Towards the Ascension

John 16:5-6 But now I go my way to Him that sent Me; and none of you asks me, Where are you going? But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow has filled your heart.

Having faced the seeming loss that the arrest and death of Jesus had upon the disciples followed by the wonder and mystery of Christ’s resurrection appearance, the disciples now face another mystery in the seeming loss of Jesus presence once more.

Yet Jesus, prior to his death had already begun to prepare the disciples for such an event.

From this interchange recorded in John’s gospel it would seem that the disciples suffered from that human condition of selective hearing. They focused on their own situation. Hearing Jesus speak of leaving them, they became sad and downcast. They seemed unable to pay attention to what Jesus was saying to them, of receiving his assurance that he would send them his Spirit. So like us, we too often focus on what we are missing and fail to really listen to the voice of God.

How often do we find ourselves in a similar situation where we only half listen to the words of Jesus and focus on an immediate issue but miss the greater truth. An example of this is the  $100,000 error that was caused by a dispatcher who routed a fleet of drivers to deliver building materials to the wrong state. The dispatcher heard the city (Portland), but quit listening before he heard the state (Maine). The result: eight trucks were sent 3,000 miles away to Portland, Oregon. 

I recently read, “To listen is to continually give up all expectation and to give our attention, completely and freshly, to what is before us, not really knowing what we will hear or what that will mean. In the practice of our days, to listen is to lean in, softly, with a willingness to be changed by what we hear.” It took quite a while for that change to be realised by the disciples.

To hear—really hear—amid the noise

to risk being open to another perspective

amid the impacted certainties

to be able to listen to impassioned pleas

while owning the cries that come from our own hearts.

To hear an argument that does not resonate

disagree, if that be our call,

without demeaning the bearer of the words.

Amid the colliding words

injured by the words

injuring with our words:

help us to hear

your Words. Amen

Easter 5

 

Glory to you, O Christ:

by your death you have destroyed death

and by your resurrection you have brought life and immortality to light

Jesus appears to Thomas the Twin 

The one who needed proof 

Risen Lord, though you reveal yourself in the lives others, we long for you to reveal yourself just as truly to us, that we too may share the good news of your living presence.

Alleluia. Christ is risen 

He is risen indeed. Alleluia

1 I am he, I’m the doubter, 

the one wanting proof

Of what they had told me

I need truth foolproof.

2 I can not believe it,

I cannot conceive,

How Jesus of Nazareth

Dead! Oh how I grieve.

3 Until I see clearly 

The marks in his side

Where cruel armed soldiers

Made sure he had died.

4 Unless I can touch him

The scared wounds to press

With my hands; what anger

I feel, nothing less. 

5 “Oh Thomas my peace know,

Come, here is my side

Reach out, come and touch me

Don’t doubt nor truth hide.

6 Believe now through seeing

Bless those who abide

Who haven’t yet seen me

Without sight to guide.”

7 “My Lord and my Master,

My God” I replied

His peace fills my being

All doubts thrown aside.”

Verse and Artwork by Rev'd Paul Collings

Resurrection Strength

James 1:12 Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life.

We have already discussed how waiting can be tedious but it is also true that waiting can be challenging and testing. The supreme test of goodness is not in the greater but in the smaller incidents of our character and practice. Not what we are when standing in the searchlight of public scrutiny, but when we reach the firelight flicker of our homes. Not what we are when some clarion-call rings through the air, summoning us to fight for life and liberty, but our attitude when we are called to wait.

It was John Riskin who said, “I believe the first test of a truly great person is humility. I do not mean by humility, doubt of their own power, or hesitation in speaking their opinion. But really great people have a ... feeling that the greatness is not in them but through them; that they could not do or be anything else than God made them.”

In a similar way, Andrew Murray said, “The humble person feels no jealousy or envy. They can praise God when others are preferred and blessed before them. They can bear to hear others praised while they are forgotten because ... they have received the spirit of Jesus, who pleased not Himself, and who sought not His own honour. Therefore, in putting on the Lord Jesus Christ that person has put on the heart of compassion, kindness, meekness, long-suffering, and humility.” That sort of waiting is indeed challenging and testing.”

Dear Lord and Father, thank you for all those times that you strengthened me when I was under attack and sustained me when I was weary of waiting and ready to quit. Write "perseverance" deep within my soul and give me a spirit of tenacity so that I might serve you no matter what the outward circumstances of my life may be. In the mighty name of Jesus I wait and pray. Amen.

 

Resurrection Strength

Micah 7:7 according to Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase says, “But me, I’m not giving up. I’m sticking around to see what God will do. I’m waiting for God to make things right. I’m counting on God to listen to me.”

