ST PAUL'S SERMON: SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT 25 FEBRUARY 2018

Collect

God of Sarah and Abraham; Long ago you embraced your people in covenant; And promised them your blessing: give us grace to recognise you as our God; And serve you as your faithful people; Through Jesus Christ our Lord; Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit; One God, now and forever. Amen

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First Reading:  Genesis 17:1-7; 15-16

17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. 2 And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous.’ 3 Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, 4 ‘As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer shall your name be Abram,[b] but your name shall be Abraham;[c] for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. 7 I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring[d] after you….

15 … As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. 16 I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.’

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Psalm 22:23-32

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Second Reading:  Romans 4:13-25

13 For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15 For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.

16 For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, 17 as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations’)—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 18 Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become ‘the father of many nations’, according to what was said, ‘So numerous shall your descendants be.’ 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. 20 No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. 22 Therefore his faith ‘was reckoned to him as righteousness.’ 23 Now the words, ‘it was reckoned to him’, were written not for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.

Gospel:  Mark 8:31-38

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.’

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? 37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38 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.’

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MAY I SPEAK…

Today is the second sermon in our Lenten series on DISCIPLESHIP, using the Gospels. Last week, Michelle gave us an overview. This week, We’ll be looking at DISCIPLESHIP IN MARK.

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The vast majority of researchers believe that Mark was the first of the 4 Gospels to be written, sometime around the year 70, and the style of the gospel is simple, implying the author is trying to tell Jesus’ story as simply and directly as possible.

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If you Googled ‘DISCIPLESHIP IN MARK’ (as I did), you’ll see many sources saying Mark portrays the disciples in the most negative light, and our reference material concurs.

However, have you ever considered why? Could it be that it is because Mark wants to take the reader beyond the written account and beyond the failures of the Twelve, into their restoration and subsequent mission into the world as a model of the redemption path Jesus shows to all who will see? Even if we, like the Disciples, sometimes fail?

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One of the best examples of the failure of a disciple is in our passage – can you imagine how Peter must have felt when Jesus rebuked him and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things’?

Yet, in what must be one of the most moving passages in scripture, John 21:15-19 describes the resurrected Jesus re-instating even Peter, after asking him 3 times ‘Do you love me?’...

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That’s all Jesus requires - it is through his failures and brokenness that Peter becomes the instrument of Christ's reconciling love…

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Surely this applies for us too? Yes. We fail, God knows, and loves us anyway – all God is asking of us is that we allow God to use our failures and brokenness so we too may be the instrument of Christ's reconciling love…

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In our Gospel passage, Jesus explains HOW our failures and brokenness can be used as instrument of Christ's reconciling love – He says ‘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… 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.’

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The implication is so clear from our passage WE, LIKE PETER, WILL FAIL… GOD UNDERTANDS, GOD FORGIVES, BUT WE NEED TO LOVE JESUS, AND TO NOT BE ASHAMED OF HIM AND OUR FAITH….

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What happens if we ashamed of Him, if we, like Peter, even go so far as to deny Him?

Let me tell you a story…

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In the movie ‘Priest’ made in 1994, a young Catholic Priest Father Greg Pilkington, newly assigned to St Mary's parish in inner-city Liverpool, is startled to discover Father Matthew Thomas is engaged in a sexual relationship with the rectory housekeeper Maria Kerrigan. Moreover, Father Thomas is a left-wing radical, leading him to constant clashes and bickering with the Bishop — who nevertheless appreciates his abilities.

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The young priest's traditional conservatism and religious beliefs are offended by the older priest's blatant disregard for his vow of celibacy. He also does not always have empathy for the community he is sent to minister in. At the same time, he struggles with his own homosexual urges, especially after he meets Graham at a local gay hangout and the two embark on a physical relationship.

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When Graham comes to Church, Fr Greg refuses to give him communion…

Meanwhile, student Lisa Unsworth has confided she was sexually abused by her father, who confirms her story and displays no guilt nor any desire to stop. Both have revealed their secret in the confessional, so Fr Greg is unable to reveal what he has been told. He tries to warn her mother to keep a close watch on her, but the naïve woman believes her daughter is safe while in the care of her husband.

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When Mrs Unsworth discovers her husband molesting Lisa and realises the priest knew what was happening she lashes out at him. Adding to his torment is his arrest for having sex with Graham in a parked car. When he pleads guilty to the charge, the story is headlined on the front page of the local newspaper and, unable to face his parishioners, Fr Greg relocates to a remote rural parish presided over by a disapproving and unforgiving priest.

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Fr Matthew convinces him to return to St Mary's, and the two preside over a Mass that is disrupted by the loud protests of those opposed to Fr Greg's presence at the altar.

Fr Matthew demands they leave the church. The two priests then begin to distribute the Eucharist, but the remaining parishioners ignore Fr Greg and line up to receive communion of Fr Matthew. Lisa finally approaches the younger priest, and the two fall into each other's arms sobbing.

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It is through his failures and brokenness that he becomes the instrument of Christ's reconciling love.

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Sometimes we need to fail, in order for God to eventually succeed… Through our failures and brokenness, we become instruments of Christ's reconciling love…

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It is true for Peter, it is true for Father Greg, and it is true for you, and me, we need to pick ourselves up, and trust not in ourselves, but in GOD, and in Christ's reconciling love….

