Lord's Prayer 4 - Psalm 119:9-16, Mark 14:32-42, Hebrews 12:3-12

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For the last three weeks we have been looking at the prayer which Jesus taught his disciples – the Lord's Prayer as we call it.

Some refer to it as "The prayer you received at your Baptism…"

Your spiritual baptism certificate – the prayer of Christian community.

*  *  *

In summary –

The Lord's prayer begins with 'Our' – we say it together, even if we are alone.

It is addressed to a Father – the special and privileged conversation between parent and child.  Parents have special ears – they know a child's tone of voice / urgent / important / whining sounds… they know when to listen.

This Father is not just any father – but a heavenly Father.

*  *  *

It begins with whose we are and who we are and then goes on to speak about what our Father is doing in the world…

Hallowed be your name – we want God's name to be famous, and we want that name to refer to God and God alone – the God who is made known to us in Jesus – the very image of who God is.

Your Kingdom come, your will be done – we want to be good Kingdom citizens; we want to see God's kind of justice here in this world.

*  *  *

Give us our daily bread brings us down to the nitty gritty of life in the Kingdom of God.  Bread – that which we need to eat, a network of circumstances that exist to make life possible.

Bread is also 'food for the journey' – padkos that will sustain us as we journey towards the Kingdom of God.

*  *  *

We ask God to forgive us conditionally – on condition that we forgive others.

Forgive us as we forgive others…

Tied into God's generous provision of bread / of grace to us – God gives us something for nothing, why shouldn't we give others something for nothing?

Because we have enough bread – we can forgive those indebted to us.

*  *  *

And today:  'Do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.'

Or:

"Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil."

*  *  *

Temptation

Steve Turner – a Christian poet has a poem called One More Time.

It begins with the line: 

"Lead me into temptation just one more time…"

Just one more time…

Most of us struggle with temptation – some of us – not as much as we should.

Temptation covers a lot of issues… the temptation to do naughty things, to yield to our addictions:

Money, drugs, alcohol, pornography, sex, power, abuse… and the list goes on.

And we know that our minds are clever – they know how to justify the things we do – its easy to say its OK to steal – the boss doesn't pay me enough as it is.

I need the alcohol to cope…

We make a fuss about our vices.

But if we're honest – we realise that we surrender to them on purpose - we actively pursue them.

*  *  *

An interesting thing about temptation:  Martin Luther said you can allow a bird to land on your head – but if you let it make a nest there you've got a problem.

*  *  *

Most of us have allowed our temptations to nest in our hairdos.

Just like it is our nature to pray 'my Kingdom, my will, my name, give me all the bread in the world', it is also our nature to pray: 'lead us into temptation'. 

But Jesus teaches us to pray the oposite:

'Your Kingdom, your will, your name, the bread we need for tomorrow, and lead us not into temptation.'

*  *  *

This prayer that we receive at our baptism reflects a whole different set of priorities by which we as Christians live – and we make these priorities the language of our hearts.

Those baptised today will be brought up with Kingdom of God priorities – not the priorities that would suit our natural inclinations.

*  *  *

But temptation is not just avoiding doing evil – it is also the temptation not to do what we should do.

So far the prayer has been about changing the world…

Kingdom come.

Name hallowed.

Give us the bread we need.

- Positive difference making ideas.

Why should the momentum suddenly change?

We fool ourselves when we begin to think that Christianity is more about the don'ts than it is about the do's.

The commandments are summed up in the command to (positively) love God and love your neighbour.

*  *  *

I think this line of the prayer is more about the temptation not to do that which is good.

The Greek word for temptation is peirasmos – trial – Jesus' experiences peirasmos in the desert with the devil.

Tempted to take the easy way out Jesus is tested and chooses positive obedience to the father.

Jesus is tempted again in the garden of Gethsemane – moments of struggle – "Take this cup away from me…" his time of trial.

The choice to be obedient to the Father to go to the cross; to actively live out his vocation – that is the real moment of temptation.

A moment of chrisis.

Choosing to do the positive and heroic – rather than simply choosing not to do what is wrong.

Choosing to take the action in which we sacrifice ourselves.  And that moment is only a 'time of trial' when we have second thoughts…

*  *  *

ICE AGE CLIP 1

*  *  *

In this clip Manfred the Mammoth, Sid the Sloth and Diego the Sabre Toothed Tiger are confronted by a terrible Crisis.  (They're trying to return 'Pinky' the human baby to his tribe.)

Diego is a typical cat who looks after himself.

Sid is a Sloth – he has a good heart – but his first response is to run like the wind.

Manfred the Mammoth is our hero – a big heart and the courage to match it.

*  *  *

When each animal could choose to save their own skin, Manfred chooses to risk his life for the sake of the others. 

The time of trial is the moment at which we have to choose to do what is right – even though it may be at terrible cost.

For Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane the cost would be his life, his pain, his suffering – the cross.

For the early disciples it would be persecution for loving the wrong sort of people and worshipping the wrong sort of God.

For us today the time of trial is those moments on a Sunday morning when we decide whether or not to go to church… on a Thursday when we think about Bible study… when we decide whether or not we will go to that meeting or do that thing.

The time of trial is sometimes mundane – but sometimes terrifying… to do the right thing at work / or not.

*  *  *

Lead us not into the time of trial.

*  *  *

Let difficult times not be trials at all – but let us choose immediately to do what is right.

*  *  *

The good news about Manfred…

ICE AGE CLIP 2

Is that he survives his decision to do what is right.  And when Diego the self centred cat says:  "Why did you do that?"

