Perseverance

by Pat Lee

(Based on Matthew 15:21-28; Genesis 45:1-15; Psalm 133)

While listening to Sanctuary, a Christian radio station, a few weeks ago, I heard a story that really spoke to me. Each week they do a background story on a hymn, and this week it happened to be on What a Friend we Have in Jesus, written by Joseph Scriven, who lived between 1819-1886. I found this a very touching story.
Scriven was Irish born. In 1843 he was engaged to be married but on the night before their wedding the young woman was drowned in the River Bann. Of course, he was heartbroken by the accident. In 1847 he moved to Canada to start a new life, settling near Port Hope in Ontario, and fell in love with Eliza Roach. But she fell seriously ill and died of pneumonia before they were married.

Scriven joined the Plymouth Brethren and lived a self-imposed life of poverty, frequently giving away his own money, food, and clothes to help destitute neighbours. In 1855 he got word to say that his mother was ailing back in Ireland so he wrote a poem for her that was later found by Charles Converse, who set it to music, and it became the beloved What a Friend we Have in Jesus. Scriven died in 1886 in relative obscurity and poverty at the age of 66, in Ontario, Canada, but his hymn went on to be sung by millions worldwide, including us today.

So, what does that have to do with our readings for today?
I have given the title of this reflection Perseverance. If anyone had perseverance it was Joseph Scriven. Lesser people may have simply given up, but not him.

The Genesis reading is about Joseph (not Scriven) when he met with his brothers in Egypt. Most of us are familiar with Joseph’s story, but if you are not, you can read it in Genesis from chapter 37. He certainly had perseverance, otherwise he would never have ended up where he did in Egypt.
Joseph had faith in God, which is what got him through all those years of suffering. Let’s face it, prison was pretty awful back in his time. Not like today with a bed to sleep in and regular meals. He probably would have been in irons, lucky if he had been given a blanket, and I shudder to think what horrendous condition the prison was in.
But he persevered. Like Joseph Scriven, he trusted in God to get him through and now he was in a position to help his brothers in their time of need. It might have been very different for them if Joseph had been a man to bear grudges and take revenge. He forgave them though, and gave them what they needed; but not just them, their entire families, their households and their flocks and herds.

The gospel reading for today is another example of someone who persevered. When the Canaanite, or Gentile, woman came and pleaded with Jesus to heal her daughter of a demon, he completely ignored her. This seems to be an odd reaction from Jesus and very unlike what we would have expected from him. We know Jesus to be a man of compassion, but here he appears to be completely the opposite. Why?

I wondered about this for some time. As we read further into the passage, he tells her that he came to the lost sheep of Israel which implies that he didn’t care about anyone else. They were seemingly not important. She perseveres, telling him that “even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table”. That was what Jesus was waiting for. He had been testing her faith and she came up trumps. Jesus commended her for her faith and told her that he would do as she had asked.

Like Joseph, Joseph Scriven and the Gentile woman, we all have experienced trials and storms of one kind or another in our lives, but we wouldn’t be here today unless we had persevered and got through them. Trials and storms come in a huge variety of ways. Things like severe or life-threatening illnesses, serious accidents, family troubles of one kind or another, loss of a job, debt, death of a much-loved man, woman, or child … How do we cope with them? Do we try to deal with it on our own? Seek professional help or share with a trusted friend? There is nothing wrong with any of these options.
Or do we, first, do what Joseph Scriven did, and take it to the Lord in prayer?

I believe perseverance is a God-given quality. He has given each one of us a measure of perseverance. It is the mechanism by which we cope with the crises in our lives. But God wants us to hand them over to him when the tough times come so that we can persevere and come through. Sadly, some people don’t have the perseverance they need to get through the trials, often with tragic results.

It’s not just in our trials and storms that we need perseverance, but also in our work places and in our daily lives. In his book One Thought for Today Bishop Bruce Gilberd wrote this for today’s date: “Christ, our brother, you showed us that it is not just the beginnings that count, but perseverance until our work is completed, that brings the true glory.”
Are we prone to give up too soon?

The Bible is full of stories of people who persevered in difficult circumstances. Some that came to my mind were Joshua, Daniel, Ezekiel, Ruth, Esther, Paul, Mary, and, of course, Jesus himself. All these people had faith in God which enabled them to persevere.
Some people in more recent times in our history are Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, Winston Churchill, Edmund Hillary, Florence Nightingale, Corrie ten Boom and Mother Teresa. I don’t know if all of these people relied on God to help them persevere though their difficulties, but I do know that at least some of them did.

