World Book Day

Today is World Book Day (23 April), which I didn't really know existed, but it sounds like a good day to celebrate the advent of books, writing and literature. The first World Book Day was celebrated on April 23, 1995, coinciding with the anniversary of the deaths of notable authors such as William Shakespeare. 

I am very grateful for the gifts of books, but obviously I am most grateful for the fact that Bible was translated into my mother-tongue, and that it was compiled into a book form. Although many of us may take this for granted, it was not always the case. For many generations, believers had to rely on a Priest to read from the scrolls of the Scriptures for us, and even when the Bible was first produced in book format, it was so heavy that it couldn't be carried around so easily.

John 21:25 - " But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written."

Revelation 22:7 - ‘See, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.’

Thought: What about the Bible (the Good Book) do you appreciate the most?

Living in Grace

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Do no harm!

In reflecting on John Wesley's Rule of Life, we note his 3 major calls: "Do no harm. Do good. Stay in love with Jesus." 

Tackling the first of these, what would this mean for us, on a daily basis? 

'Do no harm!'

The bible has a lot to say on this matter, and so I leave you with these texts and ask us all to make our own reflections on how we can live this out.

“By doing no harm; by avoiding evil of every kind.” – John Wesley

^“When the disciples James and John saw this, they asked, “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?” But Jesus turned and rebuked them.” – Luke 9:54

·    Romans 13:10 - Love does no harm to a neighbour. Therefore, love is the fulfilment of the law.

1 Corinthians 11:17 - In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good.

·     Revelation 7:3 - “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” 

Living in Grace

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The Highest Privilege

"I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them." - Revelation 21:3

These words remind us of the coming glory of heaven, and the ultimate restoration of what was lost in the beginning (Genesis 3). However, they also reveal something deeply profound and exciting. There is the promise of walking with God again - if you read the verse again, you will notice this.

Charles Spurgeon puts it likes this:

“I do not think the glory of Eden lay in its grassy walks, or in the boughs bending with luscious fruit-but its glory lay in this, that the ‘Lord God walked in the garden in the cool of the day.’ Here was Adam’s highest privilege, that he had companionship with the Most-High.” (Spurgeon)

Thought: What does it mean for you to walk with the Lord and to know that God lives amongst us?

Living in Grace

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A weekend prayer - from Columba

Here is a short prayer for us to use over this weekend. May God bless you.

"Alone with none but Thee, my God,
I journeyed on my way:
What need I fear, when Thou art near,
O King of night and day.
More safe am I within Thy hand
Than if a host did round me stand.

The Child of God can fear no ill,
His chosen dread no foe:
We leave our fate to Thee, and wait
The bidding when we go.
'Tis not from chance our comfort springs,
Thou art our trust, O King of Kings." - Saint Columba

May our King of Kings surround you with his grace and love.

Revelation 17:14 - "Together they will go to war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will defeat them because he is Lord of all lords and King of all kings. And his called and chosen and faithful ones will be with him.”

Living in Grace

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Christ the King

The last Sunday before Advent is usually marked as Christ the King Sunday. It is a significant occasion for believers as it draws our attention back to the Sovereignty of Jesus. In a time when leaders scramble for power and worldly leadership is often self-centered, we would do well to honour Christ as our King and Saviour. 

1 Timothy 1:17 - “To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”

Revelation 19:6 - “On his robe and on his thigh, he has a name inscribed King of kings and Lord of lords.” 

Elizabeth Joy-Lawrence wrote: "We need Christ the King Sunday because we need to remember that our ultimate hope is not in any human being, but in Christ.”

      Thought: How could Christ the King Sunday change the way we live our daily lives?

      Living in grace

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Paradise unlocked

"Come, then, let us observe the Feast. Truly wondrous is the whole chronicle of the Nativity. For this day the ancient slavery is ended, 

the devil confounded,
the demons take to flight,
the power of death is broken,
paradise is unlocked,
the curse is taken away,
sin is removed from us,
error driven out,
truth has been brought back,
the speech of kindliness diffused,
and spreads on every side,

a heavenly way of life has been ‘in planted on the earth, angels communicate with men without fear, and men now hold speech with angels." – St. John Chrysostom

When I read through these words of John Chrysostom, I was struck by the phrase - "paradise is unlocked."

