We, as Christians, are remarkably privileged, privileged in not simply knowing and loving God as revealed to us in Jesus Christ, but also as the recipients of His manifold blessings. But, with privilege comes responsibility. We have the responsibility not just to share that knowledge of Jesus with others so that others might come to know and love Him, but also to use His blessings for the benefit of others, indeed of the whole world. It is quite a responsibility. My prayer is that we may all be ‘up to the task.’

One of the most important things in the world is for others to come to know and love our Lord Jesus, and one of our most important tasks--if not, the most important of all, is helping others to come to this decision. And yet, it is something that most of us are tongue-tied about, and, singularly ill-equipped and ill-disposed. After all, how does one bring up subject that is so personal and yet so crucial? I’m afraid that this is something that we all need help with--and practice in knowing how. I pray that we will find these ways.

Today’s Scripture and meditation emphasize the need for believers to take seriously what God has said and done, especially as revealed in the words of the Holy Scriptures. But, here we need to be a mite careful. Many people over the years have taken verses or larger passages out of context and twisted them, used them, to suit their own purposes and agendas. For instance, people in both South Africa and the United States used passages of Scripture to justify their treatment of Blacks.

Yes, that was from the past, but even now we need to be careful on this matter. For instance, I just came across something from a Messianic Jew asserting that Leviticus 8:23; 14:14, 17, 25, 28, passages about the consecration of the Jewish High Priest, also apply to former US President Donald Trump. Those verses from Leviticus say that Aaron was to take the blood from a newly sacrificed ram and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. This author asserts that this is all about Mr. Thump being set apart, ordained, as God’s anointed one.

Well, here is where I suggest the caution is due, regardless of one’s own feelings or opinions about Mr. Thump. One of the verses from today’s passage from 2 Peter says ‘that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation’ (verse 20). I take that advice very seriously, meaning that whenever I come up with an interpretation of Holy Scripture, or a meaning therein, that has never to my knowledge been expounded previously, I am somewhat suspicious. My thinking is that surely someone in the Holy Church through the ages would have seen it in similar light. And likewise, with the passage from Leviticus: surely the rabbis, or someone, would have applied it in a similar way, and so I am likewise cautious. And, to my thinking, so should we all, when there is any kind of new or radical way of taking God’s word. We need to carefully take heed of what it says. Thanks be to God.

I’m afraid that I have a somewhat challenging--and discomforting--question for each of us. Most, if not all of us, would say that we want others to come to know and obey Christ. In fact, we probably would say that we’d like to see a revival sweep our communities, our nations, and even our world. But then, are we prepared to ‘pay the price’? What do I mean by that? Well, we can easily attribute the amazing success and impact of the Day of Pentecost to the coming of the Holy Spirit, but do we see what lay immediately behind it? If we look at Acts 1:14, we read that the disciples were ‘constantly devoting themselves to prayer’, or, as another translation puts it, that ‘they prayed with a single purpose in mind’. This speaks both of their unity of purpose and of their devotion to prayer. Indeed, from my reading of past revivals, these two things seem to be the common denominator. So, my question returns: are we willing to undertake this, in order for people to come to Christ? A good question indeed.

Accountability is often a dirty word--or a nasty requirement--for some people as they don’t like, or want, to be held accountable for their words or actions. And yet, it is something fundamental to our lives as Christians. All of us, whether for good or for ill, will sometime face the judgment of God and, seeing as the outcome is largely dependent on how we live our lives in the here and now, it behoves us to think seriously of how we behave right now. It is an awesome and intimidating prospect, but one that we should all take seriously.

I think that most of us have had times when we were assailed with bouts of serious doubt. I know that I have, especially when it comes to God restoring or enlivening the church, bringing the Gospel to all nations and people, or bringing peace, healing, and justice to our world. But such hesitations should not impede us or stop us from carrying out God’s Great Commission, bringing His message to all the world, and making disciples and teaching and baptizing them. God wants us to carry this out regardless of our hesitation or doubts or questions. And, after all, it is not we who are expected to produce the results, but God. We are simply called to be faithful. God will do the rest. Thanks be to God.

The incredible news is that Jesus has conquered sin, death, the grave and Satan, and is alive forever more. This means that He is alive and available for each and every one of us. I used to think that Jesus was ‘so heavenly minded that He was of no earthly good’, simply because He was now in heaven and absent from earth physically. But now I realize that He is there, and available, to each and every one of us. What glorious news that is. Thanks be to God.

Our meditation for today raises a profound and important question, namely, how do we keep in step with God? In my meditation, I suggested several ways, but here may I suggest several others as well:

-making sure that we have a daily time with God, a time for prayer and the reading, study and meditation of the Scriptures.

