Faithful in a little

Luke 16: 1-13

10 ‘Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. 

Today’s story is a bit of a brain teaser. Jesus is challenging us to think things through regarding wealth, its production and distribution. He is urging us to act as members of His inaugurated Kingdom. How should we treat wealth? There is a danger in all this talk of standing in solidarity with the poor and sharing in their struggle for justice and freedom as claimed by Jesus in His Nazareth sermon (Luke 4) that we fall into the trap of glamorising poverty and using it for making ourselves look religious. Poverty is the result of collectively meeting our needs our own way; it’s an assault on God’s good creation.  The fulfilled prophecy that Jesus represents is the abolition of poverty not wealth.  The teachings of Jesus when put into practice transforms those who know they are poor into those who are rich. There must therefore be a ‘righteous wealth’ that represents the fulfilment of the prophecy of the creating, redeeming and sustaining God.  Wealth that is created and used to promote the interdependent interests of people is righteous wealth. Simply loving money and the individual privilege that avarice brings results in suffering of all kinds.  Health, education, work that pays a life promoting wage, housing and social care represent the use of wealth that offers people the hope that another way of life is possible; disciples of Jesus of the Nazareth sermon surely must advocate and practice such principles. Meeting our needs our own way for individual gain creates victims of us all; we all in the end lose. Wealth that is used to end the evils of: ignorance, disease, destitution, squalor and social alienation promote the Kingdom that Jesus inaugurated and promotes the personal and social identity that is God given in His creative and re-creative acts. Disciples need to be shrewd in how they use the wealth that God has entrusted them with as stewards; we can so easily be duped into thinking that wealth is the blessing rather than the test for how we will use that wealth. We are participant builders of a new way of life; surely our wealth producing and distribution acts must be easily seen as acts that promote the Kingdom we claim to be part of. 

Welcome the rejected and lost?

Luke 15: 1-10

Now all the tax-collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. ²And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’3 So he told them this parable…..

Have you ever felt so unimportant and alienated that it’s as if you exist all alone in an infinite universe called solitude? It’s as if we have lost all connection with those around us even those closest to us seem remote and isolated from how we really are physically, socially and psychologically. In the story we are reading today Jesus emphasises the importance of the individual. We can have great churches, missions and ministries where all seems to be well but lose sight of the importance of the one person in their need that is frustrated to the point of alienation from all that surrounds them. The audience in this set of parables is of interest. There are those on the margins and those in power within the dominant regime of power. Jesus is noted to eat and associate with the marginal, those on the edge of society and those outside of it. This causes great offence because as we all know change comes from the powerful when they deem the time is right; when it’s in their interest. ‘We don’t have to live among the poor we just have to dole out our charity (Alms) to them; in fact they become the vehicle of our good works and thus we end up with the best here in this time and the time to come; sorted!’  Jesus rejects this view; Jesus identifies with the lost to: society, family, work, housing, intimate relationships and health and seeks them out to form a new inclusive community where everyone matters where ‘all of us come first’ through ensuring the needs of each other are met. The ‘common good’ can only be achieved by ensuring individual wellbeing of the most vulnerable; alienation to some extent affects us all and becoming aware of it gives us the opportunity to reassure each other of our worth and the need to participate in the community that reaches out to the individual: the community of followers of Jesus. In our story today Jesus is telling a parable; He is engaged in a form of care for others called ‘advocacy’. Jesus is advocating not for ‘food banks’ but for social inclusion and a new society where family in its diverse forms, work that pays, housing that’s safe, intimate relationships that are respected, old age that is secure, childhood that is played in in love and security, adolescence that can be lived out in exploration and discovery; this is ‘health’ that can be experienced by all and should be available to all according to Jesus. Nobody need be lost and left behind and if they are we need to reach out and find them. I sometimes wonder if we get the ‘repentance’ part of this story right. Who needs to repent?  Is it those of us excluded by prejudice and economic exploitation or those of us who exclude and economically exploit? We need to recognise our tendency to ‘victim blame’ and to see how ‘they need’ to change their lives; change is be required of all of us if we are to live inclusive non exploitative lives; we will all need to experience a little more precariousness if any of us are to experience security. This is the ‘interdependence’ of the Luke 15 parables.  

Follow Jesus....

Luke 14: 25-35

²⁷Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 

The cost of discipleship of Jesus of the Nazareth sermon appears to be very high indeed! Jesus being a Jewish teacher uses lots of narrative devices that are ways of storytelling that are drawn from His own time and culture. These can sound bit strange to us and even off-putting at times but this is because we have been socialised and taught storytelling in different ways. We use different narrative devices but they remain narrative devices to help us make a point that is important. If a politician said ‘the evidence speaks for itself….’ We would not expect anything but counter evidence from the next politician from the opposing party; we would not actually expect research based facts; we would recognise that they were using a rhetorical device in order to make a point. If truth was so easily identified by people we would spot lies, untruths and inaccurate accounts and easily be able to identify the best course of action. As humans we seem to have built in blind spots, we can be duped; it’s simply part of the dilemma of life we find ourselves in. We need a process that can help us identify the truth and act on it. In our passage today Jesus uses story telling devices to make a point about genuine, truthful discipleship. Jesus uses a device in writing and storytelling called ‘hyperbole’ to make his point. Jesus is teaching us that we can check out our commitment to Him by comparing it to the commitment we have to the most valued aspects of our lives. To claim to be a disciple of Jesus of the Nazareth sermon we have to be so committed that an onlooker will consider our discipleship of Jesus to be the most valued part of our lives. It would appear that not even the most precious of relationships could be used against us in order to make us turn back to meeting our needs our own way. To be the very best parent, child and life partner that I can be is to live out the life of following the teachings and practices of Jesus. If you want to do the best for your family then follow Jesus.  Also, even the threat of taking our very lives will not make us turn back to meeting our needs our own way; it’s as if we were carrying a cross (a tool of state execution) every moment of the day not knowing if it will ever be used against us. To be the very best citizen in the society that I live and work within is based on my following the teachings and practices of Jesus of the Nazareth sermon. Disciples bring good to the cultures in which they live; we are not to be a threat but a blessing to those we live amongst and to those in authority over us. This level of denial of meeting needs our own way is not an optional extra it is the very basis of discipleship and recovery from our life
controlling issues. Note the words of Jesus:

