Expectations – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

by Barry Pollard

[When there are five Sundays in a month it is the custom of Tairua Anglican Church to run a Sunday worship service entirely different from usual practice, which means, essentially, anything novel (and appropriate) is possible – as per the most recent Sunday, 30th July – Editor’s note]

Despite the catchy title, there was no clandestine showing of the Clint Eastwood movie. We’ll give you a promotion poster to compensate:

The Anglican lectionary readings for the day were from Genesis 29, Romans 8 and Matthew 13, and each of these revealed an aspect of expectation, congruent with the theme.

The Genesis reading is the story of Jacob’s agreement to work for Laban for seven years in anticipation of marrying Laban’s beautiful daughter, Rachel. The deal goes south when Laban tricks Jacob, by substituting his first-born daughter Leah for Rachel on the wedding night. To resolve the predicament, Jacob agrees to work for Laban for a further seven years to get Rachel as well! But, a story where hopeful expectation turns bad!

The Romans reading tells of our right standing with God through Jesus, and the gift of the Holy Spirit, given to us “to lead us into all truth.” We are told that nothing now can separate us from God because, “No one will condemn us, for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honour at God’s right hand, pleading for us”. That surely is an extremely good and hopeful expectation!

The Gospel reading for the day was simply Matthew 13:33: “Jesus also used this illustration: ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is like the yeast a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough.'”

The unravelling of the parable was provided by Dr Brant Pitre, a Catholic theologian, who explained that yeast was regarded as unclean by the Jews; hence the focus on unleavened bread at the time of their religious festivals. He emphasised how the small amount of yeast spread through the huge amount of flour is a great analogy of how sin invades the world. And it was in Dr Pitre’s telling of how the dough was usually covered and put aside to rise in the dark that we had a revelation that this parable parallels the way in which Jesus dealt with sin. He took all of our sin at the Cross and lay for three days in a dark tomb before emerging, risen and clean! Surely another example of extremely good and hopeful expectation!

Budding yeast under a microscope

So, having given good and bad examples of expectations, Canon J John, an Anglican educator and evangelist, provided the “ugly”! One of J John’s video clips, entitled “Miraculous Expectations” was shown.
In it, J John tells the story of the mother explaining to her daughter that she is pregnant. She tells the little girl that after the pain of labour and the birth she can expect a new baby brother or sister at Christmas. Nature takes its course and the home is full of joyful celebration at Christmas with the arrival of the new sibling.
The next year, as Christmas is approaching, the mum asks her daughter what present she would like for Christmas. The child answers, “If it isn’t too painful Mummy, could I have a pony?”

Expectations, eh?!

Any Weeds in Your Life?

by Pat Lee

(Based on Matt 13:24-30, 36-43)

Last week we heard the Parable of the Sower. This week we hear a similar parable, but this time weeds come up amongst the wheat in the good soil and grow together.
Elisabeth Johnson, in one of her commentaries, says that “a little bit of botany is helpful in understanding this parable. Matthew uses the Greek term zizania, which, in modern botanical terms, refers to the genus of wild rice grasses. What Matthew most likely refers to, however, is darnel or cockle, a noxious weed that closely resembles wheat and is plentiful in Israel. The difference between darnel and real wheat is evident only when the plants mature and the ears appear. The ears of the real wheat are heavy and will droop, while the ears of the darnel stand up straight.”

The slaves of the householder notice the weeds and are surprised by them because they believe their Master sowed good seed. So, they ask him, “Where, then, did these weeds come from?” They are told that an enemy has sown them. They want to go out into the fields and pull out all the weeds to take care of the problem. But their Master wisely restrains them from doing that, and orders them to let both grow together until the harvest, because he knows that by pulling out the weeds, the good plants will be uprooted as well.

Many of you are gardeners.
You know how the weeds seem to grow much faster than the plants. They try to choke out the ones you want. You can pull the weeds up today, but in a few days’ time more appear.

Our lives are a bit like that. We all have ‘weeds’ in our lives.
What are some of those weeds?
The Bible lists a number of them in various books, and there are others not mentioned. Things like gossip, talking about someone behind their back, telling half truths, breaking confidences, making judgements, being unreliable, having a controlling attitude, bearing grudges, complacency, being disobedient to God’s word … In fact, anything that does not bring glory to God. So, how do we get rid of these weeds that grow in the gardens of our lives without pulling the wheat out too?
The Bible tells us in 1 John 1:9 that if we confess our sins (the weeds), “… he who is faithful and just (God) will forgive our sins and cleanse us.” God will root out the weeds when we ask him.

Unlike the parable where the Master tells the slaves to wait until harvest when weeds will be gathered into bundles and thrown into the fire , our weeds can be uprooted as soon as we become aware of them. The weeds can be removed with the good wheat left intact.

