John 1:10-18 (NRSV)

¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. ¹¹He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. ¹²But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, ¹³who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. ¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. ¹⁵(John testified to him and cried out, ‘This was he of whom I said, “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” ’) ¹⁶From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. ¹⁷The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known. 

Some thoughts from Bishop Tom Wright ...

Jesus is identical with the Word who was there from the very beginning of everything – through whom all things were made – the one who contained and contains life and light. But when God sent the Word into the world, specifically to Israel, the chosen people do not recognise him. This is the central problem that seems to dominate the whole story: Jesus comes to God’s people, and God’s people do what the rest of the world do – they prefer darkness to light. This is the reason why we all need grace.

Tom Wright suggests (and I agree) that what makes this passage really exciting is that it addresses us as well because in verse 12 we read: “¹²But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God ...” This means that anyone – in history, now and in the future – all are invited to become children of God, born into a new family which Jesus began and which has, since then, spread throughout the world.

All human life is special in God’s sight, but something can happen in this life that adds to its dignity and worth, when we become part of God’s special family. Wright continues: “.... this great drama is a play in search of actors, and there are parts for everyone, you and me included.”

Even today, as we journey through our lives, we can see that they are part of God’s play, revealing truth and beauty to the world.

I now turn to Barclay for inspiration.

Barclay makes the point that for the author of this Gospel it was important that John the Baptist did not occupy an exaggerated position in our thoughts and so quotes the Baptist in verse 15 as saying: “He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.” The Baptist was older than Jesus but this is not what he is saying; he is speaking in the light of eternity and so identifies Jesus as God – the one who existed before the universe came into existence and ‘... beside whom any human figure has no standing at all.’

Verse 16a begins with an interesting phrase: “From his fullness ...” This implies that the sum total of all that is God is Jesus. Paul uses the same word in Colossians when he says that the fullness of God dwelt in Christ. He is implying that the totality of God’s wisdom, power and love is in Jesus, the Christ. Barclay writes:

A person can go to Jesus with any need and find that need supplied. A person can go to Jesus with any ideal and find that ideal realised. In Jesus, a person in love with beauty will find the supreme beauty. In Jesus, the person to whom life is the search for knowledge will find the supreme revelation ...

From Jesus we have also received grace upon grace (verse 16b). In Christ we find one wonder leading to another. Sometimes as we travel a very lovely road we are overtaken by one beautiful sight being followed closely by countless others; at every view we think nothing could be lovelier, only to find there is always more. When a person begins a study of some great subject, they never get to the end of it. Always there are fresh expressions of beauty waiting for them. Barclay continues: “It is so with Christ. The more we know of him, the more wonderful he becomes. The longer we live with him, the more loveliness we discover. ...”

There is another dimension: the grace of God is never static, but always dynamic. Barclay explains: “One need invades life and one grace comes with it. That need passes and another need assaults us and with it another grace comes.”

We are taken to greater experiences of grace as our relationship with Christ grows and develops and we receive grace to meet every challenge ... “¹⁶From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.”

The Law was given by Moses, but grace and truth come through Jesus Christ. In the old way, life is governed by law: people needed to do things whether they wanted to or not, whether they knew the reason or not – because it was required or even demanded by the Law. But with the coming of Jesus, the Christ, we no longer need to seek to keep the law like slaves, we seek to live as sons and daughters who are inspired to keep the law, not because we have to, but because we want to. Barclay writes: “It is through Jesus Christ that God the law-giver became God the Father, that God the judge has become God the lover of the souls of people.”

Verse 18 is wonderful: no person has ever seen God, in fact no person can ever fully comprehend God, because God is greater than anything we can ever conceive of. What we can know and understand and experience of God is made possible through Jesus Christ. “If you want to see what God is like, look at Jesus.”

Jesus is God: an important tenet of Christian faith, but this does not mean that Jesus is identical with God, it does mean that ‘... in mind and character and being he is one with God. ... To see him is to see what God is ...’ Jesus is ‘...close to the Father’s heart ...’ This is, in Hebrew cultures, an expression of the deepest intimacy possible in human life: it is used for the experience of mother and child, husband and wife, it is used of two friends who are in complete communion with each other. Barclay adds: “When John uses this phrase about Jesus, he means that between Jesus and God there is complete and uninterrupted intimacy. It is because Jesus is so intimate with God, that he is one with God and can reveal him to men.’

