Harmony of Grace

Last week Sunday was our church's confirmation service where seven young folk publicly pronounced their faith in Jesus and committed their lives to follow in his footsteps, with God being their helper.  It brings me great joy to see young people experience the abundant life that God has to offer and choose to follow the way of Jesus. The most powerful part of the confirmation service for me is not the confirmees' promises to follow Jesus, but the congregation's response and promise to care for the confirmees. Here are some of the words that the congregation declares together: "With God’s help, we will surround these persons with a community of love and forgiveness, that they may grow in their trust of God, and be found faithful in their service to others. We will pray for them, that they may be true disciples who walk in the way that leads to life." It is in these beautiful words that we are faced with the wonderful reality of the church's true purpose - to be...

Many people tend to think of life in rigid, binary terms. For example, something is either good or bad, right or wrong, male or female, etc. In our churches, we are quick to create rules that define what is acceptable and what is not; or we create walls that allow certain people in while keeping others out. Even when it comes to theology, we try to put our beliefs about God into neat little boxes. Throughout history, humans have invented neat theological phrases to try and define God. While these are certainly helpful at times, they can sometimes get in the way of our growing understanding about God and the world. One of the ways that we define God is by referring to the Holy Trinity of Father, Spirit and Son. This is a helpful way of understanding God as an interpersonal, relational God who is present in three persons. However, one of the problems that comes with this model is that we tend to associate the Trinity with a triangular, pyramid shape. This creates a hierarchal model that ...

Philippians 2:1-11 In our reading this morning, the apostle Paul urges followers of Jesus to display the same humility as Jesus did in his interactions with others. What does it mean to be humble? According to Paul, it means doing nothing for selfish purposes. It means valuing others above ourselves and putting the needs of others before our own. Unfortunately, these are not traits that we often see in Christians and Churches in the world today. To be charitable as a Christian today means to first satisfy our own needs and then if we have anything left, to give it away to the poor. I understand the desire to ensure that we have enough; that we are able to live comfortably; that we are able to provide an exciting future for our family and children. I have the same desires. But I can't help but think that this is not the way of Christ. Everything about Jesus' life and teaching was about lowering himself so that others could be exalted - even to the point of death on the cross.  W...

  John 12:12-16 There is a profound truth that we discover in the story of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. It is the truth that, even when our expectations try to interfere, God is always with us.  This does not mean that God is an innocent bystander who is lingering nearby to observe us and monitor our words and actions. God is with us in the sense that when we cry, God cries with us; when we laugh, God laughs with us; When our burdens are too heavy to bare, God carries our load; When we are too weak to carry on, God carries us. God might not always arrive as we may expect or deal with our enemies in the manner that we would like, but God always shows up.  If we can get past our small-minded, self-serving expectations that we place on God then we too can earnestly stand with God’s people and declare: “Hosanna! Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Peace in heaven and Glory in the highest! Hosanna!” Prayer: King Jesus, thank You that You are always with me. ...

  John 12:12-16 God’s people were correct in thinking that God was sending them a new king in Jesus, but they were not happy with the type of king that God had sent.  God remembered the people of Israel and provided them with a King. But when their King arrived, they were not thankful because they had a skewed idea of how their king was going to look and behave. While on Sunday the people praised and sang as Jesus entered the City of Jerusalem, a couple of days later on Friday, the people called for Jesus’ crucifixion and supported the murderer Barabbas instead. They were not happy with the King that Jesus claimed to be. Their expectation got in the way of God’s plan for them. The people of Jerusalem were so caught up in their own idea of what their promised Messiah was going to look like, do and say, that they completely missed what God was doing right in front of them. How often is this true for us today? What unrealistic and self-conceived expectations have we placed on God...

John 12:12-16 This week, we are faced with the story of Palm Sunday, where Jesus triumphantly entered Jerusalem as King, the week before his crucifixion. As we near the end of our Lent journey for this year, we are drawing closer to the greatest moment in the Christian calendar, the Easter story. Let us not miss this opportunity to reflect on what this time means for us as God's people living in the world today. God’s people had once lived in a mighty kingdom, peaking under the leadership of King David. The prophets promised the Israelite people that God would provide them with a new King who would save them, but that dream seemed very distant from where they currently found themselves living under the rule of an oppressive Roman Empire. They currently felt abandoned and helpless. But then rumours began to spread of this charismatic Jesus fellow who was said to be performing miraculous healings and driving out demons in every town that he visited. And now he was coming to Jerusalem...

