The Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to Mark

Some Pharisees came, and to test Jesus they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.  (Mark 10- 2-16)

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Moses Mendelssohn, the grandfather of the well-known German composer, was far from being handsome. He was rather short, and he had a grotesque hunchback.

One day he visited a merchant in Hamburg who had a lovely daughter named Frumtje. Moses fell hopelessly in love with her. But Frumtje was repulsed by his misshapen appearance.

When it came time for him to leave, Moses gathered up his courage and climbed the stairs to her room, to take one last opportunity to speak with her. He was stunned at her beauty, but saddened by her refusal to look at him.  After several attempts at conversation, Moses shyly asked, “Do you believe marriages are made in heaven?”

”Yes,” she answered, “And do you?”

“Yes, I do, “ he replied. “You see, in heaven, at the birth of each boy, the Lord announces which girl he will marry. When I was born, my future bride was pointed out to me. Then the Lord said, ‘But she will be humpbacked,’

“Right then and there I cried out, ‘Oh Lord, a humpbacked woman would be a tragedy. Please Lord, give me the hump and let her be beautiful.’”

Then Frumtje looked up into his eyes, as if stirred by some deep memory. She reached out and gave Mendelssohn her hand, and later became his devoted wife.

I wanted to bring you a warm-hearted story today, a story of love, love that sees inside a person, past superficiality, the sort of love we all hope that we have or will find, in our life partner. 

Like Moses in that story, we all have flaws in our appearance, and we hope we will meet someone who will love us for who we are, rather than for our looks.

Sometimes, we meet someone in whom we can see no flaws. They are just as beautiful as can be.  But inevitably  there may be things about our partner that we don’t know, and there are things about us that our partner won’t know. Not horrible things, although that has happened, but mostly I am thinking of the way we are;  the things that we bring to the relationship from our family of origin, or from other relationships.

We may be damaged inside in ways that affect the way we relate,  Sometimes these differences, faulty ways of relating, can be so severe an impediment to our relationship that our love gets frittered away, and we end up with a damaged relationship. 

Sometimes, with the proper attention, counseling, willingness to listen, and willingness to work things out, the relationship can be saved.

Sometimes it can’t. In fact, the ratio of divorce to marriage is one to two. Half of marriages result in divorce.

I am a parent, as many of you are. We love our children. If one of my children were in a damaged and damaging relationship, and if the couple had taken all avenues in an effort to make it work, and if my child were living in a situation where she or he could never find happiness, and they decided to end their relationship, I would find it hard to judge them. 

I want my children to live in relationships that allow them to grow and develop, to find happiness, and true partnership, and to achieve wholeness. 

I believe that our Heavenly Father wants the same for us His children. And I don’t believe that He condemns us for our failures. 

But how do we reconcile that with the words that Jesus spoke, as recorded in Mark’s Gospel?

First we have to look at the context.  And the time.

Pharisees asked Jesus about divorce. “Is it right for a man to divorce his wife?” 

The question of marriage and divorce was a hot issue at the time.  Maybe the Pharisees wanted to test Jesus. Maybe they wanted to place him in opposition to Herod, who had just divorced his wife. Maybe they really wished to know his opinion.

The Jews had an ideal of marriage. They thought that God would forgive almost any sin, except the sin of unchastity.  It was held that a Jew would die rather than commit idolatry, murder or adultery. ‘The very altar sheds tears when a man divorces the wife of his youth,’ it was said.

This was the ideal, but in actual practice, things were very different.  

The whole crux of this issue was that a woman just wasn’t  a partner in a marriage  –   she was  a thing.     A woman had no legal rights whatsoever. Her life was at the complete disposal of the male heir in the family.

A man could divorce his wife on almost any grounds, while there was precious little a woman could cite to divorce her husband.

And then again, a woman could be divorced against her will. A man could not.  

Then there were also real problems because of  various interpretations of the law, drawn from Deuteronomy 24.1. which says that a man can divorce his wife if he finds her in some ‘indecency.’

