A time to die and a time to live, Romans 6

One of the strongest human needs is that we should belong to someone. Our little Noah is at the stage now where he’s looking around as if to ask, who do I belong to? Who’s my mum? Where’s dad? And if he’s not picked up and held, he cries of insecurity because his basic needs of security and belonging are not being met. In the same way, God desires relationship with us, that we should belong to him, that our security and significance should be found in him. That’s why we are made in the image of God, as it says in Genesis 1.

Human marriage is an earthly reflection, albeit imperfect because of the frailty of human nature, of our covenant relationship with God in eternity. That’s why Jesus used the imagery of marriage, bridegroom, wedding feast, in the stories he told about what the Kingdom of God is like. The intention of earthly marriage is that man and woman belong to each other, just as they each belong to God in relationship. And that is why a relationship with Jesus Christ satisfies the human quest for meaning and a sense of belonging like nothing else can.

Now, the big question is, how? What makes it happen? And this is where this morning’s reading from Romans chapter 6 gives some insights.

Paul writes at length about dying to sin and being raised to a new life, of an old self being let go of in favour of a new self, of being united with Christ in his death so that we can be united with him in his resurrection. What does this mean and where does it take us?

Well, let’s start with a story. One day, a young man full of ambition and desire for self-fulfillment left home with his share of his father’s property. Off he went and lived the good life. After some time it was gone. He was unemployed, homeless, and destitute. Then he came to his senses and realized he was utterly alone in this situation. His longing turned to his father’s house of rest and plenty. So he set off for home. Waiting for him, long before he appeared on the horizon, was his father with welcoming open arms. A new life awaited the young man, no longer lost, homeless, and destitute. Life could begin again.

There are many points to this story, it’s the prodigal son of course, but one of them is that the young man had to turn away from his life of self-living on his own terms before he could return to his father’s house, before he could enjoy the fruits and blessings of where he really belonged. The high life of spending and self-living, in the end, brought him no peace, no security at all, and he didn’t belong to it. It’s a story that Jesus told to highlight the absolute need for those who would be his disciples to turn completely away from their old self-interest and self-living. In fact, they must die to it, as it were, as St Paul puts it.

There is a lot at stake here. The life of Christian discipleship is radical, life-changing and a hard call. How often are we led to believe that Jesus wants to enrich our lives by adding religion to them, some extra spirituality and ethical living perhaps? How often are we led to believe that we can live the Christian life on our own terms? Discipleship would then be an easy matter.

But I ask you, did all the people in the New Testament who came under the power of Jesus Christ look even remotely as if they had merely been enriched by religious experience add-ons? No! They were people for whom the door of their past lives had been slammed shut, and who then saw that they had been set down in a totally new life, different from what they had before. What they had, and what we all experience in Jesus Christ, is no mere extension or addition to our settled and undisturbed lives, but rather a new life before which the old life fades away and is cancelled out.

And so it is when a person comes before the Lord with empty hands, or maybe with a sorrowful heart, or even a sense of being lost and just trying to fit in with everyone else but not really having a true sense of belonging to anyone else. That person stands before Jesus alone. All predispositions, ego traits, and diet of self-living are exposed for what they are in the presence of a holy and loving God. And it takes courage to allow these dark recesses of our former lives to be illuminated by the bright light of the Son of God. Jesus waits, calls, and invites us to come. Taste and see that the Lord is good, that the Lord is slow to anger and full of compassion, that he is like a father waiting for his wayward children to return.

Now, someone is bound to put their hand up and challenge these points about dying to self, setting aside the old life so that the new can come. Does that mean we have to somehow deconstruct our familiar old selves, or to despise how God has made us? Is it not also written that we should love our neighbours as we love ourselves? How might this square up?

Well, yes, we should love ourselves as God intended us to be, so that we can love our neighbours. And that’s the key point: it is as God intended us to be, as God intended us to belong to him, and not to the unbelieving, unregenerate world that stands in opposition to God through sin, through refusing him, and merely fitting in to its own schemes on its own terms. But when a person belongs, that requires vulnerability and commitment to whom you belong, forsaking all others. And here again the language of marriage is apt. For the person who belongs to Christ, the power of sin is broken; slavery to old ways of self-serving is no more, and that person is free to be who they are as God intended them to be.

Perhaps another illustration would help. Young person, let’s call him Greg, gets caught in the drug or alcohol scene. Greg can’t help himself; he lives for it and it rules his life. He becomes a slave to the unredeemed world of drink and drugs. Then one day Greg wakes up under the local railway bridge, cries out that he’s had enough of it, and turns away from an awful life of self-indulgence and self-pity.

In rehab, Greg is offered the opportunity of transformation by the renewing of his mind, body and soul. No longer is he lost and enslaved to his old life. Greg leaves rehab born again, as it were. Life can begin again, and it’s a quality of life far superior to his old one. Greg has a family to belong to, rather than just trying to fit in to the old crowd who never really cared about him anyway.

And so it is with those who turn to Christ and die to their old ways of living for self. Life can begin again, and it’s a quality of life far superior to the old. With God at your side anything is possible. You are free to be who the good Lord above intended you to be. And by the power of the Holy Spirit, you will be transformed into one who loves God, neighbour, and yourself.

So, the invitation this morning, for those who may be visitors listening in, is to come, taste and see that the Lord is indeed good, and be willing to allow his light to shine in the shadows of your life so that they too can be transformed into his likeness. Listen to these words from psalm 94: The righteous will flourish like a palm tree planted in the house of the Lord. They will flourish in the courts of our God. They will bear fruit in old age. They will stay fresh and green, proclaiming the Lord is upright; he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him. There is indeed a time to die and a time to live.

For us who are Christian believers, dying to self, dying to sin, and living for Christ is a command. We must put aside whatever comes between us and our relationship with God, forsaking all others, and we have to do it daily. Why? Because our enemy prowls around looking for a way to drag us back into a life of self-serving, wallowing in the world. And it is all too easy. He will turn the screws, as it were, a little bit at a time, and then a little bit at a time. At first not noticeable, but then one day we realize what’s been happening, and we cry out, save me Lord. And that’s why we Christian believers need to spend daily time with God in prayer, confession and vigilance.

There is indeed a time to die and a time to live. Life can begin again.

Philip Starks
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Hallmarks of a good shepherd. 1 Peter 5

What might we say on the matter of church leadership, its style and qualities? 