However, in this parable, as in many others, there is a warning. In verses 41-42 Jesus says, “The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will weeping and gnashing of teeth.” And then, in verse 43, “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” I emphasise that God will be the one to sort out the righteous from the unrighteous when the time comes: he is the one who best knows each of our hearts.

I found at least eight similar warnings in the Gospel of Matthew.
[One of these is in the parable of the ten bridesmaids, in Matthew chapter 25. There we read that five of the bridesmaids went in to the wedding feast with the bridegroom but the other five were shut out. When they called out to be let in, the reply was, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.”]
Is Jesus trying to frighten us ? I don’t think so. But he is warning us of the consequences of failing to recognize Jesus as Lord and Saviour.

In today’s parable, at the end of Jesus’s explanation he says, “Let anyone with ears … listen!” This phrase occurs several times in the gospels. It echoes the words God spoke in the cloud at the Transfiguration, words which Peter, James and John clearly heard. The words  were, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” These words, or similar ones, appearing in the Scriptures several times must be important? We should be listening to him as well, and taking good heed.

Many people believe that God is a God of love who will welcome everybody; but that is not what the Scriptures say. God is also a God of justice.
Of course, I do believe that God is a God of love. John 3:16 tells us that God loved the world (including you and me). When God inspired John to write that verse, he was talking not just to those alive at the time, but to the generations that followed right down to the present day and to all those generations yet to come.  So, God “loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life.” The key words are, everyone who believes. So how do we know that we will not perish? John 1:12 says, “But to all who received him (that is, asked Jesus to come into their lives as personal Saviour), and who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.”

That is a promise that gives us assurance; and God does not break his promises.

Good Seed, Good Soil

by Barry Pollard

(Based on Matt 13:1-9,18-23; Ro 8:1-11; Ps 119:105-112)

When I saw that the Gospel reading today came complete with its own built-in explanation I was pleased. I often struggle to give learned and coherent reflections so I thought I could just read the Gospel twice and everyone could go home full of knowledge!

The message Jesus was giving was easily grasped, wasn’t it? He told a parable and then explained it. Easy. He often told a parable and walked away! But everything Jesus did was according to God’s plan. Despite how we sometimes see things, Jesus was not remiss or random. He followed the plan, whatever was called for.
He worked this way, Jeremiah tells us (Jeremiah 29:11), because he had plans for us, plans to prosper us, not harm us, plans to give us a hope and a future.

Now, I am a person who likes plans. As my life has progressed I have come to realise that I function best with a plan, having learned a thing or two about my foibles in the last couple of decades. But our plans sometimes (often) don’t lead us to the desired outcomes.
In our house, many plans are made. Keri calls them “new regimes” and they usually involve getting more exercise, eating and drinking less, saving money, and the like, and often coincide with the start of a new month. Many plans are abandoned, however. It isn’t as if I don’t want to be fitter, slimmer, healthier and ready for retirement, but things get in the way, don’t they? The weather is too wet to get outside, the work-day has left us worn out, the bargain was too good to miss …  It may be similar in your house.
Don’t get me wrong, though. Having a plan is still a good thing.

My preferred approach to making a plan is something I learned in my school life. It is based on first principles. What is it that we are trying to achieve? was the question we asked as we entered any planning session. Once that had been established, the steps needed to get to our target were easier to identify, implement and monitor.

Applying this to the parable today, what Jesus wants us to achieve is to hear and understand God’s word, and use it to grow the Kingdom: The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted (v 23).
If we hear and understand, we can produce a harvest, and not just a measly one!

So, how do we carry this out?
To me, ‘hear and understand’ are things that require our attention and action. Jesus and others in the Bible exhort us regularly to listen (hear) and understand. They even explain that we suffer from hard or dull hearts when we fail to get their message.

The beauty of Scripture is that it is often (some might say, always) multilayered. I can usually discern the surface meaning but others seem to be able to peel off many other layers and relate them to their wider faith understanding. Today I have gone straight to the surface point – Jesus wants us to be the seed that falls in the good soil and goes on to produce a great harvest.
But in saying that he also gave us helpful advice that we should be aware of as we endeavour to follow his plan. He gave examples of seeds being scattered into various places: on a footpath, in rocky soil, among the thorns, and in fertile soil. His explanations of the effects of landing in each of these places actually show us the things we need to be aware of as we follow the plan.
The seed that lands on the footpath represents the people who hear but don’t understand. For them nothing develops. The seed that lands in the rocky soil represents those who hear but don’t develop roots to keep things stable, and they fall away. The seed that lands among the thorns represents those who hear but can’t separate from the influence of the world, and they too fall away. But the seed that lands in the good soil represents those who hear and understand, and it is they who grow to produce the plentiful harvest!

