Who Is It For?

•January 28, 2014 • Leave a Comment

Who can come?
Who is it for?
Who can be here?
Who is able to stay?

This is your Temple Lord,
your holy place.
Who is welcome?
Is it for me?
What do I need to do?
What are you asking
of those who want to be with you?

You need obedience,
a willingness
to do what you ask,
what you need,
to follow your ways.
This place,
here in your holiness,
is for truth,
not hearsay,
conjecture,
muck-raking,
or downright lies.
It is a place
to build people up,
not knock them down;
to be fair
and honest,
not economical
with the truth.

You demand respect,
not for yourself,
but for those we live amongst,
who help us,
provide for us,
those we see
and those we don’t.

You need us to keep our promises,
better to say nothing
than to promise
and not deliver.
You are not looking for empty words,
meaningless platitudes,
commitments
that come to nothing.
Words cost,
and we need to be willing
to pay the price
of what we say we will do.
Cheap options
are not your way,
but the way of sacrifice,
inconvenience
and honour.

These things are holy Lord,
the things you ask
of those
who want to be with you,
to live your ways,
to be in your presence,
day by day.

Psalm 15 (CEV)

(A psalm by David.)

Who May Worship the Lord?

15 Who may stay in God’s temple
    or live on the holy mountain
    of the Lord?

2 Only those who obey God
    and do as they should.
They speak the truth
3     and don’t spread gossip;
    they treat others fairly
    and don’t say cruel things.

4 They hate worthless people,
    but show respect for all
    who worship the Lord.
And they keep their promises,
    no matter what the cost.
5 They lend their money
    without charging interest,
    and they don’t take bribes
    to hurt the innocent.

Those who do these things
    will always stand firm.

They Who Do Justice

Posted in bible, calling, God, justice, Lectionary, Religion, theology
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God’s Challenge

•January 27, 2014 • 1 Comment

By Antony Stanley from Gloucester, UK

It is easy sometimes to focus on the difficulties of live, to think how badly done to we are, without remembering the positives in our life – or the place we could be in.

Micah 6:1-8 (CEV)

The Lord’s Challenge to His People

6 The Lord said to his people:

Come and present your case
    to the hills and mountains.
2 Israel, I am bringing charges
    against you—
I call upon the mountains
and the earth’s firm foundation
    to be my witnesses.

3 My people, have I wronged you
in any way at all?
    Please tell me.
4 I rescued you from Egypt,
    where you were slaves.
I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam
    to be your leaders.
5 Don’t forget the evil plans
    of King Balak of Moab
or what Balaam son of Beor
    said to him.
Remember how I, the Lord,
    saved you many times
on your way from Acacia
    to Gilgal.

God has done nothing but good for his people, he implores them to remember.  He has not been a burden to them, as they might imagine, far from it.  They have been saved from slavery, rescued from the evil plans of kings, God has saved them over and over again.  He has rescued them, and yet they seem to have forgotten.

How easily do we forget what God has done for us?  God, and his ways, are not a burden to us; he hasn’t wronged us, but rather saved us from some of the places we could have been, from plans that could harm us, from places we felt trapped in.

True Obedience

6 What offering should I bring
when I bow down to worship
    the Lord God Most High?
Should I try to please him
by sacrificing
    calves a year old?
7 Will thousands of sheep
or rivers of olive oil
    make God satisfied with me?
Should I sacrifice to the Lord
my first-born child
as payment
    for my terrible sins?
8 The Lord God has told us
what is right
    and what he demands:
“See that justice is done,
let mercy be your first concern,
    and humbly obey your God.”

And so the question turns to a suitable offering to such a God.  A sacrifice – the finest calves, countless sheep, the best olive oil, even the first-born?  What could be given to God that could possibly pay for all the wrong we have done?

But no, God isn’t interested in any of that.  What God wants from his people is justice, mercy and for his people to walk humble with him.

Justice – a concern for equity amongst all people.  No one has any more, or less, rights than any other; no one has any right to anything over any other; everyone should be given equal treatment and a fair chance.

