The Christian significance of Easter and the resurrection in many ways has been subjected to the distortions and individualism of our current self-focused culture.

Martin Luther's definition of sin was "Humans turned in on themselves" and much of our contemporary way of thinking is shaped in a way that interprets the resurrection in light of our own personal needs. The chorus we often sing puts the question, "You ask me how I know He lives? He lives within my heart." While this is true, the significance of resurrection reaches beyond this sort of personal comfort and reassurance.

Let's make no mistake, the reason the early Christians were so joyful was because they knew themselves to be living not so much in the last days as in the first days...the opening days of God's new creation.

In his gospel John tells us twice that Easter Day is the first day of the week. (John 20:1&19) It isn't just that Easter Day happened to be on a Sunday. John wants his readers to figure out that Easter day is the first day of God's new creation. It was the birthday of God's new world. In other words there is a universal, even cosmic dimension to the significance of the resurrection. In the Genesis story God finished all his work on Friday, the sixth day. The great shout "It is finished" (John 19:30) looks all the way back to the sixth day of Genesis 1 when, with the creation of human beings in His own image, God finished the initial creation. It is in his bodily resurrection as a human being that Jesus fulfils, finishes the destiny of the human race from the sixth day of creation. (1 Cor 15:27) God has put all things in subjection under his feet.

Saturday is the Sabbath rest between Good Friday and Easter Day.

Just as the Spirit brooded over the waters of creation so the Spirit broods over the world, the chaos and darkness of the Easter events, ready to bring it bursting to springtime life. Mary goes to the tomb while it is still dark and she encounters Jesus in the garden. In the morning light she thinks he is the gardener, as in one sense he is. This is the garden of the new creation. This is the new Genesis...beginning.

On this first day, in the evening when the doors were shut for fear, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said, "Peace be to you." (John 20:19) "Saying this, Jesus showed them his hands and his side" (John 20:20) Having defeated death and the powers of darkness Jesus repeated the word that begins a new era. "Peace be with you". A new creation, a new order of being had burst upon the startled old world, opening up new possibilities. Jesus said, "As the Father sent me so I send you". And he breathed on them as once, long ago, God breathed his breath of life. "Receive the Holy Spirit. Forgive sins and they are forgiven; retain them and they are retained." God breathes into human nostrils his own breath and we become living stewards looking after the garden, shaping God's world as his obedient image-bearers.

What Jesus did was not a mere example of a larger truth, it was itself the climactic event and fact of cosmic history. From then on everything is different. Creation itself is now on track to be set free. Revelation 21 speaks of it in terms of a new heaven and a new earth. This means today we live in the bright interval, the new age, the already begun new world between Easter and the final consummation.

Bearing God's image is not just a fact, it is a vocation. We are called to reflect into the world the creative love of God. Paul uses two images that go together to describe our vocation the garden and that of the builder. (1 Cor 3: 10-15)

An Empowered Vocation.

Paul points to the unique foundation of Jesus as the basis for a building to be constructed. Our task is to implement Jesus' unique, once for all achievement. As young architects we now construct the kingdom building, the dwelling place for God's Spirit. We are not oiling the wheels of a machine that is soon gone. The Spirit of the Master Builder dwells in us nudging and guiding us, enabling us to build. If we will obey our materials will not be wood, hay, stubble but will turn out to have been gold, silver and precious stone....our work will last. We are made for each other with a common purpose to work together, to plant, to water, while God gives growth.

Our calling is to find new ways to announce the kingdom, to tell the story of redemption, to rebuild the house and replant the garden, to declare that the powers have been defeated, that the kingdom has come in Jesus, that the new way of being human has been unveiled. Shaping our world is never for a Christian a matter of going out arrogantly thinking we can just get on with re-organizing the world according to our own model. It is a matter of sharing and bearing the pain of the world so that the crucified love of God -in Christ might bring healing.

The New Testament tells us repeatedly that to build on Jesus foundation will be to find the cross etched into the pattern of our life and work. We will find ourselves in the garden of Gethsemane. It would be easy to withdraw as a private Christian but this would be to live in denial. We are called to a Gethsemane-like anguish. Paul speaks of the whole creation being in travail, so we ourselves groan in prayer because we long for renewal and final liberation. We are called to be truly human. It is nothing less than the life of God within us that enables us to be remade in God's image.

Following Christ in the power of the Spirit means Living the New Creation,

"Bringing to our world the shape of the gospel: forgiveness, the best news that anyone can ever hear, for all who yearn for it, and judgement for all who insist on dehumanising themselves and others."

The early church was a resurrection movement and this was central to belief. The human race has been in exile, exiled from the garden, shut out of the house. Our task is to announce in deed and word that the exile is over, to speak of healing and forgiveness, to act boldly in God's world and in the power of the Spirit.

For the early Christians it was as if God had started to plant an orchard in the garden of their lives that would finally envelope the whole creation. The new age had arrived and that is how they lived, behaved and ordered their lives. They organised their lives as if they were the people of the new covenant, the new creation.

In a radical way today that may not always be understood by others we need to break from the dominant patterns of our culture to redesign our whole world view around the fixed point of Jesus resurrection and the new creation, not just as another neat idea but as an actual present reality.

