The Devil we know

Deuteronomy 30:15-20
See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
1 Corinthians 3:1-9
On Divisions in the Corinthian Church
And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations? For when one says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not merely human?
What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each. For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.

Choose life! Moses exhorts the Israelites in our passage in Deuteronomy. Choose life!
It sounds like a no brainer doesn't it?
Choose life!
But Moses has journeyed with these people through all the trials of the wilderness.
Moses was with them when they fled Egypt and crossed the Red Sea.
Moses was with them when they complained about having no water.
Moses was with them when they complained about only eating manna, when they longed for all the variety of food they enjoyed back in Egypt.
Moses was with them as they tested the patience of God and worshiped idols.
Moses was with these people as they stumbled and grumbled their way from the Exodus to the promised land.
The promised land is now within sight.
And he still has to remind them to Choose Life.
Throughout the book of Deuteronomy, we find clear definitions of what it looks like to choose life.
Moses lays out for the people time and again that choosing life involves working on their relationship with God.
Here, in this short passage, is a powerful summary of that teaching.
In v 16: love the Lord your God, walk in God's ways, observe God's commands.
And, in case that isn't clear enough, Moses states again in v 20: love God, obey God, hold fast to God.
Moses, chosen to lead Gods people at a critical time in their history, a time when they have been forced to flee all that was familiar to them - and let's face it, even when the familiar is oppressive, sometimes we'd rather stick with that than leave it for the unknown.
What is it they say? - better the devil you know.
There were many times as the people of God journeyed with Moses in the wilderness that they longed for the comforting familiarity of their life in Egypt.
Even though they were discriminated against and made to work in appalling conditions, there were times, as they journeyed, when they longed for that life that they knew rather than continue on to a life they didn't know.
As Gods people today, we often find ourselves in the same predicament.
We know that "the way we used to do things" no longer works.
We know that the old ways are no longer serving the gospel.
But we don't want to venture into the unknown.
We long for things simply to go back to the way they were so that we can be comforted by their familiarity.
I love to walk.
And everyone knows that walking, especially around here, needs a good pair of boots.
I've had a wonderful pair for a few years now.
They are so comfy.
I put my feet in them and they just feel right.
But I've known for a while that they would need replacing.
The miles have taken their toll.
They are much more flexible than they should be.
They don't offer the same kind of ankle support that they used to.
The soles have become quite worn - they don't grip as they used to.
And, to cap,it all, a hole appeared on the top of my boots, so even reproofing couldn't stop water getting in.
But, even with all those faults, I kept on wearing them because the hassle of breaking in a new pair just seemed like too much trouble.
Even though my feet were constantly getting soaked when I went walking, that was the choice I made over replacing my boots.
How crazy is that?
I'd rather put up with the UNcomfortably familiar than do the work of walking in new boots!
Gods people through the ages have struggled with a similar dilemma.
As the world around us shifts and changes, as we have to cope with more and more change in our daily lives, we want just one thing to remain familiar: when we come to church, we want to feel comfortable. When we share our faith, we want to do it in ways that we know - the old, familiar ways.
Even when we recognise that our mission is no longer effective we would rather go with what we know than embrace what is strange or new.
Choosing life involves us making those hard choices but making them in the knowledge that we have the unfailing love and support of our God who not only leads us but accompanies us, every step of the way, into an unknown future.

Moses knows that the people of God, with whom he is travelling to the Promised Land, are struggling with their fear of the unknown.
So, he attempts to remind them of the basics.
The foundations on which their faith is based.
Loving God.
Walking in God's ways.
Keeping God's commands.
How can we, in this place today, on our journey with God, recover and embrace those foundations for our life together and for our outreach in the communities we serve? How can we choose life?
Loving God.
Walking in God's ways.
Keeping God's commands.
Loving God - In Deuteronomy, we are reminded that loving God is much more than a Valentines day type emotion. Remember the teaching: You shall love The Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your soul?
Loving God involves every part of ourselves, body, mind and soul.
Choosing life involves the same kind of commitment. It's not just an intellectual choice or an emotional one, it involves all that we are and all that we do.