 ‘²⁷Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple’.  

We simply ‘cannot’ be disciples of Jesus and continue to meet our needs our own way; it’s impossible… Let us be a blessing to our families and neighbours today; follow Jesus.     

I'll meet you there....

Luke 13: 1-9

⁵ No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”  

There is a popular and commonly accepted erroneous belief that people bring catastrophe, addictions, poor health, premature death and economic deprivation on themselves and there is no shared interdependent responsibility or culpability within wider society. This is the individualist view of culture and socio political life. The smoker brings lung cancer on himself; the drug addict inflicts economic deprivation on themselves and so on. Those of us who have made the ‘wise choices’ are spared these catastrophes. Or are we? Life controlling issues and that includes the catastrophes that come our way do have an individual component but our lives are made up of more stuff than just ourselves and our own decisions. Where and when we are born the circumstances into which we are born, brought up, the streets and schools, the hopes and hates that surround us also have a profound impact on our life experience. The bible teaches that we are: physical, social, psychological and environmental, meaning making beings. We are more than the sum of our parts; we are human beings made in the image of God and that means we are interdependent individuals in one community. All of us experience life controlling issues. Poverty and riches, homes and homelessness each present in different ways the challenge of life controlling issues. The haves and the have-nots are not separate but intimately related through the invisible ties that bind us together. The ties are often oppressive; the part of town saved from the banking crises through having wealth spread over many different assets, physical and social but the less powerful, the vulnerable the young family that lose their only decent income now lose their home and hope through the same crises. We are doing ok, we are managing so we must therefore be different from the rest of the ‘less fortunate’ but Jesus says NO!  The system that that the bible describes as the ‘powers and principalities’ or ‘the world’ holds us all in its destructive grip. Some of us might appear to be doing ok but we will all lose in the end if we do not turn around and change the way we relate to each other and live together. We are all addicts to meeting our needs our own way. We all need to turn and hear the words of Jesus and put them into practice before it too late for all of us. We need the new community that Jesus inaugurated with all its new ways of relating together.  A bit dramatic you might say? Where is the Roman Empire? It’s history; where is the temple worship and the religious rulers of Jesus time? History!  They all perished because they all put their trust in the wrong thing; themselves. It’s time to make life’s healing choices and learn to be the people God has created us to be; time is short but we can still turn and join the community that lives to serve and nurture each other; this is the life and community transforming Kingdom of God that Jesus inaugurated. I’ll meet you there!  

Hillsong United - "Oceans" (Live at RELEVANT)

The division that 'good news' brings...

Luke 12: 49-59

⁵¹Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!     

If you have been following this series you will be aware that the purpose we set ourselves is to match up our lives with the life taught and practiced by Jesus of the Nazareth sermon. There are many different portraits of Jesus; physical, social, psychological and so the list goes on. We have been interested in letting the bible as forms of literature speak to us. This has meant having a look behind the text to the culture of the authors, we have looked into the text and its language and we have stood in front of the text to hear what the text may be saying in our day and time. We have recognised that the bible tells a story of the revelation of the creating, redeeming and sustaining God and that He is revealed in His Son Jesus the Messiah. We have tried to take the words and practices of Jesus seriously. When He spoke in Nazareth regarding why He had come we decided to seek the fulfilment of that claim in the rest of the story of the gospel narratives. In other words we have tried to understand the life of Jesus through His claim to the fulfilment of the promise of God to set all humanity free from meeting its needs its own self destructive and imprisoning way.  We have seen Jesus as the source of liberation from the powers that oppress us and that use us in the oppression of others. This has meant we have had to break away from our old socialisation, challenge ourselves to think in new and inclusive ways through finding ourselves within the narratives of Jesus life and His story of restorative Justice. If we have done this we will have found it a source of challenge and change. Our story today is about the results of that change. The cheap sale of the story of Jesus in recent times has resulted in Jesus being portrayed as a ‘sweet and gentle everything works out in the end’ stereotype with little to offer in terms of the actual problems we face in the 21^st century. However, there is another ‘costly’ approach to the teachings and practices of Jesus; one which we have attempted to adopt namely, the teachings and practices of Jesus if adopted are transformative. That is, if the practices of Jesus are implemented they change me and those I come in contact with. The teachings of Jesus make a difference; there is ‘right and wrong’ and it’s important to find out what’s right and put it into practice. This is the division that Jesus brings; He divides His followers and separates them to stand by the side of the oppressed, the poor and the exploited. To be transformed is to give up the life of privileged, self-seeking independence and participate in the transforming power of putting Jesus words into practice in interdependent communities. This is how we and the world will be changed. If we are finding the path of discipleship costly and divisive, we may just be being challenged to recognise that our lives are in the process of being changed and transformed though putting the practices and teachings of Jesus to the task for which they were designed.    

