God's law for Dummies.

Jeremiah 31:27-34
Individual Retribution
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals. And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord.
In those days they shall no longer say:
“The parents have eaten sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge.”
But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of everyone who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge.
A New Covenant
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord:I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

Luke 18:1-8
The Parable of the Widow and the Unjust Judge
Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Grant me justice against my opponent. ’ For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, ‘Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming. ’” And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”


We're back with Jeremiah this week - and his good news for God's people in exile.
In our reading last week, the message and the challenge was for the people of God to make the best of where they were. In a strange, land, yes. Among strange people with different customs who were largely indifferent to their God. That too.
But the message was - not to simply mark time but to engage with the culture in which they found themselves. To establish themselves, put down roots and affect the people around them. It sounded a very familiar and timely message for the people of God today.
Encouraging for us, who find ourselves in a world often indifferent or even hostile to the God we serve.
Timely reassurance that, as God's people we can affect our communities for good. Not by remaining apart from the community. Not by being aggressive or over bearing but by simply living as God would have us live - within God's law of love.
And its that law that we hear more about today from Jeremiah.
This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord:I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.
The prophet Jeremiah, charged to bring good news to the people of God living in exile does an amazing job.
He brings a word of comfort and of challenge.
A word to encourage folk trying hard to maintain their identity, trying to practice all that they had been taught from an early age, all the things that made them distinctive as God's people.
As they worked hard to discern God's purpose for them - or even as they wrestled with the worry that God had abandoned them the prophet assures them of God's faithfulness.
And introduces them to a new facet of God.
It's like a God for Dummies.
A God who is not hard to fathom out.
A God whose only desire is to see the people do well, living in harmony, without fear.
A God whose ways are easy to follow- because those ways make perfect sense.
They are not complicated, no twists or tricks but straightforward, down to earth, right living.
No longer, the prophet tells them will you have to struggle to see God or to learn of Gods ways or to discern Gods purpose - those things will be as instinctive as life itself, as integral as breathing. Gods law will be written on their hearts.
That might seem like old news to us.
We have grown up in the light that Jesus brought into the world.
We are familiar with Jesus' paring the law down to love God and love your neighbour.
Few of us have ever tied ourselves in knots to fulfil God's law.
But, for God's people in Jeremiah's day, following God was fraught with all sorts of rules and regulations and the possibility of tripping up and falling foul at any time.
For Jeremiah to speak the word of God; I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, was revolutionary.
And just what the people needed to hear in their exile.
In those few words they were freed from generations of burdens.
Freed from the burden of paying for all the mistakes of the past - not just their own but those of previous generations.
The people to whom Jeremiah brought Gods word were a people who expected to always be in arrears with God, to never measure up.
A people who were always looking back to find out what had gone wrong, always looking for others to blame for their sorry predicament.
Jeremiah's word from God opens for them a whole new range of possibility.
Jeremiah invites them to imagine a place where the past is no longer a millstone around their necks.
To imagine a place where they have no need to work out what went wrong or seek revenge.
A place where it is the present that matters.
A place where they can live in love with their neighbours and create a new reality.
And, yet again, the prophet's words jump out of the pages, hurtling through the ages, to confront us today.
Confront us with a new reality too - that we can move forward.
That we can be confident about the future when we rely on God's law written on our hearts, inscribed deep within each one of us.
A law that allows us to move forward free from what is now behind us, be it good or bad.
A law that not only allows us to move forward but urges us to do so.
How many of us have become stuck in the past?
Remembering old hurts or longing for former times?
How many of us lament the church we once knew and loved?
How many of us spend our time looking back, working out where it all went wrong, whose fault it was?
Still tasting the sour grapes of our Old Testament reading rather than hearing the words of hope that the prophet speaks and being assured that Gods law is still written on our hearts.
The law of love that frees us from the burdens of the past and allows us to live in harmony with the present that is ours today.
I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.