Walking in God's ways, involves being tuned in enough to see where God is leading us and then having the commitment to follow in those ways. It involves discernment and obedience. Seeing where God would have us go and putting our hand in God's as we step out to follow, catching glimpses of where God is already at work in our community and pitching in to lend a hand. Being reassured that Gods ways are at once new and familiar and that God continues to lead us on comfortingly familiar paths and on scary new journeys.

Keeping God's commands is not intended as an inhibiting exercise but as a freeing way of life, a way that involves us considering how we relate to God and to one another. A way that enables us to show in this place and beyond these walls, that God is all about relationships, that God loves us and wants us to love one another. Living in love that frees us and fuels us to follow the dream that God plants in our vision.
Keeping Gods commands involves risks taken bravely because we are assured of the safety net of God's love underneath us.
Loving God.
Walking in God's ways.
Keeping God's commands.
These three are our way of Choosing Life.

The apostle Paul, in our reading from Corinthians, outlines the choices laid out for the folk around him, folk struggling to practice faith in their day, folk struggling to witness to God to their contemporaries, folk confused by all the different directions in which they were being pulled.
And like Moses, he cuts to the chase. It's not about who did what or how.
It's not about historical loyalties.
It's about everyday relationships based on love.
The mission is God's and God calls and equips us to get involved.
Answering the question: What does God require of us today?
As Paul says: We are Gods servants, working together.
Choosing life today involves us getting to the root of our faith - the love of God, being witnesses to that love in our fellowship here and in the communities we are called to serve.
Choosing life involves us discerning and then following the path God calls us to walk today, even though it is vastly different from the path we know.
Choosing life involves us stepping into an unknown future, hand in hand with the God of love.
Choose life!
Thanks be to God.






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Choose Life!

This Reflection was written for the Abingdon Creative Preaching Annual 2014

Deuteronomy 30:15-20
15 See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. ¹⁶If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. ¹⁷But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, ¹⁸I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. ¹⁹I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, ²⁰loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 

Moses’ speech in Deuteronomy 30, is some speech from a man who, when God called him, could barely speak. Moses has come a long way. And so have the people he leads.

They have been through a lot together and they have learned a lot together.

Moses implores them to always keep in mind the God who has directed their lives, the God who calls them to live in love – loving God, loving each other and loving their neighbor.

The Kings Speech is an award winning movie about the life of King George VI.

It is the true story of how the King who was never expected to accede to the throne overcame major speech difficulties. With the help and friendship of an unorthodox Speech Therapist, he overcame an impairment that had inhibited and plagued his life.

The Speech Therapist believed in him and persisted in his work with and encouragement of the King until he was able to address the Nation in a trying time of war with confidence.

The King was finally able to find his voice and become a leader.

In 2011, thanks to extensive world media coverage, we were enabled to witness the Egypt of today finding voice. As the world looked on, voices raised for justice brought down a 30 year long dictatorship.

Cries of Get Out! became cries of Freedom. Persistent voices for justice were heard and Egypt was changed forever.

One image that captured the world’s empathy was an image of Muslims at prayer, surrounded by Christians joining hands, forming a human chain to protect their brothers and sisters at prayer.

And then there were some wonderful images of the celebrations in Tahrir Square in Cairo – of people cleaning up. Cleaning up because they recognized that the achievement of the freedom they demanded is not the end of their journey but only the beginning.

Everyone was now required to play their part in rebuilding a nation and in ensuring that what they build is true democracy.

And that’s where the challenge lies.

Building on the foundations that have been laid. Building freedom. Building justice.

Finding voice is important. But it is not enough.

Throughout history we have heard enough voices raised – and listened to – that seek power.

But that power has not always been built on justice.

And so we have oppressive regimes all around the world.

Often these regimes started out with hope, attracted supporters by fine orations – but then perpetrated evil.

Voices are important.

But in voices raised there must be sounds of truth and of justice.

Moses’ exhortation to the Israelites is for them to choose life by building on the commandments of God – to practice love and justice, to walk in the ways of truth.

And the exhortation for us today is to remember whose we are and whom we serve – wherever we are.

Blessed are we...

Micah 6:6-8
What God Requires
“With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?

