From the Heart August 2008

A Spiritual Heart for the Community
Valley Baptist is an open spiritual community at the heart of the North East Valley Community

• “It looks more like a lounge and feels more like a family”
• “I really like the grapevine time where we share news and someone prays for us”
• The refreshments after the service are just as important as the sermon
  (don’t tell Steve that)”
• “I like the fact that the messages are accessible yet intellectually stimulating”
• “The worship is relaxed yet engaging and connects with the real world”
• “We are a community church”

These are among the comments heard at NEV Baptist or ValleyBaptist as we like to be called. We are a little church with a big heart and big vision. We are a spiritual community that serves the wider community with heart and integrity. If you want to be part of a vibrant spiritual community check us out. We welcome visitors – do drop in and make yourself at home.

Eating Together Builds Community Strength
A new initiative
There are lots of great people in this community and lots of good things happening. A gathering to share lunch is set to bring members of the community together to talk, share ideas, develop awareness of community issues and facilitate networks.
For some it will be as simple as sharing sandwiches and a cup of tea with friends. For others the benefits may include dreaming together about how North East Valley may be enhanced and how residents’ lives may be improved.
The lunch will be by the community for the community. All are welcome to be a part of this community building initiative.

You’re invited to be part of a
Weekly Community Lunch
North East Valley Church Hall 12:30 Fridays
Starting September 5th
This is a to be a shared meal,
bring some food to share
Prepare to share something of yourself as you meet and get to know your neighbours
This will be a highly informal gathering with no agenda other than enabling people to meet and get to know each other; - what comes of that is up to those who attend, the possibilities are before us.
Strong communities are safe communitiesSharing communities are caring communities

Decision 08

Sometime soon the country will go to the polls for a general election. ValleyBaptist Church Hall will be one of the polling stations this time around as the Presbyterian Church hall is no longer available. And sometime during the election campaign we will host a meet the candidates evening and invite the public to attend. So keep your eye out for further information on this. It pays to be informed and we want to encourage the community of NEV to play their part in the democratic process. So meet your candidates, hear what they stand for and vote accordingly.

A word from the wise.
The ancient psalmists once wrote; “Above all else guard your heart for it is the well-spring of life.” We believe that a wholesome heart, nurtured with worship, encouraged in good company, stimulated with relevant spiritual teaching is essential to experiencing and living life to the full. This is how we help each other to guard our hearts and so become together a heart for the community.

VALLEY BAPTIST
A church for the community

Our Vision
We are a diverse people of Jesus Christ
Who celebrate life given
Support one another on the journey of faith and
Respond in care to community need

Our Staff
Pastor: Rev Steven O'Connor
Admin Pastor: Sandra Copeland
OSCAR Supervisor: Janette Anderson

Contact Information. If you’d like to find out more about ValleyBaptist, or anything else in our newsletter, in the first place phone the church office 473 9413.You could also check out our website www.valleybaptist.org.nz

Community Ministries Restructuring

The New Testament identifies five key reasons for the existence of the church. These are: worship of God, proclamation of the gospel, education of the faithful, strengthening of fellowship and service to the world. All other activities are peripheral or are subservient to these main tasks.

Currently we are taking a careful look at the last of these. We are a community church our vision statement has a clause that reads "we ... respond in care to community need" Our church constitution and rules set up a team structure wherein one team takes a lead in community ministries. Known as team 3 it was intended that this team give oversight to all of our community ministries. As various people have migrated north over the last few years our team structure has withered somewhat. I am now keen that team 3 be raised from the dead and reinvigorated to give new life and a good lead to our community ministries. Community ministries is a vital part of our work one which gets us out into the community caring for people as Jesus would.

