A LENTEN WAY OF LIFE?
I try my best at doing Lent. I find it difficult though. For us in the southern hemisphere it is the begining of the year - school for the kids, planning for the year, setting of the course in terms of leadership, busy, busy, busy.
I would like to enter into the ancient spirit of lent, but often ind this impossible. I suspect a lot of faithful people feel this way. I would like to enter into the three great streams of the Christian way of life as shown by Jesus in his famous Sermon on the Mount - giving to the poor, fasting and praying.
Not quiet sure what to do about it. I battle on trying to fins some place and some space to seek his voice and I ask him to re-shape me the way he wants in all that happens these forty days. May he re-shape you too.
.....sharing life and The Word
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Sounds of the Passion
Rev. James E. Butler, D.Min., pastor, Trinity Lutheran Church, Springfield, Massachusetts
Sounds of the Passion: Part 1
Ripping Cloth
Ash Wednesday/Lent 1
Joel 2:13
Ripping cloth. Tearing fiber from fiber. It’s a hurtful sound, a lonely sound, a killing sound. Listen.
For centuries, the ripping of clothing was a sign of mourning, repentance, and outrage among the Jewish people. Whenever the people of Israel were in great emotional pain, they ripped their clothes as a sign of mourning. Even in Neil Diamond’s version of the movie The Jazz Singer, the father rips his clothing as he disowns his son.
Throughout the passion of our Lord Jesus, men and women rip their clothes in emotional pain. Priests and laypersons, Pharisee and sinner—all are in pain and distress at the passion of Jesus.
LISTEN TO THE SOUND OF RIPPING CLOTH, AND HEAR THE MESSAGE OF GOD’S LOVE.
I
It’s the wee hours of Friday morning. In the hall of the Sanhedrin, the council of the 70 elders, Jesus’ trial is taking place. It’s really not much of a trial; the conclusion is forgone.
It’s like the old television mystery show Columbo—you already know the murderer; the only question is how Columbo will figure it out. They already knew Jesus was guilty—of troubling them. The only question was how they could make the verdict stick. They had tried to get him to talk; he refused. They tried bringing in some people to lie about what Jesus had said; they couldn’t get their stories straight. Finally, the high priest had had enough of this nonsense. If they couldn’t make any of the charges stick, they’d force Jesus to admit his guilt. Standing up, the high priest pointed at Jesus, “I charge you under oath by the living God: Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God” (Mt 26:63).
“‘Yes, it is as you say,’ Jesus replied. ‘But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven’” (v 64). What a confession! Not only did Jesus claim to be the Son of God, but he also claimed to be God himself. All the power and majesty of God himself was his.
The high priest was so angry he could barely contain his rage. Reaching up to his ornate robes, the symbol of his office, he tore them in fury. “You have heard the blasphemy!” he called out. “What do you say?” Suddenly, the sound of ripping cloth echoed around the room as the members of the Sanhedrin shouted, “Guilty! He deserves to die!”
Slowly the night crawled on. With the dawning of the day, the council took Jesus to Pontius Pilate. Pilate was in shock. What had caused these men to tear their clothes in such a fashion? They had a man with them, but Pilate wasn’t sure who he was. The priests pushed him toward Pilate. “This man deserves to die,” they said. “He tells the people they shouldn’t pay their taxes, and he claims to be Christ a king!” If the stakes hadn’t been life and death, Pilate would have laughed. He knew the priests didn’t care about taxes or claims against Caesar. The only thing they cared about was keeping their jobs. Apparently this Jesus had gotten under their skin.
Still, the charge of treason was a serious one. Although he didn’t believe the priests for a second, Pilate decided to interrogate Jesus just to be sure. Taking Jesus into his palace, Pilate asked if he were a king. Jesus said something about truth and how those who listened to the truth would listen to him. Pilate had no idea what Jesus was talking about, and now he didn’t care. All the truth he needed he could find at the end of a Roman spear. At any rate, it was plain to him that Jesus was as innocent as this spring day was already too long. That was all he needed to know. He decided to set Jesus free. He went outside to announce his verdict.
II
But things had changed while Pilate was gone. No longer was there simply a small group of priests; now there was a huge mob. They were out for blood. No longer would it be enough to say Jesus was innocent and set him free. No, the blood fever among the crowd would have to be sated. So Pilate decided to have Jesus whipped. Surely that would be enough.
Once again, the sound of ripping cloth filled the air as the clothes were torn from Jesus’ back. Then the whip, and the tearing was Jesus’ own flesh. His skin was slashed to ribbons, and blood poured from the fresh wounds into the tattered cloth that hung from his shoulders.
Unfortunately for Jesus, the blood on his back and the beating with the whip failed to calm the crowd’s hunger. If anything, the punishment only increased their bloodlust. They tore their clothes. They threw dirt in the air. They cried out for Jesus’ death. They didn’t want a whipping; they wanted a crucifixion. They wanted Jesus dead. Pilate gave in to their demands. He signed the order. Jesus would be taken to the hill outside the city. There he would be crucified.
The Romans came. They put what was left of Jesus’ clothing on what was left of his back and laid the cross bar over his shoulder. Then they forced him to carry it ahead of them. All through Jerusalem was the sound of ripping cloth, as Jesus’ followers cried aloud. They tore their clothes in sadness as they saw what was happening to Jesus. They tore their clothes in anger at the injustice of it all. But ultimately, they tore their clothes in guilt and frustration, for they were helpless and afraid to do anything to help their Lord. All they could do was tear their clothes and cry aloud to God.
The Roman soldiers marched Jesus out to the place of crucifixion. They nailed him to the hated tree. They hung a sign above him, “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” Now it was all over but the waiting.
Yet what a day it was! Never before had anything like this happened! The sky changed. The sun, which was burning brightly in the sky, began to darken. Soon, in the middle of the day, everything was black. Never had darkness come upon the earth like that one—darkness so deep you could touch it.
Then suddenly, a cry pierced the darkness. Shouting, crying at the top of his voice, Jesus yelled, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27:46b). And then silence. Someone ran and got Jesus a drink of sour wine. A few minutes later, another cry, and Jesus died. Jesus’ followers wailed and mourned his death, beating their chests as they cried tears of anger and sadness (Lk 23:48).
III
But listen! Over the sound of wailing comes another sound. It’s the sound of tearing cloth again, but not the short, curt sound of clothing being ripped. It’s a long, noisy tear that seems to last forever. It comes from the temple. For there, hanging in the temple from floor to ceiling, is the long, heavy curtain, separating the Holy Place, where the priests ministered, from the Most Holy Place, where God dwelt. At the moment Jesus dies, the curtain is torn in two, from top to bottom, in one long, continuous rip.
The sound, the tearing of cloth, which meant anger, disgust, sadness, and mourning, now meant joy! Despite all evidence to the contrary, the death of Jesus did not mean defeat, but victory.
His death tore apart the curtain of sin that hung between us and our God. No longer would creature and Creator be separated by a barrier of sin that could not be removed even by us trying our hardest. For in Jesus’ death, the powers of sin were torn asunder, and a new life with God was made available for each person. In Jesus’ resurrection, the gates of hell were blown off their hinges. Jesus is the Lord of all, and he grants freedom and new life to all who believe in him.
