Faith or law

We try to obey specific laws to keep us on the path of righteousness and Godly life. Just, think about it a minute. All we do is obey laws. If we do not we are given punishment or are ostracised from society as a result of going against the grain of societal laws and normalcy. Interpretation of scripture being what it is means that everyone has an opinion but often it is a political decision as to which opinion is of importance. The same can be said for the Christian church as each denomination holds various interpretive view points and in Anglicanism this often devolves down to the classical split between Liberal and Conservative thinkers. In Roman's, Paul suggests that when there is law it is natural that it will lead to the law being broken (Rom 4:15) for if there is no law there is nothing to break. The law is there to provide a boundary and those that go beyond that boundary go beyond what God has ordained. However, the interpretation of the boundary is a political matter.

The covenant is not a law but rather a promise between two or more people. God covenants with Abraham and Sarah changing their names at the same time (Gen 17:1-). The basis of the promise is not a basis that is set in law but in faith keeping. There is no boundary set as each party places their faith in the other to uphold the agreement. The idea that there are no limiters on what is required means that each person within the covenant must make up their own minds as to what to do. They are not forced by law and then have to break the law to find expression. They are required by the covenant to do what is right in the eyes of God without a boundary. What then stops us from doing that which is not correct in the eyes of God? Nothing. But there again if we are wishing to do that which is not right a simple law is not going to stop us as we know from those that do just that on a continual basis.

Bear the cross of faith not the cross of law

So what makes us maintain the covenant or even want to continue to do what is right? In reality it is the consequences of our maintaining the covenant with Christ. We pick up the crosses of our own making and attempt to bring what is right into being. There is no rule or law that constrains our actions only our conscious decision to follow God and Christ in a promise. The consequences of our actions whether good or bad are felt in the community. Consequences that are bad may attract the civil rule of law and the approbation of our neighbours. We turn from God and find ourselves on the outside of love. We become isolated and alone unable to connect fully with those around us. In obeying our promise and holding to what we have said we will undertake we become surrounded by the love that is God and encapsulated within the community that is God's love. 

Christ rebukes Peter in the Mark's gospel for challenging what Christ is about to undertake (Mk 8:32-33). In not taking on faith Peter sticks to the law and tries to argue that Christ's way is against the law. What Peter does not know is that to take the way of faith is a much greater cross to bear than the cross that enables our keeping the law. It is a much more difficult thing to maintain our faith than it is to maintain that which has been given to us in black and white. Because the covenantal promise is such a nebulous thing we are more easily side tracked into doing something that is against it than we are when we are confronted with the black and white law. The law is an easy excuse for us, it is something we can point at. I am sure that Peter had a number of arguments in terms of the Jewish law which he used, not that we are told, but Christ immediately tells him to no bother in no uncertain terms. The devil is in the details or so the saying goes. Once we start with law we begin to open up all sorts of detail to argue over. the simplicity of faith is that there is only one thing to be concerned about and that is our promise before God.

Our faith has been split into a multiplicity of denominations with a multiplicity of interpretations which has as we all know driven the world apart. If we were but to stick to one faith that of obeying God and keeping his covenant made to us through Christ, no interpretation needed. What can be simpler, love God and love our neighbour? Only when we begin to become like Christ will we begin to bear the burden of faith to the fullest.

Repentance - the journey of Lent

 We have begun our journey towards the cross. We have made the decision to follow Christ and journey with him towards the cross. So why do we turn back to the very beginning of Christ's journey (Mk. 1:9-15) rather than face forward towards the journey that is Lent? There is I suppose a dual answer here, the simple one being that we need to understand the start before we can begin the journey. Perhaps, more importantly it is a reminder as we begin our journey that we have to face the past as much as the future that Christ brings. It is this second that for us is something that we need to delve into in more depth. So instead of starting at the beginning of Christ's journey we need to start at the new beginning of the end of Noah's journey (Gen. 9:8-17).

