A description of Jesus that we hear during the Advent / Christmas season is that of Immanuel – ‘God with us’. While it is not used specifically over the Easter period the title remains true of Jesus and indeed is a truth that we would do well to own even more deeply in the midst of the profound Easter narrative.

I was reflecting this morning on a blessing that we use every time someone is baptised. It is found in Numbers 6:24-26 and is known as the Aaronic blessing:

‘The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.’

This is an Immanuel ‘God with us’ blessing. It is prayed over us at our baptism and there is no use by date to be found. It is prayed over us among a community of people to remind everyone present that the blessing is still alive and well and active among us.

How important is this as we reflect on the journey of Jesus over these seven days between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday? Jesus was a man of Israel. He lived his life under the great blessing of Aaron. He knew of it as he grew with Mary, Joseph, friends and family in Nazareth. He saw its truth begin to grow out of a seedling of faith and flourish over three years of ministry, even when opposition stood in his way. During this time not only did he live under the blessing; for so many, he became the blessing.

And then Easter came. Over this week I think that we see Jesus more fully human then in any other period of his life. I say this not so much because we see him struggling with doubt, hurt and such great loss that we can more easily equate with these very human feelings; but because in the midst of this, I feel that we see him most fully as humanity was created to be.

There is magnificence about this Easter story. The religious leaders of the day thought that they had spiritual authority until Jesus stood before them. Pontius Pilate had the power of the kingdom of Rome at his finger tips and it took this Galilean Rabbi to remind him that there was a kingdom much greater than Rome to be considered. All the ritual, colour, pomp and power of the world were posturing and yet centre stage was taken by a man who was called at his birth Immanuel – God with us. Here is a man with torn flesh, thorns for a crown and purple robe mockingly thrown over him. Great men and women of stature and authority are given special chairs or thrones in places of prominence and honour. Immanuel was given a place of prominence so that all could see his majesty – his throne was a Roman cross, his consort’s two thieves.

Another verse that struck me this week was in the New Testament:

‘If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.’ 1 Corinthians 15:19

Easter reminds me that I am much more than what position, popularity, power or prosperity might try to define me. It reminds me – indeed calls me – to greater things than these. The life, suffering, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus are a very powerful reminder to me that there is much more to us than meets the eye. I believe that we are created in the image of God and that in all things:
‘we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’

Blessings this Easter season - John

Would you like Jesus with that?

‘Faith must be demonstrated not dictated.’ I read that sentence somewhere recently and it has stuck with me. I get disappointed that we have turned Christianity into a dull lifeless commodity that I frankly don’t blame people for not bothering with. Why should they bother; many Christians don’t!?

In these days of wide screen television, Blu Ray discs, Nintendo, 3D / Gold Class / Imax Cinema and whatever else that invades our senses, the Christian faith is more like some grainy, snow ridden, black and white image, portrayed by dull lifeless people dressed in clothes from the St Vinnies bin.

I wonder if Jesus ever in his life conceived of his followers inventing a faith they would franchise with his name, that in essence was a ‘buy before you die’ deal so that you will get to heaven rather than the other place? Was that the main focus of Jesus’ ministry while he walked the earth? Was his ministry perhaps some kind of cosmic Panadol that would provide a quick fix for the latest pain and allow people to get back to life headache free?

Did Jesus use expressions such as ‘bread of life’, ‘light of the world’, ‘salt of the earth’, or ‘streams of living water’ because he happened to have a nice turn of phrase, or did he actually mean it? If he wasn’t just another spiritual politician looking for votes; then what was he?

Has a good part of the world been duped for 2,000 years into celebrating two annual festivals dedicated to his birth and death?

I admit to being one who has been seduced into the wider and deeper story of Jesus. It enchants me, frustrates me and inspires me to go and seek to connect with a Jesus who is more than a heavenly insurance policy. I am one of those poor simple fools who want to know more of this Jesus who once said to a bunch of religious leaders; ‘Before Abraham was, I am.’ I continue to seek to know Jesus to a depth where I can say like another John of many years ago, ‘And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.’ You see these words are very high in the spiritual ‘Wow’ factor. Beats plasma wide screen any day!

‘Before Abraham was, I am.’ Now there are some words to ponder over. Abraham had been dead for donkey’s years! What on earth was this Jesus on about? When John deliberately used descriptions like ‘the Word’ to describe Jesus this was more than a smart literary device. He was deliberately pointing people back to the very beginning of the Jewish Scriptures and their understanding of the whole story of the creation of the world. John had the temerity to suggest that when in Genesis 1 we read ‘And God said let there be light’ and a whole bunch of other ‘and God saids’, that saying – the speaking into being – was done by the Word; Jesus.

Is it any wonder then, that when Jesus said to a crippled man, ‘Stand up, take your mat and walk,’ that he did? When the Word of God spoke, his words had power beyond our imagining. Now here is where I go off into my dreaming. What if?

At our local church we have a simple mission tag that says we are about ‘Building Communities of Care and Hope.’ What if this local body of Christ was to give itself to God, each other and the community of which we are a part in such a way that we became a vessel of care, hope, healing and peace? What if this congregation became so infectious that other communities caught the same disease? What if ..?

This is a costly faith; but then again this is the season of Lent leading to Easter and Good Friday. It is all chocolate and Easter bunnies on Easter Sunday. The best we can do for commercialism on Good Friday is fish and Hot Cross buns. The fish was a secret symbol of the persecuted church as it was hunted down by the authorities of the day. The buns? Well, nowadays we can have them plain, or fruit, or even chocolate’ but there is the ever present cross.

