Rescue Services

•January 13, 2014 • Leave a Comment

Fire, police, ambulance, coastguard – where would we be without them to rescue us when we were in trouble?

A neighbour with a spare key, someone to give us a lift when we’re stranded and run out of petrol, a gift from someone who knows we need it, that person who can lend us some money when we have nothing left, the person who shows us how to do something we can’t work out ourselves, someone to change a light bulb we can’t reach, the people who dig a path through the snow when we can’t…. the list could go on and on of things people do to rescue us day by day.  Some are small things, but mean so much to us; others are huge sacrifices and acts of service for the one doing them, but they do it to rescue those that need it.

Isaiah 49:1-7 (CEV)

The Work of the Lord’s Servant

49 Everyone, listen,
even you foreign nations
    across the sea.
The Lord chose me
and gave me a name
    before I was born.
2 He made my words pierce
like a sharp sword
    or a pointed arrow;
he kept me safely hidden
    in the palm of his hand.
3 The Lord said to me,
    “Israel, you are my servant;
and because of you
    I will be highly honored.”

4 I said to myself,
“I’m completely worn out;
    my time has been wasted.
But I did it for the Lord God,
    and he will reward me.”

5 Even before I was born,
    the Lord God chose me
to serve him and to lead back
    the people of Israel.
So the Lord has honored me
    and made me strong.

6 Now the Lord says to me,
“It isn’t enough for you
    to be merely my servant.
You must do more than lead back
survivors
from the tribes
    of Israel.
I have placed you here as a light
    for other nations;
you must take my saving power
    to everyone on earth.”

The Lord Will Rescue His People

7 Israel, I am the holy Lord God,
    the one who rescues you.
You are slaves of rulers
and of a nation
    who despises you.
Now this is what I promise:
Kings and rulers will honor you
    by kneeling at your feet.
You can trust me! I am your Lord,
the holy God of Israel,
    and you are my chosen ones.

The Lord, promises to rescue his people.  The people are in exile – but there is hope, they will be rescued and brought home.

But, it is quite clear that for that, God needs to use people.  It’s not quite clear to me whether this is still Cyrus, or someone in far more general terms, or it’s directly relating to The Messiah, or Isaiah himself speaking, but God has chosen someone to be his servant and to lead the people back.

What I find interesting is that, whoever this servant was, the task was not easy.  They were worn out and felt that they were wasting their time.  It is easy to get caught up in the belief that if we are serving God, or more specifically serving people in his name, then we will have a rosy glow of doing A Good Thing.  But that is not always the case.  Sometimes serving people is just hard work.  Because people can be difficult, ungrateful and not see what is best for them…

And then to cap it off, in verse 6, the Lord tells them,  “That’s not enough, you must do more”.  Perhaps they weren’t doing as much as they thought they were, or weren’t doing the right thing, what had actually been asked of them?  But the promise remains that God will rescue his people.

So what has this to say to me where I am today?

Well, it’s a comfort that others that have gone before have not always found it a joy to serve the Lord, but sometimes hard work.  That doesn’t necessarily mean we’re doing it wrong – just that it is a hard thing that those who are called to serve do (i.e. all of us!).  Sometimes it brings great delight, sometimes it is pure slog.

Sometimes what we do is not enough.  We do our best, and still there is more to do; or we mis-focus and our best misses the target.  Perhaps I need to be open to hearing that possibility.

And most heart-warming of all – it is not me who does the rescuing, but God.  Yes, we need to be a light to the world, we need to point the way and prepare a path – but it is God who does the actual saving of people – and in that I rejoice.

Thank You Lord,that you rescue me.
All those times
when I get into scrapes,
get myself lost,
feel I am drowning,
have run out of my own resources…

Forgive me Lord
when I don’t do enough
to help others,
or do the wrong thing,
or the right thing
in the wrong way,
or not the thing you asked of me.

Thank you
for rescuing the world,
each one of us,
even me

He Lifted Me

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Objection

•January 9, 2014 • 1 Comment

Matthew 3:13-17 (CEV)

The Baptism of Jesus

13 Jesus left Galilee and went to the Jordan River to be baptized by John. 14 But John kept objecting and said, “I ought to be baptized by you. Why have you come to me?”

