Altar Decoration of Sacriston Methodist Church, 2023 "The Word became flesh and lived among us" John 1:14 Christmas is a celebration - a celebration of the miraculous birth of the baby Jesus. Matthew and Luke describe this unique historical event in their Gospels, telling us about various events that took place around the birth of Jesus two thousand years ago.  Our celebration often takes this narrative route. We focus our carols, sermons, decorations, customs, etc. on these events and characters. The themes that emerge from these events and characters are further elaborated by additional layers of tradition that have been added over the centuries. One example is the proliferation of figures around the manger in the nativity scene - the donkey representing Mary's transport to Bethlehem, the three Magi when the Bible only mentions three gifts, and the camels that brought them to Bethlehem.  Another example is the tradition of exchanging gifts to represent God's gift to...

  She [Mary] gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them   - Luke 2: 7   Christmas cards without Christ! In 1954, C.S. Lewis wrote a small satirical essay entitled "Xmas and Christmas" in which he describes the commercialised side of Christmas and calls it the "Exmas Rush" which eventually wears people out and prevents them from celebrating Christmas in a meaningful way. He talks about various practices that are just "commercial racket" that is "forced upon us by the shopkeepers" (What Christmas Means to Me). Taking the example of sending Christmas cards, he says,   “…having bought as many as [the cards] they suppose to be sufficient, they return to their houses and find there the like cards which others have sent them. And when they find cards from any to whom they also have sent cards, they throw them away and give thanks to the gods that this labou...

  “By this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”  Gen 24: 14   This was a short prayer said by the servant tasked by Abraham to find a suitable wife for his son, Isaac.  The servant, according to the tradition called Eliezer, was asked by Abraham to find the bride from his own family. Eliezer was not told anything more. But when he came to Abraham’s place, he stood near a spring and prayed to God saying, “May it be that when I say to a young woman, ‘Please let down your jar that I may have a drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I’ll water your camels too’ – let her be the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac.” (v.14)   Why did Eliezer need to place this unnecessary and hard test to find the bride? Was it not enough just to find a girl from Abraham’s relative? This would have made his job easy. But this test increases the odds against his success.    It is common knowledge that drawing water from a well is difficult, let alone ...

  “He who supplies seed to the sower... will supply and increase your store of seed”  2 Cor 9: 10 A farmer would be proud of his produce. When he is harvesting, especially when the harvest is plenty, he has the right to be proud. He had worked hard by sowing the seed and tending the field with utmost care. Day after day he had toiled to remove the weeds and provide the right type of manure and exact amount of water needed for the growth. Now he has rightly earned his reward.  But Paul is pointing to another factor in the farmer’s success story: God. What part God has played in this success story? God is the source of this success. He provided the farmer with the seed he needed to bring out the product.  Seed is the basic thing for the whole story of success. But which farmer remembers the seed and thanks God for it! It is same with our success stories. We strive, toil and reap success. We are proud of our achievements. If anyone asks the secret of our success, w...

“My eyes are ever on the Lord, for only He will release my feet from the snare”  Psalm 25: 15 Power and position attracts not only friends but also enemies. As a person grows in stature, his/her enemies increase. This Psalm, written at the later stage of David’s life, talks of how he was surrounded by enemies. In the beginning of Psalm 25, David is talking about these ‘treacherous’ enemies who are trying to ‘shame’ him. Snares are spread on the way and around every corner. A little slip on the part of David would be used to paint a vicious picture of David and destroy his authority as a king. What was David’s response to this situation? As a king, he definitely had many advisers. He could also seek wise counsel from his closest friends. Even when he was fleeing from Absalom, there were confidants around him. But David did something which was unusual for a king. What he did could be termed as something too simple for a king of his stature. He said,  “My eyes are ever on the Lor...

Altar of Tudhoe Methodist Church “When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching because he taught as on who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law”  Matthew 7: 28 & 29 Jesus amazed everyone through his teachings. He did not entertain the crowd which had gathered around him, but taught them the truths of the Kingdom of God. It was not the humour, but the authority which endeared his teachings to the masses.  There were several teachers during the time of Jesus. They also talked about the commandments God gave to Moses and about God. But Bible says the crowd identified the difference between them and Jesus. Jesus spoke with authority. It touched them as many came asking him what to do and to clarify whether he was the messiah.   Jesus’ authority came from the fact that he was sent by the Father, and his message was from God and about God. This authority in turn gave credibility to Him and his message. But his messa...

Understanding the Scriptures “Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures”  Luke 24: 45 What do we need to understand the meaning of the Scriptures? Do we need to learn the original languages of the Scriptures – Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek? Is it based on the knowledge of the biblical background, and our ability to use Bible dictionaries or our understanding of recent scholarly discussions? Of course, these help to some extent in our understanding. But what makes us apply the Scriptures to our context and our situation? What makes us feel that these words are written for us and for our lives? Or should we rephrase the question and ask WHO helps in this process.  The Jews of Jesus’ time studied the Scriptures from their childhood. They had to memorise the Laws of Moses and keep in mind the large portions of Prophets and Writings. They always remembered their history through their annual festivals. In this way, even an average Jew was aware of what was writt...

