Bread of Life

Sermon

Lent 5A
Sunday April 10th, 2011

John 11:1-42

Bread of Life
Friends, I feel as though God has done some resurrecting around our community this week. Those 5 young adults from the US who have been living with some of us and ministering to kids in our congregation and in our college sort of breathed a breath of God’s fresh air into me and some others too.

There are still young “20 Somethings” in the world who trust in the Word of Jesus enough to give up money, status, home and family to go on the road and put themselves in all kinds of challenging places for the sake of the gospel.

There are Christians in the world and in our Lutheran global community who live in close community, intentionally practicing Christian fellowship at close quarters for the sake of seeking the Lord and speaking of the Lord to a generation needing a living relationship with the God who created them and gave himself for their forgiveness and new life in Jesus’ cross.

God arranged for this last week and he again delivered on his promise of breathing life into his people in various ways.

Can you believe again today that God is in the business of restoring hope and life into tired or doubting or distracted “old bones”?

That vision of that valley of dead, dry lifeless human beings rattling to life at the sound of God’s sweeping breath of life says that God is into renewing and resurrecting battered and tested faith. “Can I put life in these old dry dead people? asks God of the Prophet. “Only you know, Lord”, responds the Prophet. Then the Prophet sees God answer his own question as the bones rise, the flesh gathers and the bones rattle with God’s breath of life. What a vision to see! Yes, God can and does put life into lifeless people.

And what about this detailed and heavily laden account of Jesus resurrecting his close friend Lazarus we hear of today. This is Jesus’ last and sign of his new life coming into the world. It is just before his final and greatest sign – his own resurrection from the dead.

This smelly resurrection is a sign; a sign of what Jesus’ cross and his own resurrection do for people he loves. Jesus has the power, the authority, the love, the commitment to raise us up to new life in dead sinners. Jesus raises us up. Jesus gives us a hope that no one or no thing can give us – a hope of resurrection; now and at the last. This hope and this power and authority which comes to us in the Word of Jesus is life – life that only God can give and does give.

Paul knows God’s breath of life – he knows the power of the Spirit working faith and love into his own soul when he says…..

If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you,

he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies

also through his Spirit that dwells in you.   

Romans 8:11

The Spirit lives in you and me. He is at work always. Sometimes he presents a particular way of renewing and bringing hope back to a place.

I think God has been sending a message of hope and challenge to us who have experienced things this last week. This is not only through the encouraging ministry of those 5 young adults from the US (and Denmark), but also in the work of John, our Principal, as he carefully navigated his way through two very positive meetings with parents across the school this week. Hope is in the air, I reckon. Why shouldn’t it be? Hope is the Easter Lord coming to us again.

The hope is that God is here and God knows me and wants the very best for me – in all circumstances.

The Challenge is that I need to seek that hope – not just in my mind but by real risk. Here’s an example from our own community this week.

Leanne, Mike, Ben/Cecilia and Carrie and Phil were all probably unsure as to what having a young American in their home for week would be like. This stranger would get to see us up close and personal because we were going to let this person into our home for a whole week. What if this stranger did not like us?


What if we did not like them? What if they misunderstood us and judged us harshly? It was a risk to let these young Americans into our homes and our community.


Same for me as a Pastor. What if they say things I don’t agree with? What if they tell our college kids things about the faith in ways our church would disagree with? What of they got it wrong when dealing with staff. What if they let staff down and so made it that little bot harder for staff who are way out on the edge of faith and the church to draw nearer? Should I let them lead the whole service last Sunday and preach the sermon?

God asked us to let them in, and I believe, Him, into our lives this week in a way that we all found challenging. We had many questions and we felt there were risks associated with letting God into our homes and our community in this different way than normally happens.

With faith in his goodness and trust in what we have learnt so far about Jesus’ way of doing things, we did it. We took the risks, left the many questions unanswered, left things a little loose, let things be a little uncontrolled and messy. By God’s Spirit, we put faith in God’s ability to draw it all together for the good of those who love him.

You can hear how God responds to our little actions of putting our hand up and letting him into out lives or letting him take us into a zone than is a little uncomfortable. He blesses that risk-taking faith!

Mary, Martha, Lazarus, a whole community of mourners, a community of scoffers and a whole world of sinners saw the risk that God took in taking on the darkness, evil and sin of humanity on that cross. We have seen the risk he took in becoming human and enduring all that he let happen for the sake of love – for yours and my sake.

In our baptism we are living, breathing bones made flesh and breathed on by the breath of God – the Word of God seeping deep into our souls.

Easter is coming. Palm Sunday songs will turn to dark silence and sleep on Maundy Thursday. We will gather with fellow Christians from the Anglican and Roman Catholic traditions on Good Friday to reflect on our own death and resurrection and we look into face of Jesus in his suffering. Easter Sunday we will know the light and the hope of God in Jesus empty tomb.