This 40 days, Jesus calls us. He doesn’t want us to tear our clothes, but our hearts! He wants us to understand ourselves before him and experience his presence more deeply. He calls us to look at ourselves and see the times we’ve sinned against him and speak of those things to him.
He wants us to see the places of our life where we are not living in obedience, and turn from them. He wants us to tear down our self-centered lives and centre our focus and goal on him. and his word.
As we do he promises forgiveness and life. He casts our sins “as far as the east is from the west” and remembers them no more, says the psalmist (Ps 103:12). He tears our sins from us and sees only the holy people of God, washed in the blood of Jesus Christ. We are cleansed and forgiven by Jesus for his own sake.
Listen! The sound of tearing! Tearing in hurt and pain. Tearing in repentance. Tearing in joy. The curtain of sin has been torn asunder by Jesus, and we are welcomed into God’s presence.
So, seek the Spirit’s power to tear yourself away from sin and death. Tear yourself away from the things that are not pleasing in God’s sight. “Rend you heart and not your garments,” says the Lord, “for [the LORD your God] is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love.”
Monday, February 15, 2010
Sermon
Epiphany 3C
Sunday January 24, 2010.
Ocean Forest
Eat the fat and drink the wine
Luke 4:18-19, Nehemiah
It was a grand plan that God had for community.
It was the way in which people would live their lives with freedom from any kind of oppression, which included escaping overwhelming debt, having community and family relationships restored repeatedly. It was a plan that would have a community of people renewing itself and living peaceably with each other and most importantly, at rest and peace in the love and kindness of their God. It was called Jubilee – which literally means Trumpet blast – in ancient terms, ram’s horn blast!
Jubilee: what a plan from a gracious and wise God with a heart for the release from any oppression or burden – spiritual, relational or economic.
In God’s land among his community, all land was to be returned to God every seven years. Just as God had rested on the seventh day, so the land was to rest on the seventh year – a whole year of Sabbath – rest with God – no sowing and reaping and any wild seed that sprouted was to be shared by all – especially those without income or means. There was also to be no buying or selling of land for this seventh year. The best you could do was lease it out.
On the seventh Sabbath year; the seventh cycle of seven year cycles – every 50th year, amazingly, all land was to be returned to its original tribal/kin group. All debts between people were to be cancelled and those with and without land were given a new beginning; a fresh start in terms of their family and economic relationships. Families could return to their ancestral lands every 50 years. Imagine what that would be like for a minute...
How connected to the land would we be? How much would be committed to caring for the land! We would all live connected to a place and know that this place was to be cared for and managed well because it would always be in the family – a lot like a family farm. How different would our ecology be, our salinity, our clearing a thousand trees a minute in the lungs of the world – our forests.
How connected would our families be? Every generation there is a return to original place. There would be so much connection to each other. It would ensure a return to connected extended families. A return to raising children in a connected community..... looking after our seniors in the family, sharing the load of life....
How different would our attitude be to wealth and consuming. No need to be self-made, just thankful a lot more!
It is doubtful whether God’s community could ever live in his grand design for community. The decades and centuries of God’s community is laden with the enemies of peaceful and just relationships holding sway –
• the greed of a king or two, the tyrannical rule of a legalistic religious system which keeps people in fear of God, rather than embracing him and his Word, the idolatry of a whole community, replacing God with self.....
• Surely this whole Jubilee gift of God was a long gone pipe dream
Maybe this is how we feel about those ideals of youth or of earlier times in our life? That goal that inspired us seems out of reach. That deep longing inside for a particular role or relationship or way of overcoming the evil we know......Nothing can be done about that.
Surely the people in the main street of Capernaum would have given this whole scheme of a complete re-shuffle of “how thing are” up long ago. It could never be that the daily grind of making money and looking after one’s own stuff would ever end. To be truly a community of mercy and justice, ending poverty and giving new beginnings to those who have not fared well....who would do that?!
But then this local man in his far north home town hall rises one average Saturday morning to declare that Jubilee is being restored!
So intentionally the local carpenter places the pointer down on the sacred Torah scroll before the hometown congregation in the weekly gathering. He speaks the words of a hope long gone that everyone probably still longed for, but could never believe they could ever happen.
They are words from the prophet Isaiah and they reflect the original communal pattern God intended in Leviticus.
“Jubilee: I have come to announce the year of Jubilee”, says Joe’s son.
18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour." (The year of Jubilee!)
He is saying the dream is not lost. God can bring good change. Families can be re-connected and children can grow up in a new place. Spiralling debt can be arrested. There is hope for families and communities and whole countries that crushing debt and the greedy fights for one upmanship and hording stuff to themselves can be replaced with contentment, a new goal, a new life’s work, a new hope for justice and fairness and above all – compassion.
We know that Jesus did what he said he was going to do. We know those accounts of healings and freeing. The Promised One delivered on his promise and fulfilled his gaol to do exactly what he said he could and would do – albeit in ways that no one expected or fully understood at the time!
And, he had announced his Jubilee to us too. In that gift of baptism we began to live in his Spirit, anointed with his power, freed from our chains of self-serving, healed of our terminal blindness to God’s ways and his love, set free from only serving our own desires to receiving new desires and callings. And in him we become him and we become his Jubilee to the people of our day
But, we long for more of his freedom and his sight and understanding. We know we are still growing into this time of Jubilee. Jesus’ time of jubilee can seem so far away and we wonder why. Where is your blessing, Lord? Why is it so hard to understand – myself, other people, my task, how to truly love, where you want me to serve and what you are making of me....?
For what are you longing from God today, friend? Where does this gift of jubilee – of the Lord’s favour and blessing and power need to be more in your life now?
Is there someone or something oppressing you?
• Are you poor in some ability or understanding that you long to be rich in?
• Is there something you would love to understand about God, or a relationships or yourself but somehow feel as though you just cannot get a hold of it?
• Are you longing for a new direction or for more understanding of the one he has already given?
I hear today that we do not have to lose hope in Jesus’ jubilee. I am hearing that new things are possible in my life and that the Lord is in this. I am hearing that he wants new connection with him, and that his power and love are present and possible for me and you and our community.
The way to receive this hope for good things called – Jubilee is to enjoy it! The prophet calls out to those beginning to trust in God’s jubilee, “eat the fat and drink the choice wine”. He says this to a people who had been totally gutted and were only just now beginning to find their way again.
They had come back from exile and had been given the onerous task of rebuilding Jerusalem to its former glory with no money or protection.... Someone discover the Book of the Law _ the Bible) and they read it and hope began. On the day they heard God speak – many for the first time in their lives, they were overwhelmed with their failures and yet, directed to eat the choice meat and drink the wine and enjoy God’s gifts.
Friend, begin to hope for that thing again. Begin to trust in God’s jubilee intentions for you and your relationships. We can do this because his jubilee is underway. He signed and sealed it in the giving of his Son, the resurrection of Jesus, that personal resurrection gift to you in the font in which you were baptised and now live.
Seek that new sight. Ask for those new legs. Cry out for release from that oppressive thing.
Enjoy today. Enjoy the jubilee of God’s favour and love and invite others to receive the good food and wine as well. 2010 is a jubilee year. Enjoy it with the Lord. Enjoy it with each other as we eat the best food and drink the best wine – the bread and wine of God’s jubilee.
Epiphany 3C
Sunday January 24, 2010.
Ocean Forest
Eat the fat and drink the wine
Luke 4:18-19, Nehemiah
It was a grand plan that God had for community.
