23-24Until the time when we were mature enough to respond freely in faith to the living God, we were carefully surrounded and protected by the Mosaic law. The law was like those Greek tutors, with which you are familiar, who escort children to school and protect them from danger or distraction, making sure the children will really get to the place they set out for. 25-27But now you have arrived at your destination: By faith in Christ you are in direct relationship with God. Your baptism in Christ was not just washing you up for a fresh start. It also involved dressing you in an adult faith wardrobe—Christ's life, the fulfilment of God's original promise. 28-29In Christ's family there can be no division into Jew and non-Jew, slave and free, male and female. Among us you are all equal. That is, we are all in a common relationship with Jesus Christ. Also, since you are Christ's family, then you are Abraham's famous "descendant," heirs according to the covenant promises.
(Props)
Putting on clothes that we know are too small may seem daft but it’s surprising how often, as Christians, we behave as if we have never grown up! Paul’s letter is not to any single church in Galatia but to a number of churches in that region. He is concerned that quite a few Christians are still trying to please God by sticking to a set of rules or laws which provided direction and restraint, but did not encourage FAITH. Faith is the mark of maturity which the law prescribed and in doing so the law kept Israel under restraint. The response of the people was by and large adolescent rebellion. Israel did not humble themselves the law exposed their sin and held them under restraint until God took away their blindness and gave them a heart to trust him (Jeremiah 24:7).
So Paul attempts to put the record straight. He tells the Galatians that God knows only too well that following a law would prove difficult to do all the time and although God made a covenant, a contract with Abraham it was only intended to be the start of the journey which reached its destination with the arrival of Jesus Christ.
In the time of the Romans a certain slave called a paidagogos, (a tutor/schoolmaster) would have the responsibility for supervising and correcting the children of the family. When the children grew older, they had learned how to behave and now dealt directly with their father and were responsible to him for their actions. A paidagosos did not have the power to make the child’s heart good, nor can he give the child his inheritance.
This is the idea that Paul was trying to get across to the Churches in Galatia. The law could act as a guide but it was only a start, a sort of teacher, which could go just so far in preparing anyone for a relationship with God the Father. Paul emphasised that it was only faith in Jesus which made a person acceptable to God. To say ‘I have faith in Jesus Christ’ and then continue to live according to the law was the same as a Roman person, having grown up and being told they were now free to develop a relationship with their father, ignoring that freedom and going back to the slave for guidance.
We have a similar choice to make, in the same way that we wouldn’t buy clothes that were intended for someone a lot younger or smaller than ourselves, neither should we say we want a relationship with God the Father, turn up for church on Sundays and then ignore the freedom that we have through Jesus to chat with God and ask for his help Monday to Saturday. If we try to live our lives by superstition, performing rituals or attempting to earn God’s favour by doing good things, we are ignoring what Jesus has done for us?
Just as we no longer make animal sacrifices, as was required under the law, nor are we expected to perform a complex ritual to get God’s attention. Jesus’ sacrifice meant that we can have a relationship with God, anywhere, anytime. Perhaps it is time to experience some of that freedom which faith in Jesus brings?
With this freedom though comes responsibility. It is not a freedom where we can do what we like and ignore the laws and rules which keep us safe from harm etc, it is a freedom that comes from God and is dependent on what we are towards the law-giver – God. If we have a heart to trust God and rely on his mercy, then the law will feel like a much needed dose of medicine from a wise and beloved doctor. ‘This is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.’ (1 John 5: 3) For Israel abiding by the laws was a large burdensome job description for earning their favour with God because it did not meet with faith. For us Christians we abide by the law because we love Him.
Those of us that drive will have a some point before taking our test read and memorised as much as possible the highway code. We have become familiar with many of the signs although hardly anybody can say they know what every sign means. If we tried to live by the highway code, we would be stopping the car every few miles to refer to the book to find out what the sign meant. Most people who drive hardly ever refer to the highway code (although driving through London yesterday, perhaps some people need to!); they use their experience to get around safely. Although they know what most of the signs mean, they recognise that they are only a guide. To drive safely takes more than simply knowing what the signs mean.
Having faith in Jesus needs more than a reliance on the Bible. The Bible is an important document which helps us to understand what God did and how other people related to God, but it is a guide. A relationship with God is a living experience, one to be shared daily. A relationship that needs to nurtured even on the days when we don’t feel like it.
Having faith in Jesus unites us to him that all the benefits he can give become ours. God appears to us through Jesus and we are saved. We are saying yes to being his eternal child, to wearing his robes of righteousness, to accepting his love, mercy and forgiveness. As we honour and trust Him, God can not turn himself away or deny us. We are his and we are no longer under the law. We have freedom to be His children. It does not mean that ‘anything goes’ in terms of how we live. We do not have to strive to become good enough, we never could and we will certainly never be. But it does mean that we are the serve in God’s mission to respect, love, forgive and serve all God’s people, whoever they are.
Questions:
1. In those days it was common to send a child to school in the company of a household servant who was big and strong enough to keep the child safe while walking through town. The servant was called a custodian (paidagogos in Greek – literally “one who walks with”) The custodian would take the child to school and meet the child after, assuring the child’s safety. This would happen until the child was big enough and strong enough to fend for himself. Paul says this is what the law was like.
a. How does the law keep us safe?
b. How will we know when we are big enough and strong enough to make it on our own?
c. Using the example of the law as a custodian, if we live by grace and not the law, who watches out for us? Who is our custodian?
2. In vs 28 Paul makes an astounding statement in his time – that in Christ, there is no longer a difference between Jews and Gentiles, slaves or free, or men or women, but we are all equal in Christ! Rather, he says, we are all one, united in Christ. a. In a community that was split over the Gentile/Jew issue, how do you imagine this was received?
b. Paul wrote these words close to 2000 years ago. We did not start ordaining women as priest until 1973. Why do you think it took so long to put these words into practice?
