Category: Advent

“As nutty as a fruit cake”

Isaiah 11:1-10, Romans 15:4-13, Matthew 3:1-12

The three bible readings today talk of the world in relation to God’s promised gift of Him sending a Saviour. In the Old Testament reading the prophet Isaiah forecasts and talks of the Messiah King that is yet to come. In the Gospel John the Baptist is heralding the arrival of that very person, Jesus Christ who is now on their doorstep and in the Epistle from the book of Romans, Paul the apostle tells of now having received through Christ the foreshadowed promise mercy and forgiveness, that we can now live in harmony with each other in hope, joy and peace.

Three periods of time apart from each other in the history of our world. Before Christ, meeting Christ for the first time and then the result of realising His presence.  Three periods of time in history experienced by three different sets of people.  Those looking and waiting for a Saviour, those walking with the Savour and those affected by Him. Separated apart by large chunks of time but not unlike us ourselves on our own individual spiritual journeys of before, meeting and then the after effects of Christ in our own short journeys in this world.

Before, meeting with and after. Three stages of Christian life and I wonder which one you are in at the moment?

Charles Wesley, a great servant of God, a great missionary and  one of the initiators of the Methodist Church travelled by boat to preach the gospel to parts of the world that had not heard it and on his return after being asked how we went replied “Yes, many souls have been saved, but who is going to save mine”.

Before, meeting and then growing in Christ. I wonder which one you are in at the moment, just like I wonder which one I’m in.

When our son Josh turned three, I took my long service leave to look after him while my wife Cathy started some part time work with the Bendigo Bank.

It was six months of the most cherished time in my life but one Saturday morning, while playing computer games together the phone rang and a man said that Cathy had been involved in a car accident on her way home from work and that she was fine but a little shaken. We jumped straight in the car and after telling Josh of the situation I could see that he was a little worried for his mum. So I told him the truth of what I understand the man ringing had told me. It’s fine Josh, it’ll be just a small dent in the car and after we give mum a hug she’ll settle down and she’ll drive her car home.

As we turned the corner looking down a hill, about 500 metres away I could see two shiny cars, both written off in the middle of a very busy intersection. Two tow trucks, a fire engine, an ambulance and several police cars and I said to my three year old son, Josh this is worse than I thought so mum will be really upset and maybe even hurt, so both of us are going to have to be strong for mum.  He looked at me and said, “But dad, I’m just a boy”.

After my dad died a few years ago, I was looking through some old stuff and there before in an old black and white photo was my dad with his two boys at the beach. He was fit and young but what stunned me was the look of joy in his eyes. The joy in his eyes that I never really remembered a great deal off.  I loved my dad but pain of others ultimately plays out in those closet to them and after having just started my pastoral studies, I went from full time in my bank job to part time as allowed for in the first years of your study to help pay the bills. Two weeks later my brother tragically died and fearing for how my mum and dad would deal with it and having accumulated over twelve months sick leave went to see a doctor to state the situation at hand and get a sick certificate for a few weeks so that I could look after them.

What I didn’t reckon on was that it would play out a little like the scene from the movie Tin Cup, where Kevin Costner having fell for the charms of the new physiatrist in town, decides to try and get to know her under the guise of needing her services. Unfortunately for him, she does her job and he departs saying I didn’t come here to be told stuff about me I didn’t want to hear.

As to me with my doctor, a “normal” doctor but who I was to find out had an interest in the health of the mind and after she had written out my sick certificate started meddling in not just how I was dealing with life at that time, but also how I had dealt with life in general and that she seemed to suggest that from want of a better word “I was somewhat a tortured soul” was not what I went there for and like Kevin Costner in Tin Cup went in feeling fine only to walk out knowing I was as nutty as a fruit cake. Thanks for that.

In 1985 the Aussie band “The Divinyls” released a song “(It’s a fine line between) Pleasure and pain”  and in our day to day worldly moments it most certainly can be. The fine line between rain and drought, the Jockey checked in the home turn to lose by a nostril, a millisecond in the Olympic 100 metres final and in the 2005 AFL grand final where the Sydney Swans defeated the West Coast Eagles by only a few points, I remember that within minutes the commentator asked “so where did it all go wrong for the Eagles”.

