New ife, Last words

In the reading from Acts we meet Lydia.
Lydia is a business woman,
the head of a household,
someone who has moved to Philippi,
and she is a worshipper of God.
We know only a little about Lydia.
Lydia was from Thyatira, in the Asian province of Lydia. Is Lydia her name? Or a reference to where she comes from? We don’t know for sure.
We do know that she sells purple cloth. Purple is an important colour, only the wealthy and nobles could wear purple. This means Lydia would know some of the important people in the area.

Lydia was God worshipper, and with other people who worshipped the God of the Jews, she met by the river, outside the city gates, to worship, which is where Paul finds her along with others. She hears the story of Jesus, and she responds.
Lydia is baptised, offers accommodation to Paul and Silas. This isn't the end of Lydia’s story, we hear of her offering hospitality to the Paul and Silas again later in chapter 16.

Lydia is thought to be the first European convert. An unlikely choice, she is not of Jewish heritage, she is female and there is no mention of a husband.

Where do seekers gather today?
Where do we go to tell the stories of our faith?
Outside the boundaries of polite society?
There is a Baptist church in Woolloomooloo who offers assistance to marginalised women including street prostitutes. They are “about creating a safe space where women who are experiencing marginalisation or are in vulnerable situations, can access support and care.” [http://hopestreet.org.au/Women%27s+Services/p/3/]. Our own Uniting Church operates a harm minimisation program: the Medically Supervised Injecting Centre.
Both of these services are outside the mainstream of society, but offer grace and hope to people who are often in despair.

The passage we heard from John’s gospel this morning, is part of a long section of Jesus teaching and praying for his disciples. It comes after the foot washing at the last supper and before the betrayal in the garden. Chapters 14 to 17 cover many topics. Last week we heard the end of chapter 13, where Jesus tells the disciples he is going to be glorified, and that the disciples cannot go where he is going, so love one another.
In the next few chapters we hear:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.” [14:1]
 “I am the way and the truth and the life.” [14:6]
“Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” [14:9]
“If you love me you will keep my commandments” [14:15]
“I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate, to be with you forever” [14: 16]
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.” [14:27]
“Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid” [14: 27]
I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. [15:1]
Abide in me as I abide in you. [15:4]
My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. [15: 8]
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. [15:12]
It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. [16:7]

Jesus is preparing the disciples, as best he can, for his death. And that preparation includes how to keep on living the Jesus life, when Jesus isn't walking beside them.

Don’t be afraid.
Love one another.
Don’t be afraid.
Abide in me.
Love one another.
I am sending the spirit, the advocate, the helper.

If you have ever sat with someone who knows they are dying, last words can be important. Sometimes people will write a letter to a loved one, sometimes it is ‘I'm sorry’ or ‘I love you’.

Listen to some of the last words of Jesus again:

"I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.” [14: 25-27]

These themes are repeated in these 4 chapters.

Don’t be afraid.
Love one another.
Don’t be afraid.
Abide in me.
Love one another.
I am sending the spirit, the advocate, the helper.
Peace I give to you.

Did the disciples understand? It seems not, but that isn’t unusual in the gospels. “First Peter (John 13:36), then Thomas (14:5), then Phillip (14:8), and then Judas (not Iscariot) (14:22) ask for clarification about what Jesus is telling them.” [Elizabeth Johnson working preacher]

Do we understand?

We aren’t sitting with freshly washed feet, listening to Jesus ramble on about loving each other, trusting in him, and the Holy Spirit that is to come – wondering what on earth he is talking about.
We are sitting here over 2000 years later, hearing a passage that will be familiar to many of us. And ye know that Jesus dies, and that Jesus was buried, and that three days later the tomb was empty.

We also know that the disciples didn’t know what to do, then there were sightings of Jesus, and the disciples putting the pieces together, and the growth of the early church, and questions about Jewishness and Christianity.   You know the story.

