Increase our faith: Give us a mustard seed faith and a servant heart (Luke 17:1-10)

Faith is one of those slippery words that we use a lot but we don’t often tie down and define.

Faith…if I just believe something enough it will happen. We identify it with fervour and emotional intensity.

Faith… If I go to the right place, this service or that church or this conference, it will increase… because I know they’ve got it and it will come pre-packaged and user friendly… it’s like it is a commodity and I can go shop for it.

Faith… I belong to this group of people, we believe the same things we do the same things we keep the same rituals and observances, keep the same rules. With those things we can tell whose got faith and who hasn’t. Who’s in and who’s out.

Faith… We are loyal to the end. It’s our team, our group, our God. Like that faithful band who always buy a Warriors season ticket, who each year say ‘It’s our year this year’., but even if it isn’t they be back next year.  They believe they keep the faith… loyal to the core. Hey I’m a blues fan I feel their pain.

I don’t want to come off sounding cynical or critical here… but it’s important that we understand what faith is…Right in the centre of the bible passage we had read today the apostles ask the lord, ‘increase our faith’… and I feel that is an important message for us this year, for St Peter’s. ‘Lord increase our faith’…At the heart of our vision ‘that we are called to be a vibrant authentic sustainable community, growing as followers of Jesus, and inspiring others to join us on that journey” is that we are growing as followers of Jesus. It is that our faith will increase. Lord increase our faith… It’s important that we know what that means and how it is worked out in our life together and individually.

We are working our way through Luke’s account of Jesus journey to Jerusalem.  An account that takes up the central third of the third gospel. It’s an account that focuses on Jesus teaching his disciples what it means to follow him. And it’s a journey that leads Jesus and us to the cross. We had a break in this series over Christmas and the holidays, and splash we came back right in the deep end, with Jesusteaching on finances.

Now as we get back into the swing of things for the year we come to Jesus teaching his disciples about faith, which forms the conclusion to a big body of teaching, that started way back with Jesus at the house of Simon the Pharisee at the beginning of chapter 14, or at least the start of chapter 15 where the sinners and tax collectors were gathered round to hear Jesus and the Pharisees and teachers of the law stood back and muttered in disapproval. It’s been about hospitality and welcoming people in and how we treat them. In some ways, it has been about the practical outworking of Jesus own mission statement in Luke 4…from the scroll of Isaiah… The spirit of the Lord is upon me to proclaim good news to the poor, recovery of sight to the blind, release to the captives, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.

This section of teaching has been like a ping pong match. Jesus had been speaking to the Pharisees, then he is speaking to his disciples, the Pharisees interrupt so it’s back to them, and now it’s back to his disciples to summarize it all. In the west and in the modern era we are used to a more linear way of teaching, but what we have here is a more too and fro style of teaching. Question and answer, comment and comeback it’s a Jewish teaching style called midrash.

Jesus teaching here is in four sections, a warning, instruction, and then the apostle’s response and Jesus response with an exhortation and a parable about grace.

Jesus had been speaking to the Pharisees and religious leaders and now he turns to his disciples and basically tells them not to be like the Pharisees. He’s real and says there are things in this life that are going to trip people up. That’s the reality of life, as Jesus says in John 16:33 in this life there will be trouble, hardship, rejection, persecution, but we should not be afraid because Jesus has overcome the world. Here he is saying yes there will be temptation to sin and turn away from the faith, in the parable of the sower in Luke 8, Jesus had outlined some of those things: sin, persecution, concern for the things of this world money and wealth.

He then turns and warns his disciples that it would be better for them to die, have a millstone put round their neck and tossed in to the ocean, than make one of these little ones stumble. Down through history there has been conjecture about these little ones…  yes, it could be Christians who are weaker in their faith, it challenges us about our children. It does speak to and challenge people in church leadership and who teach, it warns against false teaching. But in the context of what Jesus has been teaching and the attitude of the Pharisees we’ve already seen who these little ones are.  This follows on from the parable of Lazarus and the Rich man, where Lazarus had been left in his poverty and powerlessness, ignored and neglected and written off at the gate of the rich man.  It carries on from the parable of the prodigal son where the older brother had stood off and refused to go in. We need to be on guard that we do not act in the same manner and way.

