Pruning and bearing fruit

Pentecost year B 09 Sermon

John 15:1 ff

Did you hear what Jesus said?

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit…he prunes…so it will be even more fruitful.”

This passage from John fifteen… often gives people the willies… I mean they worry… ‘I wonder if I’m fruitful ….what if I’m a branch of the vine that bears no fruit…

is God gonna chop me off…and toss me on the compost heap

and that bit about pruning ….sounds painful doesn’t it …letting God clip away at us…or maybe we feel anxious… about what’ll be left of us…when all the pruning is done

It may be you come to a sermon on pruning…feeling like you’re going to the dentist. Maybe you can just fall asleep during the sermon…and when you wake up… it’ll be all over …but if you think going to sleep…means God wont get into you… you’ve got it wrong.

The image of the vine Jesus offers us… in John fifteen…would have been quite familiar to his Jewish friends… because it’s an image woven… right through their scriptures… as a symbol of the people of Israel…the nation of Israel.

Remember the Psalmist prays…You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.

The prophets reminds the nation…Israel was a spreading vine; God brought forth fruit for himself; In the first three Gospels...Jesus often refers to the vineyard in his stories and parables…and by the time we get to John’s Gospel… the vine… is no longer the people of Israel…the vine is Jesus himself...and his branches will be a new Israel bearing the fruit of Shalom reconciling all creation to God…I am the true vine, and my Father…

is the gardener.

He cuts off every branch in me… that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit… he prunes… so it will be even more fruitful. [pause]

Jesus disciples were as familiar with the grape growing industry… as we are here in Central Otago. They knew… the purpose of pruninga grapevine… is what…to get more...[look up] GRAPES. Exactly … there is only one purpose…

And if you’re any kind of gardener or winegrower…
you’ll know there’s a right time to do the pruning. You don't just wake up one day… smack in the middle of summer … and say… ‘I think I’ll just go out and chop some vines.’ [pause]

And pruning a vine is complicated … a very technical procedure… if you prune at the wrong time or at the wrong angle… or at the wrong distance from the bud…there’ll be no grapes.

This business of pruning is no easy matter.

There the right time for it…and a right way to go about it …and all the time…what the gardener has in mind…is the next season’s production…of grapes… [pause]

So if Jesus is the vine and we are the branches…what’s the point of pruning and getting rid of deadwood for us… as individual believers… or …for us collectively…in our life together as the church… as the the Body of Christ…

What’s the point of pruning us?

[ask congregation] Jesus can only be talking about one purpose… more fruit….more fruitfulness. Pruning makes fruit more likely…

By cutting off deadwood and pruning… the gardener …God…is encouraging the branches…that’s us… of the vine… that’s Jesus…to bear more fruit. Encouraging us…helping us…enabling us…to bear more fruit. To make more followers of Jesus more people on earth committed to peace with justice compassion and mercy…more people capable of loving

So there’s no reason to be afraid of a sermon on pruning… is there…no reason to be afraid of the pruning work of God…

because as every good gardener knows…pruning and dead-wooding … allows more sap to flow to the fruit bearing branches.

In our personal Christian journey…this pruning’s about letting God… deal with all those things… that aren’t helpful…in our relationship with God… and with each other.

What are you aware of in your life… and your relationship with God that needs some trimming and attention.

Last Sunday we talked about one thing that might need attention… our unhelpful images of God…we talk about healing our image of God. Using the vine metaphor…this would mean cutting away all those negative images of God… that don’t square with Jesus revelation.

Another thing we noticed are the unhelpful images we have of ourselves. As unforgivable…or worthless…labels that are lies…. When held up to the light of a loving God…

Cutting away that dead wood allows us to open ourselves to the flowing of God’s love …God’s spirit…allows us to grow leads to new life wouldn’t it.

And all Jesus talk about pruning and dead-wooding points us to the mystery of his death and resurrection doesn’t it …reminds us how Jesus dies… and by the power of God is raised to new life. So we understand…the journey into Jesus is a journey into life… by way of dying.

When we’re baptised we share in that journey down into the deep waters of death and come up the other side… into a new life. And remember what Jesus hears as he comes up out of the water…. ‘You are my beloved child and with you I’m well pleased’

A lot of this pruning is so that the message can get through to us that we too are a beloved child of God. Each morning when we wake up the question can be… where is God calling me to new life…to a fruitful me.

Where is there something bursting out in me…and what do I have to die to…so it can blossom?

So we can help with the pruning… by noticing the things that prevent us from being more fully alive…attitudes that stop from saying yes to God’s invitation to grow ….

And here’s where timing comes in…especially when we think we know… what needs to be pruned… or cut off in someone else’s life. Remember God is the gardener… not us and if we jump the gun we could interfere with the work of the Spirit.

When we care for people…we don’t want them to hurt … we want to help them…sometimes we have to be patient and stay in the place of our own anxiety for them… long enough for the work of God to be completed in them. These are times God is likely to do his best work. And we don’t want to bring it to an end… prematurely.

In fact a tendency to interfere could be exactly what God may be wanting to prune in us…So noticing…paying attention to…

the things that get in the way of our relationships with other people or prevent us from growing in God… is the first part of this process of prunning.

The second part is admitting what needs to be cut off or pruned from our lives…we become entirely ready… to have God remove or trim… this troublesome aspect of our lives… ready to be as available and open as we can be… for God’s Spirit to work in us.

And becoming entirely ready is quite difficult…because we often want to hold on our defects…afraid if the pruning process goes too far…there’ll be nothing left.

But sooner or later the lack of fruit in some area of our lives…begins to bother us enough to do something about it… sooner or later when we become completely ready to give it up to God…then it’s time for the third part of God’s pruning and dead-wooding process…

It’s time to pray…time to humbly ask God to remove all those things that get in the way of our relationship with him and with others…humbly praying that God will cut off what doesn’t bear fruit in us…and trim and prune those parts of us which could O so much more fruitful than they are…

Noticing, becoming entirely ready…and humbly asking God to remove these defects…a three part process that allows the great vinedresser to work on us. [pause]

And what happens when the pruning is over… well…

It’s the future and its fruit…that vindicate the vinedressers in their craft isn’t it? As the proverb says…‘wisdom is vindicated by all her children’

What happens when the pruning is done…well we’re left with the core of this mysterious wonderful journey with Christ…the journey through death…to abundant life…

free… and pruned down to the bare essentials.