It was with the conviction of that reality that the widow of whom we read in Luke's gospel lived.
She knew Gods law of love dwelt deep within all people - even the judge who ignored her pleas.
She had an expectation that justice would prevail because it forms part of God's law of love that is written on the hearts of God's people.
So she refused to give up demanding justice.
This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord:I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Just imagine if we lived within that reality - the reality of being the people of God, having God's law written on our hearts. Expecting justice. Being persistent in looking for signs of love in ourselves and in others.
And, even when we find our spirits crushed or our hopes dashed, going back for more because we know that God has made a new reality possible.
Living in expectation of love.
Making it a reality for others by our loving actions - and encouraging others to do the same.
God's law is written on our hearts.
It is a law that frees, not constricts.
A law that, lived into, brings change to communities.
And then imagine the huge sigh of God as we live like that.
A sigh that says - At last, they've got it. It's not a dream for the future. It's available now when my people live in the law written on their hearts. It's not a remote possibility - it's a present reality. What else have I been trying to reveal to them for centuries? Why else would I write my law within them, so that living it becomes as instinctive as taking their next breath?
Lets hear that sigh of God as we finally "get it" today.
Gods law is written on our hearts.
May we live in God's law, sharing the transforming love of God and expecting no less from others whom God also calls beloved children.
And, by our expectations, may love and justice become realities in our community.
For the glory of God.
Amen


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Liminal spaces

Jeremiah 29:1,4-7
Jeremiah’s Letter to the Exiles in Babylon
These are the words of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders among the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.
Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

Luke 17:11-19
Jesus Cleanses Ten Lepers
On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee. As he entered a village, ten lepers approached him. Keeping their distance, they called out, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” When he saw them, he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were made clean. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice. He prostrated himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. And he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus asked, “Were not ten made clean? But the other nine, where are they? Was none of them found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”

Remember those Boney M lyrics:
By the rivers of babylon, there we sat down
Ye-eah we wept, when we remembered zion.
When the wicked
Carried us away in captivity
Required from us a song
Now how shall we sing the lord's song in a strange land?

In our first reading this morning, Jeremiah is given a message to take to the exiles in Babylon - Gods people - driven from their own land, taken into captivity and forced to live in a foreign culture. People wondering how to be the people of God in a foreign land. People wondering how long they will remain in captivity and how they can ever maintain some sort of identity as the people of God when removed from all that is familiar to them. And the message Jeremiah proclaims is one of encouragement to put down some roots where they find themselves:
Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile.
The message to these people is that their business is not to mark time. It's not about holing up and waiting for release, waiting for things to get better. Their business is to LIVE where they are - to enjoy life in its fulness.
Although they find themselves in a border land, their task is to discover God in that place with them.
To affect the culture in which they find themselves.
To make a difference right where they are.
Isn't it incredible that a message written some 2,500 years ago to Gods people in exile has just as much relevance for the people of God gathered in worship today?
Our task, no matter how irrelevant or how marginalised we perceive ourselves to be is to find new ways to sing the Lord's song, to find new ways to positively affect the culture around us.
There are more and more signs of people of faith being exiled today.
From schools to work places to offices of government, faith is being sidelined.
Those who speak up for faith are being driven to the margins, forced to exist in the border lands, treading a fine line between faith and offence.
But it is often in the margins, under stress, that creativity comes to the fore.

A word I loved to use when I worked in Hospital Chaplaincy is liminal.
For me, that word described perfectly the interface in which I often found myself working - encompassing faith and ritual and tradition and superstition - straddling the chasm that folk often felt when their experience of life and faith to date no longer accommodated the place they found themselves in the landscape of illness - their own or that of a loved one.
That place where there were no easy answers - or any answers at all.
Liminal - a place of transition, a border land.
According to the fount of all knowledge, Wikipedia,
During liminal periods of all kinds, social hierarchies may be reversed or temporarily dissolved, continuity of tradition may become uncertain, and future outcomes once taken for granted may be thrown into doubt.

That sounds just about right for the church right now.
We can't be sure that traditions will continue.
We can't take things for granted - like our place in society and especially our right to maintain respect and influence.
But that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Being in that liminal space, being in the border land demands that we get creative.
And just like the exiles were encouraged to do in Jeremiah's day, we too are called on to
seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
We may not be in exile but we are certainly moving nearer the margins.
But rather than be disheartened by that, we can be energised to find new ways of singing the Lords song in a strange land.

