Jeremiah 1:4-10; Psalm 71; Luke 13:10-17

O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and in the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.

The story of the bent over women - the woman afflicted by a spirit which crippled her for eighteen years - is a favourite text in many churches.

It is often enacted in workshops, discussed at gatherings and mediated upon in prayer circles.

It is a very powerful story featuring as it does the unbidden grace of God coming upon a person - a woman - and setting her free to walk upright and to praise God. A story about an awesome miracle - bestowed freely upon one in need in the midst of the worship of the living God - in a place not unlike this place.

"Woman, you are set free from your ailment."

I think that this story is so popular because ultimately this woman, this daughter of Abraham, afflicted for 18 years with a spirit that left her crippled and bent over, is us.

She is no-one important, just another person worshipping on the Sabbath day in the synagogue of her ancestors, just another person carrying a heavy burden, and not doing well with it at all.

She is oppressed, perhaps, as so many say, oppressed by a social system that devalues her, by a world order that sees her as more or less of no account, much as today's world order sees us as more or less of no account - as consumers, as numbers to be valued only by our power to purchase commodities and to be ignored when it seems that we will return less to the bottom line than we take from it, if it seems we will be a drain on the health system - a drain on the economy - a drain on the family.

Eighteen years she was afflicted by spirit that crippled her, that bent her over, that wore her down. Eighteen years.

She is oppressed - perhaps not so much by a social system that sees her as not being important, but by a system of expectations and demands that she simply can't live up. Perhaps she feels forced to carry the burden of a another person's desperate need, or the burden of a child gone wrong, a husband who abuses her, a mother who expects her to look after her, a father who criticizes her every deed...Perhaps she is afflicted by friends who love her only if she does those things that they want her to do and a society that expects her to keep silent about her own woes.

Bent over, crippled, unable to stand upright, in need, this woman comes to the synagogue to worship God - and perhaps to silently pray for help while others read the lesson and others teach - and still others pray aloud, to the God who delivered Israel from bondage, to the God who led Israel with a cloud by day and fire by night, and brought them into a promised land - a land once again under the rule of strangers - she comes to a synagogue full of people, people like her in need, some not knowing just how much in need they are - because their outward circumstances are good, and others, like the bent over woman - knowing their pain - but resigned - after a year, or 18 years, or a lifetime, to their condition.

She is us, and we are her, bent over, crippled, oppressed by a spirit, perhaps a spirit of self-doubt, a spirit that convinces her that she has no strength, no ability, no purpose, even though she is a child of Abraham, even though she is one of God's chosen ones.

And Jesus as he is teaching in the synagogue, sees this woman and discerns that a spirit has oppressed her and bent her over for these many years and in the midst of his teaching he calls her to come to him...

How easy is she to overlook. How easy are all those like her to miss.

Looking at the crowd in the synagogue that day, Jesus, like the rest, could have seen this bent over woman as simply someone needing a good doctor.

Or, like some today, he could have seen her as victim of an unjust society, as one more casualty whose presence informs us of the need for change in our social order, as simply one more person who needs to be set free from the disease and disorder that is present in our world.

How surprised she must have been to have been beckoned forward by Jesus, to have been called to his side.

She is easy to overlook. She is the poorest of the poor children of Abraham, a woman - with a crippling condition, she knows she has little worth, that she not only is bent over, but that to most others she is but a pain and bother, someone who needs more than they give, more than they want to give.

Yet Jesus sees her and calls her. Without being bidden. Without being asked. He sees her and calls to her, and then he touches her and speaks to her saying, "Woman, you are set free from your ailment"

That is for us!
That is what so many of us need.
The word of Jesus addressed to us.
The touch of Jesus healing us.
And praise be to God when it happens to us,
and praise be to God when it happens to others.

Think of the joy that flooded her soul, think of the joy that would flood your soul - even as a witness to this.

But what happens?

We end up with a concrete illustration of how the coming of Jesus causes division - how it separates day from night - good from evil. An illustration of how love can expose emptiness and reveal things that are not right.

