RCL Readings 7 March 2010 (3rd Sunday of Lent)
Isaiah 55:1-9
Psalm 63:1-8
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Luke 13:1-9



Psalm 63:1-8 expresses the psalmist’s deep longing after God. A relationship which encompasses the whole of the day – the opening verse “I seek you” can mean to seek ‘early’ or ‘in the morning’, and verse 6 speaks of God being the psalmist’s focus even in the “watches of the night” (NRSV). We live at a time when many people experience a deep longing, even emptiness, they feel as thought they are “in a dry and weary land” (v.1) and yet are unaware that God is both the source of their longing and the fulfilment of that longing. During the week read slowly these verses from the Psalm and make them your own – seek to enter into the same ‘thirst’ and like the psalmist let that lead to praise. Pray for those who experience a great emptiness in their lives and consider how you might encourage them to seek after God.

Isaiah 55:1-9 is an invitation to those who “thirst”. It is a profound reminder that what God offers can’t be bought with money, can’t be achieved by effort, isn’t a reward for our achievements. The emphasis is on “incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live” (v.3) and “seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near” (v.6). The trust expressed in Psalm 63 and the invitation of Isaiah 55 verses 3 & 6 need to be our attitude in prayer. One of the reasons we need to learn to ‘incline our ear’, to ‘listen’, and to ‘seek the LORD’ is that God’s thoughts and ways are not our thoughts and ways (Isa 55:8). It is all too easy to assume that our thoughts and ways are the same as God’s, but, the more I study the prophets and the gospels, the more I become aware that there is an enormous gap between the two. God’s thoughts and ways are so often radically different, if not diametrically opposed, to ours. Read these readings and listen for what might be God’s thoughts and ways revealed within them.

1 Corinthians 10:1-13 will initially strike our ears as strange. What Paul is doing is using Israel’s history to warn the Corinthians “not to desire evil” (v.6) – a contrast to Psalm 63 and Isaiah 55 where the ‘thirsting’ or desire was after God. Paul sites that they fall for a variety of reasons: idolatry i.e. putting something else in the place of God as the object of devotion (v.7), sexual immorality (v.8), putting Christ to the test (v.9), and complaining (v.10) – an interesting list! Pray that you might recognise the potential points of fall and learn to trust and draw upon the resources God provides (v.12&13).

Luke 13 begins with a number of local disasters and the question whether those who suffered “were worse sinners” (v.2). This question is commoner than we realise and often asked subconsciously rather than outright. The answer is a definitive “no”, but there is nevertheless the challenge/need to repent! If our ways are not God’s ways (Isa 55:8) and we fall for some of the reasons sited in 1 Cor. 10 then we too are called to repentance and shouldn’t try to hide behind the fact that some may be worse sinners than us!

The second part of the Luke 13 reading (v.6-9) is an encouragement to patient waiting AND hopeful action. Are you/we bearing fruit for the Kingdom of God? What “digging around” and putting “manure” on might we be called to do?

RCL Readings Sunday 28 February 2010 (Second Sunday of Lent)
Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18
Psalm 27
Philippians 3:17-4:1
Luke 13:31-35

Sunday’s reading from Paul’s letter to the Philippians (3:17 – 4:1) follows a longer section where Paul has been warning them to take no notice of those who insist on placing their confidence in outward signs (3:2-3) and past heritage. This was and is an uncomfortable message to people and at first sight may seem to contradict what I said last week in relation to the passage from Deuteronomy (26:1-11) when we were encouraged to remember and recite the story of our faith. The reciting of the story of faith (as Paul does in Phil 3:4-6) should lead, not to a self-satisfaction that all is well because of our ‘history’, but, to a reminder that we need to enter again and again into that relationship with God which is at the heart of the life of faith. So Paul is very conscious that he “presses on” (3:12-14) and he encourages us to follow his example (v.17).

