Category: Sermons

End-of-Times – the Prophecies

Beth - blogger, coach, consultantLeave a comment

Lectionary Readings: Nov 17, 2013

  • Luke 21: 5-19
  • Malachi 4: 1-2
  • Isaiah 12
  • Isaiah 65: 17-25

Dr. Ian Paisley, the fiery Irish cleric and politician was reputed to have been preaching one Sunday on the End Times – and in particular on the Day of Judgement.
As he reached the climax of his address he said that on the Day of Judgement “there would be wailing and gnashing of teeth”.
At which point an old woman put up her hand and said “Dr. Paisley, I have no teeth”
Paisley replied “Madam, teeth will be provided”

The French news agency, Reuters, dubbed the decade 1994-2003, “the Decade of Disasters”.  From 1994 to 2003, disasters killed 673,070 people and affected 2.58 billion people, causing $691 billion in estimated damage. In 2003 alone, 76,806 were reported killed.

Of course, all of that was before the December 26, 2004 earthquake and the resulting Tsunami, where killer waves slammed into the coastline of 11 Indian Ocean countries, resulting in at least 155,000 fatalities and 500,000 injuries. Some 5 million people lost their homes or access to food and water.

In the decade that followed we have the Haiti earthquake in 2010, with possibly as many as 159 thousand deaths. At least 3 million people were affected by this earthquake.

In March 2011, we watched in horror the breaking news and videos from the earthquake and resulting Tsunami in Japan and the Fukushima disaster. “Only” 20,000 people were killed in this disaster, with losses and rebuilding costing an estimated US$235 billion, making it the costliest natural disaster in world history.

In 2012, we have Hurricane Sandy, which once again “only” killed 199 people.  Of course, when compared to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Sandy only caused economic damage, not the devastation.

Now we’re faced with the Philippine’s typhoon, with some 2,500 people confirmed dead and some 673 thousand people displaced.  I can only imagine that these families have no food, water, money, or clothing. Most no longer have homes or jobs to go back to. Therefore, they have no pay-checks coming in to provide for basic necessities. Relief efforts, unfortunately, are blocked by the debris left by the typhoon, making it difficult for emergency crews and food and supplies to get to where they are most needed.

In ongoing conflicts, we have the civil war in Syria, where according to the United Nations, the death toll reached 120,000 by September 2013.  More than 4 million Syrians have been displaced; more than 2 million Syrians fled the country.

Or what about climate change: Planet Earth stands on the cusp of disaster. This is not doom-laden talk but rather the considered opinion of 1,300 leading scientists from 95 countries who published a detailed assessment of the state of the world.  Two-thirds of the delicately-balanced ecosystems studied have suffered badly at the hands of man over the past 50 years…

Does it sound like end times to you?

In Luke 21, verse 11, we read:

“There will be great earthquakes, and there will be famines and plagues in many lands, and there will be terrifying things and great miraculous signs from heaven.”

Unfortunately, these verses from Luke 21 get worse before they get better:

9 And when you hear of wars and insurrections, don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place first, but the end won’t follow immediately.” 10 … “Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. … 12 “But before all this occurs, there will be a time of great persecution. You will be dragged into synagogues and prisons, and you will stand trial before kings and governors because you are my followers.  … 16 Even those closest to you—your parents, brothers, relatives, and friends—will betray you. They will even kill some of you. 17 And everyone will hate you because you are my followers.[c]

Looking forward to this with great expectation, are we? Do you cringe when you read these verses from Luke? Do you try to find another meaning in the words? Do you think – that’s not relevant to today’s Christian?

Part of the prophecy from Luke already came to pass:  In AD 70 Titus, a Roman general, with 80,000 men, began a siege of Jerusalem. It was a difficult city to take, set on a hill, and defended to the death. The result was famine and terror, and there were even reports of cannibalism. At the end the Holy Place was burnt down; and Titus ordered the whole city and the Temple to be razed to the ground.

How many times will we look at the signs of the times and wonder?

All the disasters Jesus talks of in this discourse in Luke’s gospel could come together at this moment, or this afternoon. Or in a million years’ time. The fact is all that these things have happened at one time or another, sometimes two or three of them simultaneously.

The Bible commentator, Fitzmeyer writes, “There are almost as many interpretations of this passage as there are heads that think about it”.

Let me put it all in perspective for you:  THE BLACK DEATH from 1338 to 1350 killed some 75 million people in 12 years!  In some countries 90% of the population was wiped out.

WARS AND RUMOURS OF WARS: our world has lived through World War I, World War II, the Cold War, Nuclear arms race, Cuban Crisis, Berlin Wall, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Africa, Iraq again, Syria, the threat of Iran…  – the list goes on and on.

There is nothing new in predictions of great catastrophe. From way before the time of Jesus right up to the present day predictions of the end of the world have come and gone and have often left people with egg on their faces.

These kinds of predictions don’t get me excited at all – I will admit, I cringed when I read the Lectionary readings for this morning.

¿This is what I have to speak about?

We should all note, Jesus refused to be drawn into speculation about the end times;  “it is not for you to know the times or the dates that the Father has set by his own authority”….

But then again… why meditate and pray when you can worry…

How are we, as Christians, meant to react to all this turmoil in our world?
Jesus instructed us to get out there, outside of our comfort zones, and preach the Kingdom of Heaven.  We are called to be “witnesses”.

13 But this will be your opportunity to tell them about me.[b] 14 So don’t worry in advance about how to answer the charges against you, 15 for I will give you the right words and such wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to reply or refute you!   18 …  not a hair of your head will perish! 19 By standing firm, you will win your souls.

See… another passage that makes me uncomfortable!  Another cringing on the inside!

But that’s what it says, “tell them about me”.
So, today I want to discuss what it means to be a Christian in times of unrest.  What does it mean to be a witness of Christ?

Let you give you this from a legal perspective:
In a Court of Law, the witness is not the defence lawyer. He or she doesn’t have to explain why something happened.  We are not here to protect or justify God or Christ.  We don’t have to “fight” for God and explain why God is right and “you are wrong”.   We are not put here on earth to “defend the Bible”.
The witness is not the prosecution lawyer either. We don’t have to try and convince people to make a decision. That’s not our job either. We don’t have to point the finger and call people sinners.  We are neither the prosecutor, nor judge, nor jury, nor executioner.  It’s not our job to judge others!
A witness is a person who can testify to what he or she has experienced or knows of first hand.  All we are called to do is to say why it has made a difference in MY LIFE.

Christians are sometimes confused into thinking that everything should go perfectly, that there should be no more difficulties.
That hasn’t been your experience?

I’m a Christian, and things are going tough – so maybe I need a little more prayer…   Or you get the guilt trip – ¿am I at fault? That’s it, if only I had more faith, the hard times would go away.

That’s not what the Bible has taught us:
It doesn’t say “take up your sack of gold and follow me”, but rather “take up your cross”.

When you put your faith in Christ you will STILL experience pressures and persecution.

Let’s consider for a moment, our perspective of inner peace: If I asked you to choose, which one of the following images conveys to you a message of inner peace, which would you choose:  a Buddhist monk meditating or a Christian on his knees praying)?

How many would say the Buddhist Monk?

How many would say the Christian?

What’s wrong with this picture????

Let me remind you of one simple fact of life:

Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react.

THAT’s what being a Christian is all about.  It’s not about “what happens to me”, but rather “how do I handle and react to these events”.

Have I found inner peace?  Can I share that peace with others?

Am I willing to persevere, knowing that the Holy Spirit has given me strength to face this? Can I encourage others to keep on “keeping on”?

It’s irrelevant whether the prophecies of the end of times are coming true right now – the ONLY question we have to answer is: Am I taking each opportunity I am given to show God’s love to my neighbour?

Charles Swindoll reminds us:

… we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. …The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude…

We can choose to worry.
We can choose to find inner peace.
Whatever we choose to do, we are called to bring God’s love and grace to people who may not have had the opportunity to experience it.

As we reach the Thanksgiving and Christmas season – I challenge each of you to take stock of your blessings, to take stock of your faith and your inner peace, and wherever you are at, that’s the place to start sharing from: whether you decide you have a lot to learn still or whether you feel that you have found peace, start sharing from there.

Creator God, we thank you for this day and for the transforming presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Lord, we pray not for tranquillity, nor that our tribulations cease; we pray for Your Spirit and Your love, and that You grant us strength and grace to overcome adversity; through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Learning from humble fishermen…

Beth - blogger, coach, consultantLeave a comment

Peter, Peter, …

Lectionary Readings:

  • Acts 5:27-32

Childhood memories, especially childhood memories from beach-houses and idyllic holidays, are usually the best moments etched in our minds. Well, not all of them…

Our school year was the US one, not the Panamanian one – at odds with all my friends.   One of the benefits, was that whenever we’d spend our holiday at the beach, we’d have the beach completely to ourselves.  Us and the fishermen.

Our beach was fabulous, except for the occasional jellyfish  It was very unusual for us to get them still alive, but their dead bodies wash up on the shore regularly.  A little scientific research, and I found the following:

even detached tentacles from the jellyfish itself can still sting and cause you pain, irritation, allergic reaction etc. It’s important to understand that the nematocysts (stinging structures found in the tentacles) can remain very active long after the jellyfish is dead, as long as two weeks.[1]

I didn’t get a live one – I got a tentacle wound around a leg.  Initially it was just pain in my calf, then on the thigh where it had stung some more, then the realisation that the leg was going numb… By this stage, my beach holiday was miserable… The pain and the fear.

What do you do? Grab your child, stick them in the car, and run off to the ER – about a 20 to 30 minute drive away.  One problem: Mum & Dad didn’t HAVE a car.  We’d been dropped off at the beach, and were to be picked up at the end of the holiday.  No cell-phone.  No phone lines. No electricity. No taxis… Just us, the beach, and a few fishermen.

So off to the fisherman’s house we go!  He was home.  He had them sit me on a stool in his dining room, and then rubbed my leg down with some oil that he had sitting in a bottle on the shelf.   Apparently, though, that wasn’t enough – the poison had been in my leg for too long already and he was worried it was going to my heart.  So he pours a glass of this oil, for me to drink.  Cod Liver Oil. All of it.  Down.  Now.

Please God, NEVER AGAIN.

One day of rest, and it’s all back to normal!

Today, I’d like to talk to you about a Fisherman you’ve probably heard about a lot:  Peter.

We find him today before the Sanhedrin, questioned by the high priest:

28 We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” … “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.

29 Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! 30 The God [that…] raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. 31 … that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. 32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.

The Peter that Jesus asked to follow him, this isn’t the same Peter we find standing before the Sanhedrin.

I can only imagine that Peter grew up in a home quite like that of the fisherman I visited.  No school. No cool electronics and gadgets. Nets mended and repaired over and over again.

And then Jesus shows up.  Peter had a choice. He left the world’s security behind him and chose to walk with Christ. … it’s a walk of faith. He left that boat, the net, the bankroll of fish and began a new fishing enterprise:   Peter and Co. Fishers of Men. “we catch ’em, God cleans ’em”

The Peter we know from the Bible was brash, bold, opinionated, emotional, volatile, quick to talk, and he made a ton of mistakes. We love him because there’s a lot of Peter in each of us. We know this Peter: he’s proud – so proud that he couldn’t possibly let Jesus wash his feet, he tells everyone what to do, he speaks and acts before he thinks, he chopped off the, and he even walked on water for a moment in true faith.   But inside, a fearful man.

And yet, Peter was to be the Rock on which the church was to be built.

We may envy the closeness he had with God: That special relationship with God; that constant communication with Him.  Like many of the other “heros” we find in the Bible:  I envy what they could accomplish for God. It was amazing how God can take these weak and imperfect individuals and do such amazing things through them that they could so greatly impact people. Unswerving faith. They trusted God when it didn’t make sense, when it wasn’t popular and when things were not going their way. They are legends that we are talking about thousands of years later because of the kind of faith that they had: “That’s the type of person that I want to be” or “that is the type of faith that I would like to have.”

Peter, this is the man:

  • When Jesus was on the mountain and was transfigured with Moses and Elijah it was Peter who wanted to stay and build shelters for all three of them.
  • When Jesus asks: “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”, and then followed by the questions: “But what about you, Who do you say I am?” Peter is the only one to respond: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
  • When Jesus told Peter he was going to be killed it was Peter who said he would die with him. It was Peter who assured Jesus that even if everyone else denied him he wouldn’t.
  • It was Peter who drew his sword and cut off Malchus’ ear as the soldiers came to arrest Jesus.

