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As we noted last week, one of the key areas of our life that is impacted by disengagement is attitude.

John Maxwell outlines the importance of attitude in the following quote:

“Attitude…

It is the ‘advance person’ of our true selves.

Its roots are inward but its fruit is outward.

It is our best friend or our worst enemy.

It is more honest and more consistent than our words.

It is an outward look based on past experiences.

It is a thing which draws people to us or repels them.

It is never content until it is expressed.

It is the librarian of our past.

It is the speaker of our present.

It is the prophet of our future.

Good attitudes among team members do not guarantee the team’s success, but bad attitudes guarantee its failure.”

John Maxwell, Team, p110.

As we noted last week our Church Mission statement at St Jude’s is to transform disengaged people in to fully engaged men and women of God. This mission statement is aimed at inspiring our people to reach out to a disengaged world and bring them to Christ. However, the pressure towards disengagement also impacts all of us who have decided to follow Jesus in our lives. We need to be aware of the pressures at work in the world that drive us towards passivity; and as a result not only a disengagement with the things of life – worship, relationships, prayer and spiritual development, and service to God and His church – but also a numbness to the moral, spiritual and leadership issues of our time.

In addition, a sense of weariness, hopelessness and depression move to disengage us from the things that make life worthwhile, rewarding and satisfying.

They separate us from things that are worth being committed to. This calls for an engagement with life! An engagement Jesus tells us that cannot truly happen without being connected to Him (John 15:1- 8). It is Jesus who provides the light and direction for our lives. John writes. “In him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). John also tells us that there is an active hidden force (darkness) at work in the world whose aim is to disengage us from life. However, this darkness is unable to overcome the life and light that comes to us through Jesus. John writes, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:5).

We need to be engaged with God and the things that pertain to His Kingdom. This is not suggesting that we are necessarily disengaged. Rather, the movement to engagement comes from recognition of the level of disengagement around us that attempts to influence our attitudes and perspective on life.

This recognition comes through two fundamental forces at work in our life. The first is our ongoing awareness of our own frailty and ability to deceive ourselves – this is the element of humility and meekness in our life. The second is the word of God, which is able to highlight the activity of darkness that drives us to passivity and disengagement with God and one another.

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12). Without such recognition, passivity and disengagement trap, beguile and engulf us as they flow through the various aspects of our daily life. They come through the small activities and decisions we make and manage to sap our energy; distort our affections and attitudes; and rob us of peace, satisfaction and fruitfulness.

Challenge disengagement and it will flee from you!

Our Church Mission statement at St Jude’s notes that it is our mission to transform disengaged people in to fully engaged men and women of God. This mission statement was aimed at inspiring us to reach out to a disengaged world and bring them to Christ. However, some of our members initially felt that they were disengaged themselves.

Many have felt a growing engagement with God as a result of the challenge they had been given. A fully engaged man or women of God is not a super -spiritual person or one who is perfect in all that they do. They are people who become engaged with God and are growing in their relationship with Him.

At the same time it is good for us to realise that the culture of our society contains a number of influences that encourage us to disengage with life, people, family and self. There is a strong undercurrent of passivity that we as Christians need to address in our lives and in our relationship with others. These influences include:

Western Buddhism – This is a term used by psychoanalyst and philosopher Slavoj Zizek. It refers to people’s attempts to keep up with the dramatic changes in technology and the fast-paced movements and interactions of life. Western Buddhists have assimilated the passivity of withdrawal and disengagement of that philosophy and see themselves as detached from the daily activity of their lives, which does not affect who they “really are” inside. They see their work with its tensions and challenges as a game that they play that they are not really connected to it. They are aloof from it in the midst of doing it. That is they are disengaged.

Post-Modernism – rests on the de-construction of the meta-narratives of life. Post-modernism detaches us from any sense of inner-self or core value. We are de-centred selves without any core centre at all. We have no unique identity of being. It disengages us from real relationships and commitments to others. It removes the “I” from who we are so that there is no one inside to make a commitment for us.

Yoga and Transcendental Meditation – both of these forms of Eastern mysticism encourages us to disengage from thinking, to empty our minds in order to find tranquility.

The Enlightenment Project – aimed to dislocate any sense of spirituality as being real and related to facts that can be proven via scientific experiment or experience. It aimed to disengage the church from any influence in the real world and left Christians in a ghetto of individual faith and experience that did not interfere with the social or political realm.

Each of these influences (and others) engulf us in an environment of disengagement. Jesus Christ came so that we could be truly engaged with God and have an intimate relationship with God the Father through Him. Despite the influences around us Jesus strives with us to bring us into intimate engagement with God.

Next week we will look at how to engage with God and the things pertaining to His Kingdom.

“The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest” Luke 10:2

We have over many years heard these words of Jesus about the need for more labourers for the harvest that God has for all humanity. We have also recognised that need for additional labourers. However, in our culture we have subtly felt that the harvest is not yet ready: people are not interested; we might offend them by talking about religious things; or there are three things you should never talk about in public – sex, politics and religion. Well the first two have been blown out of the water, but we still cling to the third.

When Jesus first raised the issue of the harvest with his disciples they thought that it was something that would happen in the future, when they were ready or when they had the right resources. However, Jesus tells them to lift up their heads and look for the harvest is here . He said,

“Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest” (John 4:35 ESV)

Now some people would say that it not as easy as it sounds. We have tried year after year and people either just turn off or ridicule us in the process. I remember one of our farmers in a country parish recounting his visit to a friend he had known for twenty years. This time he was visiting as a part of the Parish’s Thanksgiving Program. This friend just slammed the door in his face and left him devastated. It took him two years before he told anyone about the incident. Many of us can probably relate at some level about the crushing pain he experienced from that event. Yes, there are people outside the church who will turn off or ridicule us. Jesus, Paul, James and Peter tell us to rejoice at times like that. It is the only way to release ourselves from the feelings of such moments. By rejoicing we protect our hearts and guard against the eroding processes of cynicism and pessimism. We need to remind ourselves that God is able to break through the hardest of hearts.

The most amazing statement made by Nicky Cruz (a violent gang leader in the slums of New York ) in the movie the Cross and the Switchblade is how he couldn’t get away from the words of a skinny preacher who told him Jesus loved him – words that kept at him though he had no idea who Jesus was.

The harvest is on. People are ready to hear. Some are seeking to find real meaning in their lives and to know whether God is real or not. For too long they have heard the inadequate proclamation of materialism and a scientific closed system understanding of the world that only acknowledges God as the first cause of all that exists, if it acknowledges Him at all.

They have closed God out of any real interaction in this world. Well, the coming of the Son of God in the person of Jesus Christ (the Incarnation of the Son of God) makes a pretty strong breach of that closed system and shows that it is God’s intention to be intimately involved with the men, women and children He has created.

“People are curious beings. If we stir up their curiosity; they will ask us to tell them the gospel, giving us the opportunity to tell them of the good news…”God loves us to the extent of giving His Son to die on the cross for all of humanity. He also loves those outside the precincts of the church, even though they do not yet know it. God provides opportunities for us to share His love and word with others.

In the days when I worked with Teen Challenge in Kings Cross I was waiting for a bus. It was around midnight . Two young men stopped next to me and hailed a taxi. One of them turned to me and asked if I had any grass (marijuana). I told him that I had something better than grass. He responded with enthusiasm asking whether it was cocaine. I told him this was better than cocaine. You have heroin he questioned? I told him that what I had was much better than heroin and would give him a high that he would never forget. By this time he was hopping into the taxi and asked well what on earth do you have. I said, “Jesus Christ and he can change your life.” At that point the taxi departed.

People are curious beings. If we stir up their curiosity; they will ask us to tell them the gospel, giving us the opportunity to tell them of the good news of the kingdom of God realised in Jesus Christ.

I found this section of Lance McMurray’s book Moving Beyond Depression helpful not just for individuals but also for communities. It challenges us to consider what we are founded upon. He writes:

“Another source of depression comes from frustration and despair. It isn’t based on the loss of something, but on the absence of something that was never there in the first place.

It is depression based on the perception of loss. It is depression based on the death of expectation. The philosophy that a half-empty glass is an empty glass is one of the most destructive perceptions of life. This is the idea that if that glass is not filled to the top, brimming over, it might as well be empty. It is an all-or-nothing perception that flies in the face of reality.

No one’s glass is truly filled all of the time. Life simply doesn’t operate that way. As the saying goes, the healthy perception is to view the glass as having fullness. Those who are depressed don’t see the half-empty; they see completely empty. Some rage because the glass never seems to be full. Others despair because they’re convinced they aren’t worthy of even a half-empty glass. Still others quietly accept the fact that the glass will never be full for them. They look at the glass and see what isn’t there instead of what is. They focus on what is absent instead of what is present.”

Quoted from the book Moving Beyond Depression by Gregory L. Jantz Ph.D with Ann McMurray.

Is your glass half full or half empty?

Particularly at Christmas this year, take some time out to see what is in your glass. Why don’t you write a list of the things and blessings that you do have and thank God for them? In addition, ask Him to fill your glass further and to help you see the opportunities that surround you.

Have a very Merry Christmas!

You might ask: “Where has heaven gone?” John Lennon in 1970 wrote a song called “Imagine” where he promoted an Eastern mystical philosophy of life and wrote: “Imagine there’s no heaven; it’s easy if you try, no hell below us.”

Well it is not so easy to forget about heaven, but our understanding of it has become clouded. We live in a culture now that carries with it a number of different concepts about life, death, and the after life. The gospels are quite clear in their presentation of Jesus’ conviction that not only is there life after death, but there is a place where we dwell eternally with God (that has traditionally been referred to as heaven). Jesus’ concept of life beyond the grave, as well as St Paul ‘s, is that we, as personal living beings, continue our existence beyond death holding onto our particular personality and nature, but replacing this mortal body with an immortal body. Our soul and spirit continues after death and takes on an entirely new body. In John 5 & 6 Jesus in a number of verses refers to His coming to raise us up at the last day. He says:

• John 5:21: For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will;
• John 6:39: and this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up at the last day;
• John 6:40: For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day;
• John 6:44: No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day;
• John 6:54: he who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

These are profound statements made by Jesus that indicate His relationship with God the Father and His authority to bring us eternal life. His own resurrection is the beginning of new life for us that takes us beyond death into an eternal life with God. This understanding of life after death contrasts with other philosophical concepts such as reincarnation and our own ocker version of life after death.

In reincarnation, which comes out of a pantheistic understanding of God, we are told that we keep coming back in different life forms, or different persons. Our previous life determines the state of the next life. If we have been evil in the previous life then our karma determines a pretty bad lot for us in the current life. If we have been pretty good then it determines a good time.

This has had a disastrous effect in some cultures that treat the poor and needy with disdain. It also doesn’t explain really what happens if your good times turn sour in this life, as it has for many people in the current global economic crisis.

There is also a question of whether our personality continues on as well, because we do not remember just who we were in the past life. Another extension from pantheism is panentheism that holds the concept of an evolutionary God that not only sees humanity evolving, but God as well. God too is growing up and is caught in time. From this perspective our existence after death ceases. But not all is lost, because the good things we have done continue on in the memory of God.

 Our own ocker version was presented clearly to me one night when I had been introduced to a gentleman, with a can of beer in his hand, at a cast party of a dramatic play we had seen. My friends introduced me as their minister, Fr Andrew. The gentleman held up his can of beer, pointing to it and said: “When I die I am going to hell where there is boozing, gambling and plenty of women.” I responded by saying that was a pity, as I thought all the good booze was going to be in heaven. He was dumbfounded at that point.

Jesus tells us He will not drink of the vine until we join Him at His banquet table in heaven, where there will be feasting, joy, peace and love.

“Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God!”

Ephesians 4:30-32

What a profound statement! The thought that our BIG GOD could be affected in such a way by something we do. Can we upset God so much that the Spirit of God can become grieved?

Time and again the Bible describes God being grieved by what the community of faith does or does not do. God is an enigmatic personal God who desires a personal and intimate relationship with us.

This makes God sensitive to what we do and say to Him and to one another.

Paul notes the things that grieve God and the things that bless God. Both relate to the way we treat one another as the community of faith.

The Holy Spirit is grieved when the community allows destructive attitudes to have free reign in its community life. These include things like bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, slander and malice. Paul tells us to put away these things as they are destructive to our personal life, the life of our Christian community and our intimate relationship with God.

Rather, Paul tells us to do things that will grow and nurture our relationship with God and with one another. We are to be kind to one another. We are to have a tender heart.

Robert Schuller says “It is more psychologically healthy to trust people than to not trust. Even when people have let you down time after time, it is more healthy to trust than to not trust.” Finally Paul notes that we are to forgive one another. God knows there will be times when people will do and say things that hurt. We are to forgive them. Forgiveness is for our benefit not theirs. It enables us to remain focused, vibrant and committed to God’s purpose for our lives.

Jesus said to His disciples, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?” (Mark 4:40 ). Although this was to become a common question Jesus asked His disciples, it seems unusual in the context of the story about the calming of the raging storm. It sounds like the disciples had been learning about faith from Jesus for some time. However, they had only been recently chosen by Jesus to be His disciples and trained to be apostles in the new fledgling church that was to grow out of the events of His death, resurrection and ascension. Wasn’t it a bit soon to expect them to be experts in faith? Secondly, the circumstances that confronted them were extreme, for so strong was the storm that raged about them that the waves were filling the boat. Now many of these disciples were seasoned fishermen. They would not be easily frightened by adverse weather conditions. That they were frightened meant the situation was quite dangerous and the boat itself, as well as themselves, was about to be lost, destroyed by the storm.

While this was going on, Jesus was asleep. They woke Him and begged Him to help. He responded by rebuking the storm and telling the sea to be calm. This terrified them even more and made them wonder just what type of person Jesus was. So certainly by this time they did not have faith.

There are many times when we cry out to God to do something about the storm that rages around us through the various crises we encounter.

How often do we hear Jesus, as He moves to calm those storms, question us about our level of faith? Do we still not have faith? It is a question that faces all of us no matter how long we have walked with the Lord and served His purposes. For growth in faith is an ongoing experience we have in the everyday activity of our lives. Yet some people are so conditioned by the materialistic interpretation of life our culture has imposed on us that they do not hear His question about faith at all.

While others do not see that it is in the very everyday activity of life that God teaches us about Himself and His ways. They separate their spiritual lives from their physical lives and deal with the everyday stuff separate from the religious commitments and activities. Yet it is in the physical activities that the greatest spiritual lessons can be learnt – that is the lessons that help us grow in faith. According to the letter to the Hebrews “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Hebrews 11:1-2, 6).

Who would have imagined that the fire breathing, persecuting Saul of Tarsus would have become the early Church’s foremost theologian and preacher?

Most of the letters written in the New Testament were written by Paul (formally Saul). Prior to his conversion most of the Christian churches would have been praying for protection from Saul and his persecuting attitude and actions. God acts when we least expect Him to. Saul was on his way to Damascus to arrest and kill as many Christians as he could find and crush the Church there into extinction. Yet on the Damascus road Jesus threw Paul off his donkey, blinded him and told him to stop his activities and obey what God was asking him to do. As a result of this incident Paul was led by his friends into Damascus and left in a house where he began to pray and seek God in a different way.

Meanwhile God tells a Christian disciple named Ananias that he was to go to meet Saul and declare God’s purpose for his life. Ananias was not eager to do this as he had heard reports about Paul’s cruelty and persecution. Yet he went, spoke God’s word to Saul and Saul’s eyes were opened. Saul became Paul – God’s apostle to the Gentiles.

Paul, along with Peter opened the Church to the Gentile nations so that the gospel of Jesus could be preached to every person on the planet. Yet it is amazing the way God chooses people to do His purpose.

He chooses Saul, who is steeped and trained in the Jewish traditions, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, a teacher himself of the Law and those traditions, to reach the Gentiles. At the same time he takes Peter and James (Jesus’ brother), who are uneducated and untrained in the Law and the traditions to reach the Jewish people with the good news of God’s saving act for all people through Jesus Christ.

Do you consider yourself just an ordinary person, not much of anything really, with no extraordinary gifts or abilities? Then God has a plan for your life!

You might say that you have never had a Damascus road experience like Paul. Maybe you do not need one! Paul was knocked off his donkey because God could not get through to him in any other way. Maybe you are not as hard-headed as Paul.

God does extraordinary things through ordinary people. The weird thing is that when they do it they do not even know that they have done something extraordinary.

We look for the spectacular, when God looks for what is the most effective way to communicate His love to a lost and forlorn world, to people who feel that God does not care about them.

After his resurrection Jesus appeared to His disciples and said to them: “Why are you troubled, and why do questionings rise in your hearts?” (Luke 24:38 ).

When we think of the circumstances they faced we can understand that things had become somewhat unstable and stressful with Jesus’ arrest, trial and crucifixion.

These men had already committed three and a half years to Jesus and His mission; only to find that it all fell apart at the very point when it seemed like it was going to succeed. Only a week before they were elated when the crowds finally cheered Jesus entrance into Jerusalem – the King had finally come to own His crown.

At that point all their hopes were flying high and the hard work and sacrifice looked as if it would pay off. Then Jesus died.

Feelings of trouble and questioning arise when we lose touch with God’s intentions and purpose in the circumstances that confront us. What do we do with the frustrations and setbacks that occur; even with the things that we were certain was part of God’s plan and purpose for our lives and the life of His Church?

We turn our trouble hearts to trust in the Lord and his providence. It is a matter of trusting that God is still in control even when it seems that everything has gone totally out of control.

This was the true lesson that Job had to learn. Though Job was faithful in not turning his back on God or cursing God for his circumstances, he still did not understand that despite everything that had happened to him God was still in control of his life and its circumstances.

In the disappointments of life we need to turn to the Lord afresh and ask Him what His intentions might be in the circumstances that confront us. Proverbs 16:9 notes that “a man’s mind plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.” As the Lord’s servants we need to submit our plans to Him and let Him direct our steps to the fulfillment of those plans.

We need to be careful in the midst of the times that make us feel troubled that we do not allow stubbornness to arise in our hearts and close out the Lord’s direction in our lives. Micah said, ” He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)