Following Christ – especially in the work of justice and living out the values of God’s reign – can sometimes get in the way of true relationship with Christ, but without a lived experience of intimacy with God, we lack the empowerment and resources to be a positive influence on the world. This week, the Lectionary calls us, no matter what struggles or challenges we may, or what work we may be called to do, to nurture a strong and vibrant relationship with God. Ultimately this the work of our worship – and it then empowers everything else we do as followers of Christ.

In the light of this, you may want to consider reading The Hour That Changes Everything – How worship forms us into the people God calls us to be, if you haven’t already. This book, that is designed as a 50 day journey for individuals, small groups and congregations, is a journey into a deeper, more empowering relationship with God that flows from a vibrant and committed discipline of worship. More details can be found here.

May we be drawn into a deeper and more vibrant relationship with God as we worship this week.

READINGS:
Isaiah 9:1-4: Isaiah prophesies a reversal of fortune for the people of God who are occupied by Assyria – though they are in darkness, light will break in, and they will be freed from their oppression.

Psalm 27:1, 4-9: David’s Psalm celebrating God’s protection and the security he finds in God’s presence and in God’s sanctuary.

1 Corinthians 1:10-18: Paul confronts the Corinthians about the divisions and factions among them, reminding them that it is only the message of the cross that is important and that offers God’s power for salvation.

Matthew 4:12-23: Jesus begins his ministry and is seen by Matthew to be fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy of the light shining in the darkness. He preaches the nearness of God’s reign, calls his first disciples and heals those who are afflicted with disease.

REFLECTIONS ON THEME:
In times of oppression and distress – Assyria’s occupation of Israel, David’s fear of attack by surrounding enemies, internal strife and divisions in the Corinthian church, John the Baptist’s arrest and imprisonment – we need light to guide our feet, to give us sight and to warm and protect us. We need a sense of God’s enfolding presence, of dwelling secure in God’s house, of being saved by God and claimed by God’s love. All of these passages reflect this need, and all of them offer a vision of God’s faithful response in the promise of salvation, in God’s presence in our pain, and in the healing and strength that God provides. It is this sense of the reality of God’s presence and action on our behalf, this lived experience of God’s help and grace, that makes faith real. Without it, our faith is nothing more than an intellectual exercise, cold and powerless – having the form of godliness but lacking the power. And so as, with the disciples, we seek to answer Jesus’ call to follow, as we seek to experience the reign of God that Jesus proclaims, as we seek to live out the message that Jesus preached and embody the healing and liberation that Jesus demonstrated, we can ask for, and expect, a real, vibrant and strengthening relationship with the Living God. Only in this way can we hope to know life, and to truly know and share the blessing of God’s reign.

CONNECTING WITH LIFE:
GLOBAL APPLICATION: As we work within the systems of this world to bring about justice it is tempting to get caught into the factionalism and calls for loyalty of the systems we challenge. We may find ourselves subtly becoming more devoted to our causes than to Christ. We may discover that we are seeking to build a kingdom according to our dreams and ideas, rather than according to the values of God’s reign. Any time that we, as followers of Christ, allow our place in political parties, advocacy groups or even religious affiliations to become more important than God’s truth and grace, we have lost our way. As we face the threats to our world’s wholeness – violence and war, poverty and greed, consumption and environmental degradation, exclusion and discrimination – we can only do so in the security and strength of a strong and vibrant lived relationship with God, and an inspiring and challenging vision of the reign of God that Jesus preached and enacted. And, as we allow this relationship with God to be our primary loyalty, we will find ourselves welcoming even those we oppose and disagree with. We will find ourselves challenging the injustices within our own organisations and groups as much as we challenge those we are not part of. We will find ourselves called to stand in places of vulnerable mediation, in-between-ness, and love without partisan loyalty. It may feel like it is only through the system that real change can happen, but in reality it is only as more and more of us are prepared to opt out of the systems as much as we can, and embrace the new way of God’s reign, that the kingdoms of this world can truly become the kingdoms of our Lord and of God’s Christ.

LOCAL APPLICATION: There are two responses that must be made to the readings this week. The first is to remember, as we seek to serve the most vulnerable in our communities, that meeting their physical and justice needs is only part of the work. If we do not also invite them into an experience of God’s reign themselves, if we do not allow them to discover, or deepen, a relationship with the Living God, we are little more than a social service organisation. The poverty of soul, the violence of feeling abandoned by God, the oppression of being at the mercy of this world’s systems with no awareness of another reality – these are also justice issues to address. And the Gospel addresses them powerfully in the teachings, the example and the sacrifice of Christ. The second response is for each Christ follower to ensure that we, personally and collectively, nurture our own relationship with God. Without a constant, vibrant and empowering experience of God’s grace and presence, we all too easily grow despondent, cynical and even destructive. The power to live from the reality of God’s reign, to work to change the world and bring justice, flows from knowing God’s light and presence. Ultimately our first calling is simply to follow Christ and invite others to do the same. Changing the world, then, is not our task – it is God’s. We simply get to participate sometimes.

