horizons of hope

In the latest edition of the Shankill Mirror John McVicar tells us that Yassar Arafat was the “sixth richest terrorist revolutionary in the world”. Most right thinking people will be horrified by this, not that he was so rich but because of the contrast of many of his loyal people. A few years ago I was in Israel and saw some of the poverty which is so obvious and I also saw the kind of treatment handed out to the Palestinians and some of them are my brothers and sisters in Christ! Then I realise that my religious tradition naturally supports the Israeli cause, who are Jews.

As I let these facts settle in my head I realise that I am also concerned about the vast amounts of money spent by the USA on the war with Iraq: it is estimated that by the end of the conflict, whenever that might be, it will have cost $329 billion. It also concerns me that my national government is spending something in the region of $35 billion [and then I realise what small fry the peace dividend of £1 billion really is as compared to the war fund].

It also concerns me that we in the west are blinded by the present so that we are unable to see the future: the way we are living today does affect tomorrow. Just a short time ago we were thinking about and giving thanks for those who gave up their present that you and I might enjoy our future. Today we hear much about the “war on terrorism” and are amazed how the USA and her allies are able to win that argument whenever the UK government, her staunchest ally, gave that battle up in Northern Ireland long ago. Actually the real enemy is not terrorism it is in a secularism which has led to global warming and if we are not pro-active it will rob us of any future and will only end in total defeat for us all. Even though governments recognise this the USA has refused to sign on the dotted line of the Koyote Protocol because it is against the national interest and it grieves me that the man at the top is a committed Christian.

It concerns me that while we in the west drive our cars and spend millions on retail therapy the other 60% of the world has to live on a daily sum of 70 pence! While we are materially wealthy and spiritually poor they are, very often, materially poor but spiritually wealthy.

It concerns me that this land where I was born and reared is so divided- I remember standing at the door of my father’s chip shop watching the barricades going up, hearing the increasing voices of war and thinking, “what a tragedy”. This land of saints and scholars has lost its way and the only losers are ourselves.

Every year the Presbyterian Church in Ireland [P.C.I] raises around half a million pounds for the World Development Appeal. This is given to Christian Aid and Tearfund who work with their partners in various parts of the world to empower the people in their struggle for life and living. This is not about aid; it’s not about feeding the poor, it’s about giving” a hand up” not “a hand out”. This year the appeal has the title, HORIZONS OF HOPE and it will benefit people in Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Cambodia. A number of years ago I went on a delegation of people from all over the UK and Ireland to India and Bangladesh to see how our money was being spent and how it was supporting the various communities. I was amazed to discover the complete lack of any victim status- they had plenty to feel victimised about but they refused to waste their valuable time and energy on such a negative activity. There I saw life in the midst of death, wealth in the face of abject poverty and determination to make things better, with a little help from their friends. I think there are real lessons for us in Belfast; I think we can learn about transforming our communities and healing our people. Yes I am deeply concerned about the wealth of some people as set against the poverty of others but I have to ask myself-“ what have I done with my wealth? Have I used my money wisely and for others? Have I used my valuable time to work for others? Have I given freely of my talents and abilities?” But I also ask myself and you- “what are our horizons of hope?”

It is hope which keeps people going whether it is on the streets, the stinking streets, of Calcutta or the Queens highway in Belfast. As a Christian I would say that to have any real hope we need to turn to the living God who will transform this secular state in Northern Ireland and in the rest of the U.K. and in the Irish Republic with whom we share the island into a land of saints and scholars. I would also say that it is not enough to be “saved by grace through faith”, that is only the beginning; we need to commit ourselves to a new lifestyle which will make a very obvious change to ourselves and our community:

it will mean doing my best to be “at peace with all men” [and women presumably!]. This will involve both those people I meet in the church and those I meet outside the church. It will mean that the church communities will have to get our hands dirty and commit ourselves to staying in this community- very often we hear of people being called to leave this land and go as missionaries to other lands but not too often do we hear of people being called to stay in the city.
it will also mean making a commitment to work for the good of the community. For us who see ourselves as the children of God it will mean making the hard decision to leave the comfort zone of church life and getting into the community. We must use our Christian Fellowship as a springboard for community involvement and not as a protective curtain to hide behind. We need to empower the people and not just line our own pockets. I have a lot of respect for those who give so much of their time for the benefit of others with little or no personal or financial recompense
It will also mean celebrating what we have. All too often we see and are informed about the problems and we need to study the community and to see it, warts and all, but we will also need to see what God is doing- that is what faith is all about- its believing that Christ is at work among His people even though, at the moment we see little hard evidence. It means that we know that Christ is King and WILL triumph even though, at the moment, the circumstances look very different. We also need to celebrate what is happening in our midst- even though there are problems in the fields of education, health and housing and we are struggling to shake off the influences of drugs and other anti social behaviour good things are happening, people are being educated and housed and getting better.
It will mean doing this together. I love the Old Testament story of Nehemiah who was called to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, destroyed for many years. We are called, whether you are a Christian believer or not, to rebuild this city. Nehemiah saw the extent of the problems- "those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace...."..” and so he called the people to action. He saw that it was an impossible task but there were two obvious plusses- one was the power of God and the other was the power of God’s people- “Lets do this together”. We are stronger together and together the burden is less for every individual. At present this community, which goes under various descriptions- loyalist, protestant, and unionist- is deeply fragmented and in isolation and division there is defeat. In unity there is victory. Let’s seek to be loyal to one another and let’s try to be truly united so that all the people will benefit. David Dunseith asked the question in the virtual Assembly the other week- what would you do with the £1 billion peace dividend or sweetener. Who needs a sweetener to desire peace? Let’s just remember this: our hope will never be met with more money as it so often divides and defeats. It would be better to do without the money if we could only be one people. Money will only help when brothers are united with one purpose and one cause. We cannot and will not be bought with money but we will give heart and soul to the task of unifying this community and when that happens the money will follow.

What are our horizons of hope? The same as the people in far away places, one cause and a lot of self-sacrificing hard work and the plentiful and wondrous Grace of God.