What does the Apostle Peter in chapter five of his first letter to the Christians in Rome say about it? He says church leaders should be like shepherds in their leadership. It was not a style readily recognised by Roman society of the day, which saw leadership as enforced power politic by the elite classes of society. And neither is it a style readily recognised in our own day, with much of its emphasis on leadership as being out in front, career driven, competition, and little time for those who don’t perform. So where is Peter coming from in his understanding of leadership as a shepherd? 

Recall what happened between Peter and Jesus on the night Jesus was betrayed. Peter denied knowing the Lord three times, not because he was competing with Jesus for followers, or out of a sense of egotistical promotion of self, but out of fear. Fear that the authorities were rounding up Jesus’ followers and he would be next on a cross. And his fearful denial led to shame and sorrow. We are told he wept bitterly. 

Now recall the exchange that took place between Peter and Jesus during one of Jesus’s post-resurrection appearances. He asked Peter, do you love me? Three times, do you love me. And three times Peter said yes. Now at that point, Jesus could have said something like, then why did you deny me three times? Told Peter off. Condemned him even. But he didn’t. Peter was re-commissioned: feed by sheep. It’s clear that Jesus brings forth the principle that perfect love drives out fear, and that there is no condemnation for those who remain in Christ, that all mysterious “in Christ” that Paul so often uses to express the deep personal relationship that binds the believer with Christ. 

So Peter’s understanding of Christian leadership is coming from his own experience of Christ being the good shepherd towards him. As his Lord forgave, loved, served, and washed his feet as his master, so Peter in turn exhorts his readers in Rome, and by extension us, to follow the same principle and example. It’s not a style recognised by the social structures of today. A leader being a servant, washing feet, forgiving the fearful when they fail? Try putting that in your resume next time you apply for a leadership role in business. But that’s what a Christian leader is called to do. Perhaps we could encapsulate the heart of a church leader to have its genesis in these words from Psalm 130: Out of the depths I cry to you, Lord. Lord, hear my voice. 

Now it occurs to me that these words reveal two insights about being a good shepherd. The first is, Lord hear my voice. 

Our chief shepherd said, my sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. So if ministers of our master’s church are not training the people under their care to recognise their master’s voice, then I would ask why not? Are they the good shepherds that Peter, in his letter, is commanding them to be? How do you recognise the master’s voice? How are you being trained and encouraged to recognise it? 

Jesus Christ is mankind’s greatest need. John’s gospel is replete with Jesus’ sayings to effect that only he can answer our greatest need: verses like, I am the bread of life; he who believes in me will never be thirsty. None of the founders of religious movements said this. They all said, do this, do that, follow such and such a method. But none of them said, you want eternal life? Then you come to me and I will give it to you. Peter recognised that Jesus meets mankind’s greatest need when he said, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God. 

The second insight of being a good shepherd is, out of the depths I cry to you, Lord. 

Remember Peter’s experience in weeping bitterly after he denied Christ. Out of the depths he cried out. Peter knows what it is to suffer, to mourn, and to be weak. Therefore he has a heart for those who are going through the same bleak journey. That’s the thrust of his first letter to the Christians in Rome. They are under severe persecution because they refused to participate in emperor worship, and that meant they were traitors in the eyes of the authorities. 

Shepherds of the flock let the suffering, the weak, the powerless, and the anxious come to them. Why? Because they heard their master’s voice say, come to me all who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Shepherds of the flock give those who are seeking a connection a space to come. Shepherds of the flock give those seeking a connection words of affirmation and acts of service, two of the five love languages you may have heard about. And it’s out of these that the Christian mission for evangelism and social justice come. 

Evangelism because we have a wonderful story to tell. We are witnesses to what Christ has done for us, and we want people to have what we’ve got. And social justice because Jesus bids all who are heavy laden to come to him. He also taught blessed are those who mourn, blessed are the persecuted, and you know the rest from his sermon on the Mount. 

Christian social justice follows because God cares, and it matters not whether we are Anglican, Catholic, Uniting, Baptist, Lutheran or whatever. We are all one in Christ. We all have a heart for the heavy laden, for those who are sorrowful, for the persecuted. 

But getting back to the second insight of what makes a good shepherd, out of the depths I cry to you, Lord. Good shepherds are called upon to walk with those who cry out. The reasons for suffering are not always known, but one reason is the metamorphosis of our fallen nature into a nature of faith and trust. 

If faith is genuine, it will persevere under trial and it will set itself up for the long haul. Non-genuine faith will look for the path of least resistance to escape. Jewellers know that a genuine diamond placed in water sparkles brilliantly, whereas the sparkle of the imitation is practically extinguished. Likewise, the faith of many people under the water of sorrow or affliction is nothing but an imitation. But when a true child of God is immersed in a trial, he or she will shine as brilliantly as ever.

 Good shepherds must always point the people under their care to the great message of Christian hope, which as the letter to Hebrews points out, we do not have a high priest (that is Christ) who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet is without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. 

So if you can accept trials and go through them until the end, knowing that the end is not despair but a new hope, and not withdraw into self-reliance, then you have learned to say not my will be done, but yours be done. In Christ, brokenness becomes the context for hope, not despair.

 So then, to sum up. At the end of John’s gospel, Jesus asks Peter three times, do you love me? Answer is yes, then feed my sheep. Jesus’ greatest concern is that people be told the truth about himself, and he wants to ensure that his apostles do just that. Peter is remembering Jesus’ words to him as he writes to his fellow elders (church leaders) and commands them to be godly shepherds feeding the Lord’s people. And that means teaching the truth and pointing people to the one who is alive for eternity.

Philip Starks

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The rising of Lazarus. John 11

The Third Calling

I’m reading a book at the moment called The Third Calling. It’s about how you might consider what to do with your retirement years, something I’ll soon have to consider myself. The first calling is school years and youth, the second calling is family and working life. It’s an interesting way of approaching the retirement years and how to discern what to do with them.

Perhaps I could re-think what Third Calling means in terms of relationship with God. Third calling comes later in life, perhaps under a special circumstance, and not necessary in retirement. I think of St Paul’s third calling to be his Damascus Road experience, a very special circumstance indeed when he heard the Lord Jesus calling him to apostleship. In Lazarus’s case, his third calling would be his being raised from death, literally being called from the dead.

