"Its called 'Christianity'"

The "Round Table" where people often gather to drink coffee and chat.

Just have to tell this story. I just called up to Space2B and was talking with various people. I past a round table where a group were chatting. One woman called out to me, "Have you heard of 'time banks' Dave?"   She went on to explain, "It is where someone can volunteer so many hours for you doing their work, then you give somebody else the same amount of time? Do you know what it is?" she asked. As quick as a flash, with a cheeky grin on his face, one of the guys said, "Yeah ... Its called 'Christianity!'" It came out so quickly that we all had to chuckle. Quite good.

"Look what they've done to my song.."

I have been on the phone since coming into my office and have just stopped for a coffee. My week so far has been busy, a bit edgy and yet reflective. "Edgy" because the Night Shelter Trust of which I am chairman has had to make important decisions and being chairman means I have to help facilitate this diverse group of people through this process. "Edgy" also because in New Zealand every six months you need to get a garage to check your car and give it a "Warrant of Fitness". They check tyres, body work, wheels, brakes, steering, lights and general safety features. My car had to go in yesterday for this and, as well as being car less for the day, I am always on edge until the results come through. One little light bulb was all I needed. "Reflective" because we have had an elders' meeting, I have had various conversations and other interactions that have had me thinking about my future in the Church as I head toward retirement age. I learned also that I could conceivably retire sometime after July this year if I wanted to. I am also doing this series on "If the Church were Christian" and as I travel through it have become increasingly aware of how distorted I see the Church when compared to the way of Jesus as I perceive him. I am grappling with that and wondering where I fit in to "orthodoxy" and the normal expectations of ministry.  Beside that I sat in our Space2B yesterday just chatting to people. We had a lot of fun with laughter and a whole variety of topics covered as people came and went. We have a wide range of people visiting and it is sometimes hard to keep in touch with all of them and be totally inclusive. As I sat there I thought, "This is really a wholesome thing happening! It has so much potential!" Then I thought that most of my Church people would not know what was happening nor perceive the love, the wholesome dynamics and affirmation that is part of it. It really is not a part of traditional understandings of "Church". It is more like a "pub with no beer." One example of the interactions is I had not bought my lunch but one lady had made an extra box of sandwiches I was given. Another guy we have been developing a relationship with, who is often on the wrong side of the law, dug in his bag and with real warmth gave me a pie he had bought at the supermarket. (At least I hope he bought it?)

Stewing on this weekend's topic and looking at music for the service I came across this old 1970 song that I often think of when I compare Jesus' way to the ways and priorities of Churches. Sometimes I think that Jesus could sing along with it with passion.  "Look what they done to my song, ma!"  I often wonder what Jesus would say about the Church that carries his name? Is it really reflective of his way? Last night I was so "buzzing" with thoughts, sermon and plans going through my head that I did not get to sleep until after 1 a.m.  Sometimes I want to escape the lot, at other times I am excited about the possibilities. Sometimes I want to scream "Stop the bus! I want off!" at other times I want to yell with delight, "Wow! what a ride!"  The change can happen in the space of a few minutes too! Gotta go... coffee finished. That's me at this moment.

Sunday Summary- "If the Church were Christian...3"

The fog came in as the sun was setting when I was on top of my mountain last night.

Exercise is good 
From last Sunday until yesterday, Saturday, I have exercised on four out of the seven days. (Sunday,  Monday & Saturday - walks up Mt Cargill. On Anzac Day, Wednesday I went for a bike ride.) Tonight with questionable weather on the horizon I spent just over an hour riding a stationary bike, rowing and doing some weights in my garage. I was visiting hospital the other day and a woman was telling me of the death of a friend of hers. This friend apparently was an exercise buff, who went to the gym, played squash and generally kept herself fit, but she still died at a relatively young age. The woman summed up with something like, "So you see it doesn't matter what you do. If you are going to die young it happens." I have lots of people saying that. When I was running regularly people said such things. In other words it is a waste of time exercising trying to prolong your life. That's not really why I exercise. Of course studies show that it does increase your chances of a longer life. But exercise is good for its own sake. I have noticed that since I have been climbing my mountain on a reasonably regular basis, the climb is getting easier. I find when I exercise I can work more energetically. This week my exercise has helped me cope with depression issues. I exercise on a Saturday afternoon often. I go up my mountain and having done some work on my sermon, my mind brings it all together while I am walking. I often sort life out biking, running or walking, life gets back into perspective. People say to me now that I have a tricky knee - "See you shouldn't have been running!" If I became crippled tomorrow, I would still be thankful for all the enrichment my running has brought to my life. If I died tomorrow, I am still glad that exercise, running, walking, swimming, gym, bike etc have been in my life. They have enriched my existence in a big way. As I walk up my mountain I often think of all the people in the houses below me veging out in front of idiot TV programs, and I'm glad I am where I am.


