Think on these things

Philippians 4:8
Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

This was part of the Lectionary reading on Sunday. Although we read it in church, our focus was more on the peace that passes all understanding in the verses before.
I've heard many of my social networking friends say over the past few days that they were taking a break from listening to network news coverage. Not because they don't care but because what they are hearing is simply too painful. There is a need to process and make space before any more darkness can be allowed in. Perhaps that is when this verse speaks anew to us. We can pepper the darkness with light. By so doing we dilute not our compassion but the power of that darkness.
Even in overwhelming tragedy, stories of pure love and light emerge. Giving thanks for those does not in any way diminish the tragedy but it does nurture and nourish our fragile souls. And it allows us to punch holes in the darkness and to be mindful that "The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has never put it out.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Joy that costs

Zephaniah 3:14-20
A Song of Joy
14 Sing aloud, O daughter Zion;
shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
O daughter Jerusalem!
15 The Lord has taken away the judgments against you,
he has turned away your enemies.
The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst;
you shall fear disaster no more.
16 On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
Do not fear, O Zion;
do not let your hands grow weak.
17 The Lord, your God, is in your midst,
a warrior who gives victory;
he will rejoice over you with gladness,
he will renew you in his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing
18 as on a day of festival.
I will remove disaster from you,
so that you will not bear reproach for it.
19 I will deal with all your oppressors
at that time.
And I will save the lame
and gather the outcast,
and I will change their shame into praise
and renown in all the earth.
20 At that time I will bring you home,
at the time when I gather you;
for I will make you renowned and praised
among all the peoples of the earth,
when I restore your fortunes
before your eyes, says the Lord.
Philippians 4:4-8
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6 Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honourable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Rejoice in The Lord always! And again, I say Rejoice!
Someone asked me to read these words recently at a funeral service.
I wasn't sure...
But as I read them, I realised, yes, they are appropriate.
Rejoice in the Lord always.
While we may,often, feel nothing like rejoicing, the fact remains that God is with us.
And that, in every situation,God brings peace, as only God can, a peace that is beyond our comprehension, beyond even our imagining.
The kind of peace that only God can bring.
Rejoicing in the Lord does not necessitate false smiles and putting on our brave face.
It consists of the acknowledgement that God is near, always in our midst.
And, because of that, whatever circumstance we find ourselves in, we can rejoice in the accompaniment of God.
This Sunday is known as Gaudete Sunday.
The Sunday we light our pink candle.
The Sunday we focus on the JOY of Advent.
As the news unfolded on Friday of yet another massacre of children and their teachers and carers, this time in Connecticut, I wondered how churches could bring a message of joy today - joy - the focus of our Lectionary texts.
But let's listen again to that letter to the Philippians and see how it does speak even into the most painful of experiences:
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. 5 Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. 6 Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
A word of assurance, a word of calm, a word of comfort, a word of peace and, even - a word of joy!
And our reading from the Old Testament prophet, Zephaniah focuses on joy too.
The prophet looks forward to a day when there will be rejoicing - outward and inward.
Rejoicing because the Lord is near and because the Lord has turned things on their head, defeated the enemy, gathered the people of God and brought them together in safety and in peace.
A time for which we hope.
A time which, in faith we anticipate.
That time is most clearly not yet just as it wasn't yet in the time of the prophet.
But it is a promise that will be fulfilled for the people of God.
And, in the meantime?....
God chooses a virgin to bear a son and to call him Jesus, for he will be the Saviour of the world.
In this season of Advent, we celebrate a light that came into the darkness.
A light that could not be extinguished.
A light that many, many times in human history has sputtered and flickered and fought for survival.
But has not been put out.
And we remember that light is at its most effective in times of darkness.
We can barely see the lights on the tree in our well lit sanctuary this morning.
They hardly show up in competition with all the other light.
But in the darkness of the midweek service, they come into their own.
I say again - Light is most effective in times of darkness.
This third Sunday in Advent, we are not invited into a joy that is shallow or fleeting.
We are invited, rather to experience the gentlest stirrings of a joy that is fragile yet lasting.
A joy that is borne out of pain.
Listen again to the words of Zephaniah:
17 The Lord, your God, is in your midst,
a warrior who gives victory;
he will rejoice over you with gladness,
he will renew you in his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing
18 as on a day of festival.
I will remove disaster from you,
so that you will not bear reproach for it.
19 I will deal with all your oppressors
at that time.
And I will save the lame
and gather the outcast,
and I will change their shame into praise
and renown in all the earth.
20 At that time I will bring you home,
at the time when I gather you;
for I will make you renowned and praised
among all the peoples of the earth,
when I restore your fortunes
before your eyes, says the Lord.
The promised restoration that the prophet preaches and the joyful response come after suffering and loss.
It is restoration following loss.
Rejoicing following despair.
Our call today is not to somehow experience joy at all costs.
But to experience joy that costs.
Joy that can only be felt when despair has been known.
Joy that can only be felt when pain has been a part of life.
Hope, peace, joy and love are the themes of Advent - symbolised by our Advent candles - hope,peace, joy and love - not emotions to be forced and indulged - but realities to be anticipated.
Promises of God and of the reign of God.
Advent is a time of looking ahead, not so that we can be all warm and fuzzy at Christmas.
But so that, in sharing the pain and despair of our world and the reality of our lives, we can know the longing for that joy that promises to bring healing and balm and restoration.
Of course, in that looking forward, we may well want to ask: How long O Lord?
But that, too, is a question born out of hope.
A question we are moved to ask because our hope is in the God who honours and fulfils promises.
A God who promises joy.
A God we trust, even when all the signs seem contrary.
A God who promises joy even today.
A God we trust to deliver promises, even when all the signs seem contrary.
And so, in the darkness of today's world, we CAN preach joy.
And see the candle of advent joy courageously piercing that darkness, refusing to be extinguished.
This Advent, may you know joy,hope, peace and light - the gifts of God for all God's people.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Prepared and preparing

