The Journey of faith

Second   Sunday after Pentecost - Year A

 

What does Jesus mean; “I desire mercy, not sacrifice”?

Jesus lived in a time when the people of God would offer animals, grain and fruit to God.  The animals, in particular were given as sacrifices to atone for sin.  This was a community that knew they were far from perfect, but the law, handed down from Moses, revealed where they failed and gave them a model of forgiveness.  For most, it was a way of acknowledging their sin before God and a way to be reminded of God’s grace in forgiving them, and the sacrifice offered was a prophetic sign of the work that Jesus would accomplish.  For others, they thought that they had a “work around”.  They would sin, but they would then go and offer a sacrifice and then feel their conscience cleared before God.  It was, in their mind, how the law worked and how God operated.  After all, it was God’s own law.  Yet these people should have known from the writings of the prophets, in particular from Hosea (6:6), that God desires mercy rather than sacrifice.

 

Today, we live in a society, that is very different from this.  We know that an animal can’t absolve us from our sin.  However, how do we, in our modern society deal with our sin? How do people who have sinned, clear their conscience?

 

We don’t have to watch T.V. or listen to the radio too long to realize that there are plenty who will point the finger at someone else’s sin, but have you noticed that there a much fewer willing to admit their own failings?  And maybe even less willing to extend grace and mercy! 

 

To say that we are sinners is not something that we tend to do.  However, if asked why there is evil in the world, it would be stated that someone else is evil and sinned.  Society on the whole is doing the same as Adam and Eve after eating the forbidden fruit, they point the finger at another and blame them… and even blame God.  Among my friends who don’t attend church there are many who are actually bitter towards God, blaming him for their lot in life.  I often wonder which was the more important failing in that ancient story – the actual disobedience of eating the forbidden fruit or the unwillingness to take responsibility for the action.

 

If we, as a whole people, are unwilling to admit blame or acknowledge our sinfulness, how do we deal with our consciences?  I do believe that deep down we all have a conscience and at a very basic level, most ordinary people are actually aware of imperfections.  Yet, I think we tend to deflect and cast the attention away from ourselves and so we blame, drown in alcohol, or drugs, live in bitterness and more blame, perhaps.  Somewhere in this tangled web we are weaving there needs to be a better answer.

 

God always has the better answer.  God has a different way of operating.  He desires Mercy rather than sacrifice, and even the Bible tells us that the blood of animals could never take away sin, but the system pointed to the one and only sacrifice of Jesus.  The catch….  We need to receive this gift from God and admit the reality of our condition-  But then Jesus completely deals with it….  It is gone!  Delt with!  Done!  And this is not because we offer a sacrifice, it is because we respond to the mercy of God.

 

Abraham responded to the call of God, to leave his home.  In many ways our faith is a journey, and Abraham’s faith journey went through many twists and turns and grew as his journey continued.  Along the journey God promised Abraham that the land that he passed through would become an inheritance for his offspring.  Only problem was, Abraham was already old and his wife was both old and barren.  However, when God tells you something, you believe it.  It may have been humanly, physically impossible, but God is bigger and can do more than we can imagine.

 

My sense is that we are in a season where God is enlarging our vision.  God has bigger plans for our lives, whether we are old or young.  He has a vision of our lives that is bigger than what we can possibly imagine.  In fact, God absolutely loves to turn our human expectations and ways of doing things upside down.  He gives families to the old and barren and gives wisdom to the young.  Moses was 120 years old when he died, and the bible tells us that his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.  What’s more, as he went to be with the Lord, he climbed a mountain.  We really don’t know the things that God has in store for us, but let’s be sure that we don’t limit God’s work in our lives by limiting our vision of what he can or might do.

 

I guess this message today could be that God has a wonderful plan for your life.  Aaand I gotta tell you, I hated those talks when I was young!  I felt that God had called me, but I seemed to be stuck in a rut for SO many years.  It felt like the promises of God were an empty promise because there was no sign of fulfilment.  It is important to remember that the object of God’s plan is always for us to grow in faith.

 

Abraham lived a long time without any fulfilment of the promises of God.  We don’t know very much about the day to day struggle this may have been for him.  We do know that Sarah suggested he help God out by having a child with her servant, so we know that there were times when there must have been grief about his lack of children and Sarah’s barrenness.  Even though Abraham’s faith never wavered, there is evidence that the delay in seeing the fulfilment of the promise was not always a happy time.  Can you imagine what it must have been like after all this to then finally have the miraculous birth of Isaac and then to be told by God to offer him as a sacrifice?

 

By this time in Abraham’s faith journey, he had experienced the goodness of God and the fulfilment of the promise in Isaac’s miraculous birth.  Therefore, by this time, Abraham didn’t hesitate in being obedient to God, which shows us that he had learnt to trust in God completely.  God promised that through Isaac, Abraham’s offspring would inherit the land and be a blessing to the nations.  So, Abraham trusted that the God who gave children to the barren could bring Isaac back from the dead.  Abraham’s faith had grown through his lifetime of relationship with God.

 

It was at the time of offering Isaac back to God that Abraham is described as believing God and it being reckoned to him as righteousness.