All new beginnings start at the end of something. The covenant (the first one) between God and humankind was made at the end of the flood. It denoted a new start for humanity with Moses and his family as the starting point or at least the imaginary starting point. It can be seen as the tale continues it is reasonable to say that there are others from around the world but Moses is the archetype for us. The covenant marks a new beginning where God withholds his wrath and makes a promise to us that we will never suffer the same devastation as has just occurred. However, the scene prior to the establishment is the scene of import as in this scene the details are spelled out as to how we should live (Gen. 9:1-7). All covenants with God contain that detail and we need to remember that  before we celebrate the making of the covenant and the rainbow pointed at God.

We begin our journey in recognising the consequences of our temptations

In beginning our beginning of Lent we are also directed to Christ's beginning in the desert (Mk. 9:12-15). The temptations of Christ are not elucidated within Mark's gospel, which means that we are allowed to use our imagination to determine what those temptations are. Matthew and Luke outline three in detail but over forty days there are many temptations that we can think of that might occur. All the temptations would perhaps be in the way of our own needs rather than the needs of others. These are the foremost temptations for us and all humans living in the world. The temptations are an ever expanding list in today's world which Luke and Matthew succinctly categorise into three broad groups corresponding to the hierarchy of needs: Food, Power and Fame. We can however think of many more that fall outside of these main categories.

Christ comes out of the desert experience of temptation to begin the proclamation of the Gospel in place of John who has been arrested. Lent is for us an entering into that same desert experience to quell our inner demons and to lay to rest our temptations. The temptations are not the problem, the problem is our response to the temptation and its consequences in our lives. This is where we need to seek repentance as we journey to the cross. It is the understanding that as a person Christ withstood the many temptations without the detrimental move of taking the easy route. We also can do this as well, as we remind ourselves were we have succumbed. In recognising our own faults we can turn to God in the road to repentance and ask for God's continued presence in our lives.

If our decisions towards temptation comes with the consequence of turning from God then there is also a consequence to repentance. Not just in our relationship with God but also our relationship with our neighbours. No matter how much we have sinned against God in doing so the consequences have truly been with our relationships to our neighbour. In turning back in reconciliation, metanoia, we turn back to our neighbour and begin to right the wrong relationships that have resulted as a consequence of our temptations. In bringing back right relationship to our neighbour we begin once more to build the community of God. A community that is based on love and seeks justice with peace within our hearts and minds. This is the journey we have embarked on.

Transfiguration - Change

 At the end of the Epiphany season we come to the Transfiguration. This is the event that changed Christ's course as he starts towards Jerusalem and the cross. It comes in our liturgical year just prior to Lent as we too move towards the events of Easter and the Cross. Christ is transfigured, not transformed and not changed as in a metamorphosis. His appearance reflects the presence on God in his own self. We too strive towards transfiguration so that we too like Moses and Christ may be transfigured to show the light of God's love shining from our own personas. So what is so special that we celebrate this and how do we normally react to such a development in our lives?

Our response is perhaps the easiest to detail as it is the response that the disciples give. It is the response that leaves us relying on what we have always done. The disciples only know one thing that is their response to anything that appears to be holy. Build a shrine and worship at the place were the miracle happened (Mark 9:5). This is our response even today, we fall back on what we know rather than embracing the change that transfiguration brings to our lives. A number of people have said on a numerous occasions that if we continue to do what we did in the past we will not gain or move any further but just repeat the mistakes of the past. There  must be something that can be done to move us beyond our paucity of insight and inability to move into a new future brought about by the cross. In a manner of speaking the transfiguration that we celebrate today is as much of a crossroads and decision point for us as is the cross. It is at this point that Christ turns towards the cross and for us it is at this point that we turn towards the future.

Change is always upon us we just need to choose

We cannot rely on our past as Christ calls us into the future. It is at the point of the transfiguration that Christ turns to the future. He accepts the path and is acknowledged by God, no matter how painful this journey is it is our decision to make. Christ has taken this road. We are called to celebrate this turn towards the unknown, the probable pain and all that may come but we are also acknowledged by God in the moment of accepting the call. The moment of transfiguration is the moment Christ takes up the move towards the cross and is the moment prior, in our lives, to Lent and our journey towards the cross. It is decision point for us as we move towards Easter. It is the moment we are asked to listen to Christ.

