The Beadle Bard…

During the week I attended the funeral of my Uncle in Brisbane. He had passed away quietly and in the end quite quickly after a long battle with cancer.

A couple of days before the funeral, I received an unexpected phone call from my cousin, asking me if I would read out the tribute of his brother Wesley.

Unfortunately, my cousin Wes couldn’t be at his Dad’s funeral because he was in Shanghai, in the middle of a 4 week concert tour of Asia, with a children’s’ choir that he conducts.

Now as you can imagine I said, “Sure ! It will be a privilege for me to help”. But getting off that phone, I was also thinking, “Do I really want to go that difficult place of a son struggling to honour the pain of losing a father who has been suddenly taken from him ?”

Yet despite my reluctance I was also fascinated with the things he had to say about his Dad. Let me share some of them with you…

“As a father I sometimes pause and reflect on what legacy I would like to leave my children. I ask myself, ‘What gift can I give that will lay a firm foundation for them to build their lives on ?’ I need look no further to find the answer. If it is true that a life of example speaks the clearest, then there can be no question that my Father’s life spoke with clarity. It spoke with a resonance, consistent with his deep belief in God, his family, hard work and a ripping good laugh.”

“I feel if I can emulate him trying, in my own way, to be the kind of man he was, then I shall come closer to giving to my own sons the necessary values and foundation they will need to live life in this world…”

“I will always be grateful for the Father I had. I will try, for the sake of my own sons, to become equal to his example”.

As you can see, these weren’t easy words to speak but what a privilege it was to share something of my cousin’s deeply held love and respect for his father.

Have you ever noticed how wonderfully clear things become when someone we love, crosses over the threshold into death ?

What I loved about saying these words is the deep insight they give into the way people learn those fundamental, foundational things people need for living in this world.

Children learn how to live by the patterns of living and speaking they are immersed in, in the daily presence of their parents.

It’s true isn’t it, we become like the people we spend the most time with. It’s hard-wired into us as people.

Surely this is the intent of Jesus’ final words, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations… teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you…”

Jesus says, “Go and make disciples…” because discipling ensures disciples become mature, kingdom building followers of Jesus. Discipling makes certain we become like Jesus and do what Jesus does.

The discipline of moving against the flow… This is a practice of discipleship that seeks to redress a very natural tendency that we have as individuals and as communities.

That tendency is to become settled, comfortable and even self-satisfied. The is problem is that over time we accumulate, we build things – buildings, traditions, even stories we like to tell ourselves of who we are and where we have been. It’s as though we get into the habit of going a particular way and given enough time, it becomes our way of seeing the world. I wonder if that is the meaning behind the words in Scripture that say, “They shall eat the fruit of their way…” (Prov 1:31).

It’s interesting… when I read the Gospels, Jesus is always moving about from place to place – encountering people where they are. His home is on the road – betwixt and between. The lifestyle Jesus chooses for himself means that he needs to travels light.

Apart from disciples and a reputation for being a trouble-maker, Jesus didn’t accumulate very much. 

If all Jesus left behind for us were his yolk, his disciples and his instruction to go and make more disciples, then the challenge for us as disciples is to work out what that means for us in the church today. That’s a work in progress – a intentional act of translation… discipleship always is !

The discipline of moving against the flow starts with us. It begins when we deny ourselves, when we turn our back on ourselves and leave ourselves behind. Karl Barth says that this is conscious the decision of each new day…..

Over the last 2000 years the Cross has become loaded up with symbolism. In the vast flow of human history and experience, the Cross hangs like some vast, dynamic constantly moving orb. Like oysters encrusted on a ferry pier - the Cross is dense with century upon century of accumulated meaning. Like the pull of some massive sun, simply standing at a safe distance and observing is not an option.

It reminds me of Simon of Cyrene – an observer in the crowd as Jesus comes by struggling to carry the weight of the Cross. When Jesus stumbles, Simon is chosen from the crowd by a Roman soldier and the Scripture says he is ‘compelled’, strongly encouraged – some would say even forced to carry the Cross of Christ. The picture painted is one of reluctant & unavoidable participation.

And Jesus declares to his followers this is the way of the Cross, “If any of you wishes to come after Me, you must deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Me”. (Mt 16:24)

Since I have been back in Australia, I find myself looking at this country, looking at the church through the eyes of a missionary. I can’t help it and I can’t help wondering what is applicable from those experiences back here in Australia. I have a restlessness in my spirit because I think we have reached an edge place. How we respond to this margin in the next few years will determine whether the Kingdom of God gains or continues loosing significant ground in this country.  I have witnessed God working in amazing ways in the two-thirds world. It is time for those missional practices to come home. It is time for them to find local expression in the first world… in countries like Australia.

What impressed me in both Africa & South East Asia is that when you are in a place where the church isn’t, it makes you ask key missional questions. Questions like, ‘How am I prepared to change so I can connect the gospel with these people ?’ and ‘What am I prepared to do so that the Kingdom of God finds a meaningful & powerful expression in this place ?’, even, ‘How can I help people follow Jesus in ways that are natural, vital & life transforming – in both a personal and a communal sense ?’

It has been my observation and my personal experience that answering these questions has always involved a journey. This has been a movement away from what is familiar – a shift towards relearning the world from the perspective of the people I am serving. In both places our success has never been based upon our commitment to and the frequency of our team meetings, it has always involved deeply listening, being present and practically involved in the community.

If people were hungry – we found creative ways to feed them and develop more effective farming methods, if people were suffering from aids, that meant developing programs of support for those afflicted families, if people were troubled by demons, it meant prayer ministry, if people were troubled by their dreams it meant dream interpretation. We were always experimenting.  Failing forwards meant persevering with each other – finding ways to celebrate our differences. It meant praying – praying about everything – particularly all the obstacles and the resistance & sickness that seemed to come our way.

Always there is an emphasis on sensitivity, persistence, on generosity openness & intuition. Our weakness was our strength and our vulnerability guaranteed our dependence upon the Spirit of God. 

A few weeks ago I was reading a publication from Global Interaction, the missional org. of the Baptist Churches in Australia. They have as their mission statement, ‘Empowering communities to develop their own distinctive ways of following Jesus’. There is something very local and global about that statement that allows for difference and diversity.

Do you also notice there isn’t any mention of building great churches or even finding news ways of attracting people to come to church ? 

When the people won’t come into the church, the church must go to the people.

I keep finding myself wondering mischievous thoughts like what would happen if my local church choose a statement like this ? What sort of church or even network of churches might it become if the community became our sanctuary instead of our building ? 

Recently I came across Peter Rollins*  telling a yarn he calls, ‘The Parable of the 2 Camels’. It goes like this…

‘Once there was a merchant who was leading his two camels along a road. One camel was walking slowly because it was weighed down with packs of salt. The other camel moved along much quicker because it was loaded up with bales of cotton’.

‘Now along the way, the merchant came to a place where the road was flooded by a swollen river. As the merchant moved further along the road both he & his camels began being immersed deeper & deeper into the water’.

‘After a few minutes the merchant was swimming & the camels were almost completely submerged. But the merchant persisted. His livelihood depended on it.  Finally the merchant and his camels were back on dry road’.

‘As the merchant made the final trek to the bazaar, he noticed something had changed in the way the camels were carrying their cargo. The camel with the salt on it’s back seemed to have gained new strength & vigor. The merchant puzzled over this for a bit and then realised the water must have mostly dissolved the salt in the packs. However, the camel carrying the cotton was now struggling and groaning under the weight of its load. This was because the cotton had absorbed so much water’.

I like the parable of the two camels. I like it because it makes really clear a holy paradox that exists for people who embrace the Gospel.

I keep finding that whenever I encounter a paradox in Scripture, I need to pay attention because I have arrived at a place of significant spiritual truth. The way forward is not to decide between one possibility or the other but to try to a find way to hold the two in tension. These are places of tremendous spiritual dynamism.

The paradox of embracing the Gospel begins, when like the camel weighed down with the salt, we experience the river of God’s Grace. The mercy of God surrounds us & overwhelms us. We leave the weight and guilt of all our past selfish actions at the foot of the Cross. Our sins are washed away & we emerge on the other side with an incredible lightness of being that floods our very souls. It’s like the old hymn says, ‘My chains fell off, my heart was freed, I rose went forth and I followed Thee’.

This is the grace of the kingdom. This is forgiveness that makes us whiter than snow. This is love expressed as mercy… like being given a 2^nd, a 3^rd and a 4^th chance all at once.

Now the journey of discipleship is one where we keep following in the way of Jesus. So with that incredible lightness of being we enter back into the river – we continue embracing the Gospel with arms wide open. It is at this point that we experience the paradox. We begin to indentify with the experience of the camel who enters into the river with the cotton.

The more that we enter into and embrace the heart of the Gospel, the more we become weighed down with feeling the burden of a hurting world. 

I was talking to someone recently, asking them what their response has been to me talking for nearly 12 months now about mission. This person whose opinion I value said, “I feel exhausted !”

At first I found these words rather confronting. I started feeling a little bit anxious. Then this week as I have been reflecting on ‘The Parable of the 2 Camels’, I have been thinking maybe what my friend has been feeling, is a renewed sense of the weight of the Gospel.

You see, when we feel the weight of the Gospel, at first it can be overwhelming, even exhausting. Yet that burden we feel for a hurting world, that feeling of agitation, in the sense that I must… do… something… that’s not something I can claim credit for. That’s the Holy Spirit working.

This burden that we have for a hurting world, it changes our perception of the world we live in. It makes us see things that before were invisible. It makes us sensitive and aware of the needs of others… It opens us up to life lived beyond ourselves.

It moves us from being passive & selfish into merciful and inclusive action on behalf of others.

So how do you know a person is experiencing the paradox of embracing the Gospel with their arms wide open ?

Jesus says, “You will know them by their fruit”. He says, “Are grapes gathered from thorns or figs from thistles ? In the same way good trees bear good fruit… they cannot bear bad fruit”.

*from Peter Rollins’ book… ‘How (Not) To Speak of God’

The Golden Rule underlines, it makes really clear that we are saved to serve. We aren’t saved to contemplate. We aren’t saved to perfect our sacred knowledge or even strum a harp. We aren’t even saved to bath serenely in the light of God’s glory…

The grace we are freely & generously given isn’t a cheap grace, it demands that we pay it on to others with equal mercy.

In Matthew 18, Jesus says life in his Kingdom is like a King who decides to chase up some outstanding debts with his workers. Now there is this one worker who comes before him who owes literally a king’s ransom in accumulated debts.

This worker is the main reason that the King has had to deal with the issue personally. And he is really annoyed. The worker no longer has any of the money, so the King quickly decides his fate. He says, “It is my judgement that you and your wife and your children, will be sold off, along with all your possessions into slavery. Let this be a warning of the consequences of making a fool of the King”.

And in that moment of judgement, the worker falls on his face and he pleads, “Have patience with me, my Lord and I will pay you everything”.

The King listens and the King softens. And out of pity for the worker, he releases the man and forgives him of the debt.

If that was unexpected, Jesus has an ironic twist to the story that’s explosive…

As the forgiven worker is leaving the King’s palace, he encounters another worker who owes him a day’s wages. Seizing the man by the throat, the forgiven worker demands, “Pay me what you owe me !”

The other worker falls on his face and he says, “Have patience with me and I will pay you everything”.

But the forgiven worker refuses and in his anger, throws the man into prison until he can pay the debt.  

Now as news spreads of what had happened, overwhelmed by the hypocrisy – some of the other workers go off and tell the King of all they have seen and heard.

The King is enraged. He summons the forgiven worker back into his presence. He says, “You wicked man. I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Why didn’t you show the same mercy to that one who owed you money ?” And the King handed the man over to be punished and imprisoned until he had paid off his entire debt.

I find this parable confronting in the same way that the Sermon on the Sermon on the Mount tends to throw me off balance. Jesus is very clear here. If the Golden Rule doesn’t find a rich and deep expression in your living, then you won’t find your place in the Kingdom of Heaven.

That’s ouch !!! That’s a hard teaching to hear !!

The Sermon on the Mount has many demanding teachings. Perhaps the most confronting for me is Jesus’ injunction at the end of his teaching on loving enemies. He says, “Be perfect just as your heavenly Father is perfect”. It’s interesting when you look at what Jesus says in his similar teaching in Luke’s gospel, instead of using the word perfect, Jesus says, “Be merciful just as your Father is merciful”.

Perfection in Matthew equals mercy in Luke’s gospel. Being perfect just like our Father in heaven means being merciful.

So this is love expressed as mercy, generosity, openness, sensitivity & forgiveness… As disciples of Jesus, this our way of being in the world that impacts everything that we do.

The Golden Rule again. This is Jesus take on it. He says, “In everything, do for others what you would have them do for you; for this sums up the Law of Moses & the teaching of the Prophets.”

So the idea here is that the whole of the majesty and potency of Scripture, is condensed into just one teaching.

It makes you sit up and take notice doesn’t it ?

This is the result of all the long history of God’s dealings with his people. A holy and sacred revelation. And the condensed down version translates into a simple, concrete way of regarding others that infuses and flavours our whole way of living.  

Last week I mentioned feeling the stretch of Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount. My uneasiness was mostly from the realisation of the gap that exists between the way I live my life & the bold expression of living that Jesus’ teachings open up for us.

This week however, when I look at Jesus’ teachings through lens of the Golden Rule, I notice something very different. The greater stretch of Jesus teachings is the way they refocus our sensitivity, our priorities, our openness, indeed our energy & resources away from ourselves and over towards others in everything that we do.

The Golden Rule. You know Jesus wasn’t the only one to commend the Golden Rule in his teachings. Hillel the Elder – a leading Rabbi of his Age – who was an old man when Jesus was just a boy – was once approached by a non-Jew and asked, “What is the defining essence, the kernel of the Jewish faith ?” Now the learned & wise man could have responded eloquently and long on the deep mysteries of Jewish thought and law. Hillel could have insisted that it would be an utter insult to reduce so profound a system of faith into one brief statement.

Indeed Hillel’s contemporary, the Great Rabbi Shammai, was infamously known for furiously driving away a man who asked a similar question with a stick.

However seeing the man really wanted to know, Hillel responded to the man’s question thoughtfully, saying,

“What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour: this is the whole Torah. The rest is commentary; now go and study !”