Care changes everything and transforms everyone....

Luke 10: 25-37

29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbour?’ 

The question of who is my neighbour is one that has been asked from the very beginning of human culture. Am I my brother’s keeper? This is the ancient variation on the same theme. The story today does not only tell us who our neighbours are but teaches us how we are to treat them. In the end when all the arguing and fighting has worked its course we will be faced with this singular truth; all of humanity have a common creator, are made in His image and have the mark of the divine namely life itself. This life is precious; it’s to be treasured and respected through the care and valuing of other precious lives. As disciples of Jesus we are instructed to look beyond the social labelling of our present culture and look into the core of common humanity and there find life, like our own precious and God given life. Each person we meet is an invitation by God our creator to show who we consider to be our neighbour and we are invited to do this through the transforming power of care. If we do not care for each other we cannot be Jesus disciples; care changes everything and transforms everyone.    

If you continue in my word...

John 8: 31-59

31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, ‘If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; ³²and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.’

Freedom is high on most people’s agenda. Jesus said in His sermon in Nazareth at the beginning of His public life that the priority of His life was to bring freedom to those deprived of it. So far so good, our agenda and that of Jesus appear to be the same. So what’s the difficulty?  We appear to have an aversion to the means of our freedom namely hearing the words of Jesus and putting them into practice. We have a tendency to find all sorts of reasons for why it’s impractical to take the words of Jesus seriously. That’s why we need so many theologies and doctrines; they are invented to get us round the demands of obedience to the word of God, Jesus. Denominations and cults of all sorts emphasise what they consider the truth to be and entrap us all in roles and positions based in an addictive way of thinking that justifies ourselves and condemns others who disagree with us.  In our story today some people claimed that they followed a historical figure Abraham and to them that meant they were right to reject Jesus and His teachings. We do the same today, we often hear people claim: ‘I’m a Baptist, a Presbyterian, Brethren, an Evangelical, a Catholic or an Anglican’ and we retreat behind these labels as a security against our perceived threat of each other and the world around us. The Truth about Jesus is much older than any of our conceptions of His Truth. Jesus Truth existed before Abraham. Jesus teaching and practices are eternal and therefore inclusive and liberating. Freedom; physical, social, psychological and environmental freedom is a process of participation in the transforming power of hearing, accepting, applying and continuing in the eternal words and practices of Jesus. This is the Truth that sets us free.               

Let the celebration and dancing begin!

John 8: 12 – 30

12 Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.’                                                                 

Jesus is still at the Feast of Tabernacles and uses a metaphor regarding Himself that everybody would understand. There was a ‘water pouring’ ceremony (John7: 37-39) and a ‘lighting of the lamps’ ceremony conducted at this feast. You can imagine that when the lamps are being prepared or even lit to allow the dancing and celebration of the reign of God among His people for anyone to claim to be the light of the world could only mean one thing; the coming of the reign of God among His people has been inaugurated by that person. This is exactly the personal claim of Jesus. It is another ‘I AM’ claim of Jesus. Jesus is the One who is the light that allows the celebration of the reign of God, the liberation of God’s people from all that enslaves them, the coming together of the community to walk together towards the promised home and to experience the ongoing forgiveness, reconciliation and care of an ever creating, redeeming and sustaining God. Here Jesus, in the midst of the ritual symbolism of the ancient people of God identifies Himself as the source of liberation and renewal for the whole world. In recent times we have experienced the extreme darkness of this world, globally, nationally and personally. The world is in a crises of fundamentalism, nationally we have competing identities and the striving to meet our own needs our own way and personally the securities that we once placed our trust in appear under attack through austerity measures and leaders that seem out of touch with ordinary people. But in this darkness a light shines; we could allow ourselves to be drawn towards this light of hope, reconciliation, interdependence, inclusion and the serving of others before ourselves. This light is powerful enough to light the whole world. This light is the teachings and practices of Jesus of the Nazareth sermon. If we would follow, the celebration of the recovery of our true identity could begin. We are made in the image of God and can meet our needs individually and collectively in the way we were created to do so; simply hear the words of Jesus and put them into practice. Let the celebration and dancing begin!   

Neither do I condemn you....

John 7: 53 – 8: 11

John 8: 11

And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.’

