Blog Archives

Reflection:
"Take up Your Cross and Follow Me"

Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16

Psalm 22:23-31

Mark 8:31-38

Romans 4:13-2

Reflection: “Lent – Time of Preparation”

Genesis 9:8-17

Psalm 25:1-10

Mark 1:9-15

1 Peter 3:18-22

Our bible reading from Mark reminds us of the Good News - brought to us through the life and baptism of Jesus.

Peter, in his first epistle, brings these thoughts together, reminding us that water has been a common element in many of the covenants with God and that Christ’s baptism was the culmination of these events.

Hopefully, some of you may have had the privilege of attending an observance of the beginning of Lent, called the Ash Wednesday service.

A key theme at these services is that we are called to stop and repent, as a preparation for Easter.
Mark 9:15 says: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent and believe in the good news."

It's a humble journey, the one we begin today, this first week of Lent, and it begins so unremarkably, unlike other journeys in our lives, which probably start off with the excited packing of suitcases full of items that we might need on our holiday.

Do you think that the journey Jesus took was a humble one?
The scripture we read in Mark’s gospel actually sounds pretty sensational.
It starts with a baptism - featuring an outer-worldly voice - that of God.
And then there's a trek through the wilderness, littered by Satan and wild beasts, then "cleaned up" by angels.
And if that's not enough, the passage ends with a powerful message from God booming out and Jesus strides into Galilee to change the world.

Mark's terse account of these awesome events certainly isn't all that spectacular.
In fact, his telling of the beginning of Jesus' ministry is understated, quite unlike the writings of Matthew and Luke. Unlike some of the gorgeous paintings or movies we’ve seen, which are often quite spectacular.

Take, for example, the baptism of Jesus.
He rose, dripping wet from the nondescript River Jordan, saw the heavens torn apart as he rose up from under the water, feeling the Spirit soar into his life.
Then he heard the voice that reverberated in his ears and heart, a voice that boomed out:
"You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased."
Pretty spectacular, I think you’ll have to agree.

Jesus sees and hears his father, but if it had happened in sight of us 20th century people, we’d probably be so absorbed in conversations with our neighbours or intrigued by the text messages we're sending and receiving on our mobile phones, that we wouldn't notice anything unusual going on.

And how about his wilderness wandering over 40 days and nights?
Those events are pretty dramatic, aren't they?
But Mark records none of the arguments with Satan, although Matthew and Luke do so in their gospels.

Mark gives us no details about his hungers for food that would undoubtedly make our stomachs growl.
There is no overblown description of angels standing by their Lord.
He simply writes, "He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan, and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him."

So, it's a humble journey with Jesus that we begin in Mark's Gospel today, this first week in Lent.
At the same time, it's an amazing, remarkable, life-changing journey for us Jesus-people, for us Easter people.
We know that this journey is filled with God's voice ringing in our ears and hearts.
However, Satan's temptations and wild beasts are often lurking in the shadows of our lives.
Fortunately, there are also supporting angels when we’re witnessing to others about our following of Jesus.

Our Lenten journey begins with an undignified smudge of ash on our foreheads at an Ash Wednesday service.
Foreheads that may have been splashed with baptismal waters years earlier and a voice which said: "Child of God, you are sealed by the Holy Spirit, and marked with the cross of Christ forever."

On Ash Wednesday as the ash cross is marked on the forehead, the words:
"Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return" are spoken.
Our travels are marked by a trail of muddy footprints, as we make our way through a wilderness littered by the issues of home, school and work, stress, sickness and sadness, confusion, chaos and violence.

So, what are we going to learn during Lent about the paths of righteousness in our own personal wilderness?
Well, first off, we can expect to learn something about enemies.
Perhaps they’ll be like the beasts of Jesus' experience in the wilderness.

Our temptations can be found all around us, but also there are real dangers lurking within us.
And even when we’re able to identify our enemies, they can still tempt us to forget who we are - covenanted as beloved creatures of God.

I like to think that during Lent, we’re taking on the shadows, sparring with the more shadowy side of our lives, those areas of our individual lives and our common life which are crying out for light.
Where is that truer than when our inner enemies make us feel less than what we were created to be?
Enemies that compromise our freedom, impair or impede our being in right relation with God and our neighbour.

Penitence is the word for what happens when we pay attention to what’s going on in our hearts.
We may not always aim for it, but we can certainly achieve it through prayerful interaction with God.I like to think that it’s in the act of praying that we remember once again that, although we have been made in God’s image, we aren’t actually God.

And then we become aware of the apparent absurdity, that we could even imagine that we could actually demand anything from the Lord of the universe.
And so, we assume an attitude of humility, metaphorically, or in some congregations quite literally, falling to our knees as we confess that to him.

From there, we’re raised to the new life of grace, expressed as forgiveness, perhaps marked by some sign of peace and a foretaste of the heavenly banquet found in the sacrament of holy communion.
There’s a final clue for what we can expect in the weeks to come - and that’s in the reminder that the wilderness is a time of preparation.

We sometimes sing the song that tells us that the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness and it’s those paths that lead us to righteousness, right relationships and to the fulfilling of our covenants with God.
The people of Israel were made ready during their time the wilderness, on their way to the Promised Land, and Jesus was prepared, during his time in the wilderness, for his public ministry of proclamation of the Kingdom of God.

Similarly, we’re being prepared for the renewal of our right relationship and the promise of peace on earth, that will be proclaimed by the risen Christ on Easter Sunday.
His death, burial, resurrection and ascension remind us of our eternal covenant with God.

“I pray that you’ll be granted a blessed and holy time during Lent - a wilderness time long known by the psalmists.
I pray that you may remember who you are, a beloved child of God, and that you find the renewal of righteousness or right relationship in your life. Finally, I pray that this time will be preparation for a truly joyful celebration of God's unspeakable grace and mercy this Easter.” Amen

Pastor Rick

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Sunday 11 February, 2024

10/2/2024

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Reflection: "Seeing the Great Glory of God"

2 Kings 2:1-12

Psalm 50:1-6

Mark 9:2-9

2 Corinthians 4:3-6

Have you ever been to the top of a mountain where it seems like you can see forever?
You stand there, slowly rotating through 360 degrees and all you see is pure beauty.

If you’ve ever watched the Winter Olympics, you’ll know that on top of a snow-capped mountain you will see sweeping, blinding white, panoramic magnificence from the top of the runs.
There are certain places in this world where it seems as if you can see forever, but you’ll probably also know that mist and fog can descend on a mountain, making it impossible to see past the hand in front of you.

There are not only mountaintop experiences that happen on actual mountains; but there are also what are called “mountaintop religious experiences.”
These are those special times when you see with utmost clarity who God is.
When there is no fog, no haze, no trees, no obstructions, and there, for a moment, in that mountaintop religious experience, you see with utter clarity a vision of who God really is.

In the book of Exodus, Moses saw this clear revelation of God, even though there were ominous black clouds swirling, with flashing lightening and the thunder growling.
In the lightning and the thundering, Moses was talking with God.

When Moses came down from the mountain, his face was shining brightly - evidence of a mountaintop experience.
He walked down the mountain with the Ten Commandments, the moral law for the human race.
Moses saw with utter clarity, the moral law for the earth.
So, Moses was on the mountain in the Old Testament, but the New Testament also has a similar story of a mountaintop experience, and it’s called “the Transfiguration”.

In this story we can see with utter clarity the truth about God.

Peter, James and John were on the mountaintop with Jesus and their eyes were dazzled with visionary ecstasy.Jesus was transfigured before them.
He was utterly changed before their eyes.
This was where the human, Jesus of Nazareth, was transfigured into this divine Christ of glory.

At children’s birthday parties, we often light sparklers and let the children wave them around.
The sparkler itself is a bland piece of grey wire with some material coating around it.
The sparkler is dormant, apparently dead, before heat is applied, usually with a match or lighter.And then, suddenly, the sparkler comes alive and sparkles intensely.
The sparkles are so alive and bright, compared to the bland piece of grey wire.

Thus it was with Jesus, on the Mount of Transfiguration.
Jesus came alive, as if he was shining with sparkles.

At least, that’s how it was described in Mark’s recording of the Transfiguration.
We read that Jesus went through an enormous transformation.
And on the mountaintop, the disciples saw a vision.
And in that vision, they could truly see who Jesus really was - the Son of God - the very presence of God in divine form.
Glorious.
Bright.
A dazzling shining light - like an angel.

In this vision, we saw Moses, the lawgiver of the Old Testament, the founder of the Ten Commandments.
Also in this vision was Elijah, and he was the greatest of the Jewish prophets.
The Law and the Prophets, were the two divisions of the Jewish Old Testament.

Peter was there, too, and he saw Jesus sparkling.
Peter was there to see it all, and we are happy that he was, for Peter often said the wrong thing at the wrong time.
Peter had “foot in mouth” disease and we like that, because we often have the same problem.

Peter said, “I have a good idea.
Let’s build three huts.
One for Jesus; one for Moses; and one for Elijah.”
He implied, “Let’s make this experience more memorable and long lasting.”

Suddenly, a voice thundered from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”
This is my Son who is greater than all the laws of the Old Testament.
This is my Son who is greater than all of the prophets of the Old Testament.
This is my Son, Jesus, the Son of God - listen to him.
He is the voice of God for you.
Don’t centre your attention on the laws and prophesies of the Old Testament.
Far more important than these, is the importance of God’s Son, Jesus.
Listen to him.

Suddenly, it was all gone.
The vision was all gone.
All that was left was Jesus and some ratehr stunned disciples.

Visions are those rare moments in life when there is no fog, no haze, no trees, no obstructions, where you clearly see the truth about God and the truth about Jesus Christ.

Visions aren’t hallucinations.
Hallucinations usually happen to unstable people who are going through a period of instability in their lives.
For example, an alcoholic will have the DTs (delirium tremens), after they’ve been drunk for a long time.
Or, if a person is on drugs such as LSD, that person may have hallucinations.

Visions are not hallucinations, nor are they fantasies.
Fantasies occur when you can’t deal with the real world, and so a person creates this imaginary, pretend world, as an escape from the real world.

Visions are those special moments in life when we see something with utter clarity, knowing that it’s true.
We can understand the fact that God has put us on this earth for a reason.
We all have a purpose and perhaps you may have already discovered what yours is.

Visions – the moments of truth when there’s no fog, no haze, no trees in the way and no other obstructions.
A time when you see your God-given destiny.

When we think of today’s Biblical story, with the vision on the mountaintop, we can’t help but think about Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Junior, who, on April3, 1968 said, “I have been to the mountain.
I have seen the Promised Land.”King had this vision of the Promised Land where all people, black and white, would live together in peace, where black and white would live together as family, as brothers and sisters, a vision of God’s creation between the races.”

Dr. King had a vision; he believed the vision; he gave his life for that vision - the very next day. You usually need visions to see the possibilities in life, to see beyond the problems and past the haze and past the fog and past the trees and past the obstructions - past the hindrances and to the possibilities.

Visions are moments of truth, where we know for sure about God and his destiny for our life.
Have you been to the mountain?

Have you had visions…where you know for sure that you’re loved by God?
Visions of what it means to love one another.
Have you caught the vision of God’s kind of love?
Have you been to the mountain and, with Martin Luther King Jr., have you seen the Promised Land?
If you’re fortunate enough to have a mountaintop experience, you just may be able to see forever.

You may even be fortunate enough to see God’s glory and have a vision of his love for you.
I pray that you do and that you can.

Pastor Rick

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Sunday 4th February, 2024

2/2/2024

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Reflection: “Living in the Freedom of God”

Isaiah 40:21-31

Psalm 147:1-11, 20c

Mark 1:29-39

1 Corinthians 9:16-23

What does it feel like to be free?You feel like you can do anything and not have others criticise you for it.The Psalmist obviously felt free enough to cry out his love and praise for his God.

The apostle Paul, writing to the fledgling community at Corinth, felt free to let them into his secret for sharing the gospel with non-believers, when saying that he would adopt the persona of whoever he was appealing to.
In doing so, he could speak freely at their level and not appear as an outsider.
He would put himself into their position and try to understand how it would be for them to best understand the gospel news that he had come to tell them.

Have you ever noticed it’s difficult to get a group conversation started, or bring that discussion to a deeper level.
Luckily for us, there’s a game called TableTopics, that’s designed to get conversation started between two people, or a larger group.
TableTopics consists of a clear cube, filled with cards that have one question on each card.
Each person in the group draws a card and reads their question aloud, with all people taking turns to answer it.The “Holy Spirit” version helps people get into deeper, spiritual, conversations, that help them explore their own personal faith, as well as getting to know their friends better.
It gives them a chance to freely express their faith, hoping that others will be answering the same way, too.
For example, one of the questions leads to a discussion about the difference between being healed and being cured.

Do you think there’s a difference between being cured and being healed?
Can you be cured without being healed, or vice versa?
When we’re physically ill, we want a cure to make us feel better.
But even though we may feel better, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we are healed.
Our understanding of healing, especially in our gospel stories, means something more:It means a restoration of wholeness, particularly when it comes to our spiritual lives.
When we’re healed, even if we’re not cured of a physical ailment, we then have the ability to re-join our community in whatever way we are able and we can be at peace on our journey.

Throughout our lives, we meet people who are burdened with spiritual illnesses.
When we’re ready to be healed, it demands action on our part.It demands that we are ready to invite Jesus into the place that is wounded and help us.

