Hope Shines On...

Genesis 32: 22-30 (NRSVA)

²⁷ So he said to him, ‘What is your name?’ And he said, ‘Jacob.’ ²⁸ Then the man^[a] said, ‘You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel,^[b] for you have striven with God and with humans,^[c] and have prevailed.’ ²⁹ Then Jacob asked him, ‘Please tell me your name.’ But he said, ‘Why is it that you ask my name?’ And there he blessed him. ³⁰ So Jacob called the place Peniel,^[d] saying, ‘For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved.’

Footnotes:

1. Genesis 32:28 Heb he
2. Genesis 32:28 That is The one who strives with God or God strives
3. Genesis 32:28 Or with divine and human beings
4. Genesis 32:30 That is The face of God

John 12: 27-32 (NRSVA)

Jesus Speaks about His Death

²⁷ ‘Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—“Father, save me from this hour”? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. ²⁸ Father, glorify your name.’ Then a voice came from heaven, ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’ ²⁹ The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, ‘An angel has spoken to him.’ ³⁰ Jesus answered, ‘This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. ³¹ Now is the judgement of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. ³² And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people^[a] to myself.’

Footnotes:

1. John 12:32 Other ancient authorities read all things

‘If God exists, how does He make Himself known to us?’ Life is a struggle at times. It is for all disciples and has always been so. It’s not that there are not times of ease and rest, there are, but in the middle of family, work and the messy stuff of life, it does feel that the sense of struggle overshadows any sense of peace. In the wider world we recognise that for many people ‘life struggle’ is their life. At present our lives are full of news stories of workers losing the jobs, people struggling to feed their families and having to use food banks, homelessness, health and social care shortages and refugees living in squalor camps and in the shadow of war and violence. In everyday conversation it’s not unusual to hear refugees and immigrants being blamed for the decision of our elected representatives to impose on communities the misery of austerity, health and social care shortages and for rises in crime. It feels that struggle and discrimination trumps solidarity. In this persistent experience of life it is understandable to doubt the promise and hope of Jesus of the Nazareth discourse. Jesus promise of liberation was claimed to have come in the Luke 4 discourse of Jesus and to be actively renewing our diverse worlds of struggle.  It is part of the process of discipleship to be consciously aware of this struggle for change and the feeling of contradiction and doubt that the process of struggle gives, especially in the face of apparent persistent defeats for inclusion and solidarity.  The two passages we examine today are rooted in such situations. Jacob and his family struggle with unpredictability and the very real threats to life. In the struggle of life Jacob struggles with God and His promises. Yet it is in the struggle that Jacob finds God, his own true self, identity and positive hope for his family’s and our future. He is part of a great liberation story and although that does not improve his immediate situation, he does gain the hope to keep going with his family in the long trek towards home, freedom and justice.  In the life of Jesus we see the same themes. As Jesus approaches His own death He faces the option to reject being part of a liberation story and embrace a role of cold and distant sovereignty mirrored in the religious elite of His time and the Roman Empire. ‘No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour’ is the conclusion that Jesus comes to. Jesus accepts the ‘liberation of the struggle’; the freedom to resist non-violently the powers that struggle against us and God.  Jesus achieves the final ‘liberation from the struggle’ in the securing of the promise of the Kingdom of God that we will all inherit. The struggle against ‘the powers’ of war and violence, poverty, lack of health and social care, hopelessness, homelessness, discrimination and poor educational opportunity is the exercise of freedom. The process of non-violent resistance and struggle will achieve full freedom as we realise the Kingdom of God in its fullness within our lives as Jesus’ soon return approaches. God makes Himself known in the middle of the struggles for life, freedom and justice as Jesus demonstrated and taught.

         

 Saint Patrick's "Breastplate" Prayer

I bind unto myself today
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.

I bind unto myself today
The power of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my need.
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, His shield to ward,
The word of God to give me speech,
His heavenly host to be my guard.

I bind unto myself today
The strong Name of the Trinity,
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three. 

Belong before you believe....

Genesis 21: 15-19

¹⁷ And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, ‘What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. ¹⁸ Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him.’ ¹⁹ Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink.