The synagogue leader criticizes Jesus for desecrating the Sabbath day, as indeed he had according to some of the rules of the faith he was born to, the faith he taught.

He worked by performing a healing - a healing that could have been put off till another time, after all eighteen years had gone by, what difference a day? Except the difference that God commanded...

Six days shall you labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work - you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Some people cannot see the forest for the trees, others can't see the trees for the forest. And they too are bent over - like so many of us - some more visibly than others, some less so.

There are many rules, many expectations, to be found in our faith, to serve as guides for our conduct.

Even this church has a constitution and a set of rules which, while not thousands upon thousands of years old, is meant to help us in our conduct with one another and to guide our actions.

But to miss what the synagogue ruler missed when he criticized Jesus, is to miss what all the rules and regulations are really all about.

To forget the glory of God and the wonder of a love that can heal with a touch and a word is an illness too - an affliction of the spirit - an affliction that bends one over and leads one to afflict others even as they do seek to reveal the glory of what God is doing and to increase the praise of his name.

I started off by saying that this story of the bent over woman is a favourite story of many people, a favourite perhaps because many of us see ourselves in the story, many of us see ourselves as being bent over as one who needs to be set free, and who longs for it to happen..

I believe that is so - but many there are who have heard Jesus speak, and have witnessed his healing touch, and yet do not accept that which he is offering - that which he does, because he does not do it in the way that they expect he should, the way the rules by which they organize their lives say he should.

What they see in Jesus - is not the God that they worship, but rather what they see in him is a disregard for holy things, a disruption of order, a change in what was planned long ago, an alteration of the usual and proper way of doing things, those things that they have always done in a particular way, because experience has taught them that is the way they should be done.

This is not surprising. Even though it is very sad.

There are many people who cling to their illnesses because they are familiar to them, or because they have been taught that this is what they should expect in life - so why should their not be those who cling to their spiritual blindness - because they know how, within it, to feed and clothe themselves and do that which sustains them..

There are many kinds of oppression that can bend us over, there are many kinds of spirits that can cripple us.

We need to be set free.

And that is why this story of the bent over woman is a favourite story.

And why Jesus is portrayed as speaking so strongly in it,so strongly to the crowd to whom the synagogue ruler had spoken to, when he repeatedly criticized Jesus for breaking the clear rules about the Sabbath:

"You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the Sabbath day?"

Sometimes we need verbal heart surgery to set us free, just as sometimes we need the firm voice of faith and the power of the healing touch.

Of course, we are not to be the judge of that for others - our task is not to decide who should be chastised and who should be coddled, who should be condemned and who should be shown mercy, as the synagogue ruler decided. Rather our task is to listen to the master - even when it may be uncomfortable to hear his words because they convict us in our hearts of things that we know are wrong.

Our task is to listen, and to respond as he wants us to respond. Our task is to come to him that he may set us free, and to bring others to him that they may be set free as well.

Part of the freedom we need is the freedom to accept the passion and the power of love.

So many of us are afraid of the expansive power of love, of how it sweeps aside rules and regulations - and yet fulfills them a hundred times over. We are afraid of how love takes things out of our control - of its unpredictability - of how it seems to sweep away caution and good sense, and overturn those things that we normally count upon to be fixed and immovable.

And in truth there are things to fear once love gets hold of you, once God comes by a visit.

Nothing for sure will be the same. Our ability to hold on to our sense of who we are and what we want to be about almost surely will be swept away by what God has to say about us and what God wants us to do.

God has a plan and purpose for us - love has its special demands and its special logic, and it will lead us in ways we have never thought of.

We need to be set free for this. All of us. Some more than others. Some less. Each of us has a spirit in us that wars against the spirit of God - a spirit that oppresses us.

But praise be to God - the Spirit of God is stronger than all the spirits that might oppress us.

Jesus sees us, he discerns who we are and the spirits that are is in us, and unbidden he calls to us, just as he called to the bent over woman and unbidden, he reaches out to touch us unbidden, he seeks to set us free.

Jesus is calling to us - he is stretching out his hand - he waits to speak a word to us.

The question is will we recognize him in our midst, and accept what he has to offer us?

