Unselfish behaviour

Readings for the Third Sunday in Lent, March 27 2011. Exodus 17:1-7; Psalm 95; Romans 5:1-11; John 4:5-42. As part of your prepararation for Sunday take one of the reading for each day

We live in a selfish world...this much is self-evident

Some would say that selfishness is a necessary human characteristic

others would say that it is a destructive attribute.

The "necessary human characteristic" argument

says we need to be able to survive

and so we should be able to feel free to assert our own need

and to look after our own interests.

This bland sort of statement is rather deceptive

because what is the problem

with selfishness

is not, so much, the looking after one's own interests

but rather the fact that most selfishness

looks after one's own interests at the expense of other people.

When, at baptism, people are invited to reject selfishness

we are moving beyond the repentance of things we have done wrong

saying sorry, making restitution and so on....

to actually taking positive steps to live our lives in a way

that is counter cultural.

We are being asked to move beyond

the idea that we need to be able to look after our own self-interests in order to survive

to saying that we also choose a way of life

that is more than just pursuit of self-interest.

How, we might ask, are we to do this?

The Baptismal Liturgy for Children addresses this several times

the sponsors/godparents are asked if they are prepared to show those they are sponsoring how to live the unselfish life.

This is an important point to grasp

unselfishness can be taught....or perhaps caught.

We catch it from others who set us the example

of what might be possible if we choose to live our lives differently.

This is clearly demonstrated for Christians on the Cross.

Apart from what ever mystical and theological process may be taking place

there is something being lived out.

It is that we are unselfish when we give, not only of our stuff

but also of our life.

Jesus says, greater love has no one than this

that they lay down their lives for their friend

This is most unusual in our self-oriented world.

A couple of points

The readings point us to a number of interesting points

1. In the confusion that is the time in the wilderness after the flight from Egypt, the people of Israel constantly miss the point of their call.

Why? Because, as in today's reading, they find it very difficult to get beyond their own very narrow selfish interests.

God responds to their needs time and time again

but the more they get the more they want

and the more they seem unresponsive and ungrateful for what has already been done for them.

The writers of the the Torah are setting before us a picture of wayward selfishness

which is at odds with the will fo God.

2. Paul in writing to the Roman Church urges these people on to do better than mere selfish desires.

Look to greater goals and the bigger picture. Understand at the very least that there is a challenge which will improve us as people: Paul outlines (perhaps a little too strictly) a growth process...

we also boast in our sufferings, knowing
that suffering produces endurance,
5:4 and endurance produces character, and
character produces hope,

suffering-endurance-character-hope.

His argument suggests that unselfishness opens up

a whole new range of possibility.

3. And what of this woman who meets Jesus. This is a most fascinating story.

She wants more out of life...Lord satisfy my deepest thirst

Jesus immediately points her to the area of her life where her own inward looking orientation

has betrayed her deepest integrity.

Your human relationships are up the creek

Who knows quite what a mess this woman who had had five husbands had made of her life, and why?

There is at least the suggestion that unless we are prepared to plummet the darkness of our true desires and not avoid what our lives are saying to us,

in their messiness, selfishness and deep desire

then our deep thirst will not be satisfied.

THIS WEEK

Where does God invite you to be unselfish?

is there something immediately that you can do to challenge your selfishness, what stops you?

What do you really want? What would satisfy your deepest desires?

What is the mess of your life saying to you about what you really want?

There are lots of reflections to have about "comfort zones", about whether or not we want to change. Spend some time with God talking about this.

Choose life

Readings for the 6th Sunday after the Epiphany can include

Deuteronomy 30:15-20 (Australian lectionary uses Deuteronomy 10) or Sirach 15:15-20 •

Psalm 119:1-8 •

1 Corinthians 3:1-9 •

Matthew 5:21-37

What are we to make of this idea

that even thinking about sin

might be as bad

as sin itself?