Malachi 3:1-4
The Coming Messenger
1 See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?
For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; 3 he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.
Luke 3:1-6
The Proclamation of John the Baptist
1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,
4 as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah,
“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
5 Every valley shall be filled,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
and the crooked shall be made straight,
and the rough ways made smooth;
6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God. ’”
At this time of year, there is always a debate among colleagues about allowing Christmas to overtake Advent.
Whether we should sing Advent hymns or Christmas Carols.
Whether our readings should focus on The Nativity or the Prophets.
For me, its always been important to take time to observe Advent so that we can be better ready to celebrate Christmas. To plough through all the strange readings of the Advent season as a way to prepare for the birth of Jesus- and to see in them again how awesome this child's birth really was - and is!
And so we focus on two prophets this morning.
Malachi and John the Baptist.
In Malachi, we have strange imagery of a refiners fire and fullers soap.
Both suggesting a complete change of character.
Changes that result in a marked difference.
We can all, I'm sure imagine the heat of a fire used for refining.
If we've not experienced it for ourselves I'm sure we've seen images of molten metal, impurities removed, being moulded into something else.
I had to google the fullers soap- and discovered that it was a heavy duty kind of bleaching agent used on sheepskin wool to render it suitable to be made into cloth.
Refining and washing - images of changes wrought to make things more useful.
The prophets, in Malachi's time AND in John the Baptist's were concerned with agitating for real change in their society.
Both lived in times when people were suffering under oppressive regimes.
But both are anxious to call the people to whom they preach to repentance.
Just because they are oppressed does not mean that they can be lax about observing the ways of God.
Just because they are exploited does not mean that they can exploit others.
Indeed it is even more important, the prophets seem to claim, that in tough times, the people are even more assiduous in following God and in doing all that that demands of them.
It is even more important that they are distinctive - distinguished by their practice of love and justice and by their walk with God.
Their lives should be lived in stark contrast from the lives around them.
So, when things get tough, it's not a case of relaxing our ways but of redoubling our efforts to ensure that those around can see the positive difference that following God makes.
Only by observing Advent can we properly consider these things and ask hard questions of our lives and begin to fully appreciate that The Nativity does not make everything alright but, in fact turns everything upside down.
Refining fire and Fullers soap - tough agents for a tough job - the kind of cleansing that still is needed today.
And so we come to Luke's gospel:
In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.
It seems a long introduction to a reading: In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius when Pontius Pilate... And so on.
Luke is very particular about placing things in their historical context.
When he recounts the birth of John the Baptist, he locates that in the days of King Herod of Judah.
When he begins to tell of the birth of Jesus, he locates that in the reign of the Emperor Augustus when Quirinius was governor of Syria.
Why?
Because Luke sees the events he recounts as every bit as important as the political events of the day.
He sees both Jesus and John the Baptist as bearing as great an import as Emperors and Kings and Governors.
John the Baptist - a way out guy in an out of the way place.
Yet God chose him to herald a brave new world.
In many ways Gods tactics have changed little over the years.
Still God chooses the least likely people to share the good news.
People like you and I.
In our homes, our schools, our places of work, the places we hang out and have coffee, the places we work out or relax - in all of those places, God chooses us to continue to herald the reign of God.
In all of those places God calls us to be distinctive.
Whatever is happening around us.
However much pressure we are under.
God calls us to live with values that are often contrary to all that goes on around us.
Counter cultural.
God calls us to pit ourselves against the system, however futile that might seem, however insignificant we might feel.
God calls us and empowers us to make a real difference.
Whether that difference is as simple as doing Advent before Christmas or whether it is reaching out to our neighbour, God calls us to make the effort to contribute to growing Gods kingdom wherever we find ourselves.
And so...
In the reign of Queen Elizabeth the second, in the wake of an anticipated Royal Baby, during the government of Prime Minister, David Cameron, we who gather here in Castlehill Church today, are called to be heralds of good news.
We are called to stand up, wherever we find ourselves this week, to believe that God equips us to make a difference in the world, beginning where we are.
In our place and time God calls us to be messengers - to point to that alternative kingdom, to be people of peace and justice and hope.
As folk all around us become caught up in the Christmas rush, we are called to be witnesses to the quiet advent of God, entering the world as a vulnerable baby, confounding kings and rulers, standing up to injustice, heralding change, not by violence but by the gentle practice of love.
Rooted firmly where we are this Advent, our mission is to stand up for all that the Christmas baby brought to the manger, stand up for those whose lives he came to change, stand up as messenger of God, fulfilling our advent tasks on our journey to Christmas.
God does not deem us as too insignificant or too out of the way.
God places a spotlight on us today and calls us into that light to be witnesses to and heralds of the Kingdom of God.
Thanks be to God.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Reason to be hopeful

Jeremiah 33:14-16
The Righteous Branch and the Covenant with David
14 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfil the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 15 In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 16 In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: “The Lord is our righteousness.”
Luke 21:25-36
The Coming of the Son of Man
25 “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. 26 People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
The Lesson of the Fig Tree
29 Then he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; 30 as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. 31 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. 32 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
Exhortation to Watch
34 “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, 35 like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