And among the first words of Jesus to the disciples after the resurrection: “Peace be with you.”  Three times in eight verses. Peace be with you. [John 20: 19, 21, 26]
Peace, Jesus’ peace, “is more than the absence of conflict. The peace that Jesus offers us is a profound and holistic sense of well-being.” [Elizabeth Johnson working preacher]


A quote I came across this week from St. John Paul II – “Do not abandon yourselves to despair. We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song.”

We are Easter people and hallelujah is our song.
The spirit flows in our life,
Don’t be afraid.
Love one another.
Peace I give to you.

I wonder what that looks like for us.

I wonder how the peace that we are offered by Jesus; is evident in our lives?

Come, Holy Spirit, renew our hearts

We have always done it this way!

I hear it in the church today, and Peter heard it over 2000 years ago. Peter went back to Jerusalem and was criticised for travelling with and eating with uncircumcised men.

This was a new thing in the early church, when many still saw themselves as Jews, and therefore the purity laws of Judaism were still important.

Peter didn't just ignore the purity laws.

Peter had a vision,

A vision of food, at least some of it not kosher, and he tells God he can’t eat such animals.  And this happens not once, not twice, but three times. But each time the voice returns and reminds Peter that God made all of creation.  "What God has made clean, you must not call profane.' [Acts 11: 9b]

In the beginning the spirit blew over the waters, and the earth was created. And that God saw that it was good.  

And Peter asks: “… who was I that I could hinder God?" [Acts 11:17b]

This passage is full of references of God speaking to people, in visions, and through the Holy Spirit.

Peter saw the vision of the animals, the men came to Peter from Caesarea in response to a vision of an angel giving them a message. Peter travelled with them in response to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.

Talk of visions and voices, angels and dreams, responding to the movement of the Holy Spirit can seem a bit alien, even in the church. This is not language we use very often. But read through the book of Acts, and see how often people are moved by the Holy Spirit.

The theme of the Synod meeting was ‘Come, Holy Spirit, Renew our hearts’. The worship, the reports and discussions were all around this theme.

Come, Holy Spirit, Renew our hearts.

And the prayer we prayed earlier had three parts:

Come, Holy Spirit, Renew our hearts.

Come, Holy Spirit, Renew your Church

Come, Holy Spirit, Renew the Earth

What would it look like if the church was renewed by God?

How would you know?

What would change?

Would we still be saying:

We have always done it this way!

We have never done that before!

What do you mean change?

      Women elders! What next women Ministers?!

     

What would it look like if the church was renewed by God?

Come, Holy Spirit, Renew our hearts.

Come, Holy Spirit, Renew your Church

Come, Holy Spirit, Renew the Earth

How can we be part of the renewal of the earth, of God’s creation?

In what ways does our living harm creation?

What could we change that would mean less waste.

Come, Holy Spirit, Renew our hearts.

Come, Holy Spirit, Renew your Church

Come, Holy Spirit, Renew the Earth

I wonder what it would look like if our hearts were renewed by God.

What would it look like if your heart was renewed by God?

Is that something you are willing to pray for?

[space]

Come, Holy Spirit, Renew our hearts.

Come, Holy Spirit, Renew your Church

Come, Holy Spirit, Renew the Earth

We pray for renewal, not by plastic surgery or a marketing campaign. We pray for the Holy Spirit to come, to remake us, to cleanse our hearts, to inspire the church, to heal the earth.

We heard earlier from Margaret/Ian about their experience of Synod. We did discuss some important issues, and you can read about them on the Insights website or in the next Insights magazine, but some of the things that stood out for me were:

·        The number of younger people, under 30 years old, who participate in the meeting.

·        The increasing ethnic diversity

·        The participation of members of the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress

·        The moderator, Rev Myung Wha Park and Diane Torrens (UAICC NSW/ACT Regional Chairperson) sitting together throughout the meeting

·        The prayerfulness of the moderator

On Monday evening we were asked to name something inspiring from the session, and then on Tuesday morning we went around the room, naming something we would take away from the Synod meeting with us. One thing for me was the worship and bible study.  The other thing I took away from Synod was the way the meeting itself has changed since the first meeting I attended thirty years ago. You can read about that in the Grapevine.