What Jesus seems to be getting at

in these little sayings:

Don’t just not be angry

Actually do something about it

Don’t just not commit adultery

deal with your inward thoughts

Recognise that you make some serious commitments

and that you need to stick to them

And even…don’t swear an oath

but let your word be of such quality

that it shouldn’t be necessary

to have legal compulsion to tell the truth.

This is the point at which, as the popular saying goes,

the rubber hits the road

or where we not only say the right thing

but we do the right thing.

Is this what people think of us?

Is this, indeed, what we think of ourselves?

or are we two-faced?

We often can rationalize this behaviour

(We don’t want to hurt people

we want to avoid trouble…so on)

But what we hear this morning

is rather consistent

with what we have been receiving

from this section of Jesus’s teaching that we call the The Sermon on the Mount

Your faith should be tasty…like salt

and it should shine out like a light.

Now we hear..

Don’t just say things

but actually ..do them!

And be aware of how you think!

Because your thoughts are probably a tell-tale of what’s really going on

Work for this week

What’s going on in your life?

In particular those secret places

where perhaps we are not up-front with others (or even ourselves)

The word of warning that we are getting here

is that even though we may be duplicitous

with others

and even with ourselves

that it doesn’t actually deceive God

and doesn’t often or actually do what we think.

Avoiding conflict doesn’t resolve it!

Putting on a masquerade

for the sake of public appearances

doesn’t actually make that come true.

Are we thus going to follow our Saviour in deed as well as word?

It is the image of jesus himself. He not only was a good person but his life was put on the line too!

I would even suggest that creating and sustaining the charade

is more damaging in fact than the problems it seeks to solve.

Avoiding conflict is probably more damaging than confronting it.

Suppressing our strong sexual feelings, would seem to be more damaging than actually dealing with them.

When we lose our integrity (our Yes/Yes)

We have lost something centrally and essentially human.

This week, let’s pay attention

to where God is calling us to

not only say but also to be and do our Christianity

This may be hard, probably will be

But we are called not to be wishy washy

But to be faithful…in word and in deed

Doing what's right...and being what's right

The readings for Sunday 18th July 2010, the 8th Sunday after Pentecost ( Proper 11) of Year C are :
Amos 8:1-12 and Psalm 52, Colossians 1:15-28,Luke 10:38-42

I guess that no one other than the sociopath wants to do the wrong thing!
But we also seem to have a bit of difficulty doing the right thing.
St Paul at one stage is so frustrated with all this that he protests
It is almost as though the more I try to do the right thing
the more likely I am to do the wrong thing.

he says in Romans 7 for example

¹⁵I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ^{...he goes on in verse 18 .......} I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. ¹⁹For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. ²⁰Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me.

21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. ²²For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, ²³but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.

This is quite a complex, yet real argument about our inner struggle with sin
and our difficulty with doing right
The key to doing right is understanding that it will not just happen accidentally
It will be a decision we make
and which we stick to.
Unless we decide to do the right thing
it will not just turn up out of the blue.

The lessons point us to various dimensions of this reality
Amos the prophet does not shy away from
telling the people that they have not done what is right.
he suggests, what we all basically know to be true,
that we actually know what is right, merciful and just.
For Amos wrong has come about because the people have
chosen to NOT do it.

you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land,

Yes, when we not only ignore the plight of the needy
but we also exploit them
make no mistake
we are not doing what God wants.
This sort of wanton abandonment of what God wants
will bring about a famine
not so much of of food and water
but of the living Bread and of the Word.
When we choose not to act as God's people
we starve ourselves of the very food
that will keep us spiritually alive.

