Freedom Within

DAILY BYTE

Worship is the means through which God keeps us free. But if that is true, then what exactly do we need freedom from? Well firstly, and this may sound kind of weird, but we need to worship to keep us free from ourselves. You see worship is that which reminds us that we are not at the centre of all life, in fact we are not even at the centre of our own lives, and that to be free from the tyranny of self-obsession we NEED to worship God.

This is what happened in the story of David and Michal (see focus reading). Many of us may read that story and think ‘oh no, do I have to dance before God for my worship to be found acceptable?’ But the main issue of this story is not the dance, it is self. David put aside himself to worship and was released in a wonderful way whereas Michal could only think of herself, and what others were thinking of her, and so she was not only unable to engage in worship for herself, but resented and despised David for it.

It wasn’t about David’s dance – it was about his heart! We can make worship just as much about ourselves if we dance for the attention of others, as we can by refusing to dance in the first place. The warning in this story is not to make worship about ourselves. As Michelangelo is recorded to have said: ‘When I am yours, O God, then at last I am truly myself.’

The point is that we worship to remind ourselves that we are NOT at the centre of it all, and if we insist on living as if it is then we will forever live in a space between emptiness and barrenness. We will never be filled.

We worship in order that we might take ourselves off the throne of our lives and place God on that throne.

Read the following Eugene Peterson quote carefully. It is wordy but well worth absorbing:

‘We worship so that we live in response to and from this centre, the living God. Failure to worship consigns us to a life of spasms and jerks, at the mercy of every advertisement, every seduction, every siren. Without worship we live manipulated and manipulating lives. We move in either frightened panic or deluded lethargy as we are, in turn, alarmed by spectres and soothed by placebos. If there is no centre, there is no circumference. People who do not worship are swept into a vast restlessness, epidemic in the world with no steady direction and no sustaining purpose.’

PRAY AS YOU GO

As we worship you this week, O God, we pray that you would give us an ever deepening awareness of what it means to be ‘kept free’ from ourselves. Help us to live our lives in such a way that we are not the centre of our lives, but you are. Help us to truly be yours Almighty God, in every way, so that we might free to be ourselves. Amen.

FOCUS READING

2 Samuel 6:16-22

As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart.

They brought the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the LORD. After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD Almighty. Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes.

When David returned home to bless his household, Michal came out to meet him and said, "How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!"

David said to Michal, "It was before the LORD, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the LORD's people Israel — I will celebrate before the LORD. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honour."

Why We Worship

DAILY BYTE

So if worship is the most important thing the church does, then the issue of WHY WE WORSHIP becomes very important. Of course we worship because God deserves all the praise we could possibly give him, but we need to know that there is not even a hint of divine arrogance behind God’s call for us to worship. The true question that we need to grapple with is not does God need us to worship him, but rather DO WE NEED to worship?

The Bible is very clear on this matter, we worship because God thoroughly deserves it, but we also worship because we so desperately, desperately need to!

When we worship, we are breathing in and out the breath of God (the Spirit of God). In other words, worship is like taking deep breaths of God’s Spirit – worship brings us life! But even more than that, worship brings us freedom as well. In fact, freedom is at the very heart of why we worship.

There is an amazing scene in the movie ‘The Shawshank Redemption,’ where the main character, who has been unjustly imprisoned, manages to get hold of a classical music record. He locks the warden out of his office and plays this record over the prison sound system. As the strains of the beautiful music fills the air, the prisoners stop wherever they are and whatever they are doing. Some of them close their eyes and you can literally sense their spirits soaring up and beyond the prison concrete high walls and fences along with the music

That’s exactly what worship does for us! It lifts us up and beyond the ‘prisons’ we encounter in daily life such as our addictions or strongly negative emotions like fear, anxiety, anger or hatred. Worship can free us from self-made prisons and culturally imposed prisons. The message of worship is that God created us to be free and that because of God’s all surpassing power and love we CAN live free!

Through song and word, prayer and sacrament, fellowship and togetherness; our spirits are lifted above any and all prison walls. Worship is a protest against death and imprisonment of body and soul, spirit and mind. Worship is gathering all that we have and entrusting it to God. Worship is having our minds transformed to think in new ways, it is being radically changed and transformed.

Like prayer, worship is not an attempt to change God’s mind or sweet talk God into doing things our way, but it is about God changing us and us coming into alignment with God’s way. Worship is that which reminds us that there is something greater than even the worst of our fears and worship reminds us that we are made for love and not for anger or hatred. Worship is breathing in the breath of God and living God’s freedom! For the truth of the matter is that we never stand as tall as when we learn to bend our knees before God.

Ultimately, we worship to be free and we worship to stay free.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Worshipping you Almighty God, is like gulping in the air we need to breathe. We worship you not only because you deserve all the praise we could possibly give you, but we also worship you because that is what we need to do to stay alive and free in your Spirit. Help us to worship you in every possible way and in every moment of every day. Amen.

FOCUS VERSE

Exodus 7:16

The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you to say, ‘Let my people go, so that they may worship in the wilderness.’

Worship

DAILY BYTE

So why do you go to church? People have lots of different reasons why they DON’T go to church such as church being too full of hypocrites or the sermons being too long and boring. But I actually find it a far more interesting question to find out why people DO got to church. Why do we worship? Why do YOU worship?

Without a doubt, worship is the most important thing we DO as a church. Throughout the Bible there is this constant thread running through an incredible diversity. The people in the Bible all differ so much; they come from different times and cultures, they differ in the way that they think and who they were, but there is one common thread linking them all – they worshipped.

That same common thread runs through all the world: we have so many different churches that speak different languages and have different theological emphases but we all have one thing in common – we worship. Some like to run about with flags during worship, others crave well-crafted liturgies and soaring cathedrals but we ALL worship.

That’s what makes us a church after all, as opposed to being a social agency or a club. We worship! Worship is that which orientates our lives around God. God becomes our reference point, our life’s compass, and our past, present and future. Worship is reminding ourselves again and again that God alone is God and worthy to be worshipped.

William Temple once said: ‘To worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God; to feed the mind upon the truth of God; to purge the imagination by the beauty of God; to open the heart to the love of God and to devote the will to the purpose of God.’

Reflect upon this quote and upon your own worship life. How much does worship form a part of your daily life? Do you actively worship as part of a church? As we will be learning this week, worship is absolutely vital to our spiritual growth and so worshipping in the community of a church is incredibly important. Worship is the most important thing that the church does, and therefore it stands to reason that worship is also the most important thing every individual Christian does as well.

PRAY AS YOU GO

O Lord of earth, sea and sky. You are our King of Kings and Lord of Lords. You alone are our God and worthy to be worshipped. Help us to worship and love you with all of our heart, soul, and mind. In Jesus name. Amen.

FOCUS READING

Psalm 63:1

O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is not water.

Calling – Part 2

DAILY BYTE

Yesterday we started looking at God’s call as a source of hope and life for our world. The surprising but very good news is that when God’s call is heard and obeyed, when women and men give their lives to what God asks of them, there is truly a whole new creation that unfolds. The call of God taking root within ordinary people has the power to make all things new.

Tragically, God’s call is not always heard or obeyed. The pages of history and scripture are littered with the stories of those who have tried to turn aside from God’s call.

We think of people like Moses, Gideon, Jonah and Jeremiah who tried to duck and dive from God’s call staking a claim over their lives. The reasons that they gave for their reluctance and resistance sound strangely familiar. For they are the reasons we also use – I’m not equipped, I’m not sufficiently resourced, I’m not worthy, I’m too young, I’m too old, I don’t have the time, I don’t want to go.

