Who is Really in Your Church?
What took place at Rephidim several thousands of years ago, is important for several reasons.  While the Children of Israel were journeying through the wilderness they were attacked by the Amalekites.  You can read the account in Exodus 17: 8- 16.  This incident has inspired artists and preachers over the years.  It was a formative experience for an emerging new leader of the Israelites.  It has been used as an illustration of the importance of intercessory prayer.  The occasion gave rise to a fresh understanding of God and one of the compound names of Jehovah.

I believe that there is another important lesson in this incident which is easily overlooked. It gives a powerful message to Christian churches today.  But you will not find it within the record in Exodus 17.  Instead you need to read Deuteronomy 25: 17,18.

Remember what the Amalekites did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and attacked all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God. 

Who were the ones that were lagging behind?  It is most likely those who had difficulty keeping up.  This would be likely to include the more elderly and those with young children.  How many parents walking with young children have been frustrated by their offsprings’ slow pace and ease of distraction!  Apparently, all were weary from walking. I can image that the line of people gradually became increasingly drawn out.  The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations has, “Every man for himself and the Devil take the hindmost" as a 16^th century proverb.  Tragically, it describes the attitude of many today.  But what is the application from Rephidim for our churches today?

Last Sunday, on arriving at church, I found myself musing on the description of the early church as recorded in Acts 2:44 “All the believers were together and had everything in common.”  It was the image of a church that was inclusive and caring that I pondered, aware that you can find yourself excluded if you are too young or too old.  Imagine my surprise when my colleague leading the service took as the basis for his talk, Ezekiel 34: 17-19 “Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? Must my flock feed on what you have trampled and drink what you have muddied with your feet?”  The thrust of his message was how self-interest and selfishness spoil things for others and breaks down community.

The “Church in the Wilderness” was under attack by the Amalekites who were picking off the most vulnerable.  Something needed to be done.  Whatever is read into this account in Exodus 17 regarding Joshua leading the response, or what went on up the mountain, if we fail to recognise that God cares about the most vulnerable and that the whole people of God are not whole without them, we would have missed the point.  If our churches are weak about their approach to the needs of the young and the old (as well as those who care for them), or others marginalised, then we have missed the point of what it means to be church.

One of the benefits of congregationally ordered churches is their ability to adapt, free from denominational legislation.  While I was the pastor at Herstmonceux, we abandoned a traditional approach to church membership and opened the sense of belonging to anyone competent to sign a covenant of fellowship.  Immediately, many who had hesitated about becoming ‘members’ became happy to sign up, identifying themselves as ‘part of the church’.  But this included several younger members of our congregation, whose faith in Jesus Christ had already been recognised.

As one who holds a memorialist understanding of Communion (or Eucharist, or the Lord’s table), I also saw no reason why any believer should be excluded from partaking of the elements simply on the basis of age.  At first, I would state that any children who were believers were welcome to partake subject to the approval of their parents.  That ended when a Christian father asked me by what right I had to made him an arbiter or judge regarding the sincerity of faith of his sons!  While I realise that some reading this come from Christian traditions that have a ‘higher’ sacramental view, and I have no desire to offend, I have concluded that we are inappropriately precious about who may and who may not eat and drink.

What is memorialised was inaugurated at a meal that included a poor group of disciples including one who would betray him, another who would deny him, and many who would abandon and doubt him.  Writing on this subject to the church at Corinth on this subject,the apostle Paul takes them to task about their failing to be inclusive of the weaker members of the church.  He also stated that it is for each person to judge themselves before eating and drinking.  No reference here to any external restrictions.

After a few weeks, we became bold enough to invite some of the children to serve the bread and grape juice to the adults.  That was a profound moment.  What was it that Jesus said about allowing children to come to him, and the kingdom belonging to them? (Luke 18:16,17)

So, who is in and who is out when it comes to fellowship in your church?  Church is based on the concept of fellowship or community.  That only truly exists if everyone is valued, understood and included.  The lesson that Israel needed to learn, and especially Joshua, was not that the victory belonged to Joshua and the army, but to the Lord of Hosts, for whom the weak and the vulnerable are precious and whom he will defend.