The raising of Lazarus from death was a stupendous miracle. Think about it for a moment. He was in his grave for 4 days. Well and truly dead. Decomposition had started to set in. The two sisters lamented that Jesus had apparently missed the opportunity to heal their brother while he was still alive. Mary and Martha both said when they first met up with Jesus after he arrived, Lord if you’d been here our brother would not have died. A quite understandable lament. Jesus was not in the right place at the right time and has missed the opportunity to meet their needs, place and time being the key words.

How often do we expect God to be in the right place at the right time when we need him? And when he’s not there, he’s failed. He’s let us down, or so it seems. Where was God when I needed him during two years of near unemployment? Why wasn’t he in the right place at the right time to help me out? And towards the end of those two years, I really started to dwell on the possibility that God was leaving me on the shelf.

A friend of mine said about those years, has it occurred to you that God may have wanted you to have that time without much work? No, it hadn’t occurred to me. And neither did it occur to me that my occasional temporary agency assignments were preparing me for the long-haul job I’ve got now. When I got to the interview, I was exactly who they were looking for at the right time.

We can’t think beyond time and place. And it’s on this point that Jesus teaches Mary and Martha, and us through John’s recounting of the story.

God is not limited by time and place the way are, and death is not the ultimate end we think it is. So Jesus says to Martha, your brother will rise again, and she says yes that’s right, on the last day of history. But she still hasn’t got it! She, like us, is still thinking in terms of time, place, and history. And Jesus, in his response to that with those immortal words, I am the resurrection and the life, is telling her, stop thinking time and place, think me. You need to keep focused on me, and then you will understand death and life in its proper order.

Times of trial are not the end of the story. Mary and Martha’s loss was overturned when their brother was restored to them from the grave; the disciple’s fear after seeing Jesus crucified and buried was turned into joy and confidence when they saw him risen and alive on the third day afterwards. And even if we don’t see the resolution to trials in this life, we have these words from the book of Revelation that in the new life when our calling at the end of the age happens, there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things will have passed away.

Now this statement by Jesus, I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me will live, even though he dies, is the key point the John wants his readers to get. It is an astonishing and forceful claim. John uses what is called the emphatic I in Greek. I, me, am the resurrection and the life. No one else, and anyone who believes this, to him I have the power and authority to give eternal life. Forget the gurus and philosophers. They can’t give you eternity after your earthly life has finished. But you’ve got to turn to Jesus in belief first, personal trust first in what is unseen. That’s why Jesus said to Mary, if you believe, then you will see the glory of God. What you see in this age is not the be all and end all of human existence. Remember, God works in and beyond space and time.

For unbelievers, physical death is thought of as the end. But not so for those who believe and trust that Jesus Christ is the Son of God to whom all authority in heaven and on earth has been given. For that one, physical death is not the important thing. Death is but a gateway to further life and fellowship with God into eternity, beyond space and time. And you can have that life now. It starts in this life and continues past our earthy remains.

Now, Lazarus was raised to continue his earthly life, and at some point later he would have died (hopefully) of natural causes. But the miracle was a sign, or a demonstration, that pointed those who saw it to a greater and permanent reality: the raising of the faithful departed at the end of the age, and no doubt Lazarus will himself be included in that when all things will be brought to their conclusion.

Note the position of the story in the Gospel, just before the last week of Jesus’ life. Why is that significant? Because John is preparing his readers to encounter the master’s own death and resurrection story, the one that really counts. Lazarus was raised back to a life in time which means he would die again. John is saying, here is a story of a life raised, albeit in time, and if you can grasp that, ok. But there shortly follows a story of a resurrection of much greater significance for you and me, one which we should pay close attention to.

Now John records that Jesus called in a loud voice “Lazarus, come out!” and the dead man came out.

Note particularly the words John uses to describe the manner of Jesus’ calling Lazarus out. English tends to lose the intensity of Jesus’ voice. It’s not, Oi Lazarus listen up, like a warrant officer on the parade ground. No. It is a great, all powerful, gut felt crying out. It is the all-powerful voice of God calling forth the dead. And it is a sign of things to come at the end of history. The same reminder of things to come at the end of time is found in 5:25.

I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. ²⁶ For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. ²⁷ And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.

For those who heard Jesus calling Lazarus with such power and authority, it must have been an incredible experience. There’s no wonder it was remembered, talked about, and written down.

The great and powerful voice of Jesus will be heard on the last day, by both the dead and those who will still be living in their earthly time. Even you, in person, by your name, will be called forth on that day. And when that is heard by those who remained faithful during their lives in time, the bonds of death will be broken for evermore. Just like Christ’s were on his day of resurrection.

Take off the grave clothes and let him go.

Ladies and gentlemen, Jesus said to his disciples at the end of his time on earth, between his rising from death and his ascension back to his Father, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. He has the keys to our eternal lives, and we need to take that very seriously. As the psalmist put it, today, if only you would hear his voice. Do not harden your hearts. And as the voice of the Father himself said during the Son’s transfiguration, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him!

Now let’s return to this idea of the Third Calling.

The third calling may be thought of as being the call of God to his faithful ones, be that in eternity calling forth those have completed their lives on earth, or for us still living in time. It may be the call of God to a deeper fellowship with him in whatever way, shape or form that takes. The book I’m reading advocates a discerning process about how to spend one’s retirement years productively. And that same idea can be taken into the third calling of our earthly Christian lives.

As it is written in the Prophet Isaiah, then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, whom shall I send? And who will go for us? How should we discern what God may have to say to us in our third calling? What form might that take? What has God gifted us with to use for the advancement of his Kingdom? What contribution can each of us make to our parish’s outreach? Here I am, send me.

Whatever it may be, our earthly third calling will prepare us to hear the Lord’s voice on the last day. That great and powerful cry bringing the faithful into eternal life. So make the most of every opportunity while you still have life on earth. Forget what is behind, strain forwards to what is ahead, and press on towards the goal of your third calling.

Philip Starks

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Every jot of the law. Matthew 5

I felt led this week to tackle the gospel reading. It’s not an easy reading, but it’s very relevant to the question of discipleship, which each and every one of us needs to consider as we grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ and reach out to the community around us who don’t know such a relationship.

As the writer of psalm 36 begins, I have a message from God in my heart concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: there is no fear of God before their eyes. In other words, they have no sense of God’s holiness, his awesome power and love, and his sovereignty over all that exists.