Matthew 5:1-12
The Beatitudes
When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. Then he began to speak, and taught them, saying:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

My friend and colleague, Alec Shuttleworth, whose musical talents many of you have enjoyed, proclaims that "There is nothing, simply nothing in life that is not significantly improved by the addition of a banjo."
Pete Seeger died this week, at the age of 94. If you're not familiar with the name, you'll be familiar with some of the songs that he wrote or made famous - Where have all the flowers gone; If I had a hammer; Turn, turn, turn, (inspired by words from Ecclesiastes); We shall overcome, which he sang at the height of the American Civil Rights Movement.
With his banjo and voice he took to the streets to challenge oppression, to question leadership, to promote peace.
Pete Seeger used his music to speak out against injustice, and his songs were taken up by protestors the world over.
He incited folk, not to violence but to justice.
One of the banjos he played was inscribed with the words: "This machine surrounds hate and forces it to surrender."
A banjo might not seem like the most obvious choice of weapon, especially against war, but Pete Seeger brandished his effectively.
And encouraged others to take up the tools that were at their disposal to effect change.
What does the Lord require of us?
To do justice
To love kindness
And to walk humbly with God.
Boiled down into sound bytes.
To do justice
To love kindness
And to walk humbly with God.
This was the prophet's response to a people who tried to make the task of following God more complicated than it needed to be.
It's not about exaggerating our righteousness.
It's not about competing in the piety stakes.
It's not about waiting for some dazzling revelation of godliness.
It's about being quietly faithful to God in all that we do.
So that it becomes, for us, a way of life.
A life in which we honour God by consistently practising, justice, kindness and humility.
Sometimes that will be accompanied by a banjo, other times not.
What does the Lord require of us?
To do justice
To love kindness
And to walk humbly with God.

Recently, someone told me off for answering the greeting: "How are you?" with "Good!"
Their contention was that "Good" was a value judgement and not an appropriate response to the enquiry, "How are you?"
Its something of a habit for me to respond in that way.
Just as others often respond "Fine".
When folk ask us how we are, often the truth is the last thing that we share.
And, when we ask others:"How are you?" Do we really want to know the truth?
We want a positive, upbeat response so that we can move on.
In fact, sometimes folk are upfront about that - after claiming that they are fine, they'll say: " You don't want to hear all my moans."
And few of us will have the stamina to say" No, really I do. How are you?"

I often sign off on emails with the salutation: Blessings.
And when I record Pause for thought for radio, I always finish with the expression: "Be blessed."
That is not a glib statement.
It's not a wish that simply exists in my own limited perception of the, sometimes harsh, reality of life.
It is a genuine wish that those who hear may, in some way, know themselves blessed.
Know themselves blessed because, whatever else is true for them, the blessing of God is present in their lives, even and especially when any sign of blessing is hard to see.
Let's picture for a moment, in all those times of struggle we encounter, God alongside us, strumming a banjo and singing protest songs on our behalf.
Blessed are we!
In our reading from Matthew's gospel, The Beatitudes, Jesus uses a way of speech that would have been familiar to his listeners, something that poets and wisdom writers used to give emphasis to their message.
We encounter this genre in the Psalms and Proverbs: Blessed is the one..

Blessing, as envisaged by Jesus builds on that writing and teaching.
It is not a matter of good fortune, or the planets aligning correctly, or things going well.
It is, rather, the assurance of being surrounded by the unconditional love of God and a community that is supportive and embracing in all the joys and trials of life.
Being blessed goes much deeper than can be gleaned from the surface.
And so, when we read:
“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
When we read all these words of blessing, these are not glib hopes for change, but statements of present reality.
When we are actively pursuing Gods kingdom, a pursuit that calls for risk and often brings hardship, then, perversely we can know ourselves blessed.
Yet again, we see Jesus taking a popular way of teaching and turning it on its head.
Out goes the notion of being materially rewarded for keeping Gods law or practising love and mercy.
But in its place comes something much more lasting - the knowledge of our labouring alongside the whole company of heaven to bring to light that blessedness that goes beyond individual achievement or reward and brings the assurance that in every time of trial, this community has our back and we are held in the loving embrace of God.
Being part of that community of the blessed.
Sharing joys and sorrows.
Carrying each other through all that life brings, with love and, often, with protest.
Raising our voices for justice.
Reaching out our hands for love.
Living out the beatitudes in our everyday.
Blessed are we -
When we do justice
When we love kindness
And when we walk humbly with our God.
Thanks be to God.



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