Tag: Church of England Lectionary

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February 2016

February 19th 2016: Galatians 5:16-26

You can follow today’s reading by clicking on this sentence.

‘If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.’

I’ve known for a long time what the fruit (singular) of the Spirit is, as contained in today’s passage. It’s another of those elements of Scripture that gets drummed in to you as you grow up in Church and are encouraged towards maturity in faith. It can be used as a measure of ‘how you’re doing’,or something used to hold you accountable. These can be great, loving, generous, kind and so on, or can be used as instruments of judgement, either by others against us, or for us against ourselves. If we’re not showing enough patience, kindness, gentleness and so on, we can make ourselves think that we don’t have enough of the Spirit, that God is disappointed with us, or even that the Spirit has given up on us and left. We can be convinced that this is entirely justified. It is highly possible to enter in to a cycle of transactional faith and failure where we welocme God in to our lives, then fail and fall, let him down, lose him and then the whole thing starts again. Some of our pastoral care structures can actually exacerbate this. I’m convinced that, actually, some of us prefer this highly emotive way of doing faith. It gives us something to focus on (our failings) and makes it more about us than it is about God.

But, the fruit of the Spirit is the Spirit’s fruit. It is the Spirit’s to give, to nurture and to see to fruition. We live in partnership with God because he invites us in to that place, but the Spirit can give its fruit to whosoever it wishes, at whatever time it wishes. All of us, if we’re honest and self-aware, should have no trouble coming up with reasons why God should not bless us, but that’s the point of the gospel. According to our standards, no-one should be loved by God, but by his, everyone is. So don’t let the disappointments of life distract you. God is continuing to plan seeds in your life that will grow in to full bloom.

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February 2016

February 18th 2016: Galatians 5:2-15

You can follow today’s reading by clicking on this sentence.

‘…but through love become slaves to one another.’

It’s a big challenge this one. I’ve been wondering recently, how much of a sacrifice for the sake of the Church I’m part of leading is enough? Would it be where I live? The hours I put in? The parts of my life which shrink to accommodate it? The songs I lead? The things I teach on and the things I don’t?

And then a sentence like this one pops up.

We’re not called to relationship with God and one another for anything other than to serve one another. I am to serve the people I lead, as I seek to serve God, giving back to him from the abundance that he gives to me. That, as they say, is the whole ball game.

Not to say I don’t have to look after myself. Members of Emmanuel have been telling me for quite some time now that I need to look after myself, take care of myself, but I am also called, by Love, to do the sacrificial things, the difficult things, the frustrating things, as well as the joyful, the life-giving and the exciting things, that best serve my community, as the transforming power of the Spirit works in me, just as it does in others.

 

 

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February 2016

January 17th 2016: Galatians 4:21-5:1

You can follow today’s reading by clicking on this sentence.

I’m not very good at memorizing passages or phrases from Scripture. I don’t know why. It’s just never worked for me. One of the few I have managed to commit to memory though is contained in today’s reading. The trouble is, it’s all very well saying to myself over and over again ‘it’s for freedom that Christ has set us/me free’, but if I’m actually not willing or able to accept that freedom, then I am the one who loses out. So, here it is, I’m not a slave to sin anymore. Jesus took the consequences of sin on himself. They are not mine to carry any longer.

I’m someone who cares a lot about justice, about doing the right thing, about having the right thing done to me. I very often don’t manage to hit the mark. This causes me a lot of problems. I worry endlessly about problems I have caused for others too. Often I worry about permutations of problems that may well not even exist. I don’t think I should be allowed to live in freedom, at the same time as I spend a large amount of life trying to convince myself and others that this is exactly what I have, because of Jesus, not because of me. It is exhausting.

There are a great many days, a very great many, when I feel far from free. I’d almost rather I be enslaved, this seems fair to me (I mean this in a spiritual sense). I know this is wrong and contra to the life and teachings of Jesus, but there we are. The gospel is such foolishness, even to me, someone who is being ‘saved’. It is unfair. It is so much more than any of us deserve, but there’s the ever-present worry of becoming complacent or too comfortable with the whole deal that we don’t acknowledge the sheer wonder, grace and abundant generosity of it all. I am not better. I am not superior. I am freed, by Jesus, to be a voice, and an activisit, in freeing others by pointing them to him and extending his invitation to life and love.

What do you think?

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February 2016

February 16th 2016: Galatians 4:8-20

You can follow today’s reading by clicking on this sentence.

There’s a beauty in today’s reading in the passion Paul expresses. How could people who have come to realise that they are known by God decide to turn back and live another way? He seems to feel the sadness and disappointment of the discovery that this has happened truly deeply. His admonishments could seem strident, even arrogant (a concern I often have with Paul’s letters), but then I realise, yet again, that Paul is a follower of Jesus who is working out what it means to give his life for that cause. Like many of us, he thinks he knows the best way to follow Jesus and his way. Paul has the added sense of authority and responsibility which comes from claiming apostleship (through his conversion). I sometimes wonder if, somewhere buried within all his rhetoric is the worry that he isn’t actually sure how all this will turn out.

And then, just when I’ve reached the height of arrogance, I remember myself. I’m constantly perplexed at myself, at why I say that I love and follow Jesus and then do anything except those things. I very often wish those who I lead in Church would listen to me and my wisdom. If they did that they’d be fine. I know they would. It might turn out that way sometimes, but if it did it would be because God was using me to support, challenge and encourage, not because I was any more or less special than anyone else. Is that how Paul felt as he travelled and ministered? I wonder.

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February 2016

February 15th 2016: Galatians 3:23-4:7

You can follow today’s passage by clicking on this sentence.

As I read this passage today and therefore write these few brief thoughts, I have to confess, the idea of the Spirit crying ‘Abba, Father!’ from my heart to God feels a bit unlikely. But isn’t that the point and one of the most beautiful aspects of what Paul is saying here? If we base the success of our lives of faith (or our lives in general) on how feel, how our thoughts have developed or progressed over a period time, the perspective we now view them from, we run the risk of finding ourselves in a constant state of confusion and flux. I’ll be the first to admit that there’s very little about which I am certain at the present time. However, the concept that the Spirit dwells in the hearts of the baptised and acknowledges God, whatever the weather, whatever my feelings or sense of failings might be, if that were true, it would be revolutionary. At a stroke, faith ceases again to be about effort, success or failure, finding the right, pious or reverent way of doing things and instead becomes a task of acceptance: acceptance of mercy, grace, forgiveness, opportunity, possibility and hope. My sense of who I am may change with how I feel, but the actuality of who I am, in light of what God has done and who Jesus is, that does not change. God has done it. He has placed his self in me. Christ in me the hope of glory. My hope is not me. It is so much more and so much greater than that. What a relief!

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February 2016

February 13th 2016: John 4:43-54

You can follow today’s reading by clicking on this sentence.

I think it’s tough to come up with answers to the questions of why Jesus chooses to heal people in the Gospel stories. With today’s example of his healing the son of a Roman official, some might say it was because the official recognised his authority. Others might say it was he turned to him in his moment of desperation. Others still might say it was because when challenged by Jesus as to his need to see signs and wonders before believing, the official is unequivocal in his expectation that Jesus is able to heal his son, that it will happen. My thought is this: unless we were there, or better still, inside the mind of Jesus, we will never truly know, we can only speculate.

There is an underlying truth here which is crucially important, however. Not only is Jesus willing and able to heal, he is, I think, waiting for the opportunity to be generous. We’re told that God is abounding in steadfast love. To be abundant, to abound implies that there is a lot of steadfast love, compassion, faithfulness to go around. I wonder how often I limit my own sense of what God is willing to do as I bring a person or circumstance to him in prayer. God is bigger and more willing and able than I will ever be, or will be able to ask or imagine him to be. I wonder, where does that fit in to the outworking of my faith? What about yours?

Sometimes, the ‘why’ question can be deeply unhelpful. Sometimes we just have to allow ourselves to believe that God is bigger than us, our minds and our expectations, that his politics don’t line up with ours, he doesn’t read the Telegraph or the Guardian, he’s bigger than all of that. He’s in the business of healing, reconciling, of making things new. Are we?

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February 2016

February 12th 2016: Galatians 3:1-14

You can follow today’s reading by clicking on this sentence.

Did you get it yesterday?

One of Paul’s favourite writing traits is to repeat himself. If a point’s worth making, why not make it over, and over, and over, and over again? As one of the first great evangelistic Christian preachers, Paul wanted to leave his hearers, those who had his letters read to them, in absolutely no doubt whatsoever: the law of the Old Testament does not save anyone. It does not provide a path to salvation. It only brings the possibility of fallure, of death, ultimately. Jesus, the Way, the Truth, the Life is, in his very nature, the answer to this problem. He is where life is. He is its source, it flows from him, into the lives of all who will receive it. I’m challenged again and again in recent times, is my faith in my relationship with God, a relationship which was made possible by Jesus Christ, or is it in an idea, a set of morals, a way of living? There’s nothing wrong with living well, seeking to honour God, love others and love ourselves, but if loving Jesus and making him known is not at the heart of it, we’re the ones who are missing out. Fight against any instinct or temptation to be ensnared in law or legalism. Embrace love, embrace Jesus as he opens his arms of love to you today.

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February 2016

February 11th 2016: Galatians 2:11-21

You can follow today’s reading by clicking on this sentence.

If you’re a Christian, and you have been for any length of time, you’ll probably know this passage. It’s one of Paul’s most famous ‘explanations’ of the insufficiency of the Old Testament Law for salvation. I use inverted commas because his explanation is closely-argued and takes some teasing out. It’s a rich banquet of hope which reveals more and more tender morsels of delight with each fresh reading. This is definitely not a passage to skim read once and move on!

