REPEATING THEMES - 3 “COVENANTING”

Readings: Psalm 111, Genesis 9:9-16, Hebrews 10:15-25, Mark 14:22-26
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY on July 25th 2010

I’m continuing with a series I’m calling “Repeating Themes”, taking a look at some of the common threads that weave in and out of the 66 books of the Bible.

Last week we looked at the picture of God given us throughout Scripture as One who is always creating –always creating new opportunities for us to experience His love. Today I want to focus on another picture. Our God is a Covenanting God.

What is a covenant? In legal terms a covenant is simply an agreement. In biblical terms; when we agree to do things God’s way, God agrees that we will be blessed. Our relationship with God is on the basis of a covenant of grace. God doesn’t have to make any kind of agreements with us. But God does want us to be in complete agreement that God’s way is the best way that life can be lived!

Throughout the books of the Bible are a number of covenants.

• In Genesis 9:8-17 God makes a covenant with Noah and his descendants by promising never again to destroy all earthly life by a natural catastrophe. This covenant is symbolized by a rainbow.
• In Genesis 15 and 17 God makes a promise to Abraham that he shall inherit a land and become the Father to a great nation, a covenant symbolized by the act of circumcision.
• In Exodus Chapters 19-24 a covenant is made through Moses. God promises to protect Israel as long as they apply themselves to living by Gods’ rules, a covenant symbolized by Sabbath observance.
• In Numbers 25:12-13 God makes a covenant (known as the ‘Priestly covenant’) with a priest called Phinehas (who is of the house of Aaron) that there will always be a priest over Gods’ people.
• In 2 Samuel 23:5 God makes an unconditional promise to provide a godly king from the line of David, known as the Davidic Covenant.
• In one of the later books to be written in the Old Testament, the Prophet Jeremiah (31:31-34) looks forward to a new covenant when God promises; "I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts"

Christians believe that the ‘New Covenant’ Jeremiah spoke of came into being in the ministry of Jesus Christ and in particular through His death on the Cross of Calvary. The Book of Hebrews describes Christian people as those who have come “to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant” (Hebrews 12:24). At the Last Supper when Jesus holds up a cup before His disciples and asks them to drink of it He describes it this way; "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. (Matthew 26:28)

In numerous places in the New Testament Jesus is seen as being One who fulfills both the Priestly covenant and the Covenant with King David. He is the eternal High Priest (Hebrews 10:21) and the King of Kings (Revelation 17:14), imagery that has found it’s way into our hymns and sacred music. Jesus Himself spoke of how He had not come to do away with all the laws and the prophets but to fulfill their promises! (Matthew 5:17; see also Hebrews 8:6).

The New Testament Church saw them selves as being the people of the New Covenant upon whom the promise of Jeremiah had fallen through the coming of the Holy Spirit. Before His ascending to glory Jesus promised “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8)

That promise was fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost when, as the terrified disciples met behind closed doors, the Spirit descended upon them, filling them with a new courage and boldness to declare the message of Christ’s death and resurrection to all the world. This was seen as a fulfillment of the covenant made with the prophet Jeremiah that God would write His law upon believer’s hearts.

We have skimmed the biblical material about covenants… but here’s the question. ‘Why does this idea of God being a covenanting God matter?’ What difference does it make to the way we live our lives that our God is a covenanting God?

Bear in mind that a covenant is an agreement. The simplest way of explaining it is to say that until we enter into an agreement with God that our lives are best lived God’s way, then our lives are out of sync with God. Until Abraham said “Yes, God, I believe that You want to take me somewhere” he was without a destination. Until we agree that God’s way is the way then we are going our own way.

God’s part of the covenant has been taken care of. Out of the depths of God’s grace, from God’s side, the covenant is signed, sealed and delivered. The rainbow keeps appearing after every storm. The Ten Commandments have been given. The way to know forgiveness is still through the Cross of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit is still anxious to impress God’s way upon our hearts and lives.

In a New Testament letter addressed by Paul to his young friend Timothy he tells him, “Whoever teaches otherwise and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that is in accordance with godliness, is conceited, understands nothing, and has a morbid craving for controversy and for disputes about words. (1Timothy 6:3-4 ). We are betrayed time after time by our belief that we, not God, know best how our lives should be lived. The bottom line about entering into a covenant with God is that it means agreeing with God that God knows best.

