Collect and Readings for Fourth Sunday after Trinity – Genesis 22.1-14, Jeremiah 28.5-9, Psalm 13, Psalm 89.1-4. 8- 18, Romans 6.12-end, Matthew 10.40 - end
The Prayer for today O God, the protector of all who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that with you as our ruler and guide we may so pass through things temporal that we lose not our hold on things eternal; grant this, heavenly Father, for our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Some people are unfortunate enough to suffer from vertigo and find that when they are perched anywhere high there is a terrible urge to throw themselves off into that space beneath them. They have to back away from the edge for fear of plunging to their death. It is as if the space commands them, and they have to fight against it. Sin is like that. It pulls us strongly towards our death, and we have a real battle to fight against that urge to go along with its pressurising command. Even while we know that sin is bound to be damaging to us, to those we love, and to our world, our wills and emotions can still drag us over the edge into behaviour which leads to death. As Paul says, it is like being a slave to a tyrannical master, obeying its commands and feeling ‘owned’ by it. It can seem impossibly difficult to imagine how we could ever break free.
Holding on to Christ, through the cross where that grip of sin has been broken for us into a completely different place. Sin will still attempt to pull us over, but the power of Christ living in us enables us to back away from the edge as free agents, rather than slaves. It is as if, rather than being drawn to look down into the strangely enticing death-fall all the time, we can enjoy the loftiness of the breathtaking view without fear.
It is interesting that Paul talks of sin earning death, which implies hard, wearying work. That is true: living enslaved to sin drains us of energy and wears us down. In contrast, righteous living is not a heavy duty, but a loving happy response to a personal free gift.
In today’s Gospel we are reminded that anyone responding to one of God’s people will actually be responding to their God. This suggests that our behaviour as freed slaves will be obvious to those around us, since we will be behaving differently. Our attitude and outlook will be open and available to good, rather than knotted up with fear and self-absorbed in our own wants and demands. We will be more ready to speak out God’s words rather than pandering to what we think people will want to hear, so that we are popular. But it is important to realise that this change is a natural result of responding to God’s love, and not an unhealed determined effort in which we remain slaves.
Some things to think about:
1. If slaves to righteousness, how are we free?
2. Jesus talks as if our Christian faith will be obvious to people. Is it? Or do we prefer to say what people want to hear, in case we upset them?
God bless
Rev’d Fiona Robinson
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Collect and Readings for Third Sunday after Trinity – Genesis 21.8-21Jeremiah 20.7-13, Psalm 86.1-10 16-end, Psalm 69. 8-20, Romans 6.1b-11, Matthew 10.24 - 39
The Prayer for today Almighty God, you have broken the tyranny of sin and have sent the Spirit of your Son into our hearts whereby we call you Father: give us grace to dedicate our freedom to your service, that we and all creation may be brought to the glorious liberty of the children of God; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
There is a fundamental paradox in the Christian faith which sounds like nonsense and yet turns out to be true when you try it. This week’s readings paste it up large so that we cannot avoid it, however much we might like to. It is the claim that through death we gain life. How on earth can this really be true?
We all know that our strong life-force, or libido, works constantly for our survival. Our brains use vast quantities of energy in supporting life systems and keeping us alive. There are all kinds of emergency strategies that kick in when anything threatens our survival, and the body is so good at manging these that it all goes on without us noticing, most of the time, and while we are occupied in other ways. Had it not been so, the human race could not have continued for as long as it has, nor succeeded in a fraction of its remarkable achievements. How does ‘taking up our cross’ and ‘losing our life for his sake’ fit in with this?
There is much value today placed on self-confidence and self-assurance, in an effort to help people become their true selves without being vulnerable to abuse or pressure from others. Self-assertiveness is the quality to prize, and any deliberate giving-up of one’s rights is viewed with suspicion and often considered weak and wrong. How does this fit with Jesus’ teaching that whoever gains his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for Christ’s sake will gain it?
We cannot get away from the fact that this is a hard teaching to accept. Jesus wants his potential followers to understand the full implications of commitment. It requires a drastic and complete change of values and direction in life. It can hurt. It is very costly. Jesus wants his potential followers to understand the full implications of commitment. So why would any normal person want to ‘lose’ their life like this by choice?
Jesus’ answer has been experienced and found to be true by many people in each generation. Just as the result of Jesus’ total self-giving in death was new, resurrection life, so the result of us giving up our natural self-centredness is a new sense of life in which we find we are more free to be ourselves than of we had slaved over it. It is the answer of a God who loves and cherishes us.
It is like the difference between a tissue paper flower and an alpine meadow in spring, The kind of fulfilling life we think we are going to gain by accumulating wealth and prestige at other people’s expense, over indulging our tastes, and feverishly totting up as many experiences as possible in case we lose out on anything, turns out to be disappointing and never as satisfying as we had hoped; there is always something else we really must have or try. In comparison, the way of Jesus gives an inner sense of rightness, calm and integrity, which is very richly fulfilling and enables others to become their true selves as well.
Some things to think about:
1. If we think of ourselves as dead to sin and alive to God, how will we react in times of temptation, and when we are despised and ridiculed for our faith?
2. Obviously, God wants us to love the people in our families, so how can we expect them to take second place to God in our lives, especially if they themselves are not believers? (Clue: think of a hosepipe fixed on to the water supply, compared to a water butt. How many buckets could get filled in each case?
God bless
Rev’d Fiona Robinson
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Collect and Readings for the Ninth Sunday after Trinity – Isaiah 5.1-7, Jeremiah 23.23-29, Psalm 80.1-2,9-end, Psalm 82, Hebrews 11.29-12.2, Luke 12.49-56
The Prayer for today
Almighty God, who sent your Holy Spirit to be the life and light of your Church: open our hearts to the riches of your grace, that we may bring forth the fruit of the Spirit in love and joy and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Many parents have high hopes for their children. Musical toys are given encouragingly to offspring who start singing in tune before they can talk. Balls to kick around are bought partly for fun and partly to foster any latent talent. Financial sacrifices are made for children showing potential in particular sports or arts. It would be cynical to think that all this is ‘pushy parent syndrome’; mostly it shows the natural pride and delight of parents in the children they love.
God, too, has high hopes for the children he loves. He delights in our progress and looks out for the seeds of the gifts he has given us to blossom; he loves to watch us using these gifts for the good of the world. Today we sense God’s sadness as he looks for the good and wholesome lives which we are capable of living as his creation, and finds instead destructive selfishness, bloodshed and cries of distress. We all know the aching disappointment of an attempt which has failed in spite of the lavish care we have invested in it. Sadly, we have to recognise that sometimes our behaviour, both collectively and individually, disappoints our parent God.
Such behaviour and attitudes are a waste of our life. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews urges us to get rid of everything that hinders and entangles us, so that we can run the race more easily and comfortably. And the best way of doing that is by keeping our sights fixed on Jesus. It is noticeable throughout history that whenever people have done this, they have been enabled to bring about great good, both within the Church and in society. It is when their eyes swivel round to fix on other things that corruption, distortion of the truth, and injustice start taking over. Rather like bindweed, they can look attractive, but throttle the life out of whatever they climb over. And the roots need to be eradicated to prevent strong regrowth. Jesus warns his followers that the path of righting deep-rooted wrong will not be straightforward or without radical disturbance and upheaval, not only in individuals, but also in families and nations and church communities.
Some things to reflect on:
• Why do we prefer to run cluttered lives when it would obviously be easier to be free?
• If God is a God of peace, why is Jesus promising conflict?
God bless and stay safe and well.
Rev’d Fiona Robinson
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