As I reflect on it today, the challenge it presents to me is this: I’ve been freed from the demands of the Old Testament law, because they were fulfilled by Jesus. I’ve been freed, made new, made alive, by the Spirit of God, which dwells within me. All things are possible with God. All things are permissible, even as many things are not helpful for me, for all people.

So, I need to stop living as if there is any other law but love. I do not benefit from exchanging one crippling law code, the one of the Old Testament, for another, the weight of expectation I place on myself and allow others to place on me. In fact I suffer. Grievously. So, more to the point, do those around me. Even more to the point, this was never, as far as I can see, God’s intention. Freedom is freedom. Freedom with caveats or constraints is no kind of freedom at all, it is the exchange of one set of barriers for another. That’s the point of the good news Jesus came to tell and to live out for us. Every barrier between God and man is now broken down. We might try and build them up again to make ourselves more comfortable – after all, most of us like to, actually, give control to others, most of us are used to and prefer to carry an element of caution in the way we live, which quickly morphs into fear and anxiety if given the chance. Freedom is freedom is freedom is freedom, is….freedom. Jesus did not die and rise that we might seek to enslave ourselves again.If our approaches to faith, the way our Churches or faith communities function, force us into a way of being and existing which stipulates the possibility of condemnation, we have missed the point. Where the spirit of the Lord, there is freedom.

Of course, we are to live responsibly in the way we love God, others and ourselves. We’re to make good use of the gifts we are given in seeking to serve others, build others up, building the kingdom of God. By no means do we have carte blanche to live just as we please to the detriment of anyone else. We are freed for lives of joyful obedience. Obedience to the law of love, to live the way of the master, the way of the cross, the way that leads to life, the way that glorifies God.

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February 2016

February 10th 2016: 1 Timothy 6:6-19

You can follow today’s reading by clicking on this sentence.

How vigorously do you pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance or gentleness? Those are the things which Paul says here mark us out as children of God. These are the things that somehow ought to be evident as the motivations of the choices we make, the words we say, of how we live our lives. The concept of pursuing gentleness is an intriguing one. In my faith education, to pursue anything meant to do so with gusto. If I was seeking after God’s will or heart, I was to do so with everything I had. Somehow this would make the eventual discovery or outcome more tangible or satisfying. If I was believing for healing, it was with every single ounce of faith I could muster, or it was worth nothing at all. Almost as if by wanting it with every fibre of my being, I made it more possible. My impression of this kind of faith life was that it was loud and demonstrative. As someone who actually prefers to be neither of those things (contrary to appearances) I increasingly found it difficult to relate to these expressions of faith.

But to pursue gentleness, or endurance, these are things that I’d like to do. It’d be easy to make some pithy point about how our world views gentleness, and claim that it equates it to weakness, but rather than being lazily generalistic, I’ll say it this way instead: in my head, I maintain what I consider to be the sinful instinct that gentle people are somehow softer, or easier get past, to overtake on the way to the top. It is a terrible character flaw on my part. I’m used to needing to be strong, at least outwardly, in order to, to a large extent, survive. I’m often jealous of people who, having lived through the same world and society that I have, manage to be gentle and content to endure rather than seeking always to better themselves. Often, these are people who celebrate the success of others, whereas I, whilst doing so, also have twinges in the back of my mind of ‘why couldn’t it be me?’. Why couldn’t it be me whose song is played in Churches all over the world? My songs are ok. Why does my writing not get as much attention as that blogger over there? I write well. I make good points. Look at me!

And all the while, I’m missing the point entirely.

Do you miss the point in the same way as me?

Commit to contentment. Be thankful. Be generous. Keep going. In all things look to God. And let the rest slide right on by.

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February 2016

February 9th 2016: Galatians 2:1-10

You can follow today’s reading by clicking on this sentence.

As I read this passage first, it seemed complicated and convoluted. Paul, continuing to tell the story of his journey in faith and, as seems common with him, working hard to justify the vaunted position that he claims for himself as an apostle. If we were doing an in-depth, line by line study of this passage, I’m certain that there would be much for us to chew over about the claims Paul makes, what God has done for him, in him and through him, and the fruit that bore for the Church then, and continues to today.

But then I read it again, and my heart soared. I actually found myself rejoicing. Here is Paul, a pillar of the faith, discussing Peter, the rock on whom Jesus said he would build his Church, and other early followers of Jesus, and what are they ultimately doing? They’re trying to work out what it means to follow Jesus, to be the Church, where they find themselves. They were in at the beginning of the Church, before structures and traditions had taken hold, and they didn’t know what to do. However much we look to them as people who set the tone for the life of faith and were examples to follow, and they were, these were not faultless perfect people who never made mistakes, said the wrong thing at the wrong moment, or dishonoured God. These were broken, honest, real people, called by God to follow him, lead his people and give their lives for his good news, just as he asks us today. As we try and work out what it means to follow Jesus, be comforted that none of us has ever done it perfectly before, but we are still beloved, called, equipped and sent, just as Paul was.