Prayers in the Temple?

I am honoured to worship with you this morning and explore Jesus teaching for us today... and today we will explore one of Jesus favourite theme’s, one which he returns to again and again and again...

Having said that let me start by asking you a question!

Why are you here this morning?

Is it out of

·        Loyalty

·        habit

·        tradition

·        expectation

·        need

·        guilt

·        your parents made you come

·        or perhaps your partner

did you come to

·        enjoy the music

·        catch up with friends

·        catch up with the opposite sex

·        give thanks for blessings in your life

·        ask for assistance in your trials

Without making it sound too negative or make you too uncomfortable let me acknowledge that your presence here at worship testifies to your intent and your desire to meet with Christ and God. Your attendance here reveals your devotion because behind such a motivation of attendance lies your statement of relationship with God. In other words, just to be here makes a difference in your life.

It makes a difference as you come and gather around the Lord’s Table because here we can celebrate God’s grace and as we do we deepen our relationship with God.

Let me tease this theme out in our readings.

In both readings today we encounter the issue of relationship with God.

1)     in our first reading of Jeremiah 14:19-22 Jeremiah pleads with God on behalf of Zion

He pleads with God as an equal in covenant though he always sees himself and all of Judah as subservient to God he none the less claims the rights of relationship and God’s protection and blessing founded within the covenant.

So Jeremiah intercedes in and invokes the Covenant relationship between the people and their God.

 

2)     In our second reading Luke 18:9-14 Jesus weaves his parable in order to disturb the religious self righteous; who in their prayers look down on others to satisfy their ego’s by believing that they are better than others or at least being thankful that they aren’t.

 

Jesus uses the image of the proud Pharisee and the humble Tax collector to explore the issues of right relationship with God. For instance both the Pharisee and the Tax collector rightly share their journey with God in prayer. (It has shades of the prodigal son)

Jesus in his parable interjects in and expresses counter covenantal understandings of the nature of right relationship with God.

 

Jesus is stating “How we conduct ourselves is a direct reflection of our relationship with God. Not just in church but every moment of every day.  The tax collector is only justified because he at least acknowledges his sin to God but he also exposes his inability to have corrected his behaviour. In fact Jesus is not holding either character up as right or good rather Jesus is saying that all of us fall short of the glory of God!  But our willingness to be transparent in that relationship helps.

 

So there is a difference here between being justified (as Jesus shares the tax collector is) and being in right relationship with God. 

Simply put Jesus is not teaching us how to pray in the temple!

Let me highlight then Jesus’ focus with this parable.

Jesus is not teaching us to pray he is challenging us to enter into a relationship with God.

Jesus is not teaching us to pray he is educating the listeners of this parable (both then and now) to the heart of the Jewish understanding of Covenantal relationship with God. He is tearing at the legal approach to their Covenant relationship with God and replacing it with the Grace of God;

He is destroying legality and replacing it with relationship (Which, believe it or not, was the intent of their covenant in the first place, Jeremiah 7:23 says “Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people!” Though we tend to hear this command to “Obey me” as an If... If you obey me I will be your God and you will be my people!).

In this parable Jesus highlights the issues of our human self-righteousness. In that state we  justify our understanding of fulfilment (that which we believe is required) but no more and Jesus is saying that this doesn’t cut the mustard. It is not how the relationship works.

Perhaps the Jewish covenant can be understood not as an “if” but a “when”. 

I will be your God and you will be my people when you obey me. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you.

When...

·        we live with love and discover we are able to embrace everyone as equals; as brothers and sisters.

·        we understand grace and share it with everyone (including ourselves)

we will know that we are loved children of God and we will be fulfilling the covenant without worrying about it..

 

Richard Rohr (American Franciscan Monk) puts it this way

The “real work” is always soul work.  When we move to the level of the soul, externals like skin colour, age, career, status, religion, and nationality are not the important things.  Rather, the question is, “Who am I before I am any of those things?”  Soul recognizes soul.  Soul reads reality at the level of soul, and not merely persona or personality.