 

This is a somewhat baffling, but an important aspect of our faith that we need to understand.  This relationship with God, such that Abraham completely trusted God and trusted in God’s love and desire for good in Abraham’s life….  This understanding of God’s infinite power… this surety that God would indeed keep his promise and do what he says… this is the believe that was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness.  This is a belief in the promise of God.   We too are reckoned as righteous when we also trust in the promise of God.  We are not going to heaven by being good people, or because we keep God’s law or anything else we might do, bar our trust (or faith) in God and our relationship with Him.

 

The tangled web we weave on this earth, blaming others and living in bitterness is only hurting ourselves.  To live such a life, as to imagine that we are “good enough”, is a dangerous delusion.

 

The truth is, that there is a better way.  The Good News of Jesus Christ is a declaration that God knows we fail and loves us so much that he made a way for us – a righteousness that is by faith and not by works.  It comes through having a relationship with God and the sacrifice of Jesus.  We don’t need to sacrifice, because it has been done – once and for all by Jesus.  But we do need to be merciful because if God has done this for us, then we need to stop blaming others, understand our own failings, and we need to act with the same mercy that reflects God’s own nature.

 

The religious of Jesus day used the law as a means to be justified and in so doing, they rejected people.  They, themselves were also sinners, but they actually manipulated God’s law such that all they did really, was to lower the sin bar so that they, the religious leaders, might be seen as righteous according to the manipulated law.  This is why Jesus said; “For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matt 5:20

 

Our righteousness does surpass the Pharisees and the teachers of the law because it is a righteousness that God reckons to us, because of our faith in him.  Jesus said to the haemorrhaging lady, “Your faith has made you well”.  Our faith makes us well.  It is our humble submitting to God, our ever growing relationship with God, and our trust in God and His promises, against all odds, that makes us well. 

 

Like Abraham, we are people of faith.  It is this gift that covers over our failings and instead sees us as righteous before God.  Every person who turns to God, still has times of failure.  I’ve met some Christians who were quite desperate in not being sure that God could accept them because after turning to Christ and following God, they then did something wrong.  They didn’t know for sure where they stood with God.  Perhaps you have also had this experience.  The truth is that God loves you.  His mercy is forever and when you belong to him, you forever belong to him.  You are not righteous because of works or lack of, but because you are his and your faith is in him.

 

Sin is simply missing the mark of perfection.  Jesus tells us that he came to call not the righteous but sinners.  Matthew and the sick lady identified as sinners, even though they were not people that WE might call sinners.  The fact that their circumstances cast them out of that “Nice” Jewish society, meant that they knew they missed the mark of perfection – they had no wall of pride and self-righteousness and they were desperate to accept the gift of Jesus- a gift of acceptance. The synagogue leader also, left his place of rank by openly turning to Jesus, who other religious leaders of his time had rejected.  All knew that their life was not perfect, and in their humility, they turned to the mercy of God.

 

There is no need to redefine what is and isn’t sin, lower the bar of perfection, or manipulate the law of God so that we can feel that God should accept us.  No… the standard is simply too high – Leave it there…. It is the truth.  But the truth is also that we are shown such mercy that God through our faith in Jesus, calls us his children.  We are accepted.  Like Abraham, we are on a faith journey, and it is by faith that we are assured of God’s saving grace.  Let us keep our hearts surrendered to God and continue to grow in our relationship, of trust and faith in him. 

Trinity Sunday - Be Magnified, Oh LORD.

Sunday 4 June, 2023 The First Sunday after Pentecost - Trinity Sunday

One of my favourite movies is Spy Kids.  The movie begins with a typical day in life of this family, thought to be a typical south American family.  To an outsider, we see that the before school routine includes acrobatic type gym work – not exactly typical.  As the movie moves on the kids discover secret places and a whole different side to their parents.  The parents are spies!  Upon discovering this the daughter says, “Our parents can't be spies... they're not cool enough!”

 

Are you aware that we all have an image of people we know?  And likewise, they have an image of us.  The image of each person differs depending on the relationship we have with them and how much of their true self they reveal.  The accuracy of that image depends on our knowledge of the person, but there is always more to know... What is our image of God?  When you pray, do you relate to God the father, God the Son, or God the Holy Spirit?

 

The doctrine of the Holy Trinity developed gradually over several centuries and through many controversies, to sure up what we believe and stand against heresy.  It is not a term you will find in the Bible, however we find reference to the Spirit and the father in the Old Testament, and Jesus is spoken of as the “Word”.  And we know that through that word, all things were created. 

 

In the New Testament we find support for the doctrine in many places and especially in Jesus’ command to make disciples, Baptising them in the name of the father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  But make no mistake – There is but ONE God.  We believe in One God.  The doctrine of the Trinity means that there is one God who eternally exists as three distinct Persons — the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  God is one in essence and three in person.  A great article on this can be found on the website; https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/what-is-the-doctrine-of-the-trinity

 

Fully grasping the mystery of the Trinity is not something to worry about.  We get an inkling of it when we get to know who God is, and this, getting to know God, is the more important goal.

 

God is love.  This is like an echo that we hear throughout the Old through to our New Testament.  The encounter of Moses with God, records God’s own words about himself.  He says; “Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the LORD. And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.” 

