Look at me - I'm a BEing not a DOing!

I've just listened to a sermon from some trendy worthy what's important and all-powerful (obviously not working in a UPA or Estate Church then!) regarding the fact that, as Christians, we are called to be human beings - the emphasis being on the 'BE" rather than human doings!

"We're not called to do anything in our Christian life but BE," he shouted. "Hallelujah," cried the people in the venue with him.

"We're not called to DO anything, we need to stop DOing and learn to be. Jesus doesn't ask us to DO anything other than BE with Him," he continued (to rapturous applause and cheers of 'Amen' and 'hallelujah').

Now as someone who has preached for as long as I can remember, it's true that we cannot buy or work our way into heaven - it's a free gift given to us by the sacrificial, one-time only, atoning death of Jesus, the Christ, on the cross - why am I disturbed by the words? Perhaps it's the fact that many who call themselves Christian are already doing so little!

I meet so many 'hobby Christians' who pop in to a service when it suits them and their social life.

I meet so many who are full of good intentions (and we know where they lead) and empty of good works. Those who tell me of what God is encouraging them to do and be; yet somehow they fail to turn encouragement into anything real and tangible.

I am a total supporter that ALL God wants us to do is to love Him in the company of the Son and enabled by the power of His Holy Spirit. For years I have preached this message:

"All God wants you to do is sit on your bums and love Him!"

This is in line with the 'human BEing' message that I heard today - we are in total agreement.

BUT that's not the end of the story for out of my BEing with God comes something that wants to express my love and DO stuff:

It might be singing His praise

It might be dancing

It might be doing stuff in the church or for the Church or for those outside the church or For the Church

It should include stuff that makes us look like Jesus to the world and like Church in our worship and outpouring of love (and that also means obedience)

_____________________________

The problem is that BEing is not the end in itself but the BEginning of our our Christian life and this is because Jesus calls us to DO.

To take up our cross, denying ourselves the things that deny God and follow Jesus

(Matt 16.26 // Lk 9.23)

To GO out into all the world and make disciples of those we meet, teaching the what the Bible says (and that's another 'DO' in some people's book when in fact it is a massive 'BE') and teach those we meet to keep God's commandments (not suggestions).

(Matt 28. 19 // Mk 16. 16)

I'm struggling with those who are preaching a message that tells believers that eternity is about BEing with God in heaven for all eternity and so we need to stop worrying about DOing and get used to 'just BEing' with Him now - and this means stopping worrying about what we do and, "Relax and just enjoy who we are in Him!"

It's great to be told that God wants us to , "Lie down with Him beside the quiet waters and to lay back on the grass and celebrate 'just being'," but the problem is that as great as that sounds (and I'm certainly up for some of that) I am continually called back to Jesus as a role model - and He certainly was a DO'er and concerned that the call to, "Just Be and chillax (is that a word?) in God," is a call to condemn those who don't know Him (Jesus) to something that condemns them.

I am continually called back to Romans 10. 14-15 regarding those who are distant from God:

"But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? 
 And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? 
 And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?
 And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? 

 That is why the Scriptures say, 
“How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”  "

Would it be nice to think that those who proclaim that we're human BEings rather than Doings were actually DOing because they BE following Christ's example of loving service and sacrifice. That said, perhaps the next time someone has a need, the Church should just tell them that we're sorry but we're busy 'being' can they come back later when we are 'doing'?

So very grateful Jesus wasn't just BEing when my needs were before Him!

Daily Quiet Time or Prayer or . . .

Office or study or . . .

It doesn't matter what you call it the issue is that if you do it you do it right and this is where it gets hard (as if doing it wasn't hard enough)!

When I was a student there were a bunch of really dedicated Christians in the Christian Union(CU). They got together and did their daily study, getting together each morning and having their 'Quiet Time'. They would read their Bible study notes and the passage set for the day.

Another group were the Navigators - a disciplined bunch who would work through various themed programmes - using the Topical Memory system these guys would learn a new passage each day and would test each other on the verses that had passed. These were the storm troopers of the CU, they learned their stuff and could be found stopping students in the corridor and asking them (in various ways) what they thought of Jesus and Christianity.

Then came another group who were a bit hit and miss with their Quiet Times. They tended to start the month well and slowly slide into variable observance. This was the group I was usually part off and it was not because I didn't see the benefit of reading the Bible or didn't want to spend time reading, thinking and praying but because I had a life. I can hear some say that the life I had was probably indisciplined and you may well be right, but things got in the way and the best plans and highest intentions were binned because I'd be out all night praying with people or discussing the Bible and arguing with the atheists (always been there) or doing other stuff.