Sometimes the resistance is expressed not all at once, but bit by bit, gradually over time, as people allow themselves to drift from God’s call until they find themselves living not out of the fiery passion of divine purpose, but out of the cold ash heap of mediocrity and irrelevance.

But I ask you, why would we settle for anything less than our highest calling?

Why would we not want to put these miraculous lives to magnificent purpose?

Why would we not risk everything to let our one chance at life be put to great and glorious good by an infinitely gracious God?

Maybe, like Jeremiah, we are just too aware of our own inadequacy. When he heard that God had appointed him a prophet to the nations, Jeremiah offers this somewhat panicked response, “But I don’t know how to speak, for I’m just a boy.”

Interestingly, God doesn’t even argue the point for it seems that Jeremiah is telling the truth. All that God says is, “Don’t SAY you’re just a boy. Because true though that may be, it is utterly irrelevant. It is irrelevant because you’ll go where I send you. You’ll speak whatever I command. So do not be afraid, for I am with you.

And then God touches Jeremiah’s mouth and declares that God’s very words, filled with endless creative and life-giving power, are now in him.

And so it is with us. In response to God’s call we offer our reasoned explanations as to why this is a bad idea, as if God is unaware of who we are in the first place and doesn’t really know what God’s doing. And many of our reasons are indeed accurate. But for one thing: in the eyes of God they are utterly irrelevant.

Let me say it as plainly as I can. If you’re seized by the call of God, of course you’ll feel inadequate, ill-equipped, unworthy. Get over it. Dare to believe that God is not limited by your limitations, and so neither should you. And remember that God’s call always always always comes with God’s gracious promise, “I will be with you.”

This is reason for great hope indeed.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Lord, we thank you for the lives of the countless women and men over the ages who have faithfully served you and poured out their lives to the glory of your name. May their example inspire us to heed your call and commit ourselves to your eternal purposes, for the sake of hope and healing for our world. Amen.

SCRIPTURE READING

Jeremiah 1:4-8

Now the word of the LORD came to me saying,
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations."
Then I said, "Ah, Lord God! Truly I do not know how to speak, for I am only a boy."

But the LORD said to me,
"Do not say, 'I am only a boy';
for you shall go to all to whom I send you,
and you shall speak whatever I command you.
Do not be afraid of them,
for I am with you to deliver you,
says the LORD."

Calling – Part 1

DAILY BYTE

In the beginning, the Bible tells us, God SPOKE everything into existence. All God had to do was say the word, and the heavens and the earth burst into being. How incredible, that the words that come from the mouth of God are filled with the most awesome creative and life-giving power.

God spoke the words, and it was so. And God looked upon everything that God had made and saw that it was very good.

But we are all painfully aware that God’s good creation, spoken into existence, has gone sadly awry. We live in a world that is all too familiar with the realities of war, poverty, global warming, violence, rape, abuse, AIDS and greed. Ours is a world in chains longing for liberation. Ours is a world crying out to be made new.

So I ask you, “Don’t you think it’s past time for God to speak once again? To utter words of recreating and redeeming power over this broken world?” God did so in the beginning, and look what happened. Surely God could do it again. Surely it’s not too hard for God to say, “Let there be peace in the Middle East, and throughout the world for that matter,” and for it to be so.

Surely it’s not too hard for God to say, “Let there be an end to poverty and hunger and the indignities of human deprivation,” and for it to be so.

For God to say, “Let there be the resolving of all conflicts, the healing of all hurts, the binding up of all brokenness,” and for it to be so.

If only the voice of God could sound once again over the chaos all around us, as it did in the beginning, bringing order and harmony and light and life. Wouldn’t that be something? Wouldn’t that be reason for hope and rejoicing?

The good news is that God is speaking, right now. God’s voice is sounding over the chaos of our fallen human condition, right now. Words that are filled with creative and life-giving power, that come from the very mouth of God, are being uttered right now, bringing great hope to our world.

But here’s the thing: they take shape in a most surprising and unexpected way. Sometimes barely more than a whisper, the words that can bring hope alive for our world come to us in the form of a call.

“Come, and follow me.”
“Go into all the world in my name.”
“Live the life of purpose and significance I have prepared for you.”
“Embrace the work I have ordained for you.”
“Fulfil the destiny I have dreamed for you.”
“Be the hope for this world that I have created you to be.”

That’s God’s plan. It’s a simple strategy – to call women and men to be a part of a great purpose of bringing hope to the world.

We see this plan unfolding from the very beginning. No sooner were human beings created than God was enlisting them to share in the care of creation. We see this plan unfolding as God calls Israel to be God’s people, a light unto the nations. We see it in the life and ministry of Jesus. No sooner had he begun his work of announcing the coming of the kingdom, than Jesus starts calling disciples to join him in this great mission of love to the world.

Do you see the pattern? Do you get God’s plan? To call people like you and me to be a part of what God is doing. In fact, to depend upon people like you and me to be a part of what God is doing. This is completely unexpected. Altogether surprising It’s not the plan that we would have made. But this is what God has chosen.

And when God’s call is heard and obeyed. When we place our very lives under the authority of God’s life-giving word, then quite wondrously and miraculously we become channels of hope and healing for a needy world.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Lord God you have a plan and purpose for my life that will bring hope to this world. Thank you. Help me to hear and obey whatever it is that you are calling me to do today. Amen.

SCRIPTURE READING

Mark 1:16-18

Jesus saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” And immediately they left their nets and followed him.

Community

DAILY BYTE

Yesterday we reflected on our own families as a place where God’s glory and grace can be seen. Today, we expand that thought by thinking about the wider family of faith, and how the formation of diverse and inclusive community is a source of such rich hope for our world.

Of course, not all communities are hope-filled. Many communities offer very little that is truly life-giving and transformational. This usually happens when they become little more than closed groupings of people that have an inward rather than outward focus.

Interestingly, the early church in Acts struggled with this very same thing. They were a new community of faith grappling with what it meant to be faithful and obedient followers of Christ. This new faith movement had emerged out of their Jewish heritage, and so for some believers their Jewishness was an essential part of their identity.

But God had much bigger and broader intentions for the church, and there was a seismic shift that happened in the church’s self-identity when those intentions were expressed. The Spirit was poured out on Gentiles, and Peter immediately recognized that the old criterion of Jewishness that the church had been holding onto was redundant. And so these Gentiles were baptized and incorporated into the church.

In explaining his actions to the Jewish Christians back in Jerusalem, Peter describes a vision he had of a sheet descending from heaven, laden with all sorts of food that any self-respecting Jew would never touch. Strict dietary observance was, of course, one of the essential aspects of the Jewish way. But in the vision Peter is commanded to eat. He protests. He says it will make him impure and will diminish who he is. God says, ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about. Now get up and eat.’

I’d like to think that in the vision, before the sheet was pulled back to heaven, Peter got to sink his teeth into a succulent pork chop for the first time in his life, or maybe a crayfish tail, and realized, ‘God’s right. This is good. This is not diminishing, but enriching.’

