tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85401284917096690372024-03-14T19:21:04.004+00:00Sunday's coming!Reflections on Revised Common Lectionary readings for each week. Feel free to comment & join in a conversation!Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15365238026767992838noreply@blogger.comBlogger577125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8540128491709669037.post-72840440295971515012024-03-14T19:20:00.002+00:002024-03-14T19:20:32.296+00:00 We would like to see Jesus<p><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span><i style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">Jeremiah 31: 31-34; John 12: 20-33</i></p><style class="WebKit-mso-list-quirks-style">
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</style><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">‘We would like to see Jesus.’<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">I would like to see Jesus – wouldn’t you? Out of curiosity, if nothing else - wouldn’t it be fascinating to know exactly what Jesus looked like. Did he look particularly kind (I hope so) or wise (I expect so). Was there anything in the way he looked which gave a hint to his identity as the son of God? <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">Yet all four gospels remain frustratingly silent on the subject of what Jesus looked like – because they’re far too busy wanting to give us the good news about who Jesus was, and what he did and said.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">So John’s story of the Greeks who say ‘We would like to see Jesus’ is so much more than just a story of idle curiosity of wondering what Jesus looked like: it cuts to the heart of who Jesus is and what he has come to do. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">These Greeks are in Jerusalem for the Passover festival, they have come to worship God. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">And presumably they have heard something of Jesus of Nazareth. So they come to Philip and ask ‘Sir, we would like to see Jesus’. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">Idle curiosity? I doubt it, why would they care what Jesus looks like, but they want to meet him, see him in action, and understand who this teacher & healer that everyone is talking about really is and what he is doing. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">Asking ‘we want to see Jesus’ is really a way of asking ‘who is Jesus?’.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">In 2019 the former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams was asked in an evening discussion ‘who is Jesus for you?’ – this was his off-the cuff and typically wonderful answer.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Who is Jesus for me…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">-<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">the ground of all my hope, the definition of what I long and pray to grow into<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">-<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">in terms of obedience to and intimacy with God the Father, the one who holds<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">together a human race that's always trying to tear itself apart, <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">-<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">who gives the breath of his spirit so that we share life not fight over it<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18.0pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB;">-<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">the one whose death and resurrection are the centre point of all human history<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I could go on all night and not say anything really…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">You might have noticed that Rowan Williams didn’t try to say anything at all about how Jesus looked, but what he did, what he was, why he matters. I wonder how good our imaginations would be at producing an answer to the question ‘who is Jesus for you?’. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">The Greeks ask ‘We would like to see Jesus’,<b> </b> they want to see, meet and understand who he is. And Jesus doesn’t give a direct yes or no, but tells them what is soon going to happen:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified… I shall draw everyone to myself when I am lifted up from the earth.’<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">The Greeks have been drawn to Jesus by what they have seen and heard of his teaching and healing ministry – they want to meet the great healer, the great rabbi, Jesus. And Jesus says, in effect ‘if you want to know me, the greatest sign of who I am is yet to come’ <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">The people of Jesus’ time might think they have seen Jesus’ love in action in the way he treats people and speaks to the outcast and heals the sick – but the most dramatic display of the extremity of God’s love has yet to be seen.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">It is fascinating that it is right now, at this stage of Jesus’ life, that John tells us a voice from heaven speaks to confirm Jesus’ work as glorifying the Father. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">In the other 3 gospels there is a confirming voice at Jesus’ baptism, at the start of Jesus’ ministry of healing and teaching – but John tells the story of this voice coming <b>now</b> , towards the end of his life, as if to signify that this is where Jesus’ <b>real</b> work begins, with his act of willing sacrifice on the cross. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">For John, Jesus is not the healer/rabbi, he is the Messiah who has come to save the world by laying down his own life in love. Jesus makes the statement ‘I shall draw everyone to myself when I am lifted from the earth’, and John comments ‘he said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die’.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">Jesus shows us God in human form and then goes to the extreme of death to display the love God offers.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">The Greeks say ‘We would like to see Jesus’ - and Jesus points forward to his place on the cross. When they see the Messiah who suffers and dies out of love for the world, <b>then</b> they will really see what God’s love is about and what that love is prepared to do on the cross, in the tomb and in the eternal life beyond death.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">We don’t know what sort of Jesus the Greeks were expecting, but Jesus himself tells them to expect to see him lifted up on the cross to suffer; lifted up by God when he is risen from death, and lifted up so that he might be glorified in the whole world. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">As we approach Good Friday, and the moment of self-offering of Jesus, we remember the promise of Jeremiah – that God will put a new heart in God’s people, a new way of seeing God’s presence so that the teaching of God will be alive in our hearts and lives.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">God’s love, made real, for us.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">In our Lego church we will be thinking about the Easter story using images from the Mafa community in Cameroon. </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfPZ6jnJ224VYpK-uwVLdt3oLHg34qZd2eZc18lkCc6fZUo25tHcRCzUDjoPtFp94FfUvXldQ7x_AAwPvIf5nwqywi4lku075tKdTdGwYLVazL8cYFOedsxaFoHXOZhS3bkwlUdSfESKd9kJ4oVbOdYSmMQS-D880PTiTMBxWPZREWOy-VilGqO44LE6w/s438/tumblr_inline_o3du0fbXmo1qkqzlv_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="307" data-original-width="438" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfPZ6jnJ224VYpK-uwVLdt3oLHg34qZd2eZc18lkCc6fZUo25tHcRCzUDjoPtFp94FfUvXldQ7x_AAwPvIf5nwqywi4lku075tKdTdGwYLVazL8cYFOedsxaFoHXOZhS3bkwlUdSfESKd9kJ4oVbOdYSmMQS-D880PTiTMBxWPZREWOy-VilGqO44LE6w/s320/tumblr_inline_o3du0fbXmo1qkqzlv_500.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">In order to teach people in Northern Cameroon about the life of Jesus, Catholic missionaries in the 1970s asked the Mafa people to act out scenes from Jesus’ life in a way that made sense to them, and then these scenes were painted. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">Jesus is shown wearing a red robe because that is considered an important colour to the Mafa people; he is shown in an African village, with drums and children with braided hair.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">This shows us Jesus in a new way, and perhaps can encourage <b>us</b> to imagine Jesus as one of us, with us, among us.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">Like the Mafa people we need to be ready to show what it means to see Jesus as one of us, with us, among us, along side us.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">But, how can we get people interested in Jesus at all?<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">I think this is a vital question facing Christian churches throughout our country. We know that the number of people attending Christian churches each week is falling and the statistics tell us that whilst in the 2001 census 72% of the UK population said they were Christian, in 2011 that had dropped to 59% and in 2021 it was 46%. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">Meanwhile those of ‘no religion’ rose from 25% in 2011 to 37% in 2021.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">We say the church is the body of Christ – if people want to see Jesus they should look at the church, but many people aren’t interested in Church, and no-one is asking to see Jesus.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">So what are we to do? The question from the Greeks didn’t come out of the blue, it came because they were already looking for what God was doing in the world – they were in Jerusalem to worship – and they had heard rumours of signs of God’s kingdom in the life of Jesus.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">The people we meet may or may not be interested in church or chapel – but I’d be surprised if none of them was interested in hope, or healing, or justice, or love, or joy or forgiveness or peace… or all the other things we know are part of God’s kingdom. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">So our job as a church is to make sure that we are proclaiming – in words and in deeds, God’s kingdom, God’s love. Like Jesus, we need to be showing God’s healing and forgiveness and hope. Then just possibly, people will want to see more, to see the source of our hope and love and joy – to see Jesus: the suffering, risen and glorified Jesus.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">Perhaps in all we do, as a church or as individuals, we need to be asking “how is this proclaiming God’s kingdom?” and “how is this showing the world a suffering, risen and glorified Jesus, whose love can bring hope to all people?”.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">May our celebrations of Easter which are to come help us to see Jesus and to know his love and resurrection power. And seeing and knowing, may we be filled with the desire to share and reveal that love to others – through God’s power at work in us.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;">Amen.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p> </o:p></p>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15365238026767992838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8540128491709669037.post-20816963938298911072024-03-09T17:57:00.009+00:002024-03-09T17:57:34.423+00:00Lent 4: Mothering Sunday<p><i>Numbers 21:4-9; John 3: 14-21</i></p><p><u>Introduction Mothering Sunday</u></p><p>Today is Mothering Sunday – a term I confess I prefer to ‘Mothers’ Day’, because it is a day that is about more than just mothers.</p><p>All of us begin life with a mother. But not all of us still have a mother living.</p><p>Some of us are lucky and have or have had a good relationship with our mothers – but I realise that isn’t true for everyone.</p><p>Not everyone’s life journey leads to them being a mother. And not every mother is able to raise her child.</p><p>But mothering is for everyone. </p><p>Mothering, at its best, is about nurturing, caring, constancy, and unconditional love. The Bible talks of God as Father, Shepherd, protector, redeemer, saviour, rock, refuge… we might very easily speak of God’s love as a mothering love – and God as mother.</p><p>In our worship today we will think of God’s love – and especially God’s loving offer of healing for those who are broken, wounded and in need.</p><p>If Mothering Sunday makes you feel wounded in some way, then God’s love is for you, with you and offering you healing.</p><p><i>Reading: <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Numbers 21:4-9</i></p><p><u>Talk 1: God’s healing in the desert</u></p><p>The people of God have been freed from enslavement by Pharaoh in Egypt. They have been brought across the Red Sea, and provided with the guidance of pillars of fire and cloud. </p><p>Moses has received the ten commandments, and God has provided them with miraculous water and heavenly food (manna) in the desert. </p><p>Not that you would guess any of that from the reading we’ve just heard from Numbers, where the amazing manna and the equally amazing gift of flocks of quails provided by God is described as ‘miserable food’. </p><p>And so the people of God, as they have a tendency to do, have complained.</p><p>In response, God sends venomous snakes and many people who are bitten, die.</p><p>The people realise their mistake, and ask Moses to pray that God will take away the snakes & save them.</p><p>But God offers them a different plan: whoever has been bitten will be healed by God if they turn and look at the bronze serpent on a pole that Moses has made.</p><p>In a sense this shows us good mothering love from God – not removing the danger, but giving the people of God a way of living with the danger and receiving healing. </p><p>A mothering love offers people a chance to learn and grow, it doesn’t wrap people up in bubble wrap.</p><p>But this can still seem like a strange story – and you might wonder why Jesus refers to it in his conversation with Nicodemus (which we’ll hear in more detail in a moment).</p><p>John 3:14 & 15 "Jesus said, “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life."</p><p>At its simplest, the story of the serpents is telling us that God offers God’s people healing when they realise what is wrong with them – they have been ungrateful and now they have been bitten by a venomous snake. They turn to the symbol of God’s healing and they are saved by God’s promised healing power.</p><p>Even today the symbol of a snakes wrapped around a pole is used as a sign of healing by many hospitals, pharmacies and army medical corps.</p><p>When the people turn to see the serpent on the staff they are healed. In the same way, says Jesus, when the Son of Man is lifted up – so that he can be seen – people will believe in him and receive the gift of eternal life. </p><p>The sign of Jesus Christ living among people, born on earth in a human body and living a life of light and love, offers people healing from everything that ails them.</p><p>We turn back to John’s gospel to hear more of what Jesus has to say about healing and salvation:</p><p>Reading: John 3:14-21</p><p><u>Talk 2: God’s constant love; Jesus’ offer to Nicodemus; a mothering church.</u></p><p>Of all the verses in the Bible, John 3: 16 has to be one of the most famous and the most quoted. It even appears sometimes on T-shirts, and very often at Sports events in the US – being held up by a member of the audience of worn by one of the competitors.</p><p>With all its ‘exposure’ it’s easy to forget that Jesus says these words not as part of a sermon or public statement, but in a conversation with just one person – Nicodemus.</p><p>Nicodemus is a Pharisee – a learned, thinking man – who comes to talk to Jesus, but is wary of being seen conversing with Jesus, and so comes at night.</p><p>What can be more intimate than a conversation between just two people under cover of darkness. And as part of the conversation Jesus offers Nicodemus the gift of healing and salvation – first of all by making reference to the ‘serpent on a staff’ story, and then by saying the words :</p><p>For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. </p><p>Martin Luther described this verse as the ‘gospel in miniature’, since it states:</p><p>God loves God gave</p><p>We believe We have life.</p><p>When we need healing, Jesus is the sign that God is with us, and that God loves, God gave, we believe and so we have life.</p><p>From what might we need healing?</p><p>I have suggested that Mothering Sunday can be difficult for some people, for a variety of reasons, and that maybe some of us will need healing from those wounds.</p><p>Classically, the church has spoken of people needing healing from sin, and we spoke at the zoom Bible study on Tuesday about what a difficult word that can be for us. </p><p>An interesting theologian and writer, Francs Spufford, has spoken of sin as ‘the human propensity to mess things up’. If you find it hard for whatever reason to think of yourself as someone who sins, who is a sinner – then I’m sure you will find the idea of messing things up more relatable. We all mess things up sometimes. We make mistakes, we snap at someone we love, we find it hard to get out of the chair and do something we know we should do, we get things wrong. </p><p>And when we do Jesus tells us, as he told Nicodemus, that he is there as a sign of the love of God that is constant and caring and immeasurably kind.</p><p>If you struggle to think of God’s love as a mothering love – listen to this:</p><p>The black woman theologian, Cole Arthur Riley, writes this (p 99 of her wonderful book “This here flesh”): I think when God bears witness to our lament, we discover that we are not calling out to a teacher, but inviting God as a nurturer – a mother who hears her child crying in the night. She wakes, rises, and comes to the place where we lie. She rushes her holy warmth against our flesh and says “I’m here”.</p><p>This Mothering Sunday we are invited to receive the healing of the mothering of God. Jesus tells Nicodemus, and tells us, that in him God is here, with us, close, loving – coming to us when we most need love and healing.</p><p>When we experience that healing, we are also invited by Jesus to becomes part of the life of a church which will offer that mothering love to everyone who needs it.</p><p>The church needs to be ready to be more like the best parent we can imagine – loving caring, accepting.. so that all might believe, turn to Jesus, turn to the light of the gospel, and receive eternal life. </p><p>Thanks be to God. Amen.</p><div><br /></div>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15365238026767992838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8540128491709669037.post-45605662949941423952024-02-29T16:43:00.000+00:002024-02-29T16:43:01.676+00:00Lent 3: Clearing the temple<p> <u style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Lent 3</span></u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">: <i>John 2: 13-22</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Very soon now the building of Crundale Chapel will go on the market for sale. I notice that RK Lucas, who will be marketing it, have at least two other small churches for sale at the moment, and we can probably all think of churches or chapels we know which are struggling. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">These are not easy times to be the church.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">So it’s time for me to tell you something said to me by a very wise teacher of mine, about 20 years ago. Helen Cameron is a member of the Salvation Army and a wonderful theologian and teacher. As we were discussing the difference between the <i>form</i> of the church (the way we do things) and the <i>essence</i> of the church (who we are) she said “the way we do things may change, but <b>the church of God is indestructible</b>”.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">I think our Gospel reading today tells us about Jesus demonstrating that very thing : the church of God is indestructible.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Today’s story of the overturning of the tables in the temple might feel familiar, but we might be surprised by John’s version of events, and where in the story of Jesus he places them. We are only in the second chapter of John – we are nowhere near the final triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the events of Holy Week, which is where the other gospel writers place this story. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">In John’s telling of the story, Jesus has just performed his first sign to show his disciples who he is – turning water into wine at the wedding at Cana.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Then he goes to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover, and enters the temple. Jesus sees, in the temple precincts, the dealers in cattle, sheep and pigeons and the money-changers seated at their tables. He drives them out – people and animals together; he upsets the tables of the money-changers, coins rolling everywhere; then he tells the dealers in pigeons to take them out, warning “do not turn my Father’s house into a market”.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">In the other gospels, Jesus criticises the dealers for turning the temple into a “bandits’ cave” – but John relates Jesus telling them not that they were dishonest, but that they were in the wrong place.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We might see what Jesus is doing as a prophetic action, or a demonstration. Like the ‘sign’ of who he is, shown by Jesus turning water into wine; this is a sign to everyone who sees it that the activities in the temple are not the best way of getting closer to God.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">I said this is not an easy time for us to be the church – but maybe it’s not the worst time either, and John was writing his gospel at a particularly bad time.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">According to the Jewish historian Josephus the temple in Jerualem was completed in AD 66. But in AD 70 – just three years after its final completion – the temple was destroyed by the Roman army to quell rebellion in the region. With battering rams, catapults and finally fire, the mighty temple was gone, never to be rebuilt.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">John was writing his gospel after the fall of the temple – he knew that the people he was telling about the life, death & resurrection of Jesus would hear that story in the light of their knowledge that the temple, however impressive it had been, had gone forever.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">So when Jesus is challenged “What sign can you show us to justify your action?”.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Jesus’ answer is a challenge to them “If you destroy this temple, in three days I will raise it up again”.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">His hearers misunderstand “This temple has taken 46 years to build – can you raise it up again in three days?” – but John lets us into the secret <i>‘the temple he was speaking of was his body’.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">There is a clue in the language Jesus uses. Those who challenge him use the term for the whole building of the temple – including the precincts which Jesus has just cleared – ‘hieron’. But when Jesus talks about ‘this temple’ he uses the word ‘naon’ – which means the sanctuary, the holiest, central part of the temple where the priests would meet with God. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">I almost wonder whether Jesus might have indicated (perhaps with his hand on his chest) if you destroy <b>this</b> temple, this sanctuary, I will raise it up again in 3 days.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Even the disciples don’t get what Jesus means, until after the resurrection. John helps us to understand by reminding us of what is to come in Jesus’ ministry – his death and his resurrection, to understand the demonstration Jesus is making.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Jesus certainly creates quite a stir – driving out people and animals, overturning tables of money, giving order to dealers of pigeons. And all to show people this: the form of things is going to change – this whole building could be gone.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">But Jesus then says - the real sanctuary is here – in me – if you want to come close to God you have to come closer to me. And to prove that I am the real place where God is found, the real essence of God;s house - go ahead and kill me, and three days later my resurrection will prove that I am who I say I am.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">I have seen what is left of the temple in Jerusalem where Jesus walked. Even the ruins – the area around the Western wall – are incredibly impressive. I have never seen such huge blocks of stone anywhere else in my life. – about 5 feet high, 6 or 7 feet wide, several feet deep. They weigh up to 400 tons. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">It is unimaginable how they were put in place without the sort of pneumatic cranes we would use today. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Even now, those stones shine in the sunshine. The completed temple must have been amazing, and I have sympathy with those who thought it was indestructible.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">But I wasn’t – no building is indestructible, but Jesus declares that the presence of God in the flesh in him is more real, sure and eternal than any edifice of stone.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">To those who had looked to the temple as a place where the glory of God might be revealed, John in his gospel tells them of all the signs which point to Jesus as the Son of God, the Word become flesh, full of grace and truth. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">In John’s telling of the clearing of the temple, Jesus states that he, and not the temple, is the ultimate sign of God’s presence, God’s grace, and ultimately God’s power over death and destruction.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">This is Jesus’ demonstration that day in Jerusalem.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Week by week, in Lent, we draw further long to Jesus’ final journey to Jerusalem – closer to the cross – nearer to Easter.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We hear Gospel accounts of events involving Jesus, and we wonder how they help us prepare for the new, resurrection life we are promised at the end of this journey.