I read this one in blogosphere today and smiled...I hope it makes you smile:
Atheist: The burden of proof is on you to establish the existence of this so-called "god" but I believe that if there was any such divine entity "it" would not want us to continue dating.
Intelligent Design Theorist: Our relationship bears the marks of irreducible complexity making it too difficult to explain by way of natural causes. Therefore, the most reasonable conclusion is that we were designed to break up since things have gotten so complicated.
Arminian: While you love me and have a wonderful plan for my life, I have the power to resist your will. If I did not, love would not be possible. For our relationship to be loving it needs to include the possibility of breaking up--something I am doing right now.
Open Theist: I am not really sure if we are supposed to be together, because neither is God.
Theistic Evolutionist: The beauty and rhythm of random variation and natural selection over long periods of time has presented us with a world where God has shown us that our relationship is too biologically expensive to maintain and is destined for extinction.
Young Earth Creationist: No, I do not believe we have been going out for that long. Our relationship is only six days old and on the seventh God rested. I think we need a rest too.
Emergent: The question of whether we are in a relationship or not is mired in Modernity's obsession with propositional truth. A better way to look at this is to enter into God's story about how he lead us together and is now leading us apart. Lutheran: I want our relationship to continue, but first there are a few things about you that God wants to change. Here is a list of 95 that I made. What? OK, then, I guess we're done.Fundamentalist: You have tarnished the pure nature of our love by incorporating such heathen elements as "dating" and "fun." I am afraid I can no longer court you--yea, even speak to you--until you repent of this apostasy.And the topper...Calvinist: We were predestined before the creation of the world to break up according to God's good pleasure. I am, on my own power, unable to break up with you apart from the irresistible draw of God's sovereign grace which leads me to end this relationship. Those that truly break up will not get back together in the end.
Find more like this here.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Friday, January 11, 2008
Covenant Preaching Series
At my new church in Cape Town we will be following a 6 week sermon series based on the Wesleyan covenant prayer (as rewritten by John van de Laar) culminating in the Covenant Service on the 24 February. It promises to be challenging to both myself as a preacher but also to the congregation as we really get into the meat of the prayer. I would greatly appreciate any comments...even on the future themes for the next 5 sermons to come :).
The series themes are as follows:
13 January – God’s Association: May you decide what I should do and with whom I should do it
20 January – God’s Guidance: May you guide when I should be active and when I should rest
27 January – God’s Sustenance: May you sustain me when I am well and when I suffer
3 February - God’s “Success”: May you be reflected in me when I am praised and when I am challenged
10 February – God’s Provision: May I give thanks to you when I enjoy abundance, and when I know what it is to go without
17 February – God’s Call: May my whole life be given in service of your love and salvation, use all that I have and all that I am for your purposes
24 February – Covenant Service: And may I always remember that you, O God, and I belong to each other. This is my commitment - I stand by it
Here is the first of the sermons...
God’s Association: May you decide what I should do and with whom I should do it
Readings: Acts 10:9-28
Introduction
Introduce the series
· For the next 6 weeks we will be focussing on preparing ourselves for the Covenant Service. The way in which we will be doing this is by means of using the Wesleyan Covenant Prayer as rewritten by John van de Laar in Knysna and looking at each of the imperative sentences so that we can have a better understanding of what it means to renew our covenant with God.
Covenant prayer
· The prayer itself reads as such:
God of the Covenant,
I place my life in your hands – for it to be yours to direct and not mine
May you decide what I should do and with whom I should do it;
May you guide when I should be active and when I should rest;
May you sustain me when I am well and when I suffer;
May you be reflected in me when I am praised and when I am challenged;
May I give thanks to you when I enjoy abundance, and when I know what it is to go without;
May my whole life be given in service of your love and salvation, use all that I have and all that I am for your purposes;
And may I always remember that you, O God, and I belong to each other.
This is my commitment - I stand by it.
And I ask that you, Jesus, bear witness to it.
Amen.
Theme: God’s Association
· So today we will be looking at the sentence that says: May you decide what I should do and with whom I should do it. The overriding theme will be God’s association.
Association – club of like minded people
· Now God’s Association may well ring as some sort of a club or group of like minded people. If I think of football or soccer, the FA (Football Association) is a group of like-minded people with the same goals. So I would not be surprised if you were to say to me that you are certain that the sermon will be about who we as Christians should or should not associate with.
Sermon re: first line of prayer…not a comfortable prayer
· Here’s the thing; this sermon is about the first line of the Covenant Prayer. This particular prayer does not sit well with anyone who wants to sit back and not be challenged by their commitment to God. It does not sit well with people who want to remain comfortable in their faith. This prayer has everything to do with challenging us to the point at which we must change. That is why I decided to do a series on the Covenant prayer. I have seen far too often how people will say the prayer and not really be interested in what it says, or how it challenges the way we live our lives.
Does offer some comfort
· Now let me say this, although the prayer offers little comfort to us, it does offer comfort at the end of the prayer… And may I always remember that you, O God, and I belong to each other. An assurance that God is indeed always with us and offers us a peace that surpasses our understanding.
1. God deciding what we should do
First part of the sentence… all have said it as long as it fits us
· In the first sentence it says; “May you decide what I should do”. I think that most of us would happily say that as we have for many years that has passed. The trouble is that often it is a case of I will do it if it fits in my construct of what God should want us to do. We would assume that as long as it makes sense to us or fits our construct then that is what God is saying.
Illustration: Bank robbery
· A story is told of two men who worked in the audit department of a large bank. They made an overnight trip to a distant branch of the bank, and were dining in a local restaurant. The chief auditor told the other man, “First we’ll hit the tellers, and then get the vault.” They arrived at the bank the next morning, only to be promptly arrested by the state police. Upon inquiry, they discovered that a police captain had eaten at the same restaurant and had overheard the conversation about “hitting the tellers and getting the vault.” The police captain had made a very good assumption about the situation, based on the information as he had overheard it, but his assumption was also very wrong.
Peter bases God’s will on his own assumption
· One man in the bible made a similar mistake; he had based what he thought God wanted him to do on his own experience of his faith and its rules. That man was Peter, a good upstanding Jewish man. We read about the vision that he had and what it lead to. The very thing that Peter would never have done was to eat anything that the law did not allow…this would have been unacceptable to God in his mind. Yet God surprises him, God challenges him. The passage tells us that he was challenged to eat what was unclean, even though that did not fit into his understanding of what God would have required from him. He had heard right in terms of the law but assumed wrong in terms of thinking that God could not do something different in his life.
Don’t let preconceived ideas stop us from seeing what God wants us to do
· Don’t let our preconceived ideas of how God works stop us from being open to the fact that God is pretty creative and will usually surprise us. We just need to look a little past our constructs of God…God is not as small as we think.
God’s point was to tell him to associate with anybody whom God shows.
· We all know though that, according to the passage, that the point of what God was trying to get across was not about Peter having to eat unclean food, although I am quite pleased since this passage frees me from the guilt of eating bacon and seafood (both regarded unclean according to Levitical law).
· So that brings me to the next part of the prayer sentence… and with whom I should do it.
2. “Free association”
Free association and AFM
· I was watching a documentary on the AFM church the other day and how the so called white church and black church reconciled and were joined once again in unity. I remember that during the process of all of this was a cry for the right to “free association”. In other words, we can choose with whom we associate with or not. So that meant that, although the church was united, people could still choose to keep a congregation white or black. Now I guess that most of us would hold on to a right like that in our personal lives because we know that there are just certain people that we personally don’t feel comfortable associating with…we are human after all.
If we hold onto the right we may miss what God want us to do
· But here is the challenge; we are going to prayer this prayer as a covenant to God in 6 weeks time. If we are to hold on to the right to free association and only associate with the people we want to, we will be insincere in that prayer. We may also miss what God wants us to do because it may mean that we need to associate with those people we choose not to.
Vision was to challenge Peter to associate with Gentiles
· The Challenge was there for Peter as well. As much as he knew he was not to eat anything unclean, he was also not to associate with anybody that was unclean…that was the law! But the very vision that he had to eat what was “unclean” according to the law lead him to have to associate with people who were regarded unclean…gentiles.
