Dismantling the wall of participation

When the news of the boxing Day Tsunami began to filter through to us we were enjoying the relaxation of the day after the big day. The reason for the tremendous outburst of compassion all over the west was that we saw, almost first hand, that these men, women and children were in such terrible trouble- they had lost everything-it was just as we had seen some everything: · homes · possessions · clothes · and all they had was what they stood up in · and many had lost their families Here we saw in front of us: · Christians · Hindus · Moslems · Seiks · Atheists No one asked if they were protestant/ loyalist Moslems or catholic/nationalist/republican Hindus- what did we see? We saw human beings in distress. Did anything else matter? No and that is exactly as it should be. Here John tells a story about an apparently chance meeting of a woman with Jesus- I say it was chance but, while Jesus did not plan it- it was not part of his strategy for evangelism- GOD DID WILL IT. Jesus had His own way of looking at things, at circumstances and at people. We saw that as he changed the water into wine, as he cleansed the Temple and here as he ENGAGED with this woman at the side of the well on a typically hot day- Jesus was in the middle of a three day trip to Galilee and he was tired, hungry and thirsty. Do you know what happens whenever we engage with people? We can pontificate from afar but somehow its different whenever we get up close and personal- hear what Gordon Pace ,[who worked as an American volunteer in Crumlin Road and the Vine for a year, from 2003-2004] says about his work in Arizona among the refugees: “Interacting with people moves you from comfortable bubbles and into the real world, where there is depravity, loneliness, insecurity and fear” Interacting with people changes us from being uninvolved critics to people who feel with them. What do we see when we look at her? · we see a woman who was not on the White House invitation list [like Gerry Adams and Co.]- she had an immoral lifestyle and you would not see many of her kind in church on Sunday. · we see a woman who was also a Samaritan and that meant she was considered a renegade by the Jews- they were related religiously but THEY had gone astray and become the enemies of the Jews and they suspected, of God Himself- “You Samaritans know so little…while we Jews know all about Him….” Jesus says, [ sarcastically??] · we see a woman who was, by definition of her sexuality, considered to be the possession of her male betters- her father or her husband Now we must ask- what did Jesus see? He saw a person who was in great need- she needed this water which would transform her life She needed to be set free from all that enslaved her Why did she come at this strange time of day? It was not strange to us but strange given that this was the time when people stayed indoors because of the heat of the day. She preferred to come at this time rather than at another, peak time, when she would have to experience the looks of the moral majority. Jesus saw a woman in distress- yes he did let her know that he knew all about h situation. Jesus did uphold the marriage relationship and the need to come to worship in Spirit and in truth but at this moment he wanted her to be set free and so that was not the basic question. Jesus considered it worth his time to spend with her because he loved people and His vision cut to the chase- he saw right through her and to her needs. There are many people in our society like this woman- she did not choose to be born at variance with the Jews- that was because of their history and that is so for all of who were born into loyalist or republican families and communities She did not choose to deserted by 5 men- that was her circumstances There are people among us- on both sides of the political argument- who have experienced rejection of various kinds and Jesus sees to the core of their being. What about us? What do we want for this community? We can be doctrinally pure and we can isolate ourselves but the minute we reach into the community we find that the edges being to fray- We see that the norms of society begin to infiltrate into our church community- there are people wanting to get married who are already living together There are people who want to have babies christened, dedicated, baptised or blessed who cannot even distinguish which is which There are people who have chosen to live in long term relationships but not married but then we have to ask- what does it mean to be married in the biblical sense anyway? There are Christians never mind non believers who are divorced There are a whole host of social, economic and moral issues challenging us. The various government initiatives have identified the problems of this area as: · Employment · Education and training · Enterprise and Job Creation · Social economy · Infrastructure and planning · And some other unique issues to this particular area Here is an interesting thing- in the early days of the church and in all the mission of the church, both during times of revival and mission and in the modern day the missionaries were involved in social interaction, in · Jobs · Hospitals · Schools · In social work Today we are involved on the fringes, then it was at the very heart. All of us would like to see a better society but why would we give this prerogative entire to government? Church, Community and Change is all about making society a better place and how we can we be part of the change process. The reason? Because we too see human beings and we are called to love on another. This well was over 100 feet deep and Jesus had neither bucket nor ropes but the woman had and he asked her if He could use them- we can work with other people in partnership and we know that all the resources we need are available by the grace of the God of creation and redemption. If this is a work of god then we will not lack resources and we cannot but be part of it- are you ready to step up to the line and begin the work? [ The context of this sermon is the launch of the programme, "Church, Community and change". This is a process of looking at both congregation and community to see where and when we can become more involved in the community as servants of Christ in seeking to be "change makers". Being holders of the Good News we feel obliged to, not only preach the word but also to live it out as an INCARNATIONAL church. Jesus swept away all the barriers because he was more interested in the people than he was in controversy, so he breaks thropugh the culture and gets to the heart of the matter of this woman's needs- sahe needed a second chance.