Do you get the picture of what this is saying about our understanding of community? The common fear is that in opening up the doors in radical hospitality and inclusive embrace we will lose our identity and be diminished as a result. But according to God, exactly the opposite is true. And whenever you see communities growing more diverse, be it in your neighborhood, at work, your child’s school, or your church, give thanks to God. Because hope is being born again.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Our prayer today is taken from a contemporary hymn:

Your love O God is broad like beach and meadow
Wide as the wind and our eternal home
You leave us free to seek you or reject you
You give us room to answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’

Your love O God is broad like beach and meadow
Wide as the wind and our eternal home

We long for freedom where our truest being
Is given hope and courage to unfold
We seek in freedom space and scope for dreaming
And look for ground where trees and plants can grow

Your love O God is broad like beach and meadow
Wide as the wind and our eternal home

But there are walls that keep us all divided
We fence each other in with hate and war
Fear is the bricks and mortar of our prison
Our pride of self the prison coat we wear

Your love O God is broad like beach and meadow
Wide as the wind and our eternal home

SCRIPTURE READING

Acts 10:44

While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God. Then Peter said, “Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

Family

DAILY BYTE

This week we’re considering the ways in which the presence and activity of a loving and gracious God can be seen in the ordinary, everyday circumstances and experiences of our lives. Because the great truth is that the irrepressible hope of God springs up right before our eyes, but often in surprising and unexpected ways.

Sometimes we overcomplicate things. We assume that God is a difficult concept to grasp, and that it’s hard to find God. When, in fact, all that is needed is to look in a new way.

There’s a great story that illustrates this about a group of travelers on a scientific expedition who stop at a remote rural village. They see a boy sitting in the shade of a tree with a copy of one of the Gospels in his hand. The leader of the expedition, somewhat cynically, said to the boy that he would give him an orange if he could tell them where God could be found. The boy stood up and said, “And I’ll give you two oranges if you can tell me where God is not to be found.”

And of course the boy was right. That’s the hope that is ours in what often feels like a hopeless world. God is here, with us, present and active in our midst. All that is needed is for us to open our eyes in a new way to recognise the beauty of the Lord all around us. As the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins put it so famously, “The world is charged with the grandeur of God.”

As we seek to do just that, today I’d invite you to think about the different people that are a part of your family. Think about your parents and grandparents, whether they are still alive or dead, and what they share(d) in common and the ways in which they are / were wholly unique individuals. Think about your siblings. Think about your spouse, your children and your grandchildren. Think about uncles and aunts, cousins, nephews and nieces, and any other relatives that come to mind.

If your family is anything like mine there will be an immense cross-section of different personalities, beliefs, preferences, personal circumstances, socio-economic situations, political convictions, career paths and life experience represented within your own family. And yet, through all this diversity there is something that connects you to one another, a connection that is more than just the blood coursing through your veins and the DNA in your cells. A connection that touches us at the deeper level of our souls.

Could it be that in the very experience of being part of a family, which I know can be messy and complicated and painfully conflicted at times, the grandeur of God can be seen? And in spite of the hurts and disappointments that we inflict on loved ones or are inflicted on us by them, there is nevertheless something else that can be seen in our families if we choose to see it. Something that can bring us great hope and joy, and a deep sense of gratitude that the family to which we belong is indeed ours.

Take a moment to thank God for the evidence of grace in the midst of your family, and the gift of belonging, and the hope that this speaks into your life.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Thank you gracious God for the often surprising ways in which your grace is known in the midst of the messiness of family. Help me today to cherish all my loved ones, to commit them to you in trust, and to be the kind of person who would enable family members around me to be rooted and grounded in love. Amen.

SCRIPTURE READING

Ephesians 3:14-17

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and earth takes its name. I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love.

God’s Surprising Presence

DAILY BYTE

Years back, a mate and I did a 6 week backpacking trip through Europe. About 4 weeks into the trip we had a classic travellers’ tiff that actually turned quite nasty, and so we spent a 10 hour train trip to Berlin giving each other the hairy eyeball silent treatment.

Upon arriving we checked into a youth hostel, and then took a tube into East Berlin to see what it was like. We emerged from the subway and found ourselves right outside this magnificent old concert hall.

Just then a chap right in front of us held up two tickets for a performance that was about to start. My mate and I looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders as if to say, ‘What the heck?’ and bought the tickets, even though we had absolutely no idea what kind of concert it was. For all we knew it could have been alpine yodeling that we were about to hear.

It was only when we got inside and got hold of a programme that we discovered that we’d bought tickets for a performance of Handel’s Messiah in German. And we soon realized that this wasn’t a Mickey Mouse event either, but that some of the finest soloists in Europe were singing, including the critically acclaimed bass, Thomas Quasthoff.

The fact that the singing was all in a language we didn’t understand didn’t matter in the slightest. For one thing we were both familiar with most of the English words. But more importantly, something happened that night that was beyond language. Because as we listened to magnificent music about a magnificent Messiah, so the majesty and mystery and mercy of this Messiah touched us in a profound way. The fight we were having evaporated into thin air, and as we listened together, my friend and I were wondrously reconciled.

That evening remains one of the most cherished memories of my life, of the altogether surprising and totally unexpected activity of a loving and gracious God. It was an experience of serendipity – making an unexpected, surprising and joyous discovery of something that is really really good.

In one sense my example is quite dramatic. Overseas trip. East Berlin. Handel’s Messiah. These aren’t ordinary, everyday experiences. But don’t let that confuse the issue, because the truth is that experiences of serendipity happen all the time in the ordinary, everyday things of life. Or maybe, to be more accurate I should say that the potential for serendipitous experiences is all around us all the time.

That may seem like a strange claim to make in a world where there is so much bad news pressing in from every side, where the chaos and mayhem of fractured lives and shattered dreams is so easy to see. But I make this claim with conviction, because there is a good and gracious God at large within our midst, who continues doing the things that God does, like bringing life and hope and healing and wholeness to our world.

A woman by the name of Pearl Bailey put it like this: “People see God everyday, they just don’t recognize him.” I think that’s true. We’ve somehow developed blind spots in our vision when it comes to recognizing the presence and activity of God in our midst. Our ability to see what’s really going on has somehow been compromised. Our capacity for deeper insight has somehow been lost. Our faith imaginations have somehow been dulled. And we think that God is somehow absent.

But of course God is not absent. In our devotions this week we’ll be looking at some of the surprising and unexpected places and circumstances where God’s presence can be seen, a presence that brings great hope to our lives.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Gracious God, thank you for the constancy of your presence in our lives. Open our eyes that we might come to see you more and more, and so draw strength, comfort and immense joy from knowing that we are not alone. Amen.

SCRIPTURE READING

Psalm 139:7-8

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 the depths, you are there.

Another Step From Slavery to Freedom

FOCUS READING

Genesis 45:5-7, 12-15 (NRSV)

And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which there will be neither ploughing nor harvest. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.

And now your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my own mouth that speaks to you. You must tell my father how greatly I am honoured in Egypt, and all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.’ Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, while Benjamin wept upon his neck. And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him.

DAILY BYTE

Yesterday, we read that the first three steps to freedom from slavery in the family reunion of Joseph are letting go of power, being truthful about who we are, finding common ground, and then acknowledging sin. As if this were not enough – there is another step to take!

As Genesis continues, Joseph says to his brothers, “do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life….”

What? Don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me into slavery? No – Joseph says, don’t. The fifth step to freedom from slavery is releasing each other from our guilt and shame.

We tend to focus on the things that enslave us. In fact, I spent most of this week writing about those things. We live guilt-ridden lives for the way we treat the environment and one another. But Joseph says – stop. Stop being so distressed and guilty about our mistakes.

Not that they’re unimportant – not that we can forget them or fail to notice them – but when the moment comes to step out into a new kind of life – stop rehashing what’s gone wrong and do something right. We’ve got to stop enslaving ourselves and each other in our own faults and mistakes. God doesn’t do that. God sets us free to be holy. He takes every situation of slavery that we create – every power-grab, every prejudice, jealousy, every fear – and makes them into something good.

