Sunday 27 February 2011 2 Corinthians 5:1-6:2, Matthew 6:9-15, Bruce, Forgive our sins as we forgive those who have sinned against us.

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, (Romans 1:18)

We walk through a wilderness of suffering, disconnection and pain, a bit like visions of future in a Terminator film. Every human institution and grouping seems touched with self-serving and cruelty, and each individual life ends in hopelessness and death. We construct bubbles for ourselves where we can be happy, but reality intrudes. It is no wonder that the singer who has spoken most to me is Leonard Cohen.

The dominant emotions that we bring with us from the caves and the steppes are anger and fear. We see these in our lives, our families, our associations and groupings, in our communities and nations, and in the church on earth. The human condition centres on a dis-ease where we find it hard to let others live as they would; we find it hard to forebear or to forgive. Those who are politely brought up make an effort to rub along with others in a ‘civilised’ way, as one must in towns and cities where we are close to each other; we deplore the ‘lads and laddettes’ culture where politeness is no longer prized – but we should recognise that this merely reveals the underlying ever present selfishness of the soul.

Church life, at least in the Church of England, is founded on the middle-class virtues of a vague politeness and keeping others at arm’s length. When we share the Peace, we act out our shared gospel life, as symbolized in the bread we share; actually we hardly know each other.

Into the midst of this shines the light of Christ. “The earth is the LORD’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;” (Psalm 24). We dare to believe that the life of a humble peasant preacher in an occupied territory 2000 years ago has a transforming relevance for all of history and for every life. God’s love, grace and forgiveness shine out like the sun, falling on everyone in the world. Some choose to cover themselves up, to hide from the sun’s rays, to stubbornly remain pale, and so there are those who refuse God’s love. Nevertheless, Jesus prayed forgiveness on his persecutors and killers, without waiting to see if they repented or asked for forgiveness.

Jesus shines as the one human who was perfectly in harmony with his Father, and who lived a life of humble service and obedience, always doing the will of his Father. He can help us who find our whole beings in opposition to God’s will, because he showed us the Father’s love when we were still enemies, and died for us without asking for anything in return. As a result we are called to follow him in lives of service to the Father’s will. Our many shortcomings and missings of the mark are forgiven because of his free love and unmerited grace.

The transformation comes first to the individual. “But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance.” (Romans 6:17) That we have come to obey speaks of our wills being realigned, and the pattern of teaching speaks of the learning and reading that informs and helps us; pre-eminent though is that it is all “from the heart” – we love him because he has first loved us.

“The greatest truth about ourselves is not that we are damaged or dysfunctional, but that God loves us.” (Pilgrim Way p. 171)

Our whole task therefore is to love God and neighbour. This leads us to a growing realisation of God’s free forgiveness, and of our constant and growing need. We take seriously the doctrine of the Total Depravity of humankind: it is not that any of us is as bad as we might be, but that none of us is a good as we should be. The General Confession asks God to have mercy upon us “miserable offenders”; this does not refer to an emotional state of sadness, but to our realisation that we are always in the condition of asking for mercy and forgiveness. We have a continuous need for the cleansing and forgiveness that comes from the cross. In other words, when we are scuba diving we need not just an initial or occasional gulp of air, as if were buddy-breathing, but rather a constant flow that enables us to survive. As we receive forgiveness we are transformed so that we can better reflect this love and forgiveness to those around us.

Our forgiveness is not conditional upon our forgiving others. Rather we cannot forgive others unless we have first received that forgiveness and the process of transformation has begun. The inner, spiritual life is one of attention to the Father’s will. “Brother Lawrence said that many do not advance in the Christian progress because they stick in penances and particular exercises while they neglect the love of God which is the end.” The regular times of prayer, the Practice of the Presence of God, the 60/60 challenge, all of these point to a walk of faith where we accept failings and disappointments but cling to the continuing kindness of God who forgives us and transforms us by the presence of his Spirit within us.

We expect, therefore, that we will encounter people and situations that will trouble us and try our faith; very often our natural response will be anger or fear, and the temptation to seek our own way. As we reflect on this recurrent process, we see ourselves at times needing fresh forgiveness, and at other times being in the blessed condition of reflecting God’s forgiveness to others.

God places us in a koinonia or fellowship. This is a great support to each individual, but it is also an opportunity to see the gospel at work in groups, and to build community and to unite fractured relationships. The sociologist will expect a process of Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing in each group. People are polite and welcoming at the introductory icebreaker phase, but the gloves come off as we get to know each other. The temptation is to take our ball off to find another group of chums who are ‘like us’; the challenge is to receive forgiveness and to exercise that among each other. The church is not a club or a merely human organisation, but a reflection of a three-fold love that alone can bring us together united in the love and forgiveness of Christ. This dynamis of love and forgiveness is needed at every level as groups within the church are looked at as cliques, and as people at different services in the same congregation fail to connect, and as the church in any town or locality is fractured into different denominations. We need to respond to God’s forgiveness with a shared determination to do his will and share a vision of what he is doing in our community; in the light of this we will find grace to share his forgiveness with each other and the wider world.