This passage and the story it contains may not have been in the original manuscripts of John’s Gospel, but it is still worth considering; why? Because if a community of disciples thought it was necessary to include it perhaps there was slippage away from what Jesus of the Nazareth sermon actually taught regarding the social actors and issues contained in this story. In this story there are questions being asked and answered through a story that is mobilising certain key personal and social identities within a wider community that is debating essential characteristics of social cohesion and justice. The teacher is Jesus and He is portrayed as a threat to the ruling religious elite who are attempting to entrap Him. It is interesting that they choose two very significant social identities namely gender and sexuality and the social constructs of law, authority and justice. What should happen to a woman (where is the man caught in the alleged adultery? The woman is sexualised as a deceptive Eve) law breaker? Jesus will have none of this stereotyping of women or indeed stereo typing of sexuality. Jesus knows these people are intent on killing the woman and they are intent on dragging Jesus into their misogynistic, murderous schemes. Ah ‘guilt and innocence?’ It is suggested by the writer that the teachings and practices of Jesus of the Nazareth sermon are clear.  If anybody has only met their needs God’s way and never their own way they can land the first blow, otherwise, what right have you to condemn to death?  It is clearly being taught that we have all met our needs our own way; on this basis we are all condemned.  The writer is appealing through Jesus to the readers of John’s gospel to reject the old misogynistic sexualised view of women and embrace a new inclusive, mutually empowering and life giving approach of inclusion and equality. The accusers walk away one by one not wanting to be claiming to be sinless; that would be blasphemy and yes you’ve guessed it; this would result in their own death penalty. Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you….’ Jesus offers a new way of life, a life which rejects meeting our needs our own self-centred way. Jesus offers us all the opportunity to hear His words and put them into practice; He offers us a new view of each other free from the old stereotypes and misogynistic views. These are very contemporary concerns for our time and place in history. They were obviously concerns of those early disciples who felt they had to include this story in the story of Jesus as it revealed his teaching and practice; the practice of inclusion, equality and restorative justice.               

Justice for all...

John 7 : 37-52

37 On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, ³⁸and let the one who believes in me drink. ………

We often think that how someone lives and speaks tells a lot about that person. But does it? When people live under oppressive regimes or in oppressive relationships they may have to hide their true identity and values to remain personally safe.  In Jesus time people were thirsty for justice. They lived under a range of oppressive social and religious forces that meant they had to be very careful what they said and how they acted. On the one hand the empire of Rome guaranteed a peace for taxes and submission to Roman authority; on the other hand the religious fanatics insisted that their ritual laws and practices of homage be observed or the full weight of their religious intolerance would fall upon any dissenter. The craving for justice was a raging fire in the throat of ordinary people. Jesus came to satisfy that thirst. We often think that it is only the oppressed that thirst for justice but this is not so. In our story today, undercover cops and some of the religious leaders who are clearly identified with the oppression of the people find ways of preventing Jesus being arrested. They appeal for the teachings of Jesus to be heard as a form of justice because He promises liberation for them also. Jesus offers peace and reconciliation between the oppressed and the oppressor. Jesus is seen as identifying with and standing by the oppressed but at the same time He is offering reconciliation and Justice as inclusion and change for all.  In our day and time the forces of oppression and abuse, segregate and kill: physically, socially, psychologically and environmentally. As Christian disciples we must stand on the side of the oppressed and at the same time appeal to the oppressor to be reconciled and participate in mutually changing and empowering processes of justice for all.          

The transforming power of peace-making

John 7: 11-36

19 ‘Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why are you looking for an opportunity to kill me?’

If there is one revelation that we need more than any other, especially those of us who live by the words of Jesus as revealed in scripture it’s this:  Jesus came and pointed out that the law of Moses, the law of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob fulfilled by Jesus and the law by which disciples of Jesus frame their entire life, this law of life, has been hijacked by the forces that rage against God and us and turned into a law to justify murder. ‘Why are you looking for an opportunity to kill me?’ asked Jesus. This destiny of death has been the destiny of many prophets of peace. Jesus, proclaimed in the prophets as the ‘Prince of Peace’ was the target for the killers. Peace is always the target that has to be destroyed by those who may be experts in the law but are ignorant of the One who gave us the law. Jesus claimed that His words were life and His followers experienced them as such. The giving of life meant the laying down of arms and the taking up of a cross this is participating in the transforming power of peace-making.  Peace-makers are transformed into such through participation in the Kingdom of peace-making. Granting the gift of life to another rejuvenates, renews and reasserts life in the giver. This is the revelation; this is the recognition of the power of the cross of the gospel and the power of the resurrection.  The revelation of the God of Peace is in Jesus, in and through His life and voluntary death of Jesus. Jesus refuses to call to arms the tens of thousands of ‘messengers of war’ at His command and reveals Himself as an offering of peace. The end result was the renewing of life, resurrection life and life which has no end. The resurrection teaches us that the power of love and life cannot be destroyed by the powers of hate, murder and violence. The cross may be our lived experience but in the end life wins life for all. Here we must be radical, as radical as the self-offering of Jesus; the gospel of peace is offered to those so dedicated to the crucifixion of their enemies that they have become blind even to their own reasoning.  Jesus is reported to have said at His cross: ‘Father forgive them, they do not know what they are doing.’  They don’t know they are killing their only hope for peace. A centurion soldier in charge of the crucifixion recognises for the first time how peace is made.  It is the same today. Men of violence do not know that in all their striving to save their own lives they are in fact killing their only hope of life by their violence. The men of violence may be convinced that they have a divine right and are invincible but they are simply delusional; mad on the narcotics of self-destructive murder. Some say Armageddon will be the final battle of conflicting armies whose destiny is self-destructive violence; but Jesus of the Nazareth sermon; the One who offered His life for the lives of the many at the cross will be there, and He will turn that battlefield into a peace rally. The battle will not be won through yet more righteous violence but through Jesus irresistible call to eternal peace already won at the cross. The call to peace will finally be heard and all the blood shed down through the millennia will not drown any of us in a flood of hate but will be restored and renewed for its life giving purpose. We can participate in this renewal process today; simply hear the words of Jesus and put them into practice. The eternal peace-maker is with us and will never leave us; this is the law of Christ the fulfilment of the law of Moses; what will we do with it?        