It was the way in which people would live their lives with freedom from any kind of oppression, which included escaping overwhelming debt, having community and family relationships restored repeatedly. It was a plan that would have a community of people renewing itself and living peaceably with each other and most importantly, at rest and peace in the love and kindness of their God. It was called Jubilee – which literally means Trumpet blast – in ancient terms, ram’s horn blast!
Jubilee: what a plan from a gracious and wise God with a heart for the release from any oppression or burden – spiritual, relational or economic.
In God’s land among his community, all land was to be returned to God every seven years. Just as God had rested on the seventh day, so the land was to rest on the seventh year – a whole year of Sabbath – rest with God – no sowing and reaping and any wild seed that sprouted was to be shared by all – especially those without income or means. There was also to be no buying or selling of land for this seventh year. The best you could do was lease it out.
On the seventh Sabbath year; the seventh cycle of seven year cycles – every 50th year, amazingly, all land was to be returned to its original tribal/kin group. All debts between people were to be cancelled and those with and without land were given a new beginning; a fresh start in terms of their family and economic relationships. Families could return to their ancestral lands every 50 years. Imagine what that would be like for a minute...
How connected to the land would we be? How much would be committed to caring for the land! We would all live connected to a place and know that this place was to be cared for and managed well because it would always be in the family – a lot like a family farm. How different would our ecology be, our salinity, our clearing a thousand trees a minute in the lungs of the world – our forests.
How connected would our families be? Every generation there is a return to original place. There would be so much connection to each other. It would ensure a return to connected extended families. A return to raising children in a connected community..... looking after our seniors in the family, sharing the load of life....
How different would our attitude be to wealth and consuming. No need to be self-made, just thankful a lot more!
It is doubtful whether God’s community could ever live in his grand design for community. The decades and centuries of God’s community is laden with the enemies of peaceful and just relationships holding sway –
• the greed of a king or two, the tyrannical rule of a legalistic religious system which keeps people in fear of God, rather than embracing him and his Word, the idolatry of a whole community, replacing God with self.....
• Surely this whole Jubilee gift of God was a long gone pipe dream
Maybe this is how we feel about those ideals of youth or of earlier times in our life? That goal that inspired us seems out of reach. That deep longing inside for a particular role or relationship or way of overcoming the evil we know......Nothing can be done about that.
Surely the people in the main street of Capernaum would have given this whole scheme of a complete re-shuffle of “how thing are” up long ago. It could never be that the daily grind of making money and looking after one’s own stuff would ever end. To be truly a community of mercy and justice, ending poverty and giving new beginnings to those who have not fared well....who would do that?!
But then this local man in his far north home town hall rises one average Saturday morning to declare that Jubilee is being restored!
So intentionally the local carpenter places the pointer down on the sacred Torah scroll before the hometown congregation in the weekly gathering. He speaks the words of a hope long gone that everyone probably still longed for, but could never believe they could ever happen.
They are words from the prophet Isaiah and they reflect the original communal pattern God intended in Leviticus.
“Jubilee: I have come to announce the year of Jubilee”, says Joe’s son.
18 "The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour." (The year of Jubilee!)
He is saying the dream is not lost. God can bring good change. Families can be re-connected and children can grow up in a new place. Spiralling debt can be arrested. There is hope for families and communities and whole countries that crushing debt and the greedy fights for one upmanship and hording stuff to themselves can be replaced with contentment, a new goal, a new life’s work, a new hope for justice and fairness and above all – compassion.
We know that Jesus did what he said he was going to do. We know those accounts of healings and freeing. The Promised One delivered on his promise and fulfilled his gaol to do exactly what he said he could and would do – albeit in ways that no one expected or fully understood at the time!
And, he had announced his Jubilee to us too. In that gift of baptism we began to live in his Spirit, anointed with his power, freed from our chains of self-serving, healed of our terminal blindness to God’s ways and his love, set free from only serving our own desires to receiving new desires and callings. And in him we become him and we become his Jubilee to the people of our day
But, we long for more of his freedom and his sight and understanding. We know we are still growing into this time of Jubilee. Jesus’ time of jubilee can seem so far away and we wonder why. Where is your blessing, Lord? Why is it so hard to understand – myself, other people, my task, how to truly love, where you want me to serve and what you are making of me....?
For what are you longing from God today, friend? Where does this gift of jubilee – of the Lord’s favour and blessing and power need to be more in your life now?
Is there someone or something oppressing you?
• Are you poor in some ability or understanding that you long to be rich in?
• Is there something you would love to understand about God, or a relationships or yourself but somehow feel as though you just cannot get a hold of it?
• Are you longing for a new direction or for more understanding of the one he has already given?
I hear today that we do not have to lose hope in Jesus’ jubilee. I am hearing that new things are possible in my life and that the Lord is in this. I am hearing that he wants new connection with him, and that his power and love are present and possible for me and you and our community.
The way to receive this hope for good things called – Jubilee is to enjoy it! The prophet calls out to those beginning to trust in God’s jubilee, “eat the fat and drink the choice wine”. He says this to a people who had been totally gutted and were only just now beginning to find their way again.
They had come back from exile and had been given the onerous task of rebuilding Jerusalem to its former glory with no money or protection.... Someone discover the Book of the Law _ the Bible) and they read it and hope began. On the day they heard God speak – many for the first time in their lives, they were overwhelmed with their failures and yet, directed to eat the choice meat and drink the wine and enjoy God’s gifts.
Friend, begin to hope for that thing again. Begin to trust in God’s jubilee intentions for you and your relationships. We can do this because his jubilee is underway. He signed and sealed it in the giving of his Son, the resurrection of Jesus, that personal resurrection gift to you in the font in which you were baptised and now live.
Seek that new sight. Ask for those new legs. Cry out for release from that oppressive thing.
Enjoy today. Enjoy the jubilee of God’s favour and love and invite others to receive the good food and wine as well. 2010 is a jubilee year. Enjoy it with the Lord. Enjoy it with each other as we eat the best food and drink the best wine – the bread and wine of God’s jubilee.
Sermon
Epiphany 4C
Sunday January 31st, 2010
Ocean Forest
I think I can, I think I can
Jeremiah 1:4-10
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."
Living this Christian life can sure seem like climbing big mountains – like that little engine! It can feel like we have to keep geeing ourselves up with pure determination and grit all the time. “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, I know I can.......”.
We all have mountains to climb. Here’s some I can think of....
• I want to be the most loving and effective parent I can be to give me kids the best possible start in life that I can. I will not ever hurt them. I will always listen. I will not make mistakes. I will protest tem from all harm and danger so that they never experience any pain or sorrow....... impossible expectations!
• I want to maintain a worthy body – I want to look like those magazine and TV people. I want to be fit, never get sick, avoid all disease, be able to leap building in a single bound and be cool enough to wear my red underpants on the outside of my blue tights!
• I want be a faithful person of God. I want to love and serve. I never want to hurt anyone. I never want to disagree with anyone. I want to be clean living and morally perfect so that God can’t lay a finger on me. I want to know my bible so I can win any arguments about creation or Jesus or God. I want to forgive everyone all the time quickly and easily. I want to be able to make the right decisions all the time about my job and family......
What’s your mountain at the moment – I can think of a few possible contestants for the little engine award!
