Eternity in our minds

Epiphany 4 year C Sermon Cosmos
Here’s a riddle. When is a dirty snowball not a dirty snowball...

When it’s a comet...the Comet McNaught to be exact.

How many of you got to see it this week? Wasn’t it beautiful?

The Christchurch Press described it as ‘a...
hurtling ball of ice and dust. Comet McNaught blazes so brightly... it’s visible to the naked
eye at twilight, portrayed by astronomers...
as a dirty snowball.’

An astronomer at Mount John Observatory in Tekapo says the comet has a nucleus... of loosely compacted snow... surrounded by dust and gas...
As a comet gets closer to the sun... its nucleus evaporates ...and leaves a vapour trail. And in Comet McNaught's case, this trail...
is millions of kilometres long.

"It's a lovely natural phenomenon." The astronomer says...one you’ll be able to see regularly... about every 85 thousand years.

Millions of kilometers long...Let me get this straight. The tail of the comet... which I can spy with my little eye...right over Mt Roy as I stand outside my house in the twilight... this tail... is millions of kilometers long.

What else do we know that’s so enormous? Anybody?

Well...the sun’s diameter is over a million kilometer’s, and you can fit over a million Earth's... inside the sun.

And Comet McNaught has still got 25 million kilometers to go before it gets to the sun...and all of this we could see... just standing in our front garden this week. Amazing

A comet sure makes you think doesn’t it...Where is God in all this? And if everything was created by God... that would have to include the dimensions of time and space and the whole universe as we now know it.

So what does it mean to have faith in the creator
of a universe which is...zillions of times bigger and more complex than the million km long tail of Comet McNaught?

Talk to your neighbour about that for a minute?

And for me... two more mysterious questions arise.
One: If the universe includes all creation...created by God...is there a part of God that exists outside...
the boundaries of the universe...And the second question: is God present and active everywhere...
in all the vastness of the universe?

Talk to your neighbour about that for a minute?

God who is outside and inside all creation and even born into our humanity in Jesus? That could be a way of getting your head around the Trinity couldn’t it?

Then even more exciting and mysterious questions unfold.

The first creation story in the Bible tells us...God created the heavens and the earth and it was good, so right at the beginning... it was all good. Everything...all creation was good. Good good good good good. God didn’t create some good stuff and some bad stuff...just good stuff and good people...

But somehow through the freedom God gave there’s been a fall from this goodness... The evidence is everywhere...isn’t it in the Bible and all around us...there’s enough food and people starve...enough land and people kill each other for it...some keep all the wealth and others have no share in it...and our greedy consumption of creation causes it to be polluted.

Then this really big question hit me...if all that is true...and I believe it is...is anything beyond God’s power to save...is anything beyond restoration to its original goodness even the powers and principalities.

if Jesus is the saviour of the world... the universe... the cosmos...all creation...if Jesus is the way the truth and the life...sent to reconcile all things to God
then nothing is outside God’s power to save.

You see our Christian faith proclaims that in the person of Jesus...the creator of the universe entered time and space to show us his way to us in the flesh... to shine the light on the way out of this fallenness...
to realign creation with its original goodness... with God’s will.


This is good news this is the hope that lies at the heart of our faith...that in the beginning everything in all creation...whether in time and space or in some other dimension...every power and principality...all of nature...every human community...every human being...every ocean every river every tree every microbe... all of it... was created good...

and every last bit of it...every polluted... greedy... dominating... exploitative...oppressive...selfish...self absorbed...raging...abusive thing...every fallen thing... every system... every institution...
every power every principality...

can be redeemed by the way of Jesus...revealing God’s will of Shalom for creation...

In life and in death...there is hope for everything...hope for us...hope for the world... God is working to reconcile all creation to himself... and to restore all the original goodness...
Jesus has made it our work too.

So while a part of our mission is to proclaim the wisdom of God...revealed in Jesus...to fallen human beings...we are also called to ensure the wisdom of God is worked out in fallen communities and systems and global institutions and all the powers and principalities... even the church.