Our community ministries include The Naphtali Day Care Centre, OSCAR, Play group and our community lunch. We need volunteers in each of these ministries to ensure their success. Chiefly we need people who can help with liaison and governance. Although more practical assistance especially with community lunch as that gets established is also needed. There are other ways that we can respond in care to community need and to ensure that the church is doing its best in this area I'd like to see team 3 reformed and I encourage you to think prayerfully about your ability to commit to this team. A minimum commitment would be 4 meetings per year but their are a variety of ways that people could serve. So please pray about it and don't hesitate to have a chat to me about ways that you could be involved. Steve

Counting the Cost

This picture was taken at last year’s cardboard cup; where adventurous boat builders attempted to sail there cardboard craft across a Anderson’s Bay. Finishing the race was quite an achievement for some. Sinking was part of the fun but the real challenge was to build a sea worthy boat that could finish the race and win the prize.
Before you launch your waka you want to be sure that it is sea worthy.
You want to make sure that is able to get you to your destination safely
You want to know that it will do the job that it was designed for.
Before embarking on any trip out into the briny blue you need to do your homework – for not only will the success of the venture depend upon good preparation but so may your very life and the lives of those who sail with you.
Jesus tells some stories about “doing your homework” of being sure you are as prepared as possible for what lies ahead.
He is addressing those who would be his followers who were hoisting their sails to the winds of the spirit and setting a course for the Kingdom of God.
Make sure you know what you are getting yourself into says Jesus there will be rough sailing ahead it’s not for the feint hearted. Count the cost before you leave the coast.
Of course Jesus metaphors were not marine they were more land based he speaks of building a tower and setting out for a battle.
Before you build a tower say Jesus make sure you have the resources to finish the job.
I wish some of our finance companies and property developers would heed Jesus practical advice. Before you embark on spending millions of dollars of other people’s money speculate on some uncertain future and the hope that property prices will continue to spiral upward – count the cost. Count the cost of leaving investors in the lurch, count the cost of broken promises, ruined reputations and dashed hopes. In our complex world of international market forces it is even more important for financiers to count the cost most carefully.
Jesus makes it personal in the message it is rendered.
"Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, doesn't first sit down and figure the cost so you'll know if you can complete it? If you only get the foundation laid and then run out of money, you're going to look pretty foolish. Everyone passing by will poke fun at you: 'He started something he couldn't finish.'
Some people seem to spend a good deal of their life and energy on changing course. They start one project on a whim and abandon as soon as it get too difficult or a more attractive option comes along. People do that in seemingly insignificant ventures such as sports and hobbies and more consequential activities such as where they live and who they live with. More to Jesus point people respond to God’s call to faithful discipleship with initial enthusiasm but give up when slighted by their fellow traveller or get bored or drawn to something else exciting and new.
While change of direction is at times necessary and can be for the good; chopping and changing, partners or houses or careers or faith commitments can be very destructive and at the least a great waste of energy and very poor stewardship of the one life we have been given.
Taking stock once in a while at corporate level and at a personal level can have lasting benefits. I’d suggest you need to take time out at least once a year to plan for your future. Be proactive with your life rather than being reactive and buffeted about by the storms.
In particular take stock of your faith your values and your commitments. Check to see if that which you say you believe with your mouth is backed up with what you think in your head, what you feel in your heart, and how you live with your hands.
The word integrity describes the situation when all parts of a system, be that a machine a corporate body or a person, are integrated where each part fits together smoothly to make a healthy functioning whole. Take stock once a year. Give yourself an integrity check.
Are you words your thoughts, your feelings and your actions in line?
If they’re not make plans to put them in line.
Make adjustments where you see a lack of integration a lack of integrity.
The second image Jesus uses tells a parallel story of the need to do your homework and be prepared.
Can you imagine a king going into battle against another king without first deciding whether it is possible with his ten thousand troops to face the twenty thousand troops of the other? And if he decides he can't, won't he send an emissary and work out a truce?
