I am waaaaaay behind for Sunday. The first draft of the sermon has only just been written. Everything else is still to play for but here's a wee bit from that sermon. It's probably of little interest and even less use but it at least shows I've done some work on the service this week.
Jesus reminds us of being disciples, and given the tradition we come from, which is the reformation, this speaks into that phrase that belongs to us: 'always being reformed'
‘Think,’ he says, ‘about it all. Think about what you say and think about what you do and match the two. What you talk about is all highly laudable: the talk of justice is good because that is heaven-talk; the talk of sharing equitably what you have with the world is the right kind of language for it is God-language; and you are spot on about loving creation back to health so everyone can life fully on the planet. All those things are the right kind of thing to be talking about. But it is also the right kind of way to be living as well’
The Pharisees as we have them described to us (which, because of historical events round the time of the writing of the gospels has become heavily biased against them) are not criticised for what they believe. In fact Jesus affirms they’ve got it more or less right: ‘Go and do what they say,' he says. In terms of the law of Moses they are good at understanding it and recognising what it means, and the Law of Moses is mostly about living in community in grace and fairness, looking after the widow and the orphan. On that they pass the test with flying colours. The problem is turning that into a way of life.
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