“There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
I LOVE the Advent readings!
They are so dramatic.
Full of foreboding, full,of menace, even threat.
It's just as well the first reading this morning, from Jeremiah spoke of hope.
Hope and promise.
The days are surely coming when I will fulfil the promise...
It's important to have those words of hope and promise ringing in our ears when we come to the gospel.
People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world..
I can't help wondering, though, whether those words have actually lost their effect on us today.
The thought of terrible things coming upon the world.
We've already seen so many awful things, that in many ways, there's little that surprises us or shocks us.
Conflict in Afghanistan, in Israel and Palestine.
Refugees trudging along desolate landscapes to find shelter in camps seething with humanity, rife with disease.
The homeless, the hungry, those trapped in the grip of poverty.
We've been witness to the suffering of so many of God's children.
And we've heard the warnings of worse to come:
Of the ravaging of the earth.
Of Global warming.
Of the spread of bacteria that can't be controlled with medicine currently available to us.
In many ways we are well acquainted with horror.
So perhaps we don't fear the end of the world in quite the same way that the early Christians did.
But we can and do get worn down by all that goes on in our world.
By all the places where there are few signs of hope, by all the people who seem to lurch from one crisis to another, whose expectations are so low that they have stopped hoping for things to get better.
This foreboding reading becomes for us, not so much fanciful but all too real.
And often, our way of dealing with such awful reality is to put our heads down and plough on regardless.
No wonder the great British phrase: keep calm... so appeals.
Keep calm and carry on...
That's the way we deal with so much of life, with the things we can control and with the things that we can't.
Keep calm and carry on.
It's almost as though we believe that keeping a low profile will somehow lend us immunity from all that harms and threatens our tenacious hold on security.
Acknowledging threat or crisis allows it to become real.
We cope by ignoring the signs that are all around us.
And yet the gospel urges us to stay vigilant.
“Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life"
Be on guard the gospel exhorts.
We are encouraged not to be weighed down by the awful signs that are all around us.
Not to seek anaesthetisation through drink or drugs or other mind numbing solutions.
Not to become so inured to all the signs that we expect nothing else but catastrophe.
But to be on guard.
Our gospel today is counter intuitive.
Goes completely against the grain.
Shakes us out of our default mode.
"Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
At this stage of the 21st century, we might be forgiven for being a little sceptical of those words.
If those words are true, they have been an awful long time in coming to fruition.
And it's hard to keep on hoping for something that seems just as unlikely now as it did to the world 2000 years ago.
Living in hope demolishes all the coping mechanisms we have erected around ourselves, barriers to protect us from the harshness of the world we live in.
And yet the gospel says: Stand up and raise your heads.
Jesus uses a parable to get his message across.
He points to the fig tree.
Fig trees seem to feature throughout scripture, often serving as barometers of prosperity and faithfulness.
Fig trees don't appear out of nowhere.
They take some cultivation.
And they don't bear fruit easily but only after tending and nurture and the passage of time.
They need the space and the patience to be allowed to develop.
The confidence that the wait will be worthwhile.
So it is with the way of God.
God's sense of timing is certainly not ours.

Teilhard de Chardin, a French writer, early last century, expressed it like this:

Above all, trust in the slow work of God.
We are, quite naturally,
impatient in everything to reach the end without delay,
We should like to skip the intermediate stages.
We are impatient of being on the way
to something unknown, something new.
And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made
by passing through some stages of instability......
and that it may take a very long time.
And so I think it is with you.
Your ideas mature gradually;
let them grow, let them shape themselves,
without undue haste.
Don't try to force them on, as though you could be today
what time (that is to say, grace and circumstances
acting on your own goodwill)
will make you tomorrow.
Only God could say what this new spirit
gradually forming within you will be.
Give our Lord the benefit of your believing
that His hand is leading you, and of your accepting
the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense
and incomplete.

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Making of a Mind: Letters from a Soldier-Priest 1914-1919 (New York: Harper & Row, 1961), 57.

Trust in the slow work of God
Much easier said than done.

One of my colleagues proclaimed this week: "I'm glad that I'm in a profession that forces us to preach about hope."
That's a pretty profound statement.
We ARE FORCED to preach hope.
Even when all the signs around us point elsewhere.
Even when it seems there is little ground or cause for hope.
We are forced to preach it.
Because the gospel is a gospel of hope.
"Stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
The signs all around us, when we have the courage to lift our heads and look, are pretty grim.
And yet we are bound by our faith to be people who have hope.
Hope in the slow work of God.

That is our task this Advent.
To live as people who hope.
To spread that hope.
To invite others to join us in being hopeful in spite of all the evidence that might make us otherwise.
God is already among us.
And, in this season of Advent when we get ready to celebrate that fact again, we lift our heads high, knowing that, against all the odds, we have reason to be hopeful.
Thanks be to God.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The king of love

Revelation 1:4-8
John to the seven churches that are in Asia:
Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, 5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. 7 Look! He is coming with the clouds;every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him;and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail.
So it is to be. Amen.
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.

In addition to all the questions that we have gleaned and mulled over from Marks gospel, today we might consider another question: What kind of king?
The answer to that question lies in the many discoveries we have made about Jesus as we have pondered all the other questions raised by the gospel over the last few weeks.
What makes us clean?
The things inside of you.
What must I do?
Love God with all your heart, mind and soul.
Where can I sit?
In the lowliest place.
Who is the greatest?
The one who is servant of all.
Which is the most important commandment.
To love.
Every question we've probed brings us face to face with a character who confounds expectation and who calls us to be different too.
The one that we encounter this morning in our reading from Revelation as the Alpha and the Omega - the beginning and the end.
Christ the king:
A suffering king.
A serving king.
A king who stoops down to look in our eyes and tell us that we are loved.
Last year in Advent we decorated a Chrismon tree - a tree on which the decorations, in white and gold, all symbolised Jesus - from symbols of his baptism, to his life with the disciples, to his death on a cross.
Each decoration told a story.
About Jesus.
About love.
During the season of Lent, that tree was fashioned into a cross and we journeyed with Jesus through death to resurrection.
We have journeyed with Jesus through another year in the church but before we move once again into Advent, we pause to encounter the one who is Alpha and Omega, beginning and end, who was and is and is to come.
A king - but not as we know it.
In our town centres there are already signs of Christmas.
Lights are switched on, Santa has arrived.
Christmas trees have appeared in windows.
Christmas music fills the air.
But this one Sunday, in church, before we too become even more caught up in it, we pause to remind ourselves of the king whose birth we will celebrate.
The king who pours out his love in baptism.
The king who served others as he journeyed to the cross.
The king whose compassion embraced all whom he met on the way.
The king who still holds out love for each of us today.
Whether we are already caught up in the Christmas rush.
Or whether we're holding off until the last minute.
The king of love squats beside us, trying to catch our eye, trying to distract us from our need to do and inviting us simply to be.
The king of love who tells us - you are enough.
The king of love who proclaims - I love you just as you are.
And so, before we move into Advent, the church's season of preparation, let us today encounter love.
And, as we have celebrated that love in baptism, acknowledging that we love because first God loved us, may we celebrate too that love for our adult selves.
It is not only in the cuteness and innocence of infancy that Christ offers us love but in our youth and adulthood and later years - God still holds out love and repeats again: I love you just as you are.
Even though Advent is coming.
Even though we may feel we have so many preparations to make to allow us to celebrate Christmas.
Christ the king tells us again: I love you whether you're ready or not.
Today, as pressure mounts on us to get caught up in the rush, to conform to tradition, to cave in to buying gifts to prove our love, God whispers into this space - you are enough. I love you just as you are.
Lets be sure and hear that whisper and capture that promise while we still can today.
So that we can move into Advent, secure in the knowledge of Gods love for us, content that we are enough, confident that we can live in the love of God today and always.