The stakes are higher in this scenario. If the king fails it’s not just a matter of people laughing at an unfinished tower – it’s the life and death of 10,000 soldiers. It’s the future of his kingdom and the lives of all whom look to him for leadership and protection.
How we live our life may seem inconsequential to us. How committed we are to God, to church, to the Kingdom of God, may seem like a mere personal choice. Yet all of our choices have far reaching consequences.
For example I’ve been reading the recently published biography of Arnold Nordmeyer. The Presbyterian minister of Kurow who in response to the poor housing and medical conditions of the workers on the Waitaki dam projects got together with his local doctor and devised a health scheme not only for those workers but for everyone in the country. He went on to be an MP in the first Labour government, the minister of health, the minister of finance and the leader of the Labour party, he pioneered, designed and fought all his life to create the social welfare system that we take for granted today. He paid a great price, in the early days MP were paid a pittance, they spent long periods of time away from home.
Nordmeyer might have decided to remain a Presbyterian minister. He might have thought that his choice of vocation was really just a personal choice without wide reaching consequence. I’m fairly sure that if Nordmeyer had remained a clergyman that NZ would be a vastly different and significantly poorer country today. He was a man for his time who was prepared to count the cost and stick steadfastly to his chosen course believing that is was proper and right for him to do so. And while the likes of Fraser and Nash spent months at a time overseas Nordy was very reluctant to leave NZ because he had a job to do here. And thank God he did it.
The choices you make have consequences not only for yourself but for many others whom you influence knowingly and unwittingly. If you spend your life flitting about from one inconsequential project to another without ever knuckling down to see something through you may be depriving others of your God-given skills, and talents.
So take stock of your own life, count the cost and make plans to make a difference.
The kingdom of God which is expressed in a variety of ways as people demonstrate their love for God and neighbour is a project of eternal significance.
Jesus says count the cost though and be sure you know what you are letting yourself in for.
There will be a cost for your familial relationships – you might not get to spend all the time you would like with your family. There will be a price for your own ambition, you may not get that promotion you deserve or be able to afford that new house. And in extreme cases you may have to quite literally lay down your life for the cause.
We’ve been taking stock as a church, looking at where we’ve come from, what challenges we face, what strengths and resource we have and we’ve been thinking about where we’d like to head.
A number of insights are emerging, but one that is coming through strongly is our desire to as in the words of our vision statement “respond in care to community need”.
We want to give priority and strength to our community ministries. That is the way we show signs of the kingdom of God to those we live among and we want to do that as well as we can. We believe that the decisions we make in this regard have great consequences, we believe that in touching people’s lives through our community ministries we are touching them on behalf of God and building God’s kingdom among us.
So as we count the cost corporately and as we look to reach out to others through our OSCAR programme, through Naphtali, though the community lunch, through our play groups and whatever new initiates the spirit leads us into would you consider helping us to respond in care to community need? Would you consider being part of our community ministry team? There are many ways you could be involved, from administrative tasks, to helping tasks, transport perhaps, cleaning, joining in the programmes, meeting befriending and supporting or ‘clients’ helping to dream up new ways to care for the community.
As you consider your involvement and count the cost let’s return to Jesus first question. Is there anyone here who, planning to build a new house, doesn't first sit down and figure the cost so you'll know if you can complete it?
When it comes to the kingdom of God, its establishment on earth and its completion when Jesus returns. You can be sure that one person has counted the cost fully and is 100% confident that he/she can see the work through to completion. God has counted the cost of the kingdom, God has paid the price and God will see it through with his/her infinite resources.
When you are seeking to plan for you future and when you are looking to see how you can best be deployed to serve in the kingdom. Be sure that God has counted the cost. Be sure that if you do your homework and if you set your face determinedly to the tasks that God calls you that your senior partner will not let you down, Your efforts will bear fruit.
As Paul wrote to the Philippians I am

“confident of this, that he/she who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Waters of Change

