They left their nets and followed Jesus (Mark 1:14-20) (sermon text)

Mark 1:14-20 (New International Version)

14 After John was put in prison, Jesus went into Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God. 15 “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

16 As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” 18 At once they left their nets and followed him.

19 When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20 Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him


In the obscure 1999 sci-fi film ‘The Thirteenth Floor’ the main character Douglas Hall is part of a team of three that create a virtual computer world. He can download his brain waves into a computer-generated character in that world and live there for a period. The created world is Los Angeles in the 1920’s, a movie exploring the frontier of digital technology and virtual reality goes back to a time and place where film the first virtual reality was being pioneered. The characters in this virtual world have no comprehension of anything beyond themselves, they don’t realise they are created they don’t recognise their creator as he steps in amongst them. One of the computer generated characters in the virtual world finds out that he is in a computer programme living in a computer simulation and tests this crazy idea by trying to drive out of the city. He finds as he drives past the city limits and out into what he thinks will be the Californian desert that the whole landscape begins to disappear that at its edges the computer does not have enough power to generate a full programme anymore that his reality becomes made up of a series of intersecting green lines: the net that computers use as the basis for their graphics and his reality. His world made up of these nets is challenged when the creator steps into it and as a result he is changed. He is aware of a bigger reality beyond the everyday.


The fisherman on the shores of the Sea of Galilee also live in a world and reality made of up nets and into that world of nets Jesus walks and because of this close encounter of the Jesus kind it totally changes. “Jesus words come and follow me and I will make you fishers of men’ not only calls them to leave the physical nets that feature in their lives, but also like in the film ‘the thirteenth floor’ it calls them to leave the very nets that are the basic structure and fabric of their existence and follow Jesus. It’s what close encounters of the Jesus kind do.

Let’s put the passage in context., Mark had introduced us to Jesus through the ministry of John the Baptist and in Jesus baptism and temptation we see the identity of Jesus revealed to us. In his baptism, the other two persons of the trinity have testified to Jesus as the anointed one and the Son of God. In his temptation we see that Jesus is here to lead the struggle against evil in the world. Once John has been arrested Jesus starts his own ministry. He comes to the province of Galilee where the prophecy in Isaiah 9 said the good news of God’s salvation would first be preached.

His central message is that the time has come. The long awaited time of the coming of God’s kingdom had arrived. It had arrived because God’s anointed one was here. God’s king was here. We tend to think of Kingdoms in terms of territory and borders but in the ancient near east kingdoms were rather fluid, empires grew and shrunk. A kingdom was where people swore loyalty to a particular king and obeyed them. For example in Israel someone became king when the tribes came and swore loyalty to them. Now with Jesus coming God’s reign had broken into the realm of man and Jesus call was for a new people to repent and believe this Good news; to swear loyalty to God’s anointed one. To set up a new people who lived in way that reflected God’s reign.

Then Mark uses a series of encounters between Jesus and various people to show his authority as the anointed one. He calls people to follow him, heals the sick, forgives sins, frees people from demonic possession and demonstrates that he is lord of the Sabbath.

In Jesus calling his first disciples we see what it means to repent and believe. As these are paralleled in the two sets of brothers leaving their livelihoods, their identities, family and support structures to follow Jesus. We often think that repent and believe means to give up some horrific sin in our lives and turn to God and some of us don’t readily relate to this.

But they also mean to leave what may be good and acceptable and seek something better :to follow Jesus. For many of us it may be like what humorist Garrison Keillor says “give up your good Christian life and follow Christ”.


Tim Keel who lecturers in “Missional church leadership” at Laidlaw college out in West Auckland says an alternative translation for the word repent would be ‘wake up’. People are invited to wake up from their sleep and see a greater reality beyond the nets of their lives. If you want references from science fiction movies you could say it’s a matrix moment where the main character Neo is called to wake up and see a greater reality beyond the one that has kept him captive. To repent is to wake up to the reality of Jesus.