Extravagant Love

One day, a stranger was in church and he caught the eye of the minister, who knew that he was a visitor – well I say visitor but what I mean is that he was seldom at church. So when the service was over the minister went down to the door at the appropriate time as usual. When the man came to shake hands the preacher grabbed him by the hand and pulled him aside.He said to him, "You need to join the Army of the Lord!" The guy replied, "I'm already in the Army of the Lord, Pastor." This made him curious so he further questioned him, "How come I don't see you except at Christmas and Easter?" He whispered back, "I'm in the secret service. In Jesus’ time there were people who were secret followers. Nicodemus might have been one of them. At times of great persecution and distress there have been secret followers of Jesus But in our day and time there is no need to be secret followers- we are not in the secret service- while the reformers taught that there was no NEED to go to church to be saved, and in that they have been very successful, the Bible does teach that it is important for us to wear our relationship with Christ on our sleeves. When John the Baptist was asked about Jesus, by his own disciples, he told them that this man was totally unique- he was “head and shoulders above the other messengers” [The Message] In v35 he says “The father loves the son and has placed everything in his hands” John was deliriously happy that Messiah had come- this was the fulfillment of his life and calling. He saw himself as the best man at the wedding of the Bride and Groom. Behind this is the idea that God loves the son extravagantly. John could very easily have been threatened by Jesus- the new kid on the block as his disciples were and that’s why they had come to quiz John about Jesus. Very often we ministers feel threatened by the ministry of another minister or congregation when it seems that they are doing so well and that is because we can feel that people are measuring us and our lack of apparent success against this other person who seems to be doing so very well. John had come to do a job – to introduce Jesus as Messiah and now it was time to hand over to him. For John the arrival of Jesus meant to end of his own work and he was pleased to have a part in this new work. It’s like he is the best man at the wedding- how could he be jealous, as his disciples were, when he knows that the wedding is finished and the marriage is off to a good start? John says that his cup is running over- this was the very time when Jesus was to take the driving seat and he could slip off centre into the sidelines. Now here is the challenge for us- If God loves the son extravagantly, and He does and the father loves you and me extravagantly, and he does then the only valid response is for us to love God extravagantly- not in secret, we are no secret army, but openly for all to see. The question is HOW?? There are three ways: Give him YOURSELF Give him YOUR MONEY Give your love to those He loves TIME This is a very precious commodity and you can’t buy it second hand either- once you have used it, it is gone. It is a common experience today that nobody has spare time- indeed we are rushing around like we need a few extra hours in each day. we rush in the morning to work we rush back home in the evening we have little time to spend with the people we love little time to spend doing the things we love we break the speed limit because we need to get there quickly we live in the age of instant burgers and instant coffee The only time we are not rushing is when we go to bed and sometimes we have difficulty sleeping because we have been on the go all day and it takes, yet more time winding down! And yet, for those who are at home all day, the time goes very slowly. Sometimes the way we spend our time gives us cause for regret, usually, when it is too late: we regret not spending enough time with our family so that while the office has gained our family relationships have suffered and now its too late the we regret not working harder at school we regret not taking those opportunities whenever they arose The Christian life is all about relationships- with God and with other people. There is only one way to make our relationships better and that is to invest time in them. If I love God EXTRAVAGANTLY I WILL SPEND TIME WITH HIM, I WILL GIVE MYSELF TO HIM. - I