Peter’s greatest desire was to be with Jesus – we see this when he walks on water:

  • The disciples are out to sea and there is a great storm around them. These experienced fishermen, they were afraid. Jesus walks out on the water towards them. Peter speaks up and says, “Lord, if it is you, tell me to come to you on the water.” Peter wanted to get to Jesus. And yet, even when Peter stepped out of the boat, and he became afraid because of the wind, taking his eyes off of Jesus and sinking. He cried out some of the most amazing words in the entire Bible: “Lord, save me”. Three simple words so packed with meaning.

When Jesus asks if the disciples will turn their backs on him, it’s Peter that responds:   “to whom shall we go, you alone have the words of eternal life, we believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

Then we see Peter, at the height of Jesus’ popularity and triumphant entry into Jerusalem.  Celebrating and happy that HE is on the side of the Messiah.

I can just imagine him:  “Yeah, I’m one of his disciples.  You know, I’ve known him probably the longest out of all of us.  And I’ve got an inside track with him, ‘cos I’m important, you know.  I was picked to be one of the elite, of this special force that’s with him.”  Chest puffed out.

And so, imagine Peter’s complete confusion when Jesus, somehow, before his eyes, changes.  Jesus starts to talk about death.  And how salvation isn’t going to be war or rebellion.  There’s not going to be any glory in battle.   He’s going to go to the cross.

The same Peter that sworn that he would never turn his back on Jesus and that he would follow him to the death – suddenly he doesn’t recognise Jesus any more.  This isn’t what I signed up for – we’ve supposed to triumph – we’ll be famous.  What on EARTH are you talking about?   How is your death supposed to help our cause?

And so we find Peter, doing exactly as Jesus told him that he would: denying him three times. After Jesus was handed over to the Pharisees and the Romans, Peter stuck around to watch. Three times he was recognized as one of Jesus’ disciples, and three times Peter denied it, even cursing the name of Jesus.

And then Jesus looked into his eyes.  I can’t imagine the pain of the moment: because I’m sure that in Christ’s look there was no accusation.  Not even pity.  It would have been a look of love “it’s okay, I understand, and I forgive you”.  Not I told you so.

All his bravado and declarations, gone.  On the most important night of his life—on the most important night in history—Peter, “the Rock,” sat alone in a dark corner weeping. This wasn’t common place for him. He was a strong self-reliant fisherman. He was bold! He was courageous! And now, he was completely undone. The Rock had been shattered.

And it’s only upon that shattered Rock that Jesus can build the church.  Peter needed to stop trusting in the physical, in his strength, in his motivation, in his way of seeing the world, and accept that there was another way.  Peter had human courage, but he lacked spiritual courage.  He was brave, but only as far as he had control of the situation.

Every single day we make choices that show whether we are courageous or cowardly. We choose between the right thing and the convenient thing, sticking to a conviction or caving in for the sake of comfort, greed or approval. We choose to believe in God and trust him, even when we do not always understand his ways, or to second-guess him and try to do it on human strength.

When we’ve been broken and then revived by the Holy Spirit, we will follow in spite of the masses; we’ll be faithful in spite of public opinion; powerful in spite of the lukewarm standards.

That’s the Peter we find standing before the Sanhedrin.  The one that has been purified by the fire of trials and knows what he really looks like on the inside – has thrown “himself” away and allowed himself to be filled by the Holy Spirit.

Most of us are like the Buddhist scholar that comes to see the Zen Master.  An expert: we talk about our extensive doctrinal backgrounds and how much we’ve studied and learned.  And the master listens patiently and makes tea. When it’s ready, he pours it into the scholar’s cup, until it’s overflowing and runs over the floor. 

The scholar jumps up, crying “Stop, stop! The cup is full: you can’t get any more in.” 

And the master replied: “You are like this cup: you are full of your own ideas of the way.  You come and ask for teaching, but your cup is already full.  I can’t put anything in it. Before I can teach you, you have to empty your cup.” 

If we want to be filled with the Spirit of God, and let like Peter, we need to allow Jesus to shatter the rock of our own illusions of grandeur.

Mother’s Day

Beth - blogger, coach, consultantLeave a comment

Mothers…

Lectionary Readings (December 9, 2012):

What is a Mother?

A Mother has so many things to do,
From washing, ironing, cleaning to tying a shoe.
She scrubs, she mends, she cooks and sews,
She bathes the children and washes their clothes.
When they forget to wash their faces clean,
And their clothes are the muddiest you’ve ever seen,
Who repairs the clothes and scrubs them like new?
Of course, that is what a Mother will do.

Who becomes the doctor or the nurse when they are ill,
Applying a bandage or giving them a pill?
Who becomes a teacher when a child has homework?
She must never her duty shirk.
Who becomes a detective to find a toy or a book?
For missing things she must look and look?
Who becomes a listener to every heartache,
To every accomplishment that a child makes?
Who scolds their children when they are naughty,
Or remind them of God when they are too haughty?
Who tends her family with love and patience, too?
Of course that is what a Mother will do.
– Unknown

The Hebrew word translated as “mother” in our Bibles was “AME” – which means “the bond of the family” or “the force that strengthens and holds things together”.  Mum’s the glue that holds the family together – and when we recognize this, we can joyfully exclaim “Mothers are a special gift from God”.

George Washington is attributed as having said:

My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her

President Abraham Lincoln believed:

All that I am or hope to be I owe to my angel mother. I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.

I have been blessed with that Christian mother that has prayed for me – however many thousand miles away I may go or wherever I may be, I know that I am always in her thoughts and prayers.

Many of you will have heard the story of Tony Campolo’s wife, a brilliant woman: She has a PHD & is capable of pursuing a very profitable career. But she elected to stay home with her children when they were young.  Her decision didn’t bother her at all except when other women would ask, “What do you do?” She would answer, “I’m a homemaker. I stay home & take care of my children & my husband.”

They would usually respond with “Oh” & then ignore her from then on.  So Mrs. Campolo came up with this response when she was asked what she did: “I’m socializing two Homo-sapiens in Judeo-Christian values so they’ll appropriate the eschatological values of utopia. And what do you do?” They would often blurt out “I’m a doctor” or “I’m a lawyer” & then wander off with a dazed look in their eyes.

Our mothers – even long after we’ve grown up and moved out of home – they are still caring for us.  So, when we read in Philippians:

It’s not at all fanciful for me to think this way about you. My prayers and hopes have deep roots in reality. You have, after all, stuck with me all the way ….

We remember that mothers make sacrifices –over the years we have experienced the sacrifice that our mothers made and come to appreciate how Mother has stuck with us all the way – through our mistakes and our life lessons, through the ups and downs.

These verses from Philippians could have been written from a mother to a child or from a child back to their mother:

Every time you cross my mind, I break out in exclamations of thanks to God! Each exclamation is a trigger to prayer. I find myself praying for you with a glad heart. I am so pleased that you have kept on believing and proclaiming God’s Message, from the day you heard it right up to the present. There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish on the very day Christ Jesus appears.

It’s not at all fanciful for me to think this way about you. My prayers and hopes have deep roots in reality. You have, after all, stuck with me all the way …. All along you have experienced with me the most generous help from God. He knows how much I love and miss you these days. ….

So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. … You … use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. You live a lover’s life, circumspect and exemplary, a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.

Notice first and foremost what is front and centre of this prayer: love.

Love should be the central focus of our relationships – with our mother, with our children, with our family, with others in the church, with strangers around us.  As Christians, it should be ASSUMED that the one characteristic that we possess is this:  LOVE.

I John 4: 8 says that “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love,” and Jesus summed up the entire law and the prophets as “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind;” and, “Love your neighbour as yourself.”

In Galatians 5: 2, love is listed as one of the fruit of the Spirit and it is such an important fruit, and so central to a Christian’s spiritual life that, in first Corinthians 2, he goes so far as to say that all other spiritual gifts are useless without it.

In his letter to the Colossians Paul says that love is the very thing that binds together all other Christian virtues, including but not limited to: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.[1]

Paul begins his prayer with the love of the Philippian church. And he prays that this “love may abound…”, that it may overflow.  Think of the recent rains in Panama, and imagine a small stream after those days of rain — the stream is completely flooding and spilling over its banks. Paul is praying that our love might overflow — not just once, but continually overflowing: more and more.

It’s easy to forget about the love that others have shown for us – we can so easily focus on the negative things about others (their neglect or their failures), but Mother’s day is a time when we remember the good things, and with this day we celebrate the faithfulness of our Mother’s love:  Mothers who show their love and concern in phone calls and cards; perhaps even in reproof.

The verses in Philippians also remind us of how our mothers have never given up on us.  I can just imagine my Mum saying over the phone or writing to me in a letter or email:

There has never been the slightest doubt in my mind that the God who started this great work in you would keep at it and bring it to a flourishing finish…

God doesn’t start a project or change in our lives and then scrap it – while there may be many aspects of my character (impatience, irritation, passive-aggressive tendencies, etc.) that need shaping and I have a long way to go – God keeps on whittling away.  And Mum keeps right on praying that the changes will be completed for my good.

Our mothers are joyful about our growth and maturity, because they trust in God to make people better.  Mothers are constantly in prayer, and waiting for God to work… watching with joyful anticipation to see how every our changed attitude encourages others to want to be better.  They believe… even when they aren’t seeing those immediate results.

Our mothers shape our faith in God and teach us to pray.  I read about the case of the notorious sceptic, Robert Ingersoll.  When he was in his heyday, two college students went to hear him lecture.

As they walked down the street after the lecture, one said to the other,

“Well, I guess he knocked the props out from under Christianity, didn’t he?”

The other said,

“No, I don’t think he did. Ingersoll did not explain my mother’s life, and until he can explain my mother’s life I will stand by my mother’s God.”

Doctor Ursula Anderson puts forth the theory that mothers have a key role in the effort of taking the violence out of this world.[2] Mothers have the delicate mission of shaping the child’s life in the first years: they are widely recognized as being the strongest single influence in a person’s life.

The following poem reminds us of the importance of how Mum’s life teaches her children:

THE ONE WHO FOLLOWS ME

A careful mother I ought to be,
A little one is following me.
I do not dare to go astray,
For fear she’ll go the self-same way.
I cannot once escape her eyes,
Whatever she sees me do, she tries.
Like me she says she’s going to be,
That little one who follows me.
She thinks that I am good and fine,
Believes in every word of mine.
The base in me she must not see,
That little one who follows me.
I must remember as I go
through summer’s sun and winter’s snow
I am building for the years to be
that little one who follows me.

I remember as a child trying to follow in Mum or Dad’s footsteps – because they were so much bigger and taller, their legs were longer – you might have to hop between each step to be able to step in the next footprint.  But for some reason, as a child, we are driven to try to follow in those footsteps – we want to be like them.

Our mothers pray for us, like Paul did for his young church in Philippians:

So this is my prayer: that your love will flourish and that you will not only love much but well. … You … use your head and test your feelings so that your love is sincere and intelligent, not sentimental gush. You live a … circumspect and exemplary (life), a life Jesus will be proud of: bountiful in fruits from the soul, making Jesus Christ attractive to all, getting everyone involved in the glory and praise of God.

As we grow and mature into adults, the prayers offered by our mother for us change – that we will become the adults who shape the next generation, that offer that safe haven for others.

I want to finish this morning with:

Mother’s Love

Her love is like an island
In life’s ocean, vast and wide
A peaceful, quiet shelter
From the wind, the rain, the tide.
‘Tis bound on the north by Hope,
By Patience on the West,
By tender Counsel on the South
And on the East by Rest.
Above it like a beacon light
Shine Faith, and Truth, and Prayer;
And thro’ the changing scenes of life
I find a haven there.
– Author Unknown

[1] Colossians 3:14

[2] Where Is God In Why We Are the Way We Are

The Submissive / Obedient Woman

Beth - blogger, coach, consultantLeave a comment

Lectionary Readings (November 11, 2012):

Our lectionary readings, both last week and this week, include the story of Ruth, King David’s great-grandmother.  We didn’t touch on this last week, so this week I thought I would go ahead and give you a short look at the story of Ruth.