The other week my wife and I were sitting in Werribee Plaza shopping centre eating lunch while watching the crowds passing by, and I commented that those people look like they have everything they need. They have money in their wallets, their shopping bags are full, and they look very content with that. Australia is a country of plenty. We have a welfare system that looks after you from cradle to grave; a publicly funded health system in Medicare; an extremely stable political system that enjoys democratic choice with a peaceful transition of power each time a new government is chosen. It’s a land of plenty that many people in other countries can only dream of. And yet the crowds of shoppers in Werribee Plaza seemed to take it all in their stride for granted. Why would they need God?

Let me unpack this morning’s readings which I think shed some light on this question. They are examples illustrating the second half of last week’s gospel reading about the law.

If you recall, Jesus is teaching his listeners that he has not come to abolish the law but to fulfil it. In fact, not one letter of the law will pass away until everything is accomplished, and anyone who breaks them will be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven. And further still he says that unless our righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law, we will certainly not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. It’s very forcefully put. Then he goes on to give several examples of how tight the requirements of the law really are. And yet, along comes St Paul, who writes that a person is brought into a right relationship with God by faith and grace, and not by the law. Is there a contradiction between what Jesus teaches and what St Paul writes about? Well, no there isn’t. And we see that in St Paul’s encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. Let me explain.

Paul (or Saul as he was known up to that point) was confronted by the most holy and perfect divine Christ, Son of God, who said to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? To which Saul could do nothing but collapse to the ground and cry out, Lord who are you? In that moment, Saul saw himself in the light of the divine presence as the Pharisee that he was, full of his own righteousness which he obtained through legalistic obedience to the law. He looked into the eyes of the divine one and faced the question that everyone must face: what do I look like in the light of the law; and if I must see myself like that (even for a moment), what do I look like in God’s eyes?

The same kind of confrontation with the divine presence was experienced by St Peter when he witnessed the miraculous catch of fish in Luke chapter 5. He said, go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man. And again, the woman who anointed Jesus’ feet in Luke chapter 7. She approached Jesus, weeping with sorrow over her past life.

In other words, by making clear the demands of the law, Jesus is saying this is what the person who turns away from God, who rejects him, who says to God, no thankyou I don’t want you, looks like in God’s eyes. To that person, the law applies in the strictest way. Why? Because God is holy in the most perfect way, and sin has no place whatsoever in his eyes. And so the crowds of shoppers pass by totally oblivious to their need of God’s mercy and forgiveness so that they can enter into a right relationship with him by his righteousness, not their own. What they most likely want is a god who is loving and forgiving (and yes God is a god of love and forgiveness), but they don’t want a god who is also holy and transcendent, which God is.

However, suppose one of those shoppers has an experience of God’s presence in whatever way, shape or form that may take. It is almost certain that shopper will recognize themselves for what their old selves are. They will look into those perfect eyes and instantly understand their own unworthiness and uncleanness. Just as Peter did when he saw Jesus’ miracle; just as the sinful woman did when she anointed Jesus’ feet; just as Paul did when he collapsed on the ground in front of the risen and glorified Lord. That is when a person reaches their turning point, to leave their old ways behind and walk towards the new. That is the point when Jesus can step out of the shadows and obscurity of one’s old life and into the broad sunlight of a new life. Rise repentant one, your faith has saved you.

Without this encounter and the recognition it brings of what one’s old life looks like in God’s eyes, there is no peace for the worldling, only anxiety and fear and the constant search for a narcotic to dull that, like shopping sprees for example, or long nights out with the boys or girls, or workaholism. But when a person reaches out to God in genuine sorrow and repentance, the peace of God which passes all understanding sets that person free like nothing else can. That’s why Jesus said come to me all you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
You see ladies and gentlemen, it may well be that God has to show you to be a slave to whatever your own righteousness is in your eyes, until you recognize yourself as such. Only then can the eyes of your heart open to his wonderful saving grace. Rise up, your faith has saved you.

How is this so? Because God loves the broken hearted and the poor in spirit who have no illusions about their poor state as they stand before the face of God. Just like the tax collector in the story Jesus told. Remember? In the temple he couldn’t lift his eyes to heaven, but said with eyes cast down, God be merciful to me a sinner. And he was the one who went home justified, a new friend of God. Unlike the Pharisee who gave thanks that he wasn’t like the poor wretched tax collector.

You see, there is a danger of being too sure of forgiveness before a person has seen what their old selves, that say no to God, are. We might say, God will pardon me because it is his trade, thinking we can be quite assured that at the right moment God will do his duty to our satisfaction. Then we are taking grace for granted. You can’t have it cheap.

But when we reach our turning point and we see ourselves in the light of God’s holy presence, and we cry out for him to be merciful to us, then our hearts of sorrow become our accuser and the mercy of God becomes our defender. What a tremendous thing this is! What God does is to take me into his protective custody by setting me down at the foot of the cross. There I am secure. Fear and anxiety need not assail me. I am set free from the guilt of past things done and not done, and whatever my past has been, I have a spotless future. It is a whole new ball game. This is the reason we need God. This is the spark that will light us up to say to God, yes please.

Because God reaches out to me with his love in this way, because his heart beats for me as he comes to meet me at the foot of the cross, that’s why (and the only reason why) I can love him in return. Now I can fulfil the whole law, every dot of it. For after all, is not love the fulfillment of the law? As Jesus said when he was asked which of the comments is the most important, the whole law is summed up by loving God first, and then loving neighbour.

 
Come to Jesus all you who are burdened with worry and anxiety, fear or depression, shame and guilt, and he will give you rest for your souls. I ask only that I dwell in the house of the Lord, for there my soul is satisfied with the peace of God that passes all understanding.

Philip Starks

Published under Creative Commons Copyright Licence

Who should we expect? Matthew 11

We have just been through an election, and we might well ask of the winner, are you the one or should we have expected someone else? What did we go out to the ballot boxes to see? What kind of candidate did we expect on the ticket? Well, we all know that a candidate won’t get too far in politics unless they have presence, unless the voters are wowed with promises, glitz and a social media frenzy to boost their image. In other words, you are not a vote winner unless you are a winner. Meek and mild-mannered losers need not apply. Or at least that is the perception generally held by the electorate.