Those of us who are believers in Jesus do not need to go it alone when the going gets tough. We can do what Joseph Scriven did because he knew who was the best helper to take his troubles to.
Let’s take another look at some of the words of this well-known and often sung hymn. They are the kinds of things that Jesus wants us to take to him in prayer. “All our sins and griefs … peace we often forfeit … needless pain … trials and temptations … trouble, sorrows and weakness … heavy laden … cumbered with a load of care”. When we take these things to Jesus in prayer, the hymn tells that “in his arms he’ll take and shield us, and we’ll find a solace there”.

Before I finish, I’m going to ask you a question: Who do you think has shown the most perseverance of all?

I suggest the answer is God himself. He has persevered with the human race since life on earth began. One of the best examples of his perseverance with humans was during the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, until they eventually entered the promised land. They tested him repeatedly and many did not make it because of their disobedience.
God perseveres with us as well. Why? Because he created us, loves us and wants us to reach our full potential, and he promises us that he will “never leave or forsake” us. (Deuteronomy 31: 6,8; Joshua 1:5; Heb 3:5) He’s always available – 24/7.

I found a fourth verse to Scriven’s hymn which I didn’t know existed, so I’ll end with it:
Blessed Saviour, thou hast promised, Thou will all our burdens bear, May we, Lord, be ever bringing, All to thee in earnest prayer, Soon in glory, unclouded, There will be no need for prayer, Rapture, praise and endless worship, Will be our sweet portion there.

Rejection, Faith and Storms

by Sharon Marr

(Based on Matt 14:22-33; Gen 37:1-4,12-28; Ro 10:5-15)

As we gather today, our readings invite us to reflect on three experiences that many of us know well: rejection, faith, and life’s storms. These are not just stories from long ago. They are the realities of every human life, and perhaps especially familiar to those of us who have walked this life for a wee while.

The first reading tells us about Joseph, the beloved son of Jacob. Rejected by his brothers – understandably in my opinion – then sold into slavery, he lost everything familiar. Yet his story reminds us that rejection is never the end of God’s story. Years later, Joseph recognised that God had been at work even through the cruelty of others. What was intended for evil, God transformed into an opportunity to save many lives.

Many of us know the pain of rejection or disappointment. Even as we grow older we may feel overlooked or forgotten by a society that values youth more than wisdom. Yet Joseph reminds us that God never forgets his children. Even when we cannot understand our trials, God continues to work quietly for our good.
Paul, in the second reading, reminds us that “the same Lord is Lord of all, generous to all who call upon Him”. No one is excluded from his love. No one is beyond his mercy.
That is wonderful news, especially for those who may sometimes wonder whether their lives still matter. Our value does not depend on our strength or productivity but on being beloved sons and daughters of God.

Many of you have spent a lifetime calling on God. Through joys and sorrows, he has remained faithful. Your quiet witness of prayer, patience, forgiveness and hope continues to strengthen your families and the Church. Never underestimate the power of a life lived faithfully.

Having reminded us of God’s wisdom and mercy, the Gospel reading shows us what that mercy looks like in action. The disciples are crossing the Sea of Galilee when a storm arises. The wind is strong, the waves are high, and they are struggling to make progress. Then, in the darkest part of the night, they see Jesus walking towards them on the water. At first they are terrified. They think they are seeing a ghost. But Jesus speaks those reassuring words: “Take courage, it is I, do not be afraid.”

Jan Luyken: Christ walks on water during a storm on the Sea of ​​Galilee

Peter responds with remarkable faith. “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” Jesus simply replies, “Come.”
Peter steps out of the boat and begins to walk towards Jesus. For those first few moments his eyes are fixed on the Lord, and the impossible becomes possible. But then Peter notices the wind. He becomes frightened. His attention shifts from Christ to the storm around him. He begins to sink and cries out one of the shortest and most beautiful prayers in the Gospel: “Lord, save me!”

Immediately Jesus stretches out his hand and catches him.

Did you notice in this short reading, three times the word immediately is used.  In the original Greek the word eutheōs was used, meaning immediately or straightaway! Doesn’t it speak volumes of the response of Jesus to our cries?

This speaks deeply to us all. The storms we face today may be different from those of our youth. They may be worries about our health, declining strength, increasing dependence, or the loss of people we dearly love. We may worry about our children or grandchildren, or wonder what the future will bring. Some storms are visible; others are carried quietly within our hearts.