Interpretations of this ranged from saying that a woman must have committed adultery, to merely spoiling food, spinning wool in the street, talking to a strange man, and so on. One school of thought even held that if a man found a woman he thought was fairer than his wife, he could divorce her.

The upshot was that men divorced their wives for the most trivial reasons.

In this context, Jesus was condemning the use of a woman as a chattel. He was condemning the complete lack of compassion and kindness. He was condemning those who looked upon marriage as a temporary state, and one which could be gotten out of easily – if  you were a man. He was condemning the lack of  regard for the welfare of a wife, and their children.

In answering his questioners, Jesus went beyond the law, as laid down in Deuteronomy – back to Genesis in fact – for his view that marriage was a permanent bond that could never be broken by man’s laws or regulations.

But did Jesus mean that if a woman were sold by her family into a marriage where she was treated like property, dreadfully unhappy, her very personhood denied, that she should remain in that kind of bondage? I don’t think so.

We are all flawed human beings. We are going to make mistakes. In relationships, perhaps there is a greater potential to make mistakes than anywhere else.

As married couples we owe it to each other to try and solve problems. We owe it to each other to be understanding, and forgiving, and patient, and kind, and encouraging. But sometimes we fail. And despair is often the result.

I don’t believe that God wishes us to live in perpetual despair. 

Jesus cared for people. He was concerned at the way people used others.   He was concerned for the weakest and most vulnerable in society, and that included women.

He broke the rules of society by talking to women. He broke the rules of society by talking to those who were ostracized by the Hebrews.  You will remember he disregarded both those rules when he spoke to the Samaritan woman by the well.

Today we read about his care and compassion for children, another vulnerable group in society. It was the custom for mothers to bring their children to great rabbis, to ask for a blessing on them. Some mothers had brought their children for Jesus to bless.

The disciples, concerned for Jesus, and perhaps knowing the stress he must be under, as he was making his way to Jerusalem and the cross, tried to shoo the children away.    But Jesus, even in this time of great anxiety, and knowing what lay ahead, didn’t want anyone turned away.

Those who came seeking him would be received, and fed.

He tells his disciples to allow the children to come to him.

And he blesses them.

And he made a difference in the lives of those children.

We can do that.

I want to leave you with a story of someone who regularly makes a difference in the lives of others. 

Lee Shapiro is a retired judge. He is a genuinely loving guy. At some point in his career, Lee realised that love is the greatest power there is. He became a hugger. He was known as the hugging judge.

He created what he calls his Hugger Kit. It has in it, little red embroidered hearts, with a sticky back.  He exchanges them for hugs. He hugs at the drop of a hat.  He is often invited to conferences as the keynote speaker where  he shares his message of unconditional love.

At one of these conferences, the local news media challenged him saying, ”It’s easy to give out hugs in a conference where people know  about you. What about out in the real world?”

He took up the challenge. The cameras followed him as he went onto the streets of San Francisco. He first approached a woman walking by. He said, “Hi, I’m Lee Shapiro, the hugging judge. I’m giving out these hearts in exchange for a hug.”  “Sure,” she said.

That was too easy, so the TV commentator directed him to a lady parking attendant who was being given a hard time by a BMW owner. “You look like you could use a hug,” he said, and she accepted.

The television commentator threw down a final challenge.” Here comes the bus. San Francisco’s bus drivers are the toughest, crabbiest, meanest people in the whole town. Let’s see you hug this driver.”

As the bus pulled up, Lee said to the driver, “Hi I’m Lee Shapiro, the hugging judge. You must have one of the most challenging jobs in the world. I’m offering hugs today to lighten the load a little. Would you like one? “

The six foot two, 230 pounds driver got out of his seat, stepped down, and said…..”Why not?”

One day Lee’s  friend Nancy Johnson showed up dressed as a clown. She said, “Lee grab a handful of your hugger kits and let’s go out to the home for the disabled.”

They got there, and handed out balloons, and hats, and hugs, and little red hearts to the patients. Lee was definitely uncomfortable. He had never before hugged people who were terminally ill, severely retarded, or quadriplegic. It was quite a stretch for him. But after a while it became easier.  Lee and Nancy acquired  quite an entourage of doctors and nurses as they made their way through the wards.

