Broken Signposts- Beauty - John 1:1-18

                

I love how John begins his gospel by taking us all the way back to creation, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” We remember how God begins with chaos and speaks order, beauty, and wonder into creation and everything was good and very good. John reveals to us that creation happens through Jesus as the Word, fully God and fully human. We’re reminded by John that we’re given a magnificent creation filled with life and beauty and diversity created through Jesus. At the youth retreat last month, I sat with a number of the youth around the campfire at night we marveled at the night sky; the number of stars and satellites and the beauty of the moment. In the dark, away from the city lights, the light of the moon and stars helps us understand the power of John’s description of Jesus, “In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

John comes as a witness to the light of the world, his own birth a beautiful gift that brought joy and beauty to his parents Zechariah and Elizabeth; an older couple who had lost hope of having children. John comes to help the people see and recognize the light of the world that has come, unfortunately, many people fail to recognize this light, no different than today, and recognize who Jesus is. So many people know the name Jesus, but have no clue who he really is. To see in the darkness of the world, to see light in the dark times of their own lives, many people try to create their own light to try to get through life without getting lost, the saddest thing is that they fail to believe in the one person who can guide them through the darkness into a new life filled with wonder and beauty; instead, they turn away from his light. The wonder and beauty here is that when we believe in Jesus and follow him, we become children of God, brothers and sisters to Jesus, part of God’s family; an amazingly beautiful thing.

Beauty is found all around us; in the physical world because our God is an extraordinary artist who gives some people his artistic gift to create even more beauty in the world that help us see and understand who God is. The writers of the Bible connect beauty with God’s glory multiple times. This is the point of Article 2 in the Belgic Confession where Guido de Bres writes, “We know God by two means: First, by the creation, preservation, and government of the universe, since that universe is before our eyes like a beautiful book in which all creatures, great and small, are as letters to make us ponder the invisible things of God: God’s eternal power and divinity, as the apostle Paul says in Romans 1:20. All these things are enough to convict humans and to leave them without excuse. Second, God makes himself known to us more clearly by his holy and divine Word, as much as we need in this life, for God’s glory and for our salvation.”

Creation tells of God’s glory, pointing us to the outpouring of his own generous love for us in the variety and wonder of everything he created for us. N.T Wright defines beauty as “the haunting sense of loveliness, the transient yet powerful stabs of something like love but something more and different as well—is not after all a mere evolutionary twist…. It is a pointer to the strange, gently demanding presence of the living God in the midst of his world.” 

John now points us to Jesus’ birth, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” The Greek verb for dwelling is closely connected to the word tabernacle and is often translated, as “the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us,” bringing us back to the tabernacle and God’s presence among us. Jamieson, Fausset, & Brown note that this verb occurs 4 times and points to a permanent stay; Jesus comes to make our world his permanent home. As Pastor Chelsea Harmon observes, “Jesus didn’t just come as a guest, he came to live—not just to observe, but to work and be part of the very fabric of things. Just as quickly as this idea is planted, John zooms us back out and he says that we (the world) have seen his glory—the kind of glory that only comes from God—full of grace and truth. And when we “see” that glory, we see it in such a way that we can put it to personal use (the verb is in the middle voice). It becomes something that we build our faith upon. Does John have in mind any one specific aspect of that glory, such as Christ’s death on the cross, or does he mean all of the activity of God towards the world, from creation to consummation? My hunch is that it’s all of it—special and general revelation alike—because it all flows from the grace and truth of who God is, captured in the “fullness” of the Mediator, the second person of the Trinity, the Christ.”

When John points to Jesus’ glory he’s pointing us to the rich history God has with his people and those moments when God revealed his glory to his people. Psalm 96 sings that “strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.” The writer uses the same word for the richly designed clothes of the priest Aaron and his sons which were “for glory and beauty.” In other places the word is translated as honour or majesty or pomp, but more often the word beauty is connected with the word glory, God’s glory. God’s glory filled the tabernacle, a place to meet God, a place built by specially gifted artists who created a place of beauty for their God. The same thing later on happens with the temple built by Solomon, based on designs crafted by God, a temple that rivaled any other place of wonder or beauty found in the world. God designed both as places of great beauty that inspired awe, devotion, wonder, and worship in a way that other great buildings never have.

The Word comes to us, becomes one of us, becomes personal to us in a new way, revealing his glory and beauty by entering into a new kind of relationship with his people. Jesus becoming human reminds us that we’re created in the image of God and that’s where our beauty comes from. Beauty is not just physical, beauty’s revealed in relationships, in how God comes to us in glory and beauty, in how Jesus offers forgiveness, and the beauty of new life when we change our paths to travel his and believe in him. Beauty’s found in moments of great forgiveness and grace, in relationships of deep dependence and trust such as between a parent and child, or between two people who have learned to live with and love each other with a sacrificial love. The psalmist writes in the 8^th psalm, “what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet.” We’ve been charged with revealing God’s beauty and glory to all creation by caring for his creation, revealing the beauty and wonder God has placed in it.

Yet many are afraid of beauty and glory and look to destroy instead. Talking with our plumber in Stony Plain, we got to talking about why people destroy rather than create and he talked about how evil is a word we don’t want to talk about, yet there’s evil in the world and it breaks and destroys, impacting peoples’ lives and souls bringing ugliness rather than beauty. As a theological concept, evil refers to the presence of moral or spiritual corruption, wickedness, or plain nastiness. Evil opposes God's will and the principles of goodness, righteousness, and holiness as revealed in who Jesus calls us to be and live as his followers. We talked about how evil’s actually in each of us, the reformed perspective of total depravity. We talked about how situations and addictions can bring this evil out, but this is why a faith community is so important; we walk along with each other with the Holy Spirit to point us back to Jesus’ way and reveal his beauty offered to us.

