Reflection: "Following Jesus"We aren’t given many details about Philip in the Gospels, but John tells us about his calling by Jesus.He tells us that Philip responded in faith and followed Jesus.
And the very first thing Philip did after that was to find his friend Nathaniel to tell him, “We’ve found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote.”This is often the way the gospel spreads – one person recommends it to another, face to face, in the context of a personal relationship. Now Nathaniel was passionate about Israel and their deep longing for meaning and worth, coming from a national identity as the people of God - and like many good Israelites, he longed for God to redeem Israel. He longed for the messiah to come and lead Israel into a new era of international prominence. He bound up his sense of purpose and worth with his people, yet he was disappointed. The Maccabean revolt, a century and a half before, had failed to establish Israel’s prominence. Prophets and preachers wandered throughout Israel proclaiming that the messiah was coming, yet Israel was still in Roman chains. Nathaniel was a cynical and jaded man who thought “I’ve heard all the claims, now let’s see some action.”Philip persevered, inviting Nathaniel to “Come and see. Come and see the Christ and encounter him for yourself, then you’ll get the answers you really want.” Now we shift scenes to the encounter between Christ and Nathaniel, where Jesus said two things. First, he called Nathaniel a true Israelite, in whom there was no guile. Second, he told Nathaniel that he had seen him sitting under the fig tree.The “true Israelite” image could just be Jesus saying simply, “You are faithful.” On another level, this statement was a play on words referring to their patriarch Jacob, a man in whom there was lots of guile, lots of falsehood.Read his story in Genesis (Chs 27-32), and you’ll see that he was a trickster until he wrestled with God. Following this encounter, his perspective changed, he turned his life around - and God named him Israel. So, there was subtleness when Jesus called Nathaniel a true Israelite in whom there was no guile.Also, the fig tree was a place of rest and comfort and the ancient prophets used the image of the fig tree to convey a picture of God’s end-time kingdom. In Zechariah 3:10, after describing how God would remove the sin of the high priest and the land, the prophet wrote, “In that day, each of you will invite his neighbour to sit under his vine and fig tree, declares the Lord Almighty.” Jesus used these literary images to convey his understanding of Nathaniel’s deep identification with Israel and his longing for deliverance. In effect, Jesus was saying to Nathaniel, “I know what’s on your heart. I know you’ve been praying for the messiah. I know you want God’s kingdom to be restored.” We don’t know exactly what Nathaniel expected, but Jesus greeted Nathaniel by speaking directly to what was most on Nathanial’s heart, immediately getting past the cynicism to encounter the core issue. Jesus didn’t play games, instead penetrating the yearning that Nathaniel most felt and Nathaniel responded with simple faith and joy, by saying “You are the Son of God, the King of Israel.” His quick switch from cynicism to earnestness indicates the depth to which Christ had touched him. This is an example of the kind of disarming encounter we can expect from a meeting with Jesus Christ. Jesus gets past our defences to speak to our longings. He reminds us that we were designed and created with dignity. That we’ve been given talents and abilities that can be used for a purpose. That our daily labours have more significance than just the grind of earning a wage. That our physical bodies and relationships mean more than mere gratification. And that as God’s people, we’re cherished, loved, adored and doted on. As smart as we may think we are - we really don’t have all the answers and we can quickly get in over our heads theologically, when trying to explain the love of Jesus to others. All we can then do is point the person we’re conversing with, to the one who has all the answers – Jesus.Isaiah 55:11 says: “So will the words that come out of my mouth not come back empty-handed. They’ll do the work I sent them to do, they’ll complete the assignment I gave them.”Jesus gets past walls and defences to touch people where and when they most need it. Now look what Christ promised in today’s reading from John 1, verses 50 & 51. This statement was guaranteed to blow Nathaniel’s mind because it spoke to his heart yearning, but in a way that far exceeded expectation. Christ didn’t promise to restore Israel – he promised to open up heaven and show the inner workings of creation. He didn’t take for himself the title “King of Israel,” but instead called himself “Son of Man.” Jesus was saying “I’m a bigger king than you ever expected.” Who else could speak to our deepest yearnings but the one who was present at the beginning of creation and who crafted those very yearnings within us? Christ knows those yearnings even better than we do. As we walk with him, and grow deeper and wiser in faith, he’ll teach us, revealing to us understanding about the yearnings he’s placed within us, and about the corruption that sin works on those yearnings. Christ will be a king of a totally different sort.The Gospel (good news) is for cynics – like us. And sometimes it’s hard for us to recognise God’s calling for us. Like Samuel, we might think it’s someone else, like his mentor Eli (read 1 Samuel 3:1-10). But God doesn’t give up on us that easily. He keeps calling, offering his life to us and it’s up to us to receive that gift with gratitude, change our lives and follow him. Are you ready to follow? My prayer is that you’ll search your heart and ask Jesus to come into your life. Pastor Rick
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Reflection: "New Beginnings"Happy New Year.
