Throwing out false gods

 In the Mark's gospel one of the first things that Christ does is throw out a "spirit" from a man possessed (Mk. 1:21-28). This amazes those in the synagogue and his fame spreads through the countryside. Christ denies the existence of the false and revitalises life within the community. The falseness of wrong ideology and beliefs that deny life is something that we, as Christ followers, need to be able to do on a regular basis. Life revolves around our understanding of faith in God and not in false prophets and false ideas (Deut. 18: 19-20; 1 Cor. 8:1-13). So often, in the modern era we make false gods of some tightly held beliefs, which actually have very little to do with life but rather with our own set beliefs. Yet despite that we defend them to the same extent and in some circumstances to the same extent that the Corinthians did regarding meat and idols.

Let us take a really recent example, and yes, I know I am going to cause you to find it difficult to grasp probably as much as the Corinthians with Paul's discussion around food, Australia day. The bitterness that the debate creates in the country is akin I would say to the Pauline communities feelings around meat offered to idols. The division created in that community was sufficient for Paul to address in a letter, the division created in the community in the debate around Australia day needs a letter to the country from Paul. I am no Paul but it seems to me that the heatedness that is produced each year is around something that requires discernment and understanding with listening compassionately to solve. I do not think that polar opposites assist and neither does the clear curtness of Deuteronomy help (Deut. 18:20). Rather we need to debate our understandings and seek for a clear way forward rather than idolise a specific day, perhaps asking ourselves the purpose and the need of such a day so that it does unify rather than create divisions.

Let us celebrate God's direction and not our own desires

Needless to say we do this with passion with every idol that we proclaim in the world and every false witness that leads us away from God and what God is saying to us. Australia day happened to be a good coincidence but there are other idols that we proclaim and fight over (for example refugees and what they mean to Australia). God calls us to be united in the community of faith but we ourselves put stumbling blocks up that circumvent our ability to unite. This can be either from a sense of national pride and protectionism to a sense of fear of change and instability. More often than not the stumbling blocks we place in front of ourselves are those things that we interpret in our own thoughts. It is surprising that we are so contentious over each others interpretation of either facts or stories. We automatically ensure that our interpretation aligns with what we want the history, story, facts to be rather than someone else's interpretation. For those in the synagogue when Christ dispels the spirit there is a sense of awe over his authority. This is something new and wonderful, yet, if we continue to read the awe soon turns to jealousy and an understanding that Christ goes against everything that is taught. Eventually, those in authority realise that their power base is weakening in the light of Christ's presence with the consequences of the cross.

In much the same way that Christ challenges the thoughts of his day, we to must challenge the false gods and powers of today. They may appear to us as innocuous but when we think about the creation of division we can see that they are not. God requires a harmony in community that is celebrated in justice and peace not in division and rivalry. To often we see ourselves driven along a dual approach to everything. It is either this or that, Australia day is on the 26th or not at all. The dual approach argument is all that we have ever considered, one way is wrong and the other right. In a manner of speaking this is what Christ does in throwing out the Spirit but Christ goes beyond the this or that when he welcomes the cleansed back into the community. God shines through in the forgiveness and reconciliation that follows. We need to be careful that we are not projecting our false gods on those around us when we make counter arguments. We need most of all to bring harmony and peace to divided communities for this is what God calls us to and the moment we begin to see that harmony  and that peace and justice shining through is the moment we know we can agree that we are on God's path.

Called by God or do what we desire

 Most of us do not really think very much about God's call upon our lives. In reality most of us ignore any thought that God may call us into a new life that sees us doing God's will. In baptism we are called by God into God's presence and service whether we actually acknowledge that in our lives or not. For many it just means that there is a sense of being present to God either as part of daily / weekly worship or perhaps doing something for the Church. Few of us actually find ourselves being nudged by God into a new perspective of God's call and how we answer, that is the question that is brought up for us today. We have the classic story of Samuel's call which the experienced priest Eli only recognised after three goes (1 Sam. 3.1-10). If someone as experienced as Eli cannot see immediately the influence of God has on a person then how sure can we be with our discernment within a small community?

God knows us from birth, in a manner of speaking, God is manifest within ourselves from birth as we are made in God's image (Ps. 139:14-15). Thus, God is present to us at the beginning of our life and Christian journey. Within each us is the spark of God's Spirit that leads us, if we were but to listen to God's voice. However, we are easily led away from God's presence by the lure of the world around us. We are left to make the decisions of life for ourselves not through coercion but rather through our own endeavours. The decisions that are pivotal in life are ones that forge the way forward in determining what we do or who we are. If, we are bold we listen to God's presence and follow what God's heart wishes for us but, unfortunately, it is usually our will and not God's voice that determines the course of our lives.