Jesus never promised his disciples a life without storms. Instead, he promised that he would be with them in the midst of them. That is the great comfort of today’s reading. Christ does not wait for the storm to end before coming to us. He comes while the wind is still blowing and the waves are still crashing.  Peter’s mistake was not that he became afraid. Fear is part of being human. His mistake was allowing the storm to become greater than his awareness of Christ.  Peter focused on how he was doing. He judged himself. He measured his performance.
That sinks us every time. How often that happens to us. We become so focused on our concerns that we lose sight of the One who is standing right beside us.

Yet, even then, Jesus does not abandon Peter. He does not say, “Try harder,” or, “Come back when your faith is stronger.” The Gospel says, “Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him.”
That single word – immediately – is full of hope. The Lord does not delay his mercy. With love he reaches out as soon as Peter calls. What saved Peter was his belovedness. And we are all loved by God.

Many of us have prayed Peter’s prayer ourselves: “Lord, save me.” Perhaps in a hospital room. Perhaps beside the bed of a dying spouse. Perhaps during times of loneliness, uncertainty or grief. Sometimes those three words are all we can manage. The beautiful truth is that they are enough.

Every sincere prayer reaches the heart of God. He knows our fears before we speak them. He understands our weakness. He is never ashamed of those who cry out to him for help. We are loved. Perhaps that is one of the greatest lessons we learn as we grow older. We discover that life has never depended on our own strength alone. Looking back, we can often see that God was lovingly carrying us through moments when we thought we were walking by ourselves.

Today, let us place our lives into his hands once again. If we carry memories of rejection, let us remember Joseph. If we ever wonder whether we still matter, let us remember Paul’s assurance, that God is rich in mercy toward all who call upon him. If we find ourselves facing storms we cannot control, let us remember Peter, whose simple cry, “Lord, save me,” was enough for Jesus to reach out his hand.

The God who guided Joseph, inspired Paul, and rescued Peter is the same Lord who walks beside us today. He has not abandoned us. He has not forgotten us. He is still reaching out his hand. May we keep our eyes fixed on him, trusting that whatever storms we face, his hand is always stronger than the wind, his love deeper than our fears, and his mercy greater than all our weakness.     Amen.

Wheat and Weeds

by Barry Pollard

(Based on Ps 139:1-11, 23-24; Ro 8:12-25; Matt 13:24-30,36-43)

As I prepared, and read through each of our passages, one simple thought kept returning to me: We live imperfectly in an imperfect world.

That may sound profound, but it is hardly a new insight. The Psalm we heard was written thousands of years ago. Paul’s letter to the Romans and Matthew’s Gospel are nearly two thousand years old. God’s people have wrestled with the reality of a broken world for generations upon generations.

The question is not whether the world is imperfect. We all know that. The question is: What does Scripture teach us to cope with that imperfection and live faithfully within it?
A common response today is to blame someone else for our difficulties and problems. We could simply point to the Evil One and say, “It’s all his fault,” and stop there. But as children of the living God, we are called to something deeper than assigning blame. We are called to trust, to persevere, and to hope.

Our first reading, Psalm 139, reminds us that God knows us completely: “O Lord, you have searched me and known me.”
God knows when we sit and when we rise. He knows our thoughts before we think them and our words before we speak them. There is nowhere we can flee from his presence.

Having spent last weekend with family, including two energetic grandsons, watching brothers only three years apart negotiate life together, I was reminded that it is easy to imagine God watching us – like a policeman waiting for us to get things wrong.
But that is not the picture the Psalm gives us. God watches us as a loving parent. Just as my daughter and son-in-law lovingly guide their boys: stepping in to settle arguments, teaching them better ways to behave, comforting them when everything reaches ‘custard point’, so God patiently guides us.
“I can never escape from your Spirit. I can never get away from your presence,” says the psalmist.

Whether we find ourselves on life’s highest mountain or in its darkest valley, God is already there. What reassurance that gives us.

Many people spend enormous energy pretending. Pretending their faith is stronger than it is. Pretending life is under control. Pretending they are not anxious or struggling. God is not fooled. He knows our doubts, our fears, our failures and our hopes, and he loves us still. That is why the Psalm ends with such a courageous prayer: “Search me, O God, and know my heart … Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”
God is not standing over us to condemn us. He searches us in order to heal us. Like every loving Father, he leads his children onto better paths.

Paul continues that same theme in Romans. “All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” We have not received a spirit of fear but the Spirit of adoption. We can call God “Abba, Father”, a deeply personal expression of love and trust. As God’s children we are also his heirs. But Paul adds an important reminder: if we share Christ’s glory, we also share his suffering.