We may ask ourselves, as we might with the story of Esther, “Why was Ruth included in the Bible at all?” Where is God mentioned in this book – apart from Naomi’s grieving comment “the hand of the Lord has gone out against me”?

Scholars find that the book of Ruth was written as a historical novelette (theological and didactic historiography – in that it reconstructs historical events to some degree, but it tells the history by means of imaginative literary devices for the purpose of religious instruction and inspiration), and so it is both entertaining and instructive, and composed either during or shortly after the reign of King David.[1]

But the actual story which is told takes place during the time of Judges, in the final decades of that turbulent age, while there was yet “no king in Israel”, in the middle of a famine.  In stark contrast to the book of Judges, with scenes of crimes against God and man: treachery, brutal wars, massacres, cities in ruins – Ruth sheds a ray of light, piety, fidelity, social responsibility and rural tranquility.  It’s the story of a normal person, facing everyday domestic crises which frequently arise in the everyday life of an ordinary person.

And so

  • Elimelech (meaning, interestingly enough, “my God is King”),
  • his wife Naomi (whose name means “favour, delight, loveliness, beauty, and is regarded as having favour with God and man”),
  • and their two sons (Mahlon and Chilion) emigrate to the nearby country of Moab.  Clearly these two names are simply metaphors – Mahlon means “sick” and Chilion means “weakening or pining”.  Would you really name your children “sickness” and “wasting”.

They settle there, Elimelech dies, and the sons marry two Moabite women.  Mahlon marries Ruth and Chilion marries Orpah.

Little is known of the Moabite language, and so it is difficult to determine the precise meaning of the names Ruth and Orpah.  And yet, Orpah is related to the Hebrew word for neck, as used figuratively in the phrase “stiff necked or stubborn”; while Ruth, on the other hand, appears to be a contracted form of a noun, which in Hebrew means “companionship, friendship, fellowship”.

Unfortunately, in a tragic series of events, Mahlon and Chilion both die, leaving Naomi without her sons or husband.  Naomi’s pain is evident when she tells her daughter-in-law: “it is exceedingly bitter to me… that the hand of the Lord has gone out against me.”  There will be times in our lives, like Naomi, when the hardest four words for us to pray will be from the Lord’s Prayer: “Thy will be done.”

And so Naomi decides to return to Israel, and she tells her daughter-in-laws to return to their own families and remarry.  Under their mother’s case and direction, the two young widows would have assumed their premarital status, making them eligible to remarry.

Orpah reluctantly agrees, while Ruth begs Naomi to allow her to stay and to return to Israel with her.  In a passionate declaration, Ruth says to Naomi:

For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge.  Your people shall be my people and your God my God.  Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried.  May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.2

Naomi, who had left Bethlehem with the name “my gracious one”, returns and asks to be call Mara “the bitter one”, in sorrow for all she had lost, perhaps too caught up in her sorrow to realise that she had brought her blessing back with her (as we will see later).

And so we find Ruth, gleaning in the fields, after the reapers.  Under the law, the sojourner, the fatherless and the widow were allowed to gather the stalks of grain which the reapers had missed or dropped – it was a simple part of the everyday life, which ensured that the poor were cared for out of the abundance of the nation’s wealth.

But Ruth was given a special treatment.  Boaz, the land owner, asked about her, and then came and said to her:

Now, listen, my daughter, do not go to glean in another field or leave this one, but keep close to my young women.  Let your eyes be on the field that they are reaping, and go after them.  Have I not charged the young men not to touch you? And when you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn.[3]

When Ruth asks why he is being so kind, she receives a very simple reply:

All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me… the Lord repay you for what you have done, and full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge![4]

And Boaz goes further than this – he even instructs the reapers to intentionally drop more sheaves for Ruth to pick up, letting her work among the sheaves, not behind his maidens, and ensures that she is given bread and wine during the lunch.

Naomi is pleasantly surprised with the outcome, as Ruth has had a very successful day gleaning.  And upon learning of Boaz’s special interest in Ruth, Naomi then contrives to get Ruth married to Boaz by invoking her kinship with him.  She tells Ruth what to do and where to go, and Ruth follows her instructions.

Now the marriage of Ruth and Boaz was of a type known as a Levirate marriage.  Since there is no heir to inherit Elimelech’s land, levirate custom would have required her husband’s brother (but since he was dead also, then the next of kin), to marry the widow in order to continue the family line.  It was particularly important in Israel for the land to stay in the family.  If the family mortgaged the land, a kinsman was required to purchase it back into the family.  So, in this case, whoever married Ruth would pay Naomi for the property, but the property would then be inherited by Ruth’s child, in the name of her original spouse.  So there was a financial cost involved in this kinsman’s redemption.

Naomi sends Ruth to sleep at Boaz’ feet, after he’s had his wine and celebrated that the crops are in, taking a chance that Boaz may take advantage of her, but instead, Boaz helps Naomi and Ruth through the rituals of the inheritance, after which he marries Ruth.

Ruth ends with “and they lived happily ever after” –

… she bore a son. 14 Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the Lord, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel! 15 He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.” 16 Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse. 17 And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed… which means “servant”)

What’s interesting is that the book of Ruth is in stark contrast to the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, which demanded that the Jews divorce their foreign wives.  If we consider that the book of Ruth was originally placed next to Ezra and Nehemiah, we can understand how petty and short-sighted this policy of racial purity was.  More importantly, Ruth showed that not only could a foreigner be fully assimilated, but more importantly they might be God’s instrument for a higher good.

You may be wondering at this point, why did I put the title of my sermon as “the Submissive/Obedient Woman”.  All I’ve done so far is shared with you this historical novelette we find in Ruth.

Lessons:

So, let’s consider the lessons we can learn from Ruth.  I’ve grouped these into:

  1.  The general lessons applicable to all of us
  2. The lessons from Naomi’s life
  3. The lessons from Boaz; and finally
  4. The lessons from Ruth

Let’s start with the general lessons:

  • God’s love applies to everyone – there is no distinction of race, gender, marital status or religion. Ruth teaches us inclusivity, when a young woman voluntarily embraces another people, land, culture and, most importantly, God.   It is the perfect example of a true belief in the Creator God, even in the ancient world of the Israelites where separation is made obvious between the Israelites and the Gentiles.  This inclusivity transcends all cultural and racial boundaries, with the objective of unity the human race: Unity under God.
  • No one is beyond the reach of God’s grace – whenever we turn to God, we will find our Creator there, with His arms open wide to receive us.
  • God knows and provides for the needs of His people.  The book of Ruth reminds of His merciful providence for all who fear and trust in Him.  Our Creator knows who we are and where we came from.  No part of our life, however minute, escapes His notice.

How about the lessons from Naomi’s life?

  • How to relate with your daughters-in-law – there is obviously a lot of love between the three women.  When the girls had come to live with her and her sons, they were obviously welcomed into the home and became like daughters to her.  Her love for these two women is obvious in the tears cried when she decides to leave and return to Bethlehem.
  • We can’t overlook the fact that God is working in our lives, even when we are unaware of His activity.  We may choose to be miserable and feel that God has abandoned us, but even then God is working in ways that we can’t see for our benefit.
  • This story of broken hearts shows just how important the events of our lives are in God’s eyes – important enough to become a book of the Bible.
  • Even in Naomi’s grief, it’s obvious that before this she must have had an amazing testimony of belief in God – strong enough to convince Ruth to say:  “where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge.  Your people shall be my people and your God my God.” Even if in her grief Naomi had forgotten her faith in God, her life had been a testimony of her faith.
  • From Naomi we learn of God’s providential care: from destitute widow, to holding her foster-child in her arms.

Lessons we can learn from Boaz:

  • Boaz ensured that his fields were available to the sojourner, the widows and the fatherless – he was his brother’s keeper in the widest sense of the word.  He didn’t know who was gleaning his fields after the reapers went through, but he accepted that this was his responsibility and charity.
  • Boaz is a model of altruism – as Christians we usually use the term “loving-kindness”.  He promoted the well-being of others.
  • We also learn from Boaz integrity – his high stature is not only based on his wealth, but also on his benevolence.  While having the opportunity to take advantage of Ruth, he treats her with respect and sends her home knowing that he will deal with the issue formally with his kinsman.  He acts with authority at the town gate, providing his kinsman with the opportunity to purchase the family land.

Lessons we can learn from Ruth:

  • There is value in unselfish virtue in times of trial – we don’t know Naomi’s physical condition or what made Ruth decide to go with her. But there was obviously a feeling of needing to protect and take care of Naomi, and accompany her and ensure that she was going to be alright.
  • Ruth also teaches us the dignity and sacredness of what we may view as secular and commonplace in life – working in the fields… bringing home the bread or the bacon… All of this is an integral part of our spiritual lives.
  • We learn from Ruth that God commends the power of love to overcome alienation, hostility and prejudice.  I wonder how the people of Bethlehem first treated Ruth when she arrived back with Naomi.  And yet, when Boaz speaks with her, he has already heard, because it was the talk of the town: All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me… the Lord repay you for what you have done, and full reward be given you by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!

The submissive, obedient woman:

This is where I want to talk about the submissive, obedient woman, and what it means to me.  Many of us baulk at the words today “obedience” and “submission”.  When we read in Ephesians 5: 21-32:

Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord.  For the husband is the head of the wife, ….   But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything.

This is repeated again in Colossians 3:18:

Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord

For many of us, as one author states:

Submissive” now has a negative ring, causing women to cringe and run the opposite direction.  Most people picture a submissive wife as a woman with a soft, frail voice who runs around at her husband’s beck and call while he plops down in the recliner and hollers for another drink.[5]

But from the example we find in Ruth, I would say this is not so.  This submissive, obedient woman is strong, intelligent, hard-working and caring.  She is decisive, as Ruth was, DECIDING for herself, that she chooses to follow.  Her promise to Naomi: where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge.  Your people shall be my people and your God my God – this was a voluntary choice. She wasn’t blindly going to be at Naomi’s beck and call.  She was consciously making a choice to follow.
I am sure, some days when Ruth first arrived in Bethlehem and was discriminated against or when she was out there gleaning in the fields, with her back and arms and legs aching from the toil, that she had thoughts running through her head:

  • “Why did I choose to come back here with Naomi?”
  • “Why didn’t I stay back in Moab and marry that nice young man that my parents had lined up for me?”
  •  “Why did I follow Naomi, when she’s always so bitter and feeling sorry for herself; what happened to that gracious woman that used to be my mother-in-law?”
  • “What more can I do for Naomi, to bring back the joy and laughter in her life?”

But I’m also sure that there was a sense of satisfaction in Ruth’s life – she CHOSE this.  She wasn’t a victim.  Being submissive, choosing to follow Naomi’s advice was a voluntary status of behaviour – it’s not forced upon Ruth.

Women are not meant to be controlled by force of strength or economic hardship or guilt.  But rather, we are told to love our neighbours as ourselves, and to treat them as we would want to be treated.

To be submissive is not a FEMALE ONLY trait but should be the attitude of all Christians. We learn and grow from talking to each other and are told to keep a humble and contrite heart.

We are to develop relationships of trust and confidence and respect with all men so there is an element of submission in everything we do.

To understand the meaning of being submissive from God’s perspective we must first of all submit to God and do as he has instructed; even when we can’t see that “happily ever after”.

Our greatest example of this is Jesus, who submitted to the Father’s will until death, trusting fully that there was an ultimate reward for this sacrifice.

Charm is deceitful and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the LORD, she is to be praised.  Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates.[6] 

[1] http://bible.org/article/introduction-book-ruth

[2] Ruth 1:16-17

[3] Ruth 2: 8-9

[4] Ruth 2: 11-12

[5] http://www.everydaychristian.com/blogs/post/modern_submissive_woman_series_part_one/

[6] Proverbs 31: 30-31

My ego – the root of my own downfall

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The ego – the root of all evil

Lectionary Readings:

  1. James 1:17-27
  2. Mark 7: 1-8, 14-15, 21-23

How do you react when you hear the word “Pharisee”?  What type of emotional reaction do you feel rising within you?

What if I told you that in the years of Christ, the Pharisees were the heroes, not the villains?  That to be a Pharisee was to ascribe to a holy life?  Of course, after 2,000 years of Church history, we have a negative picture in our minds when we hear the word “Pharisee”, because we know how they responded to Jesus.  But there’s always more to the story than the part that we’ve heard.

