Water of life

Exodus 17:1-7

Water from the Rock

All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarrelled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarrelling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Massah and Meribah

is the Lord with us or not?

Massah and Meribah

That place of questioning

-that place of dryness

where, in the desert of our souls

when we question

the presence of God

we discover the answer

-a resounding Yes!

God is with us

especially when we lack sight

God with us

refreshing our dry

discouraged spirits

with wonderful cleansing water

Massah and Meribah

those desert places

where God is revealed.

So Abram went...

Genesis 12:1-9
The Call of Abram
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonours you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy- five years old when he departed from Haran. And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.

As many of you will know,I am directionally challenged - at least I think that's the PC term for someone who couldn't find their way out of a paper bag.
Google is my friend - especially Google maps.
Although I frequently get into "spirited debates" with my sat nav in the car, I can't imagine going anywhere without it.
So, when I read of God calling Abram to go "to a land that I will show you" it sounds like my worst nightmare.
To take off on a mystery tour with no navigational aids, for me, just doesn't bear thinking about.
What was God thinking?
To call a man of 75 to gather his family and leave all that they know to journey who knows where on a promise and a prayer.
And then to suggest that Abram would father a great nation at this advanced stage of his life just seems incredible.
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonours you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
So Abram went...
What a journey of faith.
A couple who might have begun to relax into the life that they had built, content with all that they had acquired over the years, pleased with all that they had achieved.
So Abram went...
And, even though the promises that God made demanded a vivid imagination and called for energy from a couple already of advanced years.
So Abram went...
And, however bizarre the promises God made must have seemed, Abram went.
He took the first step on a journey not knowing where that journey would take him, having no idea how God would fulfil the bizarre promises made, yet Abram went nonetheless.
What confidence Abram must have had in God.
And what confidence God must have had in Abram!
When you look at the history of the Christian faith through the ages, it always seems to hang on the confidence and sometimes the seeming over confidence of God.
God, whom you would have thought would know better or would certainly learn as time went on, continues time after time to place confidence in fickle human beings so that God's will can be fulfilled.
Be it Abram who was destined to become the father of a great nation.
Or Mary who would mother the Son of God.
Or a handful of disciples who would take the good news into all the world.
God seems to specialise in hanging his coat on some decidedly shaky pegs, with no evidence of a back up plan.

What we read this morning is just the start of the story of Abram, the very beginning of an amazing journey.
But, in those few verses, we gain a real glimpse of how Abram manages to stay tuned in to God along the way as well as how he celebrates significant milestones.
From early on in the journey, as Abram enters new territory, he seeks out "holy places", places that the locals tend to go when they're seeking the guidance of God.
He asks around, tunes in with the local culture.
And, by enquiry, he tracks down those places, we might call them "thin places" where it seems God is especially near at hand.
He makes for those places and, there, he checks in with God.
In those holy places, Abram listens out for reassurance, for affirmation and for direction from God.
And, as Abram's story progresses, we find him, as well as scoping out the traditional sites, we find him setting up new sites - setting up memorials to the faithfulness of God, so that those who come after might learn from and be inspired by his journey.
Seeking out the old places and setting up new ones.
Celebrating where God can be found and forging new pathways.
Leaving a trail, some of it well worn but always open to new discoveries and changes in direction.
Isn't that what we are about today?
Walking with the wisdom that has been shared in this place.
But also laying down some new paths.
Honouring traditions.
Yet setting up new rituals.
All along the journey, checking in with God.
Questioning - are we still on the right path?
Altering course when we need to.
Waiting patiently, sometimes, for affirmation and guidance.
Abrams story for us today is a timely reminder that the wind of the Spirit is always taking us on new journeys, whatever age we are.
God is not finished with us yet.
And whether 75 is an age that seems light years away.
Or whether you passed that milestone long ago.
The Spirit of God continues to nudge us on - or drag us kicking and screaming if necessary down familiar paths as well as into scary new territory.
We hear so much today about the demands of an ageing population. Not least in the church.
What about the collective wisdom of an ageing population?
With age comes wisdom and knowledge.
With age comes years of discernment - of falling over hurdles and of getting up and getting on with the journey.
With age comes the ability to sort out what is important from the things that can be discarded along the way.
There is a tendency in the church - and in the rest of life - to leave the old ways behind, to infer that , in this fast moving age of advances in technology and communication, that only the next new trend is the one that matters.
Keeping up with the pace of change, as you well know, can be exhausting.
And, while it will always be important, as a church, to communicate effectively, using whatever tools are at our disposal, there is also a great need for God's people to be place holders too, to hold fast to tried and tested ways, to maintain instantly recognisable traditions, to provide the comforts of home to which folk can return again and again.
Whatever age we are, today we may want to ask:
What are the altars in our faith journey together, that should be maintained, the useful way markers that continue to provide guidance on the journey of faith for the people of God today?
And what are some of the new altars that we might set up, signs of encouragement for all generations, by which we can continue to discern God's will for the church of today?
God calls us - whatever age we are - to set out on a journey.
To discern what we must take.
And what we can leave behind.
God calls us, frequently, on the journey, to check in, to be guided on the way forward.
And, building on old traditions, to find new ways to be the people of God today.
So Abram went...
So the people of Castlehill went...
Thanks be to God.



