Just as we are - God uses us all

It is the very fact that some Bible stories have a larger than life feel to them that gives them their appeal. The story of Jonah and the Whale is one of those larger-than-life Bible stories that packs an enormous punch and makes you think differently about the world at large.

Other Bible stories have a very different feel to them. Down to earth, it is that true-to-life feel that gives them their appeal. Maybe it’s because the story of Naomi has a true-to-life feel to it that it speaks to us at a very different level, at a much more personal level, at a very real down-to-earth level.

Naomi’s story is told in the book of Ruth and it is a tragic story. Growing up in Bethlehem Naomi marries into a family that has land and is able to live more than comfortably. Naomi and her husband Elimelech have two sons Mahlon and Chilion and they are comfortably set up.

And then everything goes wrong.

Famine strikes and no matter how much land you have it’s not much good if it bears no crops.

So it is that Naomi and Elimelech flee from Bethlehem. They become refugees and make their way down through the wilderness, over the River Jordan as it comes down towards the Dead Sea and they make their way up into the mountains of Moab seeking refuge and asylum.

They are fortunate and are taken in by the Moabite people who are kind to them. Then it is that tragedy befalls Naomi.

Elimelech dies.

Mahlon and Chilion marry Moabite wives – something of a mixed blessing for Naomi.

The prospects of her return home are gone. She is dependent on her sons, they in turn have become part of the Moabite community. She is far from home.

Then her two sons die.

Her loneliness is more marked than ever.

She decides to return home.

There must be something about Naomi that is kind and loving and has made its mark on the two Moabite women her sons have married. Orpah and Ruth accompany her.

Naomi gently explains to them that they will be better off in their own homes.

With sadness in her heart Orpah returns. But Ruth won’t leave Naomi. As she clings to her Ruth says those wonderful words of commitment

Where you go, I will go,

Where you lodge, I will lodge,

Your people shall be my people

Your god, my God.

The two return to Bethlehem.

And Naomi touches rock bottom.

“Call me no longer Naomi, call me Mara [that’s the word meaning Bitter]

For the Almighty has dealt bitterly with me.

I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty,

Why call me Naomi when the Lord has dealt harshly with me,

And the Almighty has brought calamity upon me.”

It is a debilitating feeling of God-forsakenness that brings Naomi so low.

The focus of the story turns now to Ruth and a member of Elimelech’s family, Boaz. Boaz takes Ruth under his wing.

He is responsible for the fields still in the family’s possession, but he recognises the Moabitess woman is at risk. At great risk.

You touch the underside of a community that is concerned only for its own. Now Ruth is the refugee – the one fleeing from Moab, seeking refuge with Naomi. And she is at risk from the predator males of the community who see her as easy picking.

Boaz offers a different way.

Boaz sees in Ruth someone different.

He sees in Ruth the person who has actually stayed with Naomi through those times of terrible and terrifying bitterness. Not only has she supported Naomi, but she has been prepared to sacrifice the security of her own home to accompany Naomi as she has returned home.

Boaz sees the God he believes in as one who has the capacity to take Ruth under his wings as she comes to him for refuge.

As the story unfolds the different mix of people in Bethlehem interact with each other, until at the end Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife and they have a son.

Then it is the women of Bethlehem who celebrate the restoration of Naomi

Blessed be the Lord who ohas not left you this day without next of kin

May his name be renowned in Israel!”

He shall be to you a restorer of life

And a nourisher of your old age.

There is a final twist in the tale, of course, as the Moabite Ruth’s son Obed in turn has a son, Jesse, who in turn has a son David who becomes the great King of David.

It is one of the great ironies of the Old Testament story that the great king David is desceneded from a Moabitess woman.

What strikes me about that story is that so many different people have a part to play as the story unfolds. So many people make a difference.

There courage of Naomi and Elimelech and their two sons to become effectively refugees and seek a refuge in a foreign land.

The welcome given them by the Moabite community. The willingness of the Moabite families to take Israelite men into their families.

Ruth’s courage as she accompanies Naomi; but also Orpah’s very different kind of courage as she returns home to be with her family. Each commended in their own way.

The courage of Naomi when feeling at her weakest to make the journey home, not knowing what lay in store for her.

The welcome given to the returning Naomi in her moment of deepest despair, and the welcome given to Ruth by Boaz and the family … in the face of the threat of those who were so opposed to receiving a refugee, a foreigner in their midst.

Each is making their own contribution all the way through.

There is a sense in which everyone is helping everyone else. There’s a wonderful interaction going on between so many people.

Among all of those people Naomi stands out.