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‘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.’…

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Through Christ's reconciling love, ALL CREATION is redeemed… ALL CREATION…

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To paraphrase Nouwen: we are invited to let God use our mistakes and our failures to mould self-righteous people like us, (like Peter), into gentle, caring, forgiving people who are so deeply convinced of our own great sinfulness and yet who are also so aware of God’s even greater mercy, that our lives themselves become compassionate ministry…

The invitation into compassionate ministry is the invitation into a state wherein there isn’t much difference left between DOING and BEING…

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When we are in this state, we realise we are filled with God’s merciful presence, and we can do nothing other than minister because our whole being witnesses to Jesus, the Light that has come into the darkness…

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AMEN!

Rev Gavin Smith

Saint Paul's Sermon: 3 December 2017: Second Week of Advent: Are we tourists or travellors?

Isaiah 40:1-11

Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

3 A voice of one calling: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. 4 Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. 5 And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

6 A voice says, “Cry out.” And I said, “What shall I cry?” “All people are like grass, and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field. 7 The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the Lord blows on them. Surely the people are grass. 8 The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.”

9 You who bring good news to Zion, go up on a high mountain. You who bring good news to Jerusalem, lift your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid; say to the towns of Judah, “Here is your God!”

10 See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and he rules with a mighty arm. See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. 11 He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.

Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13 [APB]

2 Peter 3:8-15a

8 But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. 9 The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed.

11 Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will melt with fire? 13 But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.

14 Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish; 15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation…

Mark 1:1-8

1 The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

2 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way; 3 the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight”’,

4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 He proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. 8 I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.’

May I speak….

Our Gospel reading describes ‘John the baptiser’ appearing in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance, and proclaiming the coming of the powerful Messiah, who John said would baptise the people not with water, but with the Holy Spirit.

Our reading from 2 Peter describes the people repenting, and then the coming of the day of God, a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.

Our reading from Isaiah describes God telling Isaiah to comfort the people, to speak tenderly to them, crying out that we have been set free from our sin, how the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together. God tells Isaiah and the people of God to CRY OUT, from the mountain tops, to be heralds of good tidings, to boldly proclaim God, the God who is searching for the lost, like a good shepherd.

What an exciting time we live in!

In “Your Church is too Safe”, Mark Buchanan describes how, in the 19th century, we stopped calling people who go on trips ‘TRAVELERS’ and started calling them ‘TOURISTS’.

What’s the difference?

A TRAVELER is (literally) someone who TRAVAILS, someone who labours, suffers, endures.

A TRAVELLER – a TRAVAILER – gets impregnated with a new and with a different reality. A TRAVELLER immerses themselves in a culture, learns the language and customs, lives ‘cheek by jowl’ with the locals, imitates their dress, eats their food, and is changed by the experience, by their TRAVAILS.

Even if he or she returns home, they are changed – in a sense, they never go back.

A TOURIST, on the other hand, is fundamentally different.  TOURIST literally means “one who goes in circles”. A TOURIST is essentially just taking an exotic detour home – merely passing through, sampling wares, acquiring souvenirs, at best merely tasting the foreign food, if they dare drag themselves away from the ‘safe’ tourist spots serving their usual food at all!

A TOURIST retreats each night into what’s safe and familiar, at best picking up a word or two, a few phrases, but the language and the culture and the world it’s embedded in remains unknown, and vaguely menacing…

A TOURIST spectates and consumes, returning to where they’ve come from with a few pictures, an update on Facebook, a few mementos, happy to be back home, unchanged…

Do you think the analogy applies to some Christians? Have we not made a similar shift in the church by calling Christians BELIEVERS, instead of calling ourselves DISCIPLES?

What’s the difference?

A DISCIPLE willingly loses their life to find it, a DISCIPLE is steeped in the language and culture of Christ until His Word gradually reshapes theirs, redefines them, changes how they see the world, how they think, how they dream and, ultimately, how they live, as their values and dreams are re-ordered, as God’s values take their place…

Eventually, friends who knew them will hardly recognise them…

A BELIEVER, on the other hand, is different. A BELIEVER might proclaim Christian values, but how deeply these are held depends on their circumstances and mood.

In their heart of hearts, they realise a BELIEVER might even wonder if their BELIEF has made any difference in their lives at all… A BELEIVER will not show evidence of transformation, he or she will still want what they’ve always wanted, and will still fear what they’ve always feared, with no noticeable transformation…

Our readings are written by 4 TRAVAILERS - Isaiah, David, Peter and Mark and they all encourage us to also be DISCIPLES, rather than only BELIEVERS.

Now there is a potential trap here – the trap is to say “well, I’m not like Isaiah, David, Peter or Mark” or “I’m not worthy” or “I’m not a TRAVELLER” or some other devilish lie…

But what Isaiah, David, Peter and Mark all have in common is that they PERSEVERE, like TRAVELLERS, despite their imperfections, as our patron Saint Paul also did, encouraging us too to “run with perseverance the race that is set before us”.

The lie of the world is that we must succeed, we must finish, and finish first. The Gospel message and the life of Jesus and all the saints is that we too must persevere, not alone, not in our weakness, but with God’s help. Isaiah, David, Peter and Mark all got it wrong sometimes, as I do, as you do…

I remember being afraid of making my marriage vows … “till death us do part” – and I asked our priest how I could possibly make the vows, and he wisely said, “You can’t vow to do it in your own strength – you can only vow to do it with God’s help”.  You see, I had wanted to skip the TRAVAILING, as if marriage or life was a destination, instead of a journey, but he taught me a valuable lesson – TRAVAILING is the point of marriage, parenthood, career, life, as well as our Christian JOURNEYS.

