May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
How do we measure God’s love?
Well, how do we measure other things?
We could try a measuring cup. What is the volume of God’s love? Believe it or not, there is a psalm which talks about that very thing. It’s a psalm that I’m sure you’ve all heard before and might even be able to recite.
Listen and see if you can catch where it talks about the volume of God’s love. You might recognize psalm 23.
Psalm 23 NRSVNRSV
The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name's sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff-- they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD my whole life long.
Did you catch it?
My cup overflows!
No matter how large a cup we use to try and measure God’s love, it will run over.
So let’s try something else. Maybe we can use a measuring tape? What do you think? Can we measure how long or how wide or how high God’s love is?
Oddly enough, there’s a psalm about this too. This one is psalm 108.
Psalm 108
My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make melody. Awake, my soul! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn. I will give thanks to you, O LORD, among the peoples, and I will sing praises to you among the nations. For your steadfast love is higher than the heavens, and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let your glory be over all the earth. Give victory with your right hand, and answer me, so that those whom you love may be rescued. God has promised in his sanctuary: "With exultation I will divide up Shechem, and portion out the Vale of Succoth. Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine; Ephraim is my helmet; Judah is my scepter. Moab is my washbasin; on Edom I hurl my shoe; over Philistia I shout in triumph." Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom? Have you not rejected us, O God? You do not go out, O God, with our armies. O grant us help against the foe, for human help is worthless. With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes.
Did you get it this time? “For your steadfast love is higher than the heavens, and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.” We would need quite the tape measure to reach that high, and even then, we wouldn’t have one long enough to measure God’s love.
One more try. Maybe we can measure God’s love using time. We can measure time using a watch or a stopwatch. We can measure how long it takes to drive from here to Sydney. We can measure how long we sit at the table for supper. Someone might even be timing how long I stand up here preaching. So can we use a watch to measure God’s love?
Do you think we have a psalm for this? -- We do! It’s psalm 103. I’m not going to read the whole thing because it is fairly long; just the verse about measuring God’s love.
Psalm 103:17
But the steadfast love of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children.
You got that one? Good. It’s pretty hard to measure even one everlasting on a watch, let alone two.
So if we can’t measure God’s love in a measuring cup, or with a measuring tape, or even with a watch, how can we measure it?
John 3:16 NRSV
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
Is that a love you can measure?
I don’t think so. But we can experience it. We can feel that love every day. And when we feel God’s love for us, we can share it with others and it will never run out. We will be so full of love that it overflows from us. It reaches far beyond us. It has always been with us and will always be with us.
I’m going to leave you with one more verse about God’s love. This one is from Ephesians.
Ephesians 3:18-19 NRSV
I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Amen.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Is God in the earthquake?
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, hurricanes, cyclones, tornados, draughts – all of these are called acts of God.
What does this mean? How are they acts of God?
Where is God in any of these?
1 Kings 19:9-13 (NRSV)
At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" He answered, "I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away." He said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by." Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"
Is the earthquake the act of God?
We are tempted to look at it this way. Just as Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, in times of trouble we enter our own wilderness. We are tempted to look for a reason that God is punishing us or why God is punishing them. We are tempted to blame and judge, even if it means judging ourselves.
Where is God in the earthquake? Where is God in the tsunami?
Elijah went into a cave and God asked him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
If Elijah had done what God told him to, he might have seen God. God is not in the earthquake. God is in the people who help others after the earthquake. God is in the survivors, gathering together and working together to find others. God is with those who are in pain, with those who mourn. They are never alone.
Where is God in the earthquake?
God is in us as we respond to help. God is in us as we send financial support through our church and in other ways. God is in us as we support our government’s efforts to help. God is in us as we pray for those directly affected.
Let us pray,
O loving Creator, bring healing and hope to those who, at this time, grieve, suffer pain, or who have been affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
We remember those who have died and we pray for those who mourn for them.
We pray for those who have been affected as the tsunami spread across the Pacific.
May we all be aware of Your compassion, O God, which calms our troubled hearts and shelters our anxious souls.
May we pray with humility with our troubled and struggling brothers and sisters on earth.
May we dare to hope that through the generosity of the privileged, the destitute might glimpse hope, warmth and life again.
Through our Saviour Christ who lives with us, comforts us and soothes us.
Amen.
We remember those who have died and we pray for those who mourn for them.
We pray for those who have been affected as the tsunami spread across the Pacific.
May we all be aware of Your compassion, O God, which calms our troubled hearts and shelters our anxious souls.
May we pray with humility with our troubled and struggling brothers and sisters on earth.
May we dare to hope that through the generosity of the privileged, the destitute might glimpse hope, warmth and life again.
Through our Saviour Christ who lives with us, comforts us and soothes us.
Amen.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Who is Jesus anyway? Or is that the right question.
I speak to you in the name of the one true and living God. Amen.
Have any of you ever heard of the “Jesus Seminar”?
Well, the Jesus Seminar is a group of Biblical scholars who try to identify the historical Jesus. That is, they read through as many sources of the Bible as they can, and try to figure out what was actually said by Jesus, what was said about Jesus, what was said about what Jesus said, and what has nothing to do with Jesus at all. They search for who Jesus was.
When I first looked at our gospel reading today, it reminded me of the Jesus Seminar.
Who was Jesus?
Was he like Moses? Did he bring us the new law?
No, the only law Jesus brought us was the great commandment, and that wasn’t new. Jesus just talked about how the great commandment sums up the rest of the law. If we follow the great commandment, we are living the Truth which lies behind all of the Torah – God’s Law.
Well, if he was not like Moses, then was he like Elijah? Was he the new prophet?