When he was Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser once famously said to those angry at his political party’s decisions that were affecting their lifestyles “that life wasn’t meant to be easy”. So too, although Jesus talked of hope, joy and peace never actually said that life would be easy. In fact far from it as he talked of how we too like himself, will bear our crosses of pain, hurt, trials and tribulations in our own lives.

Jesus did not say life would be easy, but he did say he will get us through it and that is the difference and that we be still waiting to meet him, walking with him in our lives now or still trying to work it all out can change yearly, daily, hourly or in every given minute of our lives as we enjoy the best of times or endure the worst of what life can throw at us.

Our lives and times, how we are treated and how we treat others and how we act can change due to circumstances.  That’s just how it is. But I do know of one who doesn’t change towards us, and be we a little boy told to be a man before his time or a strong man in his twilight years still carrying the same fear from the hurts of life, before Jesus Christ we are as one. And as one, in happiness or sadness he comes to us with outstretched arms, not to push down but to lift up, not to add to the weight of our lives but to lift it off. Not to bring judgement on our sins and wayward lives, but to take our sins and judgement on himself as he did on the cross.

Today in our small church, through the joyous gift of baptism our numbers have swollen and truly we are blessed by your company today and that some of you I have not met before, and that some I will not see again is of no consequence to you because I am anything but a role model to be drawn to and most definitely, sooner or later would disappoint you. But should now in your life you stand still waiting to meet Christ, still asking questions of him or walking with him, Jesus Christ will not disappoint you because like in the promise he has given today in Baptism to Sophie, Luke and Tyler he offers to us all.

Not the promise that in ourselves  we will always know hope, joy and peace, but the promise that in him, regardless of what we have done or where we are at, that He came to be given as a lamb to the slaughter and die on the cross that whether it be Sophie, Luke, Tyler starting their journey with Christ or a long time person of faith at the end of their journey or you and me, Jesus Christ the messiah offers His hope, His joy and His peace to you and me today and should we accept it or not, he does not and will not change as He continues to do as he has done in the past. To walk with us, carrying us in need that we come to ask for what he begs to give. To receive what He offers, that as we are, turn to Him and ask His forgiveness that He can without jury, judge or evidence to the contrary take our hand in His and say welcome home my dear child, your sins are forgiven and as I will most certainly carry your heavy load as I walk with you in this life, so too most certainly will you walk with me in the life to come which has no hurt, no pain, no tears and no end. Amen.

“What was I thinking?”

Matthew 24:36-44

When I was sixteen years old my dad said to me, enjoy your life because it goes quickly and in what will seem like no time, you’ll be my age and I remember my assessment at the time. Your age, goodness that’s so far away it will take me two life times to reach it, and that he was at the grand old age of forty years old at the time, I wonder now-just “what was I thinking?”

Time fly’s and in March 2012, shortly after arriving in Dubbo and some fifteen plus years after having played my last game of Aussie Rules Football I returned to the training track for the Dubbo Demons Aussie Rules Football Club ready to burn up the track and as we set off in the warm up laps I saw possibly the slowest runner I’ve ever seen and that I couldn’t keep up with him was somewhat a significant dent to the ego.

Funnily enough, that very night the president of the Lutheran Church at the time rang me up to see how I was settling in and after I had said that I had been to footy training but had to leave early because I had to attend a church meeting that night, laughed and made a suggestion that it might be wise to have a church meeting to attend every footy training night.

John Lennon once said that “Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans” and indeed It would seem that while I was distracted on other things during those fifteen or so years, something had happened to me that I didn’t realise until that fateful night and to say I was caught unawares is somewhat an understatement.

Distracted and caught unawares like to which Christ talks of in today’s Gospel reading where he warns of the dangers of getting so caught up in life’s daily activities like those of Noah’s time, that though Noah preached to them the coming flood and offered them a way out with free tickets aboard the Ark, they did not heed his warnings until it was too late. So too Jesus says will it be with His return. And that it will be at a time that we do not expect, whether in earthly death or still standing as we see Him coming in the clouds we must be always ready.

So how do we get ready?

What is interesting is that in our epistle reading two weeks ago, St. Paul after having through the Holy Spirit brought the Thessalonians to understand and believe in what awaits them in the return of Christ, has a crack at them because they’ve decided that’s all that matters and have decided to just kick back and smell the roses until that day.

