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

READINGS:
Isaiah 49:8-16a: In response to the Servant Song of Isaiah 49:1-6, God speaks to the servant and promises the restoration, prosperity and security of Israel through him, calling the nation to rejoice and trust in God’s love which is greater than a mother’s.

Psalm 131: A Song of Ascent. The Psalmist enters worship with confidence in God’s security, comfort and love, and exhorts the people of Israel to do the same.

1 Corinthians 4:1-5: Paul exhorts the church to avoid judging one another, or their ‘leaders’ and to leave the judgement to God, who alone knows the heart and will give praise as it is due.

Matthew 6:24-34: Jesus warns against serving money as a way to deal with our fears, and rather to trust in God’s care and provision, seeking first God’s reign and serving God alone.

REFLECTIONS ON THEME:
The word “faith” has at times been used in painful and confusing ways. People who are not healed are accused of not having enough faith. Those who do not have enough food or money are encouraged to have faith, and if they get afraid or stressed they are chastised for their lack of faith. In some cases, faith is seen as a magic attitude that can ensure health, wealth and happiness, if we just have enough of it. As a result, the idea of faith – of trusting God to provide and care for us – has often been thrown out in thoughtful faith circles. However, the idea of trusting God is the heart of this week’s Lectionary readings. God promises the Servant that Israel will be restored and that God’s care is more reliable than a mother’s. The Psalmist affirms his faith in God’s care, and calls his people to join him in faith. Jesus, in a much misunderstood section of the Sermon on the Mount, calls his followers to trust God and not chase after money. In this context, Paul’s words in Corinthians may seem out of place. However, perhaps it is Paul that gives us the key this week, because he is also speaking about faith – about trusting God. But this time, it is trusting God to know our hearts truly and to give us the praise we are due when we need it. This is the image of the parent celebrating the child’s achievements and growth, no matter how humble they may be. This is the image of the parent who will sometimes allow the child to struggle in order that they may find their own strength, wisdom and way in the world – much like the Psalmist’s image of the “weaned child” (as opposed to the much more dependent “nursing infant”). When all of these passages are held together we discover that the Scriptures do not guarantee us a care-free, prosperous life. But they do promise that as we seek God’s reign, we will find the strength, encouragement, inner resources and sense of comfort and peace that we need to face whatever joys or struggles life throws at us.

CONNECTING WITH LIFE:
GLOBAL APPLICATION: Where does faith in God’s care and provision fit into a world of injustice, suffering and gross inequality? How we deal with the reality that it is often those who live in affluent countries or circumstances who most claim that God provides for them? What can it mean to engage in the work of justice, while believing that God does care and does provide? These are some of the tough questions that sometimes drive justice-oriented believers to cynicism and functional atheism. It’s hard to believe in a God who actively provides for God’s children when faced with dire poverty, life-threatening diseases that afflict poor communities more than wealthy ones (or where lives wouldn’t be threatened if there was money to buy necessary medicines – like AIDS and TB) and the seeming prosperity of those who perpetuate injustice while the poor continue to suffer and die. However, it is the very concern for others that drives us to seek justice that is evidence of God’s care. It is our capacity to “seek first God’s kingdom” that reveals God’s quest for justice and goodness to prevail. The key, though, is to move away from the God-limiting idea that God must “supernaturally” intervene to make a difference and begin to embrace the call to both trust God, and be agents of God’s care. The trust comes in what Evolutionary Christians (www.evolutionarychristianity.com) call evolution’s God-given “trajectory of compassion” – that the universe is becoming ever more compassionate and gracious as it evolves. The call to be agents of justice and grace – to seek first God’s reign – is fueled by the faith and hope that this insight brings, and is expressed in our ongoing, unswerving commitment to participate in social movements and political processes, and through small daily lifestyle changes and acts of justice that make small but significant contributions to healing and justice.