In typical Mark fashion we are short on details. Luke and Matthew show us that there was more to these encounters. They had heard Jesus preaching. He demonstrated who he was in sending them out into the deeper water to let down their nets after they had been fishing all night and not caught anything. But again Mark tells us everything he wants us to know.

Simon and Andrew are out fishing. It’s how they make their living. They are casting their net into the Sea. Jesus comes past and calls out to them ‘come and follow me and I will make you fishers of men’. They leave their net and they go and follow. Jesus comes to another set of brothers James and John mending nets with their father and hired hands and Jesus says come and follow me and they get up and follow. You know this is quite a big move for them and us.


Firstly, It affected their net worth. These are not just some poor fishermen eking out an existence, we know that the Sea of Galilee was known throughout the roman world for its abundant fish stocks and there was a thriving export market in salted fish. In Mark 10 Peter’s words ‘Lord we have given up everything to follow you’ is not an idle boast they had given up a lot. James and John were in the prosperous family business, they hired other fishermen to work for them. To follow Jesus meant to leave this behind. It meant that their priority was no longer going to be hauling in the fish and the money but following Jesus and hauling people into God’s kingdom. Now the way that there was always a boat around when Jesus needed to cross the lake shows that they didn’t totally abandon what they had and we have the example of Paul who was able to support his missionary endeavours by being a tent maker. But to follow Jesus means leaving the priorities we have in our materialistic world and put Jesus and his kingdom first. In Luke’s gospel the measure of the depth of our discipleship is reflected in the depth it reaches into our wallets.

Our worth and value in life is no longer to be measured by what we have and our status, or our possessions but in Jesus Christ. “that’s my king do you know him. The parable that Jesus tells to illustrate that the kingdom of God is like a pearl of great price that a merchant finds in a field and is willing to give up all he owns to possess it. It becomes his networth

Secondly, It affected their networks. For James and John to answer Jesus call they left their father in the boat with the hired help and followed Jesus. Networks are the way we talk about the relationships we have that give us meaning and purpose in life. To follow Jesus means changing those networks of relationships. In some parts of the western church the Christian faith and family values have become synonymous, but when you look at the gospel its not the central tenant of the faith. We are called to even leave these commitments behind to follow Jesus. Now before you get too upset you’ll see that this wasn’t totally the case, Simon’s following Jesus led to the healing of his mother-in-law, we know that Simon later known as Peter took his wife on his missionary travels with him. But to follow Jesus means to put our relationship with Jesus first.

Leonard Sweet, uses the idea of a network of right relationships to express what it means to follow Jesus. He actually uses the more “in” word Matrix. Being a follower of Jesus is about having a matrix of right relationships: a right relationship with God, God’s word, fellow believers, others outside our faith, with God’s creation, with material things and the spirit world and at the heart of those things is having a right relationship with Jesus.

At the heart of this new network is being caught up in Jesus. To be a fisher of men first you’ve got to be caught. Follow me is an invitation to a relationship with Jesus, its knowing and being known by him. It’s an invitation to intimacy and being loved, but also to a being a follower and a learner (a disciple) letting someone else lead. Letting Jesus be at the heart of your universe.

The picture behind Sweets matrix of right relationships is a great illustration of this its a Hubble telescope picture of the cross that appears at the dead centre of the vast whirlpool galaxy. This vast amazing galaxy of billions of stars M51 has at its heart and very centre and revolves round the cross. ( I must thank Louie Gigglio for this illustration).


Thirdly, Net worth and networks are like the strands that weave together to make our safety net in life. They are the things that make us feel safe and we can fall back on. You see in that after Jesus death Peter says to his fellow disciples “hey lets go fishing”. We see it in that phenomenon of our time ‘the boomerang generation’ adult children returning home to mum and dad when things don’t work out as they planned. But following Jesus calls us out from our safety nets, to follow with only the ever-loving arms beneath us around us.