Then Paul speaks repeatedly about groaning. Creation groans. Believers groan. The whole world longs for restoration. Even with the Holy Spirit living within us, we still experience sickness, disappointment, injustice and death. We long for the day when God completes what he has begun, when sin and suffering cease to have a hold over us. For now, we live between Christ’s resurrection and the fulfilment of his Kingdom. We live with hope, but we do not yet live in perfection.

We live imperfectly in an imperfect world.

And that brings us naturally to Jesus’s parable in Matthew. A farmer sows good seed, but during the night an enemy sows weeds among the wheat. The farm workers want immediate action. “Shall we pull out the weeds?” they ask. The farmer replies, “No . . . Let both grow together until the harvest.” It is a surprising answer.
We often want God to remove everything evil immediately. We want every injustice corrected now, every hardship ended today. But instead, Jesus teaches patience.

The world remains a place where wheat and weeds grow together. Good and evil exist side by side. As followers of Christ, we continue living in a world that has not yet been fully redeemed. Are we despairing? Because the weeds and wheat grow side by side, we must always be aware of which crop we belong to. I trust you know that we are holy wheat, eh? So, we must be mindful that we don’t get too mixed up with the weeds.
It is so easy to be conformed to the world and its thinking. Do you, like me, take it for granted that advertisements distort, contracts contain fine print that no one draws our attention to, and professionals conceal one another’s malpractice. There are few areas of life that are uncompromised, few social structures that are not tainted, few relationships that retain any semblance of honesty and wholesomeness. We live in an age which, generally speaking, evades truth.

But Jesus said (John 14:6), “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  The way, the truth and the life! Jesus is the absolute embodiment of God’s truth, the only path to salvation, and the ultimate source of our spiritual life.

See how far the world has moved away from God’s way.
Anyone who has ever kept a garden knows weeds seem to grow faster than our crops. We prepare the soil, plant carefully, water faithfully even through a hot and dry Tairua summer, and yet the weeds appear almost overnight.
Life often feels like that. We pray. We try to do what is right. We seek God’s will. Yet illness comes. Relationships fracture. Wars continue. Injustice flourishes. Sometimes it feels as though the weeds are winning.

But God has shown us how we are to live, and our response is to shine his light into the dark world. By doing so we actually have an opportunity to influence, for the better, those who fall outside our crop. We can stand up and challenge the truth-evaders. We can lead lives that are honest and wholesome, based on the truth of Jesus. We can show a better way.
Because the wheat and weeds continue to exist, one beside the other, doesn’t mean the farmer has lost control of the field. There will be a harvest. There will be justice. There will be a day when God sets everything right. That is our hope.

One of the oldest questions people ask is, “If God is good, why is the world like this?”
Our readings today don’t offer a neat philosophical answer. Instead, they offer something better. They remind us that God knows us. God is patient with us. God is bringing history towards his promised harvest.

So, yes, we live imperfectly in an imperfect world. But we do not live in it alone. Our loving Father walks beside us. His Spirit strengthens us. Christ has secured our future. The Farmer has not abandoned his field. And one day, the harvest will come.

Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand!

Liz all at Sea

by Liz Young

(Based on Mark 4:36–41; Acts 28:27-44)

I’m glad to welcome in Matariki, the Maori new year, with a reflection that starts by honouring the reappearance of Matariki, the Pleiades – stars honoured by cultures all over the world, particularly by sea faring nations in the Pacific. Each island nation celebrates certain stars or characteristics of the Pleiades in their own way. Today is also ‘Sea Sunday’, when we reflect on the glory and beauty of the sea, both during the day and at night. I loved watching the movement of the stars when I was on my night watch, 2-4am, and I’ll talk about the seas’ benefits and its dangers.

John and I were moved to sail the South Pacific by reading We, the Navigators, on the epic Polynesian voyages that took place hundred of years ago.  
But I’ll start by reflecting on the Gospel reading, which tells us how Jesus calmed a storm on the Sea of Galilee. Galilee is an inland sea, a lake, just over a quarter the size of Lake Taupo. How many of you have been frightened by the weather when you’ve been sailing there?
I was introduced to yachting as a twelve-year-old in Malta (where St Paul was wrecked in the epistle reading). And I happily sailed the River Thames at Oxford, hitting the bank every few metres. I’ve sailed across the English Channel in a clinker built 29 foot yacht, continuously leaking, because it had spent two months on the French canals, and had dried out above the waterline. I was very cross with my father.

