Monthly Archives: February 2020

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Fast of the heart

Click here to listen to this 14-minute message.

Lent, which kicks off on Ash Wednesday (26 February this year), is usually associated with fasting, and this, together with prayer and giving to the needy, is the topic of the first half of Matthew 6 (part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount). In this passage Jesus differentiates between fasting that is done for public approval and fasting that is done in secret and for God. It is this latter fasting (and prayer and giving to others) that Jesus esteems. It is this fasting, done in secret, that Jesus says “your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” And we know that this reward is eternal, in heaven, as this is where Jesus encourages us to store up our treasures.

For those of you who are fasting during this Lent, I encourage you to fast for yourself and for God, and keep your fasting secret and hidden. It is in this fast of the heart that we allow ourselves to experience discomfort and difficulty. And this reminds us of the discomfort and difficulty Jesus faced as he journeyed towards the cross.

Have a blessed Lent.

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Featured image from here.

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Light of the world

Click here to listen to this 15-minute message.

(This message was preached at Irene Homes, a residential care facility for women with intellectual disabilities. They are an engaging and participating congregation. I was moving around a bit, so the volume varies as I move away from the recorder. Also, at about 13 minutes, we spent a few minutes passing out battery-operated candles; I’ve edited this out, which explains the slight jump a few second after 13 minutes.)

Jesus says of all of us who follow him (Matthew 5:13-16):

You all are the very salt of the earth!

You all are the very light of the world!

He states this as a present fact – you are, not you should be or you will be or you ought to be or one day you might be. No! He states is as Truth: You are! In our lived experience, however, we’re probably often not salt and light. So, Jesus here appears to be declaring a Truth that is to come as a present reality, much as he does when he says “The Kingdom of God is here”. It is a ‘now, but not quite yet’ statement. A prophetic Word, that encourages us to live up to the image Christ already has about us.

What does it mean to be salt and light?

Salt has many uses (primarily flavouring and preserving), but Jesus emphasises the saltiness of salt. If I presented a white powder to you that did not taste salty, you’d be reluctant to call it ‘salt’. Saltiness is the essential characteristic of salt; without saltiness, salt is not salt. So what are the essential characteristics of a follower of Christ, without which we can hardly call ourselves Christians? The most immediate answer is the qualities Jesus has just presented in the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-10), which open the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), which speak about being poor in spirit, mourning, meek, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, merciful, pure in heart, peacemaking and being persecuted because of being righteous. These qualities of Christian living – love, mercy, inclusivity, justice, reconciliation – are the distinctive qualities of a Christ-follower. They are the saltiness of a Christian.

Light also has many uses, but Jesus emphasises that light enables things to be seen. It is not the essential characteristic of light he highlights, but rather the purpose to which it is put, viz. so that people can see us putting into practice these distinctive qualities of a Christ-follower, so that people will praise God in heaven. He thus speaks about how silly it would be to place a light under a bowl, or to put it in a corner on the ground rather than up on a stand. When we do that, you can’t see the light; it is wasted.

When Jesus says, “You are the salt/light”, he uses a plural ‘you’, thus “You all…” or “Y’all”. Our individual distinctive qualities and our individual light may be insufficient to be seen from far or to make much impact. But our collective qualities and our collective light, like a city on a hill with many lights burning from many windows, can be seen from far and make a real difference in the world.

Just imagine if every Christian truly put into practice the distinctive qualities of a Christ-follower set out in the Beatitudes! What a remarkable place the world would be!!

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The ladies of Irene Homes being the light of the world!

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Are you wise or foolish?

Click here to listen to this 12-minutes message.

This message is short and punchy.

Are you wise or foolish?
Are you smart or stupid?
Are you sensible or a moron?

These are the questions Jesus implicitly asks of his followers in Matthew 7:24-27:

24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise woman who built her house on the rock. 25 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

This passage draws to a close Jesus’ lengthy Sermon on the Mount, which covers the whole of chapters 5, 6 and 7 in Matthew’s version of the Gospel. In his sermon, Jesus covers a wide range of topics about ethical and Godly living in the world, speaking to the hidden inner thoughts of our hearts, to the public actions we display to the world and to the prayers that we offer to God. It is, arguably, a crucial distillation of Jesus’ wisdom teaching.

And at the end of this long sermon, he says (in effect), “All of you who have heard my words? Don’t think that merely hearing them makes you wise or smart or prudent or sensible or thoughtful. No! In fact, you are foolish, stupid or a moron if you hear what I’ve said and don’t act on it. To be wise, is to put what I have said into practice.”

(At this service, we were observing Education Sunday, and after the service people were also invited to sign up to participate in the life of the church – music, tea, men’s fellowship, etc. So, I spend some time applying this point that Jesus makes to those of us who are educators and to all Christians who attend church.)

In short, don’t be stupid!

Personal note: This year year marks my 30th year as a social worker, my 13th year as a university educator, my 3rd year as an Anglican clergy person and my 13th real birthday (I was born on 29 February). A year of threes! I give thanks to God for all of the opportunities God has given me to do God’s work in the world through various intersecting ministries. It has been an amazing journey so far, and I look forward the years ahead. I am at your service, Lord.

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Featured image from https://sunvalleycc.wordpress.com/2015/08/13/build-your-house-on-the-rock/