Author: admin

Christmas message

Christmas Message

A work colleague and friend of mine, when if on his way to or from work happened to notice a bird doing what birds do, simply a bit of flying or worm hunting, would shout out the window to “go and get a job”.

He was a very smart and upwardly mobile young man but his jestful harsh words towards our feathered friends showed clearly that although he was “in the system” he could clearly see the clay from the other substance in our world, and if you’ve ever worked for a multi-national company you’ll know there are plenty of both substances.

In one such company an essential part of our day to day operations was the use of a printer and as it would be, ours broke down. So as per instruction I rang the overseas third party that handled such technology who advised me to fill in the appropriate form in triplicate, send one copy to them, one copy to the Australian head office and the third to the American Head office. After explaining the severity of the situation and that I as can actually see an unused printer no further than twenty metres away and my desire to acquire said printer, I was advised that no such unauthorised activity was possible.

So after I moved the printer and restored operations I pondered over my friend’s advices towards those birds hunting for worms whose indifference towards authority and refusal to submit the required forms before acquiring the new found worm made them virtually unemployable.

When I was fourteen my school mate suggested to me that religion was an organisation that hunted on the vulnerable and those with limited mental faculties in order to swindle them of life and possessions. That was a long time ago but if you read the current newspapers you will see that he is clearly not alone in his thinking. And a Pastor once said that as is the way in life, that after shopping at the same butcher, going to the same post office or sitting at the same seats at the football each week, eventually conversations would start, then introductions and after some weeks or months talk of families and then after replying to the question of “what do you do for a living” he remarked that he could nearly always sees the cogs turning and the thoughts of “but you seemed quite normal”.

As a Christian all this talk of religion, intelligence, being normal and unemployed magpies is a little confusing. Firstly I’m not sure what religion is, I’ve never professed to have anything other than the barest amount of useable brain matter. As for being normal, whatever that is, according to one of the lecturers at the seminary whose task it was to see how we tick, apparently I’m not. And as for the magpies eating worms-I thought that was their job.

You can see why I’m so confused and that our world technology’s change so quickly does not help the situation as I’m still dumfounded by how fax machines work.  That I can fax someone over there the same thing as I have here is so mystifying that if it was done back in the dark ages I would have been burnt at the stake for being a witch.

A legendary football coach once said to another aspiring coach that “when you talk to your player’s, keep it simple and look at them like bricks with ears”. In regards to my Christian belief, maybe my friend was right. At times, I certainly feel like one of those bricks and when looking in the mirror I do see I have quite a good set of ears.

So that explains how I got here. But what about these guys:

Albert Einstein who seemed a pretty smart fellow said:

“No one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus. His personality pulsates.”

The novelist Robert Louis Stevenson:

“When Christ came into my life, I came about like a well-handled ship”.

Cuban President Fidel Castro, not that a vulnerable man I would suggest mentioned that in his opinion, that he “always considered Christ to be one of the greatest revolutionaries in the history of humanity”.

I could go on and on but two of my favourites are from United States Presidents Jimmy Carter and Thomas Jefferson:

“We should live our lives as though Christ was coming this afternoon”.

and

“All the world would be Christian if they were taught the pure Gospel of Christ”

The pure Gospel of Christ can become confusing in a confused world where all things must be done in triplicate, faxed to third parties and authorised by some remote person on the other side of the world.

God did not look upon us as bricks with ears, he looked upon us as his wonderful creation, as his loved children and so he decided to keep it simple for us, that in faith and trust alone, to know that Jesus died for our sins-we are forgiven and given life.

God did not look upon us, send a third party and stay remote, he sent himself in His Son-to become flesh and blood and come amongst us.

And when we go outside His authority and break the rules, he doesn’t discard us to an unemployment queue, but employs all avenues available to bring us back to himself.

The world and we ourselves will continue to change. Today we are told certain foods are good for us, and no doubt soon enough we’ll be told the opposite. Once if your mobile phone was big you were out dated, but now they have grown in size again and one day fax machines will only be found in museums.

Things, and we change and I’ll still be confused but that’s O.K. because there is only one thing that is a constant, that the Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit are the same today as they were 2,000 years ago on that First Christmas.

God did the unfathomable, by doing it himself and bringing to us the pure Gospel in Jesus Christ his son, His Son the truth-the same truth given to us today as on that First Christmas.

His Son our Saviour who has promised us that:

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away”.

“This is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone who sees the Son, and believe in Him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise them up at the last day”

“Because I am with you always, even unto the end of the world”

“And I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there you may be also”.

I wish you a safe, joyful and peaceful Christmas and pray that every day that each of us see that small child in the manger, every day we see his healing in our lives, every day we stand at the foot of the cross and see what he has done for us, and every day go forward living our lives in hope and jubilation seeing our resurrected Christ saying to his Father, they are my children, I know each personally and by name, and they are mine. Amen.

“Mary’s song is our song”

Luke 1:46-56

“Mary’s song is our song”

In today’s Gospel we hear in wonderment of the lengths that Our Father in heaven was prepared to go to save the lost and if we ever ponder that a certain task may “be beneath us”, let us remember our God the maker of heaven and earth. Our God who made us from dust and breathed life into us. Our God of unfathomable power, might and wisdom, and our God who comes from on high and relocates from the Holy temple to the womb of a young virgin girl named Mary.

If ever you are led to believe that you are beyond the mercy of a powerful and judging God, look again to see him come to us in a small and fragile child. Our God the maker of the universe, the creator comes to His creation as creature. Our Father, who abhors sin and unjustness, yet comes to us so that he can suffer the wrath of our sin and its unjustness.

As our Advent preparations draw to a close, Mary the mother of our Lord provides us with a magnificent hymn that summarise what mighty acts of salvation our Father has done, and is doing for us. It is a fitting conclusion to this season because it not only recalls for us who he is, but what we have become in him. Mary’s song is our song as it describes our Christian life in Christ, in all its humility and all its splendour.

God the almighty came not through the religious prestigious of the day, but through a humble girl, who said of herself in Chapter 1, verse 25 “The Lord has shown his favour and taken away my disgrace”.

