Meditation: ON BEING PERFECT by John de Gruchy

ON BEING PERFECT

I John 4:16-21

Matthew5:43-48

"Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect."

That's a tall order!  Being perfect, just like God is perfect!  Yet that is what Jesus tells his disciples they should be.  But how is that impossibility possible?  Yes, I know some people think they are perfect, even though we all know they are not.  And when we are sober, we also know we are not perfect, otherwise we would not regularly confess our sins.  So what is Jesus talking about when he tells his disciples, and therefore also us, to "be perfect as their heavenly Father is perfect?"  We can, of course, simply shake our heads at this counsel of perfection and move on, thinking perhaps that Jesus' words are meant for monks and nuns but not for us.  Can we really take them  seriously?   I guess we don't have to if we don't want to take Jesus seriously   But if we do, then at least, we have to ask ourselves what Jesus meant, and what his words might mean for us, today?

John Wesley, the leader of the Evangelical Revival in England in the 18th century, and founder of the Methodist movement, wrote much about what he called "Christian perfection."  Wesley took Jesus very seriously on the subject.  And whether he espoused the idea or not, his teaching gave rise to what some Christians call  "the second blessing,"  the idea that after conversion Christians can be made perfect by the Holy Spirit.  Wesley had in mind some verses in the NT, as in the first letter of John, that