Sermon Summary...
The chapter in Philip Gulley's book that we bounced off today was "If the Church were Christian reconciliation would be valued over judgement." 
Judgement in the Church...
When I was a little boy at the North East Valley Church of Christ, one thing we did as kids in the Church service was to look up the number of the next hymn. We would turn to the right page in the family's hymn books and sit them open, face down on the ledge of the pew in front of us. Once when we did this the old man behind us reached forward and closed the book and whispered grumpily, "Don't do that!" At the end of the service he castigated us and our parents for mistreating what he called "sacred books belonging to the Church." We looked at my Dad who just winked at us during the tirade. At home he discussed it passionately at the dinner table with my mum. "My kids are sacred too!" he exclaimed. We moved where we sat from then on. We did not sit in front of this old man. I had a student ministry at the Tootgarook Church on the Mornington Peninsula near Melbourne. We grew a youth group there with about thirty kids coming to it on Saturday nights. This one time we had the kids come to a Sunday evening meal and then to the Church service. We had a film showing in the service. The lights went out and one teenager settled back and put his arm around his girlfriend. ... just a friendly arm, nothing else. The old Christian gentleman sitting behind leaned forward and removed the arm and told the boy off. The elders and I received a complaint about "young people carousing in Church!" They were "In Church" ... that's pretty good! In one of my ministries a young man in the youth group got his girlfriend pregnant. The youth leader at the time wrote to me and the elders saying that before the young man shared in communion again he should be brought before the congregation and made to confess to his "sin". Of course I never allowed that to happen. (If we did that I would have made us all confess to our sins - Would have been a long service - just with my list! ) About twenty five years ago I was working for a builder as a plumber on a spec house he was building. During a lunch break I got talking to the painters who were painting the house. I told them I was a church minister taking a break from ministry. (One of my attempts to leave this job) They immediately told me of their experience. They had painted a house for a guy who was a pastor at a local church. They sang his praises, saying he was a lovely guy who did a lot of good for people. While they were working at his place it was discovered that the pastor had got a little too friendly with his secretary. So the pastor had been summarily sacked from his job. Over the months the poor guy was still unemployed and had no hope of being reinstated. These painters who never went to Church, were not impressed. They thought he should have his job back and stated quite logically, "I thought that Christianity was all about forgiveness? These guys can't even forgive their own?" In my present Church we have an AA group using the halls the same night our women's teas are held. I heard of an incident on one such night a number of years ago. The Alcoholics Anonymous people that choose to smoke take a break outside to have a smoke. One of our women saints was leaving to go home and walked past them to her transport. She chose to castigate these people, she did not know for their smoking habit! .... Of course from burnings of people at the stake centuries ago, to the moral right thumping pulpits, story after story could be told of Churches, Christians and judgmental attitudes and actions. It seems to go along with religion. We hold certain beliefs and moral stands and want to inflict those on others. It is not just the domain of conservative or fundamentalist christians, liberals can be just as enthusiastically judgmental. I know because I am a judgmental liberal! It is also true of other religions, probably also of ardent atheists too. 


Jesus said...
When we look at the history of the Church in this area of being judgmental... burning people, excommunicating, banishing etc. ... and compare it with the words and actions of Jesus we see clearly how distorted the Church can get. How can an institution who has Jesus as its founder do such things? Jesus said things like;

• "Judge not, that you be not judged"
• He told the parable of "trying to take the spec out of your brother's eye, while you have a log in your own". 
• He said;  "So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother  sister, and then come and offer your gift."
• He instructed his disciples to forgive "seventy times seven" (forever) 
• He forgave and reinstated people.
• His picture of God was of a forgiving, loving, welcoming Father. (e.g. Prodigal son story)
• He mixed with people others judged.

Jesus was all about reconciling, keeping loving relationships going, bridging gaps and breaking down walls that divide. When we adopt judgmental attitudes we often generalise ("All drinkers are bad!") and often tend to only see the fault in the other person, blinded to the goodness they may also possess. Judgmental attitudes also shut the gate to ongoing constructive relationships. I shy away from people who I know will judge me. I know, when people think that I as a minister might judge them, they do not welcome contact.

