One of the lies that the enemy of our souls often tries to use on us--and, far too often, to good effect--is that we are pretty insignificant and of very limited usefulness in God’s kingdom. Actually, the total opposite is true, namely that God uses the unlikely ones, yes, even us, for His purposes. That is the lesson that I take from today’s Scripture and meditation. I hope you find the idea inspiring.

Today’s Scripture passage and meditation are excellent reminders that we desperately need each other, whether in the church or in life in general, and simply cannot ‘go it alone’, or even try to. And we are reminded that not only do we need the ‘extra’ hands or feet or thinking, or whatever, but also that that ‘extra’ person can contribute something far beyond anything that we ourselves have.

It is often assumed that the sense of ‘earning’ one’s salvation, or of being ‘good enough’, or of performing the right duties, is a more ‘western’ way of thinking, but sadly, and unfortunately, it is a built-in way of thinking with the entire human race. Every religion and philosophy has its list of ‘requirements’, and with Islam, it goes one step further, namely that you can never know if you have been ‘good enough’ until after you die. You can only hope against hope that your good deeds outweigh your bad. True to the old way of thinking, one old clergyman--yes, an Anglican--once told me that it was presumptuous to believe that you were saved. You can never know this in this life, he said. But God, here in the words of the apostle Paul, tells us that we can most assuredly know this if we have believed in Christ Jesus and accepted God’s free gift of salvation.

Sadly, and rather unfortunately, we humans often get hung up on the ‘minor’s, minor issues or problems, when the major ones are starring us in the face. Now, our world tells us the global warming, plastics pollution, and inequality and injustice are the major ones--and certainly, they are important. But interestingly, none of these are the tasks or issues that Jesus leaves us with. He left us with just two tasks, telling His story to all and sundry and bringing people to repentance and faith in Himself. Sure, these other tasks may well ‘flow’ from that, but those two tasks are the ones that He left us in His ‘final words’. So, maybe we should indeed make them our major tasks.

There’s several things that are important to remember as followers and friends of Jesus. Firstly, contrary to what many others might try to tell us--including, I might say, the evil one, we can--and should--have a positive impact upon our world. And, secondly, that while this may seem rather daunting, even impossible at times, God is always there for us to provide us with the help and the direction that we need. And, thirdly, that while this does indeed require our participation and cooperation, it is really God that is at work there. And so there is no justification for getting all proud or personally worked up about it. It is really He, and not us.

How to pass on our faith to succeeding generations is a question that many of us have trouble with, even to the point of knowing how to bring it up, much less expressing it or sharing it. And, the sad fact, that many of the ‘next’ generation are unfamiliar with the faith story in general, and certainly with our own ‘take’ or understanding of it, or our experience of it.

For instance, what does Christmas, the fact that Jesus was born into this world and subsequently experienced everything that we do, mean to us in practical terms? To me, it means that God fully understands me warts and all, and all the things that I go through. Wow. So, what does it mean to you? And likewise, all the other events of Jesus’ life or the life of the early Church: what do they mean to you?

To me, thinking about such things and coming up with our own personal answers, is the starting point. But then how do we convey this? And what can be our starting point, to even raise the issue? Some good questions, and certainly something for all of us to wrestle with.

The double edgedness of the parables, and of the Biblical stories in general, alerts us to the fact that we can so easily hear but not hear. We can hear the story, find it interesting and even entertaining and intriguing, but are we always getting the full impact of it. Often in stories, even those told to us by friends, family and elders, and those that we hear in the media, there is something deeper that God--or that individual--wants us to hear. A friend of mine, a mighty prayer warrior, used to sit with her Bible whenever she tuned into a news broadcast. She was sure that God wanted to speak to her through it, and if nothing else, at least to pray about it. So, let us, you and I, truly have ears to hear.

In today’s reading from John’s Gospel, Jesus gives this command to His disciples, and to us: “Now I tell you to love each other, as I have loved you” (verse 12). And then, as if to give substance to that command, He follows it up with: “The greatest way to show love for friends is to die for them.”

Now, notice if you will, who He addresses this to: it is to His disciples, those that we would call Christians. Now then, here’s the catcher: do we really and truly love each other, love our fellow Christians, as Christ has loved us?

I think not, at least not on many occasions: I have observed far too often how people treat their fellow parishioners with spite and anger and disrespect--certainly the opposites of love. And, I have seen how clergy have sometimes been mistreated and demeaned, by their parishioners, by their colleagues and even by their bishops. And for too often I have seen how synods erupted into name-calling and the imputation of evil motives, hardly the stuff of Jesus’ kind of love.

And in none of these I have observed a willingness to lay down one’s power or pride or agenda or beliefs or anything else for that matter, much less one’s life, on account of the fellow believer. I’m afraid that we have a long way to go. But, with God’s grace and help we can do it--or at very least, do a better job of it.

Anyone out there who has trouble remembering? In talking around it seems to be an almost universal complaint--and not just with older people. And the trouble with forgetting is that we may lose the good things as well as the bad. I don’t mind losing the bad experiences, but the good ones: that’s another matter.