As we accept the invitation to celebrate the Birth of Jesus, may we experience the beauty of a new paradise.

Revelation 2:7 - Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

Living in Grace

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Trying to flatter the King?

Francois Fenelon was the court preacher for King Louis XIV of France in the 17th century. One Sunday when the king and his attendants arrived at the chapel for the regular service, no one else was there but the preacher.

King Louis demanded, “What does this mean?”

 

Fenelon replied, “I had published that you would not come to church today, in order that your Majesty might see who serves God in truth and who flatters the king.” - (Submitted by Chris Stroup, Source Unknown)

Thought: The obvious challenge for us all is this - do we attend Sunday worship to gain the respect of others, or do we worship to honour the King? 

Revelation 17:14 - They will wage war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will triumph over them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.”

Living in Grace

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God is a friend of silence

"God is a friend of silence.
See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grow in silence.
See the stars, the moon, the sun,
how they move in silence." - Mother Teresa of Calcutta

I find it interesting that our world is obsessed with noise and when we seek to be liberated from all the sounds of life, we face plenty of opposition. More often than not, the resistance comes from within our own hearts. We may feel a pull towards silence, but we struggle to let go of the noise. We keep the TV on, we keep the notifications pinging on our phones, we turn the radio on when we drive - we are afraid of the silence.

But, why is this? 

Are we afraid of God may say to us?

If silence is Golden, why do we resist it so much?

Job 33:31 - "“Pay attention, Job, and listen to me; be silent, and I will speak."

Revelation 8:1 - "When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour."

Challenge: Try and spend some time in silence today and just 'be' in the presence of God. 

Living in Grace

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Saying Yes!

Bob Goff writes, “I think God sometimes uses the completely inexplicable events of our lives to point us toward him. We get to decide each time whether we will lean in toward what is unfolding and say yes or back away. The folks who were following Jesus in Galilee got to decide the same thing each day because there was no road map, no program and no certainty. All they had was this person, an idea and an invitation to come and see….So the next time God asks you to do something that is completely inexplicable…(that) requires a decision or courage that way over your pay grade, something that might even save lives, say “Yes!”

This quote challenges me on many levels, but the few that are most relevant at the moment are these thoughts:

• Do my present circumstances point me towards Christ?
• Following Jesus implies that life is going to be a little "unplanned" at time.
• What do I need to say 'Yes' to in order to help others?

What strikes you about the quote?

Revelation 22:20 - He who testifies to all these things says it again: “I’m on my way! I’ll be there soon!” Yes! Come, Master Jesus!

Living in Grace

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Freezing cold

                                        

The last few days have been freezing cold in the Western Cape. What struck me today was that although our modern weather apps give us warning of rain, cold fronts and bad weather, we still experience the extremes of our climate. We can prepare for it, but we still struggle through it!

In a spiritual sense, we don't have 'Apps' to tell us that we are going to be facing storms or inclement weather, but we do have warning signs that things may be strained. It is in these moments that we need to do some introspection and to be honest where we stand with God. I have found that these are moments where we can experience profound transformation.

Related to the theme of cold and freezing are these 2 verses:

Revelation 3:15 - I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!

Job 37:10 - God’s breath sends the ice, freezing wide expanses of water.

Thought: When we are physically cold, we do something to make ourselves warmer. When we are spiritually lukewarm what do we do in order to change that?

Living in Grace

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Understanding God's plans

"But they do not know the Lord’s thoughts
    or understand his plan." - Micah 4:12

Who of us can honestly say we always understand the way God works? Not many of us I think!
The people in Micah's day certainly didn't fully understand what God was doing and when we consider the birth of a tiny baby as God's idea for redemption - well, that seemed totally ridiculous. 

However, we now know a little more about how Jesus' life became the GIFT for all humanity and how God's plan ended up offering salvation to the world. This is the beauty and joy of Christmas.
Indeed, God's ways are not our ways, so we are left to trust in God's plans or to ignore them.

Revelation 15:3 - “Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the nations."

