The Wilderness of Lent

Mark*, in just a few short verses, has summarised for us two key elements from Jesus’s life which took place just before the start of His ministry.

The first is Jesus’s baptism of water by His cousin John. John’s baptism was one of repentance, one of cleansing and forgiveness. God cleansed the earth by flood in Genesis – in a sense starting again. Baptism gives us a chance to start again; to say sorry for our wrongdoings, receive forgiveness and to start a new life in Christ striving to follow in His footsteps.

So why did Jesus, God’s Son, the only truly perfect human, need to be baptised by John.

John was the forerunner to prepare the way. This was also an indication for Jesus that it was time for His ministry to commence. By being baptised by John, Jesus was affirming that He was ready and willing to take the next step on His journey for our salvation. He was saying “yes” to what God wanted Him to do. And God confirmed His approval as He says to Jesus “You are my beloved Son”. He was also showing us what we needed to do.

At that time the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus, equipping Him for what was to come. It descended in the form of a dove, just like the dove that carried the olive branch back to Noah, symbolising gentleness, peace and love.

Straight away the Spirit took Jesus into the wilderness. Jesus was being prepared and tested. He was not being set up to fail but instead to strengthen His mind, heart and soul.

The wilderness is mentioned many times in the Bible. It is a place of preparation – like Lent which we can use to say goodbye to our old selves and find Christ.

It is a place where God communes with His people – God spoke to Abraham, Moses, Elijah and John the Baptist in the wilderness. It is not a place of hopelessness. Jesus, John, Elijah, Isaiah, Moses, Abraham etc were not in the desert by accident but by God’s design. God wanted to speak to them somewhere there would not be distractions. Jesus often went into the wilderness for rest, prayer and to teach His disciples. It provided peace away from the crowds and other distractions.

We often want to escape what we perceive as the discomfort of the desert – hardships and difficult times. But these are the times when God’s presence is greatest. It is an invitation from God for us to encounter Him and listen to Him – He wants to speak to us.

Likewise, Lent is about cutting out the distractions, about preparing and making ourselves ready for the work Jesus has for us and for Him to be in our hearts.

It is not about a show of giving up something that we don’t intend to stick to – for example, chocolate or wine or Facebook – when we know full well that we intend to indulge in what we have cut out as soon as Lent is over.

It is about preparation. In Advent we wait and prepare for the coming of Jesus as a tiny baby. In Lent we prepare for Holy Week and Easter – awaiting the sacrifice of Jesus and His resurrection. In both we should be preparing our hearts and minds, getting them ready for our Lord and the work He has for us.

Lent is about meeting God in the wilderness, listening to Him, strengthening ourselves for the work He has for us. It is about prayer. Praying more, communing with God more, conversing and listening to God. Setting aside that time for Him. So let us ask God to use this time of Lent to prepare and strengthen us for whatever lies ahead.

*Mark 1: 9-14

Let Sleeping Poppets Lie

Little Poppet, little Poppet,
Curled up on her bed.
Little Poppet, little Poppet,
Resting her sweet head.

Looking so cute and sweet,
Fluffy dog, fluffy dog.
Dreaming of chasing balls,
And eating … quite a lot.

Little Poppet, little Poppet,
Had a busy day.
Now you're dreaming, little Poppet,
All your cares away.

Listen

Listen now and listen clear
Otherwise you will not hear.
Listen to the Lord our God - 
What He says is for your good.

He know the path that you should tread.
It might not be what's in your head;
But it will be what's best instead - 
If you listened to what He said.

Make sure you do what is right,
Giving it all of your might;
But not because you want the praise - 
Your true motive will be seen one day.

You Can’t Teach An Old DCC New Tricks …

DCC's¹ the game that's played - 
Nothing useful is conveyed.
We just sit here wasting time
Whilst they moan the same old gripe;
It is just a load of tripe - 
And it doesn't feel right.

They all have their own soapbox,
The same old words - 
They never stop.
They are not prepared to bend - 
Or to listen and amend!

They cannot see it doesn't work - 
It's time to change but they will not.
It's always just the same old theme - 
It needs to change and change a lot - 
They're in a rut and so there's rot!

