Thoughts speak as loud as actions

•February 9, 2011 • Leave a Comment

I suppose there are all kinds of things that go off in our heads that we would never act on.  Dreams that we pursue, things we wish for, and feelings that we would never express – some good, some bad.

But Jesus reminds us that if those thoughts are wrong, it is no better to just think them.  Thinking them is as bad as doing.  Our faith is as much about what we think as what we do.

What harm can it be to think something?  It’s not hurting anyone.  Well it does.  It hurts us.  It messes with our lives and our relationships.  And it comes between us and God.  There will always be people who press our buttons, but how we respond is more likely to effect us than them.

And so Jesus wants us to do something about it.

I love the whole picture of getting to church with your offering, remembering someone you’re arguing with, so putting your offering down whilst you go away and sort it out.  I can imagine if we did this, there might be quite a pile of offerings in church waiting for people to come back. But what smiles and lightening of hearts there would be as people came back having sorted things and presented their offerings to God.

It is only in sorting out our arguments that we can truly come to God in offering.  We are bringing ourselves, not held back by all those things we’re thinking.  We should be thinking about God, and focussing on him.

Paul admonished the Corinthians for squabbling and told them to get on with it.  Jesus here wants people to leave those things behind, they just get in the way, and to come to God unburdened and at peace with the world.

Can we do that?  Can we sort through our feelings?  If the action would be wrong, then thinking about it probably is too. It’s not easy, but it will be worth while.  Can we put those thoughts down, sort out our differences, and get on with being and doing what God asks of us?

 

In the immortal words of Noel Gallagher

“Don’t look back in anger”

Sort it!

Lord

we come to you.

There are things in our minds and hearts

that should not be there.

Release us from them.

Help us to sort out our relationships

and offer ourselves to you;

not burdened by unnecessary and unhelpful baggage,

but clear and free

working together for you.

Posted in forgiveness, Lectionary
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Get on with it!

•February 9, 2011 • 1 Comment

There are many stages in the process of getting something from its raw state to something of use.

If we think of biscuits (something I often do!!), there are the farmers, who plant the crops, to grow wheat, sugar and cocoa; the people who harvest those crops; those who process the raw materials; those who dream up the recipes; the people who mix it together; the bakers; the packers; the fork lift truck drivers; the delivery people; the warehouse staff; the shelf stackers; the check out staff – which one of them is more important?

No one person or stage is any more important, they are all a part of the process, and all need to play their role.

Having made a choice to go God’s way rather than our own way, we have to get on with it.

The choices we make should be visible in our lives – and not just by us talking about them.

Paul gets very frustrated with the Corinthian church.

They claim to have chosen God’s ways, yet are behaving in a very childish way.  They are more concerned about whose “gang” they are in, than they are about God who is behind it all.    It matters not whether the people came to faith through Paul or Apollos – it is the God in whom that faith is in that is important.  Paul and Apollos might have planted the seeds, but it is the plants that are growing that matter.

Each one does the work God gives them to do.  It doesn’t matter what part of the work it is.

Petty squabbles have a habit of taking us away from the real purpose.  We can focus on the nitty-gritty, not on the reason for what’s being done.

Unfortunately, in the church petty squabbles and jealousies take us away from doing what God asks of us.  We’re focusing on ourselves, and not on him.  We are partners together working in God’s field, whichever bit of it he has asked us to do – let’s just get on with it.

 

Thank you God

that you invite us to take any part in your work.

Help us not to be looking over our shoulder

at what others are doing,

but doing what you’ve asked us to do

with care.

Thank you that it is all your work.

Help us to play the part you ask of us

and get on with it!

In your name.

 

Posted in calling, God
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Making a choice

•February 8, 2011 • Leave a Comment

Mr Pamsperambulation and I have been choosing our holidays.  Now this is notoriously a tricky business, involving exploring all the possible options and reading many reviews and much procrastination.  There is so much choice out there.

Yet how much does it really matter?  Yes it’s nice to have a lovely holiday, but at the end of the day, it’s for just a few days out of our lives.  If it should turn out to be horrendous (and  we’ve only ever been to 2 places that we wished we hadn’t been to in 26 years and many holidays, so that’s not bad going), we can always come home, find somewhere else, or put up with it.  It is not a choice that seriously effects our lives.

In this reading, Moses reminds the people that they have a serious choice to make:

between good and evil; between life and death; between God’s ways and going the other way.

A serious choice that needs to be made.

The way they chose to go was going to effect the life of the Israelites.  They had come to a crunch point in their journey.  They were about to cross the River Jordan and begin a new life.  What was the basis for that life going to be?

What about us?  Are we going to live our life in God’s ways?  To love him, do what he asks of us – or not.  The choice is ours.

Lord you give us a choice.

A stark choice I suppose.

Not about something frivolous,

but about the most important thing in our lives.

Are we going to go your way?

Or another way?

The choice is ours,

you aren’t going to force us.

So what will it be

for me, today?

Posted in God
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