-making a habit of public worship.

-limiting our time with the media, whether public or social, asking God to speak to us through them, and asking Him how we might pray

for the person or situation described therein.

-asking God in prayer how He might want us to live our day and then ‘testing’ those thoughts using His standards. There are two tests

that I have found helpful:

a) one of these came from the parent organization of AA. It asked two questions of the person:

-what might I do today to help someone or something or minister to them?

-how might I make amends today or help resolve some issue or problem?

And then evaluating those thoughts using Four Standards:

-is it truthful or honest?

-is it loving?

-is it unselfish?

-is it pure (in the sense of motives)?

b) A somewhat similar thing is found in the 4 Way Test of Rotary International:

-is it the TRUTH?

-is it FAIR to all concerned?

-will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?

-will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

In our much beloved prayer, the Lord’s Prayer, we pray ‘Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven’. The above ideas provide us with some tools as to how we might participate in this prayer in practical ways and make it more of a reality in our lives and in the life of our world. Anyway, there are some ideas.

I don’t know about you, but I found today’s Scripture passage and meditation to be profoundly challenging--and disturbing, for far too often we have failed to pass on our faith to succeeding generations, just as Joshua and his colleagues didn’t. So, what did they do wrong, and what have we done wrong? And how can we correct this? Some very searching questions, ones that I think we will need to take some time and thought in considering, and get some help in doing it.

Today’s Scripture reminds us of the old saying, 'No man stands alone’--here ‘man’ implying both men and women. It reminds us that each of us stands on the shoulders of those who have gone before us. It means that we owe a debit to them, but especially to those who have impacted our lives for good. It is a good and beneficial thing to pause every so often and remember, and not only to remember, but also to say thanks in whatever way we can and also to try to imitate their contributions in our own lives in whatever way we can.

Scriptures, especially the Psalms, implore us to continually render to God our praise and our worship. Here, in today’s psalm, David enumerates some of his own reasons for doing so. But, what about us? Why would we, you and I, want to praise God? What has He done in our lives? Something to think about.

I have often thought about how Jesus has fully ‘stood in our shoes’ in every way possible, meaning that He fully understands exactly what it is like for us. Today’s passage underscores one of the more difficult and gut-wrenching times, namely, those times when we feel let down or betrayed by others. These are difficult times to deal with, but fortunately, Jesus is there for us, able to understand, and even more fortunately, able to help us. Thanks be to God.

Let’s face it: when it comes down to the bottom line, most of us, most of the time, are pre-occupied with our own affairs and ambitions. Our ambitions may not be as obviously self-serving as James and John, but, to be honest, they are still ‘looking out for number one’, that is, ourselves. Serving others willingly and whole-heartedly as Jesus did, especially when it comes to people that are, to put it bluntly, undeserving and just plain nasty, isn’t always our ‘cup of tea.’ Nevertheless, it is what Jesus calls us to, to which I can only say, ‘Lord, help me.’

Years ago--I’m sure that folks thought ‘I’d lost it’ as I was in the middle of the Eucharistic Prayer at the time--I was momentarily spellbound, struck silent, by something I’d just read. There, one page 82, two phrases struck me. The first was the phrase ‘didst give thine only Son Jesus Christ to take our nature upon him.’ So, at the Father’s bidding Jesus took upon Himself our nature, everything that we are as humans, everything that we experience or go through. That truly was humbling and a cause for thought.

The second phrase was ‘who made there, by his one oblation [offering] of himself once offered, a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world.’ The ‘sins of the whole world’ obviously meant all of my sins as well. So, not only did Jesus understand, understand from being there Himself, He also had the power, and the will, to do something about it. Wow. No wonder I was momentarily ‘stopped in my tracks’, speechless, during that Eucharistic Prayer. It just underlines just what God in Christ Jesus has done for us.

Today’s passage from Romans hits us with a double whammy: firstly, we ourselves don’t like to be criticized or held accountable, and secondly, we often feel quite free to do the same thing with other people. Paul, however, lets us off the hook on both counts. He says that we are accountable to God and to no other. What a relief!

The Eucharist or Holy Communion is a powerful reminder of just how much God loves us and just how far Jesus was willing to go in His love for us. Let us, therefore, never take this act of worship for granted or take it lightly for it cost God His very life.

It is no small wonder that the Scriptures continually call us to remember, for we fallible humans are much too prone to forget, to forget in particular what God has done for us. It is this remembrance of God’s past deeds that informs and encourages today’s psalmist in his continued faith and trust in God. God has ‘been there for him’ in times past, so he is confident that He will continue. May the same be for each of us as well.