BeachcomberFX

Author: David Wynd

  • Reflect : Wor Yem : Day 6

    Reflect : Wor Yem : Day 6

    Proverbs 27:9

    Do you ever stop to reflect on who you are? Why you do what you do? Or the reason you are passionate about certain things? Many of us don’t take the time to stop and think about these things.  It is often because we are so busy doing. Trying to complete our to do list or finding a way to pay the bills.  We don’t stop and take stock. We don’t ask ourselves why. We just do.  Maybe though today is a good day to stop. To reflect and ask yourself why.  The writer of this proverb reminds us that our lives reflect what is going on in our heart. That the things we do and say are an outworking of the things we believe and our passionate about.  Finding time to stop and think through why we do what we do can help us make sense of who we are. It can also allow us to work through unhelpful habits we may have developed and to consciously seek to change them.  This is not just a one time issue though, it is something we should take time to do throughout our lives. So maybe this advent you should find some time each day to stop and reflect and to discover who you are and what you are seeking to do in this world.

    Photo Challenge: Take a picture of something inspired by the word reflect. Use the hashtag #woryem

    Reflect
    Reflect for pondering
    Reflect for seeing yourself
    Reflect

    There is time to reflect in this season of advent
    Stop for a moment
    What is it you see?

    We are a community of faith.
    Strandlopers on a journey.
    We have reflected on this season of advent
    By God’s grace we go.
    Amen

    Photo by Bruno Henrique from Pexels

  • Breathe : Wor Yem : Day 3

    Breathe : Wor Yem : Day 3

    Genesis 2:7

    Breathe in. Breathe out. Every single breathe we take fills us with life. With each one we take in the essential oxygen that keeps us alive.  Breathing is so vital to our existence that we would die if we went a few minutes without the inhalation and exhalation of fresh air.  In this verse from Genesis, that comes from the second of the creation stories. We are told that God formed man from dust and then breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.  Maybe the writer was hammering home the importance of breathing with the phrase breath of life, because every breath is life.  Sometimes when the world seems to be going too fast. When the to-do-list is getting far to Lon or when there is just too much to do. I have to stop and take a deep breath. Breathe in. Breathe out. This basic, life giving rhythm often helps me reset and refocus on the important things in life.  Each breath is the simplest, yet most extraordinary and life giving blessing. It reminds me that to breathe is to live and it is one of the greatest gift we have been given.

    Photo Challenge: Take a picture of something inspired by the word Breathe. Use the hashtag #woryem

    Breathe
    Breathe in
    Breath out
    Breath

    There is time to breathe in this season of advent
    Stop for a moment
    Remember that each breath is a gift.

    We are a community of faith.
    Strandlopers on a journey.
    We take breath in this season of advent
    By God’s grace we go.
    Amen

    Photo by zaid mohammed

  • Wait : Wor Yem : Day 1

    Wait : Wor Yem : Day 1

    Luke 2:25-40

    How good are you at waiting? Can you patiently sit, riding your time for the moment to arrive? Or are you a pacer, walking back and forth, counting the seconds till you can tear the wrapper off the gifts under the tree? The two elderly people Mary and Joseph meet in the temple when they brought Jesus there to present him to God had been waiting a long time for that moment.  They were both holding out for a time when they saw God begin something that would change the course of their nation.  They weren’t sure when it would be or what it would look like but they waited. Day in, day out. Year in, year out. Then finally, when their best years were behind them and the chances of them seeing any real change themselves the moment came.  Both Simeon and Anna bound up to Mary and Joseph to tell them the significance of this child that they had welcomed into the world.  I wonder what you are waiting for at this time?  Maybe it is for something as significant as a change in the way the world works. To have a new found hope for the future or to see a change in how life is lived in the here and now.  How are you at waiting for this? Patiently biding your time? With itchy feet, desperate to do all you can to bring about change?  Simone and Anna can remind us that waiting for the right moment is sometimes the most important thing we can do.