There is no doubt that we live in a rapidly changing world.
To survive in this world, to keep your head above the water you have to be adaptable and to thrive you need considerable skill in order to ride the waves of change.
Right now a number of plant and animal species on our planet are in danger of extinction because they cannot adapt fast enough to global climate change.
As a church community we are faced with the same challenge to adapt or become increasingly irrelevant and eventually die out. So once in a while we need to take stock of where we are, where we have come from, what is important to us what challenge we face and we need to ask afresh Where do we want to go?
A boat is a good image for picturing our journey together, for a boat is a vessel that is designed to move people through changing conditions. What can scripture teach us about adapting to changing conditions?
I was attracted to today’s gospel passage ( Mt 13) for this verse
Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old
Matthew was leading his community through a time of significant change. Many of the disciples in Matthews church were Jews who continued to follow Old Testament law and Jewish customary practice. At the same time a growing number of new converts to Christianity were never Jews and did not want to eat Kosher food or have their sons circumcised. For Matthews community to survive in fact for the church as a whole to survive it had to adapt to this significant change as non-Jews converted and challenged the old ways.
This saying of Jesus has special significance for times of change.
Matthew was able to tell his community that some of the Old stuff was real treasure yet the new stuff the teaching of Jesus about the kingdom of heaven was treasure also. If you have both you are doubly rich.
When we look at our past and see where we have come from we will see some old things that are treasures some things that are highly valuable and that will add much to our journey forward.
We listed things like our evangelic heritage a strong tradition that fundamentally is about believing that God can be encountered today in our world and that God changes people for the better through such encounters.
We listed our Baptist heritage and there is a whole host of values associated with that in which we continue to find strength today; such as our independent governance, our free worship, our association with a family of churches.
There is some relatively new stuff in our treasure bag as well.
A good deal of the new treasure has come from new people who have brought with them new ideas, new experiences of God, different cultural experiences, different denominational backgrounds, different gifts and talents. We have become more and more a diverse people of Jesus Christ and we’ve learned not only tolerance of difference, but appreciation and celebration of difference.
In some ways we are like Matthews community who were at first a Jewish/Christian sect with a very narrow understanding of God and of Jesus. As new people joined their community they brought many treasures with them and forced the community to broaden its outlook, to embrace a more inclusive theology, to honour a wider range of Christian experience and expression.
In the light of the new treasure some of the old so called treasure turned out to be a little rusty a little less valuable than first imagined in fact as we have listed on our charts some of the old stuff turns out to be old baggage that is best left behind.
Old prejudices and presumptions are exposed by the new treasures. Outdated practices which serve little meaningful purpose are seen for what they are relics of the past.
So worn out leadership structures are replaced with models that better suit today’s needs. Old pews are converted into tables and comfy chairs are brought to create flexible worship space. The high wooden pulpit is dispensed with and so on. Sombre, formal patriarchal communion service lead by men in dark suits is superseded by a more relaxed an informal celebration.
So friends we are on a boat we are on a journey we are undergoing constant change, but we don’t jettison everything that is old instead through a process of discernment we look at the treasurer in our bag and we decide which of the old and which of the new will serve us best as we make for new shores.
As I said I choose today gospel lesson because of the verse about old and new treasure. But we should really see this verse in its context. The immediate context is the 3 parables told by Jesus to his disciples ( the crowds have been dismissed earlier).
The first two parables in this series refer to people discovering the kingdom of heaven. One is a man who discovers the kingdom quite by accident and is overjoyed. The second story is of a person who has been seeking after such a treasure for a long time and upon discovering it is also overjoyed. Both sell all that they have in order to gain the treasure which is the kingdom of heaven.