This is a hope worthy of Jesus...the One...
in...and through... and for... all things were created the one whose praises we sing as we wait for the ultimate reconciliation of all things in the embrace of divine love.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made. In him was life, and that life was the light of humanity. That light shines in the darkness....

It’s amazing what a comet can bring to mind isn’t it?

The Nazareth Manifesto

Epiphany 3 year C Sermon 07 Nazareth Manifesto

In only a short time Luke tells us... news about Jesus... had spread through the whole countryside. Stories of the voice saying ‘this is my beloved son’ and the dove at his baptism in the river Jordon. Stories about how the spirit had led Jesus into the wilderness...

Stories of his teaching in the synagogues... right throughout Galilee... and how everyone praised him. And now in the midst of it all he’d come home...
to Nazareth...to the people he’d grown up with...to his neighbours and friends.

People who knew him as Josephs boy, Mary’s oldest son, friends who’d watched him at his work as a carpenter...studied and argued with him... growing up in the synagogue... like all good Jewish boys.

Of course they’d ask him to speak… now he was back. Ask him to read and interpret the scriptures. So they could get a good look… at what all the fuss was about. [pause]

Was Jesus standing by a window in the sun’s morning rays … as they handed him the scroll of Isaiah …
or was it in the cool dusk of evening
as they gathered there?
Were his friends and neighbours in that little town… intrigued… or were they sceptical and slightly cynical in anticipation… of what Joseph’s son… the carpenter would say… did their eyes glistened with interest…
as they waited in silence… for Jesus interpretation…
of his chosen text. [pause]

Unrolling the scroll of Isaiah, Jesus finds the several texts he wants... and begins to read:

‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he’s anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He’s sent me...
to proclaim freedom for the prisoners... and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favour.’

Then Luke tells us...Jesus rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant... and the eyes and ears of everyone were fastened on him... as he sat down to speak...

You could have heard a pin drop…

‘Today…in your hearing… this scripture has been fulfilled. ’

Jesus could only mean…the spirit of God is on him…he’s been anointed…he’s the one about whom the prophet wrote…

They are stunned I imagine… Nothing his mother had said had prepared them for this. Either Jesus has become a mad man, or a con man. Or …what he said what true… and God’s purposes were being unveiled for them… right there in their hearing.

If Jesus is crazy… if he is filled with grandiose
fantasies and delusions… of course his words could be easily dismissed as the ravings of the deranged…they could feel sorry for his family…maybe titter a bit behind their hands…

If Jesus is conning them… lying to them… trying to claim divine support to overthrow Herod’s throne…
or even more daring…an armed uprising against Rome…

then he certainly can’t be dismissed…
he’s actually dangerous… he needs to be got rid of…
if the Jewish or Roman authorities got wind of it…why they’d be down on their little town of Nazareth… like a ton of bricks.

It’s all very well for us to dream of God rescuing his people from domination, saving the oppressed from exploitation, liberating the captives…but don’t try to drag us in on it.

If what Jesus said was true and he really was the promised one…the anointed one of God…the Messiah well… they’d expect some special razzle dazzle… for the old home town…something more than the young man they’d always known since childhood just sitting there…calmly claiming to be the Messiah. [pause]

So what conclusion did they come to…those people who knew Jesus best and longest? Did they raise him on their shoulders and spill out into the streets in joyous relief that the saviour of the world had come? Did they laugh out loud and roll their eyes and say yeah sure Jesus you’ve been out in the wilderness sun just a little bit too long…

I find what happens next truly confusing… because our storyteller Luke reports in verse 22.

‘All spoke well of him... and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked.’

Excuse me? But this is where I think some well meaning person must have slipped a little political correctness into Luke’s account of what happened that day.

‘All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips.’

