December 15: defend

May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor!*

There is so much pain and destruction in this world! So many tragedies; some man-made, some natural, some both! So many people with curable diseases, so many struggling to achieved the bare necessities. I find it really overwhelming. There is comfort though in the Bible, because there I read of a God who cares, provides, restores, delivers, protects...

For he delivers the needy when he calls,

the poor and him who has no helper.

13 

He has pity on the weak and the needy,

and saves the lives of the needy.

14 

From oppression and violence he redeems their life,

and precious is their blood in his sight.**

God values and loves the needy, the poor, the weak! 

"May his name endure forever,

his fame continue as long as the sun!

May people be blessed in him,

all nations call him blessed!***

*Psalm 72:4
**Psalm 72:12-14
***Psalm 72:17

December 13: father's house

As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them; but they were kept from recognizing him. He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?”*

When you were a child did you ever wonder off from your parents? What were the rules for when you found yourself in that situation? I remember being told to stay where I was. In some situations I was advised to retrace my steps, this was more of a lesson as I got older and gave me more independence and responsibility for myself. So I learnt when I was going to new places to glance back and see things from a different perspective so on the return journey I'd know where to go. This is a skill I still use today! Then again, I was never one to rush away from my parents or lag behind, the more common situation would have me rushing ahead of the family assuming that I knew the way and could lead everyone. I have -I admit!- taken wrong turns and then wondered by no one was following anymore! But waiting for them to catch up eventually meant waiting for them to realise I was lost, and thankfully my dad figured it out and found me!

Where can we go to ask questions and learn and discuss? I love being at uni for the environment of open searching and honest discussion, the freedom to make claims and seek answers, the time to read and speculate with people. The freedom to wrestle with complex ideas or controversial topics. But I also really enjoy asking questions and discussion things over meals with people. Earlier this year I was in England and I visited for a week a place called L'Abri, it is a manor house in the country side and there they host travelers who are seeking a refuge to explore the claims of the Bible. It was a really welcoming and honest place, amazingly interesting and helpful, and not at all threatening! Anyway, my favourite time of the day was lunch time because there we would eat in groups of about 8 and for the entire meal talk about one topic; at the beginning of the meal the facilitator would ask if anyone had a question or issue they wanted to discuss. Someone would pose their idea and the conversation would launch. Only one person spoke at a time and everyone listened to each others views, there didn't need to be a solution or solid answer at the end of the meal. It was great!

Anyway, when Jesus was twelve, he and his family went to another city to celebrate a festival. As the whole community was probably very close and all traveling together it's not from parental neglect that Jesus wasn't discovered on the return journey to be lost for a whole day. They must have assumed that he was with one of their friends or relatives, probably playing with their kids or something. But he wasn't!

"After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” 

“Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he was saying to them."**

All I want to say is, please feel free to visit a church, to see the great beauty of the architecture (some of my favourites in Syndey include St Mary's and St Andrew's Cathederal.) Enjoy the peace and reflective silence. Not only that, seek out friends or preachers/pastors/ministers who you can listen to and ask questions of. if the first person you find and ask isn't right for you, that's ok, don't give up. There will be people out there who will happily talk, listen, answer, explore with you. Be like the young Jesus and seek out those places, even if it's out of your comfort zone or people will be confused as to why you are there!

If we talk and discuss things, Jesus is bound to turn up on one way or another and ask what we are searching for, or give us more thought-provoking questions to discuss. Questions shouldn't be threatening, but rather truth seeking.

*Luke 24:15-17

**Luke 4:46-50

December 12: invisible

"God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”*

Science can't measure God. It can't put Him into a test tube or under a microscope. It can't measure His strength or mercy, it can't calculate his size, it can't locate heaven. God is the Author of Life, the Creator of the Universe, Maker of Heaven and Earth. We can look at His creation and learn about His character, and we can get to know him in person through his son, but we can't find him through scientific experimentation.

**

"My God's not dead

He's surely alive

He's living on the inside

Roaring like a lion"

Just because God is 'living on the inside' and not able to be discovered and tested like the created world doesn't mean he's dead or imaginary! Why does everything have to be like us? Why do we have to put things in boxes and categorise and fully understand things?

The invisible God chose to reveal himself, and of all the ways he could have done that He chose to become a person! So that people could relate to him, understand him, recognise him, learn from him, imitate him. Back in the days of King Herod and the Roman Empire, you could have gone to Galilee and found him; Jesus of Nazareth. Now we have the Holy Spirit helping us to recognise the man who is God. We find Him in the Bible.

"Very truly I tell you Pharisees, anyone who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice.”***

The challenge is to learn to recognise the voice of God, the sound of Jesus, the tone of the Spirit. I want to follow the true Good Shepherd, who leads his sheep. I want to listen to his voice alone and never follow a strangers voice. I can't do that if I am not familiar to God's voice. How can we tell what is truth and what is a part truth, or an outright lie? Usually we have to see what the character of the person is, are they reliable, are they following through on what they say?

"I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”***

Jesus lay down glory to be a man, and he laid down his life freely for us! And he also took up life again, and is now seated at the right hand of the Father in glory. If we convince ourselves that God is dead, that he is unreliable and cruel, then we can't learn to recognise his voice. I firmly believe Jesus is the Truth, but I am still learning to recognise and respond faithfully to it. He speaks, and is active today "on the inside".

*John 4:24
**Newsboys -"God's not dead" from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_OTz-lpDjw
***John 10:1-5, 14-18