In Jesus, the previously distant, unknowable, unreachable God has come to reach all people who would receive him and so God can be known, deeply and intimately by all people.

God bless you all as you journey with our Lord in 2014.

Matthew 2.13-end (NRSV)

The Escape to Egypt

 Now after they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.’ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, ‘Out of Egypt I have called my son.’

The Massacre of the Infants

 When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:
‘A voice was heard in Ramah,
   wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
   she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.’

The Return from Egypt

 When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child’s life are dead.’ Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘He will be called a Nazorean.’ 

I am indebted to the commentary on Matthew’s Gospel by Stanley Hauerwas (SCM Theological Commentaries) for this reflection, and hope my readers it to be useful as you prepare to preach on this passage on the first Sunday of Christmas.

God’s existence is open to rational demonstration. I believe this is an important reason why Matthew’s account of the magi is included in the canon of Scripture. People can find their way to Jesus in different ways, some through amazing experiences, others in simple acts of faith like that of the shepherds, while still others need to think things through. For me, it has been a mixture of a number of things, but this rational aspect is increasingly important. The magi, in addition to thinking things through, followed a star. This adds the dimension that Paul often refers to, that God can be discerned through nature as well. Hauerwas suggests that this ‘natural knowledge’, ‘… requires narration through the stories that have been given us in scripture.’ We need the balance.

Reason alone would have suggested that a new and important king would be born in the capital – Jerusalem. The magi needed help, and it came from the most surprising of sources – Herod – the evil king, but one who had invoked learned men to be able to work things out for him. They had studied the scriptures and knew of the prophecy in Micah, and so Herod was able to point the Magi in the right direction. Human learning alone is often not enough.

Hauerwas states that the main focus of our reading – the massacre of the innocents – challenges the sentimentality that might creep into our Christmas celebrations. Jesus is born into a world where things are often very ugly indeed – where children are abused and killed – and this continues, sadly, still today.

Some scholars have glossed over this vile truth, suggesting that the victory of the resurrection makes it all worth it! But as MacKinnon suggests, this truth, which I celebrate as fundamental and beautiful, does not always give us any meaning or comfort in the midst of horror and suffering. For too long, some Christians have applied this to explain or even excuse suffering in the world with comments like: “If they have been killed, at least they will have gone home to be with Jesus for all eternity!” But this is cold comfort to the mother who has lost a child in horrific circumstances. Matthew’s account of the death of these children is stark. He reminds us that Jeremiah warned that this was going to happen – that Rachel would weep for her children and refuse to be consoled. As Hauerwas points out: ‘… The Gospel – the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus – is no the consolation for those children who are murdered and for their loved ones. Rather, those who would follow and worship Jesus should challenge to those who would harm children in any way.’

Christians need to stand up for all those who are vulnerable and be willing to count and pay the cost of doing so. Christians need to challenge all abuse, and every abuse – like Bonheoffer, Tutu, Mandela and others. As Hauerwas challenges us, Christians need to stand up to the modern day Herods but he adds that we also need to address the fear that motivates ‘Herods’ to do the evil that they do. We need to show the world another way, a different way, the way that Jesus stood for, the way of peace and justice and forgiveness and love. In a time when the world mourns the death of Nelson Mandela, it is apt to be reminded how he removed the fear of those who perpetuated evil on both sides in the apartheid South Africa, calling for justice to be tempered with forgiveness and thereby providing hope. It was this hope that nurtured peace. Hauerwas writes: ‘… the lure of love that moves the sun and the stars, the same love that overwhelmed the wise men with joy. It is that love that makes the church an alternative to the world that fears the child.’

The good news is that all Herods eventually die; unjust rulers and people eventually go, but God’s people endure, because God has made this possible through the kingdom He established in Jesus. So we must continue to fight for justice and protect the weak and vulnerable, especially children. We must stand by those who mourn the unjust loss of their loved ones and support them the best we can. We must fight for fair wages and working conditions for all people and so we need to shop responsibly, making sure that our well-being is not at the cost of anyone else.

