Advent 2 John v Jesus in Matthew 3

Matthew 3:1-12


John & Jesus: Similar but Different.


Same Family 
Spiritual Conception 
Set Apart
“Nutter “ locusts & honey /“Nutter” glutton & drunkard
Blunt Northerner
Water Baptism/  Spirit Baptism
Repent!

In 1830, a man by the name of George Wilson was sentenced to hanging for killing a government employee during a train robbery. For some reason, President Andrew Jackson gave the man a full pardon. But the man refused to accept it.

That had never happened before and nobody knew how to handle it. The case went all the way up to the Supreme Court to establish a precedent. Chief Justice Marshall declared that a pardon is an offer to hold somebody not accountable for any crimes they may have committed. But if that person refuses to receive the pardon so, in effect, no pardon was given. So, Mr. Wilson was quickly hanged.

Jesus is offering you a full pardon for every thing you have ever done that is against God. He is telling you that if you will but trust Him as your Saviour, all those crimes will be erased and you will suffer no punishment.

Sadly, too many people make the same choice Mr. Wilson did, and they end up suffering the judgement of their crimes. What are you going to do with your pardon? Are you going to accept it or are you going to reject it? Have you weighed the consequences of each choice?

John was Preaching “Repent or Die”/ Jesus said “Repent and Live – here's how”

With John it was all about response./  Jesus lay down his life first – for us.

Judgement/     Pardon

With John – if you feel you are unworthy you can't receive what God wants to give

With Jesus you can accept God's pardon just because you know there is no other way to life.

That's a bit “theological” isn't it? What about real life, now? What difference does it make?

There are two ways to punctuate John's message (Interestingly it is often presented differently in the Gospel from how it is in Isaiah whom John is quoting).

“The voice of one crying in the desert: Make straight the way of the Lord”

Do you think that we, as Christians, are outside of our society – keeping ourselves pure and aloof from the sins that pervade it so that we can call people out in repentance before the Lord comes in judgement?

“The voice of one crying: In the desert make straight the way of the Lord”

Or do you think that we are completely engaged with our society, in the dry and dusty places of sin and strife like everyone else, and seeking to change it so that the Lord can return?

In a way John the Baptist operated in the first way – calling people out into the desert communities like the Essenes. He was sceptical of those who just popped out for a Baptism.

But Jesus is more like the latter. He is the incarnate God. He comes down to earth from heaven. He ate with sinners. He liked sinners. He changed sinners. He recruited sinners. He trusted sinners.

Both of these are true.

It's not either or. Its both and.

Which bit of the desert are you in?

How are you going to cry out this week?

Can you make a straight path for the Lord into your bit of the desert?

Advent 3 John & Jesus Matthew 11

Matthew 11:1-11

John – Jesus – see – go – disciples are today's Big Five words.


John is about “making a straight path for the Lord”.
When you start moving earth you find that there is a awful of of earth to move.
Many of our canals and railways take a scenic route – not from a concern for natural beauty but because the Lord of the Manor didn't want riff-raff looking over his house or garden. We sometimes do this for SSI sites – but if the need is urgent enough.... HS2 anyone?


Do we want a straight path for the Lord to come into our Church? Or do we want him to take the scenic route? What do we want this Advent: challenge or comfort?
Challenge? Really? Don't I have enough challenges going on in my life, work, relationship, family, finances, health, housing, cell, church......?


“Comfort Food” - what is it for you? Bread and Butter pudding? Lamb stew and dumplings? Spag Bol? Chocolate? It’s good and solid and undemanding. It takes you back to Granny’s fireside, to a time when life was simpler and you had no responsibilities. Those were the days. These are not those days!


Christmas can be spiritual “comfort food” too. The right menu, the family tradition, the familiar stories – these can happen at Christmas Dinner – but also in Church. Memories of Nativities past, Carols sung, Descants leaned. The right 9 lessons. The sweets and poppers on the pews. You know where you are with Christmas. Start, Manger, Animals, Angels, Shepherds, Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. A young woman peacefully holding a baby. Peace on Earth. Goodwill to all. It's the scenic route. But Christmas starts with Christ. The anointed one. Set apart for battle, for confrontation, for death and resurrection. That's the straight road.