WILL PRAY TO HIM, BRINGING HIM MY THANKS AND PRAISE ALONG WITH MY REQUESTS AND QUESTIONS - I WILL LISTEN TO HIM- I WILL MEDITATE UPON HIS WORD - I WILL JUST ENJOY HIS COMPANY AS I ENJOY THE COMPANY OF MY WIFE AND CHILDREN Jesus told the disciples- “I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come back and take you to be with me…” And where is that place? That place is where God is. Eternity in heaven will mean “knowing God personally”. If I love God EXTRAVAGANTLY I will love him today and I will also LOVE THOSE HE LOVES When Adam sinned he destroyed both his relationship with God and ours- from this point on there was that something between them- that edge, that uneasiness which was so absent before. He now realized that he also destroyed the relationship with the love of his life, his soul mate Eve- now there was that same kind of friction- it was now cursed- now there was a barrier between him and God and between him and his wife. John say that you can’t just love God and forget about your neighbour. We will never be happy being insular and self-centred because we were made to have fellowship with God and with other people- we need to love as well as be loved. While there is a wall dividing this community- either real or metaphorical, we cannot be happy and fulfilled because we are at odds with our creation. It has been scientifically proven that something happens in our brains when we do something for other people- that is why the world responded so generously to the Tsunami disaster on Boxing day 2004. Most people long for the big picture in their lives- they want more than what they can see and touch, they want something to outlast their lives Most people Want to give If I really do love God EXTRAVAGANTLY I WILL GIVE MY MONEY If you really love another person you want to give to them- to buy them presents and to make sure they are provided for in every way. In the OT every Jew was expected to give 10% of his income but that did not include a whole array of free will offerings- this was the rule but in the NT there is no such RULE. In 2Corinthians Paul speaks about this in chapters 8 & 9 –here the emphasis is not upon rules- :8:8 says “I am not COMMANDING you” but “”I want to TEST your sincerity”- that is a much greater matter. He points to the generosity of the Macedonian Christians who gave – not out of their wealth but out of their poverty- they were just like the window who gave her mite and greatly pleased Jesus- never did he say to this poor woman- keep your money, you have so little- no he commended her. Here he affirms and commends the action of this very generous church. Are we a generous church? Is the PCI a generous denomination? Well we are when our emotional strings are tugged- as with the outpouring of giving after Tsunami Yes we are when it comes to raising money for a new church or church hall- now I know that these premises are used for God’s work in this place but are we generous when it comes to the ongoing work of ministry? Have you, personally, increased your giving this year? If we are to get away from our debt we will have to give more. I have been told that the annual practice in the Presbyterian Church in Jamaica the leadership sit down at the start of the year and work out what money they are going to need to do all the things they want to do and then they BUDGET for it- then at the AGM they tell the congregation just how much they need and if that means they have to increase their giving by 10% so be it- its all a matter of priorities. What I want to suggest is that each of us, if we have not already done so, sits down and works out what we should be giving and then sets out a plan of how we are going to get there- if you are earning £100 a week then we should be giving £10 a week to God’s work and I would suggest that the vast bulk of that has to be for the local congregation- if you are earning £200 a week then your giving should start at £20 and so it goes- We are talking about being agents for change in this district- if we are to play our part-and if we don’t God will use someone else and we will miss out- if we are to play our part we will need more money, and we will have to prioritize our time- why because we love God-even if you are unemployed or on the state pension you can still give your mite and that will be just as valuable as the millionaire. Do you love god EXTRAVAGANTLY?