Naomi is one of the tragic figures of the Old Testament. She loses so much. Her home, her husband, her sons, her safety. She loses her faith in God. She loses her self-esteem. She calls herself Mara – bitter.

Yet even at that point she too is interacting with others and what she does is impacting for good on them – Ruth may be helping her, but she too is helping Ruth, though one senses at that point of lowest ebb she doesn’t recognise it.

The great thing for Naomi is that people stick by her. It is through their support and the agency of those other people, together with the things that she herself does that impacts on those around her that God ultimately becomes to her ‘a restorer of life, a nourisher of old age.’

What a story.

There is a wonderful message there. No matter who we are, what kind of a person we are, God has a part for us to play. There is something for us to do: God will use us as the people we are.

It is not that he wants us to change so that he can use us. He uses us as we are and then change comes.

During the week Rob Lacey forwarded me a link to a piece that appeared in the Daily Mail telling the remarkable story of Nick Vujicic. Rob described it as a humbling story ... it is the story of someone born with no arms and no legs who has come to see that God treasures him as the person he is and has great things for him to do as the person he is.

Life without limb-its: The astonishing story of the man born without arms or legs... who plays golf, surfs, and swims

You can see Nick's video on YouTube by clicking here

Thinking of the life of the church here at Highbury at the moment we are asking questions. What are you passionate about? What gifts do you have? The idea is that we harvest the things we feel passionate about, and draw on the gifts we can share with each other.

In doing that we also need to recognise the people we are. And accept who we are in the knowledge that God can use as we are. There are all sorts of ways of recognising the people we are …some people were helped by the the Willow Creek Network course we did when we asked the question Who are we?

People prefer to interact with people and tasks in different ways. Some of us are more task-oriented and some of us are more people-oriented.

At the ‘task’ end of the scale are people who are energised by doing things. Task people are comfortable working with people who share their commitment to the task, and sometimes get frustrated or feel awkward with a lot of relational activities. In a church context their focus will be on accomplishing tasks that serve people.

At the ‘people’ end of the scale are those who are energised by interacting with people. They measure results in terms of relationships, and prefer to work with other people in a ‘team’ setting. They will focus in church on people and relationships.

That’s not to say that those who are people-oriented are not concerned with task accomplishment, or that Task-oriented people are not concerned with relationships. It is more a matter of priority and approach.

Another way to understand ourselves is to realise that some of us are Unstructured and some of us are Structured.

At the Unstructured end of the scale are people who prefer to have lots of options an d flexibility. They tend to enjoy moving between a variety of activities. The kind of service they share in church should be generally described, and their relationships with others will be spontaneous.

At the structured end of the scale are people who prefer to plan and bring order to their lives. They tend to seek decisions and closure. They are detail-oriented. What they do in a church context should be clearly defined, and relationships will tend to be consistent.

You can then bring those two together – some are people focused and structured; some will be people focused and un-structured. Some will be task-focused and structured, some task focused and un-structured.

And somewhere between.

Where do you locate yourself? Be the person you are. And play your part in the life of the church as the person you are.

And we need to affirm and value each one of us.

That’s the good news at the heart of our faith.

Once we accept that we are accepted that will open up all sorts of new possibilities for us.

Who are you like? What kind of a person are you? Where do you fit on the story line of Naomi?

Whoever you are and wherever you find yourself … there’s one Psalm that speaks to each of us …

Psalm 139

O Lord, you have searched me and known me.

You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
O Lord, you know it completely.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it.

Where can I go from your spirit?
Or where can I flee from your presence?
If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
If I take the wings of the morning
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me fast.
If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light around me become night’,
even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for darkness is as light to you.

For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.

Open your hearts wide!

Enthusiastic.

Passionate.

Those two words really do sum Paul up.

There’s one moment in the course of his correspondence with a troubled church in the very cosmopolitan Corinth when you can catch a glimpse of just how enthusiastic and passionate Paul was.

2 Corinthians 6:1-12

In our work together with God, then, we beg you who have received God's grace not to let it be wasted. 2 Hear what God says:

“When the time came for me to show you favour

I heard you;

when the day arrived for me to save you,

I helped you.”

Listen! This is the hour to receive God's favour; today is the day to be saved!

3 We do not want anyone to find fault with our work, so we try not to put obstacles in anyone's way. 4 Instead, in everything we do we show that we are God's servants by patiently enduring troubles, hardships, and difficulties. 5 We have been beaten, imprisoned, and mobbed; we have been overworked and have gone without sleep or food.