We would all do well to examine our attitudes to the weaker or marginalised within our church, and to the structures that affect them.  It is all too easy to neglect, as the early church found regarding some of the widows that were part of the church at Jerusalem.  We need to consciously and deliberately address this issue if we are to be a model of community to the world around.
Barry Osborne – 21^st April 2018

Who I AM

Microsoft has just taken me through a process to update the password that both opens my laptop and opens my Microsoft account including Windows 10.  It was a painstaking process of entering characters and codes sent by email and text.  This was particularly annoying as I have only this week sent password information to my executors and the Chair of trustees of Rural Mission Solutions.  I did this because a brother-in-law died without informing anyone of his password and nobody can get into his laptop!

I suspect that I probably have some twenty or so passwords on my computer covering various personal and work, to which can be added various pin numbers that relate to credit cards and entry systems. Some important applications require my fingerprints or facial recognition.  All of this is to prove that I really am who I say I am.

A further dimension to my identity is who I am to various people.  One person knows me as her husband.  Another knows me as his foster father.  Some know me as a brother or uncle.  Still others know me as a pastor, or a preacher, or an author or lecturer.  Some only know me as a customer.  Everyone knows something about me, but each only knows me in part.  No one on earth, not even my wife, knows the complete me.

Over the recent Easter period, my ministry has focused on the identity of Jesus Christ.  Since we were not around at the time he walked the earth, we rely on the testimony of the four gospel writers to explain to us exactly who Jesus of Nazareth is.  We know that two of these, Matthew and John, spent three years travelling with Jesus so had first-hand knowledge.  Mark probably had some direct contact with Jesus, but his mother was a close follower of Jesus, and it is understood that he also gained much information from Peter.  This leaves Luke, a doctor, who tells us that he made diligent enquiries to ensure he got the facts right.  These four witnesses combine to provide testimony as to who exactly Jesus is.  They do so in company with other witnesses so that we can be confident that Jesus was a real person, living at a real time, and in a real location.

Each presents us with a paradox.  We see someone who is clearly human.  But we also see someone who, in personality and performance is clearly something other.  The fact that he is unique makes his identity something we cannot really get our heads around.  To many who lived in the area where he had grown up he was “the carpenter’s son”, leaving them baffled by the extent of his wisdom and knowledge. In the gospel accounts, time and again his actions leave people asking, “Who is this man?”

As one of my readers you will be able to glean something about who I am.  Some reading this, are related to me and know me in a different context, so will have a different view.  Still others have sat under my teaching or experienced pastoral care, so will have those experiences from which they can build a picture.  But if you really wanted to know me you would need to move in and follow me around for a few years.  Two of the gospel writers did just that with Jesus and share their testimony with us.  The other two writers pass on the testimony of others, but even this is supported from their own experiences.

Matthew is clearly concerned to present Jesus as the promised Messiah, and probably wrote with a Jewish readership in mind.  Mark seems to want to present Jesus as a person of extraordinary action. From the start of his account, Luke seems keen to set his story in a specific time, and presents Jesus as Saviour, and gives us insights into Jesus’ interaction with people, and his compassion.  John, who had the greatest direct contact with Jesus, introduces Jesus from start to finish in a different way.  He boldly starts by presenting Jesus as divine, the creator of the world and the source of life.

It is impossible to read these four accounts, I suggest, without seeing them as honest accounts.  The fact that at the time of their writing, many who had personal contact with Jesus were still alive, and that thousands of people were discovering that they could come to know Jesus through believing, with most becoming willing to risk all for his sake, and even to die rather than deny him, all adds credence to their testimony.

But none of the four hides from the fact that understanding who Jesus is was a challenge.  Matthew, Mark and Luke record a journey Jesus and his disciple took to Caesarea Philippi.  This was an area distinguished by idolatry.  Here Jesus asks his disciples how people were identifying him.  He asks, “Who do they say I am?”.  He then asks them, “Who do you say I am?” Peter answers, declaring him to be the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. (See Matthew 16:13-20)   It is from this time that Jesus confirms his identity to his disciples and begins to explain about his forthcoming suffering and resurrection.