Jesus goes on to teach on forgiveness. He says if your brother and sister sin against you, rebuke them; we need to deal with wrongdoing, not just ignore it and write people off because of it. It is most loving to call them back to help them come to their senses. It’s interesting so much of Jesus teaching is like that, calling the Pharisees and religious to repent. Rather if they repent we forgive them. Seven times a day is not about keeping an account, just waiting that magical number comes along then we can refuse. It’s supposed to be a high and extraordinary number. It’s not a matter of maths however, as Joel Green says ‘it is the daily life of those orientated around the merciful God’.  Again in the context of the wider passage it finishes the parable of the lost son, it gives Jesus disciples the way to respond to those who would turn back to Jesus, not standing off with judgment, but to forgive them and welcome them in.  It calls us to be a community where our relationships to each other are not governed by grudges but by grace, where things are confronted and reconciliation is sort. Where forgiveness is offered because we are forgiven.

In light of that you can see why the apostles asked the Lord to increase their faith. To allow them to live like that. Because let’s be honest we need God’s help. This is where our definition of faith is important.

 Firstly faith is not about what we put in, but who we put our faith in. It is about having our faith in Jesus Christ. Secondly, it is about being faithful to that person. In Luke’s gospel to be a disciple of Christ is to hear Jesus teaching and put it into action, to obey it.  In the list of old testaent ehro's of faith in Hebews 12 we see that each of hese people lived heir lives faithful to knowing and trusting God.

On Friday as I started to write this message, in my daily bible reading was a passage from the book of Job. Job is a book that wrestles with what happens when trouble and suffering come into your life. In response to one of his friends who had come to comfort him, who represent the wisdom of the day, the pat answers about the innocent suffering, Job outlines his previous life. He had an intimate relationship with God, when he had felt his presence and grace surrounding him, and he goes on to talk about how this manifested itself in how he acted at the town gate. He was a respected elder involved in the judicial process, he talks about how that intimate knowing of God meant that he delighted to care for the fatherless, the widow, the stranger, the refugee, the sick and the poor and see they got justice. Faith here is knowing Jesus and allowing the love and grace and mercy to flow out into our lives, to the prodigals who need to hear a call to come to their senses and need to know forgiveness and welcome home when hey repent, to our gates and the Lazarus who lies there. Increase our faith is asking that we may be more faithful to the Jesus who has changed our lives.

In response to the apostle’s request Jesus tells them that even with a little bit of that faithfulness, as much as a mustard seed the smallest of all the seeds. I wonder did you notice the mustard seed in the image that we used on the cover of our service sheet and PowerPoint his morning.  With such a small amount of that faith they could uproot the mightiest of trees with the deepest roots and cast it into the ocean. Because it is a faith in Jesus Christ, God himself and it is a faith that will be manifest in reflecting Jesus love and concern for the least and the lost. I re watched the films ‘Selma’ about Martin Luther lead march for voting rights in Alabama, and Ghandi, about Ghandi’s movement for Indian independence. It was powerful to be reminded how their dedication to a just principle and the pursuit of non-violence could overcome institutional racism, and entrenched colonialism, and all the pressure, resources and violence that could bring to bear. On a large scale that mustard seed faith removed the proud well established sycamore tree and casting it into the ocean. On a personal level that mustard seed faith can do the same. Faithfulness to pray, to compassion and love, forgiveness and care in Christ.

Jesus second response was to tell a parable. Again taken from everyday life in first century Judea but quite foreign to us. A servant who went about his duty and then when he had come home, he shouldn’t expect the master to drop everything and make his dinner but rather continued to serve, to do his duty. The Pharisees thought that God would deliver Israel from roman occupation if they separated themselves out and kept the law, that they could put God in their debt. But Jesus tells his followers to follow his example and to serve God by doing all that God had told them.

People respond negatively to the idea of thinking of ourselves as ‘unworthy servants’, particularly in  an age where self-worth and self-esteem are important. Can I say It’s not putting ourselves down or grovelling or seeing ourselves as useless. In fact in the parable the servants have done the things their master expected they’ve served well. The reality is that in doing these things we do not earn God’s favour, it is not salvation by works. We are about our master’s work as we should be, because we love him and he loves us, and we know his grace and mercy and we live in a way that shares it with all around us.

I believe the call for us this morning from this passage is that God may increase our faith. Give us a mustard seed faith and a servant heart. That we may know God in Christ and God’s love more and more each day. That it would empower us to keep on showing compassion to those in need at our gate and forgiveness and reconciliation with the repentant. That our focus would be to be about our Lord’s business.