No excuses!

Matthew 8: 19-22; Luke 9: 51-62

Luke 9: 51-53

51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. ⁵²And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; ⁵³but they did not receive him, because his face was set towards Jerusalem.

Not everyone accepts the teachings and practices of the Kingdom of God inaugurated by Jesus. For those of us who have thrown our lot in with Jesus this can be a hard fact to accept; we struggle to understand why.  Jesus is quite clear on what our attitude should be in such circumstances; live in peace and respect.  The gospel is a peace-making approach to understanding life not a war making approach. Without dissent or the possibility of dissent there can be no genuine discipleship; let’s face it discipleship and especially Anabaptist discipleship is form of dissent. We have decided not to live by the ethics of contemporary culture but instead we have adopted the radical alternative way of life taught by Jesus. We have decided to take the words of Jesus seriously and put them into practice. Others and indeed the majority of our culture have decided not to do this. As a minority, this will mean that we will benefit from our culture extending to us understanding and acceptance and we are taught by Jesus to have the grace to extend the same respect and kindness to our neighbours who do not accept Jesus as Lord. This is of great importance to any hope of peace-making being successful; pluralism may not be perfect but it’s the best option in a diverse culture where interdependence can be cultivated based on mutual respect and positive regard. There is a cost to being a disciple of Jesus; the cost is taking the words of Jesus seriously and applying them to our lives. Loving our neighbours as much as we love ourselves seems to be a great place to start. No excuses!  

Scotland's Climate Action Story

Social Justice and Social Inclusion....

Matthew 18: 15-35

21 Then Peter came and said to him, ‘Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?’ ²²Jesus said to him, ‘Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.

Have you ever wondered what would make a new community and society work?  I’m sure if we asked for suggestions we would get a plethora of responses: economic prosperity, jobs, military security, a welfare state, human rights, a written constitution, a sound currency and so on and on we would go…. Jesus of the Nazareth sermon inaugurated a new community, a Kingdom and for three years He taught through His words and practices what that new community is like. It is a diverse community made up of people from all walks of life. It has a law that is shared by all (Matthew 5-7) and it is a society that meets the holistic needs of its people in an ethical way where peacemaking, care and compassion promote social cohesion and wellbeing. There is one other characteristic and practice that all of this depends on; forgiveness. Without forgiveness, there can be no reconciliation, no new start, no new community and no life transforming Kingdom. Forgiveness is not just an individual act it’s a mechanism for social cohesion and building of a joint future based on peace and mutual respect. Forgiveness is a social construct as well as an individual one. Lack of individual forgiveness undermines social wellbeing. There are people who put themselves outside the mainstream of society; their situation requires the most serious of consideration, monitoring and where possible reconciliation and restoration must come quickly. But perhaps it is worth considering that we all exclude too readily?  An inclusive society has to explore ways to live alongside those it finds difficult and challenging or it will descend into a culture where incarceration and exclusion replaces inclusion. Incarceration and exclusion is more complex and diverse than a physical prison for law breakers; incarceration includes the incarceration and exclusion of: poverty, homelessness, joblessness, fuel poverty, addiction, misogyny, homophobia and so the list goes on and on. Here the victims are the ones incarcerated and justice is denied to those the law claims to protect.   Forgiveness and reconciliation is a process of inclusion, of hearing competing voices and seeking out restorative socially just processes; it is not a one off act. It is so powerful because it acknowledges the offence and exploitation but sets the victim free to get on with their life while the perpetrator is given the opportunity and invitation to participate in making amends through promoting the wellbeing of the victim and the wider community. The justice system of any new community will have to radically rethink how it dispenses justice if any transformation is to be realised. As for disciples of Jesus of the Nazareth sermon the approach and practice is clear; forgiveness and restorative reconciliation is the bases of the new community of social inclusion. Our community participates in the Celebrate Recovery Programme as a vehicle for exploring and implementing these challenging changes to how we can live together. You will be made welcome should you choose to explore forgiveness as the road to reconciliation and justice further. Tuesday 7pm The Fountain Lesmahagow and  The Coffee Cup, Stonehouse, 7pm Thursdays.   

Be at peace with one another

Mark 9:40

⁴⁰Whoever is not against us is for us. 