But on the other hand, what is a real people leader like and how do they end up? I can’t think of too many examples. Aung San Su Ki, Nelson Mandela, Gandhi perhaps? You might think of others. And the common thread that runs through these three, if my memory serves, is that none of them became leaders through popular glitz, social media glamor, and playing power politic for their own sakes. All of them have been recognized as leaders because they exercised a servant heart for their people. They worked to set captives free, to raise up the poor, and worked for a just society of the common good. The power politic of their time tried to silence them. The people of their day might well have asked, are you the true leaders we have been looking for, or should we expect someone else?

Likewise, John the Baptist was preaching a charismatic message of the coming of God’s messiah, and he recognized who Jesus was when he baptized him. But when John found himself in prison, he must have thought to himself, what have I been preaching? Have I been totally mistaken? This Jesus I have known is not exactly the charismatic type of messianic leader I expected. He isn’t thumping the Pharisees or driving out the Romans, and there’s no sign of any power politic to restore great Israel as it was under David. So he sends messengers to ask Jesus, what kind of messiah are you? Not exactly what we expected. Perhaps we should look for someone else.

Jesus sends John’s disciples back with a message of hope, affirmation and encouragement. He says, if you want to know what kind of messiah I am, see and hear what I am doing, and call to mind what the scriptures say about it, the prophets like Isaiah and Micah who centuries earlier wrote about one who would come from God and do exactly what you see and hear of me doing now.

What do think about it my good and faithful messenger, who has prepared well the way before me? See, the blind receive sight; the lame walk; the deaf hear; the dead are raised back to life; good news of the nearness of God is proclaimed to the poor. And blessed is anyone who is not scandalized by me, who does not take offence at me because I am ministering to those who contemporary society has rejected as unworthy and unclean. These are the people my Father welcomes into his house, not you Pharisees and Sadducees who condemn the unclean and the unworthy.

I am not a messiah who plays power politic. That is not how the Kingdom of God comes about. My role as messiah is to set captives free, raise up the poor and dejected from the dust to give them hope and a future, knowing that there is a God who is on their side.

Now, there is another level of understanding that Matthew wants to get across to his readers. He’s not just saying that Jesus is here to fulfil what the old prophets wrote about him regarding making people see and hear again. Yes, Jesus could do that in the time when there were no cataract operations, bionic ear implants or heart defibrillators like we have in our time. Jesus’ work was truly miraculous. But there is another even more truly miraculous opening of eyes and ears and raising of the dead that this points to. And it is the reason why Jesus often told those whom he healed not to say anything about it to all and sundry.

The problem was that all and sundry did get to hear about Jesus as a miraculous healer, and as a result he had to confine much of his ministry outside the major towns because the crowds there would seek him out as a miraculous healer. But how many of them wanted HIM? Did they want to enter into a committed covenant relationship with the Son of God for better for worse, for richer for poorer, rather than just for material gain and relief from physical ailment?
We see an example of this in the ten lepers who Jesus healed. Only one of them came back to give thanks. The other nine went on their merry way all clean and healed. But that one came back seeking relationship with the one who could heal, not just his physical ailment, but his relationship with God, one who could make him clean and guilt free before a holy and loving Father God. And he expressed that in gratitude.

There are three verses in chapter one of St Paul’s letter the Ephesians that explains: I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may KNOW HIM BETTER. I pray that the EYES OF YOUR HEART may be enlightened so that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and the incomparable great power for us who believe.

The key point here is opening the eyes of the heart that it may be enlightened. Jesus’ healing of eyes and ears is not just the physical but also of the heart. An enlightened heart that sees and hears God speaking to it, is also a heart that speaks to God in communion with him. An enlightened heart wants Jesus for who he is, not just relief from physical ailments. Jesus always looks for faith first; always looks for the one who desires a relationship with him first. Then he commends that one by saying your faith has healed you, as we often read in the gospels. And it only takes a mustard seed’s worth of faith. God is satisfied with that.

In Hebrew thinking, a person is an integrated whole. Body, mind and spirit are not considered separate categories. The heart is the center of our being, not the brain or the mind as they are in our Greek inherited western thinking. It is the heart that sees (perceives) and hears (understands) and desires communion (speaks). So when Jesus commends those who come to him in faith with an ailment for healing, he is healing their whole person, opening the eyes and ears of their hearts so that they may know the God who has done this for them.

Why do you think Matthew writes of the time when two blind men cried out to Jesus, Lord Son of David have mercy on us? Jesus stopped and ask them, what do you want me to do for you? Their answer? We want our sight. Jesus had compassion on them and they received their sight and they followed him. Matthew is telling his readers that the miracle of sight is more than physical. The men asked for mercy first. They wanted Jesus first, to see him. Then the eyes of their hearts were opened and they received their sight.

That is the gift of discernment and of new life in Christ, the gift of eternal life, the raising of one who was dead to Christ and the things of God. And it is worth everything. Life can begin again. That is the great hope we Christians have. That indeed is wonderful news for those who by faith put their trust in God, and stick to it regardless of what they look like to outsiders and without counting the cost of it.

You see, the Kingdom of God has a heart for God’s people and comes in unexpected ways and from unexpected quarters. Just like Nelson Mandela who had a heart for his people, the downtrodden of South Africa. Who would have thought that when he began a life sentence on Robbin Island, that one day he would be President of South Africa. The ruling National Party would have laughed at that – dream on. But history have proven that hope for the poor and the oppressed did indeed come from an unexpected quarter.

Likewise, Jesus said to the crowd, when you went out to see John the Baptist, what did you expect? The ruling class in fine clothes on a day trip out from their palace? No. You saw a prophet wearing poor clothes and living off the land. And yet he is the one who is my messenger. A prophet of God indeed announcing the advent of the Kingdom of God from an expected quarter. And then there’s the circumstances of the arrival of the messiah himself as a baby lying in a horse trough because all the hotels in town were full. Not exactly what we would consider as appropriate for the Son of God’s arrival into our world. Totally unexpected.

Now the thing is, those whose eyes and ears of the heart are closed to the things of the Kingdom will never discern those things of their own accord. They are firmly focused on worldly standards and values and that’s that. The riches and values of the Kingdom are hidden from them because they have closed hearts, eyes shut and ears stopped. And that is because they don’t want to know. But the one who cries out have mercy on me O God, I want to see you, will be given that wonderful gift of sight and hearing that enables him to recognize the Kingdom of God coming from those unexpected quarters and times and places.