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 88:22,23)

Each of us carries a candle, as it were, that points to the light that already shines but that not all can see, and also to the coming time of light when there will be no need of grace or forgiveness because Jesus will have made all things new. In the meantime every act of love and prayer in accord with our Father’s will is a bringing of God’s forgiveness into this present fallen world.

The heart of it all is to receive God’s forgiveness in Christ. It is to live attentively in communion with God. We give up trying to love or be joyful, full of peace or patience; we recognise that we cannot be kind, good or full of faith; we have no power to be gentle or to exercise self-control. Rather we seek to respond to God’s love and to walk in step with his Spirit, whom he has shed God’s love abroad in our hearts.

Discussion Starters

1. Is there anything or anyone that we can conceive of that God would or could not forgive?

2. What do we find the most problematic part to be about the doctrine of forgiveness?

3. If we need to pray for our daily bread, how often should we pray for forgiveness?

4. Would you like to be prayed for to help with any part of this topic?

Sunday 20 February 2011, 1 Timothy 6:3-10, Luke 11:1-13, Give us this day our daily bread, Bruce

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

The first part of the prayer is Godward, concerned with his name and his will. It could be summarised “You’re the boss!”

Now we come to the part of the prayer that can be shocking. In this pattern prayer that teaches us how to live and how to pray, Jesus tells us to make requests of God for ourselves.

Give us today our daily bread. The word daily is tricky, and various suggestions have been advanced about what Jesus meant by it. Does it mean give us enough for today or tomorrow, or does it mean give us what we need for today? Various respectable authorities have had a go. The most persuasive argument I have seen is by Kenneth Bailey in his book Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, and I have reproduced it for you in the light blue supplement. He takes it to mean “the bread that does not run out”. Jesus is encouraging us to believe that God will always supply everything that we need. This is the antidote to the corrosive fear that we will at some time be in want. Our loving gracious Father will provide for us. Jesus backs this up by telling the story of the man who must find food for a traveller who has arrived in the night; is there any doubt that he will be provided for? Of course not, and in the same way God will meet our needs. Later Jesus tells us to look at the birds of air, the flowers of the field, and consider how God cares for them; he also cares for us. This is a prayer for deliverance from fear of want.

Note, however, that it is a prayer for bread, not cake. “Those who want to be rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.” Nowhere are we promised a life of unearned luxury, or more than we need. “Consumerism and the kingdom of mammon have no place among those who pray this prayer. We ask for that which sustains life, not all its extras.”

Note also that we ask for ours, not mine. In all of our prayers as well as in all of our spending decisions we are called to remember the needs of others, and to take steps to help. This lies behind the generosity that provided the money, drugs and other materials that are on their way to Uganda with Christopher this morning. This inspires us to be involved in events such as a FairTrade pancake party for Mardi Gras on Shrove Tuesday.

The prayer reminds us that all that we have is a gift, a loan from God. We are stewards of all that we have, entrusted to us by God. There are those who are uncomfortable about asking for specific things for ourselves. This may be about money or food, or about other things as mundane as a parking space. I believe Jesus invites us to keep up the conversation with God (do you remember that we mentioned 60/60 last week?). As we continually pray “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”, so we are kept from selfish, self-aggrandising prayers and we are led to ask for those things that will help us to be disciples and servants, to build community and help others encounter God; in other words, we will become more Christ-centred. Remember that we are asking for God’s kingdom and will on earth as well as in heaven; God is not interested only in the spiritual or the ethereal – this earthly creation matters as well. Jesus had a real body that could be hungry or tired, and he knows that we also have needs.

The earthly and heavenly are brought together in the sacrament of holy Communion. Jesus asked us to remember him by breaking and sharing bread, an everyday staple of life, making sure that each one has enough, and that all are included. I have included a short excerpt by Tom Wright on the front of the blue sheet.

Above all, be confident that our Father God loves us and desires the very best for us. We should pray for our needs, for the needs of those around us, for the relief of neglect and poverty throughout the world, and for grace to work hard to help others out who are in need.

Discussion Starters

1. This is the central clause in the Lord’s Prayer. How do you think it might have been received if it were the first?

2. How do you respond to the suggestion that we should pray for specific things such as a certain sum of money to cover the budget, or for a parking space?

3. What does daily mean for you?

4. Do you have any pressing needs that we can pray for you about?

Sunday 20 February 2011, 1 Timothy 6:3-10, Luke 11:1-13, Give us this day our daily bread, Bruce

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

The first part of the prayer is Godward, concerned with his name and his will. It could be summarised “You’re the boss!”

Now we come to the part of the prayer that can be shocking. In this pattern prayer that teaches us how to live and how to pray, Jesus tells us to make requests of God for ourselves.