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">What brings us close to God? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We might love our chapel, know this building inside out, have wonderful memories of times past and all the things we have done here.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">There might be other places of worship, too, where we have felt God’s presence or felt our spirits soar.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Church and chapel buildings are places of memories, they help people realise where a community of Christians might be found, they can be useful, beautiful, inspiring, comforting…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">But even if all of that was taken from us; even if every Christian building fell to dust tomorrow, we have this demonstration from Jesus. His presence, his love, his grace are the vital signs of God’s love for the world. We can know the love of the living Jesus and the presence of the Holy Spirit, and the connection they give us to God the Father and God’s love can never be taken from us.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">And how might we help other people to draw close to God?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We are used to describing the church as the ‘body of Christ’. This can help us remember that we are here to be a sign of God’s presence, just as Jesus’ body was a sign of God’s grace for the people in the temple of Jerusalem that day, and to the first generation of Christians, to whom John writes. who had seen the destruction of the Temple.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The commandments, which we were reminded of earlier, were given to God’s people to help them live as those who knew God, and knew that their lives must reflect the presence of God.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We, too, live by them and try, through them, to love God and love our neighbour because we know God’s love for us.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We are here to embody God’s love, as Jesus did; <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">to demonstrate the Good News in every way we can; <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">and to walk with (& remember through bread and wine) the living Jesus, who was raised from death to life eternal.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">When we do that, the church of God is indestructible, and lives to proclaim the glory of God.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Amen.</span></p>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15365238026767992838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8540128491709669037.post-11297374619678330212024-02-24T18:57:00.010+00:002024-02-24T18:57:49.716+00:00Take up your cross and follow (Lent 2)<p><i> Mark 8: 31-38</i></p><p>We can have phrases in the Bible which are so familiar – yet when we stop to think about it, we might wonder what, exactly, they mean.</p><p>This is one of them :</p><p>Jesus said ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me’.</p><p>What does Jesus mean? ‘Take up your cross’ – and what might his first hearers have thought?</p><p><br /></p><p>We are used to seeing the cross as a familiar symbol of our faith.</p><p>Just this week, as I was having my hair cut, Emily, who was cutting my hair, noticed the cross I was wearing and pointed out her own. It belonged to her grandmother, who has now died, and was given to her Nan as an anniversary present by her grandfather. She said ‘I love to have it, to remember them both by. Their faith meant a lot to them, and its lovely to have it right here’ (at which point she patted her chest).</p><p>For us today, a cross can be an identifying mark, a badge of belonging, a family treasure, a bringer of comfort.</p><p>But Jesus’ first disciples and the whole crowd he is addressing at this point, would have been shocked and appalled to hear Jesus talking about the cross as something someone would choose – and they would be astonished to see us wearing them today.</p><p>At the time of Jesus, the cross was a means of state execution for the worst criminals; introduced by the occupying Roman army to keep down the local population. It was a sign to everyone of torture, horror and shameful death. The nearest I think we can get to the sense of revulsion they would have had about the cross would have been how we might feel about a hangman’s noose, or an executioner’s axe and block.</p><p>It took the Christian church over 400 years to even begin to use the cross as a Christian symbol.</p><p>For Jesus to encourage his followers to deny themselves, take up a cross and follow him was a very strong message indeed. Jesus was asking his followers to accept that they should follow Jesus in accepting God the Father’s will for them and that they should set aside their own wishes, even if that meant dying a horrible death.</p><p>But that doesn’t mean that Jesus is expecting his followers to be masochists, who seek suffering and persecution.</p><p>Just before Jesus tells people to take up their cross and follow, he makes it clear that his path lies in the direction of Jerusalem, and conflict and death. </p><p>Jesus says, quite openly ‘that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed…’</p><p>No wonder Peter wants to argue with Jesus. This is a strange way to encourage his disciples to follow him.</p><p>But Jesus makes it as plain as it can be that his path is one of self-sacrifice (in fact this is the first of 3 times that Jesus speaks of his imminent death in these middle chapters of Mark’s gospel.).</p><p>Jesus rebukes Peter for trying to change his course “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”</p><p>Jesus sets divine things - the will of God the Father - above human things - his own self-interest, even though it means death. And then Jesus sets his followers the same challenge. All who follow Jesus are to seek God’s way and God’s rule in their lives.</p><p>But Jesus does not just talk only his death – he says he will killed, and after three days rise again. He is just as clear about his resurrection as he is about his death.</p><p>So when Jesus tells his followers to take up their cross, he is not talking about pointless self-mutilation, but purposeful sacrifice, who God the Father will transform into honour and glory.</p><p>When we deny ourselves and taking up our cross we are not saying ‘we don’t matter’, and Jesus is not asking for us to annihilate ourselves. </p><p>He is calling us to allow the will of God to be done, so that our selfishness dies. For Jesus, self-preservation was not so important as fulfilling God’s purpose, and he calls his disciples to follow him in denying themselves in pursuit of God’s purposes.</p><p>Alexei Navalny is an example of this kind of self-denial.</p><p>Nalvalny has been in our news as an opponent of president Putin, who has just died having been imprisoned in a harsh ‘corrective colony’ inside the Arctic circle. </p><p>He was poisoned in August 2020, with the nerve-agent novichok, and medically evacuated to Berlin for treatment, but he chose to return to Russia, despite the danger to his life, to continue his opposition to the Russian political regime.</p><p>In a 2022 documentary about his life he said:</p><p>“If they decide to kill me, it means we are incredibly strong. We need to utilise this power to not give up, to remember that we are a huge power being oppressed by these bad dudes.”</p><p>Navalny was originally an atheist, but became a Christian – a member of the Russian Orthodox Church. He said this made him feel part of something large and universal. It certainly gave him the inspiration to lay down his life for the greater good.</p><p>For Navalny, having meaning in his life made any suffering bearable, and he was unafraid to face death, believing firmly in the resurrection of Christ and the promise of resurrection to all people.</p><p>We are unlikely to be imprisoned for speaking out about the truth, or face persecution and death because of our faith – so what does it mean for us to take up our cross?</p><p>Jesus calls us to follow him in living a life which puts our selfishness to death, so that we can live a life for others.</p><p>Giles Fraser, an Anglican priest and broadcaster who is often on the radio and writes for the Guardian, has said that he meets people who say they are down, fed up and have no interest in life. He tells them to help someone: volunteer at a homeless shelter; raise money for a children’s charity, take a tea trolley round a hospice… In helping, you find purpose, you put others first, you shift the focus off yourself for a while.</p><p>In those examples from Giles Fraser, or in our own everyday life, when we place the will of God first (and remember that Jesus told us to love our neighbour) we find that even while we are suffering, we are capable of doing good. We also learn that it is not God’s will to pile suffering onto us, but to transform us so that suffering becomes more bearable.</p><p>The other wonderful thing we find is that Jesus does not call us to carry our cross alone: it is a community calling, to help and support one another, so that we are never alone in carrying the cross we are called to bear.</p><p>Even Jesus did not carry his cross alone – he was helped to carry his cross by Simon of Cyrene, who was forced by the Roman soldiers to help Jesus as he carried the cross through the streets of Jerusalem to Golgotha. </p><p>As a Christian fellowship we are called to help one another to carry the cross, through such things as prayer, caring and practical help.</p><p>Jesus tells us to ‘deny ourselves’ – to turn our back on selfishness</p><p><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>to ‘take up our cross’ - accepting God’s way not our own way</p><p><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>& Jesus says ‘follow me’ – together bearing our burdens.</p><p>Then as we travel together through Lent, hearing and bearing stories of suffering, we will find at the end of our journey the transformation of Easter resurrection.</p><p>In the name of the risen Jesus,</p><p>Amen.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15365238026767992838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8540128491709669037.post-32213801564744849682024-02-08T19:55:00.003+00:002024-02-08T19:55:25.690+00:00 Transfiguration: "how things really are"...<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><i>Mark 9: 2-9</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">I know from conversations I’ve had over the last few weeks that many of us are feeling the same thing about the state of the world, and the bad news which just keeps coming. Sometimes the news feels unbearable – please bear with me while I very quickly summarise a few things:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">2023 was the hottest year on record, bringing floods, droughts, wildfires and heatwaves and taking our planet’s temperature closer to the point when we will not be able to reduce increasing global warming no matter what we do. We are fast approaching a crisis point which could leave a lot of the earth uninhabitable for animals, plants or humans.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The shocking case of the murder of Brianna Ghy by two teenagers who planned together to kill her has made people worry about how we keep children safe from the terrible influence of violent games and films, as well as how we equip young people to cope in a world which can be frighteningly dangerous.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The destruction of war just keeps rolling on despite efforts for peace – in Gaza, Syria, Iraq, Ukraine.. and so many other places.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">So – unusually at the start of a sermon - I just want to give us a moment to silently bring to God all our concerns for the world that are whirling around in our heads.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">(Silence)…Lord in your mercy – hear our prayer.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">As we face the world in which we live does the strange story of the transfiguration of Jesus help us in any way? I think so!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">For me the key comes this sonnet by Malcolm Guite (in his book ‘Sounding the Seasons”), written from the point of view of a disciples looking back on Good Friday at the events we call the transfiguration:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8.4pt;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">For that one moment, ‘in and out of time’,<br />On that one mountain where all moments meet,<br />The daily veil that covers the sublime<br />In darkling glass fell dazzled at his feet.<br />There were no angels full of eyes and wings<br />Just living glory full of truth and grace.<br />The Love that dances at the heart of things<br />Shone out upon us from a human face<br />And to that light the light in us leaped up,<br />We felt it quicken somewhere deep within,<br />A sudden blaze of long-extinguished hope<br />Trembled and tingled through the tender skin.<br />Nor can this blackened sky, this darkened scar<br />Eclipse that glimpse of how things really are.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">That last phrase ‘that glimpse of how things really are’ is a fabulous one.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The transfiguration of Jesus shows his disciples who climb the mountain with him that day - Peter James & John – how things really are – who Jesus really is.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">They have been used to spending time with Jesus the teacher and healer – they know they are following someone very special, but just for a short time they see Jesus as he really is – the one who shines with all the glory of heaven – the one who reveals to them the glory of the kingdom of God.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">For those of you who remember “Superman” – either as a comic or as later films – you will know that ‘mild-mannered Clark Kent’ was really ‘Superman’. When he needed to leap into action he took his glasses off and changed into his Superman costume – but in his every day work as a newspaper reporter, Clark Kent was <i>really</i> Superman. He didn’t choose to reveal his true identity, but it was there all along, just below the surface.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 8.4pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">In the same way, the disciples are shown who Jesus <i>really</i> is.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We are hearing this story at the end of our season of Epiphany – a time when we have been looking at Bible stories that show us God at work in the world, and allow us to glimpse who Jesus really is.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The story of the transfiguration is an Epiphany that changes how disciples see Jesus Christ. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">It is part of a section which is precede and succeeded - ‘bookended’, if you like - by two accounts of Jesus healing a blind man & enabling each man to see </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">(Mark 8:22-26; 10:46-52).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Jesus is trying to help the disciples to see. He wants them to see who he really is, before his trial and execution happen, and he wants them to see the world for what it really is – a place where even pain and death can be shot through ( at our Zoom Bible Study on Tuesday we used the term ‘overlaid’) with the glory of the kingdom of God.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">And Mark 9:1, the verse before this event, could be seen as an introduction of what is about to happen.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Peter has just proclaimed Jesus as ‘Messiah’ at Caearea Philippi; then Jesus calls the people to him & says ‘anyone who wants to be a disciple of mine must take up the cross’; then Jesus says this, in Mark 9 v 1:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">“He said to them ‘Truly I tell you, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death before they have seen the kingdom of God come with power’ ”.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Then Jesus takes Peter, James & John up the mountain & shows them who he really is and what the kingdom is really like. As they ‘catch a glimpse’ of glory and power of the kingdom of God, this changes how they see Jesus and how they see the world.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">But there is a strange ‘delayed reaction’ to what they have seen that day. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">God has spoken to the disciples and said ‘Listen to him’ and then Jesus, as he takes them back down the mountain, tells them not to say anything to anyone about what they have seen “until after the Son of Man has risen from the dead”.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">As the disciples face going to Jerusalem with their Lord and rabbi, Jesus – only to see him betrayed, arrested, beaten, crucified – they need something which will help them make sense of Jesus’ sacrifice. They don’t need a cheery ‘it will all be OK’ – because first the will have to go through terrible events that will seem very much <b>not</b> OK. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">But 3 days after the events of good Friday, they will hear the women who have been to the tomb tell them that Jesus’ body is not there, and that a young man in a white robe has told them ‘Jesus of Nazareth..has been raised’. They will <b>then</b> realise that ‘who Jesus really is’, is the Son of God who has defeated death. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">And as time goes on and they meet the risen Jesus and are later filled with the Holy Spirit, they will come to realise that it is God who rules the world, and not the evil people do. Despite the attempt to eradicate Jesus, the love of God has triumphed and the kingdom of God has been revealed just a little more.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">This strange story may be just what we need in a world that might feel further from being God’s kingdom than ever. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">It can remind us that at the heart of what we see, we might yet glimpse the glory and wonder of God at work. Transforming pain, offering hope, defeating evil. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">As we enter Lent and prepare for Easter we will see God’s love at work in ways we might least expect – in sacrifice, in suffering, in death on cross.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">And today as we share bread and wine in remembrance of Jesus, we celebrate because Jesus’ body broken and his blood poured out shows us the magnitude of God’s love for the whole world. And strange though it may seem, that is the heart of our hope for the world.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15365238026767992838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8540128491709669037.post-11096315171881783472024-01-31T14:52:00.002+00:002024-01-31T14:52:40.874+00:00The presentation of Christ in the temple<p> <i style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Luke 2:22-40</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We heard earlier the prophecy of Malachi – the expectation of a time when the Lord will come suddenly to this temple in fire and purification.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">As we turn to Luke’s gospel account of the presentation of Christ in the temple, we see the Lord coming in a very different way – in a 6 seek-old baby. I ask you to travel there in your imagination and ask “what do you see?”.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">If we had been in the temple with Simeon and Anna that day, at one level we would have seen nothing very extraordinary. Here is a family obeying the religious law, performing a traditional act. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">According to Jewish law, set out in Leviticus, families were commanded to present their male children at the Temple in Jerusalem at 40 days old, to give thanks to God and pray for the purification of the mother and health of the child. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We would have seen, that day, a common sight – a couple with their first-born, come for purification. They are not rich – for they have 2 birds to offer, rather than a ram, they may very well not have been the only family there that day, this is a very common sight.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">If you had asked most of the people who were present in the temple that day “What do you see?” they would have told you ‘nothing much’ - this is a perfectly normal event in the life of any Jewish family.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">But if you had asked Simeon and Anna - what do you see?, they would have told you that this is far from an ordinary family. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Here is God in our midst – the Messiah, the chosen, God’s own gift to the world. The Lord has come to his temple.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">There are two wonderful paintings inspired by these events: both by Rembrandt van Rijn.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The first is from 1631 painted when Rembrandt was 25 year old.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPM4DbKEsq5-4ft-pPGB1jitUbh_FaRBdSssnkM3nKObnI0ftvU6tyu1iuAqy4KNXY5LgnRpluEs06VNMtHbgykjF_0Dq83XvUmqc2pPaOqkIVYgUTSARRSrFgMrWycrVv01F85BLnBBVEjCa4zcpU5H67YlTvAborQaYjVC6yVsMvgjLKvpESkYFPn2E/s720/564px-Het_loflied_van_Simeon,_Rembrandt_van_Rijn,_1631,_Mauritshuis,_The_Hague.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="564" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPM4DbKEsq5-4ft-pPGB1jitUbh_FaRBdSssnkM3nKObnI0ftvU6tyu1iuAqy4KNXY5LgnRpluEs06VNMtHbgykjF_0Dq83XvUmqc2pPaOqkIVYgUTSARRSrFgMrWycrVv01F85BLnBBVEjCa4zcpU5H67YlTvAborQaYjVC6yVsMvgjLKvpESkYFPn2E/s320/564px-Het_loflied_van_Simeon,_Rembrandt_van_Rijn,_1631,_Mauritshuis,_The_Hague.jpg" width="251" /></a></div><br /><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><br /></span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">It shows all the skill of a young painter – there are many characters in the work, and even the walls of the temple are beautifully painted. In the middle a shaft of light illuminates Simeon holding the Christ-child. Mary and Joseph are kneeling nearby, and you can even see the two birds they have brought as a sacrifice. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The second painting is from </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">1669. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMl8flH8nYe9m22mh83cGWtHL3fAodh8UXfi92oLUXNCVu3yY5MXyOI4oVkrSS4fJ16Vz6USDAV42lUyefPhN4SZ53lh8ggxgIlNXGAkY09bLOiFiJA8UVwb-B56rZ7-_RGNI0iLnvffmqoiemqQcXHXQgM9IS1Z69ovWLPPfHNJm6rIIGuMNPOm9eSwA/s720/586px-Rembrandt_-_Circumcision_-_WGA19111.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="586" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMl8flH8nYe9m22mh83cGWtHL3fAodh8UXfi92oLUXNCVu3yY5MXyOI4oVkrSS4fJ16Vz6USDAV42lUyefPhN4SZ53lh8ggxgIlNXGAkY09bLOiFiJA8UVwb-B56rZ7-_RGNI0iLnvffmqoiemqQcXHXQgM9IS1Z69ovWLPPfHNJm6rIIGuMNPOm9eSwA/s320/586px-Rembrandt_-_Circumcision_-_WGA19111.jpg" width="260" /></a></div><br />In it an older, wiser Rembrandt shows light shining <b>from</b>, not on Christ, and illuminating the face of Simeon. (Anna remains rather in the shadows and may have been added by a later painter).<o:p></o:p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The painting shows age, even the frailty of Simeon and Anna – but also it shows the sheer wonder of that moment.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Simeon has been hoping and waiting for the Messiah – he is longing for the one who will bring salvation . </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We are told that “It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah”. And on that day, the Spirit had guided Simeon to the temple.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">All the hope of Simeon is fulfilled in this child. On that day in the temple, Simeon, the one whose eyes are growing dim, sees and recognizes Jesus, takes him in his arms, thanks God for him and says that here is</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> ‘A light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people, Israel’. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Simeon, waiting for the turn of the tide for the people of Israel, sees, in Jesus, light and hope for Jew and non-Jew alike.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">And Anna echoes Simeon’s claim of hope fulfilled and in joy praises God to all who are looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Through the stories of these two people, Luke shows us that in the ordinary event of the purification ceremony for the 40 day old Jesus, God has broken into this world, shining through the ordinary things of this life to bring hope and light and joy.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">And I love that we have this story of the 40 day old Jesus because of the wisdom and insight of two old people, Simeon and Anna; just as I love the fact that Rembrandt’s mature work captures something that eluded him in his youth.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">In some churches today they will celebrate ‘Candlemas’ – they will light candles and all the congregation will process around with those candles, remembering the story of the presentation of Christ in the temple, filling the church with light in celebration of the coming of the light of Christ and promising that they will be witnesses to that light. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">In the United Reformed Church we are not so given to that sort of display, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">So what <b>do</b> you see as we worship God today?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">As we come with our seeking, hoping, and longing in the ordinariness of this day, I hope we recognize that Christ comes to us, even without candles and ceremony.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">I pray we can look around this familiar place and these familiar people and see Christ in our midst, shining in the wisdom of maturity and in the energy of hope. As we come here to do what we think God requires of us in our worship: singing and praying and offering the sacrifice of our hearts – we can be just as Mary & Joseph were when they went to the temple to do what was required of them. We can find that even in the rhythm of what is familiar God can surprise us. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">In all this ordinariness, with the eyes of faith we can see the one who can save us, the one who can change things, we can we glimpse, here and now, a revelation of God’s love.