These short stories remind us that at its core our church community is about the kingdom of heaven, a priceless treasure that brings great joy to all who discover it and will cause many to give everything that have to its cause. Some people today are actively seeking God, through prayer, mediation, bible study, service, reading, questioning, and conversing. We can support and encourage these activities and pray that through our influence many will find God. Other people are just trying their best to survive, dealing with ordinary demands of life and yet out of the blue they encounter God in unexpected ways. Sometime people discover God in a moment of agony or ecstasy a sudden traumatic death, or the birth of a child. We want to be there to help people through the ordinary and the extraordinary and nurture any faith that appears.
The story of the fishing net is appropriate for our image of the church as a boat. A number of groups drew fishing boats and referred to the role of the church as fishers of people.
This parable is referred to as the parable of the dragnet and there are some points about this story that I want to emphasise.
Now a dragnet is one that it used near the shore and as the name suggests it is operated by being dragged through the water. It is weighted below and has floats on the top line. Two people walk through the water dragging the net and catching everything in their path.
The point is – You have to get out of the boat to go fishing. You have to get into the water where the fish are. You have to get wet and cold and take the risk of slipping over. That’s the way you catch fish with a dragnet.
I will make you fishers of people said Jesus and we all want more people in our boat but none of particularly like getting out into the water and dragging the net.
This has got to be one of the biggest challenges of our church. How do we fish for people? How do we bring people into our boat? How do we do it with integrity and respect?
Well it’s rather obvious that you have to get your feet wet. It’s no use standing in the boat and calling to the fish. Not much point in dressing your boat up to make it more attractive for fish. You have to get out there where the fish are if you want to catch some.
Another salutary point about the dragnet is that it is indiscriminate it catches all sorts of fish, the edible and the inedible. The fish need to be sorted before going to the market.
But in Jesus story the sorting is done at the end of time by the angels.
People come to church for all sorts of reasons, some just because they want a nice place to get married, some to meet new friends, some to find a quiet space and a rhythm in their life, some to please their parents or their partner. The point is we are not judge we are not to bring our prejudices to bear. Good fish and bad fish will live side by side. The church community will be a mixed community, never totally pure and holy but always loved and forgiven.
Matthew records other parables with a similar message. The parable of the wheat and the tares, the parable of the sheep and goats both come to mind. These parables remind us that in this world good and bad live side by side, and the separation of good and evil will only ultimately be achieved beyond the grave.
The division of Good and bad is never a simple thing for the dividing line is never between people or institutions but right up the middle of each. I am part good fish and part bad fish, you are part sheep and part goat, we’re all part wheat and part weed and the complete removal of evil motives and intentions and thoughts and behaviours in any of us is beyond our ability to achieve.
All human institutions are likewise a mix of good and evil. Governments are never purely good or purely evil but contain a mix of both. There is no such thing as a perfect church we are flawed people and we create flawed communities.
Yet flawed communities can be communities of grace, communities of love and hope and acceptance and forgiveness and this is who strive to be.
In this world of change, where tsunamis reek havoc and tides erode familiar coastlines and where waves buffet and bang us about, where the water seems dangerous at times we want to be a people who are unafraid to get our feet wet because we are people of hope.
Our hope summons us to engage in the world around us to share our hope with the people we meet.
Here is my hope here is how I see us sailing ahead with God.
We will be non-judgemental inviting all and welcoming all who want to join us.
We will celebrate with joy the life and hope we have found so that others have a cause to celebrate as well.
We will work together all hands on deck, each to their station that our boat may go where it is needed and respond in care to community need.
We will make space for the seeker and give opportunities for the accidental discover of God.
And we will sail into uncharted waters blown along by wind of the spirit.
We will continue to evolve and grow as we explore the dimensions of the kingdom of heaven before us. We will remain open to change, we will count the cost and give our all we will look for new ways to reach out as a church to people beyond our walls.