Mary’s song is our song because as with Mary, we too have been given His favour and had our honour restored by Jesus the Son of God.

Like Mary, we are blessed as we receive personally Gods mighty act of mercy and Salvation in Jesus.

May’s song is our song when we come to know our Saviour.

Our Saviour whose ministry was a ministry of mercy. Jesus who came not as a God of vengeance but as merciful and compassionate. Jesus who does not punish his enemies for their sins and those against him, but places himself under the Father’s wrath and is punished as our substitute.

Our Saviour who showed his cards early by being born not of the high and mighty but of the humble. Not born in the temple but in a lowly barn.

Our Saviour that though we fail, go off track and continually fall to sin still shows himself through us as he did when he walked this earth: setting captives fee, healing the sick and raising the dead.

He still shows the same cards, he does not punish us for our sins but asks we give them to him. He does not come to destroy but to re-create by bringing us forgiveness not in ourselves, but in him.

Mary’s song is our song that we sing in our daily lives. A song that allows us to see Christ in those around us. A song that sees Christ with us among our hurt and a song that replaces the failings we see in ourselves with his overflowing grace, love and mercy.

In Christ our lives are a magnificent song like that of Mary’s when we accept our Saviour Jesus’ humility as ours, and his glory as ours.

Daily we come before God with mercy needed and mercy and forgiveness found. Hope needed and hope given, and life renewed.

We thank our Lord for his Immeasurable love and lifesaving action, given to us as to those of Mary’s time. Mary’s song is the Lord’s song and the Lord’s song is ours as we are restored in Christ.

Christ, the visible expression of God the Father eternal-who gave himself for our eternity as said eloquently by a poet, named Richard Crayshaw:

“That the great angel-blinding light should shrink

His blaze, to shine in a poor shepherd’s eye;

That the unmeasured God so low should sink

As prisoner in a few poor rags to lie; milk should drink,

Who feeds with nectar Heaven’s fair family;

That a vile manger his low bed should prove

Who in a throne of stars thunders above.

 

That He whom the sun serves, should faintly peep

Through clouds of infant flesh: that He the old

Eternal Word would be a child, and weep;

That He who made the fire should feel the cold;

That Heaven’s high Majesty his court should keep

In a clay-cottage, by each blast controlled:

That Glory’s self should serve our grief’s and fears:

And free Eternity submit to years”.

You are blessed because the Lord knows your name, has given you faith, and you are one of his. Let his song sing in your lives. Amen.

 

“Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall”

Luke 3:7-18

“Mirror, Mirror on the Wall”


All of us have been in situations where we have asked of ourselves “what do I do?” Whether it be a decision in a position of urgency or one of those labouring “tossing and turning in bed” decisions. A person I once knew couldn’t make up his mind and asked my opinion on which electronic brand to buy, both equal in price. A week or so later, on meeting him I asked how he went? He said he still couldn’t decide but then he saw a different bargain advertised and spent the money on that, being eight cartons of discounted Crown Lager beer. That’s one way to do it I suppose.

Last week we talked of the message of John the Baptist and our need for repentance. Of turning away from things that get in the way of God, and turning back to God. In today’s Gospel John continues in his message even to the point of calling his listeners “a brood of vipers”. In the day, harsh words which bring forth a very good question, “What shall we do then?” And after all of John’s “fire and brimstone” preaching his answer comes somewhat as a surprise as he doesn’t ask of any things that would stop them in their tracks, but seemingly simple things. “If you have two coats, give one of them to someone who has none. If you are a tax collector, collect no more than what you are meant to. If you are a soldier, don’t use your authority to oppress or threaten people, just do your job and be happy with your normal wages”.

Simple things, yet simple things that for John the Baptist to be able to be heard, he first had to jar his listeners free from all the build-up and corrosion that they had suffered and encountered through the years that had gradually led them off track to the point where to be told to just do the simple things is like a revelation.

A lady was once telling me that she was leading training courses overseas with some leaders of business. The type of training had some big words but she said a simple way to explain was:

“Say you’re walking over a bridge and all the cars are banked up in a traffic jam and a twenty dollar note falls out of one of the car windows and you see that the driver cannot open the door wide enough to get out. So what do you do? Go over and pick it up and give it back to the driver, keep it for yourself or just keep walking?”

Admittingly this was to people living in the culture of a huge city with its hectic pace and concerns of safety. It’s climate of lifestyle that can create remoteness between people. The thing is many people realise things could be different but because it’s so commonplace, gradually fall into line and soon it’s their “normal” as well, and this is not just in big cities.

A young man I know moved to a small country town and in one of the shops he encountered quite a stern and even “borderline” rude owner to him, and apparently to everyone. But instead of returning fire with fire, he went the other way and was continually friendly to the point that gradually a smile came, then warm welcomes. Not just to him but in her day to day interactions. By not “burning” his own integrity and continuing to be himself, things somehow changed.

And there’s the question, “what price our integrity?” Is it worth giving it away like I saw at a hot dog stand when two people nearly came to blows over who was first in line? Road rage at the school drop off, people hurling abuse because they had to slightly use the brake pedal to give way to another, the parent with a young teenager in tow unloads the shopping trolley and just lets it go and it rolls into the next car and people abusing the sixteen year old attendant at the supermarket seem to be rampant. All of a sudden John the Baptist simple words of leading an honest, kind and giving lifestyle seem revolutionary.

Just where has all this come from. Could it be that the technology that was promised to give us more time in our lives has actually delivered the opposite to where it’s such a rush these days that we cannot afford to accept the extra minutes associated with a little understanding toward others? Certainly it seems we are busier than ever but is that really an excuse for a selfish, uncaring and rude lifestyle as this is exactly what John was preaching back in his day and as to my knowledge he didn’t even have Facebook, never mind twitter.

Remember John the Baptist was talking of these simple things to the God fearing Jews. But God fearing Jews who at least had the excuse that they were only beginning to hear the ways of Christ.

