Tag Archives: mark’s gospel

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#31 Handle Power… #40ways40days2015

40 WAYS IN 40 DAYS LENT 2015

#31 Handle Power

Mark 10:35-45

35James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” 36And he said to them, “What is it you want me to do for you?” 37And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” 38But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” 39They replied, “We are able.” Then Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized; 40but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

41When the ten heard this, they began to be angry with James and John. 42So Jesus called them and said to them, “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. 43But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, 44and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. 45For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

Servanthood

Be honest, how many of us would like to hang out with successful or well-known people. People feted and sought after by others. I’m not sure how famous Bishop Gene Robinson is (he’s the first ordained openly gay bishop in the worldwide Anglican Communion), but I do remember how some, from those involved with his visit, were keen to keep his company as much as possible. And yes I was possibly a bit jealous.

Conversely are we so keen to hang out with those who form the almost invisible deprived groups in our society: the homeless; the hungry; the sick and the suffering. Jesus is particularly portrayed in Mark as the servant/slave of others. Mark provides more detail than the other Gospels on Jesus’ acts of diligent and faithful service to others for God and, to the shock of his disciples, he calls them to do the same!

Of course, other than Jesus himself, we have great saints to show us the way. Mother Theresa, who established a community of nuns to work in the slums of Calcutta, has been a great inspiration to many. She also insisted that she received as much as she gave. While working with people, who knew real material poverty, she also found great richness and beauty. To her western supporters she once said:

‘We think sometimes that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty. We must start in our own homes to remedy this kind of poverty.’

and also:

‘Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty’.

To serve others, who are in more difficult circumstances than ourselves, can be tough and difficult. It can take us away from our comfort zone into unknown territory and expose us to others with different values and interests. It can also be a wonderful opportunity to widen our world and to rediscover what is truly important.

So are we willing to take the risk?

– Tim H, Moreland Baptist

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#13 Flight / Retreat… #40ways40days2015

40 WAYS IN 40 DAYS LENT 2015

#13 Flight/Retreat 

Mark 4: 35-41

35That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. 37 A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. 38 Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?”

39 He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.

40 He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

41 They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”

 

cathie1Story

Recently I had the opportunity to go over to the other side…of the Indian Ocean to Kerala.  I was super stoked this opportunity had come my way and couldn’t wait to get back to a place that brings me such life.  But getting there wasn’t so easy.  There were children to consider and generous babysitters to arrange and a house to be cleaned so the babysitters could move in and meals to be cooked and frozen and work schedules altered and business to be put on hold and unhappy clients to be dealt with and bags to be carefully packed and safety and security to be considered and Australian like gifts for hosts to be purchased and trips to chemist warehouse to get litres of hand sanitiser and malaria tablets and hair to be cut and eyebrows to be threaded and appropriate clothing to be thought about (have you ever seen how amazingly groomed Indian women are in all circumstances!) and my baby and big kinder girl to say goodbye to and it all got a little out of hand really!

And so it really shouldn’t have surprised us that after 5 hours in transit in Malaysia, and perhaps a bit of a long nap and we actually missed our flight to India!  We love a good travel story and we always say “its all about the journey, not the destination,” but really we felt pretty stupid!

Naturally I was pretty relieved to get to finally get to India.  I love India for all sorts of reasons but mainly because I can always seem to find a bit of calm amongst the chaos.  This time however, the experience wasn’t so much about the roads or the marketplace or the living conditions but about myself.  It was time to find my calm amongst my chaos.

Staying on an island amongst the Keralan backwaters we found ourselves in a little cottage perched on the edge of a large rice paddy.  There was a stillness there I have never experienced before.  There seemed to be little wind or breeze and such quietness that when the prayers from early morning Catholic mass, the Hindu chants from the temple, the bells from the orthodox church and the birds and bats flying in all mingled together over that rice paddy field in a moment of tranquility.

It reminded me of the good old psalm – “Be still and know that I am God (46:10)” I always thought if only I could be still for a moment I might receive that revelation, that epiphany.  But staying those 4 nights on the Keralan backwaters I realized that God is the stillness – that the epiphany doesn’t come in the stillness but rather the stillness is the epiphany.  By becoming aware of and grabbing hold of the stillness of God and entering it and trusting it we then can be renewed.  Oswald Chambers wrote, “the stillness enables us to bring about spiritual initiative…we have to get ourselves up!  Then God will give us the power of life.”

It’s interesting to ponder that when the disciples were travelling over to the other side Jesus didn’t prevent the storm but instead calmed it down when the boat was nearly swamped.  The disciples had to seek out Jesus in the storm.  Without the storm perhaps the disciples would not have experienced the stillness.

And so I grab hold of my rice paddy moment when things are getting a little our of hand and know that my peace comes from Jesus Christ…and then the chaos usually resumes with my little bit of calm amongst it. (Which is precisely why this day 13 Lenten reflection is a week or so late – sorry about that!)

I hope this Lent you are able to find Jesus amongst your chaos.