Adapted by Rev Ted (E.A) Curnow July 2010

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is woven into the very structure of Christian life and thought bringing a future hope for people and the creation itself. But how do we come to terms with the significance of the Resurrection? There have been many radical "block-buster" theories about Easter and the after-life but Paul points out that we need to take care not to build with wood, hay and stubble or to look to the wisdom of the world 1Cor 3: 11,18.

Influenced by the culture of our time the resurrection of Jesus has been emptied of its meaning. Like a glass of water, the glass can stand alone and remain intact but be emptied of its content. In fact we have often flattened out the resurrection into meaning simply that there is life after death, a state of spiritual bliss or that Jesus is alive today and we can get to know Him. While there are aspects of truth here, the truth of the resurrection is much richer than this. In fact the resurrection is not really about "soul making", the language of the resurrection only makes sense if you understand the Jewish world view.

Why did the early Christians say the Messiah and the Kingdom of God had come? Why did Christianity with its Messiah executed by Rome not only refuse to abandon these concepts? Why did it emerge as a different Messianic movement? How do we explain why the early church, which had cherished Messianic hopes, not only continue to believe that He was Messiah but actively announce him as such to the Jewish and pagan world? They cheerfully redrew the picture of Messiah-ship around Jesus refusing to abandon it.

Many have said they changed the meaning of the Kingdom radically so that it didn't refer to the political state of affairs but to an internal spiritual one. No, this is not true! It was neither a nationalist, Jewish movement nor a fuzzy private experience. The early Christians said the Kingdom of God had come because of the Bodily Resurrection of Jesus.

Resurrection was not a general word for life after death or for going to be with God. It was not about souls, angels or spirits. It was the symbol for the coming new age, the word for what happened when God created newly embodied human beings after whatever intermediate state there might be. Why was the resurrection of the dead important?

From the time of Ezekiel resurrection was the word used to describe Israel's great return from exile. When it happened Israel's sin, death and exile had been dealt with. It signaled that the fortunes of his people Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, together with all of Gods people including the martyrs would be re-embodied, raised to new life in God's new world. This was not a state of bliss, of being alive as an angel, spirit or that their souls were in the hand of God. Resurrection meant embodiment and implied that the new age had come.

The earliest Church however declared not only that Jesus was raised but that "the resurrection of the dead" had already occurred Acts 4:2. Against their expectations of all the righteous dead being raised to life at the end of the present age. One man had been raised in the middle of the present age. What is more they believed as though the new age had already arrived, their whole way of thinking and viewing the world changed. Since God had done this for Israel, the Gentiles also shared the blessing.

The Resurrection Body

As a strict Pharisee and early Christian, Paul believed passionately in the restoration of Israel and the coming new age. In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul does not understand resurrection to mean the opening up of a new religious experience or of survival after death. It meant the Scriptures had been fulfilled, that the Kingdom of God had arrived. The new age had broken into the midst of the present age, had dawned upon a surprised and unready world. (as it still does) The entire biblical narrative had at last reached its climax-come true in these astonishing events. As a result Paul proclaims the New Age is in two stages. The Messiah first, then the final resurrection of all those who belong to Jesus the Messiah.

This Messiah is already risen, he is already as a human being, exalted into the presence of God, He is already ruling the world-not in a divine capacity but precisely as a human being-fulfilling the destiny marked out for the human race. On this basis Paul asserts emphatically the future embodied-ness both of the Christian dead and of the Christian living. So the present life of the church, in other words is not about "soul- making", the attempt to produce or train disembodied beings for a future disembodied life. It is about working with fully human beings who will be re-embodied at the last after the model of the Messiah.

What sort of body? 1 Corinthians 15:50-57.

Paul states emphatically his belief in a body that is changed not abandoned. The present physical body in its present state, in weakness, sickness and death is not to go on and on forever. What is required to inherit the kingdom of God is a "non-corruptible physicality". V's 35-39. (The translation in some Bibles is unhelpful) Both phrases physical-and spiritual body refer to a physical body.

Paul is saying the present body is a physical body animated by "soul;" the future body is a transformed physical body animated by God's Spirit. So that our lowly bodies will be transformed to be like his glorious body Philippians 3:20-21.Paul, then, claiming to represent what the whole main stream of the church believed, insisted on certain things about the resurrection of Jesus.

1. It was the moment when the creator God fulfilled his ancient promises to Israel, saving them from their sins, their exile. It thus initiated the "last days," at the end of which the victory over death began at Easter would at last be complete.
2. It involved the transformation of Jesus' body: it was, that is to say, neither a resuscitation of Jesus dead body to the same sort of life nor an abandonment of that body to decomposition.
3. It involved Jesus being seen alive in a very limited early period, after which he was known as present to the church in a different way
4. It was thus the ground not only for the future hope of Christians but for their present work. They began to live in the light of the new creation.

We live, therefore, between Easter and the consummation, following Jesus Christ in the power of the Spirit, bringing God's reshaping to our world. In all of this the most glorious thing is of course the personal, royal, loving presence of Jesus himself. Blessed, says Jesus, are those who have not seen yet believe; yes, indeed, but one day we shall see him as he is, share a resurrected body and in the completed new creation that he is even now in the process of planning and making.