What’s the mountain? How are you going to get yourself over it?
Will it be a matter of being that little engine that could? I hope not. I am sure that this is not the way of Jesus – to have to convince ourselves that we really can do the impossible tasks he has set before us from our own resources. This is not how he has ever worked. Just look at Jeremiah.
God calls a young man (maybe 16-18yrs old) and Jerry can’t handle it. What excuses does Jerry give? (can’t speak – too young/doesn’t know enough....)
Let’s place our current stuff in this account of Jerry.
Name you mountain or mountains......................................
Name your inadequacies about getting over that mountains.......................................
Note: You probably are inadequate for the task – especially if it is a “God-mountain”.
Message to self: It’s okay to be inadequate for a “God chosen mountain”. That’s pretty much how God intends it to be.
Let me tell you how this usually works.
1. God calls a person
2. The person objects and focuses on his/her inadequacies and the enormous impossibility of the calling
3. God responds to the person’s called fear, doubt, unbelief and self-focus by giving a gift for the calling – a reasurance that the task actually is humanly impossible and the truth that the person is inadequate for the calling and the promise that this is how it is meant to be because God’s got it covered in mountain climbing
4. God follows up by giving the person called a sign of his promise and presence in their life and in their calling and reaffirms the person in his call
Here’s how it worked for Jerry.
God calls him to be a prophet to all nations – and particularly to the under pressure, faithless people of Israel.
• In his lifetime, Israel will seemingly come to an end when in 587BC, the capital city is razed to the ground and its leading people taken off to exile in Babylon by King Nebbedkednezzer.
• Quite a task to call a nation back to God in repentance and faith in God – quite difficult. Just ask Jesus as he goes to his home town and they try to kill him!
• The tried to kill Jerry too. In fact, every prophet was quite reluctant when God showed up with that Calling! None of them wanted the job. Remember Moses at the burning bush? He also said he was not up for the call. Remember Isaiah? “Woe to me a man of unclean lips” – a profound sense of personal sin and inadequacy for the calling.
God does not give up. He is actually the little engine that can – because he can!
“Well Jerry, you say you cannot speak well and you don’t know enough; you have not got enough experience for the job? I know. No worries. I will speak through you. I will speak my word through you. It will be me working in you in this calling. You’re not the little engine that thinks he can. I am and I know we can”.
God goes further. In Jerry’s doubt and fear and ducking for cover, God gives Jerry a gift. He puts out his hand and touches Jerry’s mouth. This is the sign that God’s words are in Jerry’s mouth for this impossible calling.
God completes the picture and the call: He reaffirms his call on Jerry’s life; but now with this special gift to take into it. “See, Jerry, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."
How is it working for you?
You have been called and commissioned by God.
• If you’re not sure about that, reflect on your baptism. That’s the commissioning ceremony where you are called into God’s family and ordained for a life of service to him and his people.
• But also, recall those moments you have had when God gave you a specific nudge to do that thing in that place with those people.
• Also, reflect on the day you got married or the day your child was born (not too long ago for Ruth and Charlie!)
• Reflect on now. What’s God’s call now?
Whichever way you look at it, you are called and commissioned by God to live a life worthy of the calling you have received” Romans
Now, what are your inadequacies that you keep reminding yourself, others and God about? It’s probably a long list ranging from thing like...
i. Don’t know the bible enough
ii. You want people to like you and you know they won’t if you start getting religious on them
iii. You can’t love enough; you’re too impatient, not wise enough
iv. You’re not appealing enough; you have not got the stature, the looks, the respect you think you need
v. insert own inadequacies here........
God is responding to you today.
• Don’t know enough? “No. You don’t. But I do”, says the Lord.
• Want people to like you? Yes. Everyone does. True, this is impossible. Not everyone will like you and it will cost you, being faithful to Jesus.
• “But I like you”, he says. “I love you. I love you a lot. I formed you in the womb and have known you since birth”.
• Whatever your inadequacies are and how ever you feel unable to climb the mountain, God is responding to you and continues to Call you today
And what of a sign for you of God’s continued calling?
• Signs can be many and varied. A visible spiritual experience, like Jerry received. A palpable dream that was more than imagination, a word of scripture that enlarged to fill your being for a moment and you just knew. A quiet word from another that created a ripple effect in your life and thinking about yourself and God
• And let’s not forget those visible signs of God’s presence that he gives – that visible moment when the Holy Spirit came to free you and live in you – baptism – a sign that was real, that happened in your personal history and on your physical body when water and Spirit flowed. And then that sign of Jesus’ continued healing, encouragement, power and peace – the holy meal of his body and blood in bread and wine shared with his body, the church.
• Do you need a sign from God that affirms you and reassures you that you are still in his calling and that the mountain is a mole hill in God’s love and power?
• Ask for a sign. Seek a sign. Seek his breath, his Spirit in his Word and among his people. He will come through. The mountain will somehow be reduced into a mole hill and it will be conquered because we are “more than conquerors through him who loved us”.
And there is it; A final re-commissioning of you.
You are called by God to be his mouthpiece and presence where you are. That is the truth of who we are and what we are.
No need for excuses. No need to try and get ourselves over the mountains before us. Only a need to seek the Spirit and receive his gifts, his love, his power.
The psalm writer gets it. He utters are prayer of the heart for the called person of God living in the world today – a prayer for every lived day in the call of Jesus for every mountain.
Psalm 71:1-6
In you, O LORD, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame.
In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline your ear to me and save me.
Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.
For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth.
Upon you I have leaned from my birth;
it was you who took me from my mother's womb.
My praise is continually of you.
Epiphany 4C
Sunday January 31st, 2010
Ocean Forest
I think I can, I think I can
Jeremiah 1:4-10
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."
Living this Christian life can sure seem like climbing big mountains – like that little engine! It can feel like we have to keep geeing ourselves up with pure determination and grit all the time. “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can, I know I can.......”.
We all have mountains to climb. Here’s some I can think of....
• I want to be the most loving and effective parent I can be to give me kids the best possible start in life that I can. I will not ever hurt them. I will always listen. I will not make mistakes. I will protest tem from all harm and danger so that they never experience any pain or sorrow....... impossible expectations!
• I want to maintain a worthy body – I want to look like those magazine and TV people. I want to be fit, never get sick, avoid all disease, be able to leap building in a single bound and be cool enough to wear my red underpants on the outside of my blue tights!
• I want be a faithful person of God. I want to love and serve. I never want to hurt anyone. I never want to disagree with anyone. I want to be clean living and morally perfect so that God can’t lay a finger on me. I want to know my bible so I can win any arguments about creation or Jesus or God. I want to forgive everyone all the time quickly and easily. I want to be able to make the right decisions all the time about my job and family......
What’s your mountain at the moment – I can think of a few possible contestants for the little engine award!
What’s the mountain? How are you going to get yourself over it?
Will it be a matter of being that little engine that could? I hope not. I am sure that this is not the way of Jesus – to have to convince ourselves that we really can do the impossible tasks he has set before us from our own resources. This is not how he has ever worked. Just look at Jeremiah.
God calls a young man (maybe 16-18yrs old) and Jerry can’t handle it. What excuses does Jerry give? (can’t speak – too young/doesn’t know enough....)
Let’s place our current stuff in this account of Jerry.
Name you mountain or mountains......................................
Name your inadequacies about getting over that mountains.......................................
