We’re still listening to the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel reading for this week, and it’s a challenging message, especially in the light of the suffering and injustice of our world. Jesus calls us to faith, to trust in God’s care for us. There is much in the world that would make such faith seem naive, misplaced or unrealistic. But, without such faith, how can we ever engage the big issues of our time. Unless we trust in God’s care, we will find ourselves becoming cynical and pessimistic, believing that the forces of injustice are being allowed free reign by God. We cannot permit ourselves to fall into this functional atheism, and so, however hard it may be to hear it, however foolish we may feel to preach it, we must do the work of nurturing faith.

May your faith be renewed and inspired as you worship this week.

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“Faith” is a word that is used all the time in religious circles, in Christian worship, and even in political discourse. Unfortunately, all too often, the way we use the word is a shadow of the richness, vitality and challenge of the biblical meaning. This week the Lectionary allows us to eavesdrop on a conversation about faith between Jesus and a rather hesitant visitor who comes to him at night – and what Nicodemus heard from Jesus was both shocking and surprising.

We come to worship in faith this week. May we leave empowered to put that faith into action in our daily lives.

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This week we return to a central pillar of our faith, and one that must inform all that we do as we seek to follow Christ – the idea that life is eternal, that God saves, and that resurrection emerges from death. This is, of course, more than just an idea, but is a lived experience as we face death in all its forms and manifestations in our world, and as we cling to the hope that the Gospel offers us. Without the hope of life, of resurrection, it is pretty much impossible to remain committed and effective in dreaming of and working towards a more peaceful and just world.

May we be filled and empowered again by resurrection life in our worship this week.

READINGS:
Haggai 1:15b-2:9: God comforts the returning exiles as they grieve the loss of former glory, and face the reality of a new, simpler, less prosperous and glamorous life. God’s presence is assured, and a promise of future glory is offered as comfort and inspiration.
OR Job 19:23-27a: Job affirms his faith that God will ultimately defend, justify and restore him, in spite of the accusations of his friends.

Psalm 145:1-5, 17-21: God is worthy of praise, fair and faithful, and always near to, and protective of, those who love and trust God.
OR Psalm 98: A song of praise inviting all creation to celebrate God’s salvation and mercy.
OR Psalm 17:1-9: A prayer for God’s protection and justification based on the innocence and obdeience of the one praying.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17: Paul addresses the rumour-mongering and fear of the church, assuring them of God’s love and salvation, and their secure hope in Christ.

Luke 20:27-38: Jesus is confronted by the Sadducees about life after death, using the story of a woman who, through Levirate marriage, is married to seven brothers consecutively. He responds with an affirmation of resurrection, proclaiming that God is the God of he living, not of the dead.

REFLECTIONS ON THEME:
Although the passages this week appear to be completely unrelated, there is, nevertheless, a thread that runs through all of the readings. In the face of difficulties – exile, persecution, and even death – God gives God’s people the assurance of God’s protection and salvation. The returning exiles are assured that God is with them and will restore their temple beyond its former glory (which, historically, motivated them to continue working on the temple for centuries!). Job, in the face of his accusers, pleads his innocence and affirms his faith in God’s justification and restoration. The Psalmists celebrate God’s mercy and salvation and plead, in faith, for God’s deliverance. Paul reassures the Thessalonian church that they have not been abandoned or left behind by God, but are guaranteed God’s love and a place in God’s eternal realm. Finally, Jesus, in the face of the Sadducees’ taunts, reaffirms the resurrection, and that even in death we are not separated from God and God’s life.

CONNECTING WITH LIFE:
GLOBAL APPLICATION: While the promise of an afterlife has sometimes been used as an excuse for oppression or a reason to keep away from engagement in justice issues in the world, the truth is that the hope we have in Christ is more often a motivator to work toward that hope in this life. If our work to bring about a more peaceful, equitable society has no hope of success – which is the case if it depends only on us – then we will ultimately find ourselves growing cynical and disheartened, and falling into a “if you can’t beat them, join them” view. If, however, we can nurture our faith in God’s purposes, God’s life and God’s resurrection, we find hope. Our efforts are not ours alone, but are inspired and empowered by God’s Spirit, and at some point – even if only in a distant future – the work we do now will result in the world of which we dream. And, further, the life we live and to which we contribute now, lives on beyond the grave. So, what we do does matter, and every small act of mercy, compassion and defense of the most vulnerable is a manifestation of God’s life. We are participants in God’s work of resurrecting the universe! Once we allow this truth to sink into our souls, we begin to engage the world’s systems from a different, less desperate, more confident and compassionate place. Ultimately, in all of the world’s most effective activists this irrepressible hope is visible. As followers of Christ, how much more should this hope characterise us?