Jesus can use brokenness to bring new beauty into our lives. Ann Voskamp with friends, while creating a mosaic picture with broken shards and asked, “What part of your story was …. broken…. but if it had never happened … you wouldn’t be who you are today?” “There are deeply painful lines in our stories that we’d do absolutely anything to change – but then how would that change the story in other deeply painful ways? The thing you never wanted, can be the thing that makes you into more than you could have been any other way. The thing you’d do absolutely anything to change, can be what changes you into someone absolutely more like Christ.…  As I slowly line up bits of the pieces of glass across my canvas, to outline the edge of the water meeting the shore, it’s another surprising outline that I see emerging: You outline the hand of God when you line up the worst things that ever happened in your life, and then line up the best things – and then notice how many of the worst things are what begin these connecting lines that lead to the best things.”

Beauty out of brokenness reminds us of how Jesus was broken so we can experience healing and renewal, pointing us to the beauty of the kingdom of heaven as a kingdom of grace, unconditional love, forgiveness, and new life. 

 

Let Us Come Before the Lord with Thanksgiving - Psalm 95

          

Today is Thanksgiving Day here in Canada, a day set aside by the government of Canada to stop and remember to give thanks after harvest time. According to the Canadian Encyclopedia, “The first official, annual Thanksgiving in Canada was celebrated on 6 November 1879, though Indigenous peoples in Canada have a history of celebrating the fall harvest that predates the arrival of European settlers. Sir Martin Frobisher and his crew are credited as the first Europeans to celebrate a Thanksgiving ceremony in North America, in 1578. They were followed by the inhabitants of New France under Samuel de Champlain in 1606. The celebration featuring the uniquely North American turkey, squash and pumpkin was introduced to Nova Scotia in the 1750s and became common across Canada by the 1870s. In 1957, Thanksgiving was proclaimed an annual event to occur on the second Monday of October.”

The Bible is filled with times of celebration of thanksgiving; however, God gave Israel two feasts of celebration related especially to the harvest. There were fifty days between the two feasts that focus on thanks for the harvest: the Feast of First Fruits signaled the beginning of the spring harvest; and Shavu’ot, or Pentecost, celebrated the end of the spring harvest. Crops that produce food are important for our health and strength so God calls us to be thankful for our food and those who work to grow it. For the Israelites, these feasts called for the entire nation coming together to celebrate God’s goodness. Those feasts are the closest celebrations to Thanksgiving we celebrate here in Canada, when we as a nation thank God for our blessings and the harvest.

Psalm 95 calls us to sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving.” There are beautiful images of who God is in the first part of this psalm that bring us to praise, as Scott Hoezee points out, “Metaphors for God as a Rock, as a King, as a Shepherd are lyric and lovely.  God’s redemptive desire is played off against his mighty power as the Creator of all the earth and as the One who is so awesome that he holds whole mountain ranges in the palm of his hand.” We’re called to approach God with joy; a spirit of celebration because of who God is. This psalm is all about who God is, not so much about what we get from God. Thanksgiving happens because of who God is, not because of what we get from of him.

The sole exception is that God is the Rock of our salvation, that God, as our God works to save us. The context for Israel is the exodus out of Egypt, out of slavery into freedom so they can come to God and praise him. If you remember the story of the exodus of Israel out of Egypt, the reason for Israel to go into the wilderness was so they could worship their God away from the influence of the temples and idol worship in Egypt, to worship with a spirit of joy and celebration rather than in fear and slavery. In this psalm, our Creator God calls us to come to his place to bow down in worship and kneel before the Lord our Maker. The reason we do this is because we are his people, he has claimed us as his and he cares for, and protects us, as a shepherd cares for, provides for, and protects his flock. We come free from our slavery to sin, filled with joy that once we accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, we are freed from our sin into a life of joy dedicated to our Lord. This is why we are here this morning, to worship and praise our Creator, our Good Shepherd, our Saviour and Redeemer.

And yet, even on a day when we come to praise and worship our God, we should be honest enough with ourselves and admit that there is often a tension between our praise and worship of God and wanting to do things our ways, to want more than he has given us in his generosity and grace. The psalmist is honest enough to remember the times of selfishness and grumbling to God, even right after he had brought the people out of slavery and destroyed their enemy before their very eyes. The psalmist reminds the people that instead of worshipping the Rock of their salvation, they complained, “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested me; they tried me, though they had seen what I did. For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways.”

The psalm reflects who we really are; we love to praise and worship God, to give thanks to him, and to see God for who he is. This is why we come Sunday mornings to gather together and worship together. It’s easier to do this when we are all together. However, after worship, sometimes even during worship, tension can slip into our hearts and small questions of doubt creep in and we wonder if God can really be trusted, if he will really give us what we’re looking for, and we get tempted to look backwards, and like Israel wonder if it wouldn’t be easier to simply to go back to Egypt where the watermelons tasted so good and where the breezes of the Nile cooled a person down when it was hot and sticky. Like Adam and Eve, we begin to think about what we don’t have, what God hasn’t given us instead of how he has blessed us and is with us. Then the words of Jesus in Matthew 15 begin to sting, “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.  They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’”  

This psalm is a call to live fully with and for God in a spirit of thankfulness and gratitude. We worship God, we give thanks to Jesus, we show appreciation for the presence of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and lives, not for what we get from him, but for who God truly is. We move forward in life together in and with grace; God’s grace. The grace of God is found in his presence with us in our sin, failures, and fears; in his grace in choosing us as his children, in the grace found in Jesus and how he reconciled us to God our Creator and Father through his loving sacrifice on the cross, in the grace of the gift of the Holy Spirit living in us and who comforts us and keeps pointing us back to Jesus.