Adapted from "The Challenge of Easter: NT Wright by Rev Ted (EA) Curnow. July 2010

Jeremiah 29:13

"You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart."

We cannot reason our way into the God's kingdom.
We cannot argue with God for a place in His kingdom.
Yes, God so made us to reason with our minds
and to plan the way ahead,
but when it comes to entering His kingdom
that can only happen when "you seek Me with all your heart".
It was John Wesley who described his change
from being a priest
to being a servant of the Holy Spirit
with the words "I felt my heart strangely warmed."

What does it mean to "seek Me with all your heart?"
Does God dwell only in our minds?
Jesus said that you must
"Love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul,
and with all your mind."

Our minds help us to understand how much God loves us,
but it's only our hearts that can feel and sense God's love for us.

Jesus criticised the disciples with these words,
"having eyes do you not see?
And having ears do you not hear?
Do you have hardened hearts?"

We need to see and hear God's Living Word
with spiritual eyes and ears.
Paul says
"the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirits
that we are children of God."

Bob Imms 4.7.10

Lessons -- Psalm 30; Galatians 5:25-6:6; Luke 17:1-4

'Bear one another's burdens and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.
(Galatians 6:2 NRSV)

Friends of ours have a son with schizophrenia. It is tough on all of them. We have marvelled at their resilience and love in the midst of suffering. More remarkable still is to hear them say, without a hint of forced piety, that they have learned something about what it means that we are created to 'bear one another's burdens'.

This is the opposite of what many of us have come to expect. Surely, we think, happiness is the absence of suffering? As members of the church, though, who have shared each other's tragedies, afflictions, disappointments and deaths, we do know something of what it means to bear one another's burdens in the company of the Man of Sorrows who has borne our grief.

However, as important as empathy for the suffering of others is in the life of a Christian congregation, it is not what Paul specifically has in mind here. He urges the Galatians to stand with, and stand by, a brother or sister 'in Christ' who has done the wrong thing and is weighed down by guilt. They are to help a stumbling fellow-Christian who is burdened by something which they should not have done! Christians must 'feel' the other person's sin as if it were their own and 'restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness' (v1).

This wise and kindly advice comes after a section of Paul's letter which contrasts the 'works of the flesh' (5:16-21) and the 'fruit of the Spirit' (5: 22-26). Christians are beset by many temptations: idolatry, immorality, drunkenness, envy, conceit, conflict, hatred, anger 'and things like these' (v21). If they 'do such things' which are against God's good purposes, they 'will not inherit the Kingdom of God' (v21). It is no light matter to ignore God's claim on our lives!

So Paul encourages 'those who belong to Christ Jesus in having crucified the flesh with its passions and desires' (5:24) to show in their lives the 'fruit of the Spirit' (v22). 'Spiritual people' are to obey God's law by showing 'love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control' (v22).

This seems clear enough! Resist the 'works of the flesh' (forbidden by the law) and do the 'works of the Spirit' (against which there is no law).

But things are not so simple in practice. Paul counsels Christians to resist the many and varied temptations which beset them. But he also detects among the 'spiritually minded' a harsh attitude towards fellow- Christians who have 'fallen from grace'. That is why, to those tempted by spiritual pride and moral superiority, he counsels mercy.

Paul shows us that the purpose of discipline in the Church is the restoration to fellowship of the fallen brother or sister. Forgiveness, as Jesus says in Luke 17:1-4, is to be the mark of a Christian's attitude to a brother or sister who stumbles on the path of discipleship. It is a serious matter to encourage a fellow-Christian to do 'works of the flesh'. When wrong is treated as good, it must be opposed. But it is just as serious to withhold mercy or refuse to seek reconciliation with those who have done what is wrong!

Paul is very mindful of the subtleties of temptation. Before speaking about 'bearing one another's burdens', he tells those who 'have received the Spirit' to 'take care that you yourselves are not tempted' (6:1). Beware! Failing to show mercy is also a sign of having 'fallen from grace'.

The test of a spiritual person's faith is whether, like the father in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, they are prepared to bear the burdens of brothers and sisters who have seriously tarnished their God-given 'image'. Here is the test for all decent Christians and reformers. Do we, in rightly criticising their actions, feel their sin as if it were our own? Do we want them to be restored to the community of grace?

Martin Luther is well-known for his blistering attacks on those who falsified Christian faith. But he once said to pastors:

'. . . above all, clothe yourself with great gentleness towards sinners, for it is necessary to the priest that he despise none; but rather deem their own sins and miseries as your own, as you see Christ has done towards us.' (The Minister's Prayer Book, ed John W Doberstein p 278.)

Alas, this advice is more honoured in the breach -- by ministers and congregations. That is why in pastoral care that involves discipline we should heed Paul and first 'look to ourselves'.

That is in fact what we do in worship. Confession of sin takes place in the company of those who know themselves to be deeply flawed -- and forgiven. In confession we 'look to ourselves' in the knowledge that, with all humanity, we have been restored to communion with God and one another by the One who bore the burden of sin on the Cross.

