A freedom not realised

 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 and one of legal interpretation, which is up to the person doing the interpreting.

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.

A handshake that releases the boundaries

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 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 not 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? The scriptures guide us towards living as Christ, it is our interpretation that creates what we deem to be law and thus create division. It is the consequences of leaving the covenant that should concern us for only when we begin to become like Christ will we begin to bear the burden of faith to the fullest.

Beginnings start in endings

 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.

Where do we begin our journey?

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.

Dis-ease created by fear and pride

 Disease is not something we are entirely comfortable with in our lives and when it comes to our own dis-ease about others we tend, still, to shun them and place them to the side. Leprosy features in both the Hebrew scriptures (2 Kings 5.1-14) and the Gospel (Mk 1.40-45), a disease which brought dis-ease to the community was marked by ostracization even to modern times (Peel Island was closed in the 50s). The term 'leper' has been part of our vernacular to designate any person who is ostracised from the group. Leprosy is a disease that is well understood today and is curable whilst leaving any disfigurement that has occurred as a result of the disease. However, our dis-ease is not so much over the disease itself but rather over the unknown, which it was in the days of Christ. How do we make whole that which is making us shun and feel dis-eased by its presence?

For most fear is the key or rather recognising our own fears and acknowledging them within our own lives. Not only our fears but those things that cause us to think in a detrimental manner. It is not something we generally dwell on when looking at our own lives or dwelling in introspection. We usually look at the positives and how we can create a better way of managing ourselves and our abilities. Our fears do not necessarily count as something that has worth. Yet, if we do not acknowledge them we will be limited by them and miss our cues in the walk of our lives with Christ. This applies equally to our own misconceptions that lead us towards actions that are detrimental towards the other and the community of Christ. The stories of the separate lepers highlight for us the two attitudes that often block our own understanding of the path that Christ is leading us down and show us the path that Christ requires of us.

Hansen's disease is curable but leaves disfigurement as much as our fears do

 In the case of Naaman which is told in the second book of Kings it is clear that his prejudice and pride are the two things that are holding him back from doing what God has asked. These are not fears but are things that often lead us astray in our thinking. They are often part of the process that generates fear within us if uncontrolled. Pride in his origins and his own cultural background prevented Naaman from accepting the simplicity of the instruction. Mixed in with this was his own prejudice against the neighbouring country. We all have these forms of issues in our lives. We are prejudicial in our judgements simply because, often, the way our parents and extended family have taught us through example either in words or in action. In seeing the other we automatically make judgements based on our own inherited knowledge. Then of course we have our own pride that tells us we should not do what we have been asked to do because it is demeaning either of our selves or what we perceive to be our position (authority, etc). Both of these attitudes heighten our fears of the other and create dis-ease in our communities.

In the Gospel, the story is not so much a story of fear but rather show us the path that Christ would have us take. In overcoming our pride and our fear we are able to reach out in empathy for those that are afflicted with what creates the disease and the dis-ease within our communities. It is about recognising that our fear of the unknown triggers our behaviour and all that it takes to understand is to reach out with an empathetic heart to determine see our way around our fear. It is our pride that instils within us a greater barrier as we have no wish to carry out those things that we feel are beneath us. This can cause issues not only for ourselves but also for the community. Think how the community reacts to the knowledge of healing causing disruption as they go out of their way to seek out the Christ rather than allowing it to be a normal part of community life. In the end either route will have reached the same conclusion as love demonstrated by Christ and love that the community demonstrates when freed from their own chains of dis-ease.

Hope's gossamer wings

 Today, we celebrate the Presentation of Christ in the temple in some calendars the final day of Christmas as a season. I am not sure that anyone has really paid attention but since Epiphany all the readings have reflected the outward movement of the Christian faith, starting with the presentation of the Magi and today Simeon's far reaching prophesy (Lk. 2. 30-32). All to often in the social environment of today Christians are forced to clam up and not speak for fear of ridicule and being shut down. Yet throughout this Epiphany season we have been encouraged by the hope that the Gospel brings to all people not just the chosen few.

What has happened to the Christian faith and those of us who proclaim or rather live the Christian life, such that we have become tarred with a brush of unwholesomeness? We can perhaps point fingers at distant ancestors of the faith and suggest that the super-secessionist  ideas of the Christian believers becoming the chosen people and replacing the older Judaic faith are to blame. Or maybe it is how the Christian faith believers utilised the economic power of their countries to become almost militaristic in mission forcing unwanted beliefs onto others. It seems no matter what the cause it is always the Christian faith that appears now to stand down and take second, third or even last place in its influence within our society today. It often appears as if the Christian faith and all those who are part of the religious structures are to blame for most of the ills in life as a result the genuine Christian voice is marginalised and / or unwanted within the discourse of the era.

In a way we are ourselves to blame as we have allowed our own authority structures to become power structures that are envied and thus open to attack. Our hope that Simeon speaks of being a 'light that will bring revelation to the Gentiles' is based on weakness not power and authority. All those who are encouraged to speak out in society are perceived to be weak and marginalised (LGBT community, Women, Muslims and other religious beliefs inc. atheism, etc). It is no wonder that those that are perceived to have authority are prevented from putting across their view.  Everyone knows their view, so why should we need to hear it, it is after all the predominate view.  In any case those proclaiming it are often hypocritical rather than genuine. This is depressing to hear but then truth often is until we can find the hope in the message of the Gospel.

The gossamer wing of hope is difficult to catch

Christ is prophesied by Simeon to be the light to the Gentiles. We must presume that that light is one that is carried within our hearts so that we can faithfully proclaim God's presence within the society in which we live. Unfortunately, for us, we have to rise to a greater proof than those around us as by the efforts of those in the past our lives have been thrust into the limelight of public criticism. We have been given a message of redemption to proclaim through the very lives that we live. We need to recognise that the hope that we proclaim is a hope that is lived out within our own interactions with all people. It is we who must set the highest example of hope in the lives of our communities by accepting all peoples for the gifts that God gives to them irrespective of who they may be. We need to overcome our own tendencies, like the tendencies of all those who are depressed, to seek out facts that fan our own uncertainties rather than those that grant us hope. In our own uncertainties we need to look for the sparks of hope in our communities and fan them into blazing fires that draw others into the flame of God's Spirit. In this way we blaze as lights to the world and become a genuine beacon to our communities that despair.