On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me, three French Hens…
Apparently French Hens were expensive and their symbolism was potentially for three different things; the gifts offered by the three wise men, or the virtues; faith, hope and charity or the three persons of the trinity.
The feast day for the 3rd day of Christmas is that of Saint John who is said to be the apostle of Charity. So this fits nicely with our song symbol of faith, hope and charity.
We find these three virtues on charms. You may have seen them, they are symbolized by the cross for faith, hope is the anchor and charity is a heart. Charity is often translated as love.
The reason for faith being symbolized by the cross is the reason that many people wear a cross. The cross is central to our message about the Good News of Jesus Christ and it portrays faith in a God who gave himself sacrificially for us. This key concept sets Christians apart from any other religion.
The reason for an Anchor to symbolize hope is this verse from Hebrews 6:19, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. …...”
In the context of the passage we find that this is not the kind of hope where we might say, “I hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow.” No, this hope is being certain of things to come such, “I hope to see the sun rise tomorrow.” The only condition for this would be me getting out of bed, but the sun rising is a certainty.
Love or charity is symbolized by a heart for reasons that are very obvious. The Greek word that has been translated either as Charity or Love is the word Agape. This kind of love is the love of God. It is a kind of love that is full of grace (undeserved favour) and it is therefore charitable and sacrificial.
These three virtues together are spoken of in 1 Corinthians 13:13 “"Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love".
Let’s put these into context and look the prior 12 verses:
1Corinthians 13 – “If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
You might remember yesterday on day two, that I wrote about our religious activities and that what we do or don’t do is not enough. Here we see clearly that all kinds of religious and good deeds are potentially just as empty as a clanging cymbal; a lot of drama, but without substance. But let me add; these activities, if done because of the love of God moving us on, are exactly what we are called to.
It is Saint John, the saint of Charity/ love, who gives us the most theological account of the Gospel. While the other synoptic Gospels tell the story and give us glimpses of the bigger picture revealing the person of Jesus it is John who really defines the nature of Jesus. And it begins right away with the first words;
John 1:1-10 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.
The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him.”
Let’s just check this against our 3rd article of faith from our creed:
Light of Light, True God of True God, Begotten, not made; of one essence with the Father, by whom all things were made:
It is from the Gospel of John that it is declared that the “Word” was there in the beginning. So we know that Jesus was there with God at the beginning of creation. He was known then as “the Word of God” and when God spoke, that was him.
It is from the Gospel of John that we know that Jesus is more than just a man who somehow became the son of God because John tells us that the Word WAS God and that the word became flesh. John tells us that the life of Jesus is the light of all mankind and that he is the true light that would give light to everyone.
To deny the deity of Jesus is to completely ignore the Gospels and the fact that this is why the Pharisees crucified Jesus, but you would also have to completely ignore or disregard the Gospel of John.
Do we understand what the message of the Gospel is? Do we know why it is Good News?
God himself became flesh so that he could bring us into an unconditional relationship with himself. It is a love relationship and love and care is central to this Gospel.
If ever you hear something preached that doesn’t sound like Good News you can be sure it is either heresy or only part of the text taken out of context… leaving you with a con.
Without love and understanding that God is love, one will most certainly misinterpret the Gospel. It matters not how intelligent you are, or theologically correct about every jot and tittle of the Bible, without love you’ve missed the message.
Friday, December 26, 2014
Thursday, December 25, 2014
On the 2nd day of Christmas....
On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me, two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree.
It is the 26th of December and the day after our Christmas festivities. Some will be at boxing day sales and others avoiding them and heading out to the beach (here in Australia), or movies or some other place of repose.
In times gone by this day was another Holy day; the feast of Saint Stephen.
“Good king Wenceslas looked out on the feast of Stephen...” Do you know the song? It is a Christmas carol that has nothing about jingle bells and Santa, or even the holy nativity, but it tells the story of a Good Christian King who noticed a poor man and he wanted to give a fine and hearty feast for the poor man.
On the travels the king’s servant became too cold to go on and the Good King tells him to walk in his footsteps where the heat radiated and kept him warm. The song concludes that "Therefore, Christian men, be sure- Wealth or rank possessing-Ye who now will bless the poor - Shall yourselves find blessing”
In my little part of the world today I have heard from people who were alone on Christmas day. They were not homeless people. There is a “drop in” centre here for the homeless over the Christmas period. These people, of whom I speak, are those who I would describe as the Christmas orphans. It isn’t that they don’t have family, but just that on Christmas day when everyone is with family, for one reason or another, these people are on their own and it hurts.
Where is true Christianity in this? If true Christianity is alive and thriving, every Christmas orphan would have a place of love and belonging on Christmas day, because they’d be adopted into the homes of Church family and friends.
I find it interesting that a song about Christian care, compassion and hospitality is written about an event that took place also on the day of Saint Stephen. Perhaps the composer had this same realization on this same day, that there was a need to encourage all Christians to take Christs message of care, compassion and love seriously. And how does this tie into the feast of Saint Stephen?
Saint Stephen was that young man among the believers, who was first to step out and take the message of the Good News seriously. We find his story in the book of Acts:
Acts 6:8-15 “Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.
Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”
So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”
All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.”
What we gather from this is that Stephen was traveling and where ever he travelled he was being a witness to the message of the Gospel. The first description of Stephen shows us that he was primarily known for being full of grace. We find that he also performed signs and wonders among the people, which I’m guessing means that he prayed for people, and with people, and things happened. He had a message about the Good News of Jesus Christ, but his words were not empty. He was a genuine person who firstly cared for people- Full of grace. What does it mean – Grace? Grace means undeserved favour. How would a person be, if they were described as being full of Grace?
The lyrics of the song Good King Wenceslas, has a part where the king tells the servant to walk in his footsteps to keep warm. It is sung as a literal story, but it makes a lot of sense if we look at it figuratively as walking in the footsteps of Christ.
““Mark my footsteps, my good page - Tread thou in them boldly - Thou shalt find the winter's rage - Freeze thy blood less coldly." In his master's steps he trod - Where the snow lay dinted - Heat was in the very sod - Which the Saint had printed”
Saint Stephen was taken before the Sanhedrin and put on trial for his faith. If we were on trial for being Christian would there be enough evidence to convict us? Believing in God does not make you a Christian, because even Satan believes in God.
On the Second day of Christmas my true love gave to me; two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree.
We have talked about the partridge already, which is the gift of Christ that we celebrate on Christmas day, but in the two turtle doves we also have the two testaments… the Old Testament and the New Testament. These are gifts and these gifts are what St. Stephen used to give testimony. He explained the message of God from the Old Testament and explained them and the Good News through the revelation of Jesus.
Truly, when it comes to these two testaments, the New is in the Old contained and the Old is in the New explained. You can have the New Testament and read it and get it wrong. You can be faithful to the Old Testament and completely miss the point. And you can have both and still miss the reality. But don’t ever think that they contradict or portray a different God, as I’ve heard others suggest, because they do not. But we must read it thoroughly to realize.
Saint Stephan was explaining the Old Testament to Old Testament experts but explaining it in the revelation that comes from Jesus. They took offence.
Acts 7: 51-60 ““You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”
When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.
While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.”
Stephan accuses the Sanhedrin of always resisting the Holy Spirit, killing the prophets and killing the Messiah. He was, in short, accusing them of being God’s own enemies! This is incredibly shocking because these people considered themselves to be the faithful people of God. Paul, then known as Saul, was among these.
How many of us who are in the church, believing ourselves to be the faithful people of God, are actually the enemy of God? We would do well to think about this and ask God to shine His search light in our hearts and reveal His vision.
What we believe, as Christians, is that Jesus was there at the beginning of time. When God created the world and he spoke life into our world, Jesus was there. He was not known as Jesus, but as the Word of the Lord. This is why John begins his Gospel with the explanation about the Word becoming flesh. This understanding about Jesus, this revelation, is what the early church was proclaiming. But it seemed like blasphemy to those who only understood religion in terms of a list of dos and don’ts.
Is our comfort in the things we do? Do we placate ourselves with thinking that we are good Christians because we are kind and good and believe in God? It’s not enough.
Is our comfort in the things we don’t do? Do we not commit murder and fraud and so consider ourselves to be good enough to be a good Christian?