Fourthly, Come and follow me meant that there network was changed. Their network of catching fish was their core business but following Jesus would change that. Not just their relationship network but what they did as well. They put aside their nets and Jesus said that they would become fishers of men. Jesus used their identity as fishermen to invite them into this new endeavour. They wouldn’t cast their net for fish but to follow Jesus means to do what Jesus does. To follow Jesus is to do network where people are gathered into the kingdom of God.

NT Wright says that following Jesus is making Jesus story our story and when we do that. ‘It will become your vocation’ he says

‘Everybody has their own role in God’s plan. For some it will be active, obvious, working in the public eye, perhaps preaching the gospel or taking the love of God to meet the practical needs of the world. For others, it will be quite, away from the public view praying faithfully for God to act in fulfilment of his promises. For many, it will be a mixture of the two, sometimes one, sometimes the other.”

Fishing for men and women starts with networking as well. The way that the good news spreads best is through friendship networks. If we were looking at John’s account of the calling of the first disciples you would see that it was people telling their friends and relatives about Jesus that meant that the disciples came to follow him. Andrew told his brother and then we have Philip telling Nathaniel. It’s the same process today.

We have come to think of evangelism and doing what Jesus did as something special. Jim Henderson says that we tend to think of sharing our faith as being personality or programme based. If you’ve got the right personality like Billy Graham or Bill Bright of Campus Crusade for Christ you can do it, or if you’ve got the right programme like Alpha or Rob Harley’s Journeys you can do it. But in actual fact it is the ordinary work of ordinary people like us. It is a natural outcome to Jesus call to follow him. It comes in the simple acts of kindness, prayer and ‘gossiping the gospel’ simply telling people about this person Jesus and what he has done for us. “thats my king do you know him.


In the movie poster for the thirteenth floor is the image of a man before a door a way into the light. It’s a way into a new reality beyond the nets that make up his life. Today I really sense to leave you with the familiar words of Jesus. An invitation that does reach down to the very fabric of our reality, A door that Jesus invites us to go through.


Jesus said ‘come and follow me and I will make you fishers of men’. And they left their nets and followed him. What nets do you need to leave? What nets tangle you up that in the words of Hebrew 12;2 do you need to cast aside. What fresh challenge do these words have for you? What door are they open?


Jesus said ‘come and follow me and I will make you fishers of men’ and we need to leave our net and follow him.

A prayer of thanksgiving to the God, Who was, and Is, and Who Is To Come.

Soren Kierkegaard says that the only way of making sense of life is with hindsight, looking back and seeing what God has been doing in our lives. However he continues to say we must move forward with faith, trusting God or the future.


For the Jews to remember was to have faith: as they remembered what God had done for them. It gave them assurance that God could and would act in the present and gave them hope for a future that from our human perspective is always hid over the next horizon or round the next bend or curve that life throws us. A while back I wrote the following prayer as a reflection on the God who was and is and is to come. It still rings as true today as it did when I first penned it.

Eternal God
Who holds our times in your hand
Who made us in your image.
Who while we were yet sinners sent Jesus Christ to live amongst us
And die on the cross to free us from sin and death
Who when Jesus rose and ascended to heaven sent your spirit to be our councillor and comforter
We proclaim your faithfulness
And thank you for your steadfast love



Faithful God
We look back remember and thank you for all you’ve done in the past
You knitted us together in our mother s womb
You have guided our steps all our lives
Always calling us to come and follow Jesus
You have meet with us and saved us
You walk through the sunny days and deep dark shadows that make up our lives
You empower us to live love and witness to you
We thank you for the people who have inspired us and helped us grow in you
We thank you for the people you have lead us to serve and love



Living God
We thank you for your presence and work in our lives today
It’s not just in the past
Today we are made new because of what you have done for us
Today you are teaching and leading us
You are calling us to be closer and closer to you
You are calling us to maturity in Christ Jesus
You strengthen us and encourage us
You invite us to care and witness to you