6 By our purity, knowledge, patience, and kindness we have shown ourselves to be God's servants — by the Holy Spirit, by our true love, 7 by our message of truth, and by the power of God. We have righteousness as our weapon, both to attack and to defend ourselves. 8 We are honoured and disgraced; we are insulted and praised. We are treated as liars, yet we speak the truth; 9 as unknown, yet we are known by all; as though we were dead, but, as you see, we live on. Although punished, we are not killed; 10 although saddened, we are always glad; we seem poor, but we make many people rich; we seem to have nothing, yet we really possess everything.

11 Dear friends in Corinth! We have spoken frankly to you; we have opened our hearts wide. 12 It is not we who have closed our hearts to you; it is you who have closed your hearts to us. 13 I speak now as though you were my children: show us the same feelings that we have for you. Open your hearts wide!

Such enthusiasm, such passion is not for everyone. Some there are who are the enthusiasts, they are the ones who are enthusiastic. Some there are who are passionate about things. But it’s not for everyone.

Paul wasn’t so sure.

I love that expression he uses of himself in verse 11.

Dear friends in Corinth! We have spoken frankly to you; we have opened our hearts wide!

That’s the phrase he uses – his heart is wide open as he has a massive heart for all he does. That’s the passion. That’s the enthusiasm.

And Paul is not willing to accept that he should be the only one with the enthusiasm and the passion.

Paul is critical of the lack of enthusiasm, the lack of passion of the Corinthians. “It is not we who have closed our hearts to you; it is you who have closed your hearts to us.”

Then he goes on to speak in a kind and fatherly way …

I speak now as though you were my children:

Show us the same feelings that we have for you.

Then comes a wonderful invitation.

Open your hearts wide!

I love that invitation.

Open your hearts wide!

Let’s not leave it to the few to be enthusiastic, passionate. Open your hearts wide!

Let the enthusiasm rise up: don’t stifle it. Open your hearts wide!

My guess is that most of us, all of us have some things we feel strongly about. We may keep it to ourselves. One of the key things to releasing the energy that is latent in a church is to identify the things people are passionate about and then to harness that feeling of passion.

It’s good to identify what it is we feel passionate about … and then to release that into the life of the church. Open your hearts wide!

Most things we feel passionate about we can harness into the life of the church.

1. We need a standard – a measure by which to measure what we do feel enthusiastic and passionate about.

2. We need a focus - something in church that is an over-arching thing to arouse our enthusiasm and passion.

3. And we need a strength - to enable to sustain our enthusiasm and our passion.

It is fascinating to see how at each stage Paul has something to say to help us.

1. We need a standard - a measure by which to measure what we do feel enthusiastic and passionate about.

Paul gives us precisely the measure we need in 2 Corinthians 5:14.

We are ruled by the love of Christ.

Most of the things we are passionate about can be brought under the rule of Christ. Maybe we are passionate about our work – it is important to remember that the sphere of work, work practices, the things that you do, the values you adhere to are ‘ruled by the love of Christ’.

Maybe we are passionate about an interest – sport - how we play the game, how we express our support from the terraces … all are ruled by the love of Christ.

Maybe we are passionate about a cause – use this as a rule of thumb. Is the cause you are passionate about one that can be said to be ruled by the love of Christ. Are you passionate about moral issues … in your passion for those moral issues be ruled by the love of Christ. Are you passionate about political issues, be ruled by the love of Christ.

If you sense that a political cause is not ruled by the love of Christ, that the way in which a moral cause is being pursued is not ruled by the love of Christ … check what it is that you are passionate and enthusiastic about and think again.

As we are ruled by Christ the task in church is to harness those things we feel passionate about to shape the life of the church. Over the years we have had a passion for mission – support of the mission boxes, the CWM birthday scheme, but also doing mission, Alpha locally, serving in the community, use of premises, international justice and care – Christian Aid. A passion for being inclusive of people – in our access, a passion for the environment?

I have a passion for training – I want to share with others.

As we open our hearts wide, let what we are passionate about be ruled by the love of Christ.

2. We need a focus - something in church that is an over-arching thing to arouse our enthusiasm and passion.

In the lead up to this passage in chapter 6 of 2 Corinthians Paul speaks of the one over-arching thing that is at the heart of all that makes him so passionate, all that fills him with such enthusiasm. He comes back to the same thing in various ways time and time again.

It is in verses 19 and 20.

We are to be ambassadors for Chrsit

Our message is that God was making the whole human race his friends through Christ. God did not keep an account of their sins, and he has given us the message which tells how he makes them his friends.

The NRSV puts it in a way that arouses my passion and fills me with enthusiasm.