3. What are the implications of us all being equal in Christ?
4. What does being one in Christ imply for your faith and your life?
Saturday, 19 June 2010
ST MICHAEL’S CAMBERLEY. 13th JUNE 2010. ROBERT. WHAT PLEASES GOD?
Galatians 2: 15 – 21 Luke 7: 36 – 8.3
We have today a very interesting and, indeed, very moving pair of readings. The letter to the Galatians is the first letter we possess from the hand of Paul, full of personal detail and autobiography. But in the passage set for today he throws himself into furious theological debate about the place of the Jewish ritual law in the newly born Christian faith. His conclusion could hardly be clearer – it has no place at all in helping us to please God. He concludes: “If righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing.”
His argument won the day, which is why we don’t attempt to please God by observing Jewish law and practice. His arguments in this particular passage will appear somewhat complicated to the untutored eye, but in the Gospel passage from Luke 7, which I have just read, we see it beautifully illustrated. It is the story of a Jewish holy man, named Simon, who (as a Pharisee) keeps all the rules and regulations, and believes he is living a life pleasing to God; and a woman who (it seems) is not too good at keeping any of them, but demonstrates other qualities. By the end we are in no doubt as to which one pleases God and gains a place in his kingdom through her relationship with Jesus. It’s a deeply moving story, told with masterful detail and simplicity. It teaches us so much about what pleases God and gains us a place in his kingdom.
To put yourself in the picture, you have to forget your average Camberley dinner party! It obviously wasn’t exactly a private dinner at all, or the woman would hardly have managed to gate-crash. Jesus wasn’t welcomed into some inner sanctum with all the normal greeting, washing and kissing. This meal was served in the courtyard of Simon’s house, and it was an accepted practice for passers by to wander in and out.
As in Roman practice, they were reclining on low couches, supporting themselves on their left elbow and eating with their right hand, while their legs were stretched out behind them.
So the woman can approach Jesus from behind without interrupting the meal or the conversation. Clearly she has heard him preach in public and teach about the kingdom of God, where all sinners would be welcome through the forgiveness of sins. She is so moved by what she has heard, and that even she might be accepted into God’s kingdom and her sins forgiven – (and undoubtedly not only by that radical message), but by Jesus’ stature and authority and the godliness of his very presence, that she has come with the plan of kneeling at his feet and anointing them with precious ointment.
But when the moment arrives, she is completely overcome. Instead of a dignified anointing, her tears simply start to flow uncontrollably on to his feet, and to dry them, she commits the huge social blunder of letting down her hair and using her loose hair to wipe his feet dry. That was little less than social scandal. In that society, a woman bound up her hair on her wedding day and would never appear again in public with it loose. Eventually, with her hair down and her tears flowing, she does what she has come for, and anoints his feet with the alabaster.
Simon is the one who really tries to live by God’s law and observes all the ritual rules which have been derived from it over the years. We have basically no reason to think that he is not a good man, a moral man with high standards, and perhaps a pillar of the community. He has every reason to believe that his life and behaviour please God – and no doubt from an ethical point of view – they do. And this is in no way to be derided. Being a Christian through faith in Christ does not mean you can do anything you like, as Paul makes clear again and again.
What, then, is it that differentiates the woman (who will enter God’s kingdom), and Simon, who (in his present state) will not? Jesus gives us the answer in two words – love and faith. These are the two things without which it is impossible to please God, however upright and moral our lives may be.
The woman has seen in Jesus, and heard in his teaching, something which appears to have passed Simon by completely. Simon seems to be conscious of no sin, apart from the odd misdemeanour, and therefore feels he is justified before God by his own life and behaviour. The woman knows herself to be a failure before God with no claim to self-justification, but has
somehow grasped that – through Jesus – she is forgiven and accepted, and therefore has been given the power to change. She can feel her whole life being renewed from within.
And as that realisation sweeps over her consciousness, what pours out of her heart is simply love. Love for the one who has made this possible and changed her life. And God’s heart goes out to her, and hers goes out to Jesus. She has been saved by faith in him, and her sins are all forgiven. There could be no more dramatic or moving illustration of what pleases God and who is welcome in his kingdom.
With that in our minds, back to Paul. He too was a Pharisee, and as he lists in his letter to the church at Philippi, he could tick every single box in the list of practices, rituals and actions which the Jewish religion believed pleased God. And then came the Damascus Road. Suddenly, as Paul was to repeat over and over again, he understood himself to be what he called the ‘chief of sinners’. He came to see himself in just the same light as the woman in Luke’s story. From God’s standpoint he did not have a leg to stand on in terms of self-justification. The only thing in the whole world which made him acceptable to God was his trust in Jesus and that, through Jesus’ death on the cross, he could receive the forgiveness of sins.
And he can be just as emotional about this realisation as the woman in the story. Listen to him as he speaks straight from the heart in verse 20:: “The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
If we ask ourselves, ‘what is it that pleases God?’, there is the only possible answer – faith and love. The great truth Simon needed to learn, and the woman and Paul knew from personal experience, is summed up in the hymn we have just sung:
All I once held dear, built my life upon,
All this world reveres and wars to own,
All I once thought gain, I have counted loss –
Spent and worthless now, compared to this;
Knowing you, Jesus, knowing you,
There is no greater thing;
You’re my all, my righteousness,
And I love you, Lord.
If that woman, or Paul, were here today, they would surely be singing that with all their heart.
Now we are not all people to whom tears flow naturally or find it easy to be emotional. But that doesn’t mean that the essential truth of this story can’t sink deep into our consciousness. No matter how good a life we think we are living, what God is longing for is our personal response. God showed us the depth of his love by the death of Jesus on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. He wants us to accept that – each one personally. What he looks for is an answer that comes from the heart – faith and love – that simply says ‘Thank you, Lord’ – now I am empowered to live a new life in which your love shines through, and by your grace, I enter your kingdom for all eternity.
DISCUSSION
1. If you re-read the passage from Galatians 2, after considering the story in Luke 7, do you find you can understand it better? Are there verses you don’t understand?