Contrastingly, those of Noah’s time after seeing him build a boat for about seventy years in a place where it didn’t much rain and was nowhere near the sea seemingly get it in the neck for eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage and getting on with life.

That the Thessalonians certainly seemed ready but get hauled over the coals for being idle and Noahs mob miss the boat because they are not being idle begs the question of us and how we are too be ready to board the Ark to safety of our times in that of Jesus Christ.

But Jesus does not say to get ready, but to be ready and at this given point in time we either are ready or we are not ready to meet him because we either are already on the His ark or we are not.

Similar the question is not do you want to leave this earth yet or not because that is subjective as there have been times when I most certainly have and times like now when I wouldn’t mind sticking around for quite a while yet.

Thankfully knowing if you are ready or not is neither subjective nor undecided because Christ does not sit on the fence in such matters and to be ready is to believe in what he has told us in His Words of the Gospel. Being that it’s not what we think or do, but what He has done and knows.

I mentioned one other time that a noted theologian asked our class how do we grow as Christians and after we offered all these pious replies, simply told us that to grow as a Christian is too come to know daily of what it means to kneel before the cross and understand our cry of “Lord have mercy”.

To kneel at the cross, whether it be days where we are clinging to life with our fingernails or flying like an eagle we come before Christ not saved through good works and pious living nor discarded because of our ills and wayward ways. But kneel at the cross of Christ be it as Mother Theresa or the thief on the cross and are given mercy and eternal life in faith in what Christ has done alone.

In today’s Gospel Jesus tells us that “two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and the other one left” just as with the two thieves of the cross next to Jesus, one taken and one left. Sets of twos not separated by what they were doing or what they had done, but separated by knowing Him and trusting in what he had done for them.

For one man from the field, one women grinding at the mill, a thief and I assume Mother Theresa, they no longer need to be concerned with any subjectivity of if they either are or are not good enough to reside with their Lord in paradise for they have now realised the promise given to them by Christ, that in Him and trusting in Him alone never again will they suffer hunger, tears or death.

So what of us? Should we knowing the truth of what awaits us sit around like the Thessalonians and unconcerned of life around us? Or get busy with life like those of Noah’s time and risk missing the boat?

Neither and both because kneeling at the cross of Christ you have been forgiven and like the Thessalonians most certainly that is all you need to do and know. Neither and both because like those of Noah’s time we are to be part of the community, but not through being separated from the Ark of Christ but because we know we are already on it.

We don’t get ready to meet Jesus as we either are or we are not and which of the two comes back to not focussing on ourselves but on Him. And in focussing on Christ alone and kneeling before Him and asking for His mercy and forgiveness you have been saved and most certainly will dwell with Him in paradise.

Kneeling at the cross of Christ is to know what awaits us when we meet him without any subjectivity or doubt. Yet as the day of that promise is still yet to come, for now we live our today’s in the here and know and though some days will bring storms and some fine weather, knowing in the truth we live opening our lives to those around us that they too will see the still open door to Christ that they too be taken. To open our lives not to only one man in the field, one lady grinding in the mill or one thief bearing his sin, but to the others as well that they come two by two as they hear Jesus Words beckoning they join Him on His Ark of Mercy to safety and life.

In faith in Jesus alone you are ready to meet Him today; pray that through us others may too become ready. Amen.

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

2 PETER 3:3-11.

THE CERTAINTY OF THE LORD’S COMING.

 
Have you ever been ridiculed for your Christian beliefs? Have you ever had people mock-scoff-make fun of Christianity?

What do you do in those situations? Do you ignore it? Do you just walk away? Or do you make some kind of response?

There is no easy answer to that. It all depends on the situation. In the Bible reading for today we see how the Apostle Peter responded when people were ridiculing his faith. This letter of Peter could well have been written today instead of almost 2,000 years ago. We can see from this letter that people haven’t really changed all that much over the centuries. People who scoff-mock Christianity are saying much the same kind of thing today as they said centuries ago. So that makes this letter from Peter very relevant for us today. Scoffing at –mocking-making fun of Christian teaching is not unique to today. It is not something that only happens today. There always have been and always will be those who ridicule Christianity and its teachings. That is what makes this passage relevant for us today.