How to do right
Paul's teaching is clear for us
we do what is right by keeping
Jesus at the Centre
of our life and faith
The work of reconciliation in us happens
as we continue secure in our relationship
with Jesus
who is as Paul says
The image of the invisible God.
We see the will of God made visible in Christ.
This is why the other picture we see is the contrast of this morning's Gospel.
Two sisters,
Martha and Mary,
who pay attention to Jesus in different ways.
What ever else we may make of this story
there is perhaps a warning here for us
of what is a great danger
for us.
Let us not make the mistake
of thinking that extreme busy-ness
is the same thing as doing God's will.
We are often guilty of this.
We mistake busy-ness
for faithfulness.
So the point of the story
is that Mary who sits
at Jesus feet
is doing the right thing.
This rankles us somewhat,
as indeed it rankles her sister,
we have sometimes sat at meetings
and said this to each other.
So careless are we with what is committed to us
that we make the mistake of thinking

• that doing anything is better than doing nothing
• that activity is always a sign of doing good
• that paying attention to what God wants of us is a waste of time

This is not what we are getting this morning
Quite the reverse.
the lessons perhaps help us to see the great dangers in these attitudes
when we do not pay attention
when we do not know what it is that Jesus wants us to do
then we are not actually so much
in danger of being diverted
as in peril for our life.
and on the threshold of sin.

We make choices all the time

the choices that as Christians

we seek to make

should be God's choices

How sure are we that the choices we make

for our own convenience

for our own comfort

out of our own busy-ness

are attentive to what God wants?

We recognise what God wants

in our openness

to what Jesus wants

are we so busy fussing around

that we do not take the time to listen

So listen now...

Today

and each day

can there be a time in your daily prayers

(do you indeed pray?)

to ask the question

if there is one thing that you want me to hear today then what is it?

Lord, this week

let me put aside the busy-ness that I so easily find

which fills my life

and let me hear you speaking

and give me courage to respond.

Making a difference....Easter Day

I am glad that we are spared in the Southern hemisphere the incessant link of Easter with Spring.
Although almost everything we do symbolically and liturgically
is redolent of the Northern and Western hemsipheres
here in the south, it is dry, dusty and dying
as autumn sets in.
So we do not have to grapple too much with the idea that
Easter is just a sort of universal principle
of death and rebirth
like the bulbs that are planted
and come back to life
or the lambs which skip in the fields
and the chickens that hatch on the supermarket shelves!!


What then is Easter for us?

It is caught up, I suggest with the rumour of Easter
that spreads amongst the early disciples
that things can be made new
that things will change
that life will be different.
That difference is spelled out
in the focus on baptism
that is so much for us the focus of Easter.
In saying
I turn to Christ
whether as a baptismal candidate
or renewing our promises
we are seeking a radical re-identification
of our lives with something that is important.
We don't just want life to be the same
we want it to change.
That is not to say that we are called to flit around from pillar to post
never settling at anything or anywhere,
but rather that there are aspects of our lives
which need to change.

The baptismal vows invite us to repent of sin
who of us in our right minds would not do this
I don't want to be a thief, a liar, a cheat, an adulterer.
Easter says, then don't.
Live differently.
I am invited to reject selfishness
a hard ask in today's world.
We all know that
piles of stuff, and an endless supply of everything
will not give us what we want.
That "looking after number one: is a vain and empty philosophy
Strangely as we look at families bringing babies to be baptised
we see a radical challenge to selfishness
right in the most obvious place.
People commit themselves to live with each other
not selfishly
but giving their lives to each other,
parents to children, wives and husbands to each other.
We reject this mystery of the unselfish life at our peril.
We are understanding on a global scale
that we need to live cooperatively
with each other, with our environment
if we do not live unselfishly, then we will not live at all


And finally I renounce evil that pattern of life
which will say principally
that other people are for my use and benefit.
This is is both a "micro" pattern and a "macro" pattern.

Micro evil exists, for example, when I think that I can use other people
for my own fulfilment.
This is a warped view of relationships.
It is the parent who enslaves their child through guilt
It is the boss who exploits the worker.
It is the friend who use their friendship to manipulate their friend
rather than to set free.
This is the level at which most of us seem to choose to operate most of the time.