Someone told me a while back that Lame Deer, a Sioux Medicine Man wrote, some years ago "The trouble with white religion in America is this: If I tell a preacher that I met Jesus standing near me in the supermarket, he will say that this could not happen. He'll say, 'That is impossible; you are crazy.' By this he is denying his own religion. He has no place to go. Christians who no longer believe that they could bump into Christ at the next street corner, what are they?

Jesus sees us in our need.
He knows what oppresses us.
He is here to set us free.

He may be the next person whom you see on the street corner, or the man next to you in the supermarket, or the person who comes next to speak at this lectern in this holy place.

Look and believe, listen and be set free. His word and his touch still drive out the spirits that oppress, and allow those who respond to his call to stand straight once again, to stand straight and to praise God's name - both now and forevermore. Praise be to God. Amen

Hebrews 12:18-29; Psalm 71:1-6; Luke 13:10-17

O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and in the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.

There is a story about a certain man who went through the forest seeking any bird of interest he might find. He caught a young eagle, brought it home and put it among the fowls and ducks and turkeys, and gave it chicken food to eat even though it was an eagle, the king of birds.

Five years later, a naturalist came to see him and, after passing through the garden, said 'That bird is an Eagle, not a chicken.'

'Yes' said the owner, 'but I have trained it to be a chicken. It is no longer an eagle, it is a chicken, even though it measures fifteen feet from tip to tip of its wings.'

'No,' said the naturalist, 'it is an eagle still; it has the heart of an eagle, and I will help it soar high up in to the heavens.'

'No,' said the owner. ' it is a chicken and will never fly.'

They agreed to test it. The naturalist picked up the eagle, held it up and said with great intensity. 'Eagle thou art an eagle; thou dost belong to the sky and not to this earth; stretch forth thy wings and fly.'

The eagle turned this way and that, and then looking down, saw the chickens eating their food, and down he jumped.

The owner said; 'I told you it was a chicken.'

'No,' said the naturalist, 'it is an eagle. Give it another chance tomorrow.'

So the next day he took it to the top of the house and said: 'Eagle, thou art an eagle; stretch forth thy wings and fly.' But again the eagle, seeing the chickens feeding, jumped down and fed with them.

Then the owner said: 'I told you it was a chicken.'

'No,' asserted the naturalist, 'it is an eagle, and it has the heart of an eagle; only give it one more chance, and I will make it fly tomorrow.'

The next morning he rose early and took the eagle outside the city and away from the houses, to the foot of a high mountain. The sun was just rising, gilding the top to the mountain with gold, and every crag was glistening in the joy of the beautiful morning.

He picked up the eagle and said to it: 'Eagle, thou art an eagle; thou dost belong to the sky and not to the earth; stretch forth thy wings and fly.'

The eagle looked around and trembled as if new life were coming to it. But it did not fly. The naturalist then made it look straight at the sun. Suddenly it stretched out its wings and, with the screech of an eagle, it mounted higher and higher and never returned. Though it had been kept and tamed as a chicken, it was an eagle.

Society has a way dehumanizing us. Of causing us to fail to see our worth before God. Of making us little more than objects to whom advertisers make their pitch, and about whom governments create statistics and form policies to keep everything safe and predictable.

And religion without vision also has this effect, reducing us to the status of law keepers - or law breakers, classifying us according to what we believe or do not believe, and categorizing us according to the way in which we conform or do not conform to the expectations of the church or denomination in which we happen to find ourselves.

But, in and through Christ Jesus, like the bent over woman that he healed in the synagogue on the Sabbath day, we are sons and daughters of Abraham. We are part of the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven - part of the throng who have come - and who are yet to come, to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God, where thousands upon thousands of angels are gathered in joyful assembly.

It is easy to lose track of who we are - and whose we are - and to slip into the old ways - the way of the law and it's regulations; the way of trying to please God by adhering to a code that measures our worth by what we do and our value by what we refrain from doing.

It is easy to forget that we are eagles and that we are meant to fly in the highest heavens.