Take a step back – Jesus hung out with “uncleans”
· Now let us just take a step back here. Let us look at Jesus and his ministry. I seem to recall that Jesus spent most of his time and ministry around the people who were unclean and rejected by society. It is little wonder that he challenged Peter to do the very same thing…associate with the Gentiles.
We can miss out on God’s blessing if we choose to “associate freely” but exclusively.
· I trust that what was true for Peter would be true for us as Christians 2000 odd years later. We can so easily miss out on God’s blessing on ourselves and others when we choose to exclude certain people because they don’t fit our construct. Can you imagine if Peter had his way…the church would not be where it is now, it would have been just for the Jews. What I find interesting is that the church can be the greatest place of exclusion. And when we do include it is often a very limited inclusion…we are not always happy to allow God to work through the “excludeds”.
Conclusion
Here the challenge – it won’t result in Lightening bolts if we break covenant
· So here’s the challenge for us for the next 6 weeks, as we prepare to say those words… May you decide what I should do and with whom I should do it. It is easy to make a covenant and break it…we do it all the time, I mean there aren’t exactly going to be lightening bolts coming down when we break it…but there will be consequences.
Consequence of breaking covenant is missing out on God’s blessing
· In every circumstance were any human has not kept their end of the deal with God in a covenant, there have been consequences. People haven’t died but they have excluded themselves from the very thing that God wants them to do and thus bless them. The Israelites had to winder for 40 years before they could see God’s promised blessing.
God has our best interest at heart
· God has got only our best interests at heart, that I can promise you. Trust that when we allow God to put us to work or to associate us with anybody he wants us to…that is when God will bless us. Allow God to surprise you, don’t let your own will supersede his.
Amen.
The series themes are as follows:
13 January – God’s Association: May you decide what I should do and with whom I should do it
20 January – God’s Guidance: May you guide when I should be active and when I should rest
27 January – God’s Sustenance: May you sustain me when I am well and when I suffer
3 February - God’s “Success”: May you be reflected in me when I am praised and when I am challenged
10 February – God’s Provision: May I give thanks to you when I enjoy abundance, and when I know what it is to go without
17 February – God’s Call: May my whole life be given in service of your love and salvation, use all that I have and all that I am for your purposes
24 February – Covenant Service: And may I always remember that you, O God, and I belong to each other. This is my commitment - I stand by it
Here is the first of the sermons...
God’s Association: May you decide what I should do and with whom I should do it
Readings: Acts 10:9-28
Introduction
Introduce the series
· For the next 6 weeks we will be focussing on preparing ourselves for the Covenant Service. The way in which we will be doing this is by means of using the Wesleyan Covenant Prayer as rewritten by John van de Laar in Knysna and looking at each of the imperative sentences so that we can have a better understanding of what it means to renew our covenant with God.
Covenant prayer
· The prayer itself reads as such:
God of the Covenant,
I place my life in your hands – for it to be yours to direct and not mine
May you decide what I should do and with whom I should do it;
May you guide when I should be active and when I should rest;
May you sustain me when I am well and when I suffer;
May you be reflected in me when I am praised and when I am challenged;
May I give thanks to you when I enjoy abundance, and when I know what it is to go without;
May my whole life be given in service of your love and salvation, use all that I have and all that I am for your purposes;
And may I always remember that you, O God, and I belong to each other.
This is my commitment - I stand by it.
And I ask that you, Jesus, bear witness to it.
Amen.
Theme: God’s Association
· So today we will be looking at the sentence that says: May you decide what I should do and with whom I should do it. The overriding theme will be God’s association.
Association – club of like minded people
· Now God’s Association may well ring as some sort of a club or group of like minded people. If I think of football or soccer, the FA (Football Association) is a group of like-minded people with the same goals. So I would not be surprised if you were to say to me that you are certain that the sermon will be about who we as Christians should or should not associate with.
Sermon re: first line of prayer…not a comfortable prayer
· Here’s the thing; this sermon is about the first line of the Covenant Prayer. This particular prayer does not sit well with anyone who wants to sit back and not be challenged by their commitment to God. It does not sit well with people who want to remain comfortable in their faith. This prayer has everything to do with challenging us to the point at which we must change. That is why I decided to do a series on the Covenant prayer. I have seen far too often how people will say the prayer and not really be interested in what it says, or how it challenges the way we live our lives.
Does offer some comfort
· Now let me say this, although the prayer offers little comfort to us, it does offer comfort at the end of the prayer… And may I always remember that you, O God, and I belong to each other. An assurance that God is indeed always with us and offers us a peace that surpasses our understanding.
1. God deciding what we should do
First part of the sentence… all have said it as long as it fits us
· In the first sentence it says; “May you decide what I should do”. I think that most of us would happily say that as we have for many years that has passed. The trouble is that often it is a case of I will do it if it fits in my construct of what God should want us to do. We would assume that as long as it makes sense to us or fits our construct then that is what God is saying.
Illustration: Bank robbery
· A story is told of two men who worked in the audit department of a large bank. They made an overnight trip to a distant branch of the bank, and were dining in a local restaurant. The chief auditor told the other man, “First we’ll hit the tellers, and then get the vault.” They arrived at the bank the next morning, only to be promptly arrested by the state police. Upon inquiry, they discovered that a police captain had eaten at the same restaurant and had overheard the conversation about “hitting the tellers and getting the vault.” The police captain had made a very good assumption about the situation, based on the information as he had overheard it, but his assumption was also very wrong.
Peter bases God’s will on his own assumption
· One man in the bible made a similar mistake; he had based what he thought God wanted him to do on his own experience of his faith and its rules. That man was Peter, a good upstanding Jewish man. We read about the vision that he had and what it lead to. The very thing that Peter would never have done was to eat anything that the law did not allow…this would have been unacceptable to God in his mind. Yet God surprises him, God challenges him. The passage tells us that he was challenged to eat what was unclean, even though that did not fit into his understanding of what God would have required from him. He had heard right in terms of the law but assumed wrong in terms of thinking that God could not do something different in his life.
Don’t let preconceived ideas stop us from seeing what God wants us to do
· Don’t let our preconceived ideas of how God works stop us from being open to the fact that God is pretty creative and will usually surprise us. We just need to look a little past our constructs of God…God is not as small as we think.
God’s point was to tell him to associate with anybody whom God shows.
· We all know though that, according to the passage, that the point of what God was trying to get across was not about Peter having to eat unclean food, although I am quite pleased since this passage frees me from the guilt of eating bacon and seafood (both regarded unclean according to Levitical law).
· So that brings me to the next part of the prayer sentence… and with whom I should do it.
2. “Free association”
Free association and AFM
· I was watching a documentary on the AFM church the other day and how the so called white church and black church reconciled and were joined once again in unity. I remember that during the process of all of this was a cry for the right to “free association”. In other words, we can choose with whom we associate with or not. So that meant that, although the church was united, people could still choose to keep a congregation white or black. Now I guess that most of us would hold on to a right like that in our personal lives because we know that there are just certain people that we personally don’t feel comfortable associating with…we are human after all.
If we hold onto the right we may miss what God want us to do
· But here is the challenge; we are going to prayer this prayer as a covenant to God in 6 weeks time. If we are to hold on to the right to free association and only associate with the people we want to, we will be insincere in that prayer. We may also miss what God wants us to do because it may mean that we need to associate with those people we choose not to.
Vision was to challenge Peter to associate with Gentiles
· The Challenge was there for Peter as well. As much as he knew he was not to eat anything unclean, he was also not to associate with anybody that was unclean…that was the law! But the very vision that he had to eat what was “unclean” according to the law lead him to have to associate with people who were regarded unclean…gentiles.
Take a step back – Jesus hung out with “uncleans”
· Now let us just take a step back here. Let us look at Jesus and his ministry. I seem to recall that Jesus spent most of his time and ministry around the people who were unclean and rejected by society. It is little wonder that he challenged Peter to do the very same thing…associate with the Gentiles.
We can miss out on God’s blessing if we choose to “associate freely” but exclusively.