No, Jesus did not tell people what was in their future. He did tell people what was in his own future, but this is not how the prophets operated. Jesus did point out what was wrong in his society, like the prophets, but he did not pronounce impending doom for God’s people. Instead he said that he was there to save God’s people. If he had been a prophet, he might have told them how they could save themselves.
Not Jesus.
Okay, if Jesus was not the bringer of the new Law and Jesus was not the new Prophet, who was Jesus?
Well, here is a summary (from Wikipedia) of what the Jesus Seminar says about Jesus.
The seminar's reconstruction of the historical Jesus portrays him as an itinerant Hellenistic Jewish sage and faith healer who preached a gospel of liberation from injustice in startling parables and aphorisms. An iconoclast, Jesus broke with established Jewish theological dogmas and social conventions both in his teachings and behaviours, often by turning common-sense ideas upside down, confounding the expectations of his audience: He preached of "Heaven's imperial rule" (traditionally translated as "Kingdom of God") as being already present but unseen; he depicts God as a loving father; he fraternizes with outsiders and criticizes insiders. A mortal man born of two human parents, Jesus did not perform nature miracles, die as a substitute for sinners nor rise bodily from the dead. Sightings of a risen Jesus were nothing more than the visionary experiences of some of his disciples rather than physical encounters. (Wikipedia, 5/3/11)
Did you get all of that?
Jesus was a Jew influenced by the Greeks. Jesus was a teacher and a faith healer. Jesus did not agree with the common Jewish teachings of his time. Jesus was a human being. He was the son of God in the same way that each of us is a child of God. Jesus did not perform miracles. Jesus did not rise from the dead.
Hmmm – that’s very interesting, but it leaves my heart cold. I do not hear God speaking to me through this image of Jesus. I respect both the intelligence and the work of those involved in the Jesus Seminar, but I believe they are asking the wrong question entirely.
They are trying to figure out who Jesus really was. I think there is a much more important question to ask.
Who is Jesus?
Two thousand years ago there was a man who preached a gospel of social justice. He was willing to die for that message. He died for us!
Jesus is very much alive in my life. I feel his presence in my everyday life. I look for his guidance when I’m unsure of what to do. When I do not follow his guidance, I end up sad and unfulfilled.
Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, is only three days away. As we journey through Lent, I ask you to join me as I try to answer this question for myself.
Who is Jesus to me?
Jesus is very much alive.
Thanks be to God.
Have any of you ever heard of the “Jesus Seminar”?
Well, the Jesus Seminar is a group of Biblical scholars who try to identify the historical Jesus. That is, they read through as many sources of the Bible as they can, and try to figure out what was actually said by Jesus, what was said about Jesus, what was said about what Jesus said, and what has nothing to do with Jesus at all. They search for who Jesus was.
When I first looked at our gospel reading today, it reminded me of the Jesus Seminar.
Who was Jesus?
Was he like Moses? Did he bring us the new law?
No, the only law Jesus brought us was the great commandment, and that wasn’t new. Jesus just talked about how the great commandment sums up the rest of the law. If we follow the great commandment, we are living the Truth which lies behind all of the Torah – God’s Law.
Well, if he was not like Moses, then was he like Elijah? Was he the new prophet?
No, Jesus did not tell people what was in their future. He did tell people what was in his own future, but this is not how the prophets operated. Jesus did point out what was wrong in his society, like the prophets, but he did not pronounce impending doom for God’s people. Instead he said that he was there to save God’s people. If he had been a prophet, he might have told them how they could save themselves.
Not Jesus.
Okay, if Jesus was not the bringer of the new Law and Jesus was not the new Prophet, who was Jesus?
Well, here is a summary (from Wikipedia) of what the Jesus Seminar says about Jesus.
The seminar's reconstruction of the historical Jesus portrays him as an itinerant Hellenistic Jewish sage and faith healer who preached a gospel of liberation from injustice in startling parables and aphorisms. An iconoclast, Jesus broke with established Jewish theological dogmas and social conventions both in his teachings and behaviours, often by turning common-sense ideas upside down, confounding the expectations of his audience: He preached of "Heaven's imperial rule" (traditionally translated as "Kingdom of God") as being already present but unseen; he depicts God as a loving father; he fraternizes with outsiders and criticizes insiders. A mortal man born of two human parents, Jesus did not perform nature miracles, die as a substitute for sinners nor rise bodily from the dead. Sightings of a risen Jesus were nothing more than the visionary experiences of some of his disciples rather than physical encounters. (Wikipedia, 5/3/11)
Did you get all of that?
Jesus was a Jew influenced by the Greeks. Jesus was a teacher and a faith healer. Jesus did not agree with the common Jewish teachings of his time. Jesus was a human being. He was the son of God in the same way that each of us is a child of God. Jesus did not perform miracles. Jesus did not rise from the dead.
Hmmm – that’s very interesting, but it leaves my heart cold. I do not hear God speaking to me through this image of Jesus. I respect both the intelligence and the work of those involved in the Jesus Seminar, but I believe they are asking the wrong question entirely.
They are trying to figure out who Jesus really was. I think there is a much more important question to ask.
Who is Jesus?
Two thousand years ago there was a man who preached a gospel of social justice. He was willing to die for that message. He died for us!
Jesus is very much alive in my life. I feel his presence in my everyday life. I look for his guidance when I’m unsure of what to do. When I do not follow his guidance, I end up sad and unfulfilled.
Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, is only three days away. As we journey through Lent, I ask you to join me as I try to answer this question for myself.
Who is Jesus to me?
Jesus is very much alive.
Thanks be to God.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)