If we’re open and willing, like Joseph was, God can bring people out of unequal, enslaving relationships onto the same level, all saints and sinners alike, and remind us that we’re all in the same unified family. This is, in fact, the only way we are truly freed – by being released from our sin and then bound together in love. Dr. Claudio Betti – one of the founders of the St. Egidio community, working all over the world in poverty and reconciliation issues – said during the World Methodist Conference that “The future will be together – or will not be at all.”

We see the family of God come together in Genesis – we see healing in this family, which means that they will have a future. And as children of Israel in the family of God, we are their future. When we see this happening in the Bible, there is a lot of crying. Joseph weeps, Benjamin weeps – Joseph kisses them all and weeps on all of them – what an intense feeling it must have been to be part of that – a re-unified family.

As Christian people, may we continue to struggle to stay together, as a family, even in the midst of differences of opinion, prejudices, and struggles with power, may we help free each other from the things that enslave us so that we can be freely and beautifully unified. Can we move into the future together – or not at all?

PRAY AS YOU GO

Lord, help me to be honest about the things that enslave me. Help me be honest about the ways I enslave others. Show me the way to freedom. Show me the way into the future. Help me extend my hands to others so that we can walk there together. Amen.

The First Steps from Slavery to Freedom

FOCUS READING

Genesis 45:1-4 (NRSV)

Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, ‘Send everyone away from me.’ So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?’ But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence.
Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Come closer to me.’ And they came closer. He said, ‘I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.

DAILY BYTE

We have spoken about the enslavement of Joseph this week, but now we find Joseph encountering his brothers who had sold him into slavery. Joseph, understandably, is cautious and slightly harsh at first. But the more he hears his family’s story, the scriptures say, “Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all those who stood by him...” He couldn’t take it any more – he couldn’t stand for one more second to be superior to or divided from his brothers - no matter what had happened between them in the past.

And so, he sent everyone else who wasn’t a part of his family away. In this part of the story, Joseph is no longer a powerful ruler of Egypt like his courtiers know him to be – he’s just a brother like his other brothers. They are just a family. And we learn from Joseph here that the first step to freedom from slavery is to let go of power.

When he does this, he cries so loudly that everyone in the whole house can hear it – everyone – in and out of the family – feels in this moment the pain he has felt, being divided from them. And Joseph finally tells his brothers through a wall of tears – “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” And so we find that the second step to freedom from slavery is to be truthful about who we are.

But he’s also telling them – I’m not just any Joseph from off the street – I’m your Joseph – I’ve got the same blood – we have the same father. And so we see that the third step to freedom from slavery is to find common ground – to see that the same blood flows through all of our veins, whether we are physically related by blood, or not.

But when Joseph’s brothers hear this truth, it says they’re dismayed – they’re terrified. Think about it – they thought he was dead. They had done a terrible thing to him. They sold him into slavery. Hopefully, they felt at least a little guilty about it. And here he is alive – what would he do to them? What would you do, if you had the chance, to the person or people who have caused you the greatest pain in your life – enslaving you physically, mentally, or spiritually? Perhaps you’d want revenge? An eye for an eye, anyone? So, it’s no surprise that they are terrified at seeing this possibly vengeful ghost.

But then, strangely, Joseph says to his brothers, “Come closer to me.” Why? So he can hit them? If I were them, I would have taken a few very cautious steps. But when they come closer, instead of pulling out a fist or cutting them down with words, Joseph simply tells them again who he is – he says – “I am your brother, Joseph” – and he clarifies – the one “whom you sold into Egypt.” Oh right – that brother. And so we see, that the fourth step to freedom from slavery is to acknowledge our sin. They all knew what had happened between them, but it needed to be spoken out loud.

As you think back on the things that are enslaving you and the ways you enslave others, what steps do you need to take to work toward freedom? Do you need to let go of any power? Do you need to be truthful about who you are? Do you need to find some common ground? Do you need to acknowledge a sin that you or others have committed? If you answered yes to any of these questions, what is keeping you from taking that step? These are not easy steps, but pray about this, asking God to help you find courage.

The Things That Enslave

GUIDING SCRIPTURE

Psalm 133 (NRSV)

How very good and pleasant it is
     when kindred live together in unity!
It is like the precious oil on the head,
     running down upon the beard,
     on the beard of Aaron,
     running down over the collar of his robes.
It is like the dew of Hermon,
     which falls on the mountains of Zion.
For there the Lord ordained his blessing,
     life for evermore.

DAILY BYTE

As you picture your relationships this week with other people in the human “family,” and as we think on the story of Joseph’s slavery and freedom, take this opportunity to look at the various ways we are enslaved and the ways we enslave others.

At the World Methodist Conference recently held in Durban, it was, at times, clear, that even in the church, we are enslaved by a system that praises self-serving power. It was interesting to notice which people at different points in time were considered, perhaps, more important than others, whether because of a title or their age or gender, etc... Do you notice this in your everyday life? Do you notice any ways that we enslave people, holding them up in pedestal-ed positions of power? Do you notice ways we enslave people who are in positions where they have no power? We see this in Joseph’s story, when his brothers sold him into slavery so that they could claim a little of the power that he had in his family for their own. We do enslave each other with power.

It’s also been obvious over the past few weeks that we are enslaved by our prejudices against certain races, cultures, and sexual orientations – even when we look like we’re united, sitting side by side together, we know that we’re more likely to say hello to people of certain races, genders, and ages than others, depending on what prejudices we hold. Do you find this in your own life? Joseph and his brothers both knew this – they knew the difference between an Egyptian and an Israelite. Between a slave and a king. A woman and a man. They knew who had power – who was worth talking to – and who wasn’t. We do enslave each other with prejudice.

And it’s also been obvious that we are enslaved by jealousy, always wishing that we had something or someone that others do and that we do not. Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery for just that reason – jealous of the love and attention that he got from his father. Do you find this in any corner of your own life? We do enslave each other with jealousy.

And, we are enslaved by fear, worried about the future, trying to defend all that we have, afraid that there will not be enough – and we must hear that fear loudly, but at this point, we must also pause from looking at some of the things that enslave us to thank God for the fact that this particular fear – this fear of not having enough – actually caused the family reunion in Joseph’s story to happen.

There was a famine in the land of Israel – and Jacob’s family was very afraid that they wouldn’t have enough to survive. We’ve heard in the news about the current famine in Somalia and Ethiopia. And we hear constantly the world’s fear that in the not too distant future, we will not have enough water, enough clean air, enough fossil fuels - and it goes on and on – to survive. And so we fight over the little that we do have, enslaving and overpowering others so that we will have enough. There is a famine that continues in our land today.

But in the story when famine hits the land, we don’t read that the sons of Jacob took up arms and attacked Pharaoh’s palace, stealing corn and grain.

We read that they come, asking their neighbours for help. And when they make themselves vulnerable, declaring that they need help, they encounter Joseph – they encounter their brother.

As you ponder the areas of your own life and the lives of others that are enslaved, how can you reach out beyond your power, prejudices, jealousy, and fear to be vulnerable with your brothers and sisters in this world? If we are “kindred,” like the psalm says, how can we help reach out to each other when a need exists so that we become less like slaves and masters and more like unified brothers and sisters?