Don't Look Back in Anger

For some people this passage presents a very great problem-the problem is that here we have Jesus, the Lamb of God loosing His temper and ridding the temple of everything and everyone with great insult and aggressive action-imagine someone coming into Crumlin Road [or any other church] and shouting and bawling and clearing the place with shouts of “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market?” Hardly a picture of the gentle Jesus meek and mild that we are presented with at Christmas time! Is this not more in tune with the God of the Old Testament than of the new Testament? How can Jesus be this angry? Anger is not a stranger to any of us- surely some people appear to be very laid back and slow to anger but whether or not this is more apparent than real is another issue but all of us are driven to anger at times in our lives. Northern Ireland in general and Belfast in particular is made up of very angry people who can be very aggressive- one day I was walking with the dogs in the park and a man about my age looked at me and said something to the effect- “What are you looking at? Come over here and I’ll rip your head off.” The sinner in me said something to the effect- “just try it sunshine!” He walked away-fortunately!! We all deal with anger in different ways- here are a couple of examples Take the Rev Frank-30 years ordained in the Christian ministry- Very few realised it but he was a very angry man- for many years he had repressed it to the congregation but when he was at home it was very different. Al that the congregation saw was a man apparently passionate for the souls of his people and so he would go red in the face at times and he would thump the pulpit. During committee meetings he was often on the verge of loosing it but always managed to keep control. At home he was under no such restraint- he was able to let vent to all the pressure and tension which was within him. He frequently shouted, pounded the furniture, proclaimed the weaknesses of the church leaders and sometimes he swore about it all. He never harmed wife or children physically but they had all been stung by his verbal abuse and his outbursts had convinced at least two of his children that they wanted nothing to do with church or God. Fortunately this bothered him and he felt like a very big hypocrite and on the verge of resigning when someone was able to help him- another minister who was able to let him see that he had been dealing wrongly with the frustrations and tensions of the past 30 years- the end of the story is a happy one. Not so for William a quiet 17 year old, a sports star who never complained about his parents and never got into any trouble at school.- until one fateful night. While most of the neighbours were asleep in bed he quietly entered the house and brutally murdered his parents and brother in what police called a frenzied attack with bullets and multiple stab wounds. While this is an extreme example it shows clearly what can happen when anger is not dealt with- was this the kind of anger displayed in that Temple by Jesus? Can there be any place for the angry young man or old man for that matter? I’m sure we have all experienced the anger of other people- I am going to look at the anger of God I more detail this evening but this morning I want us to think about what was going on in this display of anger by Jesus. What did He see when he went into the temple for Passover? HE SAW CORRUPTION This was the greatest of all the Jewish feasts- so very often God reminds them of the Exodus when He saved them from all their troubles in Egypt- to them Egypt and the Pharaoh was the great anti god power- what Revelation would later describe as the anti-Christ. In this feast they remembered the time when God reached His hand out to them and redeemed them from slavery and misery- their life in Egypt was a very real hell. In the feast they recalled the act of the angel of god passing over the houses with the blood sprinkled on the door posts and the lintels. This was the blood of the perfect animals whose death brought salvation for all the people. Every male over 12 years of age who lived within 15 miles was commanded to attend. Not only Jews in Palestine but all those Jews who had been scattered all over the world and who wanted to attend at least on Passover in Jerusalem. Some commentators say that there could have been as many ¼ million in Jerusalem. Ever Jew over 19 had to pay a Temple tax- one half shekel- that was about 6p and a working man earned less than 4p. So a man had to pay almost 2 days wages. At this time all currency was legal in Palestine- Roman, Greek, Egyptian and Tyre and Sidon. But the tax had to be paid in either Galilaean Shekels or the Shekels of the temple- Shekels were holy but the others, being foreign, were unholy. As you can imagine the pilgrims had all kinds of currency and needed their money changed- so the money changers had a perfectly legitimate reason to be in the outer courts of the Temple- no problem there. The problem arose because of the charges they made for changing the money- they were charging-they were charging 1p for every ½ shekel or 6 p. It has been calculated that they were making the equivalent of £9,000. When the temple was raided in 54BC they discovered £2.5 million and there was still more Then there was the sellers of the animals-once again the people were being ripped off- the Torah said that a sacrificial animal had to be perfect and without blemish. every animal had to be inspected and that cost 1p [1/4 of a days