There are some times when space is needed...

At our drop-in centre we have a lot of people who are not skilled at socialising all in one room. Sometimes they drive each other crazy. Sometimes we say, "Look you sit here and you sit over there and do not talk to each other!" Sometimes in life we need to step away, otherwise we are being mistreated or will mistreat others. Jesus when he sent his disciples out on a mission, advised that there are times to move on if you are not being received. Not being judgmental does not necessarily mean being a door mat and being walked all over.

Ways of reconciliation leave the gate open for relationship.

There are at least four things that help when there is a difference...

• Respect... A willingness to still respect the other person, though their actions and values may be different. I have had "superior Christians" treat me as if I was dirt because I, for example, have a beer and they don't. I believe we are still called to value and respect people, though they differ from us. "Honour all people" the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans.
• Understanding... One of the tactics of mediators is to get the opposing sides to state the case of the other, to the satisfaction of the other.  In other words it is important for us to seek to understand why this person makes the choices he/she does, from their point of view. Constructive listening is important.
• Tolerance for people's mistakes... We ALL fall short of what we want to be. We all make mistakes, we are human and it is important to cut people some slack. I remember this when I am driving. "That "B" who is changing lanes at the last moment deserves a blast from my horn.... no wait... last week I did the same thing when I was having a bad day!"  
• People change... I often want to blast a young person who is sounding off, correcting them for their thinking. But then I stop. "He is young. If I come back in ten years I bet his position will have changed." I have often found that a person who once annoyed me when I meet them again, has changed and we are close again. One example is the youth leader I mentioned before. He came to me at a function nearly thirty years later and mentioned how "looking back he appreciated my ministry, more now than he did earlier."

If the Church and we followers of Jesus were Christian (truly following Jesus) we would value reconciliation over judgement. We have so often distorted and misrepresented the way of Jesus. So often in my experience, people think "Church" and immediately associate that with "Judgmental attitudes". It is a sad distortion.

That's my burble for tonight.

Funny old thing called depression.

We have an ex-All Black (Rugby Player who played for NZ) who talks on TV about depression. He suffered from bouts of depression. John Kirwin was a magical winger for NZ and always gave 100%.  I don't suffer like he did but there are times when I have to battle depression. I try to analyse it, but it is not always tied to things that are happening. This week I am battling with depression. It does not worry me in some sense because I have been there before frequently, but it tends to drag you down. John Kirwin speaks of being in the car and having crazy thoughts of self-harm he would like to do, but he says, "you never do them". Tonight I was driving home from Port Chalmers and the thought went through my mind, "I'd just love to drive over the bank and have no more responsibilities!" Of course, like John Kirwin, you never do it, they are just bottled up emotions coming to the surface. I keep going and know that some time I'll emerge. (Though I suspect that scratch the surface and there's always a tinge of depression there.) This morning I spent most of the morning listening to people at the brewery, at Space2B and two lunch time meetings. I then was interviewed by the social work student (Angela) we have working with us. After that I went down to the office to check emails and have my first cup of tea since breakfast. (It was around 3 p.m.) I found myself reading the emails then blankly playing solitaire wondering what I'll say on Sunday. Anyway, I am lucky my bouts are not debilitating. In the link above John Kirwin speaks of it being similar to an athlete's over-use injury. I suspect that is where mine is coming from. My mind and emotions are always being taxed and my "work" is never finished, there are always more things I could do or some deadlines waiting. Sometimes I suspect my inner being just says, "Enough!" It is not really because I am over-worked. I think perhaps it is because my abilities are not up to the tasks I try to demand of them. A more gifted person would find my life a breeze.

Today I was interviewed by Angela, our social work student. It was very difficult to give answers. Any eloquence I thought I had disappeared. (She was recording it!) "Why did you get into ministry?" "What do you hope to achieve?" "Where will you be five years from now? Will you still be doing similar things?" I answered logically enough, but inside I found it hard confronting the fact that some of my dreams will never come to fruition. I became aware that while I have done some good stuff, I really had not made much impact on making the Church really relevant in the community, which was the heart of my "call" to ministry back in 1970. I always seem to live with the feeling that "someday" it will all come together. Today in the interview I was reminded that the "somedays" are about run out.

As well as this some of the medical symptoms of old age have been making themselves felt this week. There is nothing drastic, but just some things that I know are never going to improve, its just a fact of life.