The primary identity of the disciple is that of a person who changes themselves and the world that they come into contact with through the life transforming power of caring. We tell others what we value, our attitudes and beliefs through what we directly care for. Jesus teaches His disciples that they are to be characterised by promoting the health and wellbeing of others not as a profession but as a way of life. When we come across others who also practice this way of life, but we do not know them personally, we are not to discourage them and treat them as outsiders; if they act in the interest of the poor, the marginalised and disenfranchised then they should be encouraged. There is a saying: ‘If you can’t help? Don’t get in the way!’ Sometimes we let things like denominational differences and differences over religion get in the way of helping people; we can become a hindrance not a help and people can lose out and their situation be made worse than it need be. I have seen this in the locality where I live. The fracturing of efforts to provide care and help for the vulnerable through safeguarding differences and distinctiveness in preference to united action results in the marginalised being deprived again of yet another opportunity to change their lives. We seem to forget so easily that Jesus came to set the captives free and once free to serve in helping other experience freedom from life controlling issues also. Do we remember being captives to our life controlling issues? To forget what has been done for us, to fail in sharing the promise and possibility of freedom with others, to undermine the efforts of others and to prevent others from caring is to become the source of the problem. We become the life controlling issue! Jesus gives stern advice that we should cut ourselves off from sectarianism and divisiveness and encourage interdependence and mutual respect.  Encouraging caring relationships is not an optional extra, it is fundamental to promoting peace and reconciliation in a world torn apart by divisiveness. Mark 9: 49-50 reminds us of the transformative teaching of Jesus of the Nazareth sermon in the Sermon on the Mount: ‘⁴⁹ ‘For everyone will be salted with fire. ⁵⁰Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.’’ 

Do we really care?

Matthew 18: 1-5; Mark 9: 33-37; Luke 9: 46-48

Matthew 18: 3

…  ‘Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

We have been reflecting on how Jesus invites His disciples to participate in the Kingdom He has inaugurated and in the participating they are transformed through meeting their holistic needs the way the creating, sustaining and redeeming God always planned. There is one sure way to measure if the transformation is taking place in our lives and if we are living as Kingdom people. Have we become as vulnerable and dependent on each other (interdependent) as children are on their carers? Do we serve each other with the care and diligence we would use to care for a vulnerable child?  Care is primary; it comes first because people matter, places matter and nurturing human institutions matter. Jesus calls us as disciples not just to care in the form of an emotional attachment but to actively care for and serve each other. This is not a fashionable way of being in the world. We live in a very self-centred culture where individualism and pulling yourself up by the closest set of boot straps is applauded.  It’s as if we are trying to live out the fantasy ‘X Factor’ question from Mr C: ‘How badly do you want X Factor success?’ The depressing reply comes quickly:  ‘I’ll do anything it takes for success!’   But it’s the wrong objective and a therefore the wrong answer. Success is not defined by power, popularity and living out a celebrity lifestyle. The disciples of Jesus thought that’s what the inaugurated Kingdom of God was going to give them. They thought they were taking over from the religious leaders, the Romans and the puppet kings. Wrong objective!  The people who lead are no worse than the people who are led. They are both people with the wrong objective of meeting their needs their own way and they won’t let anybody get in the way. Jesus sets a new objective: Care. Care must come first and being carers must be the transformed identity of the member of Jesus Kingdom.   Will you do anything it takes to become a caring, interdependent member of a community of disciples? Ah thought so; the answer does not rip of the lips so easily! Serving others is not so glamourous and not so sought after. Peace-making is more difficult than war mongering. Showing mercy, grace and love more costly and often goes unseen; except in the lives of thriving children and families in all their rich diversity.  A nation at peace with God and itself chooses to say YES to becoming vulnerable, caring and having the care of people including the stranger the primary purpose for being in existence. There is an invitation to make ‘care and the service of others’ our primary way of being in the world. This is a vulnerable way of life of having children and their carers, you and me, the stranger who comes to live in a shared land and the institutions that nurture our common life together matter and be of first importance. It is the transformation Jesus is calling for.  Jesus said: ‘⁵Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.’  I think it was John McGee, one of the founders of the Gentle Teaching movement who wrote: ‘Caregiving is an act of social justice it is the entering of a journey towards home….’ As disciples of Jesus He calls on us to be practitioners of caregiving and invite other on that journey towards home, dignity and safety and security. 

Speak Truth to power....

Matthew 17: 24-27

24 When they reached Capernaum, the collectors of the temple tax came to Peter and said, ‘Does your teacher not pay the temple tax?’ 25He said, ‘Yes, he does.’ And when he came home, Jesus spoke of it first, asking, ‘What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tribute? From their children or from others?’ 26When Peter said, ‘From others’, Jesus said to him, ‘Then the children are free. 27However, so that we do not give offence to them, go to the lake and cast a hook; take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find a coin; take that and give it to them for you and me.’