A brief comment on the return to Nazareth …

There is no prophecy anywhere in the Old Testament that says that the Messiah would be a Nazorean! But there are references to those who lived disciplined and holy lives – the Nazirites. Jesus lived the simple and disciplined life of a Nazirite.

What is significant about Nazareth is that it was an insignificant part of Galilee which itself was not considered a ‘good’ place to be because it contained a mix of different races and classes of people, including Samaritans and Gentiles. For the up and coming Jew at the time, they would choose not to live in Galilee – it was the wrong side of the tracks. But for a base for the Gospel to reach all the people of the world, it was ideal, and because of this context, the teachings of Jesus, especially the examples he used in his parables show how it is universal. The kingdom of God is for all people, the kingdom established by Jesus would be based on different standards to the norms of the world.

Rather a rushed reflection, but I trust it will be of some use to you.

God bless you all,

David

A Christmas thought from Philip Yancey

Philip Yancey, an American writer uses the following illustration to explain what the ‘incarnation’ means and why it happened. He writes:

I learned about incarnation when I kept a salt-water aquarium. Management of a marine aquarium, I discovered, is no easy task. I had to run a portable chemical laboratory to monitor the nitrate levels and the ammonia content. I pumped vitamins and antibiotics and sulpha drugs and enough enzymes to make a rock grow. I filtered the water through glass fibres and charcoal, and exposed it to ultraviolet light. You would think, in view of all the energy expended on their behalf, that my fish would at least be grateful. Not so. Every time my shadow loomed above the tank they dove for cover into the nearest shell. They showed me one “emotion” only: fear. Although I opened the lid and dropped in food on a regular schedule, three times a day, they responded to each visit as a sure sign of my designs to torture them. I could not convince them of my true concern.

To my fish I was like God. I was too large for them, my actions too difficult to understand. My acts of mercy they saw as threatening; my attempts at looking after them even healing them, they viewed as dangerous. To change their perceptions, I began to see, would require a form of ‘incarnation’. In order to get through to them, I would have to become a fish and “speak” to them in a language they could understand.

A human being becoming a fish is nothing compared to God becoming a baby. And yet according to the Gospels that is what happened at Bethlehem. The God who created matter took shape within it, as … a playwright a character within his own play. God wrote a story, only using real characters, on the pages of real history. The Word became flesh.[1]

---

[1] Yancey, The Jesus I Never Knew, pp 41-42.

Romans 1:1-7 (NRSV)

¹Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, ²which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures, ³the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh ⁴and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord, ⁵through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name, ⁶including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,

⁷ To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 

A short reflection on the Epistle for next Sunday ...

Paul was a servant of Jesus Christ, called by God to be an apostle and set apart for the Gospel of God. Paul reminds us here that Jesus loves us and gave himself for us and as a result, we no longer belong to ourselves, but entirely to our Lord. We have an obligation of love as Christ’s servants to do everything, not because we have to, but because we want to.

But there is another dimension. In the Old Testament the word doulos which is translated in the NRSV as servant is used in the LXX to describe some great men of God: Moses was the servant (doulos) of the Lord and it was also used for the prophets Amos and Jeremiah. So when Paul refers to himself as the doulos of the Lord he is claiming to be in the succession of these great prophets of God. Their greatness and glory comes from their servanthood. Barclay comments: “... the phrase, the slave of Jesus Christ, describes at one and the same time the obligation of great love and the honour of a great office.”

In verse 5 Paul tells of two things that he received when he was ‘set apart’ for his calling. Firstly, he had received grace. Grace always refers to a gift that is always free and absolutely unearned and undeserved. In his pre-Christian days, Paul had striven to earn glory in the eyes of people and merit in the eyes of God by meticulously trying to adhere to the Law, but he had never found peace. Now he had come to realise what really matters and that it is not what we do, it is what God does for us. Our salvation is all up to God; it is all of grace, all free and undeserved.