Give us today our daily bread. The word daily is tricky, and various suggestions have been advanced about what Jesus meant by it. Does it mean give us enough for today or tomorrow, or does it mean give us what we need for today? Various respectable authorities have had a go. The most persuasive argument I have seen is by Kenneth Bailey in his book Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, and I have reproduced it for you in the light blue supplement. He takes it to mean “the bread that does not run out”. Jesus is encouraging us to believe that God will always supply everything that we need. This is the antidote to the corrosive fear that we will at some time be in want. Our loving gracious Father will provide for us. Jesus backs this up by telling the story of the man who must find food for a traveller who has arrived in the night; is there any doubt that he will be provided for? Of course not, and in the same way God will meet our needs. Later Jesus tells us to look at the birds of air, the flowers of the field, and consider how God cares for them; he also cares for us. This is a prayer for deliverance from fear of want.

Note, however, that it is a prayer for bread, not cake. “Those who want to be rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.” Nowhere are we promised a life of unearned luxury, or more than we need. “Consumerism and the kingdom of mammon have no place among those who pray this prayer. We ask for that which sustains life, not all its extras.”

Note also that we ask for ours, not mine. In all of our prayers as well as in all of our spending decisions we are called to remember the needs of others, and to take steps to help. This lies behind the generosity that provided the money, drugs and other materials that are on their way to Uganda with Christopher this morning. This inspires us to be involved in events such as a FairTrade pancake party for Mardi Gras on Shrove Tuesday.

The prayer reminds us that all that we have is a gift, a loan from God. We are stewards of all that we have, entrusted to us by God. There are those who are uncomfortable about asking for specific things for ourselves. This may be about money or food, or about other things as mundane as a parking space. I believe Jesus invites us to keep up the conversation with God (do you remember that we mentioned 60/60 last week?). As we continually pray “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”, so we are kept from selfish, self-aggrandising prayers and we are led to ask for those things that will help us to be disciples and servants, to build community and help others encounter God; in other words, we will become more Christ-centred. Remember that we are asking for God’s kingdom and will on earth as well as in heaven; God is not interested only in the spiritual or the ethereal – this earthly creation matters as well. Jesus had a real body that could be hungry or tired, and he knows that we also have needs.

The earthly and heavenly are brought together in the sacrament of holy Communion. Jesus asked us to remember him by breaking and sharing bread, an everyday staple of life, making sure that each one has enough, and that all are included. I have included a short excerpt by Tom Wright on the front of the blue sheet.

Above all, be confident that our Father God loves us and desires the very best for us. We should pray for our needs, for the needs of those around us, for the relief of neglect and poverty throughout the world, and for grace to work hard to help others out who are in need.

Discussion Starters

1. This is the central clause in the Lord’s Prayer. How do you think it might have been received if it were the first?

2. How do you respond to the suggestion that we should pray for specific things such as a certain sum of money to cover the budget, or for a parking space?

3. What does daily mean for you?

4. Do you have any pressing needs that we can pray for you about?

Sunday 13 February 2011, Acts 1:1-8, Matthew 6:5-13, Bruce, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”

May it come – thy kingdom, Let it be done – thy will. Again we look at a part of the Lord’s Prayer that speaks of God and calls us to fall in with him. Last week I talked (at some length) about the nature of prayer, and reminded us that these are not merely words to be recited but a prayer to be lived. God’s kingdom must come, his will must be done, but Jesus asks us to pray for it. Just as to ask for God’s name to be hallowed calls for us to live holy lives, so if we pray for God’s kingdom and will, we are calling for us to live obedient lives.

Jesus spent his life announcing and bringing in the kingdom of his Father.

At key points Jesus demonstrated that he was utterly determined to do only the will of his Father in heaven Thus he was baptised to fulfil all righteousness, in accordance with his Father’s will. In John 8 we read ²⁸ So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. ²⁹ The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.” On one occasion he reveals his own wishes about how a particular situation might turn out, but makes it clear that he is interested only in his Father’s will; thus in Luke 22 he prays: ⁴² “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” The writer to the Hebrews explains that Jesus saw himself as fulfilling the prophecy in Psalm 40: Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll— I have come to do your will, my God.’” (Hebrews 10:7). This last is a reference to an obscure piece of Old Testament law, where Jesus seems to echo the words of the servant who is determined not to go free, but to remain in service, obedient to his master’s every wish. It is the undoing of Adam’s fatal desire for independent thought and action.

This is the prayer Jesus lived and breathed, and it is the prayer that he gave to us as well. It is the prayer we utter when we look at a world that seems so far from being under God’s control. Jesus, by his birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension has inaugurated the kingly rule of God on earth. Tom Wright says it is as if the researcher has discovered the wonder drug that will cure all diseases. It is as if the composer has produced the most sublime, transforming work of music. Only he could do this, and he has done it once, in history, and the whole world has been changed. We come along afterwards, as the healers who will dispense the drug and bring healing, as the musicians who will play his music, and bring delight and transformation to others.

