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p floods affect every aspect of the lives of those enduring them flooding disrupts and disturbs it changes the surroundings sometimes forever that is what god wants justice to look like for us let righteousness flow like rivers let it pour into your lives let justice flood your communities your churches your nations falls of clyde new lanark scotland amos the shepherd and fig pruner 7 14 lived around 750 bc see 1 1 and 2 kings 14 23 15 7 he was a contemporary of first isaiah and of hosea being the first to have his writings compiled in a book of their own amos who insisted he was not a professional prophet called out the people of israel on their utter hypocrisy how could they celebrate their religious festivals while they trampled the poor how could they sing their worship songs and bring their offerings to god when they worshiped other gods and set up altars to them 5 5 7 could they not see how all of this is utterly contemptible to god amos from the south of jerusalem in the land of judah poured judgement after judgement upon the land of israel to the north so unpopular was his message that eventually he would be told to leave by the priest of the national place of worship 7 12 13 there is a chance that preaching this passage may make you an unpopular preacher your message coupled with that of amos may well cause people in your congregation to at least squirm in their seats however we don t go to church simply to feel better about ourselves sometimes we need to be challenged or chided i think the balance lies in highlighting that amos was speaking to a whole body of people he wasn t talking about individual sin but communal sin that s worth exploring the greatest injustice of our time is undoubtedly linked to the climate chaos we are experiencing we know that it affects the poorest people the most the church as a whole along with our politicians needs to wake up to the call to act on the climate crisis before it s too late as cop26 draws to a close in glasgow will it have made any difference at all i suspect we will need to speak out more and more in the uk this sunday is remembrance sunday the 11th of november 1918 being the day that world war i was ended the injustices of war may be another way to preach this passage as wars continue around this planet on which we live the war poet wilfred owen speaks of the old lie told from one generation to the next dulce et decorum est pro patria mori sweet and fitting it is to die for one s country https www poetryfoundation org poems 46560 dulce et decorum est amos considered his words to be god s words and amos was angry he had a lot in common with jesus who was righteously angry in the temple because of the injustice he found there mark 11 15 17 like amos jesus saved his strongest words for the religious hypocrites matthew 23 23 we might not like the image of an angry vengeful god but on the other hand we may find that we too are angry at the injustices of the world i hope that this energy produced by our anger will spur us god s people into action small actions which begin as a trickle move into a stream and become a flood of justice and right ness can change the world as amos encourages we can choose to do right and run from evil when we do this we find that god is our helper 5 14 jeankirkwood uncategorized leave a comment november 8 2021 november 8 2021 3 minutes not me god the call of moses exodus 2 3 4 do you hear it the cry of the oppressed it would be easy to miss in our rush to get to the story of the call of moses but we must ensure that first of all we hear the cry of the suffering hebrew people kept as slaves by the egyptian pharaoh exodus 2 23 the children women and men in their terrible oppression are the reason for this story it is their need which prompts a response from god who is crying out today who is enslaved whose circumstances have been forgotten who is being wrongly told in the words of bruce hornsby that s just the way it is and what are we to do about it from god s response to this heartbreaking cry we see something of who god is god heard their groaning saw their suffering took note of their circumstances and remembered god s promise during a difficult time in my own life i found great comfort and hope when i heard a preacher articulate that god sees knows and understands what i am going through the even better news is that god also acts god responds to the cry of the oppressed by calling moses the perfect man for the job born a hebrew slave but brought up as an egyptian prince moses could straddle the gap between the two peoples like no one else from the story of the exodus we can surely surmise that while it may seem as if god had only just noticed their suffering in fact a plan had been in the making for at least the whole of moses life when it seems as if god is silent inactive just doesn t care we can be assured that god is acting in our situation it s just that we can t always see what god is doing god gets moses attention through a burning bush which is not consumed by the flames moses the great leader balks at god s call repeatedly giving reasons why he shouldn t do as he has been asked those of us called to ministry or to another vocation will likely have had a similar reaction not me god my minister when i was a child often described how he was called to ministry his name was also moses and he strongly related to the moses of the scriptures having argued with god that his calling was impossible because he had a debilitating speech impediment one time he heard god s promise for himself i will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak exodus 4 12 on accepting the call his stutter vanished forever i m also reminded of king george vi as portrayed in the film the king s speech whose stutter made his role unbearable but who was greatly helped but not cured by his speech therapist lionel logue similarly in the book of exodus god brought someone alongside moses his brother aaron would speak for him together they would be better able to confront the pharaoh whatever our reason or excuse for not doing what god asks it seems that god has a solution individually tailored for us it may be that someone will come alongside you or you may be given the right tools at the right time it takes a whole lot of courage to answer yes to god s call but there is a promise to hold on to for god says i will be with you exodus 3 12 see also matthew 28 19 20 like moses you are uniquely created and positioned to fulfil your calling no one else can do what god is asking you to do and the cry of the oppressed still rises to heaven jeankirkwood uncategorized leave a comment september 27 2021 september 27 2021 2 minutes six weeks of summer in the psalms the narrative lectionary runs each year from september to pentecost which means that the summer break can be spent preaching on other things one option this year is to spend 6 weeks in the book of psalms we don t often preach the psalms usually preferring to sing them instead in my tradition we sing the psalms to tunes first published in the scottish psalter in 1650 even when i was a child the worship service on a sunday would always begin with the singing of a psalm the psalms have a unique way of connecting us to the faith of those who have gone before us whether our grandparents the people of the reformation the early church or the writers and compilers of the hebrew scriptures according to the old testament scholar walter