A Story of Slavery, a Story of Unity

FOCUS READING

Genesis 37:14b-28 (NRSV)

[Joseph] came to Shechem, and a man found him wandering in the fields; the man asked him, ‘What are you seeking?’ ‘I am seeking my brothers,’ he said; ‘tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.’ The man said, ‘They have gone away, for I heard them say, “Let us go to Dothan.” ’ So Joseph went after his brothers, and found them at Dothan. They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him. They said to one another, ‘Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.’ But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying, ‘Let us not take his life.’ Reuben said to them, ‘Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him’—that he might rescue him out of their hand and restore him to his father. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves that he wore; and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.

Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers, ‘What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.’ And his brothers agreed. When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.

DAILY BYTE

This week, we read a story from Genesis, and just as we spoke yesterday about the World Methodist Conference as a family reunion, this biblical story is also about a family reunion.

We know very well, don’t we, the story of Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers? But how well do we know what happens after Joseph was sold into slavery?

That part of story is not usually found in Bible story books. It’s not as popular a story to tell, and I’ve been wondering why. Perhaps it’s because some people think the reunion story is not as dramatic as the story of selling Joseph into slavery. But I’m not sure why – because it’s full of tears and drama!

Or maybe the story we hear this week is not told as often because stories of division in our world sell much better than stories of unity.

Or maybe it’s not told because a story of division and slavery is easier to believe than a story of healing and reconciliation.

During the conference, Archbishop Elias Chacour, a Palestinian ministering in Galilee, after telling an amazing story of sacrifice and healing between Palestinians and Jews, said to us with deep sadness, that you would never hear a story like that on the news because it is too beautiful.

This story in Genesis is too beautiful for us to tell only the beginning, a beginning of division and heartache, where Joseph becomes enslaved.

And this story is too beautiful to tell it so flippantly that we start to believe that it has nothing to do with us.

It’s a story of a family squabble. And as a Muslim guest speaker at the conference reminded us, family feuds are the worst kind of feuds. We often find this to be true in our own present-day families. But, this story is also about our family squabble. We can feel through our own experience the pain that Joseph and his family feels because of the things that divide them. But this story is also a family reunion. Our family reunion – the story is not finished yet. We are still – re-unifying. And that is something to celebrate like we did last week at the conference.

But even during such an amazing show of unity at the conference, it became increasingly obvious that although we are unified, we are still trapped – even enslaved – by many things that divide us.

Picture your relationships – do you focus mainly on what divides you from others, or do you focus on what unites you to others? Do you dwell on what traps you, or do you seek after what is beautiful? Can you understand your personal family story of slavery and freedom to be entwined with God’s family story?

A Family Reunion

FOCUS READING

Genesis 5:2 (The Message)

This is the family tree of the human race; when God created the human race, he made it godlike, with a nature akin to God. He created both male and female and blessed them, the whole human race.

DAILY BYTE

These past few weeks have seen the arrival in Durban of over a thousand Christian people who worship in the Wesleyan tradition! Every five years, this conference gathers as the World Methodist Conference, coming together to learn, worship, pray, and celebrate the spirit of God. It’s a little bit like the World Cup of Methodism. Most of these folks come from Methodist denominations from around the globe – and being together in Durban has been a truly remarkable time. You have never heard such a rousing rendition of O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing! About two thousand people sang it together during the opening session of worship, and it was a force!

I was sitting up front, playing in the worship ensemble, and I realized that although some brilliant and passionate people were speaking at the front microphone, I was pretty indifferent to them. Instead, I was mesmerized by the gathering of people in front of me. People of every colour, culture, race, gender, and age, all sitting in one room, cameras flashing, everyone joyfully proclaiming that as people with many differences, we are still united in Christ! It was a sight to see.

And it occurred to me, as I watched people gather, slapping each other on the back and waving – as I spotted some of my seminary friends & professors in the crowd and someone from my home church region, that this gathering was a bit like a family reunion.

Some people were newer to the family, like me. Others, the mothers and fathers of the family, had been around, returning and again and again literally for generations – but when we stretched out our hands to greet each other, we knew, we belonged in the family.

This week, we will be exploring what it means to be a part of God’s united family, particularly through the lens of the story of Joseph’s reunion with his brothers in Genesis.

But for now, think about your own family. Whether your family consists of blood relatives, church friends, colleagues from work, mentors, etc. is entirely dependent upon your particular relationships. However, when you think of who constitutes your family – what is it that unites you? What makes you feel that you belong? Why are some people included in the “family,” while others are not? Do you and your “family” members behave in ways that trap and enslave, or do they embrace and set free?

A Chance to Change the World

DAILY BYTE

In 1983 Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple Computers, asked John Sculley to become the CEO. At the time, Sculley was the vice-president of PepsiCo, a large, well-established, massively profitable multi-national corporation. Apple was still a fledgling company in what was, at the time, a very uncertain industry. The legendary question that Steve Jobs put to John Sculley that convinced him to make the risky move into this new position was this, “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water, or do you want a chance to change the world?” It was a crossroads moment for John Sculley. He chose the path that gave him a chance to change the world.

Friends, believe it or, we are all faced with that same essential choice whenever we consider the purpose of our lives. In those crossroads moments the choice before us is really as stark as the one that John Sculley faced - either to go through the motions of a safe, bland, mediocre kind of existence. Or to dare to risk ourselves in some great venture that could change the world.

The truth of the gospel is that whoever we are, however young or old, rich or poor, educated or not. Whoever we are, there is a big, bold, brash purpose that God has for each one of us that will draw us into a great venture that promises to change the world. This is indeed good news, because who of us would not want to give our one miraculous life to some magnificent purpose?

Today, examine your life. Reflect on what you’re doing. Ask God to show you how your life can be drawn in to God’s loving purposes to change the world. Take a courageous step into that new understanding of why you are here. Make the changes that you know are necessary. It’s not too late for you to start living the life for which you’ve been uniquely created.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Thank you Lord God that you’ve created me with a magnificent purpose in mind. Thank you that you intend my life to be one that changes the world. Help me to take hold of this chance. Show me today the ways in which I can live, and the courageous choices I can make, that will lead me more fully into all that you dream for me. Amen.

SCRIPTURE READING

Mark 1:16-20

As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake - for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me and I will make you fish for people.’ And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

Oscar Romero

DAILY BYTE

Oscar Romero was the Archbishop of El Salvador from 1977 until his assassination on the 24th March 1980. He was made Archbishop at a time when El Salvador was under the oppressive rule of a violent military dictatorship. When he became Archbishop he was widely regarded as a conservative academic who wouldn’t rock the boat. Social activists in the church lamented his consecration as Archbishop. The government welcomed it.

But all of that quickly changed, as Romero witnessed the military intimidation of activists, the desecration of holy places and even the killing of priests. He soon became an outspoken critic of the government and a voice for the oppressed poor of his land, as he took a brave stand against the injustice that was now so evident. In the end it was a stand that cost him his life. But not before he came to a place where he recognised the gospel truth that the power to freely lay down your life is greater than the power to take life.

This is powerfully illustrated in a scene from the movie about his life. In it the army had occupied a church and turned it into a barracks. And so Romero went to this church to retrieve the sacred elements of the sacrament. On hearing his intentions, the sergeant in charge took an automatic rifle, blasted the altar to pieces, and screamed at the Archbishop to get out. A visibly shaken Romero left the church. But outside he stopped, turned around, and walked back inside. He went to the altar and on his knees started to gather up the blasted bits of the sacrament. The sergeant, in fury, grabbed another automatic rifle, emptied a magazine of bullets into the altar, kicked Romero and had him thrown out of the church.

