Engaging

by Margaret Killingray (Word for the Week 14-07-08) 

Arise, shine… as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice in you.  Isaiah 60:1, 62:5

LICC’s emphasis on whole-life discipleship reminds us of one aspect of our relationship with the Lord – we are disciples, who learn by listening and by ‘disciplined’ application.  But, of course, the Bible overflows with a variety of metaphors to explain our relationship to God – shepherd and sheep, king and subjects, saviour and rescued.  There are two that draw particularly on the universal experience of everyday intimate relationships – Father and child, husband and wife.

In this verse the marriage imagery fits with the ‘now and not yet’ theme of Isaiah’s last seven chapters.  This relationship can start for us now, as we turn in love and commitment to the Lord.  And John takes up this imagery in the final chapters of the Bible when we, as the bride of Christ, sit down at the final wedding feast, when the heavens open for us and all the promises of our betrothal are fulfilled.  You will be called by a new name (Isaiah 62:2) – Hephzibah (My delight is in her), Beulah (married).  

There is, though, a dark side to this metaphor.  Jeremiah (2:31-3:1) and Ezekiel (ch.16), as well as Hosea (2:8-20), use the words adultery and prostitution to describe the rebellion of the people of God, their rejection of his love as they seek other gods.  Ezekiel’s picture is particularly raw and shocking, some commentators reacting negatively to the development of the metaphor, women reacting to the emphasis on the wife as adulterer and prostitute, and men feeling a little silly as a bride!
 
Isaiah speaks of God’s relationship to his people as the deep, passionate, committed love of a husband.  Sometimes it is easy to lose sight of the intense love in this picture of our relationship to the Lord.  We major on orthodoxy, on doctrine, on assessing the theology of others.  It is as if we were getting out our marriage certificate each morning before going to work, to prove the relationship is orthodox, instead of just kissing each other.

This morning and for ever, the Lord is our lover and we can look forward with total certainty to all the rich fulfilment of that promise when the day of the Lord comes.

by Helen Parry (Word for the Week 30-06-08)

You are a chosen people.., that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9.

A chosen people, God calls us, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God. We, 2000 years on, inherit this legacy, bestowed on the people of Israel as they travelled to the promised land (Exodus 19:5-6).

Living in a secular society, in which nothing higher is offered or promised than material prosperity or transient celebrity, we can bask in the glory of our position in Christ – in our election, in our access to God through him, in our calling to be holy before the Lord, and in the enduring fact of God’s love. But is basking actually what we are called to do?  The purpose of all this, Peter says, is that we ‘may declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his marvellous light’.  Because, of course, God chose Israel, so that they might be a light to the Gentiles (Isaiah 41:8-9; 42:6).  Jesus came because God so loved the world. He chose his disciples so that they would go and bear fruit (John 15:16).

In a generation that sets such store by personal fulfilment, and feeling good about oneself, Christians need to be reminded of this inescapable biblical fact: we are saved in order to serve, in order to declare the Lord’s praises.

But Peter makes it clear that what we have to declare is not a series of theological propositions.  It is a personal testimony of what the Lord has done for us. It starts with darkness – the darkness of ignorance and lostness, of separation from the one who is the light. Then comes the sovereign call, which we each recognise as personal to ourselves. And as we respond to that call we move from darkness into his marvellous light – a light to transform our understanding, to guide our steps in the present and into the future. If we have really grasped this, we must surely desire to share it.

Can we not, in a society in which people so freely recommend their personal trainers and their herbalists, find ways of commending the one who meets all our deepest needs – our Lord Jesus Christ?

 by Margaret Killingray (Word for the Week 09-06-2008) 

The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and to release the prisoners.  Isaiah 61:1

Isaiah’s final chapters ring with the certainty that the Lord will come, bringing the vindication of his sovereignty before all nations, and blessing and salvation for his people.   However bad the present oppression, whether by Assyria or Rome, Israel longed for the day when they would be acknowledged as ‘a people whom the Lord has blessed’ (61:9).  The Lord would sweep in and put all things right.  

We can perhaps imagine the shock in the synagogue at Nazareth when Jesus read these verses and then said, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing’ (Luke 4:18-21).  Isaiah’s words had rung with the promise of spectacular events – not just liberty for captives, but ruined cities rebuilt, and Israel enjoying the wealth of nations.  On this ordinary day in the synagogue, a young man, whom they had known from childhood, read from the scroll, as was the custom.  Suddenly the mood changed to a shocking moment of outrage at his effrontery.  Jesus did not fit their understanding of the powerful rescuer who would defeat their enemies and bring them blessing.  