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">What do we see? Do we see God breaking in?</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">I hope so. Where prayers are offered and heard, where hymns are sung and believed, where God’s word is opened and explored, where bread and wine are offered. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Here, today, in this worship, God breaks in in Jesus – a light in the darkness, a murmur in the stillness, a hope that cannot be shaken. This is a truth which comes in the wisdom of the old as well as in the energy and freshness of the young.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We are never too old to find the light of Christ shining in our lives. And we are never too old to reveal that incarnate love of God to others.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">First of all, like Simeon, we can proclaim what we have seen: hope for those who need new hope, a God who is with us here and now and who will come to save and care for us when we most need him.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Secondly, like Anna, we can be filled with joy and praise – telling others what we have seen and found and known here: a God who hears us and touches us and heals us.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">And thirdly we can, ourselves, be signs of the love God has for the world. We can live as those who know that God has come to us, that heaven is shining through in the ordinary things of life, that we are never abandoned and that we may hope for new and abundant life. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">And we can do everything in our power to share that love with the world around us, in what we say and do and how we live. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">In the grace and the gift of Christ our Lord, who comes to us today. Amen.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15365238026767992838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8540128491709669037.post-70422636526782507972024-01-27T15:11:00.001+00:002024-01-29T14:27:22.275+00:00Encountering Christ in brokenness - Epiphany 4<p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Mark 1: 21-28</i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Today’s Gospel reading recounts what happened in the synagogue at Capernaum right at the start of Jesus ministry. We are reading it as part of our Epiphany readings – asking ourselves what this reading teaches us about how to see and experience the things of God.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">It’s not a long passage. Jesus goes to the synagogue on the sabbath and is a kind of ‘guest preacher’ from nearby Nazareth. The people are amazed at the way he teaches – with authority – though (frustratingly) Mark does not tell us what he says. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Then a man ‘with an unclean spirit’ shouts out – he recognises Jesus: first as ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ and then as ‘the Holy One of God’. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">If Epiphany is about the reality of God being shown to people, then this man, tormented soul though he is, sees who Jesus is and declares it. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Jesus heals him; and the crowd wonder all the more at the authority Jesus shows – in his healing <b>and</b> his teaching, this is something new.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">I must confess that I am not immediately comfortable with this story: the way in which the New Testament talks about unclean spirits or demon possession doesn’t sit easily with my 21<sup>st</sup> century understanding of illness of body and mind. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We wouldn’t speak of someone ‘having an unclean spirit’ – we might talk about mental unrest, or an imbalance of brain chemicals, or deep distress, perhaps brought about by stress. But for the people surrounding Jesus that day in the synagogue in Capernaum the language of unclean spirits afflicting this man would have been quite normal – just as we have all perhaps heard that Winston Churchill referred to his experience of bouts of deep depression as his ‘black dog’, which would visit him from time to time. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">For the crowd in the synagogue this man’s life was disturbed by unclean spirits, and Jesus heals him by casting those spirits out.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Whatever language we choose to use for the dis-ease of this man in the synagogue, there is no doubt that Jesus heals him. Jesus comes proclaiming God’s kingdom of health – and shows that the kingdom is already here, in Him, by bringing health to this man.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">But as so often in our Gospels, there is more going on here than the healing of man from his distress.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Mark sets up a contrast between Jesus and the Scribes, who would normally teach in the synagogue – it is such a contrast we could even describe it as a conflict. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The people in the synagogue pick up on it straight away: “he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes”. This conflict with the scribes will build and build until they eventually seek to have Jesus crucified – but what is the difference that the people are seeing ? – what is meant by Jesus having ‘authority’ and why does it alienate the scribes so much?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The teaching of the scribes was based on law and case history and proven examples. If the scribes were asked ‘what do we do about this man with an unclean spirit?’ they would consult the law, the teaching of other rabbis, the history of those with unclean spirits. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">They might well conclude that as someone who was unclean, this man should be refused entry to the synagogue. These unclean spirits could affect other people and there were rules about unclean people making themselves clean before they could be with or touch others. Otherwise they could ‘infect’ others with their uncleanliness – just as anyone who was ritually unclean through touching a dead body, or through bleeding, or through breaking God’s law must seek ritual cleansing before being with other people.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The authority of the scribes was tied up in previous laws and cases and was very concerned with keeping the community as clean and pure as possible, even if that meant casting out someone who was unwell.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">But Jesus’ authority was different - Jesus had authority because he proclaimed the old truth about God’s love in new ways.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Jesus proclaimed a kingdom for all, a kingdom where reaching out to heal was more important than observing purity law or sabbath law – it was a kingdom that reached even beyond racial boundaries. Each person was valued in that kingdom, and Jesus came to show love and care to every single one.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Matthew’s gospel points out this new teaching of the old truth when he quotes Jesus saying, on many occasions “you have heard it said.. but I say to you”.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Perhaps in the teaching of Jesus that day in the synagogue in Capernaum, which Mark doesn’t record, Jesus said something like “You have heard it said that a man with an unclean spirit is to be avoided and shunned… but I say to you this is a beloved child of God and he needs healing, love and care”.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Whatever Jesus<b> said </b>that day what he <b>did</b> left the people of the synagogue amazed – he engaged with the man, talked to him, commanded the unclean spirits to leave him and restored him to health. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">And Jesus’ authority lay not just in what he said or even in what he did – but in what he <b>was</b>: God’s love come to display itself to all humanity. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">This is the example of epiphany for us this week – God’s love revealed in this healing by Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">How does this story help us see the love of God in Jesus more clearly in our world of today?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">I said earlier that the very language of ‘unclean spirits’ to describe what we would call ‘mental illness’ is strange to us. But the concept of people being unclean, shunned, ostracised because of brokenness in their lives is still a reality in the 21st century.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">I was fortunate enough to visit the site of the synagogue at Capernaum, in 2019. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The synagogue was rebuilt in the 4<sup>th</sup> century AD, but the site is still the one where Jesus would have taught and healed that day.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">In the grounds I was surprised to find this sculpture.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEOGGBhpUKwvO5gg-O6nKwOHVFIM-MuwaP-8YS65N5jIf-veWiJ1CnV5of30CZdph2CpVkJraycLS2qy3eobKrrEgWjbXRYMuwpOPeecIcjGaoV1aXAF929I0KdqDbmpvofotdqgTxlJPqnxMBRhLrrXLmuKn-H-AsYBCDmLodz7MxqVngpXcF96o6SBI/s3264/IMG_2079.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2448" data-original-width="3264" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEOGGBhpUKwvO5gg-O6nKwOHVFIM-MuwaP-8YS65N5jIf-veWiJ1CnV5of30CZdph2CpVkJraycLS2qy3eobKrrEgWjbXRYMuwpOPeecIcjGaoV1aXAF929I0KdqDbmpvofotdqgTxlJPqnxMBRhLrrXLmuKn-H-AsYBCDmLodz7MxqVngpXcF96o6SBI/s320/IMG_2079.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">It was created by a sculptor called Timothy Schmalz: the original was in Toronto, but there are now over 50 copies across the world – including this one in Capernaum, just outside the walls of the synagogue. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">It is called “Jesus the Homeless” and is life-sized. Though cast in bronze it makes you double-take to see a person on a bench whose bare feet stick out from under a blanket, whilst the rest of their body and face is covered.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">There is space on the bench for you to sit by Jesus’ feet – which has the wounds of crucifixion on them.It makes you wonder:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Would you sit there?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Would you talk to a homeless person on a bench like this?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Would you let this person into your synagogue, or church, or shop?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The sculptor, Timothy Schmalz, is a devout Catholic.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">He visited Pope Francis in the Vatican in November 2013 to present a miniature version of his statue. He recalled the Pope's reaction, "He walked over to the sculpture, and it was just chilling because he touched the knee of the <i>Jesus the Homeless</i> sculpture, and closed his eyes and prayed. It was like, that's what he's doing throughout the whole world: Pope Francis is reaching out to the marginalised." <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Once he had made the life-size sculpture, Schmaltz offered the first casts to St Michael’s Cathedral in Toronto and to St Patrick’s Cathedral in New York. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Both churches declined.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Regis College, a Jesuit College which is part of the University of Toronto finally installed the first casting outside their main entrance.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Since then, more and more copies have been made, until now there are more than 50 across the world.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">It really makes you think to see Jesus as a homeless person outside the synagogue in Capernaum – one of the marginalised people; someone we might consider unclean, or difficult, or disturbed. It is quite an epiphany.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Where do we see and experience the things of God?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">In the broken people of this world; in the broken places of our own lives – wherever brokenness and illness are replaced by the wholeness and healing of God’s love and care.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">May we meet with Christ where we least expect to – may we know his healing in our lives: healing of bodies, minds and attitudes.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">And so may we be part of the kingdom of healing for all God’s children in God’s name. Amen<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15365238026767992838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8540128491709669037.post-30646138569301809932024-01-20T10:06:00.006+00:002024-01-20T10:06:57.777+00:00Epiphany 3 & the (kitchen) table of the Lord.<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Jonah 3:1-5, & v10 </span><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Mark 1:14-20</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">One of the interesting things about being a URC minister is the emails that we get.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">I had one this week with the title “Saying yes like we mean it” – from a group of ministers in the United States called the “Congregational Consulting Group”. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">“Saying yes like we mean it” was a fairly typical title – designed to make you open the email to see what on earth it was about.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Reading on<i>:” </i></span><i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Most churches of any size have a process for saying “yes” to a set of goals they believe are in response to God’s call, whether that call be to grow in size or grow in the Spirit or to be more active in the community. But when we say “yes,” do we say it like we mean it?”.</span></i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The article was written from the point of view of a rather larger church than any of ours in the Landsker Pastorate. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">It talked about management boards setting goals which the paid staff of the church board would go on to implement. It discussed budget-setting and expenditure on ‘programmes’, and communicating decisions across the whole organisation.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The last </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">sentence, though, rang a bell:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">“There is an alternative, of course. We could reconstitute the church to be less like an organisation and more like a fellowship of Jesus-followers whose only discernible structure is the kitchen table.” </span></i><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">That feels more like us, to me – a fellowship of Jesus-followers who meet around the table – and it felt more like the stories of Jesus’ first disciples.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Who does Jesus gather round his table?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Mark tells us the story of Jesus walking beside the Sea of Galilee calling Simon and his brother Andrew; and then James and John the sons of Zebedee. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">They are all fishing – and Jesus tells them that instead of being fisher-people they will become people-fishers. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">As they follow Jesus they learn that he is telling and living the Good news of God’s gracious love, and calls them to do the same. As they spread the good news, so more and more people join them around the table of Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">When Jesus calls them, Andrew and Simon are casting their net into the lake – this is just small-scale fishing, catching what they can from the shore of the lake: really only one step up from a simple rod.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Meanwhile James & John are with their father, Zebedee in a boat, preparing their nets – and when they immediately follow Jesus, Mark says they leave their father with the hired men in the boat. This is a much bigger enterprise – more of a family business.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">These are different sorts of fishermen, but whatever the scale of their work, they are all called by Jesus to leave their nets and follow him – and they do.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Later they will be joined by others – men making up the 12, as well as a larger group of followers, and women who offer Jesus hospitality, who listen to Jesus, who stand vigil at the cross, who bear witness to the resurrection.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Those who sit around the table with Jesus – then, as now – are a mixed bag of ages, backgrounds, and eventuality nationalities.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We meet for worship today in the middle of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. We remember that we are just a small part of the one, worldwide church of Jesus Christ, who together try to follow Jesus as best we can.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We might pause to ask ‘why is unity important?’ <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">I think Christian unity is not just striving to work together but seeking to live in understanding of one another that reveals our true identity as one church – one body of Christ. And when we grow in understanding of one another we grow in understanding of God and are helped to discern God more fully.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We might imagine the worldwide church as a huge table, around which we all sit. Young and old; black, white and brown; those who belong to huge churches employing many staff and those who sit in a small family group… all around the Lord’s table together, as one family of God.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">At any family table there tend to be rules, for example:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Everyone sits at the table<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Make time to listen as well as to eat<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Pay attention to others (no phones)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Try new things at least once – at least one bite<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">No one comments on what other people eat <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; text-indent: 36pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">or don’t eat.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">I wonder how those rules would work for Christian Unity around the Lord’s table?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Everyone sits at the table</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> - join in with conversations with others and don’t try to set yourself apart.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Make time to listen as well as to eat</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> - unity is not just about achieving things together, but growing closer.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Pay attention to others (no phones)</span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> - maybe this is about getting distracted by our own survival, or what we like, and forgetting about unity altogether.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Try new things at least once: at least one bite </span></i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> - of course we love the way we worship and the way we make decisions, but we can always learn new things from others.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">No one comments on what other people eat or don’t eat - <o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We are united around the Lord’s table, but we are also very diverse as people. We need to accept and love one another, not point out our differences.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">What happens when all these rules are ignored and someone forgets that other people are part of God’s family, too? Things go wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Today we heard part of the story of Jonah – a well-loved story told to help us think about the place of God’s love in a diverse world – a story where nearly everyone does the exact opposite of what you might expect and poor old Jonah has a lot to learn.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Jonah hears the voice of God and goes in the opposite direction to the one God directs him – away from Nineveh and their terrible ways (he is of course, turned round by a storm and a whale). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The people of Nineveh<b> listen</b> to what the prophet Jonah says, when he finally reaches them, and become good and righteous. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">But Jonah learns that God is not vengeful and punishing, but forgives and changes his mind about destroying Nineveh, because he loves them.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We can laugh at Jonah getting it so wrong – so long as the story helps us to think how we can get it right.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We need to listen to God; check out with each other what we think we hear; learn to love and trust others. All of this will help us to understand better the true scope of God’s love for all people.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">What can Jonah teach us about the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">That God’s love and acceptance is even wider than we think. People with a different background to ours, a different way of doing church, a different way of understanding worship – these people may sometimes feel strange to us, but they are still part of the family of God and part of the body of Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">When we meet around the table of the Lord we don’t just meet people like us, but we meet the whole family – across traditions, across the world, even across the centuries.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We are called to the table of Jesus, with all God’s wonderful family. Like any kitchen table, the table of the Lord is a place to talk, to share, to be fed, to learn, to enjoy new things. This is a place to delight in the wonderful diversity of God’s people, and the amazing unity of the way we are all held in the gracious love of God.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">May it be so, and may we learn to follow Jesus more closely and celebrate the richness of God’s family – to God’s glory. Amen. <o:p></o:p></span></p>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15365238026767992838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8540128491709669037.post-1467961573022087752024-01-12T19:44:00.004+00:002024-01-12T19:53:30.082+00:00Epiphany 2: Nathanael... & Jacob<p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"><i>Genesis 28: 10-22 (not the lectionary reading!); John 1: 43-51</i></span></p><p><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;">I love the Sundays of Epiphany – starting with the visit of the Magi (which we celebrated last week) and then moving on to other stories of God’s presence on earth being revealed to people.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">I think what I most love is the idea that we don’t just pack away the Christmas decorations and forget about God’s love being incarnate in Jesus, but we allow the story of Jesus’ coming to earth to open our eyes to other ways in which God’s love is present to us.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">What can be better to start the new year than a series of reminders that God is with us and that we can expect to meet with God in 2024.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Today we heard two very related Biblical stories of God’s presence.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The first is the vision given to Jacob, when he saw angels going up and down a ladder between earth and heaven. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">You might think that Jacob is a specially holy person to be given this vision: nothing could be further from the truth. Jacob is the twin who was born holding onto the heel of his brother, Esau. He seemed to like tripping people up – he tricked Esau of what should have been his as the older brother not once, but twice; and then made the most of his father’s blindness to trick him into blessing Jacob instead of Esau. He has to flee from his family, and in the darkness and loneliness of the desert he sees a vision of angels and hears God's voice.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">This epiphany of God’s presence doesn’t happen because Jacob is a good and Godly man who is expecting God to be revealed in his life: it happens because God is good and gracious and chooses to use even a cheat like Jacob to show his love to humankind. Jacob himself is left open-eyed with wonder ‘Surely the Lord is in this place and I did not know it’.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">How strange that what opens Jacob’s eyes is a dream. In his exhaustion and loneliness and panic to get away from his mistakes, he has stopped and realised that no matter what he has done God is with him.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">I wonder how our 2024 will be different if we can remind ourselves sometimes to stop and say ‘Surely the Lord is in this place’. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Coming forward 2,000 years or so from the story of Jacob, our Gospel reading tells us how Jesus has appeared in the desert with John the Baptist.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Andrew has been shown Jesus by John the Baptist, who has said ‘this is God’s chosen one’; Andrew has fetched Simon Peter, his brother; and then Jesus has said to Philip ‘follow me’.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Philip goes to find Nathanael and says ‘we have found the Messiah - Jesus, son of Joseph, from Nazareth’. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Nathanael is not a bit impressed ‘can anything good come from Nazareth?’ but when Philip says ‘come and see’ Nathanael goes with him to meet Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">And it seems that the story of Jacob – who is later to change his name to Israel, is very much in Jesus’ mind.