Cheers - John

All that I have ..

I have been focusing on a very familiar Bible story this week in preparation for Sunday morning. I always find the better known the story the more I have to work at breaking down the familiarity to get as much as I can from it. This week I am looking at Luke 15 and specifically the story of the prodigal son.
A verse that struck me and one that may or may not get an airing on Sunday is toward the end of the yarn where the father says to the elder son:

‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.’

It is a common saying but very true that ‘familiarity breeds contempt’. We can become so used to something or someone that we never give it a second thought. I have been married to the same lady now for almost forty two years (Yes, I double checked before writing that down!), and on my good days I am aware of a love that is greater today than it was way back when we were both younger and sillier. On reflection I think we are both sillier now than we ever were?! However, that is on my good days – of which there are many – but on those occasional bad days I recognise times when I have been – by my actions or disregard - contemptuous of the riches that I have been given.

‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.’ So then I got to thinking about other relationships that I am so familiar with that I might be in danger of treating with contempt. I have kept in touch with someone via email for many months now and at no time have I received a reply. Why bother? I could use my precious time better. Following this bit of trifle I am going to make a point of shooting off a quick email to that friend and let him know the latest news and wish him well.

Due to our calling in life Ronnie and I have for many years now found ourselves distant from family. We have both gone through the pain of not being close by when illness or crisis has struck members of our family. We struggled for so long as Ronnie’s mum’s health deteriorated and difficult decisions were often made long distance. It was a great blessing for Ronnie and her mum that mother and daughter were able to spend a final few weeks together and that Ronnie was with her when she died. Alternately my dad’s fragile health slipped very quickly one weekend and I was unable to say goodbye and our trip south the day after his death was to help organise a funeral service. Yet, I have a great peace about this because whenever I was with dad in those final years, we were both aware that every time we said goodbye, it could well be our last one. In my dad’s case at least, I like to think that I was not contemptuous of our relationship. He wasn’t rich but everything he had was mine.

Of course as I have reflected on this one sentence in a long story about a selfish young son, my thoughts have also drifted to my relationship with God. In what ways has familiarity bred contempt? We are halfway through the season of Lent and many in our local congregation have given up something to support the Lent Event project. Is part of that giving up also connected to giving back? Are we just giving up something to raise money for a good cause? Or is part of our sacrifice also an opportunity to reflect upon the great love of God that continues to reach out to us, even in our moments of contempt, jealousy, anger, envy and apathy.

‘Son (daughter), you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.’

Oh that you would bless me

Back in the days of my misty past I can recall a time when I was in my early to mid thirties and after many wasted and often stupid years, it appeared as if I was beginning to ‘make it’; whatever the heck that means. I recall that I had no problems filling my weeks as I spent six of them at work. Five of those days I left home at 6.00am and got home sometime after 7.00 that night and Saturday was easy as I wandered in at 8.00 and got home around 2.00. My at home time was usually spent in a prone position, beer at hand, reading or watching TV or both. Life was good. But in many of course it actually wasn’t!

In a couple of weeks I am going to be doing a talk on lostness. I am not an expert on many things but lostness I understand. I had a great family, a good, well paid job, enjoying the regard of many in my business and I was lost. Ironically, at the height of my perceived success, I had never felt such a sense of emptiness, loneliness and lack of direction.

In the midst of this turmoil I began to mix – somewhat reluctantly - with some of my wife’s new found friends from the local church. Darn it; I even liked some of them!! Over a period of time and after a number of significant nudges I found myself trying out this church thing again. It eventually grew into the best addiction that I have ever known. My life was changed forever. There was no going back the course was set.
Some years ago now an obscure little prayer in the Old Testament turned into a best selling book. This prayer is the prayer of Jabez:

Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from hurt and harm.”’ 1 Chronicles 4:10

Sadly some sections of the Christian church have translated this prayer into some kind of prosperity prayer whereby God will bless us by giving us lots of stuff! Jabez didn’t ask for stuff; just a blessing and that God might enlarge his borders and that His hand might be with him.

I didn’t know this prayer when God was sorting me out almost 30 years ago; but this afternoon I have spent a long time reflecting on it. I have considered how much God has blessed me over these amazing years. Ronnie and I still don’t have much stuff; but we have never doubted how blessed we have been. In my seeking years my borders were defined by a textile factory in Collingwood and home an hours drive west of there. Nowadays I can’t stop looking for new horizons. Gods has enlarged my borders so much that I can’t stop looking to cross new ones.

I was comparing journeys with someone a week or so back and they finally asked me, ‘So John, where is home for you?’ I was able to say quite easily, ‘Nowhere’. I don’t have a sense of home being anywhere for me and I am content with that. I still work on this crazy theory that God has lead me so far by his grace and has kept me from hurt and harm. So I journey on.

I read the prayer of Jabez and then I look at the words of Jesus:

“If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” Luke 9:23

At first glance it looks like drudgery: ‘Oh well, another day another dollar; better pick up that cross and keep following.’ Living out your dream is not one victory after another; but because you own the dream, you are willing to pay the price in the here and now. It does have its moments but I wouldn’t swap this for all the stuff in the world. Remember that bit in Genesis when God is calling out to a shame and fear-filled Adam, ‘Where are you?’ I want to be able to say, ‘Right here Lord, still following the Master.’