2. What strikes you most in the story in Luke 7? Can you explain why?
3. Can you share with the group the most important thing you have learned from these two passages?
We have today a very interesting and, indeed, very moving pair of readings. The letter to the Galatians is the first letter we possess from the hand of Paul, full of personal detail and autobiography. But in the passage set for today he throws himself into furious theological debate about the place of the Jewish ritual law in the newly born Christian faith. His conclusion could hardly be clearer – it has no place at all in helping us to please God. He concludes: “If righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing.”
His argument won the day, which is why we don’t attempt to please God by observing Jewish law and practice. His arguments in this particular passage will appear somewhat complicated to the untutored eye, but in the Gospel passage from Luke 7, which I have just read, we see it beautifully illustrated. It is the story of a Jewish holy man, named Simon, who (as a Pharisee) keeps all the rules and regulations, and believes he is living a life pleasing to God; and a woman who (it seems) is not too good at keeping any of them, but demonstrates other qualities. By the end we are in no doubt as to which one pleases God and gains a place in his kingdom through her relationship with Jesus. It’s a deeply moving story, told with masterful detail and simplicity. It teaches us so much about what pleases God and gains us a place in his kingdom.
To put yourself in the picture, you have to forget your average Camberley dinner party! It obviously wasn’t exactly a private dinner at all, or the woman would hardly have managed to gate-crash. Jesus wasn’t welcomed into some inner sanctum with all the normal greeting, washing and kissing. This meal was served in the courtyard of Simon’s house, and it was an accepted practice for passers by to wander in and out.
As in Roman practice, they were reclining on low couches, supporting themselves on their left elbow and eating with their right hand, while their legs were stretched out behind them.
So the woman can approach Jesus from behind without interrupting the meal or the conversation. Clearly she has heard him preach in public and teach about the kingdom of God, where all sinners would be welcome through the forgiveness of sins. She is so moved by what she has heard, and that even she might be accepted into God’s kingdom and her sins forgiven – (and undoubtedly not only by that radical message), but by Jesus’ stature and authority and the godliness of his very presence, that she has come with the plan of kneeling at his feet and anointing them with precious ointment.
But when the moment arrives, she is completely overcome. Instead of a dignified anointing, her tears simply start to flow uncontrollably on to his feet, and to dry them, she commits the huge social blunder of letting down her hair and using her loose hair to wipe his feet dry. That was little less than social scandal. In that society, a woman bound up her hair on her wedding day and would never appear again in public with it loose. Eventually, with her hair down and her tears flowing, she does what she has come for, and anoints his feet with the alabaster.
Simon is the one who really tries to live by God’s law and observes all the ritual rules which have been derived from it over the years. We have basically no reason to think that he is not a good man, a moral man with high standards, and perhaps a pillar of the community. He has every reason to believe that his life and behaviour please God – and no doubt from an ethical point of view – they do. And this is in no way to be derided. Being a Christian through faith in Christ does not mean you can do anything you like, as Paul makes clear again and again.
What, then, is it that differentiates the woman (who will enter God’s kingdom), and Simon, who (in his present state) will not? Jesus gives us the answer in two words – love and faith. These are the two things without which it is impossible to please God, however upright and moral our lives may be.
The woman has seen in Jesus, and heard in his teaching, something which appears to have passed Simon by completely. Simon seems to be conscious of no sin, apart from the odd misdemeanour, and therefore feels he is justified before God by his own life and behaviour. The woman knows herself to be a failure before God with no claim to self-justification, but has
somehow grasped that – through Jesus – she is forgiven and accepted, and therefore has been given the power to change. She can feel her whole life being renewed from within.
And as that realisation sweeps over her consciousness, what pours out of her heart is simply love. Love for the one who has made this possible and changed her life. And God’s heart goes out to her, and hers goes out to Jesus. She has been saved by faith in him, and her sins are all forgiven. There could be no more dramatic or moving illustration of what pleases God and who is welcome in his kingdom.
With that in our minds, back to Paul. He too was a Pharisee, and as he lists in his letter to the church at Philippi, he could tick every single box in the list of practices, rituals and actions which the Jewish religion believed pleased God. And then came the Damascus Road. Suddenly, as Paul was to repeat over and over again, he understood himself to be what he called the ‘chief of sinners’. He came to see himself in just the same light as the woman in Luke’s story. From God’s standpoint he did not have a leg to stand on in terms of self-justification. The only thing in the whole world which made him acceptable to God was his trust in Jesus and that, through Jesus’ death on the cross, he could receive the forgiveness of sins.
And he can be just as emotional about this realisation as the woman in the story. Listen to him as he speaks straight from the heart in verse 20:: “The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
If we ask ourselves, ‘what is it that pleases God?’, there is the only possible answer – faith and love. The great truth Simon needed to learn, and the woman and Paul knew from personal experience, is summed up in the hymn we have just sung:
All I once held dear, built my life upon,
All this world reveres and wars to own,
All I once thought gain, I have counted loss –
Spent and worthless now, compared to this;
Knowing you, Jesus, knowing you,
There is no greater thing;
You’re my all, my righteousness,
And I love you, Lord.
If that woman, or Paul, were here today, they would surely be singing that with all their heart.
Now we are not all people to whom tears flow naturally or find it easy to be emotional. But that doesn’t mean that the essential truth of this story can’t sink deep into our consciousness. No matter how good a life we think we are living, what God is longing for is our personal response. God showed us the depth of his love by the death of Jesus on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins. He wants us to accept that – each one personally. What he looks for is an answer that comes from the heart – faith and love – that simply says ‘Thank you, Lord’ – now I am empowered to live a new life in which your love shines through, and by your grace, I enter your kingdom for all eternity.
DISCUSSION
1. If you re-read the passage from Galatians 2, after considering the story in Luke 7, do you find you can understand it better? Are there verses you don’t understand?