The Gospel is both a challenge and a comfort. It is a challenge because everything you might have ever thought about how to be acceptable to God is simply rubbish if you think that it depends on anything you do or don’t do.
The Gospel is a comfort because if you have come to the realization that you simply are not good enough in your human efforts to attain God’s standard, you are offered the free gift of Jesus Sacrifice. This is the ONLY way to the father.
St. Stephan did not fear his death. He had a vision of God and he knew that he was walking in the footsteps of his God. In those footsteps he received the warmth needed to bear life’s cruel and bitter cold.
Our challenge for the second day of Christmas is to know that the message of the Gospel was there at the book of Genesis. We acknowledge that we can’t obtain heaven by our religious observances alone, but in response to acknowledging the gift of Jesus we, if we are fair dinkum, walk in our saviour’s footsteps, in love and mercy and sacrifice.
Our saviour knew the scriptures. We need to know them too- both Old and New testaments. In both these, when read with the personal submission to our saviour, who is author and perfector of our faith, we will discover the love and mercy of God and the call to proclaim the Good News and in doing so, sometimes even use words.
It is the 26th of December and the day after our Christmas festivities. Some will be at boxing day sales and others avoiding them and heading out to the beach (here in Australia), or movies or some other place of repose.
In times gone by this day was another Holy day; the feast of Saint Stephen.
“Good king Wenceslas looked out on the feast of Stephen...” Do you know the song? It is a Christmas carol that has nothing about jingle bells and Santa, or even the holy nativity, but it tells the story of a Good Christian King who noticed a poor man and he wanted to give a fine and hearty feast for the poor man.
On the travels the king’s servant became too cold to go on and the Good King tells him to walk in his footsteps where the heat radiated and kept him warm. The song concludes that "Therefore, Christian men, be sure- Wealth or rank possessing-Ye who now will bless the poor - Shall yourselves find blessing”
In my little part of the world today I have heard from people who were alone on Christmas day. They were not homeless people. There is a “drop in” centre here for the homeless over the Christmas period. These people, of whom I speak, are those who I would describe as the Christmas orphans. It isn’t that they don’t have family, but just that on Christmas day when everyone is with family, for one reason or another, these people are on their own and it hurts.
Where is true Christianity in this? If true Christianity is alive and thriving, every Christmas orphan would have a place of love and belonging on Christmas day, because they’d be adopted into the homes of Church family and friends.
I find it interesting that a song about Christian care, compassion and hospitality is written about an event that took place also on the day of Saint Stephen. Perhaps the composer had this same realization on this same day, that there was a need to encourage all Christians to take Christs message of care, compassion and love seriously. And how does this tie into the feast of Saint Stephen?
Saint Stephen was that young man among the believers, who was first to step out and take the message of the Good News seriously. We find his story in the book of Acts:
Acts 6:8-15 “Now Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, performed great wonders and signs among the people. Opposition arose, however, from members of the Synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called)—Jews of Cyrene and Alexandria as well as the provinces of Cilicia and Asia—who began to argue with Stephen. But they could not stand up against the wisdom the Spirit gave him as he spoke.
Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.”
So they stirred up the people and the elders and the teachers of the law. They seized Stephen and brought him before the Sanhedrin. They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”
All who were sitting in the Sanhedrin looked intently at Stephen, and they saw that his face was like the face of an angel.”
What we gather from this is that Stephen was traveling and where ever he travelled he was being a witness to the message of the Gospel. The first description of Stephen shows us that he was primarily known for being full of grace. We find that he also performed signs and wonders among the people, which I’m guessing means that he prayed for people, and with people, and things happened. He had a message about the Good News of Jesus Christ, but his words were not empty. He was a genuine person who firstly cared for people- Full of grace. What does it mean – Grace? Grace means undeserved favour. How would a person be, if they were described as being full of Grace?
The lyrics of the song Good King Wenceslas, has a part where the king tells the servant to walk in his footsteps to keep warm. It is sung as a literal story, but it makes a lot of sense if we look at it figuratively as walking in the footsteps of Christ.
““Mark my footsteps, my good page - Tread thou in them boldly - Thou shalt find the winter's rage - Freeze thy blood less coldly." In his master's steps he trod - Where the snow lay dinted - Heat was in the very sod - Which the Saint had printed”
Saint Stephen was taken before the Sanhedrin and put on trial for his faith. If we were on trial for being Christian would there be enough evidence to convict us? Believing in God does not make you a Christian, because even Satan believes in God.
On the Second day of Christmas my true love gave to me; two turtle doves and a partridge in a pear tree.
We have talked about the partridge already, which is the gift of Christ that we celebrate on Christmas day, but in the two turtle doves we also have the two testaments… the Old Testament and the New Testament. These are gifts and these gifts are what St. Stephen used to give testimony. He explained the message of God from the Old Testament and explained them and the Good News through the revelation of Jesus.
Truly, when it comes to these two testaments, the New is in the Old contained and the Old is in the New explained. You can have the New Testament and read it and get it wrong. You can be faithful to the Old Testament and completely miss the point. And you can have both and still miss the reality. But don’t ever think that they contradict or portray a different God, as I’ve heard others suggest, because they do not. But we must read it thoroughly to realize.
Saint Stephan was explaining the Old Testament to Old Testament experts but explaining it in the revelation that comes from Jesus. They took offence.
Acts 7: 51-60 ““You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him— you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”
When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.
While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.”
Stephan accuses the Sanhedrin of always resisting the Holy Spirit, killing the prophets and killing the Messiah. He was, in short, accusing them of being God’s own enemies! This is incredibly shocking because these people considered themselves to be the faithful people of God. Paul, then known as Saul, was among these.
How many of us who are in the church, believing ourselves to be the faithful people of God, are actually the enemy of God? We would do well to think about this and ask God to shine His search light in our hearts and reveal His vision.
What we believe, as Christians, is that Jesus was there at the beginning of time. When God created the world and he spoke life into our world, Jesus was there. He was not known as Jesus, but as the Word of the Lord. This is why John begins his Gospel with the explanation about the Word becoming flesh. This understanding about Jesus, this revelation, is what the early church was proclaiming. But it seemed like blasphemy to those who only understood religion in terms of a list of dos and don’ts.
Is our comfort in the things we do? Do we placate ourselves with thinking that we are good Christians because we are kind and good and believe in God? It’s not enough.
Is our comfort in the things we don’t do? Do we not commit murder and fraud and so consider ourselves to be good enough to be a good Christian?
The Gospel is both a challenge and a comfort. It is a challenge because everything you might have ever thought about how to be acceptable to God is simply rubbish if you think that it depends on anything you do or don’t do.
The Gospel is a comfort because if you have come to the realization that you simply are not good enough in your human efforts to attain God’s standard, you are offered the free gift of Jesus Sacrifice. This is the ONLY way to the father.
St. Stephan did not fear his death. He had a vision of God and he knew that he was walking in the footsteps of his God. In those footsteps he received the warmth needed to bear life’s cruel and bitter cold.
Our challenge for the second day of Christmas is to know that the message of the Gospel was there at the book of Genesis. We acknowledge that we can’t obtain heaven by our religious observances alone, but in response to acknowledging the gift of Jesus we, if we are fair dinkum, walk in our saviour’s footsteps, in love and mercy and sacrifice.
Our saviour knew the scriptures. We need to know them too- both Old and New testaments. In both these, when read with the personal submission to our saviour, who is author and perfector of our faith, we will discover the love and mercy of God and the call to proclaim the Good News and in doing so, sometimes even use words.
Tuesday, December 23, 2014
On the first day of Christmas...
On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me…. A Partridge in a pear tree!
There is some debate about the Christmas song, The Twelve days of Christmas, as to whether it is simply a fun and nonsensical song or a Carol that has secret meaning, sung by those who lived in areas where Christianity was not accepted.
If the latter is the true, then it is said that my true love is a reference to God, and on that first day of Christmas his gift is the word made flesh – Jesus Christ. The portrayal of Jesus is like that of a partridge which will appear injured to protect its offspring.
Whether or not we accept this meaning in the song, the song itself tells us of a tradition from an earlier church time where there were twelve days of celebrating the “Christ’s Mass” and the first day being the 25th of December - a celebration of the word made flesh… the incarnation. An amazing and mind-blowing miracle!
