Let it Be

Sermon
Advent 4B,
Sunday December 18, 2011.
Ocean Forest

Luke 1:26-38

“Let it be with me according to your word”

On this last “normal” kind of Sunday together before we all rightly focus on Christmas I cannot help but imagine the young Mary and her words, “Let it be with me according to your word”. This is the way I am speaking to the Lord in these days of leaving and also pondering a new ministry and life challenge in God’s call.

As I said in the announcement of my decision to take the Call to Petri, it did and always does come down to the Lord’s call. Everything else is a distant second. I know from the Word, from my experience, from you and from the wider church that it is indeed the Lord’s will that I take this Call from him to serve in another place among another people.

I have been thinking this week that this Call from the Lord to me and you is a little less ground shaking than the Call he issued to a young teenager named Mary.

Yes, I have a Call from the Lord to continue serving him and his people in another place with its many unknowns and different size, shape, culture and its inevitable challenges.

Yes, you now have the Call from the Lord of the Church to re-examine your Call to be God’s people in mission here and then to Call another Pastor to work with you in your joint Calling to continue to be God’s people together in this place. But what about the Call Mary received to bear the Son of God in her own body and be remembered and honoured for that for all time by all who would follow him? Now that is a ground shaking Call from the Lord – literally – with angelic voices included!

As with all calls from the Lord, they create the uncomfortable sense of being. I still doubt my ability to live up the huge expectations of the Call to the new place. I know you are worried about your ability to continue as God’s mission people here and to receive another Pastor to come and serve here so that this community can thrive. No different with Mary (or any other person God called, by the way!).

Even though Mary was called by the Lord through this mysterious angelic visitation, Mary she was much perplexed by the calling words and pondered what sort of calling this might actually be. She was a little suspicious and not a little doubting of the Lord’s calling.

Yes, “perplexed”: troubled, unsure, confused, fearful for the future, fearful for the imposition of God’s Call on her life and what it would mean for her future…….

It is a good word to describe how we all feel when the Lord is knocking on our door to step up – step up to better marriages, better parenting, better conduct at work, at home, at church.

Mary asks the obvious question of God. “Is this Call you have issued me good news or bad news?” Will it be the Calling that makes me fulfilled, benefits people around me and brings glory to you or will it cause me to stumble and fall because I will fail at it?”

This is the question brought on by our natural human fear of so many things: ourselves, the unknown, others, God at times.

To us who are only human. To us who can only understand and see so little of God’s big picture and plan for our lives, those words of the Lord and his messenger that disarm our tendency to take flight and run away from the Lord’s call, like Jonah did, come as a gleaming ray of light in a dark place, or as a ray of light on the horizon as the clouds wind and sea calm and the storm is finally over.

“The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God”.

My Call to another community is surrounded by and motivated by God’s favour. Your Call to be his holy community of love and faith and hope in this place is a Call surrounded by the Lord’s love and blessing.

The Lord has found favour with this community enough to bring upon it this time of vacancy. Sounds strange doesn’t it?

• We are all scared of vacancy times in the church. They are supposed to be avoided at all costs and as short as possible.
• In vacancy we feel all at sea, leaderless, rudderless, unsure – a bit like the disciples on that little boat out on the Sea in that storm with a sleeping Saviour! Facing a vacancy time can feel like our Saviour is sleeping.
• We wish he would wake up and calm the storm and restore normality – then we could all go about our lives as normal again – then we could all be comfortable again?
• We could all slot back into how it was before when we were undisturbed by the Lord’s call?

Thank the Lord that Mary went with the uncomfortable Call from the Lord. She utters those immortal words of trust in the Lord and his Call… 

            "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word."

Here I am: Here are you. Can you utter these word as Mary did and be at peace, without fear? That is the Call of the Spirit to you now for sure.

For the next little while you will be pondering Calls. You will be pondering that word. You will have “Call” meetings. You will “Call” a pastor or two or more. A Pastor will accept your “Call” as a Call from the Lord of the church.

I can tell you now that the “Call” meetings and the “Calling” of a pastor will not only be about one guy. It will also be a word about you – individually, in your family and as a body of Christ. When you hear that word, pray for that event, pray for that man and his family, you will also be pondering your own Call in this community – this church; this mission task.

A Call meeting is not about one man’s call. It is about a community’s calling too. Each of you will think about your place here and as you do, can I challenge to recall Mary and her Call.

She was troubled about the imposition of accepting the Lord’s Call on her life. So will you be if you’re honest because God’s Call is imposing and impossible – at least humanly impossible. However, it is a Call that is always backed by his promises and power to “be with you to the very end of the age” as Jesus says at the last (or was it the first?).

I am praying that you will come to where I have been brought to by the Lord and where Mary got to by the Lord. I am praying that you can speak her words for real and at peace and without fear;

"Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word."

I am praying that in this time of vacancy you will be uncomfortable in a way that provides the conditions in which the seeds of faith, hope and love of Jesus Christ can thrive in you personally and as a holy community of the Lord in this place.

I am praying that you and I can sing Mary’s song in our Callings… 

 "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.

                                                                                                               Luke 1:46b-50

You can end up with Mary and me because the Lord of the Church is behind the Calls we have and they are Calls of favour and blessing.

