It is not enough to resist evil. It is not enough to not do what is destructive or harmful. It is not enough to avoid what we consider to be sin. For our world to change, for real transformation to happen, for life to be the abundant, beautiful, joyful experience that God created it to be, we must embrace, proclaim and live what is good, what is creative and what is healing. This is a central and persistent call of the Gospel, and it is the heart of this week’s readings in the Revised Common Lectionary.

May your worship lead you into paths of life, freedom and the sharing of goodness.

READINGS:
2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14: Elijah is taken up to heaven and Elisha receives his cloak and his spirit.
OR 1 Kings 19:15-16, 19-21: Elijah anoints Elisha as prophet to succeed him. Elisha offers his oxen as sacrifice, and feeds his community with the meat, then leaves his home to follow Elijah.

Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20: The Psalmist cries out to God, remembering God’s miraculous work in saving Israel through Moses and Aaron.
OR Psalm 16: Praise for the God who is a refuge to those who seek God, who provides good companions and a beautiful inheritance, and who makes known the path of life.

Galatians 5:1, 13-25: Christ gives us freedom, but not as an excuse to engage in destructive behaviour. Rather, through Christ we receive the life-giving fruit of God’s Spirit.

Luke 9:51-62: Jesus calls many people, who all have reasons to delay or decline. Jesus proclaims that God’s Reign calls us to choose now – to live it and proclaim it.

REFLECTIONS ON THEME:
The journey into living the values of God’s Reign continues. In the last few weeks we have recognised our need for forgiveness and God’s resources, and we have confronted the ways that evil works in our world. This week the focus shifts to God’s call for us to embrace the positive power of God’s reign, and the difference it makes in the world. Elisha is called to be a prophet and follow Elijah’s ministry. The Psalmist recognises God’s saving work, and the way God leads God’s people into the ways of life and life-bringing. In Galatians, Paul contrasts the destructive ways of evil and sin with the life-giving fruit of God’s Spirit. And in Luke’s Gospel, Jesus urgently calls all people to follow him and to live and proclaim God’s reign immediately – not as some after-death hope, but as a world changing reality that we can experience and share now, right where we are.

CONNECTING WITH LIFE:
GLOBAL APPLICATION: The work of justice, of standing against evil (the via negativa) can sometimes leave us feeling cynical and can cause us to embrace expediency as we work for goodness – believing that in the face of evil, we sometimes need to use evil means to achieve good ends. This week, we are called to a higher standard, to the via positiva of affirming God’s goodness, grace, salvation and reign in our world, even in the midst of evil and suffering. This means that on a global scale, there is a need for voices that will call us all to appreciation and protection of goodness. In the corridors of power, good people need to stand for what is good – not partisan, expedient or “not bad”. In every community and every situation good people need to work to protect and proclaim what is good – natural wonders, our environment, places of hard work and great contribution to the world, places of healing and of caring for the marginalised. It is not just money that these people and organisations need. It is affirmation, support and recognition. It a celebration of the good that is being done. And it is partnerships with others who will stand together to raise up goodness and demonstrate it’s life-giving power.

LOCAL APPLICATION: As Christians we are too often known for what we stand against, for the way we label all sorts of things as sin, just because we’re afraid or we don’t understand. Too often we rage against the darkness, instead of responding to God’s call to simply shine a light where we can. In what ways have you and your community fallen into this trap? How can you begin to be those who search out goodness wherever you may find, whoever may be doing it, and celebrate it, acknowledge it, support and partner with it? How can you begin ot be know for the goodness you stand for, rather than the badness you stand against? How can you hear God’s call to be light, to live and proclaim God’s life-giving reign (the paths of life), and to raise up the power of goodness in your church and community?

RESOURCES FOR WORSHIP:
Prayers:
Putting Faith In Goodness
Passing It On

Hymn Suggestions:
There’s A Light Upon The Mountains
Be Thou My Vision
For The Beauty Of The Earth
Jesus Calls Us O’er The Tumult
We Shall Go Out With Hope Of Resurrection
Canticle (Link to Restoration Village site. Scroll down for preview – it’s Track 6)
Creation’s King (Link to YouTube Video)
Pass It On (It Only Takes A Spark) (Link to YouTube Video)
Shout To The North And The South (Link to YouTube Video)
God Of Wonders (Link to YouTube Video)
Shine Jesus Shine (Link to YouTube Video)
Your Word: Mp3; Chord Chart (Scroll down for the chord chart downloads)
Let Me Shine: Mp3 Preview (Scroll down for the link); Chord Chart (Scroll down to find the download for this song)