RESOURCES FOR WORSHIP:
Prayers:
The Simple Logic Of Light
God Of Presence And Light

Hymn Suggestions:
The People That In Darkness Sat
In Heavenly Love Abiding
Christ, Whose Glory Fills The Skies
Jesus, Hope Of Every Nation
There’s A Light Upon The Mountains
There’s A Light (Upon The Mountains): Chord Chart; Mp3 Download (Amazon.com Mp3 Store)
Consuming Fire (Link to YouTube video)
Here I Am to Worship (Link to YouTube video)
Shine Jesus Shine (Link to YouTube video)
Shine (Link to YouTube video)

Liturgy:
A Liturgy for the Foretaste of the Heavenly Banquet

Video Suggestions:
The Calling
Land Of The Living
Light Of The World

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

As what I call the “God’s Story” part of the Liturgical Calendar begins to draw to a close, we are prepared for the second half of the year – the “Our Story” part which happens in Ordinary Time. And that preparation is in the form of a gift – the Pentecost gift of God’s Spirit, God’s community and God’s call. It is easy, after all of the work of the calendar so far to just breathe a sigh of relief and just get through the last few weeks with as little effort and stress as possible. But, the Pentecost event needs our best efforts – and some new ways of thinking about it. Which I hope I’m helping to stir up in this post.

May your eyes be opened and your heart be filled as you celebrate the ever-present Spirit of God this week, and as you receive the empowerment of God for the journey ahead.

READINGS:
Acts 2:1-21: The believers are filled with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, and they start to praise God in various languages.
Or Genesis 11:1-9: Humanity seeks to build a tower that reaches the heavens, but God confuses their language and they scatter over the earth.

Psalm 104:24-34, 35b: The world and all its creatures depend on God for provision and breath – which leads the Psalmist to commit to praise God.

Romans 8:14-17: God has given us God’s Spirit by which we know we are God’s children, sharing both in God’s glory and God’s suffering.
OR Acts 2:1-21: See above.

John 14:8-17, (25-27): Jesus promises the Holy Spirit to be an advocate for his followers, and to lead them into truth.

REFLECTIONS ON THEME:
Pentecost is another season that is easy both to underestimate and to grow too familiar with. The potential themes are also many and varied and which can make this celebration difficult to tackle well. Perhaps the oldest mistake we make with this season is to speak of it as the Spirit’s “coming” – as if God’s Spirit was absent from the world before this. Jesus gives us a clue to a different understanding, though, when he says that “the world cannot receive him because it isn’t looking for him…” Pentecost is essentially a breakthrough in our human capacity to apprehend and experience God’s activity which is (and always has been) active in all of creation (including us). At Pentecost we learn to look for God’s Spirit – and the readings for today make it clear that God’s Spirit can be seen and found anywhere and everywhere we look. It is this awareness that there is nowhere that God is not that breaks down Babel’s walls of division. In receiving the new awareness of God’s Spirit we find that we all speak a common Spirit-enabled language – the language of God-imaged, Spirit-filled, humanity. Once our eyes are opened to see God’s Spirit in all things (including those who are different from us, who are hostile toward us, and who are most repulsive to us), everything changes. We know ourselves (and all creatures) as St. Francis did – as God’s children and siblings of one another – and we willingly share Christ’s suffering (as Paul says) to bring God’s creation into awareness of this unity and community in God’s Spirit.

CONNECTING WITH LIFE:
GLOBAL APPLICATION: Across the globe human beings suffer from a blindness to the Spirit’s presence and activity. When we use the earth as nothing more than a resource to enrich ourselves, we have failed to recognise the Spirit. When we justify killing, exploiting, marginalising or dehumanising others, we have failed to see the Spirit in them. When we embrace a rampant individualism and consumerism, we have failed to recognise God’s Spirit and the community of all things in God’s Spirit. Pentecost is a wake up call for our world – how different might our politics, economics and environmental policies be if we recognised God’s Spirit in all things, and if we took time to really learn our common language? How would this consideration impact how you pray, speak, act, vote, spend, advocate and play? How can you and your community participate in the Spirit’s work and help others to recognise God’s Spirit in all things?

LOCAL APPLICATION: It is all too common among Christians to speak of God’s Spirit beign “with” us and “not with” others who believe differently from us. We speak of churches and people where God’s Spirit has “left” and we talk about places where we think God is no longer present. Whenever we fall into this trap, we have missed the gift of Pentecost, and have made our God too small. But, when we realise that God’s Spirit is everywhere – although we and/or others may not be looking for or able to recognise God’s Spirit for whatever reason – we find our view of these others changes. We suddenly discover that God can be encountered in every person, and every place – from a untouched places of breath-taking natural beauty to slums and disaster areas. And, once we have seen this, we discover that, like Jesus, we would rather suffer than inflict suffering on these Spirit-filled ones. We would rather sacrifice than exploit Spirit-filled people and the Spirit-filled world for personal gain. We would rather listen for the language of our common humanity than deny the humanity of a single person – even if they deny ours. What would it mean for you and your community to take Pentecost seriously? What defenses might have to come down? What hands might have to be offered to others? What beliefs might have to be released? What actions might have to become obsolete? What people might have to be welcomed and embraced?

RESOURCES FOR WORSHIP:
Prayers:
A Pentecost Thanksgiving
A Pentecost Confession
Ordinary People
Building Blocks Of The Kingdom

Hymn Suggestions:
Breathe On Me Breath Of God
O Thou Who Camest From Above
Spirit Divine Attend Our Prayers
O Spirit Of The Living God
Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
Deep Calls To Deep: Chord Chart; Lead Sheet; mp3
Breathe (Link to YouTube video)
All Who Are Thirsty (Link to YouTube video)
Spirit Of The Living God (Link to YouTube video)
Shine Jesus Shine (Link to YouTube video)
O Let The Son Of God Enfold You (Link to YouTube video)

Liturgy:
A Liturgy for Pentecost
A Liturgy for the Spiritual Feast

Video Suggestions:
Pentecost – Acts 2
Pentecost Prayer
Pentecost
Pentecost

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