Out of the Cocoon

I am sure that you will regularly receive unsolicited mail in your post box, encouraging you to take out loans, new credit cards, accident insurance, Chinese takeaways, Pizzas, Uncle Tom Cobley and all. Recently I received an unsolicited email that promised to 'restore the real you - As seen on NBC, CBS, CNN, and even Oprah!  The health discovery that actually reverses aging while burning fat, without dieting or exercise!'  What a promise!  How seductive!  Yet even if it would work, which it doesn't, is it what I need?  Is it what any of us need?
We are wonderfully created and the aging process is one of the mysteries of our creation.  Yes, our joints may start to creak or swell and our stomachs may be less resilient about handling foods.  But we are alive, and we are wonderfully made.   I remember someone saying to me, "When I was young I could tell my body what to do and it did it.  Now that I am old my body tells me what I can't do and I do not like it."
I would like you all to feel that you belong to a body that tells you what you can do, and you like doing it.
But first, let us look more closely at this earth we are all part of.  The first thing we notice is that fragility and vulnerability are built into the very beginning of creation.
The Golden Eagle with its majestic wingspan, started life in an egg whose shell is so fragile, a pebble dropped from a sparrow's beak could shatter it.  The butterfly, before it achieved its fleetness of flight, nurtured its existence in a pupa whose static state makes it easy prey to a hungry bird.  And think of a baby, often so small that it can be held in the palm of a hand.  Then you begin to see the real fragility and vulnerability of creation.
In the Road Less Travelled, Scott Peck clearly describes the vulnerability of children during their journey towards adulthood.  Many events in a child's life would cut it short if it were not for the power of God's Grace.
Fortunately, all of us have survived the risks of childhood, and most of us have the hope that we are growing old gracefully. Grace is the undeserved love of God.  In truth, we have to acknowledge that those precious moments when we experience the love of God in our lives must be through Grace.  For, notwithstanding our commitment to the church, we have done very little for God.
Society strives to protect us.  We need our old age pension and our free health care. We have spent our lives contributing to society and we will go on doing so, so we deserve the protection of society.  Yet society has also surrounded us with a cocoon of false confidence.  Wealth has given us the education of schools, and the protection of housing and hospitals; yet society is no longer interested in being educated by God's Word or protected by His love.  The successes of Western democracies have created a strange paradox.  We can afford things that are forefathers would never have dreamed of, but although many have done so, we really cannot afford to let go of God.
September 11th has revealed our vulnerability to a form of terrorism that is hard to understand and even harder to grapple with.  Our experience of the wars in Afghanistan, Kosovo and against Saddam Hussein have shown us that the military strength of America has enabled us to bring each war to an end without much impact on our personal lives.  But this time there is greater unease.  We sense that the forces afoot that are trying to stir up Arab hatred will succeed even if a war with Iraq has a swift conclusion.  It matters little that the majority of Christians and Muslims have no taste for either terrorism or war.  The aim of the terrorists is to deepen the divide between Islam and Christianity and if a war achieves this, they will be succeeding in their aim.
The cocoon of false confidence that society creates within us will make us think that it will all pass us by.  But it won't! and where will we stand when the growing divide between Islam and Christianity becomes apparent?  Will we remain neutral?  Or will we join in with the increasing number of Christians who are striving to deepen their relationship with Jesus and their understanding of Islam?  Both are essentially missionary faiths, but currently Islam is the fastest growing faith in the world.
We are prepared to give our time to the church but we are reluctant to be involved in mission, because we tend to have a false perception of it.  We think it is for specialists who have to take on full time training and often have to learn a foreign language.  This is not so!  Jesus chose ordinary people who used a local dialect to communicate their understanding of Jesus' message.
When we consider Jesus' explanation of the parable of the Sower, it becomes clear why Jesus instructed his disciples to take no goods or money with them when he sent them on their first mission.  Jesus isn't saying that mission cannot be done with money.  What he is saying is that mission must be done through charity, and worries about money and material things will hamper mission.
Our church has just come through a period where worries about funding our second stage of development have been resolved.  It is to the church credit that it was prepared to continue with stage 2 even if no money was forthcoming from the lottery fund. The money is in, and the alterations are underway.  What next?  Will the world's attraction with material things provide a distraction for us?  Or will you accept the challenge of mission, which, led by Islam, is the world's new agenda.
You may still feel that this is not right for someone of your age or personality, but it is not as difficult as you imagine, and the cost of avoiding it may be incalculable.
I said at the beginning "I would like you all to feel that you belong to a body that tells you what you can do, and you like doing it."  This body that you belong to is our church and its future role is mission.  While not forgetting the past, please help to create a new future and join in the efforts our ministers are making to provide courses designed to make us more effective in mission and outreach.  And do not forget that the Amos Scripture Care Trust is also involved in mission.  Its volunteers really enjoy their work and we are always looking for new volunteers.