For the little baby,
Dependant on others for survival,
God holds out love
For the child just beginning to encounter independence
God holds out love
For the teenager already rebelling
God holds out love
For the adolescent full of angst and confusion
God holds out love
For the adult shouldering weighty responsibility
God holds out love
For the middle aged striving to get it right
God holds out love
For the elderly fearful of once again becoming dependent
God holds out love
The king of love stoops down to offer Love
that holds all the promise of life everlasting.

Thanks be to God.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Counting the cost

Mark 12:38-44
38 As he taught, he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, 39 and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honour at banquets! 40 They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”
41 He sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. 43 Then he called his disciples and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. 44 For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

I had the opportunity this week to discuss todays gospel with folk who are training for ministry.
They had heard this passage about the widow's mite used in various ways by preachers.
Mainly as an exhortation for us who have plenty to give more to the church.
Or as an example of sacrificial love, and that being compared to the kind of love that God has for us.
But we often take the widows mite part out of the context of the verses that go beforehand.
This Remembrance Sunday, the context of this story about the widows mite becomes very poignant.
Listen again to the description of the Temple Authorities in the verses that precede the story of the widow:

38 As he taught, Jesus said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, 39 and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honour at banquets! 40 They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”

The widows of the day were reliant on the Temple Authorities to allocate their resources for living. And that's why they were so poor. Because those with the power took more than they needed, devouring widows houses, and left little for those who were dependant on their charity.
In spite of that, the widow still strived to pay her dues to the temple.
She chose to break the cycle of injustice and corruption.
She chose to do what was right even in the face of exploitation.
She wasn't put off by institutional wrongs - she looked beyond that to offer to God all that she had.
This Remembrance Sunday, it seems, we witness the same kind of corruption and are faced with the same kind of dilemma.
Those who have given themselves in war and have returned with injuries seen or unseen.
How do we care for them?
How do we honour the sacrifice they have made - and continue to make.
And those who have not returned.
How do we support their dependants in a life they had not imagined, without their loved ones to share?
How can we ask them to make such sacrifice when, in reality, the institutions that demand such sacrifice are failing miserably to find alternatives to war and, it could be argued, have even stopped trying.
News coverage this week carried pictures of Prime Minister David Cameron on a Middle East tour.
Proudly wearing a poppy, he was in the Middle East to sell fighter planes that the UK no longer needs as well as to win other defence contracts for the UK.
Our UK economy needs a boost - but through the sale of Arms?
The same coverage also saw the Prime Minister touring a refugee camp in Jordan that houses 36000 men, women and children who are fleeing Syria.
Mr Cameron pledged a further 12 million pounds in aid, bringing the total relief Britain is injecting there to 50 million pounds.
A total that pales into insignificance when compared to the 3 billion pounds Arms Deals he was also trying to broker.
Our government speaks of wanting to encourage democracy while at the same time selling arms to oppressive authoritarian regimes.
This kind of bartering displays a shocking disrespect for human rights of those who have no voice, of those we should be protecting - the widowed and the vulnerable.
Libya, Egypt and Bahrain launched their recent violent crackdowns with UK supplied weapons.
We have to question our governments commitment to peace and democracy in the Middle East when boosting the UK economy takes priority over other concerns.

Dwight D. Eisenhower once said;
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.
This world in arms is not spending money alone.
It is spending the sweat of labourers, the genius of scientists, the hope of the children.

It's easy, however to criticise our government, and there is much to question there.
But what about ourselves?
How do we honour the sacrifice of those whose lives have been given in defence of our nation?
How do we honour and support those who have returned from war changed forever?
Are we paying those sacrifices cheap lip service?
Or are we committing ourselves to making a difference.
Are we committing ourselves to peace to ensure that we don't keep on asking for more sacrifice, more lives ruined?
We wear our poppies with pride.
Are we prepared to wear them also with commitment?
The commitment to hardship that will be necessary if we want our economy to rely less on Arms Deals and more on brokering peace and on continuing to support families blown apart by the ravages of war.
In preaching on this gospel text this morning, I'm asking, not that we be more like the widow, giving her all but, rather, that we notice the irony of the widow being forced to pay tax to a corrupt institution - an institution charged with protecting her rights that chose to exploit her.
I'm asking that, in noticing that injustice this morning, we will also open our eyes to the injustice that is perpetrated to our service personnel and our veterans in this country every day.
That those who are being asked to give, being asked to pay a terrible price, are not being supported as our government finds new battles to fight and barters more human lives in boosting our economy.
It's a huge, messy, complicated wrangle with no easy fixes.
But, if wearing our poppies today is to be in any way meaningful, it will involve us recognising the corruptness of our institutions today and it will involve us, with our eyes wide open, entering that fray to make a difference for peace.
It is for us, today, to question the costs that we still demand from those who can least afford it.