Lent is a time to examine our relationship with God, where we’ve been, where we are, and how we need to “press on”. While the passage could be seen to have a reference to food and eating/fasting (v.19) the main emphasis is where is our prime focus? Is it upon the ways of God and the Kingdom of God or is it upon “earthly things”? Paul speaks about a transformation “He will transform the body of our humiliation so that it may be conformed to the body of his glory” (Phil. 3:21). In this season of Lent be open to that transformation.



So how does transformation take place? It has something to do with exposure to God - 2 Corinthians 3:18 "And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another".

Margaret Silf in her book Taste and See (DLT) writes "Prayer is about coming to rest in the direction of God"

How do we pray in the light of this epistle? Firstly we need to direct our focus upon God and what it means in practical terms to live in the light of the Kingdom of God. Secondly, as you pray about places and people ask yourself: if my “citizenship is in heaven” (3:20) what is an appropriate response to the situations and people I am praying for?

The Gospel passage, Luke 13:31-35, is an intriguing one. Firstly we encounter some Pharisees who are genuinely concerned for Jesus’ wellbeing – not the normal stereotype we have! Let this warn us against stereotyping others and thereby writing them off. Examine the stereotypes you have. Pray for those people and your attitude to and relationship with them.

Secondly note Jesus’ desire regarding Jerusalem despite her past (v.34). Jesus likens himself to a mother hen trying to gather her brood under her wings to protect them and keep them warm and safe. Here we see the pastoral heart of Jesus and that pain he feels as he sees that his people continually reject those that God has sent to them. Prayerfully consider how open you/we are to God and those God sends to us? How willing are we to be “gathered” together under Christ’s wing? What would it mean for you to be gathered under Christ’s wing – how would that feel, what would that bring to you? Try to see the church, the community and the wider world with the eyes and heart of Jesus the mother hen – let that vision shape your prayers and actions this week.

RCL Readings Sunday 21 February 2010 (First Sunday in Lent)

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16

Romans 10:8b-13

Luke 4:1-13

This Sunday is the first Sunday in Lent. Lent is now a period of 40 days (excluding Sundays as they are weekly reminders of the Resurrection) and dates back to the 3rd century. It began as a 40 hour fast for those who were to be baptised on Easter Day and represented the 40 hours Jesus spent in the tomb. Over time it embraced all believers and not just those preparing for baptism and expanded to the 40 days of Lent beginning on Ash Wednesday. During Lent any fasting and/or ‘giving up’ needs to be in order to aid our focusing upon God – any other purpose must be merely secondary.

Deuteronomy 26:1-11 in its present form probably dates from the Babylonian exile period (587-515 BC) but refers back to the exodus from slavery in Egypt 700 to 900 years earlier (dating is a little difficult!). The reading reminds the people of the exodus period and all subsequent generations to offer the first fruit to God – an act of acknowledging both the salvation that God has wrought and the provision of God. The people were also commanded to recite the history of God’s saving action – this was vital to a much later generation when in exile for it was the source of their hope. They were also instructed to celebrate, a celebration which was inclusive of “the Levites and the aliens who reside among you” (v.11). In this season of Lent this passage reminds and encourages us to:

• offer the first fruits and not the leftovers to God;

• as we enter into God’s new future for us to recall and remind ourselves of God’s saving acts;

• to be an open and inclusive celebratory community.

Let these three things shape your prayers and your actions during Lent.

The gospel reading (Luke 4:1-13) recalls Jesus’ 40 day period of temptation and testing in the wilderness. Jesus here wrestles with his calling as God’s Son and the how of his ministry. Meet your own needs (turn this stone into a loaf of bread); to depend on a power and authority that comes from a source other than God (worship me and it will be yours); produce impressive irrefutable evidence of who you are (throw yourself down from the pinnacle of the temple). We may be tempted in all sorts of ways but the fundamental temptations are to do with our calling by God and the how of our mission. It is so easy to get side tracked into allsorts of other things and when we are we loose sight of who we are in God and his calling. Lent is a time when we need to wrestle with our calling to be God’s children and what it means to live in faithful dependence upon God. In your prayers seek to understand what it means to be a child of God and to live in the ways of God. That doesn’t mean it is a call to an austere life, Deuteronomy reminds us to “celebrate with all the bounty that the LORD your God has given to you and your house” (26:11). That celebration embraces those who have no tribal lands (the Levites) on which to raise their crops and offer the first fruits and the “aliens” who live among us – a real challenge in today’s world! Our prayers for others should lead us to celebrate with them.