That’s a nice greeting, don’t you think? It conjures up prospects of things going well for the year that is to come. When we think of things starting, I guess we need to look right back to the start of our biblical narrative, in Genesis Chapter 1, where it starts: “In the beginning…..” So, where did you begin? Where did your story - the story of you - begin? I guess it started with a birth story, at the time when your mother went into labour and presented a great gift to the world – you! But actually, you begin farther back in history. You could even be part of a great and noble race, a shoot from some distinguished family tree. Perhaps the part of you that most defines you, came from an ancestor's participation in one of history's great migrations: the crossing of an ocean, walking over the land bridge that existed between PNG and Australia, taking a ten-pound boat-ride from old blighty, or on a jet plane to Kinsgford Smith airport? Beginnings - whatever they are - are important. They tell us who we are, and they often define where we’re going in this life. The Bible has a story about the beginning and some of us know it by heart. It goes a little like this:In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. What a scene! God sets down in the midst of a formless darkness and from this face-to-face encounter, a sensible world begins. God makes order from chaos. A Divine Creator who stares down at nothing and works on it until there is something beautiful! It's the most important kind of beginning, a story that shows how a caring God can work. Because when the world feels like chaos, when we find ourselves trapped in grief or despair, when God seems to us to be nowhere...in that time when we’re desperate for a new beginning, we have THIS story of a beginning. We have a Creating God who reshapes the chaos into order, even into beauty. Beginnings happen all the time. Let’s look at just one that you might have heard about. At a Christmas Day lunch in Victoria in 1949, the Rev Frank Byatt placed a simple, empty bowl on the table before him, asking those around the table to contribute what they felt the cost of the meal had been. He suggested that they consider their own good fortune in being able to share a Christmas meal together. He also invited them to share God’s blessings of love and friendship in the form of a gift to help people who had fled the horrors of World War Two and were suffering as refugees. The Christmas Bowl Appeal, as we now know it, was then launched in 1950 as the main fund-raiser for Inter-Church Aid and was organized in Australia by the Australian Council for the World Council of Churches. In over 60 years, this event has spread across the world and many thousands of churches have promoted the concept amongst their congregations. I believe that one of the mistakes many Christians make when they read the Bible, is that they think that the Bible only has one beginning. In fact, it's a book that has dozens of beginnings, maybe hundreds - and many of them echo this same theme. God creates order out of chaos. That's not a bad way to think about the significance of John the Baptist, who appeared in the wilderness demanding that people rise up to take responsibility for their lives and for the state of the world. John didn't show up in a world where everything was going fine. It was a world scarred and disfigured by the oppression of the many by the few, by state-sponsored violence, by greed, by the exploitation of the powerless by the powerful. John showed up there, standing in the waters of the River Jordan berating people – asking them to see the problems around them and telling them to make a change. To repent and change their lives to a new way. And then we read that Jesus wades into the river, next to John. It was like creation happening all over again. John baptised Jesus and a heavenly voice broke the silence: "This my son, with whom I am well pleased." And, just as before, there was a light in the darkness. As it was in the beginning, here was God in the world, wresting order from chaos. This time, it was by proclaiming good news to the poor and releasing every captive. God was in the world to speak peace to the world's strongest army, to feed the hungry as others hoarded their excess, to restore dignity to all in a world that afforded dignity to some and stripped it from others, to forgive us our sins and free us for love. So, we see that there's not just one beginning in the Bible; there are actually many of them, but they all contain echoes of the same theme: when the earth was a formless void, God ordered the chaos and made a good creation. When injustice reigned in human life, God sent Jesus to earth, to reorder lives from the inside out. When the earth was dark and its Saviour had been laid in a tomb, he rose again from the dead on the third day to show once and for all time, that there is no