· I trust that what was true for Peter would be true for us as Christians 2000 odd years later. We can so easily miss out on God’s blessing on ourselves and others when we choose to exclude certain people because they don’t fit our construct. Can you imagine if Peter had his way…the church would not be where it is now, it would have been just for the Jews. What I find interesting is that the church can be the greatest place of exclusion. And when we do include it is often a very limited inclusion…we are not always happy to allow God to work through the “excludeds”.
Conclusion
Here the challenge – it won’t result in Lightening bolts if we break covenant
· So here’s the challenge for us for the next 6 weeks, as we prepare to say those words… May you decide what I should do and with whom I should do it. It is easy to make a covenant and break it…we do it all the time, I mean there aren’t exactly going to be lightening bolts coming down when we break it…but there will be consequences.
Consequence of breaking covenant is missing out on God’s blessing
· In every circumstance were any human has not kept their end of the deal with God in a covenant, there have been consequences. People haven’t died but they have excluded themselves from the very thing that God wants them to do and thus bless them. The Israelites had to winder for 40 years before they could see God’s promised blessing.
God has our best interest at heart
· God has got only our best interests at heart, that I can promise you. Trust that when we allow God to put us to work or to associate us with anybody he wants us to…that is when God will bless us. Allow God to surprise you, don’t let your own will supersede his.
Amen.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
I'm back
Well after a couple of months of silence on my blog...I'm back. I wonder if this will continue though...we'll try. I think with the advent of Facebook, I have really focussed more on that...pity you can't combine the two things...perhaps you can.
Well, since my last post, I a lot has happend. Most especially the fact that I am now ordained and we have moved to Cape Town. I said to someone that I was going to reflect on the ordaination service on my blog and I never did. All I can say is that it was an incredible experience and that I will never forget it. The Cape move has brought us to Wynberg where I have taken over from Kevin Needham as the minister of the Church Street Methodist Church in Wynberg. I have done a Christmas service so far and my next service is this Sunday coming...I will be prepping for that today...at least the worship...
It is a bit weird being in Cape Town. It is a wonderful place to live but everything is so different here...the people most especially. I think I need to change my licence plate very soon... they don't like the GP licence plates much. The church will be challenging since it is nothing like I have been in before...but I trust that God will be with me during this time of transition.
Anyhow, I will promise to update my blog more often now...be blessed
Well, since my last post, I a lot has happend. Most especially the fact that I am now ordained and we have moved to Cape Town. I said to someone that I was going to reflect on the ordaination service on my blog and I never did. All I can say is that it was an incredible experience and that I will never forget it. The Cape move has brought us to Wynberg where I have taken over from Kevin Needham as the minister of the Church Street Methodist Church in Wynberg. I have done a Christmas service so far and my next service is this Sunday coming...I will be prepping for that today...at least the worship...
It is a bit weird being in Cape Town. It is a wonderful place to live but everything is so different here...the people most especially. I think I need to change my licence plate very soon... they don't like the GP licence plates much. The church will be challenging since it is nothing like I have been in before...but I trust that God will be with me during this time of transition.
Anyhow, I will promise to update my blog more often now...be blessed
My new office
Here are pics of my new office (done with a webcam...sorry for the quality...please note all the cool things on my desk...can't be without at least two electronic devices...at least one must be mobile):
The office is open plan and is shared by 5 ministers from around the Circuit (a circuit is an administrative and mission collection of Methodist Churches in a geographical area). This will take some getting used to. We share a secretary along with many other resources. The rest of the ministers have not yet come in yet, but it promises to be fun I'm sure :).
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Snow in Benoni
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Orthodoxy
On an email forum that Methodist Ministers in Southern Africa have there was a debate (argument) about orthodoxy. I responded by writing this post:
I was thinking about this orthodoxy stuff and I have been challenged many time in the past couple of years about “what is right” when it comes to our Theology (knowledge of God). In my devotions I use a little book called A guide to prayer for ministers and other servants and this week I came across a very intriguing quote from Anthony Bloom regarding the knowledge of God (I believe this informs us also about the knowledge of how God operates and how we respond in our religion). In the passage quoted in A guide to prayer he uses the illustration of the Buddhist Salt Doll who gradually gets to know the sea by being dissolved more and more into the sea (if you do not know the story…Google it). This was an excellent illustration, but what intrigued me more was what he said after using the quote. He said:
“The process of the gradual discovery of God leads us at every moment to stand with our past experience behind us and the mystery of God knowable and still unknown before us. The little we know of God makes it difficult for us to learn more, because the more cannot simply be added to the little, since every meeting brings such a change of perspective that what was known before becomes almost untrue in the light of what is known later (italics mine).”
We grow gradually into the knowledge of God throughout our lives until the end of our life and we will continue to know God into eternity. However we will never come to a point at which we will know all there is to know about God. When we realise this, we firstly stay in awe and wonder of this God and realise that perhaps we do not have the monopoly on knowledge of God. In recent times I have become painfully aware of how arrogant people can become about their religion and theology. People can become downright nasty when someone does not agree with their brand of God-knowledge. Truth be told, we all know God differently. Much of the time our knowledge of God will coincide, but often it won’t.
Much of the division in the church has come about because there are differing views on Scripture and Doctrine. In my observation I have only seen good things come from Christians (and other Religions devotees) when they were able to set aside their differences and work together in their similarities. Sadly we spend far too much energy trying to convince one another that the other is wrong and not enough time celebrating what we do have in common. I know that as long as we remain human we will always differ and always feel the need to convince others of our positions (we feel safe in numbers). I believe it to be good that we continue to debate our positions because it keeps us honest and continues to grow us. We can only learn from one another in this process…but only if we allow ourselves to learn.
I was thinking about this orthodoxy stuff and I have been challenged many time in the past couple of years about “what is right” when it comes to our Theology (knowledge of God). In my devotions I use a little book called A guide to prayer for ministers and other servants and this week I came across a very intriguing quote from Anthony Bloom regarding the knowledge of God (I believe this informs us also about the knowledge of how God operates and how we respond in our religion). In the passage quoted in A guide to prayer he uses the illustration of the Buddhist Salt Doll who gradually gets to know the sea by being dissolved more and more into the sea (if you do not know the story…Google it). This was an excellent illustration, but what intrigued me more was what he said after using the quote. He said:
“The process of the gradual discovery of God leads us at every moment to stand with our past experience behind us and the mystery of God knowable and still unknown before us. The little we know of God makes it difficult for us to learn more, because the more cannot simply be added to the little, since every meeting brings such a change of perspective that what was known before becomes almost untrue in the light of what is known later (italics mine).”
We grow gradually into the knowledge of God throughout our lives until the end of our life and we will continue to know God into eternity. However we will never come to a point at which we will know all there is to know about God. When we realise this, we firstly stay in awe and wonder of this God and realise that perhaps we do not have the monopoly on knowledge of God. In recent times I have become painfully aware of how arrogant people can become about their religion and theology. People can become downright nasty when someone does not agree with their brand of God-knowledge. Truth be told, we all know God differently. Much of the time our knowledge of God will coincide, but often it won’t.
Much of the division in the church has come about because there are differing views on Scripture and Doctrine. In my observation I have only seen good things come from Christians (and other Religions devotees) when they were able to set aside their differences and work together in their similarities. Sadly we spend far too much energy trying to convince one another that the other is wrong and not enough time celebrating what we do have in common. I know that as long as we remain human we will always differ and always feel the need to convince others of our positions (we feel safe in numbers). I believe it to be good that we continue to debate our positions because it keeps us honest and continues to grow us. We can only learn from one another in this process…but only if we allow ourselves to learn.
Check out this blog for an interesting insight on orthodoxy:
http://stphransus.blogspot.com/2006/12/orthodoxy-paradox.html
I also liked this pic used in the above post:
Friday, June 08, 2007
On Holiday in Sedgefield
We are on Holiday in Sedgefield at the moment and I decided to go extreme...check it out
Friday, May 18, 2007
How much are you worth?
Apparently I am worth $1.96 million (about R13.72 million)...are there any takers. I wonder if you can get finance for this.