Two kinds of sermons-fish and chips –easily digested; and steak and vegies-you have to chew on- because of the particular topic-this is a steak sermon- you are going to have chew/digest this sermon.

How long is soon? How soon is soon? Song, “Soon and very soon we are going to see the Lord” . So how soon is soon? Can you remember when you were a child and you asked your parents for something and they would say “soon”. Or perhaps you used that response to your own children when they wanted something.

So how “soon is soon”. That is basically what the early Christians were being asked about the Return of Jesus. The mocking question they were being asked was, ‘Where is this coming he promised? What they meant was, “You Christians say that Jesus promised to return, so then, where is he? What the mockers were implying was that Jesus wasn’t coming back.

Now this kind of mocking question wasn’t anything new. It was the kind of question that unbelievers have taunted God’s people down the centuries.

“Where is your God? “ they demanded of the Psalmist.

“ Where is the God of Judgement? They asked the prophet Malachi.

“Where is the Word of the Lord”, the prophet Jeremiah’s enemies asked him.

Now in asking that question they were implying that there was NO GOD and therefore no Word of God and that believers were just deluding themselves. This of course has been the standard tactic of non- believers down the centuries. Not very original.

Let’s have a closer look at what the sceptics were saying and how the Apostle responded to their claim that Jesus was not coming back.

1.Vs4:Their first argument was that the promise had been so long delayed that tt was safe to assume that it would never be fulfilled. In other words because it hadn’t happened, it wasn’t going to happen. So you might as well forget about it.-poor logic.

2.Their second argument 4b the world is going on precisely as it always has. They claimed that the world was stable and such an event as the Return of Jesus and the end of the world simply won’t happen.

The Apostle has a two fold answer. And he deals with their second argument first- ie that the world is stable and such upheavals just don’t happen on earth.

Peter refutes that claim by pointing out that the world has not always been stable- vs6-he reminds them of the great flood that destroyed the world at the time of Noah. And then he adds that a second great destruction- this time by fire- was on its way. He is arguing that since God had the power to create the world he also has the power to destroy it. The great flood showed what God was capable of doing. If he caused a great catastrophe in the past he could certainly do so in the future.

Vs8-9. here the Apostle tackles the first argument. The sceptics refer to the slowness of God to act-the long delay and claim that they can safely assume that Jesus is not going to return- that the Second Coming is not going to happen.

Well the Apostle has a two fold answer to that argument.

1.Wemust look at time from God’s perspective. Time is not the same for God as it is for us. He quotes psalm 90,”Wit God a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day”. We have a short term view of time whereas God has a long term view. Have you watched Dr Who? God is the original Time Lord because he is the Lord of time. So God’s plans are not affected by time as ours are. We only have a human life time to carry out our plans. But God has all eternity to carry out his.

So when it comes to how God works –we must forget our ideas of time. For Time does not limit God like it does you and me. God is not limited by time. He stands outside of time and sets the limits of time.

2. The Apostle Peter points out (verse 9) that there is a good reason for God’s apparent slowness to act- one that is for our benefit. God acts slowly because he is merciful. He withholds his hand of judgement to give unbelievers more opportunity to repent. So God’s delay is not because of his inability to act –BUT to give people more opportunity to come to their senses and repent-to give people more time to prepare for Christ’s Return.

What this means then is that we are to look on the extension of time that God gives

us as an opportunity to share or faith-the Good News of what Jesus has done for us. After all the Bible tells us that God wants all to be saved. So every day that we live- every day that we draw breath-is an opportunity to share the Good News about Jesus and his Return.

So “How Long is Soon?”. It may be SOONER than we think.

Finally we come to the Apostle’s conclusion. Read vs 11. “SINCE” –no doubt about it. It is a foregone conclusion.

The question is, “What kind of people should we be?” .

Peter also gives us the answer. “You ought to live holy and Godly lives. Lives that are committed/dedicated to serving God, We need to assess our values – to check that the values by which we live are Christian values and that we have not blindly taken on the values of this world. By this I mean the values that assume that this world is all that there is. And it is so easy to get caught up with and adopt those views.

Advent reminds us that we live in a world to which Jesus is returning-a world that has a limited shelf life. It reminds us that we want to make sure that we are ready to meet our Lord when he returns.