wages] outside the temple a pair of doves cost 4p [days wages] inside it cost as much as 75p [over 18 days wages] . They were virtually being blackmailed into buying their sacrificial animals in the temple- is it a wonder that Jesus was angry? But this was not an anger which was about personal injury or insult and nor was it about taking his anger out on another person- it was RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION- that is the anger we feel when an elderly person is robbed in their home, or when a child is molested- it would be a strange God who did not get angry when the poor and the marginalised are abused, would it not, and Jesus is God. HE SAW RELIGIOUS LEADERS WHO HAD LOST THE PLOT All the Jews seemed to be concerned about was their authority which was being challenged and it was –Jesus was never worried about challenging authority or power- earlier this week the Presbyterian committee on Government and Society, fronted by the Moderator, Dr Ken Newel challenged the power of both extremes within our society and Dr Newell sat I the very presence of Alex Maskey and told him on the TV that this community does not trust Sein Fein. These religious leaders wanted evidence of His authority- his authority came from God in heaven and they were unable to accept the evidence- later vindicated and copper fastened by the Resurrection and that would come back to the disciples who were watching intently. Have we lost the plot also? Have we forgotten that the wrath of God is not something we can run away from. HE SAW A WORSHIP SYSTEM WHICH NEEDED REPLACING ALTOGETHER When God gave the sacrificial system He did so to help men and as a way of pointing to the person and work of the Messiah- it was never intended to be a permanent solution to sin-if He had then why did the priests repeatedly perform sacrifice on behalf of the people? The book of Hebrews points this out very clearly and in 10:12 says “But when this priest [the son of God, Jesus Christ] had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God” In Christ there is no further sacrifice needed and that is why He says with His dying breath on the cross- “IT IS FINISHED” Anger is a very real emotion in the heart of men and women and if we see it in Jesus we should expect to see it in our selves BUT while ours is fallen and often selfish and ego- centred His was RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION. Tonight we take a look at the wrath of God but for this morning let me finish with this question “Have you felt this righteous indignation recently? Have you done anything about it? This is the indignation we should be expressing when the poor of the world are ripped off be it in Africa, Asia or Europe. This is the kind of indignation roused in the hearts and minds of those who are behind the MAKEPOVERTHISTORY campaign- this is no theoretical issue but if we are part of the body of Christ then we should be indignant when injustice comes into our vision.

The Temple

Jesus Clears the Temple In Cana Jesus introduces something very painful- the need for CHANGE- many people tell us that change is always painful- even good change. Our son Peter is about to begin a great adventure by going to work in America for a year- that will be very exciting for him and it will be good for him but it will be very painful for us. We will miss him etc. Here Jesus is giving the very strong message that things are going to have to change- that is a message which is dawning on many churches and it will be very painful and difficult in many congregations where the philosophy has been- “as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be. Amen” In many situations they have been doing things this way since 1066 and can see no reason to change now but unless we change, we die. In the process called “Church, Community and Change” we will have to face this likelihood that changes will be necessary and we will have to be supportive to one another . What do people see when they come into our church? What do we see? We may have to face the possibility of making some changes to the building or to the way we work but none of those changes are as radical as the ones that Jesus is pointing out in these chapters of John’s version of the Gospel. In The story of the wedding in Cana He ushers in the need for a whole new approach to religion- its not about the Law but about the Spirit- that was anathema to all Jews In this Temple incident we have the need for the old system of sacrifice to be REPLACED with Christ In the interview with Nicodemus he talks of the need to begin afresh- how could he say that about the children of Abraham? Today Christian Zionists would think something similar and in His chat with the Samaritan women He challenges the position of Jerusalem itself and says that worship will be completely different when the Messiah is finished- not only will it be more to do with Spirit and Truth but it will even include Samaritans- shocking to say the least! What does Jesus see whenever he enters the Temple in Jerusalem? He sees an entire system which is failing- he sees a sacrificial system- the very core of the faith of Judaism- failing miserably. Here are three reasons, based on the premise that the system DOES NOT WORK. It does not work because 1. IT HAD TO BR REPEATED TIME WITHOUT NUMBER Let’s give some thought to what the Temple stood for. The purpose of the Temple was for the worship of God’s people, certainly, but this worship was the worship of sacrifice. Every Jew recognised the need for reconciliation with God, since the fall. When the