But will we “go with it”, friends? Will we let God speak to us this time around? Will we put our hand up, put away our fears, get rid of our distractions and let the Spirit of God take us into uncomfortable places or comforting places – usually both?

Breathing bones we are. We are God’s framework of real life in Him. By our baptism we have been revived to life and by our baptism we are called to follow his lead.


We thank the Spirit of Christ for the renewing work he has done through the New Vision Team and our college leadership and for the work he promises to do as we open ourselves up to his word and his call this holy week coming soon.

Breathe on me, breath of God,

fiII me with life anew;

that I may love all that you love

and do what you would do.

Public Domain, Original form of melody

from Aaron Williams ‘Psalmody in Miniature’, London, 1778.

TiS 407, LHS 129



back to basics

Sermon:

Lent 1A
Sunday February 13th, 2005
Ocean Forest

Back to basics

Matthew 4:1-11

As I look around the house that we live in; the house we built but the bank mostly owns, I wonder if it is too much – too excessive? I think about 2/3 of the world’s people living in tents, refugee camps, slums, simple earth floor huts, very simple houses – one basic bathroom, one basic toilet, maybe running water….. I wonder whether the more you have the more you have to worry about, maintain and focus on.

I remembered hearting a sermon by Pastor Geoff Burger, who was the Pastor at St Johns in Northbridge and also WA District President for some years. He quoted a thought provoking book called, “The Progress Paradox – How life gets better while people feel worse”, by Gregg Easterbrook.

The author suggests from his considerable research that we do have so much more than our parents and grandparents but we are still generally unhappy, maybe even more unhappy more of the time than they ever were!

The author suggests that our society is changing.

“The wealthy and the typical people do not live fundamentally differently to each other. The well-to-do have the most of everything, have it in higher quality, and their worries are fewer- although this does not necessarily make them happy. But there is no longer a great dividing wall between the basic structure of daily life for the wealthy person and the typical person". (p31)

"The wealthy and the average person live about the same way, have about the same education, drive on the same roads, visit the same hospitals and for good or ill, share the same basic cultural experiences, namely TV and movies. It is increasingly difficult for the wealthy to find anything exclusive”.

Now, he suggests that all this change is contributing to some new apprehensions…


• Choice anxiety: The overwhelming choice on offer makes us feel trapped and creates an anguish. Try buying some “soap” or “toothpaste”!


• Abundance denial: We seem to construct elaborate mental rationales that keep us believing that we are deprived – that we haven’t got it good enough yet, that we are somehow poor and this makes us always dissatisfied and unhappy.


• Collapsed anxiety: We seem to have a widespread feeling that the prosperity we are enjoying will come crashing down because of environmental damage or mysterious market forces or freak catastrophes, or terrorism, and so we can never enjoy what we have or even life itself. We just feel unhappy.


• Revolution of satisfied expectations: We feel uneasy when the much longed for thing has been purchased, when the goal has been reached, when we have actually gained the things we dreamt of.


• From material want to meaning want: There is s fundamental shift going on from wanting material satisfaction to finding the meaning of it all. Trends show that more of us are gaining a higher level of material lifestyle and yet, we sense a lack of meaning to it all.

If we are experiencing all these worries, as Easterbrook suggests, then something I often hear now makes complete sense. I so often here people say, “we need to get back to basics” or, “we need to keep it simple”, or, “it’s still the simple things in life that are the best”.

I reckon we all want to find the heart of life and the soul of us. We want meaning for the jobs we do, the dreams we have, the children and grand-children we love, but we are scared of giving up the stuff that we have been striving to gain all along. We want to find God and stay close to his son, Jesus Christ because we know his word and his love – but…..there is all of this clutter and maybe this general unhappiness?


Enter Lent. Enter Jesus – cut down to the barest bones. Alone. Alone in a hostile place. Alone in a desert and surrounded not only by dingoes and bears and snakes, but demonic forces. Matthew used a word that means demonic forces to describe what surrounds Jesus up on the mount of temptation.

In his hunger, loneliness and need, Jesus is offered it all – wealth, power, world-wide recognition, fame, supernatural power to avoid death. He is offered the world’s happiness – the very thing that we are chasing harder than ever, but finding more and more illusive!

In this moment where Jesus is cut right back to very basics of human life he finds something that can only be found when the clutter of normal life has gone and he stands completely dependent on the help and strength of his Father in heaven.

He stands against the very attractive but deceptive offer of quick money, quick fame, the fast track to the easy life by proclaiming what the very basic thing of our life is. Not only do we all need food, shelter and water, but we need every word that comes from the mouth of God.

That is getting right back to very basic stuff of what it is to be truly human and being human beings in harmony and at peace with our creator. Getting back to basics as we face all the anxieties of our current situation is depending on every word that comes to us from God.