God who is alpha and omega, beginning and end
You have our future in your hands
Our tomorrow with all its potential
Our next step our next sunrise and sunset
You will lead us all our days
As you work your plans out in our lives
As you call us to continue to grow and to serve
You have our eternity in your hands
That we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever


You have been faithful in the past and you are faithful today
And you never change so we trust you with our future


Forgive us for our sins,
Fill us afresh with your spirit
Equip us to serve you faithfully into the future
To witness to the gospel of God
To the glory of our eternal God, father son and spirit

Character Identification In the Narrative of Jesus Healing Bartimaeus (Mark 10: 46-52

Mark 10:46-52
Then they came to Jericho. As Jesus and his disciples, together with a large crowd, were leaving the city, a blind man, Bartimaeus (which means “son of Timaeus”), was sitting by the roadside begging. 47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

 Many rebuked him and told him to be quiet, but he shouted all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”

So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus.

 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him.

The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.”

“Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road.


I wonder what picture you have in your minds eye as you read this passage. From where did you view the encounter between Bartimaeus and Jesus? What character in this narrative do you identify with the most?


There is Bartimaeus. He is a blind beggar; scholars tell us that because we know his name that the narrative has a feel of being an eyewitness account. Only mark records the name, perhaps this miracle had a great impact on Mark’s source Peter. And as Bartimaeus becomes a follower of Jesus he would have had a chance to get to know him.

Bartimaeus is the person in the story who is in need of Jesus help, maybe we can readily identify with that. Being a person who needs Jesus help, his healing and saving touch.

He’s a blind beggar but he is the person who has the greatest insight into Jesus. When he hears which Jesus it is coming down the road, Jesus of Nazareth, he addresses Jesus with a messianic title ‘Son of David’. Before this it has only been the unclean spirits that have recognised who Jesus is and Jesus had told them to be quite. The only other person, who has addressed Jesus as the messiah, is Peter in Mark 8: 29 “you are the messiah”. Bartimaeus’ title for Jesus ‘Son of David’ sets the context of what will happen next his triumphant entry in Jerusalem. AS Jesus gets closer and closer to the Cross it become more and more obvious that he is the messiah, culminating in the centurion at the crucifixion saying “Surely this is the Son of God”.

Can we identify with Bartimaeus insight as well as his need for Jesus? Are our spiritual eyes open?

Bartimaeus is the most helpless but he has the most faith. He is determined to come to Jesus; he is not put off by the crowd’s dismissal of him. They tell him to be quite but he will not be silenced. His faith makes him willing to tell Jesus what it is he wants. “I want to see”. It is his faith that heals him. All through Mark’s gospel there is a link between faith and healing. However if you don’t mind me using the pun it is not blind faith that is at work here. It is not simply the faith of Bartimaeus but rather that his faith is placed in the right place, it is placed in Jesus Christ, the Son of David that faith brings healing and wholeness.

Can we identify with Bartimaeus’ faith, a faith that brings him to Jesus with confidence in Christ’s ability to help? Do we have the same faith to bring our needs for physical healing, emotional wholeness, to have our spiritual eyes opened to Jesus?

Have you noticed how Bartimaeus changes from the beginning to the end of the narrative?

Bartimaeus moves from being a beggar a person in need on the side of road to being a disciple on the road. Jesus tells him not that his faith has made him well, but rather that his faith has saved him, has given him his sight but also moved him into a new relationship with Jesus. He has been born again and become a follower. The passage tells us that when he receives his sight he sets off on the road to follow Jesus. In verse 50 it tells us that he threw aside his cloak to come to Jesus. Beggars in the first century Middle East would have cast their cloak out before them to collect the alms of the pilgrims on their way up to Jerusalem. Like buskers putting a hat out. Now like the nets that Jesus first disciples left behind when he called them to follow him, Bartimaeus leaves behind all he has, his safety blanket his means of income to encounter and follow Jesus.