So as we move through this season of Advent and our theme of hope, let’s ask the Lord our God to open hearts and minds, and help us to guard against complacency. Through prayer and praise and study of the scriptures, the eyes and ears and voices of our hearts will stay open and ready to receive whatever good gifts our Father God give us.

So let me finish with the words of our Lord from verse 15 whoever has ears, let him hear.

Philip Starks

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Caring for the natural environment. Genesis 2 Leviticus 25

At Alpha the other week, one of the participants on my hosting table happened to have read the story of Noah and the flood and asked the question, what has a rainbow got to do with the story of a flood? Very good question from a young lady seeking a connection. And it put me on the spot for bit fumbling for a quick answer to a profound question. I said something like, ancient Middle Eastern people didn’t know about rainbows being caused by rainwater droplets acting as prisms to split sunlight up into its seven component colours. They thought about them as the sign and seal of a covenant between God and his creation after the catastrophic flood. Well at least the ancients correctly associated a rainbow with the clearing rain storms.

Had I thought quickly enough, I might have commented that the story of the flood, and its associated promise of a never-to-be-repeated global flood, together with the sign of a rainbow, is an apology against the widespread ancient worldview that the gods are at war with the earth, whereas Israel’s god, the one and only true and living Yahweh, is not at war with the earth. In fact he has bound himself to it in covenant promise, signed and sealed to preserve it as his own. It is a good creation, a good natural environment, and God is not hostile towards it.

The land is God’s gift. It is not ours to own, but to tend and take care of it, made clear in Genesis 2.15 and Leviticus 25.23-24. The land is given to support us, and if we use it responsibly it will support us. We are not to consume, abuse and exploit it. Would you consume, abuse and exploit your own home? Of course not.

These are the words in Leviticus 25.23-24, the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants. Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land. This is as good as God saying to us, be careful what you do on and with my land. This sets up a relationship between ourselves as tenants and Yahweh as owner-landlord, and this in turn sets the framework of our ethical thinking about it, that is to say, the way we think through our decisions and choices regarding our use of the natural environment.

To love God means to value what God values. Conversely therefore, to collude in the abuse, pollution and destruction of the natural order is to trample on the goodness of God reflected in his creation. It is to devalue what God values, to mute God’s praise and to dimmish his glory.

Israel was dependent on the land for her livelihood, and that is why the law provided for harvest festivals of ingathering and first fruits. They were festivals of thanksgiving to God for his provision of land and produce. I remember as a boy at Church of England primary school in the village of Hazelmere, harvest festivals in the church next door. The altar would be piled high with farmers’ produce in thanksgiving to God. Those local farmers knew where their livelihood came from, and in gratitude they offered the first fruits in worship of their divine provider.

Perhaps if we were to suggest a harvest festival of first fruits to the farmers of here in Lara and Little Rive, we might get a response. Perhaps they would appreciate it if their local church (us) recognized the contribution they make to the community and the fact that their land feeds us. 

There is in Genesis chapter 3.17 a statement to Adam (in the story that explains the how mankind and God relate to each other, or not) that sets out one of the consequences of mankind’s sin against God as being, cursed is the ground because of you. What this tells us is that mankind, because he is out of harmony with God, is also at odds with the earth from which he was taken (made). And you don’t have to look very far to see that.

When I see land abused, used as a dumping ground, logged until there’s nothing left but dead stumps, untended and weed-ridden, it takes on what to me is an unhappy ambiance about it. It’s a sad land, a cursed land to use the language of the ancient writers, which if it could speak would say something like, what have I done to deserve this from you? But land that is tended, watered, and cared for flourishes. Forests provide homes for birds and animals; flowing rivers water the land and so on. It takes on the ambiance of a blessed and fruitful land.

Living in harmony with the land includes being aware that we are not the only created beings on this earth. In the creation story, we share the sixth day with other life forms. God formed the animals and birds from the ground, just as he formed humans from it. In other words, we share the land with fauna and flora, and that means it devalues the glory of God to abuse, destroy, make endangered or, the ultimate, to cause extinction of God’s good created things.

So when you visit a wilderness park, think about these points of biblical ethics. It’s God’s beautiful creation, so give thanks to him for your visit. Leave it as you find it. I remember one of my bush walking trips to Sealers Cove at Wilsons Promontory, a ranger happened to be making his rounds, and I commented that there weren’t any rubbish bins at the campground. He said yes, that’s because what you carry in you can carry out again. Point taken.

I’m also reminded of how indigenous Australians have known how to live in harmony with the Australian landscape for thousands of years. They use only what they need and leave the rest alone. They belong to the land, whereas we think the land belongs to us.

So what can I say to sum up before we break into our chat groups? Well, it occurs to me that since God is a god who provides for all our needs, he is a servant god. Christ is our servant king. Think about it for a moment. God provided our relational way back to him through the death of our Lord Jesus Christ; God provides the land to meet our needs of sustenance, recreation, and aesthetical appreciation. It’s a beautiful creation and it’s provided for us out of God’s generosity. And since Yahweh is the god who serves us in this manner out of his great love for us, it is our bounden duty towards him, in reciprocal covenant love, to use it responsibly and sustainably, and to take care of it.

Philip Starks

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The power of the prophetic call. Jeremiah 1

What are your signature moves? That is to say, actions that are hallmarks of who you are, born out of defining moments in your life. Signature moves can be forms of self-expression because like other forms of self-expression, they enable you to live out who you are. For example, expressing myself through practicing my clarinet, spending adequate time in prayer and preaching, and loving my wife-to-be, all find their genesis in defining moments across my life’s history.

God has signature moves as well, but they are not born out of defining moments in his life’s history because God has no history; he is eternal. God’s signature moves have their genesis in eternity. God is a speaking god, so we can expect one of his signature moves to be the calling of things into existence, such as at creation and the call of a chosen person into a faithful relationship with himself. It happened to the prophet Jerimiah in the year 627 BCE when God’s word came to him saying, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.

What strikes me about these words is that they are determined in eternity. They did not come from an invitation of the synagogue, or something Jeremiah had done, something he had earned or a successful job application. But rather, God chose, consecrated and appointed Jeremiah before he was born. These are the perquisites for the job: God’s full and complete knowledge about Jeremiah – more than he knew about himself, and his election to God’s purpose. That’s what made it Yahweh’s sovereign choice. And it is for this reason that God’s signature move of election and calling carries the power and authority to speak and to act in his name.