So, resisting temptation to follow our own whims and so reject God’s will and purpose for our life is done by relying on, seeking, finishing, hearing every word that comes from God.


And what is that Word essentially? The word from God is THE WORD – Jesus Christ, the living word sent from above for the salvation of the whole world. He is the living word who speaks to us through his chosen ways – through his Word as we read it in the scriptures, hear the scriptures preached, encourage each other with words from the Scriptures, see the scriptures acted out in liturgy, music, prayer and above all, in baptism and the Lord’s supper.

Friends, Lent is a time to voluntarily strip away a trapping or two of our compressed and often crowded lifestyles. Lent is a time to get back to the basics of who we are and what the Lord is giving to us, telling us, calling us to do….. Lent is a time to hear EVERY word that comes from God – not just the nice words that affirm us and speak so well of his grace and love for us – but also those words of Scripture that are a little tough to understand, a little difficult to take, that require a bit of effort to seek.

Lent can be a time of finding out is we have lost the basics; if we have lost our bearing a bit; if we have replaced the basics of the faith- namely – a daily seeking of the Word. Lent is a time to see if someone or something has far to stronger hold on us.

Voluntarily putting ourselves in a similar position to Jesus on the hungry, thirsty and even lonely mountain can reveal much about the state of our faith. Fasting, doing extra acts of serving others, giving more of our time, money and talents are all Lenten things to do. I know of families who turn off the TV for all or part of every week of Lent. The time is spent in reading things of a spiritual nature instead. After the first few days, the great cries of anguish come to an end and they get to the Easter and TV is not really that important anymore.

I am praying that each of us might take on extra acts of service or give up something this Lent. The reward is knowing more about yourself and where you are at with the Lord. The benefit is renewed faith, renewed love for the Lord’s church and its mission. The reward is a very special Easter. Easter become a truly joyous occasion when you take that first bight of chocolate for 6 weeks!

May this “40 days” be time to rediscover your purpose and get back to those basic things that make life truly meaningful and satisfying and of great benefit to those around us.

Tattoo You

Sermon, Epiphany 8A
Sunday February 27, 2011.
Ocean Forest

Tattoo You

Isaiah 49: 8-16a

I don’t know that I am really into tattoos that much. Sometimes I think they look quite artful on some people and sometimes I think they look ugly. Footy players, cricket players, rugby players , movie stars… all seem to be into tattoos in a big way these days – tattooing a whole arm for all to see.


Living in NZ for a few years was interesting. The Maori culture is big on tattoos, especially those mean looking warrior-type men with tattoos all over their face.


Lots of women are into small tattoos these days too it seems. We have a couple of tattoo parlours in Bunbury here that look quite well frequented.


I thought about getting a tattoo when I was younger. A good mate of mine had a musical treble clef on the back of his shoulder which could only be seen when he wore a singlet. He was a drummer in our band. It looked cool. It was small and you could cover it up most of the time. I got to thinking, “What is the point of having a tattoo if it is so small and always hidden anyway?” He thought it was important to have one though.


That has made me think that tattoos are not only about showing something of yourself to others. They are also about showing something to yourself. They seem to be an expression of a person’s identity not only for others to see but for the person to remember about themselves.


For my drummer friend, maybe the musical clef was him marking himself out among others as a true musician. Now, in band land, drummers are not always given much credibility as actual musicians. Drummers are often not musically trained and are looked down on by other “true musicians” in the band. So, maybe my friend’s tattoo was about standing up for himself or reminding himself that he was a “real musician” (which he was. He taught music and drumming and could read music a lot better than me).


I listened to this beautiful word from Isaiah the prophet this week and initially did not really connect with it. I read all the way through it and then finally got to the last line…

“See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands”. Isa 49:16a

I have heard this before and thanked God that he remembers me in this way. I have up to now thought that God had written my name on the palm of his hand – like a year 10 girl or boy does when they are “in love” with someone.

But I wonder whether I have got the full picture of this beautiful picture about how God remembers us. Could it be that God has got a lot of tattoos? Could it be that God has not just written my name on the palm of his hands and maybe has got a picture of me on the palms of his hands? He has “inscribed ME” on the palms of his hands. More than my name – but ME.


Whether or not it is our names or a picture of us that is inscribed or tattooed on the palms of God’s hands or not, the outstanding message from God today is that he remembers us and knows us – permanently. The thing about tattoos is their permanency. Once they are there they stay there – unless one goes through surgery to have them removed. What makes tattoos special is their permanency.


Permanently – that is God’s word today. Just like a Roman soldier was tattooed with SPQR, the sign of being a soldier of the Roman Legion, God has permanently tattooed himself with you and me.


He likens his remembering of us to that of a woman breastfeeding her new child – surely a thing of great compassion, tenderness and deep love between mother and child.


When his people accused God with being forgetful of them and so completely doubted and misunderstood the extent of his memory, commitment and compassion for them, God reminds them of his memory and what it means for their relationships with him.

Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Isa 49:15

It is very easy and common for us to forget that God remembers us and is lovingly disposed towards us. Any number of experiences and events can challenge our trust in God’s knowing and caring for us. It has been a long spring and summer with so many natural disasters and human made tragedies close to home and abroad. People are asking, has God forgotten us? We see those pictures of that beautiful city of Christchurch and that magnificent cathedral now in ruins and find ourselves doubting God’s memory and interest.

Conflict in relationships of any kind, but especially with those close to us, really knock our faith too. As do many other things. Isaiah says that we can feel like some captured soldier hiding in a dark cell hoping that the occupying soldiers leave us alone in our misery and fear, and yet, at the same time wanting all of this doubt and fear to be over – wanting to bust out of this prison.

Today God says, 'it is OK to come out'. There is no need to fear him anymore.

….Say to the prisoners, "Come out," to those who are in darkness, "Show yourselves". They shall feed along the ways, on all the bare heights shall be their pasture; Isa 49:9

Friend, whatever is causing you to doubt God’s memory and deep compassion for you needs to no longer do that. Come out today and feed on the bread that is true, the bread of life, the river of life, the living water that quenches the thirst of your soul. Come to Jesus, the lover of your soul and the giver of sight to the blind, the giver of freedom for any captive, the healer of all disease and fear.

He has broken out of this human prison of doubt and mistrust of God our Heavenly Father and opened up for a way to live well, live fully, and live for others who struggle with trusting his compassion.

Whatever happens, God has got you tattooed in his skin. Your sin and fear were the cuts and the piercings of his body on that cross and they are no longer fatal. Our sin is no longer fatal. He has been resurrected and yet still bears our marks in his glorified body, as Thomas found out as he plunged his own finger into the wounds of the resurrected Jesus.

Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb?

Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Isa 49:15

“See now, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands”. Isa 49:16a



Living Together God's Way

Sermon, Epiphany 7A (Proper 2)
Sunday February 20, 2011.

Ocean Forest


Living together in God’s wayLeviticus 19:2-18

Friends, I could not go past this first bible reading from Leviticus. It is all about being community. When you put these ancient directives into our current place, it makes for challenging but also enlightening and helpful hearing – a word from the Lord about how we are to be together in every sphere of life.

We hear God shaping his people in their desert wandering community. God speaks his vision of community to his people on the journey so that they can truly live in his land, hi s presence and with others in his world.

So, we do well this morning to hear these very practice directives on how to live together in God’s mission community so that we actually LIVE – TOGETHER with God’s peace and power at our core.

19:2 Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.Sounds impossible! But not if we trust that Jesus makes us holy and acceptable to a perfect God in our baptism into his death and resurrection. So this is really more: Stay in my holiness and be like me in holiness.
All that we will be instructed in is about remaining in God’s holiness and life

19:9 When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very edges of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest.I hear God saying – don’t be takers, but givers. Yes, take what you need from planet earth, from your work, from people’s generosity, but leave other people plenty. Leave food, money, a room, a chair for another – especially those in need. Don’t take everything from what you earn or gain in life. Leave room for generous giving of heart, things and wallet.

19:10 You shall not strip your vineyard bare, or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard; you shall leave them for the poor and the alien: Why leave room for generosity to others? Because the poor matter and people’s needs matter to God. The ground matters. Plants and animals matter. People matter. We, the holy community of God in the world are called to value the needs of others and our planet and respond accordingly.

19:11 You shall not steal; you shall not deal falsely; and you shall not lie to one another.
No one likes having their stuff taken. It creates mistrust and suspicion among people. And of course, we know the damage done by hurtful and harmful words spoken by whatever means, be it SMS, email, phone or face to face. So for the community of God, words are a premium gift to be used very carefully and with all wisdom from God. Careful words create community.

19:12 And you shall not swear falsely by my name, profaning the name of your God: I am the LORD.It is a very serious thing to call down God’s name as the reason or authority for your actions. Have you ever had one of those conversations where you disagree with a person’s attitude or action and they say, “Well, God told me to do that”. The conversation is over and somehow, things were not the same as they used to be between you.
We want to be very careful and quite sure of God’s will before claiming we are doing it! Paul says there is no law against loving our neighbour. As we love and give, we are on the right track and in God’s will.
On the Name of God; well it is a shame that the Lord’s name is taken so lightly and is so often profaned, but all we can do is use it to do what he intended it for – as Luther says… ”to ask for help in any kind of trouble, and to praise, thank God”. (Small Catechism). That is what God gave us his personal name for.

19:13 You shall not defraud your neighbour; …. and you shall not keep for yourself the wages of a laborer until morning.I think the message here for us to be open and free in our giving of what we owe people, or, to not tightly hang on to what we owe to someone until we absolutely have to give them. Instead God’s way is to pay what we owe straight away and move on so that all remains well between us, because if there is one thing that causes the community lots of grief, it is money and lack of payment of money!
Unpaid debt in money or kind can cause a rift between even the best of friends or between family members, and this is tragic because it so unnecessary.