Secondly he had also received a task; he was set apart to be an Apostle to the Gentiles. He had been chosen, not for special honour, but for a special responsibility. Originally, as a Pharisee, Paul had chosen to set himself apart from others because Pharisees saw themselves as being better than others, especially the Gentiles. Now his life was to be completely different; he was to spend himself in bringing the good news of God’s love to the very people he had originally despised.

We too are separated for service, but also for humility and love for all people.

In addition to providing his own credentials, Paul provides an essential outline of the Gospel. It is a Gospel centred on Jesus Christ (verses 3 and 4) and a Gospel of incarnation. It tells of Jesus who was truly a man. Barclay explains: “He became what we are, to make us what He is.” It is also a Gospel of Resurrection. If Jesus had lived a good life and died an heroic death – and that was it – he would simply have been yet another one of many heroic figures. What makes Jesus unique is the Resurrection. Barclay concludes: “The others are dead and gone, and have left a memory. Jesus lives on and gives us a presence, still mighty with power.”

Matthew 11:2-11: (NRSV)

Messengers from John the Baptist

² When John heard in prison what the Messiah^* was doing, he sent word by his^* disciples ³and said to him, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’ ⁴Jesus answered them, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: ⁵the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers^* are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. ⁶And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.’

Jesus Praises John the Baptist

⁷ As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? ⁸What then did you go out to see? Someone^* dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces. ⁹What then did you go out to see? A prophet?^* Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. ¹⁰This is the one about whom it is written,
“See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,
   who will prepare your way before you.” 
¹¹Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

The new Revised Common Lectionary that we follow has two Sundays in Advent dedicated to John the Baptist. I rather miss Bible Sunday’s demise, because despite the horrible reputation some fundamentalist have unjustly given the Bible, it still remains the most wonderful treasure trove ever written. But there is no disputing the importance of John the Baptist and what a wonderful testimony of grace where Jesus makes the comment that ‘... the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he ...’ I know that, in my own strength, my testimony does not come anywhere near that of John, but then, our relationship with God is not based on who we are and what we have done, but on who Jesus is and what he has done for us. Indeed, it is a matter of personal choice and commitment and so many in Britain today miss out on so much because they fail to do so, or even see the need to do so! Instead, they continue to worship at the altars of materialism, status, wealth etc. even though these gods have so dismally failed them.

John was a prophet and how we need prophets today. But what a difficult task they have because they never say what people want to hear. The truth always penetrates to the quick and people rebel. John’s message led to his death. The messages of modern prophets like Oscar Romero led also to their deaths.

In this Adventide the world is crying out for a prophet.

John was unable to see evil without rebuking it. This is much easier when the evil is obvious. When we ministered in South Africa, the horrors or Apartheid were clear for everyone to see and so it was our duty to rebuke it at every turn. I know we were both unpopular in the process (I know that some people probably wanted to throw me into the bay!) In Britain it seems much more difficult for the evil is far less obvious. As we have reflected earlier, the Gospel tends to have a hollow ring when people are unaware of their sin. By far the majority of people we come across are indeed ‘good’ people in the eyes of the world. But in the eyes of God, human righteousness is like filthy rags (as the prophet Isaiah explains).

Our prophetic utterances therefore need to be so different. They need to be much less fierce and forthright, but rather the utterance of love saying that there is a different way, yes, even a better way; it is the way of selfless love as revealed by Jesus.

Jesus replies to the disciples of John. He tells them not to tell John what he was saying, “Tell him what I am doing!” The Good News is that this same Jesus is still doing the same sort of things today. Barclay explains that those who are blind to the truth about themselves, others and God are enabled to see; those whose feet are not strong enough to remain on the right path are strengthened; those who are tainted by the disease of sin are cleansed; those who have been deaf to the voice of conscience and of God begin to listen; those who were dead and powerless in sin are raised to newness and loveliness of life and ‘... in him the poorest person inherits and possesses the riches of the love of God.’

In addition to the good news comes also with a warning: ‘⁶And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.’

Barclay suggests that this verse was addressed particularly to John because he seemed only to have grasped part of the truth: John preached a gospel of divine holiness with divine destruction; Jesus preached the gospel of divine holiness with divine love. So Jesus might have been saying: “Maybe I am not doing the things you expected of me, but the powers of evil are being defeated, not by immense power, but by unanswerable love.” Sometimes people are offended by Jesus because his ideas of what ‘religion’ ought to be. Barclay concludes: ‘We will always be offended at Jesus, if we think that we know best.’