2. What strikes you most in the story in Luke 7? Can you explain why?
3. Can you share with the group the most important thing you have learned from these two passages?
Wednesday, 16 June 2010
Sunday 6 June 2010 Galatians 1:11-24, Bruce
Introduction
Paul is writing to the members of the church he founded in Galatia. He is deeply upset. This is not because they are going back to Judaism, or abandoning the faith. Rather, they are being influenced by and are listening to people who are advocating a brand new faith: a synthesis of Judaism and the new cult of Jesus. He must defend both the message and the status of the messenger.
The Gospel
His first point is that the message is revealed by God. Paul has not dreamed it up, or invented it. He has most certainly not read it in a book or been told it by another man. Rather, Jesus himself revealed it to Paul. It is not a matter of what seems reasonable to us to believe; we accept the message of God’s love as a gift.
The Call
It was not Paul’s idea to pass the message on. Paul passes on three important tips for every Christian:
God’s choice
Every one of us is being called to follow Jesus, and to serve him. It is not our idea, or a whim or passing fancy. God knew you before you were born. He had a purpose in mind for you, if you would choose to fall into line with it.
God’s grace
It is a gift from God. There are many who are held back from serving God, because they have convinced themselves that they are not worthy enough or talented enough; “God could never use me”. The truth is, however, that God freely chooses whom he will; he forgives and cleanses. Then he equips. All the praise goes to him. We do not get the credit, but we are freed from worrying about our inadequacies.
God’s purpose
This is not just to give us an enjoyable time. Jesus’ purpose was to use Paul to reach out his love to those outside the then accepted normal sphere. He has a purpose for each of us.
Questions
1. St Michael’s has five values: which one do you feel we are concentrating on this week, and why?
2. What are the similarities between us and Paul? What are the differences?
3. What are the things you feel called to? What excites you or fires your passion? Where might God be leading you? (Do not be afraid to think the unthinkable!)
Activities
1. Make a note of different people’s responses, aspirations, hopes, dreams. Are there any things that it might be helpful to speak to Bruce about?
2. Make time to pray for each other during the meeting, that we will each know our calling, and have grace to respond.
Saturday, 29 May 2010
TRINITY SUNDAY 30 May 2010 Romans 5:1-5, John 16:12-15, Bruce
When a child is born, so begins a process of growth, exploration and maturation. In some ways we wish we could equip our little ones instantly to face all that life will throw at them.
Sometimes when a politician is asked about something difficult, he or she will reply “Ah, let’s not get too theological”. He means by this that it is a matter that is complex, difficult, and of limited relevance to everyday life: it does not really matter. On Trinity Sunday, this day named in honour of a doctrine about God, we may also be tempted to avoid the depths of theology. Some of the theories you hear expounded about God are impenetrable – you wonder if they miss the point. Can’t we keep it simple?
But life is not simple. Any child born into our world faces dangers and difficulties. Population growth, climate change, pollution, economic uncertainty, all of these are real, and who can guess the future? Wars and rumours of wars abound, and many talk of a deep malaise within our Western, secular society. Looking within ourselves, many of us will tell stories of doubt, uncertainty, regrets: we aspire to be good and to live good lives, but the more we discuss and theorise about these things, the more unsure we are about what is truly good, and the more certain we can become that we are imperfect and inadequate to live well.
We may think that these are modern preoccupations, but humankind has always felt ‘up against it’. The most successful species on the planet to date has always felt threatened and insecure.
The early Christian leader Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome a considered account of who God is, and how we can know about him and know and understand his unimaginable love for us. In the first four chapters he spells out how every human needs to know God’s forgiveness, and how we can receive that forgiveness simply by trusting in the work of Jesus on the cross. He traces the story from Adam and Eve, through Abraham to us. It is a beautiful concept, explained with passion and fire.
It also seems too theoretical again. So now he changes gear, with some amazing, mind-blowing statements:
We have peace with God. It is a fact that many in this world do not know peace within themselves. God would like to share with each of us his eirene, his shalom, a sense of wellbeing and wholeness, at one with ourselves and with the wider world. This comes ultimately from a living response of faith, trusting that God is on our side and loves us, and seeking to follow him. God wants you to know his peace now, in your present life.
We rejoice in the hope of the Glory of God. We pray ‘Our Father, who art in heaven ...’ God’s ultimate desire for each of us who believe in him is that we might be with him and live with him in glory. One of our images of God is of light: he shines out to each one of us, seeking to penetrate every shadow. And ...
We rejoice in our sufferings! In, not because of ... Some people struggle to trust in God, because they see so much suffering, and have experienced so much. Others imagine that once they trust, once they become part of God’s family, all their problems and trials will mysteriously fade away. Jesus, however, knew many problems and difficulties, ultimately being betrayed, tried unjustly, and put cruelly to death. A couple who truly love each other are pushed together by difficulties: each of us who have come to trust in Jesus find that the harder it gets, the more we rely on him. It leads us to ...
Perseverance. Jesus famously told a story about a farmer who sowed seed in various kinds of soil. Some fell on shallow soil and sprouted quickly, only to die away as the fierce sun cooked it’s shallow roots; let us not be those who find the Christian message attractive, but find that somehow it is unable to sustain us when we face real trials (as we most certainly shall). This world is full of many things to distress us and try us: Jesus said that we should pray that we do not come to the time of trial. We do not rejoice because of them, but we see that God sustains us and carries us, and how these things bring about ...
Character. As we go through the ups and downs of life, we find ourselves being changed so that we are more like Jesus. What seem to be mere theories and good intentions about God become reality through a process of laughter and tears. Wishful thinking and idealism are good, but they become grounded and effective as we look out for and experience God at work in our lives and the world around us. This gives us ...
Hope. When the Bible talks of Hope, it does not mean wishful thinking (will it be fine for our BBQ? I hope so). The true meaning is the same as that we referred to above, the Hope of Glory. God has promised it to all who believe. Is God a liar? Of course not. We receive this as an article of faith, and then we experience this as we see him at work in the changing scenes of our lives, over weeks, months and years of trusting him.
Ultimately, everything in the life of the believer points back to Jesus. He has asked the Father to give us a Gift: the Holy Spirit, who poured the Love of God into our hearts.