We pray also that God’s will and kingly rule will hold sway “on earth as it is in heaven”. This is not to wish for pie in the sky when we die! We Christians believe most firmly that God’s presence is to be felt throughout his creation. Just as the scriptures, the creeds and the tradition all affirm that we will be resurrected bodily in the next life, so they also affirm that God’s spiritual reign suffuses all of our created existence here on earth. Walter Wink calls heaven the transcendent “Within” of material reality. Because of this, we are set free to experience God opening up possibilities and making the impossible possible. We should expect to see God at work here on earth. More than that we long, we yearn to see illnesses cured, people blessed, righteous governments installed, wars ended, everyone with food and clothing and shelter. Jesus came to bring in the kingdom of God, but he also instructed us to pray for it; I believe we are being called to a deeper, more desperate level of prayer: how much does it matter to you that God’s will is done here in Camberley?

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. This is a prayer we can pray when we do not know what to do. There is a choice to be made, each alternative has much to commend it, we are unsure of our motives, and we try to let God know that we will be happy to fall in with whatever he sends us. It is the prayer that Jane and I prayed at the time of our interview before coming here.

This is the prayer that we pray when we are at a loss. We face a tragedy or circumstances so troubling that we cannot rationalise, comprehend or just cope with them. We are reduced to silence and trusting that God, our loving Father, will show us in time how these events are being worked together for good with everything else in his kingdom, and how his will is good and perfect.

This is the prayer that can lead us from the general to the specific. As we continually bring a person or a situation before God, and ask for his kingdom to come and his will to be done in them and for them, so we might feel his Spirit leading us to pray for some specific outcome or answer. We always do this in humility, longing only for our Father’s loving gracious will to be done.

This is the prayer that reminds us that we can never bring the kingdom in by ourselves. How often have well meaning Christian folk set off to transform a situation in their own strength? In nearly every case that we try this, we will at the very least waste our efforts, and most often cause great harm and lead God’s name into disrespect. This is how people have actually started wars in the name of the Prince of Peace.

This is a prayer that we can use as we seek to encounter God and grow in him. I am reading the works of John Burke, who has promoted the 60/60 Experiment. You may be familiar with Paul’s command to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17), and dismissed this as an impossibility. Burke has revisited the writings of Brother Lawrence, a monk in the 17C, and brought the concept up to date. Try to remember God at all times, he says, and of course you will fail; but keep trying and put up post-it notes to remind you, and notes under the fridge magnet. Most imaginatively, he suggests setting your watch or mobile phone to beep every hour, and remember God. Every hour, on the hour, wherever you are, thank God for his love, receive his forgiveness, be open to his leading, and in today’s context – pray for God’s kingdom to come and for his will to be done, right now, where you are. I think of the servant with the pierced ear, hovering by the doorpost (there are notes that explain this concept on the pink supplement).

Next week we turn from the prayers that are Godwards to the first of the prayers that Jesus tells us to pray for our own specific needs. In the meantime I encourage you to join me in praying for God’s kingdom to come and for his will to be done, one earth as it is in heaven.

Discussion Starters

1. Where do you feel closest to the kingdom of God, and where or when do you feel most distant?

2. What experiences have you had of seeking the will of God, and have there been times when you have felt that you have known it?

3. What situations that you are currently aware of, lead you to pray for God’s kingdom to come, his will to be done, here on earth, now?

4. What matters would you like others to join with you in prayer for? Why not join together in prayer right now? (Matthew 18:19,20)

Sunday 6 February 2011, Romans 8:12-17, Matthew 6:5-13, The Lord’s Prayer, Bruce

Today we begin a series of five Sundays looking at the Lord’s Prayer. As part of the block of teaching recorded by Matthew in what we sometimes call the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus turns to the subject of prayer.

He specifically talks about the private, interior world of prayer, and contrasts that with the way that some love to pray openly, volubly, at great length, reciting things that they hope will impress by their quantity and persistence. All of this is unnecessary, Jesus says, because our Father already knows what we need. And then he goes on to tell us how to pray.

So the paradox is that prayer might seem unnecessary, but we are to do it anyway.

The answer is that we are drawn to a relationship with God. Our purpose is to Encounter God and Grow in him, that is to have personal experience of him, to get to know him better and better. No matter how much we have experienced in our spiritual lives to date, we can always go further, go deeper. If we feel that we have not started, hardly know God at all, then Jesus here presents us with the easiest and most gentle start to our Christian adventure.

It is good to pray. We know this because Jesus here tells us both to do it, and how to do it. We know this because Jesus himself did it. In Mark 1 we read that “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” This was obviously unexpected because Simon comments that everyone is searching for him. In Luke 6 we read “One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them ...”

Most naturally, we feel the impulse to pray. We feel drawn to seek contact with God. Very often I will pop into the church during the week and there will be someone sitting in silence. When times of difficulty come, we feel the urge to reach out to someone greater than us. It is how we are made.

It can seem difficult, mysterious, complicated, and we can feel ourselves to be untutored, unready or unworthy to communicate with God.