Liturgy:
A Liturgy for the Foretaste of the Heavenly Banquet

Video Suggestions:
Led By The Spirit

Image Suggestions:
Light In The Dark
Light Breaks Through

In conversations around justice and the Church, or justice and worship, the idea of forgiveness, it seems to me, is often absent. Perhaps in reaction to hyper-evangelical, “pray the prayer and you’re saved” theologies, we have moved into a place where we prefer to speak of actions that bring justice and wholeness, rather than attitudes. Perhaps we struggle with forgiveness because it could lead to letting perpetrators “off the hook”, or because those who regularly speak about forgiveness seem to use it as a way to avoid engagement with social justice issues, preferring to speak about the transformation of the heart alone.

However, the Gospel message of forgiveness cannot be avoided, and when we embrace it, we discover that it is central to any real work of justice and peace-making. May our ability to receive and give forgiveness be strengthened and expanded as we worship this week.

READINGS:
1 Kings 21:1-10, (11-14), 15-21a: Jezebel and Ahab conspire to lay claim to Naboth’s vineyard. After Naboth has been falsely accused and executed, Elijah confronts Ahab with his sin and prophesies his death.
OR 2 Samuel 11:26-12:10, 13-15: The prophet Nathan confronts David after he arranges for Uriah to die so that he can marry Bathsheba.

Psalm 5:1-8: A cry for help and guidance, and a recognition that God takes no delight in wickedness.
OR Psalm 32: David’s song of joy and thanksgiving for God’s forgiveness.

Galatians 2:15-21: It is not the law that can make us right with God, but only God’s grace which comes to us through Christ. We can only believe, die to the law, and live our lives in Christ.

Luke 7:36-8:3: Jesus is anointed in the home of Simon the Pharisee by an immoral woman. He confronts Simon’s hypocrisy and forgives her.

REFLECTIONS ON THEME:
There is no way to avoid it. This week, the readings are all about forgiveness – especially forgiveness that is undeserved, and that comes through confession, brokenness and repentance.The difference between Ahab and David is this broken repentance. The psalmists cry is of confession and a plea for forgiveness. Paul makes it clear that we are made right not by our own efforts and obeying the law, but through the grace of Christ. Jesus confronts the religious elite who make the law a gatekeeper to God, and offers forgiveness and restoration to a broken and penitent woman. The power of this undeserved forgiveness is at the heart of the Christian experience and allows us to live “in Christ” – or live as those in whom Christ lives, as Paul puts it.

CONNECTING WITH LIFE:
GLOBAL APPLICATION: Let’s dream a little: what might a world look like in which forgiveness was our culture rather than retribution and retaliation? In what ways is the prophetic ministry of Elijah and Nathan an example to us of how to confront those who abuse their power, while still offering grace and forgiveness? In what ways can we work to make forgiveness a serious consideration in our policies (especially with regard to corrections, law enforcement, social services, immigration, health care, education and foreign policy)? Is all this just a bit too idealistic for the real world? Or is there truth in the idea that a world without forgiveness must ultimately destroy itself? If the Gospel has anything to say to the big issues of our time, the gift of forgiveness must have a place in this conversation. Perhaps it’s time for the Church to call both oppressed and oppressor to forgiveness, both perpetrator and victim to forgiveness, both aggressor and defender to forgiveness. Perhaps, if the Church’s public discourse was more biased toward repentance for our own failings (think of the sex scandals currently rocking many churches) and forgiveness toward those who have hurt or opposed us, people would be more isnterested in listening to us. And perhaps, we would have the kind of gracious, Christ-reflecting influence on the world that we hope to have.

LOCAL APPLICATION: Often when conversation about forgiveness come up, it is common to speak about repentance as the requirement for forgiveness. And so, as Church, we have rejected and judged others on the basis of their perceived lack of repentance. However, for Jesus, it seems, repentance is a response to forgiveness, not a pre-requisite for it. On the cross Jesus says “It is finished” without waiting for the world to queue up to repent. In his dealings with this woman, she comes to him in love and brokenness, but Jesus indicates that her love flows from her being forgiven much, not that her love is the requirement which “earns” her forgiveness. For Jesus, it appears, forgiveness is contingent on nothing. He chooses to forgive whether the other person repents/changes or not. Forgiveness is the mark of those who follow Christ, and it is in the reckless freedom in which this forgiveness is offered that part of the scandal of the Gospel lies. Forgiveness which is based upon a legalistic need for evidence of repentance first is what both Jesus and Paul reject. Both appear to believe implictly in the power of the experience of being forgiven to change people. Perhaps part of our struggle to reach the world in Christ’s name, and to really influence the culture of our world, lies in our determined clinging to “repentance first, forgiveness second”. How many hurting and broken people might find healing, justice and an ability to contribute to others if they were just assured of God’s forgiveness up front, and if we trusted God’s grace to be strong enough to reall make a difference? Is this not a significant work of justice in itself?