I am worth $1,959,330 on HumanForSale.com
How much are you worth?
I am worth $1,959,330 on HumanForSale.com
How much are you worth?
Friday, May 04, 2007
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Delight in the Lord
Psalm 37:4 says, "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart." Now I'm not too concerned with the second part of the verse but in the delight in the Lord part. I have been painfully aware of my colleagues in my denomination and my delight in theology and the discussion there of. I wonder how many of us just simply Delight in the Lord and not so much in the debate as to whose write or wrong (I am refering to my own theological arrogance as well as the debates that ring in the cyber channels of our denomination). Here is a simple illustration of delight...my daughter in a "jolly jumper". I wonder when last any of us delighted in God like this.
Stay online for a picture update on Tayla
Stay online for a picture update on Tayla
Thursday, March 08, 2007
I hate being Christian!
When it comes to people like this I hate being Christian purely on the basis that I am lumped together with them...let me know your thoughts.
Spirituality, Technology and of course gadgets
I recently came across a wonderful online meditation labyrinth put together by the Methodist Church in the UK. I found it fascinating that, even in the hustle and bustle of cyberspace, you can stop and pray through meditation. For those of you that think Labyrinth's are a bit new age, allow yourself to realise that God is not limited only to our cultural constructs...be open minded and allow God to use this tool to bless you and the world. Here is the link:
http://www.lostinwonder.org.uk/
Oh and for all my gadgety friends out there, here is a link to iMates new, very cool, toys:
https://www.clubimate.com/ultimate/
I should be getting my new iMate at the end of March...it is only a KJam but still pretty cool (the HTC Tytn was R2000 extra for the upgrade). I intend to continue using my HP iPaq6515 as a stand alone GPS. I'm "gatvol" for carrying around a brick (a cool one at that though). Here is some info on the KJam:
http://www.imate.com/t-DETAILS_KJAM.aspx
Maybe one day I can get a "real phone" that won't keep hanging (hmph...Windows) and upgrade to Apple's iPhone. As it stands now though, it is too expensive, unavailable in SA and not as versatile as a Pocket PC...but wait I'm certain it will be. For those of you that haven't seen it here is a link to Apple's iPhone webpage:
http://www.apple.com/iphone/
Blessings
http://www.lostinwonder.org.uk/
Oh and for all my gadgety friends out there, here is a link to iMates new, very cool, toys:
https://www.clubimate.com/ultimate/
I should be getting my new iMate at the end of March...it is only a KJam but still pretty cool (the HTC Tytn was R2000 extra for the upgrade). I intend to continue using my HP iPaq6515 as a stand alone GPS. I'm "gatvol" for carrying around a brick (a cool one at that though). Here is some info on the KJam:
http://www.imate.com/t-DETAILS_KJAM.aspx
Maybe one day I can get a "real phone" that won't keep hanging (hmph...Windows) and upgrade to Apple's iPhone. As it stands now though, it is too expensive, unavailable in SA and not as versatile as a Pocket PC...but wait I'm certain it will be. For those of you that haven't seen it here is a link to Apple's iPhone webpage:
http://www.apple.com/iphone/
Blessings
Monday, February 19, 2007
Christ and the Chocolaterie - Giving up: A prelude to change
At our Church we are running a Lenten series called Christ and the Chocolaterie based on the Movie Chocolat. I have decided that I would post my sermons that I preach on my blog like I did for our Advent series. Be blessed but please don't plagerise if you are a preacher and are doing the same series at your church.
Christ and the Chocolaterie: Giving up – The prelude to change
Readings: Matthew 4:1-11, 18-22
Aim: To instil an attitude that sees giving up as a means to an end (transformation) and not an end in itself.
Introduction
We are approaching Lent – what is it?
· We are rapidly approaching the season of Lent which finds its equivalent in Advent with respect to Easter. It is basically a time recalling the 40 days of Jesus’ time in the desert as he fasted in preparation for his ministry. Lent is exercised by most of the Christian world in varying aspects and the premise is that someone is encouraged to give up something for Lent as a discipline and preparation for Easter (the time we celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.)
Introduce the Series – Lent is about self-denial
· Our series is called Christ and the Chocolaterie and we will be following it over the next five weeks during this time of Lent as a different yet truly accurate approach to Lent. In the season of Lent, talk about self-denial, about giving things up, is very familiar language. Often we try to 'give something up' for Lent - our favourite food, fizzy drink, watching TV, pizza or … dum dum da chocolate. Thus the reason there is emphasis on the Chocolaterie and the movie Chocolat.
Cell Groups following movie – we will recap the movie every week
· The cell groups will be following the movie closely but I would encourage you, if you have not yet seen the movie, to watch it as we will make reference to various scenes. Don’t worry, we will also continue to paint the picture for those who have not seen it. To give you an idea of the plot of the movie, I will give you a summery.
Movie summery
· In the movie a woman and her daughter (who are seemingly nomadic chocolatiers) come to a small French community during Lent and open up, of all the self-indulgent things, a chocolate shop, to tempt all of the good Catholic townsfolk from their disciplined self-sacrificing ways, or at least this is the perception of the Mayor who is also the Count of the village. He makes it his business to keep this little community faithful to the Lenten discipline. He himself practices the utmost self-denial, eating hardly anything at all, and then only perhaps some bread. To him, denial seems to mean no joy, no fun, and no freedom. He is so overwhelmed and weighed down by his self-denial, that on Easter Eve, just before the end of Lent he breaks down, breaks into the chocolate shop, and ends up eating himself sick, to be found lying in a chocolate mess on Easter morning. In the end the townsfolk, including the Comte, celebrate the transformation that had happened in the town over Lent.
Idea of Giving up not an end but a means to an end
· Today, in following the theme, I would like to look at the idea of “Giving up”, not as an end in itself but as a means to an end…change and transformation.
1. What of giving up?
Bible makes reference to giving up
· So what of giving up, why do we do it during lent, why are encouraged to do it all the time? There are many references to giving up something in the bible. Jesus tells us that we should deny ourselves and follow him. The disciples give up their regular lives to follow Jesus and so on.
Movie has two extremes
· In the movie we are presented with two extremes during the time of Lent in this small French village. One the one hand there is extreme self-denial and on the other extreme self-indulgence.
Comte = Self-denial (show clip)
· The literary device of the first extreme is the Comte or Count who is the Mayor of the town. I want to show you a clip from the movie where he exercises this extreme self-denial (Show Movie Clip – at 7h00 allude to the clip).
Comte’s devotion misguided
· Here we have a situation where the Comte is very sincere about his faith and spiritual discipline. The problem arises, as we continue to watch the movie, that the devotion is misguided. He fasted during Lent for the sake of fasting. It was legalistically driven as so led him to a point of misery and guilt.
Other extreme is Vianne
· The other extreme is the chocolatier, Vianne, who encourages the villagers to indulge in the chocolate treats that she makes even though she knows that they are in the period of Lent.
Both have + and -
· In both cases one can recognise both positive and negative aspects. The Comte, in his desire to be devout with an end to freedom from sin, ends up feeling guilty. Vianne, in her desire to free the people’s minds to enjoy life, ends up feeding chocolate to a diabetic which eventually leads to her death.
The positives of the extemes
· Now this is not to say that there were not positives in either of these approaches. The Comte, in his sincerity of his devotion, brings honour to Christ in his life…he was not a bad person. Vianne, with her zeal to bring joy to people’s lives through her chocolate, brings about healing in people’s relationships and lives.
Self-denial and Self-Indulgence, in moderation, should lead to transformation
· I believe wholeheartedly that the lesson to be learnt here is that holism is the way to go. To understand that one needs to approach life in a holistic manner. Self-Denial as well as Self- Indulgence is neither good not bad, they are merely things that need to be done moderately and ultimately with a view to transformation.
We learn this from Jesus and disciples
· And this is what we learn from Jesus and his disciples - transformation.