A final thought and one where my Sunday sermon might go! For me there is a disturbing question to wrestle with. Are we the tempter of Jesus? Are we ‘Satan’?

Let me explain.
Do we want bread on the cheap?
Do we want the needs of humanity to be met without any real cost to us?
Do we demand/tempt Jesus to produce the bread without any real impact upon us and our ways of living and our consumer habits, and our ways of trading?

Do we want and use power and politics to say we will not sign up because it is not in our interest, we will do it our way? Are our politics the politics of self-interest whatever colour they are wrapped up in?

Do we want spectacular signs and demonstrations of power to try and force allegiance and compliance?

In Matthew & Mark's pre-transfiguration accounts at Caesarea Philippi Jesus turns to Peter and says: "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling-block to me; for your are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things." (Matt 16:23 & Mark 8:33).

RCL Readings Sunday 21 February 2010 (First Sunday in Lent)
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
Romans 10:8b-13
Luke 4:1-13

My week began very early on Monday reflecting on Luke 4:1-13 and preparing the devotions for the District Candidates Committee that was meeting that day (part of the process within Methodism by which we test the call of those offering for ordained ministry). I wrestled with the question of how does this passage speak into that committee and the two people we were meeting to explore their sense of call. There was the obvious connection of wrestling with a call and how it is to be worked out.

We are all called is my starting point. That call is often questioned and undermined in subtle and not so subtle ways - so it was for Jesus "If you are the Son of God ..." I'm sure the two people we met had faced many "If" moments - I have and I still do! While at times I may be shaken, tempted, by those undermining 'ifs' I come back to that deep conviction that I am and you are called. For Jesus the 'If' question sought to question the voice at his baptism which said "You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased" (Luke 3:22b). Martin Luther the great reformer we are told was bedevilled with doubts and is reported as countering them with "I have been baptised, I have been baptised". The words spoken over a baby in the Baptism service of the Methodist Church come to mind, the name of the child is spoken followed by:
for you Jesus Christ came into the world;
for you he lived and showed God's love;
for you he suffered death on the Cross;
for you he triumphed over death,
rising to newness of life;
for you he prayers at God's right hand:
   all this for you,
   before you could know anything of it.

At your 'if' moments you might like to say your name followed by those words from the baptism service.

We are called and the 'ifs' will come but the real question we have to wrestle with in the wilderness is the what, the where and the how of discipleship.

RCL Readings Sunday 14 February 2010
Exodus 34:29-35
Psalm 99
2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2
Luke 9:28-36 (37-43)



Sometimes you can tell when people have something important to tell you. In someway their appearance gives it away. So it was with Moses when he returned from “talking with God” in Exodus 34:29-35. The things we are exposed to actually affect us – sometimes we are not aware of it ourselves just as Moses didn’t know that his face shone. For our prayerful reflection this week, consider what are the things that you are exposed to and what effect might they be having? Where are you placing yourself that you might be more exposed to God? There is also a challenge in this reading to affirm others and the reflection of God in them. If being exposed to God changes people what about the flip side - those exposed to poverty, degradation, dehumanising systems, addiction, and as a consequence their whole being reflects these things. Consider shaping your prayer and action around this theme of exposure and challenge those things and systems that blight the lives of people.

Paul picks up the Exodus reading in 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2 and urges us to have confidence in the presence of God speaking of us being “transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another”. Take time to reflect how you have been and are being transformed by “seeing the glory of the Lord” by being exposed to Christ through worship, prayer, reflecting upon Scripture, and experiencing Christ in and through others.