Increase our faith- that we may know you more, give us a mustard seed faith and a servant heart, that we may hear your word and obey it. That we may be a faithful people.

Increase our faith- that we may see those at our gate, in need both physically and spiritually  and with mustard seed faith and a servant heart show them love and compassion that the things that are entrenched and deep rooted holding them down may be up rooted and tossed in the ocean. Give us a mustard seed faith and a servant heart to care.

Increase our faith- to call people back to the truth, and meet them with forgiveness and welcome when they repent. Give us a mustard seed faith to speak of the grace we know and show it in how we care, love and forgive. To one another, and to all who you call to see as brothers and sisters.

Increase our faith- allow us to be faithful people. Give us a mustard seed faith and a servant heart, that we may people committed to your kingdom on a personal level, as we work in the community and as we face the city and nations gates in good times and when we are faced with things that would make us stumble.

New growth, new year old truth (1 corinthians 3:6-7)

I am not good with plants... When I came to St Peter's close to five years ago I was a bit worried because one of my elders gave ma a Peace Lilly for my office. I could handle one pot plant and it seems to have been doing quite well over the years.

 Another parishioner gave me a maidenhair fern. It had been my predecessors she said and had had to look after it and nurse it back to health. Now I had a second pot plant one with ties to the history of  St Peter's... Can I say I felt real pressure.

I've managed to keep them alive and doing well for the past four years. With advise from parishioners like "I'd over watered it" or "not watered it enough". The Maidenhair seemed to thrive more at times than others. However over summer, while I was away on Holiday the maidenhair did a big die back... I though I'd managed to kill it... I'd come in once a week and watered it but it just didn't seem enough. When I came back to my office after three and a bit weeks it was totally brown.

I watered it that first day and the next and I noticed amidst the old brown dead bits that two then three little green tendrils appeared. then a few more followed as I continued to water it. I cut back the dead stuff round them. Then these tendril started to sprout leaves and become fern like. The plant is making a come back with strong new growth.

I couldn't help but think about ministry in a small suburban parish in post Christian New Zealand. Very often we can concentrate on the die back, the negatives and the hardships. The old does die back, we can be despondent and give up watering and feeding and pruning. But we can also miss the regrowth and the new growth. It may seem small and insignificant at first, but if we persist in being faithful it can grow back.

I sensed encouragement for 2017... there is growth and newness. It needs to be watered and nurtured and will grow and become healthy.

I'm told the Peace Lilly need to be re potted and then it will prosper and bloom... Hmm I wonder what that has to say?

⁶ I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow. ⁷ So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.

- 1 Corinthians 3:6-7

A Prayer of thankgiving and confession for Waitangi Day Weekend... maybe

I'm very reluctant to put this out on my blog. In New Zealand Waitangi day is a day both of celebration of New Zealand and also of protest and reflection. It celebrates the founding of our nation with the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, which bring up the spectre that it has not been honoured in terms of partnership with, and the sovereignty of Maori. We see how far we've come as a nation and how many wrongs are being addressed through the Waitangi Tribunal but we also reflect on how far we have to go as well. Maori appear in imprisonment and poverty statistic too often. We need to learn to listen and consult and work together  in decision making processes.

I've written a prayer for waitangi day weekend. I've tried to capture the beauty and uniqueness of the landscape flora and fauna and our diverse peoples  in giving thanks for New Zealand. To capture something  of the gospels story here and how the church is now... to confess our sins and ask for God's help and guidance and not to be too long winded, over the top and full of flowery language about it.

Feel free to make comment suggest change, to use any or all or none.

To my many overseas readers there are many Maori words in this Prayer. I've put links in where I can to help with understanding

Creator God,

We come to you this morning to give thanks for this land

For Aotearoa, New Zealand, a land of contrast and rich beauty

The vast ocean that surrounds us, makes us unique, full of wonders

The roar of surf battered coast and shelter of harbour, bay and inlet

Bush and forest clad hills, and the green of rolling farmland fields

Volcanic cones and mountain peak, tussock lined and snow capped

Glaciers, fiords, bubbling mud and steam vents, distant Antarctic Isles.

