Last week Ash Wednesday signified the beginning of Lent. Traditionally we have ash placed on our foreheads and remember we are dust and that to dust we shall return. This year we are particularly aware of this truth. Some of us have never felt so vulnerable and alone as we have during this pandemic. On Wednesday there is another burial of ashes in the churchyard of a person who has died in their mid forties. I haven’t felt the need to take up David Walker’s suggestions in his cartoon on how to ash during a pandemic. He suggests a potato print at the end of a fork, an ash postcard, sprinkling from a great height, using a long stick through the letterbox or self imposition. There are better ideas on the Church of England Birmingham you tube and face book channels. This year has felt like a long lent with fasting from hugs, going on trips, meals out, singing together, holidays and seeing friends and family. I don’t need ash to remind me I am mortal. Ioften feel tired. Concentrating on prayer particularly when there have been so many changes, so much loss and lots of administration has felt difficult. When we come out of lockdown and it’s safe to do so I am going to enjoy the freedoms we will be given, lent or no lent and live life to the full. Jesus came to set us free and give us life in all its fullness. Whilst Jesus didn’t need to repent of personal sin, he chose to undergo a baptism for the repentance of sins and identify with the sins of his community and the institutional sins of his time. He identified fully with human beings. We have never been so aware of the sins of our time which have led us to the praecipe of climate change and this pandemic. We are aware that disaster looms unless we change our ways. The nations of the world, particularly the richer ones cannot go back to behaving as they were. We are drawn together by our suffering and recognise that if we don’t change our ways we will all perish. Jesus entered into our predicament and our suffering. When he was baptised he made a public commitment to be obedient to his heavenly Father. He knew that way would lead to suffering and death on the cross. When talking to his closest friends who had forgotten they were called to serve and wanted to be rulers in the coming Kingdom, he compared baptism to being immersed in suffering. He asked them the question, “Are you able to be baptised with the baptism I am baptised with?” A few days later when Jesus was arrested and his friends ran away, it became clear that they couldn’t. We feel helpless when faced with the sickness, suffering and death of others. It is important we do what we can to bring healing but ultimately we all die and cannot choose the way it will happen. In our weakness we struggle to bear the weight of sin and suffering. Thankfully, we don’t have to. “Christ”, 1Peter reminds us, “suffered for sins once and for all;” for our sins and those of the whole world, “for the righteous and the unrighteous in order to bring us to God.” Peter was speaking to a church suffering unfairly. They were providing the social services of their time, caring for the sick and feeding the hungry. Instead of the authorities being grateful for what they did, they were torturing and executing their members for proclaiming the good news of Jesus and were having to respond in love to their persecutors. Their situation was dire and they couldn’t be faithful without the hope they had in Christ. They had a relationship with God because Jesus had died for them. The baptism of Jesus shows us what that relationship looks like. Jesus didn’t face his time of testing in the wilderness, before his heavenly father had poured out the Holy Spirit upon him and given him his blessing. He could never have sustained forty days in the desert without food or drink and without God’s help. As Jesus came out of the water after being baptised, he saw the heavens torn apart. The word for 'torn apart' is a strangely violent word to describe such a happy occasion. It's also the word used to describe the moment Jesus dies when the curtain of the temple was torn in two. It's a word with resonances in the prophecies of Isaiah, particularly when he cries out to God, "O that you would tear open the heavens and come down." (Isaiah 63:19). In Jesus, God has torn open the heavens and come down. God cannot stand the separation between what happens in heaven and what happens on earth any longer any longer. When we repent of our sin and receive Jesus into our lives, God comes in and dwells within us and we are changed as we become more and more like Jesus. The Spirit descended like a dove on Jesus. The Spirit also descends on our lives, gently, enabling us to live the life of Christ, bringing love and healing to a broken world. God’s words to Jesus are personal, and powerful. “You are my beloved son. With you I am well pleased.” Wrapped in these words of acceptance are the blessings of identity, worth, and unwavering regard We need to hear those words from the Father. He says them to us before we are ready to receive them, when we receive Jesus and are born again, when we are baptized in water and throughout our lives as we live in Christ. Christ identified himself with us so that we might take on his identity. He didn’t just suffer and die for the sins of the world. He rose again and ascended into heaven. Joy followed the suffering. When we are suffering we need to remember that death is not the end. We will receive new resurrection bodies. Baptism is a symbol of this. The water of baptism doesn’t save us. Jesus does! It does however remind us that we are united with Jesus in our death and resurrection. It also, Peter tells us, appeals to our consciences prompting us to behave like Christ and live in the power of his Holy Spirit. It also pushes us to proclaim and share what Jesus has done wherever we find ourselves. Jesus, Peter tells us, proclaimed God’s love to the spirits in prison who did not obey or accept God’s way of salvation in the days of Noah. Peter