What I noticed was that then, and now, that some who did their daily wotsit religiously, by which I mean, legalistically and without much enthusiasm or joy. They ticked the box and 'did their duty' and as much as I applaud their commitment (would that there were more who were committed) I was, and am, sad that some do it as drear and dread duty rather than as a place of sanity and a source of joy.

I made a promise when I was ordained that I would do my daily office - that is my morning and evening prayer - and this promise, and the keeping of if, is a commitment and a challenge. A commitment because, like feeding the cats, it is something I have to do because I need to feed the spiritual man (and I promised God and a pointyhat - not one and the same thing I'd do it) and a challenge because it requires a discipline - that's why I do it the minute I wake, getting up earlier to ensure it happens before the demands and distractions of the day conspire to distract me - and it needs to be something I want to do.

So here's a little plea to those who stumble across these words:

If you are a Christian you need to feed the spiritual person every day - lest they become emancipated and eventually starve.

If you are a Christian you need to find some joy in being so, if it is a joyless, lifeless and draining experience then slowly, but most assuredly, you're living in a time stamped existence - one that leads to being an ex-Christian!

If you don't take time out to consider the world around you and the needs nearer to you and to regard them with spiritual eyes and listen regarding them with anointed ears then how can you make sense and pray intelligently and form a world view and a rational understanding that fits your faith view and satisfies those of no faith?

So my plea is this:
Read your Bible
Understand what's happening in the world, work, home, church, elsewhere
Use your brain
Use your tongue to talk to God (and people)
Get excited
Be passionate (or as passionate as you can be)

Do this and you'll find yourself craving time where you can dialogue, reason and rejoice in being a person of faith - and you'll find people want to be doing it with you.

Happy Friday

Gravitational Cognisance:

Anyone who has watched cartoon will be familiar with characters walking off high places and continuing their progress in mid-air until they realise solid ground has gone as, looking down, the begin to plummet to the ground. We may find a parallel between Wile E Coyote and those who have lost the solid ground of their Christian faith. They continue walking as if they're on solid ground until something causes them to look down and then . . .  Whoosh . . .  Satan-like they plummet out our sight and are lost forever.

Some manage to never look down, they keep plodding on in the hope that they will have one of those Damascus road experiences or be hit by a bolt of lightning and so live out their lives of obedient drudgery when all it needs is for them to encounter and engage with their doubt! It is this that makes me think that doubt is one of the most excellent things we have in the arsenal of our faith.

And if doubt is one of our greatest gifts then one of the greatest curses has to be the loss of meaning that has been supposedly gifted to us by postmodernity. I say 'supposedly' because it has always been with us throughout all the ages. Those generations who have known the price of everything and the value of nothing, the many good men who have failed to act (regardless of the reason) and the valueless faith that imposes no standards to demands that we keep - this I that of which we speak.

The tension between getting all the good stuff (forgiveness, approbation, affirmation. acceptance, etc.) without having to believe 'all the ****!'* (absolutes, commandments, rules, standards, etc.) is an ever present reality. This is the bottom line for many and shapes and makes their faith life. No surprise because, when it comes down to it for we are like little children who want the sweeties but baulk at having to eat the cabbage (or whatever your dread vegetable happens to be), aren't we?

It is here that some cling to religion (rules and absolutes) whilst others turn to ritual (bells, smells and tat) and others still turn to inclusivity and freedom from restrictions (the 'God wants you to be happy' approach).

Whenever I encounter this area, personally or in others, I find myself coming back to Matthew 21.44 and the words that 'Whoever falls upon this rock will be broken and those upon whom it falls will be crushed.' Doubt needs to be be broken by recognising the thin air upon which the doubter is standing and, having acknowledged it, addressing and remedying it. Denial of doubt is death (spiritual and sometime physical too) and has no place in the Christian faith - we need to encourage doubt, for otherwise we push it underground to creep, cancer-like, behind the scenes just before we notice the weight-loss (and there are many emaciated Christians out there) that heralds the slide into being departed. Early prevention comes through checking for the signs and responding when they are found.

Have a look at your feet and see whether they are are solid ground or about to lead you into the plummet that is terminal decline.