The Pharisees were all lay people, not priests.  Many were scribes or had a level of education which allowed them to study the scriptures and the written traditions.  They were a reform movement; it was their passion that the ordinary people of Israel learn to live out their devotion to God, in a practice, hands on sense.  They believed that every detail of the scriptures could be applied to everyday life, living out holiness in a practical way.

Their virtue was that they believed that everyone could and should strive for the same level of godliness and holiness that God required of the priests who lived in the temple.  An effective “priesthood of the saints”.  They believed that if Israel was to be the nation of priests that the prophets had claimed, then all people should live by the same standards that were required of the priests.

The Pharisees only error was expecting a higher level of obedience and commitment among the people than what the scriptures actually required of the people.  This reform movement was an attempt to call the people of Israel to a life of godliness.

Admittedly, the Pharisees put their traditions on an equal footing with the laws of God given in the Old Testament.  They claimed that God had given 2 laws:

  • the ones written down and
  • the traditions given to the elders.

And so they took it upon themselves to write down these traditions in the Talmud and the Mishnah – because while the Bible tells us what God wants us to do, it doesn’t always tell us HOW to do it.  So, we’re going to help you and tell you HOW God wants you to do it.

For many of us, it’s quite hard to understand the controversy found in Mark.  We automatically think of the hygienic aspect of “washing your hands” before you handle food. Images may come to mind of the SARS virus outbreak or the bird-flu or the influenza H1N1 virus.  But these rituals were about purity and holiness.

In ancient Israel, you had to be in a state of ritual purity in order to worship God.  If you were ritually impure, you needed to go through a purification ritual to become clean again.

The most well-known part of these ritual purity rules are the Old Testament dietary laws:  the clean and unclean. Or the kosher or not-kosher.  The obedience of these rules were the boundary markers between the Jewish people – maintaining their uniqueness as a people and culture.  To obey was to say you were Jewish; to disobey was to abandon your heritage.

The hand-washing law went something like this:

Before you eat, you must pour one and a half (1 ½) eggshells of water over your hands, in a specifically prescribed manner:  hold your hand with the finger-tips upwards and pour the water over them until it ran down to your wrists; and then cleanse the palm of each hand with the fist of the other; and then hold your hands with the finger-tips pointing downwards and pour water on them from the wrists downwards so that it runs off the finger-tips.

The question wasn’t whether or not your hands were dirty and needed washing or whether your hands were spotless: if you failed to wash your hands in this manner was to fail to please God – it was a sin.

But there was, as there usually is, a problem with focusing on the physical world and a list of “dos” and “do nots”.  We often try to solve our problems of the heart by focusing on the surface issues.  Jesus saw that the law was being used to turn people away from God, rather than to bring people to God to see and experience His love and mercy.

Our attempts to apply the Bible to everyday life can become the same kind of legalistic nit-picking Jesus found with the Pharisees.  We don’t have to go too far to find it:

  • Fundamentalist rules that say: no playing cards; no dancing; no movies
  • Baptism by immersion or baptism by sprinkling
  • If you don’t speak in tongues, you haven’t been filled with the Holy Spirit
  • Which translation of the Bible do YOU use?
  • If you don’t tithe 10% of your GROSS income (not net, after taxes or take home pay), you’re not a true Christian
  • If you don’t end your prayers with “in Jesus’ name”, then God can’t answer them

Now that I’ve said them out loud, they sound silly, right?   But they easily fool us into thinking that we can EARN points with God,  rather than to look deep into ourselves and let God fill us with His love.  It’s so much easier to focus on the practices than it is to go to the heart of the matter – as both Jesus (in Mark) and James challenge us to do.  Our worship of God easily becomes lip service: we may go through the motions by have no real inner devotion.

Jesus declared that these rules were no longer binding on us – not that they were wrong, but rather that these rules were obsolete.  It’s not the kind of food that you eat that matters, it what kind of person are you really?  Forget about the cover of the book – what’s the story on the inside?  Forget about the outside forces of nature versus nurture, the environment, the culture you were raised in or the education you had:  How’s your heart?

Many of us fall into the trap of focussing on the surface issues – the symptoms rather than the cause.

I have read (Timothy Peck):

  • If our greatest need had been for information, God would have sent us a teacher;
  • If our greatest need had been for technology, God would have sent us a scientist;
  • If our greatest need had been for money, God would have sent us a economist;
  • If our greatest need had been for pleasure, God would have sent us a entertainer;

But since our greatest need was freedom from the darkness inside ourselves, God sent us what we needed the most:  a Saviour to show us that the change comes from God and a Holy Spirit to be our teacher and comforter.

At the end of the day, Jesus summed up all of the law in just 2 Commandments:

  1. Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul & might; and
  2. Love your neighbour as yourself.

Jesus doesn’t specify the details of HOW you are supposed to do that: He leaves the details up to us.  God has created each of us differently / uniquely.  We each have different talents, abilities and upbringings.  And we have the freedom to express our uniqueness as we live our Christian life.  But the principle stands very firmly: Love God with your whole being, and love your neighbour.  There is no freedom NOT to follow or live by these commands.  These commands transcend all of life: we don’t switch them on and off – today I will because I have some free time, but tomorrow I’ve got other plans.

The difficulty, of course, with such simple laws, is that we have to take full responsibility for ALL of our actions.  We stand alone before God – with all of our internal / HEART baggage – the way we were brought up, our cultural issues, any abuse or mistreatment that we may have received – and we can’t blame anyone or anything for our failure to fulfil these 2 laws.

Because suddenly there’s no small print!  There’s no black and white – you HAVE to do it this way.  The rule is that – whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever YOUR situation – YOU have to Love the Lord your God with all of YOUR heart (the one that YOU have, the way it is), and love your neighbour as yourself.  No excuses.  That one commandment: “Love one another” is enough to keep us busy for the rest of our lives.  Of course, we squabble and fight with each other over the smallest distinctions of practice – clearly violating Jesus’ commands.

It’s like the law of gravity:

In the on-going battle between objects made of aluminium going hundreds of miles per hour and the ground (which I believe is moving at zero miles per hour), the ground has yet to lose the competition.  The ground ALWAYS wins.

We, on the other hand, prefer rules, that we can manipulate and change.  We tend to interpret God’s commandments in a way that suits ourselves.  A little like the No-Calorie Diet.  You know the one.  It’s the one that says:

  • If you eat something, when no one’s watching, it has no calories.
  • If you drink a diet soda, while eating a candy bar or French fries, the calories of the candy bar or French fries are cancelled by the diet soda.
  • When you go out and eat with someone else, your calories don’t count, as long as you ate LESS than the person you’re with.

And the list goes on… these rules that we make to bypass our character (or lack thereof).  We make the rules, and then introduce all the exceptions to them.

God has promised that He has put into each one of us a new heart and a new spirit – His Spirit!  And like a patient that has had a heart transplant, He’s given us an instruction booklet to follow.  A recommended diet:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.[1]

So, how are you doing with your recovery?  Are you sticking to your spiritual diet? Sneaking in too much junk food, when no one is watching?  Are you getting your spiritual exercise? How about the stress? Do you remember that God has promised that He will take care of ALL your needs?

We ALL have our moments of being a Pharisee.  What we really are, is what we are on the inside, not what we appear to be on the outside.  What we are determines our attitudes and our thoughts. It IS our character.

We make up our own rules about what is right or what is wrong.  We try to make others follow these rules.  We pretend that we know better than God; or we don’t want to follow God’s rules and so make up our own.  But God’s laws are meant to show us where we have fallen short in our relationship with God or our relationships with others.  They tell us where we have hurt our relationships or ourselves and how to heal the broken pieces.

Being holy is made far too complicated by religiosity.  We have to remember that holiness is a state of being, not a state of doing.  To be holy means to be set apart for a task and to be apt for that task.  And our tasks are, as we have already seen, very simple:

  1. Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul & might; and
  2. Love your neighbour as yourself.

Yes, most of the Old Testament was written about being Holy.  But we have to stop focussing on cleanliness. Physical cleanliness does NOT equal Godliness.  Following a specific set of rules will not make us holy.

There is a Japanese fable about a man who went to heaven and to his surprise he saw a shelf covered with human tongues. The heavenly guide told him, “These are the tongues of people who spoke sweet words of virtues, who said what was right, but never did anything to follow their words. So their tongues have come to rest in heaven and the rest of them are somewhere else.”

We should all be radical followers of Jesus and take seriously what He really said.  Follow that man that showed compassion to sinners: to the tax collectors, the woman caught in adultery, the lepers and unclean.  He ate with them and hung out with them.  He said to those who would judge:

Whoever is without sin, throw the first stone.

Leave the judging to God.  Let God sort it out.  Don’t focus on the speck in someone else’s eye, when there might be a telephone pole in your own.

Be slow to speak – especially when it comes to talking with God.  If you’re speaking, you may not hear God talking.  Don’t ask God for direction or enlightenment and then carry on talking – you might miss the answer.

Be slow to anger – understanding that our anger is more likely to fuel the flames of controversy, dividing people and doing incalculable injury to yourself and others around you.

James warns that a true church is not one where the members are angry with each other because anger demonstrates that faith has not yet been implanted and is not yet growing in our hearts. Anger in the church indicates that God’s love is far from us. Anger demonstrates that the word of God has gone in one ear and out the other with no saving effect.

  • But a true church is one that cares for the widows and the orphans and poor and the needy.
  • A true church hears the word of God and keeps in their hearts.
  • A true church is transformed by the word of God into a loving church

I want to end this sermon with a lesson from Zen:

There was a great teacher in Japan: Nan-in.  An educated man, a professor, came to inquire about Zen teachings.  Nan-in served tea.  He poured the cup full, and then kept on pouring.  The man watched the cup overflowing, until he could no longer hold himself back: “Stop. It’s overflowing – no more can fit in!”  and Nan-in replied:  You are like this cup.  Full of your own opinions and speculations.  How can I teach you and show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?

If we are to receive God’s message and be filled with God’s love, we first need to empty our hearts of ourselves, our egos, our pasts, our future, our rules and regulations that we so religiously hold on to.  Let God fill us with His love and His Spirit, so that we can easily keep His two commandments, Loving God and loving our neighbour.

[1] Philippians 4:8

The Invisible Hand of God…

Beth - blogger, coach, consultantLeave a comment

Just coincidence? Or hand of God?

Lectionary Readings:

  1. 2 Samuel 18:5–9, 15, 31–33
  2. Ephesians 4:25—5:2
  3. Psalm 130
  4. John 6:35, 41–51

A couple of years ago, I took it upon myself to read the Bible, from start to finish, SLOWLY.  Without any hurry.  Without trying to read 3 chapters a day and 5 on Sundays and finish within 12 months. Simply cruise through it slowly, and let it take as long as it takes…
Intent on reading it again for the first time.
Did I make it all the way through to Revelations yet? No… still chugging along, slowing. Getting side-tracked along the way. Enjoying the scenery and where the winding roads take me.

But, during this time, I re-read these verses from Samuel that we have in our lectionary today.
I wasn’t struck by the choices that David had to make between his public persona – King of Israel – and his private persona – father of Absalom.  I wasn’t moved by the grief of a father, upon hearing that his wayward son had been killed.  And I wasn’t even intrigued by whether Joab had done the right thing or not in slaying Absalom, the traitor.
No, the verse that caught my eye was 2 Samuel 18, verse 8.

… and the forest swallowed up more men that day than the sword.

At the end of Samuel we read, verse 31:

“… The Lord has vindicated you today by delivering you from the hand of all who rose up against you.”

But there is no mention made that God’s hand played a role in winning this battle.  I’m pretty sure that this wasn’t an “enchanted forest”, like the one in Lord of the Rings, where the trees talk, and walk around, and where vines reach out, tangling themselves around your legs, and pulling you to the ground.
There were probably just uneven ground, where horses would stumble, throwing their riders into oncoming immovable objects, broken branches, sharp as swords that would slice through you if you ran into them, vines and debris under foot that would cause you to stumble and fall.
And yet… all of this contributed to the defeat of Absalom’s army.  He outnumbered David’s men. He had the favour of the people.  He should have won…  but he was out-done by a forest.