What an accolade John was given by our Lord in verse 11: “¹¹Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.” So what then did he lack?

Barclay offers the following thoughts.

He had never seen the Cross and so the full revelation of Jesus and the fullness of the love of God. He might have known the holiness of God and God’s justice, but there would always have been something missing. This becomes apparent when we compare the messages of John and Jesus. It is difficult to define John’s message in terms of ‘good news’, his message was more a threat and judgement. Jesus and the Cross reveal the whole picture and includes the most vital ingredient, the height, and breadth and depth of the love of God. Barclay writes: “It is the most amazing thing that it is possible for the humblest Christian to know more about God than the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. It enables us to know more of the heart of God of God in a way than Isaiah or Jeremiah ...”

In theory I agree with what Barclay is saying, but my recent experience would add that this is possible in theory. It is amazing how few people study the Scriptures at all because so few people ever read. I have heard some frightening statistics of how little the Bible is read even by those in the Church. Yes, one can know the depth of the love of God but one needs to confront the Cross with all its love through the Scriptures and how they apply to where we are as the Holy Spirit moves us. We confront the Cross of Christ when we come by faith to the written Word where we encounter the Living Word.

It was John’s destiny to point people to a greatness into which he himself did not enter; he was a mere signpost.

It would appear that he could be the first patron saint of educators together with Thomas Aquinas, John Bosco and John Baptist de la Salle, for this seems to me to be what we are about, for our vocations are to prepare others for doing great things. I fear sometimes that the excellent schools that we have the privilege of being part of, all too easily fall into the trap of preparing people for the best positions in public life and commerce, and that true greatness does not always seem to be an aspiration of many. Quite appropriately our Schools celebrate those who have ‘done well’ and who have become judges or Chairmen of international companies or leaders in politics or the military, but I think we need also to challenge our students to strive for true greatness.

Of course this begs the question: “What is true greatness?”

Few people are aware of the importance or Vernon Johns preparing the way for Martin Luther King’s work in the Civil Rights Movement in the USA, but while he did not receive the great accolades of King, he was still truly great. Barclay is of the opinion that, “... it is very seldom that any great reformer is the first man to labour and to toil for the reform with which his name is connected in history.” He tells of a lovely story of the time when street lamps were gas powered and how one of the lamp lighters did his work with great dignity only to discover that the lighter was blind. “... he was bringing light which he himself would never see ...”

I have had a terrible weekend, feeling bereft at the death of Madiba, our beloved Nelson Mandela. But some of what is attributed to him actually belongs to Desmond Tutu – Madiba’s John the Baptist, and Desmond, being the gracious Christian that he is, will never complain.

And so, I take encouragement that we are about an important task, that as teachers we point others to a goal, even if we never reach the goal ourselves.

I look forward in hope of hearing how any of my pupils have done great things with their lives, but not in the way the world thinks, but those who join me as teachers, ministers of the Gospel, those who have, above all else, sought to be faithful to what God has called them to be and to do. This, for me, is true greatness.

Romans 15:4-13 (NRSV)

⁴For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. ⁵May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, ⁶so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Gospel for Jews and Gentiles Alike

7 Welcome one another, therefore, just as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God. ⁸For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of the truth of God in order that he might confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, ⁹and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,
‘Therefore I will confess^* you among the Gentiles,
   and sing praises to your name’;
¹⁰and again he says,
‘Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people’;
¹¹and again,
‘Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,
   and let all the peoples praise him’;
¹²and again Isaiah says,
‘The root of Jesse shall come,
   the one who rises to rule the Gentiles;
in him the Gentiles shall hope.’
¹³May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Barclay points out that these verses reveal what Christian fellowship should be like.