Some people start with the evidence, the solid intellectual case for believing in God as he has been revealed to Christians, and from there journey to a meeting, an encounter that warms their heart. Others start from an awareness of his love and grace, and then puzzle out later how these things can be true. In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he develops arguments and then returns to them like a composer writing a piece of music. He returns to the themes of the Spirit, love and trust, suffering and glory in chapter 8 and in chapter 12 shows how we continue to be transformed into the image of Jesus.
Jesus knows that we will take time to assimilate all this. In John’s gospel he is recorded as saying that we will experience the partnership of the Spirit to help us understand all about the Father and the Son. For a brief and accurate summary of the doctrine of the Trinity, see the film Nuns on the Run. To know God in his three-fold richness, trust his Son and open yourself to the work of his Spirit.
Discussion Starters
1. Which images or metaphors for the Trinity do you find helpful or unhelpful, and why? (Clover leaf, egg, shamrock, grandparent/parent/child, steam/water/ice? What others do you know?)
2. If Relationship is at the heart of God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit), what does this say to your understanding of how we relate to God and to each other?
3. What have been the ways that you have encountered the divine thus far? The Bible? Experience of meeting and being with Christians? Times of joy (thankfulness)? Times of sorrow (grief, comfort)? Something else?
Pentecost Sunday 23 May 2010 Dialogue Sermon by Eva-Maria
Dear brothers and sisters in the Lord, two thousand years ago the friends of Jesus received the Holy Spirit and the story of the church started. That is why we celebrate at Pentecost the birth of the church.
In the beginning they were a small group but soon they were all over the known world. Two names are specially associated with this development, St Paul and St Peter. These men laid the foundation in the name of the Lord, and that is why we are here together as a Christian community. Obviously St Paul and St Peter had many people who worked with them. Their names are not so well known, but today we will get a visit from one of them; here name is Priscilla. She leads together with her husband Aquila a Christian community.
1. Greetings Priscilla, you are very welcome to be with us today. You have come to us from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Roman Empire. It is nearly 2,000 years since the time that you lived here on earth.
2. Two thousand years? Hasn’t Jesus returned yet? I am surprised that you are still here. In our time we thought Jesus would come during our lifetime, or at least shortly after, to bring in a new world. That is why we worked so hard to convince so many to believe. Two thousand years ....
1. Yes, Priscilla, it is two thousand years later, and there is much about you early Christians that we do not know. How did you live your lives? I want to ask you some things. You and your husband Aquila found your way to the Christian faith through St Paul? Is this true?
2. Through St Paul? What an idea! No. St Paul was a good friend of ours, but when we met him we were already members of the Christian community.
1. But how did you get in contact with the community?
2. My husband and I lived in Rome. We had a business making tents. I was a Jew, but it was not unusual to leave our homeland to earn money in a foreign country. At home in Israel there were hard times, and in Rome we found a good life and a community of Jews to live amongst. We enjoyed our life in Rome and felt settled.
1. So how did it happen that you heard about Jesus in Rome, of all places?
2. I think you never forget your homeland; you always long for it. Therefore the intention of exiles is always to visit home at least once, to see Jerusalem. We saved all our money, and picked the right moment to close our business and to go to Jerusalem. There we saw how the Holy Spirit filled all the people and suddenly we were one community, a Christian community.
1. You are talking about the miracle of Pentecost. Did you really see how the Spirit came upon the people on the first time?
2. What do you mean, the first time? You must have totally misunderstood. Our ancestors in the faith were anointed with the Holy Spirit.
1. With the Holy Spirit?
2. Our ancestors felt that they were in contact with God. Our Hebrew word for Spirit is Ruach and it also means breath; for us it is a feminine word. I notice that in your language the word Spirit seems to be masculine. I wonder if this is significant. In our Jewish tradition we say somebody is full of the Ruach, the Spirit of God. This person seems to be like a red hot oven, full of shining, radiating love. Like Miriam as she sang the song of freedom as they were led by the Spirit of God out of Egypt. It is like a fire that helps you to discover your talents, talents that you never imagined that you have. And then you have to tell everybody your experience. Do you know that we have in our tradition the prophecy of Joel, that Peter quoted on the day of Pentecost:
28 "And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
29 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
This is exactly what I, Priscilla, felt on that day in Jerusalem, and I knew that this was the time that our hopes would all be fulfilled.
1. And then you went back to Rome?
2. Yes, and on the way home we could talk of nothing else. We founded with others the first Christian community in Rome. All went well at first, but we soon realised that we were making enemies amongst our Jewish compatriots who did not believe in Jesus. In addition the Romans were suspicious, so we had to leave Rome. We went to Greece. We started afresh in Corinth.
1. And there your husband opened your house for Christian meetings?
2. Not just my husband Aquila! We opened our house.
1. Oh, you helped your husband?
2. Don’t be silly. We helped each other. We organised, we evangelised, we taught our neighbours, families and friends about Jesus.
1. You did this together, both men and women?
2. Yes, we did it together. It did not seem to matter who preached the sermon, who led the singing, or anything else. It was just like the time described by the prophet Joel that Peter quoted.
28 "And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
1. But who was in charge?
2. What do you mean in charge? We each had our own specific roles and tasks, but it never occurred to any of us that some were more important than others, at least not at the beginning (Paul had to write some stern letters later!). I notice among you that some people seem to consider themselves to be important, and others that they have nothing worthwhile to contribute. I wish you could find that freedom and exhilaration that we had in our day when we were first filled with God’s Holy Spirit.
1. Priscilla, on behalf of everyone here, thank you for your visit and for sharing your love for God and experience of the Spirit with us.
Saturday, 15 May 2010
Sunday 16 May 2010, Luke 24:24-53, Bruce
Now you see him, now you don’t; a work in progress.
