A Society Without God That Is A Tale Of Woes: Reflections on Habakkuk 2:6-20 (from A series of messages called 'Habakkuk: Wrestling with God')

When I was about twenty I used to go out to Piha on the west coast of Auckland with my friends during the summer. We’d go out most nights, we’d come home from work and jump in a car and barrel out to the beach. We’d surf or swim and we also developed a great pass time called rock riding. Round the south of the beach is a place called the gap; where the waves crash through a gap between camel rock and the mainland. We’d climb out through the gap round to where it was just us and the open sea and hold on the rocks on the outside and when there was a big swell running these huge waves would come and crash over us. Boom, we’d hold on as the water tried to drag us off our rock. In the lulls we’d laugh and scream and yahoo. It was a real adrenaline buzz. Occasional the wave would be so big that it would drag you down the rocks a bit, the first night we did it a friend of mine disappeared when a big wave hit and we thought O no he’s gone for good. When the next wave crashed over us we saw that he was back again, a bit frightened but none the worse for wear.

I couldn’t help but think that Habakkuk was doing some rock riding as well. He found himself being buffeted and bashed not by the waves of the ocean but by the ebb and flow of history. In the midst of that he wrestles with God.

The book of Habakkuk so far its been as if we have been looking over his shoulder as he’s written his personal private journal, or we’ve been like a pesky little brother sneaking in to his big sisters room to read her diary.

In his private pray life Habakkuk has been wrestling with God. He has seen the wicked prosper in Jerusalem and his complaint to God has been hey God what are you doing about this, why do you seem so silent, why don’t you answer my prayers? Where are you in the face of all this injustice?”.

The next entry is the answer that Habakkuk received from God. God had heard his prayer and was not inactive, how could God let injustice flourish rather he as going to raise up a violent people in the east who would be his instrument of judgement for Judah. The Babylonians would come and take the people of Jerusalem and Judah into captivity.

AS you can imagine this was not the answer that Habakkuk wanted, it raised more questions for him to wrestle with than it answered. ‘Hey God how can you let these wicked people conquer your people, how can you let them laud it over us LORD? It seems so out of character!” Habakkuk wasn’t questioning God’s judgement but he didn’t think God was using the right instrument.

Again the next entry in this journal is a reply from God. When you read the book it has the feel of using instant messenger or an email rather than a journal, Habakkuk writes a complaint and God flicks back an answer. The answer that God gives is that Babylon will prosper for a while but there will be a time, a god appointed time when Babylon will fall and in the midst of this ebb and flow of history the righteous will live by faith. They will live putting their trust in God.

Maybe for you this conjures up the picture like that of the rock riding I told you about the righteous holding on doggedly to their rock of ages as the waves crashed over them. Maybe we duck for cover and wait till there is a lull and we can make our escape. But is that what the righteous will live by faith actually means. Hunker down and hold on and hope that God will see us through. I don’t believe that it does. It’s not how Habakkuk lives.

Up until now it’s been like we’ve been reading Habakkuk’s private correspondence, but in the passage we had read out to us today God asks Habakkuk to live by faith and go public. All we know about Habakkuk from scripture is that he is a prophet, we don’t know anything about his family of his whakapapa or his hear colour all we know is that he is a prophet so God asks him to live by faith a prophecy. He has wrestled with God over the situation he sees in the world and know God tells him to speak God’s word into the situation.

To live by faith does not mean to hunker down till it blows over but to stand in the face of the storms that come our way and to speak God’s truth. In Habakkuk’s case to stand meant to do a stand up comedy routine, you see the passage we had read out to us today is a series of taunts at the Babylonians. You can imagine the Babylonian army beginning to darken the eastern horizon and here is Habakkuk standing on the wall being a watchman and as the arm come towards the city he throws taunts at them, biting political satire.

You see God asks Habakkuk to sing a funeral dirge for the Babylonian empire. That’s what the passage we had read out to us today is. It’s a song that would have been read out at a funeral.  If you could imagine getting the paper tomorrow and on the cover was an obituary for a prominent politician who is still very much alive. I don’t know if any satirist would have the gumption to do that but Habakkuk puts his faith into action and does it. Not only is it an obituary a funeral dirge, but it does not follow the conventions of such a literary form and talk up the achievements and highlights of the politicians carrier rather it points out the personality faults and wrong behaviour that will lead to their fall and death. Habakkuk says to Babylon that a society with out God is a series of woes, Alas, alas, alas, alas and alas the seeds of their destruction are already present in the foundations they try and built their society on.