Based on experience at QB. ↩︎

… for life not just for Christmas …

I wonder how many already have put all the decorations away? I wonder how many will rush to put them away on twelfth night? I wonder how many will keep them up until Candlemas when Jesus is presented at the temple? I wonder how many still have turkey and excess food to eat?

I further wonder how many of those who’ve already put their decorations away, excitedly got them out in November, and on putting them away said something along the lines of “thank goodness they’re away for another year”? I also wonder how many of those who have not yet put the decorations away will be saying something similar when they do?

And all this wondering is because I wonder how many put Jesus away with the decorations? How many try to box Him up and leave Him in the loft with a “thank goodness that’s done for another year”?!

We see the slogan, “A dog is for life not just for Christmas”. Something which is very true – they are a life long commitment!

Jesus is a life long commitment. Not only that, He is for life in more ways than one.

Jesus was born as that tiny baby at Christmas for our salvation. He came to save our lives. His sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins for us to have life. Jesus is for life.

When we commit ourselves to Jesus and let Him into our lives; this is a life long commitment. We spend each day trying to follow Jesus’s example.

So this year I pray that, instead of putting Jesus away with the decorations for another year, we open the door to Him – letting Him in for life!

Jesus is for life not just for Christmas!

Advent

How many of us have Advent Calendars, and the accompanying daily chocolate?

Interesting isn’t it? Advent is synonymous with Lent and yet this is the difference between them – for Lent we attempt to give something up but in Advent we excitedly open doors and eat chocolate.

Lent is a time when we aim to cut out the distractions, preparing and making ourselves ready for the work Jesus has for us and for Him to be in our hearts.

Advent is a time when we have to look at our lives and make a choice. Do we accept forgiveness and follow Jesus; preparing and making ourselves ready and cutting out the distractions?

Or do we allow ourselves to get swept up in the commercialism, the busyness, the chaos, the overindulgence, the excess food, the drama, the darkness? It is easy to do – there is, after all, so much of it all around us.

Are we ready?

No, I don’t mean do you have the tree and decorations up, presents and cards all wrapped/written/sent, parties organised, invites sent, that Christmas food shop booked and all the other activities we think of when we use the term festivities.

Are we ready for Jesus?

This passage from Mark* is full of imagery. Jesus was talking in a way that the Jews of the time would understand. There are however, several key points.

The first is that Jesus is foretelling the second coming – that He will come again. He does not know the exact time of His return but He will be returning. This is an excellent example of faith and trust in God. Jesus knows that if God has told Him He will come again that will indeed happen. Jesus does not need to question all the finer details.

Jesus was also foretelling the destruction of the Great Temple in Jerusalem and the fall of Jerusalem. When Jesus says “this generation will not pass away until these things happen” it is this destruction that He is referring to. And this prophecy was indeed fulfilled when Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed in 70AD.

We do not need to doubt Jesus prophecies. We know they will come to pass. We know He will come again.

Jesus likens us to men who know that their master is coming but who do not know exactly when he will arrive. We do not need to be afraid of this. But we must live our lives in a way that means we are ready no matter when He arrives. Every moment of every day becomes a preparation for the moment we meet Him face to face.

The next point is that, of all things, it is most foolish to be so wrapped up in earthly distractions that we forget God. The wise are those who never forget that they must be ready when the summons come, so that, for them, the end will be eternal joy.

“Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. We long for the day, when we will see your face, we will be with you, you as our light.” This prayer sums up waiting for the Lord and the fulfilment of God’s plan. No one waits without a good reason and how long we wait is determined by the reward at the end. Jesus is surely the best reward.

The farmer does not know (exactly) what day the rain will come or the crops be ripened but the farmer knows they will and waits patiently and faithfully, ready and prepared for when that time comes. Likewise, we must wait patiently and trust in God whilst we wait, faithfully and prepared.

But when we are waiting for something how do we wait? Do we fill our lives with distractions and keep busy to avoid the waiting?

We have the chance to wait and change our lives but we miss it by running around. We forget our heart.

Do we use advent as a time to slow down as we prepare for Jesus to be born again in our hearts at Christmas or do we rush around more than ever letting life get more and more hectic?

Advent is a time of preparation and waiting. A time to slow down and open up – opening up our hearts and minds.