For preserved wilderness right through to urban and suburban sprawl  

From warm sub-tropical north right down to the wind swept chill of south

Thank you for this land

God who made all things

We come to you this morning to give thanks for this land

Aotearoa New Zealand, a land of Unique flora and fauna

Towering kauri, silver fern unfurling, high mountain Daisey

Beech forest, Rata vine, bloom of kowhai yellow and Pohutukawa red

sea life: seal, dolphin and whale, kawhai and snapper, kina and cray  

Wondrous and weird insects, Weta, centipede and carnivorous snail

Islands of birds, Gull squawk, Kiwi night walk, tree top chorus at first light

Cheeky mountain Kea, forest Kaka and the deep boom of Kakapo hope

Animals introduced, hunted and farmed, pets; loved and befriended

 Thank you for this teaming life

Father God

We come to you this morning to give thanks for this land

Aotearoa New Zealand, for its rich diversity of people

The Tangata Whenua, first people of this land   

There roots deep in this soil, their rich culture and wisdom

Iwi and Hapu, Marae: a place to belong, and whanau gathered around

For those who have come and been welcomed from afar

Settlers from Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas and pacific atoll and Ilse

Each with something to bring, treasure to share, story to tell

Thank you for all your children here

Saving God

We come to you this morning to give thanks for this land

Aotearoa New Zealand, and your gospel and Spirits presence here

For the forgiveness, new and abundant life we have in your son Jesus

Through Christ’s life, his death, resurrection and his promised Holy Spirit

Thank you for the gospel preached in this land, for over two hundred years

Maori who heard it and bought it back with them and missionaries and church planters

For Your church in this land in its so many different forms and strands

worshipping with Hymn, Maori chant, pacific harmony, Asian passion, and electronic beat

And committed to mission, compassion, love, peace and justice here

We Thank you God

Righteous God

We come to you this morning to give thanks for this land

Aotearoa New Zealand, and ask for your forgiveness as we have sinned

forgive us for the things that we have done wrong

forgive us for the good we have left undone

We confess that the Treaty of Waitangi has not been honoured

Partnership with, and sovereignty of Maori, has not been kept

We confess this land of plenty is blighted by need and poverty’s cruel grip

As we have confessed our sin we thank you that you forgive us

We pray for your help to set things right, and to seek justice in this land

Thank you for your grace.

Holy Spirit

We come to you this morning to give thanks for this land

Aotearoa New Zealand, and to pray for your presence and guiding

Fill us afresh with you Holy Spirit, your Wairua Tapu

Enable us to walk with humility and love, to seek your justice and peace

Help us to be good Stewards of your creation and bounty

Bring us together in this land, give us a generous and compassionate hand

Help us to share provision and blessing, with everyone

 We pray that your Kingdom may come and your will be done in our land

To the glory of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit

Generousity and grace at the gate (Luke 16:14-31)

There is a whoosh and the door to the supermarket opens as if by magic. You head out to the car.. You’d gone and got what you’d needed and yes you had managed to fit in just one or two extras, not essentials but nice to have treats.

Right there in front of you is someone sitting on the pavement with a hand written cardboard sign and hat out in front of them. Not every time but more and more these days… They ask you for spare change…

Property developer, Bob Jones, said recently in a radio interview, it was a disgrace to see people begging in New Zealand, it’s a blight on our society, it shouldn’t be allowed. Another spokesman had said that the homeless and begging problem in the central city here in Auckland was stopping large top end international retail brands setting up shop there, it was a barrier to our ‘increased prosperity’. I think it is a sign of our increased inequality, we want bigger brands and beggars banned. Amazingly the head of the Auckland City Mission agreed with them. It is a blight, it needs real political and social and personal commitment and investment of resources and time, we need to tackle the real social needs of people on the street, with that we could bring real change not just spare change.

On a world scale, how we deal with those in poverty and in need as they come to our gate has been making headlines. We are going to build a wall… … we need to protect what we have…we are pulling back, pulling out…or conversely we’ve opened our boarders how do we absorb all these different people…  A bit closer to home, lets intercept them and put them in detention camps or on isolated pacific atolls. We may not be building a wall… we do rely on a moat, we hope we are too remote…But how we respond to the great tide of human migration and refugees is a pressing issue. Do rich Americans who can afford to pay their way get to jump the queue, that is if a nice enough home in Auckland can be found for them, apparently it’s a problem, while we are told any increase in refugee quotas will just have to wait. 

It is in this environment that Jesus parable of Lazarus and the rich man speaks to us today, even more so because Jesus spoke it to the religious people of his day. People whose public face was that they were God’s righteous ones, God’s blessed ones…but God who sees the heart knew at their core they ‘loved money more’.