Habakkuk says (v.7-8) woe to a society that is built on profit before people, the plunderer will become the plunder

(v9-11) woe to a society built of security not justice where the rich guard their wealth through security fences and oppression, your fences will become like a prison, your guards like warders you’ll never feel safe.

v12-14) woe to a society that build for it’s own glory not God’s. that builds fantastic houses and wonderful glittering monuments to themselves unless behind the facade the society is based on a moral foundation, well its just a pile of fire wood waiting for the burn. You see it’s not about humans trying to show how great they are rather the glory of the Lord will fill the earth like the water covers the sea.

(v.15-17) Woe to a society that is based on satisfying its own appetites, exploiting others for your amusement and pleasure. Hedonism is no basis for a society you’ll end up falling in a drunken stupor. What is going to happen is that you’ll just use up all your natural resources and reap an ecological disaster. 

(v18-20) woe to a society that worships the things they’ve made rather than the creator. Let’s face it a statue made of wood or a silent stone or the flashest car or the latest consumer items and gadgets just are not going to give the spiritual sustenance and wisdom that a society needs to survive.

A society without God is a tale of woes. While Habakkuk’s tale of woes are specific to the Babylonian empire because it is God’s word you can glimpse it’s relevant for all ages for all human societies. A society without God and his righteousness at its heart is open to judgement.

I couldn’t help but think of our own times, America, trying to build its security by beefing up its borders and declaring war on all its enemies rather than dealing with the underlying issues, declaring war on poverty. AS the original Christian rocker Larry Norman sings in his song 'The great American Novel' "the only way to bring about the peace is to sacrifice your children and kill all your enemies". I couldn’t help but think of the poorest nations in our world struggling under debt and interest owed to the richest. Our lifestyles being built on the back of unfair trade tariffs and products being kept affordable through slave like wages in third world sweatshops. The way we are consuming resources to keep our western standard of living, maybe we like the Babylonians are beginning to reap the consequences as well.

The question then is how do we live by faith in our own time and place. How do we live by faith when we are wrestling with the injustices we experience in our lives and society? Well Habakkuk gives us the lead in this.

Firstly he wrestles with God in private.  He seeks God for answers. The first way to live by faith is to draw near to God wrestle with him and his word till like Habakkuk we get some answers. As one preacher has said to live with the bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. I love Jim wallis' book "faithworks" and his steps for getting involved in what God is doing in the world. He starts by saying 'trust your questions'

But like Habakkuk living by faith is not just about hunkering down and drawing near to God. Habakkuk was called to speak God’s word to the situation he was in and so are we. While political satire may not be our thing when you look at Habakkuk’s oracle you’ll note that at its heart it is a prophecy that calls the Babylonians to acknowledge God in there ways, that is the only hope they have. Habakkuk finishes his dirge by telling the Babylonians that the LORD is in his temple, a real God not an idol of wood or stone and that the nations should be silent before him. In Hebrew poetry the important message is often put right in the middle and the message at the centre of this oracle is that the whole earth will be filled with the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea, it’s pointing people to the kingdom of God, and his righteousness as Jesus will say later it is when we put this first that we find the right way to live. Yes Habakkuk challenges the basis of Babylonians society but as an act of grace he offers them a more solid foundation. That is what we have to offer as well.  The righteous will live by faith.

Thirdly in the midst of a society without God we are called to be the salt and the light, agents of God’s grace. AS you read through the Old Testament you can see that God sent his people to call the Babylonians back to God. In the book of Daniel you see that Daniel was there to point Nebuchadnezzar back to God. God was always trying to invite the king to repent and acknowledge God, he speaks to him in dreams which Daniel interprets. You and I are the salt and light that God has for this generation and this place.