Living in Grace
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The final No

"After the final No there comes a Yes,
And on that YES
the future of the world depends." - Wallace Stevens

This little poem is wonderfully intriguing. It is worth reading a few times before one comes to understand what he is getting at. It may be helpful to read this in conjunction with the following words from Revelation.

Revelation 14:13 - Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labour, for their deeds will follow them.”

Revelation 22:20 -  He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

Death will be the final No for each one of us, but after this No there will come a great YES. Our eternal future depends on the YES of Christ.

What do you think?

Living in Grace
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The gift of a Star!

 

When were you ever given a Star?
I am not speaking about a gold or silver star in pre-school - I am talking about an actual Star!? A star like Andromeda, Orion, Sirius, Polaris?
I guess all of us have answered my weird question with a resounding, "Well, NEVER, of course! We have never been given an actual Star!"

In Revelation, the word of God goes out to the church to encourage her to persevere and to hang on until Jesus returns. John's words then suggest that God will actually give us a Star - not just any Star, but the Morning Star.

^"I will also give that one the morning star." - Revelation 2:28

The symbolism is important for us in this message, because the 'Morning Star' refers to the Messiah. This comes through clearly towards the end of Revelation, where John writes:

Revelation 22:16 - “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”

So the next time you are awake early in the morning look out for the morning star. It is a daily reminder that God has given us the greatest star of them all - His Son - the Morning Star.

Living in Grace

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Burden to bear?

 

We sometimes think that God places heavy burdens upon us and wonder how we can manage the current load placed upon our shoulders. When John shared his revelation with the Church in Thyatira he offered them these words of hope:

‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’ – Revelation 2:24-25

This kind of ‘burden’ is not really a burden, but rather an act of gracious love. God realised that the people were struggling and fighting with spiritual adversaries in their midst, so he didn’t want to place any extra burden upon them. All he asked was that they would HOLD ON to his love until he intervened.

It is this call to PERSEVERANCE that may be interpreted as a burden, but is rather a gift to be shared amongst the people of God. God will be with us as we seek to hold onto his love.

Action: Hold onto Christ today, because the work of "perseverance" is going to move us towards spiritual maturity.

Living in Grace

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Victorian Parlor or Family Room?

 

In doing some reading around the 7 Churches of Revelation, I came across this delightful piece from Eugene Peterson. He makes this lovely observation about the church and challenging us on what we expect from a church community:

"The churches of the Revelation show us that churches are not Victorian Parlors where everything is always picked up and ready for guests. They are messy family rooms. Entering a person's house unexpectedly, we are sometimes met with a barrage of apologies. St. John does not apologise. Things are out of order, to be sure, but that is what happens to churches that are lived in. They are not show rooms. They are living rooms, and if the persons living in them are sinners, there are going to be clothes scattered about, hand prints on the woodwork, and mud on the carpet." - E.Peterson in Reversed Thunder

I think there is a lot for us to chew on in this passage. It calls me to reflect on our desire to make church 'nice' and  'clean' - or to remember that because we are all "sinners in need of grace", there is going to be a mess in some parts of our community.

Seeking to make our churches look like "show rooms" is not going to help us live in them and make them spaces for the entire family of God. What do you think?

1 Corinthians 1:10 - I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose.

Living in Grace
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Surround Sound

 

“Heard in full sound, the Gospels tell about the establishment of a theocracy, and portray what theocracy looks like with Jesus as king.” -  N. T. Wright

When we read through the Gospels we should hear the message of God in Surround Sound. It should speak 'loud and clear' to us of a different Kingdom - a new world and new Hope. So, in the light of the above quote, why don't you chew on these thoughts today:

1. A Theocracy is "a system of government in which priests rule in the name of God or a god."

2.  I am not sure that 'priests' (including myself in this) would do the best job at ruling nations. Certainly the history of Israel shows us that there were a few exceptions, but there were plenty of failures.

3. On the other hand, I don't think Priests would do 'worse' than present day Politicians! Maybe....maybe not?!

4.  Theocracy at its ideal would find Christ as King.

5. This Kingdom would be like no other we have even seen. Oh how we long for this 'New Jerusalem.'

Revelation 21

[ The New Heaven and the New Earth ] Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them..

Living in Grace

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