In your Calling to be Ocean Forest, a community that is bent on “connecting people with Jesus so that all may know and share his love, the Lord blesses you…. 

Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith -- to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen!                                                                                                 Romans 16:25-27

the value of writing

Eugene Paterson is a long standing mentor of mine in books. He is a story teller - not fiction, but GOd's story and his story and I find my own story interwoven with both.

I came across this interview of Eugene done in 2007. It is for those who smell a rat in so much of our culture and who preach and/or write or would love to writie something of their story or any story.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaaIui7cESs&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL8B15B7CC948684B7

Wait

Sermon

Advent 1
Service of Nine Words,
Ocean Forest
Sunday November 27, 2011.

Wait

Isaiah 35:1-10

Friends, every year we run into this Advent theme of waiting and every year this grand vision of Isaiah appears on our horizon to reassure us that there is a grand plan in all of the goings on of our life and our church.

This picture of God’s enduring reality that is meant to carry us through whatever we are experiencing, particularly doubt, fear ad anxiety about our future is beautiful and needed.

I wonder whether this Advent of all of the last 8 here at Ocean Forest is the most full of  these  realities of fear, doubt and anxiety about waiting and pondering what is going to happen to us.

I feel this fear and uncertainty as I pull away from you and feel your sadness and anxiety. I sense that you sense that you are now going to be waiting in a way you have never waited before as a congregation of followers of Jesus.

When will we be able to organise ourselves to do what we need to do and call another pastor to come and lead us? When will another Pastor come and live with us and lead us? When will we feel like we are “normal” again as the new year begins and a pastor joins us and we pick up where we have left off before this strange time of loss and waiting came upon us?

All very expected questions and very human feelings attached to these questions about how things will be.

It always amazes me that these beautiful words of hope from Isaiah were spoken into a situation full of doubt and fear. These words of God were spoken into a situation of being totally cut off from what had been. These words were spoken to a community in forced exile from their home land. They had lost it all, not unlike those families who have lost it all in Margaret River.

These words speak into complete loss – Loss of home, income, status, identity and faith community. God’s people are in a hostile and foreign place that is eating away at their hope in a gracious and faithful God.

Where is the God of those great and mighty acts of salvation and love? Where is Moses? Where is the sea parting and the enemy dying? Where is hope and faith and future and peace and belonging and life as God promises?

These are the human questions we ask of each other, the church and the Lord and they are questions meant to be asked with a view to hearing a response.

For God’s people, there is questioning and there is listening. Sometime I wonder whether we do all the questioning but can’t seem to do the listening. The questioning of God’s presence and faithfulness gives us something to talk about. The listening takes our own words away and requires an open heart and a still mouth with big ears – and of course, PATIENCE.

Can we hear the still small voice of God now….

¹ The desert and the parched land you are pondering now will be glad;
the wilderness of no pastor, little music and sense of well-being will rejoice and blossom again.

These worrying days will burst into bloom at the right time; You will eventually shout for joy at hat God has done for you. You will see a glimpse of the glory of the LORD, the splendour of our God. To troubled people God then calls for a response in these Advent days of waiting:

³ Strengthen those feeble hands and steady those knees that give way; (not just your own)
⁴ say to those with fearful hearts,
“Be strong, do not fear; your God will come and deliver.

Isaiah was sure against all insecurity. he was form against all wavering and doubting. So am I. The Lord will deliver and in the meantime, he will shape you individually and together in ways that have never happened for us here. We are in new ground again – but it is God’s ground.

I call you with Isaiah to be there for each other. Say things to each other. Say things that encourage and build up like never before and in new ways. God will be in your speaking and doing. This is his promise today.

Amazingly, through this trusting and encouraging and doing good things for each other, your eyes will be opened to new things. Your blindness to God’s presence in your life will be taken away and life will look different when the new road is in place ahead.

⁵ Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

There is a new road ahead for this congregation in mission. There is no getting around it now. But again, it is God’s construction. It is a people road and we are all people under construction.

             ⁸ And a highway will be there;
          it will be called the Way of Holiness;
          it will be for those who walk on that Way.

But only the redeemed will walk there,
¹⁰ and those the LORD has rescued will return.

This road of the next months is ours and it is the Lord’s and it will be a means through which he affirms in you your "set apartness", your "specialness," as his uniquely gifted and faithful people in this place.

Even now we can at least imagine the end of this new road of faith in Jesus. Isaiah does. We can too… 

They will enter Zion with singing;
everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away.  

 

Wait by questioning

Wait by listening

Wait by speaking encouraging words to each other.

Wait by practicing patience: the patience of faith; a trusting patience that the road is the Lord’s and he has placed you on it – you who are holy and blameless in his sight through your baptism and through the Living Word, Jesus Christ that you serve and love.

Strange Place

Strange being in this "in-between" place where we have made another big decision to change the course of our lives by taking a Call to another community 3000km's away from where we have been serving for 8 years.

This kind of decision is nothing new to us or many people from many different walks of life. Half the people I know have made these huge decisions - people like the many South Africans or Zimbabweans who have left their home country to make a new life in Australia; or the many teaching staff who have left their home to come and work in Dalyellup, or the many rural people who long ago, packed up the truck and drove the long Nullarbor road a generation ago to settle on virgin land in the WA wheat belt...... Sometimes life and living it with a responsiveness to people, church, country and God demands these big decisions that bring big change.