In the first instance, fellowship should be marked by a study of Scripture. When one studies Scripture we receive the much needed encouragement because we are provided with two things: (i) we are given a record of how God had dealt with a nation in history and this shows that it is always better to be right with God and suffer than to be wrong with others to avoid trouble. The history of Israel revealed that ‘good’ wins out in the end. Scripture reveals that God’s ways are never easy, but in the end it is the only way that makes life worthwhile both here in time and also for eternity. (ii) The Scriptures also provide us with the promises of God and God never breaks His word. Barclay suggests that “... they are tremendous things to go out to meet life with. In these ways Scripture gives to the man who studies it comfort in his sorrow and encouragement in his struggle.”

Christian fellowship is also marked by steadfastness. Barclay once again uses one of his favourite words ‘fortitude’ which he defines as  “... an attitude of the heart to life ...” It is more than patience, and is rather a triumphant adequacy that can cope with life; it is the strength that not only accept things , transforms them into something good and wonderful.

This all leads to hope. While we should always be realists, we ought never to be pessimists. But our Christian hope is not a cheap hope, not is it an immature hope because it does not see difficulties because it has not encountered the difficulties of life. Barclay explains: “The Christian hope is not hope in the human spirit, in human goodness, in human endurance, in human achievement; the Christian hope is hope in the power of God.”

Christian fellowship should also be marked by harmony. No matter how beautiful a church or cathedral might be irrespective of how wonderful the music might be or how perfect the processions etc. or how generous the charitable giving Barclay suggests that ‘... it has lost the essential of a Christian fellowship if it has lost harmony.’ Of course there must be difference of opinion and argument and debate, but it is essential that, throughout all this those within the Church ‘... will have solved the problem of living together ...’ because the Christ that unites us is greater than the differences that divide us.

The whole essence of being Church should take its pattern and example from our Lord, Jesus Christ who did not seek to please himself, but chose to serve others and so he ‘... sets the pattern which everyone who seeks to be his follower must accept “⁶so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. “

 The people within the Church should be bound into one irrespective of anything: race, class, status; those strong in the faith and those who are week. Paul quotes from the Old Testament to give strength to his argument, most notably from his favourite books: Psalms (18:50 and 117:1); Deuteronomy (32:43) and Isaiah (11:10). When we look back to these passages we find that our translations of these passages vary. This is because our Old Testaments are based on the original Hebrew and Paul was using the Septuagint (LXX) the Greek translation.  But the message is the same. This makes me think that, while accuracy matters, it is more the essence of Scripture that is important and not too much emphasis on literal precision – another reason why fundamentalism is so ill-advised. When the Book of the Law was discovered on return from Exile, and Ezra read it from dawn to noon, the Levites gave’... the sense so that the people understood the meaning ...’ (Nehemiah 8:8)  When they understood the meaning they were united together and were blessed. Meaning is what matters and people today will be united together when they understand and share the meaning of the Gospel. Here the meaning is quite clear the Church of Christ must be an inclusive Church. It is such sadness that the Covenant between our Churches, signed in 2003, seems to be so little acted upon, and a new covenant has been deemed necessary to keep Anglicanism together. Have we lost the ‘sense’ of scripture and the Gospel?

What follows are Barclay’s reflections on verses 7-13: Paul continues to re-state the Gospel.

It is a Gospel of HOPE: There is something in Christian hope that nothing can kill ‘... and that something is the conviction that God is still alive. No person is hopeless so long as there is such a thing as the grace of Jesus Christ ...’

It is a Gospel of JOY: There is a big difference between pleasure and joy, but the world seems to have forgotten this important distinction. Christian joy is not dependent upon things outside a person, it is something that comes from within or as Barclay puts it: “... It comes from the consciousness of the living presence of the living Lord, the certainty that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Him.”

It is a Gospel of PEACE: Life is always going to be filled with challenges, difficulties and worries from time to time, so Christian peace is not an escape or an inoculation from any of these, so Barclay explains: “Things will happen that we cannot understand, but if we are sure enough of love, we can accept with serenity even those things which wound the heart and baffle the mind.

It is  Gospel of POWER: It is not as if we do not know what is good and right and beautiful, what we lack is the ability to do it and so Barclay concludes: “Only when the surge of the power of Christ fills the weakness of man can we master life as we ought to master it. By ourselves we can do nothing; but with God all things are possible.”