Here then is Jesus’ gift to you, a few words that have been in constant use for 2000 years. They sum up the relationship that God longs to bring us into, and suggest the ways that we should respond.

First, note that we are to call God Father. This is Pater in the Greek, and most experts agree that Jesus almost certainly taught the prayer in Aramaic, and used the word Abba.

We find it difficult to understand just how amazing, revolutionary this is, and on two counts.

First, Jesus uses the language of the street to talk to God. You do not need a degree or to come from a particular class or race – anyone is free to encounter God. There is no hidden code or special formula – just talk.

The Jews of Jesus’ time would have conversed in Aramaic or used Greek in everyday life, but they were trained to pray in classical Hebrew; to this day a Jewish boy coming to Bar mitzvah learns the correct responses off by heart in Hebrew, even if he has no idea what he is saying. Until relatively recently all Roman Catholic worshippers learned the words of the Mass in Latin. Our neighbours next door say Friday prayers in Arabic even if they do not know what the words mean. God is mysterious and therefore it seems fitting to address him in suitably reverent language. There is a suspicion, spoken or unspoken, that somehow the language of the Book of Common Prayer is more spiritual or fitting, precisely because it is more difficult to follow.

Jesus, on the other hand, instructs us to be familiar with God. “There is no sacred language, there is no sacred culture. All of this is a natural outgrowth of the incarnation. If the Word is translated from the divine to the human and becomes flesh, then the door is opened for that Word to again be translated into other cultures and languages.” (Kenneth Bailey, Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes).

More than that, we are to call him Abba, Father. This was eye-brow raising in the time of Jesus, and it is a problem to some today. Abba is the term that one uses to one’s father, implying love and affection, bound up with a proper respect that there should be in families for our elders (!); it is a very human term and one that Jesus seems to have made his very own for addressing the divine. There were many more respectful terms that were used in prayers of the time. The God we pray to is not addressed as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, although that is who he is, but that would be of special reference to the Jews; he is Abba Father, the God to whom any human can pray. God had described himself as father of the whole nation (Out of Egypt I brought my son Israel), but no-one spoke of God or prayed to him in the intimate personal terms that Jesus taught us to use.

God is Father. We are called into relationship with him. It is not enough to read about him, discuss him, sing about him, help maintain a building and organisation dedicated to worship and teaching about him: these are all good, but they are the external things pointing to the reality inside. We are called to know God personally, to experience his love and reflect it in lives of worship and service. Anything less is to have the beautiful white dress but no bride to go in it, the cradle and layette but no baby, the artful table setting but no dinner to eat! It is simple and heart-touching ... we are to call our God Father; anything else misses the depths of love in the Father’s heart for each of us.

To speak of God as Father does throw up problems for some. Is this language not too male, reflecting a patriarchal view of society that is outmoded and inappropriate? Kenneth Bailey comments that the bible describes God using both male and female images. On the one hand he is given the title Father, a male image. At the same time, believers are told that we are “born of God” (1 John 3:9). If God gives birth, then God acts like a female. These two are brought together in Deuteronomy 32:18: “You were unmindful of the Rock that begot you, and you forgot the God who gave you birth.” Jesus uses images where he compares himself to a “mother hen” or to a woman who finds her lost coin. Paul uses the language of human birth by longing that “Christ might be formed in you”.

And what are we to say to those who have had bad experiences of their own father? It is part of growing up to find out that our father is not faultless, perfect, ideal. Usually we get a perspective later in life; "By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he's wrong." ~Charles Wadsworth

It is true, however, that some have been cruelly treated, or neglected, or abandoned by their own father. How can this be helpful to them?

All that we can say is that Jesus himself defined what Father looks like. He told a story that is often called the Prodigal Son but should rather be titled the Prodigal Father. In a culture where the offending younger son should have be ostracised, thrown out, banished for ever for his appalling treatment of his father, the father instead breaks every convention. He longs for the return of his errant son, throws all dignity aside as he rushes to welcome him, and treats him with a grace and kindness that most would say is totally unearned. The heart of the Father is to reach out to and welcome, to nurture and to give. Every human father should aspire to this, every one of us who is a father is conscious of failing to live up to it completely. Every one of us, fathers and children, are blessed that we do have a heavenly Father who welcomes us, blesses us, heals us, cares for us, and seeks to share his life with us as we open ourselves up to him.

You might be thinking that this all seems too folksy, too casual, smacking too much of the “Heavenly Dad”. I would say first that if some others do seem to speak like this, or relate to God in that way, and it gives them joy and helps them to Encounter God and Grow, then we should rejoice with them and for them; we can leave it to Father God to sort them out!

I would also say that he is Our Father in heaven ....

Folk in the time of Jesus very often lived in the same home or certainly the same small village; mum and dad were just around the corner, or next door. In our disconnected world our parents can be miles away, but this was not their usual experience. And yet there was a respect within the family; Abba means more than Daddy.