disorder that the love of God cannot put right, there is no chaos that God's love cannot turn into something beautiful. Today, at the beginning of this new year, many of us will refresh ourselves with the promises made in our own baptisms. Others might just wish for new beginnings in their lives and make resolutions as to how they propose to go about achieving those changes. We need to remember that every new day is a new beginning and that, whatever has happened in the past, God is willing to forgive us and we can make a fresh start. As we move forward, I want you to consider all of your beginnings. When did the Spirit of God hover over the chaos of your life, calling you by your name, and delivering you into a good and blessed place? I hope I’ve convinced you that beginnings DO matter. They tell us WHO we are - and WHOSE we are. They tell us where we’re going - and even who we’ll meet when we reach the end. “As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.” New Year Blessings……………..Pastor Rick Reflection: "It's Time"The waiting's now over. It's Christmas Day and we're celebrating the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus. All that waiting during Advent has paid off, hasn't it! I wonder how many times you’ve either read, or heard read, the Christmas story from Luke’s Gospel? It’s a story about simple shepherds, in a field, watching over their flocks, when suddenly, in a starlit sky, there comes a bright light – which turns out to be an angel and all the heavenly host – proclaiming good news to all of humanity. A scary thought for a bunch of uneducated farm workers. Amazingly, we read that the shepherds leave their flocks (which is something that they wouldn’t normally do) to follow the directions given to them by the angel and they are led by the star which is hovering over Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus. They find him lying in the straw of a manger, surrounded by the silent, innocent animals in the stable. No kings, nobles, or well-educated folk – just shepherds. Jesus was God’s gift to the common people. Question: Have you ever thought how you’d feel if you gave a beautiful present to somebody, maybe a child, only to find that either: they haven’t opened it, or they’ve opened it and then ignored it, or they’ve played with it for a short time, but then forgot about it, or, worst still, they’ve broken it. If you can identify with this feeling, you might start to understand how our heavenly father, God, feels. He gave the world the best gift, ever, at Christmas about 2,000 years ago - in the shape of his son, Jesus, but the world wasn’t too appreciative. Some people refused to believe that he was God’s son, other people followed him for a while, before going back to their old ways and the religious leaders even plotted to have him killed. Luckily, many people HAVE accepted God’s gift – wholeheartedly - and are still following Jesus today. I pray that we may all find ourselves in that last category and that we remember to thank God, every day, for his fantastic present. Christmas is usually a constant celebration - year after year, we tend to follow tradition. But, in reality, no two years are ever the same and our lives will never be the same. Every year we are, in fact, older and, hopefully, wiser. At this time of the year, most of us are usually busy, running around, seemingly chasing our tails, buying presents for our loved ones and even people that we don’t really see for the rest of the year. We’re stocking up on food for parties and meals with family and friends, or visiting others. But is all this usual “busyness” really helpful?This year we have a bit more time. We’re buying presents online, instead of visiting stores. Our options to travel widely, to be with family and friends are limited. We’re not visiting as many people as we used to, so we need to look in other directions. Maybe we should be giving more thought to how WE can be a “gift” to other people, sharing the news of God’s gift to us. It’s often a challenge in how we interact with those around us, as the world becomes less and less religious. We could ring lonely neighbours more often, or invite someone to join us for Christmas lunch, etc. Whatever the circumstances, we should be comfortably confronting change and actively doing work in the Kingdom of God, even if it is different to the ways we’ve done it in the past. We’re called to partner with God, working for him in the world around us. We pray that 2024 will be a year in which we can be even more effective in passing on God’s love to the people we come in contact with (however that may occur). I encourage you to rejoice this day, for the light (Jesus) has come into the world and I encourage you to take that light out into the darkness and be a beacon for God’s love of humanity. “Christ was born amongst us and bids us to go in his name: to declare the goodness