Choices, Choices

•September 2, 2013 • Leave a Comment

Life is full of choices.  Some are more important than others.  Choosing to eat the right food is important.  Choosing between which shirt to wear not so.  The decision taken by parliament last week not to support military action is Syria was life changing for many – especially those not making the decision.

There are, day by day, choices to be made; decisions to be taken.

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

15 Today I am giving you a choice. You can choose life and success or death and disaster. 16-18 I am commanding you to be loyal to the Lord, to live the way he has told you, and to obey his laws and teachings. You are about to cross the Jordan River and take the land that he is giving you. If you obey him, you will live and become successful and powerful.

On the other hand, you might choose to disobey the Lord and reject him. So I’m warning you that if you bow down and worship other gods, you won’t have long to live.

19 Right now I call the sky and the earth to be witnesses that I am offering you this choice. Will you choose for the Lord to make you prosperous and give you a long life? Or will he put you under a curse and kill you? Choose life! 20 Be completely faithful to the Lord your God, love him, and do whatever he tells you. The Lord is the only one who can give life, and he will let you live a long time in the land that he promised to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Faith is not something we fall into.  It is not something we inherit.  It is not something that automatically happens. It is something we make a choice about – a deliberate decision.

I love that God gives us a choice.  We are not coerced into trusting him.  He doesn’t make us follow him.  Belief is not compulsory – it is a conviction we can choose or leave.  Rejecting God was, and is, a possibility.  Which makes choosing him something far more precious.

Neither is it a choice once for all.  Following God, or not, is an ongoing choice, moment by moment – to respond to him or not, to follow him or not, to choose his ways or not…

We are implored to choose life, to be faithful to God, to love him, and do what he asks; but the opposite is always possible.  The choice is ours.

Today, what is your choice and my choice?

To choose God’s ways, or to turn from them?

Thank you Lord,
that you give me a choice
it is up to me.
you do not compel me to follow you,
but invite me to go your way.

Forgive me Lord,
the times I make the wrong choices,
when going the other way
seems more exciting or interesting,
when I get distracted.

Help me to see the truth
of life your way
being the best way,
the true way,
the path to life.

Today
and everyday
help me to choose life,
to choose you,
to love you,
to live your ways.

Posted in bible, faith, God, Lectionary, life, Religion, theology
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Be Our Guest

•August 29, 2013 • 2 Comments

By User:Mattes (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Usually when you are invited to a wedding reception, there is a seating plan.  You may spend some time before the ceremony wondering, or worrying, who you may be sitting with,  but getting to know new people is all part of the experience.  But imagine if you sat in the wrong place.  If you wrongly assumed your place in the pecking order…

Luke 14:1, 7-14 (CEV)

14 One Sabbath, Jesus was having dinner in the home of an important Pharisee, and everyone was carefully watching Jesus.

How To Be a Guest

7 Jesus saw how the guests had tried to take the best seats. So he told them:

8 When you are invited to a wedding feast, don’t sit in the best place. Someone more important may have been invited. 9 Then the one who invited you will come and say, “Give your place to this other guest!” You will be embarrassed and will have to sit in the worst place.

10 When you are invited to be a guest, go and sit in the worst place. Then the one who invited you may come and say, “My friend, take a better seat!” You will then be honored in front of all the other guests. 11 If you put yourself above others, you will be put down. But if you humble yourself, you will be honoured.

12 Then Jesus said to the man who had invited him:

When you give a dinner or a banquet, don’t invite your friends and family and relatives and rich neighbours. If you do, they will invite you in return, and you will be paid back. 13 When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. 14 They cannot pay you back. But God will bless you and reward you when his people rise from death.

It was inevitable that this was going to be the gospel reading for this week.  This is what the other passages have been building up to.  We’re back to pride again.  Not necessarily assuming that you’re better than you are, but the danger of assuming that you’re better than some others there.

But Jesus also takes this one step further.  He challenges on the people we would invite.

Do we mix with those who are good to be seen with, of some value to us in terms of moving up the ladder, or into a different circle?  Do we invite those who will invite us back?

Jesus challenges us to think.  Who would get most help sharing our meal with us?  Dare we ask those who really need a meal?  Those who have no kitchen to cook anything for themselves?  Those who have no food in their cupboards?  Those who cannot fend for themselves?  Those who apparently have little to offer us – but bring such wealth in other ways?

Is Jesus challenging me on the kind of people I mix with?  The kind of people I am willing to help?  Whether I help only those who can help me in return?  Do I stick with my nice safe Christian friends?  Only ever talk to those who would agree with me, rather than challenge me?

Who does God invite?  Who do I look over?

Who are we inviting to share God’s feast with us?

Who is he asking us to invite?

Posted in bible, God, Jesus, Lectionary, Religion, theology
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Please God

•August 28, 2013 • 4 Comments

How do we please God?  I think that is what they call a “big question”, a fundamental.

We please God by living his ways, acting as he would, doing as he requires of us.

Hands of Love By Nina Matthews from Sydney , Australia (LOVE) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons

But that is all a bit abstract, this passage gives us some very practical pointers – ways in which we can be God’s hands of love.

Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16

Service That Pleases God

13 Keep being concerned about each other as the Lord’s followers should.

2 Be sure to welcome strangers into your home. By doing this, some people have welcomed angels as guests, without even knowing it.

3 Remember the Lord’s people who are in jail and be concerned for them. Don’t forget those who are suffering, but imagine that you are there with them.

4 Have respect for marriage. Always be faithful to your partner, because God will punish anyone who is immoral or unfaithful in marriage.

5 Don’t fall in love with money. Be satisfied with what you have. The Lord has promised that he will not leave us or desert us. 6 That should make you feel like saying,

“The Lord helps me!
Why should I be afraid
    of what people
    can do to me?”

7 Don’t forget about your leaders who taught you God’s message. Remember what kind of lives they lived and try to have faith like theirs.

8 Jesus Christ never changes! He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

15 Our sacrifice is to keep offering praise to God in the name of Jesus. 16 But don’t forget to help others and to share your possessions with them. This too is like offering a sacrifice that pleases God.

This is the opposite of pride.  Not worrying always about ourselves, our status, our needs – but being concerned about each other.

Of course I care about others.  Don’t I?

We are called to live out Gods ways by welcoming strangers; remember the suffering; have respect for our spouses if we have one; not love money, but be satisfied with what we have; remember our leaders.  All very practical ways of showing our love and care, ways of honouring the other people in our lives – and also honouring and pleasing God.

Worshipping God is not just about singing hymns, praying and reading the bible… Worshipping him involves caring for those around us and sharing what we have.  It’s a simple message, but one that sometimes gets lost.

We are called to think about others as we think about God.  People that we already know in our lives, and those we don’t know yet.

What is God asking me to do?

Lord,
thank you
for all you give to me.
thank you for all the people in my life.
Help me to notice them,
to love them,
to care for them,
to share what I have,
to offer love and support;
to honour you
by honouring them

Posted in bible, faith, God, Lectionary, life, love, Religion, theology
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