19:14 You shall not revile the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind; you shall fear your God: I am the LORD.Yes, that is why our school has a support program for all kinds of children and young people and their parents! I think God is affirming us here for our attention to people’s different needs in learning, business, sport.

19:15 You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor.We are not free to judge our neighbour with malice, hatred, or spite but only justice – God’s justice, which is never with only mere punishment in mind, but some punishment and mostly restoration to the community.
As for unjust judgment, that is hard to tell sometimes isn’t it? Sometimes there are no winners and everybody loses in a situation, no matter what the judgment has been. I think of the fires a couple of weeks ago and the justice of it all when we found out the off-duty police officer had no intention whatsoever of destroying 60+ homes. He was just carelessly using his angle grinder….
But, even though injustice can be sometimes very hard to discern or judge, we are called to try and find God’s restorative justice in every situation; whether it be in protecting our God-given environment, another person or a whole country.

19:16 You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbor: I am the LORD.We are not to be “Underbelly” kind of people! Any underhandedness, deceit, dishonesty, intended or unintended hurts the community greatly. When we share this kind of behaviour we exasperates the problem 10 fold. We all know this and yet, we seem to find it hard to say less rather than more.
We need to keep learning how to control the tongue which is like a ship’s rudder – small but hugely influential – says James in his letter.
We really do need to learn more and more to not get ourselves in what they call “triangulation” where instead of telling another person who may have wronged us or upset us about how we are feeling and what their actions have meant, we actually get used to telling them directly. Sure we can gain support from another friend and maybe even ask that friend to support us in some way as we reach the goal of speaking directly with the person who has wronged us – but in the end our goal is that, and not to share the issue with anyone or everyone.

19:17 You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. 19:18 You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.I don’t think any of us want to hate anyone, it is just that we seem to let hatred develop over time. It usually comes from being hurt and not talking about our hurt with the person who hurt us or even a good friend. We hold it too long and then are quite guilty for feeling hatred for another person.
God is calling us to “reprove our neighbour”. In other words, tell the person who has hurt you that they have hurt you, as soon as you can – even before the sunset at the Apostle Paul says (Ephesians 4:26).
This lessens the likelihood of carrying anger and it turning into bitterness and hatred – which is so destructive for the one carrying it and the whole community.
God says we are accountable for the hatred and bitterness we carry – even though it came as a result of someone else’s wrong. We need to take learn how to tell each other when we hurt each other and so, save ourselves a whole lot of guilt and trouble.

So, there it is; God’s practical direction for us here and now.

We might feel overwhelmed with our inability to do any of this and we might view God as having unreasonable expectations! But he says he gives us these directions not because he is some harsh school master waiting to see us fail, but for our good – our life – our well-being.
Paul can say that “all is yours” in 1Corinthians 3. All the wisdom, power, gifts, ability, faith and love are already yours in Jesus Christ. You have received him and his community in your baptism and as we actually do these directives on living together, we will actually LIVE – TOGETHER.

Instead of depleting each other, hurting each other we will help each other live – live in God’s grace and peace and be at each with each other more and more.

I am praying we take God’s practical direction into our heart and then try them and see how God uses us to be life bringers in our community so that we actually be the community through which others in this place receive the love and blessing of God in Jesus as their Saviour. Amen

The Garden of Good

Sermon:

Epiphany 6A (Proper 1)
Sunday February 13, 2011
Ocean Forest

1 Corinthians 3:1-9

The Garden of Good

And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready,for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations?


For when one says, "I belong to Paul," and another, "I belong to Apollos," are you not merely human? What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each. For we are God's servants, working together; you are God's field, God's building.






Since Leanne and I and the kids have moved into the house we built in April last year, we have been going about the task of establishing our garden. Of course, as a bloke I am most interested in the growth of the lawn. I think I like lawn because I get to use power tools on it often – my Dad’s big reel mower and the 1000W whipper snipper!

Leanne, however, is into flowers, trees and veges. But given our different interests and way of going about things, we are still on the same page. We both want the garden to grow and be healthy.


Over this summer it has been my goal to help our rather water deprived new lawn establish itself. At the same time, Leanne has been planting all this stuff and tending it regularly. It is quite a pleasure of an evening to both be doing our own thing in the back yard, planting, watering, seeing some results, but also wishing there were more immediate results at times too.

I wonder whether that desire to see fast results is the beginning something unhealthy or ungrateful towards God?


Paul speaks of this planting and watering imagery in our text as he tries to help the people in the Corinthian community deal with some unhealthy things that have beset them.


He paints that beautiful picture of people working together in a garden with the same purpose – one planting, one watering: Each person labouring; putting in time, work, thought – in different ways but for the same purpose.