    Photo Challenge: Take a picture of something inspired by the word Wait. Use the hashtag #woryem

    Wait
    Wait for the tide to ebb
    Wait for the tide to flow
    Wait

    There is room to wait in this season of advent
    Stop for a moment
    What is it you are rushing towards?

    We are a community of faith
    Strandlopers on a journey
    We have waited in this season of advent
    By God’s grace we go
    Amen

    Photo by Kelly: https://www.pexels.com/photo/yellow-wait-signage-3129810/

  • Blessed are the Meek for they shall Inherit the Earth

    Blessed are the Meek for they shall Inherit the Earth

    Before I dive into the whole meek inheriting the earth bit I want to start with my take on the beatitudes as a whole.  

    Christianity has been pretty good at the old rules and regulation side of things for many centuries. We love a list of things that are prohibited and you should most definitely not ever do and those things that are good and the more you do them the bigger your mansion in heaven will be.  The problem with rules is that it often oversimplifies things and creates a mathematic formula that puts the power into our hands.  So as long as you don’t murder anyone or covet their wife you are all good but if you take the Lord’s name in vain then you are doomed.  

    When we read the beatitudes in this way, that is as a list of things we should become in order to receive the blessing. Then it just becomes another list of rules for us to succeed or fail at, another set of goals to achieve… or not.  When I read the beatitudes I have come to understand them much more about what God’s kingdom is about and a message to those who find themselves with nothing.  No one can attain the blessing by mourning more, making sure they have a really poor spirit, or getting themselves persecuted as often as possible. Instead the beatitudes offer a promise to those who are overlooked, undervalued, remain hidden or struggle to work out why God would care about them at all.

    I like this quote from Dallas Willard in his book the Divine Conspiracy;

    “The Beatitudes, in particular, are not teachings on how to be blessed. They are not instructions to do anything. They do not indicate conditions that are especially pleasing to God or good for human beings. No one is actually being told that they are better off for being poor, for mourning, for being persecuted, and so on, or that the conditions listed are recommended ways to well-being before God or man. Nor are the Beatitudes indications of who will be on top “after the revolution.” They are explanations and illustrations, drawn from the immediate setting, of the present availability of the kingdom through personal relationship to Jesus. They single out cases that provide proof that, in him, the rule of God from the heavens truly is available in life circumstances that are beyond all human hope.” 

    So! Blessed are the meek.

    No one wants to be described as meek… I mean no one.

    The dictionary definition says meek means – quiet, gentle, and easily imposed on; submissive. It basically describes the kind of people who are walked over by others.  Look at those in any kind of power or with any kind of influence and ask yourself are any of these people meek? Or think about how you would feel if someone described you as a meek individual. Would you take it as a positive or negative statement. 

    When Jesus was sharing the beatitudes with the gathered crowd he could probably see the meek amongst them. Probably way at the back because others pushed in front of them to get a better view and they didn’t say anything about it.  Some may have been forced into giving another a lift up so they could see and hear better whilst they have to bear the weight of them on their shoulders and only catch muffled snippets of what is being said.  The meek would have been all around in that crowd and Jesus wanted to tell them about a God and a kingdom that was for them.  

    I will leave you with a poem written by Eugene Peterson (creator of the Message translation of the bible) 

    The Lucky Meek
    “Blessed are the meek”
    Moses, by turns raging and afraid,
    Was meek under the thunderhead whiteness,
    The glorious opacity of cloudy pillar.
    Each cloud is meek, buffeted by winds
    It changes shape but never loses
    Being: not quite liquid, hardly
    Solid, in medias res. Like me.
    Yielding to the gusting spirit
    All become what ministering angels
    Command: sign, promise, portent.
    Vigorous in image and color, oh, colors
    Of earth pigments mixed with sun
    Make hues that raise praises at dusk,
    At dawn, collect storms, release
    Rain, filter sun in arranged
    And weather measured shadows. Sunpatches.

    Questions

    Are you a rule keeper, rule bender or ruler breaker?

    What is the most trouble you have ever got in?

    Who is the most famous person you know that you would describe as meek?

    How would you feel if someone called you a meek person?

    If you are joining us to discuss this blog we will be at Cullercoats Crescent Club from 7:30pm – see you there

    Photo by San Fermin Pamplona: https://www.pexels.com/photo/bird-s-eye-view-of-group-of-people-1299086/

  • Paying Attention

    Paying Attention

    In August Rob and I made a flying visit to Edinburg to do some “work” at the fringe with the Methodist church. Our job was to pay attention! A simple task.

    Well! If you have been to the fringe you will know it is an assault on the senses. Posters, flyers, people, entertainment, jugglers, comedians, musicals, giveaways, noise and so much more. It can be hard to focus. Hard to cut through the rubbish (in more ways than one as there was a strike on and no bins were being emptied).

    Paying attention involved trying to see what was there and what wasn’t. Noticing the small things as well as the big things. It meant hearing different voices and seeing things through different eyes. It also meant asking question and trying to find the answers to them.

    So we walked, talked, watched shows, took flyers from performers, took photos of everything, asked questions, drank coffee and beer, ate food, jumped on buses, trams and trains, prayed, and lots of other things alongside these.

    As I have come back I have continued to reflect on that time. I have also wondered what it looks like for us to pay attention where we live. On familiar streets in familiar places with familiar people it can be easy to stop noticing, stop paying attention to what is happening around us. So some questions…

    Questions

    Have you got a story about a time when you have completely missed something because you weren’t paying attention?

    On your way to the club tonight did you notice anything new or nothing at all?

    Are there times when you find yourself more aware of your surroundings than others?

    How can we get better at paying attention so that we see the needs around us as well as the opportunities to be involved in changing them for the better? 

    We are meeting at the Crescent Club at 7:30pm everyone is welcome. You will find us upstairs in the sea view lounge.

  • How You Doing?

    How You Doing?

    Now if you have watched Friends you will know that Joey’s chat upline is the title of this blog.  And if you do know how Joey says “How you doing?” your brain may have just read the tile using Joey’s voice and if not you may have just it now haha. 

    So where are we going with this weeks blog, let me start by saying this is not a blog about chat up lines but it is about friends, relationships and caring for one another and ourselves. This week I want to ask you with all sincerity “How are you doing?”. When was the last time someone asked you how you doing and it was not a pleasantry at the start of a met and greet but it was a genuine question looking for a honest as possible answer from the one being asked.  

    So here I am asking you, how are you doing…..

    Physically: How is your physical health at present? How are you looking after your physical body? Is there support you need to help you?

    Mentally: How is your mental health? What have you been thinking about lately? How are you caring for your mental health? 

    Spiritually: How is your spiritual self doing? Where is your spiritual journey at this moment?  

    Emotionally: How are you and your emotions getting on? 

    It’s good when someone asks how are you doing and you can see that they are genuine about asking the question and take the time to listen. But let me ask you this – when was the last time you asked yourself “How am I doing?” and made time to think and reflect about each of the above areas. We are good at noticing in the moment that this is wrong or that’s wrong and maybe very little time going deeper asking why? Can it be changed? Do I want it to change? Does it need to be changed? We are also good at not really remembering the good things too and spending time reflecting on them.

    Philippians 4: 4-9 (AMP) has become my wellbeing scripture. 

    “4 Rejoice in the Lord always [delight, take pleasure in Him]; again I will say, rejoice! 5 Let your gentle spirit [your graciousness, unselfishness, mercy, tolerance, and patience] be known to all people. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious or worried about anything, but in everything [every circumstance and situation] by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, continue to make your [specific] requests known to God. 7 And the peace of God [that peace which reassures the heart, that peace] which transcends all understanding, [that peace which] stands guard over your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus [is yours].

    8 Finally, [a]believers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable and worthy of respect, whatever is right and confirmed by God’s word, whatever is pure and wholesome, whatever is lovely and brings peace, whatever is admirable and of good repute; if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think continually on these things [center your mind on them, and implant them in your heart]. 9 The things which you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things [in daily life], and the God [who is the source] of peace and well-being will be with you.”

    Our wellbeing (the physical, mental, spiritual and emotional us) is important, it’s important to God, you and others . You are important! Just as you are right now. 

    There is so much going on in the world from our own individual lives, communities, nationally and the world as a whole. Covid is still around and we have fuel and food  prices rising. It can be and is overwhelming at time. If you need to talk please do reach out to those you trust, or ask for help too look for professional support. It’s always good to talk  and sometimes it’s not that you want someone to fix the issues or situation, you just want to be heard, listen too and get it off your chest and out of your head so you can exhale and breathe again.

    Also remember to reach out to your family and friends, try to make some time where you can and ask them How are you doing? Giving space and time for them to share if they want too.  Let’s continue to care and show love for one another, ourselves and God. 

    God bless

    Sue 

    Questions:

    1. Who can do the best Joey impression? 
    2. What is the best chat up line you have heard? Or even used? Keep it clean!
    3. Which of the four areas of wellbeing do you…   a) find easy    b) find hard    …to do? 
    4. Do you set time aside to ask yourself how you are doing? What might this look like for you? 
    5. Do you think the scripture given above works to help thinking about your wellbeing? If so how? 

    We are enjoying Glenn and Angela’s garden this week so if you would like to come please let David know by emailing him at davidwynd(@)hotmail.com or sending a message via our discord or on the Sunday@thePub Facebook page.

    This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

  • Let’s talk about the Maccabees!

    Let’s talk about the Maccabees!

    I read this chapter and thought it was a bit unfair for me to go through all Pete unpacks and then not be there to join in the discussion (I am at a wedding).  If you have read the chapter you will know it is focussed on the resurrection and how this event caused the gospel writers and even more so Paul a lot of hard work tying together Jewish thought from the Old Testament to what we have in the New Testament. Basically, not many people were expecting the messiah to be crucified and to rise again three days later. That changed everything and it hurt their heads trying to wrap them round what God was doing.

    What I am going to do is focus on a collection of books mentioned throughout the chapter that it would be good to look at and which hopefully won’t hurt your head as much.  

    The Apocrypha – another ancient book

    The apocrypha is a collection of books that sit between the Old Testament and the New Testament and is some times given the title of the ‘intertestimental books’.  You will still find them included in some bibles today, in fact it is becoming slightly more popular for them to be left in.  If you dig out the revised common lectionary (that is the three yearly cycle of readings many preachers use each Sunday) you will also find references for some Sundays to the Apocrypha as part of the weekly readings and this is used by the Methodist Church along with others.  The Apocrypha contains a collection of 14 books some of which link into Old Testament stories like Esther and Daniel and others which recount events that took place in the period from the return from Exile and before Jesus was born.  The books are described as being important but not holding the weight that is given to the Old and New Testament.

    The books that Pete mentions in this chapter is that of the Maccabees (1 and 2) which deal with the sorties of a number of revolts that took place under various rulers and the establishment of a separate Jewish state that ended around 40 years before Jesus was born.  These revolts have many references to the Messiah and to the promised salvation of the Jewish people as well as new thinking around what God was doing.  These books would have been known to Paul and others and it is no surprise that we can find within its pages ideas and thinking that sits somewhere between the Old Testament and its ideas and where Paul and others get to in the New Testament. Why is this important?

    Well, it shows that people were wrestling with what God was doing way beyond the end of the exile and before Jesus arrived.  They were asking questions and discerning where God was in the midst of everything that was going on.  That questioning and thinking lays some foundations for what we then see in the New Testament as Paul takes Jesus and all that he taught and did and ties it into this developing understanding. To put it another way – there is a disconnect in thinking between the Old and New Testament. One doesn’t end and the other pick up exactly where it left off. There is a gulf in time and wisdom between them that the Apocrypha and particularly books like the Maccabees helps fill in. 

    We have a gulf of time between the time in which the New Testament was brought together and where we are now. Lots more questions have been asked, experiences have been lived through and God has continued to work in peoples lives. Like the Maccabees and Paul’s and all the other writers we find in the bible and apocrypha our role is to continue to try and tie what we see God doing in the world into the life of Jesus and the continuing revelation that it brings to us and to others.

    See you at the Crescent Club at 7:30pm if you are going us this week.

    Questions

    I said we wouldn’t talk about resurrection but… Which famous person would you bring back to life and why?

    A quick one… Did you know the apocrypha existed? If you did have you read any of it? 

    Have you ever read a book or watched a film/tv show that is part of a series but out of order? Did it make sense?

    Which people Writers/speakers/preachers/teachers etc) have helped you see what God is doing in the world differently?

    What do you think is the best way to bridge the gap between the bible and what is doing in the world today?

    Featured image by Carolyn Whitson on Flickr used in CC licence CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

  • Old and New

    Old and New

    Let’s talk Christmas…..
    It’s where Pete starts the chapter so blame him for a start of May look at all things Christmas. Christmas comes with traditions like what you eat, when you open presents, what you watch on tv and many more. These traditions are part of your life and are given to you by your family. But when you get married or join in with another families traditions everything changes. Traditions collide and when they collide you have to work out what is right and good in this new context. Some traditions fall by the way side and new ones are formed.
    If we jump back over to the Bible and to the New Testament it is what we see happening in its pages, particularly the Gospels. Before Jesus showed up the people had an understanding of what traditions they should follow and what they meant. They also knew the things they should expect and what they would look like. Then Jesus turned up and he was nothing like people expected.
    Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were written by people who took on the task of taking the ideas, expectations and traditions of the past and reimagining them for the present context. Jesus’ life, death and resurrection had challenged everything. The writers now wanted to show how Jesus was actually instep with the past but in a new way that hadn’t been fully realised. Matthew did this by writing a gospel aimed at people that understood Jewish tradition, ideas and images. Who were looking for a particular kind of saviour and Matthew showed them how Jesus although different was who they were looking for. John on the other hand went in a very different direction with stories, images and ideas we find nowhere else in the other gospels. It’s not that one is wrong and the other right but that they both saw in Jesus a new way of being. In fact all the gospel writers saw Jesus as God in the flesh and wanted to share that new understanding with others.
    What they did was a reimagining for their context with the new information they had in Jesus. And we are called to do something similar as Jesus leads us on. We are called to connect the past with what we see Jesus doing now in our lives and the lives of other. As we have seen this is an act of wisdom and discernment that we do together but it sits in the ancient tradition of the people of God.
    Questions
    What is you favourite family tradition?
    Which if your traditions have changed as families/friends have joined together?
    Which gospel writer do you prefer and why?
    How would you reimagine the gospels of Jesus for different audiences today? Working class, rich, disabled etc?
    See you at the Cullercoats Crescent Club at 7:30pm if you are joining our gathering. Looking forward to seeing you all there.
  • Jesus and all That

    Jesus and all That

    Welcome to this weeks blog for those reading this live! We are meeting at the Crescent Club at 7:30pm but also there is an opportunity to meet beforehand to share in a Holy Week reflection that is 7:15pm Cullercoats Bay for Signs of Wonder.  If you are reading this because google has brought you here then enjoy and leave a comment.

    Here we are at an interlude in the book. 

    An opportunity to take stock and consolidate all that has gone before and get ready for what is to come.

    So let’s get started.

    Lots of us like a good book.  We read the words and create an imaginative world in which the characters exist. We play with the accent they have and the clothes they wear and everything else about them.  Even if you just read books on history or science you will probably try to visualise what was or is going on in what is described in the pages.  The problem we all have is when they make a film or tv series of our favourite book.  Why? Because it isn’t how we imagined it. Someone has reimagined the words and produce what they feel is an accurate portrayal of what was written. Some times they get it absolutely right and other times they mess it up (I’m looking at you Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2)! 

    Pete Enn’s writes in this chapter about the process of reimagining that takes place in the Bible and still takes place today.  As I read the chapter again there were things that jumped out that made me rethink things and challenged my image of God.   It is a natural and ongoing process and has happened since the very beginning.  This reimagining is right there in the text we have.  God is described as a rock, rescuer, shepherd, potter, gardener, rabbi, king, ruler, vineyard owner etc etc. Why? Because these were all images people could relate to and helped them express something of who God was to them.

    When Jesus turned up that happened again because Jesus threw some huge theological stumbling blocks in the way that the gospel writers and Paul had to try and get their head around. Jesus wasn’t what anyone had imagined the Messiah would be like so they had to connect the actual Messiah with the scripture they had and the stories they knew.  So Matthew pints Jesus in the mood of Moses and David for his Jewish audience but then leads them on into Isaiah and elsewhere.  Luke present him to gentiles and emphasis this in the stories he tells and John does something different that speaks to the audience he has in mind.  Paul spends ALOT of time arguing with religious leaders to connect this new way of life in Jesus to the Old Testament so their is continuity in what God is doing.  And we are called to do the same. In fact we do it all the time.

    Google the word Jesus and click on the image tab.  You will have pages and pages of images of Jesus. Black Jesus, Republican Jesus, NRA Jesus, Gay Jesus, Icon Jesus, White Jesus, Palestine Jesus, Cool Jesus, you get the picture Jesus.

    Every time we speak of God we are offering an interpretation, an image, a glimpse of something we understand or believe about God.

    Every time we speak of Jesus we are offering an interpretation, an image, a glimpse of something we understand or believe about God.

    Pete (or at least my interpretation of what he is saying) points out that the Bible should be our second port of call in the journey of knowing God and following Jesus.  That actually we should do as the writers of the Bible did. Experience God and sense his directing and then root that in what has been written in the past. His example is around refugees – we see the plight of refugees and are moved by the sense of desperation and need and we are moved to do something.  We pick up our Bible and read about how Jesus was a refugee once, about how God tells his people to welcome the foreigner. We link our experience with scripture and then tell people that God is a God who loves and cares for refugees and that as followers of God we should do likewise.

    This is the process of the people of God since the beginning. Experience God – Put God into words – experience God – try and link God to what has been said about God in the past – experience God – find new words to describe God.

    And we all get to be involved in this reimagining as a holy, sacred right of those seeking to follow in the way of Jesus.

    Questions

    Which film/tv series has made a book better or worse?
    Pictures of Jesus question!
    What role/job/image would you reimagine God as today?

    How can we be part of the process of putting our experience of God in to words?

    Photo by Victor : https://www.pexels.com/photo/opened-book-448835/

  • Why we need lawyers!

    Why we need lawyers!

    Welcome to this weeks blog which is based on the third chapter (God’s Laws: Evasive and Fidgety Little Buggers) of Pete Enns book (How the Bible Actually Works).

    Rules or laws are complicated, they shouldn’t be but they are.  

    Let us take a look at some everyday simple rules and laws that shouldn’t be difficult to follow but some people find a way to complicate. How about one from the pandemic! “Two or more people from different households are banned from meeting indoors, unless “reasonably necessary” for work purposes. Seems simple enough but there are definitely some areas of ambiguity in this rule.  What counts as a household? What counts as indoors? What does reasonably necessary mean? What is work? If we meet for work because it is “reasonably necessary” are we allowed to drink beer and have a Christmas quiz? Just asking for a friend…

    Let’s move away from this slightly controversial topic and tackle another law.  

    Since 2003, it has been a “specific offence to use a hand-held mobile telephone or other hand-held device for the purpose of any interactive communication (such as messaging, making or receiving calls or accessing the internet) while driving or while supervising a learner driver. “

    Seems straight forward and simple but is it really?

    If someone rings you and you use your hands free system to answer the call are you breaking the law? You are using a hand held device to communicate so surely it falls under its remit.  If that is the case, it begs the question why we put hands free kits in cars in the first place.  Then there are those specific situations that might arise.  There is an emergency and you have to dial 999 to get hold of an emergency service, you can’t stop the car (you are being chased by a crazed individual) but should you break the law to make the call?  What happens if you stop the car yet the engine is still running.  Is that still classed as driving? You can’t call someone on your hand-held device but can you watch the football on it whilst driving? It isn’t using the device for interactive communication but surely it isn’t allowed.

    These though are human laws, so we should expect them to be imperfect and open to interpretation.  The Bible on the other hand offers us God’s laws (around 613 of them in the Old Testament) and we may expect these to be simple and straightforward and to the point.  So let us tackle some of them. 

    “Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.”  So here we have the 3rd or 4th commandment (depends which version/translation you use).  But is remembering it is the sabbath enough or do we have to act upon that remembering to keep it Holy? How do we actually keep the sabbath Holy? When is the Sabbath? Saturday or Sunday? If I remember to keep the sabbath Holy on a Sunday but not on a Saturday, do I break the commandment? Let us try something that should be simpler, Pete Enns suggests  – “Thou shalt have no other gods before me”. Great, no others gods before GOD. Simple. Can I have other gods alongside GOD but of equal stature? or how about behind God. Like Zeus and and all the other gods who sit in the Greek Pantheon.  God would be first but all the others can line up behind. 

    So not that straightforward then.

    Laws, even laws we have in the Bible are not straightforward and they can’t just be taken at face value.  In fact very few people have taken them at face value throughout the centuries. That is why we have lawyers and in Jesus day and in many other cultures these were the religious leaders or ‘teachers of the Law’ as noted in the New Testament.  These are people who spent hours studying and interpreting laws and rules so they could then be applied to real life situations.  When the people heard the command to remember the sabbath they began to ask what that meant and what it looked like, practically in their everyday life.  The lawyers then began to set out interpretations of what could and couldn’t be done on the Sabbath and between what hours.  This interpretation sometimes was a benefit and other times it wasn’t. Some people agreed and others disagreed and reinterpreted what the Law meant.  Jesus reinterpreted many of the laws in the Sermon on the Mount telling people that ‘you have heard it said but now I say’.  Paul does it in his letters as he tries to help direct and steer the new faith communities that sprung up in this new way of life and how their new faith impacted the rules they followed and didn’t.

    It is why none of us have slaves! 

    Slavery is rife in the Bible and at times the way the Bible talks about slaves is shocking and not many people would stand by its statements.  Why! Because we understand that context, continuing revelation (God is still teaching us new things), and our experience and the experience of others means we understand the Bible differently.  We have interpreted what the Bible says and come to an understanding that slavery is inhumane, unjust and oppressive.   This isn’t mishandling the Bible or disrespecting what it says but approaching the Bible as God intended us to. We read the laws and rules and understand that it isn’t black and white that God hasn’t given us a rule book but instead an ambiguous, ancient and diverse collection of books and letters what we need to interpret together. We need to enter into the ancient tradition of interpreting what has been written in light of what God is saying now. Through the Bible, through our context and through our experience. 

    Questions

    Which of these is not a law/rule? (No googling – I will bring the answers on Sunday)

    • It is an offence to handle a salmon while looking ‘suspicious’.
    • It is illegal to be drunk in a pub.
    • You can be fined for vacuuming after the hours of 1pm on a Sunday 

    Have you ever broken a law? If so which one?

    Do you have an example of a time you have found it difficult to understand a law/rule? 

    Can a law/rule become obsolete?

    Which of the 10 commandments do you find most difficult to understand?

    How should we approach the laws and commands in the Bible?

    How can we interpret these laws and commands as a community?

    We are meeting at the Crescent Club at 7:30pm for those that want to join us.

    Photo by CQF-Avocat from Pexels