Our decision is the same that Christ faced. Do we move in accordance with God's purposes or do we turn away from the hard journey into the future? Christ at the transfiguration turns to the prophets to find the answer. He knew the Scriptures and turned to Moses and Elijah, two figures from the past who have no record of their burial but rather an ascension. Here in the Christ's transfiguration these two prophets from of old figure prominently. It is their faithfulness to God that is the inspiration for Christ's move towards the cross. It is following their appearance that God announces his pleasure. Pleasure of the Christ's adherence to God's plan and God's wishes. The disciples on the other hand turn away from the journey. They remain rooted in the past and cannot see beyond that which they know; they cannot grasp the way forward as all they can see is pain and uncertainty.

In examining our own faith journey in the coming days of Lent we face the same question. Do we look forward to the cross and the burden of the future relying on God's presence in our lives to lead us into a newness of life that is beyond anything we know? or do we rely on the past and repeat those things that we always do expecting different results? It is a perennial question as we celebrate the decision Christ makes. Too often we respond with the past and have no wish to face the realities of the future.

Everything for everyone

 There is an old saying that no one can be all things to all people as we will undoubtedly disappoint some and anger others. Paul reckons that he tried becoming like others to serve them and be as Christ to them (1 Cor. 9.19) and in doing so bring them into the fold of following Christ. However, in doing so Paul is also flexing his muscles, so to speak, in order to enforce the Corinthians to do things the way he suggests. It is a rhetorical gambit in some respects that enables Paul to achieve his ends in Corinth and the surrounding countryside of Achaia. Is this really the model of our ministry and the way that we should approach those we live and work alongside to bring them the message of Christ and God's presence in our lives? Manipulation through mimicry rather than an honest undertaking seeking to use God's power and not relying on our own powers of persuasion or rhetoric.

We cannot do everything for everyone, only God can

The prophet Isaiah is clear in terms of God (Is.40.21-22) and what God is to us. We cannot set ourselves up in such a way that our word is right, as we cannot know God as fully as we can know ourselves. By placing ourselves in positions of authority and suggesting that our way is correct, as Paul seems to do, we are placing ourselves in the position of God whom we cannot know and understand. From this point of view it is not on our own merits, being something to all people, that we are enabled to do the work that God has set aside for us. We rely on God not the other way around as Paul seems to suggest. Isaiah states that it is God who gives us the strength when we inevitably fall or appear to become stuck in the things that we are doing for God (Is. 40.30-31). If we cannot rely on our own thinking and our own power and authority how then do we approach any form of "selling" the Gospel to those who do not live the life of Christ?

It cannot be as simple as Paul suggests by being this or that to the other and thus being on their good side etc. The more we attempt to do that the more likely it is that each of us is going to end up burnt out from attempting to do too much. There is always the problem of deciding what takes precedence over which demand that comes our way. In some respects we are always trying to put out fires as soon as they appear rather than trying to prevent them in the first place. Then when we actually try to put out the fire we actually jump in feet first and come away burnt and depressed because our efforts achieved nothing. Perhaps, we need to stop and actually become a little like Christ in what we do.  Mark's gospel tells of Christ putting in effort and then wandering of for a time of prayer and quiet contemplation (Mk. 1:35) before going onto something new. Christ's preparation for new things and new challenges is in prayer and quiet time before God. Lent is around the corner and is a time for us to prepare for new things in prayer and God's presence.

However, another important point to note in this story is that he leaves behind those that are clamouring for the good things that they have been having. It is almost as if to say "I have shown you how, now you do it". We actually feel let down by Christ moving away into something new, it as if we have become used to the miracle workers presence how dare he leave us. But what if it is something that he leaves for us to do in his absence: care for the sick, cast out demons and follow in his steps (Maybe it is time for us to think differently and move on). He knows he cannot be there for everyone all the time. We need to look to God in those times when the solution is not in front of us or handed to us on a platter. This is when we actually need to strive towards God's presence in our lives and not rely on the miracle worker or the guy with ideas or the person who is always there until they are not. Given the circumstances of the year that has gone perhaps it is for us to decide that now is the time to move on to something different. We definitely can't be all things to all people and sometimes it is to our benefit to move on to something new rather than to cling to our past glories or the things that have always been there to support us.