compares the flood in Noah’s day to water baptism in our day. It’s a strange comparison. Noah and his family didn’t get wet while everyone else drowned. There are many interpretations of these verses. Perhaps the Spirit of Jesus was in Noah as he pointed to the ark as God’s way of escape for Noah’s generation. Maybe Jesus went to the prison where fallen angels were incarcerated in the gap between his death and resurrection and preached to them. Perhaps he went to the place of the dead and preached to Noah’s wicked contemporaries. I cannot envisage Jesus preaching to anyone in prison without him giving them the opportunity to be set free through the power of God’s love. I believe Jesus was giving these prisoners the opportunity to be saved through identifying themselves with him through baptism. They had already suffered the terrifying flood and drowned. That is one side of our baptismal experience. Unlike us they hadn’t faced death with a relationship with God through our Lord Jesus Christ so they remained imprisoned in their sin. When Jesus proclaimed what he had done by dying for them, they had the opportunity to be set free and experience resurrection life with Christ and in Christ forever. Jesus is our place of safety. As we continue to look forward to being set free from our pandemic imprisonment lets enjoy our relationship with Jesus by spending time with him and not be too hard on ourselves. We are his beloved children equipped through his Spirit for whatever happens in the future. Suffering and death will one day come to an end when we are released from our earthly bodies and receive new, resurrected, spiritual bodies as we walk united with Christ into eternity. Holy God, our lives are laid open before you: rescue us from the chaos of sin and through the death of your Son bring us healing and make us whole in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
According to the dictionary, wisdom is the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgement based on sensible, intelligent, rational wise thinking. Our common sense informs us that it is important that we respond to situations in a rational, ordered way. We keep being told by the government that their actions in this pandemic are following the science. However, when we looked at what happened in Wuhan and Italy before the pandemic arrived in the United Kingdom, as we watched numbers rise causing the highest number of deaths per capita in the world and as we have lost loved ones and livelihoods, there have probably been times during the last year, when you, like me, have asked the question, “How could the government be so stupid?” Why didn’t they close the borders and lockdown sooner? Why did they let us mix on Christmas day? Why did they keep the schools open? This week my anger was rising as I realised that almost a year after the first lockdown, our borders still haven’t been closed. The hotels which have been prepared to quarantine incomers still haven’t received guests. Thousands enter the country daily and now we are faced with the South African mutation of the disease here in Frankley. How could they be so stupid we ask when we see raves in town and people ignoring lockdown rules? Our questioning often comes out of feelings of superiority or self righteous anger. It is easy to be wise in retrospect. Proverbs 8 starts more positively with the question, “Does not wisdom call and does not understanding raise her voice?” When human beings act irresponsibly, selfishly and greedily wisdom calls out and our conscience tells us, most of the time, that what we are doing is wrong. When answers seem obvious, yet we are met with stupidity and irresponsibility, we would answer, “Yes, wisdom calls out and understanding raises its voice.” As temperatures have soared and climate change is destroying our planet, understanding is raising its voice ever more loudly. It was clear to many that a corona virus was likely. As the planet heats up, animals are coming into contact with other animals they were normally separated from creating an opportunity for pathogens to get into new hosts including humans. Wisdom is personified as a woman in these verses. Lady Wisdom, takes her stand at the crossroads, beside the gates at the front of the town. She utters truth in the place where political decisions are made and merchants come and go. She says, “Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold for all that you may desire cannot be compared with me.” Globalisation, industrialisation and our commercial institutions which have put profit above people and the free market above justice are some of the reasons we have got into this mess. It will take a long time to disentangle ourselves and live more fairly. Wisdom tells us that in doing so we will be rewarded because she endows with wealth those who love her and fills their treasuries. There are riches we reap which are not economic when we follow God’s way such as faith, hope, love, peace and joy. Lady Wisdom is the one who dwelt with God and was God before the creation of the world, the one in whom according to John’s gospel, was life and the light of all people. She was the master worker who with the Lord created the universe. She knows how it was designed and the part we humans are meant to play within it. Wisdom was the Lord’s daily delight and she delighted in his inhabited world and in the human race. Only the wisdom that comes from above can get us out of this mess and God promises to give it liberally to all who ask. It is surprising that wisdom is personified as female. Historically women were always seen as the emotional ones whereas men were seen as more rational and wise. In the New Testament we see God’s wisdom, his living word and values in the life of Jesus Christ. He brings those of us who believe in him to a new birth and gives us power to be called and behave as children of God. The question, “How could they be so stupid?” is arrogant. It places blame on others and not on us. It absolves us of