In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself

This is the nub of the matter.

The world is out of joint. But in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself. In Christ God is putting the world back together again. That’s something to be passionate about. That’s something to be enthusiastic about. Open your hearts wide!

That entails a wonderful sense of forgiveness – in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them.

That’s the liberating thing. Whatever has gone wrong, whoever has gone wrong, whatever is falling apart, whoever is fallen apart in Christ God is there to put it back together again, not counting all those wrongs, but wiping them away.

This is something of a thrill in a world where we are conscious of so much that goes wrong. I want to be part of that. And that’s exactly what Paul wants of us.

Open your heart wide! He says to each one of us – you need to be part of this.

In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. So we are ambassadors for Christ!

That’s the thing.

Open your hearts wide.

Catch the enthusiasm.

Be ambassadors for Christ

Exactly what was said by Marcus Borg at Mansfield yesterday at a service to mark 123 years of ministerial training … coming to an end. It was a bitter-sweet day.

In the afternoon Marcus Borg, a NT scholar who had studied at Mansfield under George Caird revieed 50 years of Jesus scholarship. Fascinating. He came to an end suggesting that the most recent scholarship feels that the Jesus of history is someone we can uncover and meet with.

He asked the question what would his message be?

What was Jesus’ passion – what was he pawssionate about?

And the answer he gave – God and the Kingdom of God.

His message to us?

• Be passionate about God: centre in God
• Participate in God’s passion for the world. Change the world.

It was wonderful – great stuff.

But one thing more is needed.

Something is lacking.

We not only need a standard and focus …

3. we need a strength

It is only possible to be enthusiastic to be passionate by drawing on a strength beyond ourselves. The words carry that meaning with them. My dictionary tells me that enthusiasm comes from the Greek word enthousiasmos – a god-inspired zeal, from enthousiazein to be inspired by a god, from en meaning in and theos meaning a god.

Passion comes from the Lation passio passionis from pati passus – meaning to suffer. When you are passionate about something you are keen enough on it to be prepared to suffer for it.

Enthusiastic.

Passionate.

Those two words really do sum Paul up … they give the clue to what we need in order to sustain an enthusiasm and a passion that is ruled by the love of Christ and makes us Ambassadors for Christ.

Paul speaks of all the sufferings, troubles, hardships, difficulties he has endured – 6:5 being beaten, imprisoned, mobbed, overworked, deprived of sleep.

Then in verse 8 he says something very telling. It is something we need to draw on. We don’t just have something to be enthusiastic and passionate about, we have something to infuse our enthusiasm and passion with, something to give it the enduring strength it needs.

He speaks of showing himself to be God’s servants by the characteristics of his life – they are ones we would do well to nurture within ourselves – purity, knowledge, patience, kindness. These are the things that our enthusiasms and passions need to be infused with.

Then come four sources of strength – by the Holy Spirit, by our true love, by our message of truth, and by the power of God.

BUT EVEN THEN … we must be realistic. We must be down to earth. We must get real! It is not all plain sailing. There will be the storms. There will be the peaks and the troughs.

8 We are honoured and disgraced; we are insulted and praised. We are treated as liars, yet we speak the truth; 9 as unknown, yet we are known by all; as though we were dead, but, as you see, we live on.

The thing is that though there will be down times, the victory is God’s – he will be with us. The power we draw on is the strength of the Holy Spirit, the power of God – it is the power of the truth, it is the power of love.

Although punished, we are not killed; 10 although saddened, we are always glad; we seem poor, but we make many people rich; we seem to have nothing, yet we really possess everything.

Then it is that Paul appeals to each one of us

Catch the enthusiasm

Catch the passion.

Open your hearts wide!

Gifts to share ... with unexpected consequences!

It needed to be done!

God had just the right person to do it!

But he did not think so!

And so he ran in the opposite direction.

As fast and as far as he could go.

But then things happened..

For Jonah there was the storm at sea, the cry of man overboard and the proverbial whale.

His life fell apart and everything went wrong.

The wonderful thing about God in the story of Jonah is that Jonah has a second chance

I love chapter 3 verse 1

The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time …

Second chance.

Same job.

Same person.

Same gifts.

And was Jonah the right person for the job.

He preached just as God had said.

And there is amazement in the story. The people of Nineveh listened.

Why tell that story now?

It goes back to our Deacons day.

We were thinking of gifts that we can share … and we felt as a diaconate it was timely to reflect on the gifts we share.

It is five years since we did a course that asked the Question Who are we?

We asked people to think about three things.

What are you passionate about?

