Tag: Paul

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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.

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February 2016

February 8th 2016: Galatians 1

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

We live in a world that seems to be, at least to me, starved of good news. It’s as if, somewhere in the ether, an agreement has been reached that good news will only be shared in a time of extreme emergency. If you’re like me, you end up feeling so in need of something positive that you’ll look all over for it. I’d get a lot more done if I didn’t spend so much of my time scrolling through social media feeds looking for something positive to improve my mood or my day.

Have I, then, lost sight of the same thing as the Galatians Paul is writing too here? They have the good news. The good news. The GOOD news, the kind that really is good, does not disappoint or let down and does not fade away after one glorious moment or cycle. Jesus is alive. He did to free us from sin, defeated death by rising again and calls us to spread the news abroad: hope is here, freedom is here, joy is really, really possible. Peace can be yours, mine, everyone’s. All things are possible, through him.

So why do I feel so short of good news? Why did the Galatians, apparently, go looking for a good time elsewhere, very soon after hearing and accepting this gospel of Jesus? It’s a mystery isn’t it. The most exciting news that there could possibly be, and we have a tendency, a desire even, to consume it, like anything else we scroll past online, and then forget about it, almost as soon as we’ve seen it. Or maybe that’s just me.

Don’t get tricked in to thinking that we need more good news than we already have. Life can be hard, impossible even, but we have an unchanging God, whose unchanging love for humanity led him to dwell amongst his people and pursue relationship with them unendingly until he had succeeded. We are not alone. Life is not all bad news. Rejoice today!

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February 2016

February 6th 2016: 1 Corinthians 16:10-24

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

‘Let all you do be done in love’.

I wish my life looked like that. I wish. Sometimes I manage to do things in love. Trouble is, I get so excited at managing to have done the right thing that I’m immediately more interested in how this reflects so well on me, rather than bringing any benefit to others, or pointing people to Jesus. Perhaps you don’t recognise that in yourself as you read this, but I’d hazard a guess that it might resonate with more than a few of us.

Of course, doing things in love doesn’t mean always being nice. Nor does it mean always doing the thing that society expects or demands of us as we follow Jesus. Somehow or other, following Jesus, loving God comes first. It impacts our family lives, our work lives, our Church lives (hopefully God has something to do with our Churches!) how we relate to other people and how we relate to ourselves (often the hardest aspect of life of all). But we are friends and brothers and sisters of Jesus now, first and before all. It is his love that should have an impact on what we do and how we do it. His love that reaches to the furthest corners of the world, into its darkest places, where it seems that hope cannot exist, and explodes the myth of hopelessness by shining the light of love in. We’re called to be people of love. We serve for love, we fight for love, we suffer and rejoice for love. Is what we do, what we say designed to lift up another, or is it designed to make us feel better? Do we like to put others down? Have we decided what potential a person has, however little, and become unwilling to see the possibility of redemption? Are we happily unreconciled?

Let’s think about these things as we go about our days today, and try to make sure that all we do is done in love.

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Faith

Talk Text: Easter Sunday Mark 16:1-8 and 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

I haven’t posted sermon notes here for a while. Not for a particular reason really, apart from not having got round to it. As I had the privilege of speaking to a full and vibrant Church yesterday morning at Emmanuel, I thought I’d put the text of my notes up here for anyone who was there who wanted to check it again, or for anyone who wasn’t who wanted to know what I said. I hope you find it helpful. Happy Easter to all of you who read this site. Thank you for doing so!

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Happy Easter! The message of Easter is this: Jesus is alive, Jesus is risen. Death is conquered. The glory is His. He offers life to us, a hope for today, tomorrow and for eternity. It is finished. Forever. Amen.

 

There, in case you want to switch off, those are the key points for today.

 

I heard someone say recently that one of the strongest reasons why it’s highly likely that Jesus did rise from the dead is that if he hadn’t, it’s pretty unlikely that we’d still be talking about it. Stuff without the ring of truth to it quickly fades away and is forgotten. Stories with truth at their core often endure.