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">As Jesus sees Nathanael he says “Here is an Israelite worthy of the name: there is nothing false in him”. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">In other words, here is a descendant of Jacob (Israel) who is unlike his ancestor. Jacob was known to be a trickster – Nathanael is the exact opposite – someone without guile.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Nathanael is surprised by this greeting and asks Jesus ‘how do you know me?”. When Jesus says he saw him under the fig tree, Nathanael immediately declares that Jesus is the Son of God and the King of Israel. Jesus answers ‘Do you believe this because I say I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than that.. you will see heaven wide open and God’s angels ascending and descending on the Son of man.’<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">In other words, you will see another enactment of Jacob’s dream of angels, God’s messengers moving between heaven and earth – and where Jacob saw a ladder, this time what joins earth and heaven will be a person – Jesus – God’s love in a human person, born on earth.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">So here is another epiphany of God’s presence: this time to someone who was looking for God’s Messiah, but was looking in the wrong places and was surprised when he found this Jesus from (of all places) Nazareth.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Nathanael’s name only appears once more in the Gospel of John – he is not named again among the disciples until the very end of John’s gospel (ch 21) when after Jesus death and resurrection, Jesus appears to the disciples as they are fishing on Lake Galilee. It’s the story where they have been fishing all night without a catch and the risen Jesus appears on the shore and tells them to cast the nets on the other side – and they catch a huge amount.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">I love that Nathanael is named again here – having found Jesus at the beginning of his ministry, coming from the unexpected place of Nazareth, he finds the risen Jesus right at the end of the gospel, and Jesus shows him to find fish in an unexpected place. Maybe from that point on Nathanael decided he would spend his life looking for Jesus in unexpected places.. I hope so.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Returning to 2024, I hope we can be more like Nathanael – finding ourselves surprised by Jesus turning up in the most unusual places, suddenly noticing a little epiphany, a glimpse of the presence of God, shining in our lives.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Maybe it’s the long nights that makes me look harder for signs of light and hope, but just this last week there have been real moments of sparkling joy when I have been surprised to find God’s presence with me.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The first epiphany was simply the snowdrops in our garden. Our new-build blank lawn in slowly coming to life – firstly with some trees we’ve planted and then with some snowdrop bulbs, which the lovely plantsman in St Ishmael’s garden centre assured us would grow. His promise was good – we have been delighted to see snowdrops coming up where we had almost forgotten we had planted them – brave little splashes of white in a rather damp garden, signs of life and hope and newness, a reminder that God has given us seasons of winter, spring, summer & autumn – each with their touches of wonder.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The second epiphany was in a conversation with a friend on zoom where I was talking about all the joys and activities of Christmas, and she commented ‘you seem so content, so at home’. And I realised she was right: God’s call has brought me to a place I love among people I am learning to love. Surely the Lord is in this place…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Traditionally in the United Reformed Church we don’t have a very ‘high’ view of communion (we don’t have conventions about reverently consuming all the bread and wine, for example) but we could think of each communion as an epiphany: a bright moment to remember the presence of Jesus here, with us, in our hands.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">I pray that this year we will find God with us, in hoped-for and unexpected ways and places – and that his love will shine in our lives and fill our hearts and even make us able, like Philip to Nathanael, to say to others ‘come and see’. God is here!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15365238026767992838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8540128491709669037.post-91032151116334680632023-12-21T15:06:00.007+00:002023-12-21T15:06:59.576+00:00Christmas Eve communion Luke 2: 1-7<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">If the story of the birth of Jesus doesn’t leave you shaking your head in disbelief, maybe you haven’t been listening properly.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Don’t panic, I’m not going to give you one of those gloomy sermons about how the gospel accounts are all different and a bit unreliable and we’ve got to stop imaging the stable in Bethlehem. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">But just before tomorrow’s festivities, as we quietly think about the night Jesus was actually born, let’s pause for a moment to take in how strange and amazing the story actually is. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The story, ‘Cat in the manger’, gives us a cat’s eye view of the stable in Bethlehem.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">And helps us reflect on the starring role given to the <b>manger</b> in the story of Jesus’ birth.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The baby was laid in a manger.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Well, of course he was, because we’re so used to seeing our lovely nativity scenes with Mary & Joseph in the stable and the baby tucked safely into the warm, soft, sweet hay.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-paragraph" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Perhaps it has become no more strange to us than the stories our grandparents told us of new-born babies popped into a drawer where a crib couldn’t be afforded; <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-paragraph" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">or the ‘baby box’ expectant mothers are given in Finland, <span style="color: #141414;">containing bodysuits, bedding and a small mattress – where the cardboard box itself can be the baby’s first bed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-paragraph" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-paragraph" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">A manger was probably the safest place to put a baby in a stable – off the floor, out of the draughts, away from trampling feet or hooves.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-paragraph" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-paragraph" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">And how do we <b>know </b>the baby was placed in a manger? Luke tells us- three times actually: once in the reading we heard tonight; then the shepherds are told by the angels that they will find the baby lying in a manger; <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-paragraph" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">and then Luke tells us that the shepherds do indeed find Mary & Joseph, (important Oxford comma) and the baby lying in a manger. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-paragraph" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-paragraph" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Maybe Luke tells us this because it is so unusual.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-paragraph" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Or maybe he is wanting us to get this really important fact. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-paragraph" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The first time we see Jesus he is in the place where we would expect to find food.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-paragraph" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-paragraph" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Jesus hasn’t come from heaven just to experience human life; he has come to cherish it, to nourish it and to change it.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-paragraph" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-paragraph" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">This Jesus, when he grows, will feed 5,000 people with just bread and fish; he will teach his followers to pray to God their Father for daily bread; he will share bread and wine with his disciples at the last meal before he dies, and tell them that whenever they eat and drink they should remember his life given for the world.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-paragraph" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The baby, Jesus, is in the manger because it is the place where animals are offered what they need to grow and live – <b>and so are we.</b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-paragraph" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-paragraph" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">So here in this manger we see what we expect to see on Christmas Eve – we see the baby, wrapped in cloth, lying in the hay in a manger.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-paragraph" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-paragraph" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">(Get bread from manger)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-paragraph" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">But here is also what we need to feed us – our share of Jesus’ life given for us: bread for our communion meal. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-paragraph" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Here God feeds us with his very life – with his body and his blood, given in Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-paragraph" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-paragraph" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Whatever our needs, whatever we hunger for, Jesus offers to feed us here – from the moment of his arrival on earth he has come to give himself to the world, for us all, to meet our needs.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-paragraph" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-paragraph" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">This is truly a strange and amazing story, which caused the poet John Betjeman to write:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><i>And is it true,<br />This most tremendous tale of all,<br />Seen in a stained-glass window's hue,<br />A Baby in an ox's stall ?<br />The Maker of the stars and sea<br />Become a Child on earth for me ?<br /><br />And is it true ? For if it is,<br />No loving fingers tying strings<br />Around those tissued fripperies,<br />The sweet and silly Christmas things,<br />Bath salts and inexpensive scent<br />And hideous tie so kindly meant,<br /><br />No love that in a family dwells,<br />No carolling in frosty air,<br />Nor all the steeple-shaking bells<br />Can with this single Truth compare -<br />That God was man in Palestine<br />And lives today in Bread and Wine.<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><i> </i></span></p><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-paragraph" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">So all are welcome to eat and drink and remember Jesus this night – and to receive the best Christmas present of all – the presence of Jesus Christ in your hand, in your body and in your life. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-paragraph" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="ssrcss-1q0x1qg-paragraph" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #141414; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15365238026767992838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8540128491709669037.post-11475714524521257912023-12-21T15:04:00.000+00:002023-12-21T15:04:04.928+00:00 Christmas Eve: John 1: 1-14<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">This is the night when we contemplate the most awesome moment in human history.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">“The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth”.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">I asked Susan to read a different version of the reading form the beginning of John’s gospel – not because I don’t love the poetic language of the King James Version we are more used to hearing, but because I wanted us to try to grasp this amazing moment in a fresh way.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">So Eugene Peterson has re-written the New Testament Greek of John’s gospel using what he calls ‘the language of the street – the way you’d talk with friends, write a letter, or discuss politics.” So his version reads<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">“The word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighbourhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes…true from start to finish”.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">In beginning his gospel as he does, John is not trying to wow us with beautiful poetry or bamboozle us with complex theological ideas. John is trying to say that in Jesus, God’s very self became earthly, bodily, flesh-and-blood like us. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">God moved into the neighbourhood – into our world, into streets like these, lives like ours.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Look at any nativity scene and marvel at the sheer number of <b>things </b>in a small space. The baby lies in the manger – with straw, perhaps the walls of the stable; a donkey, an ox, sheep, and shepherds, wise men, and even their camels, Mary and Joseph, perhaps angels, a star. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">This is how God comes in Jesus - surrounded by things, made real flesh and blood, here with us. An earthly baby among all these earthly people and animals and things, who is also, somehow, God.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">It was wonderful to be able to present Nativity Live at Willhome Farm Barn on Thursday – real people, real sheep, a real donkey, a real alpaca standing in for the camel; real straw, real animals all around us in that real farm.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We didn’t have a real baby – but how could you possibly have a baby, a few hours old, who is flesh-and blood like us – but also captures all of the power and timelessness of God’s Word made human?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">I go back time and again to John Betjeman’s poem ‘Christmas’.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">It starts as a fairly comic description of all the Christmas sights and sounds, but then he writes:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">And is it true, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><br /><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">This most tremendous tale of all,</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Seen in a stained-glass window's hue,</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">A Baby in an ox's stall ?</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">The Maker of the stars and sea</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Become a Child on earth for me ?</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;"><br /></span></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">And is it true ? For if it is,</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">No loving fingers tying strings</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Around those tissued fripperies,</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">The sweet and silly Christmas things,</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Bath salts and inexpensive scent</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">And hideous tie so kindly meant,</span><br /><br /><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">No love that in a family dwells,</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">No carolling in frosty air,</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Nor all the steeple-shaking bells</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Can with this single Truth compare -</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">That God was man in Palestine</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">And lives today in Bread and Wine.</span></i></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We are pausing to breathe, reflect and pray before Christmas Day begins.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">God offers us his presence not in a theological idea, but in a baby.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We may be dreading being alone; or we may be anxious about being overwhelmed with people. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We may have been very busy doing things, or we may have been struggling with not being able to do things.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We may feel ready & excited or unprepared and anxious.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">But tonight, among all these things of this world – right here and right now – among us then and now and forever – God is with us.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">May it be so.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15365238026767992838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8540128491709669037.post-45660342149156445862023-12-07T13:11:00.003+00:002023-12-07T13:11:47.848+00:00Advent 2 - God comes to us<p><i>Isaiah 40: 1-11, Mark 1: 1-8</i></p><p>Can you remember when you were little?</p><p>Old enough to be walking.. but young enough to get tired a long time before the adults you were with – and maybe older brothers or sister or cousins. </p><p>Everyone else is striding along, determinedly, tirelessly, focussed on getting.. wherever it is you are going. You start off walking full of energy, maybe even skipping, perhaps chatting happily to the person whose hand you are holding. </p><p>But after walking for a long, long time the path seems to have no end and it’s hard, and you’re starting to tire. You start to wonder if your legs can really carry you much further… you stop talking to save your breath… you start to feel a bit wobbly, not just your legs, but you’re getting tearful – so, so, tired. </p><p>Really you want to stop and rest. You look up at your dad or your mum or whoever you’re with and say “I can’t go much further. I only have little legs..” or maybe you just cry.</p><p>The long legs next to you stop; strong arms reach down to pick you up. You’re held safe and high and carried easily and safely to the end of the journey where you can rest at last.</p><p>When Isaiah tells God’s people that the Lord God will feed his flock like a shepherd he is not just reminding them of how great God is – he is reminding the people how much they need God’s presence.</p><p>“He will gather the lambs in his arms and carry them in his bosom”.</p><p>God’s people are as weary as a struggling lamb or a tiring child and God knows that and will act to help them.</p><p>At this point in their history, when this prophecy of Isaiah was given, God’s people have endured 50 years of exile in Babylon – either being taken off into a foreign land or being left behind in a shattered city.</p><p>And Isaiah declares “Comfort” to the people. And not just a pat on the head, patronising kind of comfort – the word used in Isaiah is the one for the comfort you give a grieving person – it has a sense of consoling, holding, helping.</p><p>The people of God are weary and cannot see a way back to prosperity and contendness and peace. Isaiah declares – God is coming to you. God declares that the impossible will happen – there will be a highway in the desert flattening hills in the way, crushing rocks, leaping gorges. And this road is not so that the people can find their own way home, but so that God will find his way to them with all speed and grace. Isaiah cries “here is your God!”.</p><p>The highway is not a literal path for God’s arrival – surely God doesn’t need a motorway or a railroad – it is a metaphor for making a way for God to come – making a way that removes all obstacles – making a way in the hearts and minds of the people, removing all the barriers that stop them from knowing and believing God is with them.</p><p>You can see why the words of Isaiah were comforting to a shattered and broken people who had endured exile – God will come and lift you up again.</p><p>At the Zoom Bible Study on Tuesday we thought about how hard it is at the moment to read anything which talks about the people of Israel, or Jerusalem, or Bethlehem (which is in a Palestinian territory). We would not feel comfortable having these words twisted to offer support to either side in the present conflict. But Isaiah’s words, originally spoken to the people of Jerusalem at the time of exile, have been treasured by generations since then – generations of Jewish believers and then generations of Christians, too as they are used every Advent and sung in Handel’s Messiah. </p><p>Wherever God’s children are in distress this is the promise of a God who takes the initiative to save them.</p><p>So Mark, setting down the start of his gospel ‘the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the son of God’, also begins with a portion of Isaiah and also talks about making a way for the Lord to come through the desert.</p><p>John the Baptist’s method of preparing the way was not to build a literal road for God’s coming, but to prepare people’s hearts and lives by offering baptism for the forgiveness of sins. He teaches the many people who flock to him, to expect the one who is to come (who we know to be Jesus). When John finally sees Jesus, among the crowd in the desert, according to John’s gospel he says “behold, the Lamb of God”.</p><p>For Mark, setting down his gospel, the birth of Jesus with its manger and stable and shepherds and magi, which we remember at Christmas, is not important to relate. </p><p>Mark begins here, in the wilderness, where people are most in need, and John the Baptist points people to the presence among them of the son of God, of Jesus the Christ, of the living, eternal God made human flesh among them.</p><p>The whole of Jesus’ birth and ministry is a description of God coming to be with us. God takes the initiative to come to earth and live among us.</p><p>Just as Isaiah’s promise came to the weary and broken of his time, so Jesus comes to the people who are suffering Roman occupation, who are taxed and oppressed and counted like cattle by a foreign army. We celebrate the child in the manger because we know he will grow to be the man who declares himself to be the Good Shepherd, who has stooped down to earth to be with us and who will allow the Roman soldiers to crucify him to show that he is with us through death and into eternal life.</p><p>I find the Godly Play story of the Holy Family, which we heard earlier, both simple and powerful. It takes us back to what we know of the story of the birth of Jesus and helps us remember both how simple and how awe-inspiring it is. (You can see it on YouTube <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arZJPdXrEV4" target="_blank">here</a> )</p><p>Where does all this leave us, this Advent?</p><p>You might be wondering, as I am, whether you will be ready for Christmas when it comes – the time seems short, the list of things to do seems long. But the great message from these readings this morning is that we don’t need to do anything to find that God is with us. There are things we can do, reflect on, think about, read, that might help us feel more ready.</p><p>But the truth is that God is coming in Jesus – to stoop down to pick us up when we most need it.</p><p>If you’re weary, and uncertain about your direction, think back again to that small child on the walk – know that the arms of God are waiting to gather you up – trust that God is coming to us. Sometime, soon, we will hear the words “he will be called Immanuel - ‘God is with us’ “ – and we will know it to be true.</p><p>Thanks be to God. Amen.</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arZJPdXrEV4" target="_blank">here</a> </p>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15365238026767992838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8540128491709669037.post-87814018554921327762023-12-01T17:06:00.004+00:002023-12-01T17:06:57.507+00:00Advent 1 - Look for God's saving help<p><i>Isaiah 64: 1-9 Mark 13: 24-37</i></p><p class="lessontext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 2.25pt 24pt 5pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Keep Awake sound like good advice for any sermon!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="lessontext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 2.25pt 24pt 5pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">But when Jesus says ‘Beware, keep alert <b>and </b>keep awake’ there is clearly some kind of warning here about how we react to the things we see happening in the world around us.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="lessontext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 2.25pt 24pt 5pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">There seems to be something especially cruel about hearing news of the world in turmoil as we are also preparing to celebrate Christmas.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="lessontext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 2.25pt 24pt 5pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">In the Landsker Singers Christmas Concert we are singing a piece by John Rutter “The very best time of year”. I can’t believe it will feel like the very best time of year for the people of Gaza, or the Israeli families still waiting for released hostages; or the people of Ukraine nearly two years after the Russian army’s invasion; or for those of us who are acutely aware of the loved ones we will miss this Christmas.</span></p><p class="lessontext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 2.25pt 24pt 5pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="lessontext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 2.25pt 24pt 5pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">How can we celebrate peace and joy on earth when the world is in such a state?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="lessontext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 2.25pt 24pt 5pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">And yet, the state of the world and the coming of Christ are intricately linked.