Throughout his ministry, Jesus called to attention those on the margins of society, those who had previously gone unnoticed, the poor, the blind, the lame, the beggars, the lepers, military personnel and widows.
Those whom society looked down on or simply ignored.
It is these that Jesus brings into focus.
It is in these people that Jesus demonstrates the Kingdom of God.
What is the Kingdom of God?
It is the time or the place or the people in whom Gods will is accomplished.
The time or the place or the people in whom we see the face of Christ.
It is the time and the place and the people to whom God constantly calls us back.
In every decision we make, our over riding concern should be - are we establishing by our thoughts or commitment or action the Kingdom of God?
Are we promoting the face of Christ above all else?
We wear our poppies today to honour those who have fallen in war and those who continue to pay the price of war.
We wear our poppies to establish the Kingdom of God and to see the face of Christ in all those we honour today.
Those who have sacrificed much.
And, from our abundance, we commit ourselves to ensuring that that sacrifice is not made any more difficult.
We commit ourselves to sharing the cost.
The cost of peace.
We are all too aware of the cost of war.
But Peace costs too.
And, unless we are willing to commit ourselves, sacrificially to that cost, our nation will continue to sacrifice lives for war, not peace.
There is a sense of futility in our gospel story this morning - it doesn't appear such good news.
A widow giving her all to a corrupt institution, an institution that fails miserably to care for her as charged.
But she gives anyway.
And Jesus commends her giving.
Jesus commends her giving while condemning the system.
Such is the strange conundrum in which we find ourselves today.
Recognising how flawed and inadequate are our moves toward peace, recognising how flawed and inadequate are our institutions charged with finding peaceful solutions to conflict, charged with reducing the cost of sacrifice.
In all of our hurt and outrage and disillusionment and,often, sense of defeat, yet we honour those who continue to sacrifice.
Our military personnel and their families who make their offerings.
All those who have served.
And those who continue to serve.
We salute them.
And we take up the challenge to bear the cost that must be borne so that the sacrifice is not theirs alone.
Jesus did not undervalue the widow's gift and its cost.
And neither should we.
But we look beyond that gift to determine what we can do to challenge the institutions that continue to demand such sacrifice.
In that work, will our poppies be worn with pride.
In that work will the Kingdom of God reign and the face of Christ be seen.
For the glory of God.
Amen


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

I want to see

Mark 10:46-52
The Healing of Blind Bartimaeus
46 They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” 48 Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” 49 Jesus stood still and said, “Call him here.” And they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.” 50 So throwing off his cloak, he sprang up and came to Jesus. 51 Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see again.” 52 Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

Our gospel reading is fairly short today.
And it doesn't contain Jesus speaking as he has been in the last few weeks gospel readings about his journey toward the cross.
Instead, we have a story of healing.
A brief story but one filled with amazing depth.
There are lots of details in this story that I love.
Lots of phrases that deserve to be savoured:
It's a story that invites us in - to be a part of it.
So let's take a break this morning from the rather harsh teaching that we've been following over the last few weeks and enjoy this brief interlude.
And lets focus on Jesus ministering in one of the many interruptions that assailed him on his way.
Lets imagine ourselves on this part of the journey with Jesus.
Would we find ourselves in the crowd with Jesus and his disciples, attempting to leave Jericho?
They came to Jericho. As he and his disciples and a large crowd were leaving Jericho, Bartimaeus son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the roadside.
Can you imagine yourself in that crowd - perhaps pleased to be on the move again, glad to continue the journey, happy to be part of Jesus entourage.
I'm sure you've seen something of the USA Electoral coverage.
Every step of the candidates' journey, they are accompanied by vast support networks - a huge circus of activity.
And, as the election looms nearer - some states have already started voting- the crowds get larger and larger and the circus becomes more and more bizarre.
As Jesus journeys through towns and villages, his following grows too and, as we've already witnessed it becomes impossible for him to do anything quietly.
It's impossible for him even to find time to pray.
In our story today, perhaps you'd find a place in that crowd, swept up in the euphoria that surrounded Jesus, hanging on to his every word, desperate to see what he would do next.
Perhaps you'd be right in the thick of it, squeezing your way out of Jericho, impatient to be on your way, desperate to see where the next stage of the journey will take you, loving the noise and the bustle and the excitement.
And then being annoyed as Jesus comes to a grinding halt, as the procession stops - and for what?
To heed a beggar, a blind beggar at that.
Perhaps you'd be a part of that crowd, feeling contempt that something so trivial should stop the great machine that was the Jesus entourage in its tracks.
Or perhaps you'd experience a frisson of excitement as Jesus stopped yet again - wondering what on earth he'd do now.
You're in that crowd.
And your progress is halted.
Are you frustrated and anxious to be on your way?
Or are you filled with anticipation, wondering what bizarre spectacle you're about to witness now?

But maybe the crowd that accompanied Jesus is not where you'd be found.
Maybe that whole circus theme is not your scene.
Maybe you'd find yourself alongside Bartimaeus, one of his fellow beggars?
Or perhaps you'd be one of those shushing him, telling him not to call out to Jesus?
One of those who knows that there is no way that Jesus would notice a blind beggar, or hear his desperate calling?
Many sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he cried out even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
Would you be one of those pouring cold water on the hopes of Bartimaeus, ridiculing his audacity in thinking that Jesus would have anything to do with him, sternly ordering him to be quiet?

Or would you be with the folk who heard Jesus calling Bartimaeus?
One of those who was tuned in, sensitive, even over the babble of the crowd, one of those who encouraged Bartimaeus to approach Jesus?
One of those responsible for Bartimaeus throwing off his cloak, leaping to his feet and coming to Jesus.
They called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart; get up, he is calling you.”
Would you be one of those people, eyes open for opportunity, willing to see others made well?

