Telling It As It Is

•August 6, 2012 • Leave a Comment
It is said, that we Yorkshire folk “call a spade a shovel”.  That is, we go straight to the heart of a situation and tell it as it is.
The writer to the Ephesians does a good job of doing that in this passage, and with it challenges us to do the same:

Ephesians 4:25-5:2

Rules for the New Life

25 We are part of the same body. Stop lying and start telling each other the truth. 26 Don’t get so angry that you sin. Don’t go to bed angry 27 and don’t give the devil a chance.

28 If you are a thief, quit stealing. Be honest and work hard, so you will have something to give to people in need.

29 Stop all your dirty talk. Say the right thing at the right time and help others by what you say.

30 Don’t make God’s Spirit sad. The Spirit makes you sure that someday you will be free from your sins.

31 Stop being bitter and angry and mad at others. Don’t yell at one another or curse each other or ever be rude. 32 Instead, be kind and merciful, and forgive others, just as God forgave you because of Christ.

5 Do as God does. After all, you are his dear children. 2 Let love be your guide. Christ loved usand offered his life for us as a sacrifice that pleases God.

We are all one people, and it is about time we started acting like it.  We’re to stop lying, stop trying to smooth everything over, and start living with the truth of matters.

Telling one another the truth is not an opportunity to have your say, or to ‘jolly well tell Mrs X exactly what you think of her’. It is a call to right and proper challenge.  It’s not about getting angry, it’s quite the opposite – it’s about doing the right thing and living God’s way – and helping others to do the same.

Don’t give the devil a chance

– I love that.  However you perceive “the devil”, the gist of it is don’t give hate/injustice/greed/malice or any other unhealthy and unhelpful feelings or actions a shoe in.  Make no room for it.

Though it may be disputed as to who said it, it remains true that often,

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing

To see something wrong and do nothing about it allows it to continue.  The whole point of this passage is to stop people being angry at each other, and to be kind and merciful and forgive.

Challenging others is a hard path.  How to do it without causing upset, or it becoming an argument.

  • Is there a place for challenging the behaviour of others – without becoming angry?
  • How can we say the right thing at the right time?
  • Do we help others by what we say?  Or just feel better for getting it off our chest?
  • Does “telling the truth” make us feel superior? – very dangerous!
  • How can we forgive, when we can see someone doing something wrong?
  • Is there someone or something that makes you SO angry?  What can you do about it to make the situation better?  In love and grace?

And of course in challenging others, we first have to reflect on our own lives…

  • what do we do that makes others angry? That makes God sad?
  • and what are we going to do about it?

And all of this is in the context of love – God’s love for us all.  We are all his dear children, and like any parent he wants us to behave well and get along together – but he still loves us.  That love is the basis and foundation for all our relationships.

Makes you think doesn’t it?!

What do you think?

Lord,

sometimes I get so angry.

I see things happening

that I don’t want to happen,

that I don’t think should be happening,

and I get cross.

Lord,

help my anger to be the right kind,

an anger that doesn’t boil over and cause harm,

but makes me do something to help.

And

I acknowledge also,

the things I do that make others angry,

and make you sad,

the things that they can see wrong in me.

Thank you Lord,

for your love,

your mercy,

and your forgiveness.

Posted in bible, forgiveness, God, Lectionary, love, Religion
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Soul Food

•August 1, 2012 • 1 Comment

Recently I have been on a search.  There was a product I’d used that I loved, and run out of.  Except now I can’t find it in any of the stores I’ve bought it in before.  I have been round them all in turn over recent weeks, and I cannot track it down – yet it is something I really want.

How we search for something we want and need.

John 6:24-35

24 They saw that Jesus and his disciples had left. Then they got into the boats and went to Capernaum to look for Jesus. 25 They found him on the west side of the lake and asked, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

26 Jesus answered, “I tell you for certain that you are not looking for me because you saw the miracles, but because you ate all the food you wanted. 27 Don’t work for food that spoils. Work for food that gives eternal life. The Son of Man will give you this food, because God the Father has given him the right to do so.”

28 “What exactly does God want us to do?” the people asked.

29 Jesus answered, “God wants you to have faith in the one he sent.”

30 They replied, “What miracle will you work, so that we can have faith in you? What will you do? 31 For example, when our ancestors were in the desert, they were given manna to eat. It happened just as the Scriptures say, ‘God gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

32 Jesus then told them, “I tell you for certain that Moses wasn’t the one who gave you bread from heaven. My Father is the one who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 And the bread that God gives is the one who came down from heaven to give life to the world.”

34 The people said, “Lord, give us this bread and don’t ever stop!”

35 Jesus replied:

I am the bread that gives life! No one who comes to me will ever be hungry. No one who has faith in me will ever be thirsty.

The people are searching for Jesus again.  It’s like they can’t let him out of their sight in case he disappears.  I guess they seen what he offers, and they like it and want it.