We live in challenging, trying times – there is corruption, anger, fear and doubt, but there is also HOPE, FAITH, LOVE and even JOY to be found in TRAVAILING, in persevering, in fulfilling our God given purposes….

If we do not persevere, if we do not TRAVAIL, all will not be lost – the Gospel message is God’s Kingdom WILL still come, but if we merely are TOURISTS, we will be deprived of enjoying TRAVELLING through playing our part in building God’s Kingdom.

I thus exhort and encourage you, my friends, to just keep putting one foot ahead of the next, as we TRAVEL together on the path God has prepared for us.

AMEN!

Rev Gavin Smith

SERMON 26 NOVEMBER 2017: ARE WE TOO COMFORTABLE?

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be pleasing unto you O Lord, our strength and our redeemer...Amen.

Today we are continuing our Advent series of sermons on ‘Is Your God too Safe?

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 Following on from Michelle’s sermon last week – ‘How Dangerous is God’s Love?’ our topic today is ‘Are we Too Comfortable?’

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If we go back to the days of the Wild West, we find all the fabled stories of cowboys who were all really good horse riders – very comfortable in their saddles and skilled in controlling their horses. We also find that there was a practice of sometimes placing a burr (which is a very prickly seed) under the saddle blanket on the horse and when the rider mounted the horse and sat down on his comfortable saddle the horse objected and could really jerk the rider out of his comfort zone.

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In a roundabout way this brings us to the theme of today’s sermon – ‘are we too comfortable in our relationship with our God?’ or do we perhaps need a burr under our saddles? Do we really take time to listen to what God may be saying to us in terms of what He would like us to do...?

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To take a somewhat extreme example from Scripture we have the story of Jonah and the whale – Jonah was a Hebrew prophet from the 8th century BC and he was probably pretty happy with his lot – one could almost say that he was comfortable with his religion and with God.

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Just East of Israel was Assyria and, as we know, the Assyrians were a really ruthless, violent tribe – to quote Lord Byron –‘ they came down like a wolf on the fold’ as they attacked people. They were extremely cruel to their enemies. Their capital city was Nineveh – the epicentre of their evil.

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Imagine how Jonah felt when... ‘The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.’

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 This was a bad place. Many of Jonah's countrymen had experienced the atrocities of these ungodly people.

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 It was also a long and gruelling journey to get there. So what does he do? He flees...not from the task but from God.

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‘But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish’ in Spain – as far away as he could go.

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He was not so worried about how to accomplish the task – if that was the case he would have been in good company: Moses, Naomi, Samuel Hosea, Jeremiah, Habakkuk, Jesus – all of whom were asked by God to do things they’d rather not do – but each of their disagreements with God was an expression of their intimacy with Him and they obeyed.

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Jonah wasn’t part of this group – he was in the company of the God evaders – starting with Adam and Eve and followed by Cain, the Herods, the prodigal son ...and continuing up to the present day.

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Every day people still use religion and irreligion and whatever excuse they can think of to avoid an encounter with the living God.

Jonah was part of this group....

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To quote from Mark Buchanan’s book ‘Is Your God too Safe?’

‘He runs away from the Lord. Of course, he doesn’t get far. That story is well known: a wild storm, a near drowning, a big fish, a desperate prayer, a spewing up, a starting from the beginning. Jonah lands rump up and rumpled, reeking, on a beach somewhere, glazed with fish bile, marinated in whale innards.’

One might say that that was a whale of a burr under his saddle!

‘Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time ‘Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.’ ‘Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned’.

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So, this time, he obeys the Lord, he travels to Nineveh and proclaims the message of impending doom...perhaps hoping that the hated Assyrians will not obey and that Nineveh will be destroyed.

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But judgement doesn’t come, not suddenly, not belatedly, not at all.

For God had embedded a promise in his message of doom – the Hebrew word he gave to Jonah for ‘overturned’ was ‘haphak’ – which has a subtle ambiguity as it can also mean ‘turned around’ or ‘transformed’.

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Mercy falls – the Ninevites have believed the message from God, they turn and they repent. God relents. Jonah is not happy with this outcome but, by listening to God he has, in effect, saved the lives of more than 120 000 people...but he is still angry...

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This story tells us a number of things about Nineveh: it’s great, it’s wicked. The city is very important and it has essentially lost any moral direction. In the modern world, perhaps to a lesser degree, this could be true of many cities including Johannesburg...

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God doesn’t act towards the people of Nineveh according to their wickedness. God has compassion on their moral cluelessness. He sees their importance and he seeks to salvage their greatness and redeem their wickedness. Mercy triumphs over judgement, grace overwhelms vengeance, love trumps fear and evil is overcome by good – and God.

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‘But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry and bitter – this was not what he wanted or expected – he wanted the Assyrians destroyed! After all his trials and tribulations to deliver the warning he wanted to see them punished!

...but God had a different agenda and he comes with healing...

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In a huff Jonah went out of the city, sat down and waited to see what would happen. The Lord God provided a vine to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort from the sun. ‘and Jonah was very happy about the vine. But then God caused the vine to wither and provided a scorching wind and blazing sun.

Jonah wanted to die and said ‘It would be better for me to die than to live.’

‘but the Lord replied, ‘Have you any right to be angry about the vine?’ You had nothing to do with it. ‘Should I not be concerned about that great city?’

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We don’t know what happened after this exchange but there is a similarity in the reaction of the older son to the celebration on the return of the prodigal son...’the older brother became angry and refused to go in...’