LOCAL APPLICATION: It takes tremendous courage and faith to live an alternative set of values and practices from the people around us. Unfortunately, though, our world has somehow become captured by short-term, expedient values – the quarterly report, the next new product or experience, the quick gratification. Long term hope, and the commitment to work and wait for the greater good are somehow seen as quaint but outdated ways of living. In our churches we can fall into exactly the same trap – measuring our success by numbers, money, buildings, new fashions, new trends and new equipment. when this happens, our message is lost, and the call for justice is silenced. When we renew our faith in the eternal, in the unending life of God, and in our hope of resurrection, all sorts of things change. We begin to view the world and its history through the lens of God’s reign, and the wide sweep of salvation history, rather than just the immediate moment. We begin to work for a better world, even though we may never see the fulfilment of our dreams ourselves. We grow in our commitment to make short term sacrifices in favour of long term justice and peace. Ultimately this faith enables us to change what we drive and how we use energy – even though it may be less convenient – to protect our planet. It enables us to give up our short term needs and hurts in favour of long term relationship building – even with those we may consider enemies. It enables us to sacrifice some of our own comfort in the short term – to buy less, consume less and throw away less – in order to ensure that there is enough to go around, and that what we use is justly and fairly sourced and produced. Hope in the resurrection – in God’s eternal gift of life and salvation – really does inspire us to live differently, if we will only allow it to capture our hearts and souls

RESOURCES FOR WORSHIP:
Prayers:
The Life That Ignores Limits
Invincible Life
That Life Would Teach Us
What Life Can Be

Hymn Suggestions:
There’s A Light Upon The Mountains
O For a Thousand Tongues To Sing
O Spirit Of The Living God
We Shall Go Out With Hope Of Resurrection
Sing With All The Saints In Glory
There’s A Light (Upon The Mountains): Chord Chart; Mp3 (Amazon.com Download)
Everlasting God (Link to YouTube video)
Hosanna (Link to YouTube video)
Lord Of The Dance (Link to YouTube video)
Shine Jesus Shine (Link to YouTube video)

Liturgy:
A Liturgy for the Foretaste of the Heavenly Banquet

Video Suggestions:
A Theology Of Rebirth
Psalm 17
Life From Death

Where do you place your faith? Does the idea of trusting God for protection, provision and justice sound naive and unrealistic to you? Yet, this is exactly what the Scriptures call us to do – to live differently from the self-protective, wealth accumulating, customs of our world, and place our trust in God. In the face of the huge challenges we face in the world this may sound completely out of touch, but, when the role of money in so many of those challenges is recognised, the call to give up our faith in finance and reclaim a true, child-like faith in God becomes disturbingly relevant and subversive.

Here is a reminder about the countdown excerpts from my book The Hour That Changes Everything – How worship forms us into the people God wants us to be. If you’re interested in learning more about this soon-to-be-released book, click through to the Sacredise blog for the daily excerpts that are being posted there throughout this month.

May your worship this week move you into a place of deeper trust in God, and more courageous challenge of the culture of accumulation in our world.

READINGS:
Hosea 11:1-11: Judgement is prophesied for Israel because of the people’s idolatry and unfaithfulness, but God’s compassion and love for God’s people makes judgement difficult for God, and so restoration is also promised.
OR Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23: The teacher laments that everything is meaningless, and reflects on the futility of working hard to accumulate wealth that will ultimately be inherited by others, who may or may not use it wisely.

Psalm 107:1-9, 43: Praise for God’s unfailing love, and God’s salvation of God’s people when in distress. The history of God’s people reveals God’s faithful love.
OR Psalm 49:1-12: Not even the wealthy can save themselves from death or buy their way into eternal life. Therefore, there is no reason to fear those who trust in their wealth.