In our gospel reading, we also find Jesus in border territory.
On the way to Jerusalem Jesus was going through the region between Samaria and Galilee.
In that border territory, 10 lepers approached Jesus, but keeping their distance as demanded by law.
Jesus told them to go and show themselves to the priest.
It was in that moment that they were healed. As they went, they were made clean.
Nine of the healed lepers knew the drill.
The custom was that they had to go and show themselves to the priest so that they could be declared fit to be accepted back into community.
The foreigner, the Samaritan, wasn't so invested in custom and culture.
And that freedom was what allowed him to grasp the true nature of the healing he had received and to return and give thanks.
The Samaritan wasn't so caught up in ritual and so was much more open to recognising the sheer grace of God present in the healing he encountered.
He saw his healing, not through the eyes of centuries of custom and tradition but with the freshness of an outsider.
And so he was able to experience not just Jesus' healing but his blessing too.
Jesus said to him: “Get up and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”

Reflecting further on our two readings today, we might want to ask ourselves:
Where, today, do we find ourselves in those border lands?
What are the boundaries, real or perceived that we would like to traverse today?
What are the boundaries that discomfort us?
How might we affect the culture in which we live - for good?
How might we share faith in new and imaginative ways?
How might we get creative and straddle those liminal places in ways that reveal the grace of God to others?
How might we sing the Lords song in the strange land in which we are called to work for God today?
seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

May our prayers be for the welfare of this parish and community we serve today.
May we get creative in finding new ways to witness to God and to live out our faith.
And may we influence those we meet daily with the love and grace of God.
For the glory of God.
Amen

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Crumbs from the table

Luke 16:19-31
The Rich Man and Lazarus
“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames. ’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us. ’ He said, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house— for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment. ’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them. ’ He said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent. ’ He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead. ’”

A few years ago, on Good Friday, I felt called to take Communion onto the streets of the Parish in which I served at the time.
It seemed to me that, on Good Friday, most folk were enjoying a Public Holiday, the reason for which was the death of Jesus Christ and there was very little acknowledgement of that.
And more - Jesus had said: "This is my body broken for you. Do this to remember me."
For me, the place and the time to remember Jesus sacrifice was on the streets on Good Friday.
So, we set up stall, outside a chip shop in the parish - the juxtaposition of fast food and soul food appealed to me! - and we offered all who passed by the bread and wine of Communion.
Some folk looked at us with suspicion.
Some folk passed us by quickly, avoiding eye contact.
Some folk took bread and wine - because they could, not lingering, but moving on again quickly.
Others, were overwhelmed by the idea that they should meet Christ on the street and not locked up in our church buildings as they had come to expect.
But aren't we who gather in church buildings, called to join Christ - who is already out there on our streets- and serve alongside him?
So, we took Jesus onto the streets on Good Friday in bread and wine.
In subsequent years and, as word got around, I was involved in some interesting discussions with colleagues about what constituted communion, how it should be consecrated and whether folk who had not heard the word preached or examined their motives before they took the bread and wine could really be deemed to have shared in the sacrament.
But none of those theological discussions diminished the humility I experienced when folk, with tears in their eyes said: "Thanks for bringing Christ to us" - or "I'd never have found my way to church- thanks for bringing church out here."
Folk are often surprised when the church as a body reaches out to people.
And that's a damning indictment.
Folk don't expect us as Christians to be of much earthly use.
There is a great chasm between the church and the world.
Like the chasm we read of in our gospel reading today - between the rich man and poor Lazarus.
The rich man was blissfully unaware of Lazarus during his lifetime.
And even, in his eternal torture, he failed to pay him heed except as someone who could serve him by bringing him relief in his torment - a drop of cold water.
But, before we judge the rich man harshly, as we are tempted to do,lets consider his status and the culture he was a part of that shaped and formed him:
The popular religious instruction of his day encouraged folk to see the blessings of God manifest in material wealth and prosperity.
The rich man was a prime example of someone blessed by God.
Whereas Lazarus was a wonderful example of one cursed by God - right down to the sores covering his body.
Such graphic descriptions of those cursed or blessed by God punctuate the Scriptures taught by religious leaders of the day.
But also in those Scriptures are exhortations to care for the needy and the poor.
It seems that one message was being taken seriously while another was being conveniently overlooked.
And so, in this parable, Jesus draws attention to this huge gap in folks understanding and practice.
This is NOT a parable about wealth.
It is NOT a parable told to scare us about the after life.
It is a parable told to encourage folk to live differently, to look out for each other THIS SIDE OF HEAVEN.
To bridge the chasm that exists, more than ever today, between the majority of us and the poor.
Why do we have a huge collection of food in the vestibule this morning?
Because we are collecting for the South Ayrshire Foodbank - our Harvest Appeal that we will dedicate next week.
Why do we need to do that?
Because on our own doorsteps people are struggling with poverty.
People need help to feed themselves and their family.
Some of those folk we can see, others we won't see.
And those are the folk here in our locality.
Still there are countless others in our world who will die today because they do not have even crumbs from our table.
Such is the chasm that still exists between the rich and the poor.
Unfortunately when Jesus pointed out the absurdity of this huge gap, he omitted to tell us how to close the gap.
And so the challenge remains - and the gap gets bigger.
What could have changed the rich man, helped him see the poor around him?
What would change us?
Enough to make a difference.