Jesus reveals the Pharisee and the Tax collector in this state of soul. Jesus sees at Soul level. He see’s everyone as a child of God.


When we reach this state of grace our prayers will move beyond Jesus parabolic examples! (I sure you’ve said your share of prayers like “I’m a worm” and “thank God I’m not”) When we reach this state of grace our prayers will become like Jesus’ prayer. 

That prayer goes like this,

Our Father, who is in heaven,
Praised be Your name.
Your Kingdom come,
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For Yours is the kingdom,

the power and the glory,

for ever and ever.

Amen.

 

Jesus challenge for us all to day is an invitation to embrace a relationship with God.

It comes in the form of a question posed in a parable is “How are you conducting yourself every day?

It comes into our souls as a question “are you living you life in your own strength or are you working from a relationship with God?

Jesus wants you to know of God’s grace and desire to be in relationship with you.

Jesus is revealing the nature of God that is not judgemental or condemnatory; rather God’s nature is to be with us and to have us be with God.

In fact the whole Gospel story is the revelation of the lengths to which God will go to be with us.

Christ is inviting us all to lower our buckets deep into the well of his love and drink of his forgiveness.

Come before God in a state of self awareness, in honesty, and dwell in his forgiveness.

Come to God and know that you are God’s child, loved, embraced and restored into righteousness, not by your hand or anything you’ve done. But by God’s grace and in so doing receive the Holy Spirit and be the reflection of God’s good news, that God wants to be in relationship with us all.

Amen.

 

 


 

Jeremiah 14:19-22

 19 Have you rejected Judah completely?
       Do you despise Zion?
       Why have you afflicted us
       so that we cannot be healed?
       We hoped for peace
       but no good has come,
       for a time of healing
       but there is only terror.

 20 O LORD, we acknowledge our wickedness
       and the guilt of our fathers;
       we have indeed sinned against you.

 21 For the sake of your name do not despise us;
       do not dishonor your glorious throne.
       Remember your covenant with us
       and do not break it.

 22 Do any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain?
       Do the skies themselves send down showers?
       No, it is you, O LORD our God.
       Therefore our hope is in you,
       for you are the one who does all this.

and Luke 18:9-14 with a theme of

 

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector

 9To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee stood up and prayed about[a] himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'

 13"But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

 14"I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

 

 

My name is “We are”

Recently I have had one of Richard Rohr’s sayings stay with me.  It goes like this...

God is not a being, but being itself!

My mind seems to be churning over this reality and the endless possibilities of this statement and in no large part due to an epiphany I had earlier this year.

While meditating on God and God’s name (the name of “I am”) it suddenly dawned on me what my name is. My name is “we are”.

It hit me like a bolt of lightning, if God is the initiator of life as “being itself” or as the bible states it, the “I am,” then my presence can only be described in relation to or in relationship with the original “I am”. Therefore there is God and me and the ‘me’ while seeming like an “I am” is actually a “we are”.

I am beginning to suspect that this unity with God  throws light onto the reality of sin which may be best understood as thinking and acting as an ‘I am’ instead of a ‘we are.  Living as “I” lets us do to others! Living as an “I” lets us play at being God and therefore eliminating the reality of God altogether! Living as “we” dissolves the issue of the ‘other’ in and through unity.  Unity in turn lets us celebrate our relationships with everyone and within the “I am”.

Is this then Kingdom? God’s Kingdom where everyone is encompassed within God and accounted for like the sparrows of the air (Mtt 10:29)?

My meditation on God as “being itself” and the original I am” then extended from God and me to the ‘we’ of church and family and beyond to incorporate all humanity as that which God so loves and ultimately on to the statement “We are” all loved by God!

May ‘we’ rest in the deep awareness that “we are”!  We are all God’s children.  We are all loved by God and we can all share that love with everyone we meet in our daily lives!  

Remember the Peace of God is within you!

Scott


It’s so simple it might just work

How often do we project our own issues into situations that aren’t about us?

How often do we react when asked to do a simple thing?

How often do our relationships suffer because of our assumptions and reactions?

Thanks to this Sunday’s readings 2 Kings 5:1-2,7-15c and Luke 17:11-19 we can explore some cures for our narcissistic and therefore societal ills.   

The first cure requires some effort on our part and would look like this

When you think people are having a go at you, halt your reactions long enough to ask questions for clarification (you’ll find it isn’t all about you!) (2 Kings 5:7-8)

When in conversation with others suspend your opinions long enough to consider what is being offered to you (you’ll find method in others madness) (2 Kings 5:11-13)

When we experience a gift from another suspend our selfishness/embarrassment long enough to say thanks (you’ll discover a friend) (2 Kings 5:15 Luke 17:16-18)

To become better skilled at employing just one (if not all three) of these techniques offers better relationships with everyone you meet. But this too has a darker side if we only treat others better so that we have a better life ourselves. To that end let me share with you cure number 2.

The other cure requires true humility on our part and a recognition that we can’t thrive in life by our own strength!

In times of distress and challenge be willing to seek God for support

(2 Kings 5:1, 3-4 & Luke 17:12-13)

In times of selfishness and tantrums be willing to listen to Christ (and others) for help

(2 Kings 5:8, 8 & Luke 17:14)

In times of experiencing freely given grace be willing to give thanks and acknowledge the Holy Spirit as its source!

(2 Kings 5:15 & Luke 17:15-16)

To embrace seeking, listening and trusting God with all of our life; seeing everyone as ourselves as a child of God; seeing all of creation as God’s gift of life means that we will start living by the first cure for our ills without even trying and with little or no regard for what we receive in return, just the love of God, the forgiveness of Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit to share around and in so doing build relationships that will last.

All this with no selfishness, works, or narcissism involved.

Trusting in God... It’s just so simple that it might just work.

 

Remember the Peace of God is within you!

Scott

God calls not for wealth but relationships

Our world has turned to the god of economic justification (then again has it ever turned from it?).

Every cent must be accounted for; auditors and accountants pour over occupational documentation searching for the lost revenue, the frivolous spending, the ways around tax laws.  In a time were economic growth and stimulus are the main stay of community and personal greed on the stock exchange or an investment portfolio brings a never ending hunger for more till it all comes crashing down. When our companies outsource jobs to 3rd world economies to keep costs down and profit margins up; when families work longer hours for less pay only to keep their job or buy that next latest and greatest thing, one has to ask ... where will it all end?

Both Amos (8:4-7) and Luke (16:1-13), this Sundays readings, reveal that this issue is not new to our world or its economies.  Amos talks about the greed and corruption of the retailers while Luke uses a teaching of Jesus that highlights the greed and scruples of a manager to show the true nature of business to his disciples. Simply put any business transaction is an extension of relationship. 

Intentional miss-managed, miserly or unscrupulous dealings on the part of retailers/contactors reveal a nature of selfishness and greed.  Similarly always looking for the bargain and a way to get more out of a deal on the part of a miserly customer/purchaser reveals the same nature of selfishness and greed. (On that note I never understood why the federal government was attacked over “miss-management” of the schools and insulations programmes when the intention was good and it was more often than not greedy contractors or operators who wrought the system and the Government and in so doing stolen from us the Australian people and cost lives!!! But I digress). So what are these readings all about? Simply stated any interaction between people can either build or destroy relationships. 

So how are you conducting yourself? Are your transactions building relationships or destroying them?

More to the point are your actions (at any time with anyone) building or destroying relationships?

Remember we reap what we sow! (Galatians 6:8-9 and 2Corrinthians 9:6)

Know that God’s peace is within you!

Scott.



Amos 8:4-7

4 Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land, 5 saying, "When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?"-- skimping the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, 6 buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat. 7 The LORD has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: "I will never forget anything they have done.