In our reading from Mark today, you may have noticed that Jesus doesn’t just seek out people who are sick.
Often, they come to him, either on their own, or through the disciples.
Simon’s mother-in-law is brought to his attention as soon as they arrive at her house and, as soon as Jesus heals her, she immediately goes about serving him and the others of the house.
She was restored to her community, allowing her to continue serving.

It’s interesting that the Greek word meaning to “serve” is the same one that Jesus uses to describe himself.
He calls himself the “one who comes to serve”.
This example of serving embodies the ideal of discipleship, as service to others, which was what Jesus was trying to get people to understand.
It was because of the woman’s encounter with Jesus, that she responded with immediate discipleship.

Although Jesus continues to cure many who were physically sick and casting out demons, he doesn’t allow the demons to speak, because he didn’t yet want people to know that he was the Messiah.
The fame of Jesus was already spreading from the time when he taught with authority in the synagogue at Capernaum - casting out an unclean spirit there, too.

But Jesus’ call was always first and foremost to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God; everything else, including the miracle healings and exorcisms, was secondary.

As it often happens in human nature, people were getting caught up with the “messenger” and not the “message”.Sometimes we get caught up in the hype of someone who’s charismatic and the next thing we know, we’re buying something, giving away our savings, donating a kidney, or whatever it is that person has seduced us into.
Jesus didn’t want to be seen as just another miracle-worker, because that was not his mission.His mission was to proclaim that the Kingdom of God is here, through God’s authority, not human authority, so he felt free to pursue that course of action.

It’s in the third part of our gospel story today that Jesus teaches us something very important, when he gets up early one morning and goes out to a deserted place to pray.
Observing morning prayers was a regular part of Jewish religious practice, and we know that the desert and the wilderness were places where a person could feel a closer contact with God.
After all that pouring out of himself in the previous days, Jesus needed to feel free and get in touch with God again.

Being battered with the intense and desperate needs of the world can make things a little foggy.
When the needs of your boss, your spouse, your family, your school, your church, your friends, call on your time, it’s easy to forget what it is that GOD needs.The way Jesus dealt with his issues was to go out to pray and be reminded of who he is and what his mission is.
If Jesus had come to solve all the aches and pains of people on earth, then we’d be sitting here with a very different gospel and none of us would ever catch COVID, or the flu, have arthritis, or general aches and pains.

By getting himself free of the world’s woes, Jesus is able to get his priorities straight, talk to God and decide that it’s time to move on and to proclaim the gospel somewhere new.
There will always be more need than one person can deal with, that’s why discipleship is important.
The response to an encounter with Jesus is a converted life – a life in line with manifesting the Kingdom of God in the world, proclaiming the Good News of God in Jesus Christ.

There’s a whole world out there that hasn’t heard the Good News yet.
Isn’t it time that we committed to following the example and way of Jesus and tell them the Gospel story?

If we didn’t feel that we had been saved by our love of God, we’d have great difficulty in enthusing ourselves to follow the example of Jesus, taking the gospel message to new areas, where the people were yet to hear it.

It might not necessarily mean travelling to far away mission fields – because the needs are all around you.
I pray that you will feel God’s freedom in your lives and that you will take up his challenge to proclaim the gospel.

I’ll leave you with this Christian thought, often mistakenly attributed to St Francis of Assisi:

“Preach the gospel constantly, and when necessary, use words.”

“May the love of God shine light in places of darkness.
May the presence of Christ bring hope and healing in places of need.
May the transformation of the Spirit bring change to places of struggle.      Amen”

Pastor Rick

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Minister's Message

Sunday 25 February 2024

Reflection:
"Take up Your Cross and Follow Me"

Sunday 18 February, 2024

Reflection: “Lent – Time of Preparation”

Sunday 11 February, 2024

Reflection: "Seeing the Great Glory of God"

Sunday 4th February, 2024

Reflection: “Living in the Freedom of God”

Pastor
Rick Johnson

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LANE COVE UNITING CHURCH

Worship Service:

Minister's Message

Sunday 25 February 2024

Reflection: ​"Take up Your Cross and Follow Me"

Sunday 18 February, 2024

Reflection: “Lent – Time of Preparation”

Sunday 11 February, 2024

Reflection: "Seeing the Great Glory of God"

Sunday 4th February, 2024

Reflection: “Living in the Freedom of God”

PastorRick Johnson

Archives

Categories

LANE COVE UNITING CHURCH

Worship Service:

Reflection:
"Take up Your Cross and Follow Me"

Pastor
Rick Johnson