Remember: Christianity demands that you do not leave your brain at the door! 


*A quote from one of those trendy clerics with which we are so blessed with these days!

Church: A place of safety

An increasing problem in Church, it seems to me, is not that of personal sin but the fact that leaders are increasingly encouraging their members that they are 'somewhere safe' with regard to their faith when it is obvious that many are very far from being safe!

I challenged a colleague over this and was told, "The members don't want to be told they're wrong all the time, do they?" And of course they don't but they should surely expect, and welcome, gentle correction, shouldn't they? Anything else is merely leaving people to their own devices. My colleague, with typical humour (or was it resignation?), told me that there were, "Many Christians who welcomed their errors and shortcomings being pointed out and worked on by the Vicar. The problem is that none of them come to this church!" Wherein lies the problem!

Another minister I know views Thomas (the doubter) as the, 'Cancer that destroys the Church!' When it comes to doubt or areas of unbelief they are animated and rather vocal in calling upon members to believe because anything else is the path to separation from God and the demise of the Church. "Put aside your doubts and live in freedom," was their mantra. But is is true? It is odd that this same person also tells people they are' safe' because they come to church and 'do stuff'. 'Safe' is indeed a moveable, and variable, feast!

If I tell people that they are safe and that all is well then I'm sure this will leave them happy and will mean that they live in the peace (at all levels) that those words bring. But if it is a false peace then what I am doing is sowing seeds that, when the harvest comes, will bring a healthy crop of weeds. Worse still is that if I am telling people that all is well when perhaps it isn't the issues that need to be addressed and remedied will remain untouched and I have perhaps condemned them (and surely condemned myself by my complicity) to live in sinful situations.

We are called to carry each other's load (Galatians 6.2), to restore those 'caught in sin' (Galatians 6.1) and to let our 'Yes be Yes and our No be No' (Matthew 5.37) and this means that we provide a place of honesty and love. The problem is that we live in a world where people, thinking they're being 'kind', offer what they think is supportive and kind words when, instead, God calls us to tell the truth in love (Ephesians 4.15).

Church should be a place of safety but for it to be this we need to make it a place of loving honesty and openness; something I have in times past been guilty of not always doing choosing 'peace' and 'keeping members' rather than bringing loving correction.

Now I am very aware that this is not the easiest of areas to discuss because those outside the Church will see hypocrisy (when it's merely being human) and those inside the Church will . . .

Will what?

Cry out to be told they're doing it wrong, or at least could do it better?

Move somewhere else if you point out, however gently, that they are in error?

Welcome an honest leader trying to fulfil their role with integrity and love?


You tell me - and tell me how you would like to have it as a member and as a minister.

Inclusive not permissive
Loving not condoning
Seeing not ignoring

Pax

Blue Sky Thinking - Counter Cultural

Now here's is something that I believe to be true:

Blue Sky Thought - Not Who You Know

Something to ponder this morning - perhaps more for some than others:

Crazy?

Speaks for itself:

The Bumps are what you climb on

This is the title of a book by Warren Wiersbe I read many years ago. It sticks in the memory because it was one of those books that shine out of the morass of Christian pulp that exists (why is there so much poor quality and thankfully ephemeral dross out there?). This 'theodicy lite' tome was rather useful to a few people I was working with at the time and the short meditations in it helped many.

Pottering along I found a rather good depiction of life as we intend it and the reality we so often experience:

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

Hebrews 12

Blue Sky Thinking: All or Nothing

This is a quote from C S Lewis that has been stuck to the wall for many years and is one that I try to live by (and encourage others to do also):

In or out - we should do it fully. I'd rather a rampant atheist than a lukewarm (or ersatz) Christian.

Possessed by Possessions - Lazarus and Dives

Today's three readings (Amos 6.1a, 4-7 - 1 Timothy 6.6-19 - Luke 16.19-31) all bring us something to chew over regarding how we live now and how that might just have an impact upon our future hope.

Now I have friends who tell me that everyone 'gets in' regardless of how we live or what we believe and yet today's readings appear to be telling me something just a little different to that - and adding Hebrews 9:27 and John3:16 (to name but two of many passages) to the mix appears to deny their universalist stance even more.

So here's a thought for today: If you are possessed by possessions, live for money and ignore the world around you (and its needs) then you'd better be reconciled to the fact that whilst we bring nothing material into, or out of, the world we do set conditions by our living for a future state and hope.

A quick illustration to aid our thinking?