Mannie responds – "That's what you do in a herd."

*  *  *

For Christians the line is not so much: "That's what you do in a herd… but that's what you do in the Kingdom of God."

Deliver us from the evil one…

Jesus speaks of the Kingdom of God as 'among us' as 'here'.

And the Kingdom of God is literally the place where God's way has sway in us… Where we are obedient to God and God alone.

And I believe that every moment of trial is a moment when we choose which Kingdom to live in.

 'Lead us not into the time of trial… but deliver us from the evil one.'

Help me to make the decisions moment by moment that destroy the Kingdom of the Devil – selfishness, arrogance and pride, and build up the Kingdom of Yahweh – the God revealed in Jesus Christ.

Self giving love.

Conclusion

When we pray with sincerity lead us from the time of trial – those moments of indecision, of temptation when we weigh up the way of the Kingdom of God against the way of the Kingdom of Evil… when we are delivered and it is no longer a matter of choice, but rather of positive decision.  Then I believe we will begin to see the Kingdom of God here in this place.

AMEN

The Lord's Prayer - 3 - Give us this day our daily bread...

http://www.archive.org/download/2009-03-22LordsPrayer3-GiveUsBread/2009-03-22LordsPrayer3.mp3


[Slide]

Over the past two weeks we've been looking at The Lord's Prayer – the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples, and commands us to pray:

When you pray – and this time I read from Luke's gospel – say:

[Slide]

Father, hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come.
³     Give us each day our daily bread.
⁴     And forgive us our sins,
for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.
And do not bring us to the time of trial."

- Luke 11:2-4

The earliest church taught people to memorize the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments and the Apostle's Creed.

How we pray
How we behave and
What we believe.

*  *  *

We watched this video a couple of weeks ago – seeing as some of us missed it I thought we might enjoy it again.

[Slide]

[Slide]

So we're on the how we pray bit – and maybe next lent we should look at the how we should behave part…

In the first week we looked at the first line:

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name."

Prayer begins with identifying who we are talking to and who we are in relation to the one with whom we are speaking.

Children speaking to a loving and powerful parent – Father in Heaven.

Our – reminds us that we who say this prayer – as diverse and different as we are, are a family.

*  *  *

The next part –

"hallowed be your name,
your Kingdom come,
your will be done…"

All looks forward to a future hope – finally fulfilled in Jesus return to earth and his day of justice.  But brought about in our world from day to day as we live as Kingdom citizens; the underlying value / constitution of the Kingdom of God:

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul and the second just like it – love your neighbour as you love yourself."

We ask God to put the world right, and help us to surrender to his will – to help us become better Kingdom citizens.

*  *  *

[Slide]

Today I deal with two more parts of Jesus' prayer:

"Give us each day
our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
for we also forgive everyone indebted to us."

God's provision for us – expressed in the term 'daily bread'; and our ability to provide for others and ourselves in the way that we forgive.

Why – 'give us bread'?

Why does Jesus bring something so earthly into such a heavenly prayer?

Food seems so normal – so – unspiritual, spiritual stuff for us is all in the mind / its limited to an hour on a Sunday.  This prayer continues to remind us that the God we serve is intimately interested in us here and now – and not just later when we get to heaven.

So, when we get to this part of the prayer we begin to wonder: Should we be asking for food?  Isn't it a bit greedy?  Selfish?  isn't that something we're supposed to undo?

Daily Bread

Jesus' phrase 'daily bread' speaks about all that we need to live – the basic necessities of life – everything we need in order to live in the way that God intends us to live.

Its interesting to see what people count as daily bread, I found some pictures in time magazine – what people eat in a month, and what it costs:

[Slide]

The Ukita family from Japan – $317

[Slide]

Italy – the Manzo Family $260

[Slide]

US – The Revis family, $341.98

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Mexico – the Casales Family, $189.09

[Slide]

Egypt – The Achmed Family, $68.53

[Slide]

Bhutan – the Namgay Family $5.03

[Slide]

Germany – Melander Family - $500.07

[Slide]

Chad – the Aboubakar family $1.60

*  *  *

Bread is civilization

Practically bread is a rich symbol of community – where community has been broken down by war – for example in Chad – there is not much bread.

*  *  *

For most of us bread simply comes from the local supermarket – neatly packaged and pre sliced.  We don't have to think about how it came to be – as far as we know it comes from a factory like bakery.

*  *  *

In Jesus' day people were more aware of what was needed to make bread – it happened before your eyes:

A field to grow corn, rain, not hail, no Roman soldiers taking your corn or ground flour as tax – once everything has grown; the wheat threshed, ground, someone with skills to mix it into dough, some yeast… an oven.

For daily bread we need a whole community of people – each fulfilling their purpose in a network of activities.

Somehow – each of us is a part of that broad network that puts bread on the table.

*  *  *

As we bring to God the needs we have in this world.  Our jobs, our economy, our political leaders – we are praying this part of the prayer:

"Give us our daily bread."

*  *  *

For the Israelites there was a time when that complicated network was not in place – when they wondered in the desert for 40 years in search of 'the promised land' – a place to establish the Kingdom of God – a place where they would be able to plant and harvest and bake bread.

On their journey in the wilderness they had no way to bake bread and God provided for them miraculously.

Praying for bread – is praying for food for the journey towards the Kingdom of God – a difficult journey for which we need sustenance.

As people who have chosen to follow Christ – praying for bread is asking for the strength to do his will.