and justice of God, the joy of salvation and the promise of abundant life for all. May the God of new beginnings fill our lives with love. May the call of Christ inspire our service. May the presence, power and joy of the Holy Spirit be in our gatherings today. To the glory of God. Amen.” May the Lord be with you – now and forever. Pastor Rick Reflection: "Waiting, Waiting, Waiting"Does it feel like all we’re doing at the moment is waiting? Waiting for wars to be over. Waiting for famine throughout the world to be more under control. Waiting for things to get back to being more………normal. Waiting for the Christmas celebrations, holidays, possibly even overseas holidays! The modern generation doesn’t seem to be particularly good at waiting. They’re accustomed to instant gratification and are often able to have what they want when they want it, in a society where credit is so easily obtained. Did you know that one of the fastest growing stocks on our share market in the 2020’s is a company called Afterpay Limited. It provides a “buy now, pay later” service, so that we can get the goods we want NOW and worry about how we’re going to pay for them LATER. I see this as both a positive service (if used wisely) and a negative risk (as it allows those who maybe can’t really afford the goods, to overspend). Young children are very impatient when waiting, especially when something good is about to happen. At this time of year, it is interesting to observe them with the presents under the Christmas Tree. That one, wrapped with their name on it, is too much to leave alone – they poke it, prod it and shake it – what can it be? Who remembers the trouble we had as children on Christmas Eve, waiting for the joy of Christmas Day to arrive (and opening our presents). Sleep was usually the last thing on our minds. In this Advent period of the church’s calendar, we actually celebrate the time of waiting. In the time of Jesus, the nation of Israel had been waiting a long time for their Messiah to arrive. They thought that he’d be the one who would free them from captivity and restore them as the powerful nation they’d once been. And the strange thing was, that while they were waiting, most of them missed the moment, because they were looking for a warrior king. They missed the son of God, who came among them as a baby born in a manger, who was to become a king of peace and love. What a pity - all that waiting, and they missed it! But, with hindsight and the stories written in the New Testament section of the Bible, we now know the gospel story and we celebrate and learn about the period of waiting in this season of Advent, the 4 Sundays leading up to Christmas Day. So, I guess waiting can also be rewarding, as we learn when we hear the stories about the birth and life of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus, thousands of years ago. How must young Mary have felt in her time of waiting, knowing that she was about to give birth to the Messiah, the Son of God? It would have been a particularly scary and worrying time for her. First of all, she’s visited by an angel who tells her not to worry. Oh, and by the way, you’ll become pregnant (even though you haven’t been with a man and not even married). Then she’s informed that the baby she’ll be carrying will be called the Son of the Most High (i.e. God) and that she is to name him Jesus. Definitely a lot for a young woman to wonder about during the nine months that she waits for his birth. And what about her husband-to-be, Joseph? He would have been waiting to find out how the news, also brought to him by an angel, would be accepted by his family and friends. He knew that the baby Mary was about to give birth to, wasn’t his, but was a gift from God, however I’m pretty sure that there would have been some nagging doubts in the back of his mind. I mean, this sort of thing hadn’t exactly happened before, so he had no point of reference, or person that he could talk it over with. We read that both Mary and Joseph trusted in the Lord and knew, deep down, that all the waiting would be worthwhile, as their son would be the saviour of the world. They’re certainly good role models for us in these uncertain times. They make our issues seem a bit trivial, compared to what they were about to go through. Can we learn a lesson from their trust in God? Most certainly we can. Even in our times of waiting, I encourage you not to become impatient, and keep alert to what is happening, or you, too, may miss the moment. God needs us to be productive, not dormant. We need to keep our faith that God has everything under control and that he loves his creation – and that includes us. I don’t think I can end this reflection any better than with the words the apostle Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome.
Christmas Blessings to you all …………. Pastor Rick
Reflection: "Nope, it's not me"“No. No. No.”