breuggeman in the message of the psalms each psalm falls into at least one of three categories as follows 1 psalms of orientation which articulate joy delight goodness coherence and reliability of god god s creation god s governing law these psalms are for when we are thankful that life is good 2 psalms of disorientation which express the anguished seasons of life they evoke rage resentment self pity and hatred 3 psalms of new orientation speak of the times in life when joy breaks through the despair these are songs of surprising new life psalm 1 a psalm of orientation i struggle with this first psalm because it gives a very definite account of how life works those who immerse themselves in the law will succeed in everything they do those who do what is evil will be doomed this is similar to the blessings and curses promised for those who obeyed and disobeyed the law of moses found in deuteronomy chapter 28 in turn the writer of the book of job challenged this worldview with a study on the suffering of the innocent while i might question the over simplification and lack of nuance of this psalm it is also true that we need first to know what we believe orientation before we can have that belief unpicked disorientation and put back together new orientation the problem is that many people in our pews have never matured beyond this simplistic faith so that when life becomes tough they give up on the god they think they know still i believe with the psalmist that my faith is like the tree which is rooted by the stream it sustains me and i am blessed psalm 113 a psalm of orientation and new orientation this psalm begins as a psalm of praise it puts god first and calls on all people to do the same this is how we begin our service of worship each week god is praised first of all everything else can only follow after god has been given god s rightful place however even as this psalm orientates us toward god we can see that the world is not perfect the poor and needy are contrasted with the rich and powerful princes the work of god is to raise up those in need and even to level out the playing field a little similar words can be found in hannah s song 1 samuel 2 8 in this psalm god honours the woman like hannah who has no children and makes her happy beware that for some in our congregations this could be a painful psalm to hear where are the promised children are there other ways in which women and men can be blessed with children to whom they haven t given birth psalm 69 1 16 a psalm of disorientation the beginning of this psalm is so poignant how many in our pews and in our communities could echo these words people who look like everything is fine but in reality they are drowning in a sea of depression loneliness or despair the psalmist helps us to articulate these very real emotions there are echoes of these opening verses in the story of peter walking on water toward jesus who begins to sink and cries out to jesus to save him matthew 14 28 31 sometimes all we can do is cry out to god to save us by the end of the passage we can already find hope in the person of god who is good and compassionate whose love is constant two resources which express similar thoughts to this psalm are a poem called not waving but drowning by stevie smith and a song called faith and doubt by aaron espe https www poetryfoundation org poems 46479 not waving but drowning psalm 27 a psalm of disorientation and of new orientation this psalm expresses the very real danger which the psalmist is facing it s not a spiritual danger but a physical one the surrounding enemies are real people with real weapons life on this earth can often be hazardous the threats of illness death unemployment poverty climate change physical violence are real for the people in our pews and for some they are happening right now in these days of street lamps most of us have little concept of true darkness or of how disorientating the dark can be shining in the midst of the utter darkness is god who is light god who is our refuge in times of trouble this is god in whom we can put our trust have faith do not despair the days of disorientation and preaching on it are nearly over psalm 27 from the psalms of david in metre in the scottish psalter 1929 psalm 40 1 10 a psalm of new orientation psalm 40 is the testimony of someone who was once sinking in the mud where they could not find solid ground see psalm 69 2 now they can testify that god not only heard their cry for help but caught hold of them helped them up and placed their feet on solid rock their cry for help was replaced with a new song of praise because of all that god has done for them a song which they cannot keep to themselves but which they share with all the people who gather to worship god have you ever felt compelled to tell the story of how god has come to your rescue this psalm means a lot to me personally as a young teenager it helped me to express my need for god to step into my situation and save my family from homelessness god answered that prayer and showed me for the first time that god really does communicate with us as we prayerfully read the scriptures psalm 146 a psalm of new orientation like psalm 113 this psalm begins with the praise of god this god is not like our human leaders thank goodness i am so grateful that the god who rules over the universe is a good and just god in this i place my hope for the future the psalm reminds us that despots and regimes rise and will eventually fall the times we are living through will pass it also tells us that even the good leaders are not fully worth our trust we sometimes see this when the heroes of our past are exposed for who they really were instead the psalmist encourages us to put our trust in god who is on the side of the weak the poor and the marginalised these words in verses 7 9 are similar to the words of isaiah chapter 61 as read aloud by jesus in the nazareth synagogue luke 4 we can understand that god helps us gives us sight binds up our hearts and then sends us to do the same for others this is the challenge what if god could use us to change someone else s life to re orientate their faith and allow them to praise god who is faithful jeankirkwood uncategorized leave a comment may 24 2021 may 25 2021 5 minutes o joy a meeting i must say that my first reaction to the inclusion of this reading in the narrative lectionary was one of doubt and trepidation would sunday s sermon turn out to be little more than an intellectual exercise lacking any application to the life and faith of my congregation however thanks be to god some thoughts are beginning to form which might be of benefit to you you could take this opportunity to talk about the ways in which your denomination makes decisions the meeting of the council of jerusalem has a pattern to it which is remarkably close to the way in which matters are discussed in many denominations today including my own reports are given scripture is quoted theology is discussed experiences are shared and a decision is made opening this up might help the many in our congregations who have long since been disenfranchised from the decision making of the church this may be the time to educate about what happens in assemblies and synods and to explore the belief that god is at work in and through flawed human beings and faulty processes you could challenge your congregation to consider what they unknowingly require from those they are seeking to reach how much do they hope and pray that...