One of the most sobering experiences of taking bread and wine onto the streets was the gratitude of folk knowing themselves included in the sacrifice of Christ, knowing that - it was for them... that Christ died, knowing themselves fed by the bread of life.
Every time we gather around this table, whether we celebrate the sacrament or not, Christ is present - as he is present on the streets.
We cannot gather here, we cannot be fed - and then go out and ignore those Christ calls us to serve.
It is for us to find whatever ways we can to bridge that chasm that grows today.
Abraham said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead. ’”
Is that our plight today?
Will nothing change us - not the word of God, not the bread and the wine, not the awful statistics that speak of poverty in our world today, that tell of those who starve when this world has more than enough food to share?
Jesus Christ gave his life for us.
HE was raised from the dead.
And now he calls us to feed the poor.

As I stood in the street offering bread and wine, as well as those folk who were touched and possibly changed by meeting Christ on the street, there were many more who simply walked by.
And I was reminded of those words of Scripture: Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow...
Can we leave this place today and be as those who turn our backs on the Christ who is already on our streets.
Or will we take the crumbs from the table and share them freely.
Not because we are afraid of how we will fare in the afterlife.
But because we care about those with whom we share life today.
May we offer more than crumbs from the table.
For the glory of God.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Prudent Stewardship

Luke 16:1-13
The Parable of the Dishonest Manager
Then Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer. ’ Then the manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes. ’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master? ’ He answered, ‘A hundred jugs of olive oil. ’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty. ’ Then he asked another, ‘And how much do you owe? ’ He replied, ‘A hundred containers of wheat. ’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and make it eighty. ’ And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.
“Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”