 

I’m not trying to convince you of the truth of the resurrection this morning. Personally I’m not clever enough to do that, and it’s a matter for your own faith to decide whether you believe or not, but as we look at the readings we’ve had this morning, some key questions have come up for me:

 

  1. The importance of hearing the story

Some of us might know the story of that first Easter day well. Some of us might be hearing it for the first time this morning. Some women who had followed Jesus went to his tomb to take care of his body. They’d been worried about how they would roll away the stone that covered the door, but when they arrived they found it had already been moved. They find an angel, who, in effect, says “don’t worry, Jesus isn’t here anymore, he’s been raised”, like it’s the most normal thing in the world. Not surprisingly, terror and amazement overtook them, and they fled to tell the disciples that the Lord was risen. The women are told that they will see Jesus “just as he told you” in Galilee. This was always going to happen, is the suggestion.

 

I can tell you, I would have fled too. Jesus was no longer dead. He was alive. The whole of the world, the whole of history, had changed forever. It’s ok to think this is unusual.

 

It does us good to remember this story. Not just because it’s a cracking good story, but because it shows us that Jesus, who died because he loves us, also rose because he loves us

 

  1. What (and Whose) Story Are We Entering Into?

 

In our other reading this morning, Paul lays out the story. Jesus died for our sins, to follow what had been promised. He rose from the dead to follow what had been promised. Then he appeared to an ever-increasing number of those who followed him, and the Church was born. We celebrate Pentecost later on in the year, when we remember the gift that God gave us of the Holy Spirit to be with us, our friend, advisor and protector, for all of our lives as Christians. God with us, living within us. Christ in us the hope of glory.

 

The story we are entering into is one of the spreading of the good news of Jesus Christ. It’s his story, it has become ours. What did we say that good news was? Jesus is alive? Hope is here. Death is defeated. We are free. Life for all. As we say in communion sometimes, “this is our story, this our song, Hosanna in the highest”. Hosanna celebrates the coming of a King, a liberator. Jesus is our liberator. As we are part of His Church, the story we enter into is the story of His freeing and liberating of those who are in chains, those who are struggling, those who have no hope. The story has its end in the picture of the future that Revelation 21 gives us, of a new heaven and a new earth where there is no more suffering, no more tears, no more pain and no more death. The hope for this new life was made real when Jesus rose from the dead. His Church exists to thank Him and to point the way to Him for others to follow.

 

And so…

 

3. How Can We Live the Story In Our Own Lives?

This, basically, is what does it mean to be a Christian? Jesus is alive. Hope is here. Death is defeated. So what? What difference does it make to our lives, our families, what we spend our time doing, what we spend our money on? Why does it matter at all?

 

God has given us the Holy Spirit. God has given us the Bible which tells his story. The story of a God who chased his people throughout history, longing to give them abundant life. Now God asks us to, as it were, improvise. There isn’t a right way to be a Christian. There isn’t a wrong way to be a Christian. There isn’t a script. There is, instead, something much more exciting. We’re called to a lifelong ministry of improvisation.  God gifts us peace and joy. How do we live peacefully and joyfully? It’s our privilege and our joy to work this out together. Jesus calls us to care for the poor, and to preach the good news to them. How do we do that? It’s our privilege to work that out together too.  It’s not as if any of us really know how to do this thing called “church” well, is it? We are fortunate here to be in a loving community and family, I love it, and I’m so blessed to be part of it with you all. I’ll tell you this for free though, I make mistakes all the time. I doubt myself all the time. Woe betide me if I ever think I know what I’m doing in my own faith or as a leader. But we’re asked to work together with God in holy improvisation to, basically, show in as many ways as we can that Jesus is alive. Doesn’t sound too bad when you put it like that does it?

 

Jesus calls us to go in to all the world with him and encourage people to follow him, by telling them his story, our story, inviting them to make it their story, and their song, that together we can sing now, and one day for eternity, “Hosanna in the highest”. Let’s rejoice together today, and commit together to showing people Jesus in how we live tomorrow.

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2014 Lectionary Ramblings Lectionary Ramblings

September 10th 2014: Acts 9:19b-31

Read Acts 9:19b-31 here

Quite often in my Christian experience, I’ve found that being cautious is the de facto position. We are cautious to believe people in the veracity of their conversion experience stories, particularly if they include things we consider to be miraculous. We are cautious to allow people into positions of leadership, authority or teaching, particularly if we can’t first have sight or give ear to what they’re going to say, to ensure that it fits with our “programme” or our “platform”. Often this is for good reason. Those of us who are called to lead have a responsibility before God to lead and shepherd the flock we have had entrusted to us to the best of the abilities we have, and in the provision of God. Sometimes though, as in the case of Saul/Paul, the bubbling over of the Spirit cannot be quenched. It has to come out. Jesus has to be proclaimed.

How do we harbour this? The balance between the need for discipleship, first and foremost, followed by education and training on the one hand, and the desire to follow the leading of the Spirit in to spontaneous, unmediated opportunities for ministry on the other? I think like most things, it is a “both-and” situation rather than an “either-or”. Even in this story, the disciples are justifiably cautious – they know Saul’s reputation and it could easily have been an elaborate ruse to infiltrate the group and crush them from within. However, with the seal and mark of the Spirit comes the authenticity of faith – the proof of the pudding as it were, is the fruit of the ministry Paul undertakes in the synagogues of Damascus.

If you have a sense of vocation or calling, don’t wait, start to act on it. Be wise in seeking and gaining instruction and wisdom, but let’s be a Church of vitality and risk, rather than a stale Church marked by our caution and conservatism.

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2014 Lectionary Ramblings Lectionary Ramblings

September 9th 2014: Acts 9:1-19a

Read Acts 9:1-19a here

“why do you persecute me?”

Jesus doesn’t ask Saul why he is systematically hunting down and killing his followers. He asks why Saul is persecuting him, personally. When we face trials and troubles for “the sake of the name” it is easy for us to take them personally, to ask God to strengthen us that we may endure/succeed/overcome/be victorious. Ultimately though, Jesus’s question here is instructive and crucial. Just as we have seen earlier in Acts that the disciples were thankful for being counted worthy to suffer (something many of us find it hard to understand from the comfort of our cushy Western lifestyles) so we see here that persecution isn’t just about silencing the followers of a faith, it is about trying to stamp the faith out itself. Saul may well have thought that if enough Christians were dispatched, the fledgling faith would fizzle out. When he is faced with Jesus, however, the fruitlessness of the aim of persecution becomes obvious. This is not a man-made faith dreamed up and lived out in a fantastical fashion. This is the clearest and truest reality there has ever been. Jesus, the very God takes Saul’s persecution personally, and acts to show its futility. The future of the Church would never be the same as a result.

Many people face pressure for their faith. Even as people seek to stamp out Jesus by crushing his followers, history tells us that this will never truly work. If you find yourself facing trouble today for the sake of Jesus, rejoice (if you can, it’s hard!) in knowing that fear leads people to seek to stamp him out, and that he won’t be defeated, whatever any of us think. Know too that he has promised to be with you, right until the end. You can do this, because he has done it all.

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2014 Lectionary Ramblings Lectionary Ramblings

July 24th 2014: 2 Corinthians 3

Read 2 Corinthians 3 here

This is a rich and vibrant passage. I would encourage you to read it more than once today. The joy, almost exuberance, Paul shows in his writings to the Corinthian Church are something to behold and to delve deeply into. For today though, I want to focus on the last three verses. Here they are:

“But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

If we turn to the Lord, the veil (the inability to see/perceive/feel/know the truth) is taken away from us, and as far as we are able to, we can grasp on to the majestic wonder of what God has done for us in Jesus and what is on offer to us. Many of us who have been in church a long time may have grown tired of phrases like “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom”, but how gloriously true it has been since before the foundation of the world and how gloriously true it remains. The freedom of the Lord is exhibited in us as we are made more and more like Him. We are made more and more like Him every single day, whether we feel it or not. The deposit of the Spirit has already been placed in us when God made us in His image, designed to be like Him, know Him as far as we are able, and to be known by Him. God causes us, every day, to be made more and more like Him. He does it because He wants to. He declares worth over us which leads Him to welcome us in to Himself. In this way we can live out having been made one with Christ.

The Spirit of the Lord is with you, in you, beside you, before you, behind you drawing you on. So, when we say that there is freedom where the Spirit of the Lord is, what we are really saying is that there is freedom for all, should they choose to receive it. What a gift to be given. What a gift to share with the world. Because of Jesus, we have freedom today.

Do you feel free? What’s helping or hindering you in living out your freedom this morning?