This is a revelation of the nature of our God….. What does this mean for you and me?  How do we interpret the nature of God?   

 

Many years ago, in Yepoon, I was asked to give a talk on images of God in the Bible.  Right at the start of the session, I had a man jump up angrily and let me know that God was Holy and Just and we need to take note because God was not going to be putting up with sin.  And before I could say anything, a little old catholic nun jumped up and proclaimed that the man was wrong and God is love and forgives everyone.  What would you have said to them?  It was a tense start, but I reassured both of them, that they were both correct and we then went on to look honestly at the revelations of God’s nature as revealed in the scriptures and just how these aspects relate to the Good News. 

 

We often explain that God is loving and forgiving, and sometimes neglect to say that God hates sin.  In the past, people have been well acquainted with the idea that those who sin can not be with God.  And when we look at this text where God himself tells us about himself, there is a much greater emphasis on love and grace.  The truth is, that God is also just.

 

I have noticed that some people are truly offended if you should suggest that God is all loving and omit that he is also a God of purity and Justice, and likewise there are others, many more, who are equally or even more offended if you talk about God’s harshness with sin, and yet not mention his love. (which would certainly be wrong)

 

We need to keep in mind that there is a truth about the nature of God, and keep in mind that God is bigger, deeper, wider, wiser and beyond all of us.  However, there are some things that we do know, because it has been revealed to us through scripture, Jesus and the Holy Spirt.  Firstly, we need to know that the holiness and justice of God are part of God’s goodness and love.  God has all these attributes.  When we are wronged, we demand justice.  We need to know that God is big enough, wise enough and powerful enough to make sense of all the evil in our world, yet loving and compassionate enough to understand and forgive our own fickle hearts.   

 

The message of the Gospel always begins with the reality of our human condition.  There is evil in the world and it is because humans freely choose their own will rather than follow God.  Most of us don’t mean to do anything wrong – but in the very least there will be sometimes when we will certainly make the selfish choice.  The Psalmist (Psalm 15) wrote; “Lord, who may dwell in your sacred tent?  Who may live on your holy mountain?

 The one whose walk is blameless, who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from their heart; whose tongue utters no slander, who does no wrong to a neighbour,…”  (coincidentally – David was that Psalmist and he certainly did do harm to a neighbour!!!!  Yet God called David a man after God’s own heart.)

 

None of us are perfectly perfect.  So, God made a way for us.  God’s justice, and holiness demands perfection, but so do we with our own inner sense of, and demand for justice, but God’s love and compassion is more intense than any love we will ever humanly encounter and He made a way for us to be eternally united to him.  Now nothing can keep us from the love of God.  But it came at a high price.  The Son came to be the lamb of God to take away sin.  The Son, while on earth lived as a fully human, perfect man.  Through our baptism we are united to Christ and spiritually, God sees us as clothed in Christ – Therefore he sees us, who are baptised, as his perfect Son.  We need ongoing help from God to live this life.  We need God’s empowering to live as though we are children of God.  We need the Holy Spirit.

 

Just as it was significant that Jesus sacrifice took place at the time of Passover, the coming of the Holy Spirit coming on the day of Pentecost was also significant.  Pentecost is a festival known to the Jewish as “Shavuot”.  It is a holiday commemorating the giving of the Torah (the first five books in the Hebrew Bible) to Moses at Mount Sinai.  The Holy Spirit is God’s law within us. 

We are also Triune beings with body, soul and spirit and it is the Holy Spirit that makes us spiritually alive, as the Holy Spirit is God within us and all that God is… The Bible says We work out our Salvation.  This is because we need to allow God in our inner most being to affect the rest of our being so that we grow more and more in his likeness.  We are redeemed by the sacrifice of Jesus, and we are sanctified – made holy… set apart, by the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:10 tells us; “But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.”

 

In so many other verses we are encouraged to live by the Spirit… to walk in the Spirit.  Why?  Because the Holy Spirit is God and God gives us free will.  We can still choose to use our free will, resist or quench the Holy Spirit and walk in the natural.  If we forget to rely on the Holy Spirit…. More than anything else, we will be short changing ourselves. 

 

The Holy Spirit is the power of God.  It is the power to do what is right, when our natural self doesn’t want to.  It is the power to be courageous when we are afraid of being rejected, and more than anything, the Holy Spirit is the power of God to be loving, when we just want to be spiteful and act with revenge or self-righteousness. 

 

Today we celebrate Trinity Sunday.  It is part of the church calendar to ensure that we retain our core belief and understanding about the nature of God.  This year, I want to encourage us to take a step further than belief.  Belief is nothing unless there is an action that testifies, and so I challenge us all to determine to rely on God… and by this I mean to rely on the fullness of God… We are generally comfortable in praying to the father, we have a pretty good knowledge of the saving work of the Son, but can we explore what it means to walk in the Spirit and grow in our understanding of the magnitude of God?

 

We are reminded today of the Great Commission; “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”

We are to be making disciples – meaning learners.  We are to baptize them, and although it is into the family of God, we are commanded to specifically do this in the name of the Father… and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  We are then to teach them to obey all that Jesus commanded.

The people of God are meant to be a blessing to the nations – A blessing to the world around us.  This means we are meant to be a blessing to our community, and as we go about being a blessing, we should make disciples and be baptizing and teaching. 