And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.
Did we really read that in our gospel today?
And did Jesus really say: If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?
This is another of those gospel passages that preachers want to avoid like the plague!
There are so many ways we could look at this passage today, so many ways it might speak into our world today.
Often, the more uncomfortable the gospel is, the more pertinent it is too!
So, for starters, lets attempt to enter the story Jesus told and see if we can figure out what the manager in the story is up to.
Faced with the prospect of losing his job, his income and his status, what does he do?
He calls in all his master's debtors and writes off huge portions of their debt.
Today, we might think of that kind of action as spite.
But, in the society in which Jesus and this manager moved, saving face was a massive cultural necessity.
So - the manager is about to lose his job.
The folks he calls in to reduce their debt will see that he still has power and, when he leaves his current employment will be better disposed to still include him in their society circles.
His magnanimity, however, also gives his employer the ability to save face.
No longer is he the wealthy landowner who has been cheated - he has in his employ a very shrewd businessman.
Not only that, but he is able to demonstrate that he is big enough, even after all that has happened, to commend his manager for his actions - a huge cultural win for him, one that, in today's dog eat dog culture we have difficulty understanding.
As I re-read the passage in this light, it struck me that recently, the UK Government might have embarked on a face saving exercise that would have had far reaching effects.
David Cameron, defeated in his quest to use military force against those responsible for chemical warfare in Syria, might have creatively explored other ways to gain support not just in this country but worldwide.
Since funds were clearly available to embark on yet more military action, our political leaders might have considered instead using those funds to alleviate the suffering of those affected by the chemical attacks.
What a difference that would have made.
Not only in Syria, but throughout the world as other leaders witnessed the UK's generosity.
And saw history being made in funds raised for war being used to bring about peace.
So - this parable explores the cultural concept of saving face.
It also explores our relationship with prosperity.
How we might reconsider the way that we share what we have and reapportion our resources, even redeeming what might be considered ill gotten gains for good in our communities.
There's a myth about the church - that we are always looking for money.
And, given that we are in the midst of a Stewardship campaign, that myth might have just grown legs.
There is also a myth that we shouldn't talk about money in the church - it just turns people off. And we know we simply can't afford to do that!
Well I've never been afraid to offend people by preaching the gospel.
And the gospel, over the next few weeks, is clearly preoccupied by issues around money.
If we keep avoiding the subject how can we ever establish a healthy relationship with money and how can we ever engage with all the questions that surround our wealth - or lack of it.
The last couple of years, as you know, I've been involved with the Church of Scotland's National Youth Assembly.
One of the most popular workshops is one on managing money. Our young people, wrestling with unemployment and all the vagaries of the benefits system or with further education and student loans, want advice on how to handle their finance in a responsible and caring way.
Those same young people are also actively involved in speaking out against the injustice of tax avoidance that has become the norm for so many large and prosperous corporations.
Because the truth is that what we do matters - in our personal finance and in our public finance.
When we hold on to what is not rightfully ours, others suffer by our injustice.
Withholding our taxes has a direct impact on the suffering of the poor, those who need us to be just simply to survive.
But, of course, injustice it's not just about withholding our taxes.
Taxes that find their way into government aid, social security, health and welfare.
Injustice also occurs when we are not willing to share whatever we have to help others in a much more close up and personal way.
I can remember when Hospices grew up in communities, resourced by the generosity of people in the community giving not just their money but also their time.
Some people refused to give, maintaining that such a vital service should be funded by the government.
Our communities would be a whole lot poorer if we simply relied on government funded programmes and facilities.
Indeed, communities are created by people getting together to share the resources that they have to help one another and even those they will never meet.
This community we call church is no different.
It relies on generosity, on good will, on the love of those involved - for the sake of others.
We who are a part of this community model the love and generosity of God each time we share our resources - with those we know and with those we will never meet.
And it's not about looking good.
Or about saving face.
It's about genuinely caring enough to put our wealth at the disposal of others.
So this awkward gospel passage, echoing cultural conundrums of its time, speaks clearly into our culture today.
How will we choose to model the love and the generosity of God.
How will we put our resources at the disposal of the community we serve?
How will we redeem our tarnished reputation, embrace our prosperity, and serve God with our money?
God calls us as we are and asks that we honour God by offering all that we have to serve God's people.
To God be the glory.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Lost and found