The love of money is truly the root of all kind of evil - so what choices are we going to make here before it's too late.

Perhaps the story of Lazarus and the rich man informs and influences us in this area?

Thought for the Day: Loathe one another!

For such a small bunch - the folk of Westboro Baptist church come in for a great deal of attention if the conversations I have are anything to go by. It seems this small and rather sad bunch of people are engaged in taking the message of god to the world and the sad thing is that the message, and the god they have, is of their own making and the fruit of their hatred and vitriolic proclamations is the very fate that they pour upon others.

The Bible tells us (Matt 7) that as we judge we too will be judged - using the same measure and means! Not only that but the Bible adds, for very good measure, this commandment (John 13):

'Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. 

This is how everyone will recognise that you are my disciples -

when they see the love you have for each other.'

Obviously this isn't what we see when we look at Westboro and it soon becomes very clear that whoever they are following - it sure ain't Jesus, for (returning to Matthew 7) because (as it so clearly states: 'by their fruits will you know them!'

You don't get apples from a thorn bush - you don't get hate and vile proclamations from Christians!

So whether you have a faith or not

love one another, be kind and take care that you don't sow the wrong seeds in your life.

Happy Friday

Thought for the Day: Work

When I was in the wonderful world of engineering one of the labourers, Ivor, went about his daily tasks with a smile and more often than not a Gospel song.

I once asked him why he was always so happy and his response?

'This is the day that the Lord hath made

I will rejoice and be glad in it!'

Psalm 118. 24

I know it's not Monday - but if you have a job be grateful

And as you have a life - be joyful

After all, it's better than the alternative ;-)

And the Greatest of these is . . .

LOVE!

Our 'all-age' service this morning will seek to communicate two great truths: Unity and Love.

Deuteronomy 6.1-9
“Now this is the commandment – the laws and the rules - that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long.
Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.
You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and wear them to your foreheads as reminders.
You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Mark 12: 28-34
One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realised that Jesus had answered well, so he asked,
“Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”
Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this:
‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord.
And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’
The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
The teacher of religious law replied, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth by saying that there is only one God and no other. And I know it is important to love him with all my heart and all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbour as myself. This is more important than to offer all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law.”
Realising how much the man understood, Jesus said to him,
“You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.
I can't think of two more exciting passages and two amazingly important issues as love and the unity of the Holy trinity and the implications for us as part of the body of Christ and in loving our neighbours. Praise God for His Word, living and ascended and written - May they touch us by the power of His Holy Spirit that we might live in His love. Hallelujah - Christ is Risen!

Removing knighthoods and other stupid acts!

I see that that great bastion of all that is morally right and proper (The Sun) is calling for Sir Jimmy Savile to be stripped of his OBE and knighthood. That's the way to do it, hit the man where it hurts!

Oh yeah, forgot that he is dead and so taking away the honour would do? Exactly nothing, unlike taking Freddy Goodwin's knighthood from him in an act of public vengeance. Now that did something (didn't it?).

How I wish that we would stop the bitter, revenge-ladeen, bleating that is so much a part of this society of ours. We don't seek justice nor do we engage in dialogue that seeks understanding and craves peace but instead we lash out to redress the balance and gain the upper hand (regardless of how Phyrric it might be).

Four years ago the prime Minister of the day (Gordon Brown, remember him?) launched a bail out of the banks and promised a balanced and more moral banking system as a result. here we are four years on and the Chancellor (George Osborne - wouldn't you like to forget him?) is talking about cutting benefits to the tune of £10bn to help balance the books of a financially (to go along with morally) bankrupt nation, thanks to the Bankers and the Labour Party (who last week with their sans Gromit leader promised more 'spend. spend. spend' profligacy).

Seems we have three undesirable parties vying for power  and bankers still living as they did and making money at the top end whilst the drones find themselves redundant and paying for the excesses of the privileged (much like the Church of England according to one critic this weekend!!!).

Forget knighthoods and throwing stones at dead people and let us instead concentrate of those who knew and were complicit in the acts that Savile did. Let us ask questions of those who were, and are, in power regarding PFI scams, the imminent demise of the NHS (a jewel in our nation's fast dimming crown), the excesses of bankers and the so many other real, and accesible, excesses and errors. Let's call upon the Lord for justice (for He does hear and does act).

As for revenge?

Paul has a good thought for the day in the words of Romans 12: 19:

Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, "I will take revenge; I will pay them back," says the LORD.