There are some good things happening and I continue to relate with lots of really good people. While I am not rich, I don't think I owe anybody any money. I eat well and have a loving family. What more can one ask for?... now I have to stop this introverted navel gazing and choose some songs for Sunday. Wish me luck!

Anzac Day reflections.

The name plaque where Dad and Mum's ashes were buried.

Dad bought me an old second hand bike when I was nine years old.  Its his fault I still enjoy biking.

These people too are part of who I am.

 Search for ways of peace

I have an ambivalent feeling about Anzac Day. Don’t get me wrong I recognise the commitment and sacrifice made by those who went to serve overseas and those who gave their lives. My dad went overseas just after he got married. He was away at war four years, serving in the desert and in Italy.  He ended up in the highest non-commissioned officer’s rank. Shortly after he left for war my mother gave birth to her first child who never survived the birth. I cannot conceive what it would have been like for them as a young married couple to be separated for so long, to live with the tension of possibly being a casualty and then to re-establish a relationship when Dad probably came home a very different person.

My ambivalence is that the older I get the more I hate and despise war! I believe that there MUST be better ways to sort out issues. I have talked with people from the middle east and have heard how many of the terrible events in that area are a result of decisions made after those conflicts. The more wars I hear about the more I see that the troubles do not stop when the fighting finishes. There seems always to be ongoing sad consequences for generations after. I get a bit fearful that the way we mark Anzac day tends to glorify war. If it is ever justified, it must be the last resort. I am convinced that more effort, thought and money should be put into ways of peace. 

My Anzac Day thanksgiving

I spent a lot of Anzac day still sorting out the mess we made in the backyard and workshop while renovating the bathroom. I has become one of my Anzac Day traditions to hop on my bike and ride out to the Andersons Bay cemetery visit my parents’ plaque and look briefly at the rest of the cemetery. I mentioned this to a friend and he said that such visits were not part of his routine, reminding me that they, my parents, were not there at the cemetery. I can understand his position, which basically is where I am at too. But I visit the cemetery to remind myself that I am not a self-made man. My parents brought me up. My Dad, a plumber, lived such a good life that his example still challenges me and calls me to be a better person.  My mother and I often clashed, but she gave herself completely to her task as a mother. She was left a widow in her early 40’s and had a tremendous task to guide her five children to adulthood.  I am who I am because they fulfilled their role as parents and people diligently. But while at the cemetery I look at other rows of gravestones and recognise we have the community we have, because these people lived the lives they did. They contributed to my life to. So on Anzac day I do not just remember soldiers, but I remember ancestors who contributed to who we are today. I take a little time out to say “thanks”. 

My Anzac day challenge.

Years ago I took my oldest son to schoolboy cricket. I mentioned to the coach that I was going to the game if anyone needed transport. He gave me a gear bag and another team and asked me to take them to their game and coach them. I did this and for seven years after that I coached the section two team at schoolboy cricket at North East Valley. I was not a good cricketer at school though I enjoyed the game. I should not have been coaching those kids! But they kept telling me “Parents will just not volunteer. We can’t get a suitable coach.”  I was deeply involved in Habitat for Humanity. We sometimes had great volunteers, but often it was the same small crew every Saturday, week in and week out. I am on the night shelter trust in Dunedin. We have tried to get a good number of volunteers to help run the shelter. I guess my challenge to all the people who front up to Anzac ceremonies, the service people you remember served their community and their country. It cost them heaps. There are heaps of groups and causes who are crying out for volunteers. Follow their example and where you can and how you can serve your community as a volunteer. Anzac day, reminds us of people who served and the ongoing need for all of us to serve in our community. 

The diamond is LOVE... or lov-ing.

Congratulate me!
In doing up my bathroom pulled out of my bathroom a whole lot of hardboard, some wet-wall board, a toilet cistern and a vanity unit top. Now many of these things were still OK so normally I would choose hoard them for some future time when I might need them. All this rubbish was lying on the back lawn and I began to look through it to see what was redeemable and where I would store it. Then I stopped. Would there be a time in the future when I needed them? I already have hoarded too much stuff - "just in case"? I decided that a trip to the rubbish tip was called for. I loaded it all into the old Nissan. I then went through a couple of cupboards and pulled out three old heaters I had kept, "just in case", stripped some screws and wires off them and threw them in. Two old lounge chairs minus the wooden bits (free firewood) also went in. Off to the rubbish dump we went. Some good stuff went to the shop there, the rest got chucked. At my age it is time to begin cutting down on keeping stuff. Congratulate me for the personal growth involved.
Last post's "Diamond"
In my last post, my Sunday sermon outline, I said that truth was like a diamond with different aspects or facets to it, and one needed to "see" the whole and not just focus on one facet. I got to walk up my Mount Cargill again today and while walking was stewing on "truth". I had an "ah ha" experience! Truth is not a set of dogmas. It is not a set of philosophical statements about life or religion or philosophy.  Ultimate Truth is love, mysterious, indefinable and expansive. So the diamond is in reality "Love".   Love has different facets to it. Sometimes love requires forgiveness. Sometimes love calls us to affirm people. Sometimes love is seen in comforting people. At other times love is seen in challenging people and disturbing them. Love is essentially valuing people, and treating them as very important. But love has different ways of expressing itself, depending on the needs of the people. These are the facets of "Truth". Sometimes that will mean challenging or confronting people. That is where it may be the loving act to remind people of their "sin".  But love has a broad range of expressions through which one values people in action. The call of my faith is to live in such a way that I value people as being "a little lower than God" or "made in the image of God". (So Jesus could be reported to have said "as you have done it to the least of these.. you have done it to me.")
Truth is a verb!
As I pounded my way around the mountain I had another inner "ah ha" thought. I would want to say that Truth is not so much some abstract ideal named "love", but rather Truth is "loving"... the verb ... truth is not discovered in philosophising, in theologising or intellectualising.  Truth is "known" in the activity of loving. So John who wrote the letters of John could say, "The person who loves knows God". When you are in the activity of loving somehow a penny drops in your "gut" and you "know" ...  You might say to yourself something like ... "Wow! THIS is REAL!" ... or just sense the sacred.

I have mentioned this story before. A reporter once asked a ballet dancer to describe what the dance she just did meant. The dancer replied, "If I could describe it in words I would not have bothered dancing it!" Its the same with ultimate Truth. Words don't cut the mustard. Words, dogma etc cheapen it! The truth is found not in talking or writing about love, but in dancing the dance of unselfish, generous loving and living. And ..... "the Truth sets you free". 


I don't expect you will understand this burble... that's the nature of ultimate truth. You dive deeper into "mystery"- that which cannot be defined. Words scratch the surface of it, and I am certainly not eloquent enough to do justice to this train of thought and experience. Anyway that was where my mind went as I puffed my way, at speed, up and down the mountain. I have had my "day off" and part of my work tomorrow is to talk with the representative of the residents' committee from the locality where the Night Shelter is. There are some difficulties he complained about in a phone call. I have to work out how we can love the local residents and still love the homeless? Nobody said love, or involvement was easy! ... I know a man who got crucified doing it!

"If the Church were Christian.."

I am taking a series of Sunday services bouncing off the chapters of a book by Philip Gulley called “If the Church were Christian.” The first service last week centred on Jesus as a model for living, rather than somebody to be worshipped. The second, today, was titled …”Affirming our potential would be more important than condemning our brokenness.”  I have decided to share the basics of my sermon with you.

“ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”… Yikes!

This verse from Romans 3:23 has often been drilled into Christian minds and hearts. I recall attending Christian Women’s Temperance classes at my Grandmother’s home. (She would spin in her grave if she knew I was chaplain to a brewery!)  I was about 8 years old and this one day she had a special guest who showed us a slide show of “the gospel”. He had a little projector and numbered slides which he displayed and talked about. The first said, “ALL have sinned … etc.” and he told us about sins little boys thought about and got up to. His next slide was a picture showing the burning fires of hell with the devil silhouetted off to one side. The message was straightforward – You are sinners and could end up in hell!  When I was a teenager attending youth camps and “Youth for Christ” meetings again and again I was told, “ALL have sinned …” I thought those speakers must have read my mind and know all my questionable thoughts…. for teenage boys have lots of questionable thoughts.  When I began training for ministry I talked with an uncle who was a minister and he offered advice. He said to me, “You have to convince them that they are sinners then they are open to the gospel!” He also told me that the good church people had to be reminded that they were sinners so that they truly appreciated the gospel. So this has been the message of the Church for many years.  “You are a sinner!” has been said in various ways time and again. We sing the song “Amazing Grace” then continue with “that saved a wretch like me”. We are told again and again that we are sinners in our songs, dogma and liturgies. But is that a true picture?

Life often reminds us that we are inadequate.