2. Jesus and the Disciples – a view to transformation
Jesus and Satan in the desert
· In our readings today we are introduced to two incidences where someone gave something up…something important. Jesus enters the desert for 40 days. The desert is described as a place of loneliness and desolation. It is a place of discomfort and was certain no walk in the park for Jesus, as we are told. Here, we are told he is tempted by Satan to give up all this nonsense of self-denial and satisfy his immediate needs and desire. He refuses and continues to “prepare himself for his ministry”. From then on he would never be the same again, he would never do the same things again…he would never return to be a Carpenter.
Disciples following Christ
· The same applies to the disciples; they gave up their livelihoods to follow Jesus...why? It was a view to change, to transformation. They knew their lives would never be the same again; they would never go back to fishing.
Changed Lives lead to world transformation
· In both instances the process of giving something up led to a major life change in which they would effectively live out lives that caused transformation in other…in the world. They did not give up anything for the sake of it and neither of the things they gave up was easy to give up.
Conclusion
Give up lent for lent if it isn’t leading to transformation
· In this time of Lent, we are encouraged to deny ourselves of something. If that something is going to be too easy or if that something is going to be given up for the sake of it, then this is my encouragement…Give up Lent for Lent because there would be no point to giving it up.
Give up some that is difficult
· If however you are truly in search of transformation in your life and you believe that your transformation will also lead to the transformation of others, then search for something hard to give up. Let that fasting from that thing be focussed on transformation. Don’t brag about what you’re giving up; merely say that you are on a journey of transformation.
Let Christ be the focus
· Most of all, let Christ be the reason you do it, allow him to do the transformation in your life. Every time you desire that thing…ask for your life to be transformed.
Parting shot
· I want to leave us then with this thought in our minds…”What is the point of giving up something for Lent if the goal is not transformation?”
Amen
Christ and the Chocolaterie: Giving up – The prelude to change
Readings: Matthew 4:1-11, 18-22
Aim: To instil an attitude that sees giving up as a means to an end (transformation) and not an end in itself.
Introduction
We are approaching Lent – what is it?
· We are rapidly approaching the season of Lent which finds its equivalent in Advent with respect to Easter. It is basically a time recalling the 40 days of Jesus’ time in the desert as he fasted in preparation for his ministry. Lent is exercised by most of the Christian world in varying aspects and the premise is that someone is encouraged to give up something for Lent as a discipline and preparation for Easter (the time we celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.)
Introduce the Series – Lent is about self-denial
· Our series is called Christ and the Chocolaterie and we will be following it over the next five weeks during this time of Lent as a different yet truly accurate approach to Lent. In the season of Lent, talk about self-denial, about giving things up, is very familiar language. Often we try to 'give something up' for Lent - our favourite food, fizzy drink, watching TV, pizza or … dum dum da chocolate. Thus the reason there is emphasis on the Chocolaterie and the movie Chocolat.
Cell Groups following movie – we will recap the movie every week
· The cell groups will be following the movie closely but I would encourage you, if you have not yet seen the movie, to watch it as we will make reference to various scenes. Don’t worry, we will also continue to paint the picture for those who have not seen it. To give you an idea of the plot of the movie, I will give you a summery.
Movie summery
· In the movie a woman and her daughter (who are seemingly nomadic chocolatiers) come to a small French community during Lent and open up, of all the self-indulgent things, a chocolate shop, to tempt all of the good Catholic townsfolk from their disciplined self-sacrificing ways, or at least this is the perception of the Mayor who is also the Count of the village. He makes it his business to keep this little community faithful to the Lenten discipline. He himself practices the utmost self-denial, eating hardly anything at all, and then only perhaps some bread. To him, denial seems to mean no joy, no fun, and no freedom. He is so overwhelmed and weighed down by his self-denial, that on Easter Eve, just before the end of Lent he breaks down, breaks into the chocolate shop, and ends up eating himself sick, to be found lying in a chocolate mess on Easter morning. In the end the townsfolk, including the Comte, celebrate the transformation that had happened in the town over Lent.
Idea of Giving up not an end but a means to an end
· Today, in following the theme, I would like to look at the idea of “Giving up”, not as an end in itself but as a means to an end…change and transformation.
1. What of giving up?
Bible makes reference to giving up
· So what of giving up, why do we do it during lent, why are encouraged to do it all the time? There are many references to giving up something in the bible. Jesus tells us that we should deny ourselves and follow him. The disciples give up their regular lives to follow Jesus and so on.
Movie has two extremes
· In the movie we are presented with two extremes during the time of Lent in this small French village. One the one hand there is extreme self-denial and on the other extreme self-indulgence.
Comte = Self-denial (show clip)
· The literary device of the first extreme is the Comte or Count who is the Mayor of the town. I want to show you a clip from the movie where he exercises this extreme self-denial (Show Movie Clip – at 7h00 allude to the clip).
Comte’s devotion misguided
· Here we have a situation where the Comte is very sincere about his faith and spiritual discipline. The problem arises, as we continue to watch the movie, that the devotion is misguided. He fasted during Lent for the sake of fasting. It was legalistically driven as so led him to a point of misery and guilt.
Other extreme is Vianne
· The other extreme is the chocolatier, Vianne, who encourages the villagers to indulge in the chocolate treats that she makes even though she knows that they are in the period of Lent.
Both have + and -
· In both cases one can recognise both positive and negative aspects. The Comte, in his desire to be devout with an end to freedom from sin, ends up feeling guilty. Vianne, in her desire to free the people’s minds to enjoy life, ends up feeding chocolate to a diabetic which eventually leads to her death.
The positives of the extemes
· Now this is not to say that there were not positives in either of these approaches. The Comte, in his sincerity of his devotion, brings honour to Christ in his life…he was not a bad person. Vianne, with her zeal to bring joy to people’s lives through her chocolate, brings about healing in people’s relationships and lives.
Self-denial and Self-Indulgence, in moderation, should lead to transformation
· I believe wholeheartedly that the lesson to be learnt here is that holism is the way to go. To understand that one needs to approach life in a holistic manner. Self-Denial as well as Self- Indulgence is neither good not bad, they are merely things that need to be done moderately and ultimately with a view to transformation.
We learn this from Jesus and disciples
· And this is what we learn from Jesus and his disciples - transformation.
2. Jesus and the Disciples – a view to transformation
Jesus and Satan in the desert
· In our readings today we are introduced to two incidences where someone gave something up…something important. Jesus enters the desert for 40 days. The desert is described as a place of loneliness and desolation. It is a place of discomfort and was certain no walk in the park for Jesus, as we are told. Here, we are told he is tempted by Satan to give up all this nonsense of self-denial and satisfy his immediate needs and desire. He refuses and continues to “prepare himself for his ministry”. From then on he would never be the same again, he would never do the same things again…he would never return to be a Carpenter.
Disciples following Christ
· The same applies to the disciples; they gave up their livelihoods to follow Jesus...why? It was a view to change, to transformation. They knew their lives would never be the same again; they would never go back to fishing.
Changed Lives lead to world transformation
· In both instances the process of giving something up led to a major life change in which they would effectively live out lives that caused transformation in other…in the world. They did not give up anything for the sake of it and neither of the things they gave up was easy to give up.
Conclusion
Give up lent for lent if it isn’t leading to transformation
· In this time of Lent, we are encouraged to deny ourselves of something. If that something is going to be too easy or if that something is going to be given up for the sake of it, then this is my encouragement…Give up Lent for Lent because there would be no point to giving it up.
Give up some that is difficult
· If however you are truly in search of transformation in your life and you believe that your transformation will also lead to the transformation of others, then search for something hard to give up. Let that fasting from that thing be focussed on transformation. Don’t brag about what you’re giving up; merely say that you are on a journey of transformation.
Let Christ be the focus
· Most of all, let Christ be the reason you do it, allow him to do the transformation in your life. Every time you desire that thing…ask for your life to be transformed.
Parting shot
· I want to leave us then with this thought in our minds…”What is the point of giving up something for Lent if the goal is not transformation?”
Amen
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Well, I feel so bad for not updating my blog…I would even be surprised if anybody will read it anymore. I hope to keep up my blog over the next while.
There are a couple of things to write about…Tayla, what’s ahead for the year and next year’s exciting new venture.