At this point in the story... Jesus has only said one sentence
in his own words. And that declaration would have branded him... as either mad... bad or the actual Messiah.
‘Today…in your hearing… this scripture has been fulfilled.’
Sorry but ‘All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips.’ seems like a very weird response to mad or bad... and is certainly a muted and sugary response... to ‘I’m the anointed one of God’.

But... if we leap over this difficult verse... we get right back into what sounds like Jesus addressing his skeptics asking for some razzle dazzle miracles...some proof of identity.

Because Jesus says...now I suppose you’re gonna say. 'Ok Doc, heal yourself! Do it here like you did in Capernaum. But no prophet’s ever been accepted in his home town...
not even the great Elijah...’ [gently] I don’t need to prove anything.

Well that snaps it for the congregation...it’s clear from their reaction they don’t think Jesus is crazy...
They think he’s dangerous and they’re not going to allow him to hang around... and Luke tells us

‘all the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. And they got up, drove him out of town, and took him to the brow of the hill, to throw him down the cliff.’

And yet again his time has not yet come...
and Jesus walks straight through the crowd...
and right on back to Capernaum.

This won’t be... his last rejection....

Jesus’ teaching unfolds an interpretation of Jewish tradition... which shocked... angered and scared a lot of people.
But why... when his saving message was one of Shalom...
the desire of God’s just peace for all humankind.

Part of the why he was rejected... and continues to be rejected today... is revealed in Jesus words in the synagogue that day in Nazareth...today the words of the prophet Isaiah are fulfilled right here right now in your hearing.

If he wasn’t crazy or lying...he really was the anointed one of God... Immanuel...God with us in time and space...and if that’s true...we have to take him seriously...we have to take his teaching to heart...

And if we take his teaching to heart we might have to sacrifice something ourselves and follow him and that could be scary...the powers that be might not like it...

The powers that be might not like it. [pause]

It’s the same today as it was in Nazareth. Our response to Jesus understanding of his identity... is critical...
Either he was mad along with all those who recorded his life and teaching...or he was a liar and a conman...
Or in him... in the very person of Jesus... God’s purposes of Shalom were to be fulfilled for all creation.

We are free to choose...what we believe. We are free to reject him or choose his way of peace with compassion and mercy and justice. His way of asserting God’s love for all creation...all people...his request to love our enemies, pray for those who hate us and above all love one another..

We are free to choose to love...how consistent that is with grace don’t you think?

1 John The sin of perfectionism

Once upon a time... there was a man named John... painted here by the famous Spaniard... El Greco
Not Jesus cousin John the Baptist...but the other John...
a man who really... got who Jesus was.

This John... understood Jesus...because he knew him...as a beloved friend when he was alive. You see... John walked down dusty roads with Jesus... washed with him in lakes and rivers, shared wine and bread with him...breathed the same air.

Jesus had chosen him... as a companion and friend, taught him how to be a messenger of his the good news he brought...and how to live according to God’s will. Jesus loved him...the Bible tells us...Jesus loved John so much...that as he was dying on the Cross...he asked this man John...to be a son for his mother Mary. [pause]

John knew Jesus as a man – living sweating eating teaching... loving, aching, and dying...and living again.
So John certainly wasn’t going to put up with anyone who tried to spread it around...that Jesus had never been a real flesh and blood human being.

And sadly by the time John... was very very old...near the end of the first century...people were beginning to teach ideas... completely counter to... utterly anti... the Jesus John had known and loved.
These people claimed to worship Jesus, but denied his humanity. And what was scarier...
they taught Christians could reach perfection...and some even denied... there was any sin in their lives at all.
And so there was no longer any need for forgiveness. [pause]

And old John was absolutely ropable about this... and he didn’t want to die... before putting the record straight. So he named these people whose beliefs and teachings were so counter... so anti... the Jesus he’d known and loved – he called them... the antichrists.

John was worried Christianity would become a super-spiritualised and dangerous religion...
in which sin was denied...and with it... our prayers for forgiveness from God and the forgiving of one another... as God forgives us.