Bruce Crerar, September 2002

Coming Home

When I was a small boy returning to my house in Ravelston Dykes there were occasions when my footsteps would get shorter and shorter as I attempted to delay my return .  This procrastination was caused by my knowledge that I had been bad and I feared the wrath of my parents.  Of course, I was wrong.  It was not the wrath, but the discipline that I was about to face.  I have now learnt that procrastination does not avoid the discipline of a loving father.  Talking, listening and understanding, is the key to a happy disciplined family life.

It is only when we pause and contemplate our experiences of love that we begin to feel the touch of a loving hand on our life, protecting us and leading us forward to a greater love.  Then we learn how much we have yet to grow in love.  Discipline not only helps us handle the loves in our life, it prepares us for the love that lasts into eternity.  The key to this is listening, talking to and understanding God.

How can we separate our understanding of this discipline from self-discipline?

Like all forms of external discipline, we recognise its value when we acknowledge that we are wrong.  Usually it is when we have wrong thoughts, but it can also happen when we think our thoughts are good!

We know the story of Job’s advisors, but what about his encounter with God?

Listen to what Job says – “I spoke foolishly, Lord. What can I answer? I will not try to say anything else; I have already said more than I should”. Then the Lord says – “Stand up now like a man, and answer my questions. Are you trying to prove that I am unjust – to put me in the wrong and yourself in the right?” (Job 40).

Job’s friends reveal how often they misunderstood him, and Job took time to understand God.  We often misunderstand our friends and it takes a long time for our understanding of God to grow.
John’s accounts of Jesus in the New Testament show us how easy it is to misunderstand Jesus.

Jesus is at the temple in Jerusalem.  The people are talking to Jesus, but not understanding him.  They say to him “Do not keep us in suspense!  Tell us plainly. Are you the Messiah?  Jesus answered, “I have already told you but you would not believe me”.  The people try to stone him.  Jesus slips out of their hands and crosses the Jordan.

In Bethany, near to Jerusalem, a very good friend of his is ill. This person is Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha who are extremely fond of Jesus.

Mary and Martha send a message to Jesus saying, “Lord your dear friend is ill”. When he receives the news that Lazarus is ill, Jesus decides to stay on the other side of the Jordan for two more days.  What will Martha and Mary make of this?  Jesus is giving them no opportunity for talking and listening.  They are finding it difficult to understand him.  They know Jesus is a healer, but he is not there to heal.  Lazarus dies.

Jesus then says, “let us go back to Judea”.  He has delayed responding to their request.  Was he procrastinating?  Certainly the disciples were.  John says the disciples wanted to delay his return to Judea.  “Just a short time ago the people there wanted to stone you; and are you planning to go back?”  Jesus’ reply to them is interesting.  Instead of talking about the dangers of Jerusalem, he speaks to them about the dangers of living in darkness.  The remarkable discipline of Jesus comes through his intimacy with God.  He talks to God.  He listens to God.  He understands God.  He does not act on impulse and his ability to resist temptation is based on his commitment to prayer and scripture.  He is delaying because he has a greater purpose.

When he delayed his return, Martha and Mary both accuse him with the words “If you had been here Lord my brother would not have died!”  The answer from Jesus is surprising. “Whoever believes in me will live, even though he dies”.

So it was with Lazarus, and so it is with you!

You can seek Jesus in the wrong way.  Martha and Mary who were close friends of Jesus did this, and this was not the first time.  Martha wanted Jesus to fit in to her desires when he was visiting their house on a previous occasion and speaking to Mary while she was busy with the housework.