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So we have two angry sons, both embittered towards their father’s mercy, both pre-occupied with what they have or don’t have, both resenting their father’s careless, boundless affection for I quote from the book ‘riffraff and bad boys and whatever else the cat dragged in’.

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As with the case of Jonah we don’t know what happened next – did the older son relent?

The final detail is probably left out so that we can think about it and perhaps reflect on what would we do in each situation?

If God is begging us to join his extravagant initiative of mercy towards a broken world with all its wasteful sons and clueless cities – will we say yes or no?

A thought that possibly crosses our minds at this juncture is: ‘That’s all well and good but what can I, little me, possibly do? There are all these wonderful biblical stories setting great examples but we are talking about now, to-day in Parkhurst, Johannesburg.

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Perhaps we should take time during Advent to just relax and listen to what God may be trying to say to us and what he might like us to do – and to do this with an open mind without trying to ring fence our options – we may just get a totally off the wall thought/suggestion about where we could join God’s initiative and move out of our comfort zones...perhaps to step out in faith knowing that the Lord will support us in anything we do...

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By way of a small illustration of how possibilities eventuate, here is a short testimony part of which some of you may have heard but which seems to fit into the theme of ‘is our God too safe?’ It’s about how taking that first step can lead to other opportunities to serve our God...it’s a testimony which I was somewhat reluctant to include but it just seemed to be pretty relevant...

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Quite a few years back Romy and I were St Martin’s parishioners – and we could probably have been described as comfortable Christians.

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At that time there was a youth outreach ministry called Happening in which a team of young people ran a residential ‘Encounter’ type weekend for around twenty or so other young people. Three sets of adult ‘parents’ were also there in a supervisory role. We had heard about this as we had young daughters.

One day, out of the blue, we had a phone call asking us to be ‘parents’ on a week-end. This was absolutely not ‘us’ so we ducked the challenge.

Some months later – another phone call with the same request – same answer – we ducked!

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But the Lord is persistent! Some months later – another phone call! This time we reluctantly agreed and we did step out in faith...because we were going into the great unknown...!

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In the build up to the week-end we got to know some wonderful young people – the ‘staff’ of the Happening weekend for which we were now committed. The week-end itself was an experience of note – we talk about seeing the Holy Spirit at work changing lives – this was it in reality. To see how many of these young people changed over the course of just a couple of days changed us.

We did more week-ends as parents, we became ‘Head Parents’ and ended up on the main organizing committee = it was a wonderful and rewarding experience.

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Then Alpha arrived on the scene – we weren’t involved in the first course – it was just something that was taking place - but then, unexpectedly, together with two other couples, we were asked to take over the running of Alpha at St Martin’s. That was a real challenge for all of us – but we all took the decision to step out in faith and the Lord supported us in the most amazing ways to keep Alpha up and running successfully...

...and that is something to emphasize again – whenever we step out in faith, step out of our comfort zones to do the Lord’s work he will support us every step of the way.

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For example, years ago, I would never, in my wildest dreams have imagined that I would be standing here doing what I am doing...’

We must remember that ‘The will of God will never take us to where the grace of God cannot sustain us...’

...and as we approach the Christmas season perhaps we can be Angels of mercy shining light into the darkness of even just one person’s life – random acts of kindness...?

Its worth asking ourselves again – Is our God too safe and are we too comfortable – or, do we need a burr under our saddles?

Amen

Roger Lee

SERMON SEPTEMBER 10, 2017: MONTH OF CREATION

As we continue our sermon series on Creation the focus today is on the Wonder …

Sir Isaac Newton had a perfectly scaled down replica of the then known solar system built for his studies. A large golden ball represented the sun at the centre, and the known planets revolved around it through a series of cogs, belts, and rods. It was an incredible machine. One day while Newton was studying his model, an agnostic friend stopped by for a visit. The man marvelled at the machinery and asked, "Who made this exquisite thing?" Without looking up, Newton replied, "Nobody." "Nobody?" his friend asked. "That's right," said Newton, "all of these balls and cogs and belts and gears just happened to come together, and wonder of wonders, by chance they began revolving in their set orbits with perfect timing."

Can we actually imagine ‘Nothing’?

No Earth, no Universe just an unimaginable ‘Nothing’. The nothing that existed before the Creation. As described in the second verse of Genesis: ‘…now the Earth was formless and empty’..

…it didn’t exist…and then, to paraphrase Bill Bryson’s book – A Short History of Nearly Everything,

‘In a single, blinding pulse, a moment of glory much too swift and expansive for any form of words – from nothing our universe begins – it is a place of the most wondrous and gratifying possibilities and beautiful too.’

In the six ‘days’ described in Genesis from the absolute of nothing there was the creation of the wonder of our universe… 

‘…God saw all that He had made, and it was very good…’

To quote from Psalm 33

‘By the word of the Lord the heavens were made,

their starry host by the breath of his mouth.’

So, from nothing, we get to the wonder described in Psalm 19 … 

‘The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world…’

The wonder of all this, God’s creation, declares His glory. God has always been glorious. But when God created the heavens and the earth, there was, amazingly, a whole new way of seeing and declaring the eternal glory of God.

Although all of creation declares God’s glory, in Psalm 19 David focuses on the heavens, because the heavens are the most universally visible of all God’s works. David describes the skies as “the work of God’s hands.”

When we speak about creation, it is not just anyone’s creation. It is God’s creation. It is the work of His hands. Just as you can always see something of the artist in their creative works, so you can see something of God in all His creative works. The heavens acclaim and praise God through their beauty, through their complexity, through their incredible balance and order, even through their sheer size.