For those of us who value the separation of Church and State, a position in our generation which is a bit easier to live out within Post Christendom Scotland, any words from Jesus on our relationship with the State are welcome.  In our story today Jesus is enlightening us about a tax gathered by the religious authorities called the ‘Temple Tax’. Jesus teaches on the Roman tax in another place (Matthew 22: 15-22). In the time of Jesus the religious authorities had real political power. They could lodge charges and they conducted trials but their power was restrained by Rome and for example they were not allowed to carry out the death penalty. That was a reserved power to Rome. Wise Rome! The people of Israel / Palestine had a form of ‘Home Rule’ or ‘Devolution’ in the form of the Religious elite and they formed a very powerful vested interest group in the socio-political life of the people. To offend them meant serious trouble; exclusions and stigmatising treatment. There are many stories in the bible revealing this. Jesus always taught that these exclusions imposed by the religious powers of His day were not part of the Story of God. Jesus of the Nazareth sermon taught the social inclusion of diverse personal and social identities, participation, reconciliation, restorative justice and ethical practice. There is an ethical way to live, so why pay tax to a corrupt group that Jesus Himself described in Mark 12: 40 in the words ‘40They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers….’? Jesus is quite clear; disciples do not forfeit their freedom to live out the radical alternative to current political circumstances by paying tax. Paying the Temple Tax does not make you a follower of the Temple elite!  Disciples compromise their way of life of peace-making and announcing that the Kingdom of Peace is inaugurated in Jesus Christ by getting caught up in diversionary political debates that simply cause offence and needless division.  If there is a choice to whom a disciple can pay tax (a choice not open to disciples in the first century but is available to us who have the blessing of living in democracies however limited) then it must be to the authority that gives the opportunity to be; peacemakers, reconcilers, who offer a preferential option for the poor, the sick and vulnerable, the care of children, the end of violence and prejudice towards women and the end of prejudice and injus-tice towards minorities. If we had a choice we would choose to implement and be the practical expression of the teachings of Jesus of the Nazareth sermon. We claim to live this out in our communities of disciples; why would we not vote for it in neighbourhood councils and the governance of the country in which we live given the opportunity? The community of disciples don’t seek power or office to change things from the top down; the Church is separate and independent of the State; it is simply wrong for the Church or any other religious group to exercise institutional political power. Disciples of Jesus believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and therefore Caesar or any other religious or secular power is NOT!  As disciples and as a community we offer our taxes to the state authorities willingly but never our worship because that would be idolatry.  Disciples of Jesus seek to live out the teachings and practices of Jesus in our everyday lives and communities. Things change more radically and more inclusively from the inside out and from the bottom up. This is how the communities of Jesus must speak Truth to power; the truth and universal benefit of peace-making and inclusion where we can all, yes, every last one of us, can belong even if we don’t believe, no matter our religion, colour, gender or sexual orientation, we can live together in interdependence and peace. This is the Kingdom that Jesus inaugurated. Not long after this story takes place Jesus will come face to face with authorities for the final time and will non-violently refuse and will resist their legitimacy to rule with their brutal oppression; it will cost Him His life at the cross. 

In the Scottish Referendum vote in the interest of the most vulnerable….

This is God's year to act...

As we approach the historic day of September 18^th and the referendum on Scottish independence we are all bombarded with promises for our ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. For the followers of the Jesus of the Nazareth sermon the good news is that the manifesto for personal and social change is already written. We are all invited to be transformed by participation in a new way of living together.  In Luke 4 it’s recorded about Jesus that …

^16-21 He came to Nazareth where he had been reared. As he always did on the Sabbath, he went to the meeting place. When he stood up to read, he was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written,

God’s Spirit is on me;
    he’s chosen me to preach the Message of good news to the poor,
Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and
    recovery of sight to the blind,
To set the burdened and battered free,
    to announce, “This is God’s year to act!”

He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the place was on him, intent. Then he started in, “You’ve just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in this place.”

So it’s simple really; as followers of Jesus we must say ‘yes’ to strategies and policies that work towards eradicating poverty, promote social reconciliation, enlighten the mind and remove the back breaking burden of:  weapons of mass destruction,  low pay, poor housing and poverty promoting social policy like the ‘bedroom tax’. We must act now and continue to act! Any other approach is to say ‘no’ to the participative transformation that is on offer through putting into practice the teachings of Jesus of the Nazareth sermon. On Friday morning we must be as enthusiastic for this radical personal and social change no matter if ‘our side’ in the referendum has won or lost?  The call to dedicate our lives to the eradication of poverty is not up for a referendum; these are the basic principles by which the followers of Jesus of the Nazareth sermon will live no matter the referendum outcome. When we vote on Thursday we should vote for the best possible outcome for the most vulnerable in our society.  

Micah 6 

⁸ But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do,
    what God is looking for in men and women.
It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbour,
    be compassionate and loyal in your love,
And don’t take yourself too seriously—
    take God seriously.

It’s time to say ‘yes’ to ‘Interdependence’ seen in community development, community reconciliation and social transformation in favour of the poor and the vulnerable; this alone will be to the ultimate benefit of us all.  

The importance of Jesus words...

Matthew 17: 1-13; Mark 9: 2-13; Luke 9: 28-36; 2 Peter 1: 16-21.

Matthew 17: 1-2

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. ²And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white.

Jesus promised that there would be some that would see Him in His glory before their death (Matthew 16: 28). In today’s reading the writer of Matthew tells of a day when Jesus took a few of His inner group of disciples up a mountain and there Jesus was transformed in front of them in a blaze of light. They saw Jesus in a very different way; they saw a glimpse of Him in His pre-incarnational form. Two men appeared with Him and writers appear to know them with certainty; they were Moses and Elijah. Jesus of the Nazareth sermon is presented to the readers of the gospels and of 2 Peter as Divine and in conversation with two of the major characters from the story of ancient Israel. No wonder the disciples thought they would capture the moment and stay up the mountain and provide shelters for everybody present.  Let’s face it they wanted to hear what the two unexpected and very important characters from the story of Israel had to say. However, it was Jesus who was to inform them of what they needed to know and what Moses and Elijah were saying and meant. Jesus was to be heard; it was Jesus who was to reveal the part in the story of the revelation of God that Moses and Elijah actually plays. The early Christians clearly accepted that Jesus of the Nazareth sermon was the continuation and fulfilment of the story of Israel and that Jesus reveals the true meaning of the Law (Ethical and Ceremonial) and the Prophets. The glory revealed that day was not just the transfiguration glory of Jesus in overwhelming physical light but the transfiguration importance of hearing the words of Jesus and listening so closely that these words become our very life for living. Jesus is to be transfigured for all in His words and practices. The eternal Glory of God is revealed in the very words of Jesus and our participation in the story they reveal. Again we are being asked to be transformed in our thinking, relationships and practices by participation in the prophetic fulfilment of the story of Jesus of the Nazareth sermon. Jesus the Son of God is the pleasure of God the Father and is His revelation of Himself to you and me through the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21). Truly, we as His disciples have seen Him in His glory also if we hear the words of Jesus and put them into practice!   