Wherever you find yourself in the crowd- with Jesus or with Bartimaeus, frustrated at being held up or excited by possibility, what about the interaction between Jesus and Bartimaeus?
What effect does that have on you?
Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?”
The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see again.”
I want to see again.
The words of Blind Bartimaeus to Jesus.
I want to see again.
A simple request that contains a world of longing.
I want to see again.
Perhaps we'd like to take ourselves out of the crowd now, wherever in that crowd we might have imagined ourselves.
Perhaps we'd like to take ourselves out of the crowd and ask for that same healing for ourselves: I want to see again.
A longing that lives deep within us.
A longing to be able to see with eyes of faith, with eyes of hope, with eyes of compassion, with eyes of love.
A longing to lose the cataracts that have formed over our eyes as we have become cold and distant, unmoved by the pain of the world around us, hardened by life.
I want to see again - maybe our deepest longing today.
We're no longer a part of that crowd.
We're in the spotlight.
We are the ones in need of healing.
We are the ones who need to throw off our cloaks and approach Jesus with a spring in our step and hope in our heart, seeking healing from the blindness that afflicts us daily, the blindness that makes us turn away from life, that makes us live less than our potential, the blindness that holds us back, that imprisons our spirits.
I want to see again.
We cannot continue to hide in the crowd.
It is important that we place ourselves alongside Bartimaeus, facing our fear, acknowledging our need for healing, having the faith and the courage to ask Jesus to restore our sight.
And hearing those words of Jesus spoken for us:
Your faith has made you well.

Faith involves us leaving the safety of the crowd, throwing off our cloak of fear, recognising our blindness and asking for healing.
And then hearing Jesus say to us:
Your faith has made you well.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Thoughtless Christian

- Mark 10:35-45
The Request of James and John
35 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 36 And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?” 37 And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” 38 But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” 39 They replied, “We are able.” Then Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; 40 but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
41 When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. 42 So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. 43 But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, 44 and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

If you wanted someone to write your biography you certainly wouldn't ask the author of Marks gospel. Could he present the disciples in any worse light than he does?
It's certainly been something of a comfort to journey with Jesus and the disciples these last few weeks and, in witnessing their blundering and misunderstanding, realise what good company we keep in all our getting it wrong.
Today, we read of James and John asking if they can have places of honour, seated next to Jesus in the new kingdom.
To understand their story better, we might remind ourselves of the framework of Marks gospel.
As Jesus journeys with his disciples he is constantly trying to teach them about the suffering and death that is ahead for him. It seems that as the disciples eyes are opened to the uniqueness of Jesus, as they see more and more the wonders and miracles he performs, as they grow more and more excited about being apprentices of such an amazing, charismatic leader, Jesus redoubles his efforts to reveal to them his identity and purpose. His identity as the Son of God. And his purpose - to save the world by his death.
Yes he is the Messiah but not one that they might recognise.
His version of Messiah leads to suffering and death.
And, so it seems, in Marks gospel, that every miracle is sandwiched between Jesus teaching about his suffering and death.
It is important to him that the disciples begin to understand: This is not all about the highs - there are incredible lows to come.
Then we might feel a wee bit more sympathetic towards the disciples. How difficult it must have been, every time they were blown away by how amazing Jesus is, every time they just wanted to ooh and aha and marvel at his words and actions, Jesus brings them right back down to earth with a thud and starts to prattle on about how he must suffer and die.
No wonder they were confused. Now wonder they got frustrated and tried to argue with Jesus or tried to stop him launching into such dreary talk when they just wanted, for a time to remain on a high. Jesus is determined to haul them back to earth.
Actually, as Scots, that is something with which we should be very understanding, something of which we have lots of experience. It is a part of our psyche that none should get above themselves. As we grow up and even in adulthood, there are always those around us who will bring us back down from whichever cloud we find ourselves on, there will always be someone to ground us and keep our feet on the earth. There will always be someone to remind us that every pleasure must be paid for with pain!
Do you remember that TV advert recently - for yogurt- that showed a woman enjoying every spoonful of yogurt - and for each spoonful of pleasure she enjoyed, there were folk all around her stubbing their toes, tripping up, generally experiencing pain for every moment of her pleasure.
An animated version of Marks gospel might look similar. Every pleasure balanced by pain. Every celebration overshadowed by sorrow. Jesus keeping the disciples grounded.
But Jesus purpose is not to bring them down but to build them up.
Jesus wants to awaken them to the reality to which they are called.
A reality that will involve suffering and death.
A reality that though they haven't yet grasped the meaning of, they will live into in time.
It's hard to tell whether Jesus words to James and John: “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized It's hard to tell whether these words are a threat or a promise. My preference is to think of them as a promise: Jesus knows that these disciples will indeed live into that promise - when the time comes, they will be able to endure suffering, they will die for the sake of the kingdom. Jesus knows that they will "do him proud" when the need arises.
So this mornings gospel contains another attempt by Jesus to ensure that his disciples are as well prepared as they can possibly be.
When the other disciples learned what James and John had asked of Jesus, they were indignant.
I wonder if the reason the other disciples were displeased with James and John was simply because they wished that James and Johns question was one that they had asked.
It's infuriating when others push themselves forward into something we feel we deserve.
Jesus is probably well aware of the outrage of the other disciples when he continues his teaching - because Jesus then goes on to teach about how different his disciples must be.
Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.
In our Christian walk today, in this part of the world, we may not encounter the kinds of trial that awaited the first disciples but we are still called to practice a life of service.
Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all.
Servanthood is a difficult path to walk. One that demands a lot of practise.
There is a Native American story about a young brave who goes to an elder and says, "I'm in turmoil. My heart is filled with good and with bad."
The elder tells him , "Two dogs live within the heart. One is good and the other is evil."
"How do I know which one will win?" asks the young man. "The one you feed will win," replies the older, wiser man.
"The one you feed will win,"
So it is with being a servant.
If we feed our servant nature, it will grow strong and overcome the desires that would make us want to be first in everything.
It is not wrong to have ambition.
It is not wrong to want the best.
Modelling servanthood does not preclude achievement.
In fact being a servant can actually be quite powerful. ( And I'm not talking about the cult that is Downton Abbey!)
For us to have an impact on this community that we serve calls for us not to ask: "whats in it for us?"
For us to have an impact on this community that we serve calls for us to be servants.
Calls for us to discover the needs of our community and do what we can to meet those needs.
Serving our community in small things and in large, all of which make an impact.
Perversely, that will get us noticed.
We will become known as people who are willing to serve, willing to be there for others, willing to give of ourselves to make a difference.
Feeding our servant nature until it becomes all that we can do - serving others.
Until we do it without thinking.

