jealousy from the religious leaders – and it seemed that the crowds didn’t want to hear the truth.

A famous line from Jesus trial before Pontius Pilate is where Pontius Pilate says, “What is truth?”.  It was a rhetorical question, never meaning to be answered, but we need it today.   What is truth?

The first truth we need to deal with is about the existence of Jesus.  Is he or was he real? 

Even non-Christian historians have written about this Jesus, who we know as the son of God, and they wrote that he performed wonders and that he was crucified.  Jesus did really and truly exist and is accepted by scholars as being an historical figure.  Because of him our system of counting the years came to be marked by the year of his birth…. Any sensible person must ask why the life and death of Jesus was so significant, and it would be highly improbable that all this could have come to be if Jesus was merely a myth.

Taking Jesus seriously then, what was his message and why is it considered Good News and why is this horrid day called Good Friday?

Just before Jesus died on the cross he cried out, “It is finished”.  But what did he mean by that?

It all began back in the book of Genesis at the beginning of time when sin entered the world and mankind were cast out from God’s presence. 

These days it isn’t considered “nice” or politically correct to talk about sin.  And people become quite defensive and uncomfortable if we suggest that they might sometimes sin, yet sin is simply anything that falls short of perfection, and in fact the Bible tells us that anything that is not of faith is sin…. Yet we all have times where we lack faith.  In Archery anything other than a bullseye is considered sin.  In fact, we can-not not sin…. It has become part of our DNA.

Unfortunately, sin separates us from God.  Now that is the bad news…. But it is a fact. 

God created us to be in relationship with him and he planned a way to bring us back into relationship with him.  The Bible tells us that justice must be served and there is a price for sin, and the price was death.  And this is not good news!

In the history of the Israelites, when they were a slave nation in Egypt, God sent many plagues on the Egyptians to convince Pharaoh of His reality and to convince Pharaoh to let the nation go free.

Finally, after Pharaoh continuing in his rebellion against God, God sent the ultimate plague of death but to save the people he command that a lamb be sacrificed and the blood painted on the door ways, while the Angel of death passed through the land of Egypt where the Israelites were living as slaves.  The Angel would pass over the houses with the blood of the lamb, and the firstborn of the family was saved by the blood of the lamb. 

All through history God showed his loved, and forged ways so that his people could be in relationship with him…. And yet they were not to take him for granted.  Make no mistake, God is holy, powerful and awesome.  His temple contained areas that were segregated such that one area was only for the high priest and even that was only under very strict guidelines involving animal sacrifice and with a rope attached in case the power of God overwhelmed them and they died, they could then be pulled out.  Sounds frightening… and though it was a way for the people to be relationship with God, still not the greatest of news.

However, our reading from Hebrews tells us that Christ offered one sacrifice for sins, an offering that is effective forever.  This is what he accomplished on Good Friday.  And he said, ……“It is finished.”

Another scripture written hundreds of years before Christ, from Isaiah chapter 53, tells us that Christ bore our sins.  His punishment made us whole

53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 

It also says… The righteous one, my servant, shall make many righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities….. he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”  This prophetically tells us about Jesus and what he was accomplishing for us.

This is beyond what we can comprehend, but Jesus actually was baptized into all our sin… past, present and future and paid the price for us all.  Although our physical DNA has a natural inclination to sin, when we are baptized into Christ, it is as though we receive the Spiritual DNA of Christ, who has already paid the price for sin and is perfect.

Hebrews tells us that with one sacrifice, he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.   What this actually means is that we now have the privilege that was once only for select few who’d prepared themselves through sacrifice and rituals.  We can now enter the holy of holies… the place where God is.   In one very natural sense we are still being made holy, but in another, we are already perfect as we only come to God through the sacrifice of Jesus, and when clothed in Christ, we are acceptable to God.

C. S. Lewis wrote the Chronicles of Narnia, fictitious children’s stories, but full of Christian imagery.  In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, there is a scene where the Lion lies dead on the stone table, then as the dawn breaks there is a loud crack as the stone table breaks in two and the lion is resurrected.  He explains that there is a deep magic in Narnia that requires a traitor’s life to be forfeited to the white witch.  But then he explains that there is an even deeper magic that when a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor's stead, the Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards.

At the beginning of time God had a plan to save us in this way as the letter from 1 Peter 1:18-20 tells us, “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.  He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake.”

Finally it was accomplished.  So many of the things that happened in Jesus journey to crucifixion were written about in scripture hundreds of years before hand.  From the accounts in the Gospels we know that Jesus knew the sacrifice he willingly made, but that doesn’t mean it was easy.

Have you ever been accused of things you haven’t done?  It doesn’t feel good.  Do you remember a time when someone sat down with a needle to work a prickle out of your finger?  That wasn’t fun either.  Sometimes the knowledge of the pain to come makes it even harder to bear.  Jesus knew of the physical pain that was ahead and he was scared.  He knew that he was to be mocked for claiming to be God’s son, as if he was a fraud, but he knew that he was truly the son of God. 

All these things are horrible, but we can imagine what it may have felt like.  What we can’t imagine is what it was like to carry the sin of the world to the cross.  We know that Jesus was scared.  Yet willingly, Jesus continued to fulfil his destiny.  Why? Why would he bother?   Has he seen us, for whom he died?  John Newton was a ruthless and cruel slave trader.  When he came to understand the message of the Gospel he wrote;  “Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.”  For all of us, even that person that you find completely ruthless and horrid, Jesus died.  Jesus paid the debt of sin for all.  And this sacrifice was done once and for all.  It is now finished.

Imagine being found guilty of a crime and then discovering that the jail term has already been served by someone else.  The judge bangs the gavel and says, “Dismissed… you are free…”

There are times when we think we are not acceptable to God.  There are times when we think we need to work at something to become acceptable to God.  Nothing but the truth is needed…. And that truth is that the debt has been paid. 

GOOD NEWS !  Finally!  We know the bad news about how we all sin and sin separates us from God, and now we know that the Good News and reason that this is Good Friday is because Jesus paid that debt for us and we are free.

I once heard an international Bible speaker say, “Christ didn’t come to die for your sins”.  And I thought he was speaking heresy.  Surely that is what Good Friday is truly about, Christ achieved his destiny by dying for the sins of the world…. But the speaker went on to explain something which I’ve come to see as vitally important…. Christ’s objective was to bring us LIFE.  However, to bring us life, our debt for sin needed to be paid.  God showers us with love and mercy and grace beyond our comprehension, and we can rejoice in the freedom and live an abundant life that starts now and goes into eternity.  But the Life that God brings us was not possible without the cross.

Good Friday is a MOST holy and important day, but we are NOT meant to stay here focusing on our sin.  As Jesus declared on the cross; “It is finished”.  Even sin in our future, is already paid for… nothing can separate us from the love of God…nothing….   Nothing, that is,  but our free will to live in denial, rebellion and ignorance of the truth…

Do we comprehend the grace of God?  Psalm 103:10 “He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.”  Have you ever felt that things weren’t working out for you and you figured that maybe it was God punishing you… ?    I do this all the time but it is wrong! God does not do this- the cross took that away.  Jesus took that punishment.  

The cross was vital, and the powers and principalities operating meant it to be death and destruction.   But that death was only part one of the story.  Our debts are all paid.  We are loved and we are free.  Resurrection is coming….

 If we do not accept the gift of freedom and actually live the life that Jesus came to bring us, then Jesus’ sacrifice was in vain.  Let us this day, determine to step into that way of abundant God given life.  Let us determine to also set free the captives who have not understood the grace of God…. Let go and forgive them, just as Christ has forgiven us… set them free and live free and rejoicing in the knowledge of the abundant love of God.   He loves you so much and says, YOU are WORTH DYING for!