There are bigger patterns.
Where wealthy countries (like our own)
exploit the resources of the world disproportionately
where we abuse our power so that we get wealthier
whilst the poor get poorer.
There are iniquities like prostitution, pornography and the drug trade
which treat people liek commodities.
Easter says there is a possibility to say NO!
I reject evil

If we appreciate nothing else at Easter
we are called to appreciate that
the bold words
I turn to Christ
are words of change and words of action.
They are the possibility that things will be different
and end to sin, selfishness and evil.
We make an individual commitment to this.

Of course there is a sense in which this will all go pear-shaped.
That is not the point.
because we can come back and make this commitment
again and again if necessary.
It is a freedom to understand that things can and will be different.
I am part of that.
And so so are you.

Do you turn to Christ?

And outward things are strong

First Sunday in Lent
February 20, 2010

Deuteronomy 26:1-11 Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16 Romans 10:8b-13 Luke 4:1-13

The readings this week are pretty challenging
this is because we begin the season called Lent
which is perhaps the most rigorous of the Church's year.
It is a time of fasting, prayer, self denial and giving.
We are invited to use these six weeks to take our Christian call
seriously, urgently, with some flair and some gusto.

----------------------------------------

Temptation is a fact of life.
What this story reminds us more than anything
is that temptation is part of the human condition.
We know this because Jesus is tempted
and Jesus show for us what the true human life is like.
Which is interesting because we are reminded that the life of Jesus
is about being tempted...but not sinning

So we might observe:
1. Temptation is not wrong
We sometimes make the mistake of confusing temptation with sin.
We think that because we feel tempted
that some how we have sinned.
This is not logical and is not true.

2. Sin might happen when we yield to temptation
It is not the feeling angry, or jealous or attracted to someone
that is sin
It is what we choose to do with it.
We punch someone in the face, or we steal someone's money
or we commit adultery

3. Temptation comes in different shapes and sizes
We see some of the more obvious temptations
in this story...appetites, power, lusting for attention
They are not the only temptations
but they are pretty pervasive.

The Prayer Book reminds us in one of the Collects
"O God who seest that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves"
It seems a strange thing to say in the world of omni-competent human beings
The way out of temptation
is not will-power so much
as relying on God

We will all be tempted
We will all most certainly give in to temptation
We do all need to repent of sin (let's not excuse it by saying ...it's only human nature)
We need to rely on God to strengthen and uphold us.

Being tempted this week
pray for the Holy Spirit of God
to guard and protect you
to strengthen your will
and to enable you to be truly human
like Christ.

-----------------------

Jesus highlights for us where the sources of temptation might be
and how we might be tempted and
how we might repsond
First, we are tempted by our appetites
It is good to realise that we have appetites
and that these are sources of demand.
Appetites are insistent
often insatiable
and the mistake we make is in thinking that if we satisfy our appetites
then all will be well.
We can name many appetites :hunger, thirst, sex, craving affection
and so on on
THE TEMPTATION: If you satisfy the appetite then all will be well
THE LIE: We are essentially incapable of being satisfied and will always want more
THE TRUTH: There are deeper and more important things that we need to pay attention to.
The truth of this is evident to us, in the end we will not be satisfied by our appetites alone
One does not live by bread alone
Second, there are competing kingdoms
and we can give our lives completely to one or more of these.
But our ways are not God's ways, necessarily or at all,
We see this perhpas when we look at the sort of politicial worlds that we are intent on making
They are real enough but we can see much in our society that is not God's plan
THE TEMPTATION: Power and authority in this world is a seductive temptation
THE LIE: The more power we have the more like God we will be
THE TRUTH: We have no business doing anything other than God's will
Third, we can have a false view of God
we can even use the scriptures to back up our curious theories.
The fairy tale God who flies angels in and out to offer special protections
to those of us who think of ourselves as chosen
is a deeply false view of God
that often totally dominates our thinking.
It is not relationship with the God of love
it is rather the wishful thinking of the God of magic
THE TEMPTATION: To try and make God what we want God to be rather than to allow ourselves to be drawn into the difficult mystery of the crucified God
THE LIE: even allows us to quote scripture to support our inadequate case
but it is a testing line which we cross at our peril
THE TRUTH: We are called to dwell in God, not to test God's graciousness with our narrow and selfish version of what we would like the Gospel to be.