Today's Gospel passage is about how Jesus heals a woman who has been crippled by a spirit for the past eighteen years - she has become a bent over woman, a hunch back, unable to look up, unable to do all the things that we who are not crippled can do. It is a wonderful passage that shows us something of the incredible grace and the wonderful power of our Saviour.

Walter Wink, in his book "Engaging the Powers", suggests that Jesus' actions in today's reading represented a revolution happening in seven short verses. In this story, Jesus tries to wake people up to the kind of life God wants for them. Jesus often talks about the Kingdom of God where people have equal worth and all of life has dignity - and in this story he acts that message out. In the midst of a highly patriarchal culture Jesus breaks at least six strict cultural and religious rules:

First, Jesus speaks to the woman. In civilized society, Jewish men did not speak to women. Remember the story in the Gospel According to John where Jesus spoke to the Samaritan woman at the well. She was shocked because a Jew would speak to a Samaritan. But when the disciples returned, the Scripture records, "They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman "

In speaking to the bent over woman, Jesus jettisons the male restraints on women's freedom.

Second, Jesus calls her to the centre of the synagogue. By doing so he challenges the notion of a male monopoly on access to knowledge and to God.

Third, Jesus touches the woman, something forbidden under the holiness code. That is the code which protected men from a woman's uncleanness and from her sinful seductiveness.

Fourth, Jesus calls her "daughter of Abraham," a term not found in any of the prior Jewish literature. This is revolutionary because it was believed that women were saved through their men. To call her a daughter of Abraham is to make her a full-fledged member of the nation of Israel with equal standing before God.

Fifth, Jesus he heals on the Sabbath, the holy day. In doing this he demonstrates God's compassion for people over ceremony, and reclaims the Sabbath for the celebration of God's liberal goodness.

And last, and not least, Jesus challenges the ancient belief that her illness is a direct punishment from God for sin. He asserts that she is ill, not because God willed it, but because there is evil in the world. In other words, bad things happen to good people.

The breaking of these six rules or understandings did not go unnoticed by the Jewish leaders. The leader of the synagogue was shocked by Jesus's behaviour and let it be known, saying:

"There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the Sabbath day."

He was like the usher in a church where a man under the influence staggered into the service and sat on the front row.

As the preacher started his sermon, the gentleman shouted "Amen" or "Praise the Lord" or "Hallelujah" after almost every sentence. The entire congregation was becoming agitated about this unusual behaviour so the usher made his way to the front to escort the gentleman out.

When the usher informed him that he was making too much noise, he replied, "Well, brother, I've just got the Holy Spirit!" To which the usher replied, "Well, you didn't get it here so you got to leave!"

By the power of God Jesus healed the bent over woman, and the synagogue leader's response was, "Well, you didn't get the power of God here! Not on the Sabbath!"

But the Lord answered him and said,

"You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the Sabbath day?"

Jesus reacted with strong language because the leader of the synagogue just didn't get it. He had no concept of Jesus' radical understanding of the nature of God nor of the purpose for which Jesus came.

Jesus saw God's will as focussed on people, not on rules. The rules are there to help people, not to break them. They are there to help us fly like the eagles God made us to be, not to turn us into chickens.

The ruler of the synagogue reflected the understanding that being "religious" was about obeying the commandments.

It's a view that is still with us today. It is found in those conservatives who insist on correct doctrine and belief before all other things - and in those liberals whose only criteria of what faith is about is related to the good deeds that we do, or fail to do.

For Jesus, God's chief concern was that we should love and care for one another; that all people should be brought into a healing and saving relationship with himself - and with one another.

To Jesus, God is not primarily a rule-maker, rather God is a life-giver.

When we understand Jesus' view of God, suddenly the focus moves from God's law to God's love for people and the world. Commandments, rules, guidelines, and traditions are subordinate to God's love - a love that is forgiving - a love that is healing - a love that is transforming - a love that sets us free to be all that God made us to be.

Paul reflects on this in today's selection from his Letter to the Hebrews.

Thinking of the events that occurred at Mount Sinai where Moses received the Law, he writes:

"You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire, to darkness, gloom and storm; to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words such that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, because they could not bear what was commanded: "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned."