And more than that, I find it particularly intriguing that David’s first instructions to his commanders was:

Be gentle with the young man Absalom for my sake.

We read in verse 9 of Absalom’s undoing:

He was riding his mule, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom’s head got caught in the tree. He was left hanging in mid-air, while the mule he was riding kept on going.

Notice that even the tree followed David’s instructions: “Be gentle with the young man Absalom for my sake.”

Yes, Absalom was brought off his high horse, in the most humiliating way – hung out to dry by his pride and joy: his head of hair.  Ironic – The very source of his pride, brings about his down-fall.  (I wonder if the angels were laughing).

But he’s not killed by this – he’s killed by human hands.  By a person that takes the choice into their own hands to put an end, once and for all, of this rebellion.
So, was this all just coincidence?  Or was God’s hand directing the battle and the slipping banana skins under the rebel’s feet?

As I’ve said many times before, I find it so easy to find God in the woods and forest.  There I find it easy to sit, at peace, in solitude and quiet, and commune with God.  To hear the birds singing praise and odes to joy.  To listen to the quiet running of the streams and brooks.
But there’s a greater challenge:  We don’t live in the mountains.  I don’t always have time to get to Summit park or Parque Metropolitano, or better yet, further out of town and away from everything.
Monday to Friday I spend a good eight to ten hours a day confined inside an office, under fluorescent lighting.  No mountain vista, no deep oceans to contemplate, no soaring eagles to admire.

Where’s the supernatural in my life?
I haven’t seen any burning bushes like Moses.
I haven’t watched a wind come up and blow at gale force for a couple of hours, strong enough to move water out of the way, so that I can walk across on dry land and then when the wind stops the “tidal wave” that comes swelling back in as the water recovers its normal boundaries.

Just another mundane Monday morning?
So, maybe we need to start looking for God in the ordinary places.  A little closer to home, perhaps.

For me, as many of you know, the past few months have been fraught with health challenges.  To re-wind a little and give you the bigger picture:

  • For the past 10 years I have suffered from what I thought (mis-diagnosis it turns out!) from IBS – Irritable Bowel Syndrome. This was brought on by a horrid bout of food poisoning or Montesuma’s Revenge that I got in Nevis… yes, I can still vividly remember that night and the next day!
  • About 2 or 3 years ago I was diagnosed with Insulin Resistance, which is a common problem which plagues men & women, when they are accidentally starving their bodies from bad eating habits.  In order to ensure your body is getting the right amounts of sugars and not rapidly digested sugars, the doctor’s recommend a whole-wheat diet, with a switch over to whole-wheat pastas, bread, and cereals.  I learnt to eat on schedule, with controlled portion sizes and to avoid highly processed foods.
  • But about 5 weeks ago, after 5 years of trying to get pregnant to no avail (“assisted conception techiques”, 4 artificial inseminations, 2 in vitro), my doctor sent me to test for Coeliac Disease (allergy to gluten).  It turns out that’s exactly what I have.  Good-bye whole-grain pasta/bread/cereals.  Welcome back easy to digest carbohydrates…
  • So, after those positive results, I went in for an endoscopy, and the biopsy came back positive for little monsters: helicobacter pylori.  So, I was sent on a round of 15-days of antibiotics and treatment to kill my internal monsters.  The side-effects of these anti-biotics have drawn on every ounce of my strength to carry on.
  • One of the effects of helicobacter and Coelic Disease is that my iron reserve levels are through the floor and my B12 is almost non-existence. So, to add injury to insult, injections for 10 days.  I’m black and blue…

Even though I feel that I should know better, I couldn’t help but ask – WHERE is God in all of this?  Why am I being put through this?

I have felt totally like Absalom, hanging in a tree by my hair; knocked of my high horse, the one that has always enabled me and given me the strength to “push through” any obstacle along the way.
This time round, I have felt defeated.  I have felt that “I can’t go on”.

But the Spirit speaks to me and says “there’s a lesson to be learned here” – search for it.  And as I started looking, I fell across (as one usually does accidentally) the Hand of God in my health and well-being.  I was looking at the characteristics of vegetables & fruits, to see which ones would boost my immune system and which would rebuild my reserves of iron, B12, Omega 3, etc.

And I tripped over “The Doctrine of Signatures” – the relationship between us and God – how God placed a signature on each plant indicating what it was useful for.  Without realising it, I started reading articles on how the qualities of plants are often reflected by their appearance.
Is this just coincidence?

For example:

  • the seeds of skullcap – they resemble small skulls – and the herb is known to be effective in the treatment of brain and nervous system disorders.
  • The hollow stalk of the garlic – resembles our windpipe – useful for throat and bronchial problems.

There’s a whole area of science dedicated to “Teleological Nutritional Targeting”  – every whole food has a pattern that resembles a body organ or physiological function, and this pattern can indicate to us the benefit the food provides to us.

Here are a few better known examples, and some that may simply astound you:

  • Sliced carrot – resembles the human eye – the pupil, iris and radiating lines… and we all know that if you eat your carrots you’ll be able to see better in the dark!
  • Try some heart food!
  • Tomatos – with their four chambers and blood-red colour. They’re loaded with lycopine – essential for the functioning of the heart and blood.
  • Grapes – the cluster often resembles a heart, with each grape looking like a blood cell
  • Beetroot – excellent for cleansing the blood. A fantastic source of iron, helping you to produce haemoglobin
  • Need some brain stimulation?
    • Walnuts – open them up and there you have it: left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums.  These little nuts will help you develop more than 3 dozen neuro-transmitters for brain function
  • Having kidney problems?
    • Look no further than your kidney beans.
  • Need to strengthen your bones?
    • Bones are 23% sodium – and so are these food items that look a little like bones:
      • Celery
      • Bok choy
      • Rhubarb
  • Having female problems? How about looking for some vegetables that resemble the womb and cervix?
    • Avocado – interesting detail – it takes exactly 9 months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit!
    • Eggplant
    • Pears
  • Problems with your ovaries?
    • Try olives
  • Need to improve sperm count and mobility?
    • Try figs – they are full of seeds and hang in twos when growing.

You cannot imagine how the list continues…

This isn’t just a formula for healing – it’s a spiritual quest.  The expansion of our spiritual quest will lead us to a complete cure, if only we would listen and open our eyes to see.

If we would return to the study of plants, we would learn that they are so much more than just the nutritional attributes that we focus on.  They are each unique, created for a purpose, as only our Great Creator could have designed.
Coincidence? No.  I don’t think so.  Definitely the Hand of God!

It has been stated that this generation is the first to suffer from “Nature Deprivation Disorder” – a lack of regular, intentional interaction with nature is causing a definable syndrome in children and adults.  Perhaps we overlook the importance of creation in our understanding of God and ourselves.  When we look to nature, God’s handiwork is evident – order, variety, colour and even a sense of humour.

Throughout human history we have seen God’s reflection in nature. The same way that we can feel that we are at one with all creation, the creatures that walk the earth, the plants, and air, the water, and earth itself.  And most importantly, a Oneness with that Spirit which permeates all and binds all together and gives life to all – a Oneness with God.

Mis-quoting Emerson:

The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship. The noblest ministry of nature is to stand as the apparition of God. It is the organ through which the Spirit speaks to the individual, and strives to lead back the individual to his Creator.

The heavens are telling of the glory of God; and their expanse is declaring the word of His hands. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard. … [1]

Job 12, verses 7 to 9 instructs us:

Ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?

St. Francis of Assisi is rumoured to have said:

Preach the Gospel at all times. Use words if necessary.

According to Genesis we were put on this earth to be its stewards – to look after it and care for it.  Nature is not independent of its Creator.  Each day, creation looks to God for provision: they seek their food from God.

Hosea has warned us:

Hear the word of the LORD, … because the LORD has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: “There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed Because of this the land mourns, and all who live in it waste away; the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the fish of the sea are dying.”

How often have we failed in our responsibilities before God? Everything that we say & do affects the balance of the earth – the natural, the human and the supernatural.

The most important part of our example of our relation with the Creator is in our actions.  What we have learnt will be reflected in what we do: how we live our lives, day to day.

Our reading from Ephesians provides us with some solid instructions to show that we have a special relationship with our Creator – that we allow the Spirit to control our lives:

Don’t grieve God – don’t break His heart.  The Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life. Don’t take this gift for granted.

  1. Suddenly you will find, you are walking in the Spirit – and this means no more lies, no more pretences. We are all connected to each other. Tell your neighbour/brother/sister/work-mate the truth –When you lie to others, you end up lying to yourself.
  2. Watch carefully the way you talk. Let nothing cruel, degrading, hurtful or dirty come out of your mouth.  Instead – say only what helps.  Each word out of your mouth should be a gift; gentle & sensitive
  3. Go ahead and be angry – but don’t use your anger as fuel for revenge. Don’t stay angry. Don’t go to bed angry. You have to let it go.  Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God, in Christ, forgave you.

[1] Psalms 19

The Ultimate Sacrifice

Beth - blogger, coach, consultantLeave a comment

Lectionary Readings:

  1. Acts 10: 34-43
  2. Psalms 118:1-2, 14-24
  3. 1 Corinthians 15: 1-11
  4. Mark 16: 1-8

Let’s pray:
Lord of life,
From the beginning of time, You knew the final outcome and watched as the jigsaw pieces were slotted into place.
While Your blood was poured out and on Your head was placed a crown of thorns, even to the darkness of the grave, You saw the triumph that would be won over the power and fear of death.
You walked from the empty tomb, opening wide the gates of life. You defeated death to show us that we can rise from all that binds us to the world: pride, envy, anger, fear and the debt of sin that holds us here.
Lord of life, You defeated death to demonstrate a love that is beyond our understanding.
On this day we pray, Lord of love and Lord of peace, Lord of resurrection – be known through our lives and through Your power. Amen.

How many men in history can claim to have had such a radical effect on the world as that man Jesus of Nazareth?  While many may doubt the historical accuracy of the Bible, it’s impossible to ignore the striking effect of Jesus on those who witnessed his life, his death and his resurrection.

In our day and age, with the internet, television & radio, news travels in a moment.  But 2,000 years ago, there were no mass means of communication.  There was word of mouth, the news was passed on from village to village… And yet, we find in Acts we find Peter in Caesarea, speaking in Cornelius’ household, where he said:

“you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power.  He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.”[1]

In the first Century after Christ, we find that the Emperor Domitian (in the second great persecution – not the first one under Nero), some 40,000 Christians were martyred. If forty thousand died in just this second phase of persecution, how far had Christianity spread in those first 100 years?  It has been said that there may have been as many as five hundred thousand or a million Christians by the end of the first century.  All of this, by word of mouth.

Try, for a moment, to put yourself in the shoes of those early Christians, living 100 years after Christ. The apostles were all dead.  There was no one living that had been a personal witness to his life and death. There were no history books to refer to, cataloguing the life of Christ as a historical fact.  There was actually no New Testament either.

So, why would they slip out at night, away from their masters and hiding from the Romans, to meet in caves and catacombs and darkened rooms?  What did they expect to happen that was so different, so important, that it would attract them to risk their lives to hear of the gospel?  What kind of church meeting would bring them out at night, against the threat of a government that was trying to kill them?  If today it’s hard to fill a church when it rains, what would it be like if you thought you might be killed for coming on Sundays?

Forget about the paraphernalia, comforts and trappings that we have inherited from nineteen hundred years of church councils, traditions, theologians, translators & interpreters.  Forget the creeds, the prescribed order of worship, the special church language, the hymnal, scholarly commentaries, or anything else that we may use to structure our services.   What was so special about the events of Easter that it was worth dying for?

What is it that we celebrate today?

Today we celebrate the ultimate sacrifice of that man Jesus, who taught us:

Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.[2]

His crucifixion was indeed the greatest act of sacrifice, perfectly demonstrating his teaching.  But his death is not where it ends.

We are taught that there is no fear in death, because Jesus was resurrected from the dead.  This celebration is not about Jesus hanging on a cross; we celebrate because we believe he is the Lord of life, that there is life after death, and that there is victory over death.

Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians emphasises the importance of the resurrection:

“If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.  … For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. … If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.[3]”

As followers of Jesus, we are to live in hope – not just a hope for a better world or life in this lifetime, but a hope for all eternity.