But what’s the excuse today when we hear of splits in churches between Pastor and congregation and Christian against Christian? This is not a pointed question as I feel blessed to be among people here who realise my many short comings, yet realise that it’s not about individuals, it’s about Christ.

To label Christians as hypocrites because of our actions is rubbish because we do not profess to be any different from others. Sometimes we make the same mistakes and do the wrong things, just like sometimes we manage to do some good. Being normal is not being a hypocrite, but being a Christian and not realising our need for Christ as our guide in this life is, because he puts things into perspective.

But perspective that like when at the amusement places and you look into those funny mirrors that change your body shape can get out of whack if not based on the truth. I always like looking into the mirror that makes me look taller and thinner, only to be reminded of my true self in the non-distorted mirror.

In Jesus Christ our Saviour we see ourselves as we are. Not hypocrites but everyday normal people. Normal people that display all the normal attributes of our society.

Kindness, not returning fire with fire, letting some-one else push in the queue without abusing them and reminding the shop attendant of their mistake without belittling them is not a lot to ask when we know the truth. That when we were lost Christ found us. When we didn’t want him he didn’t turn away. When we were unkind to him: he gave us himself. When we abused him: he stretched out his arms on the cross to be pierced and when we finally heard his call: the heavens erupted in joyous song that against the odds, another broken sinner in a broken world has looked into the mirror and seen themselves covered in the forgiveness of our Saviour. And although our acts of goodwill toward others may seem insignificant, tainted and distorted-we give in thanks to the Lord and trust that still against the odds in our world, that in his hands the heavens will again erupt in joyous song.

 

A voice from the wilderness

Luke 3:1-6

“A voice from the wilderness”

As the days draw near to the celebration of the birth of Jesus, the emphasis is that as preached by John the Baptist all those years ago, repentance-turning away from sin and turning towards God. A change in direction.

John had an extraordinary life as right from the start, in a preceding chapter we are told that when Mary, carrying the baby Jesus in her womb visits her pregnant cousin Elizabeth, the baby in Elizabeth’s womb-John, leaped for joy when they met. The next we hear of John is in today’s Gospel where he has been living in the desert, wearing a coat made from camel hair and living off locusts and wild honey. He would have been quite a sight for the many, many people who had travelled from the cities to hear him preaching of preparing for the coming of the Lord by being baptised and repenting.

He was a powerful and bold preacher who didn’t “guild the Lilly” but just told it how it was and as we know in our world today that can take some gumption. But John took no prisoners in telling the truth as we hear later when he is imprisoned and beheaded after giving King Herod a going over about his adulterous marriage. But his greatest strength was his focussed and faithful commitment to the call of God in his life. John knew he had been given a specific call and set out with uncompromising singular obedience to fulfil that mission. We could imagine that he may have suffered ridicule like that of Noah when building a giant boat in the middle of nowhere. Because in those years, with no old age pension or superannuation nest egg, it was essential to have children as they would provide for you when you could no longer be self-sufficient. So even If not his parents, I wonder what the community thought of him when as his parents only child, he leaves them and wanders into the desert.

John just didn’t talk the talk; he walked the walk and certainly was the right man to be ushering in the public arrival of Jesus. His voice was a voice from the wilderness that many heard and responded to in baptism. But also a voice from the wilderness that was offensive. Offensive because just as Jesus later, his message was out of line with the times. It wasn’t the content of his words that offended as baptism was already in place within the Jewish society as it was custom that non-Jews had to be immersed in water under the supervision of a religious expert should they wish to convert to Judaism.

Similar, the Jewish people also practiced repentance in asking God’s forgiveness and determining to change when they did something wrong. But the ultimate repentance, the turning from a wrong way of living to a right way of living was when a non-Jew decided to obey their teachings of God. So to tell the Jewish people that they had to be baptised and repent the same way as non-Jews was offensive as it challenged their belief that if they were born Jewish and did not reject God’s law, they would be saved.

Even here on the banks of the Jordan, we can see why Jesus was to get such a hard time when he arrived on the scene showing no favouritism and hanging out with all manner of person. The messages from both John the Baptist and Jesus were not in sync with the expectations of the day, or dare I say it, of our days.

The Jewish, were God worshipping people and had been awaiting the arrival of the Messiah, yet because he didn’t fit their expectations, many didn’t understand him or his offer of salvation-just as many in society don’t today, as the Gospel of our Lord was foreign to the Jews and still is foreign to many today.

Our times need more John or Jill the Baptists to tell the world “how it is”. To tell us “how it is” because we too, like John himself can get confused with the world around us. Yes even for John, Jesus and his message turned out a little different than he had expected as we are told in Luke chapter 7 that upon hearing that Jesus has delivered his famous Beatitudes, cleansed a man of unclean spirits, healed the paralysed and raised the dead is still lead to ask him via messengers from his jail cell, “Are you the one?”.

And Jesus response? Not “you’re kidding aren’t you” but “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed are those that are not offended by me”.

And then, not “I thought he had it all together” but “I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he”.

Oh to be in that number when the saints go marching in.

Recently a gentleman told me of two gifts he has received, one spiritual and one worldly. Both interconnected as the latter could only been seen as a gift after having received the prior-faith.

When in the womb John the Baptist leaps for Joy when coming into contact with Jesus. We too leap for joy in the gift of faith. Faith, that intangible thing inside that changes our outlook on our world. Hardships that seen in the light of Christ bring growth. Remarkable achievements and joys that can be seen as not from our “greatness”, but a gift from God to us, and those it effects. Faith that asks of us what we already know, the need to turn from our false God of self, and put God the father of our Saviour first.

Faith that says, even though you have fallen short many, many times and continue to do so-Jesus Christ died for your sins that when you stand before the father, in Christ His Son your sins are washed clean and glow in the pure radiance of His Glory. Hard to believe, but true.

Pray we daily turn back to God, and pray that one day our earthly brothers and sisters still searching will ask “Is he the one?” Amen.

 

At the heart of the fight.