* This is a timely word for a church and a society which is sharply divided over fundamental issues about what it means to uphold human dignity. It is vital that the church should resist pressure to conform to 'works of the flesh' which bedevil our life-together in the Spirit. If appeals to what is good are rebuffed, harsh words and strong action may be needed.

However, in holding people accountable for actions which dishonour God and harm others, we must live in hope that those who have 'fallen from grace' shall be reconciled to God.

* This is also a timely word for us, as members of the Church who know something of what it means to bear one another's burdens in suffering caused by tragedy, sickness, disability, disappointment and death.

Sharing these 'burdens' can be very hard. Both carers and those who are cared for can become resentful, angry or despondent, particularly when the flaws or foibles of the other person(s) are exposed, as they often are under stress.

When friendships, marriages, family harmony and church unity are so easily threatened in such circumstances, it is of the greatest help to remember that Christ, at great cost, has graciously borne our sins. We are not to 'burden' ourselves with the shortcomings of others or ourselves.

That doesn't solve every tension -- issues must still be faced. But it will encourage us not to look to the other person's failings but to look to the One in whom God's mercy has been displayed for us, the other person and all people. Then we can freely bear one another's sufferings.

This unparalleled act of divine love for our common flawed humanity is affirmed and enacted in the Sacrament of Holy Communion. In this sacrament of grace we acknowledge before God that (with all our brothers and sisters) we are sinners who neither love God nor our neighbours as we are loved and forgiven by God in Christ.

It is our privilege to gather around the Lord's Table: to praise God for his mercy towards us; to acknowledge that 'we do not come because of any goodness of our own' and to pledge ourselves to 'bear one another's burdens and in this way to fulfil the law of Christ'.

-----------------

Rev Dr Max Champion is minister in the St John's Uniting Church, Mt Waverley, Victoria, Australia. Dr Champion is Chair of the Assembly of Confessing Congregations within the UCA.

Lessons -- Genesis 2:18-24; Galatians 3:23-29; Mark 10:2-9

'In Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew nor Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.' (Galatians 3:26-28 NRSV)

Galatians 3:28 is one of the best known and most powerful texts in the New Testament. It has been a catalyst for radical social change in movements for the abolition of slavery, the vote for women and indigenous people, civil rights for Afro-Americans and the formulation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. At their best, Christians have insisted that distinctions of colour, economics, social status or sex, which separate us from each other, have been overcome 'in Christ'.

The text challenges the way things are. To be 'in union with Christ Jesus' (which is mentioned six times in eight verses) is to challenge beliefs and practices which were and are thought to be normal. A church that is 'in Christ' is called to foster relationships which break down barriers which divide us.

This doesn't mean that Christian unity is to be found in respecting all forms of 'difference'. At times it is wrongly assumed that tolerance of everything is what is meant by being 'in Christ'. In Galatians 5:16-21 (for example) there is a long list of 'differences' to be shunned by Christians.

This morning, in the light of a recent event which has implications for the UCA and the Australian community, I must focus once again on what it means to say that 'there is no longer male and female'.

The event was held on 12 June at Brunswick UC during the biennial conference of Uniting Network Australia, the UC national support and advocacy body which represents gay, lesbian, bi-sexual and trans-gendered (GLBT) people. A 'sacred union ceremony' for four same-sex couples was led by Rev Dr Robert Stringer and witnessed by 16 other clergy. It featured the signing and witnessing of a certificate and a three-tiered wedding cake on which was set gay and lesbian figurines. Pre-publicity on the UC website and in the radical gay paper the Sydney Star Observer urged all who were committed to marriage equality for same-sex couples to attend.

That such a ceremony could be held without censure is astonishing. The UC has never validly changed its teaching on the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman or on same-sex relationships. UC leaders have consistently argued that the National Assembly has only noted that different views on this question are held within the Church. Therefore, it is provocative, to say the least, to allow this ceremony to stand without censure and thereby imply that the UC is in favour of blessing same-sex unions.

In view of the controversial nature of the issue (in the Church and the community) it is very important to understand Paul's famous and oft-quoted text that 'in Christ . . . there is no longer male and female'.

Paul often speaks about religious and social divisions which have been overcome 'in Christ' (1 Corinthians 12:13; Colossians 3:11; Romans 10:12).  Only here does he specifically include 'male and female'. In view of the shellacking that he often gets for his 'sexist views' (see 1 Corinthians 11:2-16) this is noteworthy. Ancient civilisations, including Jews and Gentiles, didn't have a high view of women, often treating them as 'incomplete men'. So in saying that 'in Christ' there is 'no longer male and female' he is taking a radical step towards the true liberation of women. The natural distinction between men and women counts for nothing for those who are 'united in Christ'!

The fact that there is no distinction between men and women as far as being reconciled by Christ does not mean, however, that our biology -- as men or women -- is interchangeable or flexible! Our 'unity in Christ' does not mean that we have the right to our own 'sexuality' and to be sexually 'united' with whomever we please -- no matter how strongly we may be attracted to men or women or both.

Today there has been a radical shift in the way that we are being conditioned to think about this matter. 'Gender identity' is a term now used by GLBT activists to indicate how people 'see themselves' as male, female or something else. The fact that someone has a 'gender identity' which is at variance with their biological sex is now used to justify same- sex sexual unions.