John 17: 20-24

²⁰ ‘I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, ²¹ that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us,  so that the world may believe that you have sent me. (NRSV)

Yet another story where God reveals Himself in the troubled questions and situations of life: The bible has many stories of exile and exclusion. Some folks have misused these stories to define their own reasons for excluding people from their own lives personally, socially, and economically not to mention geographically. Insiders and outsiders, those who belong and those who are out, union versus separation challenge us every day. How does God reveal Himself in terms of the insider outsider debate? What principles are available to us as disciples of the ‘Jesus of the Nazareth discourse’ to apply to our practical living? Our starting point is Jesus. It is through Him, His teaching and how He lived that creates the focus for us, to see clearly, what are the possibilities for God and our practical lives together. At the point of His final rejection, Jesus prays for those close to Him and for those not yet close to Him, but to whom He is close. In the story of Hagar and Ishmael in Genesis, rejection and outsider status from family and community is experienced and death is close; but God, life and inclusion in the promises of God is closer. Rejection and exile are powerful but being present, being concerned, being actively involved, through the practice of inclusion are far more powerful. God reveals Himself as the One who is present and active even in the lived experience of exclusion. In John, Jesus prays and is committed to those who have included Him but also to and for those who have excluded Him, those, we, as followers of Jesus, might be tempted to exclude. Jesus reveals God as the One who is the prime mover in ‘belonging before belief’. Hagar and Ishmael had a place in the story of God even if Sarah and Abraham excluded them. And so it is that God chooses us, He believes in us; we belong, long before we believe; even if we ever do truly believe. Jesus reveals God as the God who incudes all of us in His plan for recreation and redemption. Exclusion comes in many forms: physical, social, psychological, economic, environmental, racial, sexual, and so the list goes on. But what are the starting points for followers of Jesus in the divine but practical project of inclusion and embrace. Our small community of disciples and followers Jesus is exploring this at the moment as part of our ‘Epiphany’ series.  We are re reading together Stuart Murray’s book ‘The Naked Anabaptist: The Bare Essentials of a Radical Faith’; published by Paternoster in Milton Keynes. Here is an extract that we are working through as a framework for our collective reflections together. If we recognise that Jesus is the revelation of God how should this belief effect how we live?  Perhaps you will reflect on these principles also.

    

1.      Jesus is our example, teacher, friend, redeemer and Lord. He is the source of our life, the central reference point for our faith and lifestyle, for our understanding of church and our engagement within society. We are committed to following Jesus as well as worshiping him.

2.      Jesus is the focal point of God’s revelation. We are committed to a Jesus Centred approach to the bible and to the community of faith as the primary context in which we read the bible and discern and apply its implications for discipleship.

3.      Western culture is slowly emerging for the Christendom era, when church and state jointly presided over a society in which almost everybody was supposed to be Christian. Whatever its positive contributions on values and institutions, Christendom seriously distorted the gospel, marginalised Jesus, and has left the church ill equipped for mission in the post Christendom culture. As we reflect on this, we are committed to learning from the experience and perspectives of movements such as Anabaptism that rejected standard Christendom assumptions and pursued alternative ways of thinking and behaving.

4.      The frequent association of the church with status, wealth, and force is inappropriate for the followers of Jesus and damages our witness. We are committed to exploring ways of being good news to the poor, powerless and persecuted, aware that such discipleship may attract opposition resulting in suffering and sometimes ultimately martyrdom.

5.      Churches are called to be committed communities of discipleship and mission, places of friendship, mutual accountability, and multivoiced worship.  As we eat together, sharing bread and wine, we sustain hope as we seek God’s kingdom together. We are committed to nurturing and developing such churches, in which young and old are valued, leadership is consultative, roles are related to gifts rather than gender and baptism is for believers.

6.      Spirituality and economics are interconnected. In an individualist and consumerist culture and in a world where economic injustice is rife, we are committed to finding ways of living simply, sharing generously, caring for creation and working for justice.

7.      Peace is at the heart of the gospel. As followers of Jesus in a divided and violent world, we are committed to finding nonviolent alternatives and to learning how to make peace between individuals, within and among churches, in society and between nations.        

(Murray S, (2010) The Naked Anabaptist: The Bare Essentials of a Radical Faith. Paternoster, Milton Keynes. Page 45-46)

Father God, by your tender mercy, be our dawn from on high, break upon us,  give light to those of us who sit in darkness and the shadow of death and in your compassion guide our feet into the way of peace; through Jesus Christ your Son, Amen

Hoping against hope

Genesis 18: 1-14;

 18 The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day.

 Romans 4: 18-22

 ¹⁸ Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become ‘the father of many nations’, according to what was said, ‘So numerous shall your descendants be.’