We have not come, in other words, to a holy place, which we need to be protected from on account of our sins.

Rather, as Paul continues:

You have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God.

You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.

You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

The blood of Abel, you will recall, cries out from the earth for justice and retribution, but the blood of the new Covenant speaks to us not of justice and retribution, but rather it speaks to us of forgiveness and of reconciliation.

That forgiveness, that reconciliation, allows us to enter the holiest of holy places without fear.

We have come - in coming to Christ - to a new place, to a place of the Spirit, to a kingdom which cannot be shaken because it is not built out of perishable things, but rather out of imperishable things.

We have come - and are coming to the place where the angels gather in joy and where our names are recorded - and we are counted as the first born - as those who will inherit with Christ all that God has stored up for his beloved.

We are children of the King - meant to come to that place where those who love God, those who are in right relationship with God and seek to do his will, are made perfect.

There is a mystery here. The mystery of our communion, our oneness, with God through Christ Jesus; the mystery of how, despite our failings, God sees us and treats us as his beloved, where he treats us as eagles rather than as chickens.

Life sometimes has a way of beating us down, zapping our enthusiasm, crushing our plans.

Little by little we can find ourselves bent over from the failures, disappointments, and guilt.

And little by little we can find others placing burdens upon us and robbing us of our status as the children of Abraham - the children of promise, those who have been called to come to Mount Zion - to the heavenly city of God.

We can end up like the bent over woman - lurking at the edges of the sanctuary, wondering where can we go.

This is the place - not these four walls which can be shaken but this assembly - where Jesus walks among us and reveals to us the fullness of the love of God.

This is the place where Jesus calls out to us to come forward and to be healed and to worship God with reverence and awe.

Jesus calls us to be healed of the spirit that afflicts us and bend us over.

Jesus calls us to be healed of the spirit that makes rules and laws about holiness greater the people those rules and laws are meant to help.

Don't refuse Jesus because you feel unworthy of his call.

Rather, come to Christ knowing that it is his will to set you free from those things that make you less than person he created you to be - and that in coming to his heavenly mountain you will find life instead of death - and mercy instead of judgement.

Let us pray... Lord God, loving Christ. We need your help today. We come to you just as we are, trusting in your great mercy by which we have been anew to a living hope through Christ Jesus. Oh lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world - grant us your peace - and bring us to your holy mountain and to the multitude of angels who sing for joy in your presence. Amen.

Hebrews 11:29-12:2, Psalm 80; Luke 12:49-56

Lord God, may we love you in all things and above all things. As we listen for Your word today through the Holy Scriptures and in the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts, may we reach the Joy You have prepared for us beyond all our imagining and come closer to thee in our understanding and in our actions when we rise to leave this place of worship. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son. AMEN.

What a teaching we have been given in today's gospel reading!

Just Listen - again listen and ponder what it means, what it means for the world - and what it means for you.

"I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!

But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed!

Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in- law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."

"When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say 'It's going to rain,' and it does. And when the south wind blows, you say, 'It's going to be hot,' and it is.

Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don't know how to interpret this present time?

Words spoken my friends in hard times about harder times to come.

Times when to speak the name of Christ - would be judged as either insanity or treason, times when to live by his way would be to invite criticism, scorn, anger, pity, and perhaps death. Times when families would be divided among themselves, by the fire in their midst.

And are we exempt from these words in our times?

Perhaps.

Perhaps the that kind of thing is not for us.

Perhaps the time of fire is passing us by. The fire that Jesus wishes were already kindled. The fire that he said he came to bring.

To many people idea of fire is associated with something that is negative, that it is associated with death and destruction, especially if this fire is from God, the God who has said on more than one occasion that "his wrath goes forth like fire", and "that his anger burns like fire".

And thinking of the end of the age, as Jesus surely was as he spoke the words we have heard, well thinking of the end of the age and of the time of judgement, just seems to make some preachers - and I think some congregations, just plain crazy - crazy about the idea of wrath.