This Thanksgiving Day, we give thanks for who God is; God of gods, creator and artist extraordinaire; a God who protects and cares for his sheep, the children of his flock. May our praise ring in the heavens and throughout our community so that our God is praised in all places and in all ways for his glory.

Broken Signposts – Spirituality - John 2:12-25

 

What does the word “spirituality” mean to you? What comes to mind when someone says that they’re spiritual, but not religious? This morning we’re looking at the signpost of spirituality through this story about Jesus throwing the people who were making the temple a place of business instead of worship. At its most basic meaning, spirituality is about being led by the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit. We will not be looking at the various types of spirituality rooted in various non-Christian faiths or philosophies. There are many that are very popular; however, these spiritualities lead us mostly into a self-help, self-growth direction with the goal of discovering ourselves; a broken signpost.

Jesus is entering his time of ministry, having just performed his first miracle at a wedding in Cana in Galilee at the request of his mother. Jesus then heads to Capernaum with his family and disciples before heading to Jerusalem for the Passover. The Passover feast is often featured in the Gospel of John. It’s the biggest festival for the Jews, though the Day of Atonement where the sins of the people are forgiven is right behind it. The Passover reminds the Jews of who their God is, a God who saved them out of slavery as their Saviour and Lord, and who claimed them as his people.

In the Old Testament, God came to his people in dreams and visions, but he especially leads his people through his laws where he reveals to the people who he is, what his character is like, and how they can be more like God and live wisely with him, each other, and who he’s calling them to be as his children. God was present in the tabernacle, and then later in the temple in Jerusalem. This is why the stories of God filling the tabernacle, and then the temple, with his Spirit are so important and powerful to the people; this is why, when the Spirit of God left the temple to follow the people into exile in Babylon to be with them rather than remain tied to a destroyed and ruined building, it revealed to the Jews that God will not abandon or forget them, that they’re still his people and he’s their God and goes where his people are. God leads his people through the feasts and festivals he gives them; feasts and festivals that point to God as their Saviour and Lord, festivals that call them to repentance and point them to what forgiveness and the removal of their sin looks like through symbols such as the scapegoat where the priest symbolically places the sins of the people on the goat and then casts it out of the camp into the wilderness; taking their sins far away; pointing ahead to what Jesus does for us on the cross. God gives them festivals to remind them to give thanks to God for what they’ve received from him.

Many Jews travelled each year to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover at the temple with sacrifices and ceremony as the temple was the center of the Jewish faith and the presence of God. Jesus heads into the temple and looses it when he sees what’s happening; he’s furious! “In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.” Why is Jesus so furious? The Jesuit John Foly writes, “Vendors were allowed only in the courtyard of the temple, not inside where they now had positioned themselves. And the dishonest practices of outdoor market-places had stolen their way into the temple. The thumb on the scale, the inflated prices, all of that. There is another, internal reason which is much more important. Jesus knew with blessed certainty what human beings were created to be. We are made to be filled with God’s presence, to be beloved by God and to love God in return. We are most ourselves when we are not entrapped by riches honor and pride. We are designed to “let go and let God.” Jesus was overwhelmed when he saw sellers winking at these Godly values, preferring cold cash, and cheating for it—at the dead center of sacred space. Everything had been turned upside down.”

The reaction of the Jews to Jesus’ actions is basically, “Who do you think you are?” Jesus goes deep with his answer, even though they have no clue as to what he’s getting at, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” This sounds downright crazy to the Jews. Herod build this magnificent temple that rivaled even Solomons amazingly beautiful temple. Herod built it to get the Jewish leaders to support him even though he wasn’t from the line of King David and was appointed to be king of the Jews by their foreign oppressors with the mandate to keep the Jews calm and peaceful. It’s crazy talk to say that someone could tear down a temple that took 46 years to build and then rebuild it again in 3 days. What’s Jesus talking about?

Gilberto Ruiz writes, “He, Jesus, appears in Jerusalem making a bold statement not so much “against” anything as much as “for” his authority to represent and reveal the God of the temple, whom he knows intimately as his Father. Moreover, rather than denigrate the economic activity of the temple, John’s Gospel uses it to develop its Christology of Jesus as God’s authoritative Son.” Sadly, many of the people had forgotten what the temple’s basically about, that it’s the presence of God among his people, the place to come to be guided by God and his priests. Instead, they’ve made an idol of the temple, making it a national identity thing, a brick-and-mortar thing. The people come there to worship God and do the sacrifices, but it’s mixed up with so much more than God now. It’s so easy to make even good things into idols, even blessings given to us by God. Many followers of Jesus, whose deepest desire is to be led by the Spirit of Jesus rather than the spirits of our time, come to places like Bethel searching for the presence of God, seeking the presence of Jesus and his Spirit in their lives. Christian spirituality keeps us focused on who God, who Jesus is, through the presence of the Holy Spirit in us who keeps leading us back to Jesus.

If the temple points to the presence of God among the people, God has now become present in an intensely more personal way now through his son Jesus. John, at Jesus’ baptism, testifies, “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.” John recognizes that the presence of God is now found in the person of Jesus. There is nothing mystical or weird about spirituality, even though many Christians today are uncomfortable with the term and some of the spiritual practices found in different Christian traditions.

Jesus is furious about how the temple isn’t pointing the people to God’s presence among them. The leaders of the temple should know better. Later, when Jesus is talking to the Pharisee Nicodemus and telling him that he needs to be born again, Nicodemus is confused, Jesus tells him, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So, it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”  Jesus tells Nicodemus that he should know this stuff and wonders if Nicodemus can even understand heavenly, or spiritual things, pointing to his coming sacrifice, “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” Jesus is pointing to himself as the Son of Man, the promised Messiah who has come down from heaven and is among the people, but pointing to his death to save the people.

