Living into love

1 John 5:1-6

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ^* has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. ²By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey God’s commandments. ³For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, ⁴for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. ⁵Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

6 This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth.

In the name of the Father, the son and the Holy Spirit

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ^* has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. ²By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey God’s commandments.

And so we continue working our way through the first letter of John, reflecting on love and what it means to be a Christian community.

As I reflected on that this week, I was struck by the similarities to the journey we made in the autumn with the Israelites – as they left Egypt and wandered around in the wilderness, all the while learning how to be God’s people in that time and place.

Communities need rules – boundaries within which people live so that they can get along together.

For the Israelites, that culminated in the 10 commandments – all those “Thou shalt nots”

For the Christian community, those rules consisted in what seems like a different kind of commandment – not so much “Thou shalt not” – more – We will.

It seems to me that the Christian community is invited into a partnership with God, practicing a loving way of living.

It is a partnership based, not on fear but on love.

It is not prohibitive but is inviting.

Inviting us to find ways to build a loving community with God’s love at the centre.

Founding a community that is inclusive, accepting and valuing.

Where people are not judged on their merits.

But where people are welcomed simply because they are beloved children of God.

This morning we fulfilled one of Jesus commands: Go and make disciples of  all nations – Baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Someone was telling me last week that they’d heard on the radio that 70% of parents do not get their children baptized.

Well, the other 30% must come to Castlehill.

Because, as you know, we’ve had a wee run on baptisms.

Baptism is something that we do in community.

Living out the vows that we take in baptism – parents AND the wider church – is something that we also do in community.

There is always the question when we welcome children OR adults in baptism of whether we’ll have the joy of regular contact with those baptized.

Like the story of the minister bemoaning the presence of bats in the sanctuary ( a real life issue I had in Inverkip!). A colleague confided the secret of getting rid of the bats – baptize them – and then you’ll never see them again.

Here, in Castlehill, we are fortunate that that is NOT our experience.

We have the opportunity to continue to support families who come to church seeking baptism for their children.

It is a task made easier if we see the children regularly in worship.

But, even when that’s not the case, our promise still holds.

We can still be supportive – through our Cradle Roll, we maintain contact with families.

And we continue to provide a safe and welcoming space in our community where families are held in love.

What we celebrate in baptism is the unconditional love of God – that love given with no strings attached.

It is that kind of love that we are called to practice in our everyday.

Love that doesn’t lay down rules before sharing, love that isn’t withheld until certain conditions are fulfilled, love that entices folk back for more.

The kind of love that feels like coming home.

So that, no matter what is happening elsewhere, no matter what the latest political or moral outrage, here, in this community, all can know themselves cradled in love.

You don’t need me to tell you that to provide such a community takes a lot of effort, a lot of hard work, perhaps a lot of tongue biting, not to keep the peace, but to keep the love.

Love is a LOT of work!

But why should we bother?

Simply because God bothers with us.

God scoops us up and cradles us and assures us that we are loved.

And DARES us to go and love others.

Not only dares us but commands us: Love one another.

This is not an optional extra in our Christian journey.

It is the essence of what it is to be Christian.

And all our goodness and neighbourliness and welcoming and helping are enriched beyond measure when they are infused with love.

It is love that lends depth and intensity.

Love that adds sincerity.

Love that stops us simply doing and helps us to BE.

It doesn’t come easily – unless you’re a saint.

But practice goes a long way to making perfect.

Love is much more than a feeling.

It is hard work.

And especially hard work in the church – because, in the church, even when we’re Not feeling it – we are called STILL to practice love.

And perhaps the seeds of that hard work of love begin in the celebration of baptism.

As a community, when we have agreed to play our part in welcoming children into the church, when we “renew our commitment, with God’s help to share with all God’s children the knowledge and love of God” – once we’ve pledged to do that together, I pronounce these words:

Let us then nurture one another in faith, uphold one another in prayer and encourage one another in service.

Those are the beginnings of the work that go into love.