Bread is spiritual

Bread is practical – meeting our physical needs, but it is more than that – we can not live on bread alone.

Our modern way of thinking tends to separate the physical and the spiritual.  In Jesus' day – in Jesus' way of thinking – separation of the two is impossible.

Everything comes from God, everything is God's – our physical reflects our spiritual.

We keep trying to push God out – to let God be restricted to heaven and spiritual things – an hour on a Sunday.  But the reality is that God is a part of all we do – involved – we just do our best to ignore him or only let him in where it is convenient.

In this part of the prayer Jesus invites us to make our practical needs spiritual.  But he also helps us to make our spiritual needs, practical.  Food – material – is not enough, we need the food of God in our lives.

And when we live a balanced diet – we become the people God created us to be in a most powerful way.

Us

A difficult thing about the Lord's prayer is how it challenges our self-centeredness.

We are taught to pray: 'Our Father…' we are also taught to pray: 'Give us our…'  Not 'My Father,' and 'Give me my…'

Often we have prayed 'Give us our daily bread…' and when we got it we called it 'mine'.  And God help anyone who gets between us and our bread.

*  *  *

Being part of a wider community means that we share our bread – its great to be a part of the Methodist Church – here at Paarl we have a minister – but you share me with the congregation at Franschhoek.

Its good Christian stewardship to share our resources.

Whatever resources we have – it is our responsibility to share in a responsible way.  Because we prayed to God and our prayers were answered.

Answered

The fact that you and I are here today – and although we've all had those times when there's been too much month left at the end of the money – somehow God has provided for us all we have needed.

Physical and spiritual food.

*  *  *

We have received what we needed – but I think we often only take what we want – and complain about the rest.

A buffet dinner where we pile our plates only with desert and refuse to eat the vegetables…

*  *  *

Are we as a church taking the best advantage of the opportunities God has provided for us?

Few of us manage to attend Bible study – is our diet off balance?

What about the bread of fellowship that God offers us in community?  Have we taken full advantage of the rich meal that God offers us as Christian community?

What about the way God has provided friends and family – are we enjoying that aspect of the bread with which we have been fed?

*  *  *

God has given us our daily bread – but I'm not really sure whether we have eaten it.

I'm not really sure whether we have always stewarded it as if it was really from God – and not from us.

I invite us – as we pray this part of the prayer – to remember how wide it is; and to remember how we have been provided for – and to ask for wisdom in how to share what we have so generously received.

Forgive as we forgive…

And that brings us to words about forgiveness.

'Forgive us our debts as we forgive those indebted to us…'

In Jewish law the phrase eye for an eye – does not mean poking each other's eye out – it's a law of reciprocity.

If you poke my eye out you should compensate me for its loss.

You have robbed me of my ability to earn my daily bread and so now you should help me to get the bread I need.

You are indebted to me.

*  *  *

When Jesus teaches about forgiveness he often illustrates his teachings with stories about monetary debts being forgiven.

*  *  *

Here Jesus reminds us to pray to God to provide for us, and then he reminds us to be as generous to others as God is to us.

Especially in the way that we forgive them their debts to us, Jesus teaches us to ask God to treat us – just as we have treated others.

*  *  *

Forgive us our debts, just as we forgive those indebted to us.

Conclusion

I believe that when we learn to pray this part of the prayer – to realise that the bread we have is the gift of God, that we should make the best use of that bread.

When we learn to forgive those who hurt us – to hand their debts over to God, to ask God to forgive us as we forgive others.

I believe we will begin to see the Kingdom of God in this place.

AMEN

Lord's Prayer 2 - Your Kingdom Come

During lent we are talking about the Lord's prayer – the prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray.

Lent is the period leading up to Easter when Christians rethink themselves, re prioritize, give up bad habits take up new ones and remember how God rebirths us.

This lent we are re-examining our prayer lives.

In the early church Lent was the time when new Christians were prepared for Baptism.

In preparation for baptism they would have to memorise three things:
The Apostle's Creed – what we believe,
the Ten Commandments – how we behave,
and the Lord's Prayer – how we relate to God.

*  *  *

Last week we looked at the beginning of the Lord's prayer:

"Our Father in heaven: May your holy name be honoured;"

I spoke of how this part of the prayer defines our relationship to the One with whom we are speaking and speaks a bit about who he is.

*  *  *

Father – a relationship of parent and child.  In heaven – reminds us who we are speaking to – the one who is enthroned above all things, God, all powerful.  Our – when we relate to God our relationships to each other are transformed, we become brothers and sisters.

I touched on: "May your holy name be honoured" because that also speaks a bit about who we are speaking to.

Today we look at this part of the Lord's prayer:

"May your holy name be honoured; may your Kingdom come; may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven…"

- Matthew 6:9b-10

*  *  *

Now that we have addressed God as Father we begin to ask God to do things:

1 – May your name be honoured
2 – May your Kingdom Come
3 – May your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Often our prayers are about asking for things – the stuff we want, yet when Jesus teaches us to pray he asks us to pray rather for what God wants…

Your name, your Kingdom, your will…

Often we pray (or think) in terms of my… My name, my Kingdom, my will…

And sometimes we trick ourselves; quite cleverly, into believing that what we want for ourselves is what God wants for us. 

That is where it becomes necessary for us to be a part of a community of different people, a community that keeps us accountable – that helps us to discern; that admonishes us – challenging us to grow out of our selfish comfort zones.  Maybe that's part of the reason the prayer begins with 'Our' and not 'my'.

*  *  *

As God's children, in this part of the prayer we are surrendering ourselves to God's will.