But Jesus questions them on whether they are looking for the right thing or the right reasons.

Are they looking for a miracle worker, someone who does great wonders?  Someone who will make their life easier by providing what they need?

Or are they looking for the different way of life that Jesus offers?  The way of living God’s ways?

Jesus suspects it is the former.  But he tells them, they should not be looking to what he does, but the God who enables him – the one who sends the food to truly fulfil their needs.

Jesus offers, not bread for today, but food for life.  Food not just for the stomach, but for the soul and for eternity.

Today, are you looking for Jesus?

Are you looking for a new way to live and to be?

Are you looking for something to fill your soul and your life?

Because that is what Jesus offers – will you take it from him, let him feed you up and equip you?

Lord,

I thank you for all that you give to me.

Thank you that you feed me,

not with food that will make me hungry again in a few hours,

but with food to fill the depths of my soul,

food that will quench the deep inner longings and yearnings.

Today,

I come

and take and eat

Posted in bible, God, Jesus, Lectionary, Religion
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Going Along Together

•July 31, 2012 • Leave a Comment

Whenever you set of on a journey, you end up travelling with people who are going the same way.  Be that on public transport or travelling down the road in the apparently private bubble of your car, your journey is affected by others on the same route.  You cannot choose your travelling companions, they are all  just people trying to get to the same place as you.  Some may be commuters, some day-trippers, some on their way to difficult or important appointments, but you’re all going the same way at the same time.

Unity with Christ

4 As a prisoner of the Lord, I beg you to live in a way that is worthy of the people God has chosen to be his own. 2 Always be humble and gentle. Patiently put up with each other and love each other. 3 Try your best to let God’s Spirit keep your hearts united. Do this by living at peace. 4 All of you are part of the same body. There is only one Spirit of God, just as you were given one hope when you were chosen to be God’s people. 5 We have only one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. 6 There is one God who is the Father of all people. Not only is God above all others, but he works by using all of us, and he lives in all of us.

7 Christ has generously divided out his gifts to us. 8 As the Scriptures say,

“When he went up
to the highest place,
he led away many prisoners
and gave gifts to people.”

9 When it says, “he went up,” it means that Christ had been deep in the earth. 10 This also means that the one who went deep into the earth is the same one who went into the highest heaven, so that he would fill the whole universe.

11 Christ chose some of us to be apostles, prophets, missionaries, pastors, and teachers, 12 so that his people would learn to serve and his body would grow strong. 13 This will continue until we are united by our faith and by our understanding of the Son of God. Then we will be mature, just as Christ is, and we will be completely like him.

14 We must stop acting like children. We must not let deceitful people trick us by their false teachings, which are like winds that toss us around from place to place. 15 Love should always make us tell the truth. Then we will grow in every way and be more like Christ, the head 16 of the body. Christ holds it together and makes all of its parts work perfectly, as it grows and becomes strong because of love.

We are all going the same way.  We are all journeying with God to the place he leads us.  Just as on any journey, we cannot choose our travelling companions – they are all just people like us, trying to follow the calling of God.

And so we are called to,

Patiently put up with each other and love each other (v2)

I love that phrasing from the CEV, to patiently put up with each other…

I confess that on a recent holiday flight that left at 6am with lots of tired and fractious people, patience was wearing considerably thin (especially when a child screamed until it was sick before we’d even pushed back from the gate!), and I felt in no mood to put up with some of the people on that flight, but you are stuck in a metal tube together for the duration, so you have to find some way to co-exist.

Oh, if only everyone was perfect like me…

Yet, I do expect people to patiently put up with me and my demands and foibles.

And so the church is encouraged to live in peace.  After all we are one body, one people going the same way.  We all claim God as our Father, therefore we have a basis for common ground – more so than people who have chosen to holiday in one place, or are all trying to get to one city or down one motorway.

Christ has chosen us all, with all our different skills and gifts, and wants us to learn to serve one another, so we grow strong.

That is not all stamping our feet, demanding that our needs are met, or things are done the way we like it – it is working together to make the journey a good one, and helping one another along the way.

If you saw someone struggling with a large bag or a pushchair, would you help them?

If someone needed seats together, and you were alone at a table of four, would you give your seat up?

If someone was struggling to stand and their were no seats left, would you offer them yours?

Does this kind of behaviour carry forward into our life and journey of faith??

The final admonition to the Ephesians is,

Stop behaving like children!

Hmm… Do I have to hold my hands up to that?  In honesty before God?

People who have chosen to follow the way of faith have so much in common, so let’s get on with loving one another.

Forgive me Lord,

when I am impatient,

focussing on my needs,

and not those of others.

Forgive me when I am childish,

and want it all to be about me,

and my feelings.

Help me to love

in your love;

to see the gifts of others,

and let them be used;

grant me

humility

and gentleness,

I pray

 

Posted in bible, God, love, Religion
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