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In God's image

Genesis 2:15-17
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”
The First Sin and Its Punishment
Chapter 3
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die. ’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

Throughout Lent, this year, we're going to be journeying through the Old Testament on Sunday mornings, looking at some, probably quite familiar passages and reflecting on those in the light of the season - with the perspective that we have of Jesus making his way toward the cross, demonstrating the love of God for each of us.
And so this Sunday, we start at the beginning. The story of Creation.
But a particular part of that story.
The temptation in the garden.
God created men and women in the image of God.
Along comes the serpent, seeking to undermine that relationship.
First of all, by sowing seeds of doubt: Did God say?.. Asks the serpent. <b>
“Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?
And the woman asserts that God said that they could eat from any tree except one, the tree of the knowledge of good or evil. If they ate of that tree they would die, God said.
But the serpent assured her that they would not die if they ate of that tree.
Undermining what God said.
But undermining too the relationship that they had with God.
The serpent tells them that the reason God does not want them to eat of that tree is that they will then become like God.
And, when we read this story, we often imagine that what the man and woman did wrong was to imagine that they could be like God.
When, in fact, what they failed to do was realise that they were already created in the image of God.
They didn't need to eat a special fruit to be like God.
For they were already created in God's image.
And so the serpent undermines what God said, undermines the man and woman's relationship with God and undermines their likeness to God, since they were created in the image of God.
I often use the phrase: "Looking for the divine spark that is in each of us" because I believe that we are all created in God's image and, though that divine spark may be more difficult to see in some than in others, though for many,that divine spark has been pushed down so far that it's almost impossible to see, it is there, placed in each of us by God as we were created.
And so we have the man and the woman, in the garden, being tempted by the serpent to forget in whose image they are created.
And it is as they lose sight of that, as they try to compete with God, to grasp the very gift that God has already created in them, that their relationship with God falters.
Losing sight of who we are and in whose image we are created is a temptation to which we all too readily succumb today.
And yet the truth is that you and I are created in God's image, created to be loved by God.
I've just finished reading the book Philomena, a story that was made into an award winning film that was released last November.
It is the story of a woman searching for her son whom she was forced to give up for adoption when he was born out of wedlock in an unforgiving Irish society.
The son, knowing himself adopted, constantly seeks love and affirmation in all the wrong places in an attempt to fill the void created by his feelings of rejection by his birth mother.
His quest for acceptance and belonging plagues him all his life.
He knows not where he has come from and to whom he belongs and so is prey to all manner of temptation.
And, on this first Sunday of Lent, it struck me that that is a common predicament we too find ourselves in.
We, who crave acceptance.
We who want to belong.
Are tempted to fulfil those needs in unhealthy ways.
Are tempted to seek affirmation in the wrong places.
Or are tempted to isolate ourselves so that we cannot experience any more pain.
And the insidious voice of the serpent drowns out the constant whisper of God that affirms us as beloved children, created in the image of God, belonging to God.

The temptations before us in this season of Lent have nothing to do with chocolate or wine or whatever else you have chosen to deny yourself.
The temptations before us are those things that take us away from living in relationship with God and with each other
The temptations before us are the voices that drown out the insistence of God that we who contain the very spark of God are beloved and belong to God.
But this season, in alerting us to the temptations to which we might succumb, also offers us a way out.
Because the season of Lent offers us space for reflection.
The six weeks between now and Easter invite us into re-discovering who we are as children of God and rediscovering Gods divine spark placed in us as we were created.

I'm going to invite you now to take the flower that you received as you came to worship this morning.
Take a moment to reflect on God's image in you.
Whether, for you, that comes easily or whether it comes with much struggle, I invite you, as you reflect in the quiet of this sanctuary, to fold in the petals of your flower.
And, as you fold the petals, enfold all the anxieties you carry about who you are and about your relationship with God and with others.
Then, when you have had a moment to reflect, I invite you to come forward and to place your flower in the bowls of water around the sanctuary....

As you see the petals open, may you feel your heart being opened to hear the voice of God claiming you as a beloved child, rekindling the divine spark that is in you.
YOU are created in God's image.
Thanks be to God.
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Listen!

