For all Peter's realisations that Jesus is pretty important in the scheme of things
( as we read last week)
and he is rewarded with some pretty dramatic words....I will build my church on you
Words which the Church has been keen to exploit,
they are not so keen to observe that moments later
Jesus is berating this Prince of the Apostles and saying
"Get behind me Satan!"
And that he who was once a foundation
is now a "stumbling block"
Equally strong words in the other direction.
I think we see here what is an observable phenomenon for spiritual people.
There are times when it is all pretty clear,
and we can make it hang together
And then it evaporates and, once again, we lose the plot.
Equally well we have the seminal story of the burning bush. This too is the experience of people.
God grabs our attention and if we are attentive we hear and receive then we can hear what God might be saying
[I am not too worried about how a bush might burn or what it might mean this is not a story about supernatural phenomena, this is a story about how God catches out attention
how we hear God
and what we might then do]
As Christians who believe in an ever-present, and transcendent God
experienced in and through the world
we experiece "burning bushes" all the time.
Do we just take any notice?
Moses, we note, had to turn away from what he was doing and go and take a look.
Our problem is that we may often see
but then just go on with what we are doing.
So we don't see or hear God
saying to us I AM WHO I AM.
Instead we return to the sheep who are going crazy.
But it is when we turn aside
take off our shoes
because we realise the encounter is holy and powerful
as we listen
and then act out of that experience
that it all makes a difference.
This is what happened to Peter
when he recognised what God might be doing in Jesus(here)
this changed his life fundamentally.
As indeed Moses was changed
when he turned aside.
Because he now had the choice to live out of something new.
This is how it works for us.
As we ask ourselves
where is God's grace active and alive for us today
there is also the invitation to live rather differently.
Out of knowledge of the fact that God is who God is
---we use the shorthand term Yahweh, Jehovah or LORD
The Question then is...what do we do with this?
God's invitation is to live out of the new encounter
the temptation is to go back to doing what we did before.
As I ask myself, where have I experienced God's grace today
the next step is:
And what difference does that make ?
Will I choose to live differently because I have encountered God.
We don't always get this right.
This is Peter who was a "foundation" becoming a "stumbling block"
Having been granted the vision of the future do we choose to go back tot he past.
Too often yes!
This week
- Where have I experienced the presence of God at this time?
- What is God asking me to be and do? What does it reveal to me about the nature of God? What is the invitation to live differently?
- What changes do I make to the way I live because I have encountered God on holy ground?
- Will I live differently?
O God, you invite me to turn aside and be with you. Why on earth do you want to speak with me? What do you want of me? Give me not only this grace, but also the courage to live out of your life. In Jesus name. AMEN
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