This is the second time that my wife and I have packed up our lives and moved away from our home country to South Australia. The first time was in 1989. Now 22 years later, we are doing the very same thing! Then we were a young married couple. I was ready for adventure and Leanne was rather more unconvinced about "adventure". But, she came and we went and the rest is history.

Now we leave with three of our four children in tow a little more money and better furniture and a joint will to live the next chapter of our lives.

Similar doubt about our ability to cope and do well appear. I left WA in 1989 to take up a youth worker job in a large inner city Lutheran Church (Bethlehem, Flinders Street, Adelaide CBD). I had little idea of what I was walking in to! Such a different church culture and experience. So large compared to the smallness of WA (church wise). So many more people, some supportive, some not. So many more opportunities for friendship, seeing new places, learning more about my profession (Youth Work)....

After 12 years in two places "out on the rim" of the LCA (Auckland and Bunbury), it feels a little similar to what it felt like back in 1989. So many opportunities for new relationships, new challenges in terms of my Calling, more possibilities for learning from mentors and strangers.....

This Calling is a senior pastor role and that is daunting. It is a new dynamic I will have to learn - not just diving in and leading by doing all the time, as one needs to do in a  smaller setting, but leading in a different way - present but not always immediately hands on; leading by gathering and inspiring (hopefully!) and working with others who lead...... It will be a steep learning curve to not go with the instincts learnt over the last 12 years in the ordained ministry.

But life is really one big steep learning curve isn't it? You actually learn the most about yourself, your close relationships, when you are under the pump the most. In the moment you don't even know what you are learning, but later it becomes apparent, if you take the needed time to reflect on what has happened, that is.

So, I find myself doing plenty of this reflecting time. It just seems the right thing to do.



Reason for Living

One of my favourite preachers at the moment is Tim Keller, who pastor's Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, New York.

I heard this podcast and thought it was the best explanation of the Christian Faith I have heard in ages. It is addressed to the average person who desperately wants complete freedom in life, but knows that with complete freedom to do whatever you want in life, comes the devestating reality  that this appraoch to life renders everything completely meaningless......

Have a listen if freedom is your desire, but emptiness follows it.....  Or if you have a lot of friends (as I do)who living in this same collision course with themselves..... it will take about 35mins of your time.

Just click on this link and press the go to box that comes up.....

http://sermons2.redeemer.com/sites/sermons2.redeemer.com/files/RSS_Feeds/Timothy_Keller_Podcasts.xml

Crossroads

Sermon

Pentecost 21A
Sunday November 6, 2011.

Ocean Forest

Crossroads

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

 

13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. 14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Friends, crossroads in life often create grief for us. When something highly valued is lost, a crossroad is created and we have to make choices about what was once a sure thing, because the straight road we were on has now become a fork in the road or a crossroad. We grieve what was and have to face a more uncertain future.This is what has happened to us now with me announcing that I will no longer be the pastor of this community. What was stable and trusted is now being removed and the future looks more like a crossroad than a straight road.




 I spoke to the secondary school Thursday about all of this and focussed on that thing that happens to us all the time; grief. I told the kids that grief is a normal part of life that can happen over many things – from a breakup with and girl or guy, to a the death of a loved pet, to even grieving over childhood simplicity lost in the teen years.

When you think about it, hardly a week or a month goes by when we don’t grieve the loss of something. We still grieve the loss of a loved one years after the actual event. Time heals the pain of it but we remember and even years later, feel some sense of the loss. We grieve the loss of our working life when we retire, the loss of our schooling life when we graduate, the loss of a our dreams in a divorce, the loss of constant contact with kids in the same, the loss of our pristine beauty as we age, the loss of our hair……..
Sometimes of course, there is shocking kind of grief – a loss we did not expect, or even if we did, never really thought it would happen – like a Pastor leaving a congregation. You know it would probably happen one day, but you are never really ready for it when it happens.

It is interesting that God’s word suggests there is a difference between how those who are in relationship with Jesus and his people grieve these things and those who are not in a faith relationship with him and his people. St Paul, in our text, speaks of those who “grieve without hope”, and those who “grief with hope”. So, we baptised people of faith in Jesus Christ can grieve like others, but somehow differently, with the gift of hope – even in our grieving.

This “hope” is the biblical kind of hope; not a wishful thinking for the future kind of hope, but a sure, solid, bankable hope; a hope not in our own ability or wisdom and skill, but a hope in God’s grace, power and future – a hope standing solid on God’s solid promises kind of hope.

So we grieve with solid hope in God’s future for us. Paul outlines the final end to life as we know it – both for those who won’t taste actual physical death, and those who will before Jesus delivers on his promise to bring all things to their rightful and timely end to begin the new age with him.