Spirituality points us straight to God and to Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Jesus tells the Samaritan woman at the well that it’s not so important about where you worship, but that “we will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth, for that is the kind of worshippers the Father seeks.” If your faith practices are not pointing you to Jesus and God the Father, then it’s not from the Holy Spirit. Spirituality is the practice of being open to the presence and guidance of the Holy in the way of Jesus; guiding us back to Jesus each day away from the paths we want to walk.

John writes in his opening to his gospel, “the law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus the Messiah.” As N.T Wright encourages us, “That is the recipe for a genuine, transformative, Jesus-focused spirituality, which will upstage the self-serving and often narcissistic parodies on offer in many quarters today.” After Jesus dies on the cross to reconcile us with God the Father, when he’s raised after 3 days as a sign the Father accepts his sacrifice on our behalf, Jesus returns to heaven and sends us his Spirit to live with us and in us; the presence of God. Jesus and the Holy Spirit point us to the wonder that God’s powerful, rescuing, healing and transforming love is renewing the entire world, and ourselves with it. As we read through John’s gospel, this good news points us to the kingdom of heaven and what John’s view of a spirituality centered on Jesus and the Holy Spirit truly is.

Broken Signposts – Love - John 13:1-7

            

Last week we reflected on justice as a signpost that guides us to Jesus and the kingdom of heaven. There was so much more that could have been said and reflected on, including the injustice that Jesus faced for us so that God’s justice could be met and we could be reconciled to God again. This week we’re reflecting on love, also a signpost that guides us to who Jesus is and the kingdom of heaven. These signposts are all connected since they’re all aspects, or attributes of God; justice flows out of God’s love for us and his desire to be in relationship with us. Justice brings healing and hope in a broken world, revealing that God is working towards the new creation that will come at Jesus’ return.

The story John tells us this morning begins by reminding us that it’s getting close to the Passover and how God saved them; guiding them out of slavery into freedom, claiming them as his people. Then comes this powerful statement from John, “Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” As we go deeper into John’s story, this statement becomes even more powerful, as it’s set in a story filled with pride and betrayal. There are echoes back to the woman who has just recently washed Jesus’ feet with perfume and her own hair, a sign of her deep love for Jesus and the grace that Jesus has shown her.

The theme of love runs through this part of John’s gospel story, as Pastor Jan Richardson observes, “In John’s Gospel, in what’s known as the Farewell Discourse, John 13:31-17:26, Jesus will speak the word love thirty-one times. In these final hours before his death, the word will ring repeatedly, a potent echo of the moment when Jesus rose from the Jordan River, the waters of baptism dripping from him, and heard himself named Beloved. This night, he will give this word to his friends, passing along to them the love he received at a moment he needed it most.”

Many of us know this story well and often reflect on it on Good Friday. Jesus and his disciples are sharing in Jesus’ last supper before his death and resurrection, a meal connected to the Passover. John tells us that the devil has already worked in Judas Iscariot to get him to betray Jesus. As they get ready to eat, Jesus gets up and grabs a bowl of water and towels to wash his disciples’ feet. Apparently, there are no servants available to do this nasty job of washing everyone’s dirty smelly feet, and none of the disciples have thought of doing such a humiliating, at least to them, task.

It has always fascinated me how Peter reacts. He’s not willing to humble himself to wash his fellow disciples’ feet, but he’s also too ashamed of himself to allow Jesus to wash his feet. I’ve noticed that many people are uncomfortable in receiving the gift of extreme humble service because it reminds us of our own unwillingness to do the same. Being confronted by extreme humility and grace will do that to us. Jesus reacts to Peter’s refusal to let him was wash Peter’s feet by pointing to a deeper truth the disciples won’t understand until after Jesus’ death and resurrection, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

We understand now, looking back, that without accepting Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for our sin, we keep ourselves outside the kingdom of heaven, we’re not reconciled with God. Accepting Jesus’ sacrifice for our sin means embracing Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, turning our hearts, souls, minds, and lives over to him for his purposes. Of course, Peter being Peter, then goes to the other extreme, “Then Lord, not just my feet but my hands and my head as well.” Peter’s greatest fear is being separated from Jesus.

Jesus’ love is expressed in this story in humble menial service, shown in washing feet and then serving the meal to all his disciples, including his betrayer, Judas. Jesus shows us that love is not based on how the other person feels about you or treats you. Jesus shows us that love can be hard, especially when the person you’re showing love to is actually working against you. Love’s a decision and choice you make; it’s not something that just happens. This kind of love gets twisted and broken in our world when people who are being abused are called to simply accept the abuse and forgive the abuser and stay in the situation because that’s what love does. Love actually looks like holding people accountable for their actions and ensuring that they learn how to live with, and love, in healthy ways. Love for others does not mean staying in an abusive situation.

Pastor Luke A Powery challenges the church to show Jesus’ deep love to the world around us, “This demonstration of love by Christ as a response to betrayal and resistance calls the Church to open their doors to “whosoever” will come, even deemed enemies, those who might perpetuate racism, sexism, classism, homophobism, or any form of discrimination. Those who might look different, act different, worship different, or dress different must be loved with the type of love that Christ shows towards Judas. It is unconditional, and that is the key to opening the doors of the church. All must be welcomed. Inclusion should be a church’s focus, not exclusion; for all are washed by Christ, not just his friends. His love is without end. No limits. Love to the end, even to the end of the tips of his disciples’ toes…. Jesus loves in the face of betrayal…. Even when Peter resists the washing of his feet Jesus tells him, “If I don’t wash you, you have no share with me.” Jesus is determined to wash Peter's and the rest of his disciples' feet because he wants to be in relationship them. Jesus will do whatever it takes to be with us. Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, no matter who we are, what we’ve done, or what’s been done to us….” Pastor Powery’s challenge reminds me of the sign outside our own church, “Everyone welcome.” It’s hard and beautiful to live this out!