It also speaks a little about what God's will is, in lines that pick out and echo themes woven into the Biblical story.

Your Kingdom Come

If you've heard me preach quite often you'll find that I tend to end sermons with the phrase, or something like it:

"And then I believe we will begin to see God's kingdom in this place."

I do this because I believe Jesus wants me to preach about the Kingdom of God.  I believe that because it is what Jesus most often speaks about – the Kingdom of God.

I do this because it is my job to announce the gospel, and in scripture gospel is the good news of the coming reign of a new king.  I say this often.  In Jesus time and evangelist was a messenger who went to the cities and towns and announced the news that a new King was in power.

That news was good for some… slaves might be freed, debts might be forgiven, and bad for others – a new King, a good King would hear the case of the abused and judge the abusers for their wrong doing.

*  *  *

Jesus and the news he proclaims are met with positive and negative reactions.  Some welcome the coming of Jesus and his teaching with open arms…  Others recognise him as dangerous to their schemes and plot to kill him –

As they do so the disciples will be praying – as Jesus has taught them – your Kingdom come.

Those in power will kill Jesus,

It will seem that the disciples' prayer has not been answered – all hope of the coming Kingdom is lost.

But as Jesus rises again, ascends to heaven – and takes up his place in heaven as Paul writes in Ephesians 1:21-22:

"Christ rules (there) above all heavenly rulers, authorities, powers, and lords; he has a title superior to all titles of authority in this world and the next.  God put all things under Christ's feet and gave him to the church as supreme Lord over all things."

The disciples will know that Jesus' reign is inevitable.  Whether it is in our death – or Jesus return to earth, all of us will ultimately end up as subjects of the Kingdom of God.

*  *  *

"Your Kingdom come…"

Can we pray that with sincerity?

In Thessalonians Paul paints a picture of Jesus' coming as King. 

When a King went to visit a town their arrival was announced with trumpets.  The people excited would go out on the country road to welcome the King.  Palm branches – hosanna to the King – a celebration. 

Only in 1 Thessalonians because this King is coming down from heaven and not along a country road; Paul speaks of us being taken up to meet him in the clouds – not on our way up – as some modern (the last 200 years) commentators have begun to teach – but on his way down.

I imagine that in that picture there are some who shout Hallelujah – the King is coming and run out to greet him.

And others who shout "Ooo hell" and try to make their way quickly out the back gate or over the wall of the town.

*  *  *

When Jesus teaches his disciples to pray for the Kingdom he expects his disciples to want the Kingdom.

Desiring the Kingdom has implications for the way we live.  Desiring the Kingdom means that we as Christians need to start preparing ourselves and the world we live in for its coming.

Your will be done

And that brings us to doing God's will. 

"Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven…" 

One thing that irks me about the way we have made this prayer suit ourselves – adapted it to our own needs is we have made this a passive statement.

A word of surrender to fate, rather than surrender to and worship of the living God.

*  *  *

When things go badly we say "your will and not mine o Lord…" and pat ourselves on our back for being spiritual – for surrendering.

*  *  *

I believe that Jesus wants our 'active surrender' not a 'passive surrender'.  When we say 'your will be done' we are saying here I am use me for your purposes.

God created us as stewards of creation, a little lower than the angels – people who can make a difference in the world if only we would be obedient to God's commands.

*  *  *

When Jesus is on his way to the cross – in response to God's call – not because fate demanded it but because he was obedient; Jesus surrenders in Mark 14:36:

"Take this cup of suffering away from me.  Yet not what I want, but what you want."

- Mark 14:36

Jesus does not go to the cross because it is inevitable – but because he obediently does what God has called him to do.  To die, making known to the world His, God's love for all people – and who he is.

Your name be honoured

And so we return to the second line of Jesus' prayer – "May your name be honoured".

As we pray this prayer we want the world to know who this is we are worshipping, praying to and hoping for.

God made known to us in Christ on the cross.  The Crucified God.

*  *  *

In John 12:27-28 as Jesus prepares for his death he says, in a prayer parallel to that in Mark's gospel of which we just spoke:

"Shall I say, 'Father do not let this hour come upon me'?  But that is why I came – so that I might go through this hour of suffering.  Father, bring glory to your name!"

Then a voice spoke from heaven, "I have brought glory to it, and I will do so again."

- John 12:27-28

*  *  *

In dying Jesus brings glory to God's name – he lets people know – in no uncertain terms – that his father, the Lord, YHWH – loves so much that he would pour himself out for his people on the cross.

*  *  *

Name – is not just a set of letters – to reduce God's name to a set of letters is a kind of idolatry.  Name is about who God is.  When God's identity is made known in Jesus Christ, it is glorified, revealed and we are able to bow down in prayer and worship and say:

Yes God you are worthy to be worshipped, honoured and adored.

*  *  *

The challenge remains for us…

We, the church, are Jesus body in the world – and I believe that we have often brought dishonour to God's name.  We have often not been very Christ like in our behaviour… 

Probably because in some ways we don't really mean it when we say: Your name be honoured, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

And so, as we pray – let us ask that God's will would be done not just in the world around us, but in our hearts and minds too.  His name would be honoured, and his Kingdom would come.

Amen.

The Lord's Prayer - 1 - Our Father

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The Lord's Prayer

Introduction

Lent is an opportunity for us to reflect on our life as disciples of Christ.  For us to push ourselves a little further in following him.  Knowing that our effort is worthwhile – our Lord – Jesus Christ – is worth following.