Luke 21:25-36

I once read that in the face of life threatening situations, people have a 50% greater chance of survival if they don’t panic and when thinking of going around a corner and coming face to face with a car on the wrong side of the road, to me that statistic makes sense.

An elderly man once told me of fighting a fire by making a fire break in the Adelaide hills in his open roofed tractor. It was one of the “infamous” fires that due to its speed and intensity caused extreme loss of properties and many people perished. He said it seemed to come from nowhere and was upon him and due to its speed and the terrain it was impossible to outrun. He had but seconds and in those he had to fight his every instinct telling him to run, which ultimately would be to have run to nowhere, rather than back up his tractor and charge the fire at full speed hoping that its face was shallow enough to pass through. He said it was “the most fear he has ever experienced.”

As mortal human beings it is impossible to not experience some level of fear in the face of a threat, but as seen in this man and others, instead of overwhelming and uncontrollable fear creating panic, it is fear that triggers courage.

These are extreme situations and people that have faced them almost universally reflect that they do not know “how they did it”. Extreme situations like those we heard in the Gospel today. When and how these things play out we are not told except that they will bring great distress and unanswered confusion to the world prior to when all will become clear upon the return of Christ.

As Christians we don’t talk to the Bible it talks to us and in verse 34 Jesus gives us some good advice, to “watch ourselves”, to stay awake. Which is good advice indeed when from the book of Daniel we are told these “will be times of trouble such as never has been since” (12:1), “many people will waste their efforts trying to understand what is happening” (12:4) and “many will be purified, but those who are wicked will not understand and will go on being wicked, only those who are wise will understand” (12:10)

Sobering and heavy words, and indeed Daniel himself trembled when receiving his visions of the future. But sobering words that as they were to Daniel, are given to enlighten us rather than consume us. In the aftermath of such astonishing prophecies’, the advice given to Daniel is also given for us, chapter 12 verse 9 to now “Go your way to the end”.

And we go our way to the end, in the here and now, because as Jesus himself has told us in Matthew 6:34 “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own”.

In 1963 civil activist Martin Luther King Jr. gave his remarkable ‘I have a dream’ speech. Five years later in Memphis, Tennessee he gave an impromptu speech in which he referred to the story of the “Good Samaritan” and makes the following insights:

“Jesus tells us that on a dangerous curve between Jerusalem and Jericho a man was attacked and felled by thieves. You remember that a Jewish Levite and a priest passed by on the other side. They didn’t stop to help him but a man of another race did stop and was not compassionate by proxy, but got down and administered first aid and helped the man in need. Jesus said this man was the great man because he had the capacity to project the ‘I’ into the ‘thou’ and be concerned about his brother. Now you know we use our imagination a great deal to try and determine why the priest and the Levite didn’t stop, like running late in getting to a church meeting(or being too busy)….But maybe it’s possible that these men were simply afraid. You see I have been there and the Jericho road is a dangerous road…and conducive for ambushing. In the days of Jesus it came to be known as the ‘Bloody Pass’. And you know that’s it possible that the priest and the Levite looked over the man on the ground and wondered if the robbers were still around, or if the felt the man on the ground was faking it, a trap. So (maybe) the question they asked themselves was ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But then the Good Samaritan came by and reversed the question: ’If I don’t stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’

And that’s the question before us now”.

The Reverend Martin Luther King concluded his speech referring to death threats he had recently received with:

“I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountain top. Like anybody I would like to live a long life….but I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. My eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord”.

Martin Luther King had been given a special calling, and as to Daniel and as to us, “He went his way to the end” and was assassinated the day after this speech. Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Dietrich Bonheoffer and others, given special callings that shaped and became their lives in “the here and now”.

We too are to live in our here and now. We have no need to go looking for our calling as it will find us. We don’t look or aspire to be martyred or put to great tests, but face them with Christ if they arrive.

We “go our way to the end” seeking to have the courage of a Samaritan man who asked himself “What will happen to this man if I don’t stop?”.

We “go our way to the end” stopping for those in need, yet passing in fright. We “go our way to the end” in courage, yet in fear. We go our way as best we can, rising above, yet falling short. We go as sinners, yet free and righteous in Christ.

Nelson Mandela said: “To be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others”.

We go our way as slaves and servants to our fellow earthly brothers and sisters, yet as free men, women and children because we have had the chains of death removed by our Savior, Jesus Christ.

We go our way knowing that on the other side of the approaching fire is safety, and we go our way today, knowing that come what may, Jesus will never pass us by. Amen.

 

“When two worlds collide”

John 18:33-37

(With reference to John 18: 28 through John 19: 16)

“When two worlds collide”

On the battlefield two opposing forces collide, country against country and person against person and in either victory or defeat, all suffer and all lose. In victory or defeat-the task to both is great. To rebuild and carry on despite of the injustices each has suffered and to rebuild and carry on despite of the injustices that each has been a part off.

Earlier in the week a journalist wrote of a decorated soldier that had in the heat of battle showed valour almost beyond comprehension in drawing fire upon himself to save his colleagues. And she spoke of one of his character traits that is not championed in our world as it once was. Humility, and went on to say that in ancient Greece the stars of the day, the brave and the warriors were noted and admired for their unpretentiousness and meekness. Their humility: the knowledge of themselves yet the courage to stand and fight the fight they had been given.

Humility we see in others that despite suffering opinions and actions against them, don’t retaliate but carry on regardless. Humility that is required of us when we see the regard in which we are rightly or wrongly judged. Open hostility or even the side look to another or the uneasy pause. Significantly insignificant moment’s that you know are the mask of something going on, gossip, backstabbing and so forth. Moment’s that call on our courage and humility so that we don’t return fire, but carry on with our eyes focussed on the good in them.

In the Gospel today we heard five short verses, but five short verses that are formed from all humanity as it was then, all of humanity previous and all of humanity since, as Jesus the Son of God with great courage and humility stands before Pilate as two worlds collide. Like that sideways glance, behind these verses are a myriad of power plays, bending of the truths and when not getting things as wanted, character assignation and rumour in order to gets things as wanted and expected.