And if we’ve got it right… if we’ve listened accurately to God…if we’ve surrendered sufficiently…then we will bear more fruit…as individuals… and as a church… as part of the Body of Christ on earth…

my prayer is that we will allow God to access our most vulnerable parts…so his will may be done in us…for the master gardener knows what they’re doing.

Healing our image of God

Pentecost 16 year B 09 Sermon Mark 8:27-38

As a result of his miracles… word is spreading among the Jews… that Jesus might be a reincarnated Elijah or Jeremiah … or maybe John the Baptist… raised from the dead…and there’s growing speculation… he just might be… the long-promised Messiah…everyone knew… would take back Jerusalem from the Romans… by force.

Rome’s Jewish puppet king Herod Antipas… hears these rumours with growing concern Jesus is about to become a dangerous rival. And though Herod can’t believe

Jesus actually is the expected Messiah… his popularity could make Jesus bold enough to lead a rebellion.

Herod can no longer risk Jesus remaining at large and free… and seeks to eliminate him…just as he had Jesus’ cousin…
John the Baptist.

Warned by friendly Pharisees…

Waterfall slide

Jesus heads away to the north… into towns with largely pagan populations…Tyre and Sidon and the Decapolis…

and on with his disciples…into the lush green catchment…
of the headwaters of the Jordan River…into villages controlled by another Herod…named Philip…into Caesarea Philippi…

Caesarea slide

Herod Philip’s Caesarea was a centre of Greek culture…
and chock a block… with pagan temples…theatres and fine sculpture…where Herod colluded with Rome’s claim …

That its kings were gods…

Philips father…Herod the Great…built the white marble temple… you can see on the left … in fine political form he built it in front of a cave… sacred to the pagan population… and dedicated this temple to the worship of Caesar Augustus. It had no back wall but opened into the grotto… so the great cave became the inner sanctuary of the Temple. [pause]

Pan slide

Next door… was another cave-Temple…Herod Philip himself built…also mindful of his ratings in the polls…
this one Philip dedicated…
to the half man…half goat…god Pan. [pause]

And with these shrines to the gods Pan and Caesar as a backdrop … Jesus asks his disciples

Slide words

"Who do people say I am?"

Well up on the gossip… Jesus friends report …
John the Baptist…maybe Elijah…maybe one of the prophets.

That’s fascinating news… Jesus says
"But what about you guys…

Slide words

who do you say I am?"

Here they are in front of the Cave of Pan… which leads so deeply into depths of the earth…its widely assumed to be the entrance to the ghostly underworld…the home of Hades…the god of the lower regions…a region inhabited…
by the disembodied spirits …of the dead.

But Peter says – I don’t think you’re a recycled prophet…
I believe

Slide words

"You’re the Messiah." [pause……….]

Blank slide

For heaven sake! Jesus’ shouts…don’t go around telling people that! Mate You’re gonna get us in deep trouble. Mention the title Messiah… and its curtains…
Herod Antipas already thinks… I have my eye on the throne. [pause]

And that’s exactly what most Jews thought the Messiah would do…be God’s anointed king in the line of David… promised by the prophets…who’d overthrow the all occupying armies…restore the land and wealth to Israel …unite and rule her tribes…all heralding the Messianic Age of peace… at least for Israel’s people.

Now hang on a minute Peter…Jesus says…your image of me could be all wrong…you’ve got a lot to learn about what it actually means … to be God’s anointed one…[pause]

Remember at his baptism Jesus had come to understand his identity as the anointed one of God…but because of how the Jews foretold the promised Messiah…such a title could only land Jesus in deep trouble… with political and religious authorities … especially those colluding with Rome’s proclamation that Caesar is god… insisting Caesar’s will… be done on earth as in heaven.

If you’re going to stick with me…Jesus tells his followers…if you’re going to follow my teaching…
you need to know there’s gonna be a cost...

So here in front of what locals call the very gates of Hades…Jesus warns his friends…of the suffering… rejection and… yes….even death… he’s likely to experience…
even alluding to the Roman’s favourite method of execution … public torture on a cross.

Slide words

He said all this quite openly. [pause………..]

Peter is appalled…and tries to shuffle Jesus out of earshot of the others…and begins to tear a strip off him…

But before Peter can get a word out Jesus shouts get behind me you accuser… you Satan… and turns his back on him

Slide words

You’re setting your mind… not on divine things but on human things. You’re not looking at this from God’s point of view…you’re seeing it all from a human perspective!

If any want to become my followers,

Slide words

let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life… will lose it… Yes…they can sell out to the powers and principalities… and yes maybe save their life…but if you follow me…

slide words
even if you lose your life for my sake, you will save it.

If you lose your life because of me and the good news I’m teaching… that will be life saving in the end. The powers and principalities don’t have any respect for your life…

why you could become the richest Jew
in the whole Roman world…and it still wouldn’t save you…
if they decided you were no longer useful.

Slide words

Indeed, what can the sell outs give in return for their life? They’ll have nothing to bargain with. And Jesus goes on…

Blank slide

…but I grant you this is an adulterous and sinful generation ….and those who are ashamed of me and of my message …well I’m gonna be ashamed of them when my purpose is fulfilled…and I come in my Father’s glory with the holy angels. [pause]

Jesus has a complex assignment… part of it… is to heal Israel’s image of God…and reconcile even the pagans to God …That’s a big ask…

As long as Israel sees God as their property …as long as they hold onto a vision of God… as a powerful punishing
judge when they sin…and a God who smites their enemies when they’re good…the cycle of war…revenge and retribution will never end…nations will always keep score …people will continue to commit acts of emotional and physical violence…in the name of God…

Peace and forgiveness would never stand a chance. [pause…]

And like Peter and other Jews of his time…if our image of God is out of whack…our logic about God will be flawed…

At my conference last weekend…one of the speakers told us how his image of God was shaped by watching his barrister father in courtrooms…As a child he actually pictured God as a judge with a great heavy gavel…dishing out punishment. Another woman used to picture God as an unapproachable king… sitting on a throne.

