Articles
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- Written by: Dale
- Category: Weekly Reflections
What are you shy of?
Some people are shy and don’t want attention focussed on them. Some of these feel bad about themselves. Others know they can stand up to scrutiny but just don’t want the attention. Some only want the attention when they are happy with the way they look.
When we come to the birth of Jesus, it is as though there are great searchlights focussed on him. Angelic announcers, a huge army of angels, all sorts of visitors, and interested investigators. And what do they see? No PR advisor.
A low class presentation. Not properly prepared for by the looks of it. Bunking down with a bunch of other visitors. Not even a decent bassinet for the baby. Certainly no private room.
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- Written by: Dale
- Category: Weekly Reflections
Was this like your birth?
Is it difficult to imagine Mary and Joseph giving birth to their first baby all alone in a stable? Not difficult if we accept the legendary story. Quite difficult if we think of it in terms of family and relatives and travellers needing hospitality.
Of course the traditional legend has a sub-theme of inhospitality. But it is pretty unlikely. Joseph is returning to his home town. He is related to many others who live there, and others who, like him, are visiting. There will be some clever relatives who will be able to plot the whole family tree to several generations, and then repeat it backwards.
Joseph is visiting among relatives. He is visiting in a society that set great store by family and hospitality. There is no way any relative would have allowed Joseph’s pregnant wife to stay anywhere than in one of their homes.
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- Written by: Dale
- Category: Weekly Reflections
The cleanup King
At the time of writing the Duchess of Cambridge was in hospital with really bad morning sickness. And some of the eager press think this indicates twins. And twins has implications for the succession. And what if one is a girl and one is a boy? And what if the Commonwealth countries don’t all change their laws at the same time so that a firstborn girl can have precedence over a second born boy?
Maybe they both will be Kings and Queens of different parts of the Commonwealth, a bit like Narnia maybe? For the rest of us getting ready for a baby doesn’t seem as complicated as that. Although, choosing names, clothes, painting the baby’s room, equipment, finding an obstetrician, seem to soak up a fair bit of energy, not to mention any morning sickness.
Another future King gave his mother a bit of angst as well. No doubt she also had morning sickness.
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- Written by: Dale
- Category: Weekly Reflections
Ready?
For reasons that are shrouded in mystery we begin a new church year today. Advent Sunday begins the story all over again. And also turns our attention to the end of the story. The Bible story also ends where it begins, although in a dramatically heightened way.
Advent means ‘coming’. The story starts with an anticipated coming, and ends with an anticipated coming. The first coming took a long time coming. Lots of preparation went into getting the people ready to know who to welcome. And in helping them know who he was and why he was coming?
Who was the coming one? God, the Lord, David, David’s descendant, a powerful King, a servant, a despised outcast, a Spirit endowed agent, a commissioner for justice and poor relief, a shepherd, a victim ready for killing. A bit of a paradox in fact. Confusing in a way until you met him. Then you realise that your confusion was only half of it.
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- Written by: Dale
- Category: Weekly Reflections
Up to scratch?
Nobody likes a hypocrite, or pretenders in general. The trouble with hypocrites is that they give the impression they are better than us. Or at least we get the feeling they are looking down on us.
One of the ways to deal with this is to look down on them. After all they are a despised class, and even Jesus disapproved of them. Hypocrites are pretenders, actors, presenting an image that is false. The inner reality doesn’t match the outward show.
Even though they are pretenders, we can distinguish them from actors, and “celebrities” since we don’t expect the latter to be anything more than what they show. It is the claim to reality (and virtue) that marks the hypocrite.
So why don’t we like them? If we were honest we might say, ‘Because they look a bit like us.’. But as well, we don’t like being shown up. In fact some of us might feel that anyone who shows us up must be a hypocrite.
But we don’t all feel like that.
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- Written by: Dale
- Category: Weekly Reflections
Not losing heart
A few weeks ago we were waiting for a book to arrive that had been ordered from the eastern states. It was ordered on a Monday and had to be here by Friday to meet a certain deadline. By the Thursday it had not arrived, so a back-up plan was prepared – a different book on hold at the local bookshop. Telephone calls revealed that it had been posted on the Monday. By our 1pm Friday deadline it still had not arrived, so I went to the bookshop, bought the back-up book and delivered it. And when I got home the original book was there on the door step.
So what was the problem? Slow transport? Got lost in the sorting room? Too many stops on the way? Mondays and Fridays are not good days to get things done? Bad expectations? Parcel post is not like email? Impatience?
I thought it was a bit like praying. Sometimes it seems that we pray and nothing happens for some time. Perhaps the prayer has gone astray in the mail. Perhaps the answer has been held up. Perhaps there is no answer, we wonder.
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- Written by: Dale
- Category: Weekly Reflections
Throwing money away?
Do you scatter your money? Well yes, of course. Unless all of it is kept safe from traders and relatives and people who send you bills. The better question is where you scatter your money. Perhaps scatter implies lack of thought. What about distribute?
And why are we talking about this? Because last week’s story of the father and his sons (Luke 15) referred twice to the younger son scattering his money. Although our translations said squandering. And this week’s story (Luke 16) uses the same word about the steward, except our translation says wasted.
Surely, scattering, squandering, wasting and distributing just reflect different value judgments on the use of money. The Psalmist (in Ps 112) says those who fear the Lord scatter abroad their gifts to the poor (although the NRSV says distribute – sounds a bit more buttoned up don’t you think?). Paul even implies that God acts like that (2 Cor 9).