You may wish Jesus to fit in with your own lifestyle and still answer your difficulties. Although your desires are sincere, you are too busy to spend time with Jesus, just as Martha was.  Our idols are a problem.  Idols come in the form of an over attachment to something that is, in itself, perfectly good.

It is easier to see the idols that other people have, rather than your own. You may feel superior to the teenage girl with a pop star idol, like Gareth Yates or the population idolising a football team.  However, if the focus of your beliefs is on the security that the world gives rather than the hope that is found in Jesus, your idols are in your beliefs and they will be where your love really lies.
Scripture says, ‘Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God.’

Just prior to this passage in Romans Paul says, ‘Present your bodies as a living sacrifice’. I am glad he uses the word ‘living’ because we already know that many followers of Jesus sacrificed their lives for the sake of the Gospel.  However, Paul is saying that, in order to discern the will of God, we have to be prepared to give up certain things.

We all know there are times when we have to give up something.  It might be work, university, or a dearly loved friendship.  These choices are forced on us.  Yet, how do we know what God wants us to give up?
The story of Abraham and Isaac is in the Old Testament.  Abraham was a man of faith, who talked to and listened to God. Born in Ur answering a call from God he moved to Harran.  Then, called again, he moved to Canaan.  The supreme test of his faith came when he was asked to sacrifice his son Isaac.

When they came to the place that God had shown him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order. He bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.

But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said ‘Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.'

Like Abraham, when God sees that you are prepared to give up what is most precious to you. He will decide what to do.  He may return it to you or offer you something more helpful to your faith.
Our reading tonight reveals the starkness of the choices that the early followers of Jesus had to make.  They gave up everything to follow him.  However, do we have to be so radical?

It is clear from the reading that Jesus wants us to give up things if it will help to spread the Good News.  Yet God knows we hate feeling insecure, and he understands that if our security collapses we will no longer be able to undertake our responsibilities to others.  However, he wants us to feel completely secure in him and abandon our false securities.

The passage before our New Testament reading is a very well known passage.

As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, `Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' Jesus said to him, ‘You know the commandments'. ‘He said to him, `I have kept all these since my youth.' Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, `You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.' He was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

Harking back to the story of Abraham, if the rich young man had said ‘Master I will do that’ it is possible, that Jesus would have said “Follow me!  Keep your money!  It can be used to advance the cause of God’s Kingdom.”

A couple of weeks ago I heard what happened to a friend of mine, who is a sincere Christian.  Her husband was ‘seriously rich’.  When he became a Christian, he gave all his money away.  This, combined with an erratic work pattern, has created serious difficulties for the family.  Although I do not know the full situation, I cannot help feeling that the rich man in this case, although not operating out of whim, failed to seek God’s will.

Fortunately, there are people who are prepared to abandon all their security for the sake of the Gospel.  The obvious examples are the disciples in our reading tonight. They were able to talk to Jesus and receive reassurance about the path that they were taking.

Peter said to him, `Look, we have left everything and followed you.'

Jesus said, `I tell you truthfully, There is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not be given many more houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, in this age; along with persecutions - and in the age to come eternal life.

Without them, we would have no Gospel to follow.

Today there are Christians who are living out their faith courageously, without security in countries where zeal for another faith is stirring up hatred towards those who live by the Gospel; while in this country, apathy rather than zeal is the norm.  Yet people who have felt the call to leave a known way and follow God’s way are also keeping the gospel alive in our own country.

What about those of us who are here tonight!  You will be feeling the need to hold onto certain of the important securities in your life.  However, you still want to serve God. What can you do?  Hold onto Jesus with all your strength, when life gets tough. Otherwise, you are in darkness.  For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light. Ephesians 5:8

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God.’ Romans 12:2

What type of transformation is Paul speaking of?  Surely, he is seeing the dangers of the church conforming to the social standards of the world; where our aim is to be nice to our friends and those in need; but we omit the spiritual care of our friends and others.

You are here as part of the church family.  In traditional church services, your role is mainly confined to listening. Yet talking, listening and understanding, is the key to a happy disciplined family life. You can encourage the church to create more opportunities for talking, listening and understanding. This will strengthen the church.