LOCAL APPLICATION: In our communities we will inevitably have those who claim that God provides for them every time – from money to parking spaces to protection from harm or trauma. But, equally, we will have those who have not experienced such “provision” – who have been harmed or traumatised, who struggle to make ends meet through no fault of their own, or who face sickness, unfortunate accidents or unexpected, bad life changes. How do we reconcile these two groups? How do we affirm God’s care, without leaving those who are suffering feeling unloved and rejected by God? How do we recognise life’s struggles without undermining the faith of those who believe they experience God’s care? Perhaps the answer is to begin to embrace a different understanding of God and of God’s care. Rather than a deist view in which God waits outside of our world, swooping in to save or help us, we can present a God who is within and among us, involved in the processes of creation and growth and chaos and life and death. Rather than a faith that requires God to meet every need, or ‘answer’ the details of our lives in order to protect us from suffering, we can present a God who works with us and within us no matter what we may face, giving us strength, courage, and grace to navigate the inevitable pain and chaos that must exist in any creative universe. In this view, then, we avoid the equal and opposite errors of believing that we must “serve money” and look after ourselves without any thought that God will help us, and of thinking that God will do it all for us and we have nothing to do but to trust and wait for God’s provision to magically appear. Rather, we begin to recognise that we have the awesome responsibility and privilege of working to contribute to God’s reign even while we engage in the usual tasks of providing for ourselves and our families. We are able to avoid making money an end in itself, and we can commit to the “higher purpose” of God’s reign, God’s justice and God’s compassion (which means recognising that we may often be called on to be God’s provision for someone else). But, we can also avoid becoming “too heavenly minded to be any earthly good”, trusting God’s guidance and care, while working however we may to make a life in the world for ourselves, and for others in our circles of influence.

RESOURCES FOR WORSHIP:
Prayers:
Your Kingdom Come
The Measure Of Faith
In Defiance

Hymn Suggestions:
In Heavenly Love Abiding
Trust And Obey
Blessed Assurance
Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing
My Hope Is Built
Blessed Be Your Name (Link to YouTube video. Note: I prefer to leave the bridge out of this song.)
Your Grace Is Enough (Link to YouTube video)
You Are: Chord Chart; Mp3 Download
I Believe That God Appeared In Human Form (Tune is the famous “I believe for every drop of rain that falls”)
Seek Ye First (Link to YouTube video)

Liturgy:
A Liturgy For The Eucharist

Video Suggestions:
Do Not Worry
That’s My Money

Image Suggestions:
Church PowerPoint Epiphany 8A – Page 1, Page 2, Page 3 (Includes a featured sermon and Lectionary notes as well)

Perhaps I can support this with a quote from my new book The Hour That Changes Everything – How worship forms us into the people God wants us to be:

A significant part of the practice of Sabbath is aligning ourselves with God’s rhythm. As rhythm organises a piece of music in time according to speed and pattern, so Sabbath organises our lives according to God’s sense of time – God’s tempo and pattern. This is more than simply giving ourselves a breather, or allowing ourselves time to rest so that we can launch back into our busyness with renewed vigour. Sabbath is about learning to recognise the significance of moments in time. It is about learning to recognise God’s tempo and pattern for us, our community and our world, and it is about matching our pace with these eternal rhythms.

The book releases in South Africa this week, and will be available for international purchase through Amazon.com shortly. More information will be going up on the Sacredise web site this week.

May worship lead you into a life of true Sabbath-keeping this week.

READINGS:
Jeremiah 1:4-10: Jeremiah is called by God to be a prophet, but protests that he is too young. God promises to put God’s words into Jeremiah’s mouth.
OR Isaiah 58:9b-14: God promises goodness and honour for God’s people if they will act justly and honour the Sabbath.

Psalm 71:1-6: A prayer for God’s protection and care.
OR Psalm 103:1-8: A song of praise and thanksgiving for God’s forgiveness, healing and goodness.

Hebrews 12:18-29: Unlike the people of Israel who were afraid of God’s appearing at the mountain, followers of Christ have been invited into God’s grace and the joyous community of worship in Christ. We have received an unshakeable kingdom, and must be careful to listen to Christ’s words, and worship God in thankfulness.

Luke 13:10-17: Jesus heals a crippled woman on the Sabbath, incurring the criticism of the synagogue leader. Jesus points out that everyone ‘works’ on the Sabbath, and that it is right and good that she should be freed.

REFLECTIONS ON THEME:
Although it is only specifically mentioned in two of the readings this week, the prominence of the Sabbath in the Gospel reading, and the underlying foundations of a “Sabbath way of life” provide exciting possibilities for worship. Closely aligned with this is the word “kingdom” which comes through in a number of the readings. These two biblical words are closely related. The Sabbath is one element of the whole Jubilee system of justice and equity that God gave to Israel, ensuring sufficient rest, and – arising from the Manna story – discouraging hoarding and accumulation. The Kingdom, as best represented by the “mission statement” of Jesus in Luke 4, is also about Jubilee, about justice and equity, and about ensuring “shalom” (peace and well-being) for all. This is the unshakeable kingdom of the writer of Hebrews. This is the call of Isaiah’s prophecy, and the message of Jeremiah that will bring down unjust kingdoms and build up just ones. This is the prayer and the praise of the Psalms. In healing this crippled woman on the Sabbath, and teaching that mercy is a Sabbath-activity, Jesus embodies the justice, grace and welcome of God’s unshakeable kingdom. The theme, then, this week could be titled “God’s Sabbath Kingdom”.