Also we remember that we live within creation; our Abba Father made it all. We live and die as created beings; our Abba Father is eternal. We are faithful servants; he is the master. Abba, the loving Father, is approachable and yet dwells in awesome majesty in the heavens in all his glory.

Furthermore we are to pray for God’s name to be hallowed, to be made holy.

This is a mystery, even a paradox. God is holy, the source of all holiness. If we ask for his name to be hallowed, it is as if we were to ask for wood to become solid or for fire to become hot; they already are.

This is an example of what is sometimes called the “divine passive”. It starts with God, flows from him, and invites us to be caught up in it, to fall in with it, to submit to his will. The third commandment is to reverence the name of God. God’s name is holy, but it can be defiled. Paul alludes to Isaiah and Ezekiel when he comments that the sinful, hypocritical behaviour of religious people causes God’s name to be blasphemed among non-believers. (Romans 2:24) God is holy, his name is holy, and therefore our heart’s desire is to be holy. Every time that we pray the prayer that starts “Our Father”, we are asking God to change our hearts and inclinations so that we will think, feel and act in ways that cause the name of God to be honoured and revered. Having a bumper sticker that says “Jesus saves”, or “come to Alpha”, and then driving in an aggressive manner will not cause God’s name to be hallowed. Being known as a Christian but having a careless tongue or a contentious nature will not cause God’s name to be hallowed.

Jesus taught us to pray Our Father, who art in heaven. We are invited into the family, where Jesus is our elder brother, modelling for us a life of prayer and trust. The prayer leads us into a new relationship with God and with each other. It takes seriously the fact that we are far from perfect and that we need forgiveness. Abba Father loves us as we are and is not waiting until we improve before he will welcome us into his family. Jesus, who taught us this prayer, chose to die on the cross for us when we were still sinners. He loves us now, is praying for us now, and invites us to pray with him.

We are not to recite the Lord’s Prayer, as it were, on automatic pilot without thinking about it. May I encourage you to set the timer on your watch or your phone to beep every daylight hour? For the next week, pause every 60 minutes or so, thoughtfully say these words, and particularly reflect on how we are living can cause God’s name to be hallowed, or not. Give thanks for his Father’s love. Try to anticipate what I might say about “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” next week!

Questions for discussion

1. Jesus spoke against dry repetitive prayers, and then gave us the Lord’s Prayer. What is the most useful thing about the prayer to you?

2. How helpful do you find the concept of God as Father or Jesus as elder brother?

3. What does it mean for you, for God’s name to be hallowed?

4. God is holy, God is Father; in what practical ways can we help each other to live this out?

THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE 30 JANUARY 2011. Hebrews 2: 14 – end, Luke 2: 22 – 40, ROBERT

I think the first thing we need to do is to catch the atmosphere of this most beautiful and moving passage from Luke. A young couple bring their new baby (just over month old), 60 miles – probably walking most of the way – from Nazareth to Jerusalem to present their first-born, their pride and joy, to God in his most holy place, the Temple. Think of a couple proudly bringing their first baby to baptism here and you will imagine the picture. We don’t know what time of year it was, but always making sure the baby was warm and well wrapped up, and yet no doubt having something smart – probably handed down in the family like a christening robe – to wear for this very special occasion.

Under the Old Testament law, which Luke is careful to emphasise, they had to wait forty days for purposes of ritual purity before the mother would (so to speak) go public, and – under a separate Old Testament Law – the first born son would be dedicated to God. In theory, this meant that the child belonged to God and would spend his life in his service, but in practice the child would then be ‘redeemed’ – or ‘bought back’ – with a sacrifice (Lev 12:8), which would be a lamb for those who could afford it, or two pigeons or doves (as in the case of Mary and Joseph) who could not. It was symbolic, but behind is always the implication that our children really belong to God, and we are given the great responsibility of stewardship in bringing them up and sending them out into the world. This Temple ceremony would be very simple and no doubt routine for the Temple priests, but always special for the parents. How well I remember my own huge emotional pride in bringing our first-born daughter to our church for baptism.

They wouldn’t have expected anyone to take very much notice of them in the throng around the Temple courtyards – it was highly special for them, but not for anyone else – but, to their amazement, two old people pick them out as if by instinct and home in on the baby.

The first is the old man Simeon, who (we read) was righteous and devout, and was waiting for the ‘consolation’ of Israel. That’s a very interesting word to me, and often passed over. What does it mean in this context? What was he waiting for exactly?

He was obviously not one of the young hot-heads – the would-be revolutionaries, looking out for any opportunity to put a knife in the back of a Roman soldier, or trying to whip up a crowd to rebellious fervour.

