Too easy?

•February 6, 2012 • Leave a Comment

We can get caught up in the idea of grandiose gestures. That for something to be meaningful it has to be big and loud.

Naaman got himself caught up in that kind of understanding of God – that if God was going to do anything it would be big and profound, something showy would happen. Naaman believed that god, through Elisha, could heal him, but he expected it to be spectacular, not mundane.  But sometimes it’s the smallest gestures that are the most meaningful.

Elisha told him to go and wash seven times in the Jordan and he would be healed, but Naaman feels somewhat cheated by that.

I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy. (v11)

His servant girl set him straight and points out that if Elisha has wanted him to do something difficult he’d have done it in a flash, so why not something so simple – God can work in many ways.

How about us?

Are we looking for God only in the huge acts, or seeking the “big experience”? Sometimes he does that, but often he is to be found in the simple and ordinary. We can miss so much if we have our hearts and minds set only on spectacular.

Forgive me lord
if I try to dictate how you work;
if I miss what you are doing every day
because I am looking for the spectacular.
Thank you that all your work is special
– help me to see it.

Posted in God, Lectionary
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Get Out!

•February 1, 2012 • 2 Comments

Jesus started off in the Synagogue – the obvious place for someone who had come to show God to people.
Yet in the synagogue he had received so much grief –

you can’t do that,

we don’t do things that way here,

who do you think you are to do that?

Jesus left the synagogue, and his work continued.

Jan Brueghel

Jesus went to Simon and Andrew’s home – out into the community.  Away from the petty disagreements and rules and people flocked to him.  He brought wholeness and hope to the suffering and struggling.  He was accessible and welcoming.  And God worked.

Later, he realised the need to go out to the other villages, not to be stuck in one place, but to get out to where people were.   He preached in synagogues, but he didn’t demand that from people – he met their need where they were.  Sometimes he worked within the church of the day, sometimes he stepped outside to work.

Jesus didn’t confine his work to the places where God supposedly was – safely inside the synagogues.  He, and God, worked everywhere – places where people needed him wherever that was.

We too are called to take God everywhere.  He is not just for inside churches, for “religious” occasions – he is for everyone, everywhere.

  • Do we stop people doing Gods work by questioning them, and making them feel uncomfortable?
  • Do we try to keep God and his work inside the churches?
  • Do we take risks and step outside?
  • Do we need to get out of the church more to where people are living there lives?

Let’s take God with us wherever we go, and let him work wherever he needs to.

Thank you God

that you are not confined by places,

that you meet people where they are

and how they need.

May I remember

that you go with me everywhere,

and allow you to work.

Posted in God, Jesus, Lectionary
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Am I Your Servant?

•January 31, 2012 • Leave a Comment

Two Servants, George Hendrik Breitner

You walk in here, throw your stuff down, and expect me to wait on you – who do you think I am, your servant?

You turn up here, we’ve not seen you for ages, and you expect everything to be how you like it – who do you think I am, your servant?

You want me to do that?  That’s not my way. What do you think I am, your servant?

Though I am free and belong to no one, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible (1 Corinthians 9:19)

I like my way of doing things. I am comfortable with it, I have tried and tested it and it works for me. But however much I like my ways, sometimes you have to do it another way, for the sake of others. We should not cling so tightly to what we want and think that we miss what others need.

Paul has very much worked his way of living and his theology out – he had to, it was such a radical turnaround from where he was before.  But he recognises that sometimes he has to bend that.  He has to meet others where they are so that they can understand what he is saying to them, and see God where they are.  He is not too proud to do what he needs to, to lay aside things that are dear to him, that others may discover God.  His sole goal is that others find God and are able to share in all he brings.

I don’t know about you, but that challenges me:

  • Do we cling to some things too tightly? Seeing them as more important than people discovering God?
  • Where might I need to bend to help others?
  • Are we allowing others to find God in their place, rather than simply imposing ours?
  • There are things we will always prefer, but what are the absolute fundamentals?
  • What is God asking me to do, to help others discover him?

Lord

I thank you that you meet people where they are;

that there are so many ways for people to encounter you.

May I never stand in anybody’s way of discovery;

hold too tightly to the things I treasure

and the way I like things;

or try to impose my ways

instead of your ways

Posted in God, Lectionary
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