Temptation is at once easy to understand.
Yet it is also slippery and profound.
We are seduced into something far deeper than we imagine.

THIS WEEK
As we are tempted (for we surely will be)
Pray and look for grace to better understand what is being asked of us.
How does feeling the demand of appetite,
or the urge to be in control,
or the need to make God into something unreal
...when I feel this how might I respond more faithfully.
Can I seek God real will for me,
and respond to that?

King of the Cross

The strongest Christian image is that no doubt that of Christ on the Cross. On this feast of Christ the King one of our key insights is that the crucified Jesus wears a crown, and has a sign on his cross...The King of the Jews

Readings this Sunday are for the feast of the Reign of Christ. sometimes known as Christ the King. The last Sunday of the church's year. John 18:33-37 for Sunday 22nd November 2009

For we Christians there is a certain irony about this notion of kingship
which we ascribe to Jesus.
First it is old-fashioned.
Although we here in Australia do have a monarch. That monarch has only symbolical power.
If she were to choose to try and exercise the power that she allegedly has
the whole political system would explode.
At its very best it reminds us that leadership is not about being the boss
it is about being a servant.
And although Queen Elizabeth II lives an opulent and privileged lifestyle
most of us realise with even a cursory glance
that she is also tyrannised by the idea of monarchy.
In the blatant exposure that the famous are subjected to
we see that being a ruler
has not protected the things she hold most precious,
no doubt her family
from all the woes and troubles of life.
Rather the reverse.
Second, if we turn to the bible and look at the notion of kingship presented there
we see that it was an experiment that was predicted to fail.
And which did!
Samuel, seemingly against his better judgment, is persuaded to anoint Saul king
but he predicts that this change of government will end in disaster.
Though it is not without its high points
Samuel's prophecy is proved tragically true.
The kingship is a cause of pain and heartbreak,
of injustice and sorrow
to the people who God calls to follow him.
So, it is not suprising that the idea of kingship
even though it be Jesus who is our king
is not one without problem.

Christ the King
Indeed the clearest picture we have of Jesus is not enthroned on a throne of glory
but on a cross of wood
above which Pontiius Pilate has placed a sign
INRI - "Iesvs Nazarenvs Rex Ivdaeorvm."
Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews.

Confrontation

There is something profoundly confronting about what is being said here

which is easy to overlook or mistake

We can take the sort of 'high moral ground' lesson

Like the one I just made about her majesty the Queen.

Kingship -is -a -form - of -radical -servanthood

(and that is certainly true)

But more is being expected of us than just moralism.

Or we can take the line

that life invites us to die to ourselves

(and this too is true).

But are we also being invited to see that Jesus's way of living life

is about confronting death and not being cowed by it.

Another way of viewing the atonement.

Not that God demands some sort of appeasing sacrifice

so that He will get over his (quite rightly justified) anger.

But rather that the Cross is an act of freedom-making.

How easily we forget this.

We seem to always think that the cross invites us to be crucified again.

We don't hear (maybe don't want to hear) that the enthronement of Christ the King

has set us free so that we don't have to attempt to do the impossible.

We cannot die for our sins, or for anyone else's

and we don't need to.

Everything that need to be done has been done.

Have we thus spotted the characteristic of kingship that is displayed on the throne of Calvary.

The king dies to set his subjects free.

If we are called to live our lives in that spirit

then the question that we ask is not ...how can I make up for the things that I have done wrong

but how can I set other people free?

Does what I do set myself and others free?

How easily we put demands on people which enslave them

Expectations on our families that tyrannise rather than set free

Conditions that we place on our relationships

that in effect say ...I will only love you if you do what I want of you.

This is not true kingship that sets free

It is dictatorship that enslaves.

