Today, you can see my latest digidisciple post over on BigBible. It tells you a bit of my story of God’s calling and journey.
I’m Here
•January 23, 2013 • 3 CommentsI don’t know if you’ve ever been to a book reading. A book, read by its author, with the understanding and emphases that they intended for it, can be quite different to how we read it ourselves. It can have a whole new meaning and impression.
Luke 4:14-21
Jesus Begins His Work
14 Jesus returned to Galilee with the power of the Spirit. News about him spread everywhere. 15 He taught in the Jewish meeting places, and everyone praised him.
The People of Nazareth Turn against Jesus
16 Jesus went back to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and as usual he went to the meeting place on the Sabbath. When he stood up to read from the Scriptures, 17 he was given the book of Isaiah the prophet. He opened it and read,
18 “The Lord’s Spirit
has come to me,
because he has chosen me
to tell the good news
to the poor.
The Lord has sent me
to announce freedom
for prisoners,
to give sight to the blind,
to free everyone
who suffers,
19 and to say, ‘This is the year
the Lord has chosen.’”
20 Jesus closed the book, then handed it back to the man in charge and sat down. Everyone in the meeting place looked straight at Jesus.
21 Then Jesus said to them, “What you have just heard me read has come true today.”
You’ve got to love this passage – Jesus begins his work, and within one verse, the people of Nazareth turn against him. That is some going, quite a response! In Galilee they praised him, but when he “came home” to Nazareth, they’re not so keen on what he has to say. But more about that next week…
For now, let’s look at what it is Jesus says.
Jesus is given the prophecy from Isaiah to read. He reads it, and then says to them quite plainly,
What you have just heard me read has come true today
Wow! Quite a claim. Jesus is pulling no punches. Right from the start of the ministry, he tells them that he is the one who has come to fulfil what God promised. He is here – to do God’s thing. He has come to bring good news to the poor; to announce freedom for those who are imprisoned; to give sight to the blind; and to free the suffering. And here, now, this is the year the Lord has chosen.
This is what Jesus has come to do. Are they ready. Are they going to welcome him, receive him and all he has to bring?
Jesus comes today to us. He’s still saying the same thing. Still offering the same deal, fulfilling the same promises. What is our response?
Lord,
in my life,
in this place,may I allow you
to still do your thing:
to tell the good news
to the poor’
to announce freedom
for prisoners,
to give sight to the blind,
to free everyone
who suffers,
and to say,
‘This is the year
the Lord has chosen’
In me
and through me,
in your name
Body Parts
•January 22, 2013 • Leave a Comment
Last week I had three separate appointments at the hospital. Each part of me needing a different consultant with a different speciality – and they’re just the ones I’ve seen this week! A reminder if any was needed of how our body is made up of different parts. Except, none of those consultants was working in isolation, they each have to consider the whole of me and how all these symptoms work together. And the fact that my notes have gone missing was not really helping any of them!
One Body with Many Parts
12 The body of Christ has many different parts, just as any other body does. 13 Some of us are Jews, and others are Gentiles. Some of us are slaves, and others are free. But God’s Spirit baptized each of us and made us part of the body of Christ. Now we each drink from that same Spirit.
14 Our bodies don’t have just one part. They have many parts. 15 Suppose a foot says, “I’m not a hand, and so I’m not part of the body.” Wouldn’t the foot still belong to the body? 16 Or suppose an ear says, “I’m not an eye, and so I’m not part of the body.” Wouldn’t the ear still belong to the body? 17 If our bodies were only an eye, we couldn’t hear a thing. And if they were only an ear, we couldn’t smell a thing. 18 But God has put all parts of our body together in the way that he decided is best.
19 A body isn’t really a body, unless there is more than one part. 20 It takes many parts to make a single body. 21 That’s why the eyes cannot say they don’t need the hands. That’s also why the head cannot say it doesn’t need the feet. 22 In fact, we cannot get along without the parts of the body that seem to be the weakest. 23 We take special care to dress up some parts of our bodies. We are modest about our personal parts, 24 but we don’t have to be modest about other parts.
God put our bodies together in such a way that even the parts that seem the least important are valuable. 25 He did this to make all parts of the body work together smoothly, with each part caring about the others. 26 If one part of our body hurts, we hurt all over. If one part of our body is honored, the whole body will be happy.
27 Together you are the body of Christ. Each one of you is part of his body. 28 First, God chose some people to be apostles and prophets and teachers for the church. But he also chose some to work miracles or heal the sick or help others or be leaders or speak different kinds of languages. 29 Not everyone is an apostle. Not everyone is a prophet. Not everyone is a teacher. Not everyone can work miracles. 30 Not everyone can heal the sick. Not everyone can speak different kinds of languages. Not everyone can tell what these languages mean. 31 I want you to desire the best gifts.So I will show you a much better way.
This passage follows on from the one last week, reminding us that we all have different gifts, graces and talents – and to use what we have rather than spend time regretting what we can’t do. The idea is reinforced that we all need one another. We need more than a foot to be a body, more than just a heart, more than just our bones. Together it makes the whole wonderful machine. And when one part hurts, it effects the functioning of the rest.
This is the image we are given of God’s community on earth. No part is insignificant, or not needed. Each and every person, and the gifts they bring, goes towards making the body as a whole function. We have no right to make anyone feel they are useless, or can be managed without. Conversely it is our responsibility to ensure that when one part is hurting, we all do what we can to care for them and bring wholeness.
It was said in a village we once lived, “Kick one and they all limp”, they were such a close-knit community. The church too should be like that. We should feel each others pain; we should function and work together.
I need you and the insights you bring from your experience. They make me think and learn. They widen the experience I have had and can have by myself. Together we can bounce off each other and rub each others sharp corners. We are put in community for a reason.
In the words of Ishmael:
We are one, we are family together,
‘Cause we’ve one Father caring for us all,
We are one, we are related to each other,
Lord help me to love my family much more.
We should all rejoice in one another and the parts, different and individual, we can all play together, to make up the wonderful variance of God’s people.
Lord,
help me
to care for my Christian family,
to live,
learn,
love
and care
for and with one another
Pam's Perambulation 