 

On the day of Pentecost three thousand were added to their number in one day and five thousand a little later.  Many, many in that community were baptised and became disciples.  Where are we at with the great commission today?

 

Our church is in desperate need of the life that only the Holy Spirit can bring. And the Holy Spirit works through us saying, “YES” to the will of God.  I believe our Image of God needs to grow bigger.  And our understanding of what God wants to accomplish life needs to expand.  There are lyrics in the song, the servant King, that sum up the magnitude and compassion of God; Hands that flung stars into space, to cruel nails surrounded.  He is the same God who has intervened in human history, parted the sea so that a nation could be saved, spoke with Moses on the Mountain, is Holy and Pure, all powerful and awesome, yet so compassionate and merciful that he came to die for us.  He is one and yet three persons. 

 

Perhaps our prayer today can be the words of the song by Lynn DeShazo - Be Magnified;

I have made You too small in my eyes, O Lord, forgive me. And I have believed in a lie -That You were unable to help me. But now, O Lord, I see my wrong

Heal my heart and show Yourself strong -And in my eyes and with my song - O Lord, be magnified - O Lord, be mag - nified.

 

Be magnified, O Lord - You are highly exalted

And there is nothing You can't do - O Lord, my eyes are on You.

Be magnified, O Lord, be mag - nified.

 

I have leaned on the wisdom of men - O Lord, forgive me.  And I have responded to them - Instead of Your light and Your mercy. But now, O Lord, I see my wrong- Heal my heart and show Yourself strong.  And in my eyes with my song  O Lord, be magnified - O Lord, be magnified.

 

Be magnified, O Lord - You are highly exalted

And there is nothing You can't do - O Lord, my eyes are on You.

Be magnified, O Lord, be mag - nified.

 

 

And we make this prayer, in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.   AMEN

Easter 6 A 14th May 2023 - Unconditional, Eternal Love and Acceptance

EASTER 6A  14^th May 2023 

Acts 17:22-31  •  Psalm 66:8-20  •  1 Peter 3:13-22  •  John 14:15-21

 

“Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good?” This an exhortation from Saint Peter, and I’m sensing a continuation of last week’s theme where we are encouraged to go bravely into this world doing good.  Regardless of opposition.

 

Here, in Peter’s letter we are encouraged that no one should be harmed if they are eager to do good.  We are encouraged to do good in our community….in the church, and in our town and country.  We are God’s people and God has said that, through His people that the nations will be blessed.  We bring God’s blessing to our town and nation, and we don’t do this passively.  It is something that we need to be actively involved in.  There shouldn’t be any fear in us to do good, but as we know, sometimes discouragement and persecution does happen.

 

Peter goes on to say, “But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord.” In this, Peter is acknowledging that the world does not always operate the way that it logically should.  No one should be harmed for doing good.  And the saviour of the world should not have been crucified by the people He came to save… but He was.

 

In the time between the resurrection and Pentecost the disciples were encouraged, but frightened.  This is the kind of message that they needed… go out and do good… no one should harm you for that, so be confident. I’m wondering if we are also like the pre-Pentecost timid disciples -or are we a church operating in post-Pentecost power?

Regardless of where we are at, those to whom Peter was writing were needing encouragement to have resilience in the face of persecution, because persecution was a fact of those early Christian’s lives.  All this is recorded and passed down to us for a reason; We too are like those disciples, called to be a blessing to our nation and we need to be encouraged to live with such conviction and assurance, that when persecution comes to us, we can also continue doing good.

 

When we resiliently continue to do good and people take notice of the different way that we have responded, even while under pressure, they will want to know why.  Saint Peter tells us; “Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you;”

 

Peter adds that we need to do this with gentleness and reverence.  He tells us this, because in the face of persecution, injustice and discrimination, our natural and sinful self may not want to tell them of the love of God, but instead tell them…. Well probably something not HELPFUl!  Instead, we need to be always respectful, with gentleness and reverence.

 

An example; very seldom, but probably once every couple of years, someone will be verbally abusive to the Street Chaplains.  The last time this happened was just a couple of weeks ago and it happened to me. This particular night the lady continued to hurl abuse at me, regardless of assurances that we were just trying to help, so I stopped engaging in the conversation.  The police actually heard her tirade and arrested her.  Others standing by made comments to me that we don’t deserve that kind of treatment. 

 

These other people witnessed our innocence.  We weren’t thrown by the abuse, although, honestly it is upsetting.  We need to understand that there are some who will be reacting to our presence for all kinds of reasons which may be unknown to us.  If we stay calm and continue to reach out in love, we show ourselves to be different.  And people witness something different about a group of people who claim to have a relationship with God.  Whatever the outcome, our conscience is clear.   To respond, rather than react, is certainly easier in our Chaplaincy setting than it may be in other scenarios, because we have a partner and a team to back us up.

 

Other than having a team to back us, we have an assurance of the acceptance of God.  Though others might reject us, we are loved and accepted by God who created the heavens and the earth.  God who came down to our earth, lived among us and died for the immense love that he has for each of us.  That very fact, is something that we all need to know most definitely and rest in.  You.. are so very loved and completely accepted by God. 