I see all this in terms of disposition. How keen are we to be fruitful in our faith life? Disposition is described as a person’s inherent qualities of mind and character. Some people are described as having a sunny disposition, for example, reflecting the way they think and feel about things. They are upbeat, see the glass half full, and cheer those around them. Dispositions change as we grow and experience life. Some things may drag us down, others cheer us up. But generally over time we show a consistency of mind and character.

One’s disposition is not a static state. We can actively work at changing how we think, react, relate and so on. Consider how we act as parents and compare that to how we act as grandparents, as an example. On the one hand we are concerned about providing for our children, making sure they behave, do well at school and later in work, teaching them to be responsible and productive, and so on. Most of which causes us anxiety. On the other hand, when we are dealing with the grandchildren, we don’t have these responsibilities hanging over us and we are often seen as generous and interesting and fun! We can fill them up with treats and send them home with no real come-back. Our disposition to raising our own is different to being a grandparent to theirs.

Another example: my disposition at work is different to my disposition when I am around friends. I alter my thoughts, words and behaviour to suit the circumstances or environment that I find myself in.

So, the disposition we have to growing in good soil and producing a great harvest can be worked at. We can go from being lukewarm to red hot about our faith.

If the essential lesson from this parable is that we should aspire to be like the seeds that fall in the good soil, how then does that work? And is aspiration enough?
To fall in the good soil we have to know where the good soil is and how we can access it. If you were raised in a Christian home you were likely close to the good soil and your ‘farmers’ (your parents) provided teaching and reinforcement, providing understanding where and when it was needed. If this is you, you are very lucky indeed! I am pretty sure that if my Mum hadn’t brought us up in the church as children I would not be here today.

But what if you didn’t have a childhood faith experience? Where do you start? Where do you find good soil? Where do you find good farmers? And what can inspire you to seek after being planted and productive?
I’m not sure exactly what brings unbelieving individuals to Christ, but it happens. Some new believers have said that the lives of Christians they knew had an attraction that their own did not, leading them to explore. Some reached a crisis point in their lives and blindly reached out to God for help, which of course was answered. Others still have been won over by the sense Scripture makes in their lives. Others have found the friendship and fellowship among the children of God irresistible. So, it happens!

So, now I’ll ask: are you growing in the good soil, with your foundations deep and stable, producing the bountiful harvest that is the benefit of hearing and understanding? Yes? Then you can nod off now and I’ll address those of us who still have work to do.

For us, the desire to really hear and understand is vital. We need to be seriously disposed to the task. If we take ourselves away from the people and places where we are exposed to the word of God then we are sure to miss out altogether. How easily and quickly we can lose our direction, purpose and faith. We need to stay engaged.

Because God has a plan to prosper us and give us hope and a future, he includes in the plan a reference book and a personal tutor. We have been given lots of help and direction through Scripture.  We just have to remember it and follow it. He gave us the Holy Spirit to teach and guide us “into all truth”, to help us hear and understand. Through the power of the Holy Spirit we are saved, filled, sealed, and sanctified. And God has also placed us in a faith community, among strong encouraging believers. We just have to seek them out and engage with them.

Our Romans reading points to the power of the Holy Spirit as he works in our lives. Paul explains that the power of the Spirit overcomes the power of sin. The outline he gives is: because of our sinful nature we failed to live up to the law, so Jesus came as the sacrifice needed to overcome sin’s control. By accepting Jesus we have the Holy Spirit living in us and we can choose to follow the Spirit instead of sin. This leads to life and peace! This plants us and grows us in the good soil. And this comes with benefits!

Verse 105 of Psalm 119 resonates with these thoughts: Your word is a lamp to guide my feet and a light for my path. God’s word guides us and leads us in our faith journey, enriching the soil, nourishing the seed, and producing the rich yield. The Psalm amplifies the disposition we need to follow through. It is also a testament to the benefits of growing in that good soil: being deep rooted, steady and unshakeable.
Similarly, our Collect today praises the Lord for working through his plans for us. It praises his energy in creation. It praises his Spirit in our thinking. It calls us to seek new discoveries, to acknowledge the sacred in all things and to live with the hope of success.

We have a part to play in his plans. We have to turn ourselves towards the direction in which the plan is moving. We have to be active participants. The least we can do is make every effort to hear and understand.

Prayer:
Lord, your Word is a lamp to guide our feet and a light for our paths.
We seek to follow your Word, to hear clearly what you are saying and to understand what it means for us.
Help us to be disposed towards you and your truth always.
Help us, Lord, when the influence of worldly things tries to divert or deter us.
Let us produce the richest of harvests for the glory of your Kingdom!
Amen, let it be.