Advent is a time for prayer. A time for tradition – by which I mean it’s actual meaning of sharing and passing on belief. It is about going deeper in our personal journey with Christ. It is a chance to reset and ensure we have what we need to be prepared so that we are ready no matter what day or hour He returns. It is a time to stop being complacent. A time to keep relationship with God and work on it; doing God’s will everyday.

Advent is a time to put our hearts right with God and prepare them. Are we ready to use this Advent to prepare ourselves so that we are always ready for Jesus’s return and ready to welcome Him into our hearts once again?

*Mark 13.24-37

God is Love

God is Love, let heaven adore him;
God is Love, let earth rejoice;
Let creation sing before him
And exalt him with one voice [.]
God is Love, eternal Love.

God is Love; and love enfolds us,
All the world in one embrace:
With unfailing grasp God hold us,
Every child of every race [.]

God is Love; and though with blindness
Sin afflicts all human life,
God’s eternal loving kindness
Guides us through our earthly strife.
Sin and death and hell shall never
Over us final triumph gain;
God is Love, so Love for ever
Over the universe must reign.
Taken from God is Love by Timothy Rees

Today is, nowadays, known as Christ the King Sunday. If we looked at Christianity on a timeline, it is a fairly recent feast day. It was introduced by the Pope around 1925 due to the aftermath of the First World War to remind people of their allegiance to God.

So, why did I start by quoting parts of a hymn called “God is Love”?

The other week I was part of an interfaith panel answering questions about faith. One of the questions was about whether we can love certain groups of people and my answer – which is one I firmly believe and say a lot is, “God is Love and we should love others as God does”.

Let us recollect for a moment the events of Jesus’s lifetime and His teachings. He did not come to be served but to serve. He did not come to overthrow the Roman Government or depose Caesar. He became human, to find out what it was like to be human, to experience every range of humanity, to show us the way, the truth and the life and ultimately to sacrifice himself for the sins of all so that we might be forgiven and reconciled with God.

Where in all that does Jesus call Himself a king? Even when He is questioned at His trials before His crucifixion Jesus does not actually call Himself a king – instead His reply when asked if He is King of the Jews was “You say I am”.

Jesus was fully human as well as being fully divine. But we tend to give human imperialistic titles to Jesus’s divinity. Sometimes we forget that He was also a great human.

Remembering that Jesus was also a human does not diminish his power or significance.

Sometimes, however, we fall into the trap of thinking of Jesus as being up there and us as being down here. By doing this we separate us and Jesus; we separate us from God.

Jesus is with us, He walks with us, He carries us – think of those footsteps in the sand. He has not and does not abandon us.

God made us in His own image. That does not mean that we all look the same visually – like a colony of clones in a sci-fi drama. It means that humans are in the image of God in their spiritual nature. We are God’s masterpieces and have the potential to become that again.

We are not worthless! We are loved by God!

God is love and compassion and Jesus showed us this when He came to earth. He showed us our capacities: for God, for compassion, for empathy, for courage, for seeing possibilities even when there seem to be none, for resilience, for imagination, for heroism, tenderness, healing and transformation. He showed us that we do have the capacity to change the world.

Jesus is real – there is historical evidence of His existence. He was and is one of us. He is our hope and hope is that God is with us.

In God’s eyes we are all of equal value and we all matter. To go back to the Gospel, the lesson is simply that God will judge us on our reaction to human need; on the help that we have given. It also teaches us about the type of help we must give.

The type of help we must give is not complicated. It is simply doing what we can for those in need without having to think about it first, without calculating what is in it for us if we help, without helping for recognition or glory.

It is simply giving someone who is hungry something to eat, welcoming a stranger, giving comfort to someone in distress, visiting the sick, visiting prisoners, giving a smile or a wave or a hello or asking how someone is.

It is pure and simple. It is giving simple help to those we meet, pass, see everyday. But it is to give that help without any thought of self. It is to be the natural, instinctive reaction of a loving heart. The help that is given freely for the sake of helping, out of love, with no expectation of reward.

Francis of Assisi found blessings in this parable. He was high-born, high-spirited and wealthy but he was very unhappy. One day he was out riding and saw a very disfigured leper. Something made Francis stop and jump off his horse. He went over to the leper and hugged him. Whilst in his arms, Francis saw the face of the leper change to the face of Christ.