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="lessontext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 2.25pt 24pt 5pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Jesus was<b> not</b> born so that we could have something cheerful to look forward to in the darkness and cold of December. God became human in Jesus and came to live in our earth as it is, with all its mess and warfare and pain.. to <b>change</b> our world and save it from destruction.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="lessontext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 2.25pt 24pt 5pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">So Jesus says stay awake – be alert – be aware of the signs of God’s work among you even when all seems dismal and lost. Even when the world seems at its worst, the coming of Jesus Christ, God with us, is the Good news we need to hear.</span></p><p class="lessontext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 2.25pt 24pt 5pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><br /></span></p><p class="lessontext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 2.25pt 24pt 5pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">In November 2017 my mum received a diagnosis of heart failure. She was 91, my dad had died the month before, and she said she was happy to “fade away”. Her care home, where she’d been for just 3 months, were wonderful and assured us that they could provide all the end-of-life nursing care she needed. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="lessontext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 2.25pt 24pt 5pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">As Christmas approached we knew it would be her last, which made it all seem very strange. Susan and I visited about a week before Christmas, and Susan asked my mum, who was always very musical, which Christmas Carol she would like us to sing. She chose “Away in a manger”. Part of me was surprised she hadn’t chosen something with more theological kind of words, or something with a more demanding tune. But mum was a nursery teacher, so I thought maybe she was thinking of singing ‘Away in a manger’ with her little ones.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="lessontext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 2.25pt 24pt 5pt 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">When we sang it, as we reached the second verse I realised what a wonderful carol it is to sing to a dying woman.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="lessontext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 2.25pt 24pt 5pt 0cm;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Be near me Lord Jesus, I ask you to stay close by me forever and love me, I pray<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="lessontext" style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 2.25pt 24pt 5pt 0cm;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Bless all the world’s children in your tender care and fit us for heaven to live with you there.<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">A carol that starts with the simple story of the baby asleep in the hay under the stars, becomes a promise of eternal life for all the children of this world.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">I spent a lot of time crying at carols that year, as I realised that so many of them do not just tell the story of the birth of Jesus, but also promise that in Jesus we see the God who will save us – both personally when we come to the end of our life, and save us as the whole world, a world that has always needed to be rescued from conflict and misery.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">It’s a teaching we find over and over again in our Christmas Carols:</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">‘See in yonder manger low’ also tells the story of the birth, and then stretches our imagination with the last verse:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Sacred Infant, all Divine what a tender love was thine,<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">This to come from highest bliss down to such a world as this…<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Every year those words amaze me – ‘down to such a world as this’.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We celebrate the coming of Christ not <b>despite</b> the state of the world – shutting out reality to enjoy the glow of the crib – but <b>because</b> of the state of the world. It is precisely into this world, just because of its terrible state, that Jesus came to bring us the truth that God is with us – even in a stable, even in a new-born baby, even though we don’t deserve it.. and yet need it so badly. Down to such a world as this.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The prophecy from Isaiah - spoken about 500 years before the birth of Jesus – are the words of someone who wants God to sort things out. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">This portion of Isaiah starts with rage – “oh that God would tear open the heavens and come down”.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Isaiah expresses a natural wish that God would come and sort this mess out once and for all – and leave people in no doubt about his presence and his power.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">But Isaiah also realises that people need to expect God to act in a new way. The people of God have strayed and moved away from God’s ways, but God has not given up on them. Isaiah expresses God’s work in a different way – not the mighty and avenging God, as he says <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 24pt 3pt 30pt; text-indent: -24pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">“Yet, O Lord, you are our Father;<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 24pt 3pt 30pt; text-indent: -24pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Isaiah teaches the people to expect God’s love to form them, mould them, guide them, in new ways. He describes “those who wait for God” – he is warning the people to be awake and alert for </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">the new and unexpected ways God will work among them.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">From where we are in human history we can see where God does precisely what Isaiah promises – comes down from heaven, rips apart time and space and steps down to be born in Bethlehem.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Humanity waited.. God came.. in human flesh to be with us in the baby of Bethlehem.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">And Jesus wants to prepare his followers for what happens next.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The baby in the manger is not the end of the story… Jesus will grow to teach and heal.. and in the passage we heard he is preparing his followers for all the times when the world will seem like the same mess it was when he entered it as a baby.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Jesus also wants to prepare his followers for their sense of personal grief and loss when he is no longer with him in an earthly form.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Jesus says to his followers then and to us now “you do not know when the time will come”.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">You do not know when the people of this earth will finally destroy each other.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">You do not know when the world will finally become uninhabitable through global warming.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">You do not know when it will be your last Christmas with the person you love.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">You do not know when your life will end.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">But Jesus promises he will come – we will be with him – he will fit us for heaven to live with him there.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">As he came to Bethlehem more than 2,000 years ago he will come.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">He will come to be with us this (morning, in this bread and wine) afternoon.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">He will come to be with us this Christmas.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">He will come wherever he is needed in this world.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Stay Awake! Be ready. Receive the Good News – God will come to be with us.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">He is our Saviour – Jesus Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15365238026767992838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8540128491709669037.post-78859832907039688432023-11-24T10:58:00.000+00:002023-11-24T10:58:04.190+00:00 Christ the King: great joy or harsh judgement?<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><i>Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24, Matthew 25:31-46</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">You might wonder where the story “Great Joy” that I read earlier fits into today’s worship.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">(You can hear it read</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn5pgCcQBls" target="_blank">here</a> )<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">When I picked it up and read it this week I couldn’t help hearing today’s parable in my head. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The little girl, Frances, is worried about the old man (& his monkey) – is he homeless? Is he cold? Is he hungry?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">She wants to help – first of all by inviting them into their house – but her mother say they can’t because he is a stranger. As they leave in the evening for the play at church, Frances gives the man some money, but also invites him out of the cold into the church for the play.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">It seems as though her mother, and everyone else, is so focussed on the play, on the costume, on the words, on the audience.. that they haven’t seen the old man.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">But at the play, when the moment comes for Frances to speak, she can’t – she can only think of the man, the stranger, the one who is cold and homeless and hungry.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Only when he comes through the church door, Frances can deliver her line.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">“Behold, I bring you tidings of great joy”.. Great joy.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">There can only be great joy when everyone is welcomed, when everyone is included.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The angels in heaven rejoice over the one who was lost and is found – the one has come in from the cold – and meanwhile on earth the church manages to make the old man welcome. I love the final scene at the party where the monkey is climbing on Frances’ shoulders and the old man is sharing a drink with her mother.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">And Jesus says ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">And yet we might think that the whole parable Jesus tells, with its talk of judgement, does not quite have the same feel-good factor.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Last week I pointed out that we are treated to 3 parables from Matthew in 3 consecutive weeks – to help us get ready for Advent, which starts next week, and which is, in turn, our time of getting ready for Christmas.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">2 weeks ago on Remembrance Sunday we heard the parable of the wise and foolish girls, and thought about how we wait for peace. Last week’s parable was the parable of the talents, which helped us to tune in to signs of God’s kingdom and God with us. This week’s parable – of the people divided like sheep and goats - helps us look forward to the birth of Jesus, our King, by asking <b>what sort of King</b> we are expecting?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">So is the parable warning us that Jesus is coming among us as a stern judge? When Jesus talks of judging people, we might imagine a scene like a courtroom. In a tense and difficult, hushed space, Jesus will judge people at the end of time.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">But Jesus doesn’t paint a legal picture at all – he paints a picture more like an agricultural show. His judgment is about checking over the animals – seeing that they are put in the right category. Like the picture of God as the shepherd in Ezekiel’s prophecy, we can imagine Jesus running his hand over each animal to check condition, build, breeding.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">But unlike judging animals as a farmer might, looking for the best and the strongest; Jesus is concerned most for the weakest and the helpless. And his concern for the weak ones, the little ones, means he wants to warn his followers that <b>our</b> concern should be for justice and care for all God’s people.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Jesus is the fulfilment of Ezekiel’s prophecy, and in the parable of the division of the sheep and goats he describes judging between the animals, just as God says in Ezekiel “I will judge between sheep and sheep”.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Let’s look for a moment at the promises of the prophet Ezekiel. The reading we heard from Ezekiel does not use the term ‘king’ at all – and yet it has so much to say about the sort of King , the kind of ruler, we see in Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Ezekiel is writing to the people of God after a time when they have been defeated in battle and many of them have been taken off into Exile in Babylon. As the people return to the promised land, Ezekiel warns their leaders that they have behaved like unfaithful shepherds, leading the people astray.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">And so God now declares that <b>he</b> will rescue the people of God – God will be their shepherd and will seek the lost, tend to the injured, and strengthen the weak.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">In echoes of Psalm 23, God speaks of being the shepherd who will provide good pasture for his sheep to lie down in.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">But we know God is not talking about actual sheep, he is referring to being the shepherd of his <b>people.</b><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">God says he will ‘judge between sheep and sheep’ – because the stronger ones have butted aside the weaker ones. God will save the weak, the needy, the cast aside.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Then God does mention a former king by name – David. David was the perfect king, and God says he will rule over the people and be the shepherd with God. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Ezekiel’s prophecy is that there will be one like David who will be the perfect shepherd of God’s people, bringing justice and judgement and making sure that the weak are cared for.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We know that Jesus (in John 10) declares himself to be the Good Shepherd, and that he talked of the shepherd who seeks the lost sheep (in Luke 15).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">In seeing Jesus as the fulfilment of Ezekiels’ prophecy we see that Jesus is not just telling us we should be nicer to poor people, or we should give to charities at Christmastime – although those are good things to do in themselves.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Jesus is painting a picture of the kingdom of God – where Jesus himself, the Good Shepherd, will care for the flock and see that the weak are not barged out of the way, but are found and included and loved. If we cannot be part of Jesus’ project to love the whole world, we will place ourselves outside the party God wants to throw for all humanity.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">When we hear the angel declare ‘I bring you tidings of great joy’ we should remember that this is a message for all people. This Advent, we can prepare ourselves to be part of declaring that message to all people. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">When all are welcomed in, there can truly be Great Joy.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">May it be so,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">In the name of Christ the king.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15365238026767992838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8540128491709669037.post-56162039607232463532023-11-17T09:45:00.000+00:002023-11-17T09:45:12.700+00:00 Parable of the Talents: looking for God's presence<p><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Matthew 35: 14-30; 1 Thessalonians 5: 1-11</i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Advent Sunday is just two weeks away. Soon, if it hasn’t happened to you already, someone will ask you “are you ready for Christmas?”. Try not to panic.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Being ready might mean buying presents, sending cards, thinking about food, preparing for guests; or it might mean wondering how we’re going to get through all the tinsel and jollity around us, without feeling lonely and sad. But those sorts of being ready seem to depend entirely on us</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Advent, traditionally, is a way of getting ready – not just by counting down the days on a calendar – but by spending some time thinking about how our hearts and minds can be ready to celebrate God with us in Jesus Christ. And the good news is that it is not entirely dependent on us – much of our getting ready to welcome the presence of God into our world involves being attuned to the ways in which God is already present.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Those who chose the lectionary readings are helping us to prepare, even before Advent starts, with some very puzzling parables in Matthew’s gospel.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Last week we looked at the parable of the wise and foolish girls, needing oil in their lamps as they wait for the bridegroom. </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">On Remembrance Sunday, we used the parable to help us think about how we can wait and be ready for peace to come.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">This week we have the parable of the talents – which we’ll look at it a moment. And next week we will be hearing the story of the last judgement and the separation of the people like sheep and goats.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">These could seem like gloomy parables about the end of life and the coming of fiery judgment, but I think all these parables can be ways of helping us get ready for Advent, to ‘get our eye in’ if you like, for signs of God’s presence with us, ahead of our celebrations on December 25<sup>th</sup>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">“Getting your eye in” is something that sports people talk about: practicing at, for example, putting a golf ball until you get used to the distance and the conditions. But we might all have experienced ‘getting our eye in’ in other ways. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">For example, in the yacht club in Dale one summer they had a huge glass jar, in which they asked people to place ‘sea glass’ collected from the beach. At first the shore seemed to be covered in just sand, pebbles, shells and weed.. but after a while as you looked you started to see the occasional piece of sea glass, and as you ‘got your eye in’ you saw more and more. Once you knew what you were looking for, concentrated, and kept at it, you started to notice what previously you had overlooked. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">This is true for something hard to spot like sea glass and I think it’s true for signs of God with us, too.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">So what can the parable of the talents show us or help us think about when we’re looking for God’s presence?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We probably know the story well, and at some point in our lives- because the word used for an amount of silver is ‘talent’ – we will have been told that this story teaches us that we had better used the talents God has given us, and not leave them mouldering away, because God will judge us for how well we use what he has given us.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">But.. do we really believe that God will judge us harshly for being unsure of ourselves, or shy, or frightened of getting it wrong? Isn’t that sort of reading of the story just likely to make us <b>more </b>frightened of getting it wrong?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">In any case, the third slave – the one who buries the talent – doesn’t have much to say about how <b>he felt</b> about his task of caring for the talent. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">He has much more to say about the master – and what he says surely doesn’t match with thinking about the master in the story as being like God, at all..<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground.’<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Perhaps we are used to the idea that in any parable the King or the Master is God – but surely not here. If we’re looking for signs of God’s presence in this story we’d better look elsewhere. The master doesn’t deny that he is harsh and unscrupulous and unkind – in fact he is just that in the way he treats the third slave. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">So what are we meant to think about the parable ? and where do we see God at work?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">There is a way of reading and hearing the story which makes this third slave the hero.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The first two slaves don’t question their master and his unscrupulous dealings. In fact, they join him in making money – doubling the money he gives them in ways that may be just as unkind as the ways he makes money himself – and the master is pleased with their efforts.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">But the third slave stands up to his master, refuses to have anything to do with his money – certainly doesn’t make more money for this unkind man, and when the master returns, despite his fear, the third slave tells him exactly what he thinks of him.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">He gets the sack for what he says and what he’s done – but he has acted with integrity in the face of dodgy business practice.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Surely we see God at work here, when someone stands up for what is right, against injustice..<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">And might we also see God at work fighting against unkindness, promoting honesty, proclaiming the values of the kingdom…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Can we get our eye in to notice these things, as Advent begins and prepares us for Christmas? When we know how to look, we might see people who are working to bring goodness to others, speaking out against what is wrong, sharing hope and peace.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The good news is that God is already with us – we don’t have to wait until December 25<sup>th</sup>.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">And there’s even more good news - we’re not in this alone: spotting signs of God with us is a task for the whole church.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">In Paul's letter to the Thessalonians, he is dealing with the question of the presence of God, for the early church. They know Jesus has been on earth, with his disciples, and that he died and was raised. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Many of the disciples saw the risen Christ, and then he ascended back into heaven. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Jesus’ teaching made it clear that one day he would return in a new way, to bring God’s kingdom in all its fulness at the end of time. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">But when was that going to happen? And in the meantime, how might people know the living presence of Christ? Where is God right now?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Paul makes it clear that no-one knows when the end of time will come; but he also points out that the followers of Christ are children of light and children of the day. They know what Jesus, the light of the world, was like in his earthly life, and so they know what they are looking for in finding signs of his presence with them.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Paul, who was living in lands occupied by Roman soldiers, uses a military metaphor, describing the Thessalonian Christians like soldiers on guard duty “l</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">et us be sober, and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation”.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">If he was talking about ‘getting our eye in” to see God with them Paul might have said something like ‘let us be watchful, examining closely through a magnifying glass, and using all our powers and instruments of detection’.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Well, his metaphor may be catchier than mine!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">But the last thing Paul says in this portion of his letter applies just as much to us “Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">When we’re looking for God with us through Advent we are not engaged in a lone task. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The whole Christian Church throughout the world is preparing to celebrate the coming of Jesus at Bethlehem. And all Christians are preparing themselves to see and welcome God at work in our world.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">This bread and wine on the table is here to help us celebrate Jesus Christ with us here and now – by remembering and celebrating together we are a sign to one another and we are encouraged to be a sign to the world that God is with us.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">This Advent, this Christmas, I pray we will be inspired to see signs of God with us – and even to be signs of God’s presence in the world, as we live as children of light.