And if his Return is delayed, , remember that this is because God wants all people to have the opportunity to come to know him-to repent of their sins and enter into a new relationship with him. So that when -not if- but when our Lord finally returns

We may all go with him into the joy of eternal life.

 

Waiting with Joy

 

Sermon: 3rd Sunday of Advent, Year B

Reading: Isaiah 61:1-4, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 & John 1:6-8,19-28;

 

Waiting on the phone, waiting at the check-out, waiting for VCE results to come, waiting in the doctor’s surgery, waiting in the car as we drive on a long trip – are we there yet? I wonder many hours of our lives we would spend waiting.

The strange thing is that, even with all this practice, we never get used to it, although some of us are a little better at it than others. What doesn’t help, of course, is that these days we are getting more and more accustomed to instant answers and instant results. Everything from a pregnancy test to the digital camera – there it is, in seconds. We are slowly building our world around our desire to have it right now.

Recently I had the opportunity to open and consume a special bottle of red wine. It’s a bottle that I have been cellaring for 14 years. When we first tasted this wine at the winery it was full of promise. It had all the makings of a wonderful wine, though in a raw and undeveloped state. Back then it was completely unsuitable for drinking straight away. I read my Penguin wine guide and discovered that the experts suggested this year (2005) was the year it should be opened. So we waited and waited for 14 years. And finally last Wednesday we drew the cork.

And the wine had changed – it was rich and smooth and complex and wonderful. The potential it had back in 1991 had come to fullness. It was fantastic. And we reflected, as we sniffed and sipped this wine, that our enjoyment of it was heightened by our waiting for it to develop. Our enjoyment had been enhanced by the anticipation of what that raw, purple fluid would become as it matured over time. The wine had come to fullness and so we were able to fully enjoy it.

There is a purpose in waiting – it takes time for things to be ready. It takes time to make us ready for them. It is part of how God has designed creation. One famous writer and theologian (Teihard de Chardin) said: “It is a law of all progress that it is made by passing through stages and that this may take some time.”

It is in this same way that God unfolds his salvation, in what we often experience to be lengthy and maybe frustrating periods of waiting, and we become impatient and perhaps even cynical, and yet we know by faith that God’s timing is perfect and that it is almost always different to ours.

This period of Advent is all about waiting: anticipation, the slow growth of joy coming gradually to fullness as we celebrate Christmas. Mary waits as the child grows in her womb. Israel waits. All this waiting is represented as we wait through four weeks of this season, lighting candles as we go and recalling God’s promises through the ages.

Advent helps us practice waiting for God. Waiting is part of God’s unfolding plan for our salvation and for this world’s salvation.

It allows us space to grow towards maturity and it allows God’s work to develop – like the wine coming to it’s fullness.

These three Bible readings are about waiting.

Isaiah speaks to us in the Old Testament reading from the distant past. From this vantage point, he puts our waiting into perspective for us. He shows us that God’s work in this world reaches over centuries and generations, and did not begin and will not end with us.

This plan of God’s to bring all things together in his love began millennia ago, and stretches into eternity. And we who are part of God’s great plan see only what is here and now and we wait for the full revealing of God’s Kingdom.

The Church is not just us here and now. We are part of a long history and, after us, who knows how God will shape the church of the future. It may indeed look very different. We often wish we could make things change or move or progress faster than they do, and we definitely have our part to play, but often there is also waiting involved: waiting for others to be ready, waiting for the right opportunities where God brings things together and makes new things happen in people’s hearts and lives.

In today’s Gospel, John the Baptist speaks to an impatient crowd who are looking for their Messiah. As he speaks, it is some 400 years since God has sent a prophet to tell them what is happening. God’s people had been waiting. And John declares himself to be that voice that Isaiah speaks about; the voice crying in the wilderness. John is saying to them: God has not forgotten. He is working and your waiting is not in vain. He will not disappoint you. The promise is not lost. The day is coming, and is almost here.

 

In the Epistle reading today, Paul speaks to the Thessalonians who are waiting, as we also wait, for that final day of the Lord’s coming. They are fretful and distracted and restless and troubled by persecution and doubts and worries. And Paul is teaching them how to wait. He tells them to pray, to give thanks, and, he says, do not despise the words of the prophets. Like John the Baptist, Paul points the Thessalonians who are waiting back to the promises of God in his Word. And he says in verse 24, He who has called you is faithful and he will do it. He will do it. Leave it in his hands. Relinquish control. God will bring all things to completion and fullness in his time, at the right time.