Martin of Tours was a Roman soldier and Christian. One cold day as he was entering a city a beggar asked him for alms. Martin of Tours had no money but the beggar was freezing and shivering. He took off his soldier’s cloak, cut it in two and gave half to the beggar man. That night he had a dream where he saw Jesus surrounded by angels wearing half a Roman soldier’s cloak. One of the angels asked Jesus “Master why are you wearing that old cloak? Who gave it to you?” Jesus answered, “My servant Martin gave it to me”.

The generosity of helping in the simplest of things from the heart without calculated thinking gives us the joy of helping Jesus. It helps us make a difference and it changes the world.

God is love. He loves us. And just as He loves us let us go out into the world loving Him and our fellow humans.

Musings In A Waiting Room

Hospital waiting rooms
Aren't they fun!
Uncomfy chairs 
That hurt your bum.
People waiting to be seen,
Feeling more scared
Than they seem.

Vending machines
With sweets and pop.
Healthy stuff's not 
What they stock.
There's no coffee,
There's no tea,
There's no magazines
To read.

It is cold,
The air cons on!
And still the wait
Goes on and on.
Will it be
Good news or bad?
Will we cry
Or feel glad?

Get there early,
They'll run late.
This is the reason
Why we wait.
We understand,
But it is hard,
To not worry
That it's bad.

He says what will 
Be will be.
I'm the support
Act you see.
Waiting long and 
Praying hard,
Knowing not
What's on the cards.

And when they finally
Call him in,
They still don't know
What's causing him
To have large lumps
Beneath his skin.

So now they want
To cut it out,
To find out what
It's all about.
"I've lost my marbles"
He will say.
He lost them long
Before today!

All Saints*

Wednesday was All Saints Day and so we are celebrating all saints today. Hence, we have the reading from John’s Revelation describing the multitude of saints in Heaven and The Beatitudes from Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount.

When reading, some of you may remember seeing a child learning to read and recognise this, sometimes there is a word which is slightly more unusual and which the reader may not have heard pronounced. In this circumstance, the knowledge the reader has accrued from what they do know about letter sounds and similar words to work out a way of pronouncing it. Sometimes the result is correct and sometimes it varies to how others may pronounce the word.

Some of you may have guessed where this is going.

When I was little I pronounced beatitude as “beautytude”. Now the thing is that whilst my church read the Old Testament, the Epistle and the Gospel at all services, the reading would be announced and then read without the title headings that some passages have. So it was a long time before I actually heard anyone else pronounce “beautytude” as “be attitude”.

Beatitude comes from the Latin word for blessedness and The Beatitudes have been interpreted many times by many different scholars. The highlight the human state and God’s righteousness. They depict the ideal heart condition for a disciple of Christ, a member of God’s kingdom.

But they are also much more than that. Remember what I used to call them – “beautytudes”. There is a further reason to that and it is simply that the beatitudes are beautiful. The are beautiful, uplifting, words of encouragement. They show us the truth of God’s kingdom. They help uphold us when times are hard.

Feeling lost? You are blessed – God will show you the way. Carrying sadness, grief, loss, pain? Joy will come. Feeling unheard and not valued? God hears you. You are precious to Him. Hungry? Homeless? In need of respite? God the Comforter is with you. Desperate for peace and righteousness? Trodden down by war and persecutors? God is by your side sharing your pain.

The saints are not those who have it all figured out. They are not perfect, they are not irreproachable, they have not set unattainable examples.

They are sinners! They suffered! They know grief and pain! They love God and their neighbour. They find ways to seek and serve Christ and praise Him!

Charles Wesley, who incidentally loved All Saints Day, wrote many hymns, including O For a Thousand Tongues to sing. The conclusion to which is:

“To God all glory, praise, and love
be now and ever given
by saints below and saints above,
the Church in earth and heaven. ”

Here on earth we are too fond of canonizing to officially grant the title of saint. There are even five stages that have to be followed to enable this to happen and generally this process can’t even start until 5 years after their death.

At the risk of being struck down, I don’t think it is our right to decide who is a saint. In my opinion, that right is God’s. Only God knows what is truly in our hearts. I also think that there is a huge flaw with canonizing. This is that I don’t think someone has to be dead to be a saint. I’m not saying that those who have already passed into light perpetual are not saints – just that there are also some still breathing.