Love as Jesus practiced it, with humility and grace, points us to what the kingdom of heaven is all about; shaped by love of God, neighbour, and enemies. Love is about how we live with each other, not about how we feel about each other, a lesson I emphasize with every couple who are planning on getting married. It’s about living with others is ways that recognize that they’re created in the image of God, recognizing that Jesus is taking a long time to return because God wants to give us as many opportunities as possible to share the good news of Jesus: his love for us, his forgiveness, and reconciliation with God.

How we live with others who disagree with us, or who we disagree with, gives us a glimpse of how hard it is to really love. It’s much easier to love those who agree with us and are our friends, but how does that point to who Jesus is and what the kingdom of heaven looks like? Jesus challenges his listeners during his sermon in Mathew, “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” It’s fascinating that Jesus ties being perfect with loving enemies, and following right after his saying this, he tells us to do our acts of righteousness quietly with humility.

Melinda Quivik has an important insight into this story of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples, including Judas’, “In a strong sense, foot-washing is a metaphor for Confession of Sin and on this day establishes in personal and unequivocal action the astonishing welcome Jesus offers to we who are, in our failings and deceits, not at all pleasant creatures…. Jesus’ example shows us God’s care for one of the least attractive, most avoided, often misshapen parts of the body — is called upon to lift up the great generosity of God’s compassion, for what is repentance if not the uncovering, the exposure, of our unattractive parts? To be blunt, it is as uncomfortable for most of us to bare our feet and let a stranger wash them as it is to speak the truth about our captivity to sin.” In spite of our rebellion, betrayals and sin, Jesus still washes us clean through his love, and as we are washed in his love, our hearts grow larger and able to love more completely, more deeply, with more patience, and perseverance.

Quivik ties Jesus’ love calls us to confession and repentance; to examining our own hearts, souls, and minds in order to recognize how much we need Jesus’ sacrifice to be made clean again in God’s eyes. When we do this, we begin to recognize how deep Jesus’ love is for us, what sacrificial holy love looks like and the call it has on us to respond to it by allowing Jesus to wash our sin away, to accept his love for us, and be honest with God and ourselves about how much we need Jesus’ forgiveness and grace. We then carry Jesus’ love into the world and lives of people whom the Holy Spirit places into our lives, inviting them to receive Jesus’ willingness to wash away their sin, to forgive their sin and give them a new beginning and life. May the Lord bless you as you live his love out into the world around us.

 

Broken Signposts – Justice - John 3:16–21

                 

This morning we’re beginning a new series inspired by N.T Wright’s book Broken Signposts where he explores seven different topics that point us to Jesus and the kingdom of heaven. Because of the brokenness sin brings, these signposts are also broken and fail to point us in the direction of Jesus and the kingdom of heaven as well as they should. Signposts show us the way to where we want to go; guides set up by someone who knows the way. The seven signposts we’ll be reflecting on through the Gospel of John point us to who God is, and give us a glimpse of the kingdom of heaven. Our first signpost is justice.

What is justice? The dictionary defines justice as “the quality or principle of fairness, righteousness, and impartiality in dealing with individuals and society. In the biblical context, justice is an essential attribute of God, and believers are called to pursue justice in their interactions and societal engagement.” In the Near East justice was directly connected to the word of the king. Whenever the king spoke an official word about anything, the proclamation was considered righteous and good, meaning that the king spoke justly. The Bible comes from the Near East and from God, our king; this is why the followers of Jesus are called to accept and embrace God’s Word and Jesus’ teaching as truth that shows us what justice is; calling us to live justly by shaping our lives and beliefs on God’s word given to us in Jesus. Injustice comes when we allow our own desires and beliefs shape our lives and how we live and interact with others and with God.

In our passage this morning, we normally focus on “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Our hearts quickly hear God’s love because we all have a need to be loved by someone, but that signpost is next week. After reminding us of God’s great love for the world, we often stop reading, but John goes on to talk about condemnation and light and darkness. Jesus comes to save the world, not to condemn. The requirement to be saved is to believe in Jesus; simple and yet so important, so difficult to actually do. Belief in scripture is not just believing in facts or the right things, it’s about allowing what we say we believe, and who we believe in shape our lives, character, and relationships with God, others, ourselves, and creation. Belief is not simply an intellectual exercise; it’s about practicing what we say we believe. Justice looks like Jesus, think of when Jesus tells us that whatever we do to someone else to help them, we do it to Jesus.

Justice for Jesus is always about people, when John asked Jesus if he really is the Messiah, Jesus tells him in Matthew 11, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.” Jesus cares about the vulnerable, showing us what the heart of God looks like. In Luke 14, Jesus tells his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind…” Justice is a way of living with people by recognizing their worth to God as people created in his image. Jesus often focused on the poor, sick, and those are the margins because they’re the forgotten or overlooked.

This is at the heart of the criticism Jesus gives to the Pharisee in Luke 11, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you. “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.” It may sound as if Jesus only cares about and focuses on saving the poor, but he came for all people. Jesus is meeting with the Pharisee Nicodemus in our passage, Jesus shows he cares about the rich man who has a hard time putting his love for money second to Jesus, Jesus loves all people, but he recognizes that the more we have, the easier it is to fail to see injustice. The Old Testament prophets had to keep reminding the people to remember God’s call to care for all people, not simply yourself. Doing justice doesn’t get you saved, it’s a sign that you’re saved. The signpost of justice is broken in our world though, we all know of times when people have hurt others and gotten away with it because of their power, position, or connections. Often, we can’t even agree on what justice is. Too often we define justice by what helps us keep our privileges.

John tells us that whoever does not believe in Jesus is condemned because they choose not to believe in him and shape their lives on who Jesus is. They refuse to believe in Jesus, the light of the world, and embrace darkness instead. They choose to believe in other voices instead of Jesus’ and this leads them into darkness rather than light. Darkness in the bible is a symbol of evil, but also of selfishness, and an anti-God focused life. Darkness is often used as a symbol of shame and fear of being seen. Nicodemus comes to see Jesus in the darkness of the night, afraid of being seen with Jesus by his fellow Pharisees, afraid of being rejected. Yet Nicodemus is searching for light, for hope, seeking to discover who Jesus really is. In the end, Nicodemus becomes a follower of Jesus, believing in Jesus, embracing his light. Nicodemus is one of the two men who take Jesus’ body down from the cross after Jesus defeats the Prince of Darkness through his death for our sin.

Jesus doesn’t come to condemn the world; those who refuse Jesus, those who choose darkness condemn themselves. In John 8, right after the story of the woman caught in adultery, Jesus says, “You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me.” When you choose darkness, you experience the judgment of God. The judgment of God is simply God being himself and shining his light into the world through Jesus and causing the darkness to flee and hide. Those who brought the woman before Jesus are confronted with the darkness in their own hearts and they slip away until it’s only Jesus and the woman left. Jesus refuses to judge the woman, but he tells her to “go and sin no more,” to move back into the light. There is so much more that can be said here, but that’s for another time. Those who choose darkness judge themselves by fleeing from Jesus.

In the beginning, God created everything very good. A very good world is created by a very good God, but sin enters into the world through the selfish disobedience of Adam and Eve and injustice enters into the world as humanity moves further and further away from God and who God created them to be. Early on there are those who take advantage of others for their own profit, darkness and corruption creeps into society, and power is used for selfish purposes instead of for the betterment of society.

God gives Israel a way of living through the laws given to them at Mount Sinai. The laws are given to them to shape them into God’s image; living in ways that are just and right. Jesus teaches the same law, calling his followers to be salt in the world and “to let their light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Jesus shines his light into the world and takes the sin of the world onto himself to the cross to satisfy God’s requirement for justice because of the sin that has brought darkness into the world, and begin the renewal and restoration of creation and humanity. As Micah reminds us, justice is something that’s a part of what God calls us to do, “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” This is how we begin to shine Jesus’ light into the world.

So how do we as followers of Jesus work for justice in a society where there’s no agreement on what justice even looks like, there are so many different ideas on what justice looks like? Tim Keller writes in his book Generous Justice, “The Biblical idea of justice is comprehensive and practical, but it is also high and wonderful. It is part and parcel of what God is doing in history. God is reconciling humanity to himself—and as a result of this great transaction, he is reconciling all things to himself. He is bringing all things in heaven and earth together in Christ.”

Keller, as does N.T Wright, points to the return of Jesus when the kingdom of heaven will be fully realised. Justice is a signpost that points to the coming kingdom of heaven; a kingdom built on strong community where human beings can all flourish, being the people who we’re created to be in the image of God. Until Jesus returns, our call is to work to build communities where we work together, believers and unbelievers, to help the weaker members of our community who are falling through the cracks and repair the cracks, ensuring that justice is lived out; building communities where everyone can flourish and become who God has created them to be.

 

Training Our Children - Proverbs 22:6

       

Proverbs is a fascinating book and can often seem like a mish mash of sayings all stuffed together, but when you slow down and study the book, mostly written by Solomon and other thinkers and leaders in Israel, there are a number of major themes that run through it that all show us what a wise way of living under the Lord looks like. One of the main themes is to raise and guide children and youth to walk in the way of the Lord. Proverbs is part of the wisdom literature category in the Old Testament. Wisdom literature says that if you do this, normally this is what will happen. It is not a promise or guarantee, but simple practical theology, dealing with basic life and character issues. Jesus emphasizes the same kind of practical theology in his own teaching.

The theme of raising our children to follow the way of the Lord is the most important role of the parents and community. In Old Testament Israel, and throughout Scripture, the entire community is responsible for raising the children and youth to know and follow the Lord. God shaped Israel to always think in terms of “we” instead of “me,” including the responsibility to raise the children to know the Lord. This is why we are developing a meaningful and deep mentoring culture in our church; older members investing in our younger members; echoing Paul’s charge to Titus to teach the older men and women so they can mentor younger men and women. Peter, in 1 Peter 5 writes, "shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock." This is all about being mentors to their flocks, leading them to follow Jesus in their whole lives.

The Webster dictionary defines mentoring as teaching or giving advice or guidance to someone, such as a less experienced person or child. Jesus mentored his disciples and in the Great Commission found in Matthew 28, Jesus told His followers to "make disciples of all nations." Making disciples involves much more than giving people a set of rules to follow: it includes living with them and helping them to grow in Jesus. That is at the heart of what Proverbs 22:6 is getting at.

Solomon tells us to “train children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” Another translation is to “start the children on their journey or way,” and this echoes Deuteronomy 6, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” This is a picture of walking alongside our children and talking with them, teaching them about the Lord and how following the Lord works out in our day to day lives, and teaching them how to recognize the presence of God and the Holy Spirit all around us.