We are working our way through the account of Jesus journey to Jerusalem in Luke’s gospel. A journey which takes up a third of the gospel narrative and which focuses on Jesus teaching his disciples what it means to follow him.   In 2017, it’s kind of like we’ve gone splash off the deep end. .. we’ve come back into that journey after the holidays in a section where Jesus is teaching on finances and the Kingdom of God. That’s never comfortable and always challenging.

Last week we looked at Jesus teaching his disciples about finances and the Kingdom of God. He told the parable of the shrewd manager. He told them that all we have is a gift from God’s provision and should be used in a way that honours the giver, using in in this world with a forward vision to our eternal home. He warned them that you can’t serve two masters you will end up hating one and loving the other, you can’t serve God and wealth.

When Jesus teaches his disciples, we need to realize they are not alone the crowd is usually listening and in that crowd were some Pharisees who scorned Jesus for his teaching. They knew Jesus was talking about giving hospitality to people who could not return it, they knew it was a challenge to how they viewed wealth and caring for or not care for the poor in society.

Luke tells us they loved money. Jesus tells them that they were more concerned about external appearances rather than keeping the heart of the law in their hearts. What they value, did not stack up to God’s values. At the heart of the law is love for God shown in loving our neighbour.  They were good at keeping the letter of the law and missed the spirit of the law and prophets. It was shown in how they treated marriage, that if they kept the paper work all legal they could throw away relationships, and they saw people around them, the poor and marginalized as throw away people as well. In the kingdom of God however that is not the case. 

To bring that back to how we use our finances Jesus tells the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. He paints a picture of two people whose lives could not be any different, they live on the opposite sides of social inequality. The Rich man lives in a very luxurious house, the fact that it had a gate says that it was palatial. He wore purple cloth, which in Jesus day was very expensive, an exclusive colour, from one of those top line international brands. Jesus even mentions that his under garment was fine linen. From the skin to the outside he was dressed mighty fine. He ate luxuriously. Lazarus we are told was homeless. We don’t know what clothes he wore, in fact we are told people could see he was covered in sores, he didn’t get much to eat he would have loved the crumbs from the rich mans table. In Israel Dogs were not kept as pets they roamed the street as scavengers, when the food was thrown out,Lazarus is to sick to compete with them for the scraps, they come and lick his sores. The sores and the dogs made Lazarus ritually unclean.  Lazarus and the rich man may have been so far apart in terms of socio-economic status, but Lazarus was laid at the rich man’s gate. The gate of a Jewish man aware of God’s law and call for alms giving and compassion.  

Death is the great leveller and both men die. In the story Lazarus represents the righteous poor, who trust in God despite suffering. Lazarus is taken by the angels to the bosom of Abraham, the way the Pharisees would have thought of the afterlife. The rich man is simply buried. He finds himself in hades. This is the first century Jewish understanding of the afterlife. We could spend a whole sermon looking at what this passage says about life after death. But we see that the rich man’s torment is that he sees and knows that he has not lived a God honouring life. Lazarus we are told is in a place of care and consolation.

The rich man does not seem to have learned much however he is still full of pride. He asks Abraham to send Lazarus, like he is a servant, to give him a glass of water. Abraham replies that the chasm between them is vast and cannot be crossed. The rich man is concerned not for the impoverished but for his brothers. He is concerned about his own people He asks if Lazarus can be sent to warn them to change their ways.  Abraham tells him that this is not possible, they have the law and the prophets and besides even if someone did rise from the dead would they listen and change? Almost as aside here, this passages challenges the idea of spiritualism, of hearing and receiving guidance from the dead.  Death is final. Jesus foreshadows his own resurrection and acknowledging that even when that happens there will still be those who choose to go their own way,who will not listen, who are caught up in selfish wealth and prosperity.

Ok how does this speak to us today.

 I’ve called this message ‘Generosity and grace at the gate’… because in this whole story in life and death there is a wall or a chasm between the two characters the Rich man and Lazarus. After death we see this chasm is permanent and cannot be crossed, but in the first part of this story there is a gate a chance for change, an opening for generosity and grace.

There is a chance for change for the rich man and his brethren.  Remember Jesus is telling this story to people who we are told love money. It is a warning for them to listen to the law and the prophets, to listen to Jesus and the new age of the Kingdom of God, and turn their hearts again to God. In John 10 Jesus say he is the gate for the sheep, a way for them to know and have abundant life knowing and being known by God, to graciously experience the generous over the top love and forgiveness of God.

