Ever flowing love

Posted on Feb 13, 2022 by M Emlyn Humphries

There is blessing and there is cursing; a sense of wellbeing and a search for something to fill the emptiness. We all want harmony- a flourishing.

We live in a broken world where the collateral of time and chance wreak havoc. In the heat of the day, we are called to be like trees in the desert planted next to a river whose leaves, despite the heat, are green.

That flowing river is the ever-flowing message of the risen Christ- the hope of all peoples. His gift is peace and in him is joy.

People may laugh and scoff, but God is ever loving, and his heart is to forgive. This is the good news revealed in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

In Christ we know heaven brought to the earth. Yes, we fail. Yes, we have troubles. The still small voice speaks in the midst of the storm, and all are gifted with the light within. God is faithful in all circumstances to bring flourishing; in all troubles, anxieties and disappointments, God is present and can only act in love.

It might look like hunger and poverty. It might look like oppression and rejection but for those who abide there is abundance. In our being present in the presence of God, Christ lives within us, and we are healed and bring healing. God does miracles as we stand before the mystery of the one true God.

Let us be active in doing good.

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit.
Jeremiah 17:7‭-‬8 NRSV

https://bible.com/bible/2016/jer.17.7-8.NRSV

Psalm 1

1 Corinthians 15:12-20

Then he looked up at his disciples and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for surely your reward is great in heaven; for that is what their ancestors did to the prophets.
Luke 6:20‭-‬23 NRSV

https://bible.com/bible/2016/luk.6.20-23.NRSV

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When You Spoke…

Posted on Feb 6, 2022 by M Emlyn Humphries

When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”
Luke 5:6‭-‬8 NRSV

https://bible.com/bible/2016/luk.5.6-8.NRSV

They heard Jesus but it was that catch of fish that convinced Peter.

In Corinthians we hear…

For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures,
1 Corinthians 15:3‭-‬4 NRSV

https://bible.com/bible/2016/1co.15.3-4.NRSV

The phrase, in accordance with the scriptures , stands out; which scriptures? Jesus speaks of himself as the fulfilling of the scriptures (Luke 4). I see in Christ the embodiment of Israel; the enfleshing of the temple. The resurrected one is the one on the cross, the one who brings all people into the promises of the Law and the Prophets. In Jesus, God’s kingdom comes and in Jesus sin is forgiven: the promise of the scriptures.

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!” And he said, “Go and say to this people: ‘Keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand.’ Make the mind of this people dull, and stop their ears, and shut their eyes, so that they may not look with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and comprehend with their minds, and turn and be healed.” Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is utterly desolate; until the Lord sends everyone far away, and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land. Even if a tenth part remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak whose stump remains standing when it is felled.” The holy seed is its stump.
Isaiah 6:8‭-‬13 NRSV

https://bible.com/bible/2016/isa.6.8-13.NRSV

This scripture, quoted by Jesus, points to the coming of the new resurrection age Paul speaks of. Isaiah does not plead with God in the way Abraham and Moses pleaded for mercy for the people. He accepts the commission to do nothing, to not save the kingdom. Jesus does the same.

Then the disciples came and asked him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” The reason I speak to them in parables is that ‘seeing they do not perceive, and hearing they do not listen, nor do they understand.’ But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it.
Matthew 13:10‭, ‬13‭, ‬16‭-‬17 NRSV

https://bible.com/bible/2016/mat.13.10-17.NRSV

So how are people to be saved? Paul has taught that in those gathered to Christ we find his body. The work of the Spirit in the church is the witness that is good news to the poor, releases the bound, opens the eyes of the blind and frees the oppressed.

Where this is evident, Jesus is present; Jesus is working; Jesus is embodied, and true worship happens.

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Kindness

Posted on Jan 30, 2022 by M Emlyn Humphries

Over the past weeks we have been considering kindness as a practice. Love is actioned in kindness and kindness teaches us to love. Jesus walks with us in every circumstance and his abiding with us means that we carry his presence into every situation good or bad; we carry hope. We have to trust love and that in our weakness we are fully known yet Jesus chooses to work in and through us. It’s alright to not understand. It is alright to fail. If we practise kindness, God’s promise is, he knows us and he will reveal to us the way of truth, never abandoning us or deserting us.

For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:12‭-‬13 NRSV

https://bible.com/bible/2016/1co.13.12-13.NRSV

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All in wrestling

Posted on Jun 27, 2021 by M Emlyn Humphries

Nature played a big part in our greeting each other this morning. Everything is unseasonably green, and the fields are covered in colour. Some spoke of the exuberance of nature and how it fights back. Some came with questions about suffering. We reflected that the name Israel means to struggle: life often doesn’t make sense but we can believe in God, follow him and meet life head on knowing that wrapped up in the joy of life is a struggle; we can sit with the questions knowing that the questions are valuable and yesterday’s answers are not today’s. Our faith in God is a call to action, to wrestle with life and God and learn empathy, compassion and generosity.

Some scriptures that might help us to fathom the lectionary readings are: on the faith of the woman; in Isaiah 6:1 we hear of the lord sitting in his temple and the hem of his garment filling the temple and in Malachi 4:2 that the sun of righteousness will arise with healing in his wings, where wings can also be translated hem of his garment, the sun of righteousness being maybe a metaphor for the one who saves. Also if we have problems with God being angry then we can see the scripture as a wrestling with God over his nature as evidenced in the way the community moved from attributing David’s sin to God  (2: Samuel 24:1) to attributing it to Satan (1 Chronicles 21:1) as they fathomed the nature of God. As the scriptures progress the wrath of God also becomes more nuanced which, lets face it, it needs to be in our understanding of God in our lives.

Lamentations 3:22-33     …The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul that seeks him. …. Although he causes grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love; for he does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone.  

Psalm 30    

…Hear, O LORD, and be gracious to me! O LORD, be my helper!” 

You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me

with joy,…

2 Corinthians 8:7-15     …but it is a question of a fair balance between your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance. As it is written, “The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little.” 

Mark 5:21-43     …Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.” So he went with him. And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. Now there was a woman who had been suffering from haemorrhages for twelve years. … She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well.” Immediately her haemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. … he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, “Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?” But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, “Do not fear, only believe.” … he took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha cum,” which means, “Little girl, get up!” And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). …

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Baggage

Posted on Jun 12, 2021 by M Emlyn Humphries

We come to Christianity with a lot of baggage: do we call God Father, Master, Lord or perceiving the face of God do we simply say here am I. We cry out from the depths of our need; to know the transformation of our lack into blessing. The Spirit’s cleansing work is what makes sense of our wounds and shortcomings. To find God in the midst of the storms and the raging waters is the gift of peace found in Jesus. We do suffer in who we are, who we aim to be and how we experience life, but each experience could leave us bitter and broken or broken and lifted up to new life. Life can be very tough, and the promise in Jesus is new life, where the wind of the Spirit sustains us and sends us out, not to condemn but to heal; not to exclude but to welcome all in so that we might love one another and show that we are true followers of Christ.

Isaiah 6:1-8 … “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!” 

Psalm 29      

Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength. 

Ascribe to the LORD the glory of his name; worship the LORD in holy splendour…

May the LORD give strength to his people! May the LORD bless his people with peace! 

Romans 8:12-…. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ–if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.  John 3:1-17     …”Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen… God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

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