Many of us already feel inadequate without the Church telling us so. If I were able to watch films of the lives of people coming to our drop-in centre I would guess that in most I would see an over bearing father or mother or other significant others, who told them again and again in different ways that they were a failure.  When they come to Church they are told they are a sinner! I recall a man once sharing with me that his girl friend had dumped him. His wife had dumped him three years before. His self-esteem was so low. We often spend a lot of effort trying to fool others we are adequate when inside we feel inadequate.  There is much in life that can tell us we are failures, no good and inadequate. Yet the message from the Church just reinforces this feeling of inadequacy. Is this God’s “voice”? Is this in line with the priorities of Jesus?

Truth is like a diamond.

There is much of the Church’s teaching that relies on this “sinner” model. We are sinner’s who need saving… sometimes it is said, from the “wrath of God”. It is true that in scripture there is an aspect of truth about this emphasis. The ultimate truth however, includes other aspects. Truth is like a diamond. There are various facets or aspects. If we look at only one, it is a distortion of the whole. The Church for a variety of reasons has tended to concentrate on this “sinners needing saved” aspect. Apart from anything else, if we keep people feeling inadequate we can control them. But there is a different way of looking at human beings in scripture, which gives the totally opposite feel. Lets look at a few passages celebrating the positive.

From Creation to Jesus… we are special.

• ·      In the very first creation story (I see these as myths pointing to deeper truths) in the first chapter of the Bible a positive picture of human beings is given. God decides to make human beings, male and female and he makes them in the image of God. Interpreters have argued about what exactly that means, but whatever else it means, it means that we are pretty special! We have divinity built into us. Then when God had finished creating on the sixth day, “God looked at everything he had made, and he was very pleased”.  Does this feel like we are low-life sinners?
• ·      In Psalm 8 there is a celebration of creation. The Psalmist extols the wonderful creation then asks the question, “what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?” He answers his question with “Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honour.” It seems we are not the slime balls some preachers make us out to be? When the Church sees people as inherently bad and evil it runs counter to this life-affirming, humanity affirming strand in scripture.  

But we must turn to Jesus and have a look at his outlook. I pick up four stories to illustrate, though there are many more we could use.

•  In John 1 when Jesus meets Peter he says to him, “You are Simon son of John, but you will be called Cephas.” (This is the same as Peter and means “a rock.”) Now if the stories of Peter in the Gospels indicate the sort of man he was, we find he was impetuous, time and again he had “foot in mouth disease", and he denied Christ. So he was far from perfect, but Jesus could see in him “a rock”.  Jesus saw his potential 
•  In Luke 19 Jesus meets Zacchaeus. The crowd around him saw Zac as a betrayer, because he worked with and for occupying forces. They saw in him a little traitor, sinner and thief. But Jesus looked at Zac and saw his potential and invited himself for a meal. He reached out in acceptance. “Salvation (wholeness) has come to this house today!”  he said.
•  In Luke 7 there is the story of the woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and kissed them. Again the people at the meal only saw a sinner, a woman with a bad reputation. Jesus saw a woman filled with gratitude, love and promise
• In John 8 there is the story about the woman caught in the act of adultery. The people saw a sinner. Jesus saw a woman who he believed could change. (“Go and sin no more”)

As I think on the Gospel accounts, you do not see Jesus pointing at people and saying, “You are a sinner!” He is angry with religious people, but his anger comes with deep sadness at their distorted understandings. When the Church keeps saying to people “you are a sinner”, or “You are inadequate” or “You are a wretch” it is running counter to the way, values and perspective of Jesus. It is true that we “miss the mark” but the “voice of God” sees not our failure, but our potential. (Now I am aware that the historicity of these Gospel stories, and the words ascribed to Jesus could be challenged, but they give a consistent message of the way the early church remembered Jesus.)

Conclusion…

·      You have the divine spark within you.

·      Your potential is more important than your “sin” and inadequacies.

Michelangelo said this: “In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it.”

That in a nutshell is how the Bible pictures God’s view of us. Not primarily “sinners” but people with potential. The “hewing of the rough walls that imprison” happens by the power of love.

(Below: Photos of my walk tonight)

My reward when I reach the top of Mount Cargill. My wife makes a nice drink with cold tea, and elderberry flower cordial.

My friend Jane compares Perth clouds to Dunedin clouds in very anthropomorphic ways. Here are the clouds over Dunedin today.

As I descend the "mountain" the sun is setting, sending me home before darkness catches me.