As far as Tayla is concerned she has changed sooo much. I can hardly believe that she is 8 months old now. There are so many things that she is doing now that I can hardly remember that she was ever unable to lift her head or make co-ordinated movements. I told someone the other day that she was moving around but not yet crawling. One moment she is laying on her donut the next she busy gnawing on the table leg. She sits up quite nicely and the most incredible thing now is that she is saying Mama (even sometimes calling out to Ash when she is upset.) She is also eating very nicely. We took a view that she should eat only fresh Fruit and Veg. The only type of cooking of the Veg is steaming them. Here are some pictures to see what she looks like now:
Me and my DAD
There are a couple of things to write about…Tayla, what’s ahead for the year and next year’s exciting new venture.
As far as Tayla is concerned she has changed sooo much. I can hardly believe that she is 8 months old now. There are so many things that she is doing now that I can hardly remember that she was ever unable to lift her head or make co-ordinated movements. I told someone the other day that she was moving around but not yet crawling. One moment she is laying on her donut the next she busy gnawing on the table leg. She sits up quite nicely and the most incredible thing now is that she is saying Mama (even sometimes calling out to Ash when she is upset.) She is also eating very nicely. We took a view that she should eat only fresh Fruit and Veg. The only type of cooking of the Veg is steaming them. Here are some pictures to see what she looks like now:
Me and my DAD
My Family
Playing Silly Buggers
Me and My friends, Tinyiko and Keryn (at Keryn's 1st birthday party)
Fun in the sun
This year is an exciting one for me since it is my Ordination year. I will be ordained in September in the Beautiful town of Stellenbosch in the Cape. I have asked the Rev. Neill Robinson and the Rev. Dr. Dion Foster (better known as digitaldion) to be my Presbyters. They both have had an incredible influence on my ministry and I believe that I will be blessed to have them being part of this special day. Of course, with Ordination, comes the privilege of being able to accept an invitation to labour at a Church. This brings me to my next point.
In January I received some sad news and that was that I would not be able to continue my ministry at Benoni Central due to financial constraints. This was the beginning of somewhat of an anxious couple of weeks. To cut a long story short, when I put myself out there I received an overwhelming interest form various churches. In the end after much deliberation and prayer we decided that accepting an invitation to the Church Street Society in the Wynberg Circuit in Cape Town was the way to go. We are very sad to leave Benoni since we both grew up there but also love the Church we’re in. We are very excited about moving to Cape Town since we have wanted to move there for some time now. It is the most beautiful place in the country. We are looking forward the lifestyle that is waiting for us in Cape Town.
Well there we have it, I broke the 2007 seal for blogging. I hope that I keep it up.
In January I received some sad news and that was that I would not be able to continue my ministry at Benoni Central due to financial constraints. This was the beginning of somewhat of an anxious couple of weeks. To cut a long story short, when I put myself out there I received an overwhelming interest form various churches. In the end after much deliberation and prayer we decided that accepting an invitation to the Church Street Society in the Wynberg Circuit in Cape Town was the way to go. We are very sad to leave Benoni since we both grew up there but also love the Church we’re in. We are very excited about moving to Cape Town since we have wanted to move there for some time now. It is the most beautiful place in the country. We are looking forward the lifestyle that is waiting for us in Cape Town.
Well there we have it, I broke the 2007 seal for blogging. I hope that I keep it up.
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Merry Christmas!
As I sit here in my office at 19h09 on the 24 December waiting for our Nativity Service to start at 20h00, it is one of the first times this season that I can just sit and arb. These last few weeks have been all about preparing and getting ready for the Christmas Services. Christmas feels a bit weird this year since it is the first time since 2003 that I am working over this period. Every other time I was moving. Anyway, I hear the first car arriving outside, must be one of the readers, or the organist. I need to meet with them. I pray for all who are working at this time that you can just find some time to arb and think about Christmas rather than just do it.
May God Bless you all in this time and may his presence continue to be manifest in your life.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
May God Bless you all in this time and may his presence continue to be manifest in your life.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
Friday, December 22, 2006
Manger and Mystery – Recalling the story, Restoring the Call (A Christmas message)
Manger and Mystery – Recalling the story, Restoring the Call (A Christmas message)
Reading: Luke 2:1-20
Reading: Luke 2:1-20
Introduction
We have been journeying as a congregation for the past four weeks as we have been preparing for this day. We have been following the theme called Manger and Mystery. And today we encounter the story where the manger holds the greatest mystery of all time…God in the form of a vulnerable human child.
It is clear to me that as we heard the story that was narrated to us this morning, many of us changed the gears in our brains to neutral. Why? It is because we have heard the story so many time that we already fill in the blanks.
Well today I want to re-present the story in a different manner. I have a video for us to watch entitled A brief history of Christmas. It is sure to remind us.
Show the video (a sample on Sermonspice.com)
So there we have it…in the end all we have is a cry of a baby. To new parents those first cries are mysterious. I can certainly remember that neither Ash nor I were able to say why Tayla was crying. We look back and are able to say that, wow we were clueless.
1. The Manger presents a Mystery
But that is just it. We all seem to be clueless about this seemingly simple thing, the Baby Jesus. But it is not that simple. We have certainly added our own biases to the whole event and clearly defined what Christmas is about. But they all fall short since it is an absolute mystery as to why God would even remove his glory as he did on that first Christmas.
As humans we have a habit of taking something that is mysterious and shrouding it with symbolism. When we do that, we have a handle on the mystery. There is nothing wrong with that perse. That is the way that we are built, our brains will always try to make sense of something we can’t understand. The trouble comes in when we put more focus on the thing that is used to explain the mystery, rather than the mystery itself.
I am not going to try to explain the mystery of the Christ child since whatever I say will be wholly inadequate. All I want us to see today is the result of that mysterious event.
It is through that manger, that feeding trough that God chose to reveal this mystery. And today we can still experience that Mystery. I challenge us to strip away all the stuff around the birth of Christ and hear the baby cry. That first cry that God experienced as a human being. That first sound that said to his parents and to the world…I am human for your sake.
Today as you all go to your celebrations with your families, as you open gifts, if you have not already done so. When you look at the Christmas tree, when you eat and when you drink please be aware of the presence of Christ and be aware that, as Christians, we set aside this day to celebrate him and not the season, or the celebrations themselves.
2. The Manger presents a call
Every person that came into contact with the Christ child 2000 odd years ago could not leave without being changed and without a sense of call on there lives.
The wise men left another way home so as not to alert Herod of where Jesus was. This insured that Jesus and his family were given a chance to escape the slaughter of all boys under two years of age. In doing this they fulfilled what God had said to them in a dream through an Angel, they were called.
The shepherds left praising God for what he had done and we are told that all had wondered at what the Shepherds had told them. It is then true to say that the Shepherds were in fact the first evangelists or preachers of the gospel.
We cannot ignore the fact that this is not just a feel good story, that we come to hear about how Jesus was born and ooh and aah about what it must have been like to see the new born baby. This child came to change to world and he came as a human to give us an example to live by.
When we come into contact with Christ, we should not only respond emotionally, but also respond to the call on our lives. Not all are called into full-time ministry but all are called to serve God.
I read a story of a little girl who received a brand-new crisp $20 (image that…it’s about R140) bill for her birthday (which was just before Christmas). This little girl went to the Christmas Eve service with her Grandmother where she would sing the carols and hear the Christmas story. The minister then announced that a special offering would be taken so as to provide meals for the homeless. He little girl promptly opened her little red purse and took out this beautiful crisp, now not so new $20 bill. Her grandmother who saw this leaned over to her and whispered “you don’t have to give that.” The little girl looked up and smiled. “I want to.” The grandmother said, “I’ll give you some change, so you don’t have to give it all” to which the little girl responded “I want to give it all,” and so with great joy she did, holding nothing back.
What a wonderful example of Recalling the story and the Restoring the call. She was clearly touched by what Jesus had done for her that she gave all she could.
What is it that God is calling you to do? We have already taken the offering so I’m not suggesting you must give more money now, which is not the intention of the story I told. I’m asking whether you have been open to hearing God’s call upon your life, are you able to hear it and then discern it. The likelihood is that he will call you to do something with what you already have. It may be financial resources, it may be time resources. It may be a talent you have or some special skill you have acquired. You need to figure that out.
