Clear instructions

•March 9, 2011 • 1 Comment

A Lenten Journey

For Lent, I’m going to follow the Lectionary readings for both Principle and Second services – and see where we get to:

Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7

Genesis 2:15The LORD God put the man in the Garden of Eden to take care of it and to look after it. 16But the LORD told him, “You may eat fruit from any tree in the garden, 17except the one that has the power to let you know the difference between right and wrong. If you eat any fruit from that tree, you will die before the day is over!”

Genesis 3:1The snake was sneakier than any of the other wild animals that the LORD God had made. One day it came to the woman and asked, “Did God tell you not to eat fruit from any tree in the garden?”2The woman answered, “God said we could eat fruit from any tree in the garden, 3except the one in the middle. He told us not to eat fruit from that tree or even to touch it. If we do, we will die.”

4“No, you won’t!” the snake replied. 5“God understands what will happen on the day you eat fruit from that tree. You will see what you have done, and you will know the difference between right and wrong, just as God does.”

6The woman stared at the fruit. It looked beautiful and tasty. She wanted the wisdom that it would give her, and she ate some of the fruit. Her husband was there with her, so she gave some to him, and he ate it too. 7Right away they saw what they had done, and they realized they were naked. Then they sewed fig leaves together to make something to cover themselves.

God is quite clear.  There is just one thing man and woman cannot do.  Can they manage it?

Well, it all looked so good.  God wouldn’t know.  Who says it’s no good for us?  How much harm can it do?

 

And so begins the story of Easter.  The beginning of how God needs to make right what human being have got wrong.

At the start of Lent, lets take some time to pause, to think, to recall.

What have we got wrong?

What do we need God to put right in our lives?

We’re on a forty day journey of exploration.  Of allowing God to reach us, to touch us, clean us, make us grow.  Are you coming with him?

 

Lord

you gave clear instructions.

But we thought we knew better.

Sometimes we long for the things we should not have.

We come to you in honesty

and acknowledgement

of when we’ve got it wrong.

This Lent

may we face where we are

and turn to you.

Lead us,

teach us,

strengthen us,

forgive us,

and may the promise of Easter be ours.

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Laying down the Law

•March 2, 2011 • Leave a Comment

We are all taught as children that fire is dangerous.  It can cause much damage, destroy property, put lives at risk.  Anyone who has ever suffered even a small burn knows how painful it is, never mind the sights when bush fires ravish land so quickly.

Yet fire also has more positive uses:

Fire gets rid of rubbish

Fire sterilizes

It gives heat

It provides light

Fire changes things.  It causes a chemical reaction.

God invites Moses to come and meet with him, and to the Israelites the glory of God on the mountain looks like an all-consuming fire.  Moses goes into the presence of God, and he will be changed.

Of course this is not Moses first encounter with God and fire.  God had met him before in The Burning Bush.  God is running on a theme.

This time, Moses goes up to meet God to be given the tablets of stone that will have the law and commandments God has given for the people’s’ instruction.  These are not God’s whims, but the understanding of the one who made the world, of how it would best function.

They are there to change the nation:

  • To get rid of rubbish, if followed, only good will be left.  There is nothing like a bonfire to get rid of garden waste; setting fire is one secure way to get rid of any confidential papers, there is nothing left but ash.
  • To sterilise.  I remember needles being passed through flames to make them sterile for poking out splinters or the like (never to be advised!)  The heat removed the germs that couldn’t even be seen.
  • To give heat – who can resist a roaring fire?  And with the right chimney it warms the whole building.
  • To give light.  A fire will give light in a dark space, and as beacons have been used over the centuries to communicate.

God’s laws will do all of these in the world.  If followed there need be nothing that is wrong left, and strength will be renewed, and the whole world will have what it needs to get on.

Going into the fire to meet with God – it’s dangerous and life-enhancing.  Will we take the risk?  Will we let him get rid of the things that need to go, clean our lives from the bad things we may not even be able to see, warm us and give us light?

God invites us to come, to hear his words, to be changed.

Lord

as we gaze on the fire

and think of the flame,

we remember your calling

to us to come

to hear

and to receive.

May we let you change us

and transform us

as fire transforms.

May we know purification

and warmth

from you.

Posted in God, Lectionary
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Shhh…

•March 1, 2011 • 1 Comment

We live in a world of noise and bustle.  With 24 hour tv and radio, we need never be in silence.  With Twitter and Facebook, we can be told day and night what people are up to – whether we want to know or not.

Noise, noise, noise.

Yet so often our lives are so noisy, we miss the things we need to hear; we live so much on information overload that we miss the information we needed.  Sometimes we need to take a step back, and listen for what we really need to hear

This weeks lectionary readings point us to taking time out.

Moses is called by God to come up the mountain and spend some time with him.  To leave the community he was leading to take time and opportunity to hear what it was God needed to say to them all.  God is going to give him the laws his people needed.  Moses needed to spend time with God alone to receive them.

The gospel story is really amusing.  Jesus invites Peter, James and John to come with him, to go up the mountain where they can be alone together.  As they spend time together Jesus visibly changes, and two other figures appear – Moses and Elijah.

How awesome it must have been to be there in that presence – and Peter starts talking about building shelters.  What a ridiculous thing to do and say!  We all know those moments when someone feels they need to fill the silence.  But Peter has missed the point.  Nothing needs to be done.  There are no words to be said.  This is to be experienced.  And God has something to say.

When Peter does finally stop talking nonsense a cloud appears, envelopes them, and the voice of God gives this instruction to Peter, James, and John: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to Him!” That’s it. Very short. To the point.

God offers a special glimpse of who Jesus is and what he is about, and Peter is in danger of missing it, because he feels the need to say something.

Some times we just need to shut up!  We need not say anything, but gaze in awe and wonder at what God is, who Jesus is, and all that he offers to us.

Or there can be the wrong kind of quiet – the pain of isolation and loneliness.  God speaks into those moments too, and fills them with his presence.

 

As we come to the beginning of Lent it perhaps offers us that challenge – take take time in God’s presence.  We may feel guilty if we aren’t being busy, or doing the things we think we should be doing.  But we all need to take the time and make the effort to hear God.  There is a ministry in being still before God – for ourselves and others – to reflect the glory of God into a world too busy to stop or too disinterested to look for themselves.  We each of us need to take time, to stop, and to listen to God – or we may miss something he is trying to tell us.

 

So, as Jesus invites us into his presence, as God day by day reveals his glory to us – lets pause and gaze in awe and wonder.  Stopping to listen.

Lord,

I come to you,

rest in your presence

and wait.

As I take the time

to pause with you

may I hear clearly

what you have to say,

and be renewed.

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