This word Luke uses, translated here ‘consolation’ of Israel in verse 25 is very interesting. It refers literally to someone who is ‘called alongside’. It’s the same word as John quotes Jesus as using in John 14:16 in reference to the Holy Spirit. There Jesus says he will send down another ‘Comforter’ (AV) or more generally in modern translations ‘Advocate’ (NIV ‘Counsellor’) who will come to our aid. So Simeon sees in this baby the one whom God would send to ‘come alongside’ Israel in its suffering and oppression, not as a military commander, but as someone who comforts the suffering, brings relief to the oppressed, and speaks out on behalf of those who have no voice of their own. It has to me the same connotations as Matthew’s use of the word ‘Emmanuel’ – God is with us – alongside us – God is for us. And, of course, I see here also a reference to Hebrew chapter 2, our first reading (which sits so well with this Gospel reading), where Jesus is described as our ‘brother’ who shares out humanity and (v.18) - because he suffered himself when he was tempted - is able to help those who are being tempted, as we are.

Simeon is prompted by the Holy Spirit to come into the Temple when Mary and Joseph are there. God has promised him that he will not die until he has seen with his own eyes the ‘Lord’s Christ’ or God’s anointed one. Then – seeing Jesus – he takes him in his arms and praises God in the words so familiar to those of us who used to say Evensong – the Nunc Dimittis. Now he can die in peace because his eyes have seen ‘God’s Salvation’ – the Saviour sent by God to his people, and the one who will fulfil the task in which Israel had never succeeded – to be the light of God to the whole world.

Then Simeon blesses the child and turn to address Mary with words of prophecy that hint of suffering to come. Jesus will become a man who stands squarely across our path and whom we cannot avoid. And either we will be attracted to him and embrace him and follow him. Or we will find him an obstacle to our path and want to rid ourselves of him. And as we are compelled to make a decision about him one way or the other, so our inner thoughts and motivations will be revealed, stirring up either loving loyalty, or a road-block which can stir into hatred. Simeon sees in this moment of prophetic insight that

this Saviour, this Anointed One, must become therefore a focus of controversy who will inevitably bring his mother much grief and pain.

His words are immediately reinforced by Anna, who spent every day in prayer, fasting and worship in the Temple area. She comes up to them at that very moment and Luke tells us that she then begins to speak to everyone who will listen that this child would stand at the very focal point of what she calls ‘the redemption of Jerusalem’. The word ‘redemption’ speaks of sacrifice, as does our first reading from Hebrews,(and remember that the reason Mary and Joseph have come to the Temple is to ‘redeem’ – or literally ‘buy back’ Jesus with a sacrifice), but for Anna, everything centres on Jerusalem and especially the Temple where sacrifices were taking place every day. Could this Jesus become the one, great sacrifice which would eclipse all others and atone for the sins of the whole world?

It is such a powerful and human story, and so full of meaning, we have only begun to touch the surface in the time we have. But what can we take from it this morning? I want to suggest that we pause, firstly to look backwards and then to look forwards.

As we reach the end of Epiphany, look back to Christmas for a moment. This baby in the Temple was God coming to share our humanity from birth right through to death. As this passage from Hebrews chapter 2 says, ‘he had to be made like his brothers (and sisters) - (that’s us) - in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest...’ He was born to be, in Simeon’s words our ‘consolation’ – that is, the one who comes alongside to be our advocate before God; our comforter in sorrow; (remember that the word ‘cum-forte’ is Latin and means not someone who just sits and says ‘there, there’ but someone who comes with strength (like a fort) to lift us up out of the pit; our strengthener in temptation and hard times, our counsellor in times of trial, our true and constant friend. This was the baby who was to grow and become strong, and be filled with wisdom and the grace of God. And we thank God this morning for Jesus who is beside us in every experience of life.

And we also today begin to look forward, as we begin our approach to the season of Lent and Good Friday. For this is the baby who is himself to be the sacrifice (Hebrew 2:17) ‘that he might make atonement for the sins of the people’ and win for us forgiveness for the past, and hope and freedom for the future. This supreme sacrifice will not come without great cost – it cost Jesus his life and his Mary terrible grief. So, as we come to Communion, we thank God this morning for Jesus who is to die on the cross to redeem us all, and to be a light to all nations – and today to each one of us.

He stands across our path and brings us up short, just as Simeon predicted, and demands a response. And some will welcome him from the heart and become his loyal followers, and some will find him a road-block to be bull-dozed out of the way. Those two miraculously come together in the spotlight of the cross. But his presence in the world calls for a response from each of us, because (verse 35) he causes the thoughts of our hearts to be revealed. Do we turn out to be those who ‘speak against him’ because he has become a road-block? Or do we embrace him as our light and our salvation? Look back and embrace Jesus as your Brother in full humanity, and look forward and embrace him as your Saviour and your Lord.

Discussion

1. What feature of this episode do you find most arresting? Why?

2. Why do you think Jesus was ‘destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed?’ (Verses 34,35)

3. Is this still the case? How and why?

4. How does this Gospel passage, read in conjunction with the Epistle Hebrews 2: 14 – end, help us understand better (a) Christmas and (b) Good Friday?

1 Corinthians 1:10-18, Matthew 4:12-23 – Sermon for Sunday 23rd January 2011, Kim, Follow my Leader

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen.