But I want to take this day not only to reflect on that ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made, believing until death that his sacrifice would be enough; I want us today to reflect also on the sacrifices of his life.

His daily walk was an example of the Golden Rule: doing unto others as we would have them do for us.  He exhausted himself in giving to others: preaching the Kingdom of Heaven, healing, casting out demons, and comforting those who came to Him for help.

His life has been exalted as the perfect pattern for our lives.

But let’s be honest: sacrifice is not a concept that any of us truly enjoys.  Yet the man we know as Jesus, sacrificed those things that we prize as “good” and “worthy”:

  • Family, with all the joys and comforts that come with it;
  • Ambition, wealth, prestige & popularity
  • Position and other elements of success

How do we embrace being a follower of Jesus more seriously and focus on its core: the life of Christ?  When considering how to live our lives and how best to demonstrate the love of Jesus and that we, are truly his followers, we should ask ourselves daily “What would Jesus do?”

Right now the phrase “What would Jesus do?” is being used by the Occupy Movement.  It has been used by anti-war protestors in the question “Who would Jesus bomb?”, and even gone so far as to be the subject of the “What would Jesus eat?” biblical diet plan.

Many of us may be confused about how to imitate the life of Christ, when He lived in such a different culture, society and age as we live today.  Some may argue that the Bible offers little detail about Jesus’ daily life when he wasn’t preaching or performing miracles; and others will mischievously point out that when he wasn’t doing that, he was hanging out in bars, with prostitutes and tax collectors or trashing the temple.  (Perhaps that’s not quite the answer we’re looking for.)

Jesus’ purpose on this earth was to show us the way to establish a relationship with the Creator God, with the Divine.  To open the way for us to be anointed by the Spirit, to do bigger and greater things.  Jesus didn’t tell us to do what He did, He told us to do even greater things.

In the spirit of asking how we can better follow His example, it may be helpful to ask “What did Jesus do?”?

  1. He was humble and served others – no matter how much power and glory he had or was entitled to, this is the man who washed the feet of his disciples.  Is your life characterised by a servant’s heart?
  2. He glorified God – In all of Jesus’ teachings, he doesn’t speak of Himself, so much as of God and God’s Kingdom.  His purpose on this earth was to re-establish our relationship with the Creator God.
  3. He lived a life of prayer, meditation and constant communion with God.  As if points one and two weren’t hard enough, I truly struggle to take the time to stop everything and just be still.  Many of you know me as “the Prayer Lady” – but that doesn’t mean it’s any easier.  I’m not talking about those prayers were you have a list of petitions that you put before God, those ones where we try to convince God that we want Him to uphold our agenda, and bless our ambitions (I’m quite good at those ones! They fit into my way of working and thinking).  I’m talking about that prayer and meditation where you have a private two-way conversation with the Spirit.  That time where you stop everything else and get quiet, open your heart and mind, elevate your spirit, care for another and become one with the Universe, reaching out for God, where you bow Yourself humbly before the supernatural and inquire of the Creator, stop thinking, analysing and planning and just listen; and then make sure that you test the spirit & nature of anything that pops into your mind.
  4. And lastly, Jesus lived a life of sacrifice – He gave of his time to others, He gave of his energy to others, He laid his hands on the sick and worked till He was exhausted.  And his final sacrifice completely changed the world’s religions in a way none of us could ever have imagined.

For me, the following phrase sums up the life and example of Jesus “Not my will but Thine be done”.[4]

It’s that life that relinquishes and unclasps our grubby little fingers that are tightly grasping our possessions, money, hopes & expectations, and then demanding that God uphold our plans.  It’s understanding that our wants don’t come first, and understanding that it’s the Divine Way, not “my way”.

Today, we remember Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.  We give thanks to God for his gentle mercy and untiring love.  We give thanks to Jesus for His ultimate sacrifice and for his pattern of how to live our lives: saying “yes” to the Divine, and “no” to our own selfishness.  We learn today the meaning of sacrifice and surrender.  We learn today that we are given enough grace to do what our Creator has planned for us to do – whether that be serving a meal to a homeless person, buying uniforms for needy children, taking a meal over to widows and those without families to support them, or contributing to our society in any other way.

The pattern of the Christian life we are to follow, demonstrated by Jesus, provides us with unadulterated peace in our relationship with the Creator God. It’s one in which we may have to learn obedience through suffering, and submit to the will of the Divine.  Heaven is waiting for those who have gone through Gethsemane, who have finally handed over the reins of their lives, and let go.  No longer stubbornly refusing to submit, hoisting clenched fists defiantly in the air… but humbly saying to the Spirit: “not my will, but Thine be done.”

That will be the moment in which we begin to do greater things than even Jesus did, as we were put on this earth to do by our Creator.

Let us pray:

Grant us the strength, Lord God, of body and of spirit, to offer you the sacrifice of our lives.
So often we find ourselves apologising to you for our abbreviated prayer life; and yet you draw us into your presence, as you did the disciples at Gethsemane.  You ask us to share in your life and to play our part.   You ask us to watch and pray, so that we might not fall into temptation.  And yet, so often in prayer our thoughts are distracted by sounds or circumstances, or diverted by trivial concerns.  We carry our baggage with us, rather than leaving it at your feet.
Come Holy Spirit: dispel the darkness from our minds and open our eyes.  Revive our drooping faith, our doubts and fears.  Kindle in our hearts the flame of everlasting love.
Grant us each the strength to be still and know that you are God.   Speak to us through the grass of the meadows, through the trees of the forest, through the valleys and the hills.   Speak to us through the rain, thunder and lightning, through the waves of the sea, through the dew of the morning and the peace of the evening.
God of gods, in Thy mercy, in Thy love, be with us now.  We know and we speak of Your love and ask that you help us to put away, for this hour, the cares of this life; so that we may know in truth your presence.
Let us each find that place of the inner vision and through Your Spirit let us hear the wondrous secret.  Through Your mystic insight, cause a spring of knowledge to well up inside us, a fountain of power, pouring forth living waters, a flood of love and of all-embracing wisdom, like the splendour of your eternal Light.
Creator, open our hearts to peace and healing between all people; open our hearts to provide and protect the children of this earth; open our hearts to respect for the earth of which we are guardians and the gifts that it grants; open our hearts to do greater things than those done by Jesus in his brief 33 years on this earth.
God who sees all things, in our consciousness, let us find happiness in the love of Thee.  Fill us with love towards our fellowman. Make us worthy to serve our fellow men throughout the world, especially those who live and die in poverty & huger.  Let our life, our words, our deeds, bring the joy and happiness of Jesus to each person that we meet, day by day.  Give to our fellow man, through our hands, this day their daily bread and by our understanding, give them love, peace & joy.
Amen.

[1] Acts 10: 37-38
[2] John 15: 13
[3] 1 Corinthians 15: 13-19
[4] Luke 22:42

Leaving the walls in ruins

Beth - blogger, coach, consultantLeave a comment

Lectionary Readings:

  1. 2 Samuel 7:1–14a
  2. Psalm 89:20–37
  3. Ephesians 2:11–22
  4. Mark 6:30–34, 53–56

What was the very first thing you did this morning when you woke up?
Think… for a moment:  How did you set the tone for your day?
Did you smile?
Did you groan?
Did you pull the covers over your head and think, just a couple more minutes, pleeeease God?
Did you say a small prayer: “Thank you God: This is the day that the Lord has made, I WILL rejoice and be glad in it!”?

How were those waking seconds?
Now… delve a little further: What is your morning routine?

  • Do you stretch and get all those toxins out of your muscles and moving through the lymphatic system?
  • Breathe deeply and get the toxins out of your lungs and fresh air to feed the cells of your body for this day?
  • Do you break your fast with water to cleanse your digestive system? Add a slice to lemon to it to improve the taste and the cleansing effect?
  • Do you go for a walk, get on the treadmill, use a rebounder, elliptic machine, body shaker – anything to wake all the cells and muscles of your body and make sure the blood and lymphatic system are truly flowing and cleansing the body?
  • How about your mind? What do you do first thing in the morning to rid your mind of the toxic thoughts and attitudes you may have suffered yesterday and ensure that today is filled with love?  Before you went to bed last night – did you let go of the toxins of the day? Or did you take them to bed with you?

As usually happens to me on the internet, I was searching for more information about the God gene and I went off on this tangent of how to renew your mind, find peace, and connect with God.  And that lead me to this webinar[1] about “how to start your day right”.

I’d never bothered to think about the first action I did when I woke up, until now that is!

Let me make a vivid comparison for you:
I’m pretty sure my first actions are groan and think: “OKAY, gotta get out of the bed and take the dogs for a walk”; stumble to the closet and get exercise gear and get dressed, make my way to the kitchen to fix a cup of tea, search the house for my keys, grab the leashes, find my mobile and earphones, and get out the door.

All the while, Susy and Mercedes are, on the other hand, bounding round the house! She woke up!  GREAT! Ah, fresh air! Scenery! Companionship!  I’m so excited. I can’t wait to go!  Yes, we’re going for a walk.  The day has begun!
They exude happiness and joy at the start of a new day.  They live in the moment.

The webinar about how to start your day right got me thinking:
What is it about the day that I groan about? Why do I “complain”?
Do I feel “obligated” to take the dogs for a walk and resent it?
No.
In fact, I actually enjoy it.
For an hour and 10 minutes I can shut myself off from the entire world, live in the present moment and only think about walking, the scenery, the dogs, the street, the trees, and morning…
To me, it doesn’t matter what the weather is doing. I’ve gone out in the pouring rain to walk the dogs.

I have other options – I could train the dogs to get up at 6.45 instead of 5.45… I could get up and put the dogs out of the bedroom and go back to bed, and Yari would take the dogs for a walk.  I don’t actually have to take the dogs for a walk every morning.
But that hour and 10 minutes of being out, breathing deeply, listening to my affirmations and meditations, is an essential part of my morning ritual.

The affirmations go something like this:
I joyously release the past, I am at peace. I forgive others and I set myself free from them. I forgive, and I let go of the past. I am forgiven, I forgive, I forgive others. I forgive myself and I set myself free from the past. I accept others for how they are, and how they are not. I forgive myself completely, let go of the past, and choose to live in the present moment. … I love and accept myself, exactly as I am now. I love everything about myself: I am perfect, whole & complete. [2]
I am in harmony with God, … I am always connected to my source, to Spirit, to God. I am one with all that is, and with the Power that created me, with Source, with Spirit, with God. The love, power, and presence of God protects & surrounds me, wherever I am, God is. I am the manifestation and infinite possibility of God. I live life in the present moment, in the now, in Spirit. My power is in the present moment, in my Source, in Spirit, from God. Who I am is Spirit, Source, God. … God is always present in my life. [3]

So… I have made a conscious decision, from now on, when I wake up, the first thing I am going to do is SMILE, and say “This is the day that the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it”. I will stretch those muscles and let my body release the toxins; I will breathe deeply, while I’m waiting for the water to boil to make my tea, and drink that glass of water with lemon juice.  And THEN I’m going to put on my sneakers and go and enjoy that hour and ten minutes that I am so blessed to have that I can spend bonding with my two dogs, meditating and spending time with God; choosing to forgive and getting into the right frame of mind for the rest of the day.

I choose to leave the walls which God has broken down, as rubble; and more importantly, to clear away the rubble, rather than using it to build new walls.

Jesus, in Matthew 5:43-48 teaches us:

43-47“You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. … When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.

48“In a word, what I’m saying is, Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.”

And so, in Ephesians 2:11-22 we read:

14-15The Messiah … tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance. He repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped. Then he started over. Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody.

16-18Christ brought us together through his death on the cross. The Cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of the hostility. … He treated us as equals, and so made us equals. Through him we both share the same Spirit and have equal access to the Father.

19-22That’s plain enough, isn’t it? You’re no longer wandering exiles. … You’re no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, … God is building a home. He’s using us all—irrespective of how we got here—in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he’s using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.

Think of these walls that existed at the moment that Christ died:

  1. There’s the wall that kept the Gentiles from approaching the temple – marked by signs in both Greek & Latin – warning foreigners that they would be killed if they tried to enter further…
  2. Then there’s the wall that separated the males from the females – a gender wall, INSIDE the temple… right in the middle of God’s house!
  3. And inside that wall, there’s another wall, beyond which no lay person could pass.  Priests only from hereon in!
  4. And then there’s another wall – a curtain – that separated the holy things from the unholy.  Setting apart the Holy of Holies.