Some people have an image of God who will bring wealth and power to his chosen ones… while raining down destruction on their enemies. A God who’ll reward them…
if they rain destruction down… on their enemies.

I want you to talk to your neighbour for moment about the image of God you first formed…

Chat and Discussion

To follow Jesus we have to shake
every image we have of God…every image …that doesn’t line up with Jesus teaching about God and Jesus’ life…

Peter was appalled when Jesus claimed…
their longed-for Messiah… would be so vulnerable… in the face of hatred and violence…but he was…and instead of striking his persecutors down…Jesus prayed they be forgiven. [pause]

When we surrender our lives… to the God revealed by Jesus
…yes we might end up suffering for our beliefs…we might end up martyrs battling against injustice and prejudice…we might end up denying our own desire for revenge… and acting …
only out of sacrificial love for our enemies…

When we surrender our lives to the God whose image is revealed in Jesus…we might end up poor instead of prosperous …the world isn’t happy…
when its idols lose market share…

And when we surrender our lives… to Jesus’ revelation of God’s will on earth …God’s way of peace with justice… compassion and mercy…at least Jesus’ God…full of mercy and forgiveness… won’t be among the things we fear… [pause]

Being good Jews…Jesus friends have an image of God shaped by thousands of years of victory in war against weaker nations and a conquered people …subject to stronger nations

Their image of God was like this…

when we’re winning… God’s with us…when we’re losing… God’s against us… we must have done something wrong.

But that’s a totally illogical image for the God who anointed Jesus… to preach good news to the poor and proclaim liberation to the captives…That’s not a logical image for the God whose anointed one…would be pierced for our transgressions, and crushed for our iniquities…whose saving message and suffering… could bring the world reconciliation … peace and healing at last. [pause]

Does your image of God lead you to expect mercy or condemnation? Does your image of God lead you to forgive …as you’ve been forgiven? Does your image of God’s love for you… strengthen you in the face of rejection… or when you cling to the gospel of peace? Does it strengthen you so you can stand up to any power of injustice oppression and hatred… wherever they are found…
knowing your popularity could take a nose dive?

Over the next week I want you to take a look at the image of God revealed by Jesus and see where your image of God needs to be healed? My prayer is that you’ll surrender all your images… for a vision of the God of Love…
revealed in Jesus Christ. …Andrew…

Full armour of God

Pentecost 13 year B Sermon

Jesus… bleeding to death on the cross… looks at his persecutors and prays… ‘Father forgive them for they don’t know what they’re doing.’

Forty years ago… during the Vietnam War…a monk calls his followers to do the same.[i]

‘If a cruel and violent person disembowels you, you can smile and look at him with love. It is his upbringing, his situation, and his ignorance that cause him to act so mindlessly. Look at him—the one who is bent on your destruction and heaps injustice upon you—with eyes of love and compassion.’

Look at him—with eyes of love and compassion.

Fifteen years ago… during the genocide in Rwanda… an exhausted Catholic priest… Father Vjeko Ćurić stands firm with the same love and courage…in the face of overwhelming hatred and violence.

In April 1994, after the Hutu President’s plane is shot down…Hutu militias slaughter the population of Tutsis… with whom they share the country.

When the killing begins in the town of Kivumu, people turned to Father Vjeko for help.

When most other expatriates are evacuated,
Fr. Vjeko stays behind with the people of Kivumu… through the worst experiences of their lives…he gives practical and medical assistance to the displaced and helps people escape the militias.

In the face of persecution and death threats…

the priest is outspoken in his condemnation of the violence… and continues to preach the values of peace and unity throughout the genocide.

In the aftermath Fr. Vjeko helps both Hutus and Tutsis …to rebuild their communities. He was killed in mysterious circumstances in 1998.

These pictures are from a film based on his life called Shooting Dogs. Survivors of the massacres in Rwanda… were actors and production crew on the film.

And writing from prison…in our reading today… Paul wants to prepare the struggling church in Ephesus …for the coming persecution they are to face. His words of encouragement… are for those wondering… how on earth they’ll ever endure the suffering…when the evil day actually comes?

Paul’s letter ends with a powerful plea for them to remain strong in the master and teacher Jesus… and in the strength of his power.

And how are they to be strong?

Well… they’re not to respond with force or violence…

they must use only the things God has taught them through Jesus…truth, justice, the gospel of peace, and unwavering faith in its power for the salvation of the world. Their only weapon …is to be the Spirit of God’s breathed Word. [pause]

And why is it so important for them to hold fast to these particular things… Paul calls ‘the full armour of God’?

Well…if they resort to the ways of the world to protect themselves… if they succumb to the temptation… to meet violence with violence… they’ll be falling…into a diabolical trap.

For our struggle… Paul says isn’t really against our fellow human beings who bleed just like we do…no you’ve got to see the bigger picture…what we have to resist are the rulers, the authorities, the cosmic powers of this present darkness, the spiritual forces of evil… who exploit their weaknesses.

That’s why we don’t use our enemies own weapons against them…that’s why we must take up and use the armour of God to withstand on that evil day…and having done everything, to stand firm. [pause]

In the face of lies… stand and fasten the belt of truth around your waist.

In the face of oppression and injustice… stand and put on… the breastplate of righteousness justice and equity.

In the face of violence and abuse… stand and put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace.

Against malicious and hateful attacks…stand and take the shield of faith… with which you’ll be able…to quench all the flaming arrows of the wicked ones.

Against manipulation and exploitation…stand and protect your mind… with the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

And you’re long range missile defence system…is prayer…

Pray in the Spirit at all times [pause]

Now forgive me if I’m wrong, but… most Christians I meet who talk about putting on the ‘full armour of God’ seem to concentrate on Paul’s armour metaphor …as a way to protect themselves from diabolical attack …from temptation and harm…

I rarely hear people enthusing about the actions… the behaviour Paul encourages… in the face of opposition… persecution and violence…

And I don’t think Paul’s saying… the full armour of God… will keep you from injury… when you’re surrounded… by night stick wielding thugs…

I don’t think Paul’s saying… this way of standing against evil…will keep you from bleeding when you’re stabbed or bruised when you’re smashed in the face…
or heart broken when you’re ridiculed and rejected.