What are you waiting for?

Retirement?

Kids to become independent?

For recovery from an illness?

For the right life-partner to come along?

For the right job or the right home?

For life to settle down so you can have a rest?

For life to get going so you can get on with it?

Waiting for others to get organized so you can do what you really want to do?

Waiting for God to answer some long-cherished prayer?

Waiting for some vision for our congregation that is close to your heart to be fulfilled?

We have all been waiting for our parish worker to be employed!

Well, Isaiah and John the Baptist and Paul would say to us: accept the waiting. Don’t fight it and fret it and become impatient. It is part of the journey of God’s purposes, for his whole creation, and for you and for your life. The waiting is just as important as the arrival of what is waited for. God is cellaring the wine, so that it will come to fullness.

He is maturing our hearts, gradually forming our character, shaping your will and the wills of others. As we wait for the bigger and the smaller things in our lives (whatever they may be), we can be confident that the waiting is part of what God has in store. And we can be confident also that He is preparing us for that final completion that will bring the perfect fullness of what our lives are meant to be.

When we wait in this way, our whole lives become “an Advent”… we mark our stages on the way. We learn to wait with hope and joy for the small and large gifts and changes that we need. We read the promises of God in His Word, reminding ourselves of where it is all going.

And as we wait for that final ultimate meeting with our Lord, the joy and hope and anticipation builds towards fullness. God is cellaring his wine, bringing it to its fullness. And one day when the waiting is over, we will taste that joy in its fullness. And so we wait with joy.
Amen.

“A Conscience lock”

2 Peter 3:8-15a
The day looks to be taking forever. And the length of the day appears to be inversely proportional to the hardships we face in it. That is — the worse the events one must endure to get to the end of the day, the longer it takes for the day to unfold and happen.

When the day gets harder to endure, there is also a decline in most of us too. The pressure makes the temperature gauge rise, and we begin to boil. It doesn’t take much for us to blow our tops. Hardships burden us so our patience is depleted and we become more and more intolerant to the events happening around us.

Extreme weather can add pressure to our days; stinking hot summers and bitterly cold winters can both weigh heavy on our patience. Various pain, limited only by the imagination, can make one feel as though the day seems to take a thousand years. Guilt from doing something wrong also gives the impression of slowing the day as we ponder, “If only I hadn’t done that!” In fact, anything that causes hardship has a lengthening effect on time so a day feels like it takes a thousand years to happen.

Saint Peter encourages those under pressure from impatient scoffers and those hell-bent on doing evil who have forgotten God’s Word, saying:

With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:8-9)

If we compare the eternal almighty majesty of our Heavenly Father next to our pettiness and weaknesses which constantly test God’s patience, it’s not surprising that a day examining us seems like an eternity, let alone a thousand years.

God is so powerful he can examine all things big and small, complex and simple, microcosms and macrocosms. And he can do it in the blink of an eye. If it were possible to reach the edge of eternity, God would have already been there for an eternity.

Inside eternity he has knowledge of every single thing he has created, every star, every planet, every rock, every tree, the internal structure of every atom and molecule, every creature that walks the earth, flies over it, and swims in its waters.

And he knows everything about every person. What would take a thousand years to learn about yourself, God knows in a day. In fact, he knew your every impulse, thought, and action in the eternal moment before a blink of his eye.

This is absolutely amazing since we don’t even know ourselves or the pulses that run through our minds in a matter of seconds. Do you ever wonder how you ended up thinking about someone or an event from the past when you first were thinking of something completely different? Have you then gone back and tried to list the chain of events from your subconscious that led your thoughts from one to the other? It’s hard enough to remember a chain of events just happened in your mind let alone from further back in the past.

Can any of us remember everything about our past anyway? God knows every microscopic detail about our past, and even our future! None of us have an intimate knowledge of our medical and physiological makeup, nor do we really want to know! But God knows every sinew, every drop of blood, and every pulse of your brain. Yet he hasn’t even taken a surgeons knife to you to look in side.