Luke 15:1-10
The Parable of the Lost Sheep
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
So he told them this parable: “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety- nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost. ’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety- nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
The Parable of the Lost Coin
“Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost. ’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
You'll probably all know that just by the right side of the church door as you enter is an umbrella stand. It gets a lot of use. But, of course, if we come to church in the rain and it dries up while we worship, it's easy to forget to collect your brolly on the way out. And there are always extra brollies abandoned there. So, if you've been missing one for a while - that's where to look.
But also in that corner is a lost property box - that's usually full of hats and scarves and gloves, as well as bags, keys, glasses, brooches, even the odd hearing aid!
What do we do when we lose something?
Right now, I seem to be missing one of my favourite jackets.
It took me a while to realise it was missing.
I just thought I'd hung it in a different place,or left it in the car/ whatever.
But, after a while, I realised it really was missing.
It wasn't at the bottom of my back pack.
Or languishing in the boot of the car.
So what I've been trying to do is work out when I last had it.
Trying to picture the last time I wore it.
Or the last time I took it with me, just in case it rained.
Isn't that what we do when we lose something.
Once we realise its missing, we try to retrace our steps, work out where we last saw it, when we last used it?
In our gospel reading today, we encounter lost things - a sheep and a coin.
There's no resignation on the part of those who have lost in this reading.
No.
They pull out all the stops to recover what is lost.
However unlikely it might seem that a shepherd can abandon all the other sheep to strike out for the one foolish enough to get lost, or however extreme it might seem to spring clean a house just to find a lost coin - those are the scenarios we are presented with in our gospel.
A lost sheep.
And a lost coin.
Tracked down.
And found.
What might be the things that we might think about investing some energy in finding today?
What about that joy that was once yours as you met with Gods family in worship, that joy that has been dulled by a sense of duty or by the feeling of being taken for granted.
What about the familiarity you once had with the rhythm of worship - that familiarity that has gradually diminished as you've drifted away, caught up in other things.
What about the excitement you once knew as you listened to and were challenged by the message of the gospel - an excitement that has faded as you've become used to the challenge and the impossibility of the demands.
Or what about the enthusiasm you once had to share the good news, to invite others to join you on this journey of faith - an enthusiasm blunted by rejection or by the quest for an easy life.
What would it take to recover these vital elements of our faith - the joy, the rhythm, the excitement, the enthusiasm?
Perhaps it's like searching for any other lost thing.
It involves us retracing our steps.
Going back to where we were.
Thinking of where and when we last felt joy or rhythm or excitement or enthusiasm in our journey of faith.
Taking ourselves back to rediscover what is important.
And not giving up until we find it.
So, if this morning, your worship is tinged with resignation or regret or sadness or resentment or whatever makes you less than thrilled to be here, how about backing up a little?
How about investing some time and energy into finding that lost mojo, that spark that will inspire and feed you.
The missing element that will enhance your worship and your faith and your life.
The glimmer that promises that, whatever tunnel you are in at present is not beyond God's reach, is not out of God's sight.
It doesn't matter how often we lose sight of God.
God never loses sight of us.
And God rejoices every time any of us manages to retrace our steps and find our way back to the essence of God's love
This gospel story actually makes it seem quite a good thing to lose our way every now and again - just so we can be part of the party that is Gods when we are found.
But in reality, isn't that the story of our journey of faith anyway.
No matter who we are.
No matter the calibre or strength of our faith.
It needs constant attention.
Proclaiming faith is not a once and for all event.
It's an act that bears repeating time and again as we journey through everyday and experience God in new ways, in new places, and, yes, even when it appears that we've lost God.
God's family is not divided into the lost and the righteous, into those who constantly strive for faith and those who think they have found it.
At different points on the journey, our faith takes different forms, sometimes strong, sometimes in need of resuscitation.
But always, God knows where we are.
And what we need.
And leads us always into grace.
Thanks be to God.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Kindling

Luke 12:49-56
Jesus the Cause of Division
“I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! I have a baptism with which to be baptised, and what stress I am under until it is completed! Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division! From now on five in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three
they will be divided:
father against son
and son against father,
mother against daughter
and daughter against mother,
mother- in- law against her daughter- in- law
and daughter- in- law against mother- in- law.”
Interpreting the Time
He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, ‘It is going to rain’; and so it happens. And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat’; and it happens. You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?