John the Baptist. What are you looking for?
A Reed? Are you looking for someone who will adapt what they say to what you want to hear? John refused. So did Jesus. He will not bend to accommodate you. Society may want a gentle Jesus who comes in humility and lives a life of love and peace until cruelly snuffed out by the powerful. But that's not Jesus.
A Dandy? Are you looking for someone who is primarily interested in appearance, comfort and reputation? John lived in the desert and dressed in camel hair. Jesus was an itinerant preacher with no place to lay his head. Your appearance , comfort and reputation are of little concern to Him. Your eternal life is.


A Prophet? Are you looking for someone who will be uncomfortable, disagreeable, provocative, challenging? Who will bring God into places where you were not looking for him – your workplace, family, relationship, finances, internet browser, future? John upset people in authority – and died because of it. Jesus upset people in authority and dies because of it. What are you going to do if he upsets you?


What is there in Advent to bring God into places where you were not looking for him?John – Jesus – see – disciples – go are today's Big Five
Look at John. Look again at Jesus. Really see who they are, what they wopuld ay or do and, if you are a disciple.
Go!
In our world, in our nations, in our church, eschew the scenic route.

Make a straight path for the Lord.

Allesley Bereavement Care and TLC

For: Coventry Evening Telegraph

From Rev Robin Trew

Press Release

Sunday 3^rd November 2013

Allesley Church support for the Laura Trust campaign

A packed church of all ages, met at All Saints Allesley on All Saints day, to remember with thanksgiving relatives and friends who had died in recent years. Over two hundred names were read aloud in the service, Revd Robin Trew, Rector of All Saints said, 'it matters on All Saints day that we live now in the way Jesus wants us to live, because then we live as if in heaven now and we share with those who have died something of what it means to be “with the Lord”. We remember that Jesus gave himself up for us, so we share that life as we serve others'.

A collection was taken at the service for the Laura Trust, a charity supported by the Coventry Telegraph to try and bring an advisory, bereavement, and support service to those whose children have died. The hope is to open a Laura Trust Centre in Coventry. This seems a very appropriate cause by the Bereavement Care Group who hold a coffee morning in Allesley church hall every Friday morning at 10.30. The service raised £310 for The Laura Centre.

Chris Kaye and Robin Trew, Allesley Church

And now for something completely impossible...

And now for something completely impossible....


Mustard Seed – Mulberry Tree 

Disciples request: “Increase our Faith”. Why? To do the impossible? To forgive 7 times in one day. The same person.The same thing? Same injury. Really?


What is faith then? Heb 11:1 says it is the “assurance of things hoped for” - , i.e things that there can be no assurance about. “evidence of things unseen” - i.e. a picture of something invisible. J B Phillips has “putting our full confidence in the things we hope for”. Faith is not something we feel, primarily, it is something we do.

1. Faith does not come in kilograms. One seed will produce a great bush that will produce a million seeds. You can't have more faith than you can use right now. Walking across Spain – you can't carry water and food for tomorrow, its far too heavy. You have to go with just enough for now. There may be 1001 questions that you can't answer about Christianity, about the future. There always will be. It's not more faith that you need. Just say “I don't understand, but I trust you.” “I don't know how I'll cope. But I'll go.”
   
2. Faith is not limited by what's possible. Jesus' cartoon is meant to be nonsensical. Why would anyone ever want to plant a Mulberry Tree in the sea? It would die. It would be a senseless piece of showing off. (I bet someone has tried!!!). What Jesus is saying is that God is not limited. I mean that sounds good, doesn't it? It sounds faithful? You could – but why would you? Its a perturbing truth. If God is not limited; if our prayer is not limited; then why all this mayhem in the world? How do we cope with that “Mulberry Tree” that seems so huge, so fixed an obstacle? Faith is only limited by what we know of the will of God. Does God want the Mulberry tree removed? Do I have a saw? Faith is not an intellectual assent to a proposition about the existence of a supernatural power. Js2:19 It is saying “yes” to God's purposes. Don't be distracted by your own “Mulberry tree”.
   