I think Paul is saying… this is how we shall stand strong… in the face of bullying… hatred… mockery and abuse…I think Paul is saying… be strong in the way of life Jesus taught… because it has the power of salvation in the long run…because only Jesus’ way of Shalom… will save the world …[pause]

For much of human history… people have found Paul’s logic to be counterintuitive and counter cultural…but there are notable exceptions: Te Whiti… Gandhi and Martin Luther King Junior… to name a few.

But Paul is actually saying… that hatred and revenge… are logical fallacies. They don’t save anything Logically…the conditions that bring peace – justice and equity… mercy and compassion… are what will save the world…if that’s what you’re interested in… as a follower of Jesus. [pause]

Our storyteller John… calls the bringing about of these conditions…‘eternal life’ … what the other gospel writers call… ‘the kingdom of God.’

We pray for this… every time we say ‘thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ [pause]

And we’re not always the victims either. Sometimes we can be the perpetrators of persecution…sometimes we are the bullies…

Have you confessed and turned from your lies or your own injustices… when you were the violent one with your tongue or your fists…when you were the malicious one… promoting suspicion or hatred of others. Have you failed to protect your mind… with the teachings of the Word made flesh…have you failed to honour your relationship with God in prayer.

Or to put it more positively…where in your life or in the world…are you actively confronting lies with the truth?

Where are you confronting injustice with acts of righteousness and equality?

What acts of violence and abuse are you speaking out against… because they’re in opposition to Jesus’ gospel of peace?

What malicious gossip or prejudices…are you meeting head on…with faith… in God’s grace and forgiveness?

Are you familiar enough with the word of God revealed in the teachings of Jesus… to protect your head…from the bombardment of commercial political religious or emotional manipulation?

And do you pray in the same Spirit… which unites us to God and to all creation?

In short… do you put on the full armour of God… whose grace and forgiveness is sufficient to sustain us?

My prayer is that you will reflect on this… in the week ahead.

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[i] Thich Nhat Hanh

Running on Empty

Pentecost 11 year B Sermon Bread of Life

Running on empty…

It’s an old Jackson Brown song from the 70’s

…if you’re a baby boomer you’ll probably know it

It’s song about driving your car or your motorbike…

on an endless highway of performance…and activity

About driving ourselves on and on blindly toward depletion…the young man sings

Looking out at the road rushing under my wheels
Looking back at the years gone by

like so many summer fields
I don’t know where I’m running now,

I’m just running on

Gotta do what you can just to keep your love alive
Trying not to confuse it with what you do to survive
I dont know when that road turned onto the road I’m on
Everyone I know, everywhere I go running on empty

People need some reason to believe
I don’t know about anyone but me
I dont know how to tell you all

just how crazy this life feels
I look around for the friends I used to turn to
to pull me through
Looking into their eyes I see them running too

And the chorus

Running on - running on empty
Running on - running blind

running into the sun But I’m running behind

Blank slide

In the belly of the young man who sings and in many of us today…there’s a great bit gaping hole…a sense of emptiness…you know where it is…it sits right under your rib cage…

a lot of the time you don’t even know its there…
but every once in a while…when you’re under stress or in emotional pain…you can feel it begin to tear open
…your aware of the…of the what…

You’re aware of the emptiness aware of your hunger…pangs of hunger…mixed with loneliness and maybe a little fear…

You’re uncomfortable you want to run away from it
…you want do something to make it stop

So you go to the fridge…or the cupboard…or the liquor cabinet…or the computer…or the bread bin …ah…bread…

And Jesus said…

Slide words

I am the bread of life. Those who come to me will never go hungry, and those who believe in me will never be thirsty.

Blank slide

This week it dawned on me for the first time…that when we eat food…we incorporate…we put other life into our bodies …...

to nourish our own body. Freshly baked bread will sustain our physical life.

Temporarily…

But after a while our blood sugar level…will signal our brain that our tummy’s empty again. And so we look for more food to satisfy that hungry feeling.

When we ask someone we just met…what they do for a living… we’re basically asking how they get their bread in the world.

‘What do you do for a crust?’ is a classic kiwi question…

Some people are kind of stuck…driven to making a living … so they can eat…so they can live…

so they can eat more … so they can live to eat another day…and round and round it goes. Theologian Soren Kierkegaard once cynically remarked… such people go through life asleep…until one day they wake up and realise they died.

Instead of asking what someone does for a living…
it might be a lot more interesting to ask them why they do it. Why they chose a particular way to ‘get their daily bread’. What’s the point of their life? What do they feed on to sustain the will to live?

The God question is…Who do you feed on to sustain the will to live?

In Luke and in Matthew… Jesus quotes a verse from the ancient Hebrew scriptures from Deuteronomy

Slide words

‘Man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.’

And did you notice in today’s reading from the Gospel of John…fresh from feeding the five thousand…

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Jesus makes it plain…he’s sent to be God’s life giving teaching in the flesh. He has come to embody the Word of God…

but his claim is outrageous and dangerous and subversive worse… its blasphemy… because in the mind of the Jews he’s talking to…there is only one ‘bread of life’ and that is the Torah…the Law…the first five books of the Hebrew scriptures…

To underscore his claim … Jesus echoes Israel’s exodus from slavery…just like manna… given by God in the desert for their survival… Jesus tells them

Slide words

I’ve come down from heaven… to do the will of the one who sent me…

Blank slide

The crowd and his enemies have followed him… begging for more miracles and basically Jesus tells them to get a life
…stop looking for signs and wonders. It’s not my mission to dazzle you…

But learn from me and you will have eternal life… pay attention to my teaching…my words and my actions… not my miracles … they won’t satisfy you in the long run

They won’t ensure life on earth for generations to come…

Relate to me follow me believe what I’m teaching

‘humanity won’t survive on bread alone…but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

And Jesus tells them radical or not understand it or not…

I am that word… in the flesh.

