Making Disciples

A poem: Some Doubted

I sometimes wonder if the church has a place

for people who are like me.

Everybody else seems to know their Bible better that I do,

and I was never any good

at those memory verse things as a child.

Not only do I feel like a second-class Christian, but my faith is so fragile, weak, compared to other people in our church.

I doubt myself all the time,

and I wonder about all those miracles Jesus performed,

whether they could really have happened.

People don’t want to hear about my doubts.

They want the right answer,

the straight forward facts,

the truth as the minister or the church sees it,

and they go about their business feeling assured, confident, Christ-like.

That is why I hide a lot when it comes to things in our church.

I never go to those Bible Study or House-groups in case people think I am just a fake Christian.

I never turn up at the prayer group, because I don’t think I could pray in front of other people,

and Mrs Barrie is so eloquent when she prays

that it puts you to shame.

I am not as well educated as her,

so, I doubt that God would even take the time

to listen to anything I had to say or ask?

Yet every so often I am encouraged,

and feel that even if the church,

the Holy Willies or the minister might not think much of me,

because of my doubts,

I know that Jesus still finds a place for me.

He still thinks that I belong,

fragile and weak and doubting that I am.

Here, even amidst the Joy of Easter,

the Good News of resurrection and life,

some doubted,

but were nevertheless encouraged

to go and live what they believed,

act on what they believed,

grow into what God might like them to become,

with their doubts and their mustard seed faith,

and still find their place amongst God’s cherished ones.

Today I want to feel affirmed in who I am,

what I am able to believe, what I might become,

because I believe that God

is not finished with me yet.

So I will go and teach

what I know,

what I have already experienced,

what I am able to believe,

and trust that God will do the rest...

Spill the Beans

I wonder what it would look like if we trusted in spite of our doubts, our not knowing all the answers.

I wonder what it might look like if we were able to have conversations about our experience of Jesus, faith, church.

Last week we heard about the women finding the empty tomb, and their meeting with Jesus.

Would we have run to tell the disciples?

Or was it too much like a dream to be true?

I wonder if the disciples asked themselves the same question as they travelled from Jerusalem to Galilee.

The disciples did not see Jesus in Jerusalem, they only have the word of the two Marys

Is this for real?

Will Jesus be there?

One thing I have noticed when children begin walking, is they hold onto whatever is around the start with; then they venture on their own, often only a few steps before they fall over. They don’t give up, thinking this walking caper isn’t for me, they get back up and try again. And they improve their balance and coordination each attempt.

Is that how we think about speaking of our faith?

I know I worry about getting my words mixed up, and people thinking I am stupid. Like God speaks to people!

Part of what I have learnt about faith, as with many things in life, is that with practice we improve. It doesn’t mean we understand everything or can explain the mysteries of faith. but it does mean we step out in faith, not knowing what the next step will be.

….

A few things to think about with this reading:

“Go therefore and make disciples” - I have read that this isn’t Go as a command. More like when leave this mountain and while you do what you do ….

“make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.” sometimes this verse is read as 3 steps

1.   Make disciples

2.   Baptise

3.   teach

Another way of looking at it is to look at the active verb and the participles. The participles explain how the making disciples happens.  ‘In other words, we could understand the verse to be saying, "Make disciples of all nations, by baptizing and teaching.”’   [i]

The meeting between Jesus and the eleven disciples is on a mountain. Mountains are known as places to connect with God. [ii]

Galilee is where Jesus began his ministry and Matthew’s gospel finishes with this story from Galilee. [iii]

In chapter 1 Matthew announces that Jesus will be called Emmanuel, God with us; and here at the end of the gospel, Jesus reminds them that he will always be with them.

 .....

The disciples have shown all through the gospels that they do not understand what Jesus is teaching and showing them. And in the arrest and trail and crucifixion the disciples do not look like superhero followers of Jesus.

As they stand on the mountain with Jesus, they worship and doubt.

Jesus commissions all eleven disciples, there is no knowledge test or doubt meter to pass.[iv]

 “We are told to make disciples;

that is, to teach and enable people to become like Jesus,

loving like Jesus,

giving like Jesus,

and forgiving like Jesus.

We can only teach and enable them to make Jesus their Lord if this is how we ourselves live.” [v]

I know for me and many others this is not easy.  The idea of speaking about our faith can be scary.  It can be hard to know what to say.

Telling the good news isn’t giving a lecture on the life and teachings of Jesus,

Who do you know who needs to hear the good news that they are loved?

Who do you know who needs to hear the good news that their hard work is valued?

Who can we share such life changing news with this week?[vi]

Living out the commission of Jesus to make disciples, baptising and teaching may seem like a huge task.

Jesus trusts us with that task,

the task of telling people about love and liberation

the task of showing grace and forgiveness

the task of making disciples

as we live out our discipleship.