3. Faith is only seen in action. There is difference between the person who approaches the latest ride a Alton Towers with confidence saying “I'm going on Turbovomit” (or whatever its called) and eggs on those around, pouring scorn on the lilly livered whilst recalled former deeds of derring-do; only to opt out at the last minute “because the queue is too long”. And the person who is dragged along by the new boyfriend saying “OMG I don't want to do it, I'm going to die. Arrgh!” but lets herself be strapped in anyway till its too late. One is full of confidence (well that's one word for it). The other is full of trepidation. But that's faith. It's the stepping out of the boat – as we thought about recently. What is God asking of you? Do you want to wait till you can  move a Mulberry? Or just take one seed out of the packet?
   
4. Faith comes from God – it's not a badge of honour. There are not Christians with a Bronze badge of faith (OK on a good day unless hard questions or difficult situations arise), Silver Badge (able to cope with minor disappointments and unanswered prayers, able to think of get out bible verses for harder cases) or Gold Badges (absolutely unwavering, unquestioning confidence, never knowingly let down by God). For Christians, faith is not like Magic Potion or Antibiotics: more or less powerful depending on circumstances. For us faith is in Jesus Christ. That is, we believe that the one true and only God is fully revealed in Jesus. Nothing more – nothing less. “The fullness of the godhead dwells bodily in my Lord” says Paul. You sometimes hear people say “I believe in Jesus – but not in God” or vice versa. It is nonsense in Christianity. For us Jesus embodies God. Just as the Father does. Just as the Spirit does. At the incarnation, at the crucifixion, in his dying, in his rising again, God is assuming, bearing, overcoming sin and death. God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Otherwise you have the obscenity of a supposedly loving Father sacrificing his own Son to save you and me. It's trinity not modalism or docetism. 1 Cor 15:17 “And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!” But He is. He is living in you. Don't be blinded by the Mulberry Tree.
   
   Faith means living life as if this were true and that God himself, through the spirit of Jesus, lives in you. Now. Today. Really. He is taking on sin, overcoming sin and giving life back to those who have lost it. And He is doing that in and through you and me.
   

So don't get distracted by the Mulberry Trees.
Use the mustard seed.


“If you have faith as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be pulled up by the roots and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.

Faith & Thanksgiving

Luke 17:11-21 8, 10 Allesley  16/10/13 “Faith & Thanksgiving”


INTRO: It doesn't matter where you have come from – it matters where you go to.
Healthy or Leper, Jew or Samaritan, Native or Immigrant, Saint or Sinner. Old hand or newcomer.
The same.


Faith and trust.
Ten lepers waylay Jesus on the edge of a village that they must not enter. They shout – from a safe distance - “Jesus, master, have mercy on us”. A good prayer when your trouble is so obvious and your expectation perhaps a bit thin or when you feel unworthy to ask – or a bit far away from God. Some a Jews, but not all of them. It doesn't matter where they come from. But where they come to:-
JESUS - a name, face to face, they come to Him, to what He is doing.
MASTER – they acknowledge His authority over them.
MERCY – they stand in the way of GRACE. Self abandonment. Undeserved request. Not fit – but.....
Jesus has compassion. He does pray for their healing.
1.What will you do with ten lepers, ten aids victims, ten asylum seekers, ten prostitutes?
2. What will you do with your disease, your unworthiness, your problem?
3. Can we dare to hope that this God who is our creator as Father, our redeemer as Son, our comforter as Holy Spirit – will listen to us?


Faith and obedience.
Jesus says “Go and show yourself to the priests” - He uses their understanding of Levitical ceremonial Law, maybe it offers psychosomatic help to the sufferer but its also a challenge to obey and risk official refusal. In 2 Kings 5:10, when Naaman the Syrian was told by Elisha to “go and wash in the Jordan” he was put out “Haven’t we got better rivers at home to wash in?” but obedience brought results. Here Jesus is applying the procedure set out in the law for cured lepers. They had to risk obedience. Some might know the law, some don't. It doesn't matter where they come from. But where they come to:-
JESUS – obeying when Jesus is there is one thing, what about when you are back in the real world?
MASTER – do you see yourself as a servant, one under authority – or is He primarily there to care for you? For we will often hear His voice challenging us: Love one another, wash the feet, feed my lambs....
MERCY – obedience to Jesus might lead you into confrontation or challenge. Will your pride allow you to trust Him enough to keep trying once you have failed – and failed again – like Peter?
All of the ten are healed. They all trusted Him enough to ask. They were all obedient to what he says. They all exercise faith however doubtful they felt..
When we come to Jesus in faith then it is much more than a feeling of confidence, it is a commitment to obedience.