What gifts do you have?

What kind of a person are you?

The course came to an end at Christmas and so we asked people to put a description of the person they are into a Treasure chest that was on the wall on the left.

We then sorted out those descriptions of people’s passion, people’s gifts and the kind of people we are.

And then we tried to shape the life of the church in the light of what people said.

It was encouraging in readiness for the Deacons day to re-visit some of the things we planned way back then and see how they have borne fruit.

But not we are five years on.

There are lots of people around now who weren’t around then.

Those of us who were around then have moved on.

Things have happened in our lives that make us different people.

I for one have gone up a generation!

Let’s revisit that thinking. Let’s think what are we passionate about, what gifts do we have, what kind of a person are we.

The wonderful thing is that God has given all of us gifts. Natural talents we are born with. Skills we acquire. And those gifts of God’s spirit that equip us to do the jobs God wants.

There are blurry lines between all three.

Look through the books of the NT and it is fascinating to see the range of gifts that are mentioned in quite a number of letters. Bring all of them together and there is the kind of mix that put it all together and you make a really good team.

Network summary of gifts.

Many of the gifts that God gives to his people are

listed in a number of key passages in the Bible.

The list is far-ranging and all-encompassing as it

enables us to find out what it is that God wants us

to do. The key passages are I Corinthians 12:8-

10, 28; Romans 12:6-8; Ephesians 4:1; I Peter

4:9-10; Exodus 31:3; I Timothy 2:1-2; Psalm 150.

Answer Yes, Somewhat, No or ? To each of the

following statements and it may help you to find

out your own gifts ... or if you did the exercise for

someone else, you might be able to help them

identify their strengths:

I have, or my friend has, strengths in ...

... Developing strategies, organising people, tasks,

and events; creating order out of organisational

chaos - Administration.

... Pioneering new undertakings (such as a new

church or ministry); serving in another country or

community; - Apostleship

... working creatively with wood, cloth, metal,

paints, glass etc; making or building things, working

with your hands – Craftsmanship

... Communicating creatively with art, drama,

music, photography, design and communicating in

new ways to others - Creative Communication

... Distinguishing between truth and error, good

and evil, good judge of character – Discernment

... Strengthening and reassuring troubled people;

encouraging, challenging or motivating people,

supporting others to take action Encouragement

... Sharing faith with others, talking about your

faith with people who don’t believe – Evangelism

... Trusting God to answer prayer and encouraging

others to do so; having confidence in God eve in

difficult times and helping others – Faith

... Giving generously and joyfully to people or

projects in financial need – Giving

... Working behind the scenes to support the work

of others; finding small things that need to be done

and doing them without being asked – Helps

... Meeting new people and helping to make them

feel welcome; entertaining guests – Hospitality

... Continually offering to pray for others, trusting

in God’s provision, - Intercession

... Carefully studying and researching subjects you

want to understand better, sharing knowledge and

insights with others – Knowledge

... Taking responsibility for directing groups;

others to reach important goals - Leadership

... Empathizing with hurting people; patiently and

lovingly supporting people through painful experiences

- Mercy

... Speaking with conviction in order to bring change in

the lives of others; exposing cultural trends, teachings,

or events that are morally wrong; speaking out for

justice in society - Prophecy

... Faithfully providing long-term support and nurture

for individuals and groups of people; providing guidance

for the whole person - Pastoral Care

... Studying, understanding, and communicating God’s

word, making connections with the world around us,

and communicating that effectively - Teaching

... Seeing simple, practical solutions in the midst of

conflict or confusion; giving helpful advice to others

facing complicated life situations - Wisdom

Reflecting on this range of gifts may help you identify

what it is that you are best able to do as you serve

God in the fellowship of the church. The wonderful

thing is that God gives each of us gifts that are different

and wants us to be the people we are as we use

the gifts he has given us in serving one another.

That’s the way that the love of God will flow through

us into the lives of other people too.

Jonah had his second chance: he excelled in the gifts God knew he had.

The people listened.

And there were unexpected consequences.

The people of Nineveh changed their ways.

Jonah had declared destruction would come upon them.

It didn’t.

God’s love was so much greater than Jonah had ever imagined.

And Jonah could not understand it!!

The climax to the story of Jonah contains within it a lesson for us all …

Jonah 4

1 Jonah was very unhappy about this and became angry. 2 So he prayed, “Lord, didn't I say before I left home that this is just what you would do? That's why I did my best to run away to Spain! I knew that you are a loving and merciful God, always patient, always kind, and always ready to change your mind and not punish.