We don’t have an intimate knowledge of our internal bodies in a physical sense. Furthermore, how much do we really know about each other in a social sense? Our understanding of our interaction with other people is so limited; yet it’s so complex, but God has full view of it all.

He sees all things we do, both good and bad. He sees the things we should have done. He sees all of our sins that occur as a result of our sinful condition, the ones we know, feeling guilty and ashamed about, and the sins we seek to justify. He also see the sins we overlook; the sins we don’t even know we commit. And it’s not just you he knows, it’s every impulse, thought, desire, and deed of every person who has lived, is living, and will ever live.

Now for us to know all this about our mortal selves would take a thousand years, let alone knowing anyone else around us. But it’s comforting to know God is patient with us and doesn’t do to us what our condition deserves. Although he is infinitely intimate with our whole person, God’s patience endures in the hope we will not eternally perish.

But having been made his children in baptism, receiving the life-giving condition of Christ in our mortal frames, have you ever wondered why God doesn’t place in us a stop guard so we no longer falter from the sinful condition still in us. Perhaps it would have been good if God had placed a conscience lock in us as he gives us new life in Christ!

A conscience lock would kick in and disable our physical bodies when we seek to harm our brother or sister in any way. A conscience lock would flash illegal error in the brain when our thoughts became devious. A conscience lock would silence us when our words waver from what is good and wholesome. The conscience lock would also work the other way and make us conscious of things around us. It would wake us to the needs of others, and we would never need an alarm clock to make it to church on time.

However, this is not the way God works. It’s not the way Christ worked when God sent him to be born in Bethlehem. Jesus was no robot. He was as human as you and me; and capable of the same sin as you and me. If Jesus was a robot sent from God, how much would he be able to relate to our human condition? But he struggled with the same things as you and me, yet he remained faithful to God and didn’t succumb to the sinful human nature as we do.

We like Jesus are not robots. So there is no lock on our consciences, although Christ is living in us. Jesus allowed himself to be handed over to death as result of our sin and he gave us life. Jesus rescues us and chose to take us to our Heavenly Father through his sacrifice. And now that we are with him, he calls us to stand with him, remain with him, and abide with him in heavenly peace.

Our sinful nature, the old Adam, still remains although we have now been given the new nature of the New Adam, Jesus Christ. But just like Christ God desires faith rather than robotics. Yet God is still patient with us, his people, his church!

God has done the work of salvation and brought us to it. He is faithful and in his work of salvation grants us faith through the work of the Holy Spirit. He is patient with us, willing us to see ourselves for who we are, to be conscious of our consciences, and trust what he has done for us.

Having been given this trusting faith, God desires you to remain with him and seek repentance, because he doesn’t want any person to perish. God is patient, but God will fulfil all of his promises. In these last days God desires you to understand his patience, to rest in his forgiveness, and to know of his almighty power as his comes forgiving you in his word, before the last day when he promises to put all things right.

Finally hear God’s word from Saint Peter…

But the day of the lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. Since every thing will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth the home of righteousness. So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him. Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation. (2 Peter 3:10-15a)

Amen.

1st Corinthians 1: 3-9

Pots and moulds 

It’s an ugly mess. It has no form; it’s a great big pile of brown goo. It’s sticky and damp; good for nothing it seems. It’s dirty; perhaps to some it’s even a bit smelly; and if you get it on yourself it can stain. But someone is looking for exactly this; a useless formless piece to be formed into something that is good and pleasing to the eye.

This someone takes the goo and plonks it on the table. The table begins to spin and his hands descend on the formlessness to mould it into something pleasing to the eye; a thing pleasing to the one who turns the tables on something so seemingly useless.

Clay can be troublesome stuff. It can cause heartache for anyone who comes across it. When it’s dry it’s like rock and jars the arms of those who try to break it. But when it’s wet, it’s so sticky, it seems to latch onto anything that touches it and it won’t let go. Anyone who wants to use it has their work cut out for them; such is clay in its natural environment.

However, to the potter clay has a use; a very good use. He knows just what to do to work the goo into something exquisite. The stickiness is worked with wet hands so the clay moves and grows into something good. Its stickiness actually is a quality that keeps the pot adhering to itself. And when it’s put in the kiln and baked the clay is returned to a state that is rock hard to keep its form so it can be used to hold things; perhaps even water.