The interesting thing is that he says while this is the vision for the Christian community to live in, it is always God who actually makes the thing grow. It is only God who has the authority and power to make a thing grow – or make a community healthy and full of colour and life – like our garden!


Even though Paul says that the Christian community is at its best and its most healthy when people are planting the seeds of faith and nurturing those seeds with one purpose and with the good of the whole community in mind, he then has to name some unhealthy things that must have been happening in the Corinthian church.


There seems to be people taking sides on some issues. People seem to be so entrenched in their disagreements that they have begun to use Paul, Apollosand Peter who at various times led this community into existence as the authority behind their strong stand against the other side of the argument they were obviously having.


That would be like me telling Leanne that Dr Phil says that gardening is bad for you and that she is doing it wrong – not according to the Dr Phil handbook and Leanne telling me that I am doing it all wrong because I have no idea about lawn because I have not read the “10 steps to healthy lawn” book by the Garden guru!


If we held that line then we would not be planting and watering with common purpose and our garden would suffer and so would we. The enterprise of working with God in the establishment of a lovely garden (because only he gives the growth) would be hard, disagreeable and actually life-taking, not life giving.


Same with what we are involved in here in this community and in our families and jobs as disciples of Jesus. If for whatever reason we stop working for the common good and mostly work for ourselves in God’s mission to make this community and our families beautiful gardens of colour and life and healthy growth, we will do great harm to the planting and watering of the precious seed of the gospel of Jesus, and harm to the people in whom it is seeded.

But here is the thing: our waywardness or disagreement or lack of understanding about the seed, or where and how to plant it or where and how to nurture it for healthy growth in the garden of our family and community does not mean that God stops growth and healthy community and life growing. Sure, our arguments and disunity can hinder the growth, but God does not withhold the growth, however slow it may be in unhealthy conditions.

Despite the conflict and sometimes hurtful words and actions that we are capable of doing and saying that hinder the planting and seeding and growing process of God, God still tells us who we are. We are…


  "……. God's servants, working together; you are God's field, God's building".

And that is who we are now: God’s servants. We are God’s people whom he is calling to get on with the life-long business of giving our lives in service to the garden God is growing – a garden of people – people needing the word of Jesus to planted and nurtured within.


It is a good garden. It is a garden with colour and life and an eternal future. It is a diverse garden – different kinds of plants, but all with their place and their purpose – from ground cover to shade and a place for the birds.


Friends, we serve the Lord in his garden. He gives the growth. Our task is to plant and water together and in as much harmony and common purpose as we can muster. In this way the seeds of the good news take root and people receive the living water they need and the community of God grows and lives in his power and life.


We are God’s field.. So, in as much as it is up to you, plant well water well, and together with others in God’s garden of good – his good and life-giving purposes.


Amen.