An aspect of our faith with which many of us struggle is prayer.

How should we pray?

Does God speak to us?

When we ask – will God answer?

I would say that many of us have thought to ourselves "I'm going to pray more and more often…" and then given up after a few days of concerted effort.

*  *  *

So this lent, I invite you to take up praying a little more.  Jesus' teaching on prayer is quite simple, Matthew records it like this:

Matthew 6:9-13 (NT9):

⁹This, then, is how you should pray:
'Our Father in heaven:
May your holy name be honoured;
¹⁰     may your Kingdom come;
may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹     Give us today the food we need.^c
12     Forgive us the wrongs we have done, as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us.
¹³     Do not bring us to hard testing, but keep us safe from the Evil One.'^d[1]

Four verses; about 70 words – each of those words absolutely packed with meaning.

*  *  *

In the early church's training for membership – new disciples were instructed to memorise three important things:

The Apostle's Creed
The Ten Commandments and
The Lord's Prayer

Over the next few weeks we will unpack some of the words of this important prayer, reflecting on what they mean to us… allowing our repetition of this prayer to become more meaningful; opening up the possibility of new adventures, new depths in our praying life.

*  *  *

Watch this little sketch that imagines what would happen if God interrupted our prayers one day:

(Video from COR)

We'll watch it again at the end of our series.

Our Father in heaven may your holy name be honoured…

This Sunday we are dealing with the first section of the Lord's Prayer, a section which establishes the identity of the one to whom we are speaking.

It sounds strange, but I know who I am because I know who the people around me are.

For instance.

To you Zack is a child.

To me – he is my child.

Because he is my son, I am his father.  If he wasn't my son, I wouldn't be a Father at all.

We are who we are because of our relationships with others.  And so in the first part of the Lord's prayer we speak about that relationship.

Father

One of the terms Jesus uses in his prayer is Father.

Father is a word of relationship

He doesn't say: "O great spirit," our "Hail power of the universe", or whatever other titles you could imagine for someone or something like a God… but a relationship word.

Father.

A word that says as much about who we are as it says about who we are speaking to.

I can not call God Father without implying that I am a son – you can not call God Father without implying that you are a daughter.

Father is a special term of address

Children have the attention of their parents, lots of people call me Angus, but there is only one (so far) who can call me Dad.

And when a child speaks to a parent – especially when it is important – a parent knows to listen, and listens not only with logic, but also with love and compassion.

With a desperate desire to answer parents go out of their way – sacrifice a lot – in order for their children to have what they need.

There are few parents who would not sacrifice their own lives for their children.

If God is your Father, you are his apprentice

In Jesus' culture children imitate parents – if your father was a carpenter, you became a carpenter.  Children were apprenticed to their parents.

John 5:19

"…the Son can do nothing on his own; he does only what he sees his Father doing.  What the father does, the Son also does…"

Part of calling God, 'Father' is saying – I want to be like you.

God is not a man

Finally, for thousands of years the study of scripture, the leadership of the church, society has been male dominated.  This imbalance created the impression that God had a specific gender - Male.

Since the seventies women began to point to the passages that remind us about the fact that God as God is not of a specific gender…

Genesis 1:27

"So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them."

In John's (3:16) gospel people are invited to be reborn.  Can a man give birth?

In Isaiah 66:13

"As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you…"

To restrict our image of God to specifically male is not only Biblically inaccurate, but it is idolatrous… reducing God so much bigger than our thoughts to our own human constraints.

*  *  *

Some prefer to call God 'Mother' when they say this prayer, sometimes in our prayers I will say God our Father and our Mother.  In a country like South Africa where so many homes have been robbed of their fathers, through migrant labour and struggle, mothers have become what Jesus meant in his culture, in his day, when he called God father.

*  *  *

Language is never able to fully describe God – God is too big, but language helps to point us in the right direction.

*  *  *

Most importantly – our prayer begins with a realisation of who we are talking to, and what kind of conversation this is.

One between a loving parent, and a child (usually one in desperate need)...

Heaven

The next word that strikes us: "Heaven".

For most of us the word heaven means: the place you go when you're dead (if you're good).

But for Jews of Jesus day – for whom the possibility of life after death was still a hotly debated issue, heaven is not about life after death, but it is the place from which God rules the earth, the throne room of God.

Psalm 11:4:

"The LORD is in his holy temple;
the LORD's throne is in heaven."

'Father in heaven' juxtaposes two terms.  Father – gentle and intimate, loving parent.  And Heaven – King of Kings, Lord of Lord's, magnificent and powerful.

It reminds us how bold we are to call God 'Father', how privileged we are to be his children.

*  *  *

It also reminds us that the one we are talking to is powerful – ruling all creation, above all other gods.  Power, matched with love – a combination that guarantees the truth that this God is worth praying to.

*  *  *

Father in heaven

Prayer begins in an intimate relationship, with a loving and powerful God – and in prayer we become apprentices to the one we pray to.

Holy Name

Hallowed be your name.

This line reminds us of the commandment:  (In the Good News Translation)

"Do not use my name for evil purposes, for I, the LORD your God, will punish anyone who misuses my name."

(Deut 5:11)

This is a terrifying command, a frightening prayer – may your name be honoured.

Eugene Petersen in The Message translates this as: "Reveal who you are."

It is not about people going Ooh Gawd on TV – I often get letters and petitions that people want me to sign asking TV not to do that.

It is more about using God's name to authorise the evil that we do.

*  *  *

I worry about political parties that claim God's authority for their policies…  I worry when we exclude and discriminate against people in the 'name of God'.