But the gospel writers reveal that his disciples still struggle to understand.  Peter tries to instruct Jesus on what he can do!  James and John, failing at that time to grasp the fact that the Son of God had humbled himself and become a servant, implore Jesus to give them special status in the kingdom.  Even after his resurrection from the dead, the reality that Jesus walked out of his grave seems hard to grasp.  He had to show them the physical wounds suffered on the cross, to converse with them and even to eat with them to demonstrate that he was really the same person they had followed for three years.

It is John, wo starts his gospel by presenting Jesus as divine, who includes the account of Thomas’ struggle to believe.  He had not been there when the other disciples had seen the risen Jesus, examined his body, and satisfied themselves that it was indeed the same Jesus.  I imagine that Thomas must have come up with possible explanations.  Had they hallucinated?  Was it mere wishful thinking?  Was it a ghost?  It is only when he meets the risen Jesus for himself and discovers that Jesus knew the evidence he sought, that he identifies Jesus as both “Lord and God”.

For me, this suggests that it is almost always our subjective engagement with Jesus that precedes our ability to identify who he is.  If we try to believe intellectually and objectively, we are only likely to become confused.  But when we come to him, and seek to know him, only then do we begin to identify who he really is.  We will also find, like the apostle Paul, years after coming to know him we are still wanting to know him more and better.

The four witnesses present the Jesus they came to know.  Each does so in the light of that personal knowledge.  For two thousand years Christian men and women have also been proclaiming the Jesus they have come to know.  It is down to us to share our testimony, to be his witnesses, not by reciting objective facts (though these may be useful), but by declaring our personal subjective experiences of encounter with the one who lived, died, rose again and lives today. We need to speak about the Jesus we know rather than the Jesus we know about.  Believing is not about intellectual acceptance of facts, it is about contemporary and continuing experience.  Only then can we accurately identify Jesus as Saviour, Friend and Lord.
Barry Osborne – 13^th April 2018

Totally Unexpected

A few years ago someone gave my wife a potted primula.  It adorned a window cill for a while, then I planted it in the garden behind our house, hoping it might survive.

That winter, much to our surprise it suddenly burst into flower right through a deep layer of snow.  It continued to flower for a whole year and through another cold winter. The flowers disappeared late last year but as soon as the garden was covered with several inches of snow this winter, up it came in all its glory again.  Up it comes before the crocuses and other Spring plants. Its vibrant life is totally unexpected, but gives great joy.

A deep gloom had settled on the eleven surviving men.  Their leader had been a victim of an extremely painful form of capital punishment.  Not that he had done anything wrong. They were trumped up charges and it was a mockery of a trial.  Added to that one of their number had hanged himself. They had mixed feelings about that. After all he was the one who had betrayed the Master.  But now the adventure was over.

Among them, Peter seemed to be the most depressed as he sat with his head in his hands.  It had started out so well for him. Sure, he had often put his foot in his mouth, and his impetuosity had got him into difficulties.  But he had sworn undying faithfulness, only to throw away three years by three times denying that he even knew the Master. And he could not free himself from that memory of the look Jesus had given him as he emerged from the High Priest’s house. What was it?  Disappointment? No, it was something else: understanding? However you describe it, that look was enough to reduce a grown man to floods of bitter tears. He was a failure.

Only John made himself busy taking care of their Master’s bereaved mother, comforting her as best he could.  The rest sat in huddled silence, overwhelmed by the sudden dreadfulness that marked the end of their mission.

Suddenly the door burst open as some of the women came in shouting excitedly about a stone rolled away and an empty tomb, and talk of angels.  Their words broke through the pained silence like a sword. Peter leapt to his feet and rushed to the door. He had to see this for himself. How could things have gone from bad to worse.  He hurried as fast as could towards the place where the man who had changed his life had been hurriedly buried in a borrowed tomb. His friend had abandoned Mary, and now ran past Peter, reaching the tomb first.  Sure enough, the great stone was rolled to one side and he could see the body had gone. He fell to the ground in grief.