This week

As we look at our lives:

Do I accept the freedom that Jesus has won for me? Freedom to know forgiveness. and freedom to forgive?

Are things that I can that set people---family, friends, associates---free rather than enslave? Can I give myself so that others might be free? What small thing can I do for someone this week that will give them greater freedom?

The servants of Christ the king, we, are not cruel masters; we are freedom fighters.

Embrace that freedom

O ye of little faith!

Readings for this Sunday, Easter 2, 19th April 2009 Acts 4:32-37, 1 John 1:1-2:2, John 20:19-31

We would and do expect the accounts of the Resurrection experiences to be important parts fo the scriptural story.
They, after all. speak of what is at the heart of the Christian Gospel



that Jesus who once was dead
was encountered alive by the first disciples.
The stories are not straight forward
they are of course
sailing in uncharted waters.

We could make a couple of observations from todays readings:

ACTS: what ever else we see
the early church understood that things had changed
and there was a tremendous boost of energy
when Jesus was encountered alive
POINT: if we are wanting to focus our energies
then we look not to the empty tomb
but to the presence of the risen Christ
in our midst.

1JOHN: This is about seeing things as they are
God is light, and lights dispels darkness
We also need to be up front about where
we get things wrong
If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves
But that is not the end
because God who faithful will and can forgive sins
and bring us into relationship with Jesus
POINT: This changes and deepens our relationship with God
and is an invitation to live with a new freedom

JOHN 20
We should expect Jesus to bring peace
in our relationships
and in our lives
And we also need to take this seriously
the story of Thomas
reminds us
that we are not required to park our brains
or arbitrarily dismiss our doubts
but rather that
in struggling with doubt
and inviting Jesus to deal with us realistically
we can move to a deeper and profounder encounter with God.


THIS WEEK

• Where is God inviting and challenging you to respond at this time?


• Where do you need peace? Where do you need light? Where do you grapple with doubt?


• None of this need be negative: rather it is the opportrunity to be a deeper person, more deeply committed and energised by the Holy Spirit of God

This week we follow our Christianity Explained course theme of Repentance: Ezekiel 36:25–27;Psalm 130; Acts 17:24–31; Mark 8:34–38 (Common Lectionary themes for Sunday 32 can be found here )

Dietrich Bonhoeffer tells us there is no such thing as Cheap Grace
"Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, (it is) baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate."
What do we make of the promises that we have been thinking about that come to us as free gift from God?
God is not just toying with us.
He is not suggesting that there is no such thing as a free lunch,
or that there is always a catch
but rather that now, having heard the promises of God:
For example the new heart promised by Ezekiel's God, or the washing away of sin,
the gift of abundant and eternal life
promise by Jesus to those who are born again
If we are to live out of these promises
then we are to live rather differently.
We cannot have a different quality of life
and just go on living as though nothing has changed.
This is Bonhoeffer's point... no cheap grace...
there are consequences
not because God is tricky
but because God wants us to live our lives well
If we want forgiveness, then we must act as if forgiven
We must live differently, we must forgive,
we need to confront our own darkness: sin, selfishness and evil
If we want God to be close
then we must live close to God
..prayer, worship service
will be the watchwords...
let's not play games.
Quality relationships?
Then let's love unconditionally.

This repentance, is about making a choice to live rather differently.
Not just about dealing with the bad stuff
(though it is that)
but also about living the faithful, humble, life of Christian integrity.
Stop playing games.

We remind ourselves again

God who is rich in mercy
out of the great love with which he loved us
even when we were dead through our trespasses
made us alive together with Christ.

May we choose to live out of that promise

Jesus-His Crucifixion

During this season we are thinking about Jesus and his life and meaning today's theme is about the crucifixion. Some readings are here:Isaiah 53:3–6Psalm 89:39–461 Peter 2:22–25Mark 15:33–39
If you want to follow the Revised Common Lectionary then readings can be found here

How might it be if we lived without the burden of sin?
What would our world be like?
So often we excuse our bad behaviour by suggesting we have no other choice,
because we are just like that
Sinful.
But what if we were not.