15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 …. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

In the hope that is Jesus.What does it mean for us to “grieve with hope”? One thing it doesn’t mean is that we will not grieve at all. Jesus’ followers will grieve as often as those who don’t know his grace and power. Grief will happen and grief is not to be denied or diminished as unimportant or treated as “bad”. Grief is grief and that is all there is to it. Grief can make us feel all at sea for a while. Grief can tempt us to give up on things and just go and hide somewhere to be safe. But grief approached like this will do damage and debilitate us further, rather than bring us to new insight, thankfulness and life.
Paul is actually encouraging his people to grieve – or at least not shun or try and hide grief. He is saying, “you will grief”. But what he is offering those who suffer loss is hope in their grieving and a future well-being founded on Jesus and his promises and grace.

Friends, you will grieve as things look and feel different for the next few months after Christmas when I am gone. This is not to be denied, minimised or shunned as unimportant or something to be hidden. In my experience and in this text, grief is best dealt with by talking about it, sharing it and “encouraging each other with these words” as Paul says.

Grief is normal and talking about it with each other is how it is processed well so that grief passes and changes into thankfulness and even a quiet joy about what has been and what is to come in the Lord’s plan for us.

I told the kids to think of grief this way
Grief = I should talk about it


Grief can and does naturally produce anger, confusion and doubt of God’s plan and promises.

Can I encourage you with my words on this? Share your sense of loss at losing your pastor. Talk with me about it if you need to. Share it, speak of it and help each other through it. In this way you will pass over the crossroad before you and with faith in Jesus and his future for you in his plan and promises, grief will turn to thankfulness and even a quiet joy again.

In time I reckon we will all look back on these years together and be able to say, “Thank you, Heavenly Father, for all we shared and did together”. And with that will come hope. You will enter a Call process with the District president. You will be directed to ponder where you are at a congregation in mission and what you might need in the pastor you will eventually call. Eventually, a Pastor you have called will arrive and another leg of the journey will be before you and this will be good. It is then that this grief will be no more and only thankfulness will remain, and that will be good.

On a final note: If you remain a person in the Lutheran family in your life’s journey of faith in Jesus, this very text will be the first word from the Bible that your children, grandchildren and friends will hear as they gather for your funeral.

This text is the Word of comfort proclaimed in the Lutheran funeral rite. Even in that big grief, there will the sure hope of the resurrection from your death proclaimed to all who will hear it.

Ultimately this is all of our ending. Whatever happens, this will happen. You will be gathered into this hopeful “sleep” as St Paul calls it. Rest is as constant a companion as grief for the Christian – we rest in God’s presence every time two or three gather in his name. We rest in his presence every day that we remember our baptism and daily die to sin and live with him. We rest at the last trumpet call as we are gathered together in him.

Grieve with hope, friends. Hope is ours. This too will pass and new things will come and from beginning to end, we will be hopeful and thankful for all that the Lord has given and then gives. Amen.

Lord of all gentleness, Lord of all calm,
whose voice is contentment, whose presence is balm:
be there at our sleeping and give us, we pray,
your peace in our hearts, Lord, at the end of the day.

13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest, who have no hope…

Pastor A Leaving Ocean Forest

Well, it seems that our time at Ocean Forest has come to an end. There is sadness but no regret and a looking forward toi the next leg of the faith jounrye for us as a family.

In the Lutheran Church, there is a Call system where Pastors don;t apply for jobs but are Called to them by the local community or wider church. When a local community is vacant or is ready to call a second pastor, they issue a Call to a particular individual whom they think can come and work with them in their local ministry and mission. The Pastor being Called is notified of this and then has around 4-5 weeks to weigh up all the issues of his existing Call and the one being offered. He then accepots the Call or declines it.

After two months of very intense personal struggle for me, my family and for some of you about the two Calls that have come my way – first to Tuggeranong in Canberra and now to St Petri in the Barossa Valley, SA, – I am accepting the Call to the St Petri. I will be leaving Ocean Forest at the end of the year.



I know that some of you will find this unwelcome news. We will all now go through a tough time of loss and grieving. We have shared our lives together for these 8 years and our relationships will change.


I am accepting the Call to St Petri not beause I am unhappy or unwell or angry or worn out or any of those things. I am accepting the Call and leaving primarily because I believe it is a Call from God. That is always the main thing in all the complexity of these decisions. It is also because I sense that I have done what we were called here to do – to establish a church in cooperation with e new Lutheran college. It is time for me to go and let the local people and another Lutheran Pastor  and the School Principal take the baton and run on.


Just as I sensed that I was ready and “made for” this venture of church planting through a new Lutheran school when I received the Call to come here in 2003, so now I sense the same things about what the Lord is calling me to do at St Petri. I sense that he is has been preparing me for this next leg of the faith journey these eight years at Ocean Forest and now it is time to take what he has taught me through you and put it to use in his church in another place.


I will leave with great memories, great relationships with all kinds of people, some more skills and more experience and take on the next challenge with these as part of who I am and what I am called to do. I think you for your friendship, commitment, care, humour and encouragement over the journey. I am praying to the Lord that he helps Ocean Forest kick on in this challenging thing called Christian education, community and mission.


Please feel free to seek me out and talk about how things are for you and share these things with each other too. In the end any sadness will hopefully turn to thankfulness to God for the many things that have happened in this 8 year journey together.

Sermon

Reformation Day
October 30th, 2011


Refuge and strength
Psalm 46

For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. A song.
1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
7 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.