The disciple of Jesus is called to wait with a purpose and that purpose is to be entirely attuned to God’s purpose. You never find God asking us to dream up what we want to do for Him. God’s purpose for  our lives is to have the focus of a God-centred life, not one centred on our own plans. So it is important that we seek to see God’s perspective rather than our own distorted human viewpoint.

A man was walking through an art gallery when he came upon a picture of the Lord Jesus dying upon the cross. He stopped and looked at the beautiful portrait of Calvary's love. As he stared into the face of Christ, so full of agony the gallery guard tapped him on the shoulder. "Lower," the guard said. "The artist painted this picture to be appreciated from a lower position.”

So the man bent down. And from this lower position he observed new beauties in the picture not previously shown. "Lower," said the guard. "Lower still." The man knelt down on one knee and looked up into the face of Christ. The new vantage point yielded new beauties to behold and appreciate.

But motioning with his torch toward the ground, the guard said, "Lower. You've got to go lower." The man now dropped down to two knees and looked up. Only then as he looked up at the painting from such a low posture could he realise the artist's intended perspective. Only then could he see the full beauty of the cross.

Waiting and sticking around in the Presence of God to see what he is doing in the Risen Christ will require us to wait on our knees and look up and really see his love upon the cross.

Heavenly Father, I choose to serve You in spirit and truth and to watch and wait expectantly for You. Help me to make the right choices in my life, and thank You that even when I prove faithless, You are faithful and true. Praise Your holy name! Amen 

Resurrection Strength

Psalm 27:14 Don’t be impatient. Wait for the Lord, and he will come and save you! Be brave, stouthearted, and courageous. Yes, wait and he will help you. (the Living Bible Paraphrase)

How brave would you feel as a disciple following the resurrection? Although you had seen the Risen Lord, still in your mind was the trauma of Christ’s arrest and crucifixion. In fact, immediately  following the resurrection we read in John 20:19 “In the evening of that first day of the week, the disciples had met together with the doors locked for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood right in the middle of them and said, “Peace be with you!”

For those first disciples fear was uppermost in their minds into which Jesus shed his peace.

John Ortberg, a christian author has said, “What God does in us while we wait is as important as what we are waiting for”. If we truly understand this, we might be able to wait in peace. God knows what he is doing and he uses the time of waiting for preparing us for what is to come.”

Waiting in peace is possible when we surrender our plan for our lives to God and accept God’s plan and timing for us. We just need to know that God’s will for us is the ultimate good. No matter how long it might take.

Rest in God’s arms while you’re waiting. And know that you’re more than enough. You’re a beautiful child of God. Be filled with hope, faith, and love. Wait in peace and be strong, let your heart take courage.

Gracious God,
Forgive us for being impatient
and trying to manipulate you to give us what we want.
Thank you for loving us even when we try to force you to obey us.
We surrender our will, our dreams, our plans to you.
May only your will happen in our lives, Lord.
Enable us to wait in peace.
Pour our grace upon grace, hope upon hope,
and anything else we need to wait in peace and joy.
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Resurrection Strength

Lamentations 3:25-26 The Lord is wonderfully good to those who wait for him, to those who seek for him. It is good both to hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

Today, our text adds to resurrection waiting as to how we should wait; quietly. What is important is to realise that our God waits with us. In the Old Testament we have the verse that says, “Your God is present among you, a strong Warrior there to save you. Happy to have you back, he’ll calm you with his love and delight you with his songs.” Zephaniah 3:17

The sound of silence can be troubling and unnerving. But the sound of silence is also necessary for our faith and confidence in Christ to grow and help us truly live for the Lord despite our circumstances.

Author Kathleen Norris used to play a game with primary-school children in which she would make a deal with them. “First you get to make noise,” she would bargain, “and then you’ll make silence.”

The time of noise was always predictable chaotic—shouting, pounding and stomping like a football team exploding out of a locker room. But the period of silence that followed was unexpectedly passionate and creative. When the children were asked to write about it, reflects Norris, “their images often had a depth and maturity that was unlike anything they wrote.”

One boy discovered that “Silence is a tree spreading its branches to the sun.”

One 9 year-old’s poem turned into a prayer, “Silence is spiders spinning their webs; it’s like a silkworm making its silk. Lord, help me to know when to be silent.”

And a little girl offered a gem of spiritual wisdom that Norris finds herself returning to when her life becomes too noisy and distracting: “Silence reminds me to take my soul with me wherever I go.”