Mark 9:1 Jesus often spoke about the Kingdom of God. While I still believe that this phrase is a beautiful phrase to describe God's reign on earth, it can sometimes get lost in translation. We need to remember that when Jesus termed this phrase, he was addressing a very different context to what we live in today. The people of Jesus' time were living under the rule of the mighty Roman Empire. They were very familiar with what a Kingdom looked like and what values were important to a worldly kingdom. Therefore, when Jesus spoke about this new Kingdom of love, joy, peace and hope, the people would have immediately noticed the stark differences between the Kingdom of the world and the Kingdom of God. So this got me thinking... If Jesus was born into humanity today, what phrase would he use to describe the Kingdom of God  so that today's generation would better understand what he was talking about? Maybe, because of our fascination with consumerism and always wanting more, he w...

Mark 8:34-38 In our reading today, Jesus describes what it takes to follow him. In this passage, he presents one of the greatest challenges to people who claim to follow Jesus: "What good is it to gain the whole world, yet lose their soul?" (verse 36). This is a catchy line that has made it into many songs in recent history (my favourite being  Lose My Soul  by Toby Mac), but we need to be careful that our familiarity with a verse does not make us forget its meaning. While perhaps being at risk of generalising, I believe that there is a direct correlation between someone's wealth and how difficult it is to truly follow Jesus. The more wealth and possessions that someone has, the harder it is to be a true disciple of Christ.  The wealthiest nation in the world is the USA. The current population of Americans that does not identify with any religious affiliation is 28%. In South Africa, a much poorer nation, this figure is 5.2%. I think that the reason for this is because th...

Image Source:  Sven Gauditz What exactly is truth? Can truth be proven? I s truth relative? When we declare to speak the truth and nothing but the truth , are we really claiming to speak the absolute truth or merely what we believe to be true? For example, I personally believe that a true statement would be: "Water polo is one of the most difficult sports that a human being can play." Whereas, if you asked my wife the same question, she would unequivocally tell you that that statement is false. Can my truth be different to someone else's? I believe that it is true (see what I did there) what John Van de Laar claims in his book The hour that changes everything: "What we believe to be true forms the foundation for every part of our being." This is why so many so-called religious leaders can seemingly justify their hate-filled motives behind their belief that what they are doing is supported by truth. Because they honestly believe, for whatever reason, th...

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters - yes, even their own life - such a person cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple... In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples." - Jesus in Luke 14:25-26,33 In Luke 14, Jesus lays down conditions for those who want to follow him. He says that "we need to love our family members less than we love him, bear our crosses and renounce all that we have."  It seems like an extreme response, but Jesus knew that his followers would face trials and would need to be willing to count their costs and persevere. This was not an isolated incident in Jesus' ministry. In Luke 9, Jesus tells 3 prospective followers that they could expect homelessness if they became his disciples and that they would have to abandon their families without even getting an opp...

Image Source:  Matthew Hamilton Jock, the painter, would often thin his paint so that it would go further. So when the Church decided to do some maintenance, Jock was able to put in the most affordable quote, and got the job. As always, he thinned his paint way down with turpentine. One day while he was up on the scaffolding -- the job almost finished -- he heard a horrendous clap of thunder, and the sky opened. The downpour washed the thinned paint off the church walls and knocked Jock off his scaffold. Jock knew this was a warning from God, so he got on his knees and cried: “Oh, God! Forgive me! What should I do?” And from the thunder, a mighty voice: “REPAINT! REPAINT! AND THIN NO MORE!” How often do we have a similar approach to God's love for us? Our faith is so thin that it is not able to withstand the storms that come. "See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" -1 John 3:1a (...

In my previous post, I mentioned that in order for us to live a fulfilling life, we need to align ourselves with God's purpose for the world. This brings us to the question: " What is God's purpose for the world?" I believe that God's purpose is revealed in the words and works of Jesus Christ. Many of us have grown up to believe that Jesus was born and lived on Earth so that our sins could be forgiven and we could go to heaven when our worldly bodies die. However, while forgiveness and hope for life after death is important, the Gospels focus less on these 2 purposes than we might imagine. Jesus did not come to earth on an evacuation mission to get us into heaven, but to bring God's kingdom to earth.  - Brian Mclaren Mclaren notes that our "evacuation theology" would require a very different prayer from the one that Jesus gave us. He claims that if forgiveness and going to heaven were Jesus' main purposes for us then the Lord'...