Historians attribute one man with saving England from a vicious and bloody revolution similar to the French revolution in the eighteenth century. That one man was John Wesley. Through Wesley preaching many thousands came to faith In Jesus Christ. Their evangelical faiths lead many to work in their society for reform. William Wilberforce and his evangelical friends in parliament, mockingly called the saints, fought for the abolition of slavery, they ended the salve trade, they reformed prison conditions and child labour laws, they achieved free access to education for all people, they wanted people to read the bible for themselves but first people needed to know how to read, They reformed child labour laws. They reformed housing conditions and battled the worst excesses of the industrial revolution. In foreign policy they encouraged the empire to act fairly and justly with indigenous people. The treaty of Waitangi was an example of this and as such it is a real challenge for Christians in New Zealand today to wrestle with how we are to deal with treaty issues justly. To live by faith calls us to do the same

Let me finish with a quote from Charles Finny whose revival preaching had the same effects in America as Wesley’s did in England.

“ The great business of the church is to reform the world… the church of Christ was originally organised as a body of reformers. The very profession of Christianity implies the profession and virtually the oath to do all that can be done for the universal reformation of the world”.

To be used by God to see it comes about ‘that the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. 

Lost City Raiders (2008) A Review And Reflection (of sorts)

I decided to spend the evening watching movie and went to the local DVD store and got "Lost City Raiders" out... bad move... I am sad to say it was one of the worst movies I have ever seen. I should have read the back a bit closer and see that it was made for TV. After viewing it I did read a couple of reviews and came across a review on the iMDb by 'seenafilm' which summed up the plot and the film.

"Basically constructed as a cheaper TV imitation of familiar mega productions (Tomb Raider, Indiana Jones, Waterworld etc.), "Lost City Raiders" presents the ultimate explanation for the climate catastrophe: we all live in a gigantic bathtub, and every few thousand years, someone needs to pull the plug to lower the water level. Moses did it once, and our heroes just need to find his scepter to repeat the trick."



As post-apocalyptic films go it seems the global warming 'rising' caused by (and I am assuming it is a reference to Genesis 'the waters above and the waters below') had managed to leave 10% of the world's land liveable and above water without causing horrific and catastrophic wars over who got to live on the remaining dry land and it would seem causing world wide famine. It was a very clean although wet (and insipid) post-apocalyptic environment. Maybe it reflects the hope of the rich affluent western worldview that (in very New Zealand terms) 'she'll be right', that the lifestyle that is enjoyed now will be able to continue and simply be a little inconvenienced by world disasters.

I know that there is much speculation about the science of global warming and rising sea levels, but the answer is surely not steady as she goes. The questions being raised about the sustainability of the way we live and use resources does need to be asked and answered.

The second thing I noticed about this movie was the 'hope' that things were able to be solved by finding a 'silver bullet' in this case a mystical, magical sceptre that some ancient power (be it alien or other had left). I wonder if we haven't fallen into that mind set? Looking for quick fixes be they miraculous Scientific breakthroughs or some other source in the hope that just maybe we won't actually have to change our way of living. I know such movies as 'Lost City Raiders' are cheap escapism but I do wonder if they don't reflect a longing within us for that escaping from the challenges of life.



People look at religion in that light and Christians have looked at God as the ultimate quick fix/silver bullet. In the movie there is even one character who portrays the whole hey its the end of the world so let just go with it and be ready for the next mentality. sadly seen in many places and versions of the Christian faith. But Jesus invitation is to live in a different way, rather than look for a way out. I struggled with Brian Mclaren's book 'Everything Must Change' but I sense the truth of it as he addresses what he calls the world's suicide machine of consumption with Jesus teaching. The gospel is a call to a lifestyle and a life commitment rather than a life raft. It's not a get out jail free card we need ( justification by faith notwithstanding) but a get into life in a new way.

is the film worth watching. Well a facebook friend of mine replied to a scathing post of mine about the movie, that they like watching B grade (C grade) sci-fi movies for the laugh. I'm not even sure I could recommend it for that. I would be interested to know if other people find the same reoccurring theme of looking for the silver bullet/ quick fix in movies and how that feflects what we believe and how we live.

The Plank in your own eyes

As putting together a talk on Jesus teaching in Luke 6 and couldn't resist putting together the above image. Planking is a new Internet craze down under in Australia and New Zealand. People 'plank' lie down on their stomach's rigidly in the weirdest places and get friends to take photos. couldn't help thinking of it as I read the scriptures. Plank has also recently received a new slang meaning in the Oxford dictionary. "plank' means idiot or fool. Possibly a good way of looking at this new craze and people who do what Jesus said we should not do.