Romero then gets into a car and drives away, but soon returns. This time he has with him his robe and stole. He puts them on and starts walking slowly and deliberately to the church, clearly intent on reclaiming it as a place of worship and celebrating the sacrament within it. As he walks to the church he is joined by other priests and onlookers.

As they approach the entrance of the church, two soldiers raise their automatic rifles, and the sergeant in between them draws a handgun and points it at Romero. He looks straight at the guns but keeps on walking towards them, knowing that at any moment those triggers could be pulled, spitting instant death. As Romero walks resolutely towards those guns, facing and accepting the death that they threatened, something changes. In that moment the sergeant’s power, the power of his gun, the power of the threat of death, crumbled. Powerless to resist, the sergeant drops his gun and turns his head, and Romero and the great crowd behind him walk into the church. And together they celebrate the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ, and remember his death and resurrection. And are filled once again with hope, and courage, and life.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Thank you Lord for the lives of those, like Oscar Romero, who bear courageous witness to the truth of the gospel and challenge us to trust you more radically and completely. Amen

SCRIPTURE READING

John 12:23-25

Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

A Withered Fig Tree

DAILY BYTE

On Monday the question was asked. ‘What do you stand for?’ We heard the story of the man in Tiananmen Square who made a bold and courageous stand. While few of us will be called upon to make a stand of such public proportions, make no mistake that ALL of us, sooner or later, will be presented with circumstances where we will have to choose whether we will take a stand or not. How we choose will speak volumes about our integrity.

It happened for Jesus when he entered the temple in that last fateful week of his life – as Matthew tells the story. He saw what was going on. It angered him. He knew that it was wrong. And so he took a stand – courageously driving out all who were buying and selling, overturning the tables of the money changers and the benches of the traders.

As he does so he quotes from the scriptures, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers,’ he said.

Some people think that Jesus was simply referring to the corrupt practices of those who were involved in the sacrificial system of the temple. That his actions were directed against the individuals who were operating there in dishonest ways. But his protest, in fact, goes much deeper than that. We read that Jesus drove out all who were buying and selling in the temple. And what was being sold, and what was being bought? Animals for sacrifice, because offering a sacrifice had become a non-negotiable requirement in order to receive the mercy and grace of God.

And Jesus would have none of it. He could see that this system was robbing people of the chance for an authentic relationship with God. And so he took a stand against that entire sacrificial system. He attacked the prevailing religious paradigm that reduced relationship with God to an economic transaction – as if God’s love and forgiveness were commodities that could be bought. Instead of being a house of prayer, the temple had become a den of robbers. It promised much, but delivered little. The system had the appearance of making things right between people and God, but in fact it wasn’t.

To drive the point home, Matthew tells the strange story of the withering fig tree, immediately after this account of Jesus in the temple. The fruitless fig tree stands as a symbol of what the Temple had become. It was covered in leaves, and so had the appearance of being fruitful. But it wasn’t. And so Jesus rebukes it, and immediately it withers. Which may sound like a harsh and strange thing for Jesus to do. But in essence, his word only served to reveal the true nature of the figtree – that it was indeed fruitless. This is exactly what the Temple had become. And Jesus’ stand made that known.

So what is all of this saying to you? As you think about your life, how do the examples of that young man in Tiananmen Square, or Jesus in the Temple, challenge and inspire you? Is there anything that would prompt you to make a stand of similar integrity?

As you look around you – what do you see that is wrong? What injustice do you notice? What breaks your heart, and makes you want to weep? What makes you want to say, ‘Enough!’ And take a stand. In what ways might you be standing at a moral crossroads, where nothing less than your integrity is at stake?

PRAY AS YOU GO

God of justice and truth, today we pray for all those who are contemplating taking a stand for justice against what they know to be wrong. We pray for courage for them. We pray for whistle-blowers in private companies or government departments who are

SCRIPTURE PASSAGE

Matthew 21:12-19

Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold doves. He said to them, ‘It is written,

“My house shall be called a house of prayer”;
but you are making it a den of robbers.’

The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he did, and heard the children crying out in the temple, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David’, they became angry and said to him, ‘Do you hear what these are saying?’ Jesus said to them, ‘Yes; have you never read,

“Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies
you have prepared praise for yourself”?’

He left them, went out of the city to Bethany, and spent the night there.

In the morning, when he returned to the city, he was hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the side of the road, he went to it and found nothing at all on it but leaves. Then he said to it, ‘May no fruit ever come from you again!’ And the fig tree withered at once.

Women’s Day

DAILY BYTE

On this National Woman’s Day we reflect on the story of a woman from a different era, nationality and faith. But hers is a story that still speaks with compelling power to us today.

The story of Anne Frank is fairly well known. She was a Dutch Jewish girl born in 1929 who perished during the Holocaust at the hands of the Nazi’s in 1945 at the age of 16. Yet her great gift was to maintain a candlelight of humanity in a dark age and so guarantee that darkness should not have the final word.

During the Nazi occupation of Holland, Anne’s family and another – the Van Daams – went into hiding in a secret annex in her father’s office in the centre of Amsterdam. With the help and support of Dutch friends, they remained undetected for two years, before being betrayed in 1944 and dispersed to the Nazi death camps.

It was during the time of hiding in Amsterdam that Anne started to keep a diary. For her it was not simply a distraction but a responsibility to record her experiences and feelings as accurately as possible. In the early pages of her diary she wrote, “I want to write, but more than that, I want to bring out all kinds of things that lie buried deep in my heart.” What emerged were remarkable insights on the meaning of life and faith in the face of adversity.

If we remember that this fourteen-year-old girl spent two years in a confined space with seven other people, with a death sentence hanging over their heads, her capacity to see beyond the horror of their immediate circumstances is astonishing indeed. Every evening she would finish her prayers with the words, “I thank you God for all that is good and dear and beautiful. I am filled with joy. I don’t think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains.”

On another occasion she wrote, “I know what I want, I have a goal, an opinion. I have a religion and love. Let me be myself and then I am satisfied. I know that I’m a woman, a woman with inward strength and plenty of courage. If God lets me live...I shall not remain insignificant, I shall work in the world and for mankind! And now I know that first and foremost I shall require courage and cheerfulness.”

It is an excruciating thought that this remarkable young life was cut down so soon by such evil designs. But in the light of her tragic fate there is even more poignancy and power in these words written just days before her arrest: “In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart... I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness, I hear the ever-approaching thunder, which will destroy us too. I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will all come right... In the meantime, I must uphold my ideals, for perhaps the time will come when I shall be able to carry them out.”

PRAY AS YOU GO

Help me today, dear God, to look beyond the hardships and miseries of my life and our world, to see the beauty of your presence and the wonder of your grace. Amen.

FOCUS READING

2 Corinthians 3:3-6 (The Message & CEV)

Your very lives are a letter that anyone can read by just looking at you. Christ himself wrote it — not with ink, but with God's living Spirit; not chiseled into stone, but carved into human lives — and we publish it.

We are sure about all this. Christ makes us sure in the very presence of God. We don't have the right to claim that we have done anything on our own. God gives us what it takes to do all that we do. His letter authorizes us to help carry out this new plan of action. The plan wasn't written out with ink on paper, with pages and pages of legal footnotes, killing your spirit. It's written with Spirit on spirit, his life on our lives!

What do you stand for?

DAILY BYTE

There’s a piece of homespun wisdom that goes like this, “If you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything.”

On the 15th April 1989 a student led civil resistance movement began on Tiananmen Square in Beijing in the People’s Republic of China. The demonstrations were sparked by the death of a senior Communist Party official who had supported the students’ call for political reform in China. The resistance movement quickly gained momentum as tens of thousands of students occupied Tiananmen Square, many of them embarking on a hunger strike to publicize their cause.