They also help to increase the knowledge of God in man. Look at verse two of Psalm 19: “Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.”

But in these verses David says even more. Not only is there a revelation of God in creation, but God’s testimony to himself in creation is unmistakable. First of all, it is a continuous testimony. We can see some of this in the tenses of the verbs David uses in verse one. We really miss it in our English translations, but in the original Hebrew they are all participles, expressing continuous action: “The heavens are declaring the glory of God; the skies are proclaiming the work of his hands.” In other words, this is something they are doing unceasingly.

Look also at how he describes this testimony in verse two. He says this testimony takes place “day after day, night after night.” Whether the sun is shining by day or the moon and the stars by night, whether we are enjoying a beautiful, calm, peaceful day or we are in the middle of a powerful thunderstorm, there is never any time of day or night when God’s creation is not declaring his glory. It is a continuous testimony.

Not only that, it is also an abundant testimony. It would be one thing if this revelation of God was happening all the time, but as just a small trickle of testimony to God’s glory. But look at the lavish words David uses to describe this testimony. He says, “The skies pour forth speech.” This word translated as “pour forth” is a word that means “to bubble up and overflow,” literally “to gush forth” in an uncontrolled and uncontrollable manner. God was not stingy in creation. God has created colours and sounds and variety and wonders everywhere we look…

All things bright and beautiful,

All creatures great and small,

All things wise and wonderful:

The Lord God made them all.

Whether we look deep into the heavens with a telescope or deep into the inner workings of the cell of a plant with a microscope, whether we look up, down or all around, God’s fingerprints are all over what we see. God has provided an abundant testimony to himself and the wonder of His Creation.

Paul says in his letter to the Romans:

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

God may be invisible to our eyes, but the creation does reveal some of God’s qualities to us. The size and complexity of creation, especially as seen in the heavens containing the sun, the planets, the moon and the stars, show us God’s eternal power. The beauty and order and design of creation show us God’s divine nature.

Just to take one example – the basic unit of construction in a honeycomb is the hexagon which enables the best use of space with the least amount of material used in construction. This is important as a gram of wax needs up to 8 grams of honey to be produced. A wonderful creation.

There is so much we can learn about God from just observing the intricate wonder of his creation… and so it is important that we spend time with God in his creation: watching the sun rise or set and the seasons turn, staring up in awe at the stars in the heavens, walking in nature away from the hustle and bustle of human activity, resting in the fields and the streams, delighting in God’s plants, flowers, animals and creatures. All of these things teach us more about God and draw us to praise and to worship him in deeper and better ways.

…and in the midst of all this wonder…from

Psalm 8:

When I consider your heavens,

the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars,

which you have set in place,

What is mankind that you are mindful of them…

human beings that you care for them?

From Genesis:

‘The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.’

– the Creation of Man…in God’s image…

From Psalm 139:

‘For you created my inmost being;

you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

your works are wonderful…”

God, in his love for us has made man a special creation…a creature to whom God can speak and who can respond to God. Human dignity is based on this likeness to God.

Think about our bodies – how wonderfully they are made – do we just accept everything they can do or do we stop every now and then and thank God for what he has created in us?

Reading a magazine – differentiating one page thickness from two pages – fine motor control etc etc - the wonder of all our senses – smell, touch, sight, hearing, taste…

Our bodies are an intrinsic part of the wonder of creation.

…and as we ponder on the wonderful miracle of Creation we need to reflect on the role of Jesus…

It's not hard to picture Jesus as we've seen him in countless Bible studies, church Easter plays, and in several motion pictures. It's even possible for us to picture Jesus as our resurrected Lord, and our glorified Saviour in heaven. But as we "fix our eyes upon Jesus," what of the prelude to it all? What about the Jesus of the very beginning? What about the Jesus who was intimately involved in the very creative process of all things? Have we thought recently how all of Creation bears witness to Jesus?

‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.’

Recall the words at the beginning of John’s Gospel about the Word of God,

‘What has come into being in him was life and the life was the light of all people.’ and Jesus words, ‘I am come that you might have life, and have it abundantly.’ ‘I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’ ‘I am the resurrection and the life.’

The more we focus on Jesus, the more there is to see, and the more we realize we'll never see it all and that applies to the wonder of Creation.

…and don’t forget us in terms of creation…as Paul says in his second letter to the Corinthians:

‘Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone; the new has come.’

God, in His love for us, sent His Son to give mankind a fresh start…

From our gospel reading today :

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind,

to set the oppressed free,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

“Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”

Christian songwriter Graham Kendrick commented when writing his popular song The Servant King (From Heaven you came) which was written to reflect the theme for the 1984 Spring Harvest Bible teaching event:

'It was a challenge to explore the vision of Christ as the servant who would wash the disciples' feet but who was also the Creator of the universe.'

The song starts from an incarnational root - 'From heav'n you came, helpless babe' - and progresses to one of Graham's most poignant lines: 'Hands that flung stars into space to cruel nails surrendered'. What an image for us to think about.

…and as we consider the amazing wonder of all creation we should not forget the emphasis on the importance of Humankind….

Pope Francis reflected that:

Saint Irenaeus of Lyons in the second century [taught] that the glory of God is seen in a living human being. Let the light of that glory shine so brightly that everyone may come to recognize the inestimable value of all human life. Even the weakest and most vulnerable, the sick, the old, the unborn and the poor, are masterpieces of God’s creation, made in his own image, destined to live forever, and deserving of the utmost reverence and respect.