Thoughtlessness:
That's what Jesus demands.
Not the conscious "always putting yourself last",
Not the big effort
Not even the martyrdom.
But the thoughtlessness
that comes as second nature.
Just like Jesus.
Serving because that's just what we do
Always putting others first
because that's just the way we are,
and in all this
making a huge impact,
without even knowing
because the nature of Christ
lives deep within us.
Thoughtless Christians
That's what the world needs more of.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Simple living?

Mark 10:17-31

The Rich Man

17 As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 18 Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honour your father and mother. ’” 20 He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” 21 Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” 22 When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

23 Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” 24 And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” 26 They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” 27 Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”

28 Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” 29 Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, 30 who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”

If Jesus were around today, he would give the stand up comedians a run for their money. He just had a way of saying things that brought some levity but, in the levity, there was often a punch that cut to the heart of the matter.

In today's gospel, a man ran up to Jesus, catching him just as he was setting off on another journey.

You know how that is...

You're edging your way out of the door, thinking you'll be in good time.

Against all the odds, you're ready to be on your way....

Then you're stopped in your tracks.

And it's never something simple that stops you.

Never something that can be kept til you return.

In Marks gospel, Jesus makes one journey - that is, the journey to the cross.

But all along the way, he stopped to teach and to heal.

And today's reading was yet another of those interruptions on the way to the cross.

This man, whom we call The Rich Young Ruler based on accounts in the other gospels presents Jesus with a question that must be addressed there and then.

It's a burning desire in the questioner that simply won't keep.

"Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

For a moment, Jesus is distracted by the man calling him good.

"Why do you call me good?" He asks. "God alone is good"

From the subsequent conversation, this man was familiar with the laws of life - it seems likely he practised them all diligently. But there was clearly something missing from his life. He wasn't fulfilled. He knew how to live - but that wasn't cutting it. He wanted more.

One of the startling things we heard last week from the folks from the Foodbank is that many of us are just one pay check away from going hungry. 

And that is something that I've come across with more regularity.

Demographics are changing.

Those who need help, with food, with shelter - no longer fit the stereotypes into which we like to box them.

The folk who turn up at the manse door these days are not, as has been the case in the past, folk chancing their arm or attempting a scam but people with stories of illness or redundancy or mental health issues that have led to their vulnerability and destitution.

You and I, worshipping together this morning are considered rich. We fall into the category that places us as rich people in the world.

Does that surprise you?

All of us gathered here - whether we're still trying to pay off student loans, whether we have mortgages that seem crippling month by month, whether our pensions have taken knock after knock over the years, whether our salaries fail miserably to keep up with inflation, we are considered wealthy on worldly terms.

We have a roof over our heads.

There is food in our cupboards.

We had a choice of clothes to wear this morning.

We may have driven or been driven here this morning.

We have access to education, to healthcare.

We have a choice of leisure or cultural pursuits.

We are wealthy.

And, whether we like to admit it or not, we are attached to our wealth, a wealth often achieved at the expense of others.

Those we will never meet - in factories halfway across the world, who manufacture the clothes we like to buy as cheaply as possible.

Those we will never meet, who gather crops in all weathers so that we can have out of season food whenever we want it at reasonable prices, for us.

Those we will never meet who precisely and painstakingly put together the gadgets and electronic wizardry that we love.

Those we will never meet who don't even earn in a day the loose change we spend on a latte or a fast food takeaway.

We are attached to our wealth.

We feel entitled to it.

Jesus does not condemn the young man who questions him.

Jesus looks on him with love.

What a powerful statement.

v21 - Jesus, looking at him, loved him.

Jesus told him: " You lack only one thing - go sell what you own, and give the money to the poor."

Neither does Jesus condemn us this morning.

He looks on us with love and says: " You lack only one thing - go sell what you own, and give the money to the poor."

And how hard it is for us to follow when faced with such a demand.

Peter, the disciple makes a good try at squirming out of it. Just as many of us will.

In v28 , Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.”

That's a refrain often heard in churches: " look at what we've done"

And Jesus message is: well done, now go and do more.

Impossible?

Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”

And this is where the gospel becomes good news even for us wealthy worshipers this morning.

Jesus looks on us with love, not condemnation.

And offers us grace.

Offers us the understanding that to do this thing that is so difficult, to achieve the impossible, we will need the power of God transforming our lives, turning them upside down, pouring in grace that makes all things possible.

In the work of the kingdom, we can never feel that we've done our bit. Not while there are poor and homeless and hungry folk in the world, and right here on our doorstep.

The work is never done.

And we have much to share.

Jesus looks on us with love, not condemnation.

But his message takes no prisoners.

Go and do more.

And let's notice one more thing about today's gospel.

When the young man runs up to Jesus and kneels before him, this is just like all the other stories we have been considering these last few weeks in marks gospel" stories of healing.

Folk came to Jesus and knelt before him seeking healing.

So it was with this young man.

He knew that something was amiss in his life.

He was good, he kept the law, he followed the church's teaching, but he knew that his life was not as abundant as it could be.

Jesus told him how he could find that abundance.

How he could experience that something more that was missing from his life.

Jesus showed him the way to being healed.

Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”

Word!

For us today.