Life Beyond The Jesus Sprinkle

One of the things the kids love about going to smorgasbord restaurant like valentines is that, under adult supervision of course, they can pick their own food, they can mix and match what they want, particularly with desert.  And what makes the desert for them is being able to add all the sprinkles on top. Chocolate sprinkles or those little lolly things, crystallised fruit and of course hundreds and thousands. It becomes a visual feast as well as a culinary feast. I’m old enough to remember as a treat we used to be able to have hundreds and thousands sprinkled on bread that was the height of party food, right! It was just plain old bread and butter but having the sprinkles on top changed it to something special in our minds. They are decorations and while they are visually exciting they don’t permeate and change what they are put on.And as a responsible parent I know that my kids, even though they may wish to would not survive and remain healthy on such a diet.

Shane Claiborne, is part of a new generation of Christian leaders and communicators emerging round the world and in his book ‘The Irresistible Revolution’ he makes the following comment about sprinkles, that is Jesus sprinkles in the lives of Christian people.

If you ask people what Christians believe, they can tell you, “Christians believe that Jesus is God’s Son and that Jesus rose from the dead.” But ask the average person how Christians live, they are struck silent. We have not shown the world another way of doing life. Christians pretty much live like everybody else; they just sprinkle a little Jesus in along the way.”

-Shane Claiborne the irresistible revolution

Is Christianity a valid alternative lifestyle in the world today? or is it just that its followers Simply live out a normal everyday life with a little bit of Jesus Sprinkled in?

Claiborne and his friends have made some rather radical lifestyle choices to try and wrestle with what it would mean to really take some of Jesus more challenging teachings to heart. They live in a community in one of the poorest neighbourhoods in Philadelphia, in one of the poorest in the states and attempt to be salt and light to the people of that community.  Befriending the families who live there the children and adults in the street. They turn waste land and empty blocks into community vegetable gardens; their apartment is full of used furniture and food that they give away to the needy around them. When there is violence on the street Clairborne says that instead of locking himself away to keep safe he grab his juggling balls and clowning gear and goes out onto the street. The kids who soak up the displays of violence before them are soon distracted by the tall lanky man with the multi coloured dreadlocks doing circus tricks. They have even tuned their diesel van to run on used vegetable oil they get from restaurants as an attempt to be more environmentally friendly.  We might call them radicals and they would happily own the title but say well were ordinary radicals, the word radical actually means to get back to the roots and they would say that they are getting back to the roots of Christianity. To be followers of Jesus to emulate that first church in Jerusalem where it was said that no one had a need they wiling sold what they had to meet each other’s needs. They would point to the great monastic traditions of the past, where Christian communities were seen as centres of hospitality, care for the poor, healing and wholeness, beacons of light in dark times they inhabited.

Claiborne is right that Christians have defined themselves down through the ages by their orthodoxy. By what they believe, and at the centre of faith is a set of beliefs that we have about God and how God revealed himself to us through his son Jesus Christ.  But as the author of the book of James in the New Testament says ‘faith without works is dead’, if our orthodoxy does not lead to orthopraxy then it is a dead belief. If what we believe about Jesus does not lead us to live that out in all we say and do then it is dead: An empty faith.

The Christian faith does invite us to live a totally different way than the world around us. To have different values and to live them out, It calls for a whole new way of being not just a Jesus sprinkle on top.  We may not find that it leads us to sell all we have and to move into the poorest areas of of our nation and world, but it dies invite us to see generosity be more important than comfort. By the grace of God we may not be called upon to forgive someone who has murdered our friends or family, but Jesus teaching to love our enemies may call us to be bridge builders with people who have harmed us in the past. It does call us to oppose such things as war and violence in the name of revenge.

 In the big things and in the everyday thing.

X-Men First Class: A Review and Reflection (of sorts)

Call me a sucker for punishment but we went and saw X Men First Class on the weekend as a family. It was good family entertainment and yes we had watched all the other four movies in this remediation of the Marvel Comics X-Men characters. It is hard at the moment to find a movie that is acceptable to the wide rang of age groups represented in our family (from 18-8) and I should add the very diverse range of likes and dislikes.