Although In the time of Jesus the Jews were subject to the Romans, the Romans still allowed them a good deal of self-government but not the right to carry out the death penalty and this is why Jesus ends up before Pilate. The Jews from start to finish knew they had to use Pilate for their purposes. This is the time of the Passover and everything was being carried out by the Jews according to ceremonial law with meticulous care: yet at the same time hounding to the Cross the Son of God. The Jews charge against Jesus was blasphemy but they knew that on this charge alone Pilate would dismiss their cries for the death penalty. So they brought Jesus to him on the trumped up charges of rebellion and political insurrection against Rome by accusing Jesus of claiming to be a king.

They knew they were lying by changing contexts but so being full of hatred they did not hesitate to twist the truth and in order to feed this lie they denied every principle they had. The most being their declaration before Pilate that “We have no king but Caesar”. This statement must have taken Pilates breath away as in previous history, when the Romans had insisted the Jews were liable to pay taxes to them, the Jews declaring “that God alone was their King” revolted in the most bloody of rebellions.

In the hatred that had overcome them, the Jews were prepared to abandon every principle they had in order to eliminate Jesus.

Then there’s Pilate who must have wished he’d stayed in bed that day. Throughout the whole trial it is abundantly clear that Pilate knew that the charges against Jesus were a series of lies. Knew that Jesus was innocent, was deeply impressed when meeting him and did not want to condemn him. But from early events the Jews owned Pilate, and he and they both knew it.

When Pilate was given charge of this part of the Roman Empire he was involved in a series of over the top, not understanding the culture heavy handed actions. Events that resulted in the Jewish authorities complaining to head office-Caesar, who in response disciplined Pilate.

Pilate was on “probation” so to speak and any more complaints would not be good for his career as he was well “reminded” by the Jews in the trial when they blackmailed him by saying “If you let this man go, you are not Caesar’s friend”.

Pilate had tried every avenue at his disposal: He had Jesus whipped and beaten hoping that it would bring some pity out in the Jews, for them to say O.K. enough is enough. Had brought Jesus before them under the Passover custom of releasing a prisoner. Debating with them, almost pleading Jesus’ innocence before them but to no avail as they sided for the release of a freedom fighter named Barabbas. Yet again we see two worlds’ collide: Barabbas fighting for freedom by force, and Jesus fighting for Freedom with love.

Pilate used all the tools he had at his disposal to stop an innocent man being killed, but could not display the courage to just do the right thing no matter what the consequence. Yet knowing our own short comings and self- serving, somehow one cannot help but feel sorry for Pilate. He wanted to do the right thing; but he had not the courage to defy the Jews and do it. Pilate crucified Jesus in order to keep his job.

All players involved are self-serving and lacking the courage to face up to or stand up for the truth. All except Jesus: The man who raised the dead, healed the unhealable and at any moment could have brought this sham of a situation to an end, in humility lets it take place that the he may bring the offer of salvation to those from whom he suffers.

Jesus in his humility, in the knowledge of himself, the Son of God, the sinless one who had done only good, in courage fought his fight by allowing himself to be ridiculed, spat on, terribly beaten and to die in the most feared manner.

You may ask where’s the Gospel in this sermon. Yes, that was a bit of a history lesson. But a lesson that though from the past, tells of our future. In Jesus, back then and as is now two worlds collide. Yet as this happens, Jesus at the end of his earthly walk and while looking over his tormentors, and now to us-speaks.

Luke 23:34 “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”

And that is the Gospel of our Lord. Amen.

 

A foot in both camps.

Mark 12: 1-8

“The storm before the calm”

On March 15, 1980 in Washington state, which is in the upper west coast of the United States of America (and not to be confused with Washington D.C. on the East Coast) Mount Saint Helen’s started grumbling. Just over two months later on the 17th of May thirty car loads of residents were allowed back to gather some of their possessions.

The next morning at 8.31am things were much the same, Helen just grumbling along and “letting of a bit of steam”. At 8.32am she erupted with great intensity and spewed out hot ash and rock at the speed of 300km’s an hour and 57 people lost their lives at the bottom of a mountain that had been before the eyes of the world for over two months.

The daylight was turned to darkness and on the news a reporter at the scene said that “the local’s believe this is the end of the world, and if I didn’t know better, so would I.”

San Francisco, as are many West Coast cities is situated perilously close to the San Andreas Fault line and on the 18th April 1906 it lost over 3,000 of its residents due to a mega earth quake, and now those cities prepare and wait for the next “big one”.

On our own shores on Christmas Eve 1974, cyclone Tracey reached Darwin taking 71 people lives and destroying four out of every five houses.

These cities and places have been rebuilt with tighter building codes and government “alertness” programs available to residents if and when these natural tragedies come to pass again. Yet it would seem from current events that the landscape is changing. Cane toads are heading south, just yesterday Queensland encountered “Super Storm Shaz” and the recent storm in New York cannot even be classified due to its “first of a kind” nature.

Surveying our times we see natural disasters, war, famine, persecution, moral and social decline seemingly unchecked, gaining speed and it would seem all heading in the one direction. Clearly we are at living in the end times that Jesus has spoken of in today’s Gospel.

Just as the apostles were in their times. The beginning of the end started at the end of the beginning-the time that the promised messiah, Jesus Christ the Son of God came to earth and defeated sin and death on the cross.

Comedian John Cleese in Faulty Towers after yet again being disciplined by his wife (and for good reason I might add) said to himself: “Swish, what was that? That was your life mate. Do I get another? No sorry, that’s it”.

Life is fleeting and our time here passes quickly but unlike Basis Faulty’s sad deduction, we do have another life to come and we live now with our eyes on both. An eye to the consummation of the promise, that our last day will become our first in God’s Kingdom where there will be no death, trials, tribulations or separation from those we miss.

And an eye to God’s kingdom now, living in it and participating in its growth. To live amongst our world’s fears and distractions and amongst its joy and beauty. To live knowing the truth of how we stand before God. That whether we meet God the Father after his Son does indeed come from the clouds, or meet God the Father in death, meet him here today in worship or meet him in the person we meet up the road, that in Christ we stand before him with our names written in the book of life. To live as Martin Luther responded “I live everyday like it’s my last, yet still planting a tree”.