And so John left behind...the tiny message we call...
one John...a kind of message in a bottle...that would float through time...to you and to me... to be his eye witness version of who Jesus really was...what Jesus revealed about God... and God’s will for us.

There’ll always be scholarly debate over who wrote the books of the Bible...but I believe John really knew Jesus as he says he did. So here’s a summary what John says Jesus taught him person to person about God and God’s will for us...about sin and love and forgiveness...[pause]


about God Jesus taught him.
God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.
God is love, and those who live in love - live in God,
and God lives in them by the Spirit he’s given us.
How we know God’s living in us...is that we love one another... not talking about it... but doing it.

And so you might well ask how do we test whether some spirit nudging us is from God? Well... John anticipated our questions... and given his close encounter with Jesus...John answers this way.

Every spirit that acknowledges Jesus, the anointed one of God, has come in the flesh... is from God, any spirit that doesn’t... is anti christ.’

But how can we ever be really sure we know God?
John says keep it simple
Just obey God’s commandment to listen to his Son Jesus and walk as he walked... love God and each other the way Jesus loved.

Ok but that would mean sin wasn’t about breaking the rules? That’s right John tells us, Jesus taught him

Sin is the failure to love God and one another.
Sin’s not about breaking a rule...but breaking a relationship.
But then we have to ask...if that’s what sin is... don’t we do that in some way everyday of our lives? ...You got it... John says...

‘If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth isn’t in us. If we say we haven’t sinned, we make him a liar, and his word isn’t in us.’ You see the human Jesus died because of our refusal to love...he died for our sins...not only ours but for the sins of the whole world.

Sound pretty hopeless – is there any hope? Of course there’s hope John wrote that’s exactly what Jesus came to show us...there is hope

You see God loves us so much... he sent Jesus to embody the actual remedy for our failures at love – the remedy is God’s forgiveness. And we can’t be forgiven for what we don’t admit to... to God and to one another.

So how does God continue to work in the world...
now his Son Jesus is no longer with us in the flesh?
I knew you’d ask that too wrote John

No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us... by his Spirit...and his love is perfected in us. And so we can carry God’s love and forgiveness to the world. [pause]

And so it turns out... that in John’s community... one of the ironic things that threatened Christian’s ability to live a life of love... was when a whole lot of people started denying they ever sinned. [pause]

But, why on earth would people claim they never sinned...well in his book Christ plays in a thousand places, Eugene Peterson sheds some light on puzzle...
He thinks for a start... claiming you never sin makes life much easier. Bragging that you stick to the rules and obey the law doesn’t mean you’re living life of loving relationships.

And if we don’t think sin about relationships...
we don’t have to take other human beings seriously and what’s more... we don’t have to deal with God in a relational and personal way.

Jesus taught John... that sin is personal and relational... or it’s nothing. So John knew we’d never get love right.. if we didn’t get sin right. And the problem with getting sin right is our human tendency to deny it or play it down.

We call it a mistake, a bad call, poor judgment...wrong or negligent... a slip of the tongue...or an oversight... sometimes we call it stupidity or screwing-up. But rarely do we call it sin.

So Peterson says a refusal to deal with sin... is a refusal to deal with relationships. And if we refuse to deal with relationships... we can’t love God or anyone else.

We can’t love impersonally, we can’t love by abstractions ...we cant love by getting more information or taking part in a programme. To love...our person has to be involved...with these persons – Father Son and Holy Spirit... and those persons...Jane and Jessica and Saddam and Stewart

We often use ‘Sin’ as a condemnation, but in John’s little message we see it’s not an accusation...
sin is a diagnosis – a revelation into our human condition... so we can know what to do about it and where to go...
[pause]
to get in on... a way of life... that’s about love.

As a community of Jesus followers...we’re part of the reality... that frees people from sin... confession and forgiveness

God loves us... so much... he sent Jesus to embody the remedy for our failure to love – the remedy is God’s forgiveness. And we can’t be forgiven for what we don’t admit to.

The denial of sin and the development of any religion which claims to move its members beyond sin is so common it has a name – perfectionism. It’s one of the deadliest sins because those who pursue perfectionism are convinced it’s possible to be perfect only if they try hard enough to live without sin.

And since practically every page of the Bible tells us it’s not possible to live without sin...the only sane and biblical approach to sin...[pause] is through forgiveness... and its counter part...through making amends. Confession and forgiveness and amends... free us to develop relationships of love... with God and with each other.

John also knew if we didn’t get the humanness of Jesus right we’d fall under the sway of the antichrists. Because a dehumanised Jesus... lets us develop a practice of love of God... that has nothing to do with human persons....
A dehumanized Jesus gives us a mix of enchanting music and stories that fill our hearts with inspiring thoughts and feelings... without all the distraction and bother of other people.

If Jesus wasn’t human we don’t have a model for sacrifice or patience...or servant leadership. We can customize the life of love entirely to our own convenience. We become lovers of ideas and feelings and ecstasy and novelty... but not lovers of the God who so emphatically... revealed himself in human flesh and blood. And certainly we don’t need to love any brother or sister who doesn’t provide us with those ecstatic feelings.

Sin reduces the people around us to roles or objects so we can use them or manipulate them or even condescend to help them.

But Jesus taught John that we can be trained...
to recognise sin as an unwillingness to live in relationship and therefore in love. We can be trained
to recognise programmes and ideas and causes that are just substitutes for real loving relationships.

And instead of denying or ignoring our failures to love we can confess our sin and receive forgiveness – we can return to our knees... over and over and over again and receive Jesus’ forgiveness and cleansing... and then we can get up off our knees and love one another... better.

What to wear in Wanaka

What to wear in Wanaka?

Especially when it’s been so hot. Not.
But there is there a Wanaka clothing identity. Isn’t there.

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It’s smart but casual. You could go golfing or rock climbing or to a café... and not look out of place.
Of course Hawea’s a little different...more alternative...more greenie maybe...unless you’ve owned a farm for generations. But here in Wanaka its

Montage of brands
Ice breaker Rodd and Gunn... McKensie Country...perhaps... a Janice Jones...or the op shop at Wastebusters. [pause]

...what we wear identifies us... what you wear identifies you...where you fit in to the local culture...where you live... what you like to do ... and whether your old or young... here in Wanaka... we like to relax.

...and we wear identifies us as relaxed people...

Wanaka slide with suit and dress pop ups
We’d look twice and likely stare... if we saw someone walking down the street in a three piece suit. Or dress up to the nines in New World.
But there are places where it’s cool to dress like that. Places where you’d be asked to leave...
if you were wearing... your tramping boots and your gortex jacket.

Blank Wanaka slide
How we dress sends a signal to the world...
about who we are...or who we aren’t.
It communicates a great deal... about our identity.
And it was even true in Biblical times... even in Colossae west of Ephesus in the Lycus River Valley. Looks a lot like Wanaka don’t you think? But today it’s actually in Turkey.

And that’s why the prophet Isaiah... and the apostle Paul... loved to use dressing up... as a metaphor when they wrote. Like when you’re depressed...put on the garments of praise. Or if you want to be spiritually safe... ‘put on the armour of God’

and in today’s letter to the Colossians... Paul tells us...
if you’re gonna be a community of Jesus’ followers... then you’re gonna have to dress right. You gotta put on your Jesus clothes. Clothe yourself in Christ...if you’re gonna have any show of carrying on his work together ...and here’s what you have to put on...
you gotta clothe yourselves with
Word slide
compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience...tolerance, forgiveness.’ [pause]

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Disciples of Jesus don’t just go around naked... or dress in any old scungy gear... At no time... are we to take off our Jesus clothes... and never ever... are we to parade around without them!

Why is it so important? Because there’s far too much at stake...Unless we clothe ourselves in Christ...we’re too vulnerable...as individuals and as a community...
and there would be no recognizable followers of Jesus. [pause]

Paul long shot
Paul is writing from prison...to a new community of Jesus followers at Colossae. Paul had never been to meet them... but through the grapevine...he got word things weren’t going too well... in the new church...