8 Come and see what the LORD has done,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.
9 He makes wars cease
to the ends of the earth.
He breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the shields with fire.

10 “Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

It is interesting how different psalms seem to just speak into particular events and moments we face in life. They are words that capture our joy or pain and express them in a way that has been expressed by faithful people of God. It is as if God is actually speaking out our own response to what we are experiencing.


When I think of Psalm 23, I thing of comfort in the face of death – at a funeral, or in a war Zone with the padre reciting those famous words – The Lord is my shepherd…..even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil…..”


For those darker days when thing seem to overtake us; Psalm 130…

1 Out of the depths I cry to you, LORD;
2 Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cry for mercy.

When we need to feel the pain of God in the crucifixion of his Son and so, express our own sorrow for our sin and for the evil that we experience and do – Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me….”


As the church gathers in the presence of God and uses those bright words of Psalm 95 to gather:

Come let us worship the Lord, let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us shout aloud to him with songs of praise, for he is a great God, a king above all the earth, Come let us worship and bend low before the Lord our maker……”

And so it goes, Psalm after psalm gives expression to who we are , who we are putting our hope in and God’s understanding of our joy and trouble.

I did not really become aware of Psalm 46 until I learnt that it was the Psalm upon which Luther’s most famous hymn, “A Mighty Fortress” was based. To me, this psalm is all about hope – hope when there seems to be none; strength when there seems to be none left; future when there does not seem to be a good one.

Luther in his great inner struggle obviously found great solace in this psalm. So have others. So have I. It is the psalm for the darkness, the trouble, the evil and fear we face at times. When I think of this psalm I think of a huge castle with towers and turrets and security from the raging battle below. I actually think of the Wartburg Castle in Southern Germany where Luther found refuge when his life was under threat – as he went about translating the Latin, Greek and Hebrew bible into the language of his people – everyday German.

This Psalm covers those moments when despair and fear overwhelm us; it brings God’s hope in hopelessness…

In numerous letters, which she repeatedly begged her superiors to destroy, Mother Teresa describes her experiences of profound spiritual darkness that haunted her for fifty years. She admits that she didn't practice what she preached, and laments the stark contrast between her exterior demeanor and her interior desolation: "The smile is a big cloak which covers a multitude of pains. . . . my cheerfulness is a cloak by which I cover the emptiness and misery. . . . I deceive people with this weapon."

Mother Teresa describes the absence of God's presence in various ways—an emptiness, loneliness, pain, spiritual dryness, or lack of consolation. "There is so much contradiction in my soul, no faith, no love, no zeal. . . . I find no words to express the depths of the darkness. . . . My heart is so empty. . . . so full of darkness. . . . I don't pray any longer. The work holds no joy, no attraction, no zeal. . . . I have no faith, I don't believe." She rebukes herself as a "shameless hypocrite" for teaching her sisters one thing while experiencing something far different. David Van Bima of Time magazine calls this disparity between her private and public worlds "a startling portrait in self-contradiction" (August 23, 2007). The Journey with Jesus: Notes to Myself, Weekly essays by Dan Clendenin , Essay posted 19 November 2007

Psalm 46 is a psalm for what the 16th century Spanish mystic, John of the Cross (1542–1591) famously named, —the "dark night of the soul."


Some have drawn parallels between the experiences of Mother Teresa and Martin Luther (1483–1546). Luther used the German word Anfechtungen to describe his difficult interior struggles with God.

Anfechtungen; it's a word that's hard to translate but easy to appreciate. Anfechtungen came on before a crisis of certainty for which the believer could only cast himself upon the mercy of God. Martin Marty, the Amercian Lutheran writer, hangs his whole biography of Luther on the word: “God present and God absent, God too near and God too far, the God of wrath and the God of love, God weak and God almighty, God real and God as illusion, God hidden and God revealed.” Anfechtungen, says Marty, are “the spiritual assaults that Luther said kept people from finding certainty in a loving God.” The Journey with Jesus: Notes to Myself, Weekly essays by Dan Clendenin , Essay posted 19 November 2007

Luther found great solace in Psalm 46, and some have even called it his favourite psalm.

It begins with descriptions of global cataclysms—the earth giving way, mountains crumbling into the sea, and waters that "roar and foam." It speaks of global concerns (not unlike CHOGM concerns this week!). "Nations are in an uproar, kingdoms fall."

Nevertheless, says the psalmist, "The Lord Almighty is with us / The God of Jacob is our fortress." He advises us to "be still and know that I am God," for God "makes wars cease, breaks the bow, shatters the spear, and burns the shields."

In 1527, the "deepest year of Luther's depression" according to Roland Bainton, (Author of one of the Luther biographies) Psalm 46 inspired Luther to write his classic hymn "A Mighty Fortress" (translated from the German by Frederick Hedge in 1853): The Journey with Jesus: Notes to Myself, Weekly essays by Dan Clendenin , Essay posted 19 November 2007



A mighty Fortress is our God, a Bulwark never failing, Our Helper He amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing…..

And though this world, with devils filled, should threaten to undo us,
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him.
His rage we can endure, for lo! his doom is sure;
One little word shall fell him.