There is a gate for change for Lazarus because such a love will change our hearts and expresses itself in how we love our neighbour. when we started this journey in Luke 10 Jesus was asked who is my neighbour, and he told the parable of the Good Samaritan, the answer was the person in need. On the road side, at our gate. In the image that I chose for this service we see a heart shape made with hands. What is in our heart becomes visible in how we use our hands.

The gate has an impact not just on a personal level but on the public space as well. The city gate was where in people sort Justice in Jesus day. It was where the law and prophets were applied to community life.

When I read this Parable I can’t help but see it as a critique of the trickle down economics that has been part of our western materialistic way of thinking. That if the rich prosper it will have a flow on effect. I think it’s a crummy was of thinking. Lazarus would have loved to eat the crumbs that came from the rich man’s table, but even then he couldn’t because they were being scrapped over.  In the book of Amos in the Old Testament, the prophet was speaking to Israel in a time of prosperity and religious celebration, and says that true religion is to not to make gain from the poor, not simply to have a trickle down, but to open the flood gates and let justice flow like a river and righteousness like a never-ending stream. It is about the poor being welcomed in and given hospitality and given a place at the table. That Kingdom of God economics.  

But also in the public square. It reminds us that God is with the poor his heart of the oppressed and deprived. To the original hearers of Jesus parable and to us it would have been odd to hear the poor character have a name while the rich man remained nameless. It increased he effectiveness of the story by personifying Lazarus, and making it possible for us to fit ourselves into the character of the rich man. But theologically it gives dignity to Lazarus, that God would know his name, in a society in which a sign that we’ve made it is everyone know your name, or know who you are talking about by a single name…like with the Aussie open tennis finals this year … Serena v Venus and Rafa v, Rodger. But in God’s kingdom each person, even if they are normally just part of the faceless and nameless masses is important to God.

It also challenges us about where we stand in that public square as well.  I think it is summed up visually in the statue of Jesus, the Homeless beggar and the punch line to Jesus parable of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25  “ you did it for the least you did it for me.” It was rather ironic that when the statue was put up outside a church in North Carolina that the police were called by a passer-by to come and move the homeless person along.   One of the responses to the changing political landscape in the US and around the world has been to articulate what is called the Matthew 25 pledge. It’s an awareness that the church in the west has been guilty of loving money to much, but God’s call is for us to identify and be with the least, the marginalized, poor and powerless. The pledge is that in the face of every political system that is where we are called to stand, “when you did it for the least, you did it for me”.  

The gate is open, Jesus call is to come to him, and receive his generosity and grace, and allow that generosity and grace it flow from our gates, and in our city and nations gates as well.  

Four types of healing a reflection. Psalm 30:1-5, John 5:1-15 (from a service at a retirement village)

After my first time here R… stopped me on the way out and said… They would like to hear some teaching on healing… I had to stop and think about that. I’m part of a prayer and healing team in our Presbytery, we are invited to various churches to teach on and pray for healing. I know you guys have good medical care here as well. But I said I’d take that as the Holy Spirit prompting me. But can I say I’ve been a bit scared to do it… Reluctant. I know many of you have been through the pain and sorrow of losing someone close to you, you’ve probably wrestled with praying for someone to get healed and felt as if the doors of heaven were closed shut, and God had gone home for the day, put his feet up and dozed off in front of the TV. But every time I’ve come back she has reminded me to speak on it so I am today.

I believe God heals people, yes by medical science, but also through prayer by the Holy Spirit, I love the truth in what John Wimber said “ he found that more people got healed when he believed that God healed people and started praying for them, than when he didn’t and so didn’t pray’. In Psalm 30 it is David’s witness that God heard his prayer and delivered him from the pit, from a dire illness, and death. In our gospel reading today Jesus healed a man at the pool of Bethseda… I love the story because the man seems to be resigned to not ever getting well again and displays no faith, he does not even know who Jesus is! But in the mercy and Grace of God Jesus heals him.

I just want to talk about four types of healing.