 ‘If God exists, how does He make Himself known to us?’

 This Genesis story, explained by Paul writing to the disciples in Rome is one of my favourite of the Hebrew Scriptures. It’s about two elderly people who have a long frustrated heart felt desire. One day when both were going about the ordinary things of life, doing all they could to keep their minds from the subject that no doubt fuelled no little conflict between them, an unexpected guest arrives. The Lord appears in the midst of their life’s difficulty. We see difficulty in personal relationships; they live in a contested land holding on to promises perceived to be long forgotten or misunderstood while time is running out for both of them.  It is into these hurts of life that God appears. The Lord appears as three men ready to share a meal and a message of hope. A hope that the promises of God are not delayed but scheduled. ‘Hoping against hope he believed’, God reveals Himself in faith and trust. The gift of God is not just the promise but the faith to trust in the promise. God visits us, eats with us and reminds us that we are an indispensable part of His story of freedom and justice. There will be times when the fulfilment of the promise of God feels distant and out of reach and that our time may have gone. But time does not run out on God’s promises and time does not run out on us. The Lord promises to return to this elderly couple and He does; in the fulfilment of the promise and the faith to keep going until that day arrives. God continues to make Himself known to us, He reveals Himself to us with the promise of a soon return and the strength to believe that He is faithful and will establish His peaceful Kingdom based on love, justice and freedom for all the peoples of this troubled world.

Maranatha                    

All my hope is in Jesus. You?

Open Doors .... Keep Hope Alive

Jesus as the liberator from oppression and injustice

Genesis 12:1-7

Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ² I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ³ I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’^[a]] (NRSVA)

Galatians 3:6-14

⁶ Just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness’, ⁷ so, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham. ⁸ And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, declared the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘All the Gentiles shall be blessed in you.’ ⁹ For this reason, those who believe are blessed with Abraham who believed. (NRSVA)

‘If God exists, how does He make Himself known to us?’ For the disciple of Jesus of the Nazareth discourse (Luke 4:14-41), God is revealed in Jesus as the liberator from oppression and the injustice of Sin in all its expressions. The Jesus we follow is revealed in His teachings and His practices (Luke 4:14-41, John 14: 9, Acts 1:1). Over the centuries there have been many portrayals of Jesus, characterisations and indeed the creation of many stereotypes. A brief look at some Hollywood productions will soon let us see how Jesus is variously represented ranging from a blond blue eyed European to that of a dark skinned dusky eyed Palestinian.  Walk into a church building and Jesus may be represented as a cross or crucifix on a wall or in stained glass or standing on an altar. Perhaps His name will be engraved on a communion table or drawn in the shape of a fish. In some church buildings there is no representation of Him at all as ‘images of God are forbidden’. Some see Him in bread and wine as a symbol while others have a revelation of Him as really present through Transubstantiation others through Consubstantiation. The range of representations of Jesus reveals the complementary understandings and revelations of who Jesus is within diverse contexts and communities.

In the unfolding story of the bible, complementary images reveal God in the story of creation, fall, Israel, Jesus, the present time and the time to come. God is progressively revealed through a range of images and symbols. The revelation of God is of the creator God, maker of all that is and the rejected God who provides clothing, food and shelter for His very good creation that have rejected Him. God is revealed as the God of Israel who is working actively in history to reconcile all the families of the earth (Genesis 12:1-7, Galatians 3:6-14). God is revealed in Jesus, as the Son of Man and as the God who has come at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of Himself (Hebrews 9: 26). God is revealed as the One making all things new in Christ as the mediator God (Hebrews 9: 24) and the ever present and participating presence among us as God the Saviour of all creation (Hebrews 9:28). So how does God reveal Himself? He is revealed in and through a compassionate liberation story using the diverse language, diverse imagery and diverse genres of scripture to reveal the diverse beauty of creation and the insatiable love of the Creator Redeemer for His very good creation. God is revealed and that is the most profound wonderful truth. We can know Him and we are known by Him. His purpose is to bless all the families of the earth and that deep and beautiful truth includes you and me.  

Father God, by your tender mercy, be our dawn from on high, break upon us,  give light to those of us who sit in darkness and the shadow of death and in your compassion guide our feet into the way of peace; through Jesus Christ your Son, Amen

If? Then!