Could Paul's affirmation of the union between man and woman be interpreted so as to include self-styled 'gender identity'? Is it legitimate to expand the text to say 'no longer straight and gay'?

Justification for this addition can be found among some spiritually minded thinkers (known as Gnostics) on the fringe of the early Church. They considered that achieving a high level of spirituality was superior to respecting our created flesh-and-blood reality. This took two forms: some rejected sexual union; others permitted diverse expressions of sexual union. Both groups thought that a person's 'spirituality' was of ultimate importance.

In the 2nd Century Gospel of Thomas the Kingdom of God is promised to those who can overcome sexual differences:

' . . . when you make the male and the female into a single one so that the male will not be male and the female not the female, then you shall enter the Kingdom of God.' (H Montefiore and HEW Turner, Thomas and the Evangelists p102.)

Thus 'the annihilation of the distinction between male and female is the logical corollary (outcome) of the Gnostic repudiation of sex' (p102).

Once that fundamental distinction is rejected the way is opened to accept same- sex or bi-sexual relations and expand the text to say that 'in Christ . . . there is no longer heterosexual or homosexual'. Despite the fact that a 'gay gene' hasn't been found and that social experience and individual choice play the major role in 'confused sexual identity' or the arrogant refashioning of gender identity, it is argued that Paul's text must be expanded in the light of modern science so that we can move beyond the primitive understanding of 'male' and 'female' in Scripture.

This way of thinking is behind the push for marriage equality for GLBT people today. It is said that we must move 'beyond' the restrictive duality of maleness and femaleness to our truly spiritual unity as free and egalitarian individuals. Only in this way will the inequalities in relationships between men and women be overcome.

However, nothing that Paul says here or elsewhere should be interpreted to justify 'same-sex marriage'. Our creation as men and women, and the purpose of marriage, is inflexible. Marriage between a man and a woman is God's will for the creation of family life and the prospering of God's covenant of grace-and- righteousness among all peoples. That is why Paul, in concert with the biblical witness as a whole, insists that we should respect our bodies according to their God-given dignity.

Therefore being 'baptised into Christ', as Paul says, doesn't mean that from now on everything is to be tolerated. It doesn't mean that the difference between men and women is overcome. Indeed we should say 'vive la difference'! The critical point is that our essential humanity is not to be found in our spirituality, but in the complementarity of our femaleness and maleness and our unity which is consummated in marriage between a man and a woman.

Our freedom in Christ isn't to be confused with a freedom to express ourselves sexually in 'diverse ways'. Being in Christ does not mean that women and men have the 'right to choose' their own 'sexuality' -- no matter how strongly they may be attracted to others. There are forms of sexual diversity which mock, rather than display, our unity in Christ! We have been reconciled by Christ to live a new life of righteousness -- one that in Paul and all Scripture unambiguously precludes same-sex and other destructive sexual preferences. (1 Corinthians 6:9f)

Therefore, contrary to what the leaders of Uniting Network and others say, there are no theological grounds on which the Christian Church can accept marriage equality between people of the same sex. It denies our God-given creation and elevates spirituality above our flesh-and-blood existence.

This does not mean that we should treat harshly those who are tempted by same- sex or other sexual attractions. But it does mean we should stand firm when activists insist on a right to express 'their sexuality' in contravention of the splendid God-given pattern given to us in Christ.

The momentum to legislate 'marriage equality' for same-sex couples -- in the community and the UC -- must be resisted. It is encouraging that, last Monday (21 June) in Canberra at the 2010 Make It Count event (which I attended), the then PM Kevin Rudd and opposition Leader Tony Abbott both reaffirmed their commitment to upholding marriage as the union of a man and a woman, while ensuring that same-sex couples (like others in dependent relationships) are not discriminated against in matters of finance, medical care, wills and so on. Less encouraging is the Greens commitment to 'legislate to allow marriage regardless of sexuality or gender identity'. (15 on Sexuality and Gender)

How this will play out in the forthcoming Federal election is unclear.  What is clear is that Christians should be alert to the kind of thinking which underlies the groundswell for radical change, counter its attractive and beguiling misrepresentation of biblical texts and -- following Paul's advice in Galatians 6:3 -- stand in solidarity with brothers and sisters who are confused about their sexual identity.

Then, as baptised members of the Church, we shall truly know what it means that 'in Christ . . . there is no longer male and female'.

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Rev Dr Max Champion is minister in the St John's Uniting Church, Mt Waverley, Victoria, Australia. Dr Champion is Chair of the Assembly of Confessing Congregations within the UCA.

Romans 1:12

"That you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith."

In God's house and amongst God's people we are
"mutually encouraged by each other's faith."
Together we lift our combined voices
in joy and praise to our God.
For one member of the Body of Christ to be absent
affects the whole Body.

Faith becomes the key for us to become
"mutually encouraged"
Our faith must be a living faith,
as it was for the woman
who touched the hem of Jesus' garment,
or the one who was bent double for 18 years.
In spite of their disabilities they continued to believe
because of their living faith.

Faith that we keep to ourselves will shrivel.
The faith that we can share
with our fellow travellers in Christ
must grow and become a living faith in us.
When Jesus challenges us with the words
"O you of little faith,"
He is not only talking to us individually
but also to God's gathered people.