Colossians 3:1-11: Because of Christ’s life in us, we are called to prioritise the values of heaven over the values of earth, and to avoid the greed and lust that of “earth-bound” existence. Rather, recognising that we are all the same in Christ, we are to find our life in Christ, and seek to become like our God.

Luke 12:13-21: In warning against greed, Jesus tells a parable of a wealthy man who feels secure because of his great riches, but whose wealth becomes meaningless when he dies. Then Christ challenges us to seek a rich relationship with God instead of material riches.

REFLECTIONS ON THEME:
The theme of this week’s readings is not hard to discern – all of the readings contrast a life of dependence on wealth with the life of dependence on God. The teacher in Ecclesiastes, the Psalmist in Psalm 49, the Apostle in Colossians and Jesus all warn against greed and speak about the danger of making wealth our goal and our security. In Hosea and in Psalm 107, God’s salvation and care is promised, even when God’s people have needed to be disciplined and corrected. When it comes to making our way in the world, the quest for money too easily becomes an end in itself, and will ultimately lead us into destruction, and to bringing suffering on ourselves and others. However, when life is found in our relationship with God, and in basing our lives on the values of God’s reign, we bring life and joy to ourselves and others, and our lives have eternal value. Ultimately, we all need to choose the priorities by which we will live.

CONNECTING WITH LIFE:
GLOBAL APPLICATION: So much of the suffering and injustice in our world can be traced to the quest for money and to the greed of certain individuals or groups. The ongoing pain from the global economic crisis, the ecological disaster resulting from the Deepwater Horizon accident, the war and violence which arises between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ (so often justified as a “protection of interests”), the debates around health care, immigration and climate change – all have strong – albeit often hidden – financial agendas intertwined within the other issues. The challenge is to recognise the powerful, and often destructive, role that money plays in global affairs, and to challenge our world leaders, our business leaders and ourselves to embrace a financial ethic of sharing and giving, over accumulating and ‘protecting’. Ultimately, in a world where economic performance is measured quarterly, it will be difficult to begin to embrace an eternal view of wealth, but if the voices of Christ-followers remain silent on this difficult, prophetic, Gospel call, all hope of a more just and equitable world is lost. In what ways can you make your voice heard a little more clearly?

LOCAL APPLICATION: The way we view, earn and use money in our churches, families and individual lives, is a window into how we understand and live the Gospel. Too often there is little difference between the economic values of the “world” and those of the “Church”. Too often we spend (or hoard) money selfishly, and measure success by the accumulation of wealth – somehow falling into the trap of seeing wealth as a sign of God’s blessing – while ministry to the poor, the marginalised and the vulnerable is left undone or poorly resourced. Apart from sexuality, perhaps, money is the issue that we deal with least helpfully and honestly in the church, and yet it is a primary issue in the Scriptures. Dependence on God sounds like a quaint, outdated and unrealistic way of living in today’s wealth-focussed world. Simplicity is all too often equated with stupidity and a “sour-grapes” attitude. The imbalance between the rich and the poor, and the unequal way that the world’s resources are shared and used, are all justified – often with biblical support. But, if we will allow the Gospel to challenge us and change us, we will find our hands opening, our trust moving from wealth to God, and our lives shifting from accumulation and protection, to sharing and giving. In what ways are these shifts happening in your community?

RESOURCES FOR WORSHIP:
Prayers:
A Simple Choice
Plenty
Enough

Hymn Suggestions:
I Need Thee Every Hour
Bigger Barns
Take My Life And Let It Be
When I Survey The Wondrous Cross (Especially verse 4)
I Surrender All
Lord, I Give You My Heart (Link to YouTube video)
I Will Offer Up My Heart (Link to YouTube video)
Lord, You Are More Precious Than Silver (Link to YouTube video)
My Life Is In You, Lord (Link to YouTube video)
We Are An Offering (Link to YouTube video)

Liturgy:
A Liturgy for the Eucharist

Video Suggestions:
Abolishing Wealth & Poverty
Relational Tithe