If Epiphany is celebrated mid-week on January 6th, Sunday January 2nd will be Christmas 2A – using the following readings. If, however, Epiphany is not celebrated mid-week, then Sunday January 2nd will be Epiphany Sunday, and the Epiphany readings may be used. In that case, you’ll probably want to click through to the Resources for Epiphany.

After the lament of last week, it’s a bit of a relief to return to joy again this week. The power of celebration, thankfulness and acknowledging the blessings God has poured on us is the focus of the readings this week, and they offer us great cause for both celebration and confession – celebration of God’s goodness and grace, and confession of our failure to recognise the goodness we enjoy.

May our worship this week fill us with laughter, praise and celebration, and may we carry God’s abundant blessing with us out into the world.

READINGS:
Jeremiah 31:7-14: God promises to bring a remnant of the people of Israel back to their homeland with joy and celebration, and with assurance of abundant provision for their needs – including the weak, poor and infirm.
OR Sirach 24:1-12: Wisdom seeks a place to dwell, and the Creator instructs her to dwell in Israel.

Psalm 147:12-20: An invitation to praise God who controls the snow, the frost and the hail and who has given God’s people wisdom and instruction by which they are strengthened and blessed.
OR Wisdom of Solomon 10:15-21: Wisdom led God’s people out of Egypt and saved them from their enemies, leading them to sing songs of joy and praise.

Ephesians 1:3-14: In Christ God has brought both Jew and Gentile into God’s family and given us all an inheritance as God works out God’s plan of restoration for all creation through Christ.

John 1:(1-9), 10-18: God’s Word made flesh, through whom all things were created, has brought us into a new birth as children of God, has revealed God to us, and has given us an abundance of grace and blessing.

REFLECTIONS ON THEME:
Throughout the readings of this week is the joyous promise of blessing and grace – which is, perhaps, a welcome contrast to last week’s weeping and grief. In Jeremiah, the remnant is promised a return with joy and security – God’s blessing of provision and comfort. The Psalmist celebrates the God who strengthens and protects God’s people and gives them wisdom. In resonance with this Psalm, the apocryphal readings both celebrate the Wisdom which God has caused to dwell with God’s people, and which rescues them and leads them to joy and celebration. Paul, in Ephesians, celebrates the blessings and grace which have come to us in Christ, making us part of God’s family and ensuring us an eternal inheritance in God’s realm. And in the prologue to John’s Gospel (which was set for Christmas Day as well – although a slightly shorter section) we are reminded of our birth as children of God in Christ, and of the gracious blessings which we receive through Christ. There is no question that this is a week for celebration – remembering the grace and life we enjoy in Christ, and opening our hearts to God’s blessings and wisdom which are sure and sustaining – no matter what we may face in this world.

CONNECTING WITH LIFE:
GLOBAL APPLICATION: An often forgotten task which we are called to as followers of Christ is that of celebration and life-giving. As we challenge injustice and work to bring healing and restoration to our world, celebration can feel like indulgence, and worship can seem like impractical introspection. However, there is tremendous power in recognising goodness and life, in celebrating blessings and wisdom, wherever we may find it – even in those with whom we may generally disagree. And so, as we continue to celebrate the incarnation of Christ, we live this incarnation by acknowledging and affirming the wisdom that is at work in our world, in our leaders and thought-leaders. We live the incarnation by enjoying the blessings we see and experience, and by enabling others to find joy and reason to celebrate even in their struggle. We live the incarnation by embracing all people and welcoming them into the family of God into which we have ourselves been welcomed. As we draw attention to goodness and grace around us, and as we enable ourselves and others to embrace this goodness and grace, our world is gently transformed into a more secure, more blessed and more whole place. If this is not a work of justice – of God’s reign – then I don’t know what is!

LOCAL APPLICATION: It is all too easy in our Churches and faith communities to define ourselves by what we resist, what we denounce, or what we stand against. It is all too easy to make celebration, blessing and enjoyment something that we view as evil and to be shunned, but this is not Gospel living. In every person, in every community, there is goodness, grace and blessing to be found – no matter how tough or painful or unjust our lives may be. This is why slaves could sing of their hope and joy in Christ, and why artists in every oppressive regime have continued to perform, to sing and dance and create. It is a prophetic and liberating act to celebrate in the midst of grief and darkness. It is a prophetic and liberating act to enable people to recognise and embrace the goodness hidden even in their pain. It is a prophetic and liberating act to affirm goodness and wisdom wherever we may find it, and to welcome all people into the celebration. As God’s family, as followers of the incarnate, light-bringing Christ, may we be known for our joy, our hope, our wisdom, our celebration and our enjoyment of whatever blessings we may be able to receive and give. Surely this is a far more Christ-like and healing thing than to be known only for what we oppose and condemn?