‘Come, follow me.’ Jesus said. ‘But first let me explain how this works. ‘You’ll have to be in church by 10.30 every Sunday morning. You can miss the odd service but if you miss too many, the others may well begin to question your sincerity. They won’t mention this directly, of course, but trust me, word will get round!’

‘Yes, I know that you may well have something to do at that time. It’s obvious that your work schedule involves some commitment in the early hours of the day, but we trust you will find a way around that. This is, after all, the way that we have been doing it for years. It suits our schedule. It works for us, and we see no reason to change simply because the rest of society no longer sees Sunday as sacred. So leave the paper till Sunday afternoon, forget about the shopping, and find someone else to coach the local football team and Come and Follow Me.’ Tongue in cheek, may be!

I was reminded recent that Jesus only talked once during his ministry to being born again but spoke of the need to follow him on numerous occasions. There is an important point behind that observation, for this is a danger sometimes of making the moment of conversion all-important and forgetting that discipleship is, or rather should be, an unfolding journey. Peter and Andrew together with the rest of the Apostles followed Jesus not knowing what he was calling them to or where their response might lead. They responded in faith trusting that he would guide them and, apart from Judas, they kept on following even when it led to sacrifice, hostility, rejection, and the death of their master and friend on a cross.

How many of us would have followed through all of that? Would we still have been there by his side after the first altercation with the Pharisees? Would we have had second thoughts when Jesus spelt out the cost of discipleship?

Even the Apostles’ faith had its limits, of course, on the night of Gethsemane each briefly failing to follow. It needed the Risen Christ to greet them once more, speaking his words of peace and reaffirming his call, before they felt able to resume their journey. We too may encounter moments when commitment is tested and we no longer follow as we should, but Jesus will always be there, summoning us forward along the road of discipleship. Committing ourselves to Christ is a necessary step for all of us, whether that involves a dramatic experience of conversion or a gradual coming to faith, but it is only a first step. Don’t mistake it for more than that.

Have you ever tried sticking metal with wood glue, or plastic with wallpaper paste? If you have, then you will know it’s a waste of time, for you were using the wrong tool for the job. In fact you would need a glue like Redux 410 or something similar. Different glues are designed for different tasks, and what works for one may not work for another. Get it right, and you will create a bond to last.

Such should be the effect of the love we are called to share as Christians. The reality, sadly, is very different. For all the moves in recent years toward church unity, there are as many if not more divisions today than ever. Splinter groups breaking away, of questions of doctrine, worship and church practices, women bishops, and sexuality. Individual fellowships are equally marred by gossip, cliques, personality clashes, backbiting and so on. All too often, instead of testifying to the love of Christ, our relationships with other Christians speaks instead of our human fallibility, turning people away from the church instead of drawing them towards it.

There will always be those we are more naturally drawn too than others, that is a simple fact of life. Equally, there will differences of opinion and outlook among us, for we are all individuals with unique experiences of Christ. If though, we are truly ‘In Christ’. Then the faith we share should transcend such differences, the love that unites us is more powerful than anything that may divide. The true disciple is one who manages to follow in Jesus’ footsteps and speak his words in a world that is tearing itself apart and we do this generally, most of the time. Don’t we?

On another occasion, Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, ‘follow me but first let me explain how this works.

‘The world, secular culture – call it what you will – is generally quite corrupting. So we expect you to leave that culture and join ours! You’ll listen to Christian music, laugh at Christian comedians, spend your holidays at Christian conferences and may even do Christian aerobics to Christian worship tunes. There will be Christian books for you to read, Christian films for you to watch, Christian fashion styles to which you must adhere, and we can even arrange for you to play cricket with your local Christian league. Corrupted by the world? You simply won’t have the time! So leave your friends behind and come and follow me.’

We have ‘come and followed Him’. So we can expect the journey to be eventful. We might encounter hostility, rejection, we may have to give sacrificially, it may cost us dearly. We can also expect Jesus to be there with us, loving, caring, forgiving us, willing us onwards. We will be expected to be Jesus to everyone we meet including the unlovable people in our eyes. We will be expected to share the love of God with others on days when we feel unlovable, when it feels like the world is against us. We will be expected to be all things to all men – with the help of God.

We will be expected to say to others ‘Follow me.’ After all that’s the invitation, pure and simple. An invitation to what? What will we be asking them to follow? To follow Jesus, or to join up with some specific church culture, to come and be a part of our Christian club? What are we asking and, more importantly, what are people hearing when we echo Jesus’ invitation to ‘Follow me’?

Questions:

1. What do you think of the Christian sub-culture – all those ‘blessed’ alternatives to ‘worldly’ activities?
2. It is true that Christians often lose touch with their non-Christian friends when they get heavily involved in church culture?
3. How does this affect evangelism?
4. What can the church do to minimise this effect?
5. Do we expect too much of people?
6. Do we make ourselves too busy for our own good?