I worry that at one stage in this country we tried to claim God's authority for apartheid.

I worry that we as a Christian community do not bring honour and glory to who God is, but rather bring shame.

*  *  *

The apostle Peter tells us to,

"Yet if any of you suffers as a Christian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear this name."

May your name be holy.

Help us to remember who you are – and as the people who carry your name – let us bring honour to it.

Our

I saved the best for last.

The Lord's prayer begins with 'our'.

Not 'my'.

Whenever we pray, wherever we pray, no matter what the situation – we never pray alone.

Our

If you and I speak of the same father that makes me your brother and you my sister.

As different as we may be.  As different as we may think and look – we are adopted by the same Father in heaven whose name is Holy.

Conclusion

I invite you to begin praying the Lord's prayer this week.  The earliest Christians prayed it three times a day, morning, midday and bedtime.

Try it.

Pause to think, line by line, about what it means to you and for you as you pray.

Then I believe we will begin to be transformed and we will see the Kingdom of God in this place.

Amen

---

^c we need; or for today; or for tomorrow.

^d Some manuscripts add For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory for ever. Amen.

^[1]American Bible Society. (1992). The Holy Bible : The Good news Translation (2nd ed.) (Mt 6:8-13). New York: American Bible Society.

Last Epiphany B - Transfiguration

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I'm a big fan of Vida e Coffee – maybe an addict.

But being a bit cheap – the one thing that bothers me is the fact that the Vida e Café where they sell Vida e Coffee don't display their prices.

You feel a bit like – if you asked them to tell you the price, they would say:

"Well if you had to ask, you probably couldn't afford it."

Like when you see houses and cars advertised in the paper with the letters POA underneath.

Price

On

Application

In other words: "If you have to ask, you probably can't afford it."

Price On Application

In the passage from Mark just before the one we read today Jesus says to his disciples:

"If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross…"

Jesus clearly advertises the cost of following him.  

And Mark writes a gospel for the church at a time when people are asking, "Is following Jesus really worth what it is costing us?"

In Corinthians Paul and Timothy say about their ministry:

"We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed."

Why do Christians continue – even though the cost of following Jesus is so high?  Why can Paul and Timothy say ther are afflicted, but not crushed, perplexed, but not depressed, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down – but not destroyed.

Feeling the Cost

When Mark wrote his gospel the church was beginning understand what it meant when Jesus said 'take up your cross.'

Most citizens of Rome had to participate in the religions of the Roman Empire but Jews were exempted from these practices as long as they prayed for and made offerings on behalf of the emperor at the temple in Jerusalem.

At first, Christians were able to share in the same privileges.

But soon the Christian and Jewish movements became clearly separated, Christians rejected some of the details of Mosaic Law.  Jews grew more horrified at what they saw as Christianity's blasphemous claims about Jesus being the Messiah – the Son of God.

Christians fell outside of Jewish protection and began to be regarded as a threat by the authorities…  

In Acts 17:7 we read that in Thessalonica people stir up trouble for Paul and Silas by saying that they "say that there is another king, one called Jesus."

Romans wanted people to say: "Caesar is Lord!" but Christians said Jesus was.

Being a Christian became a bit like being a Sharks supporter in a Stormer's crowd, wearing a Freedom Front T-shirt at an ANC rally.

It marked you as an outsider.

The cost of following Jesus was becoming clear – and people began to ask: "Is it worth it?"

I am sure that many fell away.

*  *  *

What emerged was the need for a robust faith – they needed to know that Jesus was worth following.

Costly decisions have to be carefully thought through.

Mark's Argument

I think Mark writes down his gospel in answer to the question: Is Jesus worth following?

In his answer he includes three important strands of who Jesus is and plaits them together…

One strand:  Jesus' wise teaching.
Another:  Jesus' miraculous power.
Third:  The witness of God to his authority.  On two occasions God's voice proclaims: "This is my son."

Wise teaching without the other two – power and authority – would make Jesus just another philosopher.

Miraculous power without the other two – wisdom and authority – would make Jesus just another fancy magician – just a great physician.

Authority – without the other two, power and wisdom – a lot of people claim to have a lot of authority.

*  *  *

But even with these three chords to his argument the picture remains incomplete…

The question: "Is he worth following?" remains unanswered.

*  *  *

Following him would be quite convenient – he has the power to heal and restore – he does stuff for us.

Following him would be enlightening; he has a philosophy of life that, as difficult as it is to follow, loving your neighbour is hard work, could change the world. 

On top of that, following him would be the right thing to do – God's voice from heaven says: "This is my Son, whom I love.  Listen to him!" – God commands it.

*  *  *

It would be right, enlightening and convenient (in some ways), but our humanity demands something more; especially when following is costly to us.

By grace, God gives us freedom – we were created with an independent spirit, an eagerness to test and evaluate, to decide for ourselves.  God, in God's mercy opens himself to our judgment and speculation.

We are not forced to say "you are worthy to be followed."

But we are asked to decide if he is worth following.

And even with these three very convincing arguments, power, wisdom and authority the disciples will still only follow Jesus so far and no further.

Judas will betray.

Peter will deny.

The disciples will flee.

And we – well we will not really allow our religion to inconvenience us too much.  We'll love the neighbours that we enjoy loving – pray when the mood takes us – and give away what we can really do without, but we'll never give away anything we think we need.

Transfiguration

So we read in Mark 9:2-7 an account of the transfiguration of Jesus.

