Sunday, 14 February 2008
2 Lent, Year A
St Philip’s Church (Gorton Abbey Hey Team)
Genesis 12: 1- 4
Psalm 121
John 3: 1-17
The last morning I was here we had the story of Jesus on the mountain with both Moses and Elijah. A voice came from the clouds saying, “This is my Beloved with whom I am well pleased” – It’s the voice of God referring to Jesus.
I asked you to use your imagination to think: What IF you thought that the voice of God was talking to each one of us? Could you believe that God would say to you, “YOU are MY Beloved with YOU I am well pleased!”??
I have faith that is exactly what we are supposed to believe!
We are to believe and know that we are loved by God just as Jesus was loved.
Our story this morning makes that point again.
We’ve got this man called Nicodemus. He’s a Pharisee, a leader of the Jewish people – in this case more like a scholar / theologian than a minister.
Nicodemus and Jesus go into quite a bit of religious discussion. It’s not really a straightforward conversation. Nicodemus is clearly not getting what Jesus has to say about being re-born, and the being born of the Spirit, and the differences between earthly and heavenly life. Jesus tries several ways to get his point across.
Until finally we have the verse that so many of us know.
It’s a verse that captures the essence of Christian belief, doesn’t it? I think it was the very first Bible verse I learnt by heart and still is one of the few I can recite.
What I want to focus on are the first six words: “For God so loved the world.” In my mind, these sound familiar to “You are my beloved”. Do you hear it?
They’re both talking about God loving: God loving the world, God loving Jesus, God loving US as we’re apart of the world.
So, have you been able to imagine that you are God’s beloved?
Maybe … Maybe not ….
If it’s a little difficult, maybe it’s easier to understand that God loved the world. Then we can think about the whole world, everything in the world, and ourselves as part of that. And God in that way loves us.
Whether we can imagine that we are God’s beloved or God loved the world, as Christians, we are supposed to love God and love our neighbors, right? We know these two commandments well – we say them almost every week at the start of the service. The problem is how to show it – it’s simple to say but not easy to do.
A fortnight ago I talked about some of the things the Church has suggested we “take on” for Lent in terms of being generous (or loving) to our neighbors. They were very concrete practical things to do.
Today, with Jesus telling us God loves the whole world, I want to stretch our ways of being generous beyond how we act toward our neighbors to being generous with our thoughts – our views about other people … neighbors or strangers.
Today, as well as Lent being a time to take something “on” instead of giving something up, I want to remind us that Lent is a time to look at ourselves and what we do. It’s a time to take stock of and reflect on how we act: Like this …
It’s very easy for us to put people into categories isn’t it? I know it happens to me everyday as I am out shopping, am on the bus, or walking in town. I look around and think about the people around me: the way they look, are dressed or how they talk. We might each have ways of sorting people : it may be the color of their skin, it might be if they look like they have money or don’t; if there are too many clothes or too few; what you overhear them say to a child or what you don’t hear them say.
You know what I’m talking about … I make judgments; usually not so nice judgments – we all do. It is so easy. And it wouldn’t be a problem if I was only thinking GOOD things but most of the time VERY quickly, I make up my mind as to who’s in and who’s out – basically who’s “good” and who’s “bad”.
For me, Lent is the chance to remember hearing Jesus say, “God so loved the world”. When I listen to those six words, THEN I’ve got to reassess the comparisons I’m making. I have to examine how I’m separating other people from myself.
I’ve got to realize that God loves the people I’M judging just as much as me.
Here’s a small example : I was talking with a friend about her children playing outside on her street. As we talked, she called the children of a family living at the end of the street, “a bit rough”. Now that was a judgment. Granted she doesn’t want any harm to come to her children and I don’t know details of the situation, BUT there’s every possibility that she only made that statement by looking at them, isn’t there?
At the time, I didn’t say anything. I didn’t say, “do you know the family?” or “what exactly have they done?” Or what about, “they’re God’s children too, aren’t they?”