On Sunday mornings, I like to preach on the Lectionary texts - that's the prescribed readings for each Sunday of the year.
It's a good discipline.
It means I'm forced into preaching on texts I would otherwise avoid - and it stops me sticking to one hobby horse or another.
But, since I preached on the Lectionary text this morning, I decided to choose something different for tonight.
And, for the life of me, I can't think why I thought that the gospel we read tonight would be a good text.
Whatever inspiration I had when I chose it had long gone by the time I sat down to write a sermon!
Bringing fire, causing division - it's not exactly the Jesus we like to portray.
So lets begin to look at this text by thinking about where Jesus was in his ministry when he taught in such a vein.
It's fair to say that Jesus was under some stress at this point in his ministry.
He was already on his way to Jerusalem.
On his way to betrayal and suffering and death.
And he knew it.
And so his teaching takes on a different kind of urgency from before.
There's no time for messing around.
No time for finding just the right sound byte.
His time is limited and there is a message that must be shared.
Jesus is stressed.
And that is something many of us can identify with.
In today's world we are familiar with stress.
Perhaps not the stress of a journey to crucifixion.
But other life limiting, situations that bring considerable stress today.
Those facing terminal illness - their own or a loved one's.
Those facing uncertainty in employment.
Those facing loneliness or isolation.
Those battling mental health issues.
Those struggling with poverty, homelessness, hunger.
Folk today know about stress.
It is a 21st century ailment just as it was an ailment that affected Jesus in his time.
When stress threatens our well being today, we can know without a doubt that Jesus has been there.

But sometimes it takes stress to help us get some perspective.
We can all muddle along, taking life in its stride, getting upset at trivia, "sweating the small stuff" as I call it.
And then a loved one is diagnosed with a terminal illness.
Or we face the prospect of unemployment.
Or a friend is killed in a tragic accident.
And suddenly, all the things we worried about before pale into insignificance.
And we begin to see what is important in life.
Stress of that kind, though never welcome, does bring perspective.

Jesus message in our gospel today is a message on perspective.
A message on urgency.
A message for us as a people of faith.

We cannot keep on muddling along as we do.
The gospel message is urgent.
More urgent than ever in a world that is so broken by war and violence and injustice.
Jesus said: “I came to bring fire to the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!
Our suffering world today needs the fire of Gods love and the fire of the gospel to spread like wild fire.
More than ever people in our communities need to know that there is hope, that there is love.
And who will share that hope and love if we don't?

So what will we do with the kindling Jesus brings?
Will we be indifferent - something we are good at. Keeping the peace by remaining as inoffensive as we possibly can?
Keeping a low profile so that we don't upset anyone?

Will we pour water on it - quenching the flame?
Often, our best intentions have the same effect. Instead of igniting the kindling of faith, they pour cold water on people's best efforts and drive folk away from faith.
When we make folk feel as though they don't belong.
When we convey the message that they're not good enough - for us or for God.
Or when we draw up rules and refuse to bend them to include others.
We put folk off before they've even got started.
We extinguish what little fire there is.

Or - will we ignite that kindling.
Take it seriously.
Treat it with the respect it deserves.
Let it affect our lives and the lives of others as we share the fire and the passion of God's love?

This gospel doesn't sound so strange anymore.
It fits into the context of our lives, lives that confront all kinds of stress daily.
But it still doesn't sit comfortably.
Because it is a gospel that demands a response.
A gospel that demands that we get some kind of divine perspective and catch on to the divine urgency.
The kindling needs igniting.
And we are the fire keepers today.
Will we fan the flames or quench them?

Amen.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Place settings

Luke 14:1;7-14
On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.
When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honour, he told them a parable. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honour, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honoured in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”
He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbours, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

There was a discussion among some of my colleagues this week about how effective was our pastoral ministry when it so often consisted of simply having a cup of tea and a blether with folks.
That might not sound very effective.
It may not even sound like it's the best use of time - and certainly many of my younger colleagues felt that way.
And yet, isn't it the way that Jesus went about his ministry?
In calling folk into the Kingdom, whether gently or with challenge and even, at times, ridicule, Jesus liked to do it over supper, dinner, a picnic lunch, a barbecue, a wedding feast.
Table fellowship was important to him.
I've said time and again, that the days I find most fulfilling in ministry are those days when I've sat in folks' homes and shared coffee, admired their pictures of loved ones, been privy to awards that hang on their wall or paintings stuck on their fridge, mementoes that tell stories, some of which are shared, some that don't need to be - but all part of the bigger picture of the person with whom I'm sharing.
(It's also the reason that I fight a constant battle against weight gain- often those coffees are accompanied by home baking or other temptations!)
Sharing table fellowship deepens relationship.
Or it can - if we allow it.
Jesus got to know all sorts of things about people by sharing round their tables.
And they got to know him.
And so relationships were formed through which Jesus could show his compassion, through which Jesus could offer challenge and through which Jesus could even rebuke.
It's a simple fact that folk are more likely to listen if connections have been made, if a relationship has been formed.