Mercy – showing love, compassion, forgiveness, the opportunity of a second chance – the very elements we see in God himself

Humble – not being full of our own self-importance, or feeling the need to shout about ourselves; having a proper perspective of self.  In terms of God, being aware of where and how we stand before him.

These are the things God is looking for.  Not flashy gifts that everyone can see us giving; not great shows of piety; not trying to look good whilst doing what we like.  Our offering to God should show in how we treat our fellow human being.  Do we treat them as God would?  To do so is an acceptable offering to God; to not do so is to fail in the very thing, the only thing, God requires of us.

This passage should be the foundation of everything, personal lives, community living and national laws.  Justice, mercy and humility should be the underpinning of everything anyone does.  A tall order, but a great aspiration – the challenge that God makes to us all.

Forgive me Lord,
for the times
when I have confused
big,
expensive,
or good-looking
for
important,
or what you want,
and need.
Forgive me
when I have failed to see
the actual paucity
of a gift I thought was extravagant.
Forgive me
when I have offered things,
instead of myself
and how I live.

Lord,
teach me to live
with justice,
in mercy,
with humility,
that I may be living
in the way
that pleases you,
the way you need.

Love Mercy, Live Justly

Posted in bible, calling, faith, God, Lectionary, Religion, theology
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Come With Me

•January 23, 2014 • Leave a Comment

When you have a job that needs doing, you need the right tools.  Some jobs can’t be done alone, and so we need the right people to help us.

Jesus needs the right people to help him.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Matthew 4:12-23 (CEV)

Jesus Begins His Work

12 When Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, he went to Galilee. 13 But instead of staying in Nazareth, Jesus moved to Capernaum. This town was beside Lake Galilee in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali. 14 So God’s promise came true, just as the prophet Isaiah had said,

15 “Listen, lands of Zebulun
    and Naphtali,
lands along the road
to the sea
and east
    of the Jordan!
Listen Galilee,
    land of the Gentiles!
16 Although your people
    live in darkness,
they will see
    a bright light.
Although they live
    in the shadow of death,
a light will shine
    on them.”

17 Then Jesus started preaching, “Turn back to God! The kingdom of heaven will soon be here.”

Jesus Chooses Four Fishermen

18 While Jesus was walking along the shore of Lake Galilee, he saw two brothers. One was Simon, also known as Peter, and the other was Andrew. They were fishermen, and they were casting their net into the lake. 19 Jesus said to them, “Come with me! I will teach you how to bring in people instead of fish.” 20 Right then the two brothers dropped their nets and went with him.

21 Jesus walked on until he saw James and John, the sons of Zebedee. They were in a boat with their father, mending their nets. Jesus asked them to come with him too. 22 Right away they left the boat and their father and went with Jesus.

Jesus Teaches, Preaches, and Heals

23 Jesus went all over Galilee, teaching in the Jewish meeting places and preaching the good news about God’s kingdom. He also healed every kind of disease and sickness.

‘Turn back to God’,
that was his cry.
We heard him,
though we weren’t sure what he meant.
How could we turn back to God,
I’m not sure we’d ever turned
from him.
We might not be as religious
as we could be,
but we believed in God,
of course we did.

Then it all became much more personal,
no longer a general cry to the crowds,
he came
specifically
right over to us.
We were minding our own business,
getting on with our fishing,
doing what we’d always done.
Jesus came and said,
‘Come with me’.
He told us nothing about where we were going,
just that we were going to fish for people
instead of fish.
What on earth does that mean?
Who knows,
who knew…
But do you know,
we went with him,
we left everything we had,
our business,
our livelihood,
everything.

There was something about Jesus,
something that just meant
that you couldn’t ignore him,
we had to go and find out more,
see what it was all about.
Our nets would still be there tomorrow.

As we went along,
he called to two more,
come and join us,
come and see.
They left all their stuff too,
and their dad.

So off we went.
Who knew what kind of adventure we were on.

Lord,
when I hear your call,
may I respond,
leave what I am doing
to follow your invitation
to come with you

In simple trust like theirs who heard
Beside the Syrian sea
The gracious calling of the Lord,
Let us, like them, without a word
Rise up and follow Thee.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SWU-KuFjXI

Posted in bible, faith, follow, Jesus, Lectionary, Religion, theology
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