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">In the name of Jesus Christ,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15365238026767992838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8540128491709669037.post-41572629361620019032023-11-10T15:10:00.004+00:002023-11-12T08:55:15.551+00:00Remembrance - when will there be peace?<p> <i style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Isaiah 2: 1-5; Matthew 25: 1-13</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We gather to worship God this Remembrance Day, as people have gathered since the end of the First World War “the war to end all wars” – and really there can be only one question: when will there be peace? </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Whilst we remember the silencing of the guns on 11<sup>th</sup> hour of the 11th day of the 11<sup>th</sup> month, marking the armistice ending the First World War; we know all too well that before a baby born that day had even reached their 21<sup>st</sup> birthday, the world was propelled into a second World War. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">And since the end of that conflict in 1945 there has not been a year without a war somewhere in the world. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Today, of course, we cannot mark our Remembrance without also remembering the people of Gaza, Israel, Ukraine, & Russia, and also Nagorno Karabakh, Yemen, South Sudan, Haiti, Syria, Taiwan, Afghanistan… there are more.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">When will there be peace?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We have heard Isaiah’s prophecy that ‘in days to come’ God’s home will be raised above all other places, people will stream to it and there will be peace<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">“God shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">It’s a wonderful vision - In days to come, God will bring peace, one day God will draw all people together and teach them peace in place of war. One day…<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Isaiah declared his prophecy at a time when the people of Israel were surrounded by powerful enemies and feared for their future security. Isaiah warns the people of his day that they need to be committed to God’s peace and God’s will if they are to find a way forward to be God’s people. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The words of Isaiah surely feel just as relevant now as they were then.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We might long for all God’s children to know God’s peace. But in the meantime we wait and we wonder when this day will come and what, if anything, we can do to make our world more peaceful. How do we wait?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Jesus tells this parable of the ten girls, acting as bridesmaids, lighting their lamps to be part of a wedding celebration.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">I want to encourage us today to look at this as a story about how to wait. Don’t worry, there’s always more than one way to understand a parable – we can look at it this way today – we might look at it another way on another day.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We looked at this parable at our Zoom Bible Study on Tuesday (the next one is on December 5<sup>th</sup> if you want to join us). <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Some of us admitted that we wanted to change the story because we are left feeling really sorry for the five foolish girls who ended up getting locked out.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">All ten girls fall asleep while they are waiting – why do the foolish five get punished? It seems very unfair.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">So we wanted to change the story:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 22pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">-<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Perhaps they could just join in the wedding procession even though their lamps had gone out..<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 22pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">-<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">maybe the wise girls could share their oil with them, so everyone gets to process..?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 22pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -18pt;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;">-<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> maybe the bridegroom could just let them in anyway, when they get back to the party…? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">You can probably think of your own, happier solution to the sadness in the story.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">But the truth is that we wouldn’t have been discussing the story so much if it had just been a simple, happy story in which they all lived happily ever after and join the party.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Like all parables, it’s a story to make you think.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">So what does this story make us think about waiting?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Waiting is hard. <b>All</b> the girls fall asleep – the bit at the end of our reading today ‘Keep awake, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour’ doesn’t quite fit the story. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We shouldn’t beat ourselves up too much if we grow tired of waiting – even waiting for something as important as peace.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">But waiting is also active, it’s not just saying “there’s nothing I can do”.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Susan will smile – or perhaps grimace – at that sentence “there’s nothing I can do” because she will be remembering me saying it in a very different context.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">As some of you know, we used to come and camp regularly at Dale on our summer holidays. The campsite with the best view then – about 10 years ago – was Windmill Farm. It was very windy.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">One night we were in our tent, hoping for the best, having heard the forecast of 50 mile an hour winds. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">During the night our tent was taking the brunt of these winds. There was no doubt that the poles were starting to bend in ways they were not supposed to.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">‘I think the tent is collapsing’ said Susan.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">‘there’s nothing I can do’ I said – quite a few times, I think – there seemed no point in getting up to see exactly what the problem was – in the pitch black and howling gale there was no way of doing any kind of repair.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">In my own defence, in the dark & without my glasses on I hadn’t quite appreciated how much the poles had bent, how far the roof had caved in, and how squashed Susan was getting. When I put my glasses on and turned the torch on I realised there was something I could do – in fact there was something we had both better do – get out of the tent and sleep in the car until daylight. I had opted for a passive waiting for morning – but I needed an active waiting, which recognised when it <b>was</b> time to act.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">In the same way, the girls in Jesus’ parable all sleep – but the wise ones have oil in their flasks, ready to spring into action when the time is right.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Our <i>waiting for peace</i> is a part of this act of Remembrance.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We want to the honour the past and learn from it. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We want to commit ourselves to be peace-makers in waiting. Just like our response to the parable, we are left with a longing that the story of this world could be different…we are left wanting to do something, to change something in our world. How can peace come to us all?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Isaiah’s prophecy ends by telling God’s people to “walk in the ways of the Lord”. In other words, not just to do what seems good for them, but to ask what is right for all God’s people. We must never tire of looking for peaceful solutions, and we must never tire of praying for those who are also looking for peaceful solutions – for our world, whatever the issue to the conflict.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">And we need to live as those who have reserves, as the wise girls had reserves of oil. We need to be ready to act – however long we have to wait for the right moment to come.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Jesus tells us to seek ways to be peace-makers – both large and small - in the world. And his teaching helps us believe that every step in the right way makes a difference.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">So this Remembrance Sunday we commit ourselves to remember and to care for our world, and to wait actively, being prepared to act for peace.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-size: medium; line-height: 24px;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">In the name of God, who will one day grant all the earth perfect peace. 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</style>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15365238026767992838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8540128491709669037.post-60854232121344078432023-11-04T18:02:00.005+00:002023-11-04T18:02:25.269+00:00 All Saints<p><i>Revelation 7: 9-17; Matthew 5: 1-12</i></p><p>At the beginning of November each year we remember All Saints Day, and then All Souls Day – coming just before Remembrance Day (next Sunday) and at a time of year where, in this part of the world at least, days are getting shorter and perhaps we are feeling more thoughtful as we hunker down at home out of the wind, cold and wet.</p><p>And so we remember the saints and all God’s people who have gone before us – and our Bible Readings help us to reflect on what it means to belong to a church that contains people in heaven (what some people call the Church Triumphant) and people on earth (the Church Militant or the Church Pilgrim).</p><p>Our reading from the Revelation to Saint John gave us John of Patmos’ description of a vision of the people of Heaven- the church triumphant.</p><p>There is a huge multitude, from every nation, all tribes, peoples and languages. </p><p>There is no room in John’s vision for an elite or selective heaven of just a few thousand - as some people believe – there is instead room for a huge multitude and all kinds of people are there.</p><p>They are worshipping God – but look at how they are doing it – they have palm branches in their hands. There is a continuity here with the way in which people of Jesus’ time welcomed him into Jerusalem just before his death. This heavenly church worships the risen Christ – the Lamb on the throne – but it has a strong link with the earthly Christ and with the earthly church.</p><p>They praise God, and they are dressed in white, having come through the great ordeal – they have been saved by Jesus Christ and now they stand before God’s throne, released from hunger and thirst..and God will wipe away every tear from their eye.</p><p>The church in heaven – the saints – those we have loved and see no more – are granted eternal life and joy.. but they are not completely detached from the things of earth. They still love the earth they have left, and they need God to wipe away their tears cause by all they have seen and experienced on this earth.</p><p>The church of heaven still cares about the events of earth.</p><p>Meanwhile the words of Jesus in Matthew’s gospel describe those he calls the blessed, those who make up the church on earth.</p><p>In all the things that make the followers of Jesus blessed on this earth, we find an echo of heaven.</p><p>Blessed are the poor in spirit – theirs is the kingdom of heaven.</p><p>Blessed are those who mourn – they will be comforted – like the church on heaven, God will wipe away their tears.</p><p>The meek, the hungry and thirsty, the merciful, will all receive comfort and reward.</p><p>The peacemakers will be called children of God – and so surely they will ultimately go to be with God in heaven.</p><p>Of those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake (in other words, for doing God’s will) Jesus says ‘theirs is the kingdom of heaven’.</p><p>And finally, those who are persecuted on Jesus’ account are told ‘your reward is great in heaven’.</p><p>Jesus tells us what it means to be his blessed followers - The church on earth cannot help thinking about the things of heaven.</p><p>So the church in heaven cares about the church on earth and the church on earth cares about the church in heaven. This shouldn’t surprise us who follow the risen Jesus, and who know that love is stronger than death. We cannot be separated from those we love – not entirely – we will always be linked by love, for love never ends.</p><p>The first two verses of the letter to the Hebrews chapter 12 uses a sporting picture to describe this link between the church on earth and in heaven:</p><p>“…since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith”.</p><p>Just as we might call the top seats in a theatre “the gods”, so apparently the Greeks of Jesus times referred to the highest seats at the top of a sporting stadium as “The clouds”. </p><p>So the picture of the great cloud of witnesses is describing the saints who went before us surrounding us on every side as we run the race of life. As we run in the stadium of this life on earth, the people of the church in heaven surround us and cheer us on. </p><p>Many of the words in our communion prayers reinforce this link between earth and heaven for us. </p><p>The words of the ‘Holy, Holy Holy’ part of the prayer of thanksgiving bring together heaven & earth.</p><p>First we join in the hymn sung by the choirs of heaven ‘holy, holy holy..’</p><p>Then we declare that ‘heaven and earth are full of God’s glory’.</p><p>Next we say ‘hosanna in the highest’ and are reminded ‘blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’ – we are reminded of the earthly worship of the earthly Jesus as we are taken back again to Palm Sunday and Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.</p><p>And we conclude with hosanna ‘in the highest’ – we echo the song of the angels themselves who sing ‘glory to God in the highest heaven’ at Jesus’ birth.</p><p>We always repeat the words Jesus used at the last supper with his followers – we give thanks to God for loving us from the beginning of time – and we often recall those who meet with us at this table ‘past, present and to come’.</p><p>This table is a place of communion – but it is a place of communion with all the saints – the place where the body of Jesus Christ is remembered, is broken and shared – and the place where the body of Christ – in heaven and on earth – is one.</p><p>Linda Hogan, a Native American Writer, has written:</p><p><i>“Walking, I am listening to a deeper way. </i></p><p><i>Suddenly all my ancestors are behind me. </i></p><p><i>Be still, they say. Watch and listen. </i></p><p><i>You are the result of the love of thousands.”</i></p><p>This can bring us great comfort when we grieve – those who have died are not entirely lost to us, because we share in God’s worship with them and they cheer us on in our earthly race.</p><p>But there is challenge here too. We have a part to play in sharing God’s love with those around us. We are just a part of the multitude without number who worship God – but we are a part and we have work to do in encouraging others, praying for them, sharing God’s love with all we meet. </p><p>With all God’s people throughout all ages and to God’s praise and glory. Amen.</p><div><br /></div>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15365238026767992838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8540128491709669037.post-88245526309148746372023-10-21T11:43:00.000+01:002023-10-21T11:43:03.008+01:00 God turns his back..?<p>Exodus 33: 12-23, 1 Thessalonians 1: 1-10</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">It has been another tough week for the people living in Gaza & the people living in Israel.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Almost every conversation I’ve had has turned, sooner or later to the need for peace with justice for the Middle East. And even while such terrible events come to our living rooms via the news, we are also living our own lives – with the inevitable ups and downs we face.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We might want to ask ‘where is God?’.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">I think it is a fair question – with a complex answer – one we need to be honest about.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">There are times when God feels far away. There are times when we feel we need to see God at work. So, like Moses, we may call out in distress for God to show us his face.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">What happens next?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Let’s look at the Exodus story.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Moses is having a wobble - and you can't really blame him. After much pleading with Pharoah, and many miraculous interventions from God, God’s people have been released from Egypt. Then the people wander in the wilderness, complaining about the lack of food and water – and again are miraculously provided for by God. <br /><br />Finally the people have arrived at Mount Sinai, and Moses goes up the mountain to receive God’s law. This is no quick task – there’s far more to this law than just the 10 commandments - and the people grow tired of waiting and set up the Golden Calf to worship. God is furious and sends Moses back down the mountain: Moses is furious and smashes the tablets bearing the 10 commandments. Then God orders the people to travel away from Mount Sinai towards the promised Land.<br /><br />But it seems that God is almost ready to give up on his people altogether. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">He tells Moses that although he will send an angel to show God’s people the way, God himself will not accompany them. So Moses, in the passage we heard, is trying to convince God to come with the people, to stay close to them all the way to the Promised Land.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">As we contemplate the events in the midst of that same promised land; or as we navigate the deserts of our own lives, we, too, might want to cry ‘Where are you God?’.<br />And when we most need to know God with us, we might wonder whether God turns his back on us. <br /><br />But to Moses, God makes it clear that he is not refused the sight of God's face because God does not care enough to bother - God in fact goes to a lot of trouble to show himself, but to spare Moses too much. God is with Moses, with his people, but God’s presence is not dazzling clear in every moment.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">How can we understand this?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">So often in the Bible God is described as loving people like his children. Any of us who have cared for children know that there are times when you want to protect them.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">For me it used to come when Ellie climbed in a playground. I wanted to say ‘oh be careful’ I wanted to be there ready if she slipped so much as an inch. Actually sometimes I just want to scoop her up and hold her safe. But I had to bite my tongue, and fold my arms, and try to smile & let her explore and grow and learn, because you can be <b>too</b> close and not give them room to live.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">It is not good for human beings to see too much of God with us. What would life be like if we knew always, exactly what God thought of what we do - if we lived face-to-face with God? What if we could feel every disappointment we cause God? What if we knew exactly what God wants of us and if we knew exactly where we would fail God, even before it happened. What if we could see each step of our life before we lived it? Life would be almost unimaginably hard and would hardly be life at all. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Somehow life is only life if we are allowed by God to find our own way - to know something of God with us, but not to be so stifled or so controlled that we cannot really live at all. <br /><br />Perhaps instead of thinking that God turns his back on us, we can see that God spares us his face. He gives us room to discover his will, rather than forcing us to live in the full glare of God’s presence.<br /><br />But this doesn't mean that God doesn't care - he knows Moses by name, he allows Moses to plead for God's help & presence, and he shows him his back - not because he has turned his back on Moses, but so that Moses can freely follow.<br /><br />Moses discovers that God will lead his people to the promised Land. <br />God will give his people glimpses of his glory, but never subject them to the full realisation of his will, leaving no room for their own free wills.<br />God will never abandon his people.<br /><br />And this same God will never desert us, however far he may feel from us. <br />God deals with us as he deals with Moses. <br />God knows us by name, <br />God gives us glimpses of his presence, <br />God leads us home.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">And the letter to the Thessalonians reminds us that we are not alone – we do not each have to seek God’s presence as individuals. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Paul writes to the church of the Thessalonians:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">“We always give thanks to God for all of you … remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labour of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">This is one of Paul’s earliest letters, written to encourage a church he had founded in Thessalonica. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We find here his earliest reference to Faith, hope and love, a theme he will return to in his letter to the Corinthians.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Paul describes in the Thessalonians<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The work of faith<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The labour of love<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">It is their knowledge of God’s love in Jesus Christ that provides the church at Thessalonica with their sight of God with them – they are steadfast in their hope of the presence of the living Christ. But in their works of faith and their labours of love they also support and encourage one another, they are bound together in the power of the Holy Spirit, and so become an example to other believers around.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Perhaps sometimes when we need to see God’s face we need to be shown God’s love by the people around us. And sometimes we are called to be a mirror of God’s loving presence to other people.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">I hope you rejoiced with me at the news that the new Bishop of St David’s is to be Dorrien Davies. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Susan & I first met Dorrien when he was Canon Residentiary at the Cathedral, and he has been Archdeacon of Carmarthen for the last six years. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The Electoral College, who selected him, commented on his ability to lead and their confidence in ‘what he reflected of Jesus’. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">I can think of no higher compliment to pay any Christian than that they reflect Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">May we all grow into that image of Jesus Christ, reflecting God’s love for one another, and supporting each other when God feels close and when God feels far away.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><br />To the glory of God’s name. Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15365238026767992838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8540128491709669037.post-88625935270261480332023-10-12T15:47:00.004+01:002023-10-12T15:47:51.769+01:00Comfort and challenge<p><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"><i>Psalm 23 <span> </span>Matthew 22: 1-14</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">What comfort there is in the 23</span><sup style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">rd</sup><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Psalm. At our Zoom Bible Study last week someone said that the different verses and the different images of the Psalm hit home in different ways in different times. We can relax into the green pastures; imagine the cool still waters; know that, even in the darkest stretches of life, we are not alone; look forward to a feast where we will be able to look down on our enemies; and know that there is a place in God’s house where the cup will never run dry. It all sounds very reassuring, and is made even more comforting by the link to Jesus the Good Shepherd, brought out by the Godly Play story.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">But Mathew’s version of the parable of the wedding banquet is a different kettle of fish: it is incredibly challenging.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The kingdom of heaven is like a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. When the original guests do not come, the slaves are sent out to gather people from the streets – good and bad, to fill the wedding hall.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">On the surface, this is another story of welcome for all – of the God who brings everyone into the kingdom. But if we look again, there is something dark and difficult lurking in this story.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The guests who turn down the invitation don’t just send a polite RSVP to say they are too busy – they do not come, and when they are reminded and told ‘everything is ready’ they make light of the king’s preparations (pfft!) and turn away to other things, and some of them even seize the slaves who have brought the invitation, mistreat them and kill them.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">There is total disdain for the invitation and a complete lack of respect for the king who is putting on this feast.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Refusing an invitation to a wedding banquet is not just failing to turn up to some food – it is a total snub on the king, his son, whose wedding this is, and the whole family.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The king is enraged, sends his troops to destroy the murderers and burns down their city. This is a nasty turn of events. Turning down the invitation was not just a social mistake – it has brought violence and destruction.