“ Today I have made you a fortified city,  an iron pillar  and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land. ” Jeremiah 1: 18 God promised to make Jeremiah an iron pillar. This was an indication that Jeremiah would be given inner strength to face the challenges while he fulfilled his calling to be a prophet. In the earlier post Iron Pillar: Inner Strength , I mentioned that this was a promise by God to make Jeremiah emotionally and physically strong in life-threatening situations and that he should stand “ against the whole land – against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land ” (1:18). With that strength Jeremiah went onto fulfil his mission of proclaiming the destruction of Jerusalem, which was wrought by the sins of the people.    This image of inner strength represented by the iron pillar can also be extended further to indicate the call to be a support to others. Pillars do support big structures, even when they are hidden fro...

“ Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land. ” Jeremiah 1: 18   What exactly do we expect God to do when we are faced with challenges? As faithful Christians, we would normally desire a miraculous rescue from all the troubles with the help of God. Though we cannot deny God’s ability to perform miracles, God’s promise to Jeremiah that he would make him an iron pillar, points to another way God helps his people to deal with life’s problems.    Jeremiah was called to do a difficult and thankless job. He was asked to proclaim about the oncoming destruction of Jerusalem because of the sins of the people. Jeremiah’s situation becomes more complicated and embarrassing, because all other prophets were busy prophesying a message completely opposite to his, by saying, “ You will not see the sword or suffer famine. Indeed, I will give you lasting peace in this place”  (14:13). This makes him appear like a traitor wh...

  “ Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding, but must be controlled by bit and bridle, or they will not come to you. ” Psalm 32: 9 (NIV, 2011) Animals at times act intelligent and behave in surprising ways. But their intelligence also has certain limitations. As the scripture reveals that animals cannot be tamed unless trained to do so. A horse or a mule needs bridling and guiding to be useful to humankind. When these animals are trained repeatedly with external inducements, they tend to develop a pattern that humans find useful. But note that animals cannot be talked into doing things, like human beings for instance. Human beings are bestowed with a unique ability to understand things and rationally weigh different options presented to them in a given situation. When an instruction or an advice is given, only human beings can heed them or submit to them. It is also us, humans, who can heed to the promise given by God in the previous verse, “I will instruc...

  “ Honour the Lord with your wealth ” – Proverbs 3: 9 We can honour God in so many ways – by giving our time, talent and ourselves to Him. Here the word of God talks about yet another way to honour God - through our wealth. It is true! Our material possessions could be used to worship God.  Only one thing we need to understand for this type of worship is the concept of stewardship. Whatever we have in our lives is because of God and He is the real owner of our possessions.  How? Bible says, “But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth” (Deut 3: 18). Whatever we earn is because of the strength God gives.  Though ‘honouring God through wealth’ sounds simple, it is one of the most difficult things to do. Wealth brings with it a spirit of possessiveness and reluctance to part with it. That is why the rich young man could not accept the instruction of Jesus to sell his wealth and give it to poor (Luke 18: 18 – 23). This is the...

Jesus cried aloud!                "With a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last... and the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, saw how he died, he said, "Surely this man was the Son of God." Mark 15: 37 & 39 On Good Friday, we remember how Jesus sacrificed his life for us. But often we forget the fact that it is Jesus who voluntarily gave up his life. Because in our narration, we say often - "Judas betrayed Jesus," "the religious leaders condemned Jesus falsely," "the Roman's crucified him," "they killed him!" etc. Though they describe the reality of what happened on that day, they are not accurate portrayal of the biblical truth. It is true that different people were involved in the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. But ultimately, it was Jesus who gave up his life on the cross.  Mark describes this succinctly when he says, "with a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last" (Mk 15: 37). While other evangelists r...

By Pietro Lorenzetti - Source, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3944840   “ See, your king comes to you... riding on a donkey. ” Zechariah 9: 9 In ancient days after winning a war, the victorious king would often take a procession in the capital city of the defeated nation. This is to proclaim that the incumbent king is defeated and a new king has arrived to rule. Looking at the jubilant and formidable procession, people would know that this is their new king.  This custom is practiced when a prince succeeds his father as the next king. King David while making his son, Solomon, king over Israel, tells the priest, “ have Solomon my son, mount my own mule, and take him down to Gihon... [and] anoint him king over Israel ” (1 Kings 1: 33 & 34). A procession on the royal mule surrounded by the priest, prophet and other trusted aides of the king, was a sign to the people that it was king David who made his heir, Solomon, the new king.  We see t...

  " For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard " (Matt 20: 1). Here, Jesus is telling that the kingdom of heaven is like this landowner who has hired men for work. It is just not that he hired them only early in the morning, but he went on to take more people in for work, i.e. four more times during the course of the day. The last recruitment of people happened at 5.00 pm, when the work hours had almost come to an end and there was only an hour left. If we are to only look at the action of the landowner, irrespective of whether the workers standing at the marketplace deserved work or even the wages for that matter, he exhibits his gracious nature. Jesus is trying to tell that the Kingdom of Heaven is similar to this landowner, who is Gracious. In the scriptures, we can see the pride of the Jews in claiming that they alone are the children of God (Matt 3: 9). Even disciples had this assumption that becaus...