Then they came to the last ward. In here were thirty-four of the worst cases Lee had ever seen. The feeling was so grim it took his heart away.

But, he and Nancy were committed to share their love and make a difference. They worked their way around the room, followed by the medical staff, all of whom were wearing little red hearts, and hats, and carrying balloons. 

Finally Lee came to the last person, Leonard. Leonard was wearing a white bib onto which he drooled. Lee looked at Leonard’s dribbling and flinched. “Let’s go Nancy,” he said, “There’s no way I can get through to that person.”

Nancy replied, “Come on Lee. He’s a fellow human being too, isn’t he?” and she placed a balloon hat on Leonard’s head.

Lee took one of his little red hearts and placed it on Leonard’s bib. He took a deep breath, leaned down and gave Leonard a hug.

Leonard suddenly began to squeal  – EEEEEEgggghhh. Some of the other patients started to bang things together. Lee turned to the staff for some sort of explanation, as Leonard continued to squeal  – EEEEEggggghhh.

He asked the head nurse, “What’s going on?”

“This is the first time in 23 years we have ever seen Leonard smile.”

It doesn’t take much to make a difference in someone’s life, does it?

Jesus affirmed the value of children when he told his disciples to allow them to come to him. And he blessed them.

He affirmed the value of women when he condemned those who divorced them for selfish and trivial reasons, treating them as commodities, instead of  beloved children of God.

In his death on the cross, Jesus showed us total and unselfish love.

 He didn’t judge any of us.

 He just died for us.

Amen 

The stories of Moses Mendelssohn, and Lee Shapiro, are to be found in Chicken Soup for the Soul, written and compiled by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen, published by Health Communications, Florida.1993

The Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to Mark.

John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.

“If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell, where their worm never dies, and the fire is never quenched.

“For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”   (Mark 9:38-50 )

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Christians are expected to be salty.

Jesus uses the term ‘salted with fire.’  Before being offered as sacrifice, meat had to be salted. It was the law.  Fire is used here as a symbol of purification. Christians who have been tested, tried, held to the fire, are those who do great work for God.

Have you seen pictures of American marines in Iraq. They have been drilled and trained, and worked over, until they are lean, mean fighting machines. A marine who is overweight would be a contradiction in terms. 

Being a Christian doesn’t mean that you never have to face hardship, tragedy, or defeat.  God doesn’t want us to suffer, but coming through such testing, with the help of God, makes us better Christians. We have been drilled and trained, and worked over until we are – spirit-wise – also keen, mean fighting machines.

And we need to be, because Christians are supposed to make a difference in this world.

It was my duty to be the minister at the hospital memorial service.  There were about  twenty-five people there, all of whom  had lost a loved one in the past few months.  When I was talking to them, I talked about how when someone passes away, they are not just gone, like that, forever.  They are still a part of us. I said, “We leave a footprint in this world. ” 

I wonder how many of us Christians will, by the life we have led,  leave a footprint. 

I wonder if in time to come, people will know we were here.

And I wonder, if as individual Christians, we have made a difference in the world.

And I am not talking about being  famous.  I am not talking about everyone knowing that we may have made a difference. I wonder if there is anyone whose life has changed for the better because of something, some kind deed, some word spoken.

Because that’s what Christians do, They make a difference in the world. In the lives of other people.

Just as salt makes a difference in food.

Did you ever taste cooked cabbage which hasn’t been salted? 

What about a boiled egg?  A boiled egg is insipid until it has been salted.

Salt adds taste to food. Christians add spirit to life

One day, as  a woman was crossing a street at London station, an old man stopped her. He said, “Excuse me m’am, but I want to thank you.”

She looked at him and asked, “Thank me?”

He replied, “Yes’m. I used to be a ticket collector and whenever you went by you always gave me a cheerful smile and a good morning. I knew that smile must come from   inside   somewhere. Then one morning I saw a little Bible in your hand. So I bought one too, and I found Jesus.”