God would never do anything nasty some of them will say, God is not wrathful, but if he were - well it is just too nasty to think about in any case so we shall never speak of times of judgement - never speak of pain and of death caused on account of God's plan for the world, for these things are upsetting to us.

Others seem to think that God being really nasty - that God being wrathful - God being judgmental, is a good thing, and perhaps rub their hands in glee at the thought of all that.

Indeed some make fortunes prophesying doom over televison and speaking of eternal life as if it were some kind of heavenly insurance policy that can be purchased by sending them donations. They babble on as if there is no mystery as to how God is going to wrap this story up - pointing fingers at the signs of time and declaring their full meaning, and the exact sequence of things to come - even though Jesus himself said that no man, not even the Son, knew the time, but only the Father.

And so, often, we who listen to those who speak of the fire that Jesus spoke about as the being mainly about the wrath of God are misguided by what they hear - misguided to the left, to mindless hope, with no sense of passion or purity or purpose, no sense of how darkness CANNOT exist in the light, and how light drives out darkness; or to the right, to stern and unloving righteousness, to judgments about others that may or may not be warranted, and which in any case are God's alone to make.....

And yet - and yet Jesus said:

"I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!

"Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division"

"You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don't know how to interpret this present time?"

Fire my friends, can be good or it can be bad. But good or bad, fire cannot be ignored.

It was fire that Moses saw in a bush and fire which led the people by night through the wilderness. It was fire that touched the lips of the prophet Isaiah has he was called to proclaim God to Israel and fire that fell upon and consumed the Alter of Baal when Elijah prayed.

"Is not my word like fire", says the LORD, "and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?"

Is it not fire that descends upon the heads of the apostles and of all the believers gathered in the upper room?

Yes fire - can mean many things - it can do many things.

Fire - can cook our food - or burn it beyond recognition.
Fire - can warm us or destroy us.
Fire can mean many things, it can do many things, but think on it - fire cannot be ignored.

"I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed!"

Our Lord wanted fire to come upon the earth, and some see that as a bad thing, as an unkind thing, as words that should be understood as coming from a man facing death very soon, and who was therefore somewhat fixated on the whole question of judgement:

- the whole question of making choices,
- the whole question of discerning one thing from another,
- of dividing good from bad,
- the eternal from the temporal.

And I say - how is that bad? That a man about to die should think on eternally important things?

How is it bad this fire that can do so much good, this fire that Jesus yearns for to be kindled?

Would that there were fire in all of our hearts. Fire to burn off the dross. Fire to bring out the purity of the gold and silver within us - spiritual wealth beyond price. Fire to inflame people to care and to bless one another with all the gifts of faith, in the way fire purified the lips of Isaiah, in the way fire consumed the alter of the false gods, in the way fire led the people through the darkness, through the wilderness.

We need fire. And Jesus came to bring it. Fire to inflame the heart with the love of God and with love for all that he has made, for all whom he has made.

And fire has indeed come. And is coming again. But this coming of fire is not easy. Fire never is. Fire cannot be ignored.

Do you not know the seasons of God - you who know the seasons of this world? Do you not know your devotion, your faith, is mocked by many in this world? And undoubtedly even by members of your own family?

Or do you try to forget that there is a difference between those who live in the light and those who do not? That the darkness really cannot comprehend the light?

Many of my good friends - can't really understand this Christian stuff - they thought I was reasonably intelligent, and perhaps they have finally decided that I really still am so, but they clearly wonder at my sanity.

Other people experience far worse than I. Far far worse. People are killed, people are put into prison, people are persecuted in this day, in this world, because they believe in the name of Jesus. If you have doubts of this, just look at the Middle East you can see many Christians are killed or put into prison.

To them, the words spoken "brother" or "sister" are secret code words that identify them to fellow believers, and which can also be used to identify them to the hostile authorities; code words that speak of a relationship that is beyond that which mere semen and eggs can create.

But - of course - many people do not experience these signs - not even a little bit and that makes me wonder:

Is it because all around them the environment is filled with believers with fire in them as well, and so all their relationships are harmonious and no one ever questions them about their faith? Is it because the kingdom has already come in its fullness? Or is it because the fire is in fact lacking in them and in those all around them - so there is no passion, there is no vitality, there is no life?