So, I have devised some ways of remembering: telling stories (often repeatedly) helps, chatting with my brother or Carol (my built-in memory keepers), and looking at my journal entries or archives binders (when I get around to it) are helpful. But perhaps the best helpers, spiritual wise, are the church year and the Scriptures. With the latter I find it absolutely amazing that I can read and re-read the same passage multiple times and keep on getting something that seems new and fresh but then I discover that I had ‘discovered’ it previously as well, albeit often with a new twist or application. So, memory and remembering are important to us--and, of course, to God as well.

The first part of today’s Scripture passage touches on what has to be an almost universally ignored or disobeyed principle, one that comes from the very mouth of Jesus, namely that we should treat others as we would wish them to treat others. So, do we find this being practiced in the political arena, not on your life? No way, it is my party or my agenda or my point of view that counts! Or, how about when it comes to the propagation of views, opinions, or ideas. Once again, only one point of view or set of ideas is counted as worthy of attention and respect. The others are ‘politically incorrect’ or not appropriate to our currently acceptable ways of thinking. And, even on a personal level, don’t we often think that our ideas and agendas are the appropriate ones, and dismiss the others. I’m afraid that far too often we don’t treat others as we would wish to be treated. In this then, we need to pull up our socks. Fortunately, God can, and will, help us in this.

Our society, and certainly the advertisers that frequent it, are always harping upon us to need--or want--more. They cultivate a mentality of need and of desire and of scarcity. They foster an atmosphere of dissatisfaction, of never having ‘enough’. However, in contrast to this, we are advised to find our hope and satisfaction in God, and in Christ Jesus, and to know--and internalize--the reality (as Psalm 23 states) that in Him we have need of nothing. So, let us, you and I, please our hope, and those insistent desires, plainly at His feet, and let Him take care of them.

I don’t know how many books I have in my library on the subject of prayer, and surprisingly--or maybe, not so surprisingly--the majority of them are on how to pray. Indeed, that was a question that the disciples asked Jesus (see Luke 11:1). And both here (verses 2-4) and in today’s passage (Matthew 6:9-13) He gives them a plain and rather straightforward answer in the words we know as ‘The Lord’s Prayer’. So, maybe, instead of all these books--many of which I have not read--we should just use Jesus’ prayer as our model and template.

Sometimes people take passages of Holy Scripture out of their original context in order to make all sorts of incredible claims. For instance, ‘the health and wealth gospel’, what I call the ‘name it and claim it’ mentality, promotes the idea that God desires us all to be healthy and wealthy, and that all we need to do is to claim it.

Some people have said the same kind of thing in terms of God’s protection and loving care, namely that God will never allow anything bad to happen to us. But, actually, Jesus told us just the opposite. He told us to expect trouble and opposition in this world, and even suffering and death. But He also told us that we would eternally safe, safe in Him, if we would only continue to hold on to Him and trust Him. And so, trouble is only fleeting and momentary, and even death itself is not the final answer. Our abiding in Him, our place in Him, transcends even that. Thanks be to God.

Something that Bible scholars and commentators often suggest is using the psalms as a kind of prayer therapy--that is, using them as prayers that forthrightly expressed our deepest emotions, whether good or bad. I haven’t tried that too much, but it seems as if Jesus might have done that, given that He begins Psalm 22 while hanging on the Cross. We don’t know whether He continued on with it, but I suspect that He did.

As I said, I haven’t used the psalms in this fashion, but certainly have used the hymns in this way. And, I have found this to be quite therapeutic and quite helpful. Perhaps you might like to try it as well. Well, whether it is the psalms or hymns, there is much to set our minds and emotions on edge these days, so anything that might be helpful is well worth the try.

Today’s passage and meditation touch on something that is truly counter-cultural for much of our world’s actions and discourses today. Not replying in kind, not rendering ‘tit for tat’, is not the way that much of it works. Seldom is there a win-win situation, but rather a win-lose one. But Jesus is calling us to something different.

Now, to be honest, I find that advice to be, if I am frank about it, quite trying and difficult. There are people and opinions out there, not to mention actions, that I profoundly disagree with. I would prefer not to have to deal with them, much less talk to them. And, as for giving them any space or allowing myself to be inconvenienced by them, much less working and wishing their well-being, that is an entirely different and more difficult thing for me.

But, Jesus commanded it, and so, it stands to reason that it is not only possible, but that He aids us in so doing.

Jesus taught us that love of God and love of neighbour inextricably belong together, or put another way, that our faith and trust in God needs to be shown forth, evidenced, in our love and care for others. That isn’t always an easy task, especially given the ‘neighbours’ we are sometimes given ‘to work with’. However, in this we are not commanded to love them in the sense of ‘liking’ them or even being ‘favourably disposed to’, but rather simply to want and work for what is best in their lives. In other words, this love is not a feeling but an action, an act of the will. Knowing that, doesn’t make it easy or simple, but does clear away some of the barriers.

Probably the two most fundamental questions are those raised by Mark’s Gospel, namely ‘Who is Jesus (to each of us)? And ‘What does that mean in terms of our own individual lives?” In other words, if Jesus is indeed the Messiah, the Son of God, the Saviour, the Lord, then how do we respond? There will be many who say, “So what? He’s not my Saviour or Lord”, and that makes sense. But then, what about us who claim Him as Saviour and Lord? That is the ‘million-dollar question’, a question we must address--and live out--every single day.