Conclusion
Today we have come to Recall the story and to Restore the call. We watch a humorous recollection of the story which we all know so very well but we are challenged by that very humour to strip away the stuff and see and even be blown away by the mystery of a baby’s cry that was God’s first cry on earth.
In the mystery of the story it continues to challenge us to the point of recognising that there is more to the story than we expect…in fact it has everything to do with what God expects of us.
May your Christmas day continue to be a blessing to you personally and then may that blessing become a blessing to those around you.
Amen
Manger and Mystery – Reclaiming the star
Manger and Mystery – Reclaiming the star
Reading: Matthew 2:1-2:12
Reading: Matthew 2:1-2:12
Introduction
Around the time of Jesus’ infancy, the Magi or wise men followed a star that guided them to Jesus, and it changed everything. An intimate encounter with Jesus has a way of doing that to people.
Look at the picture of the Magi and Jesus: A special star shining bright. A stable illuminated by the star. A young woman kneeling by a manger, a new mother’s love radiating from her face. A man standing beside her, gentle and strong. A baby lying in the manger. A sheep here. A cow there. And three exotic gentlemen bowing before the baby, their faces filled with awe, their hands outstretched with gifts too beautiful and too rich for a stable.
Now although the Nativity scene is an amalgamation of Luke and Matthew, it paints a picture. And at least some of it matches Matthew’s account. There was a star. And there were exotic gentlemen bowing before Jesus, awe in their faces and magnificent gifts in their hands. Have you got the picture in you imagination?
Let us then take a trip with them as we discover what the star did for them and what the star can do for us.
There was a time when the magi lived far away from Jesus, so far that they knew nothing about him. They had heard of the God of Abraham, but they had no particular relationship with him. They didn’t live in Judea. They lived in Persia, or Arabia maybe. They weren’t Jews. They were Gentiles.
They followed the star, and it changed everything. The day came when these men found themselves in intimate relationship with Jesus. They bowed before him and offered him their very best. They knew he was king. They honoured him as their king. They went home another way. That is to say, they travelled a different route on the map. I think it’s safe to say that they travelled a different route in their lives too. An intimate encounter with Jesus has a way of doing that to people.
There’s something to learn from this story of the magi. Something about special stars that capture our attention and guide us. Something about following those stars. Something about bowing before Jesus and offering him our very best. Something about honouring him as our king. Something about travelling a different route after that, because an intimate encounter with Jesus has a way of doing that to people.
There isn’t a single one of us who doesn’t still have some distance between how we live and perfect relationship with Jesus. If we’re honest with ourselves, most of us have experienced times when we stray from the path on which Jesus has been leading us and we need a little help to follow in his footsteps again. If we’re honest with ourselves, most of us have experienced times when, maybe we haven’t strayed very far from the path, but we have slowed to a crawl and we need a little help to move forward in growth again.
As we listen and learn God just might give you a star to capture your attention and to guide you. And if you follow that star, everything just might change. An intimate encounter with Jesus has a way of doing that to people—whether it’s the first intimate encounter or the fiftieth.
As we have the story of the Magi and the star let us reflect on a couple of things that can act as a Road map for us.
1. First, you have to see the star. This requires keeping your eyes open, and your heart too.
The magi may not have known God, but they knew stars. They knew when something extraordinary was happening in the night sky. They saw the star, and they took note. They investigated. They conferred with one another. What they did not understand captured their imagination. They did not turn their eyes to another part of the sky, hoping to see the familiar and be reassured. They did not grasp at explanations, hoping to have their own previous knowledge confirmed. They saw the star, and they took note.
The magi were open to evidence that God was doing something special in their world. When the star marking the birth of Jesus appeared, the magi saw it.
The star God sends to you or to me might be something completely different. It might be just the right word from a friend at just the right moment. It might be a vision in a dream (as strange as that may sound). It might be an impression during prayer. It might be an insight from a book. It might be something we see God doing, not in our own life, but in the life of someone we know.
Be open
Whatever it is, we need to be open to evidence that God is doing something special in our world.
2. Next, you have to follow the star. This requires movement.
When the magi saw the star, they followed it. They didn’t know where it would lead. They didn’t know how long it would take. They rearranged their schedules, found someone to water their plants and feed the cat, and followed the star.
They let the star rearrange their lives
The magi were willing to rearrange their lives to check out the evidence that God was doing something special in their world. When the star marking the birth of Jesus appeared, the magi followed it.
3. Persistence matters. Sometimes it takes a while before you know exactly where the star is leading you.
The magi travelled a great distance. They didn’t just move, they moved a lot. I expect they had a few conversations over the campfire about the wisdom of their travels, but still they stuck with the star.
4. You’re allowed to use your brain. Common sense can be helpful. So can the advice of experts.
Marking, as it did, the birth of the new king of the Jews, the star led the magi to Judea. It only made sense for the magi to go to Jerusalem, the capital city. Where else would you expect to find a king?
Once in Jerusalem, the magi were not too proud to ask directions (contrary to popular belief – being men). They consulted the authorities and they obtained advice from scholars who knew the ancient texts that they did not know.
We need to do the same
As we journey along, we need to consult others who are in the know and particularly we need to regard scripture as a basis for decision making.
5. Common sense and expert knowledge have their limitations. Sometimes the obvious turns out to be wrong, and the experts turn out to be dangerous.
Consulting the experts, the magi learned that this particular newborn king was to be found, not in the obvious place--Jerusalem, but in a most unlikely place--the little town of Bethlehem. Accordingly, they changed their travel plans.
They scrutinised the experts – didn’t blindly follow
Later, the magi found out that Herod, the very one who had provided access to the experts, was an enemy, not a friend, of the newborn king. Therefore, also a threat to them. They learned what they could from the authorities and experts, but they did not obey them without thought.
6. Keep the star before you at all times. That is, as long as it draws you into scripture and according to scripture.
Equipped with their new information about Bethlehem, the magi left Jerusalem. But still they followed the star that had brought them thus far.
So far the star had been a faithful guide. It had drawn them into scripture when they arrived in Jerusalem--taking them to the ancient biblical prophecies. And the star continued to lead them in accordance with scripture, leading them to Bethlehem.
If the star was not in accordance to scripture they would have stopped
Presumably, if the star had begun to lead them in ways that contradicted scripture, the magi would have known enough to stop and question its leading.
7. Don’t get so attached to the star that you miss what (who) it points to.
The star is a guide. The purpose of the star is to get your attention and encourage you along your journey. Joy comes from meeting the purpose of the journey—Jesus.
Jabez
E.g. Jabez Prayer – it became a distraction and began to point in another direction other than Jesus (my opinion)
Star had served its purpose
When the star had led the magi to Bethlehem, it had served its purpose. They stopped looking at the star and they looked to Jesus instead. And Matthew says they were overjoyed.
8. Meeting Jesus is just the beginning. Acknowledging his Lordship comes next.
Having made contact with Jesus, the magi acknowledged his Lordship. They bowed down and worshiped him. They didn’t simply pat each other on the back for having made it to their destination. Meeting Jesus, no matter how long the journey to that point, was just the beginning.
9. Acknowledging his Lordship leads to responding with gifts. Surrender and service go well with gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Having acknowledged his Lordship, the magi gave of themselves. They presented him with gifts--the very best that they had to offer. We need to give all that we have.
10. Go home another way. This requires transformation. An intimate encounter with Jesus tends to do that to people.
When they left Bethlehem, the magi were changed. They weren’t just headed back to where they came from. They were going home, but it was a whole new journey entirely. They went home by another way.
Every time you and I encounter Jesus, we are given the opportunity again to go home another way. To be changed. To be transformed. An intimate encounter with Jesus tends to do that to people.
Conclusion
Walter Brueggemann has this to say of the whole trip: “The wise men, and the eager nations ready for an alternative, made the trip. It would be ironic if the "outsiders" among us made that move and we who are God’s own people resisted. Imagine a nine-mile trip … and a very different way home.”