I’ve felt most comfortable sailing the whole of the South Pacific with my husband John in a steel yacht, built of steel; as, when you’re sailing in the tropics, it’s not that you might hit coral, it’s when are you going to hit coral? But even so I can remember being anchored in a small lagoon when the wind direction changed 180 degrees, at 3am, and we spent the hours till dawn watching the anchor, with the engine idling, prepared to quickly up anchor if it started to drag: and we had anchors that we could trust.
I don’t know how many of you realise that it wasn’t until the last century that anchors were designed that wouldn’t drag. Have you heard the podcast on the lost anchor in Doubtless Bay? Four anchors had been put out that 18th century night, and still that boat blew ashore. So, no wonder the disciples were terrified during a storm on Lake Galilee.

Putting out to sea requires trust, trust in your boat, trust in the skipper, and trust in yourself and your ability to react calmly and appropriately. You learn to trust in God.
And I could trust John because he was always prepared for the worst; for example, although John had learnt to navigate using a sextant, and we always had a sextant on board in case the electrics failed, we also carried three GPS devices.

When there’s an earthquake, it’s best to be at sea. We were sailing towards Western Samoa when the tsunami struck their west coast, and were able to call in at the Red Cross centre and pick up blankets and supplies to take to Nuie Tongatapu, a small island south of Samoa, although we were surplus to requirement as the Tongan navy sailed in right behind us.

We were at sea off Whangarei heads immediately post the 2019 Kermadec trench event, and watched the sea level rise and fall only by a metre, while five kilometres away boats moored in Tutukaka harbour were pulled from their moorings and smashed against the rocks.

We do benefit from the bounty of the sea. We all know that eating fish is good for us; but what is a sustainable limit for us to eat? Two fish a week? The Marlborough Sounds is the only area in New Zealand with a sustainable catch limit of two fish per person that is adhered to. We all recall the local red fish story when a bus load of immigrants caught huge amounts of unprotected red fish (pink maomao) and were stopped by a local hero. And we know that beaches just north of Auckland have been stripped of all edible life by uninformed immigrants. I think that Air New Zealand should add to their obligatory messaging our fishing limits and why we have them, and other conservation information.

John and I also visited Pitcairn Island – the refuge of the mutineers on the Bounty. Do you remember, at the time of the mutiny, Fletcher Christian put Captain Bligh and six other sailors in a dinghy and Bligh navigated them two thousand miles to safe haven in Java? When we were on Pitcairn the only school-aged child was a girl, and the teacher was a Kiwi male, so a local woman had to be there, the whole school day.

John and I enjoyed diving. There are many beautiful dives around New Zealand. Our favourite was at the Mokohinaus, where there is a beautiful hollow rock pillar which you can enter about three metres down and swim down through to exit about 25m down, near the sandy bottom. (I would only go up and down ten metres on the outside of the pillar, but I still called it my Jacques Cousteau dive.)   We visited Fiordland twice. There is ten foot layer of fresh water on the surface that provides light protection, allowing coral (that is only visible at a depth of a hundred feet at the Poor Knights) to be visible at thirty feet there. Magic!

So we’re blessed in New Zealand to have so many wonders of creation to see. In 2000 we sailed to the Chathams. Two memories stand out from that trip: the first, sailing up huge rollers from the south. I likened it to sailing up four double decker buses, dropping down the other side, before climbing up the next one. The second was visiting the ‘Pyramid’, the southernmost rock, uninhabitable and the southwestern-most point of land in the world outside of Antarctica.  It used to be a rite of passage for young Chatham Islands men to climb up to the cave, twenty metres up, and dive off.

We are so fortunate that Sir David Attenborough and his teams have photographed so many of these wild places, both above and below the sea, so we can experience them in the comfort of our own homes. As I said, you learn to trust God while you are at sea. And also to be thankful to all those boaties who are prepared to join the Coastguard and rescue people who get stranded, or experience some other difficulty.
I would also like to mention The Mission to Seafarers in Auckland and Wellington, who provide places to stay for lonely seamen, along with food, comfort and libraries.
Fifty years ago I was grateful to another yachting family who rescued our son and my nephew, as they were drifting from Slipper to Mayor Island in a dinghy without oars, while we were off walking on the island.

So, when you go down to the sea in ships, be safe and enjoy. Wear your life jackets, listen to the marine weather forecast, be prepared – and trust in God. And I hope and trust that the fish populations of our warming seas will have the time to adapt. While we welcome more tropical fish coming to our local waters, species that thrive in cooler water will hopefully move south and continue to thrive there ….