It is inspiring to be around people

·         who can name the positive things about the Uniting Church,

·         people who look to the future with anticipation of what new thing God will do

·         people willing to be an answer to the prayer for renewal

I know change can be challenging.

But think about some of the major events of the past 30 years

•     1990 fall of the Berlin Wall

•     1994 end of apartheid in South Africa - Nelson Mandela became President of the Republic of South Africa after the first post-apartheid elections.

•     2008  Crowds around Australia watched broadcasts from the House of Representatives when Prime Minister Kevin Rudd led a parliamentary apology for the effect of past government policies on Indigenous people.

Amazing things can happen when we live for God’s world, for all of creation, for people everywhere.

From the closing worship at Synod:

Bec “There are some things we have learned together about what it means to live by the Spirit, and to be guided by the Spirit,”, “We have met at times with each other with vulnerability, at times with openness.”

“Because of this we have had conversations and we have had new beginnings, exciting ventures have emerged. We brought the mosaic along and thought we knew what it would look like at the end. Yesterday something was missing. Congress wanted to know, ‘Where is the hand?’ so we have added it in. We have changed it and added something knew.

Aunty Leena explained the significance of the hand and the importance of being open to live by the spirit in her language. 
“I belong to you, you belong to me we all belong to one another but most of all we belong to God almighty,” explained Aunty Leena

Bec continued “We share this sense of hopefulness of belonging to each other to belonging to God and that we are not alone. When we go back to our congregations and our churches may we hold the sense of hope and belonging, that we hold it for all creation and all things not just for us but the whole world,”

“God does not leave us. God does not leave God’s church, God keeps calling us to follow in the way of Christ Jesus.”

#SynodMeeting2016 #ComeHolySpirit #RenewOurHearts

Come, Holy Spirit, Renew our hearts.

Come, Holy Spirit, Renew your Church

Come, Holy Spirit, Renew the Earth

I wonder what it would look like if our hearts were renewed by God.

What would it look like if your heart was renewed by God?

Grace and Call

this week I have split the readings up, with four reflections/ short sermons.

Reading John 21: 1-14 [going fishing]

Proclamation: Peter monologue from Dandelions and Thistles pp79, 80

Hymn/song TiS 217 Love divine, all loves excelling

Reading Acts 9: 1-9 [Saul]

Proclamation:

Saul was a Roman citizen, educated and a Pharisee.

The first time we meet Saul is in Acts chapter7, Saul is the young man who looks after people’s coats while Stephen was stoned.   Luke writes: “And Saul approved of their killing him” [Acts 8:1]

Then Saul went from house to house dragging men and women off to prison. Then the section we heard this morning.

Saul is travelling to find and imprison as many followers of the Way, that is Christians, as he can. Saul is so determined to wipe out this diversion from Judaism.

And then…

And then an interruption in his journey.

An interruption in his life.

And his life goal changes.

He is no longer a persecutor of those who follow the way of Jesus, but a proclaimer of the way of Jesus.

I wonder, has your life been interrupted.

Has illness or war or unemployment or relationship caused you to rethink life?

One thing we can learn from this story is that no-one is beyond God’s grace.

No matter what you or I have done,

No matter how terrible someone’s actions are,

No matter how despicable a person

We, and they, are not outside of God’s grace.

Not that grace is a free ride. While God forgives and recreates and transforms people, God also demands a change in us.

A change that shows grace

A change that shows love

A change that works for justice and peace for all.

With grace comes discipleship,

Are we willing to pay the price?

 [wp]

We will now here the next part of the story of Saul

Reading Acts 9: 10-20 [Ananias]

Proclamation:

Who wants to be Ananias?

Whenever we read this passage, usually both sections together, the focus is on the change in Saul. But I wonder how we would react if God asked us to go and seek out someone like Saul, someone who was looking to imprison Christians.