Eternal life…the salvation of the world…depends on your understanding what I’m trying to teach you…

There’s a sense in which one of the purposes of the Gospel of John is to establish the term ‘eternal life’ as the equivalent of ‘kingdom of God’. Life everlasting in the presence of God… eternity starts now by believing and following Jesus

Later Jesus prays…

Slide words

Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

Blank slide

But in the first century under Roman rule Jesus radical assertion that the Kingdom of God had entered the world was a threat to both Imperial and religious authority implying God’s people could neither be domesticated or controlled.

Today God’s people present a challenge to the powers and principalities of consumption and greed. To those who would convince us we’ll finally be filled up…

finally be satisfied …with just one more bite…one more glass…one more purchase…

But when your primary source of nurture and guidance is Jesus When you belong to the kingdom of God even the most powerful weapon of control – the threat of execution

…loses its power… because even death can’t separate you from the source of your life.

For the Jews the real bread of life the ultimate source of the knowledge and wisdom of God was the written Torah…this didn’t work too well…this wasn’t satisfying…the Law couldn’t fill them up when they were running on empty.

It is my experience that the only thing that will truly satisfy …is to allow God in Christ by the Holy Spirit…

to fill us up…

we are created by and for this relationship…and it is the source and nutrient of life.

There’s a sense in which the whole godless world is running on empty…people have consumed and consumed and still they are depleted…They come to the end of the road having exhausted their own resources and wisdom…

The real bread that satisfies…the ultimate thing that will fill us up… is not a thing at all but a who…God the giver of life… its source and its end… through Jesus…God speaks words of hope forgiveness and grace… to those who hunger and thirst … To drink from this well to eat from this table is to have everlasting life.

Have you eaten today?

Whether you feed yourself by reading Jesus words or by listening for his guidance in contemplation…to stay alive… to stay full you must eat or sooner or later you will be running on empty.

As Jesus says…

Who ever comes to me I’ll never drive away

Grow up!

Pentecost 10 year B Sermon

Grow up! Paul says…

We must grow up… in every way into him…who is the head…into Christ.

Grow up? What does Paul mean encouraging us to grow up? Well for one thing…it has to mean we haven’t finished growing yet …we’re not fully mature…and Paul isn’t talking to you and I as individuals… he’s talking to all of us…as the gathered followers of Jesus…as the church

It’s time for all of us to grow up…time to reflect our calling as Jesus disciples… in everything we do……..time to lead a life worthy of the calling… a life of ‘all humility and gentleness, with patience…bearing with one another in love

and why is it so important for us… as the gathered people of God …to live this way… well Paul warns… humility gentleness and patience are the only way we’ll be able tomaintain the unity of the Spirit… in the bond of peace.

But we’re so different…aren’t we…how can we hold this thing together…the church has asked this question for two thousand years…how can we hold this thing together in our diversity…oldies and youngies…charismatics evangelicals and traditionalist sea of faith…men and women…languages nationalities

Please don’t worry Paul writes…you’ve got to trust that as far as the Body of Christ is concerned…God will provide all the skills you need…God will…equip the saints for the work of ministry…for building up the Body of Christ

Saints?...Yep that’s us… not dead beatified holy ones…

Just us… you and me… ordinary followers of Jesus…called to the ministry of building up the Body of Christ… so Jesus’ work can continue...

But how will we know when the projects complete …when the work is done …what will it look like?

Well Paul wants us to understand…the building up of the body won’t be finisheduntil all of us come to the unity of the faith…and the knowledge of the Son of God…to maturity…to the measure of the full stature of Christ.

Till we’re all able to live and worship and work and play…side by side…with humility gentleness, and patience…till we’re all

Able to bear with one another… in love.

Whew…given our differences we could be working on that for a while eh.

But maybe all those differences we perceive are just distractions…maybe conformity and homogeneity aren’t what Paul means by unity…everyone being the same in the way we worship …in our attitudes to tradition…in our convictions about doctrine …no I think the kind of unity Paul means… is unity in and under Christ…unity in our commitment…to live out his Way of Shalom.

And to achieve that kind of unity…we have to grow up…

Paul says…

We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro…and blown about by every wind of doctrine… by religious magicians and charlatans.

Just like the violence a chain saw can to your arm…disunity among Jesus followers…can do violence to the Body of Christ…So for God’s purposes to be fulfilled…we have to be mature enough…to live with our differences in gentleness humility and patience. And when we disagree …and we will disagree from time to time…

Paul says… you’ve gotta

Speak the truth in love… not in anger or bitterness or arrogance or fear…

Thirty years after his encounter with the risen Christ… the Apostle Paul finds himself under house arrest in Rome. He arrives… not in glow of publicity befitting a world famous evangelist…but in chains.

Bringing the good news to the ends of the earth…
has had its downside.

On home detention and under guard…Paul’s ministry is limited to occasional visitors…some from the new churches he’s left behind in his apostolic mission…these visitors bring good news and bad…yes there is growth…but trouble is brewing. Squabbles over ideas contrary to Jesus’ teaching…are causing disharmony threatening the unity…and therefore the witness of the church…

Somehow Paul manages to smuggle letters out …when his visitors leave. Letters we now know as… Colossians, Philippians, Ephesians and Philemon.

The encouragement Paul writes to Christians at Ephesus …sends a challenge to our church today… full of assurance, it’s a call to life giving worship… and a forcefulexhortation …to remain united.

Paul compares the congregation to a human body unified by the head… from whom the whole body…joined and knit together…by every ligament with which it’s equipped each part working properly to promote the body's growth… in building itself up in love.

Antagonism and ill will among believers…is like a body attacking itself from the inside…weakening its own defences … keeping it from thriving…Without unity under Christ …we’re disabled and our witness…sounds like hot air the world…That’s why Paul exhorts us to

Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ…who is the one hope of our calling.

For in reality

There is only one body and one Spirit, one Lord, one faith,

one baptism, one God and Father of all,
who is above all and through all and in all.

And in the end if we’re open to the Spirit of God…

Paul assures us…we will receive the strength and the unity which bring peace and faithfulness to Christ…

You see there’s a continual process going on in every generation …as God works out his purposes in the world. Paul says

God gives the saints…that’s us…certain gifts…skills…
and abilities…to equip us for the work we’re called to do…
the work of growing up into Christ…

To all of us is given a grace according to the measure of Christ's gift

that some would be apostles…some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers.