Amen

Roger Lee, 10 September 2017

SERMON SUNDAY 19 AUGUST 2017 - MONTH OF COMPASSION

THE MONTH OF COMPASSION

God of the foreigner and the outcast, no one is excluded from your embrace: inspire us so to love the world, that all will live in the dignity and security of belonging in God’s family; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Genesis 45:1-15

45 Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, ‘Send everyone away from me.’ So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. 3 Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?’ But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence.

4 Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Come closer to me.’ And they came closer. He said, ‘I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which there will be neither ploughing nor harvest. 7 God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. 9 Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, “Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. 10 You shall settle in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, as well as your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. 11 I will provide for you there—since there are five more years of famine to come—so that you and your household, and all that you have, will not come to poverty.” 12 And now your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my own mouth that speaks to you. 13 You must tell my father how greatly I am honoured in Egypt, and all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.’ 14 Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, while Benjamin wept upon his neck. 15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him.

Psalm 133

Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32

Paul writes: 11 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew… 29 for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30 Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy. 32 For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.

Matthew 15: 21-28

21 Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, ‘Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.’ 23 But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, ‘Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.’ 24 He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’ 26 He answered, ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ 27 She said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.’ 28 Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed instantly.

May I speak….

Our theme for August is compassion, and God has gifted us an interesting gospel passage!

The passage begins with Jesus withdrawing far up the coast, to the region of Tyre and Sidon. Why? Jesus must have been specifically going to this Canaanite area, to meet this Canaanite woman – this was surely not a chance meeting!

When Jesus reaches the district of Tyre and Sidon, a Canaanite woman comes out and starts shouting, ‘Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.’ 

Jesus’ response is interesting – initially, he doesn’t answer her ... 

And his disciples urge Jesus to ‘Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.’

Jesus finally answers her, saying ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’

I love her response - she comes and kneels before him, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’ and then ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table’ after Jesus says ‘It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’

After challenging her in this way, Jesus responds compassionately, saying ‘Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter is healed instantly.

Interestingly, the text gives the impression that Jesus was not willing to answer her request because she was a Canaanite - there is obviously something powerful at work in the ethnic dimension of the conversation.

What is clear is that the woman was not going to give up, she kept pleading, so that Jesus recognizes her great faith. 

The contrast is truly striking: in Israel, Jesus was trying to convince people He was the Messiah, and He was being challenged to prove it with a sign. But here in Gentile territory, He meets a woman convinced He is the Messiah and He could not discourage her efforts.

His apparent attempt to put her off is surely a test, and her great faith must have been gratifying to Jesus.

To understand the imagery of “dogs” used in the conversation, one needs to research the ethnic controversy and the Hebraic Scripture’s background of conflict between the kings of Israel and the Canaanites.

But that is not the core message – this passage is really about the persistent faith of this Canaanite woman.

In the Gospel of Mark [7:24-30], we are told Jesus came to the region and entered into a house and did not want anyone to know it. The woman heard about it and came looking for him. Mark explains that she was Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. This would be typical of the northern country, for it was ruled by Greeks for the period immediately before the time of Jesus. People in the region would be of mixed nationalities.

Mark does not include the disciples’ suggestion to send her away, or Jesus’ statement that he was only sent to the lost sheep of Israel. Scholars have suggested that that statement was added later to Matthew, as guidance to Matthew’s Jewish church in its relation to Gentiles, but that makes no sense. Besides, we do not know much of Matthew’s church. The story is better interpreted as part of the development of redemptive history, moving from the late OT concepts to the full Christian idea of Gentiles and Jews in the kingdom.

The Gospel of Matthew had already included such a statement in Matthew 10:6, and Matthew’s Jewish audience would have been interested to know that Jesus did a miracle for a Canaanite woman, in Gentile land.

Mark was writing to a different audience than Matthew, a Gentile audience, and that statement would need a lot of explanation to them. Jesus had healed Gentiles before, but always in Jewish territory.

Tyre and Sidon were the two main Phoenician cities just north of Mount Carmel on the coast. In the Hebraic Scripture times, this was all the region of the Phoenicians, better known as Canaanite tribes.

The Canaanite empire provided a formidable military challenge for Joshua and then the Judges. The Canaanites were (from the Hebrew perspective), thoroughly pagan and corrupt and a strong threat to the Israelite’s religion. So there is a long history of spiritual and military conflict between the Israelites and the Canaanites.

But why did Jesus go to the region? He withdrew from the conflict with the Pharisees and elders as He was trying to control the timing of things –

He did not want people to make Him king, and He did not want the confrontation with His enemies to come to a head too soon. So He withdrew frequently, or told people not to say anything about His miracles. It appears that Jesus withdrew for a time, both to let the conflict settle a bit, and to turn attention to Gentiles. The timing is most significant--the Jewish leaders were rejecting Him, and the Gentile woman who hardly knew Him was seeking mercy.

The point of the Conversation, surely, is Jesus drawing the declaration of faith out of the Canaanite woman.

The way that Jesus deals with this woman has been given some very strange interpretations. One scholar suggested that Jesus had been a racist and this woman converted him from that narrow view. That is just silly. If He had been a Jewish racist, He would not have come to Tyre and Sidon.

No, what Jesus is doing is typical of the way He dealt with people--He would put stumbling-blocks, as it were, in their way to see if they had faith to step over them.

For example, when someone called Him “good,” He said, “Why are you calling me good, there is no one good but God.” How they responded to that would show what they thought of Him (He was not denying that He was good, or God).

The woman came crying out to Jesus, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession.” Her words are significant, given Matthew’s description of her as a Canaanite.