But Peter needed more and went inside.  For a few moments he stood alone in that empty space until he was joined by John.  What was really strange was that the strips of cloth that had wrapped his body and that which had been wrapped around his head were still lying separately there. Peter had no idea what to make of it.  Everything was so confusing.

But the confusion evaporated that evening. Peter and John had joined the others in the guest chamber of the house.  They had carefully locked the door. It would not surprise them if the religious leaders and soldiers came to arrest them.  And that was when it happened! Quite how they would never be able to explain, but he was there.  Right there, in the room despite the locked door.  It was really him, standing there and speaking words of peace, and showing them the wounds in his hands and his side. It was really him! Totally unexpected!  What was more, apparently the mission was to go on.

Something like that was hard to get your head around.  Peter had seen something like it three times before. There was that time in the house of Jairus when Jesus had brought his daughter back to life.  Before then, he had stopped a funeral procession outside Nain, grabbing hold of the bier and commanding the young man to get up. What a shock that was to the crowd as he sat up and started talking.  Then the most amazing time was at Bethany where his friend Lazarus had died four days before, and he came out of the tomb still wrapped in burial cloth when Jesus called him. But who walks out of his own tomb?

Maybe it was all too confusing.  Maybe it was his own uncertainty about his relationship to the man he had so vehemently denied.  He was like a broken chair that no one would ever comfortably trust again. Whatever the cause, Peter seemed to think that the answer was to go back to fishing.  So it was that he and some of the others spent a fruitless night on the lake. As the skies were just beginning to lighten they saw a man on the shore who called out to them and offered some advice.  As day breaks, fish that had been near the surface, swim deeper making catching them harder. But Peter had once before taken advice and had caught so many fish on that occasion that the boat nearly sank.  This time, again the advice was good and the nets were full. It was totally unexpected.

They had not recognised him at first, but John declared, “It is the Lord”.  As they neared the shore, Peter, impetuous as ever, jumped overboard and led the way up the beach.  They ate their breakfast in an awkward silence. Then Peter and Jesus had walked together along the shore.  It was not an easy conversation. Twice Jesus asked Peter if he really did deeply love him. Peter could only respond expressing a lesser kind of love.  The third time the question came, Jesus used the same expression Peter had been using. It had been bad enough to have sat round that fire, so similar to the one he had sat around that night he had denied the one he had professed to love to death.  Now it seemed that even the lesser expression of love Peter claimed he had, was being questioned.

That he deserved, but what he did not expect or deserve were the words Jesus also spoke recommissioning Peter.  If Peter’s faith had been found wanting, it seemed that Jesus still had faith in him. That was totally unexpected.

As someone who has tried to follow Jesus, and who has let the Lord down on occasions, I take comfort in reading of their relationship. The love of Jesus for me was expressed on Calvary. His patience with me is experienced day after day.  He is the great constant in a changing world and an inadequate discipleship.

On Easter Sunday 55 years ago I declared my faith in Jesus Christ before a packed church and stepped into the baptismal pool.  A burst pipe in the road nearby a few days before had resulted in a thin layer of clay on the tiled floor, and I skidded into the waiting arms of the man who had tricked me into giving a talk at a youth group in which I confessed openly for the first time that Jesus Christ was my Saviour.  

24 hours before that Easter Sunday Baptismal Service I had discovered that Jesus had endured the cross because he loved me, and there was no other good enough to pay the price of sin.

I went under the water for a brief moment, and rose to a new future.  It was not what I had planned. That had been yielded up on Hastings Pier the day before.  This was to be the future God had planned. It has sometimes been difficult, sometimes even painful, but I would not swap it for anything, for there is nothing better.  It has been a fantastic 55 years and totally unexpected! What is even more wonderful is that one day I will see Jesus face to face. Whatever awaits me after this earthly life is over is certainly beyond anything I could ever expect.

© Barry Osborne 2018