The transformative Kingdom of God inaugurated by Jesus

Matthew 16: 21-28; Mark 8: 27-9:1; Luke 9: 22-27:

Part 2

Matthew 16: 24-28

 24 Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ²⁵For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. ²⁶For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life? 27 ‘For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done. ²⁸Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.’

Do we want to participate in the transformative Kingdom of God inaugurated by Jesus?  The opportunity is provided for us on the basis that we step out of one denial, that is, that we have life controlling issues and that we step into another denial namely, we must fast our life controlling issues. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus described the life long process of recovery; the life of following Him as being characterised by: modestly using our resources to meet the needs of those who cannot meet their own needs, prayer, forgiveness and fasting. These are the transformative practices in the lives of the followers of Jesus. Jesus now names this fulfilment of His prophetic description of His followers the ‘denial of self’. We must step out of the denial that we have: hurts, habits and hang-ups, this is the beginning of the process of recovery and step into the denial of meeting our needs our own way; this is ‘self-denial’. If we are merely looking for some management systems to hold on to the same old life style pattern and make life a bit more comfortable we will end up losing our life completely. If we would hear the words of Jesus and put them into practice our old life controlling patterns will die away and we will experience transformation of life.  We have to face up to the fact that on the surface we can appear to others to have gained the whole world: fame, wealth, power, health, houses and jobs. In reality, we can, in the midst of apparent plenty have lost our God given life because we simply meet our needs our own way.  The end of the story of the revelation of God in Jesus of the Nazareth sermon is eternal life in His Kingdom in the eternal presence of Jesus.  The end of our story is written by us here and now through the means of life lived out in the present. Jesus makes it clear that the means of salvation is His life, death and resurrection; this life, death and resurrection will be the pattern of life experienced by His disciples. Therefore, we too must take up our cross, die to our life controlling issues and seek resurrection life in Jesus alone. The life of following Jesus is of ever closer participative and transformational living out of the teachings of  Jesus until we find ourselves in His very presence.  

Interesting.... You decide ... Vote YES In 2014 - Scottish Independence Referendum

Christian Peacemaker Teams: An Introduction... An example of followers of Jesus of the Nazareth sermon

Forgiveness and non violence....

The crossroads of despair and deliverance....

Matthew 16: 21-28; Mark 8: 27-9:1; Luke 9: 22-27:

Part 1

Matthew 16:

21 From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. ²²And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.’ ²³But he turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling-block to me; for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’

The recognition that Jesus of the Nazareth sermon is the Messiah by Peter at Caesarea Philippi marks a turning point in the life of Jesus. Jesus has always been on His way to Jerusalem, His objective and life’s work has not changed but the disciples are as ready as they ever will be to hear how all this teaching about radical living culminates.  They are ready to hear how Jesus brings about the irreversible victory of the Kingdom of God over the powers that rage against them and their creator. Jesus speaks plainly and to the point. He has to go to Jerusalem and there He will be rejected by the ruling elites and the fickle crowd; they will kill him but He will rise from the dead. Funny isn’t it, that we hear only part of the story. Peter is upset, very upset that Jesus is not fitting into his plans and meeting Peter’s needs Peter’s way. What was it that Peter heard that caused him so much offence? Was Peter objecting to the death of Jesus, His resurrection or both? Ah! Peter is in a bit of a dilemma; he has heard something he does not like or want and this drowns out all the rest of the story. He hears only the trouble of the story and does not hear the redemption within it. Peter’s mind is consumed with a view of suffering and death based on despair while Jesus has just told him about a death and resurrection that leads to deliverance. Peter hears despair Jesus said deliverance; Peter’s mind is stuck again in the old way of thinking. Jesus is announcing the need to think and act in a new way that conquers death and suffering and brings life. The forces that rage against life do not want Jesus to go to Jerusalem and on to the cross at Calvary. At the cross the forces that rage against God and His creation along with their kingdom of oppression, poverty and violence will be defeated forever and the irreversible shift from death to life will take place in the death and resurrection of Jesus. At the cross there will be enough blood spilt to end the need of it, enough violence to end the need of it, enough oppression to end the need of it and enough of death to end the need of it. In the resurrection there is enough life giving power so that none need perish but all come to a radical change of mind resulting in resurrection life as Peter would one day write (2 Peter 3:8). Will we follow Jesus to Jerusalem and to the cross? Will we follow Him to the garden tomb? Will we follow Him to Galilee and meet Him there and participate in the resurrection from death to life? Will we come to the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ and admit that we need to change our mind about how we meet our needs and accept the offer of forgiveness for meeting our needs our own way? Will we come and accept the gift of life that can never be taken away from us?  It’s the most important decision we will ever make; may we hear all the words of Jesus and not be diverted by the lie that there is any other way to resurrection life.