She is well aware of the ancient rivalry between the Jews and the Canaanites. She believes He is the promised Messiah; but if that is true, then He is to her a Jewish king, “Son of David.” As such, He is sovereign over her and her land, and all she can do is cry for mercy. Her words open the old wounds. But she was desperate for her daughter, and so would cry out for mercy from the visiting Jewish king.

It is the setting and her words that prompt the disciples, and then Jesus, to respond the way they do.

At first Jesus was silent, no doubt to see if she would persevere--and she did, following Him down the street crying out. 

The disciples said “Send her away.”

Now this could mean a couple of different things. 

They could mean, “Send her away because she is a nuisance”, or they could mean, “Send her away by healing her because she won’t go away.”

The second interpretation makes more sense, because Jesus’ answer speaks to it. In other words, Jesus saying “I am only sent to the lost sheep of Israel” would explain why he was not healing her.

Jesus’ answer focuses on His primary mission in the world, as reflected by Matthew. Jesus is the promised Jewish Messiah who came to His own, but when His own reject Him, He turns to the Gentiles.

Jesus’ own mission was primarily to Israel; the mission of the Gentiles will be to go into all the world. But events like this show the disciples that Jesus intention is the salvation of all.

Surely the primary point of this passage is that Jesus wants the disciples, and the woman to fully understand the role of the Son of David, the Messiah, was bigger and more inclusive than their understanding that the Hebraic Scriptures’ exclude Gentiles (like the Canaanite woman) from the covenant made with the Jews. 

As I’m sure Jesus expected, this woman would not be put off, and she knelt before Him and begged, “Lord, help me.” Jesus challenged her a little further, reminding her of the historic distinction between the cursed Canaanites and the blessed Israelites. In the short saying, the Jews are the “children” and the Gentiles are the “dogs.” The children get fed first.

But the woman’s answer is marvellous: even the “dogs” eat the crumbs that the children drop. She accepts the role of a “dog” in relation to Israel (she knows the Messiah came to Israel first); acknowledging that she may not deserve to sit down at the Messiah’s table and eat with the “children,” but that she should be allowed to pick up some of the crumbs they drop. She wants some of the uncovenanted mercy of God, God’s general saving grace to all.

The word for dogs here refers to small dogs, perhaps children’s pets who are harmless and somewhat helpless. She accepts Israel’s historical privilege over the Gentiles, especially the powerful Canaanites; but she is no threat to that in her request for the grace to be freely given to the Gentiles. 

She is saying she will take what the Jews do not want. 

And that attitude played out again and again in Paul’s missionary journey when he turned to Gentiles because while many Jews did not want their Messiah, many Gentiles did.

The Conclusion of our passage describes Jesus rewarding her faith by healing her daughter.

Jesus honours the faith that seeks mercy. She had no resentment, no anger about her situation; she only knew that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah who came to heal people, and for some reason He was in her town. She sought mercy from Him.

And Jesus now responds with emotion (“O woman” has emotional force). Her faith was rewarded. And she became one of the early Gentiles to enter the kingdom.

The basic theme of the passage is that Christ went into Gentile territory and performed this miracle for a Gentile woman who had greater faith than those Jews who were rejecting and challenging Jesus’ claims. This demonstrates Jesus’ teaching of the first being the last, and the last being the first.

This passage also demonstrates the compassion and grace of our God, which is freely given to those who seek, whether (from the human perspective) they ‘deserve’ compassion and grace or not.

This passage is also about the faith of people who are in need, and about the coming advance of the kingdom to the Gentiles who will be sent into all the world.

So Jesus is not playing cruel, racist games with the woman - He did not go all the way to her region to avoid her, but to heal her and to make it clear that the compassion and grace of God will be given to all who ask, even though His mission called for Him to present Himself to Israel as the Son of David.

Jesus wanted to heal her daughter (He came all the way to her region to do exactly this), but He also wanted her to express her faith in spite of whatever racial tensions there were. And since she knew that He was the Lord, the Messiah, she asked for mercy, and, filled with compassion, He healed her daughter. Jesus extends compassion and mercy to all who ask it of Him.

And so the instruction is for us as well, that we too take the message of God’s compassion and mercy to the world, one person and one creature at a time, as we freely extend the compassion and mercy we have freely received. Amen!

Rev Gavin Smith

AUGUST, MONTH OF COMPASSION: SUICIDE

SUICIDE

Introduction from the pulpit inscription out of nails and wood lectern is made and Jesus the carpenter by trade displayed an attitude of prayer. So let all that preach or read be aware of his outstretched hand as here they stand.

May be last week’s sermon by Gavin about healing and forgiveness and the beginning of August our month of compassion gives me permission to day to talk about suicide – a sermon which I have held here on a Friday in March and which has been weighing on me ever since.

In Mathew’s gospel ch5 vs 21 the opening line is “You have heard that people were told in the past – do not commit murder, anyone who does will be brought to trial”.

Another word for suicide is “murder of oneself” and in our Psalm no 130 “A prayer for Help” we heard “From the depth of my despair I call to You Lord. Hear my cry O Lord: Listen to my call for help”. And that anguish reminds me of a suicidal person.

Research in Christian teaching seems to have come to the conclusion that people who commit suicide are invariably “detached from God and oblivious in their darkness of the consequences their irreversible action will have. – And maybe our perception of the sinfulness of suicide is, that we see it as a “final act which cannot be repented”.