We may relate to Bartimaeus as someone who needs Jesus but the witness and challenge of his faith to us is changing from someone who needs Jesus help to being someone who will be a disciple and leave all they have to follow Jesus.

Do we identify with the crowd in this narrative? I don’t know about you but it seems the natural place for us to stand when we read the narrative. The crowd of people round Jesus. His followers the twelve, the women who took care of needs of Jesus and his group, the pilgrims maybe unaware of who Jesus was heading to the city and the people of the town there to see this Jesus they had heard of. They were all in the crowd. There would also have been other beggars others in need sitting on the side of the road in Jericho, seeking help from the many people heading to Jerusalem for the Passover.

Did you notice the way the crowd behaved at first? Shhh be quite Bartimaeus don’t cause a fuss, don’t make a scene. They tried to get in between the blind beggar and Jesus as a barrier. Even the disciples in Mark’s gospel are good at getting between Jesus and those in need. . I have to wonder how we act like this crowd? How do we act as a barrier between people and Jesus?

Notice that when Jesus hears Bartimaeus and replies that the crowd change their tune and encourage Bartimaeus to come to Jesus. They get between Bartimaeus and Jesus but not to keep him from Jesus rather to encourage him to go to Jesus. “Come on” they say he’s heard you he’s calling for you get up and go to him”. You could imagine their willing helping hands guiding blind Bartimaeus to Jesus. They are keen to see what Jesus can do for the beggar.

As they hear Jesus voice as they hear Jesus compassion they echo it and want to see Bartimaeus come to Jesus. One of the biggest changes in the way the church sees itself in the twenty first century, has been to realise that God is about mission, caring for the people in the world around us and our calling is to care for these people and work to bring them to Jesus.

‘Missio Dei’ is a term that has come into prevalence recently. The crowd heard what Jesus wanted to do and his compassion for Bartimaeus and they changed to echo and facilitate what he wanted to do. God is at work in the world by his Holy Spirit today and our job is to connect with this ‘Missio dei’, this mission of God and add our voice our hands our prayers and actions to what God is already doing.

I wonder if we dare identify with Jesus. To be called to be an agent of God’s mercy, healing, wholeness and salvation. Maybe we wouldn’t think of that in case someone though we had a messiah complex.

This narrative is the last miracle story in Mark’s gospel. I can identify with Jesus, because I’m a very task orientated person and I don’t often hear the people who are need around me. Jesus was off passing through town on his way to Jerusalem. We have had the sense that Jesus had his eyes fixed on Jerusalem for a time now. In the passage we looked at last week in Mark 10:32 it says that Jesus was leading the way he was out in front. That’s me, that’s us maybe as we go about our daily tasks I can identify with that. But Jesus stops and steps aside when he hears the call of the blind beggar. The crowd surrounds him on his way and yet he identifies that one voice calling out to him for help. “Jesus son of David have mercy on me.” He stops and shows mercy on Bartimaeus, while Jesus miracles are always seen as signs and wonders they are also always acts of compassion and mercy.


I was at a seminar a few years ago and this passage was used as the morning devotions and the question that the person taking the seminar left us with was and Who is looking for the Jesus in you? Because you and I are the body of Christ in the world today, we are Christ’s hands and his feet. We are called to show his compassion. When we go about our everyday lives who is the voice that is calling to the Jesus in us to have mercy.

A repetitious prayer of thanks based loosely on Psalm 138.

The following is a repetitious Prayer (it uses the word 'For 18 times and thank you heaps more). I wrote it a few years back for a service after meditating on Psalm 138. It was during a long period of dry weather ( read drought) which is why it has the line 'For rain in the midst of this big dry' but if you want to use it in public worship you could change it. It is for me an expression of... thanks to God for what God has done for us.

Thank You

Everything within us says 'Thank you Lord'.