The movie is the second  prequel to the original movie trilogy, the first origin's movie dealing with the back story of the only character played by the same actor in all five movies (Hugh Jackman) Wolverine. Having an indestructible, almost immortal character when you are shifting along time lines does make casting easy.  This movie deals with the back story of Charles Xavier and how he came to put the X men together and start his school for the gifted. Of more importance perhaps is that it tells the story of his relationship with Erik Lensherr (Magneto) how the two become friends and how they also part ways and pursue different visions of what a mutant future will look like. Both of course very much crafted by their childhood experiences. Micheal Fassbender does an exceptional job of fitting into the Magneto character that had been portrayed excellently by veteran actor Ian Mckellen. James McAvoy almost pulls off doing the Charles Xavier role, however perhaps it is that movie goers have a long association with Patrick Stewart in the role and in a very similar role as the captain of the enterprise in 'Startrek; Next generation' that it is harder to relate to him.

While the special effects and mutant powers on display in this movie and its tempo make it enjoyable it does have several flaws. The character  Mystique comes across as rather weak and her transition from one side to the other is not all that convincing. It does however leave the door open for her rejection and death in the finale of the original trilogy. There is a problem with timing in the X-men universe and my kids and I were left trying to establish a viable timeline between this origins movie and those of a later time that ironically have gone before. There are also some plot issues. In the first movie Charles Xavier says that Magneto (Erik) had helped him make Cerebral (hopefully spelt correctly) that helps amplify Xavier's mind power and also the X-men's super amazing jet. However in this movie we see that they have been created by Hank McCoy (AKA Beast). With the help  Likewise in the third movie Xavier and Eric are still working together when they both go to interview the emerging talent that is Jean Grey. Sadly I feel myself disappearing down a hole that is labeled geek and trainspotter and I am sure there are more dedicated fans of the series that will point other issues of logic out to you.

In the end the movie did what it was supposed to it filled in some gaps and showed us how things became the way they were in the original series. At the heart of the disagreement between Magneto and Xavier was and remains how do people with exceptional talent react to the world around them. yes they will is the danger that they will be misunderstood and persecuted and with such amazing and different talents being shown as mutations there will be fear (explained in the movie by Xavier's thesis as one species reacting to a evolutionary development). The villain in the movie Sebastian Shaw (well portrayed by Kevin Bacon)  sees the place for these people of talent as being a place of dominance, maybe coming from his origins within the ranks of the Nazi party. Erik to protect the mutants sees that they must set up a separate society and as will develop in the other films once he is pushed to resort to wanting to kill all humans (does this mean that Shaw actually won). Xavier rather sees the mutants as needing to be protected but also there to serve humanity.

I usually finish my film reviews by linking it back to a theological reflection and it is on the point of these three different approaches to how to express their differences is where I think this movie has a lot to say to the church and to society. The church down through history has had to contend with all these three approaches as they have wrestled with how to be God's people in the world. radical separation, living as an alternative society to varying degrees. Domination, exerting political power, like in the Christendom for a thousand years in Europe and we can see in the moves of churches in that last bastion of Christendom the US. Or being called to be in the world to serve. Gifted with God's spirit to do the things that are the heart of God, without the trapping of power or prestige (often being feared and misunderstood) and being radically connected with the world to be able to help where it is most needed. Sadly like in the movie great friendships have been split over such differences and conflicts develop. In the end the church is like this emerging mutant population finding itself full of people who are willing to go these different ways.

The Gift of A Prayer From Thomas Merton

The chapel secretary here at Macalurin Chapel gave me a prayer she really appreciated by the  Catholic contemplative Thomas Merton. It was a real gift for me. Funding for my position planting a church here in Auckland finishes in February (the people who have been funding this project have been faithful for the three years they committed to and sadly the church plant isn't at the stage where it is going concern financially). So I find myself in the position of having to reevaluate what I have done and am doing, my sense of call, vision, and where to from here.  Merton wrote it during a difficult and dark time in his life and it has spoken to many people who face similar times. I share it with you


O Lord God,


I have no idea where I am going,

I do not see the road ahead of me,

I cannot know for certain where it will end.



Nor do I really know myself,

And that fact that I think

I am following Your will

Does not mean that I am actually doing so.



But I believe

That the desire to please You

Does in fact please You.

And I hope I have that desire

In all that I am doing.



I hope that I will never do anything

Apart from that desire to please You.

And I know that if I do this

You will lead me by the right road,

Though I may know nothing about it.



