LENT - Day 3

It is Day 3 of Lent and for the first time in what feels like a long time, I have found a quiet place in which to sit and consider God’s Word. As soon as I thought about the word, “consider,” it reminded me of Jesus’ words in Matthew’s gospel although the TNIV does not use this word. This translation uses, “See.” I do not have my Greek New Testament with me and cannot check the translation of the word in question but nevertheless, thinking on the word, “consider,” has brought me to this passage in Matthew 6:24-34. 

“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important then clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”

 Who of us is able to go through a day without worrying? And yet, this is the command that Jesus gives us; “Do not worry.” Do not worry about your life, what you will wear, what you will eat, what you will drink… and I wonder if Jesus has left the rest unsaid: Do not worry about anything because worrying wastes energy that could otherwise be invested into good things. By saying do not worry about your life, Jesus has said it all: do not worry. Worrying is pointless and useless and time consuming and does not give any pleasure to us, or to the people around us watching us worry.

“Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to their life?”

There is no point in worrying and I have come to believe that part of why worrying is so destructive and why Jesus commands us not to do so is because worrying is cumulative. We worry about the big things perhaps thinking that if we worry about those, the little things will pale into the background but that is not true. We can train ourselves to worry about the big things and then our minds get so focused on worrying, we become experts at it. Perhaps we think that by worrying, some good will come out of that exercise but all that happens is we find other things to worry about.

“You cannot serve both God and money.”

I believe this previous verse has everything to do with what follows especially as we live in an area of the world where money is being much talked about. One of the headlines this morning was of Lloyds Bank “suffering” a loss of millions of pounds because they mis-sold insurance policies. Hard on the heels of that headline was the next describing the outrage of the general public because senior level bosses are being “awarded” seemingly ridiculous sums of money in bonus payouts. Is the outrage really about the money being handed out to someone else or how unfair it seems that where one person financially gains, another one loses?

Jesus has commanded, “Do no worry,” and “No one can serve two masters…you cannot serve both God and Money.”

In this season of Lent, I am diving into Jesus’ command to not worry and it is not an easy thing to do (perhaps giving up chocolate might have been easier). In deliberately setting aside the very easy thought patterns of worry and to realize that while I can consider that I am fully responsible for figuring out how to pay for my life’s tasks, Jesus is asking me not to worry about how that happens takes some willful action. Do not worry. That is today’s command because tomorrow will worry about itself. 

Bless the Lord, oh my soul

Yesterday I was reading from one of Alistair Cooke's "Letters from America.”  Cooke was a Brit who lived a lot of his life in the USA, a lot in New York and was a talented journalist. He died in 2004 and his publisher, Penguin, released a new edition of the "Letters" in commemoration of his death. As a teenager I listened to the BBC broadcasts which Cooke continued to present until shortly before his death and they were fun stories of everyday life in the USA and odd, pithy things that everyone else looked over while Cooke noticed. 

One of his first accounts in the "Letters" begins with a story of a British diplomat friend who visited Cooke in the US. Cooke details that he is an expert on a peculiar type of goldfish, the goldfish in this case, being the American people (bear in mind that this was written in 1946 so when he refers to America, he is referring to the United States of the late 40s). When all there is are goldfish, it’s really hard to say what distinguishes the goldfish from other fish because the thing about goldfish is that no on

I have, for the past 2 months been a mackerel. However it has not taken long for me to be assimilated into the world of the goldfish. I am reminded of the “lobster in the pot” analogy. There were several things that I noticed when I first landed into the United Kingdom over 2 months ago and now I am forgetting those things at which I was first amazed. Everyone is grumpy; no one smiles, no one raises their head in greeting as they pass by their fellow human… we live in one of the most beautiful countries in the world and perhaps we have taken that for granted too.