RESOURCES FOR WORSHIP:
Prayers:
Truly Blessed
The Healing Power Of Celebration
Shared Blessings

Hymn Suggestions:
For All Your Blessings
For The Beauty Of The Earth
At The Name Of Jesus
Joy to the World
O Little Town Of Bethlehem
Do You Hear What I Hear (Link to YouTube video)
All Who Are Thirsty (Link to YouTube video)
You, You Are The God: Chord Chart; Mp3 Download (Amazon.com Mp3 Store)
Blessed Be Your Name (Link to YouTube video)
Your Grace Is Enough (Link to YouTube video)

Liturgy:
A Liturgy for the Foretaste of the Heavenly Banquet

Video Suggestions:
Blessings In Disguise
Him

This is not going to be a fun week to preach – but it is going to be life-giving!

The essential message of this week’s readings boils down to two things for me: 1) We are constantly faced with the choice to do the right thing or not; 2) Doing the right thing (or following Jesus, if you will) is very costly. Unfortunately, in our world, expediency, short-term thinking and prosperity preaching have all made the Gospel of counting the cost very unpopular. But, in truth, life is not found in quick fixes, or in pandering to our appetites – we know this. Life is found in following Christ’s sacrificial, life-giving ways – which is what it means, really, to do the right thing.

May our worship lead us to count the cost, and choose to be people who always seek to do the right thing.

READINGS:
Jeremiah 18:1-11: Jeremiah is instructed to observe the potter at work, and God explains how God works – how good that is promised may not happen if a nation turns to evil, and bad that is prophesied may not happen if the nation repents and turns back to God. Then God’s people are called to turn back to God.
OR Deuteronomy 30:15-20: The people are offered the choice of life or death. Life is to love God and live according to God’s principles. Death is to turn away from God and to worship other gods.

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18: A song of celebration for how intimately and completely God knows us – God formed us before we were born, and knows the path God wanted us to follow.
OR Psalm 1: Those who devote themselves to God’s law and God’s ways are blessed, secure and prosperous, while those who are wicked will fade away like husks blown away by the wind.

Philemon 1-21: Paul writes to Philemon asking him to “do the right thing” and accept Onesimus, his run away slave, back as a brother in Christ, without judgement or punishment.

Luke 14:25-33: The cost of following Christ is everything, and Jesus encourages us to count the cost before committing ourselves to him.

REFLECTIONS ON THEME:
The Lectionary seems to bring us back to this one question over and over – Will we choose life and good and God, or death and evil and “not-God”? – for us to think about it from a different perspective and explore it at a deeper level. A basic reality of life and faith is this question, and the way we answer it will determine how we live, and the consequences we must face (Jeremiah, Deuteronomy and Psalm 1). Choosing life does not guarantee health, wealth and happiness – no matter what the prosperity preachers tell us. Faith is not a protection from life’s struggles and suffering. Rather, the gift of choosing God’s life is the wisdom, the resources and the capacity to give of self that leads us into fullness of life, and into knowing the reality of God’s reign in our daily lives – no matter what we may have to deal with. The big challenge in this week’s readings is the recognition that following God’s way is difficult and costly (Luke). Doing the right thing, while it leads us into God’s abundant life, is often counter-intuitive, and goes against our natural inclinations and reactions (Philemon). But we have the assurance that God knows us, loves and seeks the best for us (Psalm 139). If we are to find the courage to pay the price of following Christ, we need to learn to lean into God’s love and grace.

CONNECTING WITH LIFE:
GLOBAL APPLICATION: How do we begin to speak about doing the right thing in our world today? When the cost of doing right is high, and often offers little short-term gain, how do we do what is right? When our leaders are faced with fickle voters, partisan misrepresentation and opportunism, and pressure from interest groups that threaten to jump ship if they don’t get their way, how are they supposed to choose what is right? When business is measured quarterly and the stock market punishes anything but short-term gain-making strategies, how are corporations supposed to do the right thing? When we need power now, how do we what is right by our planet? When we want the foods we love now, how do we grow and distribute food ethically? When we want to feel safe now, how do we negotiate and resist the temptation to go to war? When we need to grow the bottom line, how do we investigate labour practices of suppliers, or ensure raw materials are mined sustainably? In a world of instant gratification, media scrutiny and results-addiction, eternal reward and long-term results that benefit the least can be hard to sell. If we are to commit ourselves to being people who do the right thing, we will know the benefit – we will find life that is abundant and sustainable and good, and we will encounter God in our daily living. But, we will also know the cost – the sacrifice of some of our comforts, the misunderstandings and cynicism of those who stay committed to expediency, the anger of our leaders and peers as we challenge “the system”. But, if we will not pay the cost, what hope is there for us and our world?

LOCAL APPLICATION: Doing the right thing comes down to the small details of our lives as individual Christ-followers and as communities of faith. It is in the choices we make that God’s goodness is reflected to the world, and the true value of the Gospel is demonstrated. When we turn our faith into just another “quick-fix” or just another strategy for fast and easy personal gratification (which we all do all too often) then we deny ourselves the power and joy of God’s abundant life, and we fail to proclaim the power of the Gospel of Jesus. But, when we are prepared to pay the cost – to live a life of loving, serving and caring for the least, the outcast and the unlovely – the Gospel message shouts form our lives. When we work hard to make ethical choices about our food, our clothing, our energy needs, our mode of transport, these small sacrifices have a big impact on the lives of others and on the world at large – and the Gospel message shouts from our lives. When we are prepared to live in a way that is counter-cultural, denying the short-term approach of our society, and embracing the time frame of eternity, then we build a sustainable life for ourselves, and we contribute to the sustainability of the world – and the Gospel shouts from our lives. What “instant-gratification” choices are you making that need to change? What cost is God asking you to pay in order to live the Gospel in the daily details of your life? In what ways is the practical, life-giving, blessing of the Gospel being reflected in your life and your church?