In Bethel, the teaching of our children normally begins at home, often right after birth. Parents will often sing to their children, while still babies, singing songs about Jesus; at really young ages, they begin reading their children stories about God, often using children’s Bibles. In Sunday School, the children begin learning more about Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit together with other children, and this continues on in different ways in Treasure Seeker, and Children in Worship and now a new level beginning this fall for those in between Sunday School and Treasure Seekers. GEMS, Cadets, and our youth ministry continue engaging our children at their age level in learning about Jesus and how to live as a follower of Jesus today. The prayer is that as the children learn together, they also experience the blessings and joy of being part of the family of Bethel, knowing they belong and are loved and accepted by Jesus. But at the core of all our instruction is the knowledge that as a church we are here to support and encourage the faith instruction that happens in the home. We are all part of the family of God together, working together to raise our children and youth in the faith. It would be good to hear from parents what you may need to raise your children, and how we might walk alongside you as you to train them up in their journey with Jesus.

Matthew Henry, an older commentator writes on the Deuteronomy passage, “Train up a child according as he is capable (as some take it), with a gentle hand, as nurses feed children, little and often…. A good reason for it, taken from the great advantage of this care and pains with children: When they grow up, when they grow old, it is to be hoped, they will not depart from it. Good impressions made upon them then will abide upon them all their days. Ordinarily the vessel retains the savour with which it was first seasoned. Many indeed have departed from the good way in which they were trained up; Solomon himself did so. But early training may be a means of their recovering themselves, as it is supposed Solomon did. At least the parents will have the comfort of having done their duty and used the means.” I appreciate how he recognizes that each child is unique and to help each child or youth to get to know Jesus in ways that help them, each in their own way, to understand and believe. I also love how he offers the reassurance, that if, or when our children go their own way, that what they’ve learned and seen as children is also often the way they come back to the Lord.

Our children and youth often learn more and better through example. How we live and follow Jesus usually has a bigger impact on them than classroom teaching. They watch us more closely than most of us realise, and how we live and react to life is noticed by them, and often imitated in their own lives. If you have a temper and show it regularly, if you are critical all the time and regularly criticize the church or leaders or governments, if you are proud and talk down to others, if you easily reject those whose opinions or beliefs are different than yours, if your lifestyle is centered on yourself and your wants, if you wrestle with addictions, but also if you’re kind and generous, quick to forgive and offer grace, whether you’re their parent, relative, teacher, church counselor, leader, or family friend, our children and youth watch you and will take their cues on how to live from how you live. Part of why Jesus came was to show us how we are to live; much of his teaching was on what it looks like to be his disciples; culminating with giving his life on the cross for us so that our sins are forgiven and we are reconciled with our heavenly Father. Our response is to repent and believe in Jesus, imitating Jesus as Paul reminds us that this is what he does in his own life, 1 Corinthians 11:1, “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”

In our world today, we help our children and youth to recognize the presence of God in their lives, asking questions like “where have you come from,” and “where are you going.” We help them to tell the stories of their lives in order to see how the Holy Spirit is there with them in all the moments of their lives. We remind our children that the Lord comes looking for us. The Holy Spirit works in our hearts to get us to seek God and Jesus; but it’s always the Good Shepherd who begins our journey to him by first coming to find us. Helping our children, our young people, and even ourselves to ask good questions is often more important than giving answers. Questions set us off on journeys and adventures to see what God is doing, to look for where the Holy Spirit is working in the world around us and in our own lives and hearts. Andrew Root takes this an important step further. As we teach our children and youth to recognize the presence and work of the Holy Spirit in and around them, Root writes, “Sending our people out to recognize events of ministry, to hear God calling them not to something but to someone—at work, in their neighbourhood, and so on—moves them into an open take in the immanent frame. In other words, it helps them see God.”

Training our children to ask questions, to be curious about the world around us is important to help them learn more about who God is and how he’s present in the world. Inviting them to join us in exploring where we see the Holy Spirit at work, inviting them to join us in serving in the church and on our community, inviting them to try new things in order to discover where the Holy Spirit is leading them are all important parts of training our children to become engaged followers of Jesus.

It's been an exciting watching a number of our young adults stretch themselves to go serve in different countries, to study how God is at work in different cultures, learning to share their faith through going deeper into the story of God and his people, and into their own stories of how God has been shaping them and growing them. Watching a number of our youth step up and serve in our soccer camp, using their passion for sports and knowledge of Jesus to build relationships with children in our community and sharing the Gospel story was exciting, especially as I watched adult volunteers investing in and mentoring our youth so they could play an active role in ministry here.

We have the privilege and joy of training our children and youth in the knowledge and way of Jesus. May the Lord bless us in the year ahead as we walk this journey together.

Yahweh – Destroyer of Evil, Restorer of Creation - Nahum 3

     

Here’s a quick refresher of the first 2 chapters of Nahum. Years ago, in the time of Jonah, when Nineveh was warned of God’s warning of judgement, they repented and God withheld his punishment. Nineveh had responded with humility, sorrow, and repentance, but as we mentioned last week, Nineveh quickly returned to its barbaric and wicked ways and it seems as if God had no response at all, at least until now. Nahum’s vision began with showing why God is moving again against Nineveh, and how God is going to move against Nineveh. In the culture of the time, it shows the Assyrians that Nineveh’s gods cannot protect her. Yahweh, Judah’s God, is more powerful, no earthly empire can stand against Judah’s God. We don’t battle the powers by ourselves, the Lord battles for and with us.

The Lord gives Nahum a glimpse in his vision of what the punishment of Nineveh is going to look like. It’s going to look a lot like the carnage and destruction Nineveh had brought onto so many other nations. Nahum sees, “The crack of whips, the clatter of wheels, galloping horses, and jolting chariots! Charging cavalry, flashing swords, and glittering spears! Many casualties, piles of dead, bodies without number, people stumbling over the corpses—all because of the wanton lust of a prostitute, alluring, the mistress of sorceries, who enslaved nations by her prostitution and peoples by her witchcraft.” The Lord’s justice is going to be harsh and hard. Her evil is going to be dealt with by the God of justice who allows evil to survive for only a time before holding the perpetrators of evil and injustice responsible.