We present a mask, often,
because we don't like what we believe we are;
and we certainly don't want others to encounter it

What we need to realise about the Crucifixion,
is that it is about God seeing us as we really are.
We may not like it but
There is nothing about us that Jesus does not love
We often find this difficult to believe.

What we see on the cross is that
God loves us
in a way that often we cannot love ourselves.
Often our greed, our sensuality,
our passion, our self-centredness
disgust us.
We often don't love or like ourselves.
We are embarrassed and ashamed by our mistakes and our frailty
So we are often self-deceptive,
we think of ourselves as different from what we really are.
We certainly try to present an image to the world
that is not what we are.

The message of the Cross is that there is nothing about us
that God does not love.
He loves us so much
that he will not allow us
to be destroyed
by the sin and corruption
that would seek to separate us from God,
or cause us to think and believe
that we can be separated from the love of God.

This is what is happening
on the Cross
everything about is laid upon Jesus.
God's love for us is so great
that we are totally identified
with his own Son.
The net effect for us
is that everything that would separate us from God
is destroyed in the Body of Christ.
Lies, hurtfulness, shame, mistakes...
St Paul tells the Corinthian Church
that it was for this purpose that he who is without sin
Became as sin, and put sin to death in his own body.
What ever power sin might have held
before the Cross
it no longer holds.
He himself bears our sins
in his body on the cross.
so that free from sin we might live for righteousness.

What is asked us of us
is to have faith in this sacrifice.
We are free from our sin.
Put aside the self-indulgence
that we cannot escape sin
We can...through faith in Jesus.
Nothing too big, nothing too small!

God loves us so much
that we do not have to live with the burden of sin.

So let us live that way

A good wife

Readings for this SundayJuly 06, 14th Sunday of the Year, Gen. 24:34-38,42-49,58-67.
Ps. 45:10-17 or Song 2:8-13. Rom. 7:15-25a. Matt. 11:16-19,25-30.

I went last week to see the film "Mongol" which is about the emergence of Genghis Khan
the great conquerting ruler of the Mongolians
It is a wonderful, but bloodthirsty film,
the film is held together by the story of the marriage relationship
between Temudgin (who became known as Genghis Khan) and the girl Borte who he chooses as his wife (when he is 12!!)
It is a literary device that we encounter in these reading as we read the beginnings of the story of how Isaac and Rebecca, the second of the line of patriarchs and matriarchs,
meet and begin phase two.
They are (like the Mongolian stories) legendary in scope.
You are left wondering just how it could all come together
in such an ordered and fruitful way.
We see in the narratives, the 'hand of God'
and it is named as such.
It is of course a reflection written after the fact
and we often observe that 20-20 hindsight is a wonderful;
What we do see in hindsight
is that God's care, comfort and guidance
are available when we open ourselves to them.

There is perhaps the hope that
what we come to see clearly looking back
we also begin to appreciate in the present moment
This is about what we might learn and understand
as we mature spiritually
and how we might then live our lives confident
that God supports and sustains us.
Equally well Romans reminds us of the nature of the struggle with sin
that it is serious, hard and needs attention

when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand

Paul says, and today's Gospel reminds us that another spiritual reality is that God is there to be with us when the going gets tough.

‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’

These insights are all reflections on how God deals with us.
As we look back we see with 20-20 hindsight
the truth of God's promises.
Our day to day vision is not always that good,
partly because we don't take time to look.

Each day we are invited to understand more of what God promises us.
And to live out of that promise.

This week
As you look back where have you been aware of God's plan for your lief?
What is God doing for you?
How is the struggle with sin going? Are there particular things you need to address?
Where do you seek God's comfort and support? Are you also being invited to be part of that support for other people?

God of our future, God of our past
give us the eyes of faith to see
that you are dynamic and active in our life
give us wills that trust your promise
and comfort us when we find things difficult.