Paul in his letter to the Corinthians gives us some idea as to what we can do and the consequences of our decisions. Of course we have to understand the context, both social and spiritual, in which the letter is written otherwise we may have issues around sexuality. However, what Paul is indicating is that we are dedicated to God from the get go so to speak. In being dedicated to God then we should understand that while we have the ability to determine what we do we are still bound in God's image. Anything that we do, which is contrary to God's call towards Christlikeness, is going to be detrimental in our lives. This does not mean that we have to be like the Puritans but we do have to understand what God's call on us implies and the consequences of our decisions. We often over react to Paul's words and wish to constrict our interpretation of what God calls us into being. It is the spirit of the admonitions that we need to heed not the substance. We need to live in a manner that is in keeping with Christlikeness. If we try to be Christlike whilst abusing our own lives, it does not matter what the form of abuse is, we will never truly achieve that which we are called to become, Christlike.

Let God's voice be the compass of our lives

That is talking about ourselves but what about the discernment of God's call in others. Too often we are much like Nathaniel (Jn. 1:46), when we look at others, especially when we are in a close knit community. We automatically make assumptions because we have known the reputation or the history of the person concerned. If someone is called into a particular role or ministry there is often a "Can anything good come of this" response. We are automatically governed by our preconceptions and it often takes someone from outside the community to acknowledge the role and calling of people embedded in the community. It often requires us to have a different perspective whilst looking at the person to see what their role ought to be and what their role or calling is in actuality. Our preconceptions often come with how we have been taught or how we have been given information or even sometimes how others have treated us or the call God has had on us in the past. In the worst case, we may say that we actually do not have a call, alternatively it may mean that we are not genuinely following and doing what God has asked of us.

Prayerful understanding of what it is that God calls us to is the requirement. This needs and requires discernment on behalf of each of us as well as the community as a whole. We often need to suspend our own beliefs so that we can determine what it is that God is asking us to be and to become. This may mean painful or difficult transitions but once a path has been discerned it is often the case that our way forward becomes that much clearer. This often applies under the strangest of circumstances and does not stop the hardships but eases the way forward when we truly listen to God's prompting.

A journey's start

 What is it about the start of a journey that creates in us a tremendous amount of excitement? Is it perhaps the anticipation, or the knowledge of the end, or is it just to get out of our normal routine, or the idea of exploring new places? No matter what there is always some form of anticipation and excitement when we begin a new journey. In the life of a Christ follower that journey begins as it did for Christ with baptism. We are baptised into Christ but Christ was not baptised into Christ he had John's baptism. So what for us is wrong with the baptism of John if it is good enough for Christ?

John baptised on the banks of the Jordan. The reality was probably something like this. Those seeking baptism went out of Israel to the other side and then came to John for baptism as part of their re-entry into Israel. Why do it like this? Well, it was undoubtedly a form of commitment that was being made in that those re-entering into the Promised Land that was Israel, confessed that they had broken the covenant of God and re-dedicated themselves to the journey of the covenant within the life of Israel. Technically, in the way that we think nowadays they had broken promises made (thus sinned) and were recommitting themselves to those same promises. Christ in being baptised re-committed himself to the promises, even though he had not broken his commitment. The commitment was to love God and to live life such that our neighbour was as loved as ourselves. This is a journey of some length as it is a journey of a lifetime.

Water washed us but the Spirit directs our cleansed minds in the way of God

In baptising into Christ, we are doubling our promise to ensure that in our life we maintain that commitment to God and neighbour. For us we often make this commitment for our children at a young age and ask that they come to make that commitment in confirmation, almost as if they are being baptised twice over. This is not the case however, as the confirmation is but a taking on of vows, which have been taken on our behalf as it is just a confirmation of those vows already taken, not a retaking. If this is the case just as Christ was blameless at the time of his baptism is not the chid blameless? Well, just let us look at the child coming to baptism and at many children today in terms of our promises and in terms of our world as it should be in Christ. The question perhaps to ask is: what is the fundamental of our commitment to Christ? Love God and love our neighbour as ourselves. Christ's summation of the law, which we adhere to as Christians or at least that which we strive to do. What does this imply? In most eyes the implication here is one of selflessness that is modelled in Christ.