Making room

Mark 9:38-50
38 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 40 Whoever is not against us is for us. 41 For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.
42 “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. 43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. 45 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell., 47 And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, 48 where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.
49 “For everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

Mark's gospel has to be the worst for the disciples. They are consistently portrayed as numpties. They keep on misreading situations, misunderstanding Jesus and constantly getting it wrong.
As we've journeyed with them over these past few weeks, it's been fairly easy to sympathise and perhaps even identify with them.
So they had bother understanding Jesus' teaching.
We do too.
So they didn't want to engage with all his talk of suffering and death.
We get that too.
But today's incident?
Where they are stupid enough to complain to Jesus about someone who was casting out demons using the name of Jesus.
Now that really was stupid.
Especially when, just a little while earlier, those very disciples had been unable to cast out a demon when asked.
Is it a case of - if we can't do it then no one else will?
Whatever their thinking, it seems pretty daft to go complaining to Jesus.
It didn't seem to even cross their minds that this might be a good thing.
They don't seem to have viewed this deed from the point of view of the one released from unclean spirits.
Or the joy of his friends and family to regain the person they know, restored to health in body and mind.
The disciples seem only interested in the fact that the person who cast out the demon is "not one of them."
And that seems a bit dumb - even for the disciples.
So while over the last few weeks, we might have been tempted to sympathise with them.
While we might have even been able to identify with them - after all, we too would have got it wrong - today we want to step back from their stupidity - it has just gone too far.
How could they possibly expect Jesus to condemn someone for doing good just because he was not in the right crowd?
None of us would ever find ourselves doing that.
Would we?

Marks gospel, as well as showing the disciples up to be numpties, also demonstrates the widening of the kingdom.
More and more people are welcomed into the kingdom.
Jesus demonstrates that God's love is far reaching and much more inclusive than has ever been conceived.
So why would the disciples imagine for a moment that Jesus would be pleased with them dismissing someone who cast out demons in the name of Jesus simply because he was not in their group?
But lets Imagine how it must have been for those disciples.
They are the ones who upped sticks and followed Jesus.
Working men one day.
Itinerant preachers the next.
Jesus had turned their lives upside down with his charisma and pulling power.
They were singled out by Jesus.
And invited to go on a journey.
A journey of discovery that changed them forever.
He taught them so many things.
And commissioned them as disciples.
How could just anybody then begin to do the things that they had been called to do?
And not only that but do it better than they were doing right then?
When we stop to imagine how it might have felt for them, when we begin to see where they were coming from - Then maybe that's where we find ourselves beginning, once more, to identify with the disciples.
Then we can sympathise with their indignation.
Here are the guys with the long service awards.
The ones who have endured hardship.
The ones who have been through a lot together.
How can someone new just show up and be embraced, given all the same power and privilege that is theirs?
How can that be?
They are the keepers and the dispensers of the faith, not some new comer who has not been through the kind of training they've been through or put up with all that they've endured together with Jesus.
It's not right that they should do all the hard work and then someone else shows up and reaps the benefit.
Not only that - but someone who is better at their job than they themselves are.
And I wonder if we are starting to see how we might identify with the disciples as they are portrayed in today's gospel.
Feeling threatened.
Feeling sidelined.
Feeling fear.
If someone can just pitch up and do what they are supposed to do, not only that, but do it better even though they've not been around as long as they have.
Even though they have not had the benefit of all of Jesus teaching.
Folk can appear from nowhere and take over their tasks and, not only that, but be welcomed and encouraged by Jesus.
And that is precisely the gospel that is preached in Mark.
That everyone IS called.
And equipped.
That God includes us and gives us power.
Whether we have been here forever.
Whether we are in with the bricks.
Or whether we have just shown up recently.
God makes room for us and invites us to participate.
On Gods terms - no one else's.
And we are called to welcome others on those same terms.
With openness.
Even if they want to do the jobs that we have always done.
The jobs that no one else can ever do in just the right way.
We are called to move over and make room.
To welcome and include.
To stop being precious about the things that only we can get right.
We are called to welcome and involve others so that the kingdom grows.
To set aside our complaining and allow others to serve as God calls them too.
And that is not easy.
It doesn't come naturally.
It takes effort.
We'd rather complain about how busy we are.
And about how no one can do properly those task that we have always done.
We'd rather have a good moan about it than move over and make room for others to share the load.
Because what if they mess it up?
What if they get it wrong?
And, even worse, what if they are better at it then we are?
It takes courage and strength to welcome others and to make room for them.
It's something that doesn't necessarily come naturally, something that has to be worked at.
But something that God calls us to do for the sake of the kingdom.

So, today, as we smile at the disciples getting it wrong again.
As we see them feeling threatened and feel their fear as they feel sidelined.
May we pause to catch a hold of those feelings in ourselves.
And may we get over ourselves and move over to welcome others.
Because the consequences for our congregation and for our church are too awful to contemplate.
The consequences if we cannot move on are what Jesus goes on to outline in the rest of the passage.
Jesus teaches in his usual over stated way, the things that we know deep down, the things that our common sense tells us but that we choose to ignore.
And that is - that we can easily turn others off.
That we can easily be responsible for someone turning away from the church.
That all of us can be stumbling blocks.
There seems to be a bit of a pre-occupation in Marks gospel with demons that need to be cast out.
Maybe we have a few of those ourselves.
That demon of fear that our positions will be usurped..
That demon of fear of change.
That demon of fear of the unknown.
That demon of pride in what we have done that no one else could possibly do as well as we do.
There are demons in us that we could do with being freed from.
So that we can stop being stumbling blocks to those new in faith or those tentatively taking their first steps in the kingdom.
So that we can be free to move over and make room.

For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.
Jesus spells out to us that our actions must match our words.
It's no good claiming to be welcoming when we don't make room for others, when we don't encourage them to settle in and stay.
Its no good claiming to be welcoming when we only welcome those who pose no threat to us.
Accepting that cup of water.
Being ministered to as well as ministering is a vital part of discipleship.
And, often one we are slow to learn.
Especially when we have been here a while, when we feel settled and comfortable.
It's hard to let others, especially those we don't know minister to us.
It's difficult to see our need.
But in the kingdom of God, all are welcome, all are called to minister and all have a need to be ministered to.
Thanks be to God for widening the scope of the kingdom so that we don't need to carry the burden by ourselves.
Thanks be to God for calling and equipping others so that we can enjoy ministry rather than be overwhelmed by its demands.
Thanks be to God for every cup of cold water offered to us on the journey.
May we never be to proud or too precious to accept, wherever it comes from.
Thanks be to God.