Seven weeks later, the Premier ordered the army to clear Tiananmen Square of protestors. On the 4th June, tanks and troops moved into the streets of Beijing, firing and bulldozing their way through Tiananmen Square. No-one knows for sure how many people were killed. Estimates range from a couple of hundred to several thousand.

The day after this bloodbath, the 5th June 1989, a column of tanks was driving through Tiananmen Square. Suddenly, a lone figure ran out into the street and defiantly stood in the path of the oncoming tanks, forcing them to stop. The moment was captured in a photograph that has become one of the iconic images of the Tiananmen Square protests.

No-one knows the identity of this ‘tank man’.

No-one knows what exactly prompted him to risk his life in this reckless gesture of defiance.

No-one knows what happened to him after he was pulled from the street by people in the crowd.

But in that moment, as he courageously stands there in the path of those tanks because of what he believed, in that moment he is so much more than just a solitary, anonymous, Chinese student, longing for reform in his country. He stands there as a living embodiment of human integrity, a reminder of what is possible for us all when the time comes for us to make a stand for what we know is right.

What do you stand for?

PRAY AS YOU GO

Lord, help me today to stand for what I know is true and right. Amen.

SCRIPTURE READING

John 2:13-17

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money-changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. He told those who were selling the doves, ‘Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a market-place!’ His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’

Childlike Faith - Part 5

DAILY BYTE

No-one knows exactly how bad the situation in South Africa is for children who are abused. In reporting on this Health 24 had the following to say:
“In this country there is a culture of non-reporting and underreporting of sexual offences. With the recent moratorium placed on the release of crime statistics, accurate figures are currently not available. Earlier figures released by the SAPS make for some terrifying reading, though.

Between 1994 and 1999 23,900 rape cases were reported to the police. It is reasonable to assume that many of these cases involved children. The SAPS estimate that only between one in twenty and one in thirty-five rapes are reported to the police. The same kind of reporting ratio would hold in cases regarding minors. When parents assume that their children are not at risk, they are very wide off the mark.”

Not exactly pleasant reading for a Friday morning I know, but child abuse is something we need to be aware of and deeply concerned with. The reason I bring this up, is because I was recently struck by a thought concerning the passage on childlike faith we have been studying all week.

What does this story teach us about God? For me, it is a glimpse into the very heart of God, a reminder of divine nature: That God cares for the little ones, the very least in our society. You see children in Jesus’ day were often abused, just like today. Besides the types of abuse that are commonly known to us, it was also not unheard of for a parent to sell their children into slavery in an attempt to recover debt. Children were often treated as nothing more than possessions.

They were definitely seen and not heard, invisible and voiceless. Except ... except by God walking on earth as a man. Through Jesus, we learn that God has seen their plight and heard their cries for help. Through Jesus, we learn that God’s arms are always stretched out to the little ones, to those who find themselves at the bottom of our social hierarchies.

And in fact, we learn from this God, that we should also reach out to and love the world’s little ones. For not only has God commanded that we do all we can to protect them, but God has also told us that they hold kingdom truths which we all need to learn. Further to that, Jesus tells us that when we open our arms to embrace God’s little ones, we may find that we are in fact embracing God himself.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Lord, we want to lift up to you every child that suffers. Those who are abandoned, abused and neglected. We pray O’ God that you would be their deliverer, and that they would know you as Father. We also pray that you would raise up Christians across the world, (including ourselves), to reach out and embrace all your “little ones” who are in need. In Christ name we pray. Amen.

FOCUS READING

Mark 9:36-37 (New International Version)

He took a little child and had him stand among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me."

Childlike Faith - Part 4

DAILY BYTE

The author, Frederick Beuchner, gives us a couple of further hints at the meaning of childlike, as opposed to childish, faith. The first is that children know how to accept gifts! Since they are totally dependant from birth, children can receive gifts both gladly and unselfconsciously. They have no suspicions that there may be a catch somewhere, there is no debate about whether they deserve it or not, no worries about the proper etiquette of reciprocation.

Yet we do this type of thing all the time with God’s gift of salvation. We do our best to try to earn it, to prove we deserve it. I think Beuchner puts his finger on the very crux of Jesus’ point here, because trying to earn or prove we deserve a gift is something only adults will do. It is adults, not children, who struggle to graciously receive. Perhaps then a childlike spirit is the only thing that will actually receive God’s kingdom because it takes exactly that kind of attitude to receive grace!

Trying to earn or deserve this gift only leads us down the very sorry paths of legalism, pride and self-reliance. Interestingly enough, the story directly after this one, is about a rich, young man, who struggled with these very issues. Jesus commented on his story by saying that it was harder for a camel to enter through the eye of a needle than for someone who “has it all” to enter God’s kingdom. When his disciples queried him as to whether under those conditions anyone had any chance at all in entering God’s kingdom, Jesus replied: “No chance at all if you think you can pull it off for yourself, every chance if you trust God to do it.”

A childlike faith will not expend energy and effort trying to earn or deserve what has already been freely lavished upon us. It is clear that the wonders of God’s kingdom come to us only as a gift, and that it takes a childlike faith to receive this gift.

Beuchner’s next point follows the first one closely. It is that children know how to trust! In fact children have to be taught not to trust strangers, for distrust is against their instincts. The point is that nothing is too terrifying for a child to face up to as long as they have a trusted adult’s hand to hold. The reason this point is linked to the last, is because we need to trust in the Person who gives us the gift of the kingdom. Trust is being courageous enough to believe God can and will “pull it off” on our behalf. Trust is giving up trying to earn our way into the kingdom, and receiving it instead as a gift of grace.

So a childlike faith opens us up to the wonders and miracles of God in everyday life. A childlike faith releases us from pride and self-reliance, and a childlike faith enables us to trust that God’s generous gift of the kingdom is all we will every truly need.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Thank you O’ God for the gift of the kingdom. Help us to receive this gift of grace without trying to earn it or prove we deserve it. Keep us from childish traits of legalism, pride and self-reliance and bring us into a childlike faith brimming with trust in you for all things. Amen.

FOCUS READING

Mark 10:13-16; 23-27 (Message)

The people brought children to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. The disciples shooed them off. But Jesus was irate and let them know it: "Don't push these children away. Don't ever get between them and me. These children are at the very centre of life in the kingdom. Mark this: Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in." Then, gathering the children up in his arms, he laid his hands of blessing on them.

But Jesus kept on: "You can't imagine how difficult. I'd say it's easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye than for the rich to get into God's kingdom."

That set the disciples back on their heels. "Then who has any chance at all?" they asked.

Jesus was blunt: "No chance at all if you think you can pull it off by yourself. Every chance in the world if you let God do it."

Childlike Faith - Part 3

DAILY BYTE

So if Jesus was not talking about childish faith, nor about suspending adult questions and struggles, then what exactly was he saying? What does it mean to “receive the kingdom of God like a little child”?

Tony Campolo tells the story of once being challenged by a Buddhist monk: “You Christians teach your children to pray all wrong. You teach them to pray, ‘if I should die before I wake.’ It would be better if you taught them to pray, ‘if I should wake before I die.’”

His point was how often people seemed to live life only half awake, and not fully aware of the wealth of God-filled possibilities surrounding us everyday. With his point in mind, Campolo goes on to say how he once similarly challenged a student of his with the words, “How long have you lived?”

The student responded: “23 years.”