worshipper brought his sacrifice to the Temple it was for the purpose of making things with God better. This was most obvious in the Feast of Atonement. This was the day when the high Priest went into the Holy of Holies and brought the perfect sacrifice of the people so that all the people would be forgiven and reconciled to God. On the day of Yom Kippur the High Priest dressed himself in simple white robs instead of his usual ornate robs. He then took a bullock and made sacrifice for his own sins. Then he took the two unblemished goats on behalf of the people- one of them was slaughtered and the blood taken into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled onto the altar. This was the atoning sacrifice. Then the other goat was taken and hands laid on it as he prayed over it that the sins of the people would be transferred onto its head and then it was sent into the wilderness. In this ritual the sins of the people were removed and forgiven- the escape goat took the blame even thought it was not to blame. Now put that alongside what the writer t the Hebrews says in Hebrews 10:1ff and especially v12 The point is that this High Priest whom we know to be Jesus had , unlike the human priest who had to repeat the thing over and over and over again. He failed, Jesus did not. It took two goats in the human system but in God’s way Jesus Christ was the High Priest and the sacrificial victim all rolled in one. Al of this means that when asked the question- where is the goat? We can say HE HAS GONE. When asked about our sin we can say- “IT HAS BEEN TAKEN AWAY!” When Jesus entered the Temple He saw something which needed more than running repairs, it needed a radical overhaul- to all intent and purpose it was something very new- new wine, a new Temple- destroyed and rebuilt in three days but not with the hands of men but by the Spirit of God, much as Nicodemus would be told a little later. Can you see why it was necessary for the temple to be destroyed and rebuilt? IT FAILED BECAUSE IT HAD BEEN ASSUMED TO BE AUTOMATICALLY EFFECTIVE The feeling was that all a person had to do was to fulfil the ritual of the sacrifice- even though God had told the Jews all those years before in the days of Isaiah that he did not want this ritualistic, mindless activity they had the cheek to call worship. They seemed to think that it was just important to get all the “I s” dotted and the “Ts” crossed and they would be forgiven- God would have to forgive them- they were His people after all.. This is what happened in the days when Martin Luther began to think about the church of which he was a member and a cleric. They thought that it was the ritual that was important so that all a person had to do was to go to Mass and receive forgiveness by the priest and all would be well- so a person who received communion had taken Christ into His life and was born again, or whenever the Priest baptized the baby all its sins were removed automatically- there was no choice in the matter. This led to al kinds of malpractice such as baptising people forcibly. There are a considerable body of opinion within PCI today who still believe that taking Holy Communion will lead to forgiveness and so this is the biggest service of the year and then there is the equal and opposite idea that only the perfect people are good enough to take communion at all- both positions are wrong and both reflect a total misunderstanding of the gospel which is of grace and not works. When Jesus looked at the Temple He saw something which had become corrupted- not just by the traders[ who, in fact, had a right to be there but we will take that up later] but by the assumption that all would be right just because they were the people of God and had done all that was necessary in their liturgy to Last week Richard used the baking of a cake to illustrate, for the children the need for both ingredients and method when worshipping God and , of course, when worshipping God wants the right attitude of mind- is that another ingredient or a method? Adults should understand that we are not baking a cake and so there is something else needed and that is the person of Jesus Christ- He comes and replaces the Temple and He is the one we are to worship in Spirit and in Truth. There is no AUTOMATIC FORGIVENESS just because we have turned up at church. When Jesus saw this Temple He saw a system which did not work because IT NEEDED REPLACING The purpose of this system was to bring salvation and reconciliation with God- it was to make the relationship between God and man NORMAL again- it had not been normal since Adam goofed. Paul tells us that “Christ is the end of the Law”. He is both the priest and the victim. No amount of tinkering around with the service of worship is going to make a difference. We need to recognise that while it is important for our worship to be contemporary and to include all that is best in the contemporary world of praise we could be super contemporary and relevant but fail to reach men and women for Christ. Yes we need to communicate the timeless truths of the word of God but we need to know that the answer to the deepest needs of contemporary people is to follow Christ, day by day. Later when we look at Nicodemus we will come across the term being “born again”- we need to know that when Jesus used that expression which he uses nowhere else he was shocking Nicodemus into understanding and it is the same kind of way we need to shock some traditional Presbyterians- the Jews were shocked that Jesus should use this language with the children of Abraham.