Colossae
old habits die hard...
these people had become baptised followers of Jesus... but their families and friends and community... were still knee deep in...well...other stuff ...

some worshipped angels, some sought to control the elements through witchcraft and wizardry...still others were followers of the great Greek secular philosophies...
And they had all these complicated rules...about what you could eat and what you should wear...
every culture has them... regulations like "Don’t handle those thing! Don’t taste that! Definitely don’t touch that!" [pause]

So it was hard for the new Christian’s in Colossae...
to figure out how to separate...
their culture from their faith.

Arguments were common over...
what identifies a person.... or a community...
as truly Christian... and these conflicts were threatening the peace and unity of the new congregation.

Paul slide
And Paul is worried for them... he doesn’t want them to get even more confused...so Paul uses the kiss principle... Dear Colossians just so you’re not taken in by phony arguments... keep it simple...because it’s actually quite simple...

word slide
‘just as you received Christ Jesus the Lord...
walk in him, be rooted in him... and built upon him... and established in the faith as you were taught... abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one captivates you... with an empty seductive philosophy... according to human tradition... or elemental powers.

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Paul tells them...all these are only shadows...
Paul doesn’t get into debate over the existence of angels... he says...Christians don’t have to worry about placating spirits... or fret about defiling themselves through food and drink...

Paul simply affirms for the Colossians...that Jesus Christ and his teaching.... offer everything necessary for life.

And in such a complex environment... they’re gonna have to go easy on each other...instead of arguing all the time... as baptised Christians....they need to trust...
they’re a cherished part of God’s new covenant...
and for heaven sake.. keep it simple... ‘just clothe yourself in Christ’.

Word slide
‘as God's chosen people... holy and dearly loved,
clothe yourselves with compassion...kindness...humility ...gentleness and patience. Bear with each other... and forgive whatever grievances... you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put... on... love,
which binds them all together... in perfect unity.

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In other words take off... stop covering yourself with –– coldness, cruelty and indifference, arrogance, harshness, irritability, blaming, intolerance,
and the things that really destroy...
absolutely every community – hate and conflict.

And don’t pretend it doesn’t matter if a fellow Christian is parading around in unloving clothes...it does matter... so point it out to them... gently and with wisdom...
that they might like to change their clothes. Take off those old stinky rags… that are so contrary to Jesus’ teaching.

Hey...and instead of wearing chaos and turmoil...
why don’t you just...
Word slide
‘Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts... since as members of one body... you were called to peace...
And be thankful.’

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Just stick with Jesus way and put on an attitude of gratitude... while you’re at it? [pause]

But how do we do it?

Well... Paul tells the Colossians... and us... here at the ends of the earth. How you do it is this...

Word slide
‘Let the word of Christ... dwell in you... richly...’

‘Let the word of Christ... dwell in you... richly...’

especially when your tempted to criticise each other.
[pause]

St Andrew’s with raidbow slide [I don’t have it handy]
and when you worship together...
do it all in the name of Jesus... giving thanks to God the Father... through him.’ [pause]

In other words...absorb Jesus word...
into your very being...let his word and his Shalom....
his peace...[pause] live in you. [pause]

Step out of those old stinky rags... and put on some new ones. Because, if Jesus’ good news
is gonna be spread to every creature under heaven...
then Christians had better be clothed in his gospel of peace. [pause]

You know, a few days ago on Christmas morning...
we asked what we’d learned about God...
from the story of Jesus birth. I think what we learned then...isn’t so different... from what the apostle Paul was trying to teach... the new Christians at Colossae.

If we are to have any hope... of convincing our families and friends in the culture that surrounds us...convincing them that following Jesus is worthwhile...
then with the help of the Holy Spirit...we must simply be like him...like Jesus...like the one who reveals God to us. You see Christmas is never over…
when we’re clothed in Christ.