CONNECTING WITH LIFE:
GLOBAL APPLICATION: In our “time is money” world, Sabbath has lost its essential meaning. It has become nothing more than a “day off” to restore energy to get back into the fray as soon as possible. However, this is far from what the Sabbath was originally intended to be. Rather, the practice of Sabbath – both the Sabbath day, and the Sabbath Year/Jubilee – is about realignment. It is about taking ourselves out of the human system of accumulation, self-protection and self-aggrandisement, and placing ourselves under the influence of God’s rhythms, God’s priorities and God’s direction. It is not about getting back into the fray, but about living with a whole different value system – that of justice, mercy and equity. The call to live God’s Kingdom’s values is a call to live as Sabbath people, and it is this gracious kingdom alone that is unshakeable – unmoved by the temptation to benefit by exploiting others, by the threat of economic collapse, or by the ‘competition’ for resources. When we scratch the surface of our world’s economic systems, we cannot help but see the destructive results of a Sabbathless existence. Exploitation of foreign workers in order to ensure cheap labour for producing everything from chocolate and coffee to cell phones and computers, Trade regulations and subsidies that favour the rich and powerful over poor farmers and labourers in third world countries, and political decision making that is more influenced by wealthy donors and lobbyists than by the needs of the most vulnerable all leave suffering in their wake. The drivenness and hyperactivity of those who chase wealth also wreaks havoc on marriages, families and individuals. If our world needs anything in order to become more just and peaceful, it’s a return to the Sabbath-rhythms of God’s reign. This alone will bring healing to the those who have been crippled by the Satan of our broken society.

LOCAL APPLICATION: Jesus spoke about his followers being “in the world but not of it”. This was not a call to “otherworldliness” or to check out of the world as we wait for heaven. It is a reflection of the reality that as individuals and churches we face the daily temptation to adopt the broken values and practices of the world around us. It is a call to live the values and practices of God’s Sabbath Kingdom within the societies and communities in which we find ourselves. It is all too easy for us to become driven by the same idols of success, wealth and convenience that the affluent sections of our global society embrace – and all too many churches and theological systems have done just this. But, if we are to be Sabbath/Kingdom people, we are to step out of this system, embracing rather the rhythms of justice – meaningful work, joyful rest, compassionate service, generous sharing, and a commitment to equity and compassion. In small but powerful ways we can change the world by living these values in our communities – by worshipping in venues of simple reverence; by adopting technology, practices and programs for their usefulness, not their “sexiness” or fashionable-ness; by sharing what we have with the people around us, rather than using our wealth to aggrandise ourselves; by using our influence in society to ensure protection for the most vulnerable and needy among us; and by working for a more equitable society using all the tools at our disposal, from votes to prayer. Who are those who have been crippled by the weight of the world’s unjust and inequitable systems? How can we allow the Sabbath to become a healing and liberating experience for them and us?

RESOURCES FOR WORSHIP:
Prayers:
Rhythms Of Life
Sabbath People
Weak And Poor God

Hymn Suggestions:
Jesus Calls Us
Dear Lord And Father Of Mankind (I would prefer it if this hymn was more inclusive in its language – perhaps it could be sung as: Dear Lover of all humankind)
I Am Known
What A Friend We Have In Jesus
O Come, And Dwell In Me
Love And Justice
(Scroll down for preview and link to purchase the song)
King Of The Broken (Link to YouTube video)
Thuma Mina (Send Me) (Scroll down for
preview). Chord chart
Jubilee
(Link to Amazon.com Mp3 preview)
Chord Chart (Scroll
down for the link)
Your Grace Is Enough (Link to YouTube video)
Everlasting God (Link to YouTube video)

Liturgy:
A Liturgy for the Foretaste of the Heavenly Banquet

Video Suggestions:
The Sabbath And The Poor
Missing The Joy
We’re Alright Down Here