The Apostle Paul said, “When the time had fully come God sent his son…” He came from heaven, from his sovereign grace and throne to earth with the full confidence and authority of the Father. This is the full mystery of the Incarnation that God became man without ceasing to be God. Jesus came at a particular time to a particular place. What can we say about that place? POLITICALLY Palestine was a third grade province ruled by a Roman Procurator or Governor who, in the days of Jesus was the one we know as Pontius Pilate, who acted rather like a modern Secretary of State in Northern Ireland. Rome was in complete control and her soldiers walked the streets of Jerusalem just as they did for some 100 years. This was a great humiliation for a proud people who responded in a variety of ways-some, like the Sadducees and Herodians co-operated completely on the one extreme while others like the Zealots acted as modern day terrorists determined to get the Romans to go home-the equivalent of the IRA’s Brits Out or the Nazi cry of Juden Aus . Simon was a Zealot but was chosen by Jesus even before he came to faith [?] to be an apostle. A kind of prevenient grace as at the Baptism of an infant? This was an occupied territory and, let’s face it, the only interest the Romans had in it was that they needed to have a presence in the Middle East to keep her position in the world pecking order. The Sadducees and the Herodians were prepared to co-operate completely in order to keep their position in society. The Sadducees were the aristocrats of the day a bit like the old Anglo-Irish families who belonged and some still belong to the peerage so that they are in the rather strange position of sitting in the House Of Lords while being Irish citizens and not British! [people like Lord Longford and Mountcharles] RELIGIOUS GROUPS Included the Sadducees, the Pharisees, the Essenes and the scribes. The Sadducees were a conservative group in religious terms as well as in political terms. They did not believe in life beyond the grave so for them there was no resurrection or eternal life. The Pharisees were nearer the coal-face of life because they came from the ordinary people but they sat with the Sadducees on the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council. They saw their task as keeping to the letter of the Torah, the Law [what we would understand to be the entire OT] In Ireland today we hear a lot of rhetoric but recently we have become accustomed to the language of a new breed of politician as the talk about their political analysis. The analysis of the Pharisees was that the reason for the hardship experienced by the people during the Babylonian exile & subsequently was caused by the sin of the people-this was entirely right-that is what God had told them in the covenant with King David. They decided that this was not going to happen again and the way to make sure was that they would obey the Law to the letter-while their analysis was right their corrective course of action was wrong-because it seemed to be based on a false concept of God- a concept which seemed to think that one step out of line and their were for it-they understood God to be a despotic tyrant. They developed a system of rules to govern the minutest details of behaviour. For instance, there were 39 types of work prohibited on the Sabbath, and there were regulations to cover the swearing of oaths, the washing of cups and plates, and the maximum travelling distance allowed on holy days. They said that the Torah had 613 commandments-248 positive and 365 negative and all were to be obeyed. The next issue was how to understand them and so the people were “hedged” by the understanding of the Pharisees-this led to them to interpret things like what is work on the Sabbath-so they understood that when Jesus was walking with his disciples through the countryside and when he picked some corn and rubbed it in his hands he was working. Jesus had some very severe things to say about these men-he called them white washed sepulchres and vipers because while they began with the right analysis they went very wrong and were leading the people wrongly-that is why teachers of the scriptures will be judged more severely than other people. They were using the Law to burden the people. ESSENES They were different to other groups in that they withdrew from normal life. They lived like monks in the dessert-some say that John the Baptist was an Essene. What they did was probably to write and copy the large number of manuscript known to us as the Dead Sea Scrolls. They also longed for the day when the Lord would come and liberate the people. SOCIALLY Today sociologists tell us that a good judge of a society is to see how it treats the weak and marginalized- the old The infirm Women and children etc. J.F. Kennedy said at his nomination for he presidency “If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich” Women and children did not enjoy a good position in that time. Women had no rights and were regarded as the property of her husband-he could divorce her if she displeased him-some Rabbis said that burning his dinner would be sufficient grounds. Children had no rights either and were considered to be slaves of the father who could literally do with them as he sought fit. The action of Herod in killing the children was not unique. It was into this world that Jesus was born and lived and worked. The impact he made on that society was that he transformed the thinking of the world by transforming the people he came into contact with. Look at how he treated the children- Matt 18:1-6 "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" 3 And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 5 "And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. 