No! I just “hmmm’ed” along with her. How quickly I forgot that God so loved THEM in the world too! Not just me. I went right along with her separating us – the “good” people -- from them - the “rough” people.
I am NOT talking about not being safe or acting street wise, nor allowing law breakers or criminals. I AM talking about the broad judgments and opinions we so easily and quickly hold. Because I know it happens to us all the time.
Lent gives us the chance to take a look at how we act. Just take a minute, can you think of a similar situation in the past week where you made judgments or separated people into “us and them”??
What’s really amazing is that God still loves us even when we are judging.
The deep question for me this Lent is : Can I be as generous to others (for example, my neighbors) as God is to me? As you can see, there are times when I really struggle to answer “yes.”
At the same time, I’m positive we can make a start at loving God and our neighbors IF we believe that God loves us – the world - first. For me, that’s what makes it possible to give up what I might easily do in order to be who I want to be.
SO, this week I guess I’m saying Lent is about BOTH taking on AND giving up. It’s about continuing to take on the generosity, while giving up the judging of others. And being able to do both because God so loves the world that I am apart of and I am God’s beloved. I hope this next week you can do the same. Amen.
To help, I’ve got a little slip of paper with a reminder to “take on” and “give up” because we ARE God’s beloved and God so loved the world which I’ll give to you later.
Amen.
HERE"S MY HANDOUT TO HELP REMEMBER ...
YOU are God’s beloved …
Take on gratitude Give up complaining
Take on optimism Give up pessimism
Take on kindly thoughts Give up harsh judgment
Take on trust in God Give up worry
Take on hopefulness Give up discouragement
Take on forgiveness Give up bitterness
Take on love Give up hatred
Take on positivism Give up negativity
Take on understanding Give up anger
Take on maturity Give up pettiness
Take on compassion Give up jealousy
Take on complimenting Give up gossiping
Take on appreciation Give up gloom
Take on patience Give up giving up
~ for God SO loved the World
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Sunday, February 03, 2008
February 3, 2008 - Pt 1 with Feb 14 08
Here in England they have the show "Deal or No Deal" but it is VERY different from how it is played at home - read on to find out. I've found that lots of people DO watch TV (or telly as they say) here and when I asked if they watched this - most of them raised their hands. I like taking the common things like TV and making them theological, or at least finding the theological in them when it's not there explicitly.
Sunday, 3 February 2008 Last before Lent, Year A
Matthew 17 : 1-9
Do any of you watch the television program called “Deal or No Deal”?
The idea is deceptively simple, isn’t it? One player of the day has a box with an amount of money in it. The other players also each have a box – all ranging from 1 P to 250,000 pounds. The player then has to choose which of the others’ boxes will have the lower amounts and hope that hers has more. But, “the Banker” is making offers as the game goes on to “buy” the one box from her. So, the skill of the game is in the level of risk (or gambling), the based on confidence in the chance amount of cash in the box the player is willing to take.
I have to admit, since I’ve been here, this program has captured my attention. On many weekday afternoons (at 4 pm) you can find me watching it and I’ve tried to analyze why it’s got me hooked. Now we have a show by the same name in America, but they play it differently. The difference is in the other box holders – here they’re other players, real people who will eventually be in the hot seat; at home they’re a bunch of beautiful women models displaying the boxes. This is a huge difference because I’m told that all the people on the game here – all the box holders – actually live together during each week until they’re called into the hot seat themselves. They’re strangers who get to know one another and want each other to WIN!!
It’s NOT about competing against each other. They’re ALL supporting one another. They’re only against the banker. They want each person in the hot seat to win because they know that at some time THEY will have a chance there themselves.
I LOVE that.
It’s so different from all the other games where there are winners and losers because of judges like the dancing or singing shows. And it’s not about someone’s knowledge like a quiz game. These players always want the person who’s playing to make the most money in their box. They offer each other advice about taking the risks and say supportive things especially about making the deals. And that’s because they’ve come to know one another.