So, back to looking at the children of today and the life as a baby, something that is in built in the babies reactions to the world around them. Something that often makes children, if not encouraged to refrain from, difficult and often obnoxious as they grow into adulthood. It can be covered by one word, selfishness. Babies know no better and for them it is an instinct but it is an instinct that baptism encourages parents and godparents to strive to remove as soon as possible in the life of the child. This is not an easy task, which is why the church and those who are Christ followers are asked to pray for and assist those who are baptised on their lifelong journey towards selflessness. This includes the demonstration of God's love to the community in which they live. It is not just the parents, godparents and the church membership that is involved, for we invoke the threefold blessing of the Trinity on the child and thus we ask God's presence to be bestowed on the new child of Christ. There is no descent of the Spirit as with Christ and no chasing out into the wilderness. Well, maybe the latter is an over exaggeration as we are all tossed out into the wilderness of the world and it is only in that crucible were we discover the truth of God's presence, if our support has shown us the way to live life in Christ. This is where we discover that God is real and encouraged by the blessings of a good neighbour along with the prayers of the faithful that we may become more Christ-like.

Truth and fear

 Today, we are celebrating the well known story of three (wise) men / kings from the East as told in the Matthean scripture. Today or rather the 6th January we celebrate Epiphany which is perhaps rather strange as we appear to be celebrating a revelation a sudden awakening to truth or appearance. So what is so epiphantic regarding three μάγοι or magi / wise men (Kings) and are we being misogynistic by describing them as  men? Why not women? and in this particular case does gender matter as surely they are mere fiction for good reading? and why only three, considering no number is in the reading? There is of course the deviation from Lukan sources but this can be accounted for if we think of the visit being as much as three years after the birth. So what is so earth shattering in this passage that we can call the day an Epiphany?

Is it the revelation of the Christ child to a waiting and expectant world that is an epiphany for us or is there something embedded within the text which has a greater significance? Perhaps it is both. Indeed most of us would rally around the idea of the epiphany being the revelation of God in Christ to those outside the Jewish faith story. The wise magi are from the East which suggests a region of Persia which had a dominant religion based on astrology whose senior "priests" were magi called Zoroastrianism. This is bolstered by the Syriac Infancy Gospel, an apocryphal writing from around the 6th century. This sudden appearance of those, from a different religion and a different culture, recognising an infant seems sufficient for us to celebrate today. It seems to imply, from the Matthean interpretation, that Christ is there for all the world not just the inheritors of God's custodianship through the covenant. This is a convenient imaginary for us to idolise, almost, especially as we have the significant gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. In allowing ourselves to be entranced by this misogynistic reading are we doing ourselves a disfavour as it perhaps points away from some greater truths that are revealed and are perhaps worthy of our attention, if not celebration.

It is not about gifts, it is about acceptance.

Christ goes on to become the truth bearer, the light of the world, and in John's gospel states "I am the way, the truth and the life", so what truths are revealed to us as Christ bearers in the modern world. Truths that need to be examined and held up to the light rather than being allowed to dwell in darkness. For this, perhaps, we need to go back to Herod and his interaction with the wise magi. The interaction is filled with truth but also deceit. The truth is that the Messiah is to be born in an out of the way town and the fact that these Magi have come proclaiming that indeed this has occurred is for those in power a problem. By diplomatic moves and in secret Herod attempts to find the solution so that he can ensure that the threat, perceived or otherwise, is done away with. For us today, we gloss over this part of the tale. Why? Because it happens to often in reality. Truth is often accompanied by fear and as a result violence to put the truth away. We have seen it too often. So, why should this be a revelation, why should this be important?

It is a revelation for us because we need to acknowledge the fact. It is not because it is surprising but rather because of its mundaneness that we have to make note of it. We ignore the truth because it is laden with fear, fear that we will lose out, fear that we will lose status, fear that we will lose power. Yet, the truth allows us freedom. Freedom to ensure that justice and peace are the predominate values in our hearts. Truth gives us the freedom to choose an alternative path, one that prevents us from enabling others to massacre the hopes and dreams of many. A path that leads us towards a just and enabled community that listens to those that are outside of themselves. A community that treats everyone with the same justice and enables people to live in harmony with each other. A community that acknowledges and respects all rather than denigrating and dividing others into categories that dissipate the fear. This is what is so revelatory in the story, not that it opens up Christ's presence to others but that the truth offers an alternate way of acceptance, justice and peace.