– Cathie S. Newmarket Baptist

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#19 Sent to Travel Light (Heal and Exorcise)…#40ways40days2015

40 WAYS IN 40 DAYS LENT 2015

#19 Sent to Travel Light (Heal and Exorcise)

Mark 6:7-13

He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. He said to them, ‘Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.’ So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them. 

Reflection

When I’m in Cambodia I always look forward to staying in Phnom Penh. One of the highlights of my time there is to give alms to the monks. Early in the morning they circulate through the city, and approach homes and villages with their begging bowls. Though I’m a Christian I cannot but honour those who choose to pray and mediate, to live incredibly simply, giving up all except for two saffron robes. Usually I’m in a café reading the paper with my coffee. When they approach I come forward, head down, shoes removed and place my offering in the bowl. They then respond with a chanted blessing.

Jesus’ call to his disciples to take nothing is part of a long tradition where nomadic prophets and healers roamed the countryside, unencumbered by the trappings of a home or its possessions. Unlike our western culture, all encompassing hospitality was a central feature of Semitic culture. When people invited you into their homes, you become part of the family and can stay for as long as you wish.

Jesus desired his followers to live like he did.  He started with the synagogues, but after finding rejection, he now went about the villages. Likewise he wished his followers to be free to go where the Spirit directed them, and to visit the people and families directly in their homes.

The monks in Cambodia live simply. They have one meal a day, live together in dormitory style accommodation and participate in regular prayer in the temple. I’ll never forget the day I had the opportunity to travel to visit a temple in the remote north-eastern part of the country. While I was there I offered English classes. Before the classes I was invited to share in the daily meal, composed of all the rice they had been offered together with the food purchased by the alms given that morning. It was a humbling and touching experience.

May we desire to live simply as people of God: attuned to the call of the Spirit; open to speak and authentically live out our faith; and prepared to minister to others. May we live lives where we are not obsessed with our possessions: our need to pay for them; maintain them; and protect them, but instead focussed on what is truly important.

This I pray.

– Tim H,  Moreland Baptist

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#15 Cross to the Dark Side (Re-location)…#40ways40days2015

40 WAYS IN 40 DAYS LENT 2015

#15 Cross to the Dark Side (Relocation)

Mark 5:35-41; 6:45,47-48 

 While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?’ But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only believe.’ He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. When he had entered, he said to them, ‘Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.’ And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha cum’, which means, ‘Little girl, get up!’

 Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.

 When evening came, the boat was out on the lake, and he was alone on the land. When he saw that they were straining at the oars against an adverse wind, he came towards them early in the morning, walking on the lake. He intended to pass them by.

darth-vader-faceReflection

As a child like many others Star Wars was a great Saturday ritual where we would play the videotapes at nausea to enjoy the battles and mystery of this struggle for good and evil. As I moved into to high school however I discovered there was something much greater that I loved about Star Wars…the music! The first time I played the main theme in a concert band was in 1996 at Rosetta High School in Hobart, an exciting time, particularly on tuba. But the best part was playing this Dark Side theme the imperial march, symbolising evil whenever it was heard.

Today’s readings are an interesting group, life and death, resurrection and relocation, mystery and clarity. This group is no accident and invites us to consider the many crossings we have in our lives as we march to our own song and rise each day. For Marks community water and particularly deep bodies of water are disturbing places and getting to the other side often meaning returning to gentile soil, is always depicted as difficult never free from calamity and more often than not a wrestle with the disciples faith…why?

Relocating ourselves is never easy and relocating ourselves spiritually is certainly a wrestle. We can laugh and mock and think about the waste of time it is, but there is always life that can emerge amidst this if we don’t let it pass us by.

I wonder where are the places we are finding hard to crossover at the moment? Is there some murky waters beneath our boats? The imperials in star wars where always a formidable force to be frightened of, what are we afraid of?

If Jesus is out walking as we wrestle in our crossing over I wonder can we see him beside our boats? Perhaps a storm is coming and we will need to think about how we will respond…how will you?

– Luke Bowen,  Moreland Baptist

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#14 Learn from the Land…#40ways40days2015

40 WAYS IN 40 DAYS LENT 2015

 #14 Learn from the Land

Mark 4:1-34

… ‘The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come’…

Reflection

With autumn upon us and my tomato crop coming to an end I must say that its been a pretty good harvest this year. I have never really had a vegie patch before but this year we decided to take a punt and throw a couple of seedlings here and there to see what would spring up. To our delight the tomatoes went crazy. From four little seedlings sprung hug bushes and given us about 5 or 6 dozen tomatoes, shame thought I can’t stand the taste!

But the coriander in our garden didn’t do so well, it grew a little and then the hot summer sun, burnt it up, reducing it to not much more than a brown twig sticking out of the soil. Mark today encourages us to look at the land as an opportunity to learn and experience the kingdom of God. There is a lot of talk about seed and soil, the sower and Satan, but subtly the light is mentioned.

