Matthew 4:12-23We considered first that Jesus came to meet Peter, Andrew, James and John in the middle of their everyday lives and occupations. Does he still do this? Often through other people or situations?He said 'Follow me' – and still does to us. Perhaps that's all he says, doesn't give us rules and regulations to follow, but doing that is not easy, will probably take a lifetime with God's grace helping us to attempt it. The 4 fishermen left the security and safety of their jobs, and left immediately, reminding us of the great difference Jesus can make in our lives.
The consequences of this encounter – were tremendous. For the 4 men being with Jesus for 3 years, and then the certainly unexpected to them, event of Jesus' crucifixion and mind blowing Resurrection, and then to being leaders of the early church, and probable martyrdom. And after them, many great saints and ordinary people have had their lives changed by also trying to follow Jesus. Cf the recently released film 'Of Gods and Men'. Greatly acclaimed it beautifully represents the 9 French monks who lived happily alongside Muslim villagers in the Atlas Mountains of Algeria. When extremists threatened both them and the villagers the monks are then shown individually and collectively questioning their faith and calling. They all chose to remain rather than return to France and 7 were kidnapped and killed in 1996.
We agreed we wouldn't be at TFG but for the first disciples following Jesus and telling others. Unlike them or the monks we may not have to leave our present lives; do we always remember though that it's there we should be trying to follow Jesus everyday? Peter and the others got it wrong at times, the monks faced hard choices. Following Jesus doesn't mean following blindly leaving our free will behind. How will choose to follow Jesus so that others will hear of Jesus' love?
Judith Platt
On 16 January at TFG we looked together at John 1 verses 29 to 42.
I commented that with the Fourth Gospel you almost need to be a detective to get to the heart of what John is saying, and even then of course because of the great cultural differences between first century Palestine and twenty-first century Britain some of the meaning may still escape us. That doesn't mean that we should give up, though! I wondered whether the mention of time – the next day, the next day, about four o'clock in the afternoon, was simply a passion for accurate recording on John's part, or whether, as so often in this gospel it's almost as if he's playing a little game with us – why am I writing this?
As to “the next day” is it John reminding us that time us short and that we too, like the people in this extract have to decide whether we want to “come and see” and then follow the Lamb of God? And four o'clock in the afternoon? An unimportant detail or a reminder that that's the end of daylight, and dark is coming and we have to decide whether to stay in the light of Christ, or like Judas, live in the dark?
The main themes of these verses are the titles applied to Jesus, e g Messiah, Rabbi, and above all Lamb of God – lambs having deep significance for the Jews (above all at Passover) and witnessing – John the Baptist, Andrew, all pointing to Jesus. Questions: what titles can we apply to Jesus that will resonate with our own generation, and how do we witness effectively to Jesus in a broken world that, though it refuses to recognise this, stands in desperate need of his message of reconciling love?
EDWARD BRYANT
Epiphany – Christ shown to the World; all right then – manifested if you prefer. So how did we do it?
Well – I filled a gold gift bag with ‘silver’ coins, which we all ate!
I found some frankincense sticks and shared some olive body cream around the TFG congregation to symbolize the Wise Men’s gifts.
We talked about what the gifts symbolised and had lots of activities for all the age groups represented; we had lots of fun in doing all that was offered.
Using an acrostic G I F T S, we discussed what each letter could stand for, both in Jesus’ life, and in ours; our Christian life, journey and mission.
We also sang lots of songs including: Come & join the celebration, O come all ye faithful, Joy to the World, See Him lying on a bed of straw; together with sundry ‘wise men’ songs: We three kings (the sensible version not the playground one!), As with gladness, men of old..
Finally, we laid slips of paper marked ‘gold, frankincense and myrrh’ next to the Advent Candle ring as a sign of our New Year commitment to Christ.
It was an exciting start to 2011 – why not come and join us?
Deacon Olivia
We discussed who he was – the messenger of the long awaited Messiah, living off the land in the Judaean wilderness where he preached repentance to everyone, and baptised them. Was this location a concrete prophetic sign that the people should once more return to the desert to encounter God afresh and prepare for God's chosen one?
Today's reading has moved on and John has been imprisoned by Herod, the local ruler. What would John feel like? Defeated, disorientated? - probably in a dark dungeon, a great contrast to the wide spaces and skies of the desert. Not surprisingly he doubted his mission, and even who Jesus was. Are we sometimes imprisoned by problems of ourselves or our families, or of the world in which we live. Do we question our faith? Hopefully we do! Hopefully we try to work out how what we believe, fits in with the situation we're in – we agreed in a helpful discussion that this is difficult, and there are no easy answers. Yet this is how our faith can grow and become more meaningful in our lives.
Christian experience through the ages often tells of famous saints who doubted and questioned. We spent a little time thinking of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, also in prison facing a death at the whim of an unstable ruler. In 'Letters and Papers from Prison' he evaluates his faith and tries to make it relevant to his situation and the changing circumstances of modern life. His question, 'What do we really believe in such a way that we stake our lives on it' ? was John's question too, and should be ours.
Jesus' answer was one which left John to work it out for himself, though he would easily recognise the allusions to Old Testament prophecy; yet he would have to come to terms with a Messiah probably very different from what he expected, and to learn that God acts in surprising ways.
Who is Jesus? - we should be glad that John who met Jesus face to face, nevertheless had to struggle with this question – so it's OK for us too. Today's pink Advent candle reminds us that John, despite his doubts, really was the messenger of the good news of Jesus – whose birth we shall very soon be celebrating.
Judith
Luke 23:33-43
We considered the great contrast between celebrating Christ as our triumphant, risen, ascended King and the scene in the gospel reading of Jesus crucified with 2 criminals. We also considered some of the words spoken to find out more about Jesus our King and his kingdom. First we discussed 'Father forgive.....' - amazing forgiveness, compassion, unconditional love for everyone there and, we believe, for us.
This is in contrast to people's reaction, probably the same as today; many would be getting on with their own concerns. Yet the religious leaders, though they acknowledged Jesus had done some good, mocked him. The soldiers doing their job and one of the criminals joined the refrain of 'Save yourself....' but paradoxically by not saving himself, Jesus saved everyone else, and us. So again back to the values of the Kingdom – trust in God and unconditional love.
The other criminal showed compassion and a sense of justice and even an insight that Jesus' death was not the end and apparent defeat it appeared to be. Jesus too showed his real authority in his promise to him. But is it possible to live out these values today? We heard a story of a couple who did that, transforming their own lives shattered by the pointless murder of their son, and those of the prisoners they work with on schemes of restorative justice – and motivated by their strong Christian faith, So does today challenge us to reflect how we live our lives With Jesus help can we try to follow him more and so spread his kingdom of justice, peace and amazing love?
Judith Platt