What can these gifts possibly mean for us today…well

Apostles – are sent out to set up new ventures...new connections with the community

Prophets – question the status quo and shake us out of self-righteous complacency

Evangelists – bring newcomers into the company of Jesus followers

Pastors – care for God’s children and creation

Teachers – explain and communicate our faith.

Maybe you identified your spiritual gifts ages ago…but are you using them?

Maybe you never even thought about it.

Well I think Paul’s trying to tell us to recognise these gifts in ourselves and in each other…that part of growing up in the faith… is a willingness to accept and use the gifts we’ve been given… so we can contribute… to the building up of the Body of Christ. As Paul says we’re not finished…we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.

this is the only way we’ll be able to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

As part of our vows of Eldership…our leaders have to promise to maintain the peace and unity of the church… Soon we’re going to explore more deeply the gifts we’ve been given. Any team of Christian leaders needs a balance of gifts. And Session had this in mind when we prayerfully discerned Phil Smith would make a good Elder.

After this next song it will be our pleasure to ordain him to this office.

Ship of Fools

Pentecost 9 year B Sermon

The fool says in his heart, "There is no God."

Ok that’s the pew Bible. Now listen to Psalm 14 translated
in The Message.

‘Bilious and bloated, they gas, "God is gone."

Their words are poison gas, fouling the air;
they poison rivers and skies; thistles are their cash crop.

God sticks his head out of heaven. He looks around.
He's looking for someone not foolish—just one
God expectant man, even one God-ready woman.

^And He comes up empty. A string of noughts. Useless, unshepherded sheep, taking turns…pretending to be the Shepherd. The ninety and nine… follow their fellow.

Don't they know anything, all these impostors?
Don't they know they can't get away with this—
Treating people…treating creation…like a fast-food meal
over which they're too busy to pray?

Night’s coming for them, and nightmares,
for God takes the side of victims.
Do you think you can mess with the dreams of the poor?
You can't, because God makes their dreams come true.’

You know I think this psalm… may really be…David’s own poetry. Well his wife Abigail used to be married to an idiot named Nabal

נבל which is the Hebrew word…used in this Psalm… as a euphemism for ‘fool’. That’s right…one of David’s wives had been married to a guy named ‘fool’

You see according to the story in the book of Samuel…back in the day when David was young and feisty… and not yet king…he and his men were outlaws…living rough off the land… in the Wilderness ofParan…they survived by protecting the shepherds who worked for this guy Nabal…aka fool…and Nabal was a very wealthy landowner.

It was coming round to shearing time and David’s boys wanted to enjoy the festivities along with everyone else …but it was hard going… just surviving day to day. They were always hungry…so David sent ten of his boys to negotiate with Nabal for provisions… giving strict instructions how to ask him…

David said ‘now I want you to greet Nabal in my name, and say 'Shalom! Life and peace to you. Peace to your household, peace to everyone here! When your shepherds were camped near us…we didn't take advantage of them. And they didn't lose a thing the whole time they were with us. Just ask them.

What I…David…am asking…is that you be generous with my men—share the feast! Give whatever your heart tells you…to your servants and to me…

warmest regards David your son.' End of message.

Now when David’s boys deliver this message word for word… Nabal tears a strip of them…"Who’s the heck is this David? This son of Jesse? The country’s full of runaway servants. Do you think I'm gonna take good bread and wine… freshly butchered meat for my shearers…and give it to men I've never laid eyes on? Who knows where they really come from?"

Well to cut a long story short…David took the insult personally. In a rage he got ready to rampage right into Nabal’s farm. When one of the shepherds saw this…

he headed straight to Nabal’s wife…Abigail…and told her how her husband refused to feed the outlaws and insulted David.

So just as David sets off for Nabal’s farm with four hundred men … Abigail sets off without telling her husband… in David’s direction … to prevent a catastrophe she’s bringing a very large quantity of provisions

When the two meet up…Abigail falls to the ground at David’s feet…and pleads with him to accept the supplies she brought…she even offers to take the blame onto herself for her husband’s sin.

And while she’s at it Abigail swears Yahweh will ensure David’s dynasty… lasts a thousand of years… and that David will be sinless and divinely protected…and in that case… he wouldn’t want unnecessary bloodshed on his conscience… would he? [pause]

As a result of Abigail’s words of wisdom…David realises he’s about to commit a foolish and grave sin himself…
so he calls off the attack and sends Abigail home in peace.

The story ends when Abigail arrives home next day… to finds her husband drunk and merry…after over indulging at a banquet. When she finally tells Nabal what she’s been up to…he has a heart attack… and dies ten days later. David interprets Nabal’s death as divine punishment … and asks Abigail to marry him…and she accepts.

Now it’s interesting the root meaning of the name Nabal is ‘wilt’ with overtones of failure…

since Abigail’s husband is drunk at the end of the story… this makes a lot of sense. Plays on words and puns like these…were an art form for the Hebrew storyteller.

But ultimately the name Nabal… becomes famous for this shamelessly rude…corrupt and selfish person… Nabal comes to mean … fool. And possibly… our Psalm was written right after Abigail’s husband dies ‘cause he sure fit the definition of fool.

When David’s hungry men ask Nabal to share his considerable wealth…to be generous with them…he covers up his own selfishness…by condemning and abusing the very ones who come to him for relief.

Nabal assumes what he has…belongs to him alone…to do with whatever he wants.

And Nabal certainly doesn’t give God a second thought…
in fact he blocks God right out of his decision making …there’s no commandment to guide him…no values nor morality for Nabal to follow except the ones he decides to make up…for his own benefit

And because the fool makes his own rules…he feels absolutely no responsibility to other people particularly and especially… the outcast the hungry and the poor. Nabal has made himself God…and lord of his universe. He lives by his own rules and our psalmist warns:

The fool says in his heart, "There is no God."

They are corrupt, their deeds are vile. The psalmist says God can’t find anyone who hasn’t turned aside from his way of Shalom…where the goal is the welfare of all people. And God…who is the refuge of the poor…discovers they’re being devoured like bread.