Faith and thanksgiving.
Several lessons hide here. Luke is keen to show that Christian faith is universal – the lesson of the Samaritan leper. Jesus approves the leper’s thanksgiving and points to the failure of contemporary Jewish ritual and practice and to the superseding of these by His gospel. Jesus says “Your faith has made you well”, it is the man’s faith in Jesus which is decisive. His faith is evidenced not only in the removal of his disease, but because his overwhelming urge is to come to Jesus in thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is an exercise in faith. Not everyone remembers to give thanks it seems. Sometimes its as if people can look down on Jesus, lying on the cross, with nails piercing his hands, a crown of thorns on his hear, in agony and say “Yes Lord. That's all very well. But if you really loved me you'd give me a job, a wife, a child, a friend, healing, faith, peace.....” Where are you coming from today?
It doesn't matter where we come from. But where we come to:-
JESUS – give Jesus His due always. Jesus says “The Kingdom of God is within you” Luke 17:21. Where those rivers of living water flow. The indwelling spirit of Jesus. Can we live in the daily, conscious, thankful knowledge that Jesus, the King, is within me?
MASTER– a servant enters the master's joy. Jesus’ joy is to see the Kingdom coming. He enjoys the healing of the ten. He enjoys the response of the leper! He enjoys our healing and our thanksgiving too. As Christians we will only be truly happy when we are pleasing our Lord.
MERCY – the Samaritan knows that he is not worthy of this healing. He's an outsider twice over. Stranger and Unclean. He has not right to this healing. He only relies upon the mercy of Jesus. And he is never to be disappointed. What does Jesus ask of him in return? Absolutely nothing. “Arise. Go your way.” Jesus makes no claim on his life. So how much do you think he would want to give him?

All of it! Wouldn't we? I hope I would. I hope I will. Jesus, Master, Have Mercy on me.

Weary? - Isaiah 43

Isa 43:14-44:5 Jn 5:30-47

Who Wearies Whom?
After the holidays, are you raring to go – or longing to go back?
Retired? Is every day a holiday – or a challenge to get through?
2^nd Isaiah is writing to a weary people. Exiled. Putting down new roots. Living as aliens and strangers. Hopes dashed. Fears fulfilled. Just get on with it?
We often catch ourselves judging God – but this is a Trial v25-28 to remind us who is judge.
Franz Kafka wrote the famous book “The Trial” where the hero is consumed by an accusation and no one ever tells him what he is accused of as e gets completely absorbed by an impenetrable system. God is not like that.


Evidence of the past. Saved for the future. v16-21
Are the people accusing God of abandoning them?
“Look at your story” says God – I am the one who calls, rescues, saves, preserves, promises
But don't just look back – you have a promise to live for.
What is the evidence for God's love in your story? What is your hope?


Evidence of the present: A disinterested, diffident relationship? v22-24
I won't bother you. You don't bother me. Anglican?
You know that weary response “yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever...”
or “Very nice dear, now lets...”
or “Hmm, That's interesting but....”
Its when you sense that they have heard it all before and have decided to ignore you.
God says that the people have not called on him, have not wearied him with sacrifices.
They are not “God botherers” They are “God can't be bothereders”. Are we?
If God didn't care then that would be fine. But He does. And its not.


Verdict for the future: Are we Weary, Hopeless v25-28?
Those who sinned and failed have been punished.
But we, who have participated in or inherited their failure, are being forgiven.
This is the verdict: Guilty. This is the Sentence: Forgiven!
Now, do we have the heart to begin again? 44 v1-5
Though we were born into sin and hopelessness we can know that we are chosen, formed by God and known by him from before birth. More than that he stands ready to help us.
However hopeless it seems, he will transform our environment for growth.
Atheist to believer. Sick to well. Sinner to saint. Hopeless to hopeful.
Where everything seems dead and dried up – His Spirit will flow and bring new life.