Luke 24 1-11

⁵ …. ‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. (NRSVA)

Colossians 3: 1-4

⁴ When Christ who is your ^[a] life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory. (NRSVA)

Those of us who follow such things are well into Epiphany (a time of reflection when some of us consider ‘If God exists, how does He make Himself known to us?’). The small group of disciples that I share my life with do this in a structured way until Ash Wednesday when the season of Lent begins. Perhaps the presence of the word ‘If’ puzzles some on the basis that disciples’ of Jesus must be totally question free about God’s existence and His revelation. However, this is simply not the case. The disciples in the New Testament are always asking questions, puzzling, pondering and doubting. Jesus Himself challenges His disciples to consider the questions they have through the lens of His own teaching and example. When arguments and assertions (stories) are deployed in scripture, the bible, the beginning of the story of our discipleship, they are done so in response to the circulating questions of the time. These stories can be seen as the product of the interaction of the contextual understanding of the story of God and the cultural developments in knowledge and the social, political, economic, environmental challenges of their time. So it is with us. We take the story of the bible read it and apply it in our own personal, social, political and economic context. We live in a time that has undergone industrial, scientific, digital, social, religious and economic revolutions among many others. Indeed we are undergoing these revolutions again and again. The practical application of the story of God in the contemporary lives of disciples is the product of the contemporary challenges and the story of scripture. In our day and time we accept the presence of unseen power and influences on our lives in very different ways than those of the disciples of the first century.  We know about nuclear power and the great benefits this knowledge brings to us but we also know about the horrors of nuclear war.  For the disciple of Jesus His story is always used to interrogate current knowledge and cultural contexts to arrive at how to live practically. The presence of the word ‘If’ is always present and active. If the story of Jesus is true how should we use nuclear power? If the story of Jesus is true how should we conduct debate about Brexit?  If the story of Jesus offers any truth to live by how should we treat asylum seekers, workers and / or people who have a different personal and social identity to ours?     

‘Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.’ Challenges us as disciples to apply the living Jesus and His teachings to our lives.  If He and His teaching is dead what is the point? We need to do the hard work of applying Jesus teachings in a very different context than that of the first century when they were first written down.  His revelation to us will be contemporary, situated and practical.  As Paul put it, ‘When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.’ Jesus is our life and in Him we become the people and community we were always intended to be.

May the Lord bless us and keep us; the Lord make his face to shine upon us, and be gracious to us; the Lord lift up his countenance upon us, and give us peace.

Grace and peace to you

In these last days God has spoken

1.      Matthew 2: 1-12

¹¹ On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. ¹² And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road. NRSV

2.      Matthew 3: 13-17; Mark 1: 9-11; Luke 3: 21-23; John 1: 15-18

Matthew 3:

 ¹⁷ And a voice from heaven said, ‘This is my Son, the Beloved,^[a] with whom I am well pleased.’

3.      Hebrews 1

 1 Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, ² but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son,^[a] whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. ³ He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains^[b] all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, ⁴ having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. NRSVA

 ‘If God exists, how does He make Himself known to us?’ This is a central question for people of faith and of no faith. At this time of year in the Church calendar the question is addressed in the Eastern and Western traditions through two different stories:  The visit of the Magi and the Baptism of Jesus.  

According to the writer of Matthew the Magi have been granted a revelation (an Epiphany), through a story of a young child, a King (Gold), a Priest (Frankincense) and a Prophet, in particular his death (Myrrh).  To John the Baptist and presumably the onlookers in the story, the revelation is of the obedient One, the Son of God, and the Beloved, the one who brings God pleasure. Jesus is presented as the Revelation, the unveiling of God in the lives of people who encounter Him. The writer raises the same question for us in our day and time.  We have much more of the story available to us and the effect the story has had down the centuries. Perhaps we can reword the question / answer, perhaps like the writer of the story recorded in the introduction to the book of Hebrews.   

‘… in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son,^[a] whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. ³ He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains^[b] all things by his powerful word.’ NRSVA

The writers of these Epiphany stories and indeed all the stories of scripture invite us to make a response to the revelation of God in the story. This is done from within the text that they present us. The text is a situated text within the lives of the readers that is within our own lives. We are being asked to cast ourselves within the story. As we know more of the story, its characters and plot, our response will be formed and expressed. We will have become characters within the plot of scripture.  The task before us is to get to know more and more of the story of Jesus revealed in scripture and this will empower us to experience our own Epiphany moments about whom He is and who we are in relation to Him.