Rebuilding Community Pentecost Day 2022

Focus Readings Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 Romans 4:13-25 Mark 8:31-38

Trust Fall

Have you ever done a trust fall. I can remember right back to my days at youth group and Year 12 when I lived on the South Side of Brisbane. We were introduced to “new games”. They included things like parachutes and earth balls, but they also included trust activities involving blindfolds and placing yourself in the hands of of others. The iconic activity of this sort was the trust fall. A person would stand on a table with their eyes closed and then fall backwards onto a group of colleagues standing in a line. This wasn’t just for high schoolers or for youth groups. These activities were done at corporate leadership retreats and in the leadership programs of large government departments. Behind this activity is something which is profoundly true. The more trust there is in an organisation, a church, a family, a community, and so on, the better it works, the more that gets done and the greater the happiness of both individuals and the community or organisation.

            But trust comes with risk, cost and vulnerability. Over the years I bet there have been people who have refused to take part in a trust fall because for them the cost is too great. Sometimes they know the people whose arms they are meant to fall into too well. They know their flaws and failures and perhaps with some justification they are unsure if those people will catch them. Sometimes they are so keen on being in control and doing everything themselves that they are unwilling to let go and fall. If they can’t control it they won’t do it.

            In today’s Gospel reading and in Genesis and Romans  we hear two invitations to trust God. One is given to Abram who is renamed Abraham and the other is given to the disciples and also to us. Abram is promised that he and his wife Sarai will be the Mother and Father of many nations even though they are both very old and have no child of their own. In fact God Even changes Abram’s name to Abraham to mean Father of Many.  In Romans 4 and chapter 15 of  Genesis we hear that Abram believed God and God reckoned it to him as righteousness. Or to put it another way Abraham trusted his future, his life to God and God recognised him as his friend, or set right or in the good books. It must have been hard for Abram, he left his old home, went to a foreign land, gave up his old faith probably risking wealth, life and reputation and all at an age when perhaps he might have no future. It would have been easy for him to take control of his own life and say “No thanks” I’ll stick with what I know and live out my comfortable life at home with my beautiful wife. Instead he trusted God. He put on the blindfold and he allowed himself to fall into the unknown and God caught him and kept the promise. In his lifetime he continued to be blessed with wealth and he did have a son with Sarah who in turn had two sons who in turn had 12 sons who were th ancestors of the people of Israel. One of those sons Judah became the grandfather of Kings like David, Solomon, Josiah and Jesus and through them we and all the people of the world have been blessed. Abraham put on the blindfIold and fell and God caught him. God kept the promise made in Genesis 12, 15 and 17 in full. God proved to be trustworthy through famine, war, slavery, exile and occupation.

            The other invitation is made to Peter and the disciples and you and me. Abram wasn’t perfect. There were a number of times when he didn’t fully trust God. By contrast before Easter Peter really struggled to trust God and to trust Jesus. We can’t really blame Peter. Peter has recognised something in Jesus, he has recognised that Jesus is the the promised one, the Christ, the Messiah the anointed one or the one especially chosen by God to be a new king like David to rescue and free Israel. Jesus this new king will bring freedom and full godliness to the nation and perhaps even to the world. His expectations of Jesus are very different to what Jesus says next. “I am going to die on a cross, the most shameful and humiliating way possible and three days later I will be raised from the dead.” The resurrection thing would have made no sense. The resurrection was to be for every faithful Jew, not just for one representative. The death on the cross made more sense but was much more confronting.          If we look across the Bible stories of Peter we see a bit of a pattern of him wanting to be in control, of not wanting to trust Jesus. In Luke when Jesus calls him it is after the huge catch of fish where Peter afraid to trust in who and what he has just seen says “Go away from me Lord for I am a sinful man.” As we heard in the last few weeks when Jesus goes off to pray, Peter wants to bring him back to do more miracles for him, he wants Jesus to follow his script,  but Jesus will not be controlled by Peter. And as well as today’s incident where Peter neither trusts or understands Jesus there are a number of others but the most well known example of Peter’s lack of trust is after Jesus’ arrest. Peter when confronted by the onlookers near where Jesus is under arrest and on trial, denies he even knows who Jesus is, he seeks to save his own life for fear of losing it.

            But just as God proved to be trustworthy with Abraham and Sarah, Moses & Miriam, Jacob, Leah, Rachel, Ruth, David, Esther, Elijah, Josiah, Mary & Joseph, God proves to be trustworthy in Jesus. Instead of following your own plans Jesus tells you, to trust in my way and God’s plans. Let go, deny yourself, and trust me. Follow my example. In some ways for Jesus as the Son of God trusting Gof the Father and the Holy Spirit is no problem. Through eternity Jesus has been in a relationship with the Father & the Spirit that is so close that the early church described this reality as God being trinity, truly one and truly three. Trusting the Father and the Spirit would have been no problem for Jesus as the eternal Word of God. If we remember that Jesus was and still is truly human then the reality of the human experiences of loss, grief, hunger, thirst, injustice, betrayal, denial, torture, crucifixion and death must have all made it harder. It is not surprising that Jesus would say to Peter “Get behind me Satan” . The word Satan can certainly mean the devil, but it mostly means “tempter”. In saying to Jesus don’t take the way of the cross, the way of suffering and death, take the way of control, the human way, the way that Peter and you and me are always tempted to take, Peter was tempting Jesus to take control rather than to trust his human and devine life to the Father and the Spirit.

            Jesus says, NO! That is not the way. The way is not to take control. The way is not to save yourself. The way is to trust me, and God the Father. The way is to deny yourself. For Jesus and Peter and Paul and others, denying themselves and going God’s way, trusting themselves to God meant death and suffering. God probably will not call us to that, but God the Father and Jesus, God the Son, does call us all to deny ourselves, to trust our lives, to give up our lives to them and to the Spirit. We are called to close our eyes, put on the blindfold, let go and fall. It is hard; like Peter sometimes we can and sometimes we can’t.