Ananias was obedient, sure he questioned God – do you really means for me to go to this fellow?

But he went.

Ananias had a vision, he questioned God, made sure he understood and then he acted.

As I said this passage is usually thought of as the conversion of Saul, but what about the story of the disciple Ananias, the brave, obedient disciple Ananias.

Ananias said to Saul: “Brother Saul, the Lord has sent me—Jesus himself, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here. He sent me so that you might see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 

Ananias did not go to Saul because he deserved his help.

Ananias went to Saul because God asked him to. [REV MINDI http://rev-o-lution.org/]

And Saul was then able to see and was filled with the Holy Spirit.

And with that Saul also had a call, a commission, not only a conversion.  [Eric Barreto  https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2835]

After seeing a vision in 2000, I stopped being in some high profile church roles, and started a playgroup. Yes, a playgroup. I didn’t have children, and I had never been to playgroup, but I sensed God calling me to be part of helping to connect baptism families with the congregation; and I asked a few families what would be helpful, and playgroup was what came out of that. Not as big, or as well organised as the playgroup here, but it did connect people with church. And the mothers soon realised I had no idea what I was doing, and they ran it.

 When you have challenged to do something outside your comfort zone?

Hymn/song TiS 589 Jesus call us! O’er the tumult

Reading John 21: 15-19 [do you love me]

Proclamation:

Do you love me?

What if Jesus asked you that question?

Do you love me?

Jesus asks Peter, Jesus asks Peter three times.

There are a few theories about why this Jesus asks three times, and they are all linked in some way to the denials of Peter on the night Jesus was arrested.

The questions asked of Peter were:

“Aren't you also one of the disciples of that man?”

He was asked that one twice

“Aren't you also one of the disciples of that man?” and

“Didn't I see you with him in the garden?”

He answered no to all 3 questions.

In saying no, he denies Jesus, but he also denies himself. Peter is obviously interested in what is happening, he keeps hanging around to hear the latest news.

He denies his discipleship, he tries to write off the last 3 years of his life – not to himself, just to others. He is trying to wear a non-disciple mask.

And here, after breakfast on the beach, we have another call story.

Do you love me?

You know I do!

“Take care of my lambs.” 

Do you love me?

You know I do!

“Take care of my sheep.”

Do you love me?

You know I do!

“Take care of my sheep.”

Then the bit about Peter’s lack of independence as he ages, and the final words: Follow me!

This is a call to Peter, to follow, to be a pastor, to be the person God created him to be.

It isn’t only about forgiveness,

      or undoing the denials,

this is Jesus saying,

      live out your discipleship,

      be who you are in my grace and my love.

…….

As I look back over my life, and as I listen to the stories of pain and guilt and shame, sometimes it seems like we just want to go back to whatever life was like when it seemed most normal. We want to go fishing, we want to go back to the time we had our favourite teacher, or Minister, or that first flush of love. We want to go back to a time when life seemed simple and orderly.

But we can’t.

Discipleship can be difficult, and sometimes denying it seems like the easy path.

We can’t go back to our old ways, life has changed – relationship with Jesus changes us.

Our new identity is found in Jesus.

“It is almost as if by deciding to follow Jesus, we return to our true selves, beloved of God. Our lives imitate Christ’s life, our joys Christ’s joy, our heartaches Christ’s heartache. “[Robert Hoch  https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2809]

This morning we have thought about the disciples trying to go back to their old life

We thought about the call of Saul

The call and obedience of Ananias

The call of Peter

Where is God challenging you?

·    to obedience

·    to transformed living

·    to respond to a call

Where is God challenging you?

Peace and Spirit

Last Sunday we heard the resurrection account from the Gospel of Luke, the women going to anoint the body, the stone rolled away, the men in shining clothes telling the women he is risen. Then the story of the Cleopas and friend walking towards Emmaus, and how they recognised Jesus in the breaking of bread.

This week we hear from the Gospel of John. John has a conversation between Mary and Jesus on the Sunday morning. When Jesus calls Mary by name, she recognises him.