Thank you for your love

Thank you for your faithfulness

And we say it again thank you



Thank you for the wonder of your creation

for the background beat of waves on shore

For the promise of fruit ripening on trees

For the cool wind on a hot day

For rain in the midst of this big dry

For the brilliant glow of the last light of day

For the awe inspiring array of stars in the night sky

And we say it again thank you



Thank you for your great provision

For the food we eat

For the skills and talents we make a living by

For shelter and home

For family and friends

For health and for hope

For your continued grace and guidance

And we say it again thank you



Thank you for your presence and protection

you know everything about us

you see us in our lowly estate and you care

you step in the moment we cry out for help

You make our life full of your strength

You will finish what you started in us

You won’t quit or knock off early your love is eternal

And we say it again thank you



Thank you for your saving grace

For Jesus your son who came into our world

For Jesus who preached good new to our poverty

For Jesus who healed the sick

For Jesus who welcomed home the outcast

For Jesus who died on the cross for our sins

For Jesus who was raised to life and gives us new life

And we say it again thank you



Thank you for your spirits presence

For waking us up to our need for God

For making us new and afresh in Jesus

For being our comforter and guide

For opening up your word and leading us into all truth

For making us into the body of Christ

For empowering us to live and witness to Christ

And we say it again thank you



Thank you

Everything within us says 'thank you Lord'

Thank you for your love

Thank you for your faithfulness

And we say it again thank you

Being Open To The Reading Of Scripture

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. –Hebrews 4:12

In my One Year Bible reading for Tuesday the above verse from the book of Hebrews was highlighted. It reminded me that often we think the important thing is that we read and study scripture, and it is, but the thing that really brings change and transformation is when we let scripture read us. That is that it show up our attitudes and the narratives we tell ourselves and lives by and shows them up as needing to be changed to the likeness of Christ.

In his book ‘The Good and Beautiful God’ James Bryan Smith talks of the process of spiritual formation revolving around allowing our narratives about God to be exchanged for Jesus narratives about God. He goes on to say that we then need to develop spiritual habits and practises to allow those things to become part of and bring transformation in our lives, and to be part of a community that encourages in that. Of course in the end while we may plant water and weed it is God that causes growth and a harvest and central to such a process of spiritual formation is the work of the Holy Spirit.

I am working on becoming more disciplined in my reading of scripture and I hope in the midst of that, that I am becoming more open to the reading of scripture.AS I dig deeper into it, I pray that it digs deeper into me. I find it being more constantly on my mind but aware that it really hasn’t got to the core of bringing change to my actions and my reactions.

Recently I enjoyed reading through the book of Jeremiah and I found a pattern there that challenged my response to the Word of God. Jeremiah would give oracle after oracle to the king and people of Jerusalem as they faced the Babylonian siege, people would seek him out to ask him the word of the Lord, however there is this sad repetition all the way through, they went off and didn’t do what the Lord had said. People often focus on God’s wrath and judgement in the Old testament and forget that lengths at which God went through to communicate and call his people to follow him and sadly the lengths we all (I like Paul identify with being the chief amongst sinners) go through to forget and often deliberately not do what we read. I don’t want to be like that.

Lord change me, as I read your scripture may your spirit read me and change the narrative to reflect your son. Amen

Psalm 104: God's Provision and a Call to Worship and to Care For Creation.

Psalm 104


1 Praise the LORD, my soul.

LORD my God, you are very great;

you are clothed with splendor and majesty.

2 The LORD wraps himself in light as with a garment;

he stretches out the heavens like a tent

3 and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters.

He makes the clouds his chariot

and rides on the wings of the wind.

4 He makes winds his messengers, [a]

flames of fire his servants.

5 He set the earth on its foundations;

it can never be moved.

6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment;

the waters stood above the mountains.

7 But at your rebuke the waters fled,

at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;

8 they flowed over the mountains,

they went down into the valleys,

to the place you assigned for them.