"I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!"

It is not about judgement. It is not about wrath - as much as it is about mercy. It is about God dividing the day from the night, light from darkness, so that we may all see. It is about love overcoming hatred, life overcoming death - so that we might be united forever with all that lives. It is about laughter instead of sorrow, about wholeness instead of division.

God you see, just might have a very positive means of destroying "the world" by fire.

He might use forces that, while reacted to with great opposition, will actually be healing. He might use forces that, while leading to division amongst people, will actually be uniting.

Earlier in this century the theologian Teilhard de Chardin, wrote:

"Some day, after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tides and gravity we shall harness the energies of love. Then for the second time in the history of the world man will have discovered fire."

The energy of love.
An energy that is like fire - able to lead us in the darkness.
An energy that is like light - which permits us to see.
An energy that is like water - which refreshes and makes new
An energy that is like air - that allows us to live
An energy that is like earth - upon which the kingdom of God will come.

The division is temporary, the peace even now in its midst is eternal; and our prayer as those who walk through the wilderness with only the fire to lead us, our prayer ought to be that all those who are in darkness may be lit by the fire that we see warmed by the fire that warms us, refined by the fire that refines us, and be led to that place where they will call us - even as we now on this day call them - brother and sister

What does it mean this hard teaching of Jesus? And how should it affect our understanding of him and our daily walk with him?

Your heart has the answer. God has put it there.

Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength; and love your neighbour as yourself.

All your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength.

All.

For the one who is all in all. Blessed be the one, the all, day by day. Amen

Isaiah 1:1,10-20; Psalm 50; Luke 2:32-40

Loving God, breath into our hearts and minds at this time your loving and guiding word. Inspire us by your Spirit, that we may hear, and later do, what you would have us hear and do. Lift us up by your still small voice within and grant us the blessing we need and we seek. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen

We take up this week where we left off a couple of weeks ago with Jesus speaking to the crowds concerning the love of God and the way to eternal life - a life that is both lived and prepared for here and now - and which extends - with greater blessings than we can imagine - into the next life.

How often do we think about the next life?

This week I like to pick up at where Jesus reminded the people of how close that life is to us with a parable about a rich man who was intent on building new and bigger barns so that he can store even more wealth and enjoy it in ease for years to come - who suddenly died - his wealth unspent and he himself totally unprepared to meet God.

Jesus said at the conclusion of that story: "So it is for those who store up treasures for themselves but are not rich towards God:

This week's reading begins with the words:

"Be not afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and not moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Sell your possessions.
Give alms to the poor.
Make purses that do not wear out.
Be rich towards God....

Be not afraid, for it is God's good pleasure to give you the kingdom...

How many of you have made up or review a last will and testament?

It is a good thing to do in terms of the ways of the world - it is a smart thing to do; by it you go a long way towards seeing that your wishes are carried out; and just as importantly - by it you normally help your family members avoid the temptations that any unspecified inheritance generally causes a family. It helps the family both materially and spiritually.

A last will and testament sees, of course, to the distribution of your worldly possession - be they many or be they few. It is a thing of foresight and planning for the future. It helps to shape what will happen in your family - and perhaps even in your community for some time to come.

But what if your soul, like that of the rich fool, in last week's parable, is suddenly required of you, or what, as Jesus speaks of latter in today's reading, the Master, the Lord, suddenly returns, if the Son of Man not only comes at an unexpected hour - but comes right now.

Do you have a last will and testament that applies towards God?
Do you have a plan for eternity.
Have you been rich towards God and saved a treasure in heaven?

The other day I overheard a group of people talking about Mark Six lottery tickets. They agreed that if they ever won the big one they could afford to be generous. Lots of people think about the "Kingdom of God" that way. Once they have it, they can afford to spread good will and random acts of kindness.

But that is not how it works.
And it never has been.

The kingdom comes in the giving. The gates of at the entrance to the way of life open when you are prepared to let your life go, when you are prepared to trust the God who created life in the first place, when, like the birds of the air and the flowers of the field, you are content to let God feed and cloth you.