This passage we heard this morning, starts that evening. The evening of the first resurrection Sunday, the disciples inside, the doors locked, because they feared what might happen to them.

This passage is usually thought of as being about ‘doubting Thomas’, which I think is somewhat unfair. The other disciples had seen the risen crucified Jesus. Thomas hadn't. I wonder why Thomas wasn't with the disciples on the evening of the first resurrection day.

And there is nothing wrong with having questions about God and faith and life. I mean none of us has all the answers about why some people are born into poverty, why some people live with pain, why God created mosquitoes … and I am sure there are many other questions.

But this passage is about much more than seeing, believing or questioning.

When Jesus appeared to them, he said to them, "Peace be with you."

Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you."

"Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."

And a week later: Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."

The disciples, obviously scared, not sure what to do next, and Jesus comes and says: ‘Peace be with you”

Not

• Why don’t you understand what I told you, or
• here is a blueprint for running a church or
• this is the doctrinal statement you have to sign to be part of the church or
• here is the definitive list groups to have in each congregation.

Jesus said:Peace be with you.Receive the Holy Spirit.

John records Jesus breathing the Holy Spirit onto the disciples on the evening of resurrection day. We have heard of breath being blown into people before, in the story of creation back in Genesis 2.  God breathed life into the clay he had moulded and people became living beings.  Now we have Jesus breathing the Holy Spirit into the disciples, and they are reborn, re-created, and commissioned to go and share the good news.

Now they are together in the same room a week later, so not really sure if anything else happened that week.

John and Luke have differing versions of the gifting of the Holy Spirit. For John it is here on the evening of resurrection day; for Luke, the author of Acts, the coming of the Holy Spirit is after the ascension of Jesus, which is a few chapters before the section we heard this morning.   

Either way, the difference in these people is amazing. Even though they knew Jesus was alive, resurrected, even though they had seen him with their own eyes, they were in a closed room.

A few months later, they are teaching, healing, being arrested, and speaking as witnesses to the resurrection.

In the book of Acts we read about the early church. Just before the passage we heard read this morning, Peter and the apostles were put in prison because they were teaching and healing. During the night the prison doors were opened and the apostles went to the temple and started teaching again.

Again the apostles are brought before the Council: Didn't we tell you to stop teaching about Jesus?

And Peter replied: "We must obey God rather than any human authority. The God of our ancestors raised up Jesus, whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Saviour that he might give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him."

I wonder what happened that moved the group from being disciples behind closed doors, to apostles teaching and healing, and being arrested.

Some of you may remember seeing images of Christians from various denominations praying in the offices of members of Parliament with a group called ‘Love Makes a Way’. Some are Ministers within the Uniting Church. They have been arrested, and in some cases charged, but they continue to pray for politicians, and asylum seekers. They know that at some point in time they may be put in prison, but for them it is a price they are prepared to pay.

The apostles were imprisoned, flogged and killed for proclaiming the resurrection, for healing in the name of Jesus.

Christians in Australia have been arrested over the years for:

• standing with indigenous people;
• blocking access to CSG exploration on farms;
• as well as prayer sit-ins in Government offices

• and in the USA in 2014, Christians were arrested for offering food to homeless people in violation of a heavy limits on the  location of feeding places.

I wonder what we might be arrested for.

• Demanding affordable housing in new building developments
• Marching for penalty rates for weekend and shift workers
• Advocating for the rights of asylum seekers to be treated as humans.
• Standing with farmers to protect their property from mining
• ????????

A quote from Clarence Jordan, [20th century]
"The proof that God raised Jesus from the dead
is not the empty tomb,
but the full hearts of his transformed disciples.
The crowning evidence that he lives
is not a vacant grave,
but a spirit-filled fellowship.
Not a rolled-away stone,
but a carried-away church."

In what ways is your life proof that Jesus is alive?
A life transformed?
Spirit-filled church?

Jesus said:
Peace be with you.
Receive the Holy Spirit.

Let us take some time to reflect.