Not an end but a beginning. Luke’s gospel opens with Zechariah in the temple and closes with the followers of Jesus praising God in the temple. The Holy Spirit overshadows Elizabeth and Mary and comes down on Jesus at his baptism; the disciples are told to wait until they are clothed with power from on high. Jesus opens the minds of his disciples to understand that all that they have taken part in and witnessed is in direct connection to and succession to the story of their people stretching back to David, to Abraham, to Adam, to God. The death and resurrection of Jesus, and the repentance and forgiveness that he brings are for people of all races and times; this we have seen in the past and this we will see in the future (read the book of Acts!).
And what is our part in all this?
He was with us. We had the scriptures, but closed minds. We need understanding. We need to repent and be forgiven. We need to receive the witness and pass it on. What will it take for us to move from knowing about Jesus to experiencing his life and love for ourselves? This would truly be to encounter God and grow in him.
We need to be clothed in power from on high. This is to be filled, immersed, drenched in God the Holy Spirit. This is what John the Baptiser said that Jesus would do. This is what Jesus promised when he talked of sending another Comforter or Helper, just like himself, even the Spirit of Truth, who would remain with us forever.
Jesus tells them that they must go back to the city and wait. How hard this is. How we like our planning meetings and our filofaxes, and our working parties; we just want to get on with it! Ultimately, this is a reminder that it is not just up to us. It is good to wait. We have no control. We depend absolutely upon God and his power.
It is also a reminder that God has a mission to all the world, starting at Jerusalem. It is his mission. It may look improbable or even impossible to us, and he has involved us in it! But he has promised to clothe us with power. We see this played out as ordinary people share the good news of Jesus, and ‘turn the world upside down’ (Acts 17:6). God calls us to share in his mission here in Camberley. This is primarily by living lives that witness to our immediate neighbours that Jesus is alive and loves them; what an impossibility that the 28,500 people in Camberley today not in church could become worshippers! Or that we might provide a building for worship, fellowship and service, in today’s economic climate. We depend upon God’s power to do all this.
The last thing that Jesus did while on earth was to bless his disciples, and while doing this, he was ‘parted from them’. He was lifted up and a cloud received him (Acts 1:9).
We are left in suspense. What will happen next? The disciples obediently return to Jerusalem, filled with joy, and they spend their time in the temple praising God and waiting to be filled with the Spirit. What will we do?
Discussion Starters:
1. How do we respond to the teaching by Jesus that the Old Testament (Hebrew Scriptures) point to him?
2. How do we understand the mission of God? What is our part in it?
3. How would St Michael’s be different if we were all ‘clothed with power from on high’? How would this affect Camberley?
Come, Holy Spirit, our souls inspire
and lighten with eternal fire.
Implant in us your grace from above.
Enter our minds and hearts with love.
ST MICHAEL’S. 9th MAY 2010. 6th SUNDAY OF EASTER. ROBERT.
Acts 16: 9 – 15 John 14: 23 – 29
In this wonderful Easter season, we are thinking about how we relate to Jesus now he has risen from the dead. In this Gospel passage from John 14, Jesus tells us three ways in which we can know him now, in our own lives and church community: - 1. through loving obedience; 2. through the Holy Spirit; and 3. through the experience of Christ’s peace.
1. Loving Obedience. In English, as you will have heard from this pulpit on many occasions, that the word ‘love’ is a very slippery word. ‘I love strawberries’ – ‘I make love’ – and ‘I love you’ - all mean very different things, and indeed in the Greek in which the New Testament is written, those three meanings are expressed with different words which makes everything much clearer.. But there is another Greek word in the New Testament which has a very special meaning for Christians. If I say the Greek word ‘Agape’ I think that, by now, most (if not all) of you will be saying to yourselves ‘Ah Yes! That word is becoming part of my Christian vocabulary!’ It means the sort of ‘love’ that Christians are supposed to exercise.
I was thinking of it recently in connection with our Golden Wedding, because the wedding service gives it clear expression. It is a full commitment that goes far beyond emotion. It is love ‘for better, for worse; for richer for poorer; in sickness and in health; to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God’s holy law...’ Nowadays we talk about unconditional love. That fully committed, self-giving of oneself in love is what ‘Agape’ means, and this is the word which Jesus uses in verse 23. “Jesus replied, ‘If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come and make our home with him’”.
Let me give a further illustration of how this unconditional love works in practice. In various contexts, most of you will have heard me talk before about two kinds of love which you observe in family life. In one, it is made clear to a child that love has to be earned. If you are a good boy or girl, and do what you are told, then I will love you. My love is provisional, and may be withdrawn if you do not do what I say, behave in the way I wish, or become the sort of person I expect. This is always a potential disaster, as the child grows up feeling that they must always strive for love, and it produces a driven life and (somewhere deep within their psyche) they will unconsciously go on trying to please their parents until the end of their life.
The other kind of love you see in families and other relationships is ‘Agape’ love. It is unconditional and does not depend on how the child responds. If the child behaves badly, of course there will be a cloud hanging over the relationship and there is a problem which must be resolved. But the love remains. And the child grows up knowing deep inside that he or she is loved – not for what they do or say, or become – but because of who they are. They are the children of the parents, and the love that emanates from the parents will never waver, whatever happens. If that unconditional love is present, the child grows up with proper self-esteem and confidence, and will please his parents out of love, and not simply because he is commanded to do the right thing.
It is this family setting which is in Jesus’ mind in these verses 23,24. Look at this word translated here ‘obey’ – in Greek ‘Tereo’. It’s primary meaning is not to do with military or parental commands – ‘Do this – or else!’ It is a natural obedience which happens in any loving relationship – and which indeed proves that love exists. I love you and I want to please you, and so it is natural for me to do what you wish. It’s not hard – it’s a pleasure, even if it puts me to a lot of trouble. In the Alternative Service Book , there was a lovely phrase in the Communion Service when we used to say that to fulfil the Lord’s command is ‘our duty and our joy’. That’s it exactly.
And so Jesus is not saying here, ‘Unless you do exactly what I command, I won’t love you!’. He is saying that – in his risen presence with us (individually and together) – his love fills our hearts, and (if we have really glimpsed what that love means), our natural response is to want to please him and do what he wishes.