What were the marks of Jeremiah’s call? God knew him, meaning that he chose to enter in to a deep, personal commitment with Jeremiah, Jeremiah belongs to God; God set him apart, meaning that Jeremiah was made holy and distinguished for service to Yahweh; and Jeremiah was appointed, meaning that he was given to the task. In other words, God had got his custom-called Jeremiah for his purpose.

Now Jeremiah, being a human person existing in space and time like the rest of us, did not have the whole of history open to his inspection. He saw things from where he was and from his own perspective. He saw himself as too young and inexperienced to be God’s foreign secretary on the world stage – the prophet to the nations. But God pre-empted Jeremiah’s perspective by putting his calling into another perspective.

When I was learning to ski, I would hang on to the lift tows for dear life, bent forward desperately trying to stay upright. You can always spot a learner skier because they are bent forward on the ski tows – as I was. Then one day a ski instructor said to me, you’ve got to shift your centre of gravity. It is too far forward and that’s why you keep falling of the lift. Bring it back into your pelvis where your natural centre of walking balance is – your natural centre of gravity. Then just stand there and let the tow do the work of pulling you up the mountain.

So when I listened to that and tried it, low and behold it worked. I was able to stand upright and relax while enjoying the ride up the mountain and being able to look around at the scenery at the same time. My centre of gravity had shifted, producing a whole new perspective on the matter of skiing. My use of the ski tow improved 500 percent, not because of my ability as a skier, but because of the instructor’s skill in knowing more about me on the slopes than I knew about myself.

Jeremiah at first could only see things from his own perspective, but God shifted Jeremiah’s centre of gravity – as it were – away from himself and on to God’s foreknowledge and elective purposes by saying, before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I consecrated you. Nothing to do with Jeremiah’s ability to speak or any self-confidence he might have had to go and shirt-front Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, kings whom he had to deal with when Jerusalem was finally captured by the Babylonians in 587 BCE.

Now why did God have to shift Jeremiah’s center of gravity like this? Well he’s not just answering the prophet’s objections and encouraging him to build some self-confidence. These are typical of human nature aren’t they. But this signature move call of God doesn’t have its genesis in human nature. It is the power of God given so that, as St Paul puts it in his letter to the Philippians, I can do all things through him who gives me strength, to which there is only one response needed: awed acceptance, obedience and gratitude.

God’s choice of Jeremiah was less about the prophet’s ability, but much about his availability. Yahweh’s gracious touch of Jeremiah’s mouth was as dramatic as the seraph’s cleansing of Isaiah’s lips. The word that God put in his mouth burned its way into his heart and made itself an indispensable and irresistible part of the prophet’s existence. And that’s why the prophet Isaiah said of God, my word shall go forth and not return to me empty.

So where does this leave us today?

Well the prophets of old have long since disappeared into history, yet God has not left himself without a witness of old. There is a witness, one with the prophetic role of advocate, counsellor and guide. One whose existence is grounded in eternity, who is - yet has already been, and who will be - yet has been before. And his name is the Holy Spirit.

Friends, it makes sense to me that if we immerse ourselves in prayer with the Holy Spirit, our centre of gravity – as it were – will shift away from self-focus to being more God-focused. We will experience a fresh perspective in our home lives, our working lives, our ministries, and our understanding of time.

A shift in our centre of gravity from self-perspective, limited by space and time, to God’s perspective, which is not limited by space and time, will open up new possibilities, new ways by which God will do new and surprising things. He is not limited the way we are. That’s why Jesus promised that whatever we ask for in prayer in his name, and believe it, we shall receive. Nothing is impossible for God. Or as God said through his prophet Isaiah, is my hand too short that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? In other words, surely you don’t think I’m a powerless god, do you?

Ok. So we have the Holy Spirit as witness to God’s word and activity, and we have the promise that nothing is impossible for God. But what about God’s church today? What about God’s community on earth today? What should we do? Does the church have a prophetic role to call out Kingdom ethics that need to be called out, to tell the good news of Jesus Christ and what he has done for lost mankind?

Friend’s, the church faces a world that is hostile to God, a society that seeks to silence the church and pressures it to compromise its Kingdom ethics message. The voice of authority is being replaced by the voice of opinion; proclamation is replaced by discussion; the Word of God is replaced by words of men; the call to faithfulness to Yahweh is turned into religion; the kings of the earth do not worship the Lord their God. In other words, the church is losing its prophetic voice. It’s increasingly being sidelined as irrelevant to today’s post-modern living. What are we to do?

Well, ladies and gentlemen, let us not loose hope, even in our small corner here in Lara and Little River. Remember that we have the Holy Spirit as God’s witness to who he is and to his action in our lives. Jesus called his church into existence, beginning with his chosen apostles, and that call did not have its genesis in any man or woman, but in eternity, God’s eternity, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Remember that by the power of the Holy Spirit, we have the authority to speak of what we know, what we’ve heard, and what we’ve seen. And that means we, who are the church, have a prophetic role in society today. We won’t always be listed to; we will suffer the world’s attempts to silence us; our message of Kingdom ethics will be opposed, but we must continue to speak and not be afraid to do so.

Brothers and sisters, the church’s message, our message, is organic, that is to say, we witness in our own time to the redemptive work of God in our lives. Tell your story.  Our message is theocentric, that is to say, it bears witness to humanity’s need for God’s forgiveness, wisdom, revelation, blessing, protection and rule. Without those, mankind is indeed lost, anxious and does not know to whom it belongs or where its real security is to found. Our message is also progressive, that is to say, it is like a seed that germinates, grows and develops.

Now I think we’re making inroads in our parish on this score. Groups of us are engaging with Alpha, a program that tells the story of Jesus Christ, who he is and what he had done; people seeking a connection with God have recently joined us; our three-year mission action plan is about to explore other ways of our church’s call to prophetic work in our local community. And with prayer in fellowship with the Holy Spirit, our work will be a seed that germinates, grows, and develops.

What about you?

Philip Starks
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Their master's voice. John 10

In Myer’s café Melbourne for a lunch time coffee one day, I was looking at a baby in his pram. Shopper’s voices everywhere yap yap yapping away loudly, and baby looking blankly straight ahead. That is until he heard his mother’s voice and then straight away his eyes and ears were fixed on his mum and her attention fixed on him. The two engaged, mum talking to her little lad, and he flapping and kicking in response.