            We worry. Will God catch us? Is this the end? If I don’t have control, will I survive? But on that score there are two bits of Good news. Firstly as I said a moment ago, the experience of the Bible tells us that God is trustworthy. We may have the blindfold on, we may be falling, but we are falling into the arms of the same One who gave Abram a Son, who rescued Jacob and his children from famine, who brought the people out of exile and who in time rescued us in Jesus. The second bit of good news is that a significant part of Jesus’ sharing his life is so that there is always someone to rescue us, to call us back, to seek us out and carry us back when we try to go our own way, and that is Jesus. He lifts Peter when he sinks in the water, he stills the storm, he does not go when Peter tells him to go. And risen from the dead he forgives Peter, and calls Peter to continue the work. All he asks is a little faith and a little love and even the faith itself is probably a gift. We are called to deny ourselves as Jesus did, to trust God the Father as he did, even if this means the cross. But we are called by the one who shares his death and life with us so when we fail God will still raises us up Just as he raised Jesus and just as Jesus lifted Peter from drowning in the stormy currents of the sea. Put on the blindfold, close your eyes and fall into the strong and mighty everlasting arms of God. Amen

Key text: Romans 12:1-8 

In many of Paul’s letters he begins after a general greetingby dealing with the issues that are causing problems in a church. He then goes on to deal with how we live out our faith in our daily life or ethics. Paul is talking about how we lives which witness or reflect God’s love and how we can serve others.
    This is exactly what he does in Romans. After his greeting he introduces himself to the church in Rome. Often Paul writes to one of the churches he founded to tell them how to deal with some of the problems or division in them. He didn’t start the church at Rome but he wants to visit it and get their support to continue his work of creating new Christian communities, maybe even going to Spain. So he outlines what he believes. He starts in Romans 1-3 by saying this wonderful & blessed creation of which we are a part and humanity we share which reflects the image of God is tarnished. He says that although every human being has within them a sense of right and wrong and a sense of the existence of God, none the less we all fall short of the Glory of God. We all fail to love as God loves, with our whole selves, and we fail to love our neighbours as we love ourselves.  And this results in our death, our literal death our eternal death and the death of community of good relationships between people aand people and peqaople and God. The wages of sin is death! But from the middle of Chapter 3 right through to the end of Chapter 8 paul expounds on the idea that the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus. Jesus death for us, Jesus’ new life for us, the gift of the Spirit which pours the love of God into our hearts and the way in which through this new life of Jesus at work in human being the glory of God is being revealed and creation is being made new. The Spirit of God is at work in us creating a renewed humanity and a renewed creation. All this he says in chapters 9-11 is not just for Jewish people or for non Jewish people it is for all people. And reight fom Chapter 3 through to chapter 11 time and time again he make it clear that this is a gift of God. Throughout all of History even though we fall short God never gives up on us. God loves us with a love we don’t deserve. God is merciful or kind to us even though God doesn’t have to be. And the defining way God is kind to us even though we don’t deserve it is in Jesus, especially in his death and resurrection. So chapters 1-11 are about the kindness or the mercy of God to us in Jesus. In chapter 12 Paul begins to reflect on what this might all mean for living the Christian life. (Chapter 12 to half way though chapter 15.)
    Paul’s main point is that everyone has an important place in the ministry and mission of Jesus and his church. Every member is called to witness and to serve. Every Christian is not only included in Jesus’ love and mercy. Every Christian is included in Jesus’ ministry and mission.
    For the church and for individual believers this understanding that every Christian is included in Jesus’ work is a powerful and even transforming idea.
    It reflects Paul’s revolutionary idea from Galatians 3:28 (and in all his writing) that every person no matter their gender, race or class are the objects of God’s love and mercy for all are one in Jesus.
    If that is the case then everyone has a part to play in the ministry and mission of Christ. Every member of the church has a role to play.
    To illustrate this passage as we go through it, and the idea that every person has a part to play in the ministry and mission of Christ and his church, I am going to tell a little bit of my own story.
    Paul begins chapter 12 with the words. “I appeal to you by the mercies of God”. As I said a moment ago this little phrase links chapter 12 and what follows to the first 11 chapters of Romans. For in those first 11 chapters Paul has essentially been outlining the mercy or the mercies of God.
    For Paul this was very personal. He had been a persecutor of the church. He saw the followers of Jesus as those who would destroy the Jewish faith and way of life. He threw them in jail and even approved when one was stoned to death. Yet for him his life was turned around when he encountered the risen Jesus travelling on the road to the city of Damascus in Syria. The risen Jesus did not destroy him as he had destryed iothers, Jesus forgave him and called him to to join the work of forgiveness, reconciliation and the renewing of all things.
    My story is not like Paul’s. As a child I was shy, badly co-ordinated, I cried easily and so I was a natural subject of bullying. I did not see any blinding light. I was not a persecutor of others. Instead of being turned outward in anger and hatred like Paul I was turned inward on myself in despair and self loathing. But just like Paul I believe that God came to me in Jesus Christ. As I say, it was not in some blinding light, but as a slow burn, a slow realisation with some wonderful moments, that I was loved I was forgiven and that God had a piurpose for my life.
    Though, my story and Paul’s story and the story of millions of other Christians is very different, none the less through the ages men and women of all walks of life have experienced or realized the same thing. They have been discovered by, they have met the mercy of God.
    From the time Paul met Jesus on the Damascus road onward his life was radically transformed. He was so grateful that he dedicated his life to introducing others to the wonderful discovery of the mercy of God. It was not that Paul had discovered God but God had discovered him. 
    As we saw a moment Paul believed that this gift of mercy was for all people, Jews and Gentiles, men and women, young and old. I believe as do people like the historian Tom Holland that this radical inclusiveness of Christianity has also played a part in some aspects of Western culture becoming more inclusive and to the idea that every human being has equal dignity and rights.
    Paul had a personal experience of this radical inclusion. A persecutor of the Christ and his church was not merely forgiven and given a new life, but he was also called by that same Christ to ministry and mission. 
    My experience was that I was not only forgiven, loved and befriended by God in Jesus Christ, but that I too was called to share that love with others. So when Paul says, I appeal to you by the mercies of God - he is I’m very sure speaking of all he has spoken of in Chapters 1-11 of Romans BUT he isn’t speaking about it as a theoretical framework, or a theological exercise, He’s speaking about it also as a matter of personal experience. (And we especially see that in the second half of chapter 7).
    Paul is saying - look what God has done for me!!! Look what God has done for us. Look what God has done for creation. If God has done this for us then present yourselves as a living sacrifice for this is your reasonable worship - some translations have reasonable service...  In any case the principle is the same - God has given himself to us, so in gratitude we should give ourselves to God and to others.
    Now I need to make it clear that Paul is not asking us to nail ourselves to the cross. Instead he is saying that in the light of God’s mercy we should not give in to the thinking and standards of this world which in our times are about, money, power, celebrity and consumerism. He’s saying that instead we should set our minds on good and positive things instead of on things which are only to help ourselves or build ourselves up and tear others down.
    He’s saying that we should not try to place ourselves over other people, but instead that we should use the gifts that God has given us to build them up.
    He’s saying that instead of thinking of ourselves as number one as the most important person in our own little world we should think of ourselves as an important part of the body. That each of us has a place with Christ in the ministry and mission, the service and witness of the church. 
    As wonderful as it must have been for Paul to be forgiven his persecution of the church. It must have been even more amazing to him that he became perhaps the greatest evangelist and church planter in the church’s history. Not only that, but he was a key leader in transforming the followers of Christ from a Jewish male sect, to a faith that embraced men and women, menial slaves through to wealthy householders, and people from every race and culture. From fundamentalist inquisitor Paul was transformed into the greatest evangelist of a new faith which taught love and inclusion.
    It should not a surprise us then that Paul here in Romans (and in 1 Corinthian’s and Ephesians) can affirm that every member of the church, no matter how humble or grand has a valuable place in the Church, in the body of Christ. 
    This was a wonderful discovery for me too. It was wonderful after all those years of bullying to feel that I was loved and included, BUT it was even more wonderful to know that also I had a part of the ministry and mission of Jesus and his church. I learned that I was a part of the body and the gifts and skills that I had could be used to serve God, the church and my neighbour.
    To cut a long story short just as Paul was transformed from being a fundamentalist inquisitor into an evangelist of love. I was transformed from a timid, shy and insecure young man into a reasonably confident minister of the Gospel.
    What was true for Paul is true for me, but it’s also true for each one of you as well. For each of you are a member, a part of the body of Christ.
    Like Paul all of you are here because you believe God is a God of compassion who has been revealed to us in Jesus Christ. You believe that God has given himself for you. You believe that you are forgiven, loved, and free. You are receivers of the mercies of God, and so Paul says to you I appeal to you by the mercies of God, to present yourselves in the light of God’s mercies as a living sacrifice. Use your gifts and talent, no matter how insignificant you might feel them to be in service of God, your fellow Christians and your neighbours. For all of you, have a valuable part and place in the body of Christ.

1.            Readings

a.            First Reading Amos 7: 7 - 8

b.            Second Reading Matt. 23:23

c.             Third Reading Deut.16: 18 -20                       

d.            Gospel Luke 13: 10 - 17

2.            Sermon Go God’s love going way

The people of Israel were suffering in Egypt, forced to labour, building cities temples and tombs. They cry out against this injustice and God hears their cries and rescues them giving them a leader called Moses. God rescues them because God sees their suffering and because years ago God made a promise to the founder of their community, a man named Abraham and his wife Sarah, to make them a great people, a powerful country. So God sees the suffering of forced labour and remembers the promise and rescues them. They are not especially good people or especially bad people, but God is good and compassionate. God cares about injustice and people suffering, and God keeps promises.

         So God says to them “I have rescued you because I saw your suffering and I keep my promises. I want you to respond to others in the same way. I want you to be honest, to run fair courts, to treat each other, neighbours, and foreigners just how I treated you. You were once slaves and strangers and hard done by. I want you to be compassionate, to stand up against injustice and keep your promises. Go my way. Use honest measures, create honest courts, treat the great and mighty and the small and powerless just the same.

         Over 1, 000 years later a disabled woman, held captive by her body is in a synagogue, a Jewish meeting house, sort of the Jewish equivalent of a church. Jesus is also there, and he heals her, she is no longer disabled, no longer a prisoner, she is free. Jesus’ God come among us has seen this woman held captive and because he is God in human form he reflects God’s character of kindness and compassion and a desire for what is right and rescues her just like the people of Israel were rescued. When the church leader objects because it’s the Sabbath, the holy day of rest, Jesus stands up for justice, for what is right and says, “You hypocrite, you are being unfair, you wouldn’t treat an animal like this just because it is the day of rest. The good and right thing to do is to rescue this woman, no matter what day it is.”

         Jesus not only rescued the woman, he rescues you and me. In Australia, in Rockhampton we may not be slaves forced by a king to build cities, but we are all sometimes selfish, and self promoting. Many drink too much, many eat too much,  and like the church leader sometimes we fail to help those in need, because we think other things are more important. God saw that we would be slaves to a way of life that puts ourselves first, and that we and others would suffer because of it. So God sent Jesus, to live and to be the good life, to die our death, to be raised to new life and share that life with us, so we could be set free from our own selfishness, and the selfishness of others and do what is good and just.

         Today we baptised Reuben. In baptism we say God loves and accepts Reuben even though he does not understand what is going on, even though he can’t do much to help people in need, even though he can’t give service or money to the church or charity. In baptism we say God accepts, claims and loves us too. Jesus lived for us, died for us and was raised to new life for us. God rescues us just as God rescued Israel. If this is true just as God said to Israel, Jesus says to us, “I have rescued you, so live lives that reflect God’s character and my character. Love your neighbours, love your enemies, stand up for the right thing, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, forgive one another as I have forgiven you. Set the prisoners free.” The people of Israel were loved and claimed rescued by God, Reuben has been loved and claimed and rescued by Jesus, You and I have been loved and claimed and rescued. So live lives that reflect that character of God, the character of Jesus. Go God’s love going way! Amen!

Today I want to speak as briefly as I can on a huge topic. What is the church? These six verses Acts 2:42-27 describe the church, as it was when it first began 2000 years ago and as it shall be through all eternity and as it is now. In one sentence the church is about teaching the Gospel, gathering in genuine community, breaking bread together and worship. From this, flows care and provision for those in need, signs and wonders, and growth. In short the church at its best is the embodiment of the Good Life, and this side of the new creation it is the closest thing to life in all its fullness. This is what Jesus came for and although I am sticking to the Acts reading this morning. The 23rd psalm and John 10 Like our Acts reading give us a picture of what the church is like. We are the sheep, the flock, a community with Jesus the Good shepherd leading us out to green pastures, leading us through dark valleys, generously providing for us in time of trouble, and in times of celebration, so that our cups run over. This is what the church should be and it is what is described at the end of Acts 2.
    If we skip forward a little to Acts 3 to the healing of the lame man at the Temple it is important to remember that all of this is the work of God. When the crowd gathers round Peter & John in wonder to see who had done this healing Peter  says "…why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk?" (Acts 3:12, NRSV) And he goes on to say "…the faith that is through Jesus has given [this lame man] this perfect health in the presence of all of you." (Acts 3:16, NRSV) To swap back to the image of a shepherd for a moment, it is Jesus who gathers us as a flock, who leads us to fresh water and green pastures, and indeed it is Jesus who created the world with the Father and the Spirit including the pastures and the water. It is Jesus the Good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep who keeps us together, keeps us alive and gives us fullness of life.
    In other words in Acts just as in John 10 and the 23rd psalm,  the signs, the wonders, the growth, the genuine community, and even the acts of sharing and giving to those in need come from God. It is because of Jesus' faithful life including death, it is because he has been raised to new life and shares that life with us, and it is because of the pouring out of the Spirit that the church has come into being and done all the good that it has. (In fact it is our human striving that has often led to corruption abuse and much that is bad. When we seek to make a full life for ourselves instead of accepting it as a gift, it is then we may be tempted to use others for our pleasure, and seek to steal what is not ours.)
    I know for myself that my life would have been vastly different if it was not for the work of God in my life. I would not be in ministry. I would not have been a teacher. I would probably not have got married and had children. This is not to say God cannot use me or you or the church and our efforts, but in the end, it is all the work of God graciously including us in God's work. Part of my story is that God used my mum and dad, and many other Christians (church members) to bring me to where I am today.
In response then to all that God has done and is doing for us in Jesus and in the pouring out of the Spirit, this is what the church does and is:
    First: It is that group of people who devote themselves to the Apostles' teaching. The Apostle's teaching is what we have in the New Testament. It is the Good News or Gospel concerning Jesus. It is Jesus' life and death, his teaching, his example, his new life, and his sharing with us of the relationship that he has with God the Father and the Holy Spirit. The Apostles saw that this Jesus was the one who the Old Testament pointed to. So, the Old Testament forms part of their teaching too. Therefore we should study the Bible, reflect on it by ourselves and with others, in sermons, Bible study and personal devotion.
    Second: The Church is the group of people who share in fellowship, or genuine community. Perhaps because of our sinfulness or because of changed circumstances, we can't be as radical as the early church and have "all things in common" and sell our possessions and distribute the proceeds to all according to need. But at a minimum, it means we should spend time in each other's company, weep with those  who weep, celebrate with those who celebrate, support those who are weak in body, mind or faith and yes even give to those who have need as we are able. Even when we were in lock-down that meant phone calls, sharing of devotional notes, and emails, zooming, facetime and skyping, etc. and dropping something needed or encouraging at people's doors or in their letter boxes. Out of lock-down, now that we are living with COVID rather than trying to stop it, we can add, visiting people, sharing in meals and hospitality, being part of community groups and activities. We can add our fellowship and support activities such as CaMEO, fellowship, and FAN-C. And of course, the teaching of the Apostles is that genuine community is not just for fellow believes, but we should also love our neighbours as ourselves, for God loved the whole world so much that he gave his only Son.
    Third, the church is the group of people who devote themselves to prayer. We are the ones who wait upon the Lord. We are the ones who present our prayers and petitions our fears and hopes to God. As we do so God speaks to us. We grow closer to God and to each other, and we bring not only ourselves, we bring our families our neighbours and indeed all the world to God, and we join with Jesus in his prayer.
    Fourth the church is that group of people who break bread together. This phrase probably refers to communion and not just a shared meal. As it happens we are going to share in communion today. We don’t just share in it as this group of 30-60 plus the 20 plus online. For when 30-60 people gather in Campbell street as the South Rockhampton Uniting church, another 50 or more Uniting people gather to do the same thing in North Rocky and Mt Morgan, and thousands more for other church groups do the same, tens or hundreds of thousands in Australia and millions maybe even more than a billion across the globe. We celebrate our unity in Christ, that he is with us, and all he has done and is doing for us and in us. 
    And today's passage tells us that where the church is, where there is breaking of bread, prayer, community and devotion to the Apostles' teaching, God will bring signs, wonders, generous sharing and growth in numbers and in faith.

Images by Deborah Hudson OpenClipart-Vectors Madison  from Pixabay 

Local Rockhampton artists are combining to tell the story of the first Easter through 15 artworks to be displayed at the South Rockhampton Uniting church in Campbell Street from the 4^th to the 8^th of April.

The artworks including paintings, collages and even a story book will be arranged in order, to tell the story of the first Easter from Thursday night through to Easter Sunday. There will be a booklet with artists reflections on each piece, a reading, and a prayer.

Admission is free and visitors can use the booklet to follow the story, reflect and pray or just wander through and admire the works.

“There are artists drawn from Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran & Uniting churches,” said Rev Andrew Gillies from the South Rockhampton Uniting Church.

“We last did this in 2019 and hoped it would be an annual event but COVID stopped all that from happening,” he said.

“We won’t have all the works until Palm Sunday,” said Rev Gillies “but as one example we have a fantastic painting by well-known local artist Elizabeth Cooper, of the garden where Jesus prayed just before he died. The garden is eerie and deserted because the prayer has finished, the disciples have fled, and Jesus has been arrested.”

“We also have a strikingcollage of the three crosses by Rosslyn McKendry with the crowd gathered in front,” he added.

For more information check out South Rockhampton Uniting Church’s Facebook page www.facebook.com/SouthRockyUC.

1. Heb 11:29-12:2

• Sermon Jesus Carries us across the line
  1. The Story of Derek Redman

See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V93-mOwkw3I

Derek Redman was a contender to win a medal in the 400m sprint at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992. He had easily made the semi-finals winning both his heats, but in that semi-final https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_JUKNfYNpc150 metres from the end, his hamstring tore. The Olympic creed is a quotation from the founder of the modern Olympics. It says “The important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part, just as in life, what counts is not the victory but the struggle.”   In an act which embodies the Olympic creed, Redman after collapsing on the track, struggled to his feet and began to limp along the track toward the finish line. But Redman did not finish the race alone. Surrounding him in the stadium a great crowd cheered him on toward the finish line. As he limped along a man came down from the crowd, pushed officials and security people aside and came to Redman’s assistance. The man was Redman’s father. He said to his son “Son you don’t have to do this.” Redman replied “Dad, yes I do”.  "Well, then," said his father, "we're going to finish this together."

            His father supported Redman like a crutch and the two of them hobbled across the line as the crowd cheered them on and wept with them. He wasn’t a medal winner but he had kept his eyes on the finish and had run to the end.

[Source of this story and inspiration for this sermon was initially https://sermons4kids.com/run-the-race.htm but it has been supplemented by material found through Google searches.]

1. Sermon

            This story of Redman and his dad is a wonderful illustration of Who Jesus is, the Christian life, and also a great illustration of today’s Hebrew’s reading.  Jesus is described as the Pioneer and perfecter of our faith. Other translations describe him as the one who makes our faith complete.

            Derek Redmond the runner you just saw was running toward a goal. He of course wanted to win, but he also wanted to finish. As today’s reading put it he wanted to run the race with perseverance.  Redmond breaks down continues by himself to hop, but it does not seem he can finish. Then his Fater joins him and he goes with him and indeed in a sense carries us accross the line.

            This is a picture of what God has done for us in Jesus. God became one with us, came down from the stands in order that we might be carried across the line of life. When we could not go on God joined with us and carried us through life, sin and death and through into new life.

            I believe we need God from beyond us. Some Theologians like Paul Tillich argue that the idea that God comes from beyond us is difficult for modern people to believe. Instead they argue that God is not beyond God is within, God is the foundation, or the core of being, of our existence. The Christian life is therefore about getting in touch with God within us and within others and creation. Seeing God at work in our relationships with others.

            The person in history who shows this best is Jesus. Through his relationship with others Jesus showed us what it truly means not only to love God and our neighbour with the whole of our being but what it means to love our neighbour and even our enemies. He was so committed to this love of God and others that it led him to an early death nailed to a Roman Cross. Through his example and teaching we can know what it is to live the perfect life.

            In some ways there is nothing controversial about this. Indeed I think it is part of what today’s reading from Hebrews is saying when it says. “lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus ... who ... endured the cross”.

            When Redmond ran his race that was the kind of thing he was doing. He was running toward a goal he had been striving for the whole of his life. He had dedicated every part of his life to it. He was calling on the Olympic spirit, and remembering all those great Olympic athletes who had gone before him. Perhaps he had a great figure like Daley Thompson in mind as he ran. When he broke down his aim was still to finish.

            As Christians of virtually every kind we believe that God is with and that the whole creation was made by God and even though the world works by natural processes it is sustained by him. Creation’s life and source comes from God. This presence of God within us and in creation is what we traditionally call the Holy Spirit. It is what Tillich called “the ground of our being.” In some ways this is a really persuasive argument - the idea that God could come from outside and interfere in the natural course of events does not fit well with a view of the world which says that everything must have a clearly identifiable cause and effect.

            Now at this point I could launch into a philosophical argument about how it is I believe that God not only comes to us from within but from outside and that God and creation are quite different things but I’m not going to do that. Instead I’m going to talk about three problems and  the experience of God.

            Derek Redmond was a great athlete, able to run the race and perhaps even win. He had qualified for the race. He was in a centre lane. Before he broke down he was in a great position. The first problem is that you and I are not Derek Redmond we could not even make an Olympic heat let alone a final.  More importantly you and I are not Jesus we fall far short of his example.

            The second problem is that we and the world in which we live is limited. We can not always reach the goal. Sometimes natural disasters may stop us. Other people get our way sometimes with intent or sometimes by accident they trip us up. We all die and our deaths may well happen before we have reached our goal. Like Moses or Joseph or Miriam we do not reach the promised land. As part of the great crowd of witnesses they did not ereceive “what had been promised”.  Or like Derek Redmond we just break down before the end and all our hard work seems to have come to nothing.

            Thirdly we are sinners. We do not obey God’s commands, we can not always fix our eyes on Jesus. We get distracted and lave the race or cross the line and get disqualified. Who has ever loved God with all our heart with all our mind, with all our strength and with all our soul? Who has always loved their neighbour as themselves? Who has met the even higher standard of the Sermon n the mount or John’s gospel to always thurn the other cheek, love our enemies, pray for thise who persecute us, and love our fellow Christians as Christ loved and love us?

            No sometimes we are struck by the sin that clings so closely, the grief we feel over some loss, our health causing us to break down, the betrayal of a friend or family member, some natural disaster, and we collapse on the track. If like Redmond we are strong and determined even though we may come last we may be able to rouse ourselves and limp to the finish, but often we can not finish and indeed if the aim is the Kingdom of God, the new creation, where God’s will, will be done and earth becomes as heaven, and heaven and earth combine, then I believe that none of us will ever finish.

            How then can we go on? Surely we are lost. Unless there is help from beyond, from outside but also with us along side us we will never get to the promised end.

            Just at that point when we have collapsed on the track or when we are limping toward a line we will never get to, help arrives. For Redmond it was his Father come down from the stand and onto the track to carry him over the line. For us in the race of life, in the Christian journey, I believe it is Jesus, for he is I believe not only the example toward which we run, he is as Hebrews 12 says the pioneer and most crucially the perfecter of our faith.

            For most Christians and before that for the Jewish people this has been our experience. All of us, though some more than others have been in that dark place  in the race of life that Redmond was in, in an Olympic semi-final and yet at the time or looking back, we have seen that God has carried us through. Perhaps it is the forgiveness of sin, perhaps the strength to overcome some addiction, perhaps it has been a terrible grief, the loss of career, a house, a child, a husband or wife, perhaps it has been a sickness or depression. Perhaps it has been facing your own oncoming death. Somehow the strength, or forgiveness or the healing or the promise or the peace and acceptance comes, slowly or quickly and not from ourselves, but from God, and we are carried over the line going on with and even finishing the race.

            This has been the experience of that great cloud of witnesses, that somehow God who seems far away, in Jesus and by the Spirit comes near. God joins us on the track and carries us to the finish line. Without him we are lost but with him we go on, and claim the prize.

            “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1–2, NRSV) Amen

Key Bible passages: Proverbs 8:1–4, 22-31, Romans 5:1–5, John 16:12–15

The experience of God (Trinity)
Today is Trinity Sunday. From our tradition and in our history the church has usually named God as Trinity. God is One but at the same time God is Three - Father, Son & Holy Spirit. 
 Today, I’m going to talk about how God is experienced and how in that experience, as God is revealed to us, we come to know God as three and as one.
 This understanding of God as Trinity comes from the experience of God by the people of Israel, in the early church, and in our personal experience.
 It comes to us in the Bible. The Bible records the experience, and the revelation of God, to the peole of Israel and the early church.
This experience is made formal in the Creeds of the church, Especially the Nicene Creed. Creeds are short summaries of the faith, created in wordy arguments but built upon the experience of the Christian community.

To put it another way our understanding & so our experience of God stems from 
  i. creation.
  ii. from the life and work of Jesus, and
  iii. from the personal experience of the first Christians and church members down through the ages.

 h. God out there... (God the creator)
Many people are led to faith, begin their faith journey, or are strengthened in their faith by the awe they experience in creation. Whatever you believe about the age of the Universe, if you are a Christian you will believe in God as the Creator, the one who spoke the worlds into being.
 Through the ages Christians, indeed all the major faiths refer to the divine origin of the worlds. In Eastern faiths, some indigenous Spiritualities and Greek philosophy, the universe, is the outworking of the divine. In Jewish, Christian & Islamic faiths, the Universe is the handiwork or the artwork of God. It is God’s Mona Lisa. Some Eastern faiths argue that the matter of the Universe is evil and that the aim of life is to connect or become part of the divine reality beneath it. Christianity, Judaism and Islam all teach that God made the Universe good and we can see at least a little of God’s goodness as well as God’s power and cleverness in creation. 
 To quote from Psalm 8 Psalm 8:1 (NIV)

      1 LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! 
         You have set your glory in the heavens.

As human beings we also experience another aspect of creation. No matter our faith or even lack of faith, all human beings have a sense of right and wrong. We may argue about the details but it seems to be universal that we should not murder (at least our own), or steal or lie and so on. We should love our neighbours, at least those who are near to us. This common morality and also what we call common sense could together be called wisdom.  

Proverbs tells us that Wisdom was the very first creation of God. Proverbs 8:22–23 (NIV)
      22 “The LORD brought me forth as the first of his works, before his deeds of old; 23 I was formed long ages ago, at the very beginning, when the world came to be.”

Almost all human beings have this sense of morality, a sense of what is right and how it should be applied. You may not always want to apply it, you may want to act selfishly but if you look into your hearts, your core, we know this basic wisdom.

Almost all human beings have also looked at the stars, or a sunset, or the tiny perfect hand of a newborn gripping their finger, they have been caught in a terrible storm and have been filled with and awe and wonder and sometimes even fear, at the power, creativity and artistry of God. 

This picture of God is not whole, not how Christians understand God. Creation gives a mixed picture of God, it is full of beauty and majesty but when earthquake, fire and tsunami strike, and when you consider the vast empty barren-ness of space it can strike fear or even horror into you.

Creation says almost nothing about God being love. It does not reveal God as a loving parent, as the one Jesus called Father or Dad. In creation, everything dies. Even wisdom only speaks of justice, it doesn’t speak the wonderful foolishness of forgiveness, compassion and grace.

Moreover the God of creation may be close. But this God who called the worlds into being with a word, is beyond you, separated from you, it may feel like you can reach out and touch God like on a clear night it feels like you can touch the stars but in the end you are part of the creation, part of the art work and you cannot reach out of the canvass to touch the artist even if he or she is near by.

 i. God with us : Jesus
The second way the Christians have experienced God is in Jesus. God who was alongside you in history. God the eternal son become a human being. The artist become a part of the artwork. In his healing, touching the leper, in his teaching, in his sharing meals with sinners and respectable people alike, in his miracles, in his calling and commissioning of the disciples and in his death and resurrection, Jesus has revealed God to be compassionate, forgiving, a friend, a brother, a loving parent you can refer to as your Dad. The one who sees even the sparrows fall, and cares so much more for you. It is in Jesus witnessed to in the pages of the Bible that you come to know the fullness of the character of God. Because of Jesus you know that you are not just parts of an artwork, tiny brushstrokes on a vast canvass, you are God’s adopted children. 
 As the reading from Romans 5 says “we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. " (Romans 5:1–2, NRSV) And as Jesus says in the John reading "All that the Father has is mine." (John 16:15, NRSV) and he promises that he will pass that on to you or as Jesus says in John 14 “If you have seen me , you have seen the Father.” (v9) and in 10:30 “The Father and I are one.”
 Now if this is true that Jesus is God among us in history there is a problem. Yes, Jesus has shown you what God beyond us is like. Jesus has shown you his dad, indeed he shares his Dad with you and because of his life and death and new life, you know you are welcome with God, but just two Sunday’s ago we celebrated the  Ascension when we remembered that Jesus has gone to be with God the Father. So God is still out of reach.

 j. God Within
Yet I bet this is not your personal experience of God. Most of you will not have heard God speak in a voice from heaven or a burning bush, but nearly all Christians have the sense at least sometimes God is with them or even in them. This is the Holy Spirit. This is the way you are connected to Jesus and his Dad. “When the Spirit comes” Jesus says “he will guide you into all truth... he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” That divine inner sense of peace, that conviction that you should speak up about something or check up on a family member or friend, that divine strength you have at time of loss, or need or illness, that perseverance you have through suffering, that sense of hope, all of these could be, and probably are, the presence of the Spirit.
 I have many favourite Bible verses but Romans 5:5 has to be one of them. Romans 5:5 (NIV)“... God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”

 k. Summary
So the reason for this idea of the Trinity is essentially to do with the way God is experienced. You experience God as beyond you, the artist of creation who you cannot reach out of the canvass to touch, even though this Artist is very near. You also know that God was with us in history; God became part of the artwork, one of the brush strokes, and so you know God, who reveals that the Artist is a loving parent who loves the creation dearly. And you know God near you and in you, the Spirit, who fills your hearts, your inner being with God’s love, bringing you peace and strength and wisdom, connecting you to Jesus and the Father. God is beyond you, was and is one of you in history, and God is in you and among you: Father Son & Holy Spirit.

Today as Christians this experience of God is still the same as you look out at creation, as you read the teaching and stories of Jesus, and as you close your eyes in prayer.

 l. Practical expressions - 
This church’s mission and vision is to be a practical expression of the love of God. How practical is the Trinity? How does it work out in your common life?
  i. God Alongside - Food pantry
When you read about the Story of Jesus feeding the hungry and having compassion on the broken, the Spirit’s voice and love at work within you very often calls you to action. One of the ways you have answered that call is with the food pantry. On Sunday and Tuesday you have helped four different households giving away three lots of food plus soap and toilet paper.
  ii. God within & alongside - Witness - comfort, hope, peace, forgiveness, acceptance
When you face suffering loss or illness or fear what could be more practical than the forgiveness and healing  known in Jesus and the inner peace and strength, acceptance and love you experience through the Spirit. And what a story you have to tell each other, your family and your neighbours. “Despite COVID and inflation, and my illness and my loss” you can say to others “I have hope. I believe that God who was with us in Jesus healing and providing, is with me still. I have a sense of peace, and you can have it too.” 
  iii. God the Artist - beyond us
Next year the Worship and Evangelism committee is considering doing another visual arts Stations of the Cross. Echoing the creativity of the Creator, the Artist of the Universe and drawing attention to the artistry of the creation itself is a great practical way to bring people hope, joy, and wonder. As we ponder all of that let’s come to God with our free will offering and sing a great hymn about the experience of God.

A narrative sermon based on Genesis 32: 25-32 and Matthew 26: 36-46

My name is Jacob. I’m a twin. They say that even when I was in my mother’s womb I struggled with my brother. I came out holding onto his heal so they gave me the name grasper or grabber. The name sort of fits because for the first part of my life that’s just what I was like.  I knew that the only way to get ahead in life was to make your own way and your own luck. If a situation presented itself then you should grab it with both hands and never let go. Keep your wits about you and if other people give you a tiny opening, push your way in and get what you can.

 When my brother came home really hungry one day after hunting or whatever it is he does out in the fields I was cooking some stew. Red lentels, some herbs, and spices, I recall. He asked me for some – he said he was “starving to death” and so half joking I said, “First sell me your birthright”. I was basically saying - Give me your share of the family inheritance and give me the blessing or the Promise that my Grandfather Abraham was given by God. God was going to make our family big, powerful and rich. I didn’t really expect Esau to take me seriously about the stew, but he did. I’m starving to death! He said, what use is all that to me? So I saw my chance, “swear to me” I said that you will give me your birthright and I’ll give you a big bowl of stew. And he did! I couldn’t believe it.

 Maybe about 10 years later my dad Isaac decided to make the passing on of the blessing and the inheritance formal. Esau never admitted to Dad that he’d sold his birthright to me, but mum knew about it. She also told me that there was a prophesy that I would get the blessing instead of Esau. The trouble was that Esau was dad’s favourite. So mum and I cooked up a plan to trick Dad. We look different but we are twins so we sound alike and by this time dad was practically blind. So I disguised myself as Esau on the day the blessing was to happen esau was out in the fields hunting for a feast for the blessing meal. Dad fell for it and the blessing was mine. Mum and I thought Esau would just take it, be a bit grumpy but I’d get the the animals, the land and the greatness that God had promised. But Esau wasn’t having it; he threatened to kill me, so with mum’s help I ran off to my Uncle Laban.

 I had dad’s blessing but I’d lost mum and Esau, and my whole family. I believe last week you heard about the next part of the story. I had a vision of God who said I would be blessed. God would stay with me and things would turn out OK. Looking back it was an amazing and frightening experience. It gave me hope, but I didn’t really understand it. All my life I’d got things by making bargains or tricking people and also by hard work. I’d made a lot of my own luck. I thought God was offering me a deal, so I said to God and to myself. If you look after me I’ll worship you and give you 10% of everything. But I think God was offering it to me for free, as a gift, but I couldn’t believe that.

 Anyway, I had a lot of adventures with my Uncle, I ended up with huge herds of goats and sheep & cattle, two wives, two sort of more wives , 11 sons and only one daughter. I was rich, I’d been blessd and I’d also really, really upset my uncle who sent me packing, so with all my riches I went home back to my brother and my dad and mum. But I was worried. I had heard Esau was doing well like me but he also had his own private mini army. I had servants and herders but no army. 

 So I thought I’d try to make another deal. I separated out hundreds of my best animals and sent them on ahead as a present for Esau. I sent the rest of the family ahead of me too. I decided to rest by myself for the night before meeting my fate. I had thought that if I had all that wealth and wives and children then I’d have made it, but now it seemed my brother would get me in the end. It had all come to nothing.

 Then the strangest thing happened. This man appeared and began to wrestle with me. It was a surprise but I was up for the fight. I’d fought all my life. I knew he was strong far stronger than me but I used every trick I had. For hours we fought. I wasn’t winning but I wasn’t giving up either. We fought and we fought and dawn began to break, and the stranger showed his real power and hit me a blow so hard on the hip that it threw it out of joint. I was helpless, I had been defeated, but would not let go. I sensed he could probably have thrown me aside like a rag-doll, but instead he spoke. “Let me go for the day is breaking.” I could feel something huge, something powerful, so I said “No! I won’t let go, not until you bless me.” He asked my name - “Jacob” I said. His reply struck me like a bolt of lightning. “You shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.” (Genesis 32:28, NRSV) I had been wrestling with God. That’s what Israel means “wrestles with God”. I hadn’t really won. I was a bit cheeky then, despite the awe and the fear and I asked “What’s your name?” after all I’d given away my name. But of course he didn’t say. But he did bless me! 

 The stories of my Father and Grandfather said that God was so pure, so powerful, so mighty that if you saw God you would die. Instantly burn up in fire, be swallowed by the earth, whatever but I had not only seen God, face to face I’d wrestled with God. I called the place Peniel which in my language means “face of God”, for I had seen the face of God and lived. 

 I hadn’t really beaten God, God had beaten me. I had tried to earn God’s favour, earn the wealth, and earn the good life. I’d worked hard, I’d tricked, I’d cheated and sometimes I even tried to do the right thing. In the end although it seemed like it was up to me I had to accept that life and God’s blessing, God’s favour was a gift.

 I wrestled with God and I survived, I prevailed but I did not win. I walked with a limp from then on. Anyway armed with God’s favour it gave me the courage and hope I needed to go and meet my brother. 
 All that happened over 3 000 years ago. The blessing God gave my family, the gift that we didn’t deserve has wound up becoming a flesh and blood human being in one of my great, great, great etc., etc. grandchildren. Jesus of Nazareth his name was. Even he struggled, even though he was God, he was also human; he struggled and wanted his own way, but unlike me he always went God’s way. I had some hard times, but he faced worse. He faced abandonment, denial, betrayal, torture and death. 

 My story ended up OK. Esau welcomed me and in the end my story though full of more adventures was a good one. Jesus died, but that wasn’t the end. He was blessed with new life. Because God’s love is eternal, Jesus was raised to new life and that life is available to you.
 What his story and mine have in common is that God is with you. God is with you even if you’re a grasping cheat like me. I’ve learned the hard way that God doesn’t approve of any of that, but if God can stick with me, well God can stick with anyone. God can even stick with you. God is with you when relationships break down, like they did with me and dad and Esau, and God is with you when things seem darkest, when you have no-one and nothing, and when you have everything. Jesus’ story tells us that God is even with us through the darkest of all things, death. Everything else except faith, hope and love will pass away. The greatest is love and God’s love, just like God, is eternal. Anyway I’ll see you in the new creation and then you can tell me your story.

It's meant to be a funny line because often people argue that if only we really understood exactly what other people were saying, people of other cultures, languages, faiths, and so on then there would be world peace. I will be honest and say there are times when I don't say exactly what I think and there have been times when I have been very glad that people have misunderstood what I was saying because what I was actually trying to say was not good or perhaps just foolish.