Not only are these fools the psalm talks about…greedy and immoral…they conduct their lives without any recognition of a power greater than themselves…these fools…

as the proverb says… know nothing of wisdom.

And in scripture it’s not just individuals who are fools…the same word ‘nabal’ is applied also to the nations. Since wisdom is the gift of God expressed in the law and the prophets…to be without it…

even worse to ignore it…is to be foolish.

In Deuteronomy we read…

Is this the way you repay the LORD, O foolish and unwise nation? Is he not your Father, your Creator, who made you and formed you?

Take to heart all the words I’ve solemnly declared to you … They aren’t just idle words…they are your life. By them you will live long in the land.

You can see now that for the psalmists, poets and storytellers of the Hebrews…fools aren’t intellectually impaired…they’re morally and spiritually impaired …they’re destructive greedy and unjust. And because they know no higher power…

they’re easily seduced by impostors and idols.

Now the Gospel slant on this is hugely important for us as followers of Jesus…lest we become smug and arrogant and complacent…we learn from Jesus that pointing the finger and calling someone else a fool…is an even worse sin than greed and corruption…because pride is lurking there.

Jesus…the one sent to save us from ourselves and reveal God to us… warns us that to call someone else a ‘fool’ places us right on the precipice of hell. That’s Matt 5:22 if you don’t believe me. We’re warned because our arrogance and pride may have blinded us to our own selfish folly… and blinded…we could stumble.

Of course the gist of Jesus’ wisdom…
is what looks like folly to the world…may in fact be…
the way of salvation for the world. You see from the worlds perspective…the little boy in the story of the loaves and fishes is a fool for sharing his food…and it’s no coincidence the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand is the Gospel story set down for today.

Like the Psalms and the prophets…the Gospels and Paul’s letters…take aim at the same foolish practises…among these of course is relying on earthly wealth… and there’s the foolishness of turning from grace in favour of legalism; another folly is explored in the parable of the foolish virgins: failing to see in the ministry of Jesus…

the work of God…reconciling all creation to himself...

Perhaps even more significant is the folly of the one who builds their house on sand…a metaphor for failing to act on Jesus’ teaching… ‘How foolish you are…Jesus says… and how slow of heart in believing all that the prophets have spoken!’ To the ancient Hebrews…to be "slow of heart" is to be without wisdom and understanding of God’s will.

And Old Testament theologian Walter Brueggemann notices the fools in Psalm 14 don’t announce their atheism out loud. Theirs is an atheism of the heart…revealed in the decisions they make and their relationships with others. The outcome is their actions are corrupt, without discernment, they are oppressive and exploitative of others. As the psalmist says

Slide words

"They eat up my people as they eat bread." [pause]

Blank slide

Did you know there’s a very popular website…
where atheists can get together to swap yarns and share religious jokes…they’ve named the site intentionally and ironically: ‘Ship of Fools’.

And yes… we can smirk and feel smug…

until we remember with dread…Jesus’ warning that perhaps we ourselves are blind fools…guilty of living by our own rules…making ourselves God and saying in our hearts…
‘there is no God.’

Perhaps the lesson of ‘the Fall’… is that we’re all from time to time…passengers on that little boat…
as it sails across a godless and complacent sea.

And because our culture says in its heart…‘there is no God’
there’s little motivation to examine the values that govern our choices…our relationships…our politics and our lives. In this era of post-Christendom…our ethics can be created and discarded… by each individual as they see fit. [pause]

But as followers of Jesus there is something we can do…

One: examine our hearts…and confess there is a God
Two: remind ourselves and our community…
the standards we try to live up to…are the values of the Sermon on the Mount…the life saving ethic of Shalom…of peace with justice compassion and mercy.

And three…remind ourselves and the world this morality isn’t arbitrary…it’s given by our Creator in the life and teaching of Jesus…in the person of Jesus Christ…so all humankind may live long in the land and in peace. God’s very Word spoken for us…this is the air we breathe. Give yourself to Him as we sing.

The Threefold Way part 3: Via Unitiva

Pentecost 8 year B Sermon 09

Two weeks ago… we started a series…thinking of our church family as a school of practice…where we learn what it means to live and work…in the light of God’s love.

In his book…Finding our way again…Brian McLaren suggests if … we aren’t a school of practice…we’re in danger of becoming just another consumer group…or Sunday morning escape from reality.

Even when we see ourselves as a… passionate well educated congregation…if we’re not practicing the way Jesus taught…we can lose our way…and to find our way forward again…

we have to look back … to see where we got off the track in the first place …

so we recall the accumulated wisdom…

of centuries of Jesus’ disciples and rediscover…
the portrayal of Christian life as a journey…a path…a way…

with stages or seasons of spiritual growth…

It’s what the ancient church called‘the threefold way’ or three dimensions of Christian life…The first dimension…involves a season of self-examination…or self purging…called in Latin the Via Purgativa… or in Greek…Katharsis.

On this part of our journey we honestly examine… how the pursuit of money, pleasure and power… has a hold on our lives…
our marriages, our parenting… our work… our friendships....
We ask how we can hold each other accountable… as we seek to practice the opposite of greed and lust and pride…
as we seek to become a people of humility and compassion…
self control and simplicity. [pause]

Once we’ve cleaned the grime off the windows of our lives… we’re ready to let the light shine in…ready to explore the second dimension of the threefold way…a season of learning and growth… of study and listening and prayer and worship…where we practice seeing everything and everyone…in the light of God’s love.

Here in this second season…we let the wisdom of God illuminate… our lives and our relationships…this dimension of the Christian life ....is The Via Illuminativa…or Fotosis…

And all along…the first and second dimensions of the threefold way … have been preparing us for the third …the one we’re exploring today…the Via Unitiva…or Theosis… where all our practicing…finds fulfillment.

To understand this third dimension… McLaren suggests we sit comfortably by the fireplace… gazing into the flames. It’s so cosy on these cold days…[pause]

and its easy to become relaxed and even captivated by the… beauty and warmth of the fire…

Suddenly we realize we’ve left the tip of the iron poker…
lying in the hot red embers....and we notice something expected but still amazing has happened…

The tip of the poker has started to glow …and the section that’s deepest in the glowing embers… is now completely indistinguishable from them…it pulses with the same orange glow and the same mysterious radiance.