And within that loving family home, we dwell with God the Father and our risen Lord, where it is our joy to please each other with blessings and willing obedience. The risen Lord blesses us with his presence and unconditional love, and we respond with a wholly natural, happy obedience.
And, of course, conversely, in v 24, if that joyful obedience is not present, it proves that we have not caught the vision of the risen Lord who pours his love into our hearts. We may have read the words, but we have not understood the true meaning of love.
In all the talk of a multi-cultural society and all the rest, there simply is no other religion on earth which comes within a thousand miles of this intimate relationship of self-giving personal love, which we find expressed here. It is very precious, and we really need to let it sink into our innermost being, as we think about the living, risen Lord who is here in our midst now, as we meet to worship and to pray. So we know the risen Christ through our personal, loving/obedient relationship.
2. The Holy Spirit. And into that loving family relationship, there comes the Holy Spirit who joins the family party (so to speak) to help us in our relationship with the risen Jesus. Jesus wants us to know, and take to heart, everything he taught his disciples and followers, so that we can learn and put them into practice now – 2000 years later. How does this happen? The answer is that, if we read the Gospels regularly, carefully and prayerfully, the Holy Spirit will bring to our memory those teachings which the Lord wants us to have in the forefront of our minds.
The teachings of Jesus in the Gospels will be generally familiar to you. You will have read them in your Bibles, and heard them read in Church – although I suspect that there is actually a lot which you have never noticed. When we study a Gospel in a group, so often we come across a passage, and people are totally astonished! ‘Did Jesus really say that?’ Shock, horror! Or perhaps the opposite – ‘”How absolutely wonderful – I had never noticed that before!”
But however familiar we are with the Gospels, we need the Holy Spirit every day of our lives to draw alongside us, and remind us of words we already know, or point us to passages we didn’t know existed. And when that happens, the scriptures open up in an entirely new way. They become alive! They become relevant! They jump off the page! They speak to the situation we are currently facing, whether good or bad, and we hear Jesus speaking personally to us as he did to those disciples in his lifetime.
So we relate to the risen Jesus, firstly, by living day by day in a relationship of love, whereby he lives to bless and guide our lives, and we respond in loving obedience. And secondly, we relate to the risen Jesus through the Holy Spirit, who brings the written words of Jesus in the Gospels to life, just as of he is speaking to us personally.
3. The Experience of Christ’s peace. The third way in which we find in this Gospel passage that we relate to the risen Jesus, is through his personal gift of peace which we can experience in good times and in bad. And it’s a quality of peace which can come from no other source.
And we are not speaking here just about an inner tranquillity – although that is of inestimable price, especially in times of trouble. We are talking about peace within the Church. When we exchange the Peace in this service, are we gifting to one another that special peace that comes from the risen Christ? Or are we just going through a formality? If we are truly exchanging the peace which the risen Christ gives, then we experience his true presence here in our midst.
I usually read verse 27 at funeral services because it obviously has a special relevance. I also read the opening verses of this chapter (John 14) where Jesus says in verse 2: ‘In my Father’s house are many rooms....I am going there to prepare a place for you.’
I want to end by getting you to notice those two verses in this chapter. In verse 2, Jesus says he is going back to the Father in order to prepare a ‘home’ for us. In verse 23, Jesus says that the Father and he will come and make their home with us here. (The Greek word is ‘mone’ and these are the only two times that precise word appears in the New Testament).
What a privilege and what a promise we have here to reflect on in this Easter season. God the Father and the risen Jesus will come and make their home with us here - in the fellowship of the Church and in our hearts. And when we die, the risen Jesus (whose ascension we celebrate on Thursday), we know that Jesus has gone ahead of us to prepare our final home in heaven. Our true home is where that special love is. No wonder St Paul writes in that famous chapter that Agape love is the greatest of all, and lasts for ever.
Discussion Topics
1. Consider the meaning of ‘loving obedience’ in family life and in the life of the Church
2. How can we make the teaching of Jesus come alive for us and relevant to our lives today, as it did for the disciples who first heard it?
3. How can we make that special peace which Christ promises become real for us in our personal lives and in our Church?
4. Sadly the word ‘home’ has very unhappy connotations for many people who have grown up in dysfunctional and sometimes abusive families. Consider ways in which this passage might be interpreted to help them understand it, especially through the fellowship of the Church.
In this wonderful Easter season, we are thinking about how we relate to Jesus now he has risen from the dead. In this Gospel passage from John 14, Jesus tells us three ways in which we can know him now, in our own lives and church community: - 1. through loving obedience; 2. through the Holy Spirit; and 3. through the experience of Christ’s peace.
1. Loving Obedience. In English, as you will have heard from this pulpit on many occasions, that the word ‘love’ is a very slippery word. ‘I love strawberries’ – ‘I make love’ – and ‘I love you’ - all mean very different things, and indeed in the Greek in which the New Testament is written, those three meanings are expressed with different words which makes everything much clearer.. But there is another Greek word in the New Testament which has a very special meaning for Christians. If I say the Greek word ‘Agape’ I think that, by now, most (if not all) of you will be saying to yourselves ‘Ah Yes! That word is becoming part of my Christian vocabulary!’ It means the sort of ‘love’ that Christians are supposed to exercise.
I was thinking of it recently in connection with our Golden Wedding, because the wedding service gives it clear expression. It is a full commitment that goes far beyond emotion. It is love ‘for better, for worse; for richer for poorer; in sickness and in health; to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God’s holy law...’ Nowadays we talk about unconditional love. That fully committed, self-giving of oneself in love is what ‘Agape’ means, and this is the word which Jesus uses in verse 23. “Jesus replied, ‘If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come and make our home with him’”.