God's Image in our community

Human beings are undeniable social creatures, with the exception of a few recluses we do not live alone and we seek out the company of others.
Is this something that has evolved in us as a matter of survival or is something more basic more essential to our very nature?
One of the central spiritual quests of all religions is to understand the nature of human being.
We seek to answer the existential question who am I?Why am I here?What is the purpose of my existence?
One of the most important ideas in the history of religion for understanding who we are as human beings is the biblical phrase “Image of God” we are created in the image of God so the writer of Genesis declares and other biblical writers affirm.
There have been a number of explanations as to what image of God means there is merit in most of the explanations but the one that I think is most helpful and most useful to us today is the one that sees the image of God as a relational term. It reflects the notion that we are social beings who find fulfilment and salvation in relationship.
God is a relational being a perfect community of three in one. Human beings were created to reflect that aspect of God. Our human potential is realised when we are in healthy relationships with God, our neighbour and the created world around about us.
The creation stories of Genesis 1 and 2 make the strong link between the plurality of God and the social nature of human being. Let us make Adam in our image, let us make them male and female. Human beings find completeness in relationship with one another and with God. The link is also clearly made with our relationship to the created order. In Genesis 1 we are to have dominion over the land, in Genesis 2 we are to tend and care for it. God who cares for us and cares for the created ordered made us to do the same and when we do so we reflect the divine image and we find fulfilment and salvation.
I love watching the Olympic Games. It is always inspiring to watch people achieve their very best at a particular endeavour. Here we see one aspect of human potential being achieved and I draw you attention to it for illustrates a point that I think is so important for us to grasp and realise the theological significance of. Human potential is almost always achieved in relationship. What I mean by this is more than just it takes a whole team to win a gold medal. I mean the motivation to achieve is social, the emotion expressed at success or failure is an expression of relationality, the pride we feel at watching a New Zealand athlete giving their all is an aspect of our social being, the way we identify with the raw effort, the share magnificence and beauty of achievement is all part of what it means for us to be social beings created in the image of God we are made to relate and everything we do bare on that essential element of our nature.
Let’s look at some special Olympic moments and consider the way they demonstrate our social being. I’m going to shoe you five athletes who had special performances at the games and achieved remarkably. In each of the situations pictures I want you to imagine something that might be a little difficult I want you to imagine that the athlete was a total recluse who achieved the same goal but did it in their own private arena. Their own pool or their own lake or their own sports stadium. Imagine that they did it all for their own satisfaction, no one ever witnessed them in training, no one ever saw them throw or lift, or run or swim or row. They did it all by themselves and completely for their own benefit. I said it would be hard to imagine perhaps ridiculous to comprehend, but I think it makes clear what I mean when I say we are social being and all we do is motivated by our social nature all our best achievements are expression of our social being.
Valerie Villi A truly charming and beautiful young woman with an extraordinary talent. Great physical strength, great determination and mental strength and a winsome personality. What did she do when she won the Gold medal? She immediately looked for her coach and fellow team members to celebrate with. She recognised that they were as much a part of her win as she was. She was connected to them in deep ways and that connection brought out her best.
German Olympic weightlifter Matthias Steiner was ecstatic after he won gold in Beijing, saying he wanted to take the title for his late wife Susann. During the winner’s ceremony, a teary-eyed Steiner took his wife’s photo out of his pocket and kissed it while standing on the podium. He held on to the picture of Susann, who died in a car accident last year, throughout the ceremony.
A strong bond that not even death can break was this man’s winning edge.
Michael Phelps’s 8 gold medal haul is unlikely to be equaled or bettered ever. But Phelps swims not as a man on his own he is part of a great swim team, he is a proud American, he has a suppotiuve family and he has battled with ADHD and is a celebrity to the ADHD community.
To most of the ADHD community, Michael Phelps’s phenomenal swimming at the Bejing Summer Olympics is a beacon of hope and inspiration “after we watch Michael Phelps, his fierce determination and single-minded focus, it is clear that even the name Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder falls short in describing just what ADHD is. Clearly Michael Phelps has no shortage of attention!”
Mahe Drysdale is a determined and gutsy athlete, his effort in the final medal race was inspirational. But he is not in that boat by himself. His parents are there with him, his partner is there with him, the whole NZ rowing fraternity is there with him, his sponsors are there the NZ public is there, a billion television viewers are there ( and it’s just a small boat). Take away all of those social networks and not only would Mahe’s efforts be meaningless, but he would not have started the race let alone finish it
Hussein Bolt the fastest man alive ever. A superb athlete who seems to make winning against the elite in sport look like a Sunday stroll. Not the most modest of athletes a very spirited young man whose gestures have upset some IOC committee members. But when you understand where Hussein has come from you can see why he is so elated at his success. The small and impoverished nation of Jamaica runs the race with Hussein, their exuberant cheering and parting on the streets of Kingston evidence of the pride they feel, the connection they feel at seeing one of their own, bone of their bone flesh of their flesh reaching his potential on the world stage.