Falling Trees

I’ve had writer’s block.  Did you notice?  No shortage of topic, more a weariness of style.  Sometimes I feel too positive in my offerings, too relentlessly uplifting.  I’ve grown negative about my positivity, pessimistic about my optimism, discouraged in my encouragement.  And dulled by lack of reader response.  Time for furlough, methinks.  Hunker down.  Take refuge in other writing.

Which seems appropriate, given that we’ve just skirted UN Refugee Day.  June 20th each year, for no obvious reason.  This year’s theme: ‘Hope Away From Home’.

The plight of the refugee is especially moving and deserves our attention.  Refugees, says the UN Commission for Refugees, are “forcibly displaced people worldwide as a result of persecution, conflict, violence, human rights violations or events seriously disturbing public order”.
There’s an unlimited variety of forms of injustice in the world, of course – from systemic to familial to domestic to political, and all shades besides.  But refugeeism must be one of the most unfair, miserable of all injustices.  Not just unjust in itself, but anteroom to other shades of injustice, like abuse, mistreatment, neglect, trafficking; and the strong possibility of dying in the desert, in the snow, or on the ocean.  Imagine living a relatively normal life – even if impoverished and lacking opportunity or material favour – but calmish, safe, even happy.  Then, for absolutely no fault of your own, whatever you do have is wiped out.  Everything is lost and you are on the street, on the run, exposed, unprotected by any exterior cover, left entirely to your own perhaps non-existent resources.  Probably having witnessed or experienced things no human being should ever experience or witness, so that even if things improve, you will permanently live with the memory or the imagery or the scars of utter loss.  Loved ones, home, security, education … hope. 

People – men and women like you and me – among the most aggrieved and abandoned souls on our sorry planet.

Yet there is so little anyone can do, eh.  Even the UN, and other dedicated agencies.  For manifold reasons.  The record 110 million refugees (struck last week by an upsurge in Sudanese refugees) are virtually on their own.
New Zealand, regrettably, doesn’t pull its weight in the global refugee crisis.  We’re supposed to welcome 1500 refugees per year here.  A paltry number in the scheme of things, when places in Europe and the Middle East are overwhelmed with them.

More than half of all refugees come from Syria, Afghanistan and Ukraine (and 90% of Ukrainian refugees are unaccompanied women and children).  38% of refugees are hosted in just five countries: Turkey, Iran, Columbia, Germany and Pakistan.  Turkey hosts 3.6 million.  Lebanon hosts the largest number of refugees per capita and per square kilometre in the world, with an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees on top of their own 5 million indigenous population.  Think of that – same population as Aotearoa New Zealand, in a much smaller land area, and they’ve got 1.5 million refugees.  We receive 1500!  There are nearly a million in Bangladesh – Rohingya people – and Bangladesh, half the size of New Zealand, has 160 million of its own citizens!

Such a blight on noble humankind.

Yet, still only a subset of the innocent at large.  The innocenti.  The innocent are the vast swathes of people – individuals and groups – who lack basic need or basic rights, freedom or health, warmth or comfort, sustenance or shelter, human love – or humanity itself.  People who, through no fault of their own, suffer without relief:

  • the child of an alcoholic father
  • the wife of a fallen Ukrainian soldier
  • the Afghan woman hiding in a hessian-walled outhouse
  • the teenager in an Iranian prison for not wearing a headscarf
  • the Gujarati woman unmarried because she has no dowry
  • the homeless veterans of futile wars
  • the father who’s just buried his son, dead of lymph sarcoma
  • the Filipino drug mule in a Singaporean prison cell
  • the American nurse in an ISIS cage
  • the Columbian family who’s lost everything in a mudslide, or a rebel raid
  • the Turkish man crushed and trapped under a pancaked apartment block
  • the newborn left on the church steps
  • the Yazidis, the Dalits, the Rohingya; or the rebels in Idlib or Chin State who just want a fair go
  • …..

This is a shameful list.  Shameful just because the list exists.  In our world.  And it goes on without end.
These are the arenas of injustice that don’t get enough attention in liberal conversations about injustice, much less resolution. It’s these innocenti who are the (barely) living evidence that we humans, we homo sapiens, are uncivilised Barbarians, and we all jointly bear the guilt, by our membership of the species.
My heart aches helplessly for them, wishfully, and my soul prays without ceasing … for the innocents of our world.

Join me?

So, the tree falls in the forest.  For a time.  Did you hear it?

“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” The answer, according to Dr. George Berkeley, Anglican Bishop and philosopher (1685–1753), is that, “Yes, it did make a sound, because God heard it.”