Mark inserts the story of transfiguration here – at this point in his gospel as a climax.

On a mountain top, the appearance of Jesus is transformed before Peter, James and John.  Hi clothes become dazzling white and with him appear Moses and Elijah.

Moses – leader and liberator – the name behind the first five books of the Bible.  Israel's most influential leader ever.  Powerful and wise and backed by God's authority.

Elijah the prophet – miracle worker – a symbol of God's voice speaking to humanity.

Jesus is at his most obviously powerful – he has the authority of the Law and the Prophets…

His clothes – whiter than any bleach could bleach them – his true identity as the Son of Man shining through.

*  *  *

No wonder Peter wants to set up some shelters.

I think he imagines this place as a new throne room for the Kingdom of God – the nations streaming in to hear the wise Judgment of Jesus, Elijah and Moses…

Wisdom, power and authority like no other.  There would be no question…

*  *  *

But coming down the mountain, Jesus orders his disciples –

tell no one, until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.

And just before this passage:

"The Son of Man must undergo great suffering and be rejected… and killed, and after three days rise again."

The Cross

This climax of power, wisdom and authority are bracketed by news of the cross.

Jesus' wisdom, power and authority will only make sense once he has gone to the cross.

A fourth strand to Mark's witness to Jesus – a strand that ties wisdom, power and authority together.  Only after the cross are we able to say in response to the question:

"Is he worth following?"

"Yes he is worthy."

Only after the cross are the disciples able to exercise their faith with integrity – even to death.  Because Jesus is worth following.

To power, authority and wisdom Jesus has added love.

"No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends."

- John 15:13

Love that lays down it's life.

And we, with Timothy and Paul, who's decision to follow Jesus is costing them – they are afflicted, perplexed, depressed, persecuted, struck down…are able to say: "Yes – he is worthy."

He, Jesus is worth following.

And they will keep on following without being defeated.

*  *  *

The answer is not in Jesus' power, not his wisdom nor his authority – but in his love made real on the cross.

Lent

This is the last Sunday before the beginning of lent.

A time when Christians traditionally prepare themselves for Easter. 

A chance to meditate on Jesus' road to the cross, his death – and finally - on Easter Sunday, his resurrection.

The early church would baptise new disciples on Easter Sunday and use the period of lent as preparation for their baptism.

*  *  *

I invite us to think about how we should renew our commitment to following Jesus this Lent and Easter.

Has our faith become too convenient?

Being a church goer is nice.  We meet nice people, we hear interesting words preached, we sing and dance and its fun.

But are we willing to stretch ourselves a bit further.

To let our faith cost us something.

To take up a new challenge.

To follow Jesus when it is difficult.

To follow Jesus in a way that causes us to stop and say: "Is this really worth while?"

*  *  *

Perhaps that challenge is quite simple:

The challenge to pray more, to give more – to love more.

To be more helpful at home.

To read scripture.

To move out of our comfort zones.

To be sexually disciplined.

To learn to love people who are different to us.

All of these things.

Costly to us.

Maybe that would be the beginning.

The end might be a total change in direction an upset of our priorities as we give all of ourselves, our lives and our possessions over to God to serve him.

Has our faith become too difficult?

On the other hand – we might be at the point of giving up.  Tired of the inconvenience of trying to follow Jesus.  Tired of loving people with nothing in return.  Tired of investing our lives into the work of the Kingdom with no visible return.  Tired of saying no to people who ask us to do things that we know we shouldn't.

Then – at this time of Lent, as we reflect on Jesus road to the cross.

I pray that we will know his companionship – and though we are pressed, perplexed, persecuted, and struck down – we will know the joy – with Paul and Timothy of not being:

Crushed, depressed, abandoned or destroyed.

And always carry in our body, the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be revealed.

Then, I believe we will begin to see the Kingdom of God here in this place. 

Epiphany 5B - Demons

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Introduction

In a Psychology course I attended there was a woman who sat near the front of the lecture theatre. 

Our lecturer would described a certain illness – like catatonic schizophrenia – or whatever else it was for the day, he would speak a bit about the possible avenues of therapy.

At the end he would ask: "Any questions?"

Without fail she would be first with her hand up – standing up so she couldn't be ignored:

"Has anyone tried exorcism…"

There would be a collective groan from the class – and our lecturer – patiently and diplomatically would say something like:

"Sometimes religious experience produces a change in people's behaviour or symptoms, but exorcism is no longer a big part of treating mental illness.  We now know many of the physiological causes of people's symptoms."

There is a scientific explanation for these things.

*  *  *

Many people, have been caused a lot of pain by those who claim to cure us by exorcising our demons.

*  *  *

We often explain what we don't understand by 'blaming it on the devil' or some or other super natural cause.

People claiming to be Christians (and sometimes I think (strangely enough) with the best intentions) have killed people with their superstition – literally. 

Even in South Africa today people are murdered and abused because of accusations of witchcraft and superstition.

Mark 1:29-39

What struck me as I read these scriptures was Jesus' engagement with demons. 

In John's gospel there is no mention of demons or exorcism – probably because the idea didn't feature in the culture of John's audience – but in Mark, and the gospels that used Mark as a source (Luke and Matthew) there is talk of demons and Jesus battle against the devil.

*  *  *

In the passage we read, Jesus heals Simon's mother in law and then many are brought to him at Simon's house for healing and ministry including those who 'had demons'.  Jesus heals many of the sick and drives out many demons.  Then goes on preaching in Galilee and the gospel describes his ministry as…

"…preaching in the synagogues and driving out demons."

