We are so proud and confident, and yet we know this is our downfall. Our religion is destroying us, our trying to be holy pulling us down.
The church was built on brokenness. We are formed into a body, a commonwealth gathered to a table, breaking bread and sharing the fruits of the vine. Life to the full. Yet in our companionship, the breaking of bread reminds us of the brokenness of Jesus’s body and the wine, the pouring out of his life.
Knowing our brokenness brings us before God. Our God saves, and rightwiseness is a gift.
Come let us boast in the Lord. Come let us love God. Come let is love one another. It begins with us knowing our need, a seed sown, that we might grow.
The Lord’s discipline is in giving us up to our own ways. It’s standing beside us when we muck up, being there, ready, when we choose to turn to him. The gate is his cross, the place of brokenness, the beginning of victory. The light is his presence in all creation, drawing us to him, to peace.
Psalms 118:18-29 HCSB
[18] The Lord disciplined me severely but did not give me over to death.
[19] Open the gates of righteousness for me; I will enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.
[20] This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous will enter through it.
[21] I will give thanks to You because You have answered me and have become my salvation.
[22] The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
[23] This came from the Lord; it is wonderful in our eyes.
[24] This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
[25] Lord, save us! Lord, please grant us success!
[26] He who comes in the name of the Lord is blessed. From the house of the Lord we bless you.
[27] The Lord is God and has given us light. Bind the festival sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar.
[28] You are my God, and I will give You thanks. You are my God; I will exalt You.
[29] Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His faithful love endures forever.
Jesus teaches all people not to be anxious for tomorrow – the day’s troubles are enough. He goes further, we can’t worry our hair longer, and God knows all things, even how many hairs we actually have, and the life span of every small creature. The beauty of the meadow is for the moment, every flower a fleeting glorious spectacle.
Yet some believe we can worry people into the kingdom of heaven. We want them to be anxious about the life to come and that there will come a day when it’s too late. I am not sure anyone understands the afterlife to be a threat in our day; today’s culture, if it thinks about an afterlife at all, believes universal salvation for themselves and their nearest and dearest. For the most part, the afterlife is a metaphor for a sentimental need. The end of life is a punishment or mercy in the popular consciousness. We look up to a mythical heaven from where our ancestors look down. But we don’t really believe it exists.
Jesus looks with compassion on our needs, and one of our needs is justice. In his parable about equal pay for day workers, no matter how long they have worked or waited longing for work, they get enough to feed their families. Jesus opens our eyes to true justice, challenging our concept of fairness. One of his last acts on the cross is to welcome the criminal into heaven. Jesus opens the way to eternal life to the criminal because of what he sees in his heart? This is the new covenant he heralds.
Jeremiah 31:33-34 NRSV [33] But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. [34] No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.
We are to forgive endlessly under this rule, not because we have been told to, but because this is what God does. Our obedience is to see the offender as family, to act from a heart of love – to do good.
There is evil. I hope God is angry at sin. I hope he is livid about injustice and abuse; about wars and want. Hunger and thirst for righteousness and fully expect you will be filled. It’s those indifferent to the plight of others who weep and gnash their teeth – the opportunity they missed was to do good. They believed they had made the right decision – they looked alright and were in the right tribe. I want judgement, but that was not Jesus’ task. He went obediently to the cross.
John 12:31-32 NRSV [31] Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. [32] And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
The wrath of God is satisfied on the cross. By his sacrifice, the rulers and principalities are exposed, exposed, and exposed again. By his death, their mask is ripped off – holy seed is planted.
John 12:24-26 NRSV [24] Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. [25] Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. [26] Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.
We are called to nurture the green shoots we see and to help gather in the harvest. I am not sure we are to form waysides for people to wither on, but I am sure we should work with God who prepares good ground for seeds to flourish.
The cares of the world are the way the world holds people. Are we to have and to hold people by anxiety about the afterlife – fight fire with fire? Or are we to live a life of abundance in every circumstance that opens people’s eyes to the good news that wrath rules no more however troubled our lives. God’s just wrath, and God’s answer to wrath is made visible on the cross, and the sin of the world is defeated. What foolishness, God wins us by selfgiving sacrifice, not a threat. Let us clothe the naked, feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, visit those in prison – love wins, not fear. Our only worry should be, will I be found here with the righteous.
Psalms 22:26-29 NRSV [26] The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek him shall praise the Lord. May your hearts live forever! [27] All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him. [28] For dominion belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations. [29] To him, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth bow down; before him shall bow all who go down to the dust, and I shall live for him. https://bible.com/bible/2016/psa.22.26.NRSV
This is hard to see sometimes, but in Faith, we persevere. Peter struggled to see the one he named Anointed as achieving this through death. Jesus begins the story, saying,
Mark 8:29-33 NRSV [29] He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Messiah.” [30] And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him. [31] 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. [32] He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. [33] 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.”
The promise of the psalm is fulfilled in Jesus, not the way of violence. This is a new and everflowing, everlasting rule. Abundant life comes through denial.
Mark 8:34-36 NRSV [34] 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. [35] 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. [36] For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life?
Love is always the test of the authenticity of a call to self-denial, not duty or obligation. We all well and truly muck up; wilfully say the wrong thing, do the wrong thing, hurt, and get hurt. We can push our feelings down or over share, but there is no healing to the cringe we feel. Only love completes anything we might have to do. Peter has to learn the extent of this love, the love of Jesus that has the power to heal, to strip us of our self-reliance and open our eyes to the new way. This way is the way of freedom, freedom from sin, and freedom to walk in forgiveness. Faith in Jesus’ birth death and resurection is the foundation of all love and abundant life.
So there are very few of us. We’re also at the stage of life when some of us will be moving on, physically and spiritually. Every now and then, people join. We are enough. But,we are thinking things through: not standing still.
Psalms 25:10 NRSV [10] All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his decrees.
So we are meeting, we are singing, we are holding one another accountable, sharing bread and wine, and most of all, we are waiting on God and praying. As far as God has led us, we are loving Jesus.
Mark 1:9-12 NRSV [9] In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. [10] And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. [11] And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” [12] And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.
In Christ, we hear this; our Father is well pleased. Our temptation may be to seek renown. But God has led us here, and we pray; Lead us not into temptation.
On Friday 2nd February, the Chapel would like to invite anyone involved in the school or chapel, past or present, for tea, coffee, and cake at 630pm to 730pm at the chapel. We want to get to know one another and share time to forge friendships that will help both the school and chapel to flourish in the buildings we have. It will be an informal time of conversation, and yes, everyone is welcome.
Takeley Chapel 
_-_James_Tissot.jpg){kind=link}