These terrific feats of athleticism illustrate what it means to be made in the image of God. We can all achieve wonderful things by working together in community. Good community will bring out the best in every person that is a part of it.
The best possible community is the one with God at its centre and where God’s people are in good relationship with God and are in good relationships with their neighbour and are caring for the world around and about. In these circumstance human potential is realised, people achieve what they are designed to achieve, life is lived to the full.
I want tom come at this Image of God idea from another angle and as you will see end up in a similar place. In the ancient world it was common for a tribe or nation of people to be ruled by a King who live in a faraway place. To remind the people who their ruler was the king would often have his likeness carved and displayed in a public place.
Here is another image from Beijing. Mao Tze Tung the Chinese communist leader and Tyrant. During his reign his image was displayed in millions of public places thought China. Mao’s image was a constant reminder to the people of their identity and role in the People republic of China. In many ways Mao’s image was revered it was for many Chinese people the image of their god. The one who lead the people, who showed the way who embodied the spirit and championed the cause of a socialist republic.
The ancient writers of the biblical text had this concept before them when they declared that we are made in the image of God and more significantly Paul had this in mind when he declared that Jesus is the image of the invisible God.
Jesus the Son of God left the perfect community of the Holy Trinity when he became incarnate of the Virgin Mary. Jesus relationships with the Father and the Spirit were perfect, therefore he can represent them perfectly. There is no disharmony between what we see in Jesus the visible son of God and what we know by faith about God the Father and God the Spirit. Jesus is the image of the invisible God because he is perfect harmonious relations with the spirit and with the Father.
What Jesus says what Jesus does therefore reflect perfectly the will and the way of God. His being, his doing, his action, his saying are all expressions of the image of God
The glorious and wonderful thing here is that we also are made in the image of God.
But surely there is a quantum difference between me and Jesus.
In practice yes but in potential no!
We’re not perfect for sure.
We don’t love God perfectly as Jesus does
We don’t love our neighbour perfectly as Jesus does
We don’t love and care for creation perfectly as Jesus does.
But if we were perfect in each of the aspect we would be like Jesus we would be perfect images of God.
Paul writes that when we see Jesus we shall be changed and we shall be like him.
There is the end goal of each of us to be like Jesus, to reach that perfection of human being.
It seems we won’t get there this side of the grave but that it our end point that is what we are aiming for and that is where we should be heading now.
Each and every person on the planet to some degree or another bears the image of God.
It is the possibility and potential to reach human perfection by learning to love God, love neighbour and love creation.
Every person you meet has that potential and you and I have a wonderful privilege in helping people edge closer to their potential.
And here is where we come back to community and our nature as social beings. We enrich one another we build each other up by getting to know each other in the first place, by opening our lives to one another, by sharing with each our stories our gifts and talents our pain and heart ache our needs and our resources, our comfort and our care, our hope and our disappointments our doubt and our faith.
I guess that is why I kept coming back to church.
This is a place of hope and salvation.
Here we practice what it means to live as Christian people loving and caring for each other, we practice it here so we can do it out there, so that it becomes natural for us to open our lives and share our hope with others.
You are here because you are a social being, made in the image of God, you are here because in this place you find hope and faith and life. This community is filled with people just like you who are made in the image of God who long for the company of God and fellow travellers on the journey.
May God help us to be a community of his people who live to bring life and hope and faith to those around us.