In touch with God's reality

This Second Week of Lent focusses on Genesis 17:1-16; Psalm 22:23-31; Romans 4:13-25, and Mark 8:31-38

I had a conversation
with a friend, an ex-Roman Catholic, 
who now claims to be a Buddhist:
“Do you think," he asked me, “that the great religions 
will ever get together on the question of reincarnation?”
I don’t, and told him that!
“Reincarnation to me is a message of hopelessness” I said, “We need to do something more with life, 
than to just keep on repeating it!”
He added that “there was something appealing” 
about the notion of the great reckoning
...and that he didn’t like 
the Catholic idea of death bed repentance.
I am not much a fan of it either
And this perhaps showed that his background 
had a flaw in the teaching of his childhood
(but so has mine...indeed many flaws)
but, to my mind, he arrived at the wrong conclusions!
We do not believe that God 
reckons up our good deeds against the bad
This we call-law
But Christians believe rather 
that we are called to enter into a relationship 
of faith
That is, we act on the promise of God.
God promises. and we act on that promise.


The promise to Abraham
For Abraham, God promises
quite specifically
that he will be
the ancestor of a great nation.
This is not an insignificant promise 
to a man who is 99 who has a wife who is 90!
Abraham then is able to keep moving forward in his life
even though he could have been forgiven 
for thinking that his life was over


What is God promising to us?
To be able to shift from the life of law
to the life of faith
we need to get beyond
just keeping the rules.

Do we understand what God is promising ?

As we look at the Gospels we see, as in today’s reading
that it takes something of a struggle to get it right. 
Peter as a character shows us something of that
Occasional flashes of inspiration
contrasted with legalism 
and even,
dare one say it, 
stupidity
Or the stupidity that is legalism.
We should take note because we are often guilty of this ourselves!
We lose sight of the promise
and then fall back on our version of things.
We invent things like reincarnation

But if, and as, we listen to the Gospel
we hear not the message of legalism
but rather a counter-cultural message
which at once consoles us 
and then deeply confronts us.

If any want to become my disciples, let them deny themselves and take up their cross.

Shouldn't we at least question what we are hearing?
Even if it's...(like Peter)  
"Hang on a minute
 common sense tells us
that we should do what makes us feel 
good, powerful, successful
or what is going to pay dividends?




Maybe "common sense" does lead us
to that sort of conclusion
I suspect that's how we arrive at 'reincarnation' (without anything of the real subtlety of Buddhism
but presuming that we, the self-indulgent materialists that we are,
understand what Buddhism is really about
(few of us do I suspect)



Christian faith tells us otherwise.

We know much of what faith tells us 
about the way we should live our lives
..Forgive over and over again..
...the sacrifice of God is a broken heart..
...lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth….all very counter cultural.


Not so easy to hear! Not so easy to believe!
But, I would suggest
the counter cultural truth 
that Jesus confronts us with
Not, the merry go round of reincarnation
But, take up your cross!


Personal promise, personal faith

What is God promising to you personally?
The promise to Abraham is a personal one
about what will happen to him and his family
Do you know what God is saying to you 
about the reality of your day to day life?
Have you taken time to listen?
Are you interested?
Ask that question today?
And use this week as a time of spiritual exercise to try and talk to God about it?

The answer changes the dynamic
of how we live our life.
If we hear the answer,
and if we respond in faith
then God can help us move beyond legalism
to a new lifestyle.


Paul says of Abraham...this life style is “reckoned to him as righteousness”
That is, it puts you right with God.
This is why we do it.

So, this week, as you think about your life
also ask God
...what do you promise to me?
And take some time to clarify that
and write it down.
And choose, not to live out of the rules (alone)
but to live out of faith

A short exercise to help you do this is listed below

Living out of the Promise

• Sit quietly and close your eyes
• As you give yourself to this time closing your eyes is an act of commitment to going within and paying attention to the voice of God
• After a few minutes ask God to reveal to you the promise that he makes to you about you and your life
• Take some time to note this
• Think about one or two things that this will immediately mean you need to do as you choose to live out of the promise
• Give thanks to God and conclude by saying this act of praise: Glory to God, Father Son and Holy Spirit. As in the beginning, so now and forever. Amen