Bruce October 16th 2005
Under the Pews
I cannot see you.
I am here.
I cannot hear you.
I am here.
I cannot sense you.
I am here.
Where are you then?
Have you looked under the pews?
Yes!
What did you see?
I saw the floor and some heating pipes.
I am the ground of your being and the source of your warmth in your soul, yet you prefer the objects you have made yourself rather than the gifts I give you!
There are times when God appears to be missing and these are hard times.
Paul understands this and gives a message of hope to the Athenians.  "Yet God is actually not far from any one of us; as someone has said 'In him we live and move and exist'.”  He then goes on to say "and they would look for him and perhaps find him as they felt about for him".  The Good News Bible fails to give the flavour of what Paul is actually saying.  The phrase he uses in Greek is better translated "as they groped around for him".  Like someone who is looking for their spectacles under the pew. 
Paul proceeds by quoting from one of the Athenians poets "We too are his children"
We have all been children at one time and although what am about to say may not apply to all of you, I am sure it will apply to some.  Friends were more discardable, when we were young.  Fun to have around for a time, but we grew out of them and left them in a cupboard, like toys we had grown tired of.  Later when we wished to see them again, we had overlooked the effect of mother, and her desire for keeping things tidy.  She has cleared out the cupboard and given the contents to a deserving cause. Friends are important to us and as we become older, we recognise their value.  If a friend goes missing, we will search for that friend to ensure that he or she is all right.
However, when we are missing God, we need to pay attention to our thoughts.  We lose sight of God when our thoughts are disordered and our attitudes distorted.  This occurs when we are under pressure, and resentments are building up inside us.  The resentments subside, yet our thought disorder remains.  We are colder towards other people, and more neglectful of our responsibilities to love.
We are missing God, and at times like this, we must turn to Him to sort out our thinking. Our first task is prolonged and sincere prayer.  It is only in prayer, where we are confessing our thoughts that our disordered thinking begins to take on again the reality that comes from God's goodness.  It is impossible to grasp the full extent of His goodness, but we will have experienced it in our lives and know that we are the better for it.  In our prayer, we focus our thoughts on His goodness, and remember the goodness that other people have shown us, and our thought disorder dissolves into tears of gratitude and sorrow.
Then we discover that we have work to do: Not mundane work, or routine work, but exciting work that God has planned for us. 
It is actually quite difficult to get hold of the idea that God has planned work for us in our modern society.  Work is more often seen as an obligation or a duty in order to serve ourselves or to serve others.  It is very hard for us to hold on to the sense of work being a vocation, for it is difficult to sense anything or anyone beyond us. Modern media is revealing to us, in a way that has never happened before, the difficulties of the world.  We cannot make sense of it, so we struggle to achieve what we can, without a sense of calling.  God is missing so we have to make the best of it.
Are we like the psalmist who says “Wake up, Lord! Why are you asleep?  Rouse yourself!  Don’t reject us for ever!  Why are you hiding from us?  Don’t forget our suffering and trouble! (Psalm 44)
Or are we like children in the classroom who become embarrassed when the teacher asks us what he was talking about and we have to admit that we have been daydreaming about other things?
Probably we are more like children in the sixth form where the teacher is absent and we are getting on with our own studies.
However, did the psalmist get it right?  Was God asleep?  I cannot help think that the fervour of the psalmist elicited a response even if God was not asleep. Yet the earlier parts of the psalm reveals the thought disorder of the psalmist that is only resolved in his final phrase “Because of your constant love save us: No sense of a sleeping God there.  However, in the earlier part of the psalm, he talks about God being King, bringing victory to the people but now he has rejected them and they are defeated.  Is God really like this?  Is he heading an army, conquering people?
When Britain was strong, faith was strong.  Certainly, faith added to the strength of Britain, yet Britain’s strength in the world was gained by its military might and administration.  Missionary faith followed on.
Now Britain is no longer the world power it used to be and faith is weaker.  Did we, like the psalmist, get it wrong?  Were there many people filling the churches, because Britain was mighty, or were they there because Jesus was present in their hearts?  I am sure it was a bit of both.
Yet God is not asleep.  He is bounding across the world, in Africa, Asia, South America; filling people’s hearts with love; creating great surges of faith.  He has not forgotten Britain.  However, we may have forgotten that God acts, not through our might, but His Power.
If you look under the pews with a powerful microscope, you will see microbes in plenty – all part of God’s creation.  However, you will also see the imprints of the feet of the many people of faith that have occupied these pews over the years.  They may have got aspects of their faith wrong, but God believes in their faith, as He believes in ours.  He will put it right in time!