Note: You probably are inadequate for the task – especially if it is a “God-mountain”.
Message to self: It’s okay to be inadequate for a “God chosen mountain”. That’s pretty much how God intends it to be.
Let me tell you how this usually works.
1. God calls a person
2. The person objects and focuses on his/her inadequacies and the enormous impossibility of the calling
3. God responds to the person’s called fear, doubt, unbelief and self-focus by giving a gift for the calling – a reasurance that the task actually is humanly impossible and the truth that the person is inadequate for the calling and the promise that this is how it is meant to be because God’s got it covered in mountain climbing
4. God follows up by giving the person called a sign of his promise and presence in their life and in their calling and reaffirms the person in his call
Here’s how it worked for Jerry.
God calls him to be a prophet to all nations – and particularly to the under pressure, faithless people of Israel.
• In his lifetime, Israel will seemingly come to an end when in 587BC, the capital city is razed to the ground and its leading people taken off to exile in Babylon by King Nebbedkednezzer.
• Quite a task to call a nation back to God in repentance and faith in God – quite difficult. Just ask Jesus as he goes to his home town and they try to kill him!
• The tried to kill Jerry too. In fact, every prophet was quite reluctant when God showed up with that Calling! None of them wanted the job. Remember Moses at the burning bush? He also said he was not up for the call. Remember Isaiah? “Woe to me a man of unclean lips” – a profound sense of personal sin and inadequacy for the calling.
God does not give up. He is actually the little engine that can – because he can!
“Well Jerry, you say you cannot speak well and you don’t know enough; you have not got enough experience for the job? I know. No worries. I will speak through you. I will speak my word through you. It will be me working in you in this calling. You’re not the little engine that thinks he can. I am and I know we can”.
God goes further. In Jerry’s doubt and fear and ducking for cover, God gives Jerry a gift. He puts out his hand and touches Jerry’s mouth. This is the sign that God’s words are in Jerry’s mouth for this impossible calling.
God completes the picture and the call: He reaffirms his call on Jerry’s life; but now with this special gift to take into it. “See, Jerry, today I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant."
How is it working for you?
You have been called and commissioned by God.
• If you’re not sure about that, reflect on your baptism. That’s the commissioning ceremony where you are called into God’s family and ordained for a life of service to him and his people.
• But also, recall those moments you have had when God gave you a specific nudge to do that thing in that place with those people.
• Also, reflect on the day you got married or the day your child was born (not too long ago for Ruth and Charlie!)
• Reflect on now. What’s God’s call now?
Whichever way you look at it, you are called and commissioned by God to live a life worthy of the calling you have received” Romans
Now, what are your inadequacies that you keep reminding yourself, others and God about? It’s probably a long list ranging from thing like...
i. Don’t know the bible enough
ii. You want people to like you and you know they won’t if you start getting religious on them
iii. You can’t love enough; you’re too impatient, not wise enough
iv. You’re not appealing enough; you have not got the stature, the looks, the respect you think you need
v. insert own inadequacies here........
God is responding to you today.
• Don’t know enough? “No. You don’t. But I do”, says the Lord.
• Want people to like you? Yes. Everyone does. True, this is impossible. Not everyone will like you and it will cost you, being faithful to Jesus.
• “But I like you”, he says. “I love you. I love you a lot. I formed you in the womb and have known you since birth”.
• Whatever your inadequacies are and how ever you feel unable to climb the mountain, God is responding to you and continues to Call you today
And what of a sign for you of God’s continued calling?
• Signs can be many and varied. A visible spiritual experience, like Jerry received. A palpable dream that was more than imagination, a word of scripture that enlarged to fill your being for a moment and you just knew. A quiet word from another that created a ripple effect in your life and thinking about yourself and God
• And let’s not forget those visible signs of God’s presence that he gives – that visible moment when the Holy Spirit came to free you and live in you – baptism – a sign that was real, that happened in your personal history and on your physical body when water and Spirit flowed. And then that sign of Jesus’ continued healing, encouragement, power and peace – the holy meal of his body and blood in bread and wine shared with his body, the church.
• Do you need a sign from God that affirms you and reassures you that you are still in his calling and that the mountain is a mole hill in God’s love and power?
• Ask for a sign. Seek a sign. Seek his breath, his Spirit in his Word and among his people. He will come through. The mountain will somehow be reduced into a mole hill and it will be conquered because we are “more than conquerors through him who loved us”.
And there is it; A final re-commissioning of you.
You are called by God to be his mouthpiece and presence where you are. That is the truth of who we are and what we are.
No need for excuses. No need to try and get ourselves over the mountains before us. Only a need to seek the Spirit and receive his gifts, his love, his power.
The psalm writer gets it. He utters are prayer of the heart for the called person of God living in the world today – a prayer for every lived day in the call of Jesus for every mountain.
Psalm 71:1-6
In you, O LORD, I take refuge; let me never be put to shame.
In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline your ear to me and save me.
Be to me a rock of refuge, a strong fortress, to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
4 Rescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.
For you, O Lord, are my hope, my trust, O LORD, from my youth.
Upon you I have leaned from my birth;
it was you who took me from my mother's womb.
My praise is continually of you.
Sermon
Epiphany 5C
Feb 7th, 2010.
Ocean Forest
Deep Water
Luke 5:1-5
Luke 5
Jesus Calls His First Disciples
1 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, [a] the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. 2 He saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch." 5 Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets."
6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signalled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" 9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners.
Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will fish for people." 11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.
They must have been so tired and just a little disappointed – even for professional fisherman.
They had done that back-breaking fishing with huge nets all night and come up with not even a blowfish. As the sun was setting they did their usual preparations and thought that in a few hours and they would be bringing in the first of the night’s bounty. 10.00pm came, and not a fish: “It’s going to be a quiet night”. Midnight comes and still no fish: “it’s going to be a long night!”: the hard hours – 3.00am. No fish: “I hate fish anyway!”
And then as the sun comes up that feeling of frustration and just wanting to go home to bed and erase this wasted night with a good breakfast and a long sleep – before it all starts again at sunset…..
And then the crowds start to gather as the daily net-cleaning ritual is being done. As they wash the nets and get everything stowed away all these people are turning up. “Why all the people?” they ask each other. Maybe the Kallis brothers have hauled in a huge catch down there where the crowd are gathered? Is it the annual synagogue Sunday school picnic and we forgot about it?!
Little do they know they are seen by someone? The new Rabbi in these parts has seen them before they saw him. Maybe he has been watching all morning. Maybe he has been watching them all night, all week. He’s got something in mind for them….
Simon’s boat is there gently moving in the little waves lapping on the sand. The new rabbi asks Simon if he could use his boat to speak to the crowd. “Can you put the boat out a couple of metres from the shore, Simon?” asks Jesus.
Simon has seen this fellow. Indeed, he has had an amazing encounter with him. This man came into Simon’s house and prayed for his mother-in-law in her sickness and the woman was made well. News spread fast around Capernaum and hundreds of locals turned up at the house and Jesus healed them all.
So, Simon responds positively to Jesus’ request. “No problem, Jesus. Here, let me help”.
So there is Simon in the boat still hungry, tired and maybe a little ticked off about having no income today, but hearing the Master teach the huge crowd.
