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Photo of Findochty Parish Church

 

Monday

Matthew 28.18-20 “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

First things first. Before the disciples do anything they learn what it means to say “Jesus is Lord.” Mission, evangelism, witness, loving God and neighbour, being Church – whatever phrases we use to describe what followers of Jesus do, the starting point is that we live and move under Jesus’ authority. And at no time, and in no place, is the authority of Jesus superseded, or his presence absent.

Tuesday

Matthew 28.19 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…”

All authority belongs to Jesus, “Therefore go.” The imperative mood is clear. Jesus gives direct instruction to his followers then, and to us now. Make disciples. Share the good news of Jesus, and invite people to trust their lives to Him. Baptism is the public witness of that faith, a moment of personal obedience and public commitment.

Wednesday

Matthew 28.20 “Teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

Teaching takes many forms. Jesus chose 12 to be with him. They learned by watching, listening and then copying the Master. The Sermon on the Mount is an example of how Jesus calls us to live in the Kingdom of God. So in the church we have Sunday School, Bible study, teaching ministry, and the continuous learning from each other that comes from a community journeying together. As children of the Kingdom of God, obedience is our glad yes to God’s commands. Give thanks for those who have taught you, from whom you’ve learned the way of Jesus.

Thursday  

Matthew 28.20 “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

“Lo I am with you always.” This is not only a word of encouragement to us, but a promise of successful completion of the great commission. If God is for us, and with us, who can be against us? Emmanuel – God in Jesus is with us.

Friday

Luke 24.45-48 “Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.  You are witnesses of these things.”

This is Luke’s version of Jesus’ commission to his followers, then and now. The Good News is that Jesus died and rose again. The Gospel is that repentance from sin and faith in God’s love in Christ, brings forgiveness of sins. That’s what we live by – a Gospel of crucified love and risen power, good news of the forgiveness of sins and sharing the love of Christ for the reconciliation of the world.

Saturday

Luke 24.49 “I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.”

The success or failure of the church’s witness doesn’t depend on our plans, our enthusiasms, our commitment, or our activities. These come second. What comes first is being clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit. The gifts of imagination, words, ideas, energy, guidance, love, joy, peace and the rest – these are God given gifts for the work of mission. Out of the abundance of our hearts, the gospel flows.

Sunday

Acts 1.8 “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judaea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

In Matthew Jesus says he will be with us “to the end of the age.” In Luke he says “to the ends of the earth.” Time and Space. Jesus is Lord of both and inhabits both. At whatever time, he is there with us. In whatever place, he is there with us. This is the Christian version of the space-time continuum! And this promise is tied to our obedient yes to Jesus commission, “You will be my witnesses.”

Prayer

Shine, Jesus, shine, fill this land with the Father’s glory

Blaze, Spirit, blaze, set our hearts on fire!

Flow river, flow, flood the nations with grace and mercy,

Send forth your Word, Lord, and let there be light!

 

 

Rowan Williams on John Burt's poem 'Mary of Nazareth III'. This is literary and theological reflection of the highest order, in which a poem's assumed Christology refuses to be confined in concepts, but is explored in the human experience of the Christ's mother. That Jesus must learn to translate the eternal and divine into timebound and human experience requires a daring speculative leap that perhaps the poet is best placed to articulate without being over-protective of the metaphysical assumptions intended to keep such speculation orthodox, sound, and safe. 

"Mary has to teach Jesus how to be human, as any mother teaches a child. And if this humanity is uniquely the vehicle  of the eternal Word of God, Mary has to teach her child how to that unique human.

Jesus must learn to be God incarnate from his mother; that is, he must learn how to make his life gift not campaign;

to do what has to be done by 'being done to', by loving and attentive receptivity that will embody the eternal loving receptivity of the Son to the Father in the Trinity;

by making loss and catastrophe and death a means of growth.

Mary's familiarity with receptivity and the transformation of risk or vulnerability becomes the specific, concretely human means of Jesus growing into a humanity that is the agent of universal renewal, the door opening in to a new humanity and a new creation."

(page 50)

In a restless, impatient, demanding and fractured world, what are the possibilities of finding peace, cultivating patience, letting go of our claims and entitlements to make room for contentment?

And without peace, patience and contentment, what chance of us ever healing the fractures in our relationships, with other people, with our broken world, with the living core of our own being, and so with God? Yes, God, whose gift is the life we live, and whose world we inhabit as stewards, not exploitative owners

Peace is not only elusive in a culture dedicated to self-image, self-advancement, and self-interest. It is made both unattractive and all but impossible to experience. The enemy of the market is consumer contentment, or disinterest in the product. A society and culture that puts a premium on speed and instant no-waiting gratification, has no capacity for patience. In such a society waiting is frustration, slowness infuriating, and limits and delays are there to be overcome by efficiency of availability, speed of delivery and so the swift satisfaction of desire. The result for most of us, much of the time, is exhaustion – emotional, physical, mental and spiritual. 

"You have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you." In his Confessions Augustine was writing about himself, but on behalf of every single person who has felt part of a pressured crowd, "harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd." (Matthew 9.36)

Few of us attain to that "peace that passes all understanding." That's because such peace is beyond us, unless we are open to receive it, willing to put ourselves in the way of it, humble enough to recognise that the most powerful driver of our restlessness is the pride of self-will seeking self-fulfilment. 

So as a way of recalibrating my own mind and heart, I go walking, with a camera, to favourite places, and sometimes to new places. I look for what is there, and spend time seeing it, allowing my own inner rhythms and physical embodiment to be present, in the presence of that which is other than what's going on in my own head and heart.

The photos on this page were taken today, on a walk that is familiar. The trees in autumn dress were planted half a century ago, their beauty is therefore a long term project, the result of someone's vision and patience. Standing on the road, soaking in the sound of small birds, contemplating both this place, and my own place in the world, contentment seems again possible.

The swan is one of a pair we have watched and looked out for all summer. The only word that seems to describe the beauty and sheer startling there-ness of this bird at that moment of pressing the camera shutter, is grace. The entire shape, demeanour and movement is graceful, a revelation of creation at its most ridiculously beautiful. 

Then there is this photo of a heron, lethal in its stillness, hungry and waiting, patiently. Often enough I've seen herons spooked and the frantic flapping to get airborne. But to survive it has to learn the trick of alert stillness and silent waiting. 

Three photos of a world in which life is allowed to be, reminders not so much a lost Paradise, as of a world in which we are invited guests, and during our stay, appointed stewards. At the heart of the Christian doctrine of creation is that never rescinded mandate, to care for creation as reverence for the Creator. 

In that sense at least, to enjoy the splendour of a road lined with trees in full autumn dress, and to commune with the graced serenity of a swan, and to stand for a while, watching a heron demonstrating the art of stillness – each of these is a moment of gratitude and therefore a moment of prayer.

Not all prayers need words. Sometimes "the motion of a hidden fire" or "the burden of a sigh," make words superfluous. Indeed there are times when words get in the way of those more immediate emotions and responses, those moments when we sense the presence of God in the garden of his Creation. And in that nearness we begin to understand, albeit in a rudimentary way, the importance of natural theology, and why it is that New Testament writers tie the created order so closely to Jesus Christ.

"All things were made by him, and without him nothing was made that was made…he is before all things, and in him all things hold together."

The trees glowing with golden and bronze and copper; the swan demonstrating grace in motion; the heron like a feathered statue waiting the moment to come alive – each of these traceable to the creative purposes and loving imagination of God.

Given the mess we are making of God's masterpiece it becomes an important act of creative defiance to make time, and take time, to appreciate this God-loved world, in gratitude for all it gives us, and in repentance for being vandals in the global art gallery.   

Okay. So yesterday I quoted Eugene Boring on the hard saying of Jesus, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God."

So, no there was no gate in Jerusalem called "Eye of a Needle".

Here is another quotation debunking this explanation:

"There never was such a gate in Jerusalem. The interpretation clearly is designed to make the hard word of Jesus more acceptable. Even more interesting than this new interpretation itself, is the question why it has remained so popular." (Ulrich Luz, Matthew, vol. 2, p. 51ff)

One of the most important contributions of Luz to New Testament interpretation was his interest in the history of the effects of a text on its readers, and in how a text has been and is used, preached and applied through the ages.

So why has an obviously false interpretation of Jesus' saying been allowed to persist in countless sermons, despite there being no evidence whatsoever for such a convenient weakening of Jesus' words?

THAT, is a good question. 

Thought for the Day October 24-30

Monday

Proverbs 12.25 “An anxious heart weighs a person down, but a kind word cheers them up.”

“Don’t worry, it might never happen” is one of the least helpful things to say to someone sick with anxiety. Worry and anxiety are part of our mind and body’s response to threat, or fear of what might happen. Amongst the most effective reliefs for those sick with worry is kindness, in words and in actions. Paul wrote, “Be kind and compassionate to one another”. So, today – be the love of God to others.

Tuesday

Matthew 6.25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 

Inflation, energy bills, cost of living crisis – these are real, not just scary words on the news. It’s worth remembering that God’s provision for others comes through the ordinary acts of generous giving and compassion. A Christian response to all that we are now facing must include; taking thought for the poor, supporting the vulnerable and struggling, and befriending the lonely. Our local food banks can be places of graced giving, and quite literally, gift aid.

Wednesday

1 Peter 5.7 “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him, for he cares for you.”

I sometimes wonder if my worrying is a strange form of pride, the belief that it’s up to me to solve the problems that make me anxious in the first place! But if it is pride, the answer is to humble myself, and hand over my anxieties to the God whose concern for me is beyond doubt. “Burdens are lifted at Calvary, Jesus is very near…”

Thursday

Luke 12.25 “Which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life, or an inch to his height.”

Sometimes Jesus states the obvious. Worrying changes nothing, except our own energy levels and emotional resilience to face whatever comes. The doctrine of providence comes from two words, pro + video, “to see before”. God sees what we need before we even know it ourselves, because God is always ahead of, behind and around us. If worrying made us taller, I’d be able to play basketball! As it is, for all the anxieties I’ve lived through, my height hasn’t changed. But neither has the sufficient grace of the God who is always ahead of me. Whatever comes, He is there. 

Friday

2 Corinthians 11.27-8 “I have laboured and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my anxieties for all the churches“.

So there it is. Paul isn’t a super saint. He worries and feels anxious just like the rest of us. The long list of hardships from verse 23-28 are enough to break the most resilient spirit. Paul is anxious about the future of the churches he helped to establish. What’s important is that Paul knew the counterbalance – the grace that is sufficient, the peace that passes understanding, the power of the Holy Spirit within.

Saturday

Mark 4.19 “Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desires for other things come in and choke the word.”

It can happen to any of us. We get caught up into a life so busy, God has to join the queue, often quite far back. When life is driven, often the fuel is anxiety. And often we suppress or cope with the anxiety by filling our lives till there’s no time, space or energy to hear the word, to pray, to be with God and God’s people. Decluttering isn’t just for houses stuffed with stuff; it can also be God’s call to clear space in the diary and in our minds to attend to our souls.

Sunday

Philippians 4.5-7 “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

We’ve spent the week thinking about anxiety, and what makes us anxious. The Bible says quite a lot about what it feels like to worry, to be anxious and afraid. These words of Paul were written from a prison, signed with a hand chained to one of the Praetorian guards. They ring with that gentle defiance we call hope and trust in the God who, Paul says, far more than any elite soldier of Caesar, stands guard over the hearts and minds of those who belong to Christ.

Preaching on this text this morning. In the turmoil and unpredictability of our times, we have to find what T S Eliot called "the still point of the turning world…"

For me that's my faith – "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever…" (Hebrews 13. 8)

With such faith comes the call to follow in the way of Christ, which must often mean a call to contradict the assumed life-goals, even idols, of our culture.

The drive to possess money and stuff, the lust for power without responsibility, the assumption that my self-interest has priority over the common good, the pride of thinking of others as less deserving, less entitled, and therefore of less value than me, I myself.

And yes, most of these are in blatant and naked view in the moral morass of current politics.

Just to be clear. When Christians say "Jesus is Lord", we are not celebrating love of power, but the power of love to redeem, transform and renew that which is lost, broken and hopeless.

“Let me invoke the ecological analogy. If we purchase food and other products whose processing or manufacture involves unethical use of resources or human labour, our participation in those systems is not ethically neutral.

If we boycott or protest unjust practices, we may not stop the practices, but we add to what may become a critical mass of resistance and, in however modest a way, support the change we hope for. This seems like fairly obvious reasoning.

What is less obvious is the extension of this reasoning to language practices. The analogy may carry more weight if we consider specifically what we all stand to lose if lies are tolerated. Lies that make their way into policy decisions, campaigns and marketing strategies erode the social contract that enables us all to count on what we’ve called professional ethics, business ethics, and the commitments that public servant make when they take oaths of office.”

Marilyn McEntyre, Caring for Words in a World of Lies, page 57