That Word above all earthly powers, no thanks to them, abideth;
The Spirit and the gifts are ours through Him who with us sideth;
Let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God's truth abideth still;
His kingdom is forever.

For Luther, we believers should not imagine that we will be spared "the flood of mortal ills prevailing." We can, though, experience a deep security in the words of Psalm 46 that however much the earth shakes, a more powerful God is with us and for us wherever we find ourselves.


We rest in the knowledge not that the darkness will always turn to dawn—Mother Teresa's "dark night" lasted fifty years—but in the confidence that God in Christ says to us, “I am more certain to you than your own heart and conscience.”


To unlock the gift of this Psalm and the gift of God’s hope in seeming hopelessness in this Psalm for the inner darkness we experience, we need do two things:


“Be still” before the Lord, and “know” that he is God.


Even when the basics fall away— even the really base basics, the foundations of dirt under our feet (like the people in Thailand are now experiencing) and those higher grounds that will save us from the rushing waters—even then as we free fall, we’ll have a refuge, an outpost, in this God of All Things.


Like an ever-flowing river providing sustenance to its people, He is there always, even as the banks crumble, as branches fall and are drowned in her depths, as giant boulders are consumed. Catastrophes, battles, inner and outward, loss, grief, despair, evil, fear of what will happen…all of them are depleted as the rush of God’s hope from the crucified man on the cross continues.


There He is, our crucified God whose words are cascading across the plains and off into the valleys, their force undiminished as the furthest of the mountains perks up and obeys his commanding voice.“Be still,” He speaks, and so it is, and the nations shudder with shock and awe at this power – the power to forgive and heal the wounded human heart.

Hosanna, Son of David, Save us. All power and glory to our Refuge and Strength, Jesus Christ; his kingdom and his Church is forever.



Freed to Follow - an exodus Journey Week 9

Sermon

Pentecost 18A
Sunday October 16, 2011.
Ocean Forest

Freed to Follow

Exodus 33:12-23

There are only a few people, senior to me in my life, with whom I have been able to share the kind of close intimacy that can handle personal challenge and experience true friendship at this deep kind of level that the Lord and Moses share in our text.

I counted up the people: there are about 8 people with from whom I will willingly take personal challenge and trust they are not out to get me or shame me and with whom I can dialogue and challenge and argue without threatening our continued relationship. I consider myself very blessed to have these people in my life. I need them and they need me.

I wonder whether we all want someone in our life that is ahead of us in experience or wisdom with whom we can really share what we really want, what we really value. How good is it to have at least one person in your life with whom you can take the risk of letting them see who you really are and what you really hope for and what your weaknesses are? How good is it to have at least one person with whom you can dice – challenge each other’s views, share concerns about each others dodgy behaviour at times, make comment on what is going wrong hen needed?

I find this little scene between the Lord and Moses quite inspiring. It shows me just what kind of relationship is possible between a holy and almighty and perfect God, and a person who knows his place but reaches out for intimacy and experience with the Lord. it shows me that the Lord is a friend to me first and a judge of me second. it shows me the goal of my life – to relate to the Lord as he relates to me – a very good friend who will not be a yes man, but a real man.


In this Exodus journey the relationship between the Lord and his chosen but flawed man, Moses, has been deepening. They have had their great moments of pain, their great moments of victory and joy, their great moments of trust and doubt, or perfection and total inability on Moses’ part, and their relationship has grown through it.


The relationship has grown so much that, as one of people said on Wednesday night, Moses can tell God what to do!
The people are now ready to leave Mt Sinai after their great sin against the Lord. Moses shows his huge heart for this dodgy community of people by interceding for them before God. He speaks so openly, honestly and with great integrity. There are few issues Moses needs to speak with his Lord about:


1. Moses’ continued authority and place as the Lord’s leader and who will be his helper, since Aaron has really failed as a leader Moses can trust:

12 Moses said to the LORD, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favour with me.’ 13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favour with you.”

In other words: Lord, give me a faithful and capable lieutenant to help me fulfil my calling from you and teach me how to do this calling.

2. The Lord’s continued commitment to his promise and plan

Remember that this nation is your people.”
“If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”

Simply: 'Lord, stay the course for us. Don’t leave us'.


3. And that is really the BIG issue in this moment of the journey that Moses raises – the Lord’s continued presence. That is what is at stake after the great “fall” of the Golden Calf. Moses needs to tell his Lord that the Lord needs to remain present and true to his plan and promise – lest all is lost.


The response is instant. The request from Moses, the man to whom the Lord could talk face to face, as a friend talks a friend is heard and granted quickly.

14 The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
“I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”

What a great gift. The Lord knows Moses by his name. Just as the Lord took the risk of giving Moses his own personal name way back when this all started, so Moses is now completely known by the Lord – by his personal name. The Lord knows Moses’ character, weaknesses, heart for people, humility and integrity. Moses trusts God’s commitment, loyalty, goodness and power to see this thing through together.

And yet, Moses has the trust and the desire to reach out to the Lord for more. Moses wants what no other person has asked for so directly. He wants an experience of the Lord at very close range. “Show me your glory” he boldly and plainly asks the Lord.