3 Now, Lord, let me die. I am better off dead than alive.”

4 The Lord answered, “What right have you to be angry?”

5 Jonah went out east of the city and sat down. He made a shelter for himself and sat in its shade, waiting to see what would happen to Nineveh. 6 Then the Lord God made a plant grow up over Jonah to give him some shade, so that he would be more comfortable. Jonah was extremely pleased with the plant. 7 But at dawn the next day, at God's command, a worm attacked the plant, and it died. 8 After the sun had risen, God sent a hot east wind, and Jonah was about to faint from the heat of the sun beating down on his head. So he wished he were dead.

“I am better off dead than alive,” he said.

9 But God said to him, “What right have you to be angry about the plant?”

Jonah replied, “I have every right to be angry — angry enough to die!”

10 The Lord said to him, “This plant grew up in one night and disappeared the next; you didn't do anything for it, and you didn't make it grow — yet you feel sorry for it! 11 How much more, then, should I have pity on Nineveh, that great city. After all, it has more than 120,000 innocent children in it, as well as many animals!” The Good News Bible

At the end of the day it is the wonder of God’s love that counts. Put the gifts God has given to good use and be surprised by God’s love and all that it can do!

Good News for All!

To bring good news to the poor,
To proclaim release to the captives
And recovery of sight to the blind
To let the oppressed go free
To proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.

That was God given task, the Spirit anointed task, Jesus explained in Nazareth to the people he had grown up with, that lay at the heart of the ministry he was just starting on.

And they all loved him for it.

“All spoke well of him and were amazed at the words of grace that came from his mouth.”

And then he went on to say something more.

“When they heard this all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff.”

What did he say that so changed the mood that Sabbath day in Nazareth?

Jesus told two stories.

One was the story of Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath. In the days of Elijah there was a severe famine and throughout Israel there were many widows who were in great need. But Elijah didn’t help any of them. The widow he helped was from beyond the borders of Israel, she was not Jewish, she was a foreigner.

The other story Jesus told was the story of the healing of Naaman the Syrian commander who suffered from leprosy. In the days of Elisha leprosy was a scourge in Israel. Many throughout Israel suffered from what was at that time a frightening disease. But Elisha didn’t help any of them. The leprosy sufferer he did help was from beyond the borders of Israel, he was not Jewish, he was a foreigner. Naaman was a commander of the Syrian Army to the North East of Israel.

The poor, the captives, the blind and the oppressed Jesus had come to make a difference for were not just the poor, the captives, the blind, the oppressed, of our people. Jesus had come to bring wholeness and release, salvation and redemption to all people, regardless of race, regardless of religion.

That was what those people in Nazareth could not take. When Jesus ‘passed through the midst of them and went on his way’ he went on his way to bring good news to Jew and Gentile alike, to all wherever they may be.

It is the inclusiveness of Jesus’ message, the world dimension of the good news he came to share, that drove the rest of his ministry, and drives the work of the church today.

Beware the Nazareth mindset that says it’s our poor, our captives, our blind, our oppressed that must be our priority.

Remember the Jesus mandate: for the poor, the captives, the blind, the oppressed not just of our people, our race, our religion, but of all people, every race and every religion.

I for one am with Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, when he warns of the dangers of the British National Party. What that party stands for is contrary to the teachings of Jesus, and it is important that we in the church are clear about that in our teaching, not least because as a party they are making a claim to Christianity for support.

God so loved the world. That is the heart of the Gospel we share.

The two stories Jesus used that day in Nazareth have something to say to us here at Highbury.

Five years ago we did a course and asked the question ‘Who are we?’ Who are we, the people who make up Highbury? Then let’s recognise that God has brought us together into this church family and he knows just who we are and what we are capable of. So each one of us was prompted to think of three things …

What am I passionate about as a Christian?

What gifts do I have that I can share?

What kind of a person am I? Up front, or in the background.

As that process came to an end Christmas was approaching and we decided to think of the Wise Men offering their treasures to Christ and so we put a ‘Treasure Chest’ on the wall. And we asked people to write the answers to those questions.

We then set about a process allowing the people we are, with our passions, our gifts and our own personalities, to shape the life of the church.

A fortnight ago at our Deacons Day Becky encouraged us to re-visit the plans we made as a result. And it was encouraging to see how much has come to fruition, not least in our work with children and young people, the appointment of Becky and the different ways we have followed in the administration of our church life.

But that was five years ago.

Those of us who put things into the treasure chest are now five years older … and in each of our lives much has happened. Circumstances have changed. We may have other things we are passionate about now. We may feel we have other gifts to share now. Circumstances may have changed us.