The Lord is slow to anger, but he also doesn’t leave the guilty unpunished. In Nahum, this is about an empire, but this is the comfort and hope that we hold onto for today as well. For those who have had to flee their country due to persecution or violence, the refugee’s hope is that God will hold those responsible for the persecution and violence responsible. For those who have been hurt through domestic violence, who have been violated by someone else and are working through the hurt and brokenness it, these are cries to God to hold those who hurt and destroy others to be held accountable.

Nahum reveals that the Lord is going to shame Nineveh; to bring them to their knees by revealing who they really are and how their actions have shaped their identity and character. “I am against you,” declares the Lord Almighty. “I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your shame. I will pelt you with filth, I will treat you with contempt and make you a spectacle.” Nineveh’s compared to a prostitute chasing after power and wealth, selling herself and her soul. The Lord will shame her in public so all the nations will see what the consequences of unfaithfulness and wickedness is. This vision of Nahum is more for Israel than for Nineveh, calling Israel back to faithfulness to God since Israel keeps chasing after the gods of the other nations; willing to sell themselves to fill all their desires and lusts.

These are echoes to the purity laws found in Leviticus given after God freed Israel from slavery to Egypt. The purity laws are given to the people to remind them that they are in a covenant relationship with Yahweh and expected to keep themselves pure for Yahweh. Yahweh commits himself to a devoted relationship with his people. The image of this relationship is like that of a husband and wife. This is the point behind the marriage of the prophet Hosea to unfaithful Gomer where the Lord keeps telling Hosea to take his unfaithful wife back as a symbol of Lord’s unconditional love for his people. Paul picks up on this in his letter to the Ephesians, comparing Jesus’ relationship to the church as a groom who loves his wife sacrificially and is making her holy through his love.

The imagery of warfare and water come up again and again in Nahum’s vision. The vision is fulfilled just a few years later. Historian Michael Barrett tells us, “Nineveh fell to a Medo-Babylonian coalition in 612 BC. The Babylonian Chronicle describes a two-month siege against Nineveh that was ultimately aided by the flooding of the Tigris, which enabled the Babylonian forces to breach Nineveh’s seemingly impregnable defensive walls. Likewise, Nahum links Nineveh’s fall to a flood indicating that the prophet was predicting precisely what Babylon would do.” Another commentator writes, “Traces of dams (“gates,” or sluices) for regulating the supply are still visible, so that the whole city could be surrounded with a water barrier (as referred to in) Nahum 2:8 (Nineveh is like a pool, and its water is draining away, “Stop! Stop!” they cry, but no one turns back”) …. The moats or canals, flooded by the Ninevites before the siege to repel the foe, were made a dry bed to march into the city, by the foe turning the waters into a different channel: as Cyrus did in the siege of Babylon [Maurer]…. there was an old prophecy that it should not be taken till the river became its enemy; so in the third year of the siege, the river by a flood broke down the walls twenty furlongs, and the king thereupon burnt himself and his palace and all his concubines and wealth together, and the enemy entered by the breach in the wall.”

In the Sunday School room, they have Psalm 20:7 on the wall, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.” Nineveh depended on their chariots and horses, but the Lord proves more powerful than their chariots, horses, or gods. The Babylonians, whom the Lord uses to defeat Nineveh, divert the water from the river Tigris away from the moat, allowing their army to march against Nineveh on dry ground. We hear echoes to when the Lord creates a path through the sea on dry ground for the Israelites to walk to safety and then uses the water to crush the might of Egypt. Egypt trusted in their might, believing the Red Sea has defeated Israel, until the Lord defeats them using the water of the sea against them; Nineveh trusts in the Tigris to protect them until it doesn’t.

Nahum reminds Nineveh and Israel of the fate of the city Thebes, “Are you better than Thebes, situated on the Nile, with water around her? The river was her defense, the waters her wall. Cush and Egypt were her boundless strength; Put and Libya were among her allies. Yet she was taken captive and went into exile.” Yahweh is warning them to be careful about what or who they put their trust in; unless it’s the Lord, it’s likely to fail you at some point. The Lord won’t fail us. We see the Lord’s commitment to us in Jesus coming to join us here on earth and reminding us of the Father’s commitment to us; calling and inviting us to follow him and come close to the Father. Jesus engages Satan and his powers in a battle that we’re so often unaware of, a battle for our hearts, minds, and souls. Revelation, another vision, gives us a picture of Jesus as a warrior going up against the beast, the dragon, and Satan, the unholy trinity, and defeating them and throwing them into the lake of fire.

Jesus comes to save us from the oppression of sin and the chains that sin wraps around our hearts, minds, and souls. Just as Israel was drawn to the gods of the nations around them, and these gods kept failing them and leading them into slavery and oppression, in the same way we are drawn to the gods of our time and the promises they make to free us and bring us riches, pleasure, power, and acceptance, and yet they always fail us at some point, leaving us to deal with the brokenness, the hurt, the rejection, and the feelings of hopelessness and defeat. Jesus calls us to place our trust and faith in him and the Father. To help us with this and experience his healing and restoration, Jesus gives us his Spirit to comfort us, to guide us to Jesus, and remind us of his promises of forgiveness from our sin.

Nahum is all about warfare and punishment, yet it is only a small part of the gospel story. Because of the brokenness, violence, and wickedness that came into the world through sin, Jesus comes to battle it, but for the purpose of restoring what our sin has twisted. In another vision later on, John in Revelation 21 gives us a picture of this is going to look like. Revelation, “Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”  He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.”

In the middle of all the hard of life, we look to Jesus who brings hope and new life. Trust in him.