Thought for the Day - Parish Share

Parish Share - Mutual Support or Daylight Robbery?

Which voice are you listening too?

Thought for the day

Seek good, not evil, that you may live.

Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is.

Amos 5: 14

When the going get rough

Regardless of what our calling is, we all have one and the greatest of these is our baptismal calling which having confirmed us as members of the Church calls us to reject rebellion against God and takes us into the world.

In the world we are called to tell, teach and make disciples.
In the home it calls us to be students of the Word and to be diligent (i.e. do it) in prayer. Everywhere we are called to be witnesses to the atoning power of Christ's blood and to live our new life.

Life is a variable and has many peaks and troughs, highs and lows. We all have times of darkness and despair and sunlight and joy; Easy water and wild water which hides rocks and hazards to the soul.

Being Christian is easy when we are living in the pluses but when the minus signs begin to accumulate we tend to cling to that which we know and sadly this is often the opposite of the 'Fruit of the Spirit' in Galatians five. Instead of the 'love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness' we find instead varying degrees of 'division, sadness, despair, impatience, cruelty (in word and deed) and wickedness'.

It seems that when the 'going gets tough' some stop coming,
Some start swearing, kicking and fighting,
Some open a bottle and look to a different spirit,
Some take their eyes off God and look to the world and its distractions,
Some crawl into their caves and refuse to come out.

People often tell me how 'lucky' I am that I am immune from the above options. Would that it was true for when we the going gets tough, we ALL have the potential to select one (or all) of the wrong options. Then I have to tell them that I try not to slip into one (or more) of the wrong choices and that I do this by:

Reading my Bible - Conversing with God (Prayer) - Selecting the right company (Yes, I try to avoid those who will make me worse when I'm wobbling) and keeping my mouth shut (always a tough task, but the potential to say the wrong thing in the wrong way or use the wrong words is something we all have).

And when they ask what I do when things are going well?

Reading my Bible - Conversing with God - Selecting the right company and keeping my mouth shut (still a tough task).

What about you?

The computer as a mirror

My foray into the issue of the unopenable Publisher has started me thinking about my own path along the world of computing starting back in the late seventies with a Commodore Pet, a majestic machine with 16k of memory and a screen 40 characters wide. This later grew to an 8032 (80 columns, 32k of memory) and a dual (5 1/4") disk drive, tractor-feed printer (yay, no more tapes) - a machine that lives in our garage and now and then awakes to play.

Life was exciting, I played games on my Apple ][e, which I filled with cards and added peripherals (my first FlightSim version!). CP/M and assembler ruled. This was the time when spreadsheets were new and exciting (3D too!) and the world expanded with the addition of a 300 Baud acoustic coupler. Life on the superhighway indeed!

Like any good addict life was taken away by Nascom computers (built them yourself - version 1 and 2), Z80 development kits (a week to program a ball bouncing on the screen all lost when plug removed!!! No storage!! The Osborne luggable (orange screen), the Dragon (6809 processor, mmmmm), the BBC (A & B - still a couple in the garage), the Radio Shark TRS-80 (trash eighty) and a host of other machines (never had Sinclair's ZX or Plectrum offerings)kept me sleepless and poor.

Then came the Apple Mac 512 and life was Gucci! Apache Strike, Zork (aah, Infocom - played them all), Larry and of course, FlightSim. MacWrite and Works made me productive when I wasn't being dissipated. I've probably owned most of the Apple products (some live in our garage) at some time and worked alongside those with some good DOS and windows machines (many of them) too! It's funny but my computing life has paid me (well), made me efficient and inefficient in equal measure. It's made me friends and cost me loads but I don't regret it (well perhaps the Trash 80).

I wonder if I have put in half as much time, energy, life, love or passion into my faith life?

Pax

In Tents Christianity

One of the greatest tasks any pastor has is that of helping people deal with the tough things of life. Of all of those the hardest has to be the seeing of oneself as others see us and then seeing ourselves as God does.

We mumble our excuses and point to the people, places and events that have (mis)shaped us and explain that it is not 'our fault'. We look at the 'good' things we do in the hope that they will mitigate those bad things, forgetting the words in the Eucharist where we ask God to forgive us that bad rather than merely note the good. For we cannot paint over the bad with good deeds and the weight of our flaws is far greater than that of our perfections!