responsibility when we should be looking at our part in how our world has got into this mess. When we look for Lady Wisdom’s call and listen for the voice of understanding, we acknowledge that we haven’t got all the answers. We must listen and learn. We would probably have messed up too. Wisdom in Proverbs refers to God’s living voice. She cries out to be involved by us in the affairs of government, politics, her creation and our lives. We desperately need wisdom, we need the Lord Jesus to enlighten our thinking as we seek to come out of this pandemic and as we seek to counter the problems we experience through climate change. We need Lord Jesus to change us on the inside so that instead of anger and despair we wisely work with him to love his people and save our planet. Almighty God, give us reverence for all creation and respect for every person, that we may mirror your likeness in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
According to the dictionary, wisdom is the quality of having experience, knowledge, and good judgement based on sensible, intelligent, rational wise thinking. Our common sense informs us that it is important that we respond to situations in a rational, ordered way. We keep being told by the government that their actions in this pandemic are following the science. However, when we looked at what happened in Wuhan and Italy before the pandemic arrived in the United Kingdom, as we watched numbers rise causing the highest number of deaths per capita in the world and as we have lost loved ones and livelihoods, there have probably been times during the last year, when you, like me, have asked the question, “How could the government be so stupid?” Why didn’t they close the borders and lockdown sooner? Why did they let us mix on Christmas day? Why did they keep the schools open? This week my anger was rising as I realised that almost a year after the first lockdown, our borders still haven’t been closed. The hotels which have been prepared to quarantine incomers still haven’t received guests. Thousands enter the country daily and now we are faced with the South African mutation of the disease here in Frankley. How could they be so stupid we ask when we see raves in town and people ignoring lockdown rules? Our questioning often comes out of feelings of superiority or self righteous anger. It is easy to be wise in retrospect. Proverbs 8 starts more positively with the question, “Does not wisdom call and does not understanding raise her voice?” When human beings act irresponsibly, selfishly and greedily wisdom calls out and our conscience tells us, most of the time, that what we are doing is wrong. When answers seem obvious, yet we are met with stupidity and irresponsibility, we would answer, “Yes, wisdom calls out and understanding raises its voice.” As temperatures have soared and climate change is destroying our planet, understanding is raising its voice ever more loudly. It was clear to many that a corona virus was likely. As the planet heats up, animals are coming into contact with other animals they were normally separated from creating an opportunity for pathogens to get into new hosts including humans. Wisdom is personified as a woman in these verses. Lady Wisdom, takes her stand at the crossroads, beside the gates at the front of the town. She utters truth in the place where political decisions are made and merchants come and go. She says, “Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold for all that you may desire cannot be compared with me.” Globalisation, industrialisation and our commercial institutions which have put profit above people and the free market above justice are some of the reasons we have got into this mess. It will take a long time to disentangle ourselves and live more fairly. Wisdom tells us that in doing so we will be rewarded because she endows with wealth those who love her and fills their treasuries. There are riches we reap which are not economic when we follow God’s way such as faith, hope, love, peace and joy. Lady Wisdom is the one who dwelt with God and was God before the creation of the world, the one in whom according to John’s gospel, was life and the light of all people. She was the master worker who with the Lord created the universe. She knows how it was designed and the part we humans are meant to play within it. Wisdom was the Lord’s daily delight and she delighted in his inhabited world and in the human race. Only the wisdom that comes from above can get us out of this mess and God promises to give it liberally to all who ask. It is surprising that wisdom is personified as female. Historically women were always seen as the emotional ones whereas men were seen as more rational and wise. In the New Testament we see God’s wisdom, his living word and values in the life of Jesus Christ. He brings those of us who believe in him to a new birth and gives us power to be called and behave as children of God. The question, “How could they be so stupid?” is arrogant. It places blame on others and not on us. It absolves us of responsibility when we should be looking at our part in how our world has got into this mess. When we look for Lady Wisdom’s call and listen for the voice of understanding, we acknowledge that we haven’t got all the answers. We must listen and learn. We would probably have messed up too. Wisdom in Proverbs refers to God’s living voice. She cries out to be involved by us in the affairs of government, politics, her creation and our lives. We desperately need wisdom, we need the Lord Jesus to enlighten our thinking as we seek to come out of this pandemic and as we seek to counter the problems we experience through climate change. We need Lord Jesus to change us on the inside so that instead of anger and despair we wisely work with him to love his people and save our planet. Almighty God, give us reverence for all creation and respect for every person, that we may mirror your likeness in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