Nurturing one another in faith – so that faith grows with us.

Upholding one another in prayer – the seeds of love are surely in that.

And encouraging one another in service – making space for each other to find a place in this community of love.

There is nothing sentimental in that – just a lot of hard work.

It is not “Thou shalt not”

It is “go and do…..”

My prayer for this community is that we become known and live into being a community of love – loving God and each other.

Amen.

All you need is love...

Reading: 1 John 3 v 16-24

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister^* in need and yet refuses help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.

 And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.

(Intro: all you need is love – The Beatles)

Looking at the text for today, I found myself inwardly groaning – Oh no – not love again.

What else is there to say on love?

Then I found these words of St Jerome, an early church historian:

"When the venerable John could no longer walk to the meetings of the Church but was borne thither by his disciples, he always uttered the same address to the Church; he reminded them of that one commandment which he had received from Christ Himself, as comprising all the rest, and forming the distinction of the new covenant, "My little children, love one another." When the brethren present, wearied of hearing the same thing so often, asked why he always repeated the same thing, he replied, "Because it is the commandment of the Lord, and if this one thing be attained, it is enough" [JEROME]."

IT is the commandment of the Lord – to love one another.

Elizabeth Barret Browning’s poem says:

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

I love thee to the depth and breadth and height

My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight

For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of everyday's

Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.

I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;

I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

I love thee with a passion put to use

In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.

I love thee with a love I seemed to lose

With my lost saints, --- I love thee with the breath,

Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose,

I shall but love thee better after death.

Timeless words that speak of love.

Those other words that we often use to speak of love, the words of St Paul from 1 Corinthians:

Love is patient and kind, love envies no one, is not boastful, conceited or rude etc.

Those words are almost too clinical to describe something that is much more instinctive than we can imagine.

Love is not for speaking – it is for living.

Love, is not something that can be commanded, not something that comes on tap.

Love springs up from a spirit that can do no other.

Love bubbles and froths.

Love twists and turns.

Love wells up even out of hurt, love survives even beyond relationship.

We cannot properly speak of love.

But we can live love.

John exhorts us:

Love one another just as he has commanded us.

In this past-Easter season in the church, the message of Jesus giving his life for us is held up as a prime example of love.

What do we know about Jesus love?

From the gospels we don’t glean much about the sentiment of Jesus’ love.

We don’t hear much about Jesus’ feelings of love.

But we do get a clear sense of action.

Jesus’ love led him to die on a cross.

Love, not in the abstract, but love as a reality – a reality that we too are called to live into.

In those early days of the church, those words about laying down our lives for one another, may have referred to martyrdom – many of the early Christians were being persecuted for their faith.

That doesn’t make these words irrelevant to us today –

John goes on to say:

Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action.

Those words are every bit as challenging to us today as they were when they were written.

Those words demand that we move beyond the sentiment of love to actually doing something about it.

Let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action

Perhaps not too much of a challenge in some areas of our lives – with our loved ones, our families, even, perhaps our church family – we can imagine ourselves loving in truth and in action, can even go beyond our imagination into practice.

We can also act out that love for those whom we will probably never meet – sending money to Romania or tossing in our Pennies for Peru as we do.

All of those are love in action.

There’s no doubt about that.

But what about love in action for those not in our immediate circle or not far enough away to pose no threat to us?

What about those we encounter in our everyday, - friends, colleagues, acquaintances, neighbours?

Those we have almost become immune to because they are simply part of our everyday life?

To love these people as Jesus loved requires effort. Requires that we stop and think about our interactions.

That we be ACTIVE in our loving.

That we go out of our way to show love, even when it is not requested or expected.

Now THAT IS a challenge!

And, if we think its difficult to do with those we kind of like, just imagine how much more difficult it is with those we disagree with, those whose values are not our values, those who are just not like us.

I love that Old Scots toast:

Here’s tae us

Wha’s like us

Gey few and they’re a’ deid!

Our daily lives are filled with encounters with folk who are not like us!