RESOURCES FOR WORSHIP:
Prayers:
A Small Price, Really
Counting The Cost
A Goodness Worth Pursuing

Hymn Suggestions:
Take My Life And Let It Be
I Surrender All
O Jesus I Have Promised
My Jesus, I Love Thee
Have Thine Own Way, Lord
Lord, I Give You My Heart (Link to YouTube video)
I Will Offer Up My Life (Link to YouTube video)
Change My Heart, O God (Link to YouTube video)
Everything (Link to YouTube video)
Here I Am, Jesus: Chord Chart & Mp3 Sample (Scroll down for link)

Liturgy:
A Liturgy for the Celebration of Sacrifice

Video Suggestions:
Wonderfully Made
The Cost Of Following Jesus with Adrian Plass

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

I started this post while moving house – the movers were packing our boxes and furniture into the truck while I sat in a corner on the floor typing! I finished it today, sitting in our new home – a beautiful apartment in Sea Point, Cape Town. So, although I had hoped to get this post out earlier in the week, I’m quite pleased that I got it out at all. All, going well, things will start to settle in the next couple of weeks, and I’ll be back into normal routines. Thanks for your patience.

Also, for those who subscribe to the email updates, I have tweaked things so that the email contains the whole post and not just the teaser with the link, as it was in the past. This post will test to see if it works. Please let me know if you prefer it this way, or in the previous, abbreviated, format. Thanks.

The Sunday after Christmas (this year it’s just a couple of days later – the 27th of December) is always a tough one to prepare for. Services, in my experience, are usually quite sparsely attended, and with all the energy that went into Christmas, it can be hard to find anything inspiring for this week. But, the readings are very challenging – a simple reflection on the Christ-child growing up in grace and stature, and the obvious question that is raised – what does the “good life” look like?

READINGS:  
1 Samuel 2:18-20,26: Samuel grows under the care of Eli the priest, and his parents visit him annually when they come to the Tabernacle for the sacrifice.

Psalm 148: A psalm calling all of creation to praise the God who has strengthened God’s people.

Colossians 3:12-17: Instruction on how those who have been chosen and forgiven by God should live – in compassion, harmony and peace.

Luke 2:41-52: Mary and Joseph accidentally leave Jesus behind in Jerusalem, and return to find him in the Temple in discussion with the religious teachers. Jesus is obedient and grows in wisdom and stature.

REFLECTIONS ON THEME:
Like Samuel before him, and for those who seek to follow him, Jesus is the example of a life well lived – in humility, obedience, forgiveness, peace and growth in character, in spirit and in compassion. At the heart of this “good” life, is the constant attitude of reverence and praise for the God who guides and strengthens us to live the best life possible.

CONNECTING WITH LIFE:
GLOBAL APPLICATION: The Western world has long chased the dream of “the good life”, and has called other nations and people to aspire to the same dream. However, the cost of this “good life” has been shown to be way too high – for the planet that cannot sustain our high levels of consumption and waste, for poorer nations who have given up resources and have given their bodies in cheap labour to sustain the lifestyles of the wealthy, and for the wealthy themselves, who have discovered, after attaining the “dream” that it fails to satisfy the inner longing, and is, anyway, a fragile and easily lost lifestyle – as the economic crisis has shown. Our world desperately needs to redefine what “the good life” really is – in the terms that were modelled by Jesus: simplicity, humility, compassion, peace and reverence.

LOCAL APPLICATION: Every community knows the pain, frustration and disillusionment of those who have chased “the good life” and “failed”, and of those who have “succeeded” and found only despair. The pain is material, relational, communal and, of course, spiritual. The Church has a calling and a privilege in being able to offer an alternative “good life” – a Jesus-modelled life. Perhaps this Sunday would be a good time to repent of the ways we have allowed the world’s view of the good life to infiltrate our places of worship and our spiritual teaching, while also committing again to live and share the kind of good life that Jesus offers and teaches.

RESOURCES FOR WORSHIP:
Prayers:
The Life That Is Truly Good
A Goodness Worth Pursuing

Hymns: 
All Creatures Of Our God And King
Jesus, Lord, We Look To Thee
O Master, Let Me Walk With Thee
Dear Jesus, In Whose Life I See
Be Thou My Vision
(A gender inclusive version of the lyrics is available here)
And a contemporary version: Be Now My Vision
Give Thanks
Let Me Shine (You can download the chord chart here – scroll down for the link – and listen to a preview of the song here).
All The Way My Saviour Leads Me
What Can I Do
Shine

Liturgy:
A Liturgy for the Eucharist

Video:
Jesus: Man of the Streets
Follow Me

Images:
Forest Path