Eventually Jesus wraps things up. Surely it is time to eat now. Surely it’s time to get home and get some sleep…
And then the hard request. “Simon, let’s go fishing” says Jesus. Get out into deep water and put down the nets again”, he says.
You can just hear Simon’s internal thoughts! “Ah, doesn’t he know that the timing is wrong!? You don’t catch fish at this time of day. Doesn’t he know that I’ve had it? He doesn’t know how hard it is for me to do what he says. I’ve tried this…..all night. Who doesn’t he think he is?! Flamin’ ‘tourist’. It won’t work!
But his outside voice says, “Sure Teacher. We have worked hard all night and we did not catch a thing you know, but because you say so, I will go out into deep water and try again.”
We know the rest. Abundant catch. So big all the relatives are called in to drag it in. So big that the water is beginning to come over the gunnels.
Peter has again encountered the divine. He has been touched by someone pure, holy, powerful and someone who gave him a glimpse of what love and grace and beauty really are.
Strange: encountering the personal touch of the love and power of Jesus seems no easy experience. It is scary to experience the divine. It draws a deep sense of undeservedness.
Like Isaiah before him, Peter utters those fear-filled words - “Go away from me God, for I am unclean, unworthy, unsure, scared....!”
And then those soothing words of forgiveness from Jesus that disarm any fear, “Don’t be afraid, Simon. This is the beginning of a new life’s mission. It is a good thing you have experienced here to day out in the deep water. It is a preview of the exhilaration and fulfilment you will experience as you follow me from this day to the next. No need to be scared of the deep water.”
From this first day in the deep water they would experience new dimensions of Jesus’ power, love, and forgiveness and they would understand and experience new dimensions of this life mission – to seek and catch people in God’s net of healing and forgiveness.
But it always seems to happen in deep water. Jesus puts us in deep water. Is it because unless we are in deep over our head and beyond our ability that we are listening? Is deep water the place of Jesus’ life-changing teaching because in the shallows we don’t really need him, hear him or want him?
The question is, “where is the deep water for me?” Where is your deep water- that thing you have tried and tried at but have failed.
• Is it that thing that always gets you down and brings out the worst in you?
o That mistake and the shame it still brings
o That word you wished you had never said
o That missed opportunity that you could not do at the time and you regret now
• Is it that wound you carry around and cannot find healing for?
o Those words from your dad or mum
o That attitude of failure
o That abuse
o That thing that still affects you and you know it. You have tried to get rid of it- now Jesus says let’s go into it now
• Is it that thing you long for but cannot manufacture no matter how hard you try?
o That ability you need, that freedom you desire, that confidence you long for
• Is it that thing you have always known you need to do but you can never make the time of find the courage to finally do?
o a Jesus centred life
o a more complete understanding of God’s Word
o a deeper relationship with God and his church
o that calling you have been resisting out of fear or just distraction
Friends, it seems that in the deep water we are confronted with the full force of Jesus’ power – his deity and his grace – his deep love for us.
It is in these deep waters of our lives that we know we are in the presence of the holy and we feel the full weight of our unholiness, “Woe is me- I am an unclean person!” It is in these moments that we are changed. The old ways go and new things are bestowed upon us by a gracious and all-knowing God of grace
We are unclean compared to the perfect Jesus and yet he keeps calling us. Our sin does not deter him. He still called Peter into the deep waters and gave him a life-mission. Jesus makes us holy and righteous, like himself and so he makes us people of great value and use in his mission to call the unholy.
So, where is the deep water? Where do you need to let Jesus take you now?
Will we go with him into deep water? Can you say to your Saviour now, “Because you say so, Lord, I will do what you say”?
It is only in the deep water – in the test that we know his strength and hear his call.
Epiphany 5C
Feb 7th, 2010.
Ocean Forest
Deep Water
Luke 5:1-5
Luke 5
Jesus Calls His First Disciples
1 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, [a] the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. 2 He saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch." 5 Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets."
6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signalled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus' knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" 9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon's partners.
Then Jesus said to Simon, "Don't be afraid; from now on you will fish for people." 11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.
They must have been so tired and just a little disappointed – even for professional fisherman.
They had done that back-breaking fishing with huge nets all night and come up with not even a blowfish. As the sun was setting they did their usual preparations and thought that in a few hours and they would be bringing in the first of the night’s bounty. 10.00pm came, and not a fish: “It’s going to be a quiet night”. Midnight comes and still no fish: “it’s going to be a long night!”: the hard hours – 3.00am. No fish: “I hate fish anyway!”
And then as the sun comes up that feeling of frustration and just wanting to go home to bed and erase this wasted night with a good breakfast and a long sleep – before it all starts again at sunset…..
And then the crowds start to gather as the daily net-cleaning ritual is being done. As they wash the nets and get everything stowed away all these people are turning up. “Why all the people?” they ask each other. Maybe the Kallis brothers have hauled in a huge catch down there where the crowd are gathered? Is it the annual synagogue Sunday school picnic and we forgot about it?!
Little do they know they are seen by someone? The new Rabbi in these parts has seen them before they saw him. Maybe he has been watching all morning. Maybe he has been watching them all night, all week. He’s got something in mind for them….
Simon’s boat is there gently moving in the little waves lapping on the sand. The new rabbi asks Simon if he could use his boat to speak to the crowd. “Can you put the boat out a couple of metres from the shore, Simon?” asks Jesus.
Simon has seen this fellow. Indeed, he has had an amazing encounter with him. This man came into Simon’s house and prayed for his mother-in-law in her sickness and the woman was made well. News spread fast around Capernaum and hundreds of locals turned up at the house and Jesus healed them all.
So, Simon responds positively to Jesus’ request. “No problem, Jesus. Here, let me help”.
So there is Simon in the boat still hungry, tired and maybe a little ticked off about having no income today, but hearing the Master teach the huge crowd.
Eventually Jesus wraps things up. Surely it is time to eat now. Surely it’s time to get home and get some sleep…
And then the hard request. “Simon, let’s go fishing” says Jesus. Get out into deep water and put down the nets again”, he says.
You can just hear Simon’s internal thoughts! “Ah, doesn’t he know that the timing is wrong!? You don’t catch fish at this time of day. Doesn’t he know that I’ve had it? He doesn’t know how hard it is for me to do what he says. I’ve tried this…..all night. Who doesn’t he think he is?! Flamin’ ‘tourist’. It won’t work!
But his outside voice says, “Sure Teacher. We have worked hard all night and we did not catch a thing you know, but because you say so, I will go out into deep water and try again.”
We know the rest. Abundant catch. So big all the relatives are called in to drag it in. So big that the water is beginning to come over the gunnels.
Peter has again encountered the divine. He has been touched by someone pure, holy, powerful and someone who gave him a glimpse of what love and grace and beauty really are.
Strange: encountering the personal touch of the love and power of Jesus seems no easy experience. It is scary to experience the divine. It draws a deep sense of undeservedness.
Like Isaiah before him, Peter utters those fear-filled words - “Go away from me God, for I am unclean, unworthy, unsure, scared....!”
And then those soothing words of forgiveness from Jesus that disarm any fear, “Don’t be afraid, Simon. This is the beginning of a new life’s mission. It is a good thing you have experienced here to day out in the deep water. It is a preview of the exhilaration and fulfilment you will experience as you follow me from this day to the next. No need to be scared of the deep water.”
