Sunday 21st November, 2010 Sunday next before Advent
Christ the King
Sentence
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud O daughter of Jerusalem. Lo, your King comes to you, triumphant and victorious is He, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt the foal of a donkey.
Zechariah 9:9
Collect
Stir up, we pray, O Lord, the wills of Your faithful people, that they plenteously bringing forth the fruits of good works may by You be plenteously rewarded, through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
Eternal God, You exalted Jesus Christ to rule over all things, and have made us instruments of His kingdom; by Your Spirit empower us to love the unloved, and to minister to all in need, then at the last, bring us to Your eternal realm where we may be welcomed into Your everlasting joy and may worship and adore You for ever; through Jesus Christ our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever Amen
Old Testament Lesson Jeremiah 23: 1 – 6
Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the LORD. Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord, Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply.
I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the LORD. The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: "The LORD is our righteousness."
FOR THE PSALM Song of Zechariah
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel: Who has come to His people and set them free
The Lord has raised up for us a mighty Saviour: born of the house of His servant David
Through the holy prophets, God promised of old: to save us from our enemies, from the hands of all who hate us
To show mercy to our forebears: and to remember His holy covenant
This was the oath God swore to our father Abraham: to set us free from the hands of our enemies
Free to worship Him without fear: holy and righteous before Him, all the days of our life
And you, child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High: for you will go before the Lord to prepare His ways
To give His people knowledge of salvation: by the forgiveness of their sins
In the tender compassion of our God: the dawn from on high shall break upon us
To shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death: and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Epistle Colossians 1: 11 - 20
May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers--all things have been created through him and for him.
He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.
GOSPEL Luke 23: 33 – 43
When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." And they cast lots to divide his clothing. And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!"
The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!" There was also an inscription over him, "This is the King of the Jews." One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." He replied, "Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise."
NOTES ON THE READINGS
A few comments before we start may be of some help. If you are wondering at the apparent disconnection between today’s readings, it may be of use to ponder the title for the day. Christ the King.
It is obvious that these days require almost a re-translation of ‘King’ anyhow, even whilst wondering why we retain such an obsolete title. The real problem, in Jesus’ day as well as ours, lies in the perception of what makes a King and what is the role. Humans would point to power and control! And that is where our Lord would part company. David was the icon of king, and he began as shepherd, and that view has never left the Biblical outlook. SHEPHERD. And if you were wondering, John in Revelation makes it quite clear that Jesus’ Kingship is expressed most fully and completely when He is on the Cross. Here is Shepherd-King par excellence. Neither priest nor prophet nor king of any sort is of any value to other than himself or herself unless he/she is patterned on Christ. Don’t get all religious and gooey about this! The only way to rule is a servant. Like Jesus. And that applies in any realm of human activity, for believers or for unbelievers. Ponder that if you would please.
Old Testament Lesson
So now it is clear why this ‘shepherd passage’ is set for today. The great tragedy of Israel is that whilst it was well set up to operate in the line of servant-hood, it rarely reached the ideal because humans are not all that aligned to altruism. If I am in charge, then it is not long before I am likely to turn that into control. (How many control-freak clergy -- or lay people! – do you know?) Israel was little different. Yet the prophet was quite clear that things needed to change and to that he pointed.
Whilst it seems that most of the attention of Christian readers of such passages is to recognize the focus on Jesus and His ministry, it is important to note that the servant-hood of Israel had always been the prophets’ focus. That is saying, in effect, that Jesus ministry of reconciliation (vertical and horizontal) is the Christians’ ministry as it was for our Lord.
For the Psalm
Here is another of the canticles that we used to sing in the choir many decades ago in my home Church. Even then both the music and the words conveyed the confidence its authors held in the God Who wrought great things for them --- and us. That confidence stemmed from generations, centuries, millennia of history of the God Who gathered His people together and supported them. That support continued in spite of rugged disobedience and failure: thank heaven!
Epistle
And the Epistle carries through the challenge to continue to be the People of God in spite of failure and contrary pressure. But there is more in this than that: as it was something I missed in my early years I thought it wise to underline it all here.
Look at what St. Paul writes concerning Jesus. It is staggering stuff, and concerns every human on the planet if it is true. Most Christians see Jesus as their Saviour, and that He certainly is. But still these days many people miss the impact of the Lord part of the equation. And what it all means. GO back over those words again and ponder, please. ‘He has rescued us from the power of darkness is no vague business but something totally significant. Darkness is not knowing where you are going and what life is all about. Now you know. Look at the stunning statements continuing to be made about Jesus here, in terms of creation (and that also means point and purpose.) In Him all things hold together is another way of saying that if Jesus is rejected, then all that is left is nonsense. No point, no purpose, no direction. And that applies not just to Christians but to all humans.
This is not some sort of exclusivist statement: it is actually getting across the message that all we have been commenting on over the years is that Jesus, Lord, is guarantor of those important if less tangible aspects of life will outlast everything else. Justice and truth and integrity; compassion and love and caring. Self-giving not getting. So that wherever you encounter such aspects of life you can be certain that the Lord of all is there even before you. You can also be certain that, regardless of the events of any given time in history, evil and sin and death will be overcome. In fact, in Biblical terms, evil is overcome when it is shown up for what it is. When it is visible, incarnated.
It is remarkably powerful stuff, and in a way it is not proven! It is spread out before you as an offer, a direction to take, a path to follow. As I have often said, I follow Christ because He is the only One I have found Who makes such sense in life and about life. If there is no resurrection I must follow Him still, because nowhere else have I encountered such truth and reality.
GOSPEL
Show me anyone anywhere else where forgiveness of perpetrators is so readily offered in spite of the heinous injustice and damage caused to a person. The Cross is the symbol of reconciliation, both vertical (between God and us) and horizontal (between us and others.) And the process and the manner of operation is exactly the same. (Give a yell for more information if that is too brief a statement for you to follow.)
I remember when I first read the statement that hit me between the eyes, that John in his Revelation shows that the Kingship of Jesus is most evident when He was on the Cross. That was no blithe statement, but one of fact. Here most clearly is seen the nature of His Kingship: the total giving of Himself for others, out of profound love for them. Some Kings used to make propaganda sorts of statements along such lines, but their actions and attitudes were totally distant from any such reality. SO when we talk ‘King’ we really do need to convey precisely the nature of that Kingdom and Kingship.
NOTES FOR A SERMON
It may seem a little strange to you, but if ever you wondered why the early Apostles saw the need to write the various books that later made up the New Testament, there were two basic reasons. The first was to provide wider information about the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and also of His teaching which is a significant part of the Gospel.
As time went by, and the expected Parousia did not appear, several other matters came to the attention of the Apostles, including the need to provide clear and clearer teaching about Who Christ is. In fact one of the greatest misunderstandings of those post-Biblical times was the threat of false teaching from all manner of ordinary and weird and wonderful sects and other groups. Of these probably the Gnostics were the most dangerous. (It has to be said that much of the distortion of Christian Faith of that period stemmed from those people. John’s Gospel, and its prologue in particular, was written to combat such nonsense.)
Less well know is the fact that Revelation was written, not to warn people of the end of the world, but to challenge the Church of the time to understand the breadth of the Faith far more clearly so that they could combat the rising perception that the Caesar was rather more obviously Lord than Jesus. You may well know that Roman citizens were expected (no it was demanded of them) to vow their allegiance to Caesar in one of the multitudes of temples in order to retain their status. Their vow consisted of two words, in Latin – Caesar Lord. And that ran contrary to the short Christian creed that Christ is Lord: As Roman power increased, that Christian creed looked less and less tenable.
Hence the writing of the Apocalypse. In very traditional Jewish style, John’s stunning book provides all the evidence necessary to provide people with solid grounds for understanding not only that Jesus is Lord or King, but also the clear and remarkable nature of that Kingship. In those days the concept of kingship was a powerful one, and all the evidence was there as people were confronted with the irresistible power of empire. The King’s word was law, and in his hands lay all power of life and death. No one could gainsay the King. And that had been the case over thousands of years in numbers of empires stretching back further than people’s memories.
But there was none of that sort of power and prestige in Jesus’ little pretend kingdom, so where does the truth lie? John’s well-thought out book drew constant and powerful contrasts between the ‘kingdoms of this world and the kingdom of our Christ.’ And the contrast is really devastating. It is a contrast between force, demand, propaganda and control .... and love and compassion and truth. And two fascinating areas of the difference are illustrated. The first is the fatal disparity between the two and the demand of the first to destroy the second; and the second area has to do with the relative effectiveness of the latter. You do not need any proof to realize that force and war corrects no issue but only aggravates existing ones and produces new areas of conflict. And you may well have first-hand experience of how the slower-working method of the real Kingdom has far more lasting and peaceful outcomes for good for everyone involved.
It may well be hard for modern readers to espy all that is being said in this most remarkable book, but one certainly needs to be aware of the development of concepts and ideas over many hundreds of years. One of the big hurdles for old Jewish thinkers was the focus of King David and Messiahship, a hurdle that seems not to have been looked at up to Jesus’ own time. That view was triumphalist and powerful, leaving Israel with the expectation that God would solve all problems and issues by His powerful Messiah, whoever that should be. Even John the Baptist’s expectation was one of power and correction and punishment, and you will recall John’s dismay that Jesus was not fulfilling his expectations at all!
But read the prophets, especially Isaiah and his series of cameos on the Servant of the Lord, and Jeremiah and Ezekiel who looked for a shepherd’s shepherd, still somewhat Davidic but radically different. And look to see your own expectation of who it might be who could solve this world’s ills, and whether you expect them to use force and power, military or whatever, or whether you see a rather more effective way. And then go on to see that it is not just the Servant of the Lord who is to deal with issues, but also you who are His followers. I am where the trouble starts; small wonder then that the Lord of Hosts sees the necessity of a human response to the human problem.
Incarnation and sacrifice. This is why GB Caird iterated often that the Kingship of Jesus is visible most strongly when He was on the Cross. Self-giving (as opposed to self-obsession.) Refusing to retaliate to human evil because that would multiply the evil, not reduce it. Absorbing all the hate and fear and anger rather than retaliating. Here is what looks like weakness being the very opposite of weakness, but only to those who see and understand what He was doing. Except a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it lives alone.
Thank God that, in Jesus of Nazareth you have a King worthy of the name, not just for Himself but for all humanity who understands and follows and puts their trust in Him
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Saturday, November 13, 2010
RonBlog
Sunday 14th November, 2010 Twenty Fifth Sunday after Pentecost
Sentence
May the Lord of peace Himself give you peace, at all times and in all ways 2 Thess 3:16
Collect
Almighty God, Whose purpose none can make void; give us faith to be steadfast amid the tumults of this world, knowing that Your Kingdom shall come, and Your will be done to Your eternal glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen
Old Testament Lesson Isaiah 65: 17 - 25
See, I am creating new heavens and a new earth! The past will no more be remembered nor will it ever come to mind. Rejoice and be for ever filled with delight at what I create; for I am creating Jerusalem as a delight and her people as a joy; I shall take delight in Jerusalem and rejoice in my people; the sound of weeping, the cry of distress will be heard in her no more.
No child there will ever again die in infancy, no old man fail to live out his span of life. He who dies at a hundred is just a youth, and if he does not attain a hundred he is thought accursed! My people will build houses and live in them, plant vineyards and eat their fruit; they will not build for others to live in or plant for others to eat. They will be as long-lived as a tree, and my chosen ones will enjoy the fruit of their labour. They will not toil to no purpose or raise children for misfortune, because they and their issue after them are a race blessed by the Lord. Even before they call to me, I shall answer, and while they are still speaking I shall respond.
The wolf and the lamb will feed together and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and as for the serpent, its food will be dust. Neither hurt nor harm will be done in all my holy mountain, says the Lord.
For the Psalm Song of Isaiah
Behold, God is my salvation: I will trust and not be afraid
For the Lord is my strength and my song: and has become my salvation
With joy will you draw water: from the wells of salvation
On that day you will say: “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name
Make known His deeds among the nations: proclaim that His name is exalted
Sing God’s praises, Who has triumphed gloriously: let this song be known in all the world
Shout and sing for joy, you that dwell in Zion: for great in Your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
Epistle 2 Thessalonians 3: 6 – 13
These are our instructions to you, friends, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: hold aloof from every Christian who falls into idle habits, and disregards the tradition you received from us. You yourselves know how you ought to follow our example: you never saw us idling; we did not accept free hospitality from anyone; night and day in toil and drudgery we worked for a living, rather than be a burden to any of you-- not because we do not have the right to maintenance, but to set an example for you to follow. Already during our stay with you we laid down this rule: anyone who will not work shall not eat. We mention this because we hear that some of you are idling their time away, minding everybody's business but their own. We instruct and urge such people in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down to work and earn a living. My friends, you must never tire of doing right.
Gospel Luke 21: 5 - 19
Some people were talking about the temple and the beauty of its fine stones and ornaments. Jesus said, "These things you are gazing at--the time will come when not one stone will be left upon another; they will all be thrown down.” "Teacher,” they asked, "when will that be? What will be the sign that these things are about to happen?” He said, "Take care that you are not misled. For many will come claiming my name and saying, "I am he," and, "The time has come." Do not follow them. And when you hear of wars and insurrections, do not panic. These things are bound to happen first; but the end does not follow at once.” Then he added, "Nation will go to war against nation, kingdom against kingdom; there will be severe earthquakes, famines and plagues in many places, and in the sky terrors and great portents. But before all this happens they will seize you and persecute you. You will be handed over to synagogues and put in prison; you will be haled before kings and governors for your allegiance to me. This will be your opportunity to testify. So resolve not to prepare your defence beforehand, because I myself will give you such words and wisdom as no opponent can resist or refute. Even your parents and brothers, your relations and friends, will betray you. Some of you will be put to death; and everyone will hate you for your allegiance to me. But not a hair of your head will be lost. By standing firm you will win yourselves life.”
NOTES ON THE READINGS. …..
As I mention year after year, as you see reference to the Second Coming or the apocalyptic passages of the Gospels you can rest assured that Advent draweth nigh! And so it is – just a couple of weeks away. So be prepared.
Old Testament
Is there or is there not quite something of a gulf between Isaiah’s stunning picture, and life’s realities! That is not a question as much as a statement. Nor is this some sort of failed hope, nor lost chance. Two things need to be said as we consider this passage.
The first is that Isaiah was writing for his own people of his own time. This highly picturesque image of what may be called the New Jerusalem of the late 6th Century BC was an imaginative cast at what might possibly be if and when the People of God respond to God and life in a real and true manner. Now, please, - this is not literal, this is figurative, imaginative. Life was designed to be far less damaging and stressful than we experience it.
The second is nearer to where we are: the goal of life, God’s goal for humans, is not some sort of final whimper that opens into a void. Whatever the circumstances, and Isaiah had some horrifying ones in his own day and age, God still leads His people as they attempt to show, to others, something of what life is meant to be by Him Who created it in hope. That wolf and lamb bit, I repeat, is not literal: you know people who are wolves, and others who are lambs. This image expresses the hope for reconciliation even between people that far apart.
For the Psalm
There are those who see ‘religion’ as something like whistling in the wind! A nothing going nowhere, or at best an attempt to escape reality, which is too harsh. Both the Hebrew and the Christian faiths are far more virile and real than that.
Basically, Judaism is the faith that has grown and deepened quite simply on the basis of Israel’s long experience of JHWH among them. It is faith based on real-life experience. It is, if you like, faith based on the encountered nature of God. There is a solid foundation to it all. And here the song of Isaiah expresses that. Never loose sight of that fact.
Epistle
If you think it is difficult coping with Christians, wayward and otherwise in this day and age, do stop and take some thought for poor old Paul. There are always people ready to misunderstand, take the blessings and advantages of faith, and make an absolute mess of it all. Even Paul had that problem.
One of the dangers, then, of preaching Parousia was that some people would decide to sit on their proverbials and wait for the day to come. No point working if Jesus is about to appear out of the clouds. Lazy sods. Paul’s directive is quite clear: no work = no tucker. Get off your proverbial and be part of the community. In other words, do not get the story wrong. Mind you, Paul was rather more gentle with the Thessalonians than I suspect I would have been.
Gospel
Once again, people are far more interested in spine-tingling end-of- the-world stuff than facing the realities. Notice how Jesus diverted attention away from doom and gloom to the very realities people wished to avoid. They wanted the Day of the Lord stuff, convinced that Messiah would solve all problems without any effort on their part. That’s what messiahs are for, are they not? Well, no!!!!!!! Read again this fascinating Gospel, noting first that here is no ‘end of the world’ scenario, but the challenge to remain true to the Faith in spite of all pressure to the opposite.
NOTES FOR A SERMON
Surely I have told the story before, of the ructions that followed on the release of the first draft of liturgical reform in the early 1960s. Not only was the dropping of ‘Thee’ and ‘Thou’ met with unmitigated horror, but the changes to the Lord’s Prayer were met with explosive response. How dare anyone translate ‘give us this day our daily bread’ and turn it into ‘give us today our bread for tomorrow?’ Worse still was the response to ‘save us from the time of trial!’ Most people seemed to prefer the somewhat odd ‘lead us not into temptation,’ as if God would be party to such an action.
However, the reality is that the original Greek in the New Testament requires (and always DID) those apparently unpopular words. Who knows who watered it all down in the previous translation. Save us from the time of trial. Phew.
It is not until the People of God stop to realize that the reason for the existence of Israel was to be a light to the nations, a nation of priests, (Exodus 19: 3ff.) A priest cannot be a priest unless there are people to whom he or she priests. Israel’s calling, reiterating the Abrahamic call, was to the rest of the world, their world, there and then. Israel was to be outward looking, evangelistic if you dare, an icon for anyone looking for meaning, value and purpose in life. That was Israel’s calling, and remains the Church’s calling. And that was to be expressed – almost invariably – to a world that considered that faith once delivered to be a lot of hogwash.
So can you catch sight of the rather wonderful description that Isaiah offered in today’s OT lesson? God’s longing is for His People to offer the world population a vision of what life is meant to be like. So it is no escapism here, but the offering of an enormous challenge to people to see where lies the solution of all their bad issues. However, as most Christians are seeing now, it is a matter of trying to push wind uphill, and answer all manner of opposition and derision.
There is nothing at all new about this – read your history, and in particular, read your Bible. So this ‘save us from the time of trial’ is a prayer that we are not caught up in such crises of history and faith as to have our loyalty and faith tested and questioned. It is a serious matter. And it will always be so. Our time in history, with its enormous challenges to Church and Faith are nothing new. We are actually emerging from a remarkable time in history when such challenges were rare and somewhat ineffective.
Now you can see clearly why Jesus, when the question arose for the Twelve, diverted their attention from any ‘end of the world’ scenario to the not-quite-but-almost immediate present. ‘You will see all sorts of pressure to renege, you will have all manner of pressure to waver, and you will have all sorts of idiots wanting to lead you down all manner of unproductive garden paths.’
This pressure to relinquish the Faith comes in all manner of guises. Simple questions about the Faith are likely, and issues that some Christians see differently are others. Sadly many of the issues raised will seem unanswerable by Christians unprepared or unaware of the realities.
My email inbox tends to get overloaded by people who have – sadly indeed – responded to these threats of agnostics and atheists by getting back behind what seem to them to be impenetrable walls. That retreat is into fundamentalism. It appears the safest path for far too many, ‘But the Bible says’ is no answer to those antagonists, especially when the proffered argument from Scripture betrays little more than evidence of a misunderstanding of what Scripture says. It does not even begin to meet the challenges that are offered, and make not the slightest sense to those antagonists. Retreat into some dark and hopefully safe past does nothing for either side of the debate.
I recall reading of the kerfuffle caused by Darwin’s theories over 150 years ago. It still amazes me to find people of today hiding behind a refusal to face possible issues. Those Bishops of old were reported as saying that they preferred to Biblical view to the concept of being related to monkeys. Then I read Griffith Thomas’ commentary on Genesis, written around 1904, getting people to stop and realize that truth is truth wherever it comes from and to begin to understand the Creation Stories the way that most Jews had always done. There is no huge chasm between science and religion. But olde worlde Christians need to come to terms with life’s realities. It is a matter of understanding God through experiences of life, rather than limiting Him to what are after all only man-made doctrines, tenets and theories.
Perhaps the most fundamental means whereby the Christian needs face contemporary society with the value and purpose of the Faith is to underline and point to the various aspects of life that are least evident in today’s world. If we can get past the tunnel vision of olde worlde faith, we should be able to see that the reason Israel was to be a light to nations, is because for the fist time in history, the Faith was seen to focus on human relationship issues of justice, truth, integrity, love and compassion. I continue to punch this drum, in spite of its apparent unpopularity even among Christians. Stop and see how often Scripture itself, Jesus Himself, pointed in this direction, and while we need to face the fact that the crucifixion of Jesus had a great deal to do with the refusal of His contemporaries to want to know, both He and we can offer the world what it needs, if not wants.
Save us from the time of trial has to do with the almost certainty that in our own day and age the struggle will not be about faith and unfaith, but about truth and untruth; justice and injustice, self-giving and selfishness.
Sentence
May the Lord of peace Himself give you peace, at all times and in all ways 2 Thess 3:16
Collect
Almighty God, Whose purpose none can make void; give us faith to be steadfast amid the tumults of this world, knowing that Your Kingdom shall come, and Your will be done to Your eternal glory; through Jesus Christ our Lord Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen
Old Testament Lesson Isaiah 65: 17 - 25
See, I am creating new heavens and a new earth! The past will no more be remembered nor will it ever come to mind. Rejoice and be for ever filled with delight at what I create; for I am creating Jerusalem as a delight and her people as a joy; I shall take delight in Jerusalem and rejoice in my people; the sound of weeping, the cry of distress will be heard in her no more.
No child there will ever again die in infancy, no old man fail to live out his span of life. He who dies at a hundred is just a youth, and if he does not attain a hundred he is thought accursed! My people will build houses and live in them, plant vineyards and eat their fruit; they will not build for others to live in or plant for others to eat. They will be as long-lived as a tree, and my chosen ones will enjoy the fruit of their labour. They will not toil to no purpose or raise children for misfortune, because they and their issue after them are a race blessed by the Lord. Even before they call to me, I shall answer, and while they are still speaking I shall respond.
The wolf and the lamb will feed together and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and as for the serpent, its food will be dust. Neither hurt nor harm will be done in all my holy mountain, says the Lord.
For the Psalm Song of Isaiah
Behold, God is my salvation: I will trust and not be afraid
For the Lord is my strength and my song: and has become my salvation
With joy will you draw water: from the wells of salvation
On that day you will say: “Give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name
Make known His deeds among the nations: proclaim that His name is exalted
Sing God’s praises, Who has triumphed gloriously: let this song be known in all the world
Shout and sing for joy, you that dwell in Zion: for great in Your midst is the Holy One of Israel.
Epistle 2 Thessalonians 3: 6 – 13
These are our instructions to you, friends, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: hold aloof from every Christian who falls into idle habits, and disregards the tradition you received from us. You yourselves know how you ought to follow our example: you never saw us idling; we did not accept free hospitality from anyone; night and day in toil and drudgery we worked for a living, rather than be a burden to any of you-- not because we do not have the right to maintenance, but to set an example for you to follow. Already during our stay with you we laid down this rule: anyone who will not work shall not eat. We mention this because we hear that some of you are idling their time away, minding everybody's business but their own. We instruct and urge such people in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down to work and earn a living. My friends, you must never tire of doing right.
Gospel Luke 21: 5 - 19
Some people were talking about the temple and the beauty of its fine stones and ornaments. Jesus said, "These things you are gazing at--the time will come when not one stone will be left upon another; they will all be thrown down.” "Teacher,” they asked, "when will that be? What will be the sign that these things are about to happen?” He said, "Take care that you are not misled. For many will come claiming my name and saying, "I am he," and, "The time has come." Do not follow them. And when you hear of wars and insurrections, do not panic. These things are bound to happen first; but the end does not follow at once.” Then he added, "Nation will go to war against nation, kingdom against kingdom; there will be severe earthquakes, famines and plagues in many places, and in the sky terrors and great portents. But before all this happens they will seize you and persecute you. You will be handed over to synagogues and put in prison; you will be haled before kings and governors for your allegiance to me. This will be your opportunity to testify. So resolve not to prepare your defence beforehand, because I myself will give you such words and wisdom as no opponent can resist or refute. Even your parents and brothers, your relations and friends, will betray you. Some of you will be put to death; and everyone will hate you for your allegiance to me. But not a hair of your head will be lost. By standing firm you will win yourselves life.”
NOTES ON THE READINGS. …..
As I mention year after year, as you see reference to the Second Coming or the apocalyptic passages of the Gospels you can rest assured that Advent draweth nigh! And so it is – just a couple of weeks away. So be prepared.
Old Testament
Is there or is there not quite something of a gulf between Isaiah’s stunning picture, and life’s realities! That is not a question as much as a statement. Nor is this some sort of failed hope, nor lost chance. Two things need to be said as we consider this passage.
The first is that Isaiah was writing for his own people of his own time. This highly picturesque image of what may be called the New Jerusalem of the late 6th Century BC was an imaginative cast at what might possibly be if and when the People of God respond to God and life in a real and true manner. Now, please, - this is not literal, this is figurative, imaginative. Life was designed to be far less damaging and stressful than we experience it.
The second is nearer to where we are: the goal of life, God’s goal for humans, is not some sort of final whimper that opens into a void. Whatever the circumstances, and Isaiah had some horrifying ones in his own day and age, God still leads His people as they attempt to show, to others, something of what life is meant to be by Him Who created it in hope. That wolf and lamb bit, I repeat, is not literal: you know people who are wolves, and others who are lambs. This image expresses the hope for reconciliation even between people that far apart.
For the Psalm
There are those who see ‘religion’ as something like whistling in the wind! A nothing going nowhere, or at best an attempt to escape reality, which is too harsh. Both the Hebrew and the Christian faiths are far more virile and real than that.
Basically, Judaism is the faith that has grown and deepened quite simply on the basis of Israel’s long experience of JHWH among them. It is faith based on real-life experience. It is, if you like, faith based on the encountered nature of God. There is a solid foundation to it all. And here the song of Isaiah expresses that. Never loose sight of that fact.
Epistle
If you think it is difficult coping with Christians, wayward and otherwise in this day and age, do stop and take some thought for poor old Paul. There are always people ready to misunderstand, take the blessings and advantages of faith, and make an absolute mess of it all. Even Paul had that problem.
One of the dangers, then, of preaching Parousia was that some people would decide to sit on their proverbials and wait for the day to come. No point working if Jesus is about to appear out of the clouds. Lazy sods. Paul’s directive is quite clear: no work = no tucker. Get off your proverbial and be part of the community. In other words, do not get the story wrong. Mind you, Paul was rather more gentle with the Thessalonians than I suspect I would have been.
Gospel
Once again, people are far more interested in spine-tingling end-of- the-world stuff than facing the realities. Notice how Jesus diverted attention away from doom and gloom to the very realities people wished to avoid. They wanted the Day of the Lord stuff, convinced that Messiah would solve all problems without any effort on their part. That’s what messiahs are for, are they not? Well, no!!!!!!! Read again this fascinating Gospel, noting first that here is no ‘end of the world’ scenario, but the challenge to remain true to the Faith in spite of all pressure to the opposite.
NOTES FOR A SERMON
Surely I have told the story before, of the ructions that followed on the release of the first draft of liturgical reform in the early 1960s. Not only was the dropping of ‘Thee’ and ‘Thou’ met with unmitigated horror, but the changes to the Lord’s Prayer were met with explosive response. How dare anyone translate ‘give us this day our daily bread’ and turn it into ‘give us today our bread for tomorrow?’ Worse still was the response to ‘save us from the time of trial!’ Most people seemed to prefer the somewhat odd ‘lead us not into temptation,’ as if God would be party to such an action.
However, the reality is that the original Greek in the New Testament requires (and always DID) those apparently unpopular words. Who knows who watered it all down in the previous translation. Save us from the time of trial. Phew.
It is not until the People of God stop to realize that the reason for the existence of Israel was to be a light to the nations, a nation of priests, (Exodus 19: 3ff.) A priest cannot be a priest unless there are people to whom he or she priests. Israel’s calling, reiterating the Abrahamic call, was to the rest of the world, their world, there and then. Israel was to be outward looking, evangelistic if you dare, an icon for anyone looking for meaning, value and purpose in life. That was Israel’s calling, and remains the Church’s calling. And that was to be expressed – almost invariably – to a world that considered that faith once delivered to be a lot of hogwash.
So can you catch sight of the rather wonderful description that Isaiah offered in today’s OT lesson? God’s longing is for His People to offer the world population a vision of what life is meant to be like. So it is no escapism here, but the offering of an enormous challenge to people to see where lies the solution of all their bad issues. However, as most Christians are seeing now, it is a matter of trying to push wind uphill, and answer all manner of opposition and derision.
There is nothing at all new about this – read your history, and in particular, read your Bible. So this ‘save us from the time of trial’ is a prayer that we are not caught up in such crises of history and faith as to have our loyalty and faith tested and questioned. It is a serious matter. And it will always be so. Our time in history, with its enormous challenges to Church and Faith are nothing new. We are actually emerging from a remarkable time in history when such challenges were rare and somewhat ineffective.
Now you can see clearly why Jesus, when the question arose for the Twelve, diverted their attention from any ‘end of the world’ scenario to the not-quite-but-almost immediate present. ‘You will see all sorts of pressure to renege, you will have all manner of pressure to waver, and you will have all sorts of idiots wanting to lead you down all manner of unproductive garden paths.’
This pressure to relinquish the Faith comes in all manner of guises. Simple questions about the Faith are likely, and issues that some Christians see differently are others. Sadly many of the issues raised will seem unanswerable by Christians unprepared or unaware of the realities.
My email inbox tends to get overloaded by people who have – sadly indeed – responded to these threats of agnostics and atheists by getting back behind what seem to them to be impenetrable walls. That retreat is into fundamentalism. It appears the safest path for far too many, ‘But the Bible says’ is no answer to those antagonists, especially when the proffered argument from Scripture betrays little more than evidence of a misunderstanding of what Scripture says. It does not even begin to meet the challenges that are offered, and make not the slightest sense to those antagonists. Retreat into some dark and hopefully safe past does nothing for either side of the debate.
I recall reading of the kerfuffle caused by Darwin’s theories over 150 years ago. It still amazes me to find people of today hiding behind a refusal to face possible issues. Those Bishops of old were reported as saying that they preferred to Biblical view to the concept of being related to monkeys. Then I read Griffith Thomas’ commentary on Genesis, written around 1904, getting people to stop and realize that truth is truth wherever it comes from and to begin to understand the Creation Stories the way that most Jews had always done. There is no huge chasm between science and religion. But olde worlde Christians need to come to terms with life’s realities. It is a matter of understanding God through experiences of life, rather than limiting Him to what are after all only man-made doctrines, tenets and theories.
Perhaps the most fundamental means whereby the Christian needs face contemporary society with the value and purpose of the Faith is to underline and point to the various aspects of life that are least evident in today’s world. If we can get past the tunnel vision of olde worlde faith, we should be able to see that the reason Israel was to be a light to nations, is because for the fist time in history, the Faith was seen to focus on human relationship issues of justice, truth, integrity, love and compassion. I continue to punch this drum, in spite of its apparent unpopularity even among Christians. Stop and see how often Scripture itself, Jesus Himself, pointed in this direction, and while we need to face the fact that the crucifixion of Jesus had a great deal to do with the refusal of His contemporaries to want to know, both He and we can offer the world what it needs, if not wants.
Save us from the time of trial has to do with the almost certainty that in our own day and age the struggle will not be about faith and unfaith, but about truth and untruth; justice and injustice, self-giving and selfishness.
Friday, November 5, 2010
RonBlog
Sunday 7th November, 2010 Twenty Fourth Sunday after Pentecost
Sentence
‘I am the resurrection and the life’ says the Lord. ‘Those who believe in Me, even though they die, will live, and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die.’ John 11: 25 – 26
Collect (a)
Blessed Lord, Who has caused all holy scripture to be written for our learning; grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of Your holy word we may embrace and ever hold fact the blessed hope of everlasting life which You have given us in our Saviour, Jesus Christ Amen
Collect (b)
God of all the living, in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, You have given us the promise of life which death itself cannot destroy; in the strength of this unshakeable promise, give us a new heart to live, even now, as Your new creation. We ask this through Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen
Old Testament Lesson Haggai 1: 15b – 2:9
On the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius, in the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by the prophet Haggai, saying: Speak now to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, and say, “Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing? Yet now take courage, O Zerubbabel, says the LORD; take courage, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; take courage, all you people of the land, says the LORD; work, for I am with you, says the LORD of hosts, according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you; do not fear.”
For thus says the LORD of hosts: Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land; and I will shake all the nations, so that the treasure of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with splendour, says the LORD of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the LORD of hosts. The latter splendour of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts; and in this place I will give prosperity, says the LORD of hosts.
Psalm 98
O sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvellous things;
His right hand and his holy arm: they have got Him the victory
The Lord has made known His salvation: He has revealed His just deliverance in the sight of the nations
He has remembered His mercy and faithfulness towards the house of Israel: and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God
Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth: break into singing and make melody.
Make melody to the Lord upon the harp: upon the harp and with sounds of praise
With trumpets and with horns: cry out in triumph before the Lord the King
Let the sea roar, and all that fills it: the good earth and those who live upon it
Let the rivers clap their hands: and let the mountains ring out together before the Lord
For He comes to judge the earth: He shall judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with equity.
Epistle 2 Thessalonians 2: 1 – 5 & 13 – 17
As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here. Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God. Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you?
*****************************************************
But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. For this purpose he called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.
GOSPEL Luke 20: 27 – 40
Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her."
Jesus said to them, "Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.
And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive." Then some of the scribes answered, "Teacher, you have spoken well." They no longer dared to ask him another question.
NOTES ON THE READINGS ................
Old Testament
Put yourself in the shoes of this relatively unknown prophet: returned from exile in Babylon, with the enormous task of rebuilding Jerusalem, the Temple and in fact the entire country and community. It would have been one thing to have received the promise of return from Babylon; it must have been exhausting merely to think about all that lay ahead of them in the rebuilding. As a previous Bishop of mine once said to me, “Ron, any fool can start something; it takes rather more to bring the idea to fruition.”
I would be rude enough to ask you to see that there may well have been something in the way of what we would call spin or propaganda in the expectation of great wealth and treasure. The real point of Haggai’s words were to encourage people to take the long view, and persist faithfully until the job was done. That is the sort of challenge that shows of what stuff people are really made!
Psalm
This Psalm is one which has been familiar to me since my youth as a choir boy – 60 and more years ago. Behind this psalm lies the author’s certainty that God is ever there and reliable, encouraging His people to move forward and get on with the job. In fact, it has always been Israel’s great contribution to the understanding of God that their perception and understanding of Him stemmed not from some theory, but from harsh and fiery experience in life’s harsh realities.
Epistle
I mentioned earlier that this couple of letters to Thessalonian Christians came early in the Apostle’s life, and much of his thoughts about the Second Coming and Judgement underwent quite something in the way of modification. (Read the verses omitted in this passage, to get that message.) In fact, it is strange to report that these Thessalonians reacted somewhat oddly in response to the news of the Parousia. Some decided to sit back and wait for it, doing no work and requiring to be supported by others. Paul’s reaction to that was short and simple. No work = no eating! I guess Paul needed only to refer to the OT situation to get his readers to realize that they had quite a role in front of them still.
GOSPEL
It may be a little obscure for some, but even this passage about Sadducees and resurrection has to do with the same subject. It seems to me that what Jesus was really saying to His antagonists was ‘join the real world and get on with it!’ To argue as did they from an hypothetical position to undermine a situation which was incredible to them was a foolish attempt for them to make. I could never understand how so many people still argue from a ridiculous angle to disprove something about which they understand rather little. Still, it goes on does it not!
NOTES FOR A SERMON
If ever you were asked to choose a phrase that comes to you in a familiar way from the Scriptures, I wonder what it might be. One that I find is a constant, and an encouraging one at that is variously translated, but most commonly known as ‘Fear not!’ It comes from the pens of the prophets, and from the lips of our Lord. It is reiterated in Epistles, and even turns up in Revelation. Fear not.
Fear not. And here it is in one of the most difficult and even fearful situations in which Israel found itself, on the return from the Exile. (I read, quite recently, a book by a British war correspondent who was in Iraq in 1991, and he told of the long dry flat highway between Amman, Jordan and Baghdad. He travelled it several times by motor vehicle.) The Jews would have had to walk it – both ways! Mind you, there would not have been too many who did both ways, for there was a gap of 70 years between one and the other.)
‘Fear not’ says the prophet, although if you read from Ezra and Nehemiah, a rather ghastly picture is painted, of those resisting the efforts of the newly arrived. Anyhow, how hard is it to rebuild from ruins that have been open to the elements for decades? Fear not? How could you not be otherwise?
The answer is not all that tangible. The answer is that God is with you, and while that may urge along a few, surely there were sceptics enough to put off the rest. On the other hand, there was that remarkable fact that several of the prophets, Isaiah amongst them, who expressed his certainty not only the a Return was on the way, but even more surprising, the Cyrus, threat to everyone around, would be the Lord’s messiah (and that is the word Isaiah used, pardon me,) and instrument, “even though he knows Me not!” It must have been stirring times, as well as providing a stunning platform for the faithful, regardless of the opposition facing them.
That strikes me as hugely significant, even in our own day and age. Our God is not one to be defeated by anything, if it comes to that, and His remarkable precedent has been set time and time again in the ordinary normal course of Israel’s history. Actual history, pardon me, not some sort of ephemeral myth.
Ponder this, if you will. If ever you look closely at the history of the Christian Church, surely you are left wondering how the hell the Church survived. There is so much rubbish and discord, and total disregard for Gospel and people in so many times and places and events. By all the canons of life and history, the Church should have died on the vine centuries, even millennia ago. But here it is still, in spite of all the garbage and disloyalty and apostasy. And the only reason for that, surely, is the God is behind it all somewhere. Even after the collapse of Soviet Russia, the Church emerged, mainly because the underground Christians remained faithful in spite of enormous contrary pressure.
So wherever you are living, under whatever circumstance or threat, this word comes to you from the King of the Kingdom: Fear not. And get on with the job.
Sentence
‘I am the resurrection and the life’ says the Lord. ‘Those who believe in Me, even though they die, will live, and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die.’ John 11: 25 – 26
Collect (a)
Blessed Lord, Who has caused all holy scripture to be written for our learning; grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of Your holy word we may embrace and ever hold fact the blessed hope of everlasting life which You have given us in our Saviour, Jesus Christ Amen
Collect (b)
God of all the living, in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, You have given us the promise of life which death itself cannot destroy; in the strength of this unshakeable promise, give us a new heart to live, even now, as Your new creation. We ask this through Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen
Old Testament Lesson Haggai 1: 15b – 2:9
On the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius, in the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by the prophet Haggai, saying: Speak now to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, and say, “Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Is it not in your sight as nothing? Yet now take courage, O Zerubbabel, says the LORD; take courage, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; take courage, all you people of the land, says the LORD; work, for I am with you, says the LORD of hosts, according to the promise that I made you when you came out of Egypt. My spirit abides among you; do not fear.”
For thus says the LORD of hosts: Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land; and I will shake all the nations, so that the treasure of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with splendour, says the LORD of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the LORD of hosts. The latter splendour of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts; and in this place I will give prosperity, says the LORD of hosts.
Psalm 98
O sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvellous things;
His right hand and his holy arm: they have got Him the victory
The Lord has made known His salvation: He has revealed His just deliverance in the sight of the nations
He has remembered His mercy and faithfulness towards the house of Israel: and all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God
Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth: break into singing and make melody.
Make melody to the Lord upon the harp: upon the harp and with sounds of praise
With trumpets and with horns: cry out in triumph before the Lord the King
Let the sea roar, and all that fills it: the good earth and those who live upon it
Let the rivers clap their hands: and let the mountains ring out together before the Lord
For He comes to judge the earth: He shall judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with equity.
Epistle 2 Thessalonians 2: 1 – 5 & 13 – 17
As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here. Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God. Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you?
*****************************************************
But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. For this purpose he called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.
GOSPEL Luke 20: 27 – 40
Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her."
Jesus said to them, "Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection.
And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive." Then some of the scribes answered, "Teacher, you have spoken well." They no longer dared to ask him another question.
NOTES ON THE READINGS ................
Old Testament
Put yourself in the shoes of this relatively unknown prophet: returned from exile in Babylon, with the enormous task of rebuilding Jerusalem, the Temple and in fact the entire country and community. It would have been one thing to have received the promise of return from Babylon; it must have been exhausting merely to think about all that lay ahead of them in the rebuilding. As a previous Bishop of mine once said to me, “Ron, any fool can start something; it takes rather more to bring the idea to fruition.”
I would be rude enough to ask you to see that there may well have been something in the way of what we would call spin or propaganda in the expectation of great wealth and treasure. The real point of Haggai’s words were to encourage people to take the long view, and persist faithfully until the job was done. That is the sort of challenge that shows of what stuff people are really made!
Psalm
This Psalm is one which has been familiar to me since my youth as a choir boy – 60 and more years ago. Behind this psalm lies the author’s certainty that God is ever there and reliable, encouraging His people to move forward and get on with the job. In fact, it has always been Israel’s great contribution to the understanding of God that their perception and understanding of Him stemmed not from some theory, but from harsh and fiery experience in life’s harsh realities.
Epistle
I mentioned earlier that this couple of letters to Thessalonian Christians came early in the Apostle’s life, and much of his thoughts about the Second Coming and Judgement underwent quite something in the way of modification. (Read the verses omitted in this passage, to get that message.) In fact, it is strange to report that these Thessalonians reacted somewhat oddly in response to the news of the Parousia. Some decided to sit back and wait for it, doing no work and requiring to be supported by others. Paul’s reaction to that was short and simple. No work = no eating! I guess Paul needed only to refer to the OT situation to get his readers to realize that they had quite a role in front of them still.
GOSPEL
It may be a little obscure for some, but even this passage about Sadducees and resurrection has to do with the same subject. It seems to me that what Jesus was really saying to His antagonists was ‘join the real world and get on with it!’ To argue as did they from an hypothetical position to undermine a situation which was incredible to them was a foolish attempt for them to make. I could never understand how so many people still argue from a ridiculous angle to disprove something about which they understand rather little. Still, it goes on does it not!
NOTES FOR A SERMON
If ever you were asked to choose a phrase that comes to you in a familiar way from the Scriptures, I wonder what it might be. One that I find is a constant, and an encouraging one at that is variously translated, but most commonly known as ‘Fear not!’ It comes from the pens of the prophets, and from the lips of our Lord. It is reiterated in Epistles, and even turns up in Revelation. Fear not.
Fear not. And here it is in one of the most difficult and even fearful situations in which Israel found itself, on the return from the Exile. (I read, quite recently, a book by a British war correspondent who was in Iraq in 1991, and he told of the long dry flat highway between Amman, Jordan and Baghdad. He travelled it several times by motor vehicle.) The Jews would have had to walk it – both ways! Mind you, there would not have been too many who did both ways, for there was a gap of 70 years between one and the other.)
‘Fear not’ says the prophet, although if you read from Ezra and Nehemiah, a rather ghastly picture is painted, of those resisting the efforts of the newly arrived. Anyhow, how hard is it to rebuild from ruins that have been open to the elements for decades? Fear not? How could you not be otherwise?
The answer is not all that tangible. The answer is that God is with you, and while that may urge along a few, surely there were sceptics enough to put off the rest. On the other hand, there was that remarkable fact that several of the prophets, Isaiah amongst them, who expressed his certainty not only the a Return was on the way, but even more surprising, the Cyrus, threat to everyone around, would be the Lord’s messiah (and that is the word Isaiah used, pardon me,) and instrument, “even though he knows Me not!” It must have been stirring times, as well as providing a stunning platform for the faithful, regardless of the opposition facing them.
That strikes me as hugely significant, even in our own day and age. Our God is not one to be defeated by anything, if it comes to that, and His remarkable precedent has been set time and time again in the ordinary normal course of Israel’s history. Actual history, pardon me, not some sort of ephemeral myth.
Ponder this, if you will. If ever you look closely at the history of the Christian Church, surely you are left wondering how the hell the Church survived. There is so much rubbish and discord, and total disregard for Gospel and people in so many times and places and events. By all the canons of life and history, the Church should have died on the vine centuries, even millennia ago. But here it is still, in spite of all the garbage and disloyalty and apostasy. And the only reason for that, surely, is the God is behind it all somewhere. Even after the collapse of Soviet Russia, the Church emerged, mainly because the underground Christians remained faithful in spite of enormous contrary pressure.
So wherever you are living, under whatever circumstance or threat, this word comes to you from the King of the Kingdom: Fear not. And get on with the job.
Newsletter
SUNDAY 7th November, 2010
Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost
Our Celebrant and preacher today is Rev’d Dr. Warren Huffa
WELCOME
Please join us for breakfast in the hall after the 8am service or for morning tea after the 10am service. At 10am you will find all the service and hymns projected onto the sanctuary walls. There is Sunday School at the 10 am service as usual during Term time.
COLLECT FOR THE DAY
Blessed Lord, You have caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of Your holy word we may embrace and ever hold fast to the blessed hope of everlasting life, which You have given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
From the Ron Blog
‘Fear not’ says that obscure prophet in today’s reading, although if you read from Ezra and Nehemiah, a rather ghastly picture is painted, of those resisting the efforts of the newly returned exiles. Anyhow, how hard is it to rebuild from ruins that have been open to the elements for decades? Fear not? How could you not be otherwise?
The answer is not all that tangible. The answer is that God is with you, and while that may urge along a few, surely there were sceptics enough to put off the rest. On the other hand, there was that remarkable fact that several of the prophets, Isaiah amongst them, who expressed his certainty not only the a Return home was on the way, but even more surprising, that Cyrus, threat to everyone around, would be the Lord’s messiah (and that is the word Isaiah used, pardon me,) and instrument, “even though he knows Me not!” It must have been stirring times, as well as providing a stunning platform for the faithful, regardless of the opposition facing them.
That strikes me as hugely significant, even in our own day and age. Our God is not one to be defeated by anything, if it comes to that, and His remarkable precedent has been set time and time again in the ordinary normal course of Israel’s history. Actual history, pardon me, not some sort of ephemeral myth.
Ponder this, if you will. If ever you look closely at the history of the Christian Church, surely you are left wondering how the hell the Church survived. There is so much rubbish and discord, and total disregard for Gospel and people in so many times and places and events. By all the canons of life and history, the Church should have died on the vine centuries, even millennia ago. But here it is still, in spite of all the garbage. The only reason for that, surely, is that God is behind it all somewhere. So wherever you are living, under whatever circumstance or threat, this word comes to you from the King of the Kingdom: Fear not. And get on with the job.
TODAY’S READINGS
Haggai 1:15b—2:9 and 2 Thess. 2: 1—5 & 13—17 read by Clare B
GOSPEL Luke 20: 27—40
PRAYERS FOR THE PEOPLE led by Marg P
We pray for those in need: Ron Teague, Phyllis Morecroft, Barbara Radbone and Peter Little.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Iris Downes, Jim Scrivens
HAPPY WEDDING ANNIVERSARY –
YEAR’S MIND: Jane Matthew (1996). Mary Barrow (1992) Valerie Loftes (2004)
PREPARATION FOR NEXT SUNDAY – 25th Sunday after Pentecost
Readings Isaiah 65:17—25 & 2 Thess. 3: 6—15
GOSPEL Luke 21: 5—19
Refer Fr Ron’s Notes available at http://www.anglican-belair.blogspot.com/
POWERPOINT ROSTER –
This Week Don Caddy or Craig Deane
Next Week Barb Capon or Ron Keynes (away)
READER- AND INTERCESSOR ROSTER
Next Sunday Reader David C Intercessor Max A
Sunday after Reader Vanessa D Intercessor Don B
SANCTUARY ROSTER
Next week Flowers Iris Downes Brass Caroline and Sid Sweet Cleaning Susan Lee
REGULAR GROUPS AND BOOKINGS
PRAYER CIRCLE meets noon on the 2nd Tuesday each month at 36 Penno Parade North
BIBLE STUDY 10am every Wednesday at 378 Main Road Coromandel Valley
THURSDAY 9.30am Traditional Communion
7.00m Meditation 7.30pm Study Group
COMING EVENTS
12th November Another Danny Hodgson Swing at Sunset evening of jazz. 7.00pm for 7.30pm. Adults $10; Children free. Sparkling wine, fruit juice or coffee refreshments ($2 donation)
Friday, Nov 19 St John's Strings concert
Saturday, Nov 20 private booking of hall and outside area 12pm - 5pm.
Sunday 21st Nov. Barbecue Lunch after Service
And Question Time at 7.30pm
Friday December 3 St John's Year 6 party in hall 5pm-7pm.
St. John’s College will be using the Hall for exams—details on the foyer board
Baptism on 12th December. Emily Rose Prunty and Lucy Rose Plummer
HELPLINE
Part of being a Christian community is the support offered to each other in times of need. We offer short-term delivery of food where needed, local transport, phone calls, visits and other types of assistance. Call Christie Hodgson on 8370 3260 or Caroline Sweet on 8278 3058
Clare Bruce reports that the Senior Sunday School raised $118 for the ABM Ethiopia Library Appeal on the stall after Church late in October. Isn’t that something!!!
ABM Christmas Cards
Joan Durdin has a few packs of ABM Christmas cards at reduced prices. The packs are on the bench in the foyer, with a box for payments. There are also current order forms on which you can place your own order, and forward to ABM with your payment. .
Items for the Newsletter need to be sent to Fr. Ron at 8298 7160 or ronpkeynes@internode.on.net or 8298 7160 by Tuesday nights, please
Twenty-fourth Sunday after Pentecost
Our Celebrant and preacher today is Rev’d Dr. Warren Huffa
WELCOME
Please join us for breakfast in the hall after the 8am service or for morning tea after the 10am service. At 10am you will find all the service and hymns projected onto the sanctuary walls. There is Sunday School at the 10 am service as usual during Term time.
COLLECT FOR THE DAY
Blessed Lord, You have caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of Your holy word we may embrace and ever hold fast to the blessed hope of everlasting life, which You have given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen
From the Ron Blog
‘Fear not’ says that obscure prophet in today’s reading, although if you read from Ezra and Nehemiah, a rather ghastly picture is painted, of those resisting the efforts of the newly returned exiles. Anyhow, how hard is it to rebuild from ruins that have been open to the elements for decades? Fear not? How could you not be otherwise?
The answer is not all that tangible. The answer is that God is with you, and while that may urge along a few, surely there were sceptics enough to put off the rest. On the other hand, there was that remarkable fact that several of the prophets, Isaiah amongst them, who expressed his certainty not only the a Return home was on the way, but even more surprising, that Cyrus, threat to everyone around, would be the Lord’s messiah (and that is the word Isaiah used, pardon me,) and instrument, “even though he knows Me not!” It must have been stirring times, as well as providing a stunning platform for the faithful, regardless of the opposition facing them.
That strikes me as hugely significant, even in our own day and age. Our God is not one to be defeated by anything, if it comes to that, and His remarkable precedent has been set time and time again in the ordinary normal course of Israel’s history. Actual history, pardon me, not some sort of ephemeral myth.
Ponder this, if you will. If ever you look closely at the history of the Christian Church, surely you are left wondering how the hell the Church survived. There is so much rubbish and discord, and total disregard for Gospel and people in so many times and places and events. By all the canons of life and history, the Church should have died on the vine centuries, even millennia ago. But here it is still, in spite of all the garbage. The only reason for that, surely, is that God is behind it all somewhere. So wherever you are living, under whatever circumstance or threat, this word comes to you from the King of the Kingdom: Fear not. And get on with the job.
TODAY’S READINGS
Haggai 1:15b—2:9 and 2 Thess. 2: 1—5 & 13—17 read by Clare B
GOSPEL Luke 20: 27—40
PRAYERS FOR THE PEOPLE led by Marg P
We pray for those in need: Ron Teague, Phyllis Morecroft, Barbara Radbone and Peter Little.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Iris Downes, Jim Scrivens
HAPPY WEDDING ANNIVERSARY –
YEAR’S MIND: Jane Matthew (1996). Mary Barrow (1992) Valerie Loftes (2004)
PREPARATION FOR NEXT SUNDAY – 25th Sunday after Pentecost
Readings Isaiah 65:17—25 & 2 Thess. 3: 6—15
GOSPEL Luke 21: 5—19
Refer Fr Ron’s Notes available at http://www.anglican-belair.blogspot.com/
POWERPOINT ROSTER –
This Week Don Caddy or Craig Deane
Next Week Barb Capon or Ron Keynes (away)
READER- AND INTERCESSOR ROSTER
Next Sunday Reader David C Intercessor Max A
Sunday after Reader Vanessa D Intercessor Don B
SANCTUARY ROSTER
Next week Flowers Iris Downes Brass Caroline and Sid Sweet Cleaning Susan Lee
REGULAR GROUPS AND BOOKINGS
PRAYER CIRCLE meets noon on the 2nd Tuesday each month at 36 Penno Parade North
BIBLE STUDY 10am every Wednesday at 378 Main Road Coromandel Valley
THURSDAY 9.30am Traditional Communion
7.00m Meditation 7.30pm Study Group
COMING EVENTS
12th November Another Danny Hodgson Swing at Sunset evening of jazz. 7.00pm for 7.30pm. Adults $10; Children free. Sparkling wine, fruit juice or coffee refreshments ($2 donation)
Friday, Nov 19 St John's Strings concert
Saturday, Nov 20 private booking of hall and outside area 12pm - 5pm.
Sunday 21st Nov. Barbecue Lunch after Service
And Question Time at 7.30pm
Friday December 3 St John's Year 6 party in hall 5pm-7pm.
St. John’s College will be using the Hall for exams—details on the foyer board
Baptism on 12th December. Emily Rose Prunty and Lucy Rose Plummer
HELPLINE
Part of being a Christian community is the support offered to each other in times of need. We offer short-term delivery of food where needed, local transport, phone calls, visits and other types of assistance. Call Christie Hodgson on 8370 3260 or Caroline Sweet on 8278 3058
Clare Bruce reports that the Senior Sunday School raised $118 for the ABM Ethiopia Library Appeal on the stall after Church late in October. Isn’t that something!!!
ABM Christmas Cards
Joan Durdin has a few packs of ABM Christmas cards at reduced prices. The packs are on the bench in the foyer, with a box for payments. There are also current order forms on which you can place your own order, and forward to ABM with your payment. .
Items for the Newsletter need to be sent to Fr. Ron at 8298 7160 or ronpkeynes@internode.on.net or 8298 7160 by Tuesday nights, please
Saturday, October 30, 2010
RonBlog
Sunday 31st October, 2010 Twenty Third Sunday after Pentecost
Sentence
Today salvation has come to this house, for the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.
Luke 19:10
Collect
God our Father, Whose will it is to bring all things to order and unity in our Lord Jesus Christ; may all the peoples of the world, now divided and torn apart by sin, be brought together under His sovereign rule of love, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Old Testament Lesson Habakkuk 1: 1 – 4 & 2: 1 – 4
The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw. O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you "Violence!" and you will not save? Why do you make me see wrong-doing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous-- therefore judgment comes forth perverted.
I will stand at my watch-post, and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me, and what he will answer concerning my complaint. Then the LORD answered me and said: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it. For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay. Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith.
Psalm 119: 132-144
Righteous are You, Lord God: and just are Your judgements
The commands that You have commanded: are exceedingly righteous and true
Zeal and indignation have choked my mouth: because my enemies have forgotten Your words
Your word has been tried in the fire: and therefore Your servant loves it
I am small and of no account: but I have not forgotten Your precepts
Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness: and Your law is the truth
Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me: but Your commandments are my delight
The righteousness of Your commands is everlasting: O give me understanding, and I shall live.
Epistle ` 2 Thessalonians 1: 1 – 4 & 11 – 12
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of everyone of you for one another is increasing. Therefore we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith during all your persecutions and the afflictions that you are enduring.
*********************************************
To this end we always pray for you, asking that our God will make you worthy of his call and will fulfill by his power every good resolve and work of faith, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
GOSPEL Luke 19: 1 – 10
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today." So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him.
All who saw it began to grumble and said, "He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner." Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much." Then Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost."
NOTES ON THE READINGS
Old Testament Lesson
There will be rather few people who may have heard of Habakkuk, but I suspect many will be aware of the statement at the end of this passage. Minor prophets are often overlooked or perhaps never seen or referred to, and that is a pity. They often reflect the struggle that the real people of God had with those who simply went through the motions. Injustice is the issue, and that is never a rare experience for anyone, let along people of truth.
A comment I dare to make on that ‘the righteous live by their faith.’ This was sufficient a variant to have motivated so much of Luther’s reformation in Germany, though I suspect that much of the real emphasis has been missed in the furore. I suggest that the word ‘faith’ should be translated ‘faithfulness’ – a reflection of their direction and goal, rather than anything less visible. In a world of injustice and greed, when people to live by the ancient verities of justice and truth, it meant that they had a far more solid and substantial basis by which to live. In so doing, they reflect the nature of their God and Father.
You might observe that my difficulty with ‘the just shall live by faith’ has so often been demeaned to a so-called ‘spiritual’ level that is internalised and no longer visible. It turns the Faith into a somewhat secret religion and that is the antithesis of either Old or New Testament theology.
Psalm
There will ever be a strange dichotomy between Law and Faith in people’s minds and in their practice. Quite some comment has been made in last week’s readings, but I offer a comment or two here.
First of all, this psalmist rejoiced in the mere fact of God’s Law, for law properly seen and used offers a clear and solid regime for living and inter-relating. It is the opposite of chaos, something that both Jews and other of the time feared greatly. Chaos is destructive and pointless; Law is neither, properly approached.
On the other hand, when I become legalistic, I become harsh and divisive. It becomes a tool to ensure (to my certainty) my superiority and your inferiority, and that becomes almost as destructive as chaos.
If there is one thing that mars the lives of countless people these days, it is the utter uncertainty and lack of values – so people end up being unaware of which way is up. One wonders to what extent the current issues of depression and anger stem from that factor in life.
Epistle
If you take the time to read the omitted verses (5 – 10) you may realize the reason for their non-inclusion. Thessalonians was written quite early in Paul’s ministry and you may note that if you read Paul’s letters in order of date of writing, that the development of his eschatology is clearly visible. So too is his rather punitive theology of hellfire and damnation.
It must have been a very difficult thing to be Christian in Thessalonika – then and now one suspects. It was a pagan city, of Greek allegiance - and the ancient Jewish expectations within the Faith would have been quite anomalous to most people there. It is remarkable to see the extent to which the Faith grew in such infertile ground. Remember, too, that Christianity was not the only ‘new religion’ (or old!) floating around. What is called ‘New Age’ these days is nothing but a revival of much of what passed for religion then – and before, and after.
GOSPEL
This story of Zacchaeus is a stunning tale of growth of a human being from self-obsession to faith, and it also illustrates the stunning capacity of Jesus to recognize and respond to people in unexpected and surprising situations. Our Lord’s ministry was, primarily, to offer the chance to move forward and develop as human, and this is a remarkable instance.
Read between the lines, and do not miss the ‘small man syndrome’ that seemed to motivate this man. You have come across other examples surely, where little people try to magnify their position to make up for their lack of size and influence. One suspects that Zac became a tax collector simply in order to amass wealth and (somewhat false) status simply to thumb the nose at his contemporaries. That he would have been hated for it would have had little effect: this short man had endured such misjudgement all his life, no doubt.
I find it fascinating that Jesus invited Himself to Zac’s place for lunch. As the tale unfolds, Zac would have been somewhat delighted that Jesus Himself thumbed His nose at current social etiquette for the sake of another human being. Jesus never was one to kow-tow to current social practices, as you will have noticed. And the mere fact that he was seen as human as anyone else may well have been the pivot on which the sudden and powerful change came to that man.
Notice, if you will, the use of the word ‘salvation.’ It has nothing to do with heaven here: it has everything to do with being made whole, being healed, given room to move and grow. It is the opening of the door of opportunity for Zacchaeus to become the person he was created to be. Barriers to that growth were removed, not by Jesus interestingly, but by the little man himself.
NOTES FOR A SERMON
Several times over the years I have pondered with people outside the Faith about how they would consider a world and life not so much without conflict, as without unresolved conflict. Their responses have been quite interesting, really. One of the chief complaints as they ponder the apparently impossible is that it strikes them as being boring, boring, boring. When you stop and think about it, you have to see that whilst no news can be good news, no news at all would leave a considerable blank at 7.00pm on ABC TV. So is all this a matter of the Good News being no news at all for most of our Australian contemporaries? In the face of today’s readings that may well appear to be the case.
So the question I have for you today is .......... is the Gospel irrelevant to most of today’s population? It is an important issue to discuss!
Irrelevance used to be very much the in word as Christians faced their uncertain future. It may still apply where some Christians tend to resemble troglodytes and attempt to live a matter of a century or two ago. Anyhow, it may well be that there are not a lot of people concerned enough about the state of the world and relationships – or perhaps feel that it is futile to attempt any change or betterment. In the end, it must be said that in spite of such resistance to change, the need is there, and is worth attempting to find a resolution.
“Today salvation has come to this house.” It may well be that one of the problems we Christians have is the use of words, and the meanings we place upon them. That ‘s’ word is a case in point, which reduces what we are on about to the old saw “Jesus saves” being met with ‘at which Bank?’ All a bit twee, of course. I have to say that the hardest part, I have found, in 50 years of ministry, is to get people prepared to think beyond the trite and tried understanding of the Faith. ‘I was taught such and such in Sunday School and that is what I will always believe!’ And there is not much one can do to move the troglodyte forward, in spite of the fact that Sunday School tended to be a rather poor learning centre. Lots of enthusiasm, thank heaven, but very little Biblical or theological skill.
So back to the Readings. Little is known about the prophet Habakkuk except that the evidence points to him being a contemporary of Jeremiah; that means also that 2nd Isaiah and Ezekiel we in action around the same times. This prophet’s problem with what he saw as evil is that God seemed to be using pagan – and therefore sinful! – nations as instruments of punishment of the People of God. Yet it was wider than that, for the prophet’s real issue was that evil always seemed to win the day, and that left the righteous out on a fairly useless limb. Unlike the other-mentioned prophets, Habakkuk was arguing against God, rather than against the errant Israel. In other words, evil was the great problem for the prophets; why is it not so much the case now?
Had you lived in the time referred to, around the beginning of the sixth century BC, you would be more aware of the fact that those now revered prophets were in an almost total minority. Jeremiah was imprisoned and threatened several times and went in fear of his life. Isaiah longed for Israel to take up its role as Servant of the Lord (though they still do not see that challenge in their reading of the Scriptures, I discover,) And you know from your own reading of the Gospels, that Jesus had no easy path to tread, being opposed so often and constantly by those who one would have thought knew better. In other words, it remains a fact of life, then and now, that searchers after truth and reconciliation may well be few and far between. In spite of that, the realities are also quite near to people, even if they turn their backs upon it.
I guess the surprising thing, as evidences by today’s Gospel, is that searchers after truth may well be found in the most unexpected places. (I can vouch, for instance, for the fact that my most responsive ‘congregation’ was in Prison.) Had you lived in Jericho then, (even more so now perhaps!) you would not have expected Zacchaeus to have reacted the way he did. He would have been one of the most despised inhabitant of the town, and an apostate of the first order as far as the synagogue was concerned. Mention has been made before of the small man syndrome, doubtless as common then as now. It may be reading into the information more than is there, but one can imagine this young fellow growing up in an atmosphere where he was looked down on, and despised for his lack of stature. That can be devastating for many people, especially in their younger years. (I recall having to do with a Senior School pupil many years ago, quite some inches shorter than his peers, male and female, and being ‘too big for his boots’ in order to prove some point or other. So doubtless our short character determined to rub it in the noses of his contemporaries by having ‘the best house and the best car and the highest status’ - albeit with the Romans! And it may well have been a situation similar to Matthew (Levi) who had come to the conclusion that the amassing of wealth did not reach it promised proportion. It is only as the honesty of such people comes to the surface that any sense of search or real betterment stirs within them. It certainly did with Matthew, and, as we see, with Zacchaeus.
It is often said that the ‘hip pocket nerve’ offers a real insight into the true nature of a person. If one gives to make an impression, then they have yet to learn. But if they act as did Matthew and Zacchaeus, then something rather more genuine is going on inside them. And I doubt if it needs to be said that there are never a great number of people of that sort of character around.
Salvation had come to the house of Zacchaeus that day because the barriers to him going anywhere in his real pilgrimage of life were broken down – and they were broken down by old Zac himself. Certainly, Jesus offered the possibility, which is all He did if you look closely, and then supported him for the time He was in town. The path ahead would still have been problematic for the tax collector, for he would have had to cope with a most unhappy Roman regime, a misunderstanding by his peers, and a sense of threat from his co-religionists. Following Christ is never going to offer a bed of roses, an easy travel.
So it is an informative and challenging series of readings, and one which intending Christians ought to take note of. Whilst the Gospel is Good News, it is also running diametrically opposite to the normal human stream of things, contrary to the culture of most parts of the world and times in history, but it remains – as far as I can see – the only valid, relevant, effective path to overcoming evil and creating community through reconciliation. And both the way it all works, and the outcomes it produces remains the same for either vertical (towards God) or horizontal (towards others) aspect.
Sentence
Today salvation has come to this house, for the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.
Luke 19:10
Collect
God our Father, Whose will it is to bring all things to order and unity in our Lord Jesus Christ; may all the peoples of the world, now divided and torn apart by sin, be brought together under His sovereign rule of love, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Old Testament Lesson Habakkuk 1: 1 – 4 & 2: 1 – 4
The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw. O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you "Violence!" and you will not save? Why do you make me see wrong-doing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous-- therefore judgment comes forth perverted.
I will stand at my watch-post, and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me, and what he will answer concerning my complaint. Then the LORD answered me and said: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it. For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay. Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith.
Psalm 119: 132-144
Righteous are You, Lord God: and just are Your judgements
The commands that You have commanded: are exceedingly righteous and true
Zeal and indignation have choked my mouth: because my enemies have forgotten Your words
Your word has been tried in the fire: and therefore Your servant loves it
I am small and of no account: but I have not forgotten Your precepts
Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness: and Your law is the truth
Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me: but Your commandments are my delight
The righteousness of Your commands is everlasting: O give me understanding, and I shall live.
Epistle ` 2 Thessalonians 1: 1 – 4 & 11 – 12
Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. We must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of everyone of you for one another is increasing. Therefore we ourselves boast of you among the churches of God for your steadfastness and faith during all your persecutions and the afflictions that you are enduring.
*********************************************
To this end we always pray for you, asking that our God will make you worthy of his call and will fulfill by his power every good resolve and work of faith, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
GOSPEL Luke 19: 1 – 10
Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it. A man was there named Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was rich. He was trying to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was short in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, because he was going to pass that way. When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today." So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him.
All who saw it began to grumble and said, "He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner." Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, "Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much." Then Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost."
NOTES ON THE READINGS
Old Testament Lesson
There will be rather few people who may have heard of Habakkuk, but I suspect many will be aware of the statement at the end of this passage. Minor prophets are often overlooked or perhaps never seen or referred to, and that is a pity. They often reflect the struggle that the real people of God had with those who simply went through the motions. Injustice is the issue, and that is never a rare experience for anyone, let along people of truth.
A comment I dare to make on that ‘the righteous live by their faith.’ This was sufficient a variant to have motivated so much of Luther’s reformation in Germany, though I suspect that much of the real emphasis has been missed in the furore. I suggest that the word ‘faith’ should be translated ‘faithfulness’ – a reflection of their direction and goal, rather than anything less visible. In a world of injustice and greed, when people to live by the ancient verities of justice and truth, it meant that they had a far more solid and substantial basis by which to live. In so doing, they reflect the nature of their God and Father.
You might observe that my difficulty with ‘the just shall live by faith’ has so often been demeaned to a so-called ‘spiritual’ level that is internalised and no longer visible. It turns the Faith into a somewhat secret religion and that is the antithesis of either Old or New Testament theology.
Psalm
There will ever be a strange dichotomy between Law and Faith in people’s minds and in their practice. Quite some comment has been made in last week’s readings, but I offer a comment or two here.
First of all, this psalmist rejoiced in the mere fact of God’s Law, for law properly seen and used offers a clear and solid regime for living and inter-relating. It is the opposite of chaos, something that both Jews and other of the time feared greatly. Chaos is destructive and pointless; Law is neither, properly approached.
On the other hand, when I become legalistic, I become harsh and divisive. It becomes a tool to ensure (to my certainty) my superiority and your inferiority, and that becomes almost as destructive as chaos.
If there is one thing that mars the lives of countless people these days, it is the utter uncertainty and lack of values – so people end up being unaware of which way is up. One wonders to what extent the current issues of depression and anger stem from that factor in life.
Epistle
If you take the time to read the omitted verses (5 – 10) you may realize the reason for their non-inclusion. Thessalonians was written quite early in Paul’s ministry and you may note that if you read Paul’s letters in order of date of writing, that the development of his eschatology is clearly visible. So too is his rather punitive theology of hellfire and damnation.
It must have been a very difficult thing to be Christian in Thessalonika – then and now one suspects. It was a pagan city, of Greek allegiance - and the ancient Jewish expectations within the Faith would have been quite anomalous to most people there. It is remarkable to see the extent to which the Faith grew in such infertile ground. Remember, too, that Christianity was not the only ‘new religion’ (or old!) floating around. What is called ‘New Age’ these days is nothing but a revival of much of what passed for religion then – and before, and after.
GOSPEL
This story of Zacchaeus is a stunning tale of growth of a human being from self-obsession to faith, and it also illustrates the stunning capacity of Jesus to recognize and respond to people in unexpected and surprising situations. Our Lord’s ministry was, primarily, to offer the chance to move forward and develop as human, and this is a remarkable instance.
Read between the lines, and do not miss the ‘small man syndrome’ that seemed to motivate this man. You have come across other examples surely, where little people try to magnify their position to make up for their lack of size and influence. One suspects that Zac became a tax collector simply in order to amass wealth and (somewhat false) status simply to thumb the nose at his contemporaries. That he would have been hated for it would have had little effect: this short man had endured such misjudgement all his life, no doubt.
I find it fascinating that Jesus invited Himself to Zac’s place for lunch. As the tale unfolds, Zac would have been somewhat delighted that Jesus Himself thumbed His nose at current social etiquette for the sake of another human being. Jesus never was one to kow-tow to current social practices, as you will have noticed. And the mere fact that he was seen as human as anyone else may well have been the pivot on which the sudden and powerful change came to that man.
Notice, if you will, the use of the word ‘salvation.’ It has nothing to do with heaven here: it has everything to do with being made whole, being healed, given room to move and grow. It is the opening of the door of opportunity for Zacchaeus to become the person he was created to be. Barriers to that growth were removed, not by Jesus interestingly, but by the little man himself.
NOTES FOR A SERMON
Several times over the years I have pondered with people outside the Faith about how they would consider a world and life not so much without conflict, as without unresolved conflict. Their responses have been quite interesting, really. One of the chief complaints as they ponder the apparently impossible is that it strikes them as being boring, boring, boring. When you stop and think about it, you have to see that whilst no news can be good news, no news at all would leave a considerable blank at 7.00pm on ABC TV. So is all this a matter of the Good News being no news at all for most of our Australian contemporaries? In the face of today’s readings that may well appear to be the case.
So the question I have for you today is .......... is the Gospel irrelevant to most of today’s population? It is an important issue to discuss!
Irrelevance used to be very much the in word as Christians faced their uncertain future. It may still apply where some Christians tend to resemble troglodytes and attempt to live a matter of a century or two ago. Anyhow, it may well be that there are not a lot of people concerned enough about the state of the world and relationships – or perhaps feel that it is futile to attempt any change or betterment. In the end, it must be said that in spite of such resistance to change, the need is there, and is worth attempting to find a resolution.
“Today salvation has come to this house.” It may well be that one of the problems we Christians have is the use of words, and the meanings we place upon them. That ‘s’ word is a case in point, which reduces what we are on about to the old saw “Jesus saves” being met with ‘at which Bank?’ All a bit twee, of course. I have to say that the hardest part, I have found, in 50 years of ministry, is to get people prepared to think beyond the trite and tried understanding of the Faith. ‘I was taught such and such in Sunday School and that is what I will always believe!’ And there is not much one can do to move the troglodyte forward, in spite of the fact that Sunday School tended to be a rather poor learning centre. Lots of enthusiasm, thank heaven, but very little Biblical or theological skill.
So back to the Readings. Little is known about the prophet Habakkuk except that the evidence points to him being a contemporary of Jeremiah; that means also that 2nd Isaiah and Ezekiel we in action around the same times. This prophet’s problem with what he saw as evil is that God seemed to be using pagan – and therefore sinful! – nations as instruments of punishment of the People of God. Yet it was wider than that, for the prophet’s real issue was that evil always seemed to win the day, and that left the righteous out on a fairly useless limb. Unlike the other-mentioned prophets, Habakkuk was arguing against God, rather than against the errant Israel. In other words, evil was the great problem for the prophets; why is it not so much the case now?
Had you lived in the time referred to, around the beginning of the sixth century BC, you would be more aware of the fact that those now revered prophets were in an almost total minority. Jeremiah was imprisoned and threatened several times and went in fear of his life. Isaiah longed for Israel to take up its role as Servant of the Lord (though they still do not see that challenge in their reading of the Scriptures, I discover,) And you know from your own reading of the Gospels, that Jesus had no easy path to tread, being opposed so often and constantly by those who one would have thought knew better. In other words, it remains a fact of life, then and now, that searchers after truth and reconciliation may well be few and far between. In spite of that, the realities are also quite near to people, even if they turn their backs upon it.
I guess the surprising thing, as evidences by today’s Gospel, is that searchers after truth may well be found in the most unexpected places. (I can vouch, for instance, for the fact that my most responsive ‘congregation’ was in Prison.) Had you lived in Jericho then, (even more so now perhaps!) you would not have expected Zacchaeus to have reacted the way he did. He would have been one of the most despised inhabitant of the town, and an apostate of the first order as far as the synagogue was concerned. Mention has been made before of the small man syndrome, doubtless as common then as now. It may be reading into the information more than is there, but one can imagine this young fellow growing up in an atmosphere where he was looked down on, and despised for his lack of stature. That can be devastating for many people, especially in their younger years. (I recall having to do with a Senior School pupil many years ago, quite some inches shorter than his peers, male and female, and being ‘too big for his boots’ in order to prove some point or other. So doubtless our short character determined to rub it in the noses of his contemporaries by having ‘the best house and the best car and the highest status’ - albeit with the Romans! And it may well have been a situation similar to Matthew (Levi) who had come to the conclusion that the amassing of wealth did not reach it promised proportion. It is only as the honesty of such people comes to the surface that any sense of search or real betterment stirs within them. It certainly did with Matthew, and, as we see, with Zacchaeus.
It is often said that the ‘hip pocket nerve’ offers a real insight into the true nature of a person. If one gives to make an impression, then they have yet to learn. But if they act as did Matthew and Zacchaeus, then something rather more genuine is going on inside them. And I doubt if it needs to be said that there are never a great number of people of that sort of character around.
Salvation had come to the house of Zacchaeus that day because the barriers to him going anywhere in his real pilgrimage of life were broken down – and they were broken down by old Zac himself. Certainly, Jesus offered the possibility, which is all He did if you look closely, and then supported him for the time He was in town. The path ahead would still have been problematic for the tax collector, for he would have had to cope with a most unhappy Roman regime, a misunderstanding by his peers, and a sense of threat from his co-religionists. Following Christ is never going to offer a bed of roses, an easy travel.
So it is an informative and challenging series of readings, and one which intending Christians ought to take note of. Whilst the Gospel is Good News, it is also running diametrically opposite to the normal human stream of things, contrary to the culture of most parts of the world and times in history, but it remains – as far as I can see – the only valid, relevant, effective path to overcoming evil and creating community through reconciliation. And both the way it all works, and the outcomes it produces remains the same for either vertical (towards God) or horizontal (towards others) aspect.
Newsletter
SUNDAY 31st October, 2010
Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost
Our Celebrant today is Rev’d Dr. Warren Huffa
Welcome to William and his family for Baptism
WELCOME
Please join us for breakfast in the hall after the 8am service or for morning tea after the 10am service. At 10am you will find all the service and hymns projected onto the sanctuary walls. There is Sunday School at the 10 am service as usual during Term time.
COLLECT FOR THE DAY
God our Father, Whose will it is to bring all things to order and unity in our Lord Jesus Christ; may all the peoples of the world, now divided and torn apart by sin, be brought together under His sovereign rule of love, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Thoughts from the Gospel
This story of Zacchaeus is a stunning tale of growth of a human being from self-obsession to faith, and it also illustrates the stunning capacity of Jesus to recognize and respond to people in unexpected and surprising situations. Our Lord’s ministry was, primarily, to offer the chance to move forward and develop as human, and this is a remarkable instance.
Read between the lines, and do not miss the ‘small man syndrome’ that seemed to motivate this man. You have come across other examples surely, where little people try to magnify their position to make up for their lack of size and influence. One suspects that Zac became a tax collector simply in order to amass wealth and (somewhat false) status simply to thumb the nose at his contemporaries. That he would have been hated for it would have had little effect: this short man had endured such misjudgement all his life, no doubt.
I find it fascinating that Jesus invited Himself to Zac’s place for lunch. As the tale unfolds, Zac would have been somewhat delighted that Jesus Himself thumbed His nose at current social etiquette for the sake of another human being. Jesus never was one to kow-tow to current social practices, as you will have noticed. And the mere fact that he was seen as human as anyone else may well have been the pivot on which the sudden and powerful change came to that man.
Notice, if you will, the use of the word ‘salvation.’ It has nothing to do with heaven here: it has everything to do with being made whole, being healed, given room to move and grow. It is the opening of the door of opportunity for Zacchaeus to become the person he was created to be. Barriers to that growth were removed, not by Jesus interestingly, but by the little man himself
TODAY’S READINGS
Habakkuk 1:1-4 & 2:2-4 & 2 Thess :1 —4 & 11 –12 Araki family
GOSPEL Luke 19: 1—10
PRAYERS FOR THE PEOPLE
We pray for those in need: Ron Teague, Phyllis Morecroft, Peter Little and Barbara Radbone
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Peter Little, Colin Davies, Vic Carpenter
HAPPY WEDDING ANNIVERSARY – Angela and Neil von Bertouch; Cathy and Graeme Brown
YEAR’S MIND: Olive Forster (1992)
PREPARATION FOR NEXT SUNDAY – 24th Sunday after Pentecost
Readings Haggai 1:15b—2:9 and 2 Thess. 2: 1—5 & 13—17
GOSPEL Luke 20: 27—40
Refer Fr Ron’s Notes available at http://www.anglican-belair.blogspot.com/
POWERPOINT ROSTER –
This Week Ron Keynes or Barb Capon
Next Week Don Caddy or Craig Deane
READER- AND INTERCESSOR ROSTER
Next Sunday Reader Clare Bruce Intercessor Marg P
Sunday after Reader David Corbett Intercessor Max A
REGULAR GROUPS AND BOOKINGS
PRAYER CIRCLE meets noon on the 2nd Tuesday each month at 36 Penno Parade North
THURSDAY 9.30am Traditional Communion
7.00m Meditation 7.30pm Study Group
BIBLE STUDY 10am every Wednesday at 378 Main Road Coroman-del Valley
COMING EVENTS
12th November Another Danny Hodgson Swing at Sunset evening of jazz. 7.00pm for 7.30pm. There are flyers available to distribute to people you know. Adults $10; Children free. Sparkling wine, fruit juice or coffee refreshments ($2 donation)
Friday, Nov 19 St John's strings concert Saturday, Nov 20 private booking of hall and outside area 12pm - 5pm. Friday December 3 St John's Year 6 end of year party in hall 5pm-7pm.
St. John’s College will be using the Hall for exams—details on the foyer board
HELPLINE
Part of being a Christian community is the support offered to each other in times of need. We offer short-term delivery of food where needed, local transport, phone calls, visits and other types of assis-tance. Call Christie Hodgson on 8370 3260 or Caroline Sweet on 8278 3058
Our very own Don Caddy rated a mention in last Saturday‘s Advertiser, for his work with Living through Cancer. It is 25 years since Don faced the prognosis, but he is still with us. Congrats on all your work, Don.
Robyn Keynes wishes to remind folk that recyclable bottles, cartons and cans can be brought to raise funds for Children’s Ministry. Thank you.
Ross Hill-Brown's participation in the 40 Hour Famine in August raised over $400 for World Vision and he thanks all those who sponsored him.
Requiem for All Souls’ Day: St Peter’s Cathedral Tuesday 2 November, 6pm. The Gregorian Choir will sing a plainsong setting of the Requiem in the Eucharist as we offer an opportunity for quiet reflection and prayer in memory of those we have loved.
Quiet Day - A day for personal prayer and reflection will be held in St Peter‘s Cathedral on Saturday 6 November from 10am-4pm. Sister Mary Cresp will reflect on the ―Communion of Saints‖. Cost $10. Please let the office know if you are coming to the Quiet Day 8267 4551
Items for the Newsletter need to be sent to Fr. Ron at 8298 7160 or ronpkeynes@internode.on.net
by Tuesday nights, please
Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost
Our Celebrant today is Rev’d Dr. Warren Huffa
Welcome to William and his family for Baptism
WELCOME
Please join us for breakfast in the hall after the 8am service or for morning tea after the 10am service. At 10am you will find all the service and hymns projected onto the sanctuary walls. There is Sunday School at the 10 am service as usual during Term time.
COLLECT FOR THE DAY
God our Father, Whose will it is to bring all things to order and unity in our Lord Jesus Christ; may all the peoples of the world, now divided and torn apart by sin, be brought together under His sovereign rule of love, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
Thoughts from the Gospel
This story of Zacchaeus is a stunning tale of growth of a human being from self-obsession to faith, and it also illustrates the stunning capacity of Jesus to recognize and respond to people in unexpected and surprising situations. Our Lord’s ministry was, primarily, to offer the chance to move forward and develop as human, and this is a remarkable instance.
Read between the lines, and do not miss the ‘small man syndrome’ that seemed to motivate this man. You have come across other examples surely, where little people try to magnify their position to make up for their lack of size and influence. One suspects that Zac became a tax collector simply in order to amass wealth and (somewhat false) status simply to thumb the nose at his contemporaries. That he would have been hated for it would have had little effect: this short man had endured such misjudgement all his life, no doubt.
I find it fascinating that Jesus invited Himself to Zac’s place for lunch. As the tale unfolds, Zac would have been somewhat delighted that Jesus Himself thumbed His nose at current social etiquette for the sake of another human being. Jesus never was one to kow-tow to current social practices, as you will have noticed. And the mere fact that he was seen as human as anyone else may well have been the pivot on which the sudden and powerful change came to that man.
Notice, if you will, the use of the word ‘salvation.’ It has nothing to do with heaven here: it has everything to do with being made whole, being healed, given room to move and grow. It is the opening of the door of opportunity for Zacchaeus to become the person he was created to be. Barriers to that growth were removed, not by Jesus interestingly, but by the little man himself
TODAY’S READINGS
Habakkuk 1:1-4 & 2:2-4 & 2 Thess :1 —4 & 11 –12 Araki family
GOSPEL Luke 19: 1—10
PRAYERS FOR THE PEOPLE
We pray for those in need: Ron Teague, Phyllis Morecroft, Peter Little and Barbara Radbone
HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Peter Little, Colin Davies, Vic Carpenter
HAPPY WEDDING ANNIVERSARY – Angela and Neil von Bertouch; Cathy and Graeme Brown
YEAR’S MIND: Olive Forster (1992)
PREPARATION FOR NEXT SUNDAY – 24th Sunday after Pentecost
Readings Haggai 1:15b—2:9 and 2 Thess. 2: 1—5 & 13—17
GOSPEL Luke 20: 27—40
Refer Fr Ron’s Notes available at http://www.anglican-belair.blogspot.com/
POWERPOINT ROSTER –
This Week Ron Keynes or Barb Capon
Next Week Don Caddy or Craig Deane
READER- AND INTERCESSOR ROSTER
Next Sunday Reader Clare Bruce Intercessor Marg P
Sunday after Reader David Corbett Intercessor Max A
REGULAR GROUPS AND BOOKINGS
PRAYER CIRCLE meets noon on the 2nd Tuesday each month at 36 Penno Parade North
THURSDAY 9.30am Traditional Communion
7.00m Meditation 7.30pm Study Group
BIBLE STUDY 10am every Wednesday at 378 Main Road Coroman-del Valley
COMING EVENTS
12th November Another Danny Hodgson Swing at Sunset evening of jazz. 7.00pm for 7.30pm. There are flyers available to distribute to people you know. Adults $10; Children free. Sparkling wine, fruit juice or coffee refreshments ($2 donation)
Friday, Nov 19 St John's strings concert Saturday, Nov 20 private booking of hall and outside area 12pm - 5pm. Friday December 3 St John's Year 6 end of year party in hall 5pm-7pm.
St. John’s College will be using the Hall for exams—details on the foyer board
HELPLINE
Part of being a Christian community is the support offered to each other in times of need. We offer short-term delivery of food where needed, local transport, phone calls, visits and other types of assis-tance. Call Christie Hodgson on 8370 3260 or Caroline Sweet on 8278 3058
Our very own Don Caddy rated a mention in last Saturday‘s Advertiser, for his work with Living through Cancer. It is 25 years since Don faced the prognosis, but he is still with us. Congrats on all your work, Don.
Robyn Keynes wishes to remind folk that recyclable bottles, cartons and cans can be brought to raise funds for Children’s Ministry. Thank you.
Ross Hill-Brown's participation in the 40 Hour Famine in August raised over $400 for World Vision and he thanks all those who sponsored him.
Requiem for All Souls’ Day: St Peter’s Cathedral Tuesday 2 November, 6pm. The Gregorian Choir will sing a plainsong setting of the Requiem in the Eucharist as we offer an opportunity for quiet reflection and prayer in memory of those we have loved.
Quiet Day - A day for personal prayer and reflection will be held in St Peter‘s Cathedral on Saturday 6 November from 10am-4pm. Sister Mary Cresp will reflect on the ―Communion of Saints‖. Cost $10. Please let the office know if you are coming to the Quiet Day 8267 4551
Items for the Newsletter need to be sent to Fr. Ron at 8298 7160 or ronpkeynes@internode.on.net
by Tuesday nights, please
Saturday, October 23, 2010
RonBlog
Sunday 24th October, 2010 Twenty-second Sunday after Pentecost
Sentence
Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. Luke 15:7
Collect
O God, Who alone can probe the depths of the heart, You hear the prayer of the humble and justify the repentant sinner: grant us the gift of humility that, seeing our faults clearly, we may refrain from judging our neighbour and rely solely in Your saving grace. We make this prayer through Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen
Old Testament Lesson Joel 2: 23 – 32
O children of Zion, be glad and rejoice in the LORD your God; for he has given the early rain for your vindication, he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the later rain, as before. The threshing floors shall be full of grain, the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. I will repay you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent against you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame.
You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, the LORD, am your God and there is no other. And my people shall never again be put to shame. Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit. I will show portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes. Then everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.
Psalm 65
You are to be praised O God, in Zion: to You shall vows be paid, You Who answers prayer
To You shall all flesh come to confess their sins: when our misdeeds prevail against us, You will purge them away
Blessed are those whom You choose and take to Yourself to dwell within Your courts: we shall be filled with the good things of Your house, of Your holy temple
You will answer us in Your righteousness with terrible deeds, O God our Saviour: You that are the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the distant seas.
Who by Your strength made fast the mountains: You that are girded with power
Who stilled the raging of the seas, the roaring of the waves: and the tumult of the peoples
Those who dwell at the ends of the earth are afraid at Your wonders: the dawn and the evening sing Your praises
You tend the earth and water it: You make it rich and fertile
The river of God is full of water: and so providing for the earth, You provide grain for us all.
You drench its furrows, You level the ridges between: You soften it with showers and bless its early growth
You crown the year with Your goodness: and the tracks where You have passed drip with fatness
The pastures of the wilderness run over: and the hills are girded with joy
The meadows are clothed with sheep: and the valleys stand so thick with corn that they laugh and sing
Epistle 2 Timothy 4: 6 – 8 & 16 – 18
As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
At my first defence no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them! But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
GOSPEL Luke 18: 15 – 30
People were bringing even infants to Jesus that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they sternly ordered them not to do it. But Jesus called for them and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it."
A certain ruler asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: 'You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honour your father and mother.'" He replied, "I have kept all these since my youth."
When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." But when he heard this, he became sad; for he was very rich. Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." Those who heard it said, "Then who can be saved?" He replied, "What is impossible for mortals is possible for God.”
Then Peter said, "Look, we have left our homes and followed you.” And he said to them, "Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not get back very much more in this age, and in the age to come eternal life."
NOTES ON THE READINGS
Old Testament
Whilst part of this passage from Joel is fairly well-known, the earlier section is rather less familiar. One needs to read and understand this prophet in terms of where he understood God, which will be a little different and perhaps more sophisticated in our present day and age. As repeated constantly, Israel’s understanding of God grew, not from eremites who went into the desert to pray and think; that sort of spirituality is not really part of Hebrew culture or religion. What they did was wait and watch and understand from the exigencies of ordinary life, and from those experiences catch sight of what was necessary and true and good. As with all human searches, there were potholes along the way.
What the prophet was expecting was fairly normal for then: when Israel was true to God, then there would be moves forward. In this context, Joel was indicating that not only would prophets and important people have clear indication from the Almighty, but that ordinary and even unexpected people would catch sight of truth and have visions. Sometimes we lose sight of the fact that the Holy Spirit is, in fact, given to all humans, if only they keep their eyes and ears, and more importantly their hearts, open to truth.
Psalm
Obviously this ancient psalmist is on the same wave-length as Joel, when he expected that God would replenish his people with abundance of food if and when they returned to Him. Mind you, the ancient Jews were always very aware of from where the benefits of life came. That is something that moderns, unconnected with rural reality, lose sight of with great speed.
Epistle
Here is an interesting and somewhat well-known section of Paul’s writings: and you might notice something of a contrast between the promise of faithfulness and the difficulties likely to be experienced. While I find it odd that Paul was left to his own devices in the stressful time of his house arrest in Rome, it would be hard for anyone to be identified as Christian, for they would be likely to suffer the same fate. (Mind you, I am not sure that the Apostle would have been all that easy to cope with; such people can be quite demanding in expectation even when they do not see it that way!)
GOSPEL
Here is an interesting connection between little ones – children – and the ‘certain ruler.’ The Gospel writers will often present contrasts in situations or in people to get a clear message across. The first part of this contrast is not all that difficult to follow: but note the difference between child-like and childish!
That cameo of the ‘certain ruler’ needs some explanation, it seems to me. There was a person who was a product of Judaism of the time, all self-righteous and rigid, keeping to the Law. Sadly, such approach in any field of human endeavour seems to produce an inflexibility that soon becomes a self-justification and a refusal to accept anyone not likeminded.
There lies part of Jesus’ reason to challenge the ‘Good’ epithet. That man was probably being somewhat snide in calling Jesus ‘Good.’ If it was not a put-down, it would have been a signal that ‘we are both on the same wave-length.’ If so, that would be why Jesus refused the tag, simply because that assumption of that man was quite false. The measure of goodness is not you or me; it is the Father and no other. As the debate went on, Jesus made it clear, in His challenge, that if that man was to mature as a believer, then he had to let go his self-styled position of importance, and give himself (let alone his wealth) away. It was a challenge for him to be ‘fair dinkum,’ and to turn his back on legalism in his religion. As it turned out, it was a challenge too far, as it was shaping up to be even for the Twelve.
NOTES FOR A SERMON
I am not sure that you will follow me in the direction (seems to me) that today’s readings are taking us. I can only hope that you will see through the words to the reality.
Not far from where we now live is a Christadelphian Meeting Place, and the sign outside will often show the subject of next Sunday’s sermon or talk. It is a revealing pattern, often commented upon by my wife and me as we pass by. The latest sign indicated a Bible Study on, inter alia, Law and Order. At this time , that subject is close to the bone for South Australians, and whilst it may provoke quite some interest amongst locals, I am rude enough to wonder if the focus is somewhat outside the Christian range. Law and Grace is a contrast to which we are used; Law and Order seems to me to signify another path altogether.
Judaism at the time of our Lord’s life was very focussed on that sort of direction. The Mosaic Law lay at the very heart of Pharisaism, and keeping of the Law in ‘every jot and tittle’ was primary. With the wisdom of hindsight, it is clear that such a path in religion is both terribly divisive and ultimately is very self-centred. It is one of the great divisions between haves and haves not. As a holy one, I could take great pride in being ‘holy,’ and be despising of those lesser mortals who were unable or unwilling to travel that path. Legalism in any range of human endeavour tends to be most counter-productive, and often leads to the very fundamentalism in religion and politics that does little other than exacerbate whatever issue is being faced.
Our Lord, of course, having been brought up in such an atmosphere, was keenly aware of the issue. In fact, much of His ministry was directed towards pricking the bubble of such practices and attitudes. And that is a difficult direction to head, as that legalistic approach tends to be sanctified by tradition. Old habits are very hard to shift. On the other hand, if they are not shifted or abolished, there can be no progress or development of faith – and that can mean the end of that process.
Spend some time to read Scripture, especially the Old Testament, to see the extent to which this process of growth and development, of leaving behind old patterns and attitudes, is focal and vital. The OT Prophets’ writings are full of such challenges. Even today’s reading from Joel points to the need to leave behind outdated and ineffective approaches, in order to leave the path clear for all sorts of different and unexpected now growth. Having the ‘Spirit poured out on all flesh’ was a radical departure from what had been perceived as the normal way. All flesh! Even slaves, and women! Shock. Horror. But it could not happen unless there was a great mind shift in Israel.
In fact the Gospel for today takes that a step further. Jesus’ pointing to children as exemplars must have shocked those people: kids were important, but were nonage, non people until Bar Mitzvah. But kids have long been illustrative of capacity to sense when truth is being denied and justice hidden. It is from adults that children learn to lie and prevaricate.
So it is for truth in faith, in living, to which Jesus pointed. Being fair dinkum, and open and honest. And let’s be honest: there is not a lot of that around these days now is there?
Sentence
Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. Luke 15:7
Collect
O God, Who alone can probe the depths of the heart, You hear the prayer of the humble and justify the repentant sinner: grant us the gift of humility that, seeing our faults clearly, we may refrain from judging our neighbour and rely solely in Your saving grace. We make this prayer through Your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen
Old Testament Lesson Joel 2: 23 – 32
O children of Zion, be glad and rejoice in the LORD your God; for he has given the early rain for your vindication, he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the later rain, as before. The threshing floors shall be full of grain, the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. I will repay you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent against you. You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame.
You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, the LORD, am your God and there is no other. And my people shall never again be put to shame. Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit. I will show portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes. Then everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.
Psalm 65
You are to be praised O God, in Zion: to You shall vows be paid, You Who answers prayer
To You shall all flesh come to confess their sins: when our misdeeds prevail against us, You will purge them away
Blessed are those whom You choose and take to Yourself to dwell within Your courts: we shall be filled with the good things of Your house, of Your holy temple
You will answer us in Your righteousness with terrible deeds, O God our Saviour: You that are the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the distant seas.
Who by Your strength made fast the mountains: You that are girded with power
Who stilled the raging of the seas, the roaring of the waves: and the tumult of the peoples
Those who dwell at the ends of the earth are afraid at Your wonders: the dawn and the evening sing Your praises
You tend the earth and water it: You make it rich and fertile
The river of God is full of water: and so providing for the earth, You provide grain for us all.
You drench its furrows, You level the ridges between: You soften it with showers and bless its early growth
You crown the year with Your goodness: and the tracks where You have passed drip with fatness
The pastures of the wilderness run over: and the hills are girded with joy
The meadows are clothed with sheep: and the valleys stand so thick with corn that they laugh and sing
Epistle 2 Timothy 4: 6 – 8 & 16 – 18
As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
At my first defence no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them! But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
GOSPEL Luke 18: 15 – 30
People were bringing even infants to Jesus that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they sternly ordered them not to do it. But Jesus called for them and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it."
A certain ruler asked him, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: 'You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honour your father and mother.'" He replied, "I have kept all these since my youth."
When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." But when he heard this, he became sad; for he was very rich. Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." Those who heard it said, "Then who can be saved?" He replied, "What is impossible for mortals is possible for God.”
Then Peter said, "Look, we have left our homes and followed you.” And he said to them, "Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not get back very much more in this age, and in the age to come eternal life."
NOTES ON THE READINGS
Old Testament
Whilst part of this passage from Joel is fairly well-known, the earlier section is rather less familiar. One needs to read and understand this prophet in terms of where he understood God, which will be a little different and perhaps more sophisticated in our present day and age. As repeated constantly, Israel’s understanding of God grew, not from eremites who went into the desert to pray and think; that sort of spirituality is not really part of Hebrew culture or religion. What they did was wait and watch and understand from the exigencies of ordinary life, and from those experiences catch sight of what was necessary and true and good. As with all human searches, there were potholes along the way.
What the prophet was expecting was fairly normal for then: when Israel was true to God, then there would be moves forward. In this context, Joel was indicating that not only would prophets and important people have clear indication from the Almighty, but that ordinary and even unexpected people would catch sight of truth and have visions. Sometimes we lose sight of the fact that the Holy Spirit is, in fact, given to all humans, if only they keep their eyes and ears, and more importantly their hearts, open to truth.
Psalm
Obviously this ancient psalmist is on the same wave-length as Joel, when he expected that God would replenish his people with abundance of food if and when they returned to Him. Mind you, the ancient Jews were always very aware of from where the benefits of life came. That is something that moderns, unconnected with rural reality, lose sight of with great speed.
Epistle
Here is an interesting and somewhat well-known section of Paul’s writings: and you might notice something of a contrast between the promise of faithfulness and the difficulties likely to be experienced. While I find it odd that Paul was left to his own devices in the stressful time of his house arrest in Rome, it would be hard for anyone to be identified as Christian, for they would be likely to suffer the same fate. (Mind you, I am not sure that the Apostle would have been all that easy to cope with; such people can be quite demanding in expectation even when they do not see it that way!)
GOSPEL
Here is an interesting connection between little ones – children – and the ‘certain ruler.’ The Gospel writers will often present contrasts in situations or in people to get a clear message across. The first part of this contrast is not all that difficult to follow: but note the difference between child-like and childish!
That cameo of the ‘certain ruler’ needs some explanation, it seems to me. There was a person who was a product of Judaism of the time, all self-righteous and rigid, keeping to the Law. Sadly, such approach in any field of human endeavour seems to produce an inflexibility that soon becomes a self-justification and a refusal to accept anyone not likeminded.
There lies part of Jesus’ reason to challenge the ‘Good’ epithet. That man was probably being somewhat snide in calling Jesus ‘Good.’ If it was not a put-down, it would have been a signal that ‘we are both on the same wave-length.’ If so, that would be why Jesus refused the tag, simply because that assumption of that man was quite false. The measure of goodness is not you or me; it is the Father and no other. As the debate went on, Jesus made it clear, in His challenge, that if that man was to mature as a believer, then he had to let go his self-styled position of importance, and give himself (let alone his wealth) away. It was a challenge for him to be ‘fair dinkum,’ and to turn his back on legalism in his religion. As it turned out, it was a challenge too far, as it was shaping up to be even for the Twelve.
NOTES FOR A SERMON
I am not sure that you will follow me in the direction (seems to me) that today’s readings are taking us. I can only hope that you will see through the words to the reality.
Not far from where we now live is a Christadelphian Meeting Place, and the sign outside will often show the subject of next Sunday’s sermon or talk. It is a revealing pattern, often commented upon by my wife and me as we pass by. The latest sign indicated a Bible Study on, inter alia, Law and Order. At this time , that subject is close to the bone for South Australians, and whilst it may provoke quite some interest amongst locals, I am rude enough to wonder if the focus is somewhat outside the Christian range. Law and Grace is a contrast to which we are used; Law and Order seems to me to signify another path altogether.
Judaism at the time of our Lord’s life was very focussed on that sort of direction. The Mosaic Law lay at the very heart of Pharisaism, and keeping of the Law in ‘every jot and tittle’ was primary. With the wisdom of hindsight, it is clear that such a path in religion is both terribly divisive and ultimately is very self-centred. It is one of the great divisions between haves and haves not. As a holy one, I could take great pride in being ‘holy,’ and be despising of those lesser mortals who were unable or unwilling to travel that path. Legalism in any range of human endeavour tends to be most counter-productive, and often leads to the very fundamentalism in religion and politics that does little other than exacerbate whatever issue is being faced.
Our Lord, of course, having been brought up in such an atmosphere, was keenly aware of the issue. In fact, much of His ministry was directed towards pricking the bubble of such practices and attitudes. And that is a difficult direction to head, as that legalistic approach tends to be sanctified by tradition. Old habits are very hard to shift. On the other hand, if they are not shifted or abolished, there can be no progress or development of faith – and that can mean the end of that process.
Spend some time to read Scripture, especially the Old Testament, to see the extent to which this process of growth and development, of leaving behind old patterns and attitudes, is focal and vital. The OT Prophets’ writings are full of such challenges. Even today’s reading from Joel points to the need to leave behind outdated and ineffective approaches, in order to leave the path clear for all sorts of different and unexpected now growth. Having the ‘Spirit poured out on all flesh’ was a radical departure from what had been perceived as the normal way. All flesh! Even slaves, and women! Shock. Horror. But it could not happen unless there was a great mind shift in Israel.
In fact the Gospel for today takes that a step further. Jesus’ pointing to children as exemplars must have shocked those people: kids were important, but were nonage, non people until Bar Mitzvah. But kids have long been illustrative of capacity to sense when truth is being denied and justice hidden. It is from adults that children learn to lie and prevaricate.
So it is for truth in faith, in living, to which Jesus pointed. Being fair dinkum, and open and honest. And let’s be honest: there is not a lot of that around these days now is there?
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