Light

Sermon, Epiphany 5A
Sunday February 6, 2011.
Ocean Forest

Matthew 5:13-20

Light

There is a moment in the movie, Gladiator, starring Russell Crowe, where Russel’s character, Maximus, one of the reluctant but great generals of the Roman Empire under Marcus Aurelius speaks of light. In a rare personal conversation with the ailing Caesar, Marcus Aurelius shares his own haunting questions about himself with his favourite, but battle-weary general. he asks Maximus (and himself) what he, the great Marcus Aurelius has really contributed to Rome, the world and history. “Will they call me Marcus Aurelius the Wise? Will they remember me as the great leader who gave Rome back her soul? Will they call me Marcus Aurelius The Tyrant?
The general cannot stomach such searching questions. They call into question everything he has been fighting for these long years. He has paid the price for serving a grand vision of humanity – Rome. he and his many soldiers of Rome have lived to raise the sword and declare “Roma Victoria!”. “Rome is the Light” declares the general. I will not believe I have fought and men have died for nothing. Rome is the light. I have seen much of the world. It is dark. It is brutal. Rome is the light….”.
The weary man hangs on the belief that there is light. For him Rome is the light – “civilization” in chaos, peace in war, home and safety in trouble and travel, hope in despair, beauty in ugliness, colour in darkness.
We all need the light. We all need hope, especially in the long battle with evil and trouble and sin we face. Where is it? Where is the Light for people these days?
Maybe it is East of here – ancient mystical practices of prayer and meditation and health and fitness?
Maybe it is in Karma, reincarnation, yin and yang, what goes around come around, and “pay it forward” – do a good deed and it will one day be returned.
Maybe it is a very large Taj Mahal like mansion on the northern shore of the Swan Rover in Perth – until it all goes bankrupt!
Maybe it is in the innocence of a child’s beautiful face, the embrace of a lover, the power of calling the shots, the precious commodity of a 40 year mostly happy marriage, the satisfaction of influencing others for the good?
Where is the Light?
“You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colours in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light- bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven”. So we are the Light, according to Jesus! Actually we and our behaviour are the Light of Jesus.
“Make your light shine, so that others will see the good that you do…”
Old fashioned isn’t it? “Good works”. Sounds very outdated and easy to dismiss as quaint. As if a good deed is really all that Light of God.
Well, it depends on where you are standing. If you are in the darkness, then even a faint glimmer of light pierce the darkness and brings hope.
We did not know what we had got ourselves into really. We were young parents of two little kids. it was summer as we moved into a shoebox of a house that had not been looked after or even cleaned. Actually it was an absolute mess when we arrived and started the long job of unloading our belonging into this house we were making our home for the next 5 years.
The day did not go well. All the anxiety of the last 3 months in transition seemed to rush at us as we begrudgingly began to clean up the mess left behind by the previous tenants. Then a few other things went wrong during the day, including the front tap coming adrift which meant we had to turn of the mains water…..!
Some old friends turned up late in the day to say hello. Without saying as much they must have senses that we were in the pit. It wasn’t just the things going wrong but the full weight of an emotional roller coaster that we have been on and apprehension about how we were going to survive in the weeks and months ahead. They sensed it and they responded.
My mate drove me down to the paint shop, bought the paint to fix up the grotty lounge room and got to work on painting. It was a difficult paint job because the ceiling had exposed beams. So it took 5 X times as long to do what they did. They left at 2.30am. Not a word of complaint; just good spirits and good works.
That was light in our darkness.
It was not only what they did but how they did it – who they were in that moment of need.
Jesus is Light. He knew what he was getting himself in for – when no one else really had a clue. Jesus said he would pay the ultimate sacrifice for not just one person or a couple but a world and all their darkness.
With every blow of the leather and metal into the flesh, every blinding drive of the hammer into the palms and feet, every gasping breath as his body defied gravity, he soaked up the darkness of us all took it to the stony silence of that tomb.
He has not painted a ceiling with paint but a human community with his blood and his blood has covered us with light.
He is calling us to get up on that hill and shine, not as moral superiors or lazy and wayward boasters in our own dim light, but in his Light he; he is calling us to be Light and do light – the light of openness, compassion, faith, self-discipline, action, generosity, honesty and real love.
Friends, God is not a secret to be kept. The grace of your baptism, the life blood of the holy meal, the peace of the absolution, the power and guidance of his Word is not to be hidden by those of already lit up by the Spirit.
Our experience of God and our trust in him is not to be hidden as if it is something so very personal and to be seen as no one else’s business. Another mate of mine told a story a couple of decades ago about walking down the Hay Street Mall in Perth and being confronted by a Scientologist doing one of their crafty little surveys. My friend was most offended. He argued that people should not survey people about their faith in God because it is a very personal thing. He reckoned the offence would the same if some random person came up to you and started doing a questionnaire on your sex life!
We have both moved on from this very “personalised” view of our faith and see now that this would be an opportunity to be light revealed, not light hidden. Jesus is alight in us and we are light – the “Light on the Hill” as Slim Dusty used to sing.
Friends, this community needs light – it need your light; Jesus light. it need good deeds. Faithful people being themselves and doing what they can where they can and letting the Spirit put it all together in his time and way.
There is darkness and there is trouble here – of course there is – it is human!
But we are here and so, Jesus is here. The light is here. He is calling us to do light and be light. Paint a ceiling, fix a computer, throw a party, listen a lot, pray to your Father in Heaven for your friends and enemies.
We can do these things. You don’t need to be some trained professional or some influential “leader” type or person. You can just be you and do the things you hear Jesus calling you to do and this is enough and this is obedience and faith.
“Light a fire under it”, people. You are His light. Amen.

All or Nothing

Sermon. Epiphany 4A
Sunday January 30th, 2011.
Ocean Forest.

All or nothing

Micah 6:1-10

Friends, there are times and places in life when you just know that it is “all or nothing”.


When there has been major conflict between you and your spouse and the moment for honest talk comes, it is all or nothing. The moment demands total honesty. If this is not given and received, the moment is lost and the conflict continues and deepens.

The sporting field is a snapshot of life. It has moments of “all or nothing”. I think back to that drawn AFL Grand Final last year between St Kilda and Collingwood. It was all or nothing and the feeling of emptiness those players felt was palpable as the reality of having to turn around and give it all again next week set is because the game was drawn.

Any final in any code is all or nothing and everyone knows it. That is what makes any final of any sporting code special. The coach barks out the order, “Leave nothing on the field!” In other words, half measures are not good enough today. It is all or nothing today. Any fudging of responsibility, blaming of others or the situation, laziness, lack of attention and discipline will just not cut it as we all work toward the great victory and prize….

Of course, fighting a war is more all or nothing than fighting a football match! I listened to some of the many interviews with Western Australian soldier, Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith, in the wake of him being presented with the Victoria Cross in Perth on Tuesday. It was interesting that he said, as many soldiers and sport people end up saying, that you really give your all for your mates.