Matthew 17:1-9
The Transfiguration
Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.
As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”


Recently I was asked whether I would favour a move to set the date of Easter. Easter can be celebrated anywhere between March 22nd and April 25th, depending on the date of the March full moon! So I was being asked whether I'd prefer to celebrate Easter on a fixed day each year or whether I was happy that it is a moveable feast.
Thinking with my preacher's hat on, I said that I preferred it to be a moveable feast because then the season of Epiphany that comes right before Lent that leads up to Easter was also variable - with a late Easter, there would be extra Sundays in Epiphany. Epiphany starts with the traditional arrival of the wise men after Christmas and goes on through to Lent. It is a season of revelation. So, it seems to me, the longer we have to ponder the mysteries of faith, the better. A late Easter, as it is this year, gives us the opportunity to look for more signs of God in Scripture and in the world today. and then we move onto Lent when we have the opportunity perhaps to reflect on all the discoveries we've made during Epiphany and make sense of those in the light of Jesus' journey to Jerusalem, and his impending death and resurrection.
But, however long or short the season of Epiphany is, it always ends with the story of the Transfiguration that we read this morning,- the story of Peter, James and John going up a mountain with Jesus and witnessing something out of the ordinary.
Today is Transfiguration Sunday, the last Sunday in the season of Epiphany before we move into the season of Lent.
Just one more dazzle before we enter the more austere Lent.
But what a dazzle, a dazzle that confounds the disciples as they see Jesus' appearance transformed alongside the appearance of long dead saints, Moses and Elijah.
What are we to make of this story today?
What message and application can we take from today's gospel for our life today?

Well, let me backtrack a bit first.
Is that what we've reduced the gospels to?
Stories with a message and an application?
Stories in which we can find pointers for the way we live in the world today?
I'm not convinced that the gospels fit neatly into our quests for direction.
Especially not practical direction.
Too often, they defy our logic.
They won't be strait jacketed into our systems and theories.
And THAT'S what we should be excited about.
Things that confound.
MYSTERIES.
Things of faith that defy logic and force us to stop and ponder, maybe even listen.
Because in the midst of all that dazzling, in the midst of appearances of long dead prophets, came a voice to which we might listen.
Out of the cloud on the mountain top, came the voice of God, saying: “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”
These words echo the words the disciples heard as Jesus came up out of the waters of the Jordan after being baptised by John.
Words spoken at the beginning of his ministry heard again as he prepares to enter the last phase of his ministry, as he prepares to come down off the mountain top and make the journey to Jerusalem and the cross.
Words from the beginning echoed in the beginning of the end
Listen to him.
When is the last time you heard the voice of God?
When was the last time you stopped to listen?
Or have you decided that God simply doesn't speak the way God used to in days gone by?
I've just spent 24 hours training for my role as an assessor of applicants who offer themselves for Church of Scotland ministry.
A huge part of the assessment is listening - listening as others speak of how and when and where they have been conscious of God speaking into their lives and calling them to a life of service in the church.
Time and again, as Assessors, we are humbled by the sacredness of listening to how others have encountered God and, more, how they have felt compelled to answer that call by offering themselves for holy ministry.
But you know well that ministry of word and sacrament is not the only ministry to which God calls us.
Everyone of us here, everyone, is called to ministry, to serving God in countless ways.
When was the last time you thought of yourself as called by God to serve?
Those of you who will make and serve coffee after the service this morning - do you see that as a ministry to which you are called by God?
Those of you who will take tapes of the service into people's homes during the week.
Do you see that as a ministry to which you are called by God?
Those of you who donated, arranged or who will deliver the flowers this week, do you see that as a ministry to which you are called by God?
Those of you who have lovingly prepared this sanctuary for communion, pressed table covers, cut up bread, poured wine, do you see that as a ministry to which you are called by God?
Those of you who greeted folk at the door this morning and handed out bulletins, do you see that as a ministry to which you are called by God.
Those of you who will count the offerings at the end of the service and struggle to get columns to balance, do you see that as a ministry to which you are called by God?
Those serving as elders and those newly ordained, do you see your leadership as a ministry to which you are called by God.
Those of you who will go into work this week and speak of your faith, or invite a friend or colleague to join in some church activity, do you see that as a ministry to which you are called by God?
Listen to him! God says. Listen to him.
Listen to Gods beloved son calling you to all sorts of things in life.
Speaking to us in all sorts of ways every day.
Listen to the voice of the Son of God who comes to us this morning in this sacrament of communion, transforming bread and wine and transforming us as we share
This transfiguration Sunday, before we step into Lent, let's allow ourselves to be dazzled by the mystery of God revealed in Jesus.
And, blinking in the light, let us hold, for a while, the wonder of this mountain top experience and the echoes of the beginning in the beginning of the end.
And then let us step back into our communities, conscious of the sacred journeys that we make, journeys filled with the voice of God calling us into service.
May we pay attention to Gods voice calling us and respect the myriad ways that God calls others too.
When we are aware of that sacred path that we travel together, we will see the light of God in all whom we encounter this week and we will journey in love.
Thanks be to God.



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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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