From this first day in the deep water they would experience new dimensions of Jesus’ power, love, and forgiveness and they would understand and experience new dimensions of this life mission – to seek and catch people in God’s net of healing and forgiveness.
But it always seems to happen in deep water. Jesus puts us in deep water. Is it because unless we are in deep over our head and beyond our ability that we are listening? Is deep water the place of Jesus’ life-changing teaching because in the shallows we don’t really need him, hear him or want him?
The question is, “where is the deep water for me?” Where is your deep water- that thing you have tried and tried at but have failed.
• Is it that thing that always gets you down and brings out the worst in you?
o That mistake and the shame it still brings
o That word you wished you had never said
o That missed opportunity that you could not do at the time and you regret now
• Is it that wound you carry around and cannot find healing for?
o Those words from your dad or mum
o That attitude of failure
o That abuse
o That thing that still affects you and you know it. You have tried to get rid of it- now Jesus says let’s go into it now
• Is it that thing you long for but cannot manufacture no matter how hard you try?
o That ability you need, that freedom you desire, that confidence you long for
• Is it that thing you have always known you need to do but you can never make the time of find the courage to finally do?
o a Jesus centred life
o a more complete understanding of God’s Word
o a deeper relationship with God and his church
o that calling you have been resisting out of fear or just distraction
Friends, it seems that in the deep water we are confronted with the full force of Jesus’ power – his deity and his grace – his deep love for us.
It is in these deep waters of our lives that we know we are in the presence of the holy and we feel the full weight of our unholiness, “Woe is me- I am an unclean person!” It is in these moments that we are changed. The old ways go and new things are bestowed upon us by a gracious and all-knowing God of grace
We are unclean compared to the perfect Jesus and yet he keeps calling us. Our sin does not deter him. He still called Peter into the deep waters and gave him a life-mission. Jesus makes us holy and righteous, like himself and so he makes us people of great value and use in his mission to call the unholy.
So, where is the deep water? Where do you need to let Jesus take you now?
Will we go with him into deep water? Can you say to your Saviour now, “Because you say so, Lord, I will do what you say”?
It is only in the deep water – in the test that we know his strength and hear his call.
Sermon
Transfiguration Day
Sunday February 14th, 2010.
Ocean Forest
Lifting the veil
2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
3:12 Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness,
3:13 not like Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that was being set aside.
3:14 But their minds were hardened. Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside.
3:15 Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds;
3:16 but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.
3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
3:18 And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.
4:1 Therefore, since it is by God's mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.
4:2 We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God's word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.
I had an embarrassing moment related to a veil once. I was conducting a wedding in a packed church with the beautiful bride and groom. There is that part of the wedding rite where the vows have been exchanged and the moment everyone want to see is about to happen. As the minister, you can finally let the great moment happen by saying, “You may now kiss the bride”, or you can say the same thing in a little more subtle and modest way, “You may now lift the veil”. Well, I got it a bit mixed up on this occasion and ended up saying to the Groom, “You may now lift the bride”! The large laugh was on me!
Speaking of veils..... I have often wondered what is must be like to be a Muslim woman who must wear the veil. I have often been saddened as I imagine what it must be like for a women to have to wear the birka – that full heavy clothing that covers the whole body except for the eyes.
The great man of God, Moses had some experience of wearing a veil. He has a shine problem! On the many occasions he spoke directly with God, the result was a face that radiated extreme light. Quite a problem for those around him! On the mountain of the Lord (Mt Horeb) in the glory cloud and in the Tabernacle in the glory cloud, his face would shine like the sun when the conversation with the Lord was over. So he would strap on his veil as he exited God’s presence so that the people were not overwhelmed.
Because of all this direct connection with God, Moses stands out as one of those very rare and extremely highly regarded people of God.
There was also another very unique man who had a direct/special connection with the Lord. The prophet Elijah and Moses shared a common greatness – both of them had a unique end to their earthly life. Moses dies on Mt Nebo in God’s presence and God buried Moses in a place that noone could ever find. Elijah was taken up into the skies on that famous chariot of fire.
So, if you are Peter and the others on that cloudy mountain of this Transfiguration, you would be in total awe at the sight of Elijah and Moses, let alone Jesus being transfigured like Moses used to be.
You can imagine what euphoria this cloudy mountain experience must have created for Peter and the others! The two greatest men with this very special man they had left everything to follow these two years – right there – in the “veil” of the glory cloud that obscured the light of God enough to enable mere humans like Peter, James and John to see enough of the three great men in a knowing conversation.
No wonder Peter says in some kind of euphoric daze – “let’s make this last forever!”
Of course, this moment does not last forever. it is back down the mountain to the valley of that last journey to Jerusalem, veiled in human suffering, injustice and death for Jesus.
Jesus will join the ranks of the great men. He will surpass both Elijah and Moses in his death. he will be buried for sure; A human death; a death where the veil of death seems to win over love. But he will be raised from death. The veil of death that overshadows all creation will be lifted for all creation and all time. What a death!
No wonder St Paul makes much of this in all of his preaching and teaching around the known world. We hear a bit of his talk about the lifting of the veil of death for human beings and God. Actually, he speaks of this veil as a real power that actually does things to people. Its power is the law. The high demands of a holy God hit a flawed, imperfect and rebellious human heart and the end result is darkness, ignorance, separation, lovelessness, alienation and in the extreme – death.
This veil of human striving to try and appease God by keeping the rules and being very good all the time misses the truth. It casts a shadow alienation between people and God like a veil isolates a person from others.
But the veil can be lifted. Unity, peace and love in God can be experienced and lived by flawed people. Paul can say that we are not like Moses. When a person turns to God in repentance and faith, this veil of alienation from God is removed and there is open access; open conversation, an experience and a knowing of God’s deep love and compassion; a receiving of God’s glorious gift – the forgiveness of all sin and the removal of death is accomplished by God for us.
Of course, the veil has not completely disappeared yet. We can fall back into law keeping to try and win God’s favour and actually put that old veil back on. We can put up walls around our heart out of fear or guilt or shame or pain caused by others and not turn to God for freedom from these things. We can dice with death in our addictions and self-seeking passions.
But there is no reason we have to stay under the veil. The veil of alienation and death has been removed for us. We are being called today to let God lift the veil and draw us close. We are his baptised and loved people after all. We are all his bride – the one, holy universal Christian church.
And this veil lifting is a process too. We live in Jesus’ peace and power and this constantly transforms us from the old shadow people to light people.
3:18 And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.
Friend, is it a time to let God bury you and resurrect you? Is it a time to turn to God in all humility and trust and let him lift that pain; lift that guilt; lift that shame and receive the gift of freedom for which you so long?
3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Ahh Yes. Freedom from that sense of failure that hangs over me like a dark shadow. Freedom from those addictions. Freedom from those flaws. Freedom from which to truly live and love and contribute good things....
We need the veil lifted. We need to be transformed. Things are not meant to stay static. We have been called into a relationship with God that grows and deepens in trust and appreciation, like a young married couple. Married people are meant to grow and deepen in understanding and love for each other. Actually, human beings are meant to grow together in understanding and love.
Will you turn back to the lover of your soul today again and receive the freedom the Spirit brings; have that veil of sadness or sickness or sorrow or sin lifted and start again with the Lord?
As we all do that by a simple seeking of God’s power and forgiveness, we will enjoy a hopefulness for our life; a boldness of faith that comes from having that veil between us and God lifted.