6 But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. 19:13ff 13 Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. 14 Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." As we look at the faith and trust of the child we are reminded of the kind of trust we are to have in Jesus Christ. In the baptism of a little child we are reminded of a grace which God extends to us even when we are unable to respond-a kind of prevenient grace which draws us to God and anticipates faith. A faith which is ratified and fulfilled when we make our own decisions. Women – Jn 4 demonstrates that Jesus was willing to reach out to women and even to Samaritan women at that with the good news. Jesus seemed to make all those who were marginalized feel accepted; the sick and the infirm, the blind and the demonised. He felt for the widow and the poor and he told the rich to give what they had to help them. The secret of Jesus attitude was not that he knew the Law and his responsibility but that he too had stood where they stood-he was born of a woman and in Mary he received his humanity. In his family life he learnt about life-life in all its fragility and weakness. So he understood and understands us. In all of this we give thanks for the way Jesus has reached out to us to give us life. What is our reponse to be? Simply that of the little children-to love him and to spend time with him and to obey him . He loved it when Mary sat at his feet in conversation. Quite simply because as our father he knows everything and has our best in mind. Our response? Simply LOVE HIM.

Twice this week someone has siad that ministers have an incredible amount of influence. I can honestly say that I have never thought of myself in that light. The fist time it was stated by the moderator of the General aAsembly of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland at a gathering of leaders from various congregations who had come together to talk about the issue of racism. The second time it was in an artical by Rick Warren about AIDS because this Sunday is World Aids Day. The following is a quotation from that artical: "What is going to mobilize the church to address the AIDS epidemic? Not statistics. I'll tell you what will: When people really understand how much Jesus loves people with AIDS! How much does Jesus love people who have AIDS? Just look at the cross! With arms outstretched and nail-pierced hands, Jesus says, "This much! This is how much I love people who have AIDS!" In Matthew 25:35-36 (LB), Jesus makes it very clear that one of the things we're going to be judged for when we stand before him is how we treated other people: "For I was hungry and you fed me; I was thirsty and you gave me water; I was a stranger and you invited me into your homes; naked and you clothed me; sick and in prison, and you visited me." We must treat people as if they were Jesus himself. We, in the reformed tradition of the Christian church, pride ourselves with our love of sound doctrine and the truth yet our understanding of the truth is somewhat static and wooden compared to the love and truth of Jesus Christ, who was and is the "way, the truth and the life". The Law as we find it in the Old Testament, Paul tells us, is a sign post to our human failure to live up to the standards of God. The summation of that law was put by Jesus to the man who asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" was to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and al your mind and all your strength and to love your neighbour as yourself" In other words here we have what the ten commandments are really saying, this is how Jesus has fulfilled him and how he is the end of the Law. For the Hebrew truth was not a moral concept, it was a doing word, it was about helping the man who was found half dead in the gutter even though he was a Samaritan. Who are we called to love? We are called to love the man or woman who is from the other community, the man or woman who is on the edges of society even the man or woman who has little or no time for God and His people. Living the truth is not just about keeping a set of moral standards, it about practical Christian lifestyle- so we, evangelical Christians should be concerned for the sectarianism within our community, the people of the world who have AIDS and those who hunger and thirst. We should be concerned for the Palestinian Christians and the Jewish people. We should be concerned for the environment and for the issue of Fair Trade and not just Free Trade. This Sunday we should be thinking as well as praying for a solution or at least the begining of a solution to the AIDS problem because it concerns those people that Jesus Christ loves. When we meet people we are to treat them as if they were Jesus Himself. Do you understand how much God loves you and how much He loves the world? If you do then you will understand why we should definitely care about World Aids Day and you will understand that we, the church that bears the name of Christ, must act. May God give us the grace to do so.

