Listen Now

Today we have something a little bit different as our face-to-face  meeting was shifted online due to Covid. Instead of a regular sermon Geoff guided us through a Bible study in John 6:1-21 using a range of visual tools including maps and interlinear Bible resources.

The church should be a place of healing, not a place that causes trauma. And not just miraculous physical healing, but the kind of healing that  comes from deep abiding relationship, from connectedness, intimacy and belonging. The kind of healing that comes from extended times of  listening, from tea and from coffee, and from the breaking of bread.

Today we have something a little bit different as our face-to-face  meeting was shifted online due to Covid. Instead of a regular sermon Geoff guided us through a Bible study using a range of visual tools to help show how he reads the Bible and prepares his messages.

These incredible stories are signposts for us in the gospel of Mark. Jesus didn’t heal everyone in the world or raise every dead person in the region. But in these examples, we see what his kingdom will be like in the time to come. God is remaking the world through Jesus and one day his kingdom will look like all the signposts that Jesus left behind in his ministry. The oppressed are set free, the afflicted are healed, the blind have their sight restored, the dead are raised, and all injustices will be made right. The greatest signpost of all being the cross upon which Jesus died as a sign of his great love and his power over sin and death.

The mustard bush was not a plant that any farmer would sow into his field. They are an invasive plant that grows and takes over! It is a weed! And the kingdom of God is like this, it will get into every nook and cranny, it will find every space and it will grow. There is no stopping it! The kingdom of God is going to uproot the kingdom of the world, it is going to overthrow the corrupt systems and rulers. It is going to restore what has been broken, and free the oppressed, and comfort the mourning. And it will be a refuge for all people.

The teachers of the law had a sinister agenda. By labelling Jesus as 'possessed' they were also trying to justify to the people what they were planning to do to him. This is a common tactic even today when authorities want to get away with hurting people. Our media is often complicit with policy makers in creating labels that dehumanise people with the explicit agenda of justifying institutional abuse. If I can convince you that someone is not like you and that they are less valuable than you, it then becomes reasonable for me to treat them without dignity. But our heavenly father has a new label for us also, the 'sons and daughters of God'.

Ultimately, spiritual maturity is about balance. We want to be sensitive to the subtle and emotive voice of the Holy Spirit whilst being tempered with the wisdom and discernment that the Holy Spirit offers. Simply being stoic and emotionless does not make you mature; it makes you a cold and unfeeling. At the same time, always being ‘led’ to do things without wisdom, discernment, and appropriate restraint does not make you a spiritual giant it makes you a weirdo. Neither of these extremes produce good fruit or are helpful in building up the body.

God is love. God is not some warmongering, violent, capricious, malicious, angry being in heaven that hates everyone who disagrees with him. God is love and he sends his son as the witness and example of that love, and his son dies for us. This is the ultimate example of love: To lay down one's life for one’s friends.

There are definitely things in your life that need a pruning. Old ways of thinking, habits, toxic ambitions, destructive behaviour, selfishness… even grief and hurt. These things must give way so that new things can grow.

My experience as a child and as an adult has been blessed because I have always known that my mum loves me. All my life she has laid in the gate and protected me. She has been a good shepherd. I have never doubted her love, and there is nothing that I could do that would stop her from loving me. She bore me in her womb and fed me at her breast. She carried me in her arms, and in her heart and prayers. She has bled, cried, and sacrificed for me in ways I cannot even fathom. My mother’s selfless love has been a testimony of God’s love for my entire life, and I am grateful for her.

Jesus’ physical incarnation, physical death, and physical resurrection, marked by Christmas and Easter, are central to his embodiment of humanity and show us that the flesh is fundamentally good and capable of housing the divine presence. Our bodies are not bad. Our flesh is not bad. This world is not bad. When God created the earth and everything within it, he called it  ‘good’, and when he made humanity from the dust of the ground, he proclaimed us to be ‘very good’. When the judgement ultimately comes it will not be the destruction of the world, it will be the destruction of death and the restoration of the world.

I choose to believe because the world truly needs to be saved and the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, and the beautiful kingdom that he represents are honestly the hope of the world. As I have studied and travelled, as I have sought wisdom and truth, I keep coming back to Jesus as the centre of my life.

Part of what Jesus does on the cross is to take back the power that humans have handed over to demonic forces. By defeating the devil and his schemes Jesus sets the scene for a new creation and a new earth where humans fulfil their purpose as image bearers.

What have you made sacred that is should not be? What has become commonplace in your life that creates a stumbling block to your worship and faithfulness?

"The Son of Man must suffer and die, and if you want to be my disciple you must also pick up your cross and follow me. You must resist the beastly temptation to define good and evil, resist the temptation towards violence and greed; resist the beast. And in doing that you will find life!"

May the God of all Goodness and Mercy follow you on this Lenten journey and may the barren parts of your life be made fruitful through the grace of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

We were blessed to hear from our dear friend Chevelle Hibberd today.

There are many things in the Bible that we can rightly call biblical, that we cannot rightly call Christian. If there is any confusion about whose opinion, tradition, or practice is most valid it is made clear for us here at the transfiguration; Jesus supersedes everything that came before him. “Listen to him!” The law and prophets testified about Jesus, but we must take our lessons directly from him.

A terrible side effect of our disbelief in spiritual things is that we  fail to recognise their influence and fail to respond to them. There are two sets of values at play in the world, those that are consistent with the kingdom of God and those that are not. Those that  bring life and those that bring death. Those that seek to restore and  build, and those that seek to pull down and destroy.

Whilst the cross has mostly been used as a symbol of service and sacrifice, it has also been turned into a symbol of power. Seeking military, political, or social power in the name of the cross of Christ is blasphemy. Committing acts of violence, greed, imperialism, judgement, genocide,  superiority, and power over people in the name of the cross is the antithesis of following Jesus. Second Sunday After the Epiphany, Year B.