Prayer

Whispering God, who longs for us to hear your voice, and waits in the sheer silence for us to recognise your presence, meet me in this quiet moment. Silent my loud, tumultuous thoughts, and grant my brain rest. Help me let go of my distractions, and my desire to be distracted, to simply sit here with you. And, as the silence unsettles my spirit, let the waves of your peace and presence wash over me. Amen.  

Resurrection Strength

In continuing with this theme of this post resurrection waiting, we seek help from Paul’s writing to the Romans  where he gives some good advice, “Base your happiness on your hope in Christ. When trials come endure them patiently, steadfastly maintain the habit of prayer.” (12:12 J B Philips paraphrase)

It is how we wait that is important; patiently, steadfastly and prayerfully. What Paul is talking about here is to remain the kind of abiding Jesus spoke about to remain in him even is facing misfortunes and trials by holding fast to one's faith in Christ. It could be said that the very essence of staying focused is the avoidance of distractions. The culprit is not the obvious, but the subtle. The diversions we most easily rationalise are the most dangerous.

Martin Luther, a sixteenth-century monk, and a deeply pious man, led Christ’s Church into the Protestant Reformation. The collection of conversations he had with his students, entitled Table Talk, includes this quote about praying with ceasing as we are commanded in scripture. Martin Luther tells us that even the busiest of us can bolster our faith by remaining in God’s presence, even while working.

Luther said, “There is no Christian who does not have time to pray without ceasing. But I mean the spiritual praying, that is; no one is so heavily burdened with his labor, but that if he will, he can, while working, speak with God in his heart, lay before Him his need and that of other men, ask for help, make petition, and in all this exercise and strengthen his faith.”

Loving Father, thank You for the Word of God and the godly instructions that are laid out for the Church in the epistles of Paul. Please help me to rejoice in hope, endure in tribulation, and persevere in prayer, as I wait in the your presence. In Jesus' name I pray, amen.

Resurrection Strength

Isaiah 40:31 But those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, they run and don’t get tired, they walk and don’t lag behind.

Much of a disciple’s devotion to duty can be found in those times where waiting is the task of the moment. The Easter Season is as much a time of waiting as that of Advent. Waiting can lead to a sense of frustration and a sense of impatience, but the secret of discipleship waiting is how and who we wait upon. 

The words for wait in the Hebrew bible have an interesting connotation. They can mean to bind together or collect; to expect or  gather together, even to look and wait  patiently, tarry.

A girl had a pretty little piggy bank. Her father wanted to teach her about saving, so he talked to her about putting her money into a savings account at their bank. He very carefully explained to her that when she put money into her account, the bank would pay her interest on her money and that her money would grow that way.

The big day came. They went to the bank. She gave her piggy bank to the woman opening her account. Then she just stood there and stared at the woman. "Is there something else I can do for you?" the woman asked.

The little girl answered, "No, I’m just waiting on my interest!”

The girl didn’t understand that there was a delay between sowing her money in that account and reaping the harvest of her interest.

Vaneetha Rendall Risner, in the book  ‘The Scars That Have Shaped Me: How God Meets Us in Suffering’ writes “This is the most precious answer God can give us: wait. It makes us cling to him rather than to an outcome. God knows what I need; I do not. He sees the future; I cannot. His perspective is eternal; mine is not. He will give me what is best for me when it is best for me.” 

Father, thank You for Your promise that as I wait upon You, You will renew my strength with a second wind and enable me to rise up with wings like an eagle. Help me to shake off my weariness and take hold of Your strength. I declare that I am coming out stronger, higher, and better off. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.” 

 

Easter 4

 Glory to you, O Christ:

by your death you have destroyed death

and by your resurrection you have brought life and immortality to light

Jesus appears to the Two on the Road to Emmaus 

 The ones whose eyes were opened 

 

Risen Lord, though we have listened to the stories of your resurrection many times - walk with us on our journey and reveal yourself afresh in the fellowship of word and table.

Alleluia. Christ is risen 

He is risen indeed. Alleluia

1 The Highway of heartbreak 

The dirt track of doubt

The weight of each foot step

What is this about?

2 We’d followed the master

Hung on each sweet word

And now its disaster,

“Yet haven’t you heard?”

3 We’re joined by a stranger

Who seemed not to know

Of all that had happened

How we’d been brought low.

4 With wisdom relating

The stranger foretold

Of scriptures revealing

Of truths deep rich gold.

5 Our journey now over

Had come to an end.

The stranger made ready

His own way to wend.

6 We pressed him to join us

Our table to share

A morsel of comfort

Some modest affair.

7 He took bread in blessing

Our hearts then did stir.

It’s him, our dear Master

Our eyes now unblurred.

8 With that he now left us

Our joy now complete

We couldn’t run faster

Disciples to greet.