CHRIST IS THE ANSWER

This Sunday we will be addressed by some missionaries from Latin Link and we will also be acknowledging World Aids Day by giving ribbons to everyone as the enter the church. Aids is the comtempory equivalent of Leprosy in Biblical times and we want to express our concern but also our prayer support for all those who are suffering. We cannot afford the luxury of standing back in moral indignation. The Bible tells us that "ALL have sinned and fallen short of the kingdom of God"

At the same time we join with other members of the community in saying no to the drug dealers and pushers who are making a fortune at the expense of so many of our young people. The Shankill Mirror has begun a campaign to rid the community of these drugs and yet we are also aware that Jesus died for the pushers as well as the victims as he died for the para militaries and all the world. We need to pray for the renewal of the church that men may see that Christ truly is the answer.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: The services on Christmas Day ande Boxing Day will BOTH start at 10.30am and there will be NO EVENING SERVICE ON BOXING DAY. Happy Chriatmas

The Refugee

If I were to ask you who you are? Or “Who is that man with the grey hair and glasses?” How would you respond? You might tell me: his name perhaps what he does for a living how active he is in the church who his people are When thinking about Jesus of Nazareth and the question of His identity you could give all these details and more and still be left with the question “But WHO IS HE?” Whenever we look at the things he did and the teaching he gave, we begin to see that this is no ordinary man- not if you believe even half of what the Bible has to say. [Now the authority of the Bible is an important question and one we will look at later but for now we will place that to the one side.] Today I want us to look at His background to see if we can make a stab at identifying him. In my time in Clontibret I had about 4 requests every year to inspect the baptismal and marriage records to trace their genealogical roots. There were times when this was not enough – sometimes ministers forgot to keep a record or one was lost and so sometimes we had to look at the committee and session records and this would raise up some skeleton which would have been better left hidden. Sometimes it was an unexpected pregnancy by an unmarried mother or being drunk in charge or whatever which led to them being excommunicated. If Jesus was looking for his roots he need go no further than the gospel accounts I Matthew and Luke. In Matthew’s account we see that Jesus’ ancestors had their share of human frailty. What is clear from this record is that Jesus was a real human being. What is so refreshing is that the Bible refuses to censor the facts- what it does is to show what happened and to show the character of those people who played a part in unveiling His word. In the genealogy we have a list of people but I want us to look at 4 of them- they are all women and that is very unusual since women seldom got a mention at all. TAMAR 1v3 To find out about Tamar we have to go to Genesis 38- this story was so raunchy and sordid that the Puritans refused to allow it to be read from the pulpit. This story relates to a very low point in the life of Judah, a time when things just seemed to go from bad to worse. He was the eldest of the brothers who were the tribal heads of Israel. He had planned with his brothers to get rid of Joseph just because they were jealous of the beloved son- they decided to sell their brother to some passing Midianites for 20 shekels of silver and to make it look like he had been killed by a ferocious animal. They were wiling to break their father’s heart just because they were jealous. No wonder he wanted to get away for a while. This led to him to meet a Canaanite woman marry her and have three children by her- all sons- ER< ONAN, and Shelah. When Er grew up it was arranged for him to get married but God judged him to be so evil that death was the only result- now according to Canaanite law it became the next brother’s duty to marry the widow and have children by her so that the line would continue but since he would not be the legal father he decided he would not play the game and so he too was judged. This meant that only Shelah, the youngest son, was left and Judah was afraid that he would end up dead also so he persuaded Tamar to go home to her father until the boy was a man. Time went past, year after year but she was never called back to marry the son- so she became more and more angry at this insult and public shame so she decided to set in motion her own alternative plan which would lead to her own revenge- “hell have no furry like a woman scorned” Her plan was to get dressed like a prostitute and to trap Judah into having sex with her and he willingly played this game- the result was that she got pregnant and was able to show that he was the Father. Here we have the Messiah or the Christ, the perfect God-man who is the saviour and in his family there are shameful skeletons in the cupboard. To make matters even worse Tamar was a Canaanite and God wanted his people to have nothing to do with them- they were vile people who had degrading forms of worship and who encouraged gratuitous violence and lust and he certainly did not want them to marry any. The last 5 chapters of Judges will serve to illustrate the effect that they had had on Israelite society and how his people had been so influenced by them. We are told that everyone did what was right “in their own sight” and that was wrong. Is there a lesson for us? Don’t let yourself be imprisoned by your past- Jesus came to right a great wrong and to make new men and women and even the presence of seedy characters in the genealogy of Jesus was not going to prevent Him from doping His work. Your past will not stop you from being a friend of God. RAHAB Joshua 2 Another Canaanite woman- this time one who finds great favour in the Bible- look at, another Prostitute-in fact she is running a brothel but James 2:25 and Heb 11:31Why? Because of her faith in God- while god rejects her lifestyle and her lying he commends her faith She illustrates very well the problem of humanity- on the one hand we are capable of rising to dizzy heights of doing the right thing even when it is a costly thing but then she is also capable of living a lifestyle which does not please God, indeed one of which he clearly disapproves. Yet while God disapproves and rejects her lifestyle decisions he does not reject her- you may know people or you may be a person whose son or daughter has made life decisions of which you cannot approve or you may have made your own decisions of which you know God does not approve but please know that God does not reject you, rather he loves you and wants what is best for you. RUTH Now this is surely a person who has a great story to tell- she is the one who demonstrated great loyalty and fidelity- she said to Naomi- your god will be my god and your people my people, wherever you live I will live…. Surely here we have a woman to be proud of and one none of us would be sorry to have in our family tree! Yet look again at her background- she was a Moabite woman and they were related to the Jews just like we are related to the English, the Scots, the Welsh and, nearest of all, to the Irish in the Republic of Ireland. If you take the time to read Ez 16 you will see that God considers all the nations to be related but like all families there are feuds. The relationship between Israel and Moab ranged from strained to outright hostility. Scratch every congregation and you will find people who are not and have not talked to each other because of something that happened many years ago. We had to be careful in the choir not to place two families setting together because they were not talking. Will this island ever be at peace with itself? Will our people on both sides of the peace wall be able to talk without shouting at each other or throwing bombs at each other? The answer can only ever be yes if we each allow God to work in our lives and change us- what we need is a new Ireland, north and south, which is being radically changed by the hand of god. Are you willing to allow god to change you? BATHSHEBA 2 SAM 11 We probably all know about David and Bathsheba- here we have the man who was loved by God, the strong man and king of Israel and he allowed himself to be tempted beyond his own power to resist and the result was the birth of Solomon and the death of the innocent Uriah – then in the reign of Solomon we have one who was very wise but also a fool- he refused to follow the wisdom and command of God and went ahead and married many foreign women and this led to him being compromised and his faith destroyed and nationally to the end of the covenant nation and then to the very exile of the same people. Once again we are shown that even the mighty and the wise can fall from grace but God is not beaten and his will cannot be thwarted. This man Jesus was a real man with real needs- he had a colourful family tree and he was the saviour of the world- so do not give up, do not think you are too bad to come to Christ. Paul tells us that God will not stop working until he is satisfied that He has completed His work. Who is this man Jesus Christ? Let me ask you another question- if you believed that he really was the godman, the one who came to save the world and save you- what would you do about it? Would you fall at His feet and worship him or would you put the decision to follow him on the long fingure?