3:12 Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness,
And with this hope and this bold appraoch to living in God’s grace and power, we share in this ministry of lifting the veil on darkness, despair and death we see all around us.
4:1 Therefore, since it is by God's mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.
With our heart fully engaged in our work, our family, our spiritual journey, our church community, we are ministers of veil lifting – or hope giving, of freedom giving.
Imagine that – imagine being a community that lifts the veil of darkness for people? imagine working together to lift the veil of despair and alienation we see – among the young and the old?
Imagine being a church and college community where for moments in the life of a parent or a child, there is real freedom, a real lifting of the veil of guilt and pain – hope springs up and the freedom of the Holy Spirit is powerfully present.
Yes Lord Jesus. yes Spirit of God. yes Father in heaven. Lift the veil of alienation from you. Bring a gift of true freedom today. Make us you community of veil lifters and draw us and many more into your loving presence and peace. Amen.
Transfiguration Day
Sunday February 14th, 2010.
Ocean Forest
Lifting the veil
2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
3:12 Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness,
3:13 not like Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that was being set aside.
3:14 But their minds were hardened. Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside.
3:15 Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds;
3:16 but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.
3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
3:18 And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.
4:1 Therefore, since it is by God's mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.
4:2 We have renounced the shameful things that one hides; we refuse to practice cunning or to falsify God's word; but by the open statement of the truth we commend ourselves to the conscience of everyone in the sight of God.
I had an embarrassing moment related to a veil once. I was conducting a wedding in a packed church with the beautiful bride and groom. There is that part of the wedding rite where the vows have been exchanged and the moment everyone want to see is about to happen. As the minister, you can finally let the great moment happen by saying, “You may now kiss the bride”, or you can say the same thing in a little more subtle and modest way, “You may now lift the veil”. Well, I got it a bit mixed up on this occasion and ended up saying to the Groom, “You may now lift the bride”! The large laugh was on me!
Speaking of veils..... I have often wondered what is must be like to be a Muslim woman who must wear the veil. I have often been saddened as I imagine what it must be like for a women to have to wear the birka – that full heavy clothing that covers the whole body except for the eyes.
The great man of God, Moses had some experience of wearing a veil. He has a shine problem! On the many occasions he spoke directly with God, the result was a face that radiated extreme light. Quite a problem for those around him! On the mountain of the Lord (Mt Horeb) in the glory cloud and in the Tabernacle in the glory cloud, his face would shine like the sun when the conversation with the Lord was over. So he would strap on his veil as he exited God’s presence so that the people were not overwhelmed.
Because of all this direct connection with God, Moses stands out as one of those very rare and extremely highly regarded people of God.
There was also another very unique man who had a direct/special connection with the Lord. The prophet Elijah and Moses shared a common greatness – both of them had a unique end to their earthly life. Moses dies on Mt Nebo in God’s presence and God buried Moses in a place that noone could ever find. Elijah was taken up into the skies on that famous chariot of fire.
So, if you are Peter and the others on that cloudy mountain of this Transfiguration, you would be in total awe at the sight of Elijah and Moses, let alone Jesus being transfigured like Moses used to be.
You can imagine what euphoria this cloudy mountain experience must have created for Peter and the others! The two greatest men with this very special man they had left everything to follow these two years – right there – in the “veil” of the glory cloud that obscured the light of God enough to enable mere humans like Peter, James and John to see enough of the three great men in a knowing conversation.
No wonder Peter says in some kind of euphoric daze – “let’s make this last forever!”
Of course, this moment does not last forever. it is back down the mountain to the valley of that last journey to Jerusalem, veiled in human suffering, injustice and death for Jesus.
Jesus will join the ranks of the great men. He will surpass both Elijah and Moses in his death. he will be buried for sure; A human death; a death where the veil of death seems to win over love. But he will be raised from death. The veil of death that overshadows all creation will be lifted for all creation and all time. What a death!
No wonder St Paul makes much of this in all of his preaching and teaching around the known world. We hear a bit of his talk about the lifting of the veil of death for human beings and God. Actually, he speaks of this veil as a real power that actually does things to people. Its power is the law. The high demands of a holy God hit a flawed, imperfect and rebellious human heart and the end result is darkness, ignorance, separation, lovelessness, alienation and in the extreme – death.
This veil of human striving to try and appease God by keeping the rules and being very good all the time misses the truth. It casts a shadow alienation between people and God like a veil isolates a person from others.
But the veil can be lifted. Unity, peace and love in God can be experienced and lived by flawed people. Paul can say that we are not like Moses. When a person turns to God in repentance and faith, this veil of alienation from God is removed and there is open access; open conversation, an experience and a knowing of God’s deep love and compassion; a receiving of God’s glorious gift – the forgiveness of all sin and the removal of death is accomplished by God for us.
Of course, the veil has not completely disappeared yet. We can fall back into law keeping to try and win God’s favour and actually put that old veil back on. We can put up walls around our heart out of fear or guilt or shame or pain caused by others and not turn to God for freedom from these things. We can dice with death in our addictions and self-seeking passions.
But there is no reason we have to stay under the veil. The veil of alienation and death has been removed for us. We are being called today to let God lift the veil and draw us close. We are his baptised and loved people after all. We are all his bride – the one, holy universal Christian church.
And this veil lifting is a process too. We live in Jesus’ peace and power and this constantly transforms us from the old shadow people to light people.
3:18 And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.
Friend, is it a time to let God bury you and resurrect you? Is it a time to turn to God in all humility and trust and let him lift that pain; lift that guilt; lift that shame and receive the gift of freedom for which you so long?
3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Ahh Yes. Freedom from that sense of failure that hangs over me like a dark shadow. Freedom from those addictions. Freedom from those flaws. Freedom from which to truly live and love and contribute good things....
We need the veil lifted. We need to be transformed. Things are not meant to stay static. We have been called into a relationship with God that grows and deepens in trust and appreciation, like a young married couple. Married people are meant to grow and deepen in understanding and love for each other. Actually, human beings are meant to grow together in understanding and love.
Will you turn back to the lover of your soul today again and receive the freedom the Spirit brings; have that veil of sadness or sickness or sorrow or sin lifted and start again with the Lord?
As we all do that by a simple seeking of God’s power and forgiveness, we will enjoy a hopefulness for our life; a boldness of faith that comes from having that veil between us and God lifted.
3:12 Since, then, we have such a hope, we act with great boldness,
And with this hope and this bold appraoch to living in God’s grace and power, we share in this ministry of lifting the veil on darkness, despair and death we see all around us.
4:1 Therefore, since it is by God's mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.
With our heart fully engaged in our work, our family, our spiritual journey, our church community, we are ministers of veil lifting – or hope giving, of freedom giving.
Imagine that – imagine being a community that lifts the veil of darkness for people? imagine working together to lift the veil of despair and alienation we see – among the young and the old?
Imagine being a church and college community where for moments in the life of a parent or a child, there is real freedom, a real lifting of the veil of guilt and pain – hope springs up and the freedom of the Holy Spirit is powerfully present.
Yes Lord Jesus. yes Spirit of God. yes Father in heaven. Lift the veil of alienation from you. Bring a gift of true freedom today. Make us you community of veil lifters and draw us and many more into your loving presence and peace. Amen.
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