RESOURCES FOR WORSHIP:
Prayers:
The Tyranny Of Vengeance
Skeletons
Grace And Forgiveness

Hymn Suggestions:
And Can It Be
Amazing Grace
Let Us Plead For Faith Alone
There’s A Wideness In God’s Mercy
Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)
Jesus Messiah
Shout To The North And The South
Hallelujah, What A Saviour
Freely, Freely (God Forgave My Sin)

Liturgy:
A Liturgy For The Agape

Video Suggestions:
Anointed By A Sinner

Image Suggestions:
Church Power Point – Pentecost 3: Page 1 & Page 2
Light In The Dark

Although we have now officially finished the “festival season” in the Liturgical Calendar, this week retains some strong links to what has come before. I like to think of the first half of the year (from Advent to Trinity Sunday) as the “God’s Story” part of the calendar, and the second half of the year (Ordinary Time) as the “Our Story” part of the calendar, where we explore what it means for us to live out of God’s Story. This first week in Ordinary Time, reminds us, though, that we cannot live without drawing strongly on God’s Spirit, God’s life and God’s resources. And the good news is that God’s empowerment is so readily available for us as we seek to serve, to follow and to bring justice into our world.

May your worship this week be thoroughly empowering!

READINGS:
1 Kings 17:8-16, (17-24): The widow at Zarephath feeds Elijah and her oil and flour do not run out. When her son dies, Elijah raises him.
OR 1 Kings 17:17-24: The shorter version of the above reading – Elijah prays for the widows son who has died, and he is raised to life.

Psalm 146: Do not trust in powerful people, but in God who protects the weak and who gives justice.
OR Psalm 30: A cry for God’s help and an affirmation of confidence in God.

Galatians 1:11-24: Paul tells the story of his conversion, and how he did not depend on people to give him God’s revelation.

Luke 7:11-17: Jesus raises the widow of Nain’s son.

REFLECTIONS ON THEME:
At the start of the season that focuses on our work of following Christ – Ordinary Time – we begin with a call to lean on God’s grace, strength and provision, and to avoid the temptation to seek security in people, in human power, or connecting with those who are “important”. Rather, God offers God’s self as our primary source of life, of support and of wisdom for life. The challenge of this is to develop a “confidence” in God that is authentic, and an ability to “tune in” to God’s Spirit.

CONNECTING WITH LIFE:
GLOBAL APPLICATION: God’s care for those who are weak, poor, threatened and dying shouts from the passages this week. And God’s offer of God’s resources to address the challenges these ‘least’ is equally clear. It is too easy to turn the work of justice and compassion into a kind of ‘slightly sanctified social work’. But even ‘social justice Christians’ need to recognise the Presence and availability of God and God’s Spirit to guide and empower both our work and the lives of those we seek to serve. So, a significant part of our serving and healing the world is to call leaders, influencers and carers back to vibrant spirituality and to ensuring that as they serve, they also enable others to find a faith that is authentic and alive for them.

LOCAL APPLICATION: In our churches and communities we have often divided our worship and our missions. We have often fallen into a functional atheism which leaves us doing good work in our world but lacking the spirituality which gives it life, lasting impact and truly transforming power. If we are to be more than just another social service organisation, our missions must be flooded in worship, and our worship must overflow into vibrant, God-inspired missions. What might it mean for your church to seek to encounter God authentically, serve on another and your community with a visible dependence on God, and to build your life together around a true marriage of worship and missions. Is this not what ultimately protects the weak, leads to justice and heals the world?

RESOURCES FOR WORSHIP:
Prayers:
Always There
The Faith We Need

Hymn Suggestions:
Praise To The Lord, The Almighty
O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing
God Of Almighty Love
They Who Tread The Path Of Labour
Breathe (Link to YouTube video)
Everlasting God (Link to YouTube video)
Your Grace Is Enough (Link to YouTube video)
God Of Justice (Link to YouTube video)

Liturgy:
A Liturgy for the Spiritual Feast

Video Suggestions:
The Gospel According To Luke