As we look round the world this morning, we may well long to see good news brought to the oppressed, the broken-hearted bound up, the prisoners freed.  And for ourselves, healing for those we love, damage we have done forgiven and put right.  But we would like someone else to sweep in and do it - politicians, world leaders, economists, or on a more homely level, the pastor, the counsellor, a friend.  Or, better still, as Isaiah prophesied, the Lord to come again in glory and bring all things under his reign.

Did anyone in that synagogue look at him as Jesus claimed this role of carer, rescuer and saviour, and remember Isaiah’s words in chapter 53?  Was there, perhaps, another kind of rescue?  The Lord would lay on him the iniquity of us all, and through that self-giving anyone was welcome into the glory of the new earth and new heaven.  Meanwhile, we are the ones who do his work, proclaiming the good news, binding up the broken-hearted, proclaiming liberty...

 by Margaret Killingray (Word for the Week 02-06-2008) 

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewellery and fine clothes.  Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.  1 Peter 3:3,4

Most of us live with a certain amount of dissatisfaction about the way we look.  We are bombarded with images of clothes, cosmetics, style and fashion, makeovers and surgery that just might give us the look we long for.  Peter was talking to women, but today cosmetics and fashion are no longer just a female issue, as sales of make-up, grooming products and cosmetic surgery for men continue to increase.  

He was also, I imagine, talking about jewellery and clothes that spoke of wealth and status, and braided hair that suggested a personal maid’s attention.  But how should we read these verses?  Christians over the centuries have had very different views of outward adornment, from Roundheads and Cavaliers, hermits and cardinals, Quakers and Anglicans.  If we enjoy fully participating in the fun of fashion and colour coordination, then we have to face the reproach of the drab slightly out-of-date ‘avoiders of the world’.  Philip Larkin described a middle way in his moving poem, Born Yesterday.  Don’t wish beauty for the baby, ‘May you be ordinary… not ugly, not good-looking… nothing uncustomary to pull you off your balance.’  

So our outward adornment should not display wealth, nor excessive engagement with our appearance, but a workable normality, with occasional bursts of fun and exuberance.  Yet it is difficult not to feel our self-confidence being sapped by our perception that we don’t look quite attractive enough, for our audience, our customers, or our colleagues.   First impressions matter far too much in our fast moving, over-busy western world.  

Working at the gentle and quiet spirit of our inner self may take a lot more time and effort than getting a better hairdresser.  A habit of prayer where we bring to the Lord the anxieties, fears and disappointments that disturb our spirit; a conscious ever-present quiet joy in his undeserved love; and a recognition of the unfading beauty of gentle and quiet spirits in those around us, may make us less reliant on how we look.

 by Helen Parry (Word for the Week 19-05-2008)

Barnabas wanted to take…Mark with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work.  Acts 15:37-38

Two men set up a business together. They start small, but they have identified a niche in the market, and make good use of the resources they have. They do well. They like and respect one another, and have complementary gifts.

After some time, one suggests taking on a junior partner: he has a particular young man in mind. The other objects – there’s a question mark hanging over the young man’s character. Either his commitment or his stickabilty is suspect. Both are essential qualities in their rather risky endeavour.

This story is, of course, about Paul and Barnabas. Sadly, ‘they had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company’. Each had a point. Paul wanted to be sure that they could rely on their fellow-workers; Barnabas – ever the encourager – wanted to give Mark a second chance. Always a lateral thinker, he probably thought not only that Mark showed promise but also that if the work was going to grow they would need help.

When a small team is working well together, the comfortable thing to do is not to rock the boat – not to enlarge the team by bringing in people of different personalities, different levels of ability. But that is how enterprises stagnate. The visionary founder becomes the obstacle to creative growth.

It would be unjust to apply this to Paul, but it is all too common in our own enterprises. In the case of Paul and Barnabas, regrettable though the discord was, God overruled it. The result was two evangelistic teams rather than one, Barnabas taking Mark to start a new work in Cyprus, and Paul teaming up with Silas.

This story is about training and apprenticeship. It applies both to the workplace and to the church. In the church, it is the essence of disciple-making. Can we seek to reintroduce the idea of apprenticeship, so that young Christians and potential leaders are not only mentored but allowed to learn on the job alongside those with greater knowledge and experience? And am I prepared to take on this responsibility?