Therefore I will trust You always

Though I may seem to be lost

And in the shadow of death.

I will not fear,

For You are ever with me,

And You will never leave me

To make my journey alone.



Source: Thomas Merton, Pax Christi, Benet Press, Erie, PA.

Fruit of The Holy Spirit (part 5): Kindness

Robert De Vincenzo, the great Argentine golfer, once won a tournament and, after receiving the check and smiling for the cameras, he went to the clubhouse and prepared to leave. Sometime later, he walked alone to his car in the parking lot and was approached by a young woman.


She congratulated him on his victory and then told him that her child was seriously ill and near death. She did not know how she could pay the doctor’s bills and hosp

ital expenses.

De Vincenzo was touched by her story, and he took out a pen and endorsed his winning check for payment to the woman. "Make some good days for the baby," he said as he pressed the check into her hand.

The next week he was having lunch in a country club when a Professional Golf As

sociation official came to his table. "Some of the boys in the parking lot last week told me you met a young woman there after you won that tournament." De Vincenzo nodded. "Well," said the official, "I have news for you. She’s a phony. She has no sick baby. She’s not even married. She fleeced you, my friend."

"You mean there is no baby who is dying?" said De Vincenzo.

"That’s right," said the official.

"That’s the best good news I’ve heard all week." De Vincenzo said.

In the book the fruit of the Holy Spirit the authors comment on this story by saying “ we should be concerned for the welfare of others and do all we can to be kind to them even if we are taken advantage of. “

We’ve working our way through a series looking at the fruit of the Holy Spirit. The virtues that Paul tells us grow in our lives when we allow ourselves to be lead by God’s spirit that dwells in all believers and to walk our lives in step with the Spirit. Today we are looking at the fifth fruit listed by Paul: kindness. In Corinthians 13:4 Paul says that love is kind and while we might think of things to do with the spiritual as mystical or spooky and even otherworldly the Holy Spirit is very practical and down to earth, leading us to put our knowing and being known by God into action through kindness.

The Greek word for kindness is Chrestos and it’s hard to understand its full meaning in scripture because in the New Testament it is a word that is unique to Paul and then almost exclusively used in the context of lists of Christian virtue like the Fruit of the Spirit and the love chapter in 1 Corinthians 13..

In those list’s it’s always partnered with the word and virtue patience, the two describe two sides of love in action. Gordon Fee says “ if long suffering means ‘not to chew someone’s head off, ”kindness” means to find ways actively to show mercy to them, to take towel and wash basin in hand and wash their feet.

It’s also almost synonymous with the next Fruit of the Spirit ‘Goodness’. Goodness embraces the whole of one’s character and kindness is how that is expressed. Jack Hayford sums it up by saying kindness is goodness in action,... the word describes the ability to act for the welfare of those taxing your patience. ‘

Again like all the fruit the spirit produces in us Kindness is an attribute of God. The NIV translates Jeremiah 9:24 as saying ‘ as saying I am the LORD who exercises Kindness, justice and righteousness on earth for in these I delight.”

Kindness is at the heart of how God has chosen to relate to us. In Romans 2:4 Paul says that God has been kind and patient to us so that we may repent and turn towards him. The epitome of Gods kindness Paul goes on say in Roman’s 5:8 is that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. God’s kindness is shown to us through grace. Gordon fee sums up this by saying “God’s kindness is to be found in his thousand fold acts of mercy toward people like ourselves who deserve his wrath.”

How then does Kindness manifest itself in our lives? How would it have its outworking? Perhaps the best way to answer that question is by looking at Jesus example and the parable Jesus told in answer to a similar question, ‘who is my neighbour?’ In the parable that has come to be known as the parable of the Good Samaritan. It does address being kind in to someone in need.

It tells us that kindness sees through the eyes of compassion.

Have you noticed in the gospel’s how Jesus always sees the people in need around him. He sees the blind man by the side of the road, he hears him calling out, he spots the short outcast up the sycamore tree, he notices the women who hoping against hope will be healed as she touches the helm of his garment, he saw the funeral procession of the widow of Nain and it moved him to great sorrow, when he looked at the crowd in a busy city people going in all directions at the same time he saw that they were like sheep without a shepherd, harassed and hungry. On the cross he sees a repentant sinner while others simply saw a convicted terrorist. In the midst of his suffering and pain he sees his mother and his best friend and moves to comfort them.