Along our back fence we get the hot afternoon sun, perhaps I shouldn’t have planted my coriander there, but the other plant, chilli, seemed to love it, the right balance of sun. In all these metaphors and teaching of the seed I wonder about the place of the light. It’s the first thing I look at when I go to Bunning’s and read the plant label, how much sun can it handle? I wonder how much sun can we handle? Is it possible that God’s light can be too much?

Our sacred land has much to teach us if we are truly going to understand and experience the kingdom of God. For Mark’s farming community the spontaneity of the land is likened t the spirit of God, unexplainable but joyous mystery, apparently springing up in the darkness of night to be enjoyed in the light.

Perhaps for me this is the point when I ask about the light being to much. There is a reason why the sun goes down at the end of the day, to encourage the land to rest and replenish. This a helpful metaphor for our spiritual lives as we need to rejuvenate so that overnight a new energy can grow.

For the mustard seed to grow is to offer it both light and darkness, a balance of both. Paul Toms recently preached at Moreland about having a weedy faith and this is where Mark takes me today. Recognising that the mustard bush is a weed that grows amongst the grain, a pest and hard to get rid of. I hope to be a person of weedy faith, growing in darkness towards the light, forever growing back and like my tomatoes being abundant for all to enjoy!

Peace

Luke

– Luke Bowen, Moreland Baptist

tomato battle

Tomato Battle, Flemington, Feb 28 2015

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#12 Redefine Family and Culture…#40ways40days2015

40 WAYS IN 40 DAYS LENT 2015

#12 Redefine Family and Culture

Mark 3:13-35; 6:1-6 

Jesus Appoints the Twelve

 He went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message,and to have authority to cast out demons. So he appointed the twelve:Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); James son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Jesus and Beelzebul

Then he went home; and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, ‘He has gone out of his mind.’ And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, ‘He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.’ And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, ‘How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.

 ‘Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin’— for they had said, ‘He has an unclean spirit.’

The True Kindred of Jesus

 Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, ‘Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.’ And he replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ And looking at those who sat around him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.’ 

The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth

He left that place and came to his home town, and his disciples followed him. On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, ‘Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Maryand brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?’ And they took offence at him. Then Jesus said to them, ‘Prophets are not without honour, except in their home town, and among their own kin, and in their own house.’ And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And he was amazed at their unbelief. 

The Mission of the Twelve

Then he went about among the villages teaching.

Reflection

marc chagall prophet

Marc Chagall – Jeremiah

Today we read some rather confronting words from Jesus that certainly hit home the question from today’s readings; who are our family? What does this say to our culture? For many us I would suspect at times it’s rather hard to do the whole family thing. In our Australian context it’s hard to define what family means alongside our culture, which seems to be ever evolving and changing. Mark seems to tip out all notions of culture and family from todays reading challenging us to answer these questions. But I would go on to say there is something behind Mark’s questions that at first isn’t obvious but if we think about it, it makes sense.

The question behind the question is intrinsically connected to Marks deep theological message of a Jesus found amongst the people. It seems the responses to the Jesus we meet today turns these notions upside down, to which Jesus responds, the people are my mothers and brothers.

I have to admit hearing churches describing their congregations as ‘church families’ does make me cringe, because I wonder if we really know what we are saying when we describe our communities as families? Culturally we have a lot to learn from the different people groups around us. My work in the hospital exposes this regularly as we realize that family means a tight bond, no matter what, always with an open door, regardless of pain or shame. I wonder if our churches stopped banging on about righteousness and actually understood what Jesus is saying here perhaps we might edge even closer to the liberation of people than we think? For Jesus is saying I don’t need to draw a line between family of my flesh and of the spirit we are all one. For Jesus family has no divides, it simply is as it is, no question. For Mark there is an urgency in this proclaiming that if you want to be where the action is get out into the streets and eat with your sisters and brothers and care for all of your mothers.

However in the church we do sometimes get this right. I think of the mothers in our church, the ones that bake, care and offer a welcome kiss on the cheek. As one of our church mothers at Moreland turned 80 last week I said to her on Sunday, you are really important to me, she stopped looked and said you are important to me too! Perhaps it is in these moments that we begin to redefine family. Not to replace our own family of flesh and blood but rather to expand our family to welcome all into our folds and to recognize the importance of all around us.

joyce

But with an open door policy this is counter cultural. For as westerners we are told that we are individuals and others are simply liabilities to be carried along the way. Jesus returns to his hometown and realizes the resentment and question that lie upon his identity. This tells us that it is the reality of the day, that our message of everyone is in, is not always going to be received. Sad I know but also it is the realization that some places will never change and that we have an opportunity to make those places ones of possibility.  What are the possibilities to rethink some of this, to reclaim it and to form and evolve our Australian culture that welcomes all. Perhaps this is what God is calling us to realize that Asylum Seekers are our mothers, sisters and brothers, simply needing us to embrace and welcome them into this country…I don’t know…just a thought?!

Practice

Today is an opportunity to look at your own family, how are you connected? Are you like me and not connected at all? Is there a place of possibility in this? If not what might be a possibility for you?

– Luke Bowen, Moreland Baptist