 

The Holy Spirit came at Pentecost to the disciples and they were changed from encouraged, though frightened, followers of Christ, to courageous and confident proclaimers of the Good News of Jesus Christ.  What did the Holy Spirit do in those people to bring about this change?  I believe that when that third party of the trinity came to dwell with the disciples, they understood that they were so very extremely and unconditionally loved by God, and that love of God, reassured them, such that they were truly set free.  If God is for us, who can be against us.  What can humankind do to us?  We can’t lose, because no matter what happens we are in the presence of God and he is constantly loving us.  Like a proud parent, he pats us on the back to encourage us to continue to fight the good fight.

 

Saint Paul was one who had been persecuting the church and then he met Christ in the blinding light on the road to Damascus and he was a completely changed man.  Well, kind of.  You see, Paul was a very educated and clever man and he was zealous for God in his persecution of the church… he was equally zealous in his conversion, at proclaiming the truth of the Gospel.

 

Saint Paul lived in the reality of God’s love.  He had experienced overwhelming forgiveness and love.  Saint Paul understood the love and acceptance of God.  He was accepted and loved despite all his flaws and prior life mistakes.  This gave him the confidence to proclaim the message of salvation.

 

Being the intelligent person that Paul was, he didn’t go into a new city, like a bull at a gate, proclaiming that he had the truth and they needed to listen.  Well… not quite anyway.  This time we find Paul in the centre of activity.  The Areopagus was a court of philosophers in Athens which had authority over religion and morals.  I can just imagine him entering that town and wandering around gathering ideas, praying, asking God to give him the words and the way, to reach these people with the Good News of Jesus Christ.  As he wanders, he notices the monuments to the gods and sees the one to the unknown God.  Suddenly the penny drops and he knows just where to start.

 

Saint Paul compliments the people on how religious they are and directs their attention to the monument to the unknown God.  From there he declares to them to one true living God. 

 

Saint Paul tries to be all things to all people.  He looks for common ground and uses what they already believe, as a starting point, and he uses their own poetry that declares we are the offspring of God.  Paul tries to get along with people, yet he doesn’t water down the truth and he doesn’t compromise the message of salvation.

Each year we celebrate Easter, and for nearly 2000 years Christians have been speaking of the resurrection.  As Christians, it is central to our faith and outsiders often know it is part of our faith.  However, have you ever wondered what it was like for those early communities hearing this message?  What?  People can’t be crucified and raised from the dead?

 

The followers of Jesus came with a message of the Good News about God who loved the world so much that he sent his son to die for our sin.  If God is all powerful… powerful enough place the sins of the world onto the son and then to raise him from the dead, then we need to take seriously the message of salvation.  It was a controversial and powerful message from the start.  There was no theological musings about the metaphorical meaning in rising from the dead… it was presented as a straight out fact, and it proved the message of salvation.  People were assured of God’s forgiveness for their sins because Jesus was raised from the dead.

 

Just to expand one area of the Good News, if it says that Christ suffered for sins once for all, it means that absolutely everything that could keep you from God, has been atoned for.   There is NOTHING keeping us from the love of God… except possibly ourselves.  We always have free will and so, we can freely choose to live our lives apart from God.  However, we need not carry any guilt or feel that God would be disappointed in us… he is not. 

 

Jesus tells us that if we love him, we will keep his commandments.  His command is always love.  He loves us and desires for us to remind each other of how much they are loved by him.  He also desires that we show the world that God loves them.

 

Through the Holy Spirit, God is always with us.  How often are we aware of God with us?  Our Gospel reading reminds us that God abides with us and is in us.  He will never leave us and because he is with us  - united to us - our eternal live has already begun.

 

In this time, between Resurrection Sunday and Pentecost, we reflect on how essential is the gift of the Holy Spirit in order for us to actually live the life that God has planned for us.  We so need and pray for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  Not everything will be easy or without harm, but when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, the love of God is in our hearts and we can live the adventurous life that God destined us to live… a life of experiencing and sharing the love of God.  We can march to a different drum, take the road less travelled and our Spirit filled, eternal life has begun.

A Glimpse of Heaven and nothing else matters

FIFTH SUNDAY OF EASTER    Year A   May 7, 2023

Acts 7:55-60  •  Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16  •  1 Peter 2:2-10  •  John 14:1-14

A glimpse of heaven.  How would it impact us if we had a vision of Heaven and saw the glory of God?  Stephen, the church’s first martyr, is not the only person to have had a vison of the glory of God.  If you google search glimpses of heaven, there are some incredible stories of experiences telling of the love of God.  I imagine from what we know of God, a vision of Heaven would be an experience of surprisingly thorough love and acceptance.

 

In contrast to that love and acceptance, is our experience on planet earth.  Once upon a time children being called nasty names would reply, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.”  In our modern times this is never quoted in the playground, as our generation has realized the power of words and the lasting impact that these make.  Children who are told all their lives that they are stupid will often grow up believing that they are not very capable.  And on the flip side is the story of Thomas Eddison.

 

The story goes like this; “One day, as a small child, Thomas Edison came home from school and gave a paper to his mother. He said to her "Mom, my teacher gave this paper to me and told me only you are to read it. What does it say?"