Here it is 2:45 and the house is still. There is no sound from outside and inside only the gentle snoring of the Chocolate Lab' (crushing my feet!) breaks the silence. The world where I am slumbers and a new dawn approaches. What opportunities will today bring? What chance encounters (chance or ordained - perhaps this is merely a matter of perspective) awaits us?

Today we, like those involved with the OLSX camp outside St Paul's, will be faced with choices. They might not be in the public or media gaze like those at St Paul's and our actions may be seen by no one but us (and of course, God) but we need to act as if we were for then we might act as if God was watching too!

Some time back, walking with a colleague, we saw a member of his church. "Quick," said they, "Let's cross here and miss them!" with that they crossed and headed for an alley only to find another member of their congregation who stopped them and told of the ills being suffered by the person who we had turned off to avoid. As the did the very same person turned into the alley (which with the four of us was becoming the local equivalent of Picadilly Circus) and was greeted warmly by my colleague (who engaged with them, asked the right questions and looked every inch the concerned and caring cleric).

As we finally departed from the ensuing conversation the comment was made that we'd, "Got out of that quite well!" Where I saw a pastoral opportunity my colleague saw a hindrance and a delay - only the gaze of an admiring parishioner made the engagement (sought and avoided) happen. The sadness is that this minister still acts like that every day - sadder still, so (I'm sure) do I.

As we enter today pray:

That those who bear the label 'beloved of God' act as they should, not because others are watching but because we know it is the right thing to do.

That humility, love, charity, mercy and forgiveness are ours because we strive to live, and look, like Jesus not because others see us but because that's how we want to live.

That the person you saw in the mirror before you read this will live in the grace of God and under His gaze and love - today and every day of our life (and because of this, so might others).

May God bless us and make us the person He sees rather than the person no one sees!

Pax

Out the window at the wedding feast

Yesterday we had the parable of the Wedding feast (Matt 22) and the story touched me greatly in the parallels and instructions contained within it.

First the Father invites the guests to His Son's wedding feast - but they don't come.

Then He send out messengers and they are abused and killed.

So, He invites the rest of the people 'Good and bad' to the feast.

Then, arriving at the feast, seeing someone incorrectly dressed, the King has the man bound and thrown out the window into the darkness where there is a weeping and wailing and a gnashing of teeth!

Now the parallels between the Jews and the Gentiles, the former being invited first and failing to arrive and the later being invited as substitutes, is obvious and much like the vineyard owner story last week, must have caused som angst amongst the religious at the time.

BUT

1. EVERYONE is invited to the banquet. This is because Jesus died for EVERYONE!

2. The person who turns up and is improperly dressed is ejected from the party into the outer darkness.

Now point the first seems to say that we need to adopt universalist thinking, because ALL are invited. But the second says that unless we turn up properly dressed, wearing the garments of righteousness, then we are not going to get in! It seems to me that this passage tells us that we need to respond (getting clothed properly is a response, isn't it?) in the right way to live within the salvation that was won on the cross (the invitation is the Cross isn't it?).

So, my previous thinking which was:

Jesus dies for ALL and ALL are therefore given access to heaven - we just need to walk up to Him, look Him in the eyes and take our ticket from Him seems to have yet another confirmation in the Matt 22 parable.

So here's today's big question:

Are we sowing seeds of righteousness today, seeking to clothe ourselves with righteousness or are we going to live our own way trusting in a God who, father Christmas-like, will just open the doors to all?

Mmmmmm!

Happy Monday

“The Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a king who prepared a great wedding feast for his son. 3 When the banquet was ready, he sent his servants to notify those who were invited. But they all refused to come!
4 “So he sent other servants to tell them, ‘The feast has been prepared. The bulls and fattened cattle have been killed, and everything is ready. Come to the banquet!’ 5 But the guests he had invited ignored them and went their own way, one to his farm, another to his business. 6 Others seized his messengers and insulted them and killed them.
7 “The king was furious, and he sent out his army to destroy the murderers and burn their town. 8 And he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, and the guests I invited aren’t worthy of the honour. 9 Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see.’ 10 So the servants brought in everyone they could find, good and bad alike, and the banquet hall was filled with guests.
11 “But when the king came in to meet the guests, he noticed a man who wasn’t wearing the proper clothes for a wedding. 12 ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how is it that you are here without wedding clothes?’ But the man had no reply. 13 Then the king said to his aides, ‘Bind his hands and feet and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
14 “For many are called, but few are chosen.”