 

Luke 16:1-13

1 Jesus told his disciples: "There was a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his possessions. 2 So he called him in and asked him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you cannot be manager any longer.' 3 "The manager said to himself, 'What shall I do now? My master is taking away my job. I'm not strong enough to dig, and I'm ashamed to beg-- 4 I know what I'll do so that, when I lose my job here, people will welcome me into their houses.' 5 "So he called in each one of his master's debtors. He asked the first, 'How much do you owe my master?' 6 "'Eight hundred gallons of olive oil,' he replied. "The manager told him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it four hundred.' 7 "Then he asked the second, 'And how much do you owe?' "'A thousand bushels of wheat,' he replied. "He told him, 'Take your bill and make it eight hundred.' 8 "The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light. 9 I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. 10 "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11 So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12 And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own? 13 "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

 



The character of Moses is an interesting one; here is a man known for his relationship with God yet scripture reveals how often he takes matters into his own hands and gets it so wrong.  There is much to be reflected on here particularly for those of us who proclaim, like Moses, that we have a relationship with God (Christ and the Holy Spirit).  The assurance we have is that God stood by Moses even when he got it wrong as God will with us. 

Today’s reading of Exodus 32:7-35 reveals a human struggle between issues of grace and judgement; obedience and disobedience; life and death. It does so by focusing on a) Moses, b) the people and c) Aaron. Today however I want to focus on Moses. 

  1. Moses in verses 12-14 (when God is angry) petitions God towards grace; to be calm, forgiving and slow to act against the stiff necked refugees.
  2. But then in verse 27 Moses acts with judgement and vengeful wrath as he calls to himself all those who would proclaim their allegiance to YHWY and incites a mass murder on God’s behalf.

How then is this paradox resolved?

  1. The solution this revealed in verse 34 where God states very clearly to Moses that God will be the one to do the punishing of the people not Moses. Why?
  2. Because God acts in ways that allow time for repentance; Moses didn’t!

Its how God worked with Moses, reflectively we need to ask ourselves “do we?”

In the Exodus story, thanks to Moses, 3000 people are denied the opportunity for repentance; they had their lives terminated. For their part (and God’s) there was no tomorrow; no time for a relationship with God, no space for repentance and no experience of forgiveness.  It is Moses’ zeal that accomplishes this heinous act and as such it is the example of our human propensity towards judging one another and the worst expression of religion.

History reveals again and again that we judge in terms of “It’s right or wrong / it’s now or never / you’re either in or out / it’s your way or mine.” It is our way of judgement which is exposed in this most fear instilling and blood thirsty expression of religious fervour in the Bible save Christ’s crucifixion. Is it any wonder some reject Christ for their fear of God; though I think it is not God who is to be feared!

Jesus himself faced this same Mosaic rhetoric from the religious leaders in his time. In Sunday’s reading of Luke 15:1-10 we read that Jesus is under scrutiny for eating with tax collectors. For my part I see Jesus as God’s revelation of Exodus 32:34. Jesus is God’s revelation of judgement. This is how God deals with those deemed by religion as “sinners”.

God’s way of judgement is... wait for it... to go and look for them!!! This is how God judges, God judges with love, grace and forgiveness. God reaches out to all through a relationship with Jesus Christ. With God there is time to rebuild relationships of love, the compulsion to act with forgiveness and the desire to celebrate life with everyone.  Is this an image of God to be feared? I think not!

Through Sunday’s parables Jesus invites those of us who know God to be part of the celebrations when others embrace God in faith. Jesus’ parables offer insight to ‘not judge’ those that are at a different stage of their relationship with God. We as Christians are encouraged to embrace all and in time celebrate with those who experience Christ’s revelation of life. It’s just like the parable of The Prodigal Son, only this time we are the servants of the father.  I don’t know about you but I would rather celebrate with Christ the reunion of a brother or sister than judge, condemn and murder another (we do it with words today rather than the sword).

I pray that by our actions we will be known as people who are in relationship with God and in our celebration of Christ’s grace, forgiveness and love share with everyone the Holy Spirit’s infectious way of life.

God’s Peace is within you!

Scott