I think the people supporting each other – their generosity -- is why I watch : because it’s so different from most of real life.
How many people do you have in your average week telling you positive things, or supporting you for the things you do? Maybe your family and friends, but very rarely do strangers want you to win, do they?
All very good – but why am I talking about this game? Well, we’re approaching Ash Wednesday and it’s time to be thinking about Lent. During Lent, we have the opportunity to take a look at ourselves and our lives – we have the chance to make some changes.
You all know some people who give up things for Lent. The point of giving up is to live our lives in a different way for a short time.
AND, there’s another way to “do” Lent. It’s basically the opposite way. Instead of giving something up; you take something on. To my mind, this is just as difficult and can be just as good for us in terms of making changes. Adding to our lives can also be good for the people and the world around us.
I’m definitely not alone in this idea. This is the second year that the Church of England has taken to publishing a little booklet called “Love Life, Live Lent” which is full of things “to do” during Lent. The things are very simple and easy to do:
Ask someone about their day
Leave a thank you note for the postie
Give up your place to someone in the queue
Light a candle and pray for someone – well, we do that, don’t we?
Buy a low energy light bulb
Have a conversation with someone from another generation
Say hello to a police officer
Think about how you can take time for quiet and silence
You get it. The idea is that by making a variety of small actions, lots of little additions to our lives during Lent, we can make a huge difference to the places we live.
For me the theme of most of these is about generosity. Like in Deal or No Deal – now you don’t have to watch the show, just act generous way toward each other that they do.
For me, this year Lent will be about taking on things instead of giving them up. Being generous has become very important. I’m not sure exactly why, but there’s a way in which today’s gospel partly answers that.
In last week’s story of the miracle at the wedding at Cana, we heard about the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. This story of Jesus changing into blazing white like the sun takes place in the middle of his time in Galilee meeting people, healing them, and preaching about the way life can be better in his everlasting kingdom where life is upside-down from the way it appears.
Remember, as Jesus is there on the mountain with both Moses and Elijah, a voice comes from the clouds saying, “this is my Beloved with whom I am well pleased” – It’s the voice of God - of course referring to Jesus. Well, it takes your imagination to take this in, and now I want you to use your imagination even more. What IF; what if we believed that voice of God was talking to each one of us?
Could you believe that God would say to you, “YOU are MY Beloved with YOU I am well pleased!”?? I have faith that we ARE to believe that! We are to know we are loved by God just as Jesus was loved, just as the people of God have been loved even since the time of Adam and Eve.
And IF we believe that – then one of the most important things that Jesus says makes sense. We know that Jesus said, FIRST love the Lord your God, and then love your neighbors as yourself. It seems that our lives as Christians is then about figuring how to do that. We are able to even make a start is because we know that we are loved by God first. When we can imagine that we are God’s beloved then we can begin to love our neighbors.
THEN the generosity starts to flow. WHEN we believe we are God’s beloved, then we can act like the folks on “Deal or No Deal”. Will you join me this Lent in being generous as well?
Can you take time each week to do a few things that might change the world? And maybe watching the telly is one way to get started! Amen.
Sunday, 3 February 2008 Last before Lent, Year A
Matthew 17 : 1-9
Do any of you watch the television program called “Deal or No Deal”?
The idea is deceptively simple, isn’t it? One player of the day has a box with an amount of money in it. The other players also each have a box – all ranging from 1 P to 250,000 pounds. The player then has to choose which of the others’ boxes will have the lower amounts and hope that hers has more. But, “the Banker” is making offers as the game goes on to “buy” the one box from her. So, the skill of the game is in the level of risk (or gambling), the based on confidence in the chance amount of cash in the box the player is willing to take.