Further up the rod…we notice… it’s orange but not glowing…and still further from the tip… the poker’s white… then gray… and then the normal rough black… of unpolished iron.

And gradually a kind of revelation… starts to warm our hearts. we begin to understand …that the power of fire…is far greater… than the power of iron.

So instead of iron making the fire cold…the fire…
makes the iron hot. If the poker’s in the fire long enough…
the nature of fire overshadows the nature of iron… and the iron begins to catch the nature of the fire. The light and heat of fire… illuminate and warm the darkness and cold of the iron.
There’s a sense in which the iron is fire-ized.

This pre-scientific explanation might maintain that the iron partakes in the nature of fire…until it becomes light and heat itself.

Today we might say something about atoms and molecules and radiant energy or heat transfer…rapid oxidation and combustion. But its experience not science that’s taught us not to pick up the poker without a glove or an old rag even if the handle is black…and when we’ve taken it out the fire… we watch… as the tip reverts… from the nature of fire to the nature of iron.

Less dramatically…we could demonstrate the same thing…
by leaving the poker out in the sun…even simple sunlight can overpower the nature of iron.

Just imagine what would happen…if we could stick the poker right into the sun! Now we’re beginning to understand the third dimension on the threefold way… the via unitiva…the union of our nature… with the nature of God…

To get here…first… with the practice of self-examination…we clean the grime off our windows so the light can shine in…second… through the practice of study… prayer …listening and worship… we place ourselves in the light of God… and now third…we’re gradually overpowered…by the nature of God… and metaphorically you might say …we begin to glow with God’s radiance. We join God…in being fire. [pause]

Eight years before he died…a brilliant 17^th century scientist and mathematician…named Blaise Pascal… had a profound experience of the presence of God…an occurrence he described in a poem he stitched into the lining of his coat…as if he wanted to keep it close to his heart.

The poem begins: The year of grace 1654 Monday 23 November From about half past ten in the evening until about half past midnight…FIRE…

English can’t do justice to Pascal’s experience during those two hours…but some of the words he uses and repeats over and over again are these. Certitude. Certitude. Feeling. Joy. Peace Forgetfulness of the world and of everything except God. Greatness of the human soul, joy joy joy tears of joy…

Jesus Christ …Jesus Christ let me never be separated from him. Renunciation, total and sweet. Complete submission…[pause]

Don’t you think it’s fascinating…that Pascal was at the same time a great scientist… and Christian mystic? That his poem wasn’t discovered ‘til after his death…and don't you wonder why he began with the date and the time?

Well McLaren suggests Pascal knew his experience was extra-ordinary and would pass. Perhaps he knew…

if he didn’t write something down… it could easily be forgotten …lost among so many other memories.

And yes…to Pascal …the experience was real and mattered…

but… that wasn’t the point…the point was the agonising tension he expresses… between certainty and complete submission…
and the experience of separation… he writes…yet in my life I’ve departed from him…I left him… I fled him… renounced and crucified him.

Pascal’s extra-ordinary baptism of fire…helps him see and feel… as never before… the horror of turning away from the fire
and the light… of turning away God. And with full awareness of how many times he’s turned away… Pascal wonders how his sense of closeness to God can be sustained after the vision ends.
And so he writes these words

‘He’s to be found only in the ways taught in the Gospel…he is only kept securely… by the way taught in the Gospel’

Notice Pascal repeats the word ‘ways’.

Pascal knew that by definition… such a mystical experience…

is rare…and such moments can only be found and kept securely through ways… through practices….

So just as our hot poker caught fire…in the heat and glow of the embers...if we stay close enough to God’s light and heat… for long enough …through our practicing of self examination and prayerful study…then hopefully we’ll catch alight with God.

And when we do…then just maybe we’ll glow with what God has …maybe we will glow with love and peace and patience and justice and compassion and mercy and forgiveness…maybe these will be transferred to us…and maybe then…

we’ll be able to transfer that light and that heat to others. [pause]

In the beginning there was God…and God said let there be light… and time and space…and all created things were made…
and there was enough… and it was good and it was beautiful and we were given life as gift…and there in the garden of our freedom…we made ourselves the managers…and botched the job.

As Pascal lamented… we departed from him, we fled him…we renounced him…and even though he came to us in love…we crucified him.

The result of this on a global scale? War and waste…and wealth at the expense of others…ongoing poverty and ignorance in a world where God provided enough for everyone.

The result of this on a personal scale? Tears… curses… fear mocking laughter… vicious judgments…selfishness greed…broken families… and a tendency to grab onto anything that will temporarily stop the pain…

And when we discover we’re off the track…heading in the wrong direction… without the fire of God’s love and the light of the ways of the Gospel. We want to defect from the dark cold course we’re on… and so we begin again to practice the ancient ways…beginning afresh…with Katharsis proceeding through Fotosis seeking Theosis.

And we practice this threefold way… not just for ourselves…not just for our own salvation...but for the salvation of the world. We don’t seek union with God to the exclusion of others… but for their welbeing.

We seek theosis not to separate ourselves from those who are still cold and hard like iron…but so we can be glowing links in a chain that reaches through us to them…with light and warmth from God We grow hot so they can grow warm. And on and on it goes…until God is all in all…

As Jesus promised his followers…

‘Because I live, you also will live. On that day you’ll realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.’

The whole purpose of Jesus coming… is that the whole world catch fire with the love of God. That all humanity are reconciled and united with God…till all glowing with Shalom…till all people radiate peace… with justice and compassion and mercy.

As Paul said the reading set down for today…in his letter to the church at Ephesus

So he came to proclaim peace… to you who were far off… aand peace to those who were near; for through him all humanity has access in one Spirit to the Father. So then… you’re no longer strangers and aliens to one another…but citizens with the saints… and members of the household of God.

With Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone and in him the whole structure is joined together… and grows into a holy temple in the Lord…built together spiritually… into a dwelling place for God.

Let us open ourselves to this in silence as we listen to 'This is the air I breathe'.