And in those five years it’s been great to welcome others to our church family too.

We need to think of what we, the people who make up our church, are passionate about, what gifts we have, what kind of people we are and harness those to the work of Christ’s kingdom in this place.

That’s where the story of Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath comes in, that’s where the story of Elisha and Naaman, the Syrian Commander, comes in.

1 Kings 17:8-16

Then the Lord said to Elijah, “Now go to the town of Zarephath, near Sidon, and stay there. I have commanded a widow who lives there to feed you.” So Elijah went to Zarephath, and as he came to the gate of the town, he saw a widow gathering firewood. “Please bring me a drink of water,” he said to her. And as she was going to get it, he called out, “And please bring me some bread, too.”

She answered, “By the living Lord your God I swear that I haven't got any bread. All I have is a handful of flour in a bowl and a drop of olive oil in a jar. I came here to gather some firewood to take back home and prepare what little I have for my son and me. That will be our last meal, and then we will starve to death.”

“Don't worry,” Elijah said to her. “Go ahead and prepare your meal. But first make a small loaf from what you have and bring it to me, and then prepare the rest for you and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The bowl will not run out of flour or the jar run out of oil before the day that I, the Lord, send rain.’ ”

The widow went and did as Elijah had told her, and all of them had enough food for many days. As the Lord had promised through Elijah, the bowl did not run out of flour nor did the jar run out of oil.


50 years ago this year that story spoke to Margaret Torrie. A Quaker and a Peace Activist, she had a passion for the plight of widows for whom the state made very little provision, who had few property rights, and were often the victim of unscrupulous landlords. And so thinking of the Widow of Zarephath she set up an organisation to support initially widows in their bereavement. Over the last fifty years, the organisation she founded has become one of the biggest providers of support for all who are bereaved.

Elijah offered the widow in the story a promise from God – that God would sustain her and that his support would not stop – in the words of the Authorised Version so loved of Margaret Torrie, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, ‘The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail …

So it was that the bereavement support group, Cruse, came into being. This year it celebrates its fiftieth anniversary and still it gives real support to people in bereavement.

Often it is the very adverse circumstances that perhaps initially make it impossible for us to share with others, that in the fullness of time, become the very thing that make it possible for us to share support in ways that before those circumstances had arisen were impossible.

It is that kind of mutual support that we are able to give one another in a church family such as ours that can make all the difference.

How good too to support Cruse with the expertise that they bring to bereavement care and counselling.

2 Kings 5

Naaman, the commander of the Syrian army, was highly respected and esteemed by the king of Syria, because through Naaman the Lord had given victory to the Syrian forces. He was a great soldier, but he suffered from a dreaded skin disease

In one of their raids against Israel, the Syrians had carried off a little Israelite girl, who became a servant of Naaman's wife. One day she said to her mistress, “I wish that my master could go to the prophet who lives in Samaria! He would cure him of his disease.” When Naaman heard of this, he went to the king and told him what the girl had said. The king said, “Go to the king of Israel and take this letter to him.”

So Naaman set out, taking 30,000 pieces of silver, 6,000 pieces of gold, and ten changes of fine clothes. The letter that he took read: “This letter will introduce my officer Naaman. I want you to cure him of his disease.”

When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes in dismay and exclaimed, “How can the king of Syria expect me to cure this man? Does he think that I am God, with the power of life and death? It's plain that he is trying to start a quarrel with me!”

When the prophet Elisha heard what had happened, he sent word to the king: “Why are you so upset? Send the man to me, and I'll show him that there is a prophet in Israel!”

So Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and stopped at the entrance to Elisha's house. Elisha sent a servant out to tell him to go and wash himself seven times in the River Jordan, and he would be completely cured of his disease. But Naaman left in a rage, saying, “I thought that he would at least come out to me, pray to the Lord his God, wave his hand over the diseased spot, and cure me! Besides, aren't the rivers Abana and Pharpar, back in Damascus, better than any river in Israel? I could have washed in them and been cured!”

His servants went up to him and said, “Sir, if the prophet had told you to do something difficult, you would have done it. Now why can't you just wash yourself, as he said, and be cured?” So Naaman went down to the Jordan, dipped himself in it seven times, as Elisha had instructed, and he was completely cured. His flesh became firm and healthy, like that of a child.

The whole point of the Naaman story is that he is a very important person. Commander of the army of the King of Aram, he was a great man and in high favour with his master.

But, great though he is, he is not exempt from the world’s woes. He suffers from leprosy.

There is one person who can help him. If only he will listen.