And yet, here we read in Ephesians that Christ knocked ALL of these walls down.  Jesus told us, and Ephesian repeats to us – there is NO ROOM for “us and them” in this new kingdom.  Everyone is welcome to come to God, to become spiritual beings, to have that personal relationship.

It’s interesting to notice that in the original Greek text, it doesn’t actually say the “circumcised” and the “uncircumcised”.  That’s a very politically correct translation. What it actually says in Ephesians is the “circumcised” and the “foreskins” – you know, that little piece of useless flesh that you cut off and throw away!  That’s what they were calling the gentiles.  Foreskins.[4]  It wasn’t merely a description.  It was a hateful slur against the new Christians.  Used by Christians to refer to other Christians.

One of the things we can learn from this passage of Ephesians is how our view of God and our relationship with God needs to be perfected.  Ephesians is about my identity in what God has done for me.  Paul calls me to be changed by Christ – but God Himself – to allow God’s spirit to work in me every day.  The debate about circumcision was about people changing themselves (physically) so that they could make themselves acceptable.  It contrasts our view: how God loves me just the way I am and God’s Spirit works to transform me; on the other hand: I must earn God’s love by changing myself to conform to man’s standard of what God wants of me.

Do I use hateful words, just as they were hateful in former centuries? Do I build walls?

Hostility, almost inevitably, goes both ways.  When a person is cruel and unjust, there is anger.  Cruel words lead to more cruel words, forgiveness is difficult.

We all know about walls.

  • The Great Wall of China – built to protect and to keep out the invaders.
  • The wall built in November 1940, by the Nazis, in Warsaw, Poland – to create a ghetto for hundreds of thousands of Jews to segregate them from the rest of the population of the city.
  • The wall built in August 1961, separating “East” and “West”, right down the middle of Berlin.  Separating families and friends.
  • A wall built in Belfast, Northern Ireland, to separate Protestants from Catholics

Yet, somehow, all of these walls are built on the foundations of fear, misunderstanding and hatred. We build these walls to protect us from being hurt, or being changed, or being vulnerable.  My wall feeds off your wall. When I come into contact with your wall, I build mine a little higher and little thicker.  Others learn not to be trusting or vulnerable when they run into my walls.[5]

So, Christ came into this world for the purpose of tearing down walls. It’s our job, however, to let go of the rubble.

Unfortunately, many of us see the pile of rubble that used to be the wall – we see that rock or stone that reminds us of the hurtful words spoken by another, and we use it as the cornerstone to rebuild a new wall. For cement, we’ve used the mortar of name-calling, labelling and prejudice.  Rather than understanding that we need to throw away all the rubble that is left from the wall, we hold onto it.  “I might need it later”.

This is not what we are called to do.  We all live in the same house – God’s house.

Ephesians 4: 31-32 call us to:

Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamour and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

1 Peter 3: 8-18 reminds us:

Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing. For “Whoever desires to love life and
see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit; let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer.

We have been given the gift of peace from God – but it’s hard to receive a gift if you aren’t holding out open hands to receive it.  It’s especially hard when your hands are busy clutching the bricks for building personal walls, especially those bricks labelled prejudice, bias and judgement.

We are God’s masterpieces, created by God to do the good works for which we were predestined.  God Himself is our peace – peace in the full sense of “Shalom”.  Not just the absence of animosity and outright fighting, but “shalom” in the sense of true oneness, wholeness and healthiness.  All roads to peace begin with God.

And to be one with God, to commune with Him, there is no room for personal or group grudges.  There’s no room for self-righteousness or holding on to hate or malice.  To be in harmony with God, we cannot break fellowship with our fellow man over differences in doctrine, liturgy, politics or controversial moral issues.  This is a denial of our oneness with God, which we have from Christ.

Christ tears down the walls – who are we to rebuild them?  Jesus abolished bitterness, unforgiveness, and unresolved anger. It chokes our fruitfulness, keeps up from growing and hinders our ability to truly pray and be in communion with God.

I started this morning, asking “how do you start each day?” Each day we have to make sure that we clean away any rubble left from the ruins of the walls that God has torn down.

The same way that we take the time to cleanse our body of toxins, we need to clean our heart and mind of the toxic materials that we used to build those walls.  The same way that we hop in the shower and let the water wash away anything that stains us, we have to let God’s love wash away all the stains in our heart.

Because we have this promise from God:

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.[6]

And so we cry out each morning to God for cleansing:

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.[7]

[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PliFBr__T7Y&feature=related
[2] Dr. Harry Henshaw – Affirmations for Forgiveness
[3] Dr. Harry Henshaw – Affirmations for Spirituality
[4] http://michaeldavidjay.wordpress.com/2010/02/01/sermon-on-ephesians2_11-22/
[5] Beth Richardson.  From http://www.pflame.org/html/worship/sermons/PFUMC_Sermon_20090621.pdf
[6] Ezekiel 36:26
[7] Psalms 51:10

Do you not know? Have you not heard?

Beth - blogger, coach, consultantLeave a comment

Lectionary Readings:

1-    Isaiah 40: 21-31
2-    Mark 1: 29-39
3-    1 Corinthians 9: 16-23
4-    Psalms 147

Once upon a time, there was a man who groaned within himself:

My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God”. [1]

And to this man we reply fervently:
Don’t lose hope!

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.[2]

“Ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In His hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.[3]“

From time immemorial man has faced 3 great questions: [4]

  1. Does God even exist?
  2. And if God does exist, then what is His nature?
  3. Does God love me?  Is God a personal god? Does God care for me?

Man has sought to answer these questions by examining the nature of the universe and life as we know it.

Paul says in Acts that God has not left us without clues, in that He did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.[5]  And then in Romans:  even though His eternal power and divine nature may be invisible, they have been understood and seen through the things He has made ever since the creation of the world.[6]  The truth of creation expresses the thought that everything existing outside of God has been called into existence by Him.

Does God exist?

Consider the heavens, and poetic way in which David describes God’s existence:

When I consider the heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained[7]

No… forget the poetry…

Think of the cold hard facts:  the complexity of the balance of life points to a deliberate Designer that sustains our Universe.  Astro-physicist Robert Jastrow, a self-described agnostic, stated (when discussing the Big Bang Theory): [8]

“The seed of everything that has happened in the Universe was planted in that first instant; every star, every planet and every living creature in the Universe came into being as a result of events that were set in motion in the moment of the cosmic explosion…The Universe flashed into being, and we cannot find out what caused that to happen.”

We live on earth, whose size is perfect, such that our gravity is exactly right to hold a thin layer of nitrogen and oxygen that only extends about 50 miles around the Earth’s surface.[9]  A little smaller, and no atmosphere, a little larger and the hydrogen would be free.  For some peculiar reason, Earth is the only known planet equipped with the right mixture of gases to sustain plant, animal and human life.

And consider our distance from the sun – any further away, and we would be freezing.  Any closer, and Earth would burn up.  And yet somehow, we remain the perfect distance from the sun, while rotating at a speed of nearly 67,000 mph.  Add to that the complexity of the rotation on our axis, so that we have day and night, heating and cooling all sides of the planet.

How about the moon, and its gravitational pull, creating ocean tides and movement?  No tides – and there would just be stagnant water.  Had you considered that?  And yet if there wasn’t the ebb and flow of gravitation, the oceans would overflow onto land.

When the Apostle Paul set foot in Athens he said to those assembled there:

“As I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘To an unknown God.’ What you worship as unknown, I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, is Lord of heaven and earth…” [10]

Jeremiah proclaimed:

Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee.[11]

This is the God that made the earth by His power and wisdom, and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.[12]

Now, consider that liquid that forms more than 2/3rds of the human body, and most of the world’s surface: “WATER”.[13]  Both David and Jeremiah tell us that God makes the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he makes lightning for the rain, and brings the wind out of His treasuries.[14]

Without water, nothing can survive: plants, animals or humans.  It’s colourless, odourless and has no particular taste.  With an unusually high boiling point and freezing point, even though it is an integral part of our body and cell-structure, we are able to stay at 37 degrees (Celsius).  And this water, an integral part of our blood, carries food, medicines and minerals through our body to be absorbed and used.

And here are some more interesting facts about water:[15]

  1. Because of its unique surface tension, it is able to flow upwards in plants, against gravity, and taken life-giving water and nutrients to the top of trees.
  2. It freezes from the top down, and when frozen it floats – so fish can still live under the ice during winter.
  3. Most of our water is in the oceans: salt water.  But it evaporates, forming clouds, and is then distributed throughout the world in clouds that disperse the water over land, plants, animals and people.  This system of purification and supply sustains life on this planet Earth – recycling at its most basic and essential form.

The writers of the Bible had noticed all of this, and commented:

All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full…[16]

God makes the drops of water; they pour down rain according the evaporation, which the clouds then drop and cleanse man with abundantly.[17]

“You care for the land and water it; you enrich it abundantly. The streams of God are filled with water to provide the people with grain, for so you have ordained it. You drench its furrows and level its ridges; you soften it with showers and bless its crops. You crown the year with your bounty, and your carts overflow with abundance. The grasslands of the desert overflow; the hills are clothed with gladness. The meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are mantled with grain; they shout for joy and sing.[18]“

Scientists have discovered laws of nature that never change. But why is the universe so orderly, so reliable?  Why should the Universe obey rules, let alone abide by the rules of mathematics?  Why doesn’t our Universe have conditions which change unpredictably from moment to moment? Why is it even mathematical?[19]

At the beginning of the 20th Century, many of the laws of nature and physics had been described so successfully that many scientists felt that all that remained were just a few final decimal places.[20]  Isaac Newton had described the laws of motion and gravity, Maxwell the laws of electromagnetism.  The small anomalies were ignored or unrecognised by the physics community.

And then along can Albert Einstein, with this theory of relativity, in 1905. This theory shocked the scientific community – it was a staggering new view of space, time, matter and energy.[21]  Einstein’s theories revealed that the flow of time & the structure of space were relative to the velocity, mass and acceleration of their observers:  their observed values were actually fixed, they were relative to each other.  Einstein was able to show that time was not merely a mental contrivance of man:  it is a physical property of the universe and that rate of time that flows depends entirely on the physical conditions present where you are measuring the time.  Space and time were somehow connected.

Imagine, then, several years later, the shockwave that was felt throughout the scientific community when the astronomer Willem de Sitter found a small error in Einstein’s equations – and when he corrected this error he suddenly discovered that the Universe was finite![22]  Space, time, matter and energy had a beginning.

The prophet Amos tells us:

Seek Him that makes the seven stars and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night: that calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out upon the face of the earth: the LORD is His name.[23]

The law of cause and effect states that the cause is always greater than its effect.[24]  This being true, our God – Creator of the Sun, the moon and stars – must have more power and energy that the Sun and all the stars together combined.  Our Creator is more powerful than all of the energy stored in all of the stars in all the galaxies of the entire Universe.  Are you starting to get an idea of how powerful our God is?

He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; He suspends the earth over nothing. He wraps up the waters in his clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their weight. He covers the face of the full moon, spreading his clouds over it. The pillars of the heavens quake, aghast at His rebuke. By His power He churned up the sea…. By His breath the skies become fair…. And these are but the outer fringe of His works; how faint the whisper we hear of Him! How then can we understand the thunder of His power?” [25]

The earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord. By the word of the Lord the heavens were made…for he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded and it stood forth.[26]

So, if that is God, why do we need Jesus?

We need Jesus, because He shows us that God, while omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, is gentle, loving, aware of our self-centeredness and shortcomings, and wants to be a personal God.[27]  We need Jesus to teach us about the personal God and the relationship that we can EACH have with this all-consuming fire and energy of life and knowledge.   That we have forgiveness for all of our sins, short-comings and hang-ups.