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[i] http://gluthermonson.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-great-calling-and-assurance.html

[ii]http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3877&fbclid=IwAR1SZbG5W3ceLbbGFtPp1RvMPc9hfQjOfiLleas3zQqh0l29gyEXU7jXJFI

[iii] https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=86&fbclid=IwAR2hSI-4T2LeEGnAp8CIe0SaVM_8zwZ3FsC5P7tnBxMf2ZsRCRKzEdjEyrM

[iv]https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2097&fbclid=IwAR1484HSP6LQI5KvbOaJn_WBTeQ7XdOjEae0ISRVNW31PQiDJI5lPSZAQtU

[v] https://www.onemansweb.org/theology/life-on-the-beach-matthew-24-36-44/trust-matthew-28-16-20-trinity-sunday.html

[vi] Spill the beans

Creation, Responsibility and Promise

Something I read this week: “This is the big lie that the world tells us: The world is connected by trade agreements, electronic banking, computer networks, shipping lanes, and the seeking of profit - nothing else. This is the truth of God: Creation is a holy web of relationship, a gift meant for all; it vibrates with the pain of all its parts; its destiny is joy."[i]

Others would tell us we are consumers, clients and customers; our only contribution and identity is in our financial fingerprint.

When we watch the news, we see war and greed.

We hear of death and division.

The story we tell of creation, of the earth or an organisation, or a congregation, says something of the values of the entity.  In 2 weeks we celebrate the anniversary of the Uniting Church, I wonder what story we tell about the formation and identity of the UCA?

Is it one of joy and trust, unease at change?

For me one of the great things about the formation of the UCA is “... that its primary concern was not simply with the mechanical problem of how to achieve a merger of three institutions, but with the existential question of what it means to be the church in Australia in the second half of the twentieth century.”[1]

If we look at Genesis 1, looking for truth not science or history, we just might find out who we belong to, and our role in life.[ii]

There are many creation stories, and one commentator ‘describes the shaping of the creation narrative of Genesis as a counter-cultural protest of the people of Israel against the creation story of their Babylonian captors. While their oppressors saw the origins of the universe as violent and bloody, the Israelites told their children a different story, a story rooted in goodness and blessing’.[iii]

We are connected to each other and the whole of creation.

In Genesis, we read of God making people in the image of God.

In psalm 8, people are a little lower than God.

And both the Psalm and Genesis give humanity ‘dominion’ over the creation. We have animals and birds and fish and plants to eat. 

With dominion comes responsibility, for each other and all of creation. We are given this responsibility by God. We may be ‘over’ the rest of creation, but only at the pleasure of God, as an ambassador.[iv]

Our role is the care for the earth and creation, as God does. We are told in Genesis that God saw the creation as good, do we treat creation as good and beautiful, or something to be used with regard for the future?

It is easy to act out of a sense of entitlement rather than one of responsibility. [v]

As people created in the “image of God,” Christians are summoned to reflect God’s care for the world of creation and for human community. In that calling, we have an example and a model in Jesus, the quintessential image of God.[vi]

We are created in the image of God, we have been given responsibility for the care of creation, but we are not God.

Matthew’s gospel ends with what is generally known as the Great Commission, Go and make disciples of all nations …, how do we do this?

By baptising and teaching. The baptism formula is Trinitarian – today, we still baptise in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.

There is also a promise in this passage: ‘And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’ One person calls this passage the Great Promise. [vii]

The promise that we are not on our own.

The creation story reminds us who we belong to – God

That creation came out of goodness, love and blessing

And that shows us how to take on our responsibility for the earth – with goodness, love and blessing

And in all this we are not on our own, we are:

Created in the image of God

Accompanied by Jesus

Filled with the Holy Spirit

What would you dream, dare, and do if you believed that Jesus is with you, no matter what.”

what would you do if you knew that God was for you and with you no matter what and forever.[viii]

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[1] Dutney, thesis, p53; see also second report of Joint Commission, p8

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[i] I like this quote from Julie Polter, from Facebook Nicked off Sue Weller McKinnon's page

[ii] Rev. Dr. Rachael Keefe in https://revgalblogpals.org/2017/06/07/revised-common-lectionary-it-was-good/

[iii] Kathryn Matthews in http://www.ucc.org/worship_samuel_sermon_seeds_june_11_2017

[iv] https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3298

[v] Kathryn Matthews in http://www.ucc.org/worship_samuel_sermon_seeds_june_11_2017

[vi] Walter C. Bouzard  in https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3300

[vii] http://www.davidlose.net/2017/06/trinity-sunday-a-the-great-promise/

[viii] http://www.davidlose.net/2017/06/trinity-sunday-a-the-great-promise/