It is the last person you would expect him to listen to.

It is someone who has been captured by his army, so it’s an enemy. As if that’s not bad enough, it’s a woman. As if that’s not bad enough, it’s a young woman, one who is no more than a girl.

He does listen to her. And with more ups and downs in the story, he eventually meets Elisha, and very reluctantly does what he is asked, and after washing seven times in the river Jordan he is healed of his leprosy.

It is one of those lovely Old Testament stories.

And it hinges on someone very important listening to a young girl, a child.

Becky has joined us to focus on work with families and children.

It is very easy to think of that as a one way thing. We are the grown-ups. We are the ones who count in this church family. We will look after our children and do as much as we can for them. And it’s great Becky has joined us … isn’t she doing such a good job.

But Becky wants us to do something else. She wants us to put ourselves in the position of Naaman and listen to our children. What are they saying to us?

2009 is the Year of the Child. The bible verse that goes with it is from psalm 78 verse 4. We will tell the next generation… That’s all very well. But will we listen to the next generation as well?

The Next Generation – hear the voices of children

Small things make a big difference

Small things

make a big difference

 

The disciples could not believe it.  Jesus knew differently.

 

There is a boy here who has five loaves of barley bread and two fish.  But they will certainly not be enough for all these people.

 

I love the ‘certainty’ in the minds of the disciples.

 

5000 hungry people.  That’s a big problem.

 

5 loaves of barley bread and two fish.  That’s a small amount of food.

 

Jesus took the bread, gave thanks to God, and distributed it to the  people who were sitting there.

 

He did the same with the fish, and they all had as much as they wanted.

 

Small things make a big difference.

 

As I had my fourth refusal in a row, I did begin to wonder.  Is it worth it?  And then as I watched the copper and silver coins sliding into another envelope, I thought to myself, what’s the point?

 

But that envelope is added to another envelope, that street to another street, this church’s collection, to another’s this town’s to another … and the total that is raised makes a world of difference to the One Respe project in the Dominican Republic.  No, not to the One Respe project but to the people served by it.

 

Small things make a big difference.

 

But people want

big things to happen

 

The amazement on the part of those disciples as Jesus gave thanks and distributed first the bread and then the fish to so many people, quickly faded.

 

It wasn’t big enough to satisfy their longings.

 

They were insistent … “What miracle will you perform so that we may see it and believe you?  What will you do?  Our ancestors ate manna in the desert, just as the scripture says, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.

 

They longed for something really big to happen.

 

Isn’t that our impatience as well.  We look to God to make a big difference – something dramatic in a world of need.   And the drama doesn’t happen.  It’s just the small things we see.  And a little bit of us wants something more.

 

It was the morning after I had done my collecting.  Roy Jenkins, one-time minister of the Baptist church I attended in Bangor did thought for the day.  It’s more than thirty years since he founded the smallest of organisations based in Wales called Christians against Torture.  He and Liz and the other members of that group have corresponded with the victims of torture and with governments the world over.  A tiny drop in the ocean.  And yet, letters from people who have been helped, policies that have changed, not least in Guantanmo.  Small things count.  And he quoted a lovely saying of the Dalai Lama.  ‘People who say little things don’t make a difference have never slept in bed with a mosquito!’

 

The disciples asked a question of Jesus.

 

What can we do in order to do what God wants us to do?

 

Maybe that’s the key.  What is important is for us to do what God wants us to do, regardless of the outcomes we can actually see.

 

So what is it that God wants us to do.

 

Jesus is clear.

 

What God wants you to do is to believe in the one he sent.

 

Our faith focuses on Jesus Christ.  It is his smallness, his vulnerableness, that draws us to him.

 

The Greatness of God's love

embodied in the small, vulnerable Jesus

 

And that involves taking him at his word.  Jesus is the one who embodies the very nature of God … and the very nature of God, John tells us, is love.  You see it in the teaching of Jesus, in the healing of Jesus, in the cross of Jesus, in the resurrection of Jesus.

 

 

If Jesus is the embodiment of God’s love, then we make up the body of Christ, we are the embodiment of Christ in all his love.

 

We are to make real in our lives and in what we do the reality of God that we find in Jesus.

 

Believe in Jesus

be the embodiment of God's love

 

We can be sure.

 

Small things

make a big difference

 

And the small things that make a difference are the small things of God.  As John puts it in 1 John 4.

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God is love

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This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God,

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but that he loved us and sent his Son

to be the means by which our sins are forgiven.

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Dear friends, if this is how God loved us, then we should love one another.

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No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in union with us,

and his love is made perfect in us.