The more we share our faith amongst each other,
the stronger the faith
of the congregation becomes
and the more meaningful is our worship,
and the better we are able
to repel the fiery darts of the evil one.

Bob Imms 27.6.10

Some suggest ‘Christian' was a nickname, but nicknames like ‘Tubby', ‘Tiny or ‘Lofty' are usually distinctive and deserved. Drop the ‘a' in our word to ‘Christin', and it suits us fine! ‘ Christ in you ' (Colossians 1:29) is the shortest definition of a Christian. Christ comes first in the word and in the life.

Only one person can life the Christian life - Jesus Christ, living in and through us! So our word, maybe a nickname, or possibly in contempt, should clearly mark us out as belonging to Christ. ‘In Christ' often occurs in the New Testament Letters and ‘He in us.' Let us never bring reproach on that beautiful name and the Christ it contains.

Though only three times in the New Testament, other designations are used, with many implications. ‘Believer' comes 80 times in John's Gospel, and believe, believer, faith etc. (the same Greek root word) come 230 times in the New Testament as the heart and foundation of the Gospel. ‘Whoever believes' comes repeatedly listing the blessings and benefits! Yet some disillusioned people say it doesn't matter what you believe if you're sincere'. They can be sincerely wrong. It matters everything where Jesus is concerned.

‘Disciple' means learner. We Christians never lose our ‘L' plates; we never stop learning. Even mature saints still learn of him who said ‘Come to me…take my yoke upon you and learn from me' (Matthew 11:28). We used to sing, ‘Seeking to be, lowly and humble, a learner of Thee.' Also realise that it is linked with discipline.

‘Followers of the Way' is another label in Acts 9:2; 19:9,23 and 24:14. Some modern versions use a capital for ‘Way'. Remember Jesus said ‘I am the Way' (John 14:6), He is the way to God opened for us here and hereafter, and no-one comes to the Father but by Him. Ours is a distinctive way of life. In Acts 4:13 those watching Peter and John ‘realised… took note, that they had been with Jesus.' Would they say it of us today?

‘Saint' is there too. Don't say ‘I'm no saint!' The New Testament says you are. It means set apart, separated to God. A book was entitled ‘Danger, Saints at Work!' about Christians. A ‘saint' (69 times in the New Testament), a sanctified one is a true Christian, trusting in Christ as Saviour and Lord (I Corinthians 1:2). Holy and holiness spring from the same Greek root.

The Letters often start ‘To the saints at …' We are often called saints and called to be saints (II Corinthians 1:1 and Romans 1:7). Sanctity is not being sanctimonious, but Christ-like. ‘Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me.' A child looking at a stained glass window of past saints described a saint as someone the sun shines through. In the Biblical sense the S-o-n Jesus, shines through!

Let us live out these Scripture labels. We are also called to be ‘a good soldier of Christ Jesus' (II Timothy 2:3) and you might find other terms too.

... by the Rev Perry Smith of Belmont, NSW, June 2010.

In a fast moving secular society the traditional model of Christian Ministry has changed. The local Church and the way it functioned used to largely depend upon the influence of one person , the Minister. Not today. A clear shift in understanding and practise has already occurred for two major reasons.

Firstly , our culture, the way we live and think is subject to rapid change. In the complex and socially diverse world that we live in it is impossible for one person to stretch themselves across the needs of all the generations and expectations of the community like some sort of all round ‘ Super Person.'

Secondly , we have discovered that while God always provides specific people and gifts to lead and care for the church, the bible clearly says that every member is gifted and equipped by the Holy Spirit in different ways to engage in ministry. When each member does this, the Body of Christ is healthy and built up to a position of strength and maturity. Eph 4.12

If we have not really understood these two principles that have changed the way the church practises ministry today our expectations will be unrealistic. In our frustration it may even seem as if the ordained clergy of today are copping out of their traditional role when in reality the way they minister has changed. If we have inherited an elevated view of the ordained clergy as people who are a little more Christian than the average person we will need to adjust our thinking. If we have inherited a passive understanding of what it means to be a Christian so that we usually attend church to listen and watch, we may need help to identify the gifts God has given us and the Holy Spirit who helps us to find the courage to put them to work.

Two common responses

1. There is something within us that seeks to project some people into positions of status over others. Sporting or music celebrities are typical examples. In the same way we have a need for a sort of medicine man, a person to be responsible for the mysterious spirit side of life. We will gladly hire someone and pay them if they will stand between ourselves and God. In the Bible God chose Israel to be a different people, to be a nation of Priests as a witness to the surrounding nations. As soon as Moses disappeared into the heights of Sinai the people turned to Aaron and demanded the services of a professional.

The Church like its ancient predecessor can delegate the walk of faith to a paid figurehead but the moment it does this it is into a form of idolatry. To call an ordained Minister is in keeping with the Christian gospel as long as the minister does not become a priest and relieve the people of their corporate ministry and priesthood. The money we put in the offering plate does not take care of our responsibility to share the Good News with others. If we don't share the Good News it means we are poorly taught, ducking out of our role or we are into the idolatry of creating a Super Pastor or Priest.