9 You set a boundary they cannot cross;

never again will they cover the earth.

10 He makes springs pour water into the ravines;

it flows between the mountains.

11 They give water to all the beasts of the field;

the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

12 The birds of the sky nest by the waters;

they sing among the branches.

13 He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;

the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work.

14 He makes grass grow for the cattle,

and plants for people to cultivate—

bringing forth food from the earth:

15 wine that gladdens human hearts,

oil to make their faces shine,

and bread that sustains their hearts.

16 The trees of the LORD are well watered,

the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

17 There the birds make their nests;

the stork has its home in the junipers.

18 The high mountains belong to the wild goats;

the crags are a refuge for the hyrax.

19 He made the moon to mark the seasons,

and the sun knows when to go down.

20 You bring darkness, it becomes night,

and all the beasts of the forest prowl.

21 The lions roar for their prey

and seek their food from God.

22 The sun rises, and they steal away;

they return and lie down in their dens.

23 Then people go out to their work,

to their labor until evening.

24 How many are your works, LORD!

In wisdom you made them all;

the earth is full of your creatures.

25 There is the sea, vast and spacious,

teeming with creatures beyond number—

living things both large and small.

26 There the ships go to and fro,

and the leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.

27 All creatures look to you

to give them their food at the proper time.

28 When you give it to them,

they gather it up;

when you open your hand,

they are satisfied with good things.

29 When you hide your face,

they are terrified;

when you take away their breath,

they die and return to the dust.

30 When you send your Spirit,

they are created,

and you renew the face of the ground.

31 May the glory of the LORD endure forever;

may the LORD rejoice in his works—

32 he who looks at the earth, and it trembles,

who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

33 I will sing to the LORD all my life;

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

34 May my meditation be pleasing to him,

as I rejoice in the LORD.

35 But may sinners vanish from the earth

and the wicked be no more.

Praise the LORD, my soul.

Praise the LORD.



I’m using Tyndale’s ‘The One Year Bible to (strangely) read through the bible in a year and Psalm 104 was part of my bible reading for today. It’s a creation Psalm and focuses on God’s great creation and also his providence; that God acres for and provides for all his creation. It’s a Psalm that invites us all to give thanks to God for his goodness shown in this care for creation. I love the image of sea monsters; Leviathan frolicking in the ocean as they were made to do. It is great to see the wonderment and bounty of what God has made, eco-diversity expressing Gods creativity. Likewise it is good for us to remember that God is able to care for our needs. As Jesus says in the Sermon On The Mount

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life ?”

-Matthew 6:25-27

The Psalm also gives God’s people a solid foundation and challenge to care for and protect the ecosystem and environment that God has given to all creatures.

Creatures’ habitats are given as a gift from God, for them to live in and flourish. Be it the craggy mountain tops for mountain goats, right down to crags in the rocks for rodents like the Hyrax. Alongside that is the affirmation that humanity has been given land for cattle to graze and for crops and even the blessing of vineyards and to make oils to make the face glow (I think this is as close as it gets to a biblical mandate for the cosmetics industry. I fell asleep one time on holiday and woke up to find my kids taking this passage literally and shining my head with olive oil. Fortunately I was in the shade at the time otherwise I may have fried my brains (too late I hear some of you say).

The Psalm sees a God intended balance, our needs and the needs of creatures that express are expressions of God’s great power and love. Sadly as we read this psalm we can even see the way in which humans have had an adverse effect on creation. With lions in the Middle East being extinct and other animals mentioned here equally having their habitat and existence threatened. I live in a country that is very beautiful and has a clean green image, when I'm out driving across it (well more up and down it) I am amazed at the beautiful rolling hill country. But then I wonder how much more amazing and wonderful it must have been when it ws virgin native bush, barley 150 years ago and I am aware of the many native bird species that have disappeared or are on the endangered list. We have been guilty of thinking of our position in creation as being privileged and that giving us the right to pillage and misuse creation. To not be mindful of God’s creatures and the balance he has put into the world. To see empty land or non productive (for humans) land as waste land not realising that such places are part of God’s provision for all his creatures. We have been guilty of worshipping the creator and not being considerate of his creation.