And we also learn from Jesus that every morning is a new day and a new opportunity to spend time with the Creator.  We read in Mark this morning:

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.[28]

Some of our most vivid encounters with our Creator will be when we are alone with Him, surrounded by His Creation!  We need to know the God of the forest, the God of the hills, the valleys, the rivers and the oceans.  The Spirit of Peace finds us in that quiet place of contemplation. Creation can teach us constant awareness of our Creator and reverence for Him.[29]

Have you ever noticed how birds praise their creator, first thing in the morning?  When you wake up, you can hear them singing their hearts out – praising God.  (You know the one I’m talking about – that annoying little bird that at 5.30 a.m., before you’re really ready to get up and face the day, is sitting outside your window jabbering and singing and saying “Hallelujah” – and you just want to throw a shoe at it! Yeah! That bird! That song!) Thanking God for another day.  Joyful and energetic.  After they have sung their praises, then they go about the business of getting some food, building their nest, collecting twigs or whatever they need.  But first, they sing praise to God the Designer, Artist, Architect, Engineer, and Life-giver.  We each need to take time to meditate daily about our Maker.

Isaiah 40: 26 reminds us:

Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things …

When we take that moment to meditate on our Creator, we will see His nature more clearly:

Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all the depths; fire and hail, snow and clouds; stormy wind, fulfilling His word; mountains and all hills; fruitful trees and all cedars; beasts and all cattle; creeping things and flying fowl; kings of the earth and all peoples; princes and all judges of the earth; both young men and maidens; old men and children.[30]

When I look at the beauty in a forest, I see that every one of God’s creatures is a masterpiece. From the ant or caterpillar crawling along a twig, to a panther, lion or elephant – each is unique, beautiful, bringing harmony and balance to the forest, with careful attention to detail, precision, accuracy, and symmetry.  Notice the variety of each species! Everything has its purpose and fits harmoniously into earth’s web of life. Even the bugs and flies have a purpose.
And yet, the Bible reminds me: I have a special value!  I am special!

Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds?[31]

Creation also teaches us to take care of God’s property:[32]  Genesis says that we were put here to tend and keep God’s garden!  Our Creator is the owner – we are the stewards and caretakers.

A righteous man regards the life of his animal.[33]

And there are even rules in the Bible about cutting down trees![34]

When in your war against a city, you have to besiege it a long time in order to capture it, you must not destroy its trees, wielding the ax against them. You may eat of them, but you must not cut them down.
Are trees of the field human to withdraw before you into a besieged city?
Only trees that you know do not yield food may be destroyed; you may cut them down for constructing siege works against the city that is waging war on you, until it has been reduced. [35]

If we paid a little more attention to the instruction manual we’d received regarding our relationship with God and His creation, we might have a few less problems.

And finally, creation teaches us that our Creator knows best[36] – we need to look to Him for help and healing and to solve every problem.  When we are feeling down and neglected, and our rights disregarded, we are promised:

He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds.[37]

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.[38]

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.[39]

For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In His hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is His also. The sea is His, and He made it: and His hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker.[40]

[1] Isaiah 40: 27
[2] Isaiah 40: 28
[3] Job 12:7-10
[4] Mark EASTMAN, M.D. “Science & the Bible: Cosmos & Creator” http://www.khouse.org/articles/1999/233/
[5] Acts 14:17
[6] Romans 1:20
[7] Psalms 8:3
[8] Robert Jastrow; “Message from Professor Robert Jastrow”; LeaderU.com; 2002. Quoted in Marilyn Adamson “Is there a God?” http://www.everystudent.com/features/isthere.html
[9] Marilyn Adamson “Is there a God?” http://www.everystudent.com/features/isthere.html
[10] Acts 17:23-24
[11] Jeremiah 32:17
[12] Jeremiah 51:15
[13] Marilyn Adamson “Is there a God?” http://www.everystudent.com/features/isthere.html
[14] Psalms 135:7; Jeremiah 51:16
[15] Marilyn Adamson http://www.everystudent.com/features/isthere.html
[16] Ecclesiastes 1:7
[17] Job 36:27-28
[18] Psalm 65:9-13
[19] Marilyn Adamson  http://www.everystudent.com/features/isthere.html
[20] Mark EASTMAN, M.D. http://www.khouse.org/articles/1999/233/
[21] Mark EASTMAN, M.D. http://www.khouse.org/articles/1999/233/
[22] Mark EASTMAN, M.D. http://www.khouse.org/articles/1999/233/
[23] Amos 5:8
[24] Mark EASTMAN, M.D. http://www.khouse.org/articles/1999/233/
[25] Job 26:7-9, 11-14
[26] Psalms 33:5-6, 9
[27] Marilyn Adamson  http://www.everystudent.com/features/isthere.html
[28] Mark 1: 35
[29] “Crucial Lessons from knowing God is our Creator” http://www.freebiblestudyguides.org/bible-teachings/God-crucial-lessons-knowing-our-creator.htm
[30] Psalm 148:7-12
[31] Luke 12:24
[32] “Crucial Lessons from knowing God is our Creator” http://www.freebiblestudyguides.org/bible-teachings/God-crucial-lessons-knowing-our-creator.htm
[33] Proverbs 12:10
[34] “The Jewish Way to Wage War: War & Peace in Judaism” http://judaism.about.com/library/3_intro/level2/bl_war.htm
[35]Deuteronomy 20:19-20
[36]http://www.freebiblestudyguides.org/bible-teachings/God-crucial-lessons-knowing-our-creator.htm
[37] Psalms 147:3
[38] Matthew 7:7
[39]Isaiah 40: 28-31
[40] Psalm 95: 3-6

Why God loves my body

Beth - blogger, coach, consultantLeave a comment

Lectionary Readings

  1. Psalms 139: 1-6, 13-18
  2. 1 Corinthians 6: 12-20

Time for those 2012 resolutions – starting with diet & exercise!

I don’t know about you, but every year seems to start with a new resolution to restart the diet and exercise.  I’ve learnt over the years that this can never start “tomorrow” or “next Monday”; if it’s doesn’t start TODAY it’s never going to start!  And yet, it seems that every year I’m starting over again.

I blame it on Panama’s weather!  I always find it’s easier in Panama’s summer months – clear blue skies beckon to go for walks, to hike in parks, and even eat salads. January through March, I love skating and cycling and just getting outdoors.  But then in April it starts to rain some mornings, not often, but just enough that you have to check the weather before making plans.

Come October, with rain every day, sometimes all day, it all goes to pieces,  and then you have all the holidays in November, and then Mother’s Day at the beginning of December, and the Christmas parties and events and get together’s… and before you know it, you’re 10 pounds up on where you  were in April!

If only during December we would remember Paul’s words from 1st Corinthians 6:

“All things are lawful for me”, but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me”, but I will not be enslaved by anything

And that includes the Christmas ham and eggnog!

And maybe remember Galatians 5:13

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.

So give someone else that extra helping, in love serve another!

But seriously, as Paul says in Corinthians, my body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, received from God.  I know that I am not my own… But sometimes I really do struggle to glorify God in my body.

And God knows these struggles!

Psalms 139 reminds us:

You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise, You perceive my thoughts from afar.  You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.

Especially the lazy ones…

All the ways that I make excuses at 6.00 a.m. not to go for a walk, and all the reasons that I “forget” to do sit-ups, and every one of my pretexts for “later”.

So, what does the Bible say about exercise and diet?  Other than the analogy that my body is a temple and therefore needs to be kept in pristine order, what does it really say?

Let’s start with the wise man – Solomon.  He has something to say both about men as well as advice for women:

Proverbs 24: 5 – A wise man is full of strength, and a man of knowledge enhances his might…

Proverbs 31:17 – She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong.

And then, of course, we have Paul, living in the time of gladiators and Olympic sports:

1 Corinthians 9:27 – But I discipline my body and keep it under control…

1 Timothy 4:8 – For while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come

On the other hand, Peter says:

Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.[1]

So – don’t get too caught up in how your body looks!  It’s not about being the perfect hour-glass figure or the ironman.

And keep in mind what Isaiah says:

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint. [2]

So, always keep in mind that the spiritual is just as important as the physical. And we can’t forget about one and focus exclusively on the other.  The Bible has quite a lot to say about moderation and keeping everything balanced:

1 Corinthians 9:25

Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath (i.e. the Olympics), but we an imperishable.

Philippians 4: 5

Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.

So, we have to be reasonable about it.  Well, that’s easy right? Ask a lawyer what “reasonable” means!

And how about diets?

Proverbs 23: 2

Put a knife to your throat if you are given to appetite.

That’s a little harsh, isn’t it?

Once again, I think it comes back to balance and moderation.

Did you know that you can find on the internet “Biblical diets”?  Of course, when I read them, it sounded very much like what my Mum would say: “if you don’t eat your veggies, you can’t have any pudding”.

I think she said it was something like: a third of your plate should be covered with veggies, a third with grains, cereals, or starch, preferably whole-grain, and then the remaining third should be split up between dairy, cheeses, meats, sweets and fat.

But really, what does the Bible say about food & diet?

Starting in Genesis 1:29 we find:

And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.

I guess that doesn’t include ice-cream and chocolate cake – although I’m still hoping one day they’ll grow on trees!

What’s really interesting, when you think about it, is that we have natural fruit & vegetables from every colour of the rainbow (literally).

Here are some examples:

  • Red: we have tomatoes, apples, cherries, strawberries, watermelon, beets, rhubarb, and radishes
  • Orange: we have oranges, peaches, pumpkin, squash, carrots, and sweet potatoes
  • Yellow: lemons, pears, apricots, grapefruit, squash, wheat, and corn
  • Green: avocados, olives, limes, apples, cucumbers, peas, green beans, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, sprouts, and spinach
  • Blue:  blueberries, blackberries & mulberries
  • White: coconut, dates, pears, nuts, onions, cauliflower, mushrooms, potatoes and ginger
  • Purple: cabbage, onions, plumbs, figs, beets, eggplant and grapes

And those are just the ones that are easy to remember!

Then, add to that: Psalms 104: 14

He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth.

So want to add a bit more spice to it – use herbs!

And think about this verse:  Leviticus 26:5

Threshing time will last until grape gathering, and grape gathering will last until planting. You will eat all you want and live securely in your land.

Maybe that just applies to farmers and those that are physically active, right?

Try making your way through Leviticus and all the rules about what you can and can’t eat!  It’s health and safety 101!

I personally don’t believe in the Atkins Diet – because while Jesus may have said “man does not live by bread alone”, he also says “Give us this day our daily bread” – so I think it goes without saying that we are to have some carbs!

Do you want a recipe for bread? Try Ezekial 4:9

“…  take wheat and barley, beans and lentils, millet and emmer, and put them into a single vessel and make your bread from them.”

And then there’s the need to have meat:  Genesis 9:3

Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. As I gave you the green plants, I give you everything…

Daniel’s diet, on the other hand, does teach us that we could be vegetarians, although I’m pretty sure that includes vegetables in a very broad sense and not just greens!  It would have been your potatoes, rice, grains, nuts, fruits, and all the rest of nature’s bounty.

So what about fat and fried food?

Leviticus 7:23

Say to the Israelites: ‘Do not eat any of the fat of cattle, sheep or goats.

Guess we’re supposed to make some effort then to stay skinny – although it does clearly say olive oil is good!

And what about wine?

I remember joking as a teenager: wasn’t it obvious what God had to say about wine? Jesus’ first miracle was turning water into wine.  What else do you need to know?

By the same token, we find Paul giving Timothy some advice:

No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments.[3]

I heard something similar recently from a visitor to Panama – they had caught a tummy bug and they found an immediate solution – drink Coca Cola – it kills everything for you!

And there are even rules (in Leviticus and elsewhere) about parties and feasts:

Try Nehemiah 8:10

“Go and celebrate with a feast of rich foods and sweet drinks, and share gifts of food with people who have nothing prepared. This is a sacred day before our Lord. Don’t be dejected and sad, for the joy of the LORD is your strength!”

 When it comes to eating and exercise, I think the most important rule to remember is what Paul says in Romans 14:

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. …

Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. …

And most importantly of all:  We are to remember always, no matter how much time we may have (or not) for exercise and diet, that God made each of us as we are.  With the metabolism that we were given, the body shape that we have – whether we are tall or short, heavy-set or slim, lots of energy and drive or not, God created each of us in His image.

Psalms 139:

13 – For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.

We are each loved by God – irrespective of how we look on the outside! We need to celebrate that, making the Holy Spirit’s temple as beautiful a place (both inside and out) as we are able with God’s help and guidance.

[1] 1 Peter 3: 3-4
[2] Isaiah 40: 28-31
[3] 1 Timothy 5:23