#15 – Do unto others

Matthew 7:12 

‘In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.’

When I was in primary school I remember the advertisement that regularly appeared on television from a Christian organisation, it coined this part of Matthew and seemed to make a pretty obvious statement, even though at the time I was not a Christian nor belonged to a church.

I wonder today are we doing unto others as we would do unto ourselves? It seems as though this ‘check’ has been lost mostly in our social consciences as we are still unable to welcome the stranger, feed the hungry and help the poor.

I am aware that as we journey through lent our dear friend Tri Nguyen is walking to Canberra with his boat (& Posse) in tow. His radical statement made to SBS just last week strikes me, ‘being able to say thank you in 30 years time rather than having to say to sorry.’

If only we could really grasp what Jesus is teaching here, treating others as you would want to be treated, offering sanctuary to the refugee, shelter to the stranger, a simple meal to the hungry.

Our call during the Lenten period is not only about self-reflection but also how we conduct ourselves in other relationships we hold. These relationships place us in the world, they shape us and they effect us. How are we being perceived? As followers of Jesus how do people describe us? Are our relationships reflecting what we want to receive back?

Practice

A bit of self-reflection is the order today; in this we look not only inward but also outwards as the self-reflection is based in our call to be in community with others. Have a look around, how are the relationships? Do they need some work? Some affirmation?

A Prayer for Tri today would be good, as he seeks to turn the poltical message on its head, true in the style of Jesus…

Peace,

Luke Bowen

14. Value the pearls

Matthew 7:6

 “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.”

Much of the past few weeks has had me planning and engaging our upcoming Neighbour Day garden party at Moreland Baps. National annual celebrations of community where we get together to simply say g’day to those whom are our neighbours.

You may ask what has this got to do with what is going on in Matthew today? I think community is sacred, not just any old group put together but true community. The pearls we possess are the integrity, honesty and value that we bring and offer in our community. We accept one another, the loud annoying one and the quiet apparently unengaged one and also the every now and then one.

Our Moreland community is sacred, it may not appear so obviously on the surface, but the reality is that we each seek to be life in community via the wider life that we live.

Our pearls that each of us offer in community are not to be wasted and Matthew encourages us today to think about our own pearls, that is, our own selves and to whom and to what we offer them.

Offering ourselves to community is never easy, a few months ago I had a Sunday off and thought about going to another church for the morning, it was hard and anxiety rising, and I am supposed to be a pastor, church is my bag!

But Jesus invites us into genuine community, not superficial, dishonoring, disarming community, but a community where we can be held in our fragility and upheld in our gifts and abilities. The pearls that make me me are offered and received in a place of love and grace and not to a bunch of pigs that seek to disintegrate me.

Neighbour day is a day where we celebrate our pearls, we are invited to bring our pearls and not be passive in this sacred gathering but rather bring our pearls to the altar where they are marveled and celebrated as all belonging to the body of Christ.

Practice

What’s your pearl? Where do you cast your pearls? Is community a sacred place for you or a place of consumption?

Have a think today what it would mean to offer your pearls in your community where ever that may be. Maybe you already offer your pearls, how are they received? Are they before the pigs? Or are they celebrated, enjoyed and marveled as true beauty from God?

Worth a thought don’t you think?

Peace,

Luke Bowen

#13 Don’t Judge

Matthew 7:1-3 

 

7 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

 

3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?

If you just start high school its a big experience. there are alot of people all around you, you feel like that you are the smallest person yet you’re so full of enthusiasm that you find high school very overwhelming.

Well since you just came back from grade six trying to be a role model to little kids, then all of a sudden your the smallest in the school.

If you judge people in high school you might get a couple of freinds but a ton of enemies. It’s not good to judge people for all reasons, no matter what race, religion, skin colour.

– Ewen Curnow

#12 Don’t worry 6: 25-34, (10:19)

Matthew 6: 25-34

 ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

 ‘So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

– NRSV

#10. Pray like… 6:5-6 (5:7-8, 5:44)

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.  But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” – NRSV

I’m sure I am not alone in experiencing the prayer that turns into a mini sermon in the middle of the church service. The one that quotes the bible and attempts to teach those around, and also perhaps show off some of the fancy prayer language they can use.

I don’t want to be cynical about prayer and please don’t misunderstand me, I recognise the importance of prayer but as Matthew asks of us today, it is time to consider how we pray and to make sure our prayers are more than fancy words.

At Moreland we embrace our catholic (universal) roots and light candles as a marker for prayer in our service each week. The candles are lit with words usually and follow with either an ‘Amen!’ or a ‘Lord hear our prayer’. Matthew challenges our understanding of communal prayer life and our personal ramblings to God.

We are called to be people of integrity in prayer before God and to offer our intercessions as those things that weigh heavily on our hearts, the deep groaning’s of our souls.

But if anyone is like me, I can’t sit in the quiet and simply pray. The silence usually plays havoc with my mind and I do find the secret places of my life taking on different forms.

Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist monk, is a hero of mine when thinking about prayer and meditation. I first discovered meditative/prayer walking as described by this man in 2011. Walking or running to a mantra and in many ways letting your mind unravel a bit like Leunig’s cartoon below brings a new freedom.  Part of my commitment to be a person who is peaceful and a healer and reconciler is to be connected to the land around me. Running/Walking the Moonee ponds creek daily is a prayer practice of mine that connects me into the sacred around me and helps me listen for the small silent voice of God.

My reward that I see and hear each time I pray this way is the beauty and peace that is around me. I sometimes loose sight of it, but the prayer life I have in secret makes it come alive again, as I seek to be with my God in the unravelling of my mind.

Prayer will look different for each us and I suspect that those of us who use scripture to pray are doing it in their own way and I commend that. The psalms we sing and pray are the deep groaning’s and high delights of David and others, a prayer language of honesty and integrity.

Practice

It might be time to have a look at how we pray; perhaps it’s been a while since you shot a prayer upward. Go for a walk, sit in the fresh air or pickup the book of psalms and find one that resonates with where you are today.

There is reconciliation in prayer and a freedom to be found as we reconnect with God who dwells not up there in the clouds but deep within us already percolating the prayers that are yet to become words…

Peace

Luke Bowen