Yes, you play for your team, give all or nothing for your country, risk injury or even death (as a soldier), but on the ground and in real time, you fight for your mates. It is all or nothing – for them.

I hear in the bible words for today that it is all or nothing in life - in our relationship with the God of all life. It is all or nothing. At least, this is what I am confronted with in this lawsuit God raises against his own people in Micah 6.

It is a trial. God is the accuser. His creation (mountains and hills) are the witnesses. His people are the accused.


6:1 Hear what the LORD says: Rise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.
6:2 Hear, you mountains, the controversy of the LORD, and you enduring foundations of the earth; for the LORD has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel.
6:3 "O my people, what have I done to you? In what have I wearied you? Answer me!
6:4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of slavery; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

God asks the question any innocent party who has been offended, attacked, hurt or betrayed asks. “What have I done to you to deserve your disregard, your arrogance, your rejection of our relationship history together”? What have done to deserve your offensive and hurtful behaviour against me? Answer – nothing.

Then God calls to mind for the people some of the many gracious and kind words and deeds he has done in the long years of his care and protection and love of his people.

6:5 O my people, remember now what King Balak of Moab devised, what Balaam son of Beor answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the saving acts of the LORD."

When the Israelites first entered the land that God gave them under Moses’ successor, Joshua, after Moses was taken to be with God, the Lord fought for them, gave them direction, military victory and delivered on his promise to give them peace, a place, a name, a community, a future together with him.


Then the “all or nothing” question about what will heal this broken relationship between the people and the Lord……..


6:6 "With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
6:7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?"

Shall we come to the Lord with a hundred stories of our greatness, how we have loved people, how much we have served others, how great our sacrifice for others has been.


Shall we come to the Lord telling him how religious we have been—always attending worship, always putting money in the offering plate and given to charity, always doing this or that?


Shall we come before the Lord boasting of our integrity – how we have been “a good person” and not deliberately tried to hurt anyone as we have lived without faith, thanks or even much regard for Him and his word and his direction and love for us?

Shall we come to the Lord telling him how we have done great things our way, without much help—how we have triumphed in our own strength and wisdom over trouble?

No, says God. I desire mercy for others, not the outward “show” or a thousand sacrificed bulls. I desire the whole heart and commitment and humility, not just an outward sham. I desire you – all of you – not to own you but to love you and heal you and teach you.

A relationship of hope, peace, direction, fulfilment and meaning with our Creator only comes from the heart, not any kind of outward show. God is not impressed with our grandstanding and big noting of ourselves in whatever form this takes.


God is not impressed with our words and behaviour that says one thing on the surface but does another thing in action. He is not a God who promises the world and then goes about forgetting us or condemning us. God does not stay in high heaven and watch us all from a distance without heart connection to us. He is involved in our fragile, and passing life.


He has entered our humanness by being human with us – and all for love of us, in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.


God is an all or nothing God – giving us all, not withholding anything of his wisdom, will and compassion. Jesus has drunk the cup of human sin and suffering to the last drop. Once for all he has made things right between us and between us and God who we now know as our kind and loving heavenly Father.

God is calling us to “get real”; to “keep it real”, between us and him. There is no saying we are “Christian” while ignoring the need of the world or the need of our children, family and friends.


God is also calling us to live in the way of Jesus – all or nothing when it comes to serving, loving, praying, bearing witness to God’s way of things among others…

6:8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice,
and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Are you looking for God’s will in your marriage, your job, your study? Are you looking for someone to make life clearer for you, give you a way of approaching the whole thing? Are you looking for what is real, what makes the difference between a life lived for lack of a better idea and a life lived with guts, love, long-term love, meaning, purpose, drive?



Here it is – “do justice, and love kindness, and walk humbly with your God”


The thing is that we have not got a snowball’s chance in hell of doing this? We are so prone to deceiving ourselves and making anything but the Living God the thing we bow down to with time, money and effort. We are deeply flawed people who find it so hard to remain “real”, truthful and aware of ourselves and others and we seem to exchange a living relationship with the God of the universe with just about anything else that has more immediate and visible benefits – money and the stuff it surrounds us with, wine, women, song, self-help, eastern mystic experience, the pursuit of happiness, “Eat, Pray, Love”, and all that….


One thing stands between being surface level people when it comes to God and being deep in the living water of God’s wisdom, love and justice – repentance – all or nothing – nothing hidden, nothing held back, no pretending, grandstanding or ignoring of the awesome power and love of the God of life and death – Jesus Christ, the one and only healer of our souls and giver of real life and peace that the world cannot give.


It is giving of ourselves in repentance and faith – turning away from ourselves and our weakness and offensive words and behaviour against God and trusting his word of grace and mercy for us in Jesus.