Campolo replied, “No that’s how long your heart has pumped. How long have you lived?” He then went on to explain to the student exactly what he was talking about.

The student’s reply was very interesting: “When you say it that way, maybe an hour, maybe less than that. Maybe a minute, maybe two. Most of my life seems to have been the meaningless passage of time between all too few moments when I was genuinely alive.”

Wake me up before I die! My young daughter teaches me this lesson every day. Hers is a sense of wonder at life. Her eyes open wide as if trying not to miss a single moment, her hands eagerly reach out to grasp what seems to me to be very ordinary things. Childlike faith is about having our eyes open to the miracle of everyday life again. It is about learning to see how the divine can shimmer and dance even in quite ordinary things.

The movie, “Finding Neverland,” tells the story of how James Barrie, (played by Johnny Depp) wrote the play, “Peter Pan.” At the premiere of this play, Barrie knew that there was a very real danger adults would just not ‘get’ the magic of the story. So he arranged for 25 children from a local orphanage to be present, seated randomly around the theatre. The children arrived late, and as they took their seats, disapproving patrons raised their eyebrows. When the curtains rose, the children let out squeals of delight and laughter. Tuxedoed adults, not yet quite grasping the wonder of the play, looked askance at these ragamuffin children who had caught on immediately. And then the adults began to look again, more carefully this time at what was happening onstage. Slowly their eyes started to brighten, and they began joining in the chuckles. Infected by the children, the adult patrons soon got caught up in the wonder of the play.

They were awakened to wonder and majesty. They were made alive to beauty in everyday, ordinary things. This is what children will teach us, if we take the time to listen. God is wondrously beautiful, and his presence and miracles surround us everyday. If only we would awake before we die, if only we would learn to see this, if only we would receive that truth like a little child.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Open our eyes wondrous God, to the incredible beauty that surrounds us everyday. Help us to be like little children, and become fascinated by the mystery of even very ordinary things. Let our souls, hearts and minds be continually awake to the treasures of your presence. Amen.

FOCUS READING

Mark 10. 15-16 (NIV)
I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.

Childlike Faith - Part 2

DAILY BYTE

So what exactly did Jesus mean when he spoke of “receiving the kingdom of God like a little child”? In helping us to understand this, perhaps it would prove helpful to first understand what Jesus was NOT saying.

Let’s face it: childhood can be a time of glorious self-indulgence. It is a time when the world seemingly revolves around you, when grown-ups rush to meet your needs at the slightest cry. Childhood can be a time of foot-stomping, ground-pounding, high-pitched screaming tantrums. Over the last few months, since my daughter was born, childish tantrums have become part of the daily reality of our house. However they are soon to stop, because my wife has told me that I am really not setting a good example for my daughter!

Let’s be clear that Jesus was NOT talking about childish and inappropriate behaviour here. The author, Philip Yancey, when writing on these verses, helpfully differentiates between childish faith and childlike faith. One example of childish faith might be a faith that is continually weak and unhealthily dependant on God, a faith that never grows us beyond ourselves. As Eugene Peterson says: “Christian faith is not neurotic dependency but childlike trust.” Of course there are times in our lives when we rely upon God to help us through difficult moments, but we are not meant to be eternally naïve spiritual infants who have no identity apart from a feeling of being comforted, protected, and catered to.

My daughter is quite youngand as her parents, we make all her life decisions. What she will eat, what she will wear, when she will sleep. If we are still making all those decisions for her at age 19, if she is still unhealthily dependant on us, then quite frankly we have failed her as parents. The goal of parenthood is to produce healthy adults, not eternally dependant children. In the same way, the Bible makes it clear that God wants us to grow spiritually from infants to adults. A spiritual adult will have a healthy, vibrant, mature and yet childlike trust in God and will not continually live with a fearfully neurotic and insecure clinging to God. That is the difference between childish faith and childlike faith.

Finally, nor does having childlike faith mean that we have to suspend all our adult questions and struggles. Anyone who has spent time with a toddler will tell you that questions form a huge part of their make-up! A wise person once said: “The opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty.” Doubt is not necessarily an obstacle to faith, but potentially can be a seed of faith, a means of growth. Asking questions and struggling through issues, can set us on the road to deeper faith. What we learn from children however, is that they ask their questions without cynicism. Their questions come out of a genuine desire to learn and grow. We need to learn that despite any fears or questions we may have, we can still love and trust our sometimes mysterious God. It is ok to have questions, or to struggle with doubts, just so long as you don’t let them stop you from having a relationship with God. A relationship with God, like any relationship, can only be plunged into without knowing exactly where it may take you.

PRAY AS YOU GO

Holy and mysterious God, we pray that you would help us to learn the difference between childish and childlike faith. Pray grow us into spiritually mature adults who would always retain an incredible trust in you as our Father. Help us to work through any doubts and questions we may have in way that grows us closer to you. Amen.

FOCUS VERSE

Psalm 131 (NIV)

My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me. But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, put your hope in the LORD both now and forevermore.

Childlike Faith

This week’s BDC was kindly contributed by Rev Gareth Killeen.

DAILY BYTE

The story is told of a man breaking free from prison. It took him years to painstakingly dig a tunnel, which he carefully hid behind a poster on his cell wall. Unbeknown to him, a miscalculation on the angle of his tunnel would ensure that he would finally dig out into a nearby children’s playground. The day eventually arrived when he broke through the last metre of soil. He lifted himself out onto the surface, jumped to his feet and started shouting: “I’m free. Thank God Almighty, that at last I am FREE”! His celebrations were interrupted however, by a tug from a little hand on his pants. He looked down to see a little toddler standing there with a defiant face and hands on hips. “That’s nothing”, the tyke retorted, “I’m already FOUR”!

This week we will be looking at the concept of childlike faith. We will be focussing our attention mainly on Mark 10.13-16, although other verses will be used as well.

Now it was common practice for ancient Jews to bring their children to a respected Rabbi for a blessing. This is obviously what happened here, with local parents attempting to bring their children to Jesus. However, they were prevented from doing so by the disciples. The Greek word used to describe how the disciples ‘rebuked’ them, is the same as elsewhere used by Mark to describe Jesus rebuking a storm into calmness. In other words, the disciples quite aggressively chased the children away. Perhaps they thought Jesus was tired after an exhausting day of ministry, but after so long in his company, they really should have known better. Mark’s Gospel clearly says that Jesus was indignant with the disciples for doing this. It describes Jesus as having a kind of embarrassed anger that his disciples would so misrepresent him. Time after time he had taught them about God’s love and care for those considered the ‘least’ in society. The powerless, and the marginalised had always been central to Jesus’ ministry, and now he overheard the disciples trying to drive some of them away.

This prompted him to tell them: “Don't push these children away. Don't ever get between them and me. These children are at the very centre of life in the kingdom,” (Mark 10. 14 MSG). Jesus then went onto say: “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it,” (Mark 10. 15 NIV).

Jesus is saying that we can only receive the kingdom of God, if we learn to receive it as little children. It strikes me that there is a powerful lesson to learn here and that these are very important words for us to hear and understand. This is why we will spend the whole of next week attempting to do exactly that.

Spend some time today thinking about what Jesus may have meant in this passage. Write your thoughts down and pray over them.

PRAY AS YOU GO

O’ Lord our God, we pray that you would open up our hearts and minds to this Scripture in a wonderful way. Help us to learn from you in this, and so deepen our faith and enlarge our hearts. This we pray in the name of our Teacher and Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.

FOCUS READING

Mark 10:13-16 (NIV)

People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it." And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.