In the parable, the three men walking the dangerous road between Jerusalem and Jericho see the man who had just been robbed. They see him beside the side of the road stripped bare and bleeding and the story tells us that only one the despised Samaritan saw him with the eyes of compassion.

We are not told what made the Priest and Levite, people that Jesus listeners would have expected to enshrine godly virtue, pass by on the other side.

Perhaps they looked with compassion but with one eye on the time. They were busy people, maybe with good places to be and needing to make good time. But kindness and compassion don’t often fit nicely into a tight schedule, kindness takes time.

Perhaps they looked with eyes that were more concerned about their own safety and needs rather than the needs that they saw. The road was dangerous, even well into our won century it has had the reputation of being an unsafe place. Robbers used such people as bait for trapping the compassionate and kind. Compassion can be risky. The priest and Levite were on their way to Jerusalem both served in the temple and it is often suggested that they didn’t want to risk becoming ritually unclean by touching a dead body. But kindness and compassion can be messy things, they involve getting our hands dirty with the realities of life.

When you are travelling do you allow your travel partner the Holy spirit who we walk with to show you things through the eyes of compassion, in your everyday routine and outside the square, maybe even outside in the square.

The second thing is that kindness responds with compassionate action.

Jesus not only sees the needs of others he responded to them and compassionately meet those needs. He healed the blind man, he restored the women whose bleeding had made her an outcast for decades, he dined with Zacchaeus and made a way for him to come to repentance, he raised the widows son saving her from extreme poverty, he called and sent out his disciples into the harvest field with the good news, he invited the repentant thief on the cross to be with him in paradise, he gave his best friend and mother someone to care for and to care for them in the darkest of hours.

He was prepared to get his hands dirty with the stuff of our lives. Eusebius the father of church history said of Jesus “he was the excellent physician who in order to cure the sick, examines what is repulsive, handles sores, and reaps pain himself from the suffering of others. Jesus never regarded the suffering with indifference still less with loathing and disgust. He regarded the needy with a pity which issued in help.”

The Samaritan shows kindness by acting out of compassion, the other two had responded by going across to the other side of the road, but he goes to the man. He goes and sees what’s needed. He meets the man’s immediate needs, he bandages his wounds, pouring oil and wine on the wounds. He makes certain the man’s long term needs are met. He puts him on his donkey. Takes him to an inn where he can be looked after and feed and convalesce. He then anticipates the man’s future needs, offering to pay any outstanding bill he might incur.

Showing Kindness calls us to be willing to cross over. Be it from one side of the road to the other, or across to the other side of the tracks, or the other side of the fence or even the other side of cultural divide or to the other side (full stop) to love our enemies. It’s also a crossing over that starts with the smallest of distances with our families both natural and church.

Showing kindness calls us to listen and observe and find out what the need is. Jesus often asked “What do you want me to do for you?’

Showing kindness calls us to meet people immediate need and to be prepared to stay involved so that long term and even possible future needs can be meet.

Showing kindness calls us to use our own resources and to be willing to gather the resources of others. Pioneering missionary to China, Hudson Taylor, tells the story of being invited to pray for a very poor woman who was sick. In her culture religious people usually required payment to come and pray, they asked Hudson not out of Christian convictions but economic necessity. He felt the spirit prompt him to do more than pray. He had a coin in his pocket and felt he should give it to the women and her family. He also remembered that in his house there was enough for only two more meals then well there was nothing. He hesitated but then decided to give what he had to the women.

The logo for The Presbyterian Church of Aeotearoa New Zealand  church is the burning bush and in Moses encounter with God at the burning bush we are told that God’s kindness is shown in that he hears the cry of his people and he sees the suffering and oppression they were being subjected to in Egypt, the place he had sent them for their safety in a time of famine, and he has compassion, compassion that leads to action. He is sending Moses to be the agent of his salvation and compassion to his people. Moses with all his faults and reservations, Moses who while he has the royal connections has stuffed it up in the past, Moses who has family responsibilities and time commitments, Moses is the sign of God’s Kindness and compassion. What a great logo for our church, we are people who have been shown kindness and grace by God and are called to show that kindness and compassion as we walk each day with the spirit.