I guess my father’s suicide nearly 33 years ago has influenced my life in many ways – initially it increased my already steady alcohol consumption which in later years spiraled out of control: Don’t get me wrong I am not playing the “blaming game” here, I did the drinking and we all do have a choice!

Some five years later I had moved to Cape Town to further a relationship which lasted less than six months and after I had returned to Johannesburg Graham “died of an accidental overdose of pills” as his parents put it – an unlikely cause of death of a qualified pharmacist you would think?!! More fuel for my alcohol addiction, more pain I desperately tried to dull with it.

Only years into my sobriety I started to learn through my spiritual growth to deal with the picture of suicide a little. The initial stumbling block was the denial of the fact that my Dad had ended his own life. Which subsequently robbed us of the opportunity to grief – my mother having sent out the obituary the day after the funeral. So instead of being able to loose myself in the crowd of mourners represented by business associates and friends- I had to be strong in the small circle of family and relatives – for my Mom’s sake. I only broke down briefly at the open grave and carried on embalming the unshed tears and unexpressed sorrow with mounting amounts of alcohol.

Let me pause here to illustrate that denial in quoting a poem by Terry Kettering “The Elephant in the Room”:

There is an elephant in the room, it is large and squatting, so it is hardtop get around it. Yet we squeeze by with “How are You?” and “I am fine” …. And a thousand other forms of trivial chatter. We talk of the weather. We talk about work. We talk about everything else – except the elephant in the room. We all know it is there. We are thinking about the elephant as we talk. It is constantly on our minds, for you see, it is a very big elephant. But we do not talk about the elephant in the room. Oh, please – say his name ? Oh, please say “Gotfried” again? Oh, please let’s talk about the elephant in the room? For if we talk about his death, perhaps we can talk about his life. Can I say “Gotfried” and not have you look away? For if I cannot, you are leaving me ALONE . . . IN A ROOM . . . WITH AN ELEPHANT.

More recently the current “Fashion of Teenage Suicide” – or the attempt thereof – has hit close to home with Ernest’ daughter Amore being one of these troubled youth. How do the two of us know that these seemingly only attention seeking acts of self mutilation and self destruction will not find their tragic goal one day?? Has God equipped me with the necessary tools, knowledge and understanding of this particular form of death??

If one googles “Suicide in the Bible” there are few references and even less Solace to find: Seven suicides in the whole bible, the most prominent being Judas after having betrayed Jesus – as portrayed also in and hanged himself.” – And Hey, I can see some of us Christians actually standing there and silently applauding!

Life is a God give privilege – what God gives, Man is not supposed to take away. Do people whom commit suicide then go to hell?? – The Bible is also silent on that issue – God probably did not address it in black and white for a very good reason: If we knew that we still would go to Heaven is ‘nt it likely that a lot more suicides would happen?!!

While I still grownup in my native – and Catholic – Austria, a female Cousin of my father, who like him suffered from depression, threw herself in front of an oncoming train. And had to be buried outside the walls of the Sacred Grounds of the local Cemetery – the Church then opposing suicide as a major sin.
Over the later years I was fortunate to find an excellent Psychologist who was able to help me accessing the pain I had buried so deeply – it still did not make it go away and I had to learn to forgive my Dad but also needed to come to terms, how God has actually forgiven him this, in my eyes and upbringing, unforgivable sin.

In my, so to speak, “non religious” Google research I found some interesting and some disturbing quotes – let me share some of them with you:

Tifanie de Bartolo writes in 2011 under the heading “How to kill a Rockstar” --- “Did you really want to die? No one commits suicide because they want to die, then WHY do they do it? BECAUSE they want to stop the pain.”

In one of our recent meetings in my rehab group when the conversation touched the subject of teenage suicide one of my fellow alcoholics quoted wisely: “ Suicide does not stop the pain, it only transfers it”.

Another more humorous quote I found is by Dorothy Parker under the title “Enough Rope”: Razors pain you, Rivers are damp. Acids stain you and drugs cause cramp. Guns are nt lawful and nooses might give. Gas smells awful, you might as well live.

At one particular website which addresses potential suicide candidates, draws you into reading an about five minute long “manual” which is trying to talk you out of your intention. And there one particular statement got my attention: “Suicide is not chosen, it happens when pain exceeds resources for coping with pain.” -- Then the “advice” follows: Find a way to reduce your pain OR find a way to increase your coping resources.

As logic and rational this “recipe” might be, I just cannot stop wondering if a person in that dark apace, where all the doors and windows are tightly shut, will actually be in the position to read any of the above? And if he or she DO will they eventually act on it??

Looking back in to our Old Testament reading from the book of Ezekiel Ch18 from Vs21 I can extract some hope for us – “If an evil man stops sinning and keeps my laws, if he does what is right and good, he will NOT die, he will certainly live. All his sins will be forgiven and he will because he did what is right. Do you think I enjoy seeing an evil man die asks the Souvereign Lord. No I would rather see him repent and live.”

Is suicide a cowardly or a courageous act many people seem to ask and I am afraid I cannot answer you on that. For me only Forgiveness can move us forward – out of that black hole of emptiness and unanswered questions.

As Paul puts it so expressedly in his letter to the Ephesians ch4 in the last two verses: “Get rid of all the bitterness, passion and anger. No more shouting or insult. No more hateful feelings of any sort. Instead be kind and tender hearted to one another and forgive one another as God has forgiven YOU through Christ.”

BECAUSE only Forgiveness can free us from that seemingly unbearable burden caused by the act of “Murder of One Self”.

AMEN

Michael Nuechtern, 6 August 2017