On another occasion at Werribee zoo one afternoon, I was watching a young girl playing in a sandpit. Her attention was very focused on what she was doing, quite oblivious to the voices of others around her. Then to my left came a voice, Lucy! And immediately Lucy recognized her mother’s voice, dropped what she was doing and ran towards her mum.

Then there’s a short video clip of a deaf baby being fitted with a hearing aid. Up until that point, his life was one of silence. Imagine being the mother or father, knowing that your child can’t hear you. Anyway, as soon as the doctor turned on the hearing aid and mum said baby’s name, the child’s eyes and full attention turned to mum. He heard sound for the very first time, his mother’s voice for the very first time. The expression of amazement in the child’s face says it all. It was a moving moment for both mother and child. Mother knows her child so well that hearts and minds are desiring of relationship. That’s what makes it work. She is the shepherd and he is her little lamb.

Jesus talked about himself as being our shepherd and we his sheep knowing his voice. As Lucy at the zoo, and baby in Myers, recognized their mother’s voice, so we too recognize our Lord and master’s voice when we hear it.

One of the Bible’s answers to the question of personal identity is that human beings are those who are known by God. And when a person is drawn into a covenant relationship with God through Jesus Christ, that takes on a deeper and more intimate meaning. Let me put it this way: a mother and a father know their own child in a deeper and more intimate way than they would someone else’s child. So it is with those who have become children of God. And it is they who know their master’s voice, just as a child knows its mother’s or father’s voice and responds to it.

Being known by God meets our need to be recognized and acknowledged in the most profound way. Who am I? I am known and loved by God; I belong to God; I am no longer an autonomous self, but rather I am found in Christ. And that’s why I recognize my master’s voice. It is not a question of I think therefore I am, as Descartes’s dictum says, but rather I am known therefore I am.

Let’s now consider how we recognize God’s voice and what sort of response that might produce.

As the writer of the letter to the Hebrews reminds us, God speaks in many and various ways. And no doubt every one of us here this morning has a story to tell about how that goes for us. But some things I have noticed over the years appear to be common ground. One thing we cannot do is simply switch on the sound and expect God to be there on our terms. It doesn’t work like that. God is encountered and heard by disclosing himself in thought, word and deed. Only then will we be able to discern his voice.

It’s a gift that matures as the years go by through our participation in, and experience of, that covenant relationship we are in with God. That’s why Jesus said MY sheep hear my voice. They (we) are in that special covenant relationship with him. Those who are not won’t recognize it. That’s why Jesus said to the Pharisees, you don’t believe me because you are not my sheep. And it’s why none of the other kids in the zoo’s sandpit batted an eyelid when Lucy’s mum called out.

There’s also the problem of other voices demanding to be heard and consuming our attention, and they are a loud cacophony. One of them is Mr Busyness. Always insisting there is something else to occupy our time. Never stops. Far too busy to attend to the things of God and be present in his house.

Another is Mr Worry. Always pointing us to the next thing to worry about. Always shouting, Oh dear what if. And soon we are too tired and drained to attend to the things of God and be present in his house.

And by far the loudest voice is Mr Myself. I am first; it’s all about me; I can do it my way, and so and so on. Always appealing to the centre of self. And soon we are slaves of the advertising industry. God is pushed out the front door. And when God is pushed out the front door, what climbs in through the windows? The ghosts of loneliness accompanied by Mr Worry.

So what can we do about all this? Is there a solution?

Well yes there is. And it’s found in the book of 1 Kings: Elijah’s experience of a still small voice. Recall the story of how Elijah was on the run hiding in a cave. There was a loud and powerful wind, but the Lord was not in the wind. Then there was a noisy earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. Then there was a raging fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. All those noisy competing voices. Then after the fire came a gentle whisper, and when Elijah heard it he pulled his cloak over his face and stood at the mouth of the cave. He had heard and recognized the still small voice of God.

That’s one of the keys, ladies and gentlemen. The use of silence to pay attention and hear God’s voice in whatever way or means he comes to you. That’s why Jesus said when you pray go into your room and shut the door. Get off the noisy street. It’s why the rule of St Benedict has a chapter on the use of silence for the monks and nuns of his order. Its why clergy go on silent retreats. Shut out the noise and the cacophony of competing voices that seek to drag you away from the Lord who knows you by name, by name.

As I said earlier, God can speak to us in many and various ways, but the place where we really learn to listen is when we listen to his word in the scriptures. This is the best school for learning how to tune in to him in other contexts. Are you reading the bible during a time of anxiety, or thanksgiving, or when you are facing an important decision?

Reading for listening is not the same as reading for content. We all know what the content is, but have we asked ourselves how we respond when we hear a bible verse or passage? How does it affect us? Do the words we hear resonate with us in some way, as in give us a heightened sense of alertness or attention? Or perhaps they disturb us emotionally. How tuned in to that are we? Did not the two who met Jesus on the road to Emmaus comment afterwards, did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the scriptures to us?

That’s why the lessons are read aloud on Sunday mornings. And they have to be read well. Are you excited by what you hear? Is your spirit quickened when you hear? Do you turn towards God? Is your attention focused on what you are hearing, just as baby heard its mothers voice for the first time?

Does not your heart burn within you when you encounter God in the quietness of your sacred space?  God is the solution to the loneliness of the human spirit. I am known therefore I am. And when God speaks in to that, nothing else matters.

So when we are reading to listen (it’s called Lectio divina, or sacred reading), we need not be afraid to let our hopes and fears become part of our reading as we strive to understand what God is saying to us. It helps us tune in to the heart, which is the place where the Holy Spirit dwells within us.

Mary Magdalene wept at Jesus’ tomb thinking his body had been stolen, her hopes dashed and her fears realized. But then in the early morning light, Jesus appeared alive and well, although at first she didn’t recognized him, that is until he called her by name. At that point the voice of the shepherd entered in to Mary’s heart, opened her eyes, aroused her senses, and affected her in such a way that she could do little else but surrender herself to him in adoration and worship, knowing that her lord and master was alive and knew her by name. She had heard her master’s voice.

Ladies and gentlemen, when you retire to bed this evening, I encourage you to think about how God speaks to you, and how you might hear and respond to your master’s voice.

Philip Starks
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