I think it would be great to be able to spend 12 days concentrating on what it was that happened to our world each day looking at some aspect of God’s interaction with us.
If we’ve been to church the last few weeks we come to this first day of Christmas already aware of and following the journey of Mary and Joseph. They both had their interaction with God’s Angel a little earlier in the story and both needed to respond positively in order for things to be.
In our own way, we need to come to this same point with Mary and Joseph in order to experience our own first day of Christmas. First we need to have dealt with those same issues. Mary’s story was the more difficult. She had to say yes to God’s will in her life, even though it would mean rumours and rejection and the possibility of being stoned as an adulterer. She trusted God’s plan was not for that to eventuate, but still nothing could proceed without her will being in line with God’s. Are we willing to be counted as a Christian though it may mean the scoffing of peers?
God gave us free will, and he won’t override that gift, but he asks us to make him the Lord of our lives. He asks us to freely say, “Yes” to him, admitting that we need His guidance. God cannot be “born” in us unless we give him the permission to do so.
Joseph had to trust God’s working in Mary. Joseph had to acknowledge that God had chosen to work through this person to whom he was engaged. Joseph had to say, “yes” to God also, though his role would be different. Joseph’s role is very interesting if we relate it back to our own experience. His was a support role in a world where it was generally accepted that Mary’s role was to support him… I’m sure that in instances of true love that the support is always mutual and we note glimpses of this in the relationship of Abraham and Sarah, but this is one record where it certainly focuses on the upside down nature of leadership that Jesus promoted. Are we willing to serve and support our fellow Christians who are also called by God for His purpose?
What really happened that Christmas night? What do people really think?
There has always been a tension between the God aspect and the humanity of Christ. Was he really just human and then became someone who really answered God’s call? Or was he always God and never really experienced the ugly side of humanity?
Human minds find it hard to settle this issue and even Jesus human family struggled, as we read in Mark 3:21, “When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."”
I love imaginative, fantastical movies. I find that we can learn so much about so many things when we use our imagination to create safe places to explain and explore some very difficult topics.
One of the best examples that I know of, to explain Jesus being fully human and fully God, is found in the movie, Superman 2. In this movie the love between Lois Lane and Superman is acknowledged and so Superman gives up his power for love of her.
Almost immediately there is some conflict and superman is hurt. His love for Lois is greater though and he accepts that he will now feel pain and all those fragilities common to humans. As the show goes on it becomes apparent that superman has to sacrifice his own personal desire for a comfortable life with Lois and go back to being Superman - for her good, and the good of all humanity. So he takes back his power once again, but with great heart ache. Those who he saves would never really know the full extent of his sacrifice.
In the song, The twelve days of Christmas, the twelve drummers drumming refers to the 12 articles of faith listed in the apostles creed. These beliefs served to formalise the Christian faith and safeguard against heresy.
It begins with “I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible:”
We easily acknowledge the humanity of Jesus. He is a person of history… recorded in sources that are not Christian… he really existed. But the reason we have a faith called Christianity is because we believe that he is more than just human.
Some people do believe that he was a great man who did wonderful things and was inspired by God, but not God, but did you know that this is simply not logical?
Jesus was finally crucified because of blasphemy. That is, he declared himself to be God. If he was a good man and only a man, why would he declare this about himself? People who do these kinds of things are usually evil or crazy. We have already established that Jesus did many good things so evil doesn’t fit the bill.
Crazy? Well, we know that his family thought so at one point in time. But then we look at what happened later… those closest to him, including some of his family, were prepared to suffer and be put to death for what they considered to be the truth. If he was crazy or if they still thought him to be crazy this simply would not happen.
How many years later… approximately 2014, we are still celebrating that God came to live as one of us… Emmanuel – it means , “God with us”. It is the name given by one of the Angels, saying that Jesus would be called this…. He is God with us.
And yet…. God is one. I believe in one God, the Father Almighty. Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible….
If we believe in one God how is it that Jesus prays to his father. I actually only have a very simplistic answer. God is God and is beyond our understanding. For a short, powerful and amazing time in history, somehow God was clearly seen as different identities.
Once again I turn to imagination to explain. There was an advertisement for chocolate where a golden clad goddess couldn’t make up her mind which chocolate to choose so she separated into three identical forms of herself… each one choosing a different flavour.
At Christmas we celebrate the birth of a baby… we call him Jesus, but who is Jesus for you?
Our society is currently experiencing some anxiety over the numbers of Muslims which seem to be taking over our world like a spreading dark storm cloud. If we truly proclaimed the truth of the Gospel, I believe there would be so many more Christians, because Christianity is such good news….. What other religion acknowledges that we cannot obtain the standard of perfection and so their God comes down to be the sacrifice for them? NONE… Only Christianity!
The reality is that we don’t really know or proclaim the fabulous Good News that we have in Jesus Christ. Our faith is diminishing because we have taken it for granted for so long and so people have become ignorant of the amazing message of hope and truth that this holds for all.
We can wish for Joy and peace and love eternally this Christmas, but love and joy and peace are there already…. What we need is our eyes opened to see.
To truly celebrate Christmas we need to become part of the Christmas story… Say, “yes” to God’s will in our lives and stand up for our faith, supporting, guarding and protecting it like Joseph and proclaiming the Good News like the Angels did.
Friday, November 14, 2014
A LIFE UNCOMMON reflection for Sunday 16th November 2014
Year A Proper 28 16 November 2014
Judges 4: 1-7 Psalm 123 1 Thessalonians 5: 1-11 Matthew 25: 14-30
A LIFE UNCOMMON
Have you seen the tinsel? Already the stores are getting ready for Christmas, and although the church calendar has not yet reached the season of Advent, there is a definite sense of something about to happen in our readings this weekend.
Our Gospel reading is the parable of the talents. A man goes off on a journey and leaves certain amounts of money in the hands of his servants. A first servant turns five bags of gold into ten. The second servant turn two bags of Gold into four, but a third servant just hides the money away for safe keeping.
1) A message for ministers and those in charge of church communities or groups:
Who are the people that make up your church community? These people are our bags of Gold. Do you have a large or small congregation? It doesn’t matter. These people have the ability to double, but it is up to you to encourage them, to deal with them in a way that they desire to ask their friends and family to join them.
Many churches try to encourage their member to ask friends and family to come to church…. WRONG! This way you may get some extra people for a while but if you want to make a real difference then you need to inspire your congregation in such a way that they spontaneously ask others to join them. I hear you laughing, and I know that I’m not in your shoes, but I really believe that this is what Jesus is challenging in this Gospel reading.
Do you have a small aging congregation? You can keep them safe. You can nurture them and make them comfortable. You can shield them from the evils of the outside world and feel that you are doing a good job at pastoring, but this is the equivalent of the servant who kept the one bag of gold hidden safely away and safely returned it to it’s master…. What did the master say to this servant?
Matthew 25:26- ““His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
“‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”
It is a seemingly harsh reward for keeping the money safe. But Jesus is not talking about Gold. He is talking about people and our great commission to go and make disciple of all people.
2) A message for those who are ministers and members of the church or Christians in the secular workplace.
The people around you are your bags of gold that have been entrusted to you. You may or may not have charge over them, but you certainly do have influence. All of us are called to be as Christ to others and that old phrase, “What Would Jesus Do?”, has to be foremost in our minds, or even better, we can simply pray that Christ live through us.
What did Jesus do when he encountered people? Somehow people were spontaneously changed by the encounter. And Jesus said these things and greater we will do. Hmmm… haven’t seen much of it lately.
If the people around us are our “bags of gold” then they are our “talents”. Do we think, “how can I encourage the people around me so that they become more”?
Each person has gifts, skills and abilities, but it often needs to be empowered. YOU have the power to set those gifts free and double them…. Quadruple them…. YES YOU!!
I have played basketball all my life and have often played with a new player. Most of the team will NOT throw them the ball and the inexperienced player will pretty soon become disheartened and give up. There was something that I realized in this game of basketball…. The opposition often neglects the neglected player also…. So I would throw them the ball. An amazing thing happened – can you guess? MOST of those new players that I played with were there because they were actually quite sporty in other areas and with just a bit of encouragement and confidence these players became every bit as good as the rest of the team and team spirit was encouraged by the inclusivity and valuing of every person. There is a whole lot that we can learn from this.