Let me give a further illustration of how this unconditional love works in practice. In various contexts, most of you will have heard me talk before about two kinds of love which you observe in family life. In one, it is made clear to a child that love has to be earned. If you are a good boy or girl, and do what you are told, then I will love you. My love is provisional, and may be withdrawn if you do not do what I say, behave in the way I wish, or become the sort of person I expect. This is always a potential disaster, as the child grows up feeling that they must always strive for love, and it produces a driven life and (somewhere deep within their psyche) they will unconsciously go on trying to please their parents until the end of their life.
The other kind of love you see in families and other relationships is ‘Agape’ love. It is unconditional and does not depend on how the child responds. If the child behaves badly, of course there will be a cloud hanging over the relationship and there is a problem which must be resolved. But the love remains. And the child grows up knowing deep inside that he or she is loved – not for what they do or say, or become – but because of who they are. They are the children of the parents, and the love that emanates from the parents will never waver, whatever happens. If that unconditional love is present, the child grows up with proper self-esteem and confidence, and will please his parents out of love, and not simply because he is commanded to do the right thing.
It is this family setting which is in Jesus’ mind in these verses 23,24. Look at this word translated here ‘obey’ – in Greek ‘Tereo’. It’s primary meaning is not to do with military or parental commands – ‘Do this – or else!’ It is a natural obedience which happens in any loving relationship – and which indeed proves that love exists. I love you and I want to please you, and so it is natural for me to do what you wish. It’s not hard – it’s a pleasure, even if it puts me to a lot of trouble. In the Alternative Service Book , there was a lovely phrase in the Communion Service when we used to say that to fulfil the Lord’s command is ‘our duty and our joy’. That’s it exactly.
And so Jesus is not saying here, ‘Unless you do exactly what I command, I won’t love you!’. He is saying that – in his risen presence with us (individually and together) – his love fills our hearts, and (if we have really glimpsed what that love means), our natural response is to want to please him and do what he wishes.
And within that loving family home, we dwell with God the Father and our risen Lord, where it is our joy to please each other with blessings and willing obedience. The risen Lord blesses us with his presence and unconditional love, and we respond with a wholly natural, happy obedience.
And, of course, conversely, in v 24, if that joyful obedience is not present, it proves that we have not caught the vision of the risen Lord who pours his love into our hearts. We may have read the words, but we have not understood the true meaning of love.
In all the talk of a multi-cultural society and all the rest, there simply is no other religion on earth which comes within a thousand miles of this intimate relationship of self-giving personal love, which we find expressed here. It is very precious, and we really need to let it sink into our innermost being, as we think about the living, risen Lord who is here in our midst now, as we meet to worship and to pray. So we know the risen Christ through our personal, loving/obedient relationship.
2. The Holy Spirit. And into that loving family relationship, there comes the Holy Spirit who joins the family party (so to speak) to help us in our relationship with the risen Jesus. Jesus wants us to know, and take to heart, everything he taught his disciples and followers, so that we can learn and put them into practice now – 2000 years later. How does this happen? The answer is that, if we read the Gospels regularly, carefully and prayerfully, the Holy Spirit will bring to our memory those teachings which the Lord wants us to have in the forefront of our minds.
The teachings of Jesus in the Gospels will be generally familiar to you. You will have read them in your Bibles, and heard them read in Church – although I suspect that there is actually a lot which you have never noticed. When we study a Gospel in a group, so often we come across a passage, and people are totally astonished! ‘Did Jesus really say that?’ Shock, horror! Or perhaps the opposite – ‘”How absolutely wonderful – I had never noticed that before!”
But however familiar we are with the Gospels, we need the Holy Spirit every day of our lives to draw alongside us, and remind us of words we already know, or point us to passages we didn’t know existed. And when that happens, the scriptures open up in an entirely new way. They become alive! They become relevant! They jump off the page! They speak to the situation we are currently facing, whether good or bad, and we hear Jesus speaking personally to us as he did to those disciples in his lifetime.
So we relate to the risen Jesus, firstly, by living day by day in a relationship of love, whereby he lives to bless and guide our lives, and we respond in loving obedience. And secondly, we relate to the risen Jesus through the Holy Spirit, who brings the written words of Jesus in the Gospels to life, just as of he is speaking to us personally.
3. The Experience of Christ’s peace. The third way in which we find in this Gospel passage that we relate to the risen Jesus, is through his personal gift of peace which we can experience in good times and in bad. And it’s a quality of peace which can come from no other source.
And we are not speaking here just about an inner tranquillity – although that is of inestimable price, especially in times of trouble. We are talking about peace within the Church. When we exchange the Peace in this service, are we gifting to one another that special peace that comes from the risen Christ? Or are we just going through a formality? If we are truly exchanging the peace which the risen Christ gives, then we experience his true presence here in our midst.
I usually read verse 27 at funeral services because it obviously has a special relevance. I also read the opening verses of this chapter (John 14) where Jesus says in verse 2: ‘In my Father’s house are many rooms....I am going there to prepare a place for you.’
I want to end by getting you to notice those two verses in this chapter. In verse 2, Jesus says he is going back to the Father in order to prepare a ‘home’ for us. In verse 23, Jesus says that the Father and he will come and make their home with us here. (The Greek word is ‘mone’ and these are the only two times that precise word appears in the New Testament).
What a privilege and what a promise we have here to reflect on in this Easter season. God the Father and the risen Jesus will come and make their home with us here - in the fellowship of the Church and in our hearts. And when we die, the risen Jesus (whose ascension we celebrate on Thursday), we know that Jesus has gone ahead of us to prepare our final home in heaven. Our true home is where that special love is. No wonder St Paul writes in that famous chapter that Agape love is the greatest of all, and lasts for ever.
Discussion Topics
1. Consider the meaning of ‘loving obedience’ in family life and in the life of the Church
2. How can we make the teaching of Jesus come alive for us and relevant to our lives today, as it did for the disciples who first heard it?
3. How can we make that special peace which Christ promises become real for us in our personal lives and in our Church?
4. Sadly the word ‘home’ has very unhappy connotations for many people who have grown up in dysfunctional and sometimes abusive families. Consider ways in which this passage might be interpreted to help them understand it, especially through the fellowship of the Church.
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