Dealing with Evil. Jeremiah 31: 31 – 34; Hebrews 5: 5 – 10;  John 12: 20 – 33 The Christian life drives out evil with goodness. This sermon has been a hard one to compose. It has been difficult because it is a sermon that tells us where we stand and not how to practice the faith. But it has pure gold in it. How do we fight evil: violence, abuse, exploitation, injustice, corruption etc.? Just how do we?  Our normal reaction is to respond to evil in its many forms with something comparable.  For example, violence is met with violence. In fact violence in response to any form of violence at best causes a cessation of the violence, but in the long run violence emerges again and escalates. We can write laws and prosecute the perpetrators, but that doesn’t solve the problem. Policing our laws that ensure good behaviour is important. However we have a tendency to build more prisons, in spite of the facts that where governments have provided greater social services there has been a reduction in prison occupancy. Punitive regimes may curb the number of crimes, but not stop them. Which supports the deeper issue I am raising today, which is, how do we deal with the inherent evil in the world?  I speak of evil because wrongdoing reaches proportions that are evil.  We might not believe in the devil or evil spirits wandering around trying to get into our lives, but we can’t deny the spirit of evil. Let me try and explain.  A society will create a legal system that feeds into our fears and prejudices. That system may even appear reasonable. The combination of the laws with our fears and prejudices creates something larger than the law itself. The white South African government developed the policy of ‘apartheid’ or ‘separate development’. It was quite a reasonable policy on paper. But the laws that supported the policy created an evil system of racism. The spirit of that system was larger than any individual or law and it invaded our lives causing disrespect for others, injustice, and the separation of families. Apartheid left no household, black or white, untouched. Racism was given permission to exist. It was evil. Enforcing obedience to the law has a limited success. Strong policing will curb crime but not eliminate crime. It is no wonder that the prophet, Jeremiah, came to understand that God would one day write God’s law on our hearts. I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  34 No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the LORD,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more. [Jer 31:33-34]  We need a change of heart that leads to the spring of love bubbling up within us.  This is why St Augustine could say;  ‘Love God and do what you like’.  To be in love with God is to be in God’s love. But cannot change our hearts on our own. As I have attempted with my ordinary words to describe the enormity of evil. You cannot dismiss evil; you must drive it out by a greater power. You will find examples of what I am talking about in many places. Even institutions with good purposes develop a power of their own which can become sinister to some degree or other. Ponder the Church as an institution and then our banking systems. The list does not diminish. An institution’s way of being can possess us. The thing we serve possesses us and that is what demonic is. Jesus experienced evil in his day.  I have become very aware in recent times that Jesus began his ministry and immediately the demons emerged. From the very beginning Jesus had to deal with evil in its different faces.  Those forces strove to quieten him and extinguish the flame of his compassion and truth. Those forces of evil had to be driven out.  Jesus knew this.  So it is not surprising to hear Jesus say; Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. [Jn 12:31] Jesus’ strife with the religious authorities had come to a head. The authorities found Jesus a threat to their control and power. The authorities were going to use any means to ensure they didn’t lose control. Jesus was confronting their power in what he said and did. He demonstrated that the religious orders didn’t have the power to forgive, that God’s power was with him and he controlled the powers of evil by exorcising demons. Along with that Jesus broke laws controlling community relations. He allowed women to touch him, he touched the unclean and implied where he was God was present. So how does Jesus destroy the powers of evil?  Jesus destroys the power of evil the only way one can.  He confronted the evil with truth and love.  You can’t overcome evil by using the tools of evil. When we fight evil on evil’s terms evil wins.  What that tells us is that we do not have the capacity to confront evil with truth and love because we do not have in ourselves the quality of love and compassion to overcome evil. Neither do we have the measure of truth in ourselves to combat the lie. Why?  Because we are already tainted with unlove and untruth. We are sinners as the Bible says. Listen to your heart and mind. We are too ready to punish and embrace anger than forgive and build relationships. The only way that we can combat the evil is with pure compassionate love and truth. And we can’t do it. Neither could the disciples. We have a perfect of example of this at Gethsemane. The squad

Jesus Talking with Nick. Numbers 21: 4 – 9;  John 3: 14 – 21 To see who Jesus is, is a work of Heaven. The Gospel according to John has some unique features. The conversations Jesus has with people forms one of those features. The Gospel according to Matthew, Mark and Luke record no conversations. They merely retain a statement or questions directed to Jesus or a person. Some scholars might add that John’s conversations are a literary device. Whatever the case may be they are valuable. Jesus talks at length to the Samaritan woman, Mary and Martha, Pontius Pilate and Nicodemus.  Nicodemus comes at night. There is tension between Jesus and the religious leaders. Maybe Nicodemus wanted to keep his respect for Jesus a secret. Maybe Nicodemus just wanted a private conversation uninterrupted by his fellow cynical and prejudicial Pharisees. We don’t know, but the conversation is interesting and helpful to us. We learn much from it.   Nicodemus comes to Jesus acknowledging that Jesus must come from God.  I will call Nicodemus, Nick. Nick’s attitude contrasts with those vocal Pharisees who see Jesus as a threat. Jesus responds to Nick saying, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” [John 3:3] Jesus is saying that we don’t recognise the Kingdom of God in our own strength. God the Holy Spirit helps us see the Kingdom. If this is so it suggests that Nick is close to God, but as in all conversations they can get side tracked. Nick gets side tracked by Jesus’ use of a new image that of ‘being born from above’.  (In our lifetime we changed this expression to being born again.)  It seems that Nick is caught up with the puzzle of being born anew. He is caught up in human logic like we so often do. He only sees birthing in terms of our natural birth. Jesus explains what he means by using the more common images of water and the Spirit. Then Jesus follows up with a reference to the wind blowing and we don’t understand where it comes from or where it goes – which is in a general sense true. Most of us understand that winds blow in different directions, but don’t know how they work. The science of meteorology was not known in those days. Even today people don’t really understand the science of the weather. Jesus’ illustration is helpful.  We don’t have to know everything for something to happen. We don’t need to know the mechanics and dynamics of riding a bicycle to ride one. We learn to ride as small children by riding. That might be our first lesson – to simply trust our Lord’s instruction like we trusted that adult who taught us to ride a bicycle. Get on it and start peddling. Trust Jesus and start walking in faith. Jesus explains the grounds of his authority to Nick.  Jesus has descended from heaven. What is interesting are the words of Jesus is his statement that no one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven [Jn 3: 13]. Jesus sees heaven as the place that directs the affairs of the world, not the place to which we go to when we die. Heaven is God’s “control tower” not our ‘destiny’ as I have shared with you elsewhere. Jesus’ claim is audacious. “I am from God!” he says. Nick could take this in a number of ways, but he most likely understood Jesus to be a true prophet of God. In fact Nick had already stated this when he came to Jesus and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” [3:2]  Jesus’ affirmation of Nick suggests to me that he sees Nick as already born anew or at least in the process of being born from above.  The conversation deepens as serious conversations usually do. Jesus now likens his ministry to that of the uplifted image of a ‘serpent on the pole’ in the Exodus story.  We read about that a few minutes ago. The freed slaves under Moses’ leadership had sinned: failed to trust God. The local snakes bit them and they took this as their punishment. God gives Moses an antidote, which is to make an image of the snakes and put it on a pole. When people are bitten they are to look at the image of the snake and they will be healed. Rev Dr John Miller writes in “Love to the World”;  “The bites of the poisonous (literally ‘fiery’) serpents cause a burning sensation corresponding to the fiery anger of God. (Think of the burning shame we can experience if our sins are exposed).  Why does God command Moses to make a bronze image of these fearful snakes?  Perhaps in looking to the image of the instrument of their punishment the people were being made to face up to their sin and its consequences.” [Lent & Easter 2018] Jesus claims to be like the serpent image – Jesus will save the people. It is important to distinguish between the image and the power behind the image. It is not the image that rescues and heals; it is the power the image represents. That is, it is not the cross of Jesus that saves, but God’s saving power and purposes as demonstrated in the cross of Jesus. Jesus explains that the power and motivation behind the ‘lifting up of the Son of Man’ is the love of God.  We come to that well-known and powerful statement;  “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” [3:16] God’s love is the instigation for Christ Jesus’ coming.  God loves the world God created.  God’s world has life because God

REFLECTING GOD’S LIGHT LEIGHMOOR 25 Feb 2018 The actor who played God in the movies, George Burns once said that a Sermon should have a good start and a good ending and be as short as possible in between. This homily will, hopefully, shed some light on the relevance of today’s lectionary Bible readings which culminate in the ‘theology of the cross’ teaching us to live lives of service to others rather than to control and dominate. We firstly consider Genesis, followed by a Psalm and then Mark’s Gospel. Finally we should consider how we can reflect God’s light into the dark corners of our personal worlds. God’s covenant with Abraham and his offspring promised two things: descendants and land. Abraham and Sarah’s own childlessness provides one of the first moments of anxiety over the promise. They are old and the prospect of parenthood for them is laughable. Yes, Abraham fell on his face and laughed. The descendants of Abraham will face obstacles about the promise like: barren women, enslavement in Egypt, desperation in the wilderness and the exile in Babylon. Will God keep his promises? The change of Abraham’s wife’s name to Sarah meaning princess, stressed that she was to be the mother of nations and kings down through the ages and so she served the Lord’s purpose.   The link of this reading to the season of Lent is this. The cross is the ultimate obstacle to realizing the promises of God. God had promised a redeemer, a newly appointed king of kings, a saviour to deliver the nations from sin and suffering. However that redeemer will be executed by the Roman Empire and who could really be raised from the dead? The prospect is as impossible as a ninety year old woman having a child with a hundred year old man. When we hear the promise of the resurrection, we know to fall on our faces in reverence: God is speaking to us! We wait for Easter when we witness the promises fulfilled, and our stubborn doubt-filled laughter turns to the laughter of joy. Psalm 22 is an ancient prayer inviting the godforsaken to pray those words to God, and then see what happens.  The first verse of this Psalm is quoted by Jesus on the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”  Verse 24 speaks of suffering, but in the end, as in today’s gospel reading, there is restoration and deliverance. The circle of praise spreads widely, extends beyond time itself. The psalm finishes with a sense of praise “All the nations…all the families of nations, worship before God” Everyone is able to join in with the psalmist saying “The Lord has done it” What deeds? “The saving deeds that he has done”. Michael Rogness, Professor of Preaching, Luther Seminary, St Paul, USA, assisted me in this commentary on Mark 8. We are so accustomed to the message of Jesus’ crucifixion that it is easy to overlook how jarring that prospect would have been for the disciples. The great hope of the Israelite people at that time was freedom from the Roman overlords.  They had seen Jesus’ miracles, and experienced his magnetic personality. They would reasonably assume Jesus would challenge the way they lived as servants under the Romans. They had big hopes for the future; not a cross. Contrary to all their hopes and expectations, he would undergo suffering and be killed. It was the worst possible thing Jesus could have said. Jesus shocks the disciples even more deeply by telling them that his way of the cross may well be their future too. Those who would follow him will ‘deny themselves, take up their cross and follow me’. As if that’s not enough, Jesus continues with even more unexpected and totally unforeseen news: To save your life you must lose it. You may lose your lives for Jesus sake. The whole point of Jesus’ ministry was that he came to give his life for the salvation of them and us. By our human nature we want to be prosperous, strong, successful and influential. Jesus had other priorities. He, on the other hand, came to serve, not to be served. His ways are not our ways, yet he invites us to follow him and his ways. We are called upon to do the very best we can with the talents and abilities God has given us. To ‘deny oneself’ means to keep one’s priorities in harmony with what Jesus told us in the two ‘great commandments’: love God and love your neighbour. Jesus gives us hope for the future.  We are called upon to follow him not just for this future, but in this life. We follow Jesus because it is worth it. The author and President of Leprosy International, Eddie Askew has some appropriate words for such a time. He writes in his book:-“A Silence and a Shouting” based on Luke’s Gospel. “Some people can walk quietly and calmly into a situation of confusion, size it up, and do something about it. It is a rare and enviable gift and Jesus had it. After the exaltation of the experience of the transfiguration, on the mountain and the peace of the night in the hills, Jesus was met by a crowd of people. It was a large and curious crowd, shoving and elbowing, closing in, talking, quarrelling, dirty and sweaty, staring at the Galilean prophet they had come to see. Someone yells: “Look at my son, your disciples couldn’t do anything”. Get the picture? A crowd, noise, heat, criticism, sickness. The disciples are helpless. The father is disappointed, belligerent. To make it worse the boy goes into convulsions. In it all, Jesus is competent, and in control of the situation, effectively translating the love of God into action, by healing the boy and restoring him to the father.  Jesus , firmly in control, gently takes His disciples beyond the immediate, beyond the healing, quietly revealing the fundamental purpose of His presence

What I came to do. 1 Corinthians 9: 16 – 23; Mark 1: 29 – 39 Christ Jesus has come to all and wants the best for us all. “That is what I came out to do”, said Jesus to his disciples. [Mk 1: 38] What always strikes me in this passage is that Jesus has had a very busy day well into the evening, and he gets up before sunrise to go to a quiet place to pray. Why? Surely there is reason enough to have a little longer in bed? Anyway how much time does he need? Before sunrise – before everyone else gets up? Mark paints another word picture for us depicting a day in Jesus’ early ministry. We naturally see all the healings and get caught up in that part of his ministry, but I believe that misses the point: two points actually. Firstly, he returns to Simon Peter’s house and is told about his mother-in-law’s illness. What Jesus does is significant, but the significance is lost on us, because of our cultural difference. In those days, a respectable rabbi would not take a woman by the hand. And we have no records, amongst the healings of that time, of rabbis healing women.  And certainly this would not have been done on the Sabbath. Jesus could have waited until after sundown that day, which was the beginning of the next day. Their days ran from sunset to sunset.  In healing this woman and touching her Jesus is subject to uncleanness and breaking the Sabbath law. Mark records something very significant here. Jesus cures a demon-possessed man on the Sabbath and heals a woman on the Sabbath. And he touches a woman he does not know.  Jesus will not be constrained by convention when it comes to our well-being.  And, more importantly Jesus’ actions proclaim that the Gospel is for all. That is the first and profound lesson:  all are included in God’s kingdom, and our conventions take a second place.  We should take careful note of the latter. The second point of this passage for me is that Jesus needs time alone. For what? Well, we are not told, but there are some clues. Jesus has become popular.  The beginning of his ministry sees a group of disciples formed and people respond warmly to this rabbi – a teacher who speaks with authority and acts with power. People have been healed and they see that this man, Jesus of Nazareth, is special.  They come to Simon Peter’s house in the evening because it is no longer the Sabbath.  Jesus heals. Reading between the lines the disciples wake up rather lazily. They discover that some early risers have arrived to see Jesus. This is exciting. They go looking for Jesus. They’re part of the show. For them it is about the success of Jesus’ ministry. The crowds are growing.  The disciples are pleased and excited.  When they find Jesus they tell him; “Everyone is searching for you.” [Mk 1:37] A little bit of exaggeration, but it is basically true.  The disciples think that this is what Jesus has come to do and they’re part of it. But they are wrong. Jesus has come to proclaim the message throughout Israel and to Israel. Jesus has also come to confront evil and lay down his life. They don’t understand this. Their lack of understanding is understandable.  Jesus needed time alone to reflect on what has happened. He needed to get perspective because others would not see what he sees. A successful day with crowds is tempting. The temptation would be to stay with the crowds and build a strong rabbinic teaching ministry. That’s what rabbis did. They established schools – at least the great ones did. But that is exactly the temptation he needed to face and reject. It is not that people should come to him, but that he should go to them. That is the Gospel: God comes to us in this one, Christ Jesus.  I think one of the great dangers in life is that we do not give ourselves time to reflect on our successes. We’d just rather repeat them. Never forget about the long journey – the goal. What you are called to: what God has laid on your heart. Jesus didn’t. This passage speaks to us of the scope and purpose of Jesus’ ministry: God’s Kingdom is at hand and it is for all: the rich, the poor, men and women, children, the outcasts and tax collectors. They will come to see that the Gospel is for all – even the Romans  – their enemies.  Now the Gospel comes in the power of God and God’s intention is to heal and restore us to our former image. Now for us healing has largely to do with our physical wellness. Healing often means the removal of pain, discomfort and limitations. Let’s briefly ponder about this. In my ministry of over 50 years I have come to see healing in this way. Firstly, I believe that God can intervene and that miraculous healings do take place. I have personally witnessed this.  But physical healing does not always come in the way we wish it. There is a testimony that goes back through time right to Paul, who had some physical ailment, that the physical ailment has been a means of witnessing to God. What if our physical ailment is the instrument of God’s message to others? What if the great healing is death itself, so that we can go to be wholly in God’s presence? I fear that we tend to see healing as the absence of suffering of any kind.  I am not sure that is a helpful understanding. Yes, I like being free of pain and any form of suffering. I like to be bouncing with energy.  But such health, when I reflect on it, is the health I enjoy and I want because it serves my interests. And our concern is

The latent power within. Deuteronomy 18: 15 – 20;  Mark 1: 21 – 28 You have the latent power and authority to change the world for good. Mark tells us that the first thing Jesus did when he began his ministry was to gather disciples. And the reader of the Gospel will observe that disciples are present at every point in Jesus’ public ministry, right up until the Crucifixion. Jesus’ past and present disciples are critical to the proclamation of the Gospel. Now Mark tells us that Jesus was a teacher and that he taught with authority. He (Jesus) entered the synagogue and taught.  They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. [Mk 1: 21b & 22]  Jesus’ teaching had a big impact on those who heard him. Not only was Jesus an amazing teacher he was an awesome teacher. At the beginning of his teaching ministry the unclean spirits identify Jesus. The demonic spirit in the man knows who Jesus is and what he can do. In the ancient world calling someone by their name and identifying who they are was seen as act of power and control over them. This ‘spirit’ not only knows Jesus’ earthly name but also knows his heavenly title – ‘the Holy one of God’. Those present would have understood that the ‘unclean spirit’ was powerful. But without hesitation Jesus drives out this ‘spirit’.  This incident is not incidental to Jesus’ teaching.  The exorcism shows Jesus as an authoritative teacher has power over evil.  So the crowd kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him”. [Mk 1: 27]  So Mark has provided us with another word picture of Jesus. Jesus has announced that the Kingdom of God was close, he has gathered disciples, who are so important to his ministry, and demonstrates that he teaches with authority and power. Now a kingdom is impossible without authority, and authority is useless without power. This is what Jesus is doing.  He declares that the Kingdom of God is present and he has the authority and power to constitute that kingdom.  The presence of the Kingdom is seen in Jesus and his disciples when they do the will of God: just as we pray, “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.  So let us look at the relationship between authority and power.  The simplest way to illustrate the difference between authority and power is to place to pictures side by side. There is the truck driver in a huge vehicle. Driving on the road the truck driver has enormous power in his hands. When we are on the road we make sure we are not in the truck’s path. In our hands we may have a 4×4, car, motorcycle or bicycle, all have various rates of power but none have the power to stop the truck driver. However a person can – a police person can stop that truck by putting up their hand. Wow, that’s power. The policeman has the authority to do what no one else can do – stop the truck.  The policeman has been given the authority to do so by the government and carries the power of the government in this simple action. The truck driver has power but has very limited authority in contrast to the policeman. That picture of the police-person having the authority to stop the powerful truck helps us understand how Jesus appeared to the people of his day.  There Jesus was. Whatever he might have looked like and whatever personal ‘presence’ he might have had, he had authority over that which all others feared  – the demonic powers. Mark tells us that Jesus had authority and power. Power and authority are related terms but also different.   Authority is a power that is derived from another. Authority flows one way and downwards. Authority carries a delegated power.  Authority is given to us by another to act. So when we speak of Jesus’ authority we are speaking of a power given to him by God the Creator.  At another level Jesus is God so it is his authority. What I understand is that to speak of Jesus having authority is to recognise that Jesus is subject to the Trinity. That is, Jesus is not merely an individual acting on behalf of himself. Jesus is subject to the vision and plan of the Triune God. Therefore his power is not his alone but the power of the God-head and the Kingdom of God. The Gospel writers tell about Jesus’s authority and power in a few clear sentences.  Mark tells us that the people were saying;  “A new teaching—with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him” [Mk 1: 27].  Luke reports that the people were saying; with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and out they come [Lk 4: 36]. Jesus not only had authority but the power over the spiritual realm. Power is a broader concept than authority. Whereas authority is the right to exercise power, power is the ability to influence and change situations. Power is not necessarily delegated.  Just being given the authority to influence and change is not sufficient. So our police-person who steps into the road to stop the truck does so in a manner that exudes confidence, belief and commitment.  The police-person doesn’t half-heartedly raise their hand. They act with conviction and commitment to the task given to them. They are the government’s agents who are given power to act in a certain way.   There is an integration of the way they present themselves, their dress, the confidence of their actions and the belief in the authority and power they carry. There must be some integration between the authority given and the person they are. Importantly their actions must also be consistent with a

Decision Time. Jonah 3: 1 – 5, 10;  Mark 1: 14 – 20 Decisions make us what we are or are not. It’s decision time. That is the theme of our readings today. Each one is about decision-making, and each one is about what God is doing.  When God acts we must decide.  Jonah first decided to disobey the call of God and through adversity decided to obey God. He proclaimed God’s message to the Ninevians and they decided to repent, and God decided to show mercy to the repentant Ninevians. The Psalmist (62) speaks of the longing for God to act and God’s promise to restore and rescue.  Paul writes to the Corinthians and tells them that the time for God to restore Creation is near and that they must decide to live rightly before God.  When God acts we must decide.  We must decide whether to be part of God’s action or not. Mark begins his well-crafted account of the Gospel telling us who Jesus is in verses 1 – 13. Verse 14 begins the narration of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus comes on the scene and presents us with a metaphorical fork in the religious road.  Which way will you go?   In verses 14-16 Mark provides us with a summary of the Gospel, which in common language reads, ‘it is time to turn around and face the right way’.  The Gospel is this; Jesus shows us the way to God and what God is doing about getting us on track. Mark tells us that the first thing Jesus did was to gather disciples. In our passage he calls Simon, Andrew, James and John. Two sets of brothers. All fisherman – all called to fish for Jesus.  Incidentally from now through to the Crucifixion Jesus never appears publicly without some or all of his disciples present. The disciples are crucial to the proclamation of the Gospel, just as we are. Remember the future of God’s community, from an earthly perspective, lies with the current followers of Jesus, not the future ones. We are the future – praise God.  It’s decision time. Jesus’ presence creates that fork in the road as to whether we will follow or stay where we are.  Jesus’ presence is such that we must respond. The disciples decide to follow. The crowds hear his preaching and in the listening many turn to follow him as Jesus gives them hope, faith and healing. The religious authorities come to hear this new preacher. The religious authorities are full of confidence about their correctness. They respond by deciding to destroy Jesus as he threatens their authority and the status quo [Mk 2: 6f, 16, 24; 3:6].  Jesus in presenting the truth of God is like a light shining in the darkness and the darkness wants to snuff out the light, but the darkness cannot overcome the light of Christ [John 1:5; 3: 19].  The light of Christ confronts the world’s darkness demanding a decision.  The decisions make us what we are.  Our decisions shape our future, whether the decision is a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’.  I am haunted by a decision I made in my first few weeks of University. It was the 6th lecture in Intro-Greek in my 1st year at university reading for my undergraduate degree in divinity. The lecturer presented the results for our first little test. I did very well. He offered me the opportunity to go to Greek 1. I was in the divinity students group doing Introductory Greek. I wanted to go, but all my fears emerged. I had never done well at languages at school. I stayed. I always feel that if I had gone I would have achieved that standard of Greek that would have served me well in my post-graduate years. Instead my relatively poor Greek skills held me back. On the other hand my decision to say ‘yes’ to Jesus as a 17 year-old has completely shaped my life and who I am. And I have no regrets even though there have been times when I have baulked at the call of God. I am deeply grateful for the call. Indecision helps no one.  It is unhelpful to stand at the fork in the road and keep wondering which way to go and not decide. To stand indecisively at the fork in the road leaves us meandering through life. Indecision leads nowhere.  It is important to be decisive in a time of uncertainty, which is not the same as uncertain in a time of deciding. When we are faced with a decision we need to be decisive. Now when we read Mark’s account of the Gospel of Jesus we might be a little amazed at the response of the disciples.  It appears that Jesus walks past a few fisherman on the shore and selects a few! And then they simply turn around and leave everything and follow him.  It’s all a little amazing. Mark is not writing about the disciples, he is writing about Jesus. Mark is not interested in why the disciples decided for Jesus; he is interested in telling us that Jesus required disciples. So is there any indication why the disciples chose to follow Jesus? Yes, if we listen carefully to the Gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Let us recall that many people at this time were looking to God to send the Messiah. Let us also recall that Jesus didn’t drop out of the sky. He was the cousin of John the Baptist. So when Jesus begun his ministry he knew John the Baptist.  The Gospel according to John tells us that two of John the Baptist’s disciples saw Jesus walk by and John the Baptist said to them, “Look, here is the Lamb of God!” [Jn 1: 35-42] One of these disciples was Andrew, Peter’s brother.  We also know, according to Luke, that James and John were partners with Peter [Lk 5: 10]. Mark says Jesus came and called Peter

Listening Opens us to God. 1 Samuel 3: 1 – 4:1a; John 1: 43 – 51 In my first sermon this year I shared my New Year’s Resolution: to make 2018 a year of the Holy Spirit.  I have felt led by the Spirit to do so. My personal intention is to be more sensitive to the guidance and blessing of the Spirit in my life. Hopefully you will share that journey with me. Being sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s encouragement, guidance and empowerment is not easy.  So it was with delight I saw that the lectionary texts set for this Sunday help us understand how we might be sensitive to the Holy Spirit.  Our texts give us two wonderful stories of God’s guidance.  I am going to focus chiefly on the Samuel text and its wonderfully crafted story of the call of Samuel: Israel’s great priest, prophet and kingmaker who lived in the 10th Century BC(E). Remember the background story of his childless mother, Hannah. She prayed to have a son and said to God that she would give her son to the Lord. Hannah did have a son and she did give that son, when he was weaned at 4 – 5 years old, to the priest Eli at the Shiloh sanctuary. We pick up the story when Samuel was probably in his late teens. He is serving in the sanctuary and helping Eli the priest, who is an old man and losing his sight. The story contains for us so many spiritual truths.  The story unfolds. Samuel has just gone to bed.  Then he hears his name called.  He responds. He doesn’t pretend to be sleeping. He gets up and goes to Eli. Who else would be calling him? Three times Samuel hears his name and three times he goes to Eli.  On the third instance Eli realises that it must be God wanting to speak to Samuel. Let us reflect on what we can learn from this. Samuel’s expectation is that if anyone is calling him it could be only Eli who, as his superior, would do so. No one else would be calling him. Why would he think it was God calling him? In the opening sentence of this account we are told that God’s ‘word’ was very rare in those days [1 Sam 3:1].  In other words the conversation between God and the people was formal and ritualistic: not dynamic and personal.  To put it another way, the practise of faith was not personal but ritualistic. There were few instances of God interacting with people in those days – very few we are told.  It would seem that there was a spiritual desert amongst God’s people. And we are told why in chapter 2 where we learn that Eli’s sons were doing bad things and Eli was not holding them accountable.  And the people were following their own interests.  Sounds familiar. Now consider these days.  The Church is in numerical decline. Our conversation with God is more formal than personal.  Our faith is more ritualistic than dynamic. For example, we don’t hear of people hearing God speak to them or seeing visions.  Our conversations about our faith are more likely to be intellectual rather than personal. And it is hard to distinguish between our secular friends and ourselves apart from church attendance. It is no wonder that Samuel wouldn’t be thinking that God was calling him. In fact we are expressly told in 1 Sam 3:7 that Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him. Samuel had to learn a lot about his relationship to God and how God works. He needed to move from a formal relationship to a personal relationship with the Lord.  The old priest realises that God may be speaking. Eli then directs Samuel to say, if he hears his name called again; ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’  [3:9] Samuel does hear his name called and now he says yes;  ‘I am listening to you, God, speak.’  We come now to the second spiritual lesson for us today in this story.  Samuel heard his name and was now ready to listen to God: Samuel hears and listens. There is a difference between hearing and listening.  Hearing is simply the act of perceiving sound by the ear. If you are not hearing-impaired, hearing simply happens. Listening, however, is something you consciously choose to do. Listening requires concentration so that your brain works out what the sounds or words mean. Hearing naturally happens: listening requires concentration.  It is not easy to discern the voice of God and what God is saying to us. There are a variety of reasons why this is so.  It is possible that God is not speaking to us because of our sin.  God may be distant to us because we have moved away from God. But if we do hear God are we listening? Listening requires attention and effort. Samuel’s readiness has several degrees.   Firstly, he is willing to be a servant. He is serving Eli in the sanctuary.   Secondly, he hears and attends to the voice, even if he is mistaken. Samuel hears and responds. Thirdly, he is open to receive a word from Eli and then from God. He listens.   Fourthly he is obedient to the instructions.  Samuel is a humble person who is open and receptive.  He is open to a new possibility and he is receptive to a call to take up responsibility. So we learn that learning to listen, being humble and being receptive are important to our meaningful fellowship and ministry in the church. This whole incident must have been very disturbing to someone whose life followed a certain regularity and routine. Regardless of the prophetic history of the prophets and priests, we are given no evidence for thinking that Samuel was an adventurous, freethinking boy. Rather he comes across as obedient, humble and willing to serve. He seems more

My 2018 Resolution. Acts 19: 1 – 7;  Mark 1: 4 – 11 What is in the heart is more important than what is in the head. It’s Resolution time. Have you made any ‘NY’ resolutions? I did. I know when I was young ‘NY’ resolutions were quite a big thing. Of course keeping them was another matter, let alone remembering them. In my sermon-preparation this week I felt encouraged to have a special focus in 2018. I stopped and had a chat with God. I felt the Spirit’s affirmation. The inspiration came out of my reading and reflection on our texts. I resolved to make 2018 a year of the Holy Spirit. That’s my resolution for 2018.  Naturally as your minister you will come on the journey or at least watch it unfold. I do hope you will join me. Why, you may be asking?  Why the Holy Spirit? Well the Spirit plays such an important role in God’s purposes. Nothing happens in the Bible without the Holy Spirit’s action. Moses was so aware of the Spirit in the prophets that he wished all the people were prophets [Num 11:29]. The prophet Joel sees a day when God’s Spirit rests on all and says that our sons and daughters will prophesy [Joel 2: 28].  Last week’s sermon showed how Luke recognised that nothing of eternal substance happens without the work of the Holy Spirit. The Lectionary texts set for the first Sunday of 2018 pick up on the theme of the Spirit. Mark, who doesn’t focus as strongly as Luke does on the Holy Spirit, nevertheless makes it quite clear that Jesus will baptise us not with water but the Spirit. Mark also tells us that when Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist the Spirit descended upon Jesus [Mk 1: 10].  Jesus, when he was soon to be crucified, said to his disciples that he would send the Holy Spirit to be with them to guide, strengthen and empower them for service [John 14, 15 & 16]. Jesus told his disciples that the Spirit will tell you about me [John 15:26] and that the Spirit will bring glory to me by taking my message and telling it to you [John 16:14]. So there is ample reason for focusing on the Holy Spirit, and not least because the Spirit is so often not well understood by us. The Holy Spirit is very important to our lives, to the well-being of the Church and the proclamation of the Gospel. So Paul’s conversation with a few disciples in Ephesus is not surprising. When Paul meets these people who are following the Christian Way he asks them; “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you became believers?”  [Acts 19:2].  ‘Did you receive the Holy Spirit?’  Paul doesn’t ask what they believed when they were baptised, or what was their theological understanding of Jesus, but did they receive the Holy Spirit.  Paul’s question is not about what is in the head but what is in the heart. The question about receiving the Spirit goes to the heart of the matter. Paul does not see Christianity being about what we believe but what we do. I appreciate that what we believe is as important as what we do, because what we believe should lead to what we do. But Paul with his question drills down immediately to what is important for the new believer. Did you receive the Holy Spirit? Their reply and their response demonstrate the relevance of Paul’s question.  They reply that they hadn’t and didn’t know about the Holy Spirit. When they are baptised into Jesus name the Spirit came upon them and they prophesied. These few disciples are now Spirit filled, Spirit directed and Spirit empowered. Wow! They no longer are a group who are following a new way. They have become a small band of Holy Spirit directed and empowered people.  Their faith has moved from the head to the heart, and we know that a heart driven person is an energised person. This doesn’t mean we no longer have to use our brains, it just means we have a new enthusiasm for what we are doing. Oh, that word enthusiasm: do you know its derivation and what it originally meant? It is derived from the Greek terms – en theos; that is, God in us or more colloquially, inspired by God.  The early Methodists were condemned by the formal Church of the day for being ‘enthusiasts’. Enthusiasm is wonderful, but those who don’t share the enthusiasm fear it. I accept that enthusiasm has to be moderated but not squashed. (Oh, for the problem of an enthusiastic church!) So receiving the Spirit will lead to God being within us and we becoming enthusiasts.  Secondly, notice that all they had to do was ‘receive the Spirit’.  God has given the Spirit to us. The Spirit is given to us in our Baptism and in our turning to and following Jesus. But like all gifts we have to receive the Spirit – open the gift up.  Let me illustrate what I am saying. Have you ever been in that embarrassing position with some electrical equipment that won’t work? You just can’t get it to function. So you ask some one to help you. (You know where I am going?)  They come look around and then switch on the power at the powerpoint. You feel so, so silly.  Something like that we have all experienced. (I’ve got to put my hand up on this one.) The equipment won’t work until it is switched on. And sometimes we need to be shown how to switch it on.  I want to share with you the testimony of some great servants of God and what happened when they received the Spirit. You will see that the Spirit works with us individually and that the sign of the Spirit dwelling in us is not expressed in the same way in each case. R.A. Torrey tells

Luke’s Story Picture of Jesus. Isaiah 61: 10 – 62: 3;  Luke 2: 21 – 40 Sometimes to run true to God is to run foul of the people. Bishop Tom Wright describes watching a lead light craftsperson setting the led frame for a stained glass window in the Cathedral. The lead lighter carefully laid out the frame for the beautiful glass he had prepared. The lead lighter used a rainbow of colour to vividly tell a story. Writers are like that too. Luke does what a lead lighter does – he sets out the frame for a window on the story of Jesus. In this instance the frame is not made of lead but the ritual events surrounding the birth of a Jewish boy. After eight days he is circumcised and later there is a purification ceremony. This is the frame for the coloured glass of the story so to speak. How would you have depicted this child born to be God’s king? Luke chooses sombre colours rather than the vivid colours of royalty and power.  Luke’s colours convey the very opposite power and royal splendour. If Jesus comes as the ‘Prince of Peace’ and ‘God’s Son’ he is not painted with the colours of power and glory usually associated with kingly rule. If Jesus is the Son of God his power is not like Caesar’s.  Luke is warning his readers that Jesus is not like an earthly ruler ruling with power and glory. He does this by putting Simeon and Anna in the forefront. They are his sombre and penetrating colours.  Both remind us strongly that Jesus enters a suffering world and will confront the suffering and injustice. Simeon is waiting for the redemption of the world and the consolation of the Jewish people. Simeon longs to see an end to his people’s suffering. They have suffered long under the rule of foreign powers and currently under the strong-armed rule of Rome.  Simeon’s desire to see the end of the suffering is also to see the beginning of God’s justice. Simeon for us represents the suffering people of this world looking for help to rise above the injustice and suffering.  Anna to is also sufferer.  She was widowed after seven years of marriage and never married again. It seems she is childless as well.  She became a prophet residing in the temple hoping like Simeon for restoration of Israel.  Both come out of the tradition and family of Judaism.  What Simeon says to Joseph and Mary is significant. He says that this baby Jesus, recently circumcised and named Jesus, will suffer for the people. To Mary he says, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.”  Simeon also says that Jesus comes not only to rescue the Jews but to be a light to the Gentiles as well. So the Holy Family hear these prophets speak of their son in the most devout and esteemed terms for any Jew. This is God’s special child who will not live a life of pomp and wealth but a life of suffering. He will rescue his people and the Gentiles will turn to God as well.  Isaiah’s prophecies also speak of a ‘suffering servant’.  So Luke unfolds the story of Jesus’ birth with a somber picture of the salvation of Israel and the world through suffering.  Jesus will come to the suffering and heal them and liberate them, but he too will suffer it seems as Isaiah depicted. Luke wants his readers to understand Jesus’ role is different to that of earthly kings, and that Jesus’ kingdom encompasses the world. Luke prepares his readers to understand that Jesus’ glory is the defeat of sin through pure love that leads to the redemption of all. So after the happy birth of a Saviour born to be King we are reminded that the weight of the world rests upon this child’s shoulders. There are two further things to note in this word picture that Luke paints.   Firstly we see the characters surrounding the Christ-child. There are the young parents facing the future with their boy-child. There are the two old persons in their sunset years with hopes and dreams for a better world.  One an old priest devout and no doubt a family man. There is the lonely widow devoutly waiting and praying for the Messiah.  Luke draws readers of every age and stage into this story and does not avoid the reality of this child’s suffering role for the world.  Secondly, Luke has told this story concerning another person who winds her way through this sombrely coloured scene of suffering and hope.  It is the wind of the Spirit blowing through the avenues of life. We are told that the Spirit rested on Simeon [2:25]; that the Spirit had told Simeon he would not die until he had seen the Messiah [2:26]; and, that Simeon was guided into the Temple at the time when the purification rite of Jesus and his mother took place [2:27].  We are left no doubt of the role of Jesus and power of the Holy Spirit at work. I suggest there are three lessons for us. Firstly, that Jesus is the Lord of life who comes to us to suffer for and with us.  Jesus shows that through his suffering evil is destroyed. You may have noticed that I am fond of this phrase – Jesus suffers for and with us.  The suffering of Jesus has two significant features. Firstly, the easier one to understand is that God identifies with us in coming in human form. God clothed in human flesh tells us that God is for us – Emmanuel.  God identifies with us.  That was the point of Kierkegaard’s parable of the ‘Prince and the Maiden’ I told on Christmas Day. 

Love’s Obedience. Romans 16: 25 – 27; Luke 1: 26 – 38 Obedience is the fruit of faith; love the bloom on the fruit. I want to talk about obedience today. There is the story of Charlie and his teacher. His teacher said to Charlie. ‘This is the fifth time this week that I have had to punish you. What have you to say for yourself?’   Charlie replied timidly, ‘I’m glad it’s Friday?’ There is wisdom in children, as we know.  Three-year-old Bobby insisted on standing up in his highchair although his mother had reprimanded him to stay seated. She did this twice reseating him. After the third time, little Bobbie remained seated but looked at his mother and said, ‘Mummy, I’m still standing up inside.’ Yes, there is coerced obedience, which lasts as long as the power of coercion lasts. Then there is the obedience that is true and remains so even in the face of great threat: indeed in the face of the ultimate threat. That’s a special kind of obedience. Then there is the shallow obedience that is given to social conventions, traditions or cultural habits. This obedience is given with little thought and no commitment. Then there is the obedience that is based on that erroneous view that God requires us to obey religious and secular authorities.  I wish to focus on an obedience that emerges out of a deep faith and love.   In 1940 the order had gone out that incurables and the insane were no longer to be a burden on the Reich. Three high officials descended upon the Bethel institution (a huge hospital for epileptics and the mentally ill).  ‘Herr Pastor ‘, they said, ‘the Fuehrer has decided that all these people must be gassed.”  Pastor Friedrich von Bodelschwingh, Junior, looked at them calmly and said; ‘You can put me into a concentration camp if you want; that is your affair. But as long as I am free, you do not touch one of my patients. I cannot change to fit the times or the wishes of the Fuehrer. I stand under orders from our Lord Jesus Christ.’  In checking this story I came across this note: According to the noted psychiatrist Karl Stern‘s memoir, The Pillar of Fire (page 119), “There was a famous Lutheran pastor, Bodelschwingh, who built up a huge colony of feeble-minded, idiots and epileptics in Bethel in Western Germany. During the war, when the Nazis carried out the slaughter of all mental patients, Pastor Bodelschwingh insisted that he would be killed together with his inmates. It was only on the basis of his international fame that the politicians let him get away with it, and let him and the inmates of his colony live. This was a kind of last-ditch stand of Christianity.”  In another reference it was the high esteem with which general public had of Pastor von Bodelschwingh and his family that caused politicians to re-consider the decision to kill the clients of the Bethel institute.  Pastor Von Bodelschwingh stood in the tradition of countless Christians who faced death with courage for their faith and obedience to Christ Jesus. The pastor stood in that long line of tradition that began with Peter and John before the Sandhedrin when they chose to obey God rather than the religious authorities [Acts 4: 19f].  I would add that the young Mary, the mother to be of Jesus, also had such faith that led to her obedience. Whatever we may think of the story of the Virgin birth of Jesus – a mystery it is – we cannot dismiss the faith and obedience of Mary, and Joseph.  Mary stands out.  Scholars – some with blind belief others blinded by cynicism have critically examined the story of Jesus of Nazareth’s birth. I do not want re-visit those discussions. I not sure that such scholarly discussion finally help us in our faith journey. The story of Mary tells us some core truths.  The story tells us that Jesus was fully human; that Jesus’s birth was the work of God; and, that Mary was a faithful and obedient person.  Whatever the precise circumstances are we have a young woman, namely a virgin, who is pregnant with child before her marriage. There is something courageous in this woman who accepts her lot. There is much faith in this young woman who senses the divine has touched her life in a very special way.  Her response is an obedient response.  It is an obedience born out of a faith in God and a love for God. Mary responds positively to the task that lies ahead.  I think Mary’s obedience to God is what the final doxology of the letter to the Romans means when it says, to bring about the obedience of faith to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, [Rom 16:26] It is a strange thought that faith demands obedience to God. Let pause to unpack this thought for a moment. At the first level this concept, the obedience of faith, means that what we believe determines our decisions. What we believe is what we value. The beliefs and values we hold will shape our decision making process. If we believe that a polite society is of great importance it will shape our decisions and responses.  If we believe truth is of great importance that will shape how we respond to life situations. If our faith is in Divine Transcendence, then that belief will shape our decisions.  Firstly, we must say that obedience is the fruit of faith. It is faith in God, who is the beginning and end of all things, who we believe in and therefore whom we obey. This is a higher obedience because there is a higher being who holds our life. Whether we call this transcendence, God or Christ or Life, it is that which transcends all else. To disobey goes against our very being.  That is why Pastor von Bobelschwingh and countless men and women have stood