True Power

•February 5, 2014 • Leave a Comment

A very wise previous Minister of ours once gave me some excellent advice.  When I said how nervous I was about preaching, his reply was, “If you weren’t nervous, you should go home, because it isn’t important enough to you”.  We live in a world obsessed with training, being equipped for every possible eventuality.  This is not necessarily a bad thing – much damage is done sometimes by those who think they know what they are doing.  But there also needs to be space in life for vulnerability and weakness, and for God to get a look in where things aren’t over-engineered so he has no room to move.

1 Corinthians 2:1-16 (CEV)

Telling about Christ and the Cross

2 Friends, when I came and told you the mystery that God had shared with us, I didn’t use big words or try to sound wise. 2 In fact, while I was with you, I made up my mind to speak only about Jesus Christ, who had been nailed to a cross.

3 At first, I was weak and trembling with fear. 4 When I talked with you or preached, I didn’t try to prove anything by sounding wise. I simply let God’s Spirit show his power. 5 That way you would have faith because of God’s power and not because of human wisdom.

6 We do use wisdom when speaking to people who are mature in their faith. But it isn’t the wisdom of this world or of its rulers, who will soon disappear. 7 We speak of God’s hidden and mysterious wisdom that God decided to use for our glory long before the world began. 8 The rulers of this world didn’t know anything about this wisdom. If they had known about it, they would not have nailed the glorious Lord to a cross. 9 But it is just as the Scriptures say,

“What God has planned
    for people who love him
is more than eyes have seen
    or ears have heard.
It has never even
    entered our minds!”

10 God’s Spirit has shown you everything. His Spirit finds out everything, even what is deep in the mind of God. 11 You are the only one who knows what is in your own mind, and God’s Spirit is the only one who knows what is in God’s mind. 12 But God has given us his Spirit. That’s why we don’t think the same way that the people of this world think. That’s also why we can recognize the blessings that God has given us.

13 Every word we speak was taught to us by God’s Spirit, not by human wisdom. And this same Spirit helps us teach spiritual things to spiritual people. 14 That’s why only someone who has God’s Spirit can understand spiritual blessings. Anyone who doesn’t have God’s Spirit thinks these blessings are foolish. 15 People who are guided by the Spirit can make all kinds of judgments, but they cannot be judged by others. 16 The Scriptures ask,

“Has anyone ever known
the thoughts of the Lord
    or given him advice?”

But we understand what Christ is thinking.

Weak and trembling, Paul delivers his message.  He recognises that he has no skilful words or wisdom to offer; he only has God’s Spirit.  Any wisdom, and power, any strength, comes only from and through God.

True power comes from our weakness and our leaving plenty of room for God to do his thing.   Ultimately it is not about what we can do, but about what we allow God to do in and through us.  It is not about us having the “right” words or responses, but allowing space in our lives for God to, not being so full of our own clever answers that there is no room for God to speak what he knows is needed.  I think that is an important thing for each of us to remember, wherever we are and whatever we are doing.  I have nothing to say, God has everything.  My words should not be my carefully crafted and elaborate ones, but the ones God gives to me.  Whatever I do, I do only by the power of God’s Spirit.

Forgive me Lord,
for the times when I think
I can do
a brilliant job,
that I have beautiful words,
and stand in my strength.

May I remember always
to stand in your power,
to being your words,
to show your love.

You Are My All In All

Weak and trembling may I stand,

for you are my all

Posted in bible, calling, faith, God, Jesus, Lectionary, Religion, theology
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God’s Blessing

•February 4, 2014 • Leave a Comment

Shout to God,
sing his praises,
come and worship him.

Worship sounds good,
looks great,
but does it show up in our lives?
Do we listen
as well as speak?
Hear what God is saying to us?
And respond
in action?

Worship breeds mercy,
goodness,
light,
doing the right thing,
honesty,
generosity,
kindness,
dependability
and all those other things God asks of us.
That is worship,
that is what pleases God,
that is doing his thing,
not ours,
these things are what bring life
and blessing –
to us
and to those around.

Psalm 112:1-9 (CEV)

God Blesses His Worshipers

112 Shout praises to the Lord!
    The Lord blesses everyone
    who worships him and gladly
    obeys his teachings.
2 Their descendants will have
    great power in the land,
    because the Lord blesses
    all who do right.
3 They will get rich and prosper
    and will always be remembered
    for their fairness.
4 They will be so kind
    and merciful and good,
that they will be a light
in the dark
    for others
    who do the right thing.

5 Life will go well for those
who freely lend
    and are honest in business.
6 They won’t ever be troubled,
    and the kind things they do
    will never be forgotten.
7 Bad news won’t bother them;
    they have decided
    to trust the Lord.
8 They are dependable
    and not afraid,
    and they will live to see
    their enemies defeated.
9 They will always be remembered
    and greatly praised,
    because they were kind
    and freely gave to the poor.

Psalm 112

Posted in bible, faith, God, hope, justice, Lectionary, life, Religion, theology
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True Worship

•February 3, 2014 • 6 Comments

Worship is something that people can get very passionate about.  There can be a great enthusiasm to tell others how it should be done, often thinking our way is the only way.  I suppose it is something we are passionate about because it is so meaningful, which is a good thing – but, we need to remember that different people need different things, and so different worship styles are ok.  Just because someone is not doing it the way we like does not mean that they are wrong – honestly!  They just have different need and ways of expressing themselves.

However, what really does matter is what is behind that worship.  It is not what we do, but why we do it, and similarly to last week, it’s not what we say in worship that is important so much as how we behave out of it.

Isaiah 58:1-12 (CEV)

True Religion

58 Shout the message!
    Don’t hold back.
Say to my people Israel:
You’ve sinned! You’ve turned
    against the Lord.
2 Day after day, you worship him
and seem eager to learn
    his teachings.
You act like a nation
that wants to do right
    by obeying his laws.
You ask him about justice,
and say you enjoy
    worshiping the Lord.

3 You wonder why the Lord
    pays no attention
when you go without eating
    and act humble.
But on those same days
    that you give up eating,
you think only of yourselves
    and abuse your workers.
4 You even get angry
    and ready to fight.
No wonder God won’t listen
    to your prayers!

5 Do you think the Lord
    wants you to give up eating
and to act as humble
    as a bent-over bush?
Or to dress in sackcloth
    and sit in ashes?
Is this really what he wants
    on a day of worship?

6 I’ll tell you
what it really means
    to worship the Lord.
Remove the chains of prisoners
    who are chained unjustly.
Free those who are abused!
7 Share your food with everyone
    who is hungry;
share your home
    with the poor and homeless.
Give clothes to those in need;
don’t turn away your relatives.

8 Then your light will shine
like the dawning sun,
and you
    will quickly be healed.
Your honesty will protect you
    as you advance,
and the glory of the Lord
    will defend you from behind.
9 When you beg the Lord for help,
    he will answer, “Here I am!”

Don’t mistreat others
or falsely accuse them
    or say something cruel.
10 Give your food to the hungry
    and care for the homeless.
Then your light will shine
    in the dark;
your darkest hour will be
    like the noonday sun.

11 The Lord will always guide you
and provide good things to eat
    when you are in the desert.
He will make you healthy.
You will be like a garden
    that has plenty of water
or like a stream
    that never runs dry.
12 You will rebuild those houses
    left in ruins for years;
you will be known
as a builder and repairer
    of city walls and streets.

This is really quite an angry tirade.  God is not happy.

People claim they are worshipping God, they maybe even believe they are faithfully, but God knows otherwise and he is cross.

Oh yes, they look like they are doing all the right things, even asking all the right questions, and fasting; but, and it is a huge but to God, they are not following through on that.  Now I get really grumpy when I am hungry, but when they are fasting they are angry, and taking it out on everyone else.  They are claiming humility and piety, but failing to live it.  God doesn’t want worship to look good, but to be true and lived out.  How can they worship God in shouting at everyone around them?

No, to truly worship God is to work for justice, to bring freedom, to share what you have and to be a nice person to those around you.  God is not served by any other kind of behaviour, however good worship might look.

And that applies as much to me today as much as it did to those who God was so angry with in Isaiah’s time.  Our worship is meaningless unless it informs, challenges and effects our life every day.  For that is where worshipping God counts, in how it hits the ground in our everyday actions.

I Will Speak Out

Lord,
I am sorry
for the times
when My worship
has been about me,
how I look,
what I like,
and not about you;
for the times
when my worship has stayed in church
and not come with me
into my every day;
for when
I have made you angry
by my inconsistencies.

May my worship
Be such a part of my life
that it is lived every day,
in all I do.
Help me to speak out,
to stand up,
to live
for justice,
peace,
hope,
love
and truth
– beginning in me
and how I behave

Posted in bible, faith, God, hope, justice, Lectionary, Religion, theology
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