Forbearance

On Wednesday afternoon I was walking up Hanover Street. My neighbours, Connie and Jimmy, were out shopping and spotted me. They said ‘are you still having problems with your leg?’  I replied ‘from time to time’ and Jimmy asked me what I was taking for it?  I replied ‘forbearance’.  It was an odd word to use, so I looked it up in the dictionary when I got home. 
The word is hardly ever used today. However, if you search the Internet you'll find many references to forbearance being used with regard to student debt in America. Student loan forbearance is an authorized temporary suspension of repayment that is granted under certain circumstances. I.e. if you are committed to repaying your student loans, but are unable to make payments because of a temporary financial strain, your lender may agree to grant a forbearance, during which payments on your student loan account are postponed.
Now the unforgiving debtor (Mat 18:21-35) expected this kind of forbearance. Yet his debt was completely cancelled. When he failed to show forbearance to another servant, he received a devastating judgement.
You may think that this is a special case because the man was so wicked. Yet Jesus’ teaching is always universal, there are no special cases.  So what is the universal teaching in this case?  Today it is common to focus on forgiveness and ignore judgement; yet the teaching shows that forgiveness and judgement cannot be separated.  I hope to show that attempts to separate them are both ignorant and selfish.
A woman discovers that her husband is having an affair with another woman.  Even if she forgives him, she will continue to evaluate and assess the future with her husband. Her judgement will continue to focus on him to make sure he does not do it again.
This is why God’s judgement is tied to forgiveness.  We are not judged on past events that have been forgiven.  We are judged on future events.  It has to be so; otherwise we will take advantage of forgiveness and make no effort to change.
So why do modern Christians dislike the word judgement?  Part of the reason is on account of the Christians who have frightened children by distorting God’s judgement.  Their version seems cold and contrary to unconditional love.
Perhaps it is easier to understand the purpose and preciseness of God’s judgement by looking at unconditional love with judgement absent.
The second reading was from Colossians. ‘You should be clothed in sincere compassion, in kindness and humility, gentleness and patience’. This is a description of the behaviour God expects of us in his Kingdom.  Imagine the effect of an arrogant bully, or someone who steals or causes conflict on such a community.  But if God has no purpose and only unconditional love, anyone can be admitted into God’s kingdom.
But if God’s judgement is precise and we fail to live up to the standards of God’s righteousness, can anyone enter his kingdom?  This is an ‘eye of the needle’ question which Jesus has already answered, when he says it is impossible for us to achieve salvation on our own.  It comes from God alone.
Forbearance has another definition:  the act of forbearing or waiting; the exercise of patience.  This was the sense that I used when speaking to my neighbours.  For a Christian, who experiences suffering, patience come through the grace which the Holy Spirit implants in the soul.
In Romans 15.5 Paul says ‘May the God who gives comfort and strength in waiting make you of the same mind with one another in harmony with Christ Jesus’  This is an exhortation to the Kingdom.  Being of the same mind with one another in harmony with Christ is the Kingdom.
Patience is a Godly attribute.  What is the Patience of God?  It is the power of God over Himself.  But for the infinite restraint God puts upon Himself, this problematic world could not exist a moment.  Mercy withholds judgment, goodness restrains justice, patience curbs power, and thus the patience of God is the salvation of man.
The patience of God allows us time to change and God knows how much we need that time.  Yet Jesus clearly understands that forgiveness without judgement is a poor agent for change.  He himself is our agent for change.  Ask him to help you cooperate and never stop asking, so that we may live for ever, in harmony with one another.
 Judgement slumbers, but forbearance is awake, for God with infinite patience waits for us to change so that he can welcome us home, rather than lose us.

Bruce Crerar

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