Who are the people around you that God wants you to empower?
3) A Message for each of us personally
Each of us has gifts and abilities that God has given us. How interesting that what was a sum of money in the Bible called a “talent”, is the same word we use to describe our gifts.
I remember a poster that said, “What you are is God’s gift to you. What you become is your gift to God.” It has stayed with me.
Certainly, I notice all the time how practice and working away at something increases our talents.
On a personal level, this week’s readings speak about being left for a time. Jesus is the master and has left talents in the hands of his servants. We are the servants and just as there was no explicit directive to the servants in the story, about what to do with the money, same goes for us with the abilities that God has given us, but the ending of the story makes it clear that we are certainly to do something.
Recently someone’s facebook status had a quote attributed to St. Francis of Assisi; “Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”
There are needs all around us. We start there. But sometimes there are things that are possible. They may not seem necessary, but they are good things to do that promote the kingdom of God. I do think that if people stand together doing the necessities of church life and going on to do what is possible that they will one day look back and see that the impossible was achieved and those five talents became ten or even more. BUT we need to be prepared to step out and live a life uncommon.
We live in a generation that is SELF promoting and this whole encouragement of other people’s gifts is certainly counter-cultural.
Our New Testament reading also confirms this message:
1 Thessalonians 1:9-11 “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
Our first reading is another amazing story of something that seemed counter-cultural;
Judges 4-4-7 “ Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided. She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “TheLORD, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor. I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’”
Did you notice that? It was a woman who was leading Israel. It was a woman who was a prophet and was leading Israel. God works through those that you might not expect and gives extraordinary gifts to people that you might “culturally” discount.
At this time in the church calendar we are called to read the signs of the time; Jesus came, died, rose, ascended to the father and WILL come again. In the meantime it is very much like that master who went on a journey… we are the servants in that interim time and we have been given talents on many levels, in our church and those around us and personally. It calls to mind the song that Jewel put out a number of years ago called, “A Life Uncommon”…. “ and lend your voices only to sounds of freedom. No longer lend your strength to that which you wish to be free from. Fill your lives with love and bravery and we shall lead – a life uncommon!”
Judges 4: 1-7 Psalm 123 1 Thessalonians 5: 1-11 Matthew 25: 14-30
A LIFE UNCOMMON
Have you seen the tinsel? Already the stores are getting ready for Christmas, and although the church calendar has not yet reached the season of Advent, there is a definite sense of something about to happen in our readings this weekend.
Our Gospel reading is the parable of the talents. A man goes off on a journey and leaves certain amounts of money in the hands of his servants. A first servant turns five bags of gold into ten. The second servant turn two bags of Gold into four, but a third servant just hides the money away for safe keeping.
1) A message for ministers and those in charge of church communities or groups:
Who are the people that make up your church community? These people are our bags of Gold. Do you have a large or small congregation? It doesn’t matter. These people have the ability to double, but it is up to you to encourage them, to deal with them in a way that they desire to ask their friends and family to join them.
Many churches try to encourage their member to ask friends and family to come to church…. WRONG! This way you may get some extra people for a while but if you want to make a real difference then you need to inspire your congregation in such a way that they spontaneously ask others to join them. I hear you laughing, and I know that I’m not in your shoes, but I really believe that this is what Jesus is challenging in this Gospel reading.
Do you have a small aging congregation? You can keep them safe. You can nurture them and make them comfortable. You can shield them from the evils of the outside world and feel that you are doing a good job at pastoring, but this is the equivalent of the servant who kept the one bag of gold hidden safely away and safely returned it to it’s master…. What did the master say to this servant?
Matthew 25:26- ““His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
“‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”
It is a seemingly harsh reward for keeping the money safe. But Jesus is not talking about Gold. He is talking about people and our great commission to go and make disciple of all people.
2) A message for those who are ministers and members of the church or Christians in the secular workplace.
The people around you are your bags of gold that have been entrusted to you. You may or may not have charge over them, but you certainly do have influence. All of us are called to be as Christ to others and that old phrase, “What Would Jesus Do?”, has to be foremost in our minds, or even better, we can simply pray that Christ live through us.
What did Jesus do when he encountered people? Somehow people were spontaneously changed by the encounter. And Jesus said these things and greater we will do. Hmmm… haven’t seen much of it lately.
If the people around us are our “bags of gold” then they are our “talents”. Do we think, “how can I encourage the people around me so that they become more”?
Each person has gifts, skills and abilities, but it often needs to be empowered. YOU have the power to set those gifts free and double them…. Quadruple them…. YES YOU!!
I have played basketball all my life and have often played with a new player. Most of the team will NOT throw them the ball and the inexperienced player will pretty soon become disheartened and give up. There was something that I realized in this game of basketball…. The opposition often neglects the neglected player also…. So I would throw them the ball. An amazing thing happened – can you guess? MOST of those new players that I played with were there because they were actually quite sporty in other areas and with just a bit of encouragement and confidence these players became every bit as good as the rest of the team and team spirit was encouraged by the inclusivity and valuing of every person. There is a whole lot that we can learn from this.
Who are the people around you that God wants you to empower?
3) A Message for each of us personally
Each of us has gifts and abilities that God has given us. How interesting that what was a sum of money in the Bible called a “talent”, is the same word we use to describe our gifts.
I remember a poster that said, “What you are is God’s gift to you. What you become is your gift to God.” It has stayed with me.
Certainly, I notice all the time how practice and working away at something increases our talents.
On a personal level, this week’s readings speak about being left for a time. Jesus is the master and has left talents in the hands of his servants. We are the servants and just as there was no explicit directive to the servants in the story, about what to do with the money, same goes for us with the abilities that God has given us, but the ending of the story makes it clear that we are certainly to do something.
Recently someone’s facebook status had a quote attributed to St. Francis of Assisi; “Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”
There are needs all around us. We start there. But sometimes there are things that are possible. They may not seem necessary, but they are good things to do that promote the kingdom of God. I do think that if people stand together doing the necessities of church life and going on to do what is possible that they will one day look back and see that the impossible was achieved and those five talents became ten or even more. BUT we need to be prepared to step out and live a life uncommon.
We live in a generation that is SELF promoting and this whole encouragement of other people’s gifts is certainly counter-cultural.
Our New Testament reading also confirms this message:
1 Thessalonians 1:9-11 “For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
Our first reading is another amazing story of something that seemed counter-cultural;
Judges 4-4-7 “ Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided. She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “TheLORD, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead them up to Mount Tabor. I will lead Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’”
Did you notice that? It was a woman who was leading Israel. It was a woman who was a prophet and was leading Israel. God works through those that you might not expect and gives extraordinary gifts to people that you might “culturally” discount.
At this time in the church calendar we are called to read the signs of the time; Jesus came, died, rose, ascended to the father and WILL come again. In the meantime it is very much like that master who went on a journey… we are the servants in that interim time and we have been given talents on many levels, in our church and those around us and personally. It calls to mind the song that Jewel put out a number of years ago called, “A Life Uncommon”…. “ and lend your voices only to sounds of freedom. No longer lend your strength to that which you wish to be free from. Fill your lives with love and bravery and we shall lead – a life uncommon!”
Friday, October 10, 2014
The Good News & the limits - Reflection for 12th October 2014
Year A Proper 23 12 October 2014
Exodus 32: 1-14 Psalm 106: 1-6, 19-23 Philippians 4: 1-9 Matthew 22: 1-14
In our readings this week we find that Saint Paul exhorts the Philippians to focus on the positive;
Philippians 4:4-8 “Always be joyful because you belong to the Lord. I will say it again. Be joyful. Let everyone know how gentle you are. The Lord is coming soon.
Don’t worry about anything. Instead, tell God about everything. Ask and pray. Give thanks to him. Then God’s peace will watch over your hearts and your minds because you belong to Christ Jesus. God’s peace can never be completely understood.
Finally, my brothers and sisters, always think about what is true. Think about what is noble, right and pure. Think about what is lovely and worthy of respect. If anything is excellent or worthy of praise, think about those kinds of things.”