That lady was salty.

Salt makes things taste better. A Christian makes people feel better. Helps them to be better.

But there is something else that salt does.

These days we prevent food from going bad by freezing, or refrigerating it. But it wasn’t so long ago, that the only way to prevent meat from turning rotten, was to salt it.

Salt halts corruption.

Salt prevents things from going bad.

Right there , is another role for Christians in society. We are mingled in the general population as salt is mingled within food. We should be having an effect on society. We should be helping to stop corruption. Helping to make things better. Making sure that those who can’ t help themselves are taken care of.

We should be speaking up when we see things that are wrong. We should be informed about our politicians and should vote for those who are not beholden to special groups, but rather govern for the good of all.

We should be noticed – not because we ram our faith down the throats of people, but because we care for people, and we care for a just society.

‘Salt is good,’ Jesus says, but if it no longer tastes like salt, how can it be made salty again?’

In Palestine salt was derived from the evaporation of sea water,  and there would often be other minerals mixed in with the salt. It was possible for the white grainy crystals to look like salt, but not to have the taste of salt.  It was thought that was salt which had lost its saltiness. 

If we have lost the essence of what it means to be Christian, that is,  we  may look like Christians  but don’t act like Christians, then we have lost our saltiness.

This is a big world with lots of pressures.  It is hard to always do what we know is right.

Will Rogers knew this, He said, “Income tax has made more liars out of Americans than  –  golf –  has.”

We want to hang onto our money, even though God made our hands with fingers so that money could slip through.”

We stand by while others run down the church. We look the other way when friends commit petty larceny.  Anyone who has had a car repaired under their insurance policy, and has had work done that wasn’t caused by the accident, has committed petty larceny, and incidentally, is partly responsible for the high price of auto insurance today.

But it’s more than not doing wrong. It is more like being seen as someone who is faithful.

As a priest I have married a number of couples, and as part of what I do to prepare a couple for marriage, I talk about what it means to be a faithful husband or wife.

A faithful spouse is someone in whom you have faith. As simple as that.

You know they will do the right thing, act the right way, be what you expect them to be. Because they are faithful.

A Christian is also someone in whom you can have faith.  You know they can be trusted. They will do the right thing. They will be there for you.

Otherwise we will go through this world having made no difference, leaving no footprint, forgotten almost as soon as we are dropped into the ground.

How does it happen, that we lose our saltiness?   Is it because we get bored living life as a Christian?   Have we lost the spark that was once there? Do we even know why we call ourselves Christian?

And what is to be done  about it?

First thing to remember is that church is not here to entertain us.  It is a place where we go to be part of a community of other Christians and to share in praise and worship, and in its ministry.

Notice, it’s a place where we get involved and do stuff. It is a pro-active place, not a passive place.

It means being engaged, with the community. But being engaged with something means being a part of it. It means trying to find the treasure that is in the worship.

It also means educating oneself. Read books on faith. Don’t be afraid to be challenged. Be part of a Bible study group, or a prayer group, and if there isn’t one, ask for one.

Pray regularly, even when you don’t feel like it.

Look for ways to reach out. Ask a friend to come to the ladies’ or men’s dinner. Be concerned about people.

But you have to be sincere. You can’t fake it.

There was a knock at the door. The lady opened it and came face to face with a man who had a very sad countenance. He said, “I am sorry to disturb you, but I am collecting money for an unfortunate family in your neighborhood.”

He went on in a very sympathetic tone, “The husband is out of work, the kids are hungry, the utilities are soon to be cut off, and worst of all they are going to be kicked out of their home if they can’t raise the rent money by this afternoon.”

The woman replied with great concern, “I will be happy to help, but who are you?”

He replied, “I am the landlord.”

Being salty may require a re-think about our idea of what a Christian is, and should be doing, and if we aren’t  measuring up, the willingness to do something about it.,

Amen.

The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ According to Mark.

Jesus and his disciples passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again.” But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.

Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the way?” But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”  ( Mark 9:30-37)

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It was Thanksgiving Day and the first grade teacher asked her children to draw something that they were thankful for. She knew   most of these children were from the poor neighbourhood around  the school, and had little to be thankful for, but she also knew that most of them would draw turkeys.

So she was taken aback when little Douglas handed her his picture. It was of a hand, very simply drawn.  She held up the picture for all to see, and asked if anyone could guess whose hand it was

One child said, “I think it is the hand of God that brings us food.” Another said, “ A farmer. Because he grows turkeys.” There were many other ideas of what the hand represented, but it wasn’t until all the others were at work that the teacher bent over Douglas’s desk and asked him whose hand it was.

“It’s your hand, teacher, “ he mumbled.

She was surprised, but then she remembered that frequently at recess, she had taken Douglas, a scrubby forlorn child, by the hand. She often did this with other children, but it had obviously meant  much more to Douglas.    Perhaps, she thought, this was what Thanksgiving should be for; not to remember  the things we have received, but to be thankful for the chance, in whatever small way, to give something to others.

Thanks-giving – thanks for being able to give!

Today we heard that Jesus brought a child forward, perhaps it was Peter’s child, and said  to his disciples,  “When you welcome even a child, you welcome me. And when you welcome me you welcome the one who sent me.”

Well, what’s so unusual about welcoming a child?  We all love children, don’t we?  Who can look at their little faces, so open and so frank, and so accepting, and not welcome them?

Jesus was fond of turning things around, however. Like when he said,  “If you want the place of honor, you should take the lowest place – you should serve the others.”

Remember also, ‘Those are first will be last, and those who are last will be first,’ and so on?

So it was with that example of a child.

In that society, children were last. Oh they were loved, but they ranked lower than slaves in the hierarchy of the time. They didn’t contribute anything, and in an economic system where the ordinary person would be lucky to get one meal a day, children would be fed last.

Unwanted babies, mostly girl babies, were left outside to die of exposure.

Actually, things are not so different today.  In some societies, children are still not valued. Some are sold into prostitution or domestic slavery. Some are forced to work at looms, for ten or twelve hours a day, weaving carpets for export to the West. 

What Jesus was saying when he called that child to him was that the lowest member of society, the dregs, if you like, must  be loved and wanted, and treated with respect.  And served!

Who are the dregs of our society?

Surely those addicted to drugs have to be right in there. 

I remember some time ago,  a newspaper reporting on the placement of safe injection sites for drug users in Vancouver, and as part of that story, showed a young woman, emaciated, gaunt, injecting herself with the drug she must have.

The veins in her arms were so damaged  that she had to inject herself in her neck. There was a picture of her doing this with the help of a piece of mirror.

I was full of compassion for the woman, that she had this deadly compulsion, but I was disgusted that the paper would show her degradation.  The desire for a news story, seemed to outweigh any consideration of that woman’s innate worth as a human being.

Who was the greatest –  the photographer trying to get a  scoop, by using this woman, or the people who set up safe sites?

In Jesus’ day, people on the fringes, had no-one to help them,  because people reasoned that they were sinners.  If they hadn’t sinned, then surely God would have blessed them more fully.

We hear a similar rationale applied to afflicted people today, don’t we? “ It’s their own fault. They shouldn’t get mixed up with drugs in the first place,” we might say. 

Thank God there is now a little more understanding of the complex problems that lead to self-destructive behaviour.

Someone once said that you can tell how just a society is by how it takes care of its old people.

I would expand that to say that you can tell how just a society is by the way it takes care of the unwanted. 

I think that most people reading  the story of that young woman would  agree that such people should be helped  – cared for – in some way.  

But there are those whose needs aren’t so obvious. Some people  kind of just manage to function –  they get along, but not well.  

The single mother with four kids, and no job, for example.   The lonely man who drinks himself into a stupor on a week-end but still manages to drag himself into work on Monday. The old lady who can’t clean house any more, and doesn’t eat well enough, and whose clothes are shabby.

The young people who hang about on the street till past midnight when they should be home and in bed, but they are avoiding their parents and their parents don’t care anyway.  They aren’t the lowest in society. We may not even notice them, and if we did, we would find them not so easy to welcome, wouldn’t we? 

But  “The one who welcomes such as these welcomes me,” said Jesus. “And the one who welcomes me welcomes the One who sent me.”

You know, the disciples had been talking about who would be the leaders when Jesus was king. They didn’t know yet, that instead of being seated on a throne he would be nailed to a cross.  They had yet to learn that the greatest reward comes from serving others.

The thing is, that when he asked what they were talking about they didn’t want to say,

As if he didn’t know.

If we humbly and sincerely ask Jesus to be a part of our life, I believe he will become – a part of our life – and we will be able to live a life worthy of him; a life that sees him even in those less fortunate, less able,” less worthy.”

I remember a friend of mine telling me about his little boy. This particular Sunday evening, his mom took the little guy to bed and kissed him goodnight. When  his dad, looked in later to see if his son was asleep, he found him kind of sitting up, wedged with his pillow against the wall, and still awake.

So he asked his son, why he wasn’t lying down and sleeping, and the little boy said, “I don’t want to hurt Jesus.”

“What do you mean?” his dad asked, “How can you hurt Jesus?”

“In Sunday School today they said Jesus was in my heart. I don’t want him to fall over.”

Well, when we reject Jesus, he doesn’t fall over. But when we reject the lowliest of all, we do reject him.      

The first-grade teacher who gladdened the heart of little Douglas just by taking his hand, realised that we should be thankful just for the opportunity to offer a helping hand to someone.   

We can’t change the world by ourselves.  We can’t be there for everyone. But there will be moments when we can contribute in some small way, There will be opportunities to serve someone in real need, and co-incidentally serve the Son, and the One who sent him.

You know, a little while ago, the papers were full of stories about some young man, a ‘Canadian Idol.’  One report said that since his victory, wherever he goes, people jostle each other just to shake his hand. 

Shucks!!

We can touch the hand of God Himself! 

The Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to Mark

Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they answered him, “John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.” He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” ( Mark 8 : 27-38 )

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What is God to you?

Is God some larger-than-life figure, powerful and mighty, sitting on a throne in Heaven, and looking down – sometimes approvingly, sometimes critically – on His creation?

Or is God for you, a person who walks with you; someone who knows your doubts and worries, and shares them with you?  …..the person who experienced life here on earth at its nastiest,   but who did not flinch, and who finally was tortured, and put to death – not for anything he had done wrong, but for the things he had done right?

Or is God what animates you? Is God, someone who sees your powerlessness, your life in a rut, and who somehow infuses you with the spirit, the energy, the need to get out of the rut, and go on a great adventure?

I suppose the answer to that question could be different depending on the state of your life at the time of asking.

I guess we experience God in all of His three persons, during our lives don’t we?

There are times when I take a walk down to the beach, and just sit there, on that rocky jetty, and listen to the lapping of the water, and feel the wind against my face, and look out across that great expanse, and I just know that a Creator God is responsible for it all. And I feel a peace, and an affinity with the earth, and all that God has made, and I know Him as God, Creator God, Loving God.

And when you feel like that, the cares of everyday living and loving fall away, almost as if He or She has taken them from you, and a great sense of freedom ensues.

Reluctantly you pull yourself away, and head back to the everyday world.

In that everyday world, unfortunately, when  I read the newspaper, and watch the television news,  I hear about the latest suicide bomber; new statistics on how many children are working in slave-like conditions; fresh evidence of climate change we are told has come about because of our misuse of creation; new statistics that tell us how we are poisoning the very air we breathe, and a ghastly litany of humanity’s lack of humanity.

And I despair.

Then I remember a baby, born into a working class family, placed in an animal’s eating trough for a crib, in a shed, in a place called Bethlehem – a place much in the news these days – and how that baby grew to become a man who took on the immense task, not of changing the world, but of changing people – so that people could change the world.

And I recall how this man gathered around him twelve friends, and inculcated them with his love of people, and his belief in our ability to change, and how somehow, his death, which many thought would shut them all up, did the opposite, and that young man’s message of  salvation – did in fact change the lives of many for the better.

And perhaps more important than the message, if that is possible,  is that this young man died specifically for my salvation – so that I could change – and not be punished for the way I had been…………

………….that his whole reason for being was to call us back from selfishness, and wickedness, and being stuck in sin, and open to us the possibility of real life, life that gives, and is fulfilled; life that is involved, life that will go on for ever.

And  remembering all this about that young man called Jesus, I experience hope. I know that everyone who suffers has a loving brother – someone who himself suffered – to be with them, and to travel with them, even in the midst of the filth of this world – and to bring them to a knowledge of that God who created us to love him, and to love each other.

Not to abuse; not to use; not to manipulate; not to hurt; not to degrade; but to love and uplift, and to encourage, and to help, and to care for.

And that sounds such a wonderful place to be, such a wonderful goal to which to aspire, but alas, something that could be too tough, too difficult, just too hard to manage by myself.

But then I remember how those men and women who followed this man Jesus, how they too must have felt inadequate, and ill-equipped, and just not up to it, and yet they did in fact make a difference.

And I remember that they didn’t do it by themselves. Yes they had Jesus’s teachings to guide them – but so do we. They had more than that. They had a life-changing encounter with another person of the God we love. They  had an encounter with the Holy Spirit.

And remembering this, I rest assured, that whatever I try  to do in His name, His Spirit will be there to give me the strength, the courage, the wherewithal to do it.

You might be thinking, “How can that be?   It’s ok to say that, but how can people be changed so profoudly? “

Sixty-five, maybe seventy years ago, a man by the name of Adolph Hitler, took control of a nation and by his  rhetoric, by his evil will, he turned thousands of good people into monsters who could torture and kill in his name, without compunction.

Beginning a little time before that, a man named Stalin took an ideology of materialism, of an economic system,  and using that ideology, turned millions of  formally good people into torturers, killers, informers, oppressors – guards of the gulag.

So don’t tell me that the Creator of the universe  – the God above all gods, the one who placed the stars and the planets in their courses – that this God  can’t take  ordinary good people – like you and me – and do miracles through them.

Because he is greater than evil. He is stronger than ideology. He is more powerful  than rhetoric, than spin doctoring, than advertising.

Than advertising?

Do you know that the average child is exposed to more than a thousand hours of advertising during it’s formative years?

And do you know what advertising tells us? It tells  us that we bring happiness into our lives by the shampoo we use, the clothes we wear, the jewelry we buy, the car we drive. 

A thousand hours of  propaganda.

God can even counteract that.

I read that there is a movement among young people these days to search for something beyond themselves, beyond the facile messages of advertising jingles.

There is a need.

For a Creator God, and a Saving God and an Enabling God. A Trinity.

There is an emptiness that needs filling, a hunger for something more than the pap that is fed to them twenty four hours a day by this culture of consumerism.  

And we have that.

Don’t we?

We have a God who delivers.

We have a God who saves.

We have a God who is willing to give power to those who ask.

It’s about time that we Christians started telling people what we have. And how to get it. If we are going to do one tiny bit of what those first disciples accomplished.

I don’t know about you, but I want this world to be a little bit better than it was when I came into it.

Else what’s the point?

And people are doing it you know.  People are leaving this place a little better  than when they came.

I see it all the time.  In the families that people leave behind. In the legacy of care and love that people leave behind them. In the monuments to their care for the kingdom that they leave behind.

You know what I am talking about.

I don’t have to tell you.

So why am I – telling you?

Because I want others – those who have never darkened the door of a church, who have never  known salvific love, others who have a need and a hunger, and a desire to be better, and do better, and leave their portion of this place better – I want them  to know what we know.

But they won’t know it if we keep our joy to ourselves.

Let’s bring this God of ours out and share with everyone else.

This God of ours being God the Holy Trinity. The God who created all that we have and all that we are. The God who sacrificed Himself to save us. The God who everyday fills with power, those who want to bring about change.

Created. Saved. Empowered.

United in God, and in the Church, and determined to make this world a much, much better place.

What do you say?