Be not afraid, says Jesus, for it is God's good pleasure to give you the kingdom...Be not afraid, and make for yourselves purses that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven.

How many of you here carry purses?

Interesting things purses, as a man I always marvel at them, how so many things can be crammed into them - how they can look so small and weigh so much, how a person can laden themselves down with so much stuff that at first glance seems useless - but often turns out to be needed the very next day....

In the Middle East at the time of Christ - just about everyone carried a purse with various useful things in it, including of course money. Jesus tells us that it would be good for us to make for ourselves spiritual purses - with spiritually useful things in them - and especially with treasures that will not fail in heaven - but continue to provide for us the things we need.

Unfailing treasure in heaven.

What is this unfailing treasure?
How do we make and accumulate a purse full of it?

It is in giving away God's blessings - here and now. It is in living as Christ lived, here and now.

Not so long ago you heard me read a card of thanks from the three young people who had been helped by some members of this congregation. In it one young man said that the kindness he had received had made him begin to think that people really can and do care, that there is something more than darkness out there, something more than selfishness, something more than indifference towards strangers.

Treasures in heaven are those things we give away here on earth. The kingdom comes in the giving.

Which means you will never have treasure in heaven, and you will not be as glad to see the coming of the kingdom as you might be, if you wait until you have enough of whatever it is you think you don't have enough of before you spread good will and engage in random acts of kindness.

How often we lend out money or give out money expecting the money to be return to us. How easy it is for us to lend or to give to those who can give back to us - but how hard it is for us to lend or to give to those we think will not give back - how hard it is sometimes to give from what we have today - and to trust God to look after us tomorrow.

We find hard to forgive those who are seeking forgiveness, never mind forgiving those who still seem intent on hurt us and others.

We find it hard to love well those who love us, so most wives tell their husbands and most husbands tell their wives at least once in a marriage, never mind loving well those who just want to use us or those who actually hate us.

We keep waiting for more money before we do that nice thing we would like to do.

We keep waiting for more time before we do that special something with somebody that we have been planning to do some day.

We keep waiting until we feel more fit before we engage in getting fit. We keep waiting till we have learned more before we begin our project.

We keep waiting for the right time, the right person, the right circumstance, rather than risking with what we have, and with who we have before us, right now.

Make for yourself purses that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven.

With what we do, with what we think, with what we pray, ultimately, even what we feel, makes our purse - and helps to establish the unfailing treasure we shall enjoy in heaven and here on earth, for remember - the kingdom begins here - in our experience of what happens when we live as if it was coming to us soon, when we live as if it was already here.

Be not afraid little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Sell your possessions and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

I wonder if everyone is acquainted with the story of how the Apostle Thomas took this story to heart, but rather overdid it....The story is told in the apocryphal Acts of Thomas which tells how Thomas was sent by Christ to India.

Thomas was employed by the local king Gundaphorus to build a new palace, and Thomas was given money to buy materials and hire workmen. Thomas gave the money to the poor, but always assured the king that his palace was rising steadily. The king became suspicious when Thomas kept putting off his requests to see the work in progress and finally sent for Thomas. "Have you built my Palace?", he asked.

"Yes", Thomas replied.

"Then we shall go and see it now" said the King.

Thomas answered: "You can not see it now, but when you depart this life you shall see it. I have built you a palace in heaven by giving your money to the poor and needy of your kingdom."

Somehow Thomas survived intact and eventually Gundaphorus became a Christian, along with many others.

For them light had come into the darkness.
For them a pearl of great price had been discovered.
For them the world was changed.

Treasures in heaven.
Enjoyed even while on earth.

Don't wait to forgive.
Don't wait to visit the sick.
Don't wait to give alms.
Don't wait to begin that special project that God is gifting you for.
Don't wait to start thinking better about other people.
Don't wait before you adjust your attitude about life.

But believe Christ, trust God, and do what the Spirit urges you to do, in the good book, and in the depths of your hearts.

Blessed be the name of God, day by day. Amen