At the beginning of the week, I was involved in a meeting.
There were about 12 of us around the table.
We shared coffee at the start of the meeting - most of us had travelled a fair way to get there - and then got down to business.
Since we all had a bit of a journey to get home, we decided to continue working through a sandwich lunch rather than take a break.
But as we all got what we wanted - tea, coffee, sandwiches, we caught up with each other, since there hadn't been the opportunity earlier.
I was mid conversation with someone when we realised that our colleague across the table was telling a joke - and the whole table stopped to listen.
Having shared with each other before, we recognised the change in tone - and we all knew it was worth holding off on our conversations to listen in to another.
That's what can happen in table fellowship - we can get distracted, or sucked in.
And that's not a bad thing.
It's good to be able to pick up on nuances, to catch the different emotions, to hear what is said - as well as what is not spoken out loud.

Lets never underestimate the power of a "wee cup of tea". - not just its cure all properties but its relationship forging ability and thus its gateway to loving and caring, to challenging and cajoling.
Jesus not only practiced table fellowship but used it to illustrate the Kingdom of God.
In the gospel passage we read, he was at a meal and he used the meal as a lesson on how we should be hospitable to others.
Jesus took the table plan of the meal in which he shared to teach his followers how to practice humility and how to find honour.
It would be better, Jesus told them, to sit at a lowlier place and be moved up than to take a higher place and be moved down.
We can all see that.
Even today, that makes sense.
But Jesus goes on to say that we should think carefully too about whom we invite.
Our invitation shouldn't just go to those who are likely to return the favour - but should extend beyond those bounds to those whom we know will never be able to repay our hospitality.
Now there's a challenge.
Would we be comfortable partying the night away with those who are "not like us"?
Of course we wouldn't.
When we have down time and want to chill with friends.
Or when we have something we want to share with others.
When we want to celebrate- we want to choose carefully those who are allowed in on the celebrations.
We want to choose carefully those in whom we invest our time and our effort and our hospitality.
And that's not just about them perhaps on some future occasion returning the compliment and extending an invitation to us.
That's about who we would feel comfortable with.
And while, on the odd occasion, we might just push our boundaries a bit.
While we might now and again share with someone very different from us - that would be an exception rather than the norm.
We can blame our busy lives.
We can blame our lack of free time.
We can cite many reasons why we feel the need to guard our table fellowship and restrict it to those whose company we know we will enjoy.
Still, Jesus calls us to something different.

I wondered about Jesus' table companions in this gospel story today.
In our gospel today, Jesus is eating with one of the Pharisees - a leader - not one of the people on the fringes that we often see Jesus associating with - or perhaps the "leader of the Pharisees", because of his position, is as much on the fringe as the more obvious folk with whom Jesus eats - the tax collector, the prostitute, the leper...
Folk become isolated as much because of their status as because of their lack of status.
And Jesus manages to embrace either and all.
He could get down and dirty or he could scrub up nicely.
Either way, he would embrace those with whom he shared.
Not blending in - that was never Jesus' style.
But meeting folk everywhere, however lowly or mighty with the challenge of discipleship, the challenge of inclusivity, the challenges that being part of the Kingdom of God demands.

We gather this morning to share table fellowship.
And Jesus meets us here.
Not unobtrusively but right in our faces.
Jesus, in relationship with us, reads us all too well.
Jesus meets us here - with compassion, with challenge, with ridicule and with rebuke - whatever we need, is here in this table fellowship.
Sharing table fellowship deepens relationship.
Or it can if we allow it.
As we share today, may we find ourselves becoming more open to those around us.
More open to their pain, their joy, their companionship, their hidden depths, their shyness, their awkwardness, their familiarity and their strangeness.
May we give thanks for the stories we have shared and hold gently the stories that may never be spoken out loud.
And in all of this, may we find ourselves becoming more open to the ways of the Kingdom that Jesus sets before us.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad