The Christmas and Camelot (Dec/9. 2007)
David_M12 Ken Shigematsu: Dec. 9, 2007
Title: Christmas and Camelot
Text: Luke 1: 30-33; 2 Samuel 7: 11, 16
Big Idea: Because of Christmas we can experience Camelot.
Earlier in the fall when I was in Boston I spoke for one of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowships at Harvard University. Afterwards, I went to a student party at one of the student houses. I got into a conversation with a second year student. He told me, I’m taking a year off school to help with the Barack Obama campaign. He said, “I’m working 7 days week, 12 hours a day, I’m tired, but very excited.”
I said, “I’m a fan of Barack Obama.” He said, “I know that the polls show that we are behind Hillary Clinton, but I know that we can win. And if Barak Obama becomes president, as someone who was a member of President Kennedy’s administration recently told me, he will change the face of politics, he will establish a political new order, as JFK did.
Like that student that I talked with, all of us, at least to some degree, have a longing to live in a world where there is great leadership. Whether we use the expression or not, we all have a longing for “Camelot.” At some level, we all yearn for the legendary reign of King Arthur, who, according to legend, led an ideal epoch, filled with justice and peace, beauty and wisdom.
Though, in my view, this was not as true in his lifetime, at the time of former Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau’s death, many Canadians looked back at his political leadership with a sense of wistfulness and longed for another leader who could help to define us as a nation.
And many people south of the border long for Camelot for another leader like John Kennedy, who though like Trudeau had his distracters, also symbolized hope for many.
If we don’t follow politics, we’ve all likely had a yearning for a great father or father-figure or a great partner to influence our lives for the good…
And so it was for the people of Israel 2000 years ago. The people of Israel were living in a shadow, under the iron-fisted rule of Rome. They felt like slaves under Rome’s dictatorial regime. They longed for a king, not just any king, but a king like David…a king that would fulfill all that David represented: a passion for God, skillful leadership, prosperity and justice for all. They longed for a father… for a Messiah…
And in this season of longing an angel approaches a teen-age Israelite from a peasant family and says to her in Luke 1 and says…
30 But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."
Mary, this teen-age peasant, was told that she would miraculously conceive; that is, she would conceive without having sexual union with a man, but as the Holy Spirit came upon her…she would conceive and give birth to a son who as the angel prophesied would be called the Son of the Most High, and that God would give him the throne of his forefather David…and that this son of David would reign forever and ever… and of his Kingdom there would be no end…
These are great lofty words, of course… but they take on even more significance when we understand their historic context.
This fall we have been studying the life of David and some weeks back we looked at 2 Samuel 7. David has become the new king of Israel. One day he looks around and realizes he was living in a beautiful cedar palace, but “The Lord is dwelling in just a tent.” The Ark of the Covenant, which symbolized the presence of God, dwelt in the tent …the tabernacle.” So, David says to himself, “I will build God a house,” and talked it over with his pastor Nathan. Like any pastor in that situation would do, Nathan encouraged him to go for it.
In 2 Samuel 7: 3, Nathan says to David: “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you.”
But that night God spoke to Nathan and said, “David is not the one to build my house.” So Nathan awkwardly and sheepishly returned to David and said, “I am going to have to remove the building permit that I issued to you yesterday.”
But God says to David through Nathan, “You will not build me a house. I will build you a house.
In 2 Samuel 7: 11 we read:
" 'The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you.
Then in vs. 16 God says to David:
16 Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.' "
David says to God, “I want to build you a house,” and God says, “No, you are not the one to do that. I will build you a house.
What does God mean when he said, “I will build you a house”? What does God mean when he says, “I will build you a house with a throne that will last forever”?
In 586 BC, Jerusalem falls to Babylon, and from that time forward there has been no descendant of David on the physical throne of Israel. So, did the promise of God fail?
The descendant of David that God was referring to would come years later through the womb of this teen-age virgin called Mary, who miraculously conceived as the Holy Spirit descended upon her. And her son was referred to as the Son of David. The Son of Man. The Son of God, Jesus Christ. He was crucified at age 30 on a Roman cross bearing in his body our sins; he was buried and then raised on the third day; and he has been exalted at the right hand of God, and he is and he shall reign on the throne of David forever and ever!
Part of the reason why we celebrate Christmas is because Christmas reminds us that Camelot has come…that the great promised King has come to us in Jesus Christ…that his reign is present now, and shall be even greater in days ahead—and He shall last forever and ever.
Many of us are drawn to movies like Braveheart, Gladiator or Lord of the Rings because these movies represent a leader who conquers tyranny and injustice.
A pastor I know came across a web page for people who love J. R. R. Tolkein, the author of Lord of the Rings.
One of the women started a message called Tolkein and Christianity.
The woman wrote, “I have gotten to know you well over the years (through the message board), and I hope you aren’t offended, but just wanted to know if you see any Christian themes in Tolkein.” And almost everyone said, “We are not offended by your saying that, but, no, we don’t really see it.” And they asked, “How do you see the Christian themes in Tolkein?”
“I think the reason I find this so fascinating is because of the deeply-seated and frantic hunger I have inside that these stories are somehow true. It is a yearning I expect many of you share. It is as though I am watching the shadows move sometimes, playing their parts against the screen, thrilling me with the story and yet hurting me so terribly because they are just shadows as ephemeral as time. But, once I detected that there was a real person behind all the shadows, a character who is Frodo, Sam, and Aragorn distilled all into one, and as human and as intense and as romantic and as honorable as any, it eased a desperate sorrow that nothing else in the world can.”
This woman realized that Jesus was the King that has come into this world.
Unlike a movie like Lord of the Rings or Gladiator, where we are inspired with hope for a couple of hours, then walk out of the movie theatre and lose the inspiration, when the reign of the King Jesus Christ comes into our life, we can have a lasting strength and peace as he establishes his reign in our lives… and he brings a reign of strength and peace and justice and wisdom not only to us to our hearts, but through us to others… to our community and to our world…. He makes a difference, but through us to the world….
What does this mean for us?
At this time I want to invite Phil Reilly to come forward to talk about how the reign of God has made a difference in his life. Phil has been coming here to Tenth for about 4.5yrs with his wife Louise, and more recently their son Samuel who is just a little under 2yrs of age. They are members here and Phil now leads the Third service Pastor which has been running for a few months.
If you don’t know already guessed I’m from Scotland – Aberdeen Scotland. A place of magnificent beauty and the oil capitol of Europe that nestles on the North-East coast of Scotland. This is where I grew up, attended school, University, was married and where I experienced Church and learnt about this Saviour King Jesus we have already been hearing about.
This discipline I have engaged in of looking back over my life for today’s contribution to trace God’s faithfulness, love and mercy has been life giving, humbling and very, very interesting. So I trust that what I share with you all will have some resonance.
A good friend of mine back home in Scotland is an incredible landscape artist. He paints massive canvas pieces of wonderful Highland scenes, or monstrous seascapes, dissects them into panels and then etches scripture passes over them. Interspersed on each panel are pinpricks of light – some small and intense, others blurred and meshed into the canvas and others large and bright that cast shadows both near and far. These pinpricks of light he says are those times in our lives where God has met with us. And so it is has been with my life.
As I have already said I grew up in Aberdeen. I was the second child born to my Parents having an older sister Marie-Louise 3yrs older and later a younger sister Esther, 3 yrs younger than myself. At the time of my birth my Father (although being a pretty successful jazz singer) had his own steel fabrication business. At that time Aberdeen was thriving – lots of opportunity for entrepreneurs - oil was booming in the North-East. My Dad took the opportunity to ply his skills of fabrication work and engineering and went with it.
My Mother grew up in a very conservative North East Brethren home. Let me just explain very briefly what is meant by using the term Brethren. Essentially the Brethren or Plymouth Brethren as it is known in the British Isles was born in the early 19th Century. The assemblies which are a form of conservative Protestanism are led by Elders and not a Pastor. My experience of the Gospel Halls was that they were very conservative and although we use the TNIV translation of the Bible here at Tenth, I still admit to having a preference of hearing the King James version being read out loud – just brings back nice memories –So that is where I have my deepest Spiritual roots – the Brethren Gospel Hall. My mother, who also grew with the same experience would readily admit that her one major act of rebellion was marrying my Father. My Father, on the other hand had been born in Calcutta, India. His Father was Irish Catholic - a Gordon Highlander who had gone with the British army to lay the long and winding railway. My Grandmother (on my Father’s side) was East Indian, and when the British left in 1948 my Dad and his family of 12 brothers and sisters (I said they were Irish Catholic!) left for the UK eventually settling in Aberdeen. It was here that my Father learnt his tradesman skill that would lay the foundation for his business.
My Dad’s business (Reilly fabrication) was successful – but it became abundantly clear to those closest around him that it was becoming too successful, too quickly and that he simply didn’t have the business acumen, or the right people around him to correctly administer and manage this success. He instead began to squander the company’s profit on alcohol, gambling and other self-indulgent vices. My Mum recalled recently with me a conversation she had at one of the darkest episodes of the business with a site foreman for my Dad’s company asking why his staff had not received their pay that month – she knew only too well that the money would have been spent by my Father already.
I have very few memories at all of my childhood up until age 8 or 9, probably the way I have psychologically coped with my experiences as an infant. I have sketchy memories of arguments between my Mother and Father ending with physical abuse of my Mother – in fact there can still be times when these sketchy memories haunt me. Home life, as I understand it was incredibly stressful and at times violent for my Mother.
Alcoholism, the demise of his business and the continual physical side of his anger eventually cost my Father all that was dear to him - his business and his family, and when I was 8yrs of age my Parents divorced. So my Mother, with 3 children in tow, left with absolutely nothing (most of our possessions – furniture, home, our toys etc had been reclaimed by the bank and other social services) and so we started a new life. Initially we moved into our Grandparents (on my Mother’s side) house for a year or so and then we moved into a small two bedroom apartment where my Mother tirelessly etched out all that we needed to live by working as much as she could whilst we attended school; she provided food and shelter and even met our high demands as children – you know, wanting the latest gimmick or footwear or clothing. I have a profound respect for all single mothers.
There is so much more I could address in this story and share about my family – the pain we endured for many years and the effects that an emotionally scarring childhood impacted our lives as children. I will keep most of these stories for now – but let me just share one with you.
In many ways I can identify with the character from the Narnia story called Aravis from the book The Horse and his boy. In the story Aravis is attacked by a lion that turns out to be Aslan. In Aslan’s explanation of the attack he says that he did so in order that she might be just and merciful towards others - but she would have those scars for the rest of her life. In the same way the scars that I have are to teach me.
Healing, or should I say God’s healing in our lives can often be found in the most unexpected of places and for me that healing began through my relationship with Grandparents and in particular my Grandfather. Though he is no psychologist, but a typical North-East farmer his love, kindness, the way he lived and acted towards others and his utter dependance on God spoke volumes and continues to speak volumes to me about the character of Jesus and what he is all about. My deepest healing times with him were no more complex than walks along the riverside with the dog every evening for about 45 minutes. Though he is more limited now I try and at least relive those moments with him when I visit. Who would think that simply walking with someone can shower others with God’s peace and healing?
So what does this all mean for me and what specifically does this mean for me in the knowledge that Christ reigns over all?
My faith journey began pretty early in years – at age 5 or thereabouts my Mother took me to our local Gospel Hall and there I began this most exciting and at times bewildering journey towards belief and faith that indeed Jesus is who he says he is.
I have experienced little pinpricks of God’s light and love throughout my life in-spite and often de-spite of my own sinfulness, shame and anger. He has given me glimpses – like he longs to grant to us all – glimpses of Heaven, of peace that this world, and our experiences in it, will be different one day.
My 4ft nothing of a Scottish Granny use to talk to me about God’s grace and mercy lots- I miss those conversations because there was something very real and earthy about what she would say. She would simply say that God is different from what we might understand Him to be – different from my Dad – different from the people who have let us down and different from the people that have taken advantage of us. My biggest struggle as a child was trying to wrap my head around that – if God says He is Father then I’ve already figured out what Father’s can be like - They’ll let you down, they won’t be around, they won’t be good to your Mother, they’ll be drunk – but grace and mercy and infinite love and fulfilling promises and a Father that would give his own son up for us – well they turn all of that experience, all of that pain upside down.
God’s reign is different – that has been my experience. If it weren’t for the grace of God that has set me free I’m not sure how all that pain and anger might have manifested itself. It has led me to believe that most simply put, the wild and outrageous story of the cross – is true. It has to be true.
It gives me hope that for this world God might even choose to use me to bring peace and his glory and his majesty to others – and that excites me. Though my desire is to break the mould of my father in my home and family, the wider call for me is to break the mould of our world that has caused us only to see in black and white. By that I mean, when we encounter Christ at the Stable this Christmas and then at the cross at Easter or at the table of Communion, or in prayer we can, if we choose to look with intent, we will begin to see this world in colour – we can see that (and I believe I am quoting here), that all is not as it should be – not as it should be in Iraq, the middle east in the downtown east-side, in our neighbour’s house down the street where the family is struggling with abuse. Then we are compelled. Compelled to usher in a new way of being – a new reign that allows God to build His house. For me that has meant fundamentally to pursue a life that tries to be a vessel of peace. By getting alongside people encouraging, discipling and walking with them (as my Grandfather did with me) and my hope is that people will encounter a living God and that we would all begin to make a difference.
As Phil has experienced, if the King who came at Christmas comes to reign in us, we can experience Camelot. We can know just and life-giving reign of God.
Let’s pray:
Perhaps this Christmas season, you’ve been busy and drifting from your maker… Perhaps you would like take a quiet moment know and ask the Jesus to reign in your heart and life…
(The sermon can be heard on lin e at : www.tenth.ca/audio)
Title: Christmas and Camelot
Text: Luke 1: 30-33; 2 Samuel 7: 11, 16
Big Idea: Because of Christmas we can experience Camelot.
Earlier in the fall when I was in Boston I spoke for one of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowships at Harvard University. Afterwards, I went to a student party at one of the student houses. I got into a conversation with a second year student. He told me, I’m taking a year off school to help with the Barack Obama campaign. He said, “I’m working 7 days week, 12 hours a day, I’m tired, but very excited.”
I said, “I’m a fan of Barack Obama.” He said, “I know that the polls show that we are behind Hillary Clinton, but I know that we can win. And if Barak Obama becomes president, as someone who was a member of President Kennedy’s administration recently told me, he will change the face of politics, he will establish a political new order, as JFK did.
Like that student that I talked with, all of us, at least to some degree, have a longing to live in a world where there is great leadership. Whether we use the expression or not, we all have a longing for “Camelot.” At some level, we all yearn for the legendary reign of King Arthur, who, according to legend, led an ideal epoch, filled with justice and peace, beauty and wisdom.
Though, in my view, this was not as true in his lifetime, at the time of former Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau’s death, many Canadians looked back at his political leadership with a sense of wistfulness and longed for another leader who could help to define us as a nation.
And many people south of the border long for Camelot for another leader like John Kennedy, who though like Trudeau had his distracters, also symbolized hope for many.
If we don’t follow politics, we’ve all likely had a yearning for a great father or father-figure or a great partner to influence our lives for the good…
And so it was for the people of Israel 2000 years ago. The people of Israel were living in a shadow, under the iron-fisted rule of Rome. They felt like slaves under Rome’s dictatorial regime. They longed for a king, not just any king, but a king like David…a king that would fulfill all that David represented: a passion for God, skillful leadership, prosperity and justice for all. They longed for a father… for a Messiah…
And in this season of longing an angel approaches a teen-age Israelite from a peasant family and says to her in Luke 1 and says…
30 But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."
Mary, this teen-age peasant, was told that she would miraculously conceive; that is, she would conceive without having sexual union with a man, but as the Holy Spirit came upon her…she would conceive and give birth to a son who as the angel prophesied would be called the Son of the Most High, and that God would give him the throne of his forefather David…and that this son of David would reign forever and ever… and of his Kingdom there would be no end…
These are great lofty words, of course… but they take on even more significance when we understand their historic context.
This fall we have been studying the life of David and some weeks back we looked at 2 Samuel 7. David has become the new king of Israel. One day he looks around and realizes he was living in a beautiful cedar palace, but “The Lord is dwelling in just a tent.” The Ark of the Covenant, which symbolized the presence of God, dwelt in the tent …the tabernacle.” So, David says to himself, “I will build God a house,” and talked it over with his pastor Nathan. Like any pastor in that situation would do, Nathan encouraged him to go for it.
In 2 Samuel 7: 3, Nathan says to David: “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you.”
But that night God spoke to Nathan and said, “David is not the one to build my house.” So Nathan awkwardly and sheepishly returned to David and said, “I am going to have to remove the building permit that I issued to you yesterday.”
But God says to David through Nathan, “You will not build me a house. I will build you a house.
In 2 Samuel 7: 11 we read:
" 'The LORD declares to you that the LORD himself will establish a house for you.
Then in vs. 16 God says to David:
16 Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.' "
David says to God, “I want to build you a house,” and God says, “No, you are not the one to do that. I will build you a house.
What does God mean when he said, “I will build you a house”? What does God mean when he says, “I will build you a house with a throne that will last forever”?
In 586 BC, Jerusalem falls to Babylon, and from that time forward there has been no descendant of David on the physical throne of Israel. So, did the promise of God fail?
The descendant of David that God was referring to would come years later through the womb of this teen-age virgin called Mary, who miraculously conceived as the Holy Spirit descended upon her. And her son was referred to as the Son of David. The Son of Man. The Son of God, Jesus Christ. He was crucified at age 30 on a Roman cross bearing in his body our sins; he was buried and then raised on the third day; and he has been exalted at the right hand of God, and he is and he shall reign on the throne of David forever and ever!
Part of the reason why we celebrate Christmas is because Christmas reminds us that Camelot has come…that the great promised King has come to us in Jesus Christ…that his reign is present now, and shall be even greater in days ahead—and He shall last forever and ever.
Many of us are drawn to movies like Braveheart, Gladiator or Lord of the Rings because these movies represent a leader who conquers tyranny and injustice.
A pastor I know came across a web page for people who love J. R. R. Tolkein, the author of Lord of the Rings.
One of the women started a message called Tolkein and Christianity.
The woman wrote, “I have gotten to know you well over the years (through the message board), and I hope you aren’t offended, but just wanted to know if you see any Christian themes in Tolkein.” And almost everyone said, “We are not offended by your saying that, but, no, we don’t really see it.” And they asked, “How do you see the Christian themes in Tolkein?”
“I think the reason I find this so fascinating is because of the deeply-seated and frantic hunger I have inside that these stories are somehow true. It is a yearning I expect many of you share. It is as though I am watching the shadows move sometimes, playing their parts against the screen, thrilling me with the story and yet hurting me so terribly because they are just shadows as ephemeral as time. But, once I detected that there was a real person behind all the shadows, a character who is Frodo, Sam, and Aragorn distilled all into one, and as human and as intense and as romantic and as honorable as any, it eased a desperate sorrow that nothing else in the world can.”
This woman realized that Jesus was the King that has come into this world.
Unlike a movie like Lord of the Rings or Gladiator, where we are inspired with hope for a couple of hours, then walk out of the movie theatre and lose the inspiration, when the reign of the King Jesus Christ comes into our life, we can have a lasting strength and peace as he establishes his reign in our lives… and he brings a reign of strength and peace and justice and wisdom not only to us to our hearts, but through us to others… to our community and to our world…. He makes a difference, but through us to the world….
What does this mean for us?
At this time I want to invite Phil Reilly to come forward to talk about how the reign of God has made a difference in his life. Phil has been coming here to Tenth for about 4.5yrs with his wife Louise, and more recently their son Samuel who is just a little under 2yrs of age. They are members here and Phil now leads the Third service Pastor which has been running for a few months.
If you don’t know already guessed I’m from Scotland – Aberdeen Scotland. A place of magnificent beauty and the oil capitol of Europe that nestles on the North-East coast of Scotland. This is where I grew up, attended school, University, was married and where I experienced Church and learnt about this Saviour King Jesus we have already been hearing about.
This discipline I have engaged in of looking back over my life for today’s contribution to trace God’s faithfulness, love and mercy has been life giving, humbling and very, very interesting. So I trust that what I share with you all will have some resonance.
A good friend of mine back home in Scotland is an incredible landscape artist. He paints massive canvas pieces of wonderful Highland scenes, or monstrous seascapes, dissects them into panels and then etches scripture passes over them. Interspersed on each panel are pinpricks of light – some small and intense, others blurred and meshed into the canvas and others large and bright that cast shadows both near and far. These pinpricks of light he says are those times in our lives where God has met with us. And so it is has been with my life.
As I have already said I grew up in Aberdeen. I was the second child born to my Parents having an older sister Marie-Louise 3yrs older and later a younger sister Esther, 3 yrs younger than myself. At the time of my birth my Father (although being a pretty successful jazz singer) had his own steel fabrication business. At that time Aberdeen was thriving – lots of opportunity for entrepreneurs - oil was booming in the North-East. My Dad took the opportunity to ply his skills of fabrication work and engineering and went with it.
My Mother grew up in a very conservative North East Brethren home. Let me just explain very briefly what is meant by using the term Brethren. Essentially the Brethren or Plymouth Brethren as it is known in the British Isles was born in the early 19th Century. The assemblies which are a form of conservative Protestanism are led by Elders and not a Pastor. My experience of the Gospel Halls was that they were very conservative and although we use the TNIV translation of the Bible here at Tenth, I still admit to having a preference of hearing the King James version being read out loud – just brings back nice memories –So that is where I have my deepest Spiritual roots – the Brethren Gospel Hall. My mother, who also grew with the same experience would readily admit that her one major act of rebellion was marrying my Father. My Father, on the other hand had been born in Calcutta, India. His Father was Irish Catholic - a Gordon Highlander who had gone with the British army to lay the long and winding railway. My Grandmother (on my Father’s side) was East Indian, and when the British left in 1948 my Dad and his family of 12 brothers and sisters (I said they were Irish Catholic!) left for the UK eventually settling in Aberdeen. It was here that my Father learnt his tradesman skill that would lay the foundation for his business.
My Dad’s business (Reilly fabrication) was successful – but it became abundantly clear to those closest around him that it was becoming too successful, too quickly and that he simply didn’t have the business acumen, or the right people around him to correctly administer and manage this success. He instead began to squander the company’s profit on alcohol, gambling and other self-indulgent vices. My Mum recalled recently with me a conversation she had at one of the darkest episodes of the business with a site foreman for my Dad’s company asking why his staff had not received their pay that month – she knew only too well that the money would have been spent by my Father already.
I have very few memories at all of my childhood up until age 8 or 9, probably the way I have psychologically coped with my experiences as an infant. I have sketchy memories of arguments between my Mother and Father ending with physical abuse of my Mother – in fact there can still be times when these sketchy memories haunt me. Home life, as I understand it was incredibly stressful and at times violent for my Mother.
Alcoholism, the demise of his business and the continual physical side of his anger eventually cost my Father all that was dear to him - his business and his family, and when I was 8yrs of age my Parents divorced. So my Mother, with 3 children in tow, left with absolutely nothing (most of our possessions – furniture, home, our toys etc had been reclaimed by the bank and other social services) and so we started a new life. Initially we moved into our Grandparents (on my Mother’s side) house for a year or so and then we moved into a small two bedroom apartment where my Mother tirelessly etched out all that we needed to live by working as much as she could whilst we attended school; she provided food and shelter and even met our high demands as children – you know, wanting the latest gimmick or footwear or clothing. I have a profound respect for all single mothers.
There is so much more I could address in this story and share about my family – the pain we endured for many years and the effects that an emotionally scarring childhood impacted our lives as children. I will keep most of these stories for now – but let me just share one with you.
In many ways I can identify with the character from the Narnia story called Aravis from the book The Horse and his boy. In the story Aravis is attacked by a lion that turns out to be Aslan. In Aslan’s explanation of the attack he says that he did so in order that she might be just and merciful towards others - but she would have those scars for the rest of her life. In the same way the scars that I have are to teach me.
Healing, or should I say God’s healing in our lives can often be found in the most unexpected of places and for me that healing began through my relationship with Grandparents and in particular my Grandfather. Though he is no psychologist, but a typical North-East farmer his love, kindness, the way he lived and acted towards others and his utter dependance on God spoke volumes and continues to speak volumes to me about the character of Jesus and what he is all about. My deepest healing times with him were no more complex than walks along the riverside with the dog every evening for about 45 minutes. Though he is more limited now I try and at least relive those moments with him when I visit. Who would think that simply walking with someone can shower others with God’s peace and healing?
So what does this all mean for me and what specifically does this mean for me in the knowledge that Christ reigns over all?
My faith journey began pretty early in years – at age 5 or thereabouts my Mother took me to our local Gospel Hall and there I began this most exciting and at times bewildering journey towards belief and faith that indeed Jesus is who he says he is.
I have experienced little pinpricks of God’s light and love throughout my life in-spite and often de-spite of my own sinfulness, shame and anger. He has given me glimpses – like he longs to grant to us all – glimpses of Heaven, of peace that this world, and our experiences in it, will be different one day.
My 4ft nothing of a Scottish Granny use to talk to me about God’s grace and mercy lots- I miss those conversations because there was something very real and earthy about what she would say. She would simply say that God is different from what we might understand Him to be – different from my Dad – different from the people who have let us down and different from the people that have taken advantage of us. My biggest struggle as a child was trying to wrap my head around that – if God says He is Father then I’ve already figured out what Father’s can be like - They’ll let you down, they won’t be around, they won’t be good to your Mother, they’ll be drunk – but grace and mercy and infinite love and fulfilling promises and a Father that would give his own son up for us – well they turn all of that experience, all of that pain upside down.
God’s reign is different – that has been my experience. If it weren’t for the grace of God that has set me free I’m not sure how all that pain and anger might have manifested itself. It has led me to believe that most simply put, the wild and outrageous story of the cross – is true. It has to be true.
It gives me hope that for this world God might even choose to use me to bring peace and his glory and his majesty to others – and that excites me. Though my desire is to break the mould of my father in my home and family, the wider call for me is to break the mould of our world that has caused us only to see in black and white. By that I mean, when we encounter Christ at the Stable this Christmas and then at the cross at Easter or at the table of Communion, or in prayer we can, if we choose to look with intent, we will begin to see this world in colour – we can see that (and I believe I am quoting here), that all is not as it should be – not as it should be in Iraq, the middle east in the downtown east-side, in our neighbour’s house down the street where the family is struggling with abuse. Then we are compelled. Compelled to usher in a new way of being – a new reign that allows God to build His house. For me that has meant fundamentally to pursue a life that tries to be a vessel of peace. By getting alongside people encouraging, discipling and walking with them (as my Grandfather did with me) and my hope is that people will encounter a living God and that we would all begin to make a difference.
As Phil has experienced, if the King who came at Christmas comes to reign in us, we can experience Camelot. We can know just and life-giving reign of God.
Let’s pray:
Perhaps this Christmas season, you’ve been busy and drifting from your maker… Perhaps you would like take a quiet moment know and ask the Jesus to reign in your heart and life…
(The sermon can be heard on lin e at : www.tenth.ca/audio)
posted by Shigematsu at 6:40 PM
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