Things happen in our lives that hurt. Our own stuff and seeing others with theirs. There is much joy in our world but just as much of the other. But with that one eye to the promise we have been given in Christ, our road here and now is full of promise and beauty.

The hard stuff will come along but we can face and endure it in Christ, knowing that it will pass.

In this month’s Lutheran an article talks of a man that was led to Christianity, to our Lord’s kingdom through his medical studies where he continually saw how Christians reacted to impending death. We may not be as close to the end as those who witnessed to him. But we all one way or another in our remaining time, be it one day or one hundred years are all in the same hospital bed as those that he saw. That we travel these days of confusion, danger and fear in hope and faith is a question or a thing to ponder for those still searching. Our faith is our witness.

Several years ago a disgruntled ex-employee entered a building and started shooting people. As he stood over what was to be his third victim he asked “are you ready to meet your maker?” To which he heard a nervous response of: “Yes”. This lady was his last victim as those present said “her reply seemed to stun him; he just stood there and then put down his gun and gave himself up”.

In our times it takes great courage to be in the world but not of it. To live in the face of death in hope. To live and work with our colleagues and friends and treat Christian and non-Christian alike. To give ourselves, to love and support those who may ridicule us because of our faith and beliefs the same as we do for those that thank God for our faith.

Last Tuesday, I filled in for Kathy and led the scripture class at the primary school. Believe me I have great admiration for Kathy, Dianne and others that take these classes every week. At the end after getting talked over by many of the students, the teacher as I departed farewelled me by saying “Keep fighting the good fight”.

Well I suppose it did seem a bit like a fight that morning. Though it was a fight that I didn’t seem to be winning and a fight that I wasn’t particularly good at is not the point. The point is Jesus Christ our Saviour.

“Keep fighting the good fight”. Jesus fought our battle on the cross and The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit have fought and worked tirelessly throughout our lives that we see and accept that truth. To rest in that truth.

In our lives we go out daily into the mission field to fight the good fight. Not against our fellow citizens but against the lies that have led them astray. To not stand in front or behind our earthly brothers and sisters, but stand alongside them in front of the cross, that they too may see, hear and understand the truth of our Saviour. Amen.

 

How Generous are you?

Mark 12:38-44

“Lending a liver”

Giving till it hurts.

Several years ago after having some medical tests my father rang me worried about his results which showed possible problems with his kidneys. Without giving it much thought I said he could have one of mine. Later after thinking a little more I rang him back and suggested that mine may not be much better than the ones he already has to which he answered “No your thinking of your liver and as you only have the one, you best keep it”.

In the 1970’s Kerry Packer while in London visited a Jaguar showroom to look over the XJS, which at the time was the pinnacle of car sophistication and speed. Impressed with what he saw he asked what colour they came in. Told there were five different colours, he ordered one of each, only to give four of them to some of his employees.

Author Christopher Lee notes in his book Howzat that:

“Those who knew him tell of sudden and unexpected empathy coming from who knows where inside this big and brutal man. Helping friends and strangers. One employee told of a trip to Perth where for some reason his feet had swelled up and he couldn’t get his shoes back on. Kerry let the other passengers off the plane and as the bemused airline staff looked on, knelt down on the floor at his feet and gently slid his employee’s shoes on for him”.

The book and film of the same name “Black Hawk Down” catalogue an event that took place in 1993 in Somalia. Famine and civil war had gripped the country resulting in over 300,000 civilian deaths and the warlord had declared war on the United Nations peacekeeping force. During a raid to try and capture two of the warlord’s chief adviser’s a Black Hawk helicopter was shot down deep in the city. The pilot survived but was trapped in the chopper with the ground forces unable to reach him due to coming under heavy fire, so two highly trained soldiers were inserted by helicopter to the crash site. Eventually they were overrun but during but during the battle they were recorded talking calmly and methodically, and seemingly without fear to each other via radio, one each side of the downed chopper:

“I’m hit in the right arm, going to side arm. I’m hit in the chest” and so forth until the inevitable ending.

Two men that gave their lives, seemingly without hesitation and today at 11.00am during that long one minute’s silence we remember all the service men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

A world war II veteran many years ago told me that in the field, some of the most death defying acts of bravery came from people you would least expect it and in the Gospel today Jesus lays down side by side two outwardly differing classes of people. The honoured religious teachers whose standing in society was so respected that in the streets people would rise as they passed with only the tradesmen at work given exemption to this expectation. Not that their position as such was the problem, the problem it would seem is that they have started believing their own press and become self- intoxicated with their high status.

Alternatively, widows were socially powerless and honourless in this society that emphasized status and honour. To those present this is a no contest as to who they would want to hang out with. Yet Jesus, as he still does in our times, looks past the outer shell and sees things for what they are. That the religious teachers have lingered long in their individual prayers in the synagogues is not the issue, the issue is the motive of this longevity that Jesus criticizes. “It’s all show and no go” and Jesus sees here that social injustice and religious hypocrisy are inextricably linked and takes his stand on behalf of the powerless, this widow who gives the most insignificant amount of money in worldly terms, but in her situation-has given everything.

When I was coaching footy in a small town, one of our young guys had been asked to try out in “the big smoke” and upon hearing of this another player who had previously played 200 odd games in the highest competition in Adelaide has to offer, sought him out and said “After you’ve stripped down and are getting ready for your first training you will look around the room and see the other players muscles and body physics and you will wonder what you are doing there, don’t worry about it, it’s what inside you that counts”.

Or in car parlance it’s what’s under the bonnet that counts and through this widow’s seemingly insignificant offering we see that behind it lies her love of God. A love of God that we should all heed to.

We may or may not have much in the way of material things but that’s not the point. It’s about using what we have and who we are, and placing both at God’s disposal. To give our love and time and our compassion non judgementally to those he brings before us-irrespective of class, race, rich or poor for all are God’s children.