And the challenge is to love them too!

So, what else is there to say on love?

Not a lot.

But plenty to put into action!

Bridging the Gap (Epiphany 3A)

1 Corinthians 1:10-18

Divisions in the Church

Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you should be in agreement and that there should be no divisions among you, but that you should be united in the same mind and the same purpose. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters.What I mean is that each of you says, ‘I belong to Paul’, or ‘I belong to Apollos’, or ‘I belong to Cephas’, or ‘I belong to Christ.’ Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,so that no one can say that you were baptized in my name. (I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.
Christ the Power and Wisdom of God
For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

Driving through rural Scotland, bridges often appear seemingly out of nowhere and sometimes with very little obvious purpose. Perhaps to link farmland that has become separated through urbanisation. Or to allow the passage of livestock across a busy road that has materialised in a formerly rural landscape. It often seems like a lot of effort and expense has been incurred for correspondingly little benefit. Except history would decree a different story and place in context the need for a gap to be bridged and a new pathway to be created. And the many, creative, picturesque styles of bridges do make the scenery even more beautiful and varied.

Divisions in the church are nothing new - as old as time itself. We become quite tolerant and even, at times, indulgent of these divisions. But St Paul places in context the need for bridges to be built - or dispensed with The divisions and our pandering to them, distract us from the mission to which we are called - preaching the gospel.

This makes me uncomfortable. I would rather chip away at finding similarities in our differences, common ground over which we can agree than work at a real solution that would bring about unity. I am more content with living with the differences than with dismantling a system that excludes. I cling on to the arguments, rationalising that they lend some spice to life, even, on occasion, beauty. And all the while, the gospel remains unpreached, far less lived out.

Lalalalala (Easter 5A)

Acts 7:55-60

But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ‘Look,’ he said, ‘I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!’ But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.’ Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, ‘Lord, do not hold this sin against them.’ When he had said this, he died.

When my adult child, in a rare moment of sharing (he is still a teenager) describes to me some of the exploits that are a part of his performing in a punk band, involving mosh pits and crowd surfing, I sometimes have to put my hands over my ears and sing loudly in order to block out the worrying pictures that he describes so vividly. While I appreciate his confidences, sometimes there are things I would rather not know! A clear case of too much information.
Stephen, one of seven men recruited to "wait on tables" so that the disciples would not be deflected from preaching the word, was guilty of sharing too much information.
Finding his preaching voice, he speaks too clearly to the religious institutions of the day, indicting their practice, inflaming their anger, to the point where they want him dead.
In order to stone Stephen, these good, religious people had to cover their ears to his preaching. They had to immunise themselves from his sharing of the vision he was receiving in the grip of the Holy Spirit. It would not have satisfied their appetite to quell his prophetic preaching if they took on board the justification he experienced in martyrdom. They needed to taste blood.
As people of faith today, living in the light of the Resurrection, we too can find ourselves covering our ears - blocking out those things we simply don't want to hear about, those things that indict our way of life. We, too, by closing our ears to the things we do not want to hear can find ourselves surrounded by the ugliness of rocks poised to attack, especially when those things we want to blot out call into question our dearly held traditions of faith.
Surely, as resurrection people, our mission is to seek new ways to listen and to respond and to discern the prompting of the Spirit of the risen Christ in all of life.

Words from the cross

Tonight (Good Friday) we reflected on the last sayings of Jesus on the cross using these meditations:

“Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”

(Luke 23:34)

Forgiveness, forgiveness

hoisted aloft

in agony

near death

and from his lips

come words of forgiveness

Of all the things he could have said

the litany of woes and sorrows he could have recited

the folk he might have railed at

the folk he might have cursed

But instead, he implores forgiveness

Hallelujah! What a Saviour!

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing”

Those words are for you – and for me

Do you know it?

Dare you believe it?

Forgiven.

We are forgiven

By the one who hung on a cross and died

so that we might be forgiven.

THAT is forgiveness.

“Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing”

“Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

(Luke 23:43)

After forgiveness comes redemption

the one who proclaims forgiveness

also proclaims redemption

the one who know us

knows all that we are

forgives us

and embraces us

all the way to paradise

promising that we are not only forgiven

but loved and carried

all the way to eternal life

“Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

 “Woman, here is your son.”

(John 19:26)

Carried in love

in the womb of his mother

cradled in arms that were gentle

nurtured and loved

then released to life

set free to teach and to heal

And now, in the throes of death

filled with compassion

feeling the pain

of the woman who gave him life

the woman who trusted enough

to say Yes! to God’s plan

to say Yes! to a life

of worry and turmoil

the woman who bore

the son of God

and who now shared

the awful pain

of his death

Forgetting his own agony

and reaching out

to ease the pain

of the one

who carried him in love.

“Woman, here is your son”

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

(Mark 15:34)

Darkness, despair, desolation

a loneliness that could not be pierced.

Can we even begin to imagine the depths

that Jesus plumbed in death?

The man surrounded by others all through life

so hopelessly abandoned in death.

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

‘I am thirsty.’ (John 19:28)

Human in birth

human in death

needing love and nurture

companionship

and sustenance

Fully human

Fully divine.

“I am thirsty”

“It is finished.” (John 19:30)

A task completed

a battle won

a love confounded

all said and done

a promise fulfilled

new hope for the world

God’s plan – the gift of God’s  own son

“It is finished”

‘Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.’ (Luke 23:46)

For God so loved the world

a love not human but divine

a depth not fathomed

love that reaches beyond

the restraints of nature

to grasp the outstretched arms

that embrace the world

Arms outstretched even in death

showing a love

beyond our grasp

and a hope we cannot measure

love stronger than life

stronger than death

“Father, into your hands I commend my spirit

A welcome - for all God's children?

As a way of introducing the young folks to the gospel reading - Jesus clearing the temple of the pigeon sellers and money changers - yesterday, I spoke of welcome and posed the question: what makes you feel welcome when you come to "our" church on a Sunday morning?
Of course there were lots of positive comments - people spoke of feeling warmly welcomed and brought into fellowship.
As minister I suppose it is my job to view with a more critical eye what others might perceive. What about when the camaraderie among team members feels slightly exclusive to one who is not "on the team"? What about when there are so many folk standing around chatting, obviously comfortable with each other that they obscure the way in - and the offering plate - for those unfamiliar with the layout? What about the untidy piles of leaflets scattered everywhere - there for the taking but with little rhyme or reason?
And what about the ticket sellers for all the various church events - albeit opportunities to enhance fellowship?
As I pondered these things, I also mused on the folks, many of whom are still there, who commissioned and built the sanctuary in which we now gather. What were their hopes and dreams and aspirations? In that hopeful time of building and of growth, did they envisage the rituals we have adopted today and the traditions that have become the norm or that have taken over in a relatively short time? Does it seem to them that their shiny new sanctuary continues to fulfill it's purpose as the house of God for a new generation? Are they still optimistic about the future? And where do they see themselves in that future?
Being prophets today, what would we clear from our sanctuaries to make way for the Kingdom of God?
Do we have the courage to act out our intentions and bring the gospel to life in our familiar and well loved sanctuary?

Rocky Road

Mark 8:27-38

²⁷Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” ²⁸And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” ²⁹He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” ³⁰And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

³¹Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. ³²He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

³⁴He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. ³⁶For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? ³⁷Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? ³⁸Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

This gospel reading is a gospel of two halves.

One half: who do you say I am?

The other half: Get thee behind me Satan.

Jesus and his disciples have been doing a whirlwind tour of the nearby towns and villages, preaching, healing, teaching.

The locals have been amazed and astounded by this Rabbi, this teacher who is so different from anything they have known to date – and they have been subject to a lot of wacky prophets for years.

And yet, even though they’ve seen these itinerant preachers come and go, there is something different about Jesus, something that attracts and keeps them going back for more.

I was musing this week on what made Jesus different?