In me – and in you. So...
if you are feeling weary in body, mind or spirit. If you are aware of your weakness.
Where things are driest. Where the very ground has cracked into a maze of channels. Where the surface has disintegrated into wind-blown dust. That's where the water falls. Little explosions of dust. Little craters of moisture that gather and find their way deep, deep into the deepest cracks. There to soften and heal. There to reincorporate the dust into solid, rich, moist fertile soil. There to awaken the seed that has been sleeping, waiting for this new life to spring forth.



Is this you?

“Look – I am doing a new thing”!

Passionate Spirituality with Benedict 4. Patience to wait for you

 Passionate Spirituality with Benedict 4. Patience to wait for you 

Genesis 32:9-30, Benedicts Prayer- Patience to Wait 14/7/13

: “I'm not getting any answer.” “Surely something should have happened by now?” “I've been waiting for...” That's when patience starts. If you have ever waited for a loved one you know that it can be worrying, frustrating, uncomfortable, distressing. But when they turn up it is all worthwhile.

Patience acknowledges that the loved one is to be trusted and that their timing is more

important than mine. Patience might include asking ourselves: “Am I in the right place? Is

this the right time?” but if so we hold onto the truth that He is to be trusted and that nothing

can withstand Him. And we wait in peace. How is that for you?

Genesis 32 shows Jacob famously wrestling with “God and man”. Jacob is not your usual example of patience – the name means “grasper” or “cheat” - a more active character. So I want to ask if waiting can be active rather than passive?

1. Jacob v Man. Jacob has, by subterfuge and his mother's connivance, stolen his older brother's blessing. Then, full of courage, he runs away to Uncle Laban's for 7 years. Jacob is a man who uses tactics to control his future. When do we do that? Qualifying for Church School, Pension planning, Life insurance, Children to look after you in your old age. Jacob wants to return, but how? He's afraid of his hot tempered brother. So he uses patient tactics.
   1. He gives fair warning – Esau might think he is under attack. v3
   2. He sends an expendable servant to take a message. v4
   3. He reminds Esau that he has been “with family” all this time. v4
   4. He ingratiates himself with Flattering Esau. V5
   5. He splits up the family – like the Royal family flying – in case of violence.
   6. He prays fervently – reminding God of His promises.
   7. He sends significant presents to Esau both as an assurance of goodwill but also perhaps as a sign that his is a friendship worth having.
      
2. Jacob is wrestling with “man” here. He has taken time to understand how the other person ticks and he is investing in healing this fractured relationship. Passive waiting would have had him staying in Laban's household until God cleared the path for him. Impatience would have had him try to seize God's promise by trying to overcome Esau. Patient waiting keeps its eyes on the goal, weighs up the costs and applies wisdom.
   
3. Jacob v God. Jacob has always been aware the God has chosen him. He is the “grasper”, the “cheat” if you like. That's his nature. Jacob needs to understand how this promise is to come about. He takes patient steps.
   1. He send everyone off so that he can be alone with God. v24
   2. He “wrestles” through the night. Have you ever been kept awake wrestling? V25
   3. He demonstrates the ability to persist through pain. This is costly v25
   4. He perseveres until he finds peace with God and receives his blessing. V26
   5. God says that he has “prevailed” - God will meet his request. V28
   6. He knows that he has met with God.
      
4. Jacob wrestles with God too. He has taken time to under stand how God ticks and he is investing in healing this fractured relationship. Passive waiting would have had him staying in the heart of the action until God cleared the path for him. Impatience would have had him try to seize God's promise by trying to overcome Esau himself or by trying to become holy in his own eyes. Patient waiting keeps its eyes on the goal, weighs up the costs and applies wisdom.

Saint Benedict suggests that we pray for “patience to wait for you”.

1. Remember who you are waiting for.
2. Remind yourself of God's promises.
3. Wait actively: Remember the 10 virgins. Be prepared. Do what you can, not what you can't.
4. Wrestle. And prevail.

Father, give us patience to wait for you.