I have to admit, since I’ve been here, this program has captured my attention. On many weekday afternoons (at 4 pm) you can find me watching it and I’ve tried to analyze why it’s got me hooked. Now we have a show by the same name in America, but they play it differently. The difference is in the other box holders – here they’re other players, real people who will eventually be in the hot seat; at home they’re a bunch of beautiful women models displaying the boxes. This is a huge difference because I’m told that all the people on the game here – all the box holders – actually live together during each week until they’re called into the hot seat themselves. They’re strangers who get to know one another and want each other to WIN!!
It’s NOT about competing against each other. They’re ALL supporting one another. They’re only against the banker. They want each person in the hot seat to win because they know that at some time THEY will have a chance there themselves.
I LOVE that.
It’s so different from all the other games where there are winners and losers because of judges like the dancing or singing shows. And it’s not about someone’s knowledge like a quiz game. These players always want the person who’s playing to make the most money in their box. They offer each other advice about taking the risks and say supportive things especially about making the deals. And that’s because they’ve come to know one another.
I think the people supporting each other – their generosity -- is why I watch : because it’s so different from most of real life.
How many people do you have in your average week telling you positive things, or supporting you for the things you do? Maybe your family and friends, but very rarely do strangers want you to win, do they?
All very good – but why am I talking about this game? Well, we’re approaching Ash Wednesday and it’s time to be thinking about Lent. During Lent, we have the opportunity to take a look at ourselves and our lives – we have the chance to make some changes.
You all know some people who give up things for Lent. The point of giving up is to live our lives in a different way for a short time.
AND, there’s another way to “do” Lent. It’s basically the opposite way. Instead of giving something up; you take something on. To my mind, this is just as difficult and can be just as good for us in terms of making changes. Adding to our lives can also be good for the people and the world around us.
I’m definitely not alone in this idea. This is the second year that the Church of England has taken to publishing a little booklet called “Love Life, Live Lent” which is full of things “to do” during Lent. The things are very simple and easy to do:
Ask someone about their day
Leave a thank you note for the postie
Give up your place to someone in the queue
Light a candle and pray for someone – well, we do that, don’t we?
Buy a low energy light bulb
Have a conversation with someone from another generation
Say hello to a police officer
Think about how you can take time for quiet and silence
You get it. The idea is that by making a variety of small actions, lots of little additions to our lives during Lent, we can make a huge difference to the places we live.
For me the theme of most of these is about generosity. Like in Deal or No Deal – now you don’t have to watch the show, just act generous way toward each other that they do.
For me, this year Lent will be about taking on things instead of giving them up. Being generous has become very important. I’m not sure exactly why, but there’s a way in which today’s gospel partly answers that.
In last week’s story of the miracle at the wedding at Cana, we heard about the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. This story of Jesus changing into blazing white like the sun takes place in the middle of his time in Galilee meeting people, healing them, and preaching about the way life can be better in his everlasting kingdom where life is upside-down from the way it appears.
Remember, as Jesus is there on the mountain with both Moses and Elijah, a voice comes from the clouds saying, “this is my Beloved with whom I am well pleased” – It’s the voice of God - of course referring to Jesus. Well, it takes your imagination to take this in, and now I want you to use your imagination even more. What IF; what if we believed that voice of God was talking to each one of us?
Could you believe that God would say to you, “YOU are MY Beloved with YOU I am well pleased!”?? I have faith that we ARE to believe that! We are to know we are loved by God just as Jesus was loved, just as the people of God have been loved even since the time of Adam and Eve.
And IF we believe that – then one of the most important things that Jesus says makes sense. We know that Jesus said, FIRST love the Lord your God, and then love your neighbors as yourself. It seems that our lives as Christians is then about figuring how to do that. We are able to even make a start is because we know that we are loved by God first. When we can imagine that we are God’s beloved then we can begin to love our neighbors.
THEN the generosity starts to flow. WHEN we believe we are God’s beloved, then we can act like the folks on “Deal or No Deal”. Will you join me this Lent in being generous as well?
Can you take time each week to do a few things that might change the world? And maybe watching the telly is one way to get started! Amen.
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