What a prayer! What a trust! This could actually kill him. Moses has seen the awesome power of the Lord at work. he has seen people be overwhelmed by the presence of the Lord, and this has been in a veiled way – in a misty, unclear, hidden cloud – the Shekinah – the “glory cloud”. Moses trusts the Lord completely and truly speaks with the Lord as a good friend.

Moses is asking for clarity. No cloud, no mist, full sight of the holy, direct connection with the Lord in all his fullness.


The Lord knows this would kill Moses.

19 And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”


21 Then the LORD said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”

The Lord is mighty and holy and pure and perfect and Moses is not. In a great act of kindness the Lord again takes a huge risk in showing Moses more than any other man alive has ever seen or known of the Lord. But because of Moses’ humanity, the Lord has to protect Moses when the moment is granted. Moses can only handle so much.

There is a deep humility here on Moses part. He is not on some glory hunt for some egocentric reason so he can say he is the most spiritual man alive. He is direct, honest and thankful to receive whatever the Lord determines because the Lord knows best. he wants to know the Lord and share in his character because he knows that is life and the future and the only hope he and his people have.

Friend, there is a vision of hat is possible here for you. There is an intimacy and friendship with the God of all creation in the offering here. The Lord went one even better than Moses when he himself entered into the human domain and took all unholiness, weakness, ignorance and evil into himself in that wretched man on a cross, Jesus of Nazareth, and dealt with it there and then, once for all time.

Jesus, the Lord of all things, the name above all names and the Saviour of all now offers you a great privilege – to be able to call this might God a name that is offensive to some because of the intimacy is seeks - ”Abba”, or “Papa”.

Because of what the Lord has done in calling us into this Christian church, this holy nation, this kingdom of priests for the world, we as baptised and loved children of God our heavenly Father may call God Abba, Papa. That is stunning.

Jesus called the Lord by this intimate name, EVEN IN THE PRAYER HE GAVE US TO PRAY – THE Lord’s Prayer….Our Farther….. it begins. Jesus gives us sinners permission to use this name.

Paul directs Christians to ponder this great gift and do it when he says;

15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”

The problem we have with intimacy is that it is risky for human beings. Intimacy with anyone on any level takes risk – the risk of being hurt, rejected, dismissed or misunderstood. that is how it is with human beings. But we are caught then, because we need intimacy at various levels to be fully alive and fully functioning follower of Jesus Christ and to be fully human – to enjoy life, to fulfil our calling, to experience the good stuff in this life and to have hope and courage and love and faith and hope.


What shall we do; keep self contained, not risk friendship, not seek the Lord simply but boldly like Moses, not show our hand lest it get chopped off by some unthinking or even hurtful person? The more we do this the less we can experience the glory of God – in the word, in creation, in people in life itself.


But what if we throw caution to the wind more often and truly reach out the Jesus Christ and his Holy Spirit as we talk to the Lord as a trusted friend talks to a trusted friend?


What if we reached out to each other more often in humility and simple honesty and invested ourselves in people around more and more, even taking a hit or two from time to time for the sake of experiencing more of God’s marvellous plan for our life and his hope for our future in him?


Is the Lord calling you in the Exodus journey to come out of the closet and seek him and others in ways you have not yet learned.


Is this a prompt to ask the Spirit to help you identify why your scared of and what is holding you back from giving yourself more fully to him and others – despite the risks?


Is this a call to inspire you – inspire you to speak with the Lord and trusted Christian friends, face to face, as friend speaks to a friend?


Surely we all have to pray that prayer of Moses, Lord, teach me your ways so I may know and continue to find favour, blessing and life in you” Amen

Freed to Follow - an exodus Journey Week 9

BETWEEN THE TEXTS



Week 9


• As Moses comes down from the mountain and his extended time with the Lord, receiving all the stipulations of this new covenant that the Lord had made and the people had agreed to, he is as angry as the Lord is as he sights the idol worshippers engaging in their “play” before the altar and the golden calf. Moses takes those God-carved stoned tablets and throws them at the idol and then exacts the Lord’s judgement on this sin.


• Moses never denies the sin and its consequences, and yet he shows his character by seeking to intercede for these wayward people before the Lord. In Exod 32:30-35, Moses says, “You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin”. Moses goes even so far as to offer his own life in their place when he says that if the Lord can not forgive this great sin, then the Lord should erase Moses’ name from the book of life! Surely here we see Moses as a precursor to Jesus Christ who would not only make atonement for Israel’s sin, but all sin of all time by the losing of his own life in humanity’s place.


• In Exod 33:1ff the Lord then commands the people to get moving toward the land he promised them. This is the beginning of the next stage of this long journey.


• Then we get this extraordinary description of how Moses and the Lord would “meet” in this “tent of meeting” and how Moses would then meet with the people in his amazing role of prophet, priest and king in this community. (read 33:7-11).


• Whenever Moses was seen heading out to the tent (some way out of the camp), people would rise and stand at the entrance to their own tent. When Moses went into the tent and the glory cloud then descended on the tent (and Moses). Those needing to seek the Lord/Moses on an issue would approach the tent. Somehow their need was communicated to Moses (and Joshua, his aid) and Moses would then speak the word of the Lord on the issue to people…. What a change from the lack of respect for the Lord and Aaron when the golden calf episode was in full swing!


• The we get this beautiful line, “The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend”. What a description of intimacy and trust between a holy God and a flawed human being!


• This theme of trust and intimacy is then filled out a little more as we get this very unique description of a conversation between “friends” and the granting of a life-long goal – Moses asks to “see/experience the glory of the Lord…..

WEEK 9 Exodus 33:12-23 (TNIV)


Moses and the glory of the Lord ( numbers relate to THOUGHTS - the bullet points below)

1 2 3 12 Moses said to the LORD 4, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name and you have found favour with me.’ 5 13 If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favour with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”


14 The LORD replied, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 6


15 Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16 How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us? What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?” 7


17 And the LORD said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.” 8


18 Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.” 9 10


19 And the LORD said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” 11

21 Then the LORD said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.” 12



THOUGHTS


1. This whole chapter is really about the continued presence of the Lord with his sinful people. They have been created as a nation, called as a nation, and given a treaty or covenant where the Lord commits himself to them, and they have “fallen”. This is kind a repeat of creation and fall in Genesis 1-3.


2. After this great sin against the Lord, and the ensuing judgement on it, will the Lord still be present with his people? That’s the question being tackled here.


3. God has said that he will not go with his people directly now. He will send his angel ahead, and now here, his “Presence” with them. The reason God himself will not go with them is because the Lord may “consume” or “exterminate” them as they keep on sinning against him! (see 33:5 and 34:14)


4. Since the Lord and Moses speak to each other as close friends, Moses now has this very close conversation, almost as an equal to the Lord) about his continued presence with them. Moses seems to be looking for some co-leaders to get to the promised and then to take it by force. He seems to be thinking ahead and counting the cost of what lies ahead. He will need 2IC’s to do fulfil his calling.


5. Again, Moses speaks to the Lord as a trusted friend would. He seems to be keeping the Lord accountable to his previous promises and actions in creating this nation and promising this land and future.


6. The Lord responds with grace and reassurance. he will be present in the journey ahead.


7. Moses presses the point and seems to be looking for more assurance as he speaks the truth; If the Lord does no go with them all is lost – for three reasons – If the Lord does not stay present then Moses will have no authority to lead, the people we will have no authority to fulfil their calling to be his holy nation of priests bringing blessing the all nations and Israel will be no more – just like every other nation.


8. What a response from the Lord. He will stay present on the journey. He will stay with this wayward people because Moses is faithful and his close friend whom “the Lord knows by name”. The Lord gave this man Moses his own personal name (YAHWEH) way back when this all started and now the Lord knows Moses’ name. This is a witness to the intimacy and trust that can exist between a human being and a holy God.


9. Moses asks a his friend (the Lord) to give him an experience of trust and intimacy like never before! He asks to Lord to “show him his glory”. Moses has been in this glory cloud environment and yet in the mist he cannot see. God clouds himself to protect the human being from seeing and experiencing what would be too much to handle. The Lord’s full presence where there is no cloud or barrier is too much for sinful humanity. But Moses trusts the Lord as a friend and seeks a deeper friendship and sharing of trust.


10. Amazingly, the Lord again says, Yes”; and maybe with a joy! The Lord after all has demonstrated by all that he has done from creation to exodus that he delights in human beings and wants to be live with them at close range.


11. This sin reality of a human being still means that the relationship between the Lord and his creation cannot be full – even for Moses.


12. It would be too much even for this friend of the Lord. Moses, to see God fully. So in another act of kindness for his friend, the Lord sets up this incredible experience in a mitigated/limited way – not out of holding back but from the goal of continuing the relationship of trust and intimacy they share. The Lord has to protect Moses so he does not get overwhelmed.

REFLECTIONS


1. With the Lord’s show of continued presence and promise we are set again for a renewal of the Covenant which had been given and broken at Mt Sinai. This happens in Chapter 34….. This journey will continue and God’s faithfulness to his promises will keep this people being a people who can fulfil their calling.


2. As Moses said, if the Lord withdrew his presence from him or the people, all would be lost. Same with us. However, as Moses also said, if the Lord stays with us in grace and mercy and power, then we have authority to live out our calling and our vocations and be the holy/set apart for a special purpose people – a people to bring God’s life and blessing in Jesus Christ to everyone we know.


3. What about this intercession of Moses? What a picture this is to inspire us to pray – to pray to the Lord of the universe, who just happens to be for us a heavenly Father who loves us and knows our name! At our baptism he gave us his name (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and he received us and our name. We are friends! We need to believe this and act like this in our praying life.


4. Moses gives us a vision of prayer not as a duty or a impersonal thing but a conversation between friends where we can ask for anything and speak about anything – our own fears, needs, hopes and trust the Lord’s listening ears. Jesus of course takes it up a notch when he spends all night in prayer with his Father and gives us his own prayer to pray with him and for each other – the Lord’s Prayer.


5. This is a vision of what is possible between you and the Lord Jesus and your heavenly Father. Moses had to take risks and ask. he had to go into that tent and talk. He had to decide to do that. So do we. We can seek this kind of intimacy withy our heavenly Father who allows us flawed people to even call him “Abba” or “Papa” (see Romans 8:15).