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Attending or not attending a wedding is more than just a diary decision. Some of you know I was at a family wedding last weekend. The food was good, the wine was lovely – but the best thing was being part of the day – catching up with relatives, meeting some friends of the bride and groom, watching the children making new friends and enjoying playing together. It even made it worth facing the huge decision about what to wear!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">And speaking of what to wear – the story has another turn. The wedding hall is filled with those who have not snubbed the invitation.. but when the king comes in, he notices someone not wearing a wedding robe – and has him bound hand and foot and thrown out.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">We certainly pondered this part of the story in the Bible Study group. It may be that what we have here is two stories stuck together, but that doesn’t really mean we can just separate them and throw half away. The gospel writer thought the two halves belonged together, however Jesus told them, so we can’t just decide to throw away the bits we don’t like.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">It seems unfair that someone who has just been brought in off the street should be expected to be dressed ready for a wedding – but all the other guests seem to be OK. It may be that they were all given a special wedding robe as they sat down to eat. Everyone else has take the time to put on the robe, or to make themselves look presentable, or to nip home & change.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">But this one man has not bothered. It seems like another sign of disrespect for the king. Instead of responding to the invitation to the wedding banquet by making himself look the part, he is maybe just treating it as a free meal. Like the ones who refused the invitation outright, he is not responding to the king’s invitation with the right level of seriousness: or perhaps the right level of joy.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">So which of the guests ‘get it right’? For whom is this parable good news?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">All the ones who really appreciate the invitation. They may not be from the upper eschelon of society, they might not have been on the original list of invitees, but when they get the chance they say a glad ‘yes’ to the king’s invitation, happily put on the best clothes they can find or are offered, and share the joy of the wedding.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">And why does Jesus tell the parable?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The kingdom of God is not just an interesting idea or something we might like to join – it is far more consequential than that. It is an invitation from God to be part of something important, joyful, serious. Jesus tells us not to fail to respond to our invitation – look out for the chances you might be missing to be part of God at work in our world. And it’s not just a personal invitation, it is something which can change societies. Tough story though it is, it might help us face tough situations.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The description of the parable that we had from Susan at Bible Study was that Jesus told this story in a society where Honour and Shame are vitally important. So to disrespect the king was to shame him; to accept the invitation was to show honour – which had to be reflected in how you are dressed and how you behave. When the first guests shame the king by killing the servants he has to defend his honour by seeking revenge on their cities.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I wonder if that sounds at all familiar to those of us who have been watching the news? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Hamas striking out against the oppression and shame of the closed border with Israel; Israel shamed by the attack from Hamas; the honour of Israel being defended by striking back at the people of Gaza. And in the middle of it all horrific scenes of innocent people getting caught up in the conflict.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">What does God invite us to do – what is the invitation we might be missing? We are invited to be people who work for the kingdom – people who seek peace, people who work and pray for peace. Even in the midst of awful, seemingly intractable political turmoil, let’s not miss the invitation to be peace-makers.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">At this communion table we are reminded that in Jesus, God gives us life by offering his own body in death. There is nothing that God’s love cannot do – no depths which it cannot reach by grace. So we are invited to eat.. to remember.. to share.. to be changed.. and to pray that the world might change and that peace might prevail.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">In Jesus’ name. Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span></p>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15365238026767992838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8540128491709669037.post-85793497812222016942023-10-01T10:11:00.000+01:002023-10-01T10:11:21.873+01:00 God with us<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> (Psalm 25 1-8; 1 Philippians 2: 1-13)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">I had a colleague once who likes to start his services with a cheery call to worship: he would say <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">“God is with us” and the congregation would respond <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">“all the time!”.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Then he woud say “All the time” and their response was<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">“God is with us”.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">It seemed a good way to involve the congregation: until I happened to be there one week when life was feeling difficult for me and the people around me I loved.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">'God is with us – all the time' didn’t feel true, I certainly didn’t want to shout it out when I felt like I was sitting in the shade.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">This week I have had my moments of shade, too: perhaps you have as well.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">My grand-daughter, Rose is 15: full of life and hope and plans for the future. This week two 15 year-old girls have </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">died: one, Elianne Andam, was stabbed at the bus stop on her way to school in London; a second, Jessica Barker, died in a bus crash on the M53 in Merseyside.</span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">I couldn’t help thinking about these two girls’ families and friends, struggling to make sense of what has happened: I couldn’t imagine how I would feel if it was Rose. Sometimes life can seem unfair, and insecure and we can wonder where God is in all this.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">So I think ‘God is with us’ needs a bit of exploration if it is to seem true ‘all the time’.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">What does it mean to say<b> <i>God</i></b> is with us?<o:p></o:p></span></u></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The American Writer Annie Lamott once said that the lion’s share of her prayer life can be summed up with two primary prayers she utters all the time:<em><span style="font-style: normal;"><o:p></o:p></span></em></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;"><em><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Help me, Help me, Help me!</span></em><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> And <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;"><em><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!</span></em><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">And I suspect most of us would say much the same– that we come to church to pray ‘help me’ and ‘thank you’.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; line-height: 24px; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We come to put life in perspective, a perspective which has God’s love in Jesus Christ in it.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">So when we pray for help – there is someone here to ask<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">When help comes – there is someone to thank.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">When we feel insignificant – we can remember that we are loved<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">When we feel alone – we meet with other believers who know God is with us.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">When we start to think we can’t make a difference - we find a community who together can act as the body of Christ, showing love to the world.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">When we need guidance – we can turn to God’s word.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">How do we know God <b><i>is</i> </b>with us?<o:p></o:p></span></u></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Psalm 25 (1-8) is honest about the peaks and troughs of human life and our need to seek God’s help.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The Psalm oscillates between a personal plea ‘I…lift up my soul, I put my trust in you’ - a declaration that what is true for the person who wrote the psalm : and phrases that talk about what is true for all of us. Everyone - <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">‘the sinners’ and ‘the lowly’ are taught by God.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">It is a Psalm to help us in our difficult days: asking for God’s guidance, teaching, and love.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">God is always ready for us: all we need to do is to be ready to accept the help of God – to be lowly.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The Psalm teaches us that it right to trust that God is there to help us: even when life seems to make little sense.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Why do we say God is <b><i>with</i></b> us?<o:p></o:p></span></u></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Our reading from the New Testament was from the letter from Paul to the church at Philippi. It is a positive letter, even though Paul is writing from prison.. it’s a letter which contains constant references to joy – 5 times Paul uses the word ‘joy’ and 9 times he tells the people receiving the letter to ‘rejoice’. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">It’s almost as if as he endures imprisonment and faces death, Paul finds his trust in God thrown into sharper focus. Even in the depths of imprisonment and the threat of death Paul knows God is <u>with</u> him.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">This is not as unlikely an idea as it might sound at first. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German pastor imprisoned during the second world war for speaking out against the Nazi regime and its persecution of Jewish people. After 2 years in prison, he was executed at the age of just 39. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">From his prison he wrote the words we have in hymn 486 in Rejoice and Sing. ‘By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered’. (you might want to look at it)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">It is amazing to think that he wrote these words from Flossenbürg concentration camp.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Verse 3 is:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">And when the cup you give is filled to brimming</span></i><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><br /><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">with bitter suffering, hard to understand,</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">we take it faithfully and without trembling,</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">out of so good and so beloved a hand</span><o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">With those words ‘Cup of suffering’ we can’t help thinking of Jesus in garden of Gethsemane.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Bonhoeffer knew, and we can know, that this God we worship became flesh in Jesus and knows what it is to suffer, as we do, to weep as we do, even to die as every human being does.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">St Paul encourages Philippians to live in unity, love and humility – and then he wants them to know that all of this is possible because the love of God in Jesus Christ is with us – not in a vaguely reassuring way, but truly with love as strong as death. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Paul quotes this amazing statement – which is thought to have existed as hymn just a decade or so after Jesus’ death<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">“who though he was in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself..”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Paul focusses on the God who comes to us and is with us in Jesus Christ – from the glory of heaven to the poverty of earth. He willingly empties himself to be here among us, with us, as one of us – even to the point of the worst possible death, on the cross.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">This Jesus is raised from death by the power of the Father, and then praised above every name as Lord and Saviour of all.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Therefore, Paul says, work out your salvation – realise that the God who has come to us is the one who gives us the grace to be raised like Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">“God who is at work in you enables you to will and work for his good pleasure”.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">in other words – <u>God is with <b><i>us.</i></b></u><b><o:p></o:p></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Paul doesn’t appeal to the healings or the teachings of Jesus – powerful though they are – but to the reality that this Jesus, who is one with God the Father , and the Lord of all, comes to earth to be among us, with us and beside us. He promises he will never leave us and gives us the gift of grace, which bring eternal life.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">When we pray ‘help me help me help me’ we remember that God is with us – holding, guiding, loving and enabling.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">And when we pray ‘thank you , thank you, thank you’ we remember that God’s strength is available to us whenever we ask.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">God is with us.. all the time. All the time.. God is with us<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">(As a sign of that presence we take bread and wine today and remember the God who is here with us)<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">So may the risen Christ be with us – here in worship today and in every moment of our lives.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15365238026767992838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8540128491709669037.post-14323521821186118602023-09-23T14:51:00.002+01:002023-09-23T14:51:25.670+01:00Harvest and fairness.<p><i><span style="font-size: medium;">This week we celebrate the 236th anniversary of Keyston URC, and our harvest!</span></i></p><p><i><span style="font-size: medium;">I have split the 'sermon' into 2 talks on each reading</span></i></p><p><i> <span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">Psalm 145: 1-9</span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Talk 1: Giving thanks<o:p></o:p></span></u></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">The Psalms are the hymn book of the Bible – they are words used to express what people want to say .. or sing.. about the God they believe in, and the way their lives are with God taking care of them.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">This Psalm (145) was written in Hebrew as an acrostic – with each line starting with a different letter of the alphabet. In English it would be a line beginning with A, then B, then C and so on.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">You have heard how many times that Psalm talks about praising God – or proclaiming how great God is, or thanking God. I think the idea of an acrostic is the writer’s way of amazing us with a great list of things God has done.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Let’s try it!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Let’s see if we can think of things to thank God for starting with each letter of the alphabet (or at least the first 9 letters, as we had the first 9 verses of Psalm 145..<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">A…thank you God for …<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">B..C..D..E..F..G..H to I<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Being grateful to God, as we are at Harvest.. includes taking time to think about all that we owe to God’s goodness.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">And when we take time to list these things, we are also helping other generations who come after us to share our faith that God is the giver of all good gifts.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">The Psalm says ‘What you have done will be praised from one generation to the next’ – when we hear what the generations before us were thankful for, we realise just how great God is – and how much he loves people.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">One of the things this Chapel is proud of in its history is that the vestry here was the first meeting place of Keyston Young Farmers in 1948. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Just this week I have met the new generation of Young Farmers, now meeting in the Camrose Community Centre & Joe and Aled are with us today. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">By chance we also had the funeral service for Patricia Rees of Dudswell Farm here this week, and I was especially moved to hear in the address given by Pat’s grandson, Tom, that she and her husband Charles met through Young Farmers. It was great to hear Tom say “Grandma joined Young Farmers, and like so many of us here it became an addiction”. One generation can really pass on to the next something that is good news.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Over 236 years now, people of this Chapel have tried to pass on the good news that here we can meet with God and with one another, and grow good things in our lives and community.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">As we celebrate the harvest every year, God continues to bless us and through our celebrations we remind one another how much God has given, how much we have for which to be thankful. We pass on the message of thanks and praise.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"><i>Reading: Matthew 20: 1-16<o:p></o:p></i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Talk 2: Fairness?<o:p></o:p></span></u></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">This parable of Jesus once got me into real trouble!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">It was when I was teaching (which I’m horrified to realise is about 35 years ago!): we used to talk it in turns to lead the School Assembly, and one day I was given this parable, of the workers in the vineyard, to talk about. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">I can’t remember what I said, but I found this description on ‘BBC Bitesize notes for GCSE Religious Studies’ this week, and it’s probably just about what I said at the time:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">“The parable means that those people who consider themselves the most important in the Kingdom of God because of their good deeds will be surprised - this is not how God’s grace works.”<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">I probably said something like ‘God’s grace, God’s love for people, isn’t fair – it’s better than any of us deserve’. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">We finished the assembly, trooped off into the first lessons of the day, and by 10.45 and breaktime I was ready for a cup of tea. When I got inside the staff room, I was nearly pinned to the wall “that’s a terrible story” “so unfair” “makes Jesus sounds like a communist or something”. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Ever since then I have always been careful in what I say about this parable, because it definitely has the capacity to get people worked up. It just isn’t fair.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">The people who have worked all day only get the same amount as the ones who have just worked an hour. But I think Jesus <b>wants</b> us to feel something when we hear this story – he wants us to get outraged.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Jesus starts the conclusion of the story with the level of pay for the worker who worked the least. Imagine this is the fair level of pay – you can see why the ones who worked all day hoped for more. Surely the level should go up in line with the amount of work done.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">When everyone gets the same, they feel outraged.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">But imagine Jesus had told the story differently.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">If he started with the ones who worked all day and got the fair amount.Then people might have expected the ones who worked half a day to get half that, and the ones who worked only an hour just to get a small amount – that would be fair. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">If the story was told that way round we might feel a little pang for the ones who only worked an hour – what they got was better than nothing, but it’s not really enough.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">But Jesus say that all the workers get a living wage – they all get enough, the level of pay is the same for all of them.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">When we get worked up about fairness in this story the way round its told, really we should feel that same anger when we hear about people not having enough work, and therefore enough pay to survive. We <b>should</b> be angry that some people’s lives are always below the line of what we think is enough.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">One reading of this parable is that when we see injustice, we should feel outrage: and want to speak out. Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like this, a place where his followers get angry about injustice and unfairness and want to speak up about it. God’s love really is for all people, and our love should be, too.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">So how does this affect our celebration of harvest?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">We are thankful for all we have, and grateful to God for his gifts to us: but is we just rub our hands and say “how lovely!” we are forgetting Jesus’ teaching to love our neighbour . I had a look in our cupboards at home to see what was there – and it turned out there were quite a few duplicates of things:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Pasta – not got round to eating since the grandchildren visited a few weeks ago.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Hot chocolate – my favourite little treat before bed, and the other jar was getting low.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Teabags – I never want to run out of those!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">Tins of beans – another thing we usually have a few of on the shelf.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">I’m very lucky that I don’t have to think too hard about these things – they were just there, ready for when we need them. But this harvest, instead of thinking ‘lucky me!’ I’m thinking ‘what about the people who look at their cupboards at the end of the month and see almost nothing?’. And so these extra things can go to PATCH – to be available to help people who need them – to bring the empty cupboards and the full cupboards closer to the same level.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">It’s a small step towards getting the levels right – making sure all God’s children have enough.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 21.466665267944336px;">I pray this harvest God moves us to live with a generosity and a love like his, and opens our eyes to the needs of others, in Jesus’ name. Amen,<o:p></o:p></span></p>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15365238026767992838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8540128491709669037.post-35952394552843656242023-09-16T21:06:00.011+01:002023-09-16T21:08:28.714+01:00Harvest and the gift of forgiveness<p><i>Psalm 103: 1-13; Matthew 18: 21-25</i></p><p>The shape of Psalm 103 can help us to shape our harvest celebrations today.</p><p>It starts “Praise the Lord, O my soul… And forget not all his benefits”</p><p>We have come to this chapel to celebrate harvest because we know that everything comes from God, and without God’s love there would be no world, no life, no harvest.</p><p>There is so much to give thanks for. Be brave & shout out some of the things you are grateful for – it could be something you see here today, or something else…</p><p>.. that’s a pretty impressive list of things for which to praise God.</p><p>After praising God for all the good things with which he has blessed human lives, the Psalmist moves on to talk about what this generous God is like:</p><p>“The Lord works righteousness and justice for the oppressed…he made known his ways.. he is compassionate and gracious, abounding in love.. “</p><p>God is not just a kind of divine vending machine for the stuff we need in our lives,</p><p>God is love, patience, grace…</p><p>The harvest we see before us is not just a delight for the senses – although it is that! – it is a sign of the great love of God, that he so loves us that he makes a world where all these good things are possible and the earth is fruitful.</p><p>With the Psalmist we pause in our harvest to think about what sort of God we worship – a God of love, righteousness, justice, and gracious forgiveness.</p><p>Aware that people do not always live lives which match up to the grace and love of the God who created them, the Psalmist then describes in detail the forgiving nature of God.</p><p>“He does not treat us as our sins deserve .. as far as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love…</p><p>As far as the east is from the west, so far has he moved our wrongdoings from us”.