So listening to the words from the opening song of the Midwinter conference from Chicago, I am reminded it’s not about me. It’s about LIFE. It’s about the ONE who give us life and the words of this song reverberate through my head.  We have been singing it at church here in Edinburgh… I love that… no matter where I am, I can be singing the praises of the Lord. These lyrics are great.

Bless the Lord, oh my soul, oh my soul,

Worship his holy name.

Sing like never before, oh my soul…

I worship your holy name.

What I heard today

The gospel changes everything it touches....

Will you use your influence well? Will you use it well for the whole gospel, for the whole person, for the whole world?

That is what we are called to do....

It's all about Downton Abbey

Life and death.... what has the New Testament letter of 1 John 1 got to do with Downton Abbey?

Downton Abbey is a fictional series shown on British television last autumn. The writer, Julian Fellows is the same man who wrote the screenplay to Gosford Park, The Young Victoria, and Vanity Fair, and his resume includes numerous other accomplishments of acting roles and novels. So writing a story about a fictional estate in North Yorkshire in England, UK, is not unfamiliar territory for this talented gentlemen.

At the time the Downton series was first televised in the UK, I was in the USA. I had heard nothing about it until I arrived back in Edinburgh in December and realized that it had been compulsory viewing for many on Sunday nights in 2011. However, a special screening of "Downton" was to be shown on Christmas Day; the Downton Christmas special. After a day of feasting and relaxation, I decided that in order get a glimpse of what the fuss was all about, I watched the special while sprawled out on the sofa, half comatozed with food and a little alcohol.

What I didn't appreciate, as about the stories of the Earl of Grantham,  the head of the aristocratic Crawley family, his staff, the Downton house and grounds and the wider community passed by me on the small screen, was that my interest would be heightened enough to wish to get the back story by watching the first 2 series now available on DVD. These were easily found as the series was available in this format and had found it's way into many Christmas stockings and under many trees belonging to several of my Edinburgh friends. 

So over the course of the past 4 weeks I have been enjoying Downton, beautifully without adverts,  alongside a young friend. This combines two of my favorite things to do: spending time with friends and watching good TV - the latter being something very hard to come by. We, my friend and I, have finished the first series and are one episode into the second. There are many stories contained with the series; not only with the Crawley family but with their staff and the community,  not to mention the relationship struggles and joys across the class divide.  The series begins in 1912 and runs through until 1919, encompassing scenes from British upper class life pre-WW1, the day to day running of a big house, and the events surrounding that time.

However, what I had not appreciated was that I would watch the series knowing how some of the stories would finish. Remember, I had watched the Christmas special so I know how some of these stories wind up!!! However, my young friend knows nothing of what will happen. So when Bates doesn't give an explanation for his unusual behavior, or Lady Mary has an argument with someone she loves, or ANYTHING happens that causes my companion to get worried and anxious about the future of any of the characters, I want to say to her, "Don't WORRY! It's going to be Ok.... " I can say this because I know the end of the story.... or the ends that I have seen in the Christmas special and she hasn't.

So as I was contemplating this I thought about how we live our real lives, right here and right now. We have many times and seasons of turmoil and fear, joy and wonder, crashing and burning, delight and expectation, not to mention the HOPE that we have though Jesus Christ. However, we (and definitely me) often live without reminding each other that we know the end....for we have seen the Christmas special :) We know that Jesus Christ defeated death and sin on the cross, that he was raised from the dead and now sits at the right hand of the Father and intercedes for us, loves us, calls us children of the Most High God, we are brothers and sisters of Jesus. We know the end of the story and what a fabulous story it is. However, we are presently in the middle of the story and sometimes life here on earth is hard, and painful and we struggle with ourselves and with our fellow human beings. We forget that we know the end because living in the middle is so hard.

Perhaps we need to remind each other that we know the end, and the end is great and good and we serve a good God who loves us and gave us life and continues to work and move on our behalf even when we can't see what's next. This is something I need to remind myself as I look towards a future that is not certain....but I can choose to think and live differently.... because I have seen the Christmas special...