Her eyes welled with tears as she read the letter out loud to her child ...

"Your son is a genius. This school is too small for him and doesn't have good enough teachers to train him. Please teach him yourself."

Many years after Edison's mother had died, he became one of the greatest inventors of the century.

One day he was going through a closet and he found the folded letter that his old teacher wrote his Mother that day. He opened it ...

The message written on the letter was "Your son is mentally deficient. We cannot let him attend our school anymore. He is expelled."

Edison became emotional reading it and then wrote in his diary:

"Thomas A. Edison was a mentally deficient child whose mother turned him into the genius of the Century." A positive word of encouragement can help change anyone's destiny.”

 

Similarly, rejection and acceptance are powerful in our society.  This is one of the basic things we try to teach our street Chaplains.  Our acceptance of people on the street conveys love and, most importantly, the love of God.  Recently I saw the movie, The Jesus Revolution, where this openness to accept the hippies gave rise to the revival in the church.

 

But I also need to talk about the negative side; Rejection, because, unlike St. Stephen who was stoned to death, rejection is how most of us will experience persecution.  In Jesus’ day the aspect of rejection was just as powerful as it is today.  People followed Jesus or rejected him, sometimes based on the opinions of those around them.  Peer pressure is powerful.  The Pharisees had rejected Jesus and so Nicodemus came to Jesus under the cover of night.  It was a crowd, a mob, who called out “crucify him” when Jesus was on trial.  Did they all really reject Jesus or were they just scared of being rejected themselves?  And on Palm Sunday, did they all follow and accept Jesus, as they cried, “Hosanna” or were they wanting to belong… to be accepted themselves…. And not rejected. 

 

We still tend to go with the loudest voice.  Our society’s values have been largely shaped by the media and those voices who make us feel that we might too be crucified if we disagree… well, maybe not crucified, but certainly rejected.

 

Rejection is powerful.  What we witness in our readings, is that once we know we are loved and accepted by God, we can then overcome the power of rejection in our lives.  We see this in Saint Stephen.  In fact, St. Stephen, showed no fear at all!  It is quite probable that the key to nullifying the fear of rejection is to understand and experience the unconditional acceptance we have in Christ.  As the Bible tells us, perfect love casts out all fear.  This is the love we need to experience in our relationship with God.

 

I hope and pray that none of us ever have to face violent persecution for our faith such that we are stoned to death, but we already face the name calling, discrimination and other kinds of persecution.  Recently, a muso friend of mine, who has recently become a Christian, was doing a gig.  He said that it was going really well… people were enjoying the music, and he was enjoying being the entertainer.  As he finished, he said something to the effect of, “May the good Lord, Bless you all”.   Within a very short space of time, he received a call from his manager to say that the venue manager never wanted him to perform there again due to his speaking about God.

 

We are sometimes called flat earthers… even though we are not, and when I worked as Youth Worker in the Anglican school in Cairns, the teenagers informed me that I hated gays because I was Christian. I had never and would never say anything of the kind, and even have some gay friends.  Rejected and judged quite wrongly, but all because we bear the name, Christian.  But should we justify and explain?  We could, and there is a time and a place to do so, but to some extent we need to quote that old playground rhyme; Sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me….  And we need to do a Taylor Swift and “Shake it off”.  As Taylor says, “haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate… I’m just gonna Shake it off… shake it off.”  And we are called to do more than this… to love.

 

Our letter from St. Peter tells us again, what we already know, that Jesus was rejected.  We should understand that we, as his followers, are bound to be rejected sometimes.  Saint Peter tells us that Jesus is the cornerstone that the people rejected, but the stone that God has chosen and we being his people need to become stones like him, built onto that corner stone.

 

But what gives us the power to Shake off the pain of that rejection?  It isn’t the exhortation from Taylor or even that childhood rhyme.  The power to shake it off comes from knowing that God has chosen us and to know the acceptance and love of God through Christ.

 

And here is where it gets tricky.  We can be told that God has chosen us and that God loves us so much that he sent his son to die for us, but we need to receive it, and experience it for ourselves, for it to have any impact in our lives… and even that is easier said than done if all we have experienced in our church family and in our world is rejection.

 

In our Gospel reading we have Jesus talking about going away to prepare a place for us.  This is the most common reading for funerals because it indicates that there is something beyond the grave and a place for us in the kingdom of God, but possibly the more important part of this reading, for the purpose of our discussion, is when Philip asks Jesus to show them the father.

 

“Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.  How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?”

 

Jesus is making it clear that He and the father are one…. He is in the father and the father is in him… the mystery of the deity as trinity is puzzling, but one thing is certain; the unity of the Father and the Son is such that if you have experienced one, you have experienced the other.  The disciples had experienced Jesus and knew that they were loved by him.  Jesus said there was a place for them in the Kingdom of God and they knew that because Jesus loved them and accepted them, God the father also loved and accepted them.

 

Many years ago, I was part of a group of young adults who worked together to put on an event called Youth Encounter.  The guest speaker was a man called Mike Nelson.  As part of the organising committee we got to know Mike really well.

 

Mike was a regular speaker with the international Bible school Capernwray.  At one of his speaking engagements, I heard him speaking about love and how he didn’t find it easy to love people so he deliberately prayed that God would help him to love people with the love of God. 

 

In about 1999 Mike Nelson died.  He had long struggled with an hereditary liver disease and he passed away during an operation to try to prolong his life.  It came out among the comments after and during the funeral, that people generally had the sense that God loved them, because they felt Mike loved them.  There was this strange sense of God’s love in the relationship that we had with Mike.  I would say, God well and truly answered Mike’s prayer and, though he may have been largely unaware of it, God loved people through Mike and his willingness to be a vessel of God’s love.

 

Likewise, others can feel rejection or God’s love through us.    Through the Holy Spirit we can allow the love of God to flow and show in our lives – through our actions and words.  I really do believe, like Mike Nelson, that most of us need to pray for God to love through us.  We are not naturally able to be loving and show the love of God… in fact sometimes God’s love might have boundaries.

 

When we are on Street Chaplaincy, the challenge is to always be loving, but this sometimes means we need to be firm and tell someone, in as caring a way as possible, that their action needs to stop… and even sometimes we may add that if they don’t stop, we will need to call for police help.

 

Loving with the love of God can not be achieved very effectively in our own strength.  On the flip side, even when we are unaware of it, if we are asking God to love through us, he will most certainly do so.  He will do so because this is His will.  He wants to love and work in and through us.  This is the work of the Holy Spirit.

 

We have this promise of answered prayer through the words of Jesus in our Gospel reading; “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.  I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”

 

We know that amazing things happened after the Holy Spirit came on the disciples, but the question is; are we seeing these things today?  We desperately need to see these promises of Jesus realized in our day and age… and the key is the Holy Spirit.

 

The disciples, after the resurrection were joyful, but still fearful.  They hid away and prayed behind closed doors.  At the coming of the Holy Spirit everything changed.  Through the Holy Spirit they experienced for themselves the love of God and they knew the total and sure acceptance of God.  The Holy Spirit taught them this … taught their hearts, not just their heads.

 

It was Saint Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, who saw the vision of heaven…. And through that same spirit he, full of the love and acceptance he had in God, could intercede for those who were stoning him saying, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them."

 

It is not a natural thing to be able to show the genuine love of God, and continue in unconditional love for our persecutors, but it is possible and even natural when we are filled with the Spirit of God.  It is more than likely that there will be times ahead when there will be more rejection and even persecution for those who follow Christ.  How will we respond?  How are we responding now?  Sticks and stones may break our bones, but names will never hurt us when we are totally secure in the love of God and surrounded by a loving Christian community.

 

As we journey to Pentecost, we reflect on our need for the out pouring of the Holy Spirit in our lives, in our church, and in our community.  There is a world of people out there who are desperate for the indescribable love of God.  May we be like Saint Stephen in the face of persecution, declaring the vision of Heaven and lavishing love on those in our world.

May our eyes be opened and hearts burning within us Easter 3A

                                 EASTER 3  Year A   April 23, 2023

Acts 2:14a, 36-41  •  Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19  •  1 Peter 1:17-23  •  Luke 24:13-35

 

We may be a long way from Christmas, but it might be worth pondering the word, “Emmanuel”, meaning “God with us”, as that theme is really what God is all about.  God wants to be with us.  It is why he sent the son and in our Gospel story today, just when they thought that Jesus was gone and they were probably also feeling the sentiments of Psalm 22, “My God, my God why have you abandoned me, they discover that Jesus is with them again.

 

 “On the road to Emmaus” is a story and a phrase that has inspired countless people over the centuries and it has inspired the movement, that we know as Cursillo, others know the movement by another name, the “Emmaus walk”.   So, what is it that was going on as these two disciples travelled to Emmaus?

 

The main characters are Cleopas and another unnamed disciple.  You may recall that there was a lady named Mary, the wife of Clopas mentioned in our Easter readings, as the one who was at the crucifixion with Mary the mother of Jesus.  It is possible that Cleopas and Clopas are the same person and it is suggested that he was a relative of Jesus, possibly his uncle.

 

It is even suggested that these two disciples are Cleopas and his wife.  They were possibly on their way home after spending time comforting Mary.  Whatever the situation was, the important thing is that they encountered Jesus.  Initially, they did not recognise him for his true identity, but saw him as a fellow traveller on the road.  They couldn’t help but be talking about all that had been happening, as it was central to their lives as Jesus’ disciples, but they didn’t recognise Jesus as the one who was walking with him.

 

Is it possible to be a follower of Jesus and not truly recognise him? 

 

Today’s readings urge us to reflect; Jesus has said, what we do to the least of “these”, meaning other people, we do to him….  Have we failed to recognise Jesus in others?

 

But, on a more basic level, is it possible that we don’t recognise that Jesus is with us, at all?  Certainly, Jesus does walk with us, as he promised to always be with us through his Holy Spirit, but we don’t always sense him there.  Many times lately, I’ve heard people say that they attended a prayer meeting, retreat, or service and “God showed up”.   What do we expect?   Of course, he showed up, after all, God is always with us and the point of our meeting is to reflect on and become aware of his presence with us.  God is with us always and this is His desire.  He wants us to be aware of His presence; Emmanuel. 

 

The disciples met Jesus in the flesh.  We often think that this gave them an extra advantage in knowing Jesus, but it seems it could be possible that this may also have been a stumbling block.  They knew Jesus the man who performed miracles and irritated the pharisees.  If this Cleopas was actually the relative of Jesus, then he even knew Jesus, the baby, toddler and young boy.  Sometimes there are basic things that create a presumptions and get in the way of us seeing the deeper reality and we miss the truth.

 

We all can be guilty of this.  We base our reality on what we have experienced… it is only natural, but we need understand that our experience and that of every other human is limited.  We need to find our reality in something that is bigger than us, beyond us, and more true than us… we need to base our reality in the one who said he is the way, the life and the TRUTH. 

 

The two disciples were on the road to Emmaus talking about how Jesus had been crucified and discussing that some of the women had claimed Jesus had risen from the dead.  Based on their limited experience, they were undecided as to whether or not this was something to believe.  On the positive side, Jesus had raised Lazarus, a widow’s son and a young girl from the dead and had healed many.  On the negative side, people weren’t usually risen from the dead, and the people who Jesus raised from the dead did not die the violent and extreme death that Jesus did.  Also, if Jesus had that kind of power, why would he have gone through allowing himself to die on the cross?

 

Now, in the light of this logical thinking about Jesus, we can understand why Jesus said to the disciples, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared!  Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?" Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures.”

 

We have our own understandings and presumptions about Jesus.  If we were born into a Christian family or attended a Christian school, we might know quite a lot about God and think that we pretty much know all that there is to know about him.  In my experience with children who I have taught singing, and those that I was involved with many years ago with school based retreats, state school student have been a whole lot more open to hearing about Jesus than private school students.  And some of those Religious Instruction teachers did a mighty fine job in laying the ground work.  So, what is going on?

 

I fully support and acknowledge the good in having private Christian schools, but it simply can be a fact that some of those students feel that they know all there is to know about God because they have had this particular education.  Maybe we need to teach them the Jewish theological understanding about God… and that is that we could study God all our lives and never know more than a microscopic, tiny fraction about God…. But if we want to know and try to know, God is pleased.

 

What are your thoughts about Jesus’ opinion of the Pharisees?  They were the religious leaders… the experts.  And their arrogance in thinking that they knew more about God than the others, led to many of them missing the coming of the Messiah – AND actually crucifying him.

 

There are some things that needed to be understood about Jesus.  Firstly, he was indeed the Messiah.   This is part of the message from Peter to the Jewish people as he preached on the day of Pentecost.  How would you feel to be in their shoes?  They were the very ones who crucified Jesus.

 

Secondly, but most importantly, as Peter explains, "Therefore let the entire house of Israel know with certainty that God has made him both Lord and Messiah, this Jesus whom you crucified."

God made him both Lord and Messiah.  God made Jesus, Lord.  He gave him every authority and we know from Saint Paul’s letter to the Philippians that God has given Him a name that is above every other name, that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, in the whole universe and every tongue will confess that Jesus the Messiah is Lord.

 

There is a very important aspect here, that we in our lives, need to also acknowledge Jesus as both Messiah and Lord.  We know that Jesus came to die for us and bring us back into an unconditional relationship with the father, but have we bowed to the Lordship of Christ?  Have we acknowledged that Jesus is the Lord and King… the authority in our life?

 

The Israelites to whom Peter was speaking reacted to Peter’s message by being greatly convicted and asking what they must do to be saved.  Now, understand that these were potentially good, law-abiding citizens.  They were being told that they were responsible for crucifying the author of life because they didn’t recognise him – and they agreed, that this was correct.  They got it wrong and crucified an innocent man… the Messiah. 

 

The Holy Spirit convicted them and they repented.  Repentance is not just a feeling of sorrow for doing something wrong, but more correctly, it is to change your mind.  To repent is to change our thinking from being centred around justifying our actions, to then do a complete turn around and agree with God, that we actually are a people who need his grace, mercy, forgiveness and love.   The Good News?  That is what God does… lavishly he gives us grace, mercy, forgiveness and love.

 

The question is, do we still fail to recognise Jesus?  Where do we expect to meet Jesus?  At that prayer meeting, retreat or service?  Good…  we will… but remember, he is always with us.  And guess what?  We also meet Jesus in the most unlikely of places.  Remember, he is a friend to sinners and people of ill repute.

 

Recently there was a scripture from Jeremiah that struck me.  It was about those who trust in flesh not recognising the hand of the Lord when he came to rescue.  I think the same goes for everything.  If we place Jesus as both Lord and Messiah in our lives, we will begin to recognise Jesus in the places where we would once not have expected, and we will know that the presence of God is always with us…. Just sometimes we don’t notice it as much as other times.

 

Most importantly, we need to have our own Emmaus walk experience, where we speak honestly with Jesus about our faith and our doubt and ask Jesus to open our eyes so that we see him.  We acknowledge and agree with God that we need a saviour, a Messiah, and submit to the Lordship of Christ.  He promised to send his helper, the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth – God with us always.  May we know his presence, feel his presence and trust in his presence and love beyond all our own understanding and may our hearts burn within us with the affirmation that we know the truth.