*  *  *

For Mark's gospel Jesus battle against the forces of evil is quite significant, his ministry is described as a battle against the devil's occupying forces. 

The battle begins in chapter 1 with the defeat of their commander.

As soon as Jesus is baptised he goes to the desert to be tempted by Satan – he doesn't give in – he comes out victorious.

He then calls some disciples and immediately encounters a demon possessed man at the synagogue in Capernaum.

He casts out the demon which says to Jesus:

"What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth?  Are you here to destroy us?  I know who you are – you are God's holy messenger."

Jesus orders the demon to be quiet and leave.

People are amazed at how swiftly and neatly Jesus deals with a demon in the synagogue:

"What is this?  Is it some kind of new teaching?  This man has authority to give orders to the evil spirits, and they obey him!"

No one has ever seen such authority – such power over that which is evil.

Jesus goes through the land, preaching the good news, the gospel message – a new King is in power, the old King is defeated, and driving out demons.

As if he is shooing goats out of a garden – birds out of a fruit tree – flies from a picnic lunch.

What about Demons?

I think we know that Jesus speaks in Jesus' days in Jesus' ways…

Part of his being 'fully human' meant that he knew just as much science as the people of his time knew.  He did not know that water was two parts Hydrogen and one part Oxygen, he didn't reminisce about forming the planets with his Father and the Holy Spirit at the dawn of creation…

Jesus only knew what he needed to know in order to be obedient to the Father.

*  *  *

Pre-scientific people attributed a lot of things that aren't easily explained to spiritual causes.

Storms on the lake – caused by spirits or by God, not a high pressure here and low pressure there. 

Strange, inexplicable behaviour had to have a personal, spiritual cause.  If you were depressed – you were oppressed by a Spirit.

If in anger you became violent – it could be explained as spiritual torment.

*  *  *

Does this mean that what was described as a demon in the 1^st century can be explained away scientifically in the 21^st?

*  *  *

I don't think so. 

Because I think in our experience of the world we live in we are conscious of something like a demonic force.

Language and science are not enough to explain what we experience in the world around us and in us as evil – so we use a kind of poetry.

"The demon of addiction"

That force that is inside of us that's so powerful it seems to come from outside and overpower us…

"The demon of violence"

When we hear of the things people do in war – I am still traumatized by an article I read a while ago about a child who saw his parents hacked to death…

What causes people to act in ways that seem contrary to everything that is human inside of us?

What is it – is it the devil, a demon or some sort of chemical imbalance?

To tell you the truth I don't really know.

But I know one thing that comes up loud and clear, in the gospels in the Old Testament and in the new – that in the name of Jesus the demons (whatever they are or however we may explain them) flee, diseases are healed and people are restored to the image in which God intended them to live and that is what is important.

The Devil is not the opposite of God

Too many people have defined the Devil as the opposite of God.

As if there was an equal and opposite evil to all the good that God is.

It leads to a defeatist attitude.

Who am I to challenge this evil?

Woe is me?

The devil made me do it…

We will never be able to deal with poverty.

We will never be able to get rid of evil tyrants.

We won't be able to stop crime.

We will never see the Kingdom of God in our land…

*  *  *

That is not how the scriptures teach us to see the world that a good God created.  Remember the beginning of our story: "In the beginning God created the world and he saw that it was good…"

Writing to a people who feel defeated and hopeless Isaiah asks (and I skip a few verses as I read):

"Don't you know?
Were you not told?
Have you not heard how the world began?
It was made by the one who sits on his throne above the earth and beyond the sky…

To whom can the holy God be compared?
Is there any one else like him?

The Lord is the everlasting God; he created all the world.  He never grows tired or weary.  No one understands his thoughts.  He strengthens those who grow weak and tired… those who trust in the Lord will find their strength renewed."

- Isaiah 40:21-31

Too often I hear people giving the devil and his demons more credit than they deserve.  As if Yahweh the living God did not create the world and everything in it – as if Jesus didn't defeat Satan with his life death and resurrection.  As if the gospel of Jesus' victory was just a farce…

The Devil is not the opposite of God.  Demons and the devil are not that powerful.

When we grant the devil power that is not his we are drawn into superstition – watch out for Pokemon and Spiderman and be careful of this and that… watch out for those aroma therapy oils and star signs.  As if the Lord was not on his throne.  As if the demons we are up against were in children's toys and silly games.

They're not.

They're in our lust for power and wealth.  They're in our willingness to ignore our neighbours suffering.  They're in the systems that perpetuate suffering and poverty.  They're in our addictions to selfishness and prejudice.  They're in our ability to deny the evil that stares us in the face.

And they seem huge and terrifying, they seem to make their homes in us.

But I believe they are completely defeated and defeatable in Christ.

Dealing with our 'Demons'

Most of us – I think all of us – have what we would like to explain as mischievous demons.  Aspects of our characters with which we would rather not deal.  Thoughts and behaviours that destroy us and those around us.

I invite you to believe that these can be defeated, whatever their cause, overcome with the help of Christ.  Whose words to them are simply GO – and they have no choice but to flee when confronted by the one who has bound up their master.

I invite us to bring ourselves and each other to Jesus today – just as that first community did when they brought people to Simon's house when they heard Jesus was there and that there was the possibility healing.

I invite us to become a community like that.  A community of people who offer God's help to each other in our battle against that which is evil in the world.

Not in some sort of superstitious and judgmental – sensation seeking way.  But in a way that sees how God loves us and those around us and wants to see us transformed.