Psalm 104 invites us again to consider the whole of God’s creation as gift and an expression of his creative power and goodness. Serving and worshipping God and rejoicing as also having an element of care and custodianship.

Lord God,

Thank you for the wonder of your creation,
the way you have provided for all your creatures,
you provision for us,
help us to see it and give you praise
to enjoy it and never loose the wow factor
In our worship help us also God to care for what you have made
to see it as gift,
to treat it with respect
to live in a way that all may have their share
to live in a way that all your creatures receive theirs.

What words can comfort, what help in Christ? a reflection on Mary and the Beloved Disciple at the foot of the cross

In 2004 I was involved in a series of Lenten reflections with inner city churches in Napier. that year we focused on the sayings of Jesus on the cross and I wrote the following soliloquy of two people,  as a reflection on 'Jesus words to Mary and the beloved disciple from John's Gospel. I though I'd just share in with you... It's not that seasonal but as I  re-read it I realised that in the midst of our sorrow and grief one of the comforts that Jesus has given us is each other as the body of Christ. He calls us to know we have people to care for us and also to care for each other... in this we find words of comfort and help in Christ.

Mary



Nothing compares with this pain,

This grief, This sorrow

Enduring the cruel death of a son

This O so special one

This light of the word

Not the pain of childbirth

Forgotten in the joy of a babies cry

the grip of a small hand

the first suckle

Not the pain of having to flee

To be a refugee in Egypt

With the wail of other women crying for lost sons in your ear

Nor the loss of a husband, although that came near

Or the doubts about Jesus as he said and did all those radical things

Yet he is the messiah the one promised

That old man Simeon had come closest all those years ago

“ a sword will pierce your heart”

“A sword will pierce your heart”

This was God’s plan all along

In those words God prepared me for this pain, this sorrow...

This death

It is part of God’s plan

I grieve but I believe



A widow who will now care for a widow

Without husband and eldest son

No welfare state, children are our pension

Our widows benefit, our health insurance

There is other family but none here

And Jesus a good son,

Who honoured mother and father?

What can be done?

Woman of faith yet bereft and alone

Counted blessed amongst women

Yet in need of care

A woman of faith with so much to share

“yet a sword has pierced her heart”



What words can comfort

What help in Christ?



The disciple that Jesus loved



You had said this would happen

You told us and told us

Yet as we marched into this city

It seemed as if all was well

They cheered you, hailed you king

It was quite a scene

Then they turned on you

Political expediency

Better that one man die rather than bloody rebellion

The sign says it well ‘King of the Jews’

Even the others have vanished

They had been with us these three years

They could not come

They are Hiding, disillusioned and afraid

But I could not, I love you so

We’d talked and laughed and I’d watch you cry

You had spoken and our hearts became alive

Even though we struggled to understand it all

That last meal I lay with my head on your shoulder

More than disciple and teacher, as you said we are friends

You’d said this would happen

And in the midst of my tears and my grief I hope

I hope in a God who is stronger than death

Yet I feel lost and bereft

In you I had found a mentor, a Rabbi

Someone I would follow anywhere

When you’d started saying the hard things about your death

People had left us in droves

Yet when you’d turned to us and asked if we’d go

We said where can we go, you have the words of eternal life

I am with you here as well and cannot abandon you

Where would I go you have the words of eternal life?

Where will I find someone with the wisdom to help me live for you?

What can I do for you my beloved friend?

If just a simple thing to ease your pain?

I feel so alone?



Are there any words of comfort?

What help in Christ?



Jesus words from the cross



“Woman, here is your son”
“Here is your mother”