2. As the Israelites were led by Moses through the wilderness they faced constant change. However they responded to any and every difficulty by constantly murmuring and undermining their leader. The Apostle Paul faced a similar problem with the church at Corinth and Galatia . Some of the greatest trouble makers were not those outside but those inside the church who gossiped and stirred up trouble because their own expectations were not being met.. Paul wrote his longest pastoral letter to explain that the Holy Spirit had united Christians into one body with many parts. His most passionate letter was about being free from the law and the influence of those who resisted the new way that God was at work.

There must be a better way to respond!!

Body Ministry ---- the a better way ahead

1. Give thanks for the creative gifts and the diverse ways God is using to minister and reach out to our complex, changing culture and lifestyle.

2. Attending a Church brings us together with people of different personality types. Sometimes it is hard to see how another person can be a valuable member of the Body of Christ. But this truth has the power to transform our attitudes toward each other.

3. Think “Body Ministry”. Paul addresses every believer , “You are the Body of Christ and each one of you is part of it. 1 Cor. 12:27 . God is using many members to meet many various needs in our diverse world. Instead of murmuring, gossiping or focusing on our personal likes or dislikes of the clergy, prayerfully read and ponder 1 Corinthians Ch.12. Ephesians 4:1-16, being open to what God may want to say to you.

4. Ask Elders and others to help you identify or confirm your gifts, then get on with putting them to use in the church and community so that God can build others up.

5. Encourage others in the use of their gifts. Instead of taking them for granted or of having “just a church job attitude”, recognise the continuing ministry of Christ today through ordinary people.

6. Wherever you can, delegate tasks and create opportunities for others. Match peoples gifts to a suitable ministry so they will enjoy being part of the Body of Christ.

7. Pray that amid the distracting pressures of our times that all Ministers of the Word will make space to, “ Devote themselves to prayer and serving the Word” (Acts 6.4)

What happens inside the preacher during sermon preparation plays a huge part in establishing credible preaching and worship.

Rebirth of the Congregation ---- a quote from R. E. Bieber.

“As long as the treasure of God's grace is borne in the earthen vessels of these human bodies, the congregation will doubtless remain the body into which believers fit and in which they function in any given place on earth. The congregation is in fact the only concrete manifestation of the Church on earth. It is the place on earth where the corporate life of the body of Christ becomes actual.

Conventions and vast assemblies of people may at times rise to a level of genuine worship and impart to the people a sense of the presence of God. But the place where the Body of Christ becomes apparent as a body is where believers renew their commitment to their Lord, to each other, and to the wounds of the world, week by week, as they have done unbrokenly in the congregation for twenty centuries even while the structures above them have risen and fallen.

Where else can Paul's analogy of the human body really apply, but in the congregation? Where else does one person need another as the foot needs the eye? Or serve another as the hand serves the mouth? Where else is the seat of the Church's life on earth?”

Prepared by Ted (EA) Curnow June 2010

John 14:18

"I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.
Because I live you shall live also."

The Crucified Christ and these words are inseparable.
The more I read the Gospels the more I discover
the wonder of His gifts to us.

Often He called His disciples "Little children".
That is how He saw them.
The promise is "I will come to you," not "you come to Me."
Jesus always takes the initiative.
He is the mover and shaker,
and we come to Him because He makes it possible.
Then the promise is "You shall live also."
Our living and very existence is "because He lives."

Here again we are reminded of
the timeless Lord and His eternal words.
Thank goodness He is not tied
to our human time-frame.
How difficult it is for us to free ourselves
from our human bondage and at the same time
remain as His lights in the world.

The unbelievable joy is that
He does truly come to each one of us,
and does not leave us "orphans."
It is the joy of being a part of God's family
that enables us to more adequately remain
connected to Him
and at the same time to this world.

Bob Imms 22.6..10

Lessons -- Psalm 32; Galatians 2:15-23; Luke 7:36-50

Jesus said:'Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much.' (Luke 7:47 RSV)
Paul said: 'We are not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ.' (Galatians 2:16 RSV)

It is often said that Paul spoiled Jesus' simple message of love with his complex theology of justification by faith. But Luke's story of Simon the Pharisee and a prostitute clearly shows the unity between Jesus' ministry and Paul's grasp of the 'Good News'. Unexpectedly, an unworthy woman is a recipient of grace and a decent man is exposed as an enemy of grace. A sinful woman is 'justified by grace through her faith' but a virtuous man is not 'justified by his religious and moral good works'.

As usual Jesus' presence causes a stir. Simon and his friends (v49) are shocked that a 'teacher' and 'prophet' of God's law should allow an immoral, disreputable woman to touch him in such a sensual and erotic way.  They are even more appalled that Jesus takes upon himself the authority of God to 'forgive sins'.

In contrast to them, she is so overjoyed to be in the presence of Jesus that she can't help expressing her gratitude with such lavish affection.  She doesn't say anything and there is no confession of sin. Yet in touching his feet she comes into contact with the forgiveness of God.  Oblivious to the host's silent disapproval, and without any desire to manipulate Jesus for her own advantage, this unnamed 'woman of the city who was a sinner' (v37) responds to him with humble, unselfconscious, extravagant love.