Psalm (99) paints a picture of a holy God who evokes people’s praises. This Psalm could be used as a basis of your praises – read it slowly, allow the language and imagery to sink in. Notice the linking of the sovereignty of God with justice and the establishment of justice in verse 4 – our praises can’t be divorced from issues of justice. Encounter with and worship of a holy God must lead us to a deep commitment to issues of justice.

The reading from Luke’s Gospel (9:28-36) is the account of the transfiguration. The reading is packed with symbolism: Moses and Elijah representing the law and the prophets; changing appearance; conversations about “departure”/exodus; mountains and clouds; and the voice from heaven “This is my Son, my Chosen/Beloved; listen to him.” It all begins with Jesus and three disciples going up the mountain to pray – prayer is key to it all. What he prayed we are not told – the context (foretelling of his death and resurrection Lk 9:21-22) and the scene as it unfolds with the conversation about his “departure” all point to prayer focused on discerning the heart and will of his Father. Our seeking the heart and mind of God in prayer should shape us – transform/transfigure us. There is, understandably, the temptation to want to freeze things at a certain time and moment – that is not possible, but the cloud (symbol of the presence of God) and Jesus remain with the three disciples AND with us.

RCL Readings Sunday 7 February 2010
Isaiah 6:1-8 (9-13)
Psalm 138
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
Luke 5:1-11

The Old Testament reading (Isaiah 6:1-8) and the Gospel reading (Luke 5:1-11) both focus on an encounter which culminates in a call. Isaiah’s took place in a worship context and the fishermen’s took place in what we might call a work context. Isaiah might have had some expectation of encountering God in a worship context but clearly Peter and the other fishermen were surprised by their encounter. The importance of placing ourselves in a context where we are more likely to encounter God is underlined by the Isaiah passage, but equally God can and does encounter us in the world of work and leisure. The whole of life is the arena in which God is present to be encountered – how does that shape our attitude to worship, work, and leisure?

There are some interesting common elements about these two passages that for me can shape our prayers this week. Both are set in particular moments and places – God is present in the particular whether that be a place and time of worship or after completing the nightshift/long day at work. An overwhelming sense of being in the presence of holiness leads initially to a devastating awareness of sinfulness. For me one of the most challenging things about Isaiah’s confession is that it has a personal and corporate dimension: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a person of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips”. The realisation of my personal sin AND my part, or complicity in, the sin of the wider society and world to which I belong is a fundamental outcome of an awareness of being in the presence of a holy God. The latter is harder to face and accept, yet I believe it is vital if we are to see the Kingdom of God and the ways of that kingdom breaking into our world. Prayerfully explore this part of confession.

In both, confession of sin leads to an act of grace. In Isaiah’s case a powerful dramatic action symbolising the cauterising of sin, while for Peter it was a word of grace: “do not be afraid”. The act of grace is followed by the hearing of a call. Isaiah having been cleansed now ‘hears’ the conversation of the divine heart: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” What part of the divine conversation are you hearing? What do you sense might on the heart of God for the life of the church, the community, and the wider world? How can you respond?

The readings reminded me of a photograph I took of the debris washed up by the tide and a short meditation I wrote

Washed up

A mix of nature’s storms

And life’s detritus

Cast upon pebbles smoothed by countless tides

The entangled nylon of our sin and folly

The durable containers of our arrogance

Litter, scar, cry out awaiting the tide

Only to be tossed up again and again

Must we always recycle the same old matter

Or can the tide turn

Drawing away our stain

Leaving the pebbles to delightful chatter

As seas caress

Or storms pound

Smoothed testament to your labour.

Daniel Schutte's hymn I, the Lord of sea and sky is for me one that leads into intercessory prayer and action. Each verse ends with the question "Whom shall I send?" and the chorus becomes an act of commitment: "Here I am Lord ... I will go, Lord ..."