What made him stand out from all the others.

What makes any preacher stand out?

In the days when we had communion seasons – when there was a preparatory service before communion and then several diets of communion services, when different preachers would be invited to come and participate in what now sounds like a preaching marathon -

Or Holy Fayres, perhaps in this neck of the woods.

A few years ago, I hosted a Holy Fayre in Inverkip parish. We invited former ministers back to preach.

It started off at 9:30am and went on all through Sunday, culminating in an outdoor communion service late in the afternoon.

That kind of preaching athletics was a regular occurrence.

And, occasionally, one preacher would stand out from all the others.

Maybe it was their tone of voice.

Maybe it was their personal charisma.

Maybe it was their humour or scariness or their way of getting the message across in a way that stopped folk in their tracks.

But something would make that preacher stand out from all the others.

Quite apart from Jesus’ miracle making and his healing, the things he said seemed to draw folk back for more.

His words were just as compulsive as his actions.

Everywhere, folk were talking about him.

So Jesus asks his disciples: What are folk saying about me?

Who do they say I am?

Well, some say you are John the Baptist some say Elijah or one of the other prophets come back to life.

Lots of suppositions.

Lots of theories.

It must have been quite amusing for Jesus to hear what was going around about him?

It seems that folk in those days weren’t that much different from folk today – what they don’t know, they’ll soon make up!

And you can imagine Jesus and his disciples having a bit of banter around that question: who do people say I am?

But the banter soon stops when Jesus asks: Who do YOU say I am?

Time to stop talking about other folk and their opinions and put your own neck on the line.

Who do YOU say I am?

Peter: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

Good answer, it would seem.

But, there is little time for Peter to bask in the glory of having got it right.

For life moves on.

The demands of the gospel are relentless.

Then AND now.

The disciples might well have reached a milestone.

But that’s not the end of the journey.

Like all moments of discovery, this one is just another stepping stone or marker on the way.

The journey continues.

A journey of listening and learning, a journey of two steps forward and three steps back.

And so, Peter, assured of who Christ is – the Son of God, still manages to get it wrong just a short time later.

When Jesus races on.

When Jesus speaks plainly of what is ahead.

Suffering and death.

Few of us are comfortable when folk speak plainly at the best of times.

But the kind of plain speaking that Jesus engaged in riled everyone around him.

Peter is the one bold enough to ask him to keep it down.

In many ways, it is easy for us today, journeying through Lent, knowing that, even though we will observe The Passion, remember Christ dying on the cross, we KNOW that Resurrection was just around the corner.

Peter had no such assurance.

He did not know that when Jesus said:

the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again

Peter did not know that Jesus was talking about resurrection.

Peter could only hear Jesus speak of suffering and death.

And, having discovered how wonderful this Messiah was, he wasn’t about to let that happen without protest.

Today, we live, thankfully, in the light of the Resurrection.

So what is our excuse?

Why do we keep trying to dilute the challenge of the gospel?

Why do we insist on promoting the comfortable version.

We know who Jesus is.

We know and believe in the resurrection.

But we know, too, that living as disciples involves hardship.

Following Christ is NOT a walk in the park.

There will always be the temptation to attract others by watering down the challenge.

But, succumbing to that temptation will earn us the same rebuke that came Peter’s way.

We know who Jesus is.

We rejoice in the knowledge of the resurrection.

But we must maintain a reality about the road Christ leads us in discipleship.

Not an easy road.

But one that demands much of us.

One that demands sacrifice.

One that involves setting our minds on divine things, not the easy rewards of the world.

2 questions for us tonight:

Who do YOU say Jesus is?

and

What will you do with that knowledge.

Jesus, the son of the Living God, calls us to follow him, promising, not a smooth road by any means, but promising companionship on the journey.

Are we prepared to endure hardship, to lay aside what is comfortable and take up our cross and journey on with Christ by our side in all things?

May God help us to know who Jesus is and give us strength to keep up with the journey – may God use us as disciples today.

For the glory of God.

Amen