The Babel fish by translating exactly what people are trying to say would mean that we would hear and understand the best of what our fellow human beings are saying but we would also hear the worst. 

The Tower of Babel story is about how God gave us separate languages because we were trying to make a great name for ourselves. Instead of receiving and caring for creation as a gift from God we were seeking to do the very thing that Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden to be like God, to make ourselves great. This is what the Bible calls pride. Pride is not taking pride in the achievements of our work or craft or our children, spouse or family. Pride is believing that we are better than others. It is believing that we should have special privileges because of our knowledge, our wealth, our skill or our position. As Psalm 10:4 puts it "Psalm 10:4 (NLT)
    4 The wicked are too proud to seek God. 
      They seem to think that God is dead.
That is what is happening with the tower of Babel. "Let us make a name for ourselves." God recognises their pride and that "this is only the beginning of what will do", and so scatters them. This division of people by race and language is a result of sin. It is not that any race or language is better or worse or that there are not magnificent things in every culture,  but the underlying division between them is as a result of sin, just as the underlying division in the relationship between us and God is also the result of sin.

The story of Acts 2 of the first Pentecost Sunday is a reversal of the story of the tower of Babel. It is a story of people being gathered together from the corners of the world. It is a story of the division of language being broken down so that everyone hears the same message from the same people in their own language, the language of their heart. Those building the tower were scattered to the four corners of the earth and their languages were confused. Those who hear Peter and the disciples preach are gathered from the four corners of the earth and they hear together without confusion the message.
 What makes this a real reversal of Babel is that what gathers those people together on this morning is not the wonderful works of human beings, the wonderful work of a great tower, or the wonderful work of creating a new organization,  what brings them together are the wonderful works of God. "In our own languages we them speaking about God's deeds of power"!  the crowd says. Moreover, what brings them together is not their pride, them making a name for themselves it is the Name of Jesus who brings them together. And so our Acts reading for today concludes "everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved."

Babel has been reversed the scattered have been gathered, the confused have heard of the wonderful works of God with one voice and with one tongue and they have been brought together not because of their own power or special achievement, but in the Name of the Lord, the name of Jesus.

And this message, this pouring out of the Spirit on that first Pentecost Sunday is not just for the 100 or so disciples, men and women gathered in the upper room, it isn't even just for that crowd gathered together 2000 years ago, it is for all people including us.
Acts 2:17-18 (NLT)

    17 'In the last days,' God says, 
      'I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. 
    Your sons and daughters will prophesy. 
      Your young men will see visions, 
      and your old men will dream dreams. 
    18 In those days I will pour out my Spirit 
      even on my servants-men and women alike- 
      and they will prophesy.

All people have this gift of the Spirit, the power from on high, the Advocate , the Spirit of truth from the Father who takes us into the relationship between the Father and the Son. We have the Spirit, we have seen the Son and so we have seen the Father. We are not orphaned, we are not by ourselves, we are no longer alienated from God and each other. We are one great fellowship of love and this is true for us and ultimately it will be true for all Creation which groans for the Children of God to be revealed so that it may be freed from its bondage  and "obtain the freedom of the glory of the Children of God." (As Romans 8 reminds us.)

This story in Acts 2 is the beginning of this new creation. It is the reversal not only of the divisions of the tower of  Babel, it is the reversal of the broken relationships that began with Adam and Eve who in their pride rebelled against God. It is the reversal the division between of Cain and Abel and Sarah & Hagar, Jacob and Esau, Mary and Martha.  To quote Colossians 3:11 This day, Pentecost,  marks the beginning of the renewal of all things the in which "there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all!" (Col 3:11)

This is the very heart of our faith. Essentially we are in the unity and reconciliation business. We have been separated from God and each other, but Jesus through his, life, teaching, friendship, ministry, death and resurrection has reconciled us to God and to each other. In the last week I have been reading Reconnected: A Community Builder's Handbook by Andrew Leigh, Nick Terrell. As I type this I am only up to chapter three. The first two chapters are about how Australia and other Western countries are becoming less and less community minded and more and more individualistic. Involvement in all kinds of community, political, religious, and community life are declining, as is trust, and volunteering. On average people also have fewer close friends and much less contact with neighbours. As people in the unity and reconciliation business we should be concerned about this not just because it means the church is in danger of fragmenting but because the community is too. It is an attack on not only the church but on the world God loves.
 As Chistians we believe that this is not the ultimate truth or destiny of the church or the world. We believe that in Jesus and through the pouring out of the Holy Spirit all people are reconciled to God and each other and all people are being reconciled to God and each other. This current fragmentation is not the final end. Our call is to live out that truth, to quite literally love our neighbours and make community connections through the church and in our family and community life. 

We have the same Spirit and we are called to the same thing that Peter and the disciples of the upper room were called to do. We are called to proclaim the wonderful works of God. We are called to announce the Name of Jesus by which everyone can be saved. We are part of the same story of the reversal of the tower of Babel, the beginning of the unity of all people and all peoples by the Spirit. We are the fellowship of reconciliation, not only for ourselves but for all the world. 

This is our purpose! This is what it means to be salt and light for the world. This is what it means to shine God's light from the hillside into our community. If we are faithful to the Spirit's call it may be that some will say we are crazy, that we are drunk, but others will be amazed and look beyond us to see the Lord. 

At the 2019 Synod meeting the Norman and Mary Millar lecturer Professor  Anne Tiernan  from a purely secular point of view spoke about how the division and polarisation of our nation and the world could be reversed. I quote, "I want to suggest that creating a strong, healthier, more vibrant, inclusive and fair Queensland (and Australia) is a shared task," said Professor Tiernan. "I strongly believe that we-the Churches, universities and other civic and public purpose organisations-have the capacity and potential to do what modern politics cannot." End of quote.

I believe she is right! We could do that even in our own strength.  But even more wonderfully we have the Spirit of the Living God, we have God's love poured into our hearts, we have the Advocate and Witness drawing us into the relationship between Jesus and the Father, the one who made all things and who is making all things new. If we recognise this and are faithful in our witness, how much more can God do with what we bring.

God will bring this new creation, with or without us, but it is God's desire that like Peter and the women and men of the upper room, like the woman at the Well and like Andrew who brought the Greeks to see Jesus and the boy to share his bread and fish for the multitude we should be a part of the story. The story which ends with the nations gathered from the East and the West from the North and the South, with God dwelling among us, where there will be no more morning and crying and every tear will be wiped away and we will be united in one great fellowship of love.