But clay being what it is can still be trouble. As the potter caringly tries to mould it the clay can collapse and become misshaped. It has to be returned to the lump in which it was originally found and the potter starts again. When the clay becomes a pot, its hardness also makes it brittle and if the pot is not treated right it can shatter into a myriad of pieces. Even if it gets a fine crack, the owner takes to it with a rod reducing it to pieces of potsherd.

When we consider that God is in fact the potter and we are the clay and the pots that he moulds to hold his holy presence we are encouraged to examine ourselves and see the imperfections that cause us and our Heavenly Potter trouble. Isaiah did exactly that when he lamented over his peopleIsrael.

You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry. How then can we be saved? All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and made us waste away because of our sins.

Yet, O Lord, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. Do not be angry beyond measure, O Lord; do not remember our sins forever. Oh, look upon us, we pray, for we are all your people. (Isaiah 64:5-9)

Perhaps you have noticed the imperfections and cracks in the shell of your being. You worry that you’re in danger of being dashed to pieces and thrown on the scrapheap of life. Maybe like Isaiah you see the reality of your hidden human nature — the content of your fragile fatal life — and tremble because you know God sees the sin within.

So hiding the sin is fruitless; it still oozes out the cracks. And even your most honourable and worthy acts can’t exist without containing just a hint of self centeredness. So you know in the depth and core of your being you can do nothing righteous in God’s all-seeing sight. We look in the pot knowing we were moulded and formed to hold something so much better than the pot of filthy rags we have become.

Like the Psalmist we are reduced to see the reality of who we are before God Almighty as we plead…

Restore us, O Lord God Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved. (Psalm 80:19)

The fact of the matter is this: we need to be saved. Without intervention and restoration the potter will return and take to the pots with an iron rod and dash us into pieces of potsherd.

Knowing this the Potter sets to work at the wheel yet again and moulds another pot to contain the core of his being. Just as in the days of old when Solomon used clay moulds to cast precious metals for the temple, Almighty God cast Christ Jesus, his holy and precious Son, into the same fragile clay shell as you and me. And in this mould was veiled the depth and breadth of God’s complete holiness and generosity.

This is very good news for us full of cracks and imperfections who know we need restoration so God will look on us favourably. Our prayer should be the same as that of the Psalmist who also sees he cannot save himself…

Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, the son of man you have raised up for yourself. Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name. (Psalm 80:17-18)

So God sent his Son; he cast Christ as one of us. The Son of Man at his right hand, the one on whom God’s hand of blessing rested, was sent and born a baby, a fragile clay pot, capable of the same failures as you and me. Yet he did not crack under the pressure that show us for who we are. He stood the test of time, a fragile pot holding the holiness of God, more precious than any silver or gold.

But then the Potter took his rod of wrath. The rod we know we deserve and having his Son raised up, let him be smashed to pieces. The pot was broken, the mortal mould and holy contents was made to die. Christ was cast; then Christ was crucified! God’s hand fell on Christ so the prayer of the Psalmist, together with your prayer, is answered. You are restored! We are revived! God’s face shines on us and we can call on the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. We can confess our sins; our brokenness to God. And even more, God wants us to see ourselves and seek him in confession, so he can forgive the guilt of our sins.

Jesus was poured out like water, he was dried out like potsherd, he was cast as Christ but then he was cast out, the outcast. On the night before he was betrayed and crucified on the cross he said…

This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. (Luke 22:20)

And so God’s pot was broken like bread and the cup was lifted up for the forgiveness of your sins. God has wet his hands in baptism to mould your mortal clay so you carry what was poured out of the cup of his Son for your salvation. You now contain the life blood of Christ himself in you, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of all your sins.

So as we hear from Paul from the beginning of his first letter to the Corinthians, grace and peace has come to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. That God can be thanked for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. You can trust that in him you have been enriched in every way.

Therefore, know, you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. Also know as you struggle with your fragility, only Christ who continually sends the Holy Spirit through his written word will keep you strong to the end, so you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful. He won’t let you down, but he will allow you to be poured out and broken so Christ might flow onto others. But after it is done those who trust his faithfulness will be raised like Christ, to be with Christ, restored and revived, in all the holiness and peace of eternal life, forevermore Amen.