Let me suggest some areas we need to agree with God.

• Agree with God regarding Sin. “Come now, let us argue it out, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18 NRS). We can excuse it, we can deny it, we can try and cover it, but God knows better. We mess up. We are the ones to blame because we are the ones who go over the line, break the rules, are less than truthful, compromise on what we believed, are hurtful, are unloving and sometimes unkind. We are sinners. But through Christ… God has opened the way to being forgiven sinners! Nothing we can do can atone for our actions other than the grace of God. When we recognize our need and how God has met that need in Jesus Christ… then we can walk free and forgiven. To covenant with God regarding sin simply means agreeing with God that you just can’t get through without His love.
• Agree with God regarding Scripture. The Psalmist writes “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” (Psalm 119:105 KJV) Recognize in the stories of the bible’s characters the story of your own life. We are Peter, sometimes on the ball and sometimes hard-headed. We are Mary and Martha, sometimes too busy, sometimes choosing the right. We are Thomas with our doubts and unbelief. We are Ruth seeking for hope in the midst of tragedy through relationships. The Bible’s story is our story if we can but allow the Holy Spirit to read it into our lives. Covenant with God regarding Scripture. Agree that you need His Light to guide you. Study His Word.
• Agree with God regarding our Security. One of the Church Fathers, Augustine, in a famous work he called his ‘Confession’ writes; “You have made us for Yourself O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds it’s rest in You”. We seek for security in all sorts of places. Through material things. Through relationships. Through avoidance. Yet it’s a trivial pursuit. Until we reach that point where we agree with God that our lives are only complete when God is welcomed as a part of them, then we remain constantly searching and hopelessly insecure. Only the love of God brings a lasting peace. Covenant with God regarding your security. Agree with God that you are His precious child. Talk with God often and help yourself in that conversation through opening up to God in worship and through prayer.
• Agree with God regarding Eternity. This life is not all there is. God has created us to enjoy His presence and live in the here and now, with the knowledge that our relationship with Him outlasts this present life. There is something better, something more glorious, something wonderfully mysterious about life that we cannot quite grasp or truly visualize this side of the great divide. It’s not just pie in the sky. It’s not a deception. It’s part of what Jesus Christ came to reveal to us. His resurrection was the prelude! Covenant with God regarding eternity. Agree with God that the best way to live today is in the light of a better tomorrow. Agree with God that how we live today has eternal consequences.

Think seriously today about what it means to believe in a covenanting God. God wants to be in a covenanting relationship with each of us. God wants us to agree that the way of life we are called to live in Jesus Christ is the best way that can be lived. The promises of God are there for every one of us.

How do we agree with God? Through our actions. Through loving as we have been loved. Through seeking the things that Scripture tells us are the things of the Kingdom. The prophet Micah addressed his fellow countryfolk in Old Testament times: “You have been told, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord requires of you? Only to do right and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6:8)

How do we agree with God? A man once asked something similar of Jesus "Teacher” he said “Which commandment in the law is the greatest?" Jesus said to him, "You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments." (Mat 22:36-40 NAB)

Our God is a covenanting God. Throughout Scripture God calls people to enter into covenant with Him, to agree to live God’s way… forgiven of all sin, guided by God’s Word, secure in God’s love and in the knowledge that every move we make has an eternal dimension.

REPEATING THEMES 2 - Creating

Reading: Psalm 98, Genesis 3:1-9,2 Corinthians 5:17-21, Mark 16:3-15

Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, July 18th 2010


I’m continuing this morning on a series I’m calling “Repeating Themes”. In this series I want to try and identify some repeating themes that weave in and out of the 66 books that we call the Bible. I will be suggesting to you that these themes are ones we should focus upon in our own spiritual journeys. The first theme I’m calling “CREATING”

We all started somewhere. There was a day when our life began. Some time in the not so distant past we removed our self from bed and made it to a pew. Everything, in a world governed by time, begins somewhere. The most atheistic scientist and the most belligerent theist agree that all things have a starting point.

Where people enter into debate is how things got started. Some suggest it was a matter of random chance. Others that it was a Big Bang. The Gospel of John suggests it began with a Word. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1)

The very first statement of the very first Book in the Bible, the Book of Genesis (a name which means ‘Beginnings’) reads “In the beginning God created…” (Genesis 1:1) and how did God create? “God said… ” (Verses 3 and many following!). In Genesis God speaks life into being. In the beginning was the Word.

The first preacher in the Bible is God and the very first sermon ever preached is Creation. One of the poets from the Book of Psalms reflects “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Psalm 19:1) and again in Psalm 33, “By the Word of the Lord the heavens were made” (verse 6).

For centuries a tension has existed between the ‘scientific’ view and the ‘religious’ view of how all things got their starting orders. On one side are those who are convinced by their observations that our world moved from lower forms of life into the place it is now, and that for such a process to happen no involvement from any kind of god or gods is needed.

On the other hand are those who are equally adamant that the world came into being through an all powerful Creator, varying from those who believe in a literal seven days of creation, to those who accommodate some form of evolutionary theory.

At the end of the day they all rely on that thing that they either claim to have… or deny having anything to do with. Namely ‘faith’. (Faith that God ‘is not’ is just as much a supposition the faith of the one who says ‘God is’.) Both claim to have valid reasons for their assertions.

The bottom line remains that nobody knows, with absolute, total, completely, concrete, verifiable, certainty how things began. Everybody has a worldview. What is a world view? Simply… a view of the world from where you are standing. YET…there remains one thing that we all know and which nobody can refute. Life has begun and it’s still going on and to prove it, here we are.

Today rather than speak about ‘God the Creator’ I want to make our focus the scriptural notion of ‘Creating’. Every book in the Bible reveals a God who has an ongoing relationship with people, a relationship that is constantly being re-energized and re-formed. God is all about ‘Creating’.

The narrative of the Garden of Eden is one of the most intriging of the Bibles stories. It testifies to something that even those who claim to have no religion recognize. That somewhere along the way, things have become completely messed up.

It suggests that life could be a paradise, but by our actions; by our subtle lies and insatiable lust for power and everything we should not have; by our ability to give in to temptations; that our failure to take God at God’s word; has created a situation where we no longer feel totally at home with each other or with God. So we hide and we cover up. We are ashamed of our nakedness and stumble around surviving in the shadows. The last thing we want is for God to come looking for us.

But that is what happens. God walks into that Garden and demands “Where are You? Why are you hiding?” He pronounces words of warning but then creates clothes to hide the nakedness. He takes Adam and Eve out of a situation where everything is already ruined and could get a whole lot worse and puts them in a place of new beginning and new possibility.

Time and time again, in story after story, this pattern is repeated. People messing up and God creating new opportunity. For Noah it’s cleansing waters and a big boat. For Abraham it’s about a new land and more children of faith than he could count. For Joseph it’s about turning what people meant for harm into an opportunity for blessing. With Moses it is out from slavery and into freedom.

Through Judges and Kings and prophets, through times of tragedy and treachery, times of unfaithfulness and recovery, all the time God weaves in and out of the stories as the one who is creating new and greater opportunities for people to experience blessing and know themselves as God’s much loved children.

We move into the Books of the New Testament and see a whole new focus. God enters into human life in an unthinkable way. God in Christ changes all the rules. Miracles that shouldn’t happen. Going places He shouldn’t be welcome. Telling stories that violated all conventions. Touching people that should be excluded. Suggesting servants should be Kings and Kings should become servants. Making claims that people who were in the know recognized as blasphemous. Bringing into the light much that was wrong with religion.

This time there was no garden to hide in. So what’s done is what is always done when our sins get the better of us. Like Cain did with Abel the Christ is killed. But this is no normal assassination. We see public humiliation and torture and contempt. We see those closest to Him abandoning all that they believed and denying they ever knew Him. In the midst of it all, as Jesus hangs naked, bloody and in agony on an accursed tree there comes words that were so new and so creative that we still struggle to understand them. “Forgive them Father, for they don’t know what they are doing.”

From here on the story just gets more radical. Three days later there are claims and counter-claims of resurrection. The stories are kind of garbled. Kind of like witnesses to an explosion who can’t quite grasp what’s happened because they are still struggling with the intensity of the experience. It’s not clear exactly who knew first or was there at what time, but it is clear that once again God was doing that creating. This time on a vast canvas. Creating life out of death, hope out of despair, light out of darkness, and order out of chaos.

We move into the Book of Acts. There’s a story about Christ’s Ascension followed by the creation of a new community through the Holy Spirit descending on fearful disciples and transforming them into fearless apostles; still with a lot to learn, but now having the boldness to explore where it may lead and flow with it wherever it may go. Again it’s all about the Creating God, re-forming community, birthing this thing we call Church.

The letters of the New Testament are equally unlikely. Many of them are written by a one time zealous opponent of the faith, struck dumb and blind, whilst recognizing the voice of Jesus calling him to make a complete about turn with his life. The unique character and historical perspective of Saul, who became Paul, gives shape too much of what remains core Christian teaching.

The final book in the Bible is a vision of things yet to be. The Book of Revelation belongs to a genre of literature known as apocalyptic and is filled with dramatic visions and reflections, whose concern is to stretch the mind of its readers and encourage them to reflect that when it comes to God’s creative plans ‘You ain’t see nothing yet!’

Returning to my original theme. This idea of the God who is always ‘Creating’ touches on so many aspects of our lives.

It touches on the way we read the books found within the Bible. If you come to those pages with pre-conceived ideas and notions about what you are going to find there then you may well find reading Bible study a barren and fruitless exercise.

However if you approach it with the notion that what you are dealing with is living testimony of a person or community who encountered the creative power of God, then that changes things.

Likewise with worship. Every line of liturgy, every single word of the songs and the rhythm, melody and harmony of the music, all the prayers and the mystery of baptism and the breaking bread and sharing of wine, it’s all a reflection of the creating God.

In fact the way we live our lives reflects how we understand the creating God. God still invades our personal gardens of Eden and asks where we are and what we are about. Uncomfortable and naked as that may make us feel we carry on pretending to know so much about everything.

God comes offering new beginnings, comes as He came in Jesus Christ, up close and personal, inviting and challenging, whilst forgiving and healing, coming as the Holy Spirit, a refreshing wind and empowering presence.

A common theme in any journey of faith is the idea that our God is the Creating God who greatest desire is that we share in the love Christ died to give us and was raised to show us, the One who reigns to make all things new.

So today I invite you to consider in what ways the work of creating is taking place in your own life. Are there areas where you feel God may be doing something new, but you are resisting the change? Are there areas where you really need a change? What would that change look like? Prayerfully and carefully we can allow God to recreate our lives so we become more like the people Jesus calls us to be and more open to the moving of His Spirit.

Our God is a creating God. To God’s name be the glory. Amen!

REPEATING THEMES 1 - “Now… About the Bible!”

Readings: Psalm 119:105-112, Isaiah 5:13-24, 1 Timothy 4:9-16, John 7:37-43
Preached at First Presbyterian Church Baldwin, NY, July 11th 2010

I would be a very rich man if I could have a dollar for every time somebody told me that they had ‘read the bible’. Young and old, Christians, Muslims, atheists, agnostics, people of all faiths and people not even sure what faith might be have looked me in the eye and told me they have read the bible.

Quite often the fact of their reading is accompanied by some comment about a section of the Bible that they had found particularly difficult. An Old Testament passage that seemed to justify genocide. Something Paul wrote that made him a woman hater. Or maybe simply the comment that they just didn’t get all those laws and lists and in any case how could we take seriously a book that begins by contradicting science and telling us the world was made in six days? Isn’t it all just myths and made up stories?

When I press for more details as to what particular book within the Bible they are referring too I’m often met with a blank stare or a dismissive shrug of the shoulders. If I really press the issue I sometimes discover that they hadn’t actually read about the problem they are talking about in the Bible itself, but in a book somebody had written about the Bible or even in some work of fiction such as the ‘Da Vinci Code’.

And as to what people mean by ‘reading’ I’m not always sure. By which I mean that I have read Lord of the Rings, the Harry Potter series and a number of Shakespeare’s plays but in each case I could hardly quote you chapter and verse. I can recall incidents and characters and maybe give you a general overview but not enough to qualify me as an authority.

Indeed some of the opinions I could offer would be insights I’d picked up during school days or from things I had read or seen on TV. Some of those comments may be reasonably accurate, others just an educated guess, and others just plain wrong.

If one goes on the Internet you can find so much material that relates to the Bible that simply to trawl though it all is an impossible task. You can find sites that will list for you all the mistakes and contradictions and faults with the Bible and find those who will claim to authentically explain every sentence in more detail than you could ever have imagined.

As with any belief related topic on the internet much of the information is… let us say… less than accurate and subject to no moderation other than the bias, prejudice and pet peeves of the authors. Likewise with radio and television. If it’s on TV it has to be true. Right?

A lot of people tell me they have read the Bible. But, as I say, I wonder what they mean by having ‘read’ the Bible. It’s not that I have a problem with folk reading the Bible… in fact it’s a practice I strongly encourage. The problem is that often on the basis of a rather cursory reading they are under the impression they have become an expert and are in a position to tell others either about its irrelevance or its validity.

The Bible, after all, is not a book like other books. It is a collection of 66 individual books that in written form span at least 3000 years, with the oral traditions that lay behind those written forms going back to times we can only guess at, maybe thousands of years earlier.

And those books are not the product of any single author nor do the books belong within any single genre of literature. There is myth, saga, poetry, history, drama, regulations, genealogies, prophecies, dreams, visions, letters, and gospels to name but a few. And every single word was written in ancient languages that most of us don’t speak and within cultures that are not our own. The Bible is not the sort of collection of books that you can just pick up, skim the pages and then claim to have ‘read’ with understanding or depth.

And then there is the peculiar role of that thing we call ‘faith’ in our understanding of the Bible. Some in our day are particularly hostile of the word ‘faith’ implying that it is akin to ignorance or a prelude to justifying unjustifiable actions. Some see ‘faith’ as the most arrogant of all claims, particularly when it comes to ancient written words.

When we say ‘We believe in the Bible’ are we simply implying that “Our Books are right and all others are false!” What right have we to claim that our religion is better than any other on the grounds that it is so simply because we say that God says that it is so and that be the end of the argument? In a rational world that sort of nonsense makes us a laughing stock.

However… there are certain things we can say about the books of the Bible that make perfect sense. Firstly, that the various authors of the variety of books are united by a common theme that we could describe as “One on One experience of the Divine.” Their experiences are not all the same, neither do they all reach the same conclusions about what the nature of God may be, but their claim is to have encountered God, some to greater degrees than others.

It is therefore reasonable to suggest that if there is a God, and there are people who throughout the centuries that have encountered that God, then their experiences may well mirror experiences that are recorded in the books of the Bible. Should we wish to encounter the Divine a good place to start would be by looking at those experiences and seeing if they resonate with our own. If we seek “One on One experience of the Divine” then examining the books of the Bible should help us.

But why not just look in any spiritual volume? Well… the Bible is different to other religious works. It differs from works such as the Koran and the Book of Mormon as it does not claim to be an individual revelation to any one person at a given point in time but contains the voices of many folk, from many ages. I personally am more inclined to listen to the joint testimony of a number of witnesses rather than one persons claim to special revelation.

The Bible is also different from collections of Hindu or Buddhist or other scriptures in that the books that Bible contains are what we call ‘canonical’. In its earliest centuries the church defined which books should be considered part of Scripture and which books were excluded. The process by which that happened and the criteria by which individual books were evaluated is a study all of its own, but such is part of the bibles unique nature that sets it apart from other spiritual works. What’s in it is in it for a purpose.

Furthermore the Bible has had a profound influence on our language and thought forms and the images we use to communicate to one another. Its words are deeply ingrained in our own words and our own culture. Often people are surprised to learn that some contemporary sounding phrase such as … “Chasing the Wind” … has its roots in biblical literature.

Likewise biblical morality and law…the greatest example being the 10 commandments… have been a bedrock against which we have sought to discern what is right and what is wrong. The Bible is like no other book in its composition or in its influence.

To return though to my original thoughts about reading the Bible… how do we seek to understand this complicated, sometimes seemingly contradictory, collection of carefully crafted spiritual insights, that spans generations and whose source is from numerous cultures and circumstances?

Being Presbyterian I would suggest the most positive thing we can do is take on board one of the reformer John Calvin’s insights. He suggests that if we seek to hear God through Scripture then we also need to seek God through prayer. Calvin goes as far to suggest that without the influence in our lives of the Holy Spirit who inspired the authors of scripture than we can never understand their words. He speaks of the Holy Spirit as the spectacles through whom the Scriptures come into focus.

I recall in my own spiritual journey struggling to understand how these ancient words could possibly have anything to do with my modern life. Then a friend asking me, “Did you pray before you read the bible?”. I didn’t. But I started to. And things began to become clearer. It made sense to open up to the One who inspired the authors in order to understand what they were trying to say. So… yes … prayer should be part of the process.

But it still remains a formidable task. As I said at the start there’s a difference between having a cursory knowledge of what the Bible may contain and actually understanding and applying its lessons to our life. And there are all those bits, which we may never fully understand, and about which greater minds than our own have still not come to any conclusions. The Good News is that we don’t have to know it all and understand it all to gain benefit from reading it. We can start where we are.

And where I am right now is to say that this sermon is really an introduction to a series of sermons I’m going to preach over the next few weeks. One way of understanding the overall message of the bible is to examine repeating themes that weave in and out of its many books. So over the next weeks I’m making my theme “Repeating Themes” and I’ll touch on a few of the repeating themes of the Bible.

One theme is that of “Creating”. From beginning to end the Bible speaks about the Divine initiative that brought all things into being and continues to renew and recreate our life.

Another theme is that of ‘Covenant”. Time and time again God seeks to enter into a relationship of accountability with both individuals and communities of people. And time and again people betray their trust in Him… but always God’s side of the equation remains intact.

A third theme is that of ‘Dying’. In book after biblical book death is not pictured as the ultimate calamity it seems but rather as a way of transformation. Nothing new comes till what has gone before passes away.

A fourth theme I want to look at will be “Living”. Throughout the Bible a distinction is made between simply existing and really living.

A final theme will be that of “Calling” and we’ll look at who God calls and what they are called to do.

But all that is to come! For now let me conclude by inviting you to take the Bible seriously. Don’t be fooled by those who have skimmed the surface and then dismissed it. Don’t focus on the bits that are hard but seek to understand the truths God wants you to understand right now. Be prayerful in your approach to Bible reading and it will make all the difference. It makes sense to ask God’s Spirit to help you understand God’s Word!

Finally recognize what a unique collection of spiritual knowledge is offered to you through the 66 books of the Bible. Centuries of wisdom and knowledge that has been tried and tested and found to be genuine awaits our discovery. May God help us rediscover His Word in our own day and in our own way.

To God’s name be the glory. Amen.

THE REAL THING

Readings: Psalm 137, Lamentations 3:19-26, John 6:41-55, 1 Corinthians 11:23-29
Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, on July 4th 2010

There was an advertisement launched by one of the Cola giants a few years back, (I forget whether it was Pepsi Cola or Coca Cola), anyway... the slogan was… that this particular brand was THE REAL THING.

How would you know if it was the real thing? Well it was a ploy designed to make that particular brand the standard by which all others were measured. When you tasted that particular brand of Cola, something in your mind was supposed to go. "Now that's how Cola should taste!" If you tasted cola and it didn't taste like that then it was obviously a bogus product.

A clever idea, set yourself up as the authentic thing and all others will, by implication, be mere imitators and less worthy copies.

In many spheres of life there is a search for authenticity, for reality, for originality. Take as an example the world of classical music. Occasionally recordings are released which claim to be a true representation of how the composers piece would have sounded played on the instruments of his day, in the way they were played at that time... as though you could be there centuries ago. There is a desire to recreate precisely the feel of the original, the sound of the real thing.

If ever you get to visit Great Britain, one of the places well worth seeing is the city of York. Wonderful museum, Yorkminster cathedral. Little twisty turny narrow streets with oldy worldy shops in an area known as ‘The Shambles’.

And at the center of York is an exhibition known as the Yorvik Center. You stand in line for hours on end and then spend a comparatively short time sitting in a little carriage that takes you through reconstruction's of how life had been in York at the time of the Vikings... complete with sights, sounds... and the biggest novelty of all... smells. You don't just see the pigs, you smell them as well. Not a particularly inspiring odor, but authentic nonetheless!

Of course all such attempts are doomed to failure. The only way to experience a symphony in it's original form or to find out what it was like to be living in York at the time of the Vikings is to travel back in time… and as yet H.G Wells and his time machine remain a flight of the imagination!

As we come to share bread and wine this morning I want us to think about a verse that appears in John 6:55; where Jesus tells the disciples..

"For my flesh is the real food, my blood is the real drink"

Allow me to point out two things; firstly, that there are false things we can feed our lives upon, and secondly, that Jesus Christ is the real thing.

1. There are false things we can feed our lives upon.

Something has gone dreadfully wrong with the American dream. Somewhere along the way people have built lives upon false hopes and dreams and the fruit of that misplaced trust becomes ever more apparent.

Family breakdown, Shootings in schoolyards, Acts of terrorism, rumors of corruption in places high and low, lack of accountability and no-one to blame, random acts of violence and pointless vandalism.

There's a lot of hurting people.
There's a lot of confused people.

Some turn to forms of religion which offer life in terms of simplistic formulas or uncompromising dogmas and do all the thinking and decision making for them. Some find solace in drink or drugs or denial. Others have just given up hope altogether.

Yet whilst the sands of society shift in different ways, the gospel message is still the same.

It calls us to encounter the Living God in Jesus Christ, just as did the disciples in the upper room at the first communion. It calls us to embrace a new reality, the reality of God's Kingdom, found through His Holy Spirit at work in our hearts and lives together as a new community in Christ.

We are not called to go back in time. I hear people sometimes talk about ‘The good old days', when churches were better attended or when great revivals took place in religious life. We don't need "The Good Old Days". We need the "Good News". That God's power is with us today. His Spirit is reviving us. God's love is for us.

When people truly encounter Christ they are not the same. You cannot get to know Him and stay the same as you were. Something of His hope, His love - rubs off on you, confronts you and challenges you. Why? Because..

2. Jesus Christ is the real thing.

He is the standard by all others are measured.

The life He offers is described as "Eternal".

Eternity is something which can happen to us today. It is the love of His Kingdom breaking in, often unexpectedly, to our humdrum lives. It is, to coin a phrase by C.S.Lewis, being "Suprised by Joy"

The Psalmist of old said, "O taste and see that the Lord is good'.

Jesus said, "For my flesh is the real food, my blood is the real drink."

By today taking these elements of bread and wine we are signaling our willingness to be Christ's. We are seeking for eternal realities to be within our daily lives. We are declaring our need for His love and life to be our food and our drink.

This weekend sees America celebrating independence. Independence is a great thing. It’s worth setting off fireworks and taking time out to consider how things may have been had the struggle of Independence never taken place. Its extremely doubtful that a ‘United States’ of America would ever have come into being had any parts of the country been held captive to other nations.

Political Independence is worth celebrating. But not so independence from God. Most of us would benefit if we more dependant upon God rather than independent of God. We need God’s love and strength and grace to transform us and forgive us and renew us.

After the first Thursday when the disciples had their feet washed by Jesus and shared with Him in a Passover meal, came Friday, when they witnessed the crucifixion, the pain and the torture of their dearest friend and teacher.

Then on Sunday they declared to the world, "Christ is Risen.. He is Risen Indeed!"

So communion is always a preparation. A preparation sometimes for darkness, at other times for light. A preparation on occasions for deep sadness and at others for great joy.

We never know what is around the next corner. But I do know that if I feed myself on the love of God, I'll find the real thing, the real resources, the real presence of Christ, to go with me wherever the road may lead.

So today your are invited to feed your lives upon the love of God. To take bread and wine and prayerfully seek for God's presence to fill your life. To declare not your independence, but your dependance upon God. His love is the real thing. Christ alone can satisfy the deepest needs of your life. Only His Spirit can bring the reality of the things of His Kingdom to your daily living.

The real thing.
Accept no substitutes.
Feed your life on the reality of the awesome love of God!