1.       The first is death. Look I know that sounds rather pat, rather pie in the sky when you die, opiate for the masses. But in the end it is to go home to our maker, to be with Jesus a place where there is no more suffering or sorrow. I’m preaching on Luke 16 on Sunday the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Jesus paints the picture of Lazarus in heaven in Abraham’s bosom, all his suffering and sorrow behind him. Through deprivation, homelessness, illness and the shame of being a beggar he had kept his faith in God and now he finds himself, with God, consoled and cared for.  It still leaves us here to deal with the grief with unanswered questions with loneliness that someone is not with us anymore. But it is the gospel hope.

2.       The second is forgiveness and reconciliation: Is healing. Healing of our relationship with God, the start of the process of finding wholeness in our lives, spiritual life and spiritual growth. It also enables reconciliation with each other the healing of broken relationships. I love the story of Louis Zamperini. He grew up a wild kid in California, became an Olympic athlete in 1936, was shot down in the pacific in world war two, survived 40 days in an open life raft, was captured by the Japanese and brutally treated as a prisoner of war. You might have seen the film ‘Unbroken’. After the war Zamperini became an alcoholic full of bitterness and hate from his mistreatment. One night he went to a billy graham crusade and his life changed. He became a Christian. He stpopped drinking right away and found his life starting to be on the up and up again. However he sensed to be made whole, be healed, God wanted him to go to Japan and seek reconciliation and forgive the guards who had mistreated him. He meet with all but one. The Japanese people so respected him for this he was invited to be part of the Olympic torch relay for the winter Olympics in Ngagano. God’s forgiveness opens the way up for healing and wholeness in our lives.

3.       People come to a new place of knowing God’s presence and peace even in the face of pain suffering, illness and even death. Walter Brueggemann is an Old Testament scholar. He talks about a process that he sees in the Psalms. He says there are the psalms of orientation, the happy clappys when everything is as it should be, life is good, God is good, its all good. Then he says there are Psalms of disorientation, like life is like going to the beach and being picked up by wave after wave and spun round and round gasping and fighting for air, and you don’t know which was is up… they are laments where people cry out well where are you God. Finally Brueggermann talks of psalms of reorientation, where the psalmist, come to the place of realising that God is present and with them even though it may feel he is far away, a distant disinterested deity. Psalm 33 has that in it it starts off you my refuge but I feel like I’m refuse, and comes to the point of saying But I will trust in you, I say my times are in your hands. Often when we pray for people to be healed God will lead a person through to that place… of spiritual health and maturity. the hebrew word for peace is shalom which means wholeness, finding that peace and trust in Christ is wholeness.  

  

4.       Finally God does answer prayer and heal people physically as well. Some would call it a miracle but the God who created it all, who is able to forgive sin and restore us to right relationship with him is also able to deal with the consequences of our fallen world as well. There is no formula to it, or a person or anything it is simply the sovereign grace and love of God. Often we can get put off by the showmen and the charlatans, or the rigmarole and razzmatazz that seems to go along with our Pentecostal brothers and sister. But you know what it is simply a matter of asking God and trusting in him to do what he wills.

 I’ve experienced in my own life. Deloras Winders was a very ordinary Presbyterian women from the states and when she came to New Zealand I had just started going out with Kris, my wife of 29 years, we were at Bible College (bridal college) which is now Laidlaw and she was thinking she’d have to go home because her asthma was so bad… The bible college is out in Henderson on what was a swamp and it was affecting her badly. When Deloras finished preaching she said ‘God wants to heal someone here of asthma’… Kris thought that’s nice but its not for me…about five minutes later Deloras looked up and said “god wants to heal someone of asthma and they are sitting over this side of the church… and pointed to the side of the church we were sitting on… again Kris though that’s nice… but its not me… finally after about ten minutes Deloras kind of put her hands on her hips and pointed down the back where we were sitting and said God wants to heal someone of asthma and they are sitting down the back… and pointed to us…like being told off by your grandma. Kris thought God might be talking to her and so she went forward Delores prayed for her, she was healed of asthma and has never had it again. Praise God because she stayed at bible college and against all odds fell in love with me and we have been married and ministered together for 29 years.

Can I just finish by saying I believe that God heals people… I’m always happy to pray with people and just see what God does.

Prayer of thanksgiving and confession for Auckland Anniversary Weekend (maybe)

panorama from One Tree Hill with both of Auckland's  harbours in picture.