I call it the Pollyanna principal. You might recall the book where the Heroine sees the good in everything, calling it the GLAD GAME. It would appear that Saint Paul promotes this unquenchable optimism and indeed he does, but it is not an irrational optimism it is actually an exhortation to hope and to see things through the eyes of faith.
In fact… the Bible tells us that anything that is not of faith is sin. So… when we doubt and we fail to trust in God it is actually sin. This may seem harsh, but I think it is worth noting because we all need to realize that we all fall short… we all sin… and now let’s get over it, because it is for this reason that Jesus came. There is not to be any judgment – Paul did not judge, but instead he encouraged and motivated the people such that their focus was moved from their circumstances to the promises and wonderful things of God.
THIS is what we are to do also. We are not to judge and we are not to give others the impression that they lack faith when things are bleak, but instead, we are to be messengers of a greater hope… we are to be the people that intercede for those who are hurting. My reason for claiming this comes from other Bible passages, including the story of Job and his friends and our reading from the Old Testament for this week from Exodus.
Our Old Testament reading takes us to the place where the Israelites were in the desert and Moses was up the mountain receiving the commandments from God. From the perspective of the people, they had been led out of Egypt by a miraculous hand that saw the Red sea parted.
Now to our way of thinking this would be a sure sign of the sovereignty and power of our God, and an event that would solidify the faith of the Israelites, but this was a people who were used to the magicians of Egypt and the supernatural happenings of demonic forces. They knew that they were a chosen race and belonged to a different God from that of the Egyptians, but in the minds of those people, was an understanding that was clouded by the influences around them.
Back in the 80’s was a computer term; GI-GO, Garbage in – Garbage out. I was talking today with someone who expressed that we need to read the Koran and other books to better be able to proclaim our Christianity. It is a common thought that we can’t properly argue without authoritative knowledge of these things, but we are in danger here, of becoming like those ancient Israelites who assimilated the pagan beliefs of those surrounding them, such that they actually were better acquainted with the pagan beliefs than that of their own beliefs.
To qualify my opinion here, let me add the parallel of a basketball game. I used to be a much better defensive player and not so good at offense. Defense is not the way to win a game and I always seemed to lose. Becoming skilled in offense is a much better tactic. How well do you understand the Christian faith? How intimately acquainted are you with all the writings of the Bible? As Saint Paul told the Philippians, we need to focus our minds on these things that we know are good.
I think I’ve mentioned in other reflections that those who are skilled in identifying counterfeit notes do not study counterfeits. They study the authentic notes so much that any slight alteration in a counterfeit is immediately obvious.
These ancient Israelites were easily led astray without any conscience that they were sinning because they were not students of the real thing. As we read further, we see that God expresses to Moses that these people should be destroyed. Moses, however, reminds God that these are His chosen people.
It is an interesting passage that reads as though Moses was able to change God’s mind. I suspect the truth of the matter is that God wanted Moses to become more acutely aware of the sacredness of HIS people, because it would be Moses’ job to lead them and teach them, and he was going to need this understanding in order to have immeasurable patience with them.
This Old Testament situation is echoed in our New Testament reading and sets the scene for us today.
Our New Testament reading tells the parable of the wedding feast. A man prepares a wedding feast for his son and sends out the invitations, but those invited refuse. In fact some of them even beat and mistreat the servants who are the bearers of the invitation. So the father sends the servants out to the streets to invite anyone and everyone – good and bad alike.
The feast is happily underway when the father notices someone not wearing wedding clothes and he then has this person thrown out. And the parable concludes with the announcement the many are invited but few are chosen.
What does all this mean?
Some of the parable is immediately obvious. The wedding feast speaks of the celebration of the coming of Jesus. The servants are those who invite others into a relationship with Jesus. Those invited guests are those who already have some kind of relationship with God who we’d expect to be an integral part of the festivities. In Jesus time, this would have been referring to the Jews- the chosen people of God. In our current time we can interpret this further as the traditional orthodox Christian Churches and take it as a warning.
In the time of Jesus, the Jewish church had been waiting for the coming Messiah. He appeared, and although many acknowledged and accepted him, the hierarchy of the Church rejected him. At this time in the history of God’s interaction with humanity, an invitation was sent out to Jews and, most significantly, to non-Jews…. to me and to you!
We are all invited to celebrate and be part of this story. The invitation is for Christian, for Jew, for Muslim, for Buddhist, for good and for bad. There are no limits on who is invited. Our part in the story for today is to understand that God has invited ALL. We need to understand this and reach out to others with the invitation because we are the servants who are sent to the streets to bring in guests for the celebration.
Now there is still a part of the story to discover. It is that of the person who was thrown out because he was not wearing wedding clothes.
It is thought that there was a tradition that those invited to a royal wedding would be given an appropriate robe to wear. Regardless of the tradition, this invited person is not appropriately dressed.
In 2009 when I married Joe, we had a wedding that was open to all. Most of those that came were well known to us. Some were only acquaintances, but all wore appropriate clothes. Initially we intended that we might have a reception outside in the garden at Holy Trinity, which is much more open to the public and likely to have party crashers. I’m guessing if this had happened we’d be able to spot them quickly because they’d be dressed differently.
The difference between a guest and a party crasher, in that circumstance would be immediately obvious through dress, and that difference in dress would indicate a deeper difference, that being the lack of personal relationship to the wedding couple.
All people are invited into the celebration of God, but what this is really inviting us to is a relationship with the Son, Jesus.
In other places in the Bible it speaks of us being “clothed in Christ”. We can only be worthy of a union with God through the sacrifice of Jesus and therefore it is our relationship with Christ that makes us “clean”. We can go to church, we can be a good ethical person, we can be someone who sacrifices for others, but if we are not “clothed in Christ” then we can have no union with God.
I do, absolutely and with all my heart, believe that if all the world’s religions and philosophies were laid out clearly, and properly comprehended, we’d all choose Christianity. It really is Good News (Gospel). But the biggest hindrance, other than ignorance of the extreme goodness of this way, is the humility to accept that there is something or someone greater, and then to admit that we are not as good as we’d like to think, and therefore admit that we need a savior.
We need to willingly admit our need, and therefore enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ in order to be “Clothed in Christ”…. Many are invited, but few are chosen – why? It isn’t God’s will that any should be left out, but it is the consequence of our free will that determines our fate. All has been done… The atonement and sacrifice made, wedding robes given by God himself– But will you wear it?
Exodus 32: 1-14 Psalm 106: 1-6, 19-23 Philippians 4: 1-9 Matthew 22: 1-14
In our readings this week we find that Saint Paul exhorts the Philippians to focus on the positive;
Philippians 4:4-8 “Always be joyful because you belong to the Lord. I will say it again. Be joyful. Let everyone know how gentle you are. The Lord is coming soon.
Don’t worry about anything. Instead, tell God about everything. Ask and pray. Give thanks to him. Then God’s peace will watch over your hearts and your minds because you belong to Christ Jesus. God’s peace can never be completely understood.
Finally, my brothers and sisters, always think about what is true. Think about what is noble, right and pure. Think about what is lovely and worthy of respect. If anything is excellent or worthy of praise, think about those kinds of things.”
I call it the Pollyanna principal. You might recall the book where the Heroine sees the good in everything, calling it the GLAD GAME. It would appear that Saint Paul promotes this unquenchable optimism and indeed he does, but it is not an irrational optimism it is actually an exhortation to hope and to see things through the eyes of faith.
In fact… the Bible tells us that anything that is not of faith is sin. So… when we doubt and we fail to trust in God it is actually sin. This may seem harsh, but I think it is worth noting because we all need to realize that we all fall short… we all sin… and now let’s get over it, because it is for this reason that Jesus came. There is not to be any judgment – Paul did not judge, but instead he encouraged and motivated the people such that their focus was moved from their circumstances to the promises and wonderful things of God.
THIS is what we are to do also. We are not to judge and we are not to give others the impression that they lack faith when things are bleak, but instead, we are to be messengers of a greater hope… we are to be the people that intercede for those who are hurting. My reason for claiming this comes from other Bible passages, including the story of Job and his friends and our reading from the Old Testament for this week from Exodus.
Our Old Testament reading takes us to the place where the Israelites were in the desert and Moses was up the mountain receiving the commandments from God. From the perspective of the people, they had been led out of Egypt by a miraculous hand that saw the Red sea parted.
Now to our way of thinking this would be a sure sign of the sovereignty and power of our God, and an event that would solidify the faith of the Israelites, but this was a people who were used to the magicians of Egypt and the supernatural happenings of demonic forces. They knew that they were a chosen race and belonged to a different God from that of the Egyptians, but in the minds of those people, was an understanding that was clouded by the influences around them.
Back in the 80’s was a computer term; GI-GO, Garbage in – Garbage out. I was talking today with someone who expressed that we need to read the Koran and other books to better be able to proclaim our Christianity. It is a common thought that we can’t properly argue without authoritative knowledge of these things, but we are in danger here, of becoming like those ancient Israelites who assimilated the pagan beliefs of those surrounding them, such that they actually were better acquainted with the pagan beliefs than that of their own beliefs.
To qualify my opinion here, let me add the parallel of a basketball game. I used to be a much better defensive player and not so good at offense. Defense is not the way to win a game and I always seemed to lose. Becoming skilled in offense is a much better tactic. How well do you understand the Christian faith? How intimately acquainted are you with all the writings of the Bible? As Saint Paul told the Philippians, we need to focus our minds on these things that we know are good.
I think I’ve mentioned in other reflections that those who are skilled in identifying counterfeit notes do not study counterfeits. They study the authentic notes so much that any slight alteration in a counterfeit is immediately obvious.
These ancient Israelites were easily led astray without any conscience that they were sinning because they were not students of the real thing. As we read further, we see that God expresses to Moses that these people should be destroyed. Moses, however, reminds God that these are His chosen people.
It is an interesting passage that reads as though Moses was able to change God’s mind. I suspect the truth of the matter is that God wanted Moses to become more acutely aware of the sacredness of HIS people, because it would be Moses’ job to lead them and teach them, and he was going to need this understanding in order to have immeasurable patience with them.
This Old Testament situation is echoed in our New Testament reading and sets the scene for us today.
Our New Testament reading tells the parable of the wedding feast. A man prepares a wedding feast for his son and sends out the invitations, but those invited refuse. In fact some of them even beat and mistreat the servants who are the bearers of the invitation. So the father sends the servants out to the streets to invite anyone and everyone – good and bad alike.
The feast is happily underway when the father notices someone not wearing wedding clothes and he then has this person thrown out. And the parable concludes with the announcement the many are invited but few are chosen.
What does all this mean?
Some of the parable is immediately obvious. The wedding feast speaks of the celebration of the coming of Jesus. The servants are those who invite others into a relationship with Jesus. Those invited guests are those who already have some kind of relationship with God who we’d expect to be an integral part of the festivities. In Jesus time, this would have been referring to the Jews- the chosen people of God. In our current time we can interpret this further as the traditional orthodox Christian Churches and take it as a warning.
In the time of Jesus, the Jewish church had been waiting for the coming Messiah. He appeared, and although many acknowledged and accepted him, the hierarchy of the Church rejected him. At this time in the history of God’s interaction with humanity, an invitation was sent out to Jews and, most significantly, to non-Jews…. to me and to you!
We are all invited to celebrate and be part of this story. The invitation is for Christian, for Jew, for Muslim, for Buddhist, for good and for bad. There are no limits on who is invited. Our part in the story for today is to understand that God has invited ALL. We need to understand this and reach out to others with the invitation because we are the servants who are sent to the streets to bring in guests for the celebration.
Now there is still a part of the story to discover. It is that of the person who was thrown out because he was not wearing wedding clothes.
It is thought that there was a tradition that those invited to a royal wedding would be given an appropriate robe to wear. Regardless of the tradition, this invited person is not appropriately dressed.
In 2009 when I married Joe, we had a wedding that was open to all. Most of those that came were well known to us. Some were only acquaintances, but all wore appropriate clothes. Initially we intended that we might have a reception outside in the garden at Holy Trinity, which is much more open to the public and likely to have party crashers. I’m guessing if this had happened we’d be able to spot them quickly because they’d be dressed differently.
The difference between a guest and a party crasher, in that circumstance would be immediately obvious through dress, and that difference in dress would indicate a deeper difference, that being the lack of personal relationship to the wedding couple.
All people are invited into the celebration of God, but what this is really inviting us to is a relationship with the Son, Jesus.
In other places in the Bible it speaks of us being “clothed in Christ”. We can only be worthy of a union with God through the sacrifice of Jesus and therefore it is our relationship with Christ that makes us “clean”. We can go to church, we can be a good ethical person, we can be someone who sacrifices for others, but if we are not “clothed in Christ” then we can have no union with God.
I do, absolutely and with all my heart, believe that if all the world’s religions and philosophies were laid out clearly, and properly comprehended, we’d all choose Christianity. It really is Good News (Gospel). But the biggest hindrance, other than ignorance of the extreme goodness of this way, is the humility to accept that there is something or someone greater, and then to admit that we are not as good as we’d like to think, and therefore admit that we need a savior.
We need to willingly admit our need, and therefore enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ in order to be “Clothed in Christ”…. Many are invited, but few are chosen – why? It isn’t God’s will that any should be left out, but it is the consequence of our free will that determines our fate. All has been done… The atonement and sacrifice made, wedding robes given by God himself– But will you wear it?
Thursday, September 18, 2014
An Unshakable resilience. Reflection for 21st of September 2014
Year A Proper 20 21 September 2014
Exodus 16: 2-15 Psalm 105: 1-6, 37-45 Philippians 1: 21-30 Matthew 20: 1-16
Shakespeare, in my opinion, was an amazing philosopher. He wrote through his characters some amazing statements that convey a truth quoted and noted down through the ages. There is one such quote that comes to mind in the light of this week’s scripture readings. In the character of Hamlet in act 3, scene 1, we discover the question, “To be, or not to be: that is the question:”
Hamlet has discovered the family skeletons in the closet and they are playing havoc with his mind and emotions. He ponders suicide, and while he begins with this question about living or dying, he has the insightfulness and forethought to recognize that to die may not be the end of his troubles, and so he ponders, “To die, to sleep; To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause:”
I’d like to suggest that in this week’s readings we look at attitudes and resources for resilience in the face of troubles. This is something that Hamlet needed and something we all need.
Most of us have constants in our lives and these constants give us a sense of security. It may be family or work, hobbies or interests and any combination, but these form our understanding of morality, justice, goodness and what life actually is about, what is important and why. These things shape our understanding of what is “normal”, real and true. When these constants are shown to us to be faulty, or they stop being in our lives, we are left feeling lost, to say the least.
In our readings for this week we find the Israelites in this condition. They’ve left the slavery and oppression of Egypt and now they want to go back there. How could this be?
Exodus 16:3-5 “The Israelites said to them, “We wish the LORD had put us to death in Egypt. There we sat around pots of meat. We ate all of the food we wanted. But you have brought us out into this desert. You must want this entire community to die of hunger.”
They were not happy in Egypt… but Egypt was home. They had lived there long enough that it was all that they knew and novelty of living in the desert and relying on God had worn off. They didn’t have their “normal”, and they didn’t know what to make of things and they wanted “home”. In many ways Egypt had crept into their souls, and their understanding about life was based on that reality. Their understanding about reality, truth goodness was grounded in Egypt and the idea of a new home was hard to take in. But God gives them another miracle and gives them bread from heaven;
Exodus 16:4-5 “Then the LORD spoke to Moses. He said, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people must go out each day. Have them gather enough bread for that day. Here is how I will put them to the test. I will see if they will follow my directions.
“On the sixth day they must prepare what they bring in. On that day they must gather twice as much as on the other days.”
We too often live with or grow up with things that are not healthy, but these are “home” and as adults who can think and ration, we can find it difficult to accept the truth about many things because often the truth is not comfortable. The most important question that we all need to answer is, do we want the truth?
In our Gospel we find another truth that people may find hard to accept. It is a parable about the kingdom of heaven. In summary, there are many workers in a vineyard and some worked all day, others were hired at various times through the day, some only working a short time and yet all of them were paid the same amount. It seems unfair, but the owner justifies himself saying that it is his prerogative to be generous to all.
Why are you a believer? Why are you a Christian? Or if you are not…. What purpose do you think you or other people might become Christian?
I would suggest that if you are a Christian because it gives you a sense of being something special and better than others or if you are a Christian because you will get a reward in heaven, or if you are a Christian who goes the extra mile because it means you will be a leader in God’s kingdom of heaven, then you don’t know God at all.
The Israelites had a sense of being the chosen race. They belonged to God and he had proven himself by fighting for them, but they didn’t understand His ways at all. This same people but many generations later are who Jesus was talking to and they also didn’t really know God. When I say this, I mean that they knew about God… they knew things he’d done and had the theory about him, but it was much like learning about a person of celebrity status or an historical figure. Often we can have an educated understanding about a person and be somewhat on the money, but we can also get it oh so very wrong unless we know the person personally. If we don’t know that person personally, the next best would be to listen to people who do…. But have you noticed that people can have very differing opinions about the same person?
This maybe one of those moments of discomfort…. Do we really know God, or have we a comfortable image that someone has painted hanging on the wall of our soul?
Now, this seems to be the opposite of where I started. I started by saying that this week’s readings are about resilience in the face of trials and so far all I’ve done is chip away at many possible comforts. The message that God gave to the Israelites about their comfort was to provide them with food. He also gave them meat and had provided them with water. He comes through. None of the workers in the vineyard of our Gospel reading went without… all were rewarded. Why were they upset? I’d suggest that it was due to an assumption about how things were meant to be according to their understanding of how things work.
In our reading from St. Paul we find the exact opposite of Hamlet.
Philippians 1:21-25 “For me, life finds all of its meaning in Christ. Death also has its benefits. Suppose I go on living in my body. Then I will be able to carry on my work. It will bear a lot of fruit. But what should I choose? I don’t know. I can’t decide between the two. I long to leave this world and be with Christ. That is better by far. But it is more important for you that I stay alive. I’m sure of that. So I know I will remain with you. And I will continue with all of you to help you grow and be joyful in what you have been taught.”
Saint Paul has had an experience of God that showed him who God is. He understood the concept of the Trinity and more from just that experience. He KNEW God and he knew his humanity, his love and his divinity. Having this relationship with God gave Paul resilience for life that saw him press on through persecution, floggings and jail. For the one who has experienced God in this way there is no need to find his sense of reality and truth… Saint Paul found it and it was truly like a very hard and uncomfortable slap, but once he’d accepted it, it became the unshakeable rock upon which his whole life took shape.
Philippians 1:27 “No matter what happens, live in a way that brings honour to the good news about Christ. Then I will know that you stand firm with one purpose. I may come and see you or only hear about you. But I will know that you work together as one person. And I will know that you work to spread the teachings of the good news.
So don’t be afraid in any way of those who oppose you. That will show them that they will be destroyed and that you will be saved. That’s what God will do.
Here is what he has given you to do for Christ. You must not only believe in him. You must also suffer for him.
You are going through the same struggle you saw me go through. As you have heard, I am still struggling.”
Saint Paul doesn’t escape suffering or hardship and neither will we, but will we face it with the resilience of Saint Paul or the deliberations of Hamlet? It all depends on our personal relationship with Christ which he desires for all of us. He wants us to know him personally. Will we accept him as he is, thorns, nail wounds and all or will you be content with that painted image hanging in the corner of your soul?
Exodus 16: 2-15 Psalm 105: 1-6, 37-45 Philippians 1: 21-30 Matthew 20: 1-16
Shakespeare, in my opinion, was an amazing philosopher. He wrote through his characters some amazing statements that convey a truth quoted and noted down through the ages. There is one such quote that comes to mind in the light of this week’s scripture readings. In the character of Hamlet in act 3, scene 1, we discover the question, “To be, or not to be: that is the question:”
Hamlet has discovered the family skeletons in the closet and they are playing havoc with his mind and emotions. He ponders suicide, and while he begins with this question about living or dying, he has the insightfulness and forethought to recognize that to die may not be the end of his troubles, and so he ponders, “To die, to sleep; To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, Must give us pause:”
I’d like to suggest that in this week’s readings we look at attitudes and resources for resilience in the face of troubles. This is something that Hamlet needed and something we all need.
Most of us have constants in our lives and these constants give us a sense of security. It may be family or work, hobbies or interests and any combination, but these form our understanding of morality, justice, goodness and what life actually is about, what is important and why. These things shape our understanding of what is “normal”, real and true. When these constants are shown to us to be faulty, or they stop being in our lives, we are left feeling lost, to say the least.
In our readings for this week we find the Israelites in this condition. They’ve left the slavery and oppression of Egypt and now they want to go back there. How could this be?
Exodus 16:3-5 “The Israelites said to them, “We wish the LORD had put us to death in Egypt. There we sat around pots of meat. We ate all of the food we wanted. But you have brought us out into this desert. You must want this entire community to die of hunger.”
They were not happy in Egypt… but Egypt was home. They had lived there long enough that it was all that they knew and novelty of living in the desert and relying on God had worn off. They didn’t have their “normal”, and they didn’t know what to make of things and they wanted “home”. In many ways Egypt had crept into their souls, and their understanding about life was based on that reality. Their understanding about reality, truth goodness was grounded in Egypt and the idea of a new home was hard to take in. But God gives them another miracle and gives them bread from heaven;
Exodus 16:4-5 “Then the LORD spoke to Moses. He said, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people must go out each day. Have them gather enough bread for that day. Here is how I will put them to the test. I will see if they will follow my directions.
“On the sixth day they must prepare what they bring in. On that day they must gather twice as much as on the other days.”
We too often live with or grow up with things that are not healthy, but these are “home” and as adults who can think and ration, we can find it difficult to accept the truth about many things because often the truth is not comfortable. The most important question that we all need to answer is, do we want the truth?
In our Gospel we find another truth that people may find hard to accept. It is a parable about the kingdom of heaven. In summary, there are many workers in a vineyard and some worked all day, others were hired at various times through the day, some only working a short time and yet all of them were paid the same amount. It seems unfair, but the owner justifies himself saying that it is his prerogative to be generous to all.
Why are you a believer? Why are you a Christian? Or if you are not…. What purpose do you think you or other people might become Christian?
I would suggest that if you are a Christian because it gives you a sense of being something special and better than others or if you are a Christian because you will get a reward in heaven, or if you are a Christian who goes the extra mile because it means you will be a leader in God’s kingdom of heaven, then you don’t know God at all.
The Israelites had a sense of being the chosen race. They belonged to God and he had proven himself by fighting for them, but they didn’t understand His ways at all. This same people but many generations later are who Jesus was talking to and they also didn’t really know God. When I say this, I mean that they knew about God… they knew things he’d done and had the theory about him, but it was much like learning about a person of celebrity status or an historical figure. Often we can have an educated understanding about a person and be somewhat on the money, but we can also get it oh so very wrong unless we know the person personally. If we don’t know that person personally, the next best would be to listen to people who do…. But have you noticed that people can have very differing opinions about the same person?
This maybe one of those moments of discomfort…. Do we really know God, or have we a comfortable image that someone has painted hanging on the wall of our soul?
Now, this seems to be the opposite of where I started. I started by saying that this week’s readings are about resilience in the face of trials and so far all I’ve done is chip away at many possible comforts. The message that God gave to the Israelites about their comfort was to provide them with food. He also gave them meat and had provided them with water. He comes through. None of the workers in the vineyard of our Gospel reading went without… all were rewarded. Why were they upset? I’d suggest that it was due to an assumption about how things were meant to be according to their understanding of how things work.
In our reading from St. Paul we find the exact opposite of Hamlet.
Philippians 1:21-25 “For me, life finds all of its meaning in Christ. Death also has its benefits. Suppose I go on living in my body. Then I will be able to carry on my work. It will bear a lot of fruit. But what should I choose? I don’t know. I can’t decide between the two. I long to leave this world and be with Christ. That is better by far. But it is more important for you that I stay alive. I’m sure of that. So I know I will remain with you. And I will continue with all of you to help you grow and be joyful in what you have been taught.”
Saint Paul has had an experience of God that showed him who God is. He understood the concept of the Trinity and more from just that experience. He KNEW God and he knew his humanity, his love and his divinity. Having this relationship with God gave Paul resilience for life that saw him press on through persecution, floggings and jail. For the one who has experienced God in this way there is no need to find his sense of reality and truth… Saint Paul found it and it was truly like a very hard and uncomfortable slap, but once he’d accepted it, it became the unshakeable rock upon which his whole life took shape.
Philippians 1:27 “No matter what happens, live in a way that brings honour to the good news about Christ. Then I will know that you stand firm with one purpose. I may come and see you or only hear about you. But I will know that you work together as one person. And I will know that you work to spread the teachings of the good news.
So don’t be afraid in any way of those who oppose you. That will show them that they will be destroyed and that you will be saved. That’s what God will do.
Here is what he has given you to do for Christ. You must not only believe in him. You must also suffer for him.
You are going through the same struggle you saw me go through. As you have heard, I am still struggling.”
Saint Paul doesn’t escape suffering or hardship and neither will we, but will we face it with the resilience of Saint Paul or the deliberations of Hamlet? It all depends on our personal relationship with Christ which he desires for all of us. He wants us to know him personally. Will we accept him as he is, thorns, nail wounds and all or will you be content with that painted image hanging in the corner of your soul?
Friday, August 8, 2014
Feeling battered? Reflection for 10th of August 2014
August 10, 2014 Proper 14A / Ordinary 19A / Pentecost +9
Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28 Psalm 105:1-6, 16-22, 45b Romans 10:5-15 Matthew 14:22-33
Such a crazy and hectic week this has been and I haven’t had a chance to do the reflection on the readings… yet… but at the last minute I feel that I just have to reflect in the readings might give some perspective to the crazy week that was.
And sure enough I find the Gospel reading of Jesus walking on the water and Peter going out to him. Peter stepped out in faith and then being pounded by the wind and the waves he begins to fear. Yes, this is how it is. We set out on our way, thinking- no, actually knowing, that we are walking in the way that God wants, but let me tell you that mighty wind and those fearsome waves can certainly cause more than a momentary distraction from the path before us.
Our first reading is that famous story of Joseph and his equally famous coat. Joseph was the favourite… the “golden” child. He may well have been a little coddled and pampered, but he was also a person of good and noble character, which he possessed in such abundance that his faith in God and good character remained true and strong even under the pressure of the injustices and the seductions that presented themselves to him in Egypt.
This Joseph was a man who learnt that the waves and the wind that cause us such disillusion at times, can actually be purposeful in the hands of God.
So…. How are you going at this moment in time?
On a Global scale, we hear the stories of the Malaysian airlines tragedy and then the absolute terror that is happening in the Middle East. More and more people from so many places are seeking asylum and yet many people in our country keep saying, “it isn’t our fight… it is someone else’s… let them fight it out themselves…”
On a more personal level, I keep hearing stories from people who are going through all kinds of sudden catastrophes. My Facebook status last night was that I feel like the universe is out of alignment.
Yes, certainly there are waves that battle and war against us and just like a wave in the ocean, just as you regain footing from being knocked off your feet from one wave, then next one crashes. I don’t know about you, but at times like that you are forced to find strength in you that you didn’t think you had…. And then you begin to realize that you are really exhausted.
Our Gospel holds the most important message that we need to keep our eyes on Jesus, but there is something else. ..
Even this great man, Peter, who so trusted in Jesus, that he climbed out onto the water himself, became afraid.
We need not feel like failure when we are afraid or exhausted. It is a simple fact of life, but be encouraged by the fact that the VERY most important message of this Gospel story is that when Peter failed, and began to sink he called out for help and that is when Jesus reached out and held him.
The thread that weaves through all our readings for this Sunday is about being sent.
Joseph was sent ahead of his family to provide a way for them to have food and a place of safety during the years of famine. Joseph had to stand firm and endure the waves that battered him and God brought about, not only his own salvation, but the salvation of his whole family.
Peter was the great apostle who would lead many other apostles. To be an apostle is to be one who is “sent”. We see this link between calling on the Lord and being sent in our reading from Romans:
Romans 10:12 - 15 “There is no difference between those who are Jews and those who are not. The same Lord is Lord of all. He richly blesses everyone who calls on him. Scripture says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
How can they call on him unless they believe in him? How can they believe in him unless they hear about him? How can they hear about him unless someone preaches to them? And how can anyone preach without being sent? It is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!””
We are also people whose lives have been touched by God and we are also “sent”. We are sent to be bearers of the Good News. We are sent to be the hands and feet of Jesus. If those great people of old who were sent, experienced the bombardment of waves and wind, rejection, betrayal and injustices, we need to take note of their story and encouragement from them for when this happens in our own lives.
Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”
We continue to hear horror stories of the Middle East and we continue to experience our own battles. Let’s keep our eyes on Jesus and stand firm. But most important of all; when we begin to fall as the wind and waves of the battle war against us, call out to God for help. For in that cry, and not in our own strength, is our salvation.
Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28 Psalm 105:1-6, 16-22, 45b Romans 10:5-15 Matthew 14:22-33
Such a crazy and hectic week this has been and I haven’t had a chance to do the reflection on the readings… yet… but at the last minute I feel that I just have to reflect in the readings might give some perspective to the crazy week that was.
And sure enough I find the Gospel reading of Jesus walking on the water and Peter going out to him. Peter stepped out in faith and then being pounded by the wind and the waves he begins to fear. Yes, this is how it is. We set out on our way, thinking- no, actually knowing, that we are walking in the way that God wants, but let me tell you that mighty wind and those fearsome waves can certainly cause more than a momentary distraction from the path before us.
Our first reading is that famous story of Joseph and his equally famous coat. Joseph was the favourite… the “golden” child. He may well have been a little coddled and pampered, but he was also a person of good and noble character, which he possessed in such abundance that his faith in God and good character remained true and strong even under the pressure of the injustices and the seductions that presented themselves to him in Egypt.
This Joseph was a man who learnt that the waves and the wind that cause us such disillusion at times, can actually be purposeful in the hands of God.
So…. How are you going at this moment in time?
On a Global scale, we hear the stories of the Malaysian airlines tragedy and then the absolute terror that is happening in the Middle East. More and more people from so many places are seeking asylum and yet many people in our country keep saying, “it isn’t our fight… it is someone else’s… let them fight it out themselves…”
On a more personal level, I keep hearing stories from people who are going through all kinds of sudden catastrophes. My Facebook status last night was that I feel like the universe is out of alignment.
Yes, certainly there are waves that battle and war against us and just like a wave in the ocean, just as you regain footing from being knocked off your feet from one wave, then next one crashes. I don’t know about you, but at times like that you are forced to find strength in you that you didn’t think you had…. And then you begin to realize that you are really exhausted.
Our Gospel holds the most important message that we need to keep our eyes on Jesus, but there is something else. ..
Even this great man, Peter, who so trusted in Jesus, that he climbed out onto the water himself, became afraid.
We need not feel like failure when we are afraid or exhausted. It is a simple fact of life, but be encouraged by the fact that the VERY most important message of this Gospel story is that when Peter failed, and began to sink he called out for help and that is when Jesus reached out and held him.
The thread that weaves through all our readings for this Sunday is about being sent.
Joseph was sent ahead of his family to provide a way for them to have food and a place of safety during the years of famine. Joseph had to stand firm and endure the waves that battered him and God brought about, not only his own salvation, but the salvation of his whole family.
Peter was the great apostle who would lead many other apostles. To be an apostle is to be one who is “sent”. We see this link between calling on the Lord and being sent in our reading from Romans:
Romans 10:12 - 15 “There is no difference between those who are Jews and those who are not. The same Lord is Lord of all. He richly blesses everyone who calls on him. Scripture says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
How can they call on him unless they believe in him? How can they believe in him unless they hear about him? How can they hear about him unless someone preaches to them? And how can anyone preach without being sent? It is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!””
We are also people whose lives have been touched by God and we are also “sent”. We are sent to be bearers of the Good News. We are sent to be the hands and feet of Jesus. If those great people of old who were sent, experienced the bombardment of waves and wind, rejection, betrayal and injustices, we need to take note of their story and encouragement from them for when this happens in our own lives.
Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”
We continue to hear horror stories of the Middle East and we continue to experience our own battles. Let’s keep our eyes on Jesus and stand firm. But most important of all; when we begin to fall as the wind and waves of the battle war against us, call out to God for help. For in that cry, and not in our own strength, is our salvation.
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