Do not go this Christmas without keeping an eye out for what God is saying to you and what God wants you to do. We have a vantage point that others may not have. The Wise Men were not in as privileged a situation as those who lived just down the road in Jerusalem…but they responded. Won’t you respond today by saying, “God send me a star that I may follow.”
Around the time of Jesus’ infancy, the Magi or wise men followed a star that guided them to Jesus, and it changed everything. An intimate encounter with Jesus has a way of doing that to people.
Look at the picture of the Magi and Jesus: A special star shining bright. A stable illuminated by the star. A young woman kneeling by a manger, a new mother’s love radiating from her face. A man standing beside her, gentle and strong. A baby lying in the manger. A sheep here. A cow there. And three exotic gentlemen bowing before the baby, their faces filled with awe, their hands outstretched with gifts too beautiful and too rich for a stable.
Now although the Nativity scene is an amalgamation of Luke and Matthew, it paints a picture. And at least some of it matches Matthew’s account. There was a star. And there were exotic gentlemen bowing before Jesus, awe in their faces and magnificent gifts in their hands. Have you got the picture in you imagination?
Let us then take a trip with them as we discover what the star did for them and what the star can do for us.
There was a time when the magi lived far away from Jesus, so far that they knew nothing about him. They had heard of the God of Abraham, but they had no particular relationship with him. They didn’t live in Judea. They lived in Persia, or Arabia maybe. They weren’t Jews. They were Gentiles.
They followed the star, and it changed everything. The day came when these men found themselves in intimate relationship with Jesus. They bowed before him and offered him their very best. They knew he was king. They honoured him as their king. They went home another way. That is to say, they travelled a different route on the map. I think it’s safe to say that they travelled a different route in their lives too. An intimate encounter with Jesus has a way of doing that to people.
There’s something to learn from this story of the magi. Something about special stars that capture our attention and guide us. Something about following those stars. Something about bowing before Jesus and offering him our very best. Something about honouring him as our king. Something about travelling a different route after that, because an intimate encounter with Jesus has a way of doing that to people.
There isn’t a single one of us who doesn’t still have some distance between how we live and perfect relationship with Jesus. If we’re honest with ourselves, most of us have experienced times when we stray from the path on which Jesus has been leading us and we need a little help to follow in his footsteps again. If we’re honest with ourselves, most of us have experienced times when, maybe we haven’t strayed very far from the path, but we have slowed to a crawl and we need a little help to move forward in growth again.
As we listen and learn God just might give you a star to capture your attention and to guide you. And if you follow that star, everything just might change. An intimate encounter with Jesus has a way of doing that to people—whether it’s the first intimate encounter or the fiftieth.
As we have the story of the Magi and the star let us reflect on a couple of things that can act as a Road map for us.
1. First, you have to see the star. This requires keeping your eyes open, and your heart too.
The magi may not have known God, but they knew stars. They knew when something extraordinary was happening in the night sky. They saw the star, and they took note. They investigated. They conferred with one another. What they did not understand captured their imagination. They did not turn their eyes to another part of the sky, hoping to see the familiar and be reassured. They did not grasp at explanations, hoping to have their own previous knowledge confirmed. They saw the star, and they took note.
The magi were open to evidence that God was doing something special in their world. When the star marking the birth of Jesus appeared, the magi saw it.
The star God sends to you or to me might be something completely different. It might be just the right word from a friend at just the right moment. It might be a vision in a dream (as strange as that may sound). It might be an impression during prayer. It might be an insight from a book. It might be something we see God doing, not in our own life, but in the life of someone we know.
Be open
Whatever it is, we need to be open to evidence that God is doing something special in our world.
2. Next, you have to follow the star. This requires movement.
When the magi saw the star, they followed it. They didn’t know where it would lead. They didn’t know how long it would take. They rearranged their schedules, found someone to water their plants and feed the cat, and followed the star.
They let the star rearrange their lives
The magi were willing to rearrange their lives to check out the evidence that God was doing something special in their world. When the star marking the birth of Jesus appeared, the magi followed it.
3. Persistence matters. Sometimes it takes a while before you know exactly where the star is leading you.
The magi travelled a great distance. They didn’t just move, they moved a lot. I expect they had a few conversations over the campfire about the wisdom of their travels, but still they stuck with the star.
4. You’re allowed to use your brain. Common sense can be helpful. So can the advice of experts.
Marking, as it did, the birth of the new king of the Jews, the star led the magi to Judea. It only made sense for the magi to go to Jerusalem, the capital city. Where else would you expect to find a king?
Once in Jerusalem, the magi were not too proud to ask directions (contrary to popular belief – being men). They consulted the authorities and they obtained advice from scholars who knew the ancient texts that they did not know.
We need to do the same
As we journey along, we need to consult others who are in the know and particularly we need to regard scripture as a basis for decision making.
5. Common sense and expert knowledge have their limitations. Sometimes the obvious turns out to be wrong, and the experts turn out to be dangerous.
Consulting the experts, the magi learned that this particular newborn king was to be found, not in the obvious place--Jerusalem, but in a most unlikely place--the little town of Bethlehem. Accordingly, they changed their travel plans.
They scrutinised the experts – didn’t blindly follow
Later, the magi found out that Herod, the very one who had provided access to the experts, was an enemy, not a friend, of the newborn king. Therefore, also a threat to them. They learned what they could from the authorities and experts, but they did not obey them without thought.
6. Keep the star before you at all times. That is, as long as it draws you into scripture and according to scripture.
Equipped with their new information about Bethlehem, the magi left Jerusalem. But still they followed the star that had brought them thus far.
So far the star had been a faithful guide. It had drawn them into scripture when they arrived in Jerusalem--taking them to the ancient biblical prophecies. And the star continued to lead them in accordance with scripture, leading them to Bethlehem.
If the star was not in accordance to scripture they would have stopped
Presumably, if the star had begun to lead them in ways that contradicted scripture, the magi would have known enough to stop and question its leading.
7. Don’t get so attached to the star that you miss what (who) it points to.
The star is a guide. The purpose of the star is to get your attention and encourage you along your journey. Joy comes from meeting the purpose of the journey—Jesus.
Jabez
E.g. Jabez Prayer – it became a distraction and began to point in another direction other than Jesus (my opinion)
Star had served its purpose
When the star had led the magi to Bethlehem, it had served its purpose. They stopped looking at the star and they looked to Jesus instead. And Matthew says they were overjoyed.
8. Meeting Jesus is just the beginning. Acknowledging his Lordship comes next.
Having made contact with Jesus, the magi acknowledged his Lordship. They bowed down and worshiped him. They didn’t simply pat each other on the back for having made it to their destination. Meeting Jesus, no matter how long the journey to that point, was just the beginning.
9. Acknowledging his Lordship leads to responding with gifts. Surrender and service go well with gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Having acknowledged his Lordship, the magi gave of themselves. They presented him with gifts--the very best that they had to offer. We need to give all that we have.
10. Go home another way. This requires transformation. An intimate encounter with Jesus tends to do that to people.
When they left Bethlehem, the magi were changed. They weren’t just headed back to where they came from. They were going home, but it was a whole new journey entirely. They went home by another way.
Every time you and I encounter Jesus, we are given the opportunity again to go home another way. To be changed. To be transformed. An intimate encounter with Jesus tends to do that to people.
Conclusion
Walter Brueggemann has this to say of the whole trip: “The wise men, and the eager nations ready for an alternative, made the trip. It would be ironic if the "outsiders" among us made that move and we who are God’s own people resisted. Imagine a nine-mile trip … and a very different way home.”
Do not go this Christmas without keeping an eye out for what God is saying to you and what God wants you to do. We have a vantage point that others may not have. The Wise Men were not in as privileged a situation as those who lived just down the road in Jerusalem…but they responded. Won’t you respond today by saying, “God send me a star that I may follow.”
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
A twist on the Nativity
This could probably be construed as blasphemy...I just think its funny. The traditional Nativity Story is a combination of Lukan and Matthean traditions. Now the Nativity with a Beanian twist:
Saturday, December 16, 2006
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