Auckland City CBD

 from under harbour Bridge

This week coming up is Auckland Anniversary Weekend. I don't always tie services and prayers into what is happening on the calendar but I thought I'd give it a go this week. So I sat down and wrote a prayer of thanks giving and confession for our service on Sunday. I'm not sure I'll use it. It's a bit formal. My languge again gets a bit flowery.  It does pick up some of the wonder of living in Auckland:

the amazing diverse landscape, just living in Auckland you are bi-coastal, tow very different coasts as well. we have two harbours and with the sprawl north it is slowly becoming three with the Kaipara. It is built on a large volcanic field. in one direction the city goes off west to the waitakere rangers and its protected ' native bush', the hills that I grew up looking at from our house on the Titirangi Road ridge. The market gardens of pukekohe, which I have to say I only usually see as I take Highway 1 over the Bombay hills on my way south. There is so much more you could give thanks for in this city in terms of natural beauty.

The amazing diversity of people. Auckland is one of the ten most multi cultural cities in the world. With over 40 % of people having been born "elsewhere". The Maori are the people of this land and the migration of others from Europe, the Pacific, Asia, the Americas and Africa has happened in waves over the last century and a half (or more). people from down country have come to Auckland for education and jobs (and with high house prices they are moving back south!).

It has been great to see the Gospel proclaimed and lived in this city for the past 180 years as well. It is good to be part of a group of people trying to live out and share the gospel in the here and now and as i get a bit older to see new generations, fresh expressions and denominations and new leaders carrying on the task.

But all is not well in the city and we have our challenges. Inequality, how to deal with our colonial past with justice and integrity, someone commented to me the disturbing fact that while we are one of the worlds most multi cultural cities we are also one of the most segregated as well. Children living in poverty is an issue. Housing costs mean that the poor find themselves pushed further out from the city centre to the south and west. Gentrification and demand for housing is an issue. 

But I also trust that we can bring our city to God trusting that he will hear our prayers and fill us with his Holy spirit to be his people in this place.   

Once again feel free to use or not use all or any of this prayer you may find helpful.  for my non New Zealand readers... Tamaki Makaurau is the Maori name for this part of the country. Tanagata Whenua means the people fo this land. Iwi means tribe. Other names in Maori are the recognised place names.  

Creator God

This anniversary weekend we want to thank you for this place,

Tamaki Makaurau, Auckland city our home

The sparkling waters of Waitamata and island encrusted Hauraki gulf,

Our sheltered east coast, Pohutukawa lined, white sand beaches.  

The vast reach of the Manukau, with hidden sand bar and fast tidal flow  

The bush clad slopes, and wave pounded iron sand of wild west coast

 For the vista from volcanic cones and valley with rich soil beneath

The wilderness of Waitakere range and abundance of Bombay hills,

For its natural beauty and the emerging city scape in which we live.

Loving God

This anniversary weekend we want to thank you for this place

Tamaki Makaurau, Auckland city, our home

For the Tangata Whenua, the first people of this land,

Iwi with deep roots and those who have heeded the urban call  

For the people who have come from “all over”, for new life in this place

Those who came by settler ship or by quick or long haul airplane trip

We thank you for the great wealth of cultures in this place

The world is our neighbour and we are enriched

By all these people made in your image and loved by you

God our saviour

This anniversary weekend we want to thank you for this place;

Tamaki Makaurau, Auckland city our home

We thank you for your saving love shown in Jesus Christ

His birth, life, death and resurrection, reconciling us with you

Thank you for those who have faithfully proclaimed the gospel here

Who have lived out their faith in this place, with compassion and love

For those who have gone before us, planting and growing your church

For our brothers and sisters who seek to be your people today

We trust your spirit to abide with, and lead future generations on

Holy God

This anniversary weekend we confess our sin in this place

Tamaki Makaurau, Auckland city our home

We confess the Tangata Whenua have not been treated with justice

We confess greed and self-interest have allowed inequality to grow

We have stood by as poverty pushes people to the periphery and the edge

We confess that while the world is our neighbour, we still seem to be so apart

We confess we have done wrong and left undone the good you call us to do

Thank you that you are faithful and just, thank you for Jesus Christ

That as we confess our sins you forgive us and wipe the slate clean

God who is with us by the Holy spirit

This anniversary weekend we want to pray for this place

Tamaki Makaurau, Auckland city, our home

Be with our leaders and those who plan for our future  

Give them wisdom and courage, lead and guide them

Fill this place with your love, compassion and justice

Help us all to love our neighbour as you have loved us

Fill us afresh with your spirit to be your people in this place

That all we say and do will bring glory to God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit