Themes:
Isaiah:
darkness
Light and Glory
Blessing as prosperity, Blessing with Prosperity, Blessing without Prosperity
Prosperity without blessing
Light, sought by many, short supply, great demand
produces prosperity
Blessing: bringing home the sons and daughters, not going afar to make a living, different in today’s world, or?
Thrill and rejoicing at abundance
End frankincense and gold: and praise of God
Psalm:
A just ruler, defends the poor, crushes the oppressor,
righteous flourish, abundance of peace
nations bow down before him
delivers the poor in distress, the oppressed with no helper
compassion for the lowly and the poor
preserves the lives of the needy
Ephesians
The copier, the cheat, plagiarism, the Gospel
A commission of Grace – voacation, calling, purpose to life, meaningful labour
Mystery of old, now made known: God comes to Gentiles (weird: mystery, Grace, forgiveness not earned or earnable, sacrifice not needed, not of animal, or thing, or OTHER PEOPLE. No scapegoating.
Mystery revealed by the Spirit, to holy apostles and prophets
This Gospel: Paul becomes a servant, does the copier, too?
A servant by grace, the working of God’s power, pretty small to be made servant, pretty awesome to be made God’s servant, power of the right hand? Power of the house of God? Power at all? Power of truth and self sacrifice, power of bringing life to others, life at the core.
The boundless riches of Christ! Wisdom of God in great variety made known to rulers and authorities.
We have access to God: in boldness and confidence, through faith in God!
Matthew
Wise men come, not so wise, the star stops guiding: they ask in corrupt Herod’s home town!
Set in motion
wealth for Mary to raise Jesus,
need to flee to Egypt
death of children 2 years and younger, in and around Bethlehem
After Herod: then the star kicks in again, find precisely Jesus (Bethlehem or Nazareth?)
overwhelmed with Joy, paid homage, provided gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh!
Warned in a dream. A little late. They are safe, but the children!
God’s ways, downright unfathomable at times. Dreams to save wise men, dream to save Jesus -flee to Egypt, why not dreams to save all the children!?!
Outline
God’s ways unfathomable
Wise men, star, gifts wealth, dreams, Egypt, but children!
Wise men not so wise
Mystery of Faith
Christ for all Gentiles, too
What about unearnable Grace, Forgiveness, God’s favour
part of for Gentiles and not just Jews, with practice and piety, Or Norwegians, or Lutherans of a certain ilk, my ilk of course are best.
What we want
Just rulers
Light against all darkness
resolution of the all ails of the human condition
Prosperity in Light and Glory
Power, access to God, servant’s with authority
OUR family together, sons home, daughters cared for (sexism, we really want our children in town or close by, our grandchildren nearby, and relative prosperity to accompany us always, to make our paths smooth.
God’s Light vs. Our Darkness
Not our power, not our wishes, not our paths smooth
Darkness is us not acknowledging God as God, Love as our commission, Evil as the necessary result, our participation in it as inevitable and unavoidable, damning others for the evil that is, that we suffer, that others suffer.
Real danger in life is not knowing the real power of God, present in various ways
Example: not knowing the power of Light of Fire
Wood heat: hot to burn the dross and chaff, the new paint cured
Cold
Explosive possibilities
Simple candle and a newspaper
Example: not knowing the destruction of fright, at injustice
just being frightened at injustice
at being the malfeasance obvious
nothing doable, paralyzed, fighting, fleeing
Example: not knowing the stories of old corruption
Also present in our day, in every way, often worse than ever before,
Worse when they are hidden, secreted, covered by spin, even obvious lies
Example: not knowing the power of CO emissions
Global Warming run rampant
now the extremes of past are norm
new extremes are not survivable without complete new adaptations
need new resilience, preparation – harder to prepare and qualify to knowingly sleep through the night with calm, because prepared.
Example: not knowing the beauty of life
the light of stars without light pollution
the beauty of relative wilderness – worth preserving and caring for.
the beauty of your place, time.
Example: not knowing the futility of security sought in prosperity
boom bust
a turn of market, a corruption of an investor, a foreign or domestic attack on market or other
a Storm
a health event, not emergency, falling apart of our lives, with loses: of self, or of loved ones, or of labour, or ?
normal: no one gets out of life alive.
The true Gospel, True Mystery, True Light, True Blessings
Not compromised by copying, plagiarism, the glory is God’s not the writer’s,
Grace, Commissions, Servants, Power of sacrifice, truth, bringing life to others
being the just ruler,
being Christ’s voice, heart of grace and unconditional love, being Christ’s hands
Hope based on God’s promises, God’s forgiveness, God’s grace, NOT us or prosperity.