How many times do we say to someone “you’re a saint” when they help us in a time of need?

Look around.

Saints are sinners! Saints love God and their neighbour. They have chequered pasts but have repented, serve Christ and strive to walk in His footsteps. They are filled with the Holy Spirit, and no matter what the circumstances are still able to lift their hearts in prayer and praise to God.

Saints are found in the most unlikely of places, in the street, in the supermarket, everywhere. And today we celebrate them all.

There is an old hymn that used to be sung a lot but which I haven’t heard sung for many years by Lesbia Scott which I feel is very poignant today and so I’m going to finish by reading it to you:

I sing a song of the saints of God,
patient and brave and true,
who toiled and fought and lived and died
for the Lord they loved and knew.
And one was a doctor, and one was a queen,
and one was a shepherdess on the green:
they were all of them saints of God, and I mean,
God helping, to be one too.

They loved their Lord so dear, so dear,
and God’s love made them strong;
and they followed the right, for Jesus’ sake,
the whole of their good lives long.
And one was a soldier, and one was a priest,
and one was slain by a fierce wild beast:
and there’s not any reason, no, not the least,
why I shouldn’t be one too.

They lived not only in ages past;
there are hundreds of thousands still;
the world is bright with the joyous saints
who love to do Jesus’ will.
You can meet them in school, or in lanes, or at sea,
in church, or in trains, or in shops, or at tea;
for the saints of God are just folk like me,
and I mean to be one too.
Source: Glory to God: the Presbyterian Hymnal #730

*Talk from Holy Trinity Sheerness 5th November 2023

To Pay Or Not To Pay

There is an old, well known saying about not discussing money, religion and politics. Yet, in this passage, we have all three!

On the surface, this passage gives the appearance of being relatively simple to understand, and consequently we can be tempted to fall into the trap of simplifying it.

Do we think we are being kind when we sugar coat things or is it that we are scared of giving hard answers?

It is easy to make the mistake of telling people what we think they want to hear instead of what they need to hear. It is easy to make the mistake of overly simplifying.

Jesus does not sugar coat the truth.

The Pharisees do not like this. The Herodians do not like this.

Two opposing factions, whose only common ground is their dislike of Jesus, joining forces to try and catch Jesus out. They send their disciples to Jesus – after all this way if their plot fails the leaders won’t look as silly.

Hoping to distract Jesus and lower His guard, they start with flattery before asking their question: “is it lawful to pay taxes to the Emperor?” Not is it right but is it lawful!

They were trying to manipulate Jesus. They were expecting the answer to be either yes or no.

The coins the taxes were paid with had the Emperor’s image engraved on them. This was an issue for the Jews who were not allowed graven images.

So, if Jesus answers yes then He offends the Jews and the Pharisees can charge Him with breaching and promoting breaching the commandment regarding graven images.

On the other hand, if Jesus answers no He can be arrested for insurrection and treason.

Ultimately, the question was not really about a concern regarding paying taxes, it’s an agenda. The Pharisees and Herodians are not bothered whether Jesus says yes or no because both these answers will give them what they want.

Despite the teaching as this passage from Matthew plays out, this scenario of trying to manipulate Jesus continues to happen today when we over simplify complex issues, label and categorise people and groups.

Jesus does not allow Himself to be manipulated. Instead of the yes or no answer the question calls for He asks for His questioners to bring Him one of the coins used to pay the taxes with. Once this has been provided to Him, Jesus asks whose image and name are on the coin. This time they cannot get away with their “I don’t know” answers and reply “Caesar’s”.

In the beginning God made us in His own image. He patented us if you like – we are stamped with His mark.

And so, Jesus again transforms the question into one of faith. He answers the question but not how they expected.

Jesus answers that the coin has the mark of Caesar and we have the mark of God. “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s”.

Faithfulness is the work of a lifetime with us continually learning to give ourselves to God and one another.

Love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and our neighbours as ourselves. Trust God with our whole lives. Walk in the footsteps and image of Jesus.

There will always be issues to deal with but, instead of forgetting whose image is marked upon us we can put these issues into God’s hands.

Jesus is inviting us to be the currency of God’s life in the world.

Talk from Holy Trinity Sheerness 22nd October 2023 (Matthew 22:15-22)

Denarius Roman Coin