So begins this phase of the ministry of John the Baptiser. But that's not what we’ve come to expect from him. Because, as we heard last week, John comes across as being a bit loud, disruptive and socially inappropriate. A wild man in the wilderness - in stark contrast to the more serene images we usually associate with Jesus. Yet, in this passage from the Gospel according to John (same name, different person), John the Baptist (for clarity, let’s call him JtB from here on in this passage) sounds like anything BUT the hothead preacher. When asked by the religious leaders to make himself known to them, he starts by telling them who he is NOT. He’s not the Messiah. He’s not Elijah. He’s not the prophet. Was there any doubt? Would those sent to inquire of JtB have wondered if they were heading out to meet Elijah? Or did JtB wonder if his call to proclaim the coming of the Lord was not as a forerunner, but as the main act? Of course not! He’s just the one called by God to go before - and point towards – Jesus, the Messiah. Of course, he’s not a reincarnated Elijah, who, according to scriptures, didn’t actually die. And of course, he’s not a prophet, whether that’s Moses, or any succeeding prophet. He’s simply a man called John - a messenger sent by God to prepare the people for the coming of the Messiah. John, the gospel writer, gives us no indication as to whether, or not, the questioners of JtB are trying to trap him. Rather, like the first people to hear this gospel, they also want to know more about this man. JtB's responses to their questions actually give us an insight into him. It’s an insight that could easily be missed if we only emphasize the fact that he’s a high-volume preacher - a locust and honey-eating street evangelist. In this passage at the beginning of the Gospel according to John, we encounter a thoughtful man, without any over-sized sense of self, or puffed-up ego. Over the millennia, the Church has spent much of its time reflecting on how Jesus was tempted. We read accounts of his temptations in all 3 of the synoptic gospels. However, in John's Gospel, we don’t have a similar story about the tempting of Jesus. What we do have, is the tempting of JtB, a temptation that he resists admirably. So, if you’re called to be the forerunner, the one who comes before, isn't that awfully close to being an understudy, one who could step in - if the moment demands it? JtB could be forgiven for thinking the people have waited and waited for the Messiah and have a hope that God will finally hear them. So why not just speed things up a tad and do your best to embody the long-awaited Messiah-ship? If JtB were to give in to temptation, he might even begin to act out the part, in the hope that he’ll smoke out the real Messiah. Or maybe, just maybe, JtB has misunderstood his role? Is it, maybe, all about him? No, of course he knows that it isn’t. It’s all about Jesus. As long as there have been Christians gathering in community, practicing their faith through worship, study and gestures of reconciliation to each other, there have been leaders who have, sadly, disappointed their followers. I’d like to suggest that we consider the possibility that many of the moral failings of these leaders have some root beginning in their failure to pay attention to the message of JtB. “I am not the Messiah.” If we yield to temptation, it all too easily turns into “Well, I guess I might be the Messiah” and before we know it, we are becoming a Messiah. From there, it’s easy to cross the ethical boundaries - believing that we’re more than we really are. Because JtB begins with a tri-fold renouncing, no to being the Messiah, no to being Elijah and no to being the Prophet, he’s then able to say something just as bold: “I know who I am.” For several years now, churches have rightly encouraged individuals to say “No” to the hyper-materialism that comes with the consumer rush to Christmas. We live in an age which tempts us with marketing pitches, intended to make us believe that EVERYTHING is possible for us, that we can do ANYTHING we set our minds to. With that approach, there’s not enough time in the day for all the things to which we could say “Yes”. But maybe, rather than focussing on ourselves, we should be looking towards what we could be doing for others. What John the gospeller gives us, in this story, is the most remarkable downgrading that any messenger from God has ever received! What he effectively has JtB say is, “For goodness sake! What’s wrong with you people? Stop getting hung up on the warm-up act and get ready for the Real Performance!” JtB renounces the calls that aren’t his, in order then to tell the religious leaders what his call really is. He’s called to be a voice, to baptise with water, to recognise his own unworthiness before the One who is to come. Did the religious leaders expect to hear JtB admit that he was the Messiah? Were they expecting to find a wild man doing his best Elijah impersonation? Were they hoping to see the Prophet? If so, they would have been disappointed. In this exchange, JtB is already stepping back, so that the One to come (Jesus), could step forward. He’s already moving the spotlight from himself to the Word that he proclaimed. Regarding JtB’s baptism by water: Yes, it’s important and yes, it’s of God. But it’s all preparation for the one who will baptise - not with water - but with the Holy Spirit! And that’s how we’ll know him – it will be the one on whom the Spirit descends and remains. That’s how we’ll know he’s more than a mere prophet - the Spirit will remain on him because it is the Spirit of God and he is the Son of God! This story we read today is where the more contemplative side of JtB is helpful to us now. Remember, he wasn’t always out there shouting “PREPARE!” and “REPENT!” He wasn’t always making a scene. In this part of the Advent story, he’s saying “No” to all the calls that aren’t actually his. He’s praying over and over, in order to perform his true work on behalf of Jesus, God's coming new thing. This is something like the opposite of a modern-day altar call that we see at evangelical rallies, or in some churches. We need to listen in prayer to what God’s calling us to be, or do, this year. We need to say “No” to all the worldly calls, in order to find with confidence the true “Yes” that’s been placed in front of us by God. I encourage you, in this time of Advent, to search yourselves and pray to God that you can be worthy of the calling that he’s prepared for you. He’ll equip us for the tasks he calls us to perform, but it’s up to us to be ready to receive these gifts of grace and put them into action. Advent blessings…………..Pastor Rick |
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