At my brothers funeral after listing his achievements which included many bravery awards from within and outside the police force, from within and outside of his work hours the Assistant Police Commissioner closed with “We (the police force) have lost the best of the best, and the people of South Australia have lost a truly dedicated, courageous, sincere and giving servant”.

Later we were overcome by stories of his escapades, escapades though that he never saw the need to tell us of, as it would seem that it was just part of doing what he believed he was meant to do in his line of work and in his life. Acts of duty that although they resulted in others regarding him highly did little for his own self- gratification because he knew the truth-that before God he was a sinner with no claim whatsoever of salvation other than in and through the greatest servant of all, Jesus Christ.

Jesus gives us to serve each other and all those he places before us and we should be unthinkingly open and extravagant, even reckless in our efforts to serve, to forgive and love those around us. To give of ourselves not under the weight of second guessing all our actions as if to make life a burden, but like the widow in the gospel, give spontaneously just as things come before us-. To not dwell on and worry of have we done enough or not enough-but just live in the moments-whatever those moments may be, be they sadness or happiness, failures or achievements. To serve and to be served however they come into play. Live free without worries of yesterday or tomorrow but trust that God will use our lives: our successes and failures: our actions, both great seemingly significant and insignificant: trust that God will use our lives to build His kingdom and serve His children in ways that we could not imagine or need to know.

However it may play out in our lives, to give of ourselves freely. However the moments in our lives play out, to live them in freedom, in the sure knowledge that before God the Father, our debt has already been paid in full by His Son and our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

Fair go mate !

   Message based on Matthew 12: 28-34

“The day that stopped the world”

It seems a little ironic that on Tuesday the people of the united states will go to elect their president and on the same day Australia will confront the “Day that stops a Nation” the Melbourne Cup with the favourite being a horse called “Americain”. I can almost hear the press clichés now.

Mark Twain the American author of the Tom Sawyer books once said:

The Melbourne Cup is the Australasian National Day. I can call to mind no specialised annual day in any country, which can be named by that large name-Supreme. I can call to mind no specialised annual day, in any country, whose approach fires the whole land with a conflagration or passion of conversation, and preparation and anticipation and jubilation. No day save this one; but this one does it.”

And Australia’s own Banjo Paterson, born in nearby Orange adds:

“Before the North Pole was discovered, some cynic said it would be discovered easily enough by advertising a race meeting there, when a couple of dozen Australians would no doubt turn up with horses.”

It is indeed “The Day that stops a Nation”; unless you are unfortunate enough to be in a similar situation to a gentleman I met last year after returning from the North Adelaide paper shop. As I approached him sitting in front of the church, directly across from the police station (Law and Gospel you could say) he asked if I knew what time they opened. I didn’t but I stopped for a chat and he mentioned that on every second day he has to check in with the police and amongst other things spend some time with a therapist. We talked for 10 or fifteen minutes and in between his stories he continually finished each with “I can’t believe I have to come here the same time as the cups on, a bloke can’t even watch the cup”. He was a good fella but I couldn’t help but inwardly ponder how that even in his myriad of troubles and problems, that day-because of the day it was- that they only seemed secondary.

When meeting people that have migrated to Australia or simply visiting I’m always intensely interested to see how they see Australia through their eyes. A big strong barman in Coober Pedy told me that during the cold war he had risked his life crawling on his belly through patrolled paddocks to escape from a country behind the iron curtain. His response to my question of how or why he ended up in Australia was that the “word on the street” amongst the asylum seekers of the time “was to get to either Canada or Australia because they had heard from word of mouth that these countries would give outsiders a fair go” struck my heart to the core.

I hope and pray that our great country never loses our “sense of fair play”, or maybe even regains it, as for many of us, we are but the by-products of those sent here against their wishes, or by products of those who risked much to travel to the “Land down under” to start a new life knowing that it was improbable that they would ever be able to return to see those they left behind.

I came from the dream-time, from the dusty red soil plains

I am the ancient heart, the keeper of the flame.

I stood upon the rocky shore; I watched the tall ships come.

For forty thousand years I’ve been the first Australian.

I came upon the prison ship, bowed down by iron chains.

I cleared the land, endured the lash and waited for the rains.

I’m a settler; I’m a farmer’s wife on a dry and barren run

A convict then a free man…..

I’m the daughter of a digger who sought the mother lode

The girl became a woman on the long and dusty road

I’m a child of the depression, I saw the good times come

I’m a bushy, I’m a battler……

I’m a teller of stories, I’m a singer of songs

I am Albert Namatjira, I paint the ghostly gums

I am Clancy on his horse, I’m Ned Kelly on the run

I’m the one who waltzed Matilda…..

We are one, but we are many

and from all the lands on earth we come

We share a dream and sing with one voice:

I am, you are, we are Australian

That song is my Amazing Grace of what we stand for as a nation, and as with Amazing Grace I never tire of hearing it.

As most of us here were once outsiders in this nation, so too were the gentiles-our ancestors who were considered outside of God by the authorities of the day before Jesus walked this earth.

But in Mark 12:28 one such person asked Jesus “What is the greatest commandment of all?”

“Jesus answered, The first is you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this, love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Sometimes we read something that should not be tampered with but should just be retold as written. This is one (By Rev. Donald F. Hinchey):

“Our sin separates us not only from God but also from living out our faith in life. We sinners segment life into real and religious, stained glass and office. God bridges the gap with a cross. God gave His own Son to death to bring life with God into the streets. Jesus was crucified outside the city walls but in the midst of the people. Those who passed by hurled insults at him, shaking their heads and saying, You are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days (Mt 27:39-40). Faith and life meet in the crucified and risen Son of God. Faith, the gift of God, is meant to be lived out on earth. God’s Word and Sacraments stoke and nourish the fires of faith so that we might be the church in the community. We are all sinners, but in Christ alone we are saints through what he has done for us. Saints put flesh on the faith. This Christian life is no pie in the sky matter but is living here and now. A saint “preaches” by the way they walk and the way they stand and the way they pick things up and the way they hold them in their hands. A child was once asked what a saint was. She thought of the stained glass windows with pictures of the saints in her church and responded “A saint is a person who lets the light shine through.

In the darkness of our world’s brokenness and sin, the saints shine forth in hope: Christ is risen and we too shall rise”.

There is a school in a country town in France that has written upon its entrance “We will never forget Australia” and on Australia Day every year they gather in remembrance of the thousands upon thousands of young men that died in the paddocks that surround their town. Young men that gave the ultimate sacrifice in a foreign land. How our Lord must have wept to see the pain and loss of life on both sides.

As a grown man, for whatever reason when hearing a child crying in hurt as parents argued I always near driven to tears and when completing this message yesterday I again heard this play out in the street I live.

Our Savior Jesus Christ died once and for all for our sins yet he still suffers the pain of our world. Pray that we too hear our neighbor’s pain, that they too see the light of Christ. Amen.

 

“God’s Jigsaw Puzzle”

Christian life week

Ephesians 4:1-6

“God’s Jigsaw Puzzle”

Growing up in South Australia back in the dim and dark ages when I could manage to participate in sport without feeling like a I’m about to have a heart attack, there was no such animal as is the case now with the Australian Football League (The AFL).

Back then each state had its own league that wasn’t just a recruiter’s field of dreams; but was the pinnacle of the sport. The pinnacle that if you reached you may get selected to play against the enemy-the dreaded Victorians. If fortunate enough to make that team, it didn’t matter if the week before you had beaten each other half to death, against Victoria, all past grievances were forgotten as the whole state came together as one. It was them verses us. Much like the emotion NSW and QLD still are fortunate to be able to enjoy in State of Origin Rugby League.

Years later at the urging of a friend of mine I went to Melbourne to simply watch some Football at the MCG, and it was all that he had said it would be, even empty there is something about that stadium-it seems to breath, to be alive. But more than that, the thing that got me was whether it be checking in at the motel or shopping at the markets, that when I replied to their question of why I was visiting, being that I had simply come over to watch some football, I was accepted like a prodigal son. It was amazing. Make no mistake they are fierce in support of their tribes, such St. Kilda vs. Collingwood and so forth. But under the banner of Australian Rules Football they stand side by side. The rich and the poor, the upstanding and the not so highly regarded by society stand together, unified in their love of the game.

Indeed I experienced the same thing in Coober Pedy when a football team was started for the first time. A team that brought together those with light skin, with dark skin and all the shades in between, and during that season we became as one. Far from them and us, we came to understand and enjoy the uniqueness of each other’s outlook on life. Through that initial bond of wanting to play football it became much more and on the five hour bus trips each way to and from our home games (there was no grassed oval in Coober Pedy) we got to know each other-to understand each other and to respect each other-and I came to love those guys-Just as they were.

(As a side issue, the police told us that by the end of the season, crime rates had dropped by 50% in the town).

In our reading from Ephesians Paul talks of our unity in Christ:

“I urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit-just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call-one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”

We are all called to the one hope, our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. On our last day when we meet in person our Lord and Saviour, we won’t be ushered into the Anglican, Roman Catholic, AOG, the traditional Lutheran or Liberal Lutheran sections and so forth, we will be as one-as we are now. One in Christ, and all saved in only the one, Jesus.

Just lately I’ve seen the same here in our region. In the seven months since arriving I have been part of funerals of the Lutheran, AOG, Anglican and Church of Christ denominations-and from what I could see, there was only one thing in view, one thing that truly mattered-more than hope, but the surety of salvation in Jesus our Saviour. But those words of Paul, what doesn’t he say. He doesn’t say that we have to be like clones. And nor should he, because our individual thoughts and gifts are unique to us, they are gifts from God.

We are all many parts of the same body of Christ. From denomination to denomination, parish to parish and within, each particular Sunday gathering. Each is unique, as is each of the people that gather. Each with gifts that God uses in various shapes and forms so that His message of salvation in His Son will be heard and received by people in various shapes and forms. The absolute and over whelming love of God for each of us, no matter who we are or where we’re from is seen up front and personal in His Son Jesus, that he gave that we may live. But also we see His sincere love displayed in His giving us a brain, the ability to think and make decisions for ourselves and dare I say it, the ability to make wrong decisions-to bring division, to harm others and to follow the way of sin, the world and its flaws. That’s just how it is, because we carry the burden of sin. We sin and make mistakes, yet, we are still one in Christ.

During the American Civil war. Robert E. Lee the leader of the South was attending worship and during communion he rose to approach the alter to share in the Holy Feast. As too did a black man, a slave who upon seeing the general rise, sat back down. As he walked past this man, Robert E Lee, the leader of the South who among other things was fighting to keep slavery legal-put his hand on the man’s shoulder and said come up with me-before our Lord, we are all equal. In our world, through earthly eyes and judgements we are far from equal. I could have been born in a struggling country that may have seen me on a leaky boat risking my life to get illegally into Australia, but I wasn’t-I was born here. I could have died at a young age like some of my friends, but I’m still here. If situations were different I may have made a living from playing sport, but now I talk to you as a Pastor. If I had met a nice young Anglican girl instead of a nice young Lutheran girl I may had taken this address earlier on Sunday night at the Anglican Church. If I had turned that way instead of this way-I may be lying in the gutter with a near empty bottle of cheap wine. But I’m here, as are you.

We are what we are and how that came about doesn’t really matter. What matters, is that whether it had been one those other outcomes or what has actually eventuated, is that we know the truth-that no matter what seems to be in our world, it is nothing when compared to what is, that Christ died for our sins and that on our last days-we will join together in unending joy before and with our Lord and Saviour. That is the truth, the truth that has set us free-the Lord has given us the freedom to live today among his other children, those found and those yet to be found. The freedom to live among those found and encourage them in their faith that we may remain one in Christ, and the freedom to live among those yet to be found, that with our different skills, gifts and placements given to us by God, that when he brings them before us-they too may hear the truth, and that they too may become one in Christ. Amen.