If the story had ended with her show of gratitude we probably would be pleased that this immoral but overly emotional woman had found acceptance and hope. But the fact that it takes place in the middle of a dinner party hosted by a respectable religious teacher adds a dimension of intrigue which draws us into the action.  When we hear of Simon's silent disapproval of the woman and Jesus we have to decide where we stand in relation to the 'splendour of grace' and the 'extravagance of faith'.

We are no longer spectators but participants in a drama of forgiveness!

The difference in how Jesus is welcomed shows us the stark contrast between 'dutiful religion' and 'joyful faith'.

* Simon treats Jesus as an important religious figure to be invited to share a meal ('table fellowship'), but his welcome is decidedly low key. He doesn't even greet Jesus with the traditional kiss or extend customary hospitality by providing water for his feet or oil for his head (v44f)

* The woman, however, greets him with an enthusiasm which crosses the boundary of decency, decorum and good taste.

Although this 'unnamed woman' doesn't speak throughout the entire drama, she, and not the 'well known' religious man, tells us about the magnitude of God's grace in Christ and the joy of faith in him!

Simon tells us much about the pitfalls of religion. He is a good, devout person who spends his whole life trying to fulfil 'God's law'. He knows the difference between right and wrong. He is wary of making a public display of his emotions and tries to maintain his sense of dignity even in extreme situations. Confronted by the prostitute's outlandish behaviour, he tries to keep his criticisms of Jesus and the woman to himself (v39).

His attempt to conceal his disgust at the extravagant actions of this immoral, emotional and spiritually 'unclean' prostitute is understandable.
She has abused her body! He knows that, because she has defied God's good purpose for sexual relations in marriage between a man and a woman, she has separated herself from the faith community.

But it leads him to completely misunderstand the Gospel. He is blind to the magnificence of grace. He does not see that it is God's desire embodied in Jesus for sinners (like this woman) to be reconciled to God! Consequently, like the older bother in the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32), but unlike Jesus, he is 'grudging in forgiveness' -- incapable of sharing the prostitute's gratitude, which is inexpressible in words, for being forgiven by God. He is not interested in her being reconciled to God!

Jesus tells the Parable of the Two Debtors (vv 40-43) to show Simon the contrast between his small love of God and the woman's extravagant love. The irony shouldn't be lost on us. It is the irreligious woman -- not the religious man -- who knows the 'magnitude of grace' and the 'pleasure of faith'. She can't help but respond to mercy embodied in Jesus with unselfconscious and extravagant affection because she has been touched by grace!

Simon is right about the woman's behaviour but he is terribly wrong to be so grudging in forgiveness. He is so taken up with doing the 'works of the law' in order to be accounted as 'just' that he cannot freely and openly rejoice when she is accounted as just by grace through faith. Decency and self- righteousness prevent him seeing the splendour of grace in Jesus and the extravagance of genuine faith in her.

The whole incident unsettles many of us! It comes as a shock to hear that good, responsible, sensible, dependable and sober citizens may miss 'seeing' the gracious presence of God. We may be so quietly confident of our own good works and so critical of folk who have wasted their lives that we are blind to the overwhelming forgiveness of God embodied in Christ 'for all' -- decent and indecent alike. We miss the fact that we too are justified by grace through faith!

In view of a very different audience that hears this story today, it should to be noted that the woman is not praised for her radical, liberated attitude to sex. She is not portrayed as an advocate for the rights of sex workers. Sadly, tragically, she had abused her body in defiance of the splendid purpose for which she was created in the 'image of God'.

Yet, surprisingly and even more sadly and tragically, it is the good man who does the 'works of the law' -- not the sinful woman -- who turns his back on the good news of forgiveness and peace.

Where Simon justifies himself by works, the woman knows that she is justified and accepted solely by the grace of God! Where she is accepted as if she were righteous by virtue of God's forgiveness in Christ, he excludes himself by his own self-righteousness. He 'loves little' because he imagines that he has 'little for which to be forgiven' (v47).

The episode at Simon's place shows, however, the reality of God's mercy embodied in Christ may be more enthusiastically embraced by the immoral than by the custodians of righteousness.

This word needs to be heard today because we so easily pride ourselves on being good, upright and just pillars of society and forget that our life is founded on and grounded in the grace of God in Christ. We too are not justified by our many good works but by grace alone!

If we grasp this incredible fact, then our 'works' will be glad expressions of gratitude for undeserved love -- not the means by which to 'justify' ourselves before God and others. Then we shall rejoice in being recipients of grace as we also welcome others, like the prostitute, who also have rebelled against the 'law of love', but nevertheless have experienced the 'splendour of God's grace' in their lives.

Then like her, we too will know what it means to 'live by faith'. Not by any faith that appeals to us, but the confidence in God's justifying grace that saves us from self-righteousness and enables us to 'go in peace'. When we come into contact with the God who has touched the world in the body of Christ we experience a deep sense of well-being knowing that we are accepted, not because of our goodness, but by what Charles Wesley calls the 'unexampled love' and 'all-redeeming grace' of God. (AHB 145.)

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Rev Dr Max Champion is minister in the St John's Uniting Church, Mt Waverley, Victoria, Australia. Dr Champion is Chair of the Assembly of Confessing Congregations within the UCA.