15 Jesus answered, “For now this is how it should be, because we must do all that God wants us to do.” Then John agreed.

16 So Jesus was baptized. And as soon as he came out of the water, the sky opened, and he saw the Spirit of God coming down on him like a dove. 17 Then a voice from heaven said, “This is my own dear Son, and I am pleased with him.”

What are you doing here? Why have you come to me Jesus?

What can I do for you?

You are the one – I should be coming to you. I am nothing but a signpost to you – you are everything.

You want me to baptize you?  When you are the one?  You have done nothing that needs repenting of.

But if that is what you need me to do, let’s do it.  God knows what is right.

And then it became clear.  This was the opening, the start, the beginning of something new.  God is here in you.

With a voice for all to hear – you are his son, here to do his work.  God is good.

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Treated Alike

•January 8, 2014 • 2 Comments

Our sons have a running joke that each of them is the favourite and favoured one.  A light-hearted jostling, because they know full well they are both treated alike and treasured for the unique individuals they are.

Acts 10:34-43 (CEV)

34 Peter then said:

Now I am certain that God treats all people alike. 35 God is pleased with everyone who worships him and does right, no matter what nation they come from. 36 This is the same message that God gave to the people of Israel, when he sent Jesus Christ, the Lord of all, to offer peace to them.

37 You surely know what happened everywhere in Judea. It all began in Galilee after John had told everyone to be baptized. 38 God gave the Holy Spirit and power to Jesus from Nazareth. He was with Jesus, as he went around doing good and healing everyone who was under the power of the devil. 39 We all saw what Jesus did both in Israel and in the city of Jerusalem.

Jesus was put to death on a cross. 40 But three days later, God raised him to life and let him be seen. 41 Not everyone saw him. He was seen only by us, who ate and drank with him after he was raised from death. We were the ones God chose to tell others about him.

42 God told us to announce clearly to the people that Jesus is the one he has chosen to judge the living and the dead. 43 Every one of the prophets has said that all who have faith in Jesus will have their sins forgiven in his name.

Peter is at pains to make it clear that he is sure that God treats everyone alike.  God is pleased with anyone who worships him and does the right thing.  Apart from that, it doesn’t matter who they are, where they come from, what they look like – God has no favourites.

Peter’s Vision

This comes in the midst of his encounter with Cornelius,  after his vision about who decides who and what is clean or unclean, so he is able to open his mind and heart to someone that he wouldn’t have.  He could learn and share with people outside his comfort zone, people who until that point he would not have thought would have been able to know God, and certainly wouldn’t be able to teach him anything.

I sometimes think that one of the biggest problems we have is each trying to prove we are more special, more favoured than the next one.  We can, if we are not careful, play a game of Christian one-upmanship.  I’m more blessed than you are, God is working more here, God must love me more.  This works in two different ways at the same time – it makes me feel better and makes the other seem inferior to me – both of which feed each other.  Neither of which are good or necessary.

But why the need for the competition?  Do we feel so bad about ourselves?  The truth is God values us all.  We are not all doing the same thing.  We each have different gifts and callings, but none are any more or less important.  There is room for all, and all are needed if the church is going to be a rounded picture of life.  As long as we are doing the right thing, doing what God has asked of us and worshipping him, he is happy, he is pleased with us.

He doesn’t measure one against the other, he measures me only against what he has asked of me.

It is only Peter’s openness to God in the other person, rather than measuring that person against himself and his values, that allows him to walk the path God has called him to.  A sobering fact and a challenge to me if I am going to walk the way of being God’s servant, someone who works for him.

I thank you Lord
that you treat every person alike.
Everyone is special to you,
we are each in our own way
your favourite;
you value our uniqueness
and you call us only
to be the person you ask of us.

I pray that you will help me
to remember that,
to hold tight to it,
to neither feel inferior,
or feel the need
to make someone else feel that way.

Lord,
open my mind
and my heart,
to see you
and your possibilities
in everyone around,
that together we can learn
and not compete.

I’ve chosen this because of the last verse:

So let us learn
How to serve,
And in our lives
Enthrone Him;
Each other’s needs
To prefer,
For it is Christ
We’re serving.

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