</p><p>This compassionate forgiveness of God is perhaps the greatest gift of all – there is nowhere we can go, no distance we can travel where we are outside God’s love.</p><p>This is all very well, but it does provide us with a challenge. If God forgives us, and if we are made in the image of God, to be like God, shouldn’t we be forgiving.</p><p>Jesus taught his disciples to pray, in what we call the Lord’s Prayer “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us”. One possible translation of this is “release us from the power of debt”. </p><p>Jesus knows that we need to be released from our debts – and know we are forgiven; but that true release from debts comes when we don’t hold them against others either – when we are released from the power of remembering a debt another person has with us.</p><p>In the story we heard from Matthew’s gospel, Peter has clearly taken Jesus’ teaching to heart – he knows he must forgive someone when they sin against him. But he wants to know when this can stop “how many times must I forgive?”. Peter decides to give a generous estimate “Seven times?”.</p><p>You might know the little saying “Fool me once – shame on you - Fool me twice, shame on me” – it’s all over the internet. If you believe that, perhaps you believe that to forgive someone once is OK, but twice is the limit.. seven times would then feel like quite a lot. That’s Peter’s starting point – should I forgive seven times? Perhaps he’s hoping Jesus will say – no 3 times is plenty!</p><p>But instead Jesus says ’not 7 times, but 77 times’ or in some translations “not 7 times but 70 times 7” – I don’t think Jesus meant us to get carried away with the maths (490, by the way) – he’s just telling Peter to keep forgiving until he loses count – and then forgive some more.</p><p>And why should we forgive? Because of all the forgiveness God shows. To bring home the point, Jesus asks his followers to imagine a king forgiving a massive amount of debt for one of his servants. If that servant then went off and refused to forgive someone else a much smaller amount, how would that play out? Surely any reasonable person who had had a debt of thousands cancelled, wouldn’t begrudge someone who owed him a few pounds?</p><p>And so, back to Peter’s question – how often should I forgive? – time without number, if you remember how many times God has been prepared to forgive you.</p><p>Then Peter will be free of the power of debt, of petty grudges, of bitterness. And so will we.</p><p>So here we are celebrating harvest and giving thanks for all the good gifts we have.</p><p>When I was in junior school we had a rather stern headmaster, who would always say the same grace before school dinner – quite a common one “For what we are about to receive may the Lord make us truly thankful” but he would always add in a growl “..and mindful of the wants of others”. It didn’t improve the enjoyment of the food – though given how bad our school dinners were it didn’t make them any worse.</p><p>He had a point, though, that our gratitude and the awareness of need should be linked. I’m sure many of you will want, this harvest-time, to pray for those who do not have enough food in their lives – whose harvests have failed, whose income is perilous, who are not as fortunate as we are. And that prayer might turn to action – because we have so many gifts we want to give to those who need it.</p><p>Perhaps we can also recognise the gift of forgiveness we have been given, and be just as generous with that gift – giving out forgiveness just as we have received it – not 7 times but 70 times 7 – and do so with thankful hearts as we release ourselves from the power of debt and guilt and greed.</p><p>In the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.</p><div><br /></div>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15365238026767992838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8540128491709669037.post-19137859584229915932023-09-09T15:09:00.007+01:002023-09-09T15:09:50.279+01:00Passover - memory and celebration<p> Passover… why do we remember?</p><p>You might wonder what the release of the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt has to do with us – why should we read it and think about it? But the reading itself not only tells the story of what is about to happen, but tells the people of God that they should always remember it. </p><p>God declares what will happen, and tells his people what to do. </p><p>They have to act in absolute faith that God is about to help them and they are told how to remember this act of God for generations to come. </p><p>God will save his people. His people must never forget it.</p><p><br /></p><p>This is a living story, lived through, recounted, re-enacted, remembered, re-lived for thousands of years – remember the story of Jesus getting lost at the age of 12 and being found in the temple? – it was the feast of Passover that the family were celebrating in Jerusalem. </p><p>It is a vital story and for the Jewish people it is still alive to this day.</p><p>And we, too, have stories which we repeat and re-enact and make into rituals.</p><p>Communion is one obvious example – and it has many resonances with the Passover story - freedom and salvation through blood and the death of the firstborn…</p><p>Christmas and Easter are full of enacted stories of celebration and new life.</p><p>Harvest is a time to pause and remember whose the earth is – that God is our creator and that we are to be grateful and ready to share the bounty of the earth.</p><p><br /></p><p>So let’s look at what the people of Israel are told to do.</p><p>They are given planned rules & rituals for whole congregation of Israel – for all the people. Each family must do the same thing at the same time – they are not just individuals but together, they are the people of God. </p><p>So everyone eats the same meal at the same time in each family.</p><p>A lamb without blemish – to honour God – is killed for each feast at twilight.</p><p>The animal is roasted whole over an open fire – as the quickest & tastiest way to cook – and eaten rapidly, ready to travel (with their sandals on, loins girded, staff in hand)(or as someone said at the Bible study on Tuesday with their boots and coats on and car keys in their hands..) They eat hurriedly and must be ready to go – God is about to act to bring them liberation.</p><p>The door posts and lintel are smeared with the lamb’s blood as an act of witness and faith – they believe God is about to act. God says “the blood shall be to you a token” and I will pass over you. </p><p><br /></p><p>And so God tells the people what he is about to do</p><p>In this Passover, God strikes Pharaoh’s people down with the 10th plague. Previously there have been 9 plagues (blood, frogs, gnats, flies, on livestock, boils, hail, locusts, and darkness). </p><p>Each time Pharaoh has been asked to release God’s people, or else a plague will come. Each time, despite the plague, Pharaoh has refused. So now God will produce the tenth and most terrible plague – the death of the first -born (humans and animals), of the Egyptians, but not the Israelites.</p><p>The first-born most valued: fb son received double portion, lineage traced through fb, fb animal dedicated to God by the people of Israel. Every family with children will be affected by this.</p><p>God is about to do a terrible thing. There is no requirement for human action other than to be ready – God alone will take all these lives – human and animal.</p><p>It is a terrible and hard to think about: the God whom we know as love, taking revenge on the Egyptians for trying to crush his people, terrorising the Pharaoh into letting God’s people go, at a terrible, awful cost of lives.</p><p>If you read forward in the story you’ll find that the loss of life isn’t finished here, with the firstborns. After agreeing, finally, to release the people of God, Pharaoh changes his mind and pursues them, God parts the Red Sea for his people to cross to escape and.. the waters close over the heads of the pursuing Egyptian army.</p><p>There is a rabbinic story, which Susan reminded us of on Tuesday, that when the Egyptians drowned in the Red Sea the angels all cheered and celebrated – but then they noticed God was weeping – for his Egyptian children who died.</p><p>I find it easier to worship a God whom I believe weeps for all his children, Israelite and Egyptian, and yet in the story of the Passover we are told that in order to rescue the one, the people of Israel, God exacts punishment on the other, the Egyptians, and there is no way to escape that. </p><p>The story of Passover is a hard story, but the people of Israel are told to remember that they were rescued, and it was the beginning of the story of freedom for the people – it is the story of who they are, freed by God to be God’s own.</p><p><br /></p><p>The people are told to remember</p><p>The marking of the year starts from here – Moses and Aaron are told this is the beginning of months – this is the start of the people of Israel, start of year.</p><p>They are told to re-enact this night – it is to be a feast “kept by an ordinance forever”.</p><p>God’s people must never forget what God has done.</p><p>Today, Jewish families will celebrate Passover in their homes with the youngest member of the family asking questions: “why is this night unlike any other nights?” “why do we eat bitter herbs?”, “why do we eat unleavened bread?” and so on. One generation passes on to the next the memory of this act of God.</p><p><br /></p><p>And we have so much to remember in this act of communion.</p><p>If the Passover teaches the Jewish people who they are as God’s chosen; then the communion meal teaches us as Christians who we are as followers of Christ and God’s children.</p><p>We have not decided how to celebrate this communion meal – it is an enactment of what God has done for us. Jesus is God made flesh; he died for us on the cross; he is brought back from the grave by the power of God; and he is alive and with us as we eat & drink and remember.</p><p>[In the same way, our harvest thanksgivings remind us of God who has acted in creation – who makes the earth fruitful and gives human beings skill to farm and fish and grow and cook.]</p><p>Our task is to remember, to give thanks, and to recommit ourselves to living as the forgiven, saved, freed, loved people God has called us to be.</p><p>And we invite everyone to join us – for all are God’s children, and God’s love is for the whole world, with no exceptions. We are the living proof today of God’s saving acts and we need to share God’s love with the world.</p><p>In the name of Christ. </p><p>Amen.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15365238026767992838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8540128491709669037.post-41321228916627953252023-08-30T14:41:00.011+01:002023-08-30T14:41:45.546+01:00The beginning of the story of Moses<p>This service was a church anniversary, reception of new members and a 'taster' for lego church...</p><p><i>Exodus 1:8-14.</i></p><p>This might seem a very gloomy reading with which to start our anniversary service, but we’re taking our Old Testament reading in three parts today to help us reflect on the way life can be; the help God sends us; and the way we see God in action.</p><p>This first part helps us reflect on the way life is, sometimes… Joseph’s life certainly had its ups and downs (even if you just think of the events recounted in the musical version “Joseph and his amazing technicolour dreamcoat”). He was the favourite of the 12 sons, his brothers plotted against him which led to him being sold into slavery in Egypt, he was wrongly accused of attacking Potiphar’s wife and was imprisoned, he managed to gain respect as a prisoner because of his ability to interpret dreams, which led to him being summoned to the Pharoah, made an official in charge of food distribution in a time of famine, so that he could then bring his whole family to Egypt.</p><p>But now time has elapsed and from the time of Joseph – a great blessing and power for the descendants of Israel - the years have passed and we have come to time of hardship & persecution.</p><p>The debt of the past is forgotten, the king of Egypt fears what might happen, since these foreigners are becoming more numerous. He suggests to his people that as well as being overrun with foreigners, they could conspire against the Egyptians with enemy people, and ‘escape form the land’. There is a deep-seated fear of the other in what the King of Egypt decrees, and also a desire to use them as forced-labourers, performing hard tasks to keep them oppressed and economically useful to the land of Egypt. This is a terrible story of the misuse of power to build up a fear of the foreigner which can lead to sub-human treatment.</p><p>This is the way the world can be -the way it all too often is – a friendly history is forgotten, lies are told and believed, people are treated badly and hatred wins the day. We only have to think of the situation in Ukraine; in Israel and Palestine; some of the discussion around migration across borders; the way the original workers on the Empire Windrush were treated.</p><p>And yet the story of the book of Exodus is the story of a God who sees the way the world is and who inspires people to act. To work alongside God to change the world for the better. </p><p>-<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Prayers for the world – <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p><i>Exodus 1: 15 - 21</i></p><p>Two women – Shiphrah and Puah – turn out to be heroes in this part of the story. When the account in Exodus tells us that they ‘feared God’ – it doesn’t mean that they were afraid that God would hurt them if they did the wrong thing – it means that they cared what God thought. They worshipped God, they tried to live as people who remembered that God lived them, and they tried not to do anything that God would not want. </p><p>God definitely would not want these babies to die, and so they trick the King of Egypt into thinking they couldn’t kill the baby boys, when really they wouldn’t kill them – they helped all the mothers and let all the babies live.</p><p>God steps in to preserve life. And unusually we know the names of Shiphrah and Puah who stood up for what was right and through their actions, worked for God.</p><p>We have heroes in the past of this chapel. Those who met, before 1800, in farms around this area, and then in this chapel, which was built in 1814 - 209 years ago. And all the heroes who have been part of the life of the chapel since – continuing to worship God and seek God’s guidance through all that has happened in those 209 years. God uses ordinary people to do his work in the world – we can all be heroes.</p><p>We are going to welcome four new heroes today – except we will call them members, because ‘heroes’ might make them blush. </p><p>-<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Baptism and Reception into Membership - </p><p>As the children have a go at making a part of the story of Moses in Lego bricks, we hear it again in a more traditional form.</p><p><i>Exodus 1:22 – 2:10</i></p><p>We heard how the Pharaoh tried to grind down the people of Israel by ordering them to build great cities. This is the world sometimes, a place of hardship and oppression</p><p>But throughout the story, we see God’s work of building, too. Using the heroism of the midwives, God thwarts the first plan of Pharaoh, to kill the baby boys of the Israelite women at birth.</p><p>Now as a new campaign of killing begins, God uses new people to build a plan to free all his people.</p><p>It begins with the baby’s mother’s fundamental instinct to save her son. She has a clever, if desperate plan to hide him in the reeds on the river, placing his sister on guard.</p><p>Next God uses the curiosity and the care of Pharaoh’s own daughter, to draw the baby out of the water & name him Moses.</p><p>The final brick in God’s plan is to give Moses sister the courage to suggest Moses’ own mother to nurse and bring up her own child, safe in the protection of the Egyptian princess.</p><p>Like building with Lego bricks, God uses the people who are available, to be built into a great plan. All shapes and sizes can be used - they have only to be available .</p><p>God works in the same way today.. in this pastorate God can take each of us and build us together in his plan. We rejoice today in the addition of new bricks, new members. We give thanks at this anniversary for the firm foundations of the past, on which God continued to build. We offer ourselves to be taken and used for God’s kingdom-building. All of us and all our gifts can be used, together forming God’s greater plan so that the love of Jesus Christ may be known in our world. </p><p>-<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Prayer of thanks for past years & dedication of ourselves - </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p> </p>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15365238026767992838noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8540128491709669037.post-4883259620624598732023-08-12T10:40:00.003+01:002023-08-12T10:40:34.204+01:00 Calming the storm?<p><i>Genesis 37: 1-4, 12-28 Matthew 14: 22-33</i></p><p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">As the readings today teach us to wait for the help God gives us, so the sermon is in two parts – we will look at the Genesis reading first, and wait a little while in our service to hear the Gospel reading and reflect a little on that.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">We might think we know the story of Joseph and his technicolour dreamcoat and of Jacob - <i>Jacob and sons</i> - thanks to Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Tim Rice and their musical.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">But the way the book of Genesis actually tells the story is distinctly less perky and, at first, strangely less ‘religious’: God isn’t mentioned at all in this first part of the story.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Instead what we have is a complex family drama – which might be thousands of years old, but still resonates with us today.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">This is the same Jacob who tricked his brother Esau out of his birth-right, and then acquired a new name ‘Israel’ when he met and wrestled with God.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Jacob’s 12 sons have 4 different mothers – sisters Rachel & Leah and their slave-girls Bilhah and Zilpah. Joseph is Jacob’s favourite – because he is one of Rachel’s two sons: Rachel died given birth to her second son, Benjamin.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">To make complicated family dynamics worse, Joseph is a bit of a sneak and tells tales on some of his brothers to Jacob. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Then Jospeh has dreams – about sheaves of corn and then about stars in which theses represent the other brothers and even his parents bowing down to Joseph. He reports these dreams to his family (!), and we are told his brothers’ hatred and jealousy of him grows worse.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Jacob makes no attempt to hide his favouritism of Joseph and buys him this amazing coat – not a technicolour one, but a long robe with sleeves – if that doesn’t sound very special, the only other time this kind of coat is mentioned in the Bible it is worn by a princess!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The stage is set for a crisis – and when Jacob sends Joseph to see how his brothers are getting on, herding the sheep miles from home, the brothers seize their opportunity to get rid of Joseph. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The first plan is to murder him and throw his body into a cistern – a pit dug to catch and hold water. Reuben comes to his rescue by suggesting they throw him down alive – and we’re told that he plans to rescue Joseph later. They do that – stripping Joseph of his coat – and then when they see Ishmaelite traders they decide to sell him. The account gets a bit muddled – either those Ishmaelites, or some other traders who are Midianites pull Joseph out and take Joseph to Egypt, as a slave.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">You might think Joseph has been the architect of his own downfall – describing to everyone his dreams of superiority, telling tales about his brothers, wearing his special coat even on a trip into the desert – but there can be no doubt that being attacked, imprisoned and then sold into slavery by his brothers is a huge trauma. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">He has gone from favourite son to slave in a strange land.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">And where is God in this?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">So far, silent.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Only when Joseph gets to Egypt and is bought by Potiphar are we told ‘Joseph prospered, for the Lord was with him’.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">But at the moment when we stopped the story today – on the journey to Egypt as a betrayed, stripped and bruised slave – Joseph must have wondered if anyone in the world cared for him, and would be forgiven for thinking that God had forgotten him.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">One of the teachers at the URC’s Northern College, where Kate Wolsey is training, is Meg Warner, an expert in the Hebrew Scriptures – our Old testament. Meg has written a fascinating little book about Joseph which she subtitles ‘a story of resilience’. She looks at the story of Joseph alongside her own difficult experiences in life, and asks what Joseph can teach us about resilience – the ability to bounce back from hard knocks in life.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">What does the episode we have heard today teach us?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">I think it encourages to see that when life is hard it is not our fault if we feel that God has abandoned us – in fact “where is God?” is a natural question. Joseph has to wait a long time to find that ‘the Lord was with him’ – and even then, the time as Potiphar’s slave is not the end of the story – there are more difficulties to come. Yet by the end of the story, Joseph is able to say to his brothers (ch 45) “it is not you who sent me here but God”.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Yet right here in this morning’s story, on the way to Egypt, there is no mention of God and God is silent.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">There may be times in each of our lives when we feel bruised, abandoned, shaken to the core, bereft…when we ask the natural question ‘where is God?’. Joseph’s story teaches us that we might have to wait, and even go through more difficulties, for God’s presence and God’s care to become apparent to us. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">But the witness of the Bible is that we are not left without hope – we can be honest with ourselves and honest with God in our lowest point and wait for God’s saving help to be revealed.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> 🤔</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">(Part 2)</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;">The Joseph story is spread over fourteen chapters of Genesis – tracing the peaks and troughs of his life in and out of favour, slavery and jail. Here in just twelve chapters of Matthew’s gospel we encounter the disciples and their dealing with life-threatening ups and downs.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">This story comes straight after the feeding of the 5,000. Jesus sends the disciples off in the boat, while he dismisses the crowds. The boat is battered by the waves and the wind is against them and they are far from the shore. As dawn breaks after a perilous night, Jesus walks towards them on the water – and they are terrified until he calls out to them not be afraid.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Peter, in a moment of great fervour, starts to walk towards Jesus on the water – but when he notices the strong wind he becomes frightened and starts to sink. Jesus saves him and together they get back in the boat. Then the wind ceased – and those in the boat worship Jesus “Truly you are the Son of God”.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">In this short story we see the disciples struggling with the elements when Jesus is not with them; doubting their own eyes when they see Jesus at first; overwhelmed with enthusiasm to be with Jesus; doubting again because the storm around them is so great; and finally worshipping the Jesus who is with them and who can calm the storm.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Here is another story that shows that the presence of Jesus can bring calm in the end – but that there are times when people need to hold on and wait for the storm to pass.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Jesus is with us, for us, ready to save us, but there are times when it doesn’t seem that way. Times when we can be honest about the state we are in, times when we need to look for the presence of Jesus in the storm, times when we need to trust that in the end all will be well.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">The disciples’ perception might be that when their trouble is at its height – they are battered by the waves and battling against the wind – they are alone in their troubles. But Jesus shows that he always has them in his sights and that he is always ready to be alongside them, to join them in the boat, and finally to bring peace and to bring them to a point where they recognise ‘truly this is the son of God’.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">I pray that the living Jesus keep us in his sights, walk beside us in the storm, and bring us from our waiting and lament to a time of peace and calm. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">I’d like to close with a prayer of Thomas Merton, the Roman Catholic contemplative monk, who died in 1968:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">My Lord God,<br />I have no idea where I am going.<br />I do not see the road ahead of me.<br />I cannot know for certain where it will end.<br />nor do I really know myself,<br />and the fact that I <b>think</b> I am following your will<br />does not mean that I am actually doing so.<br />But I believe that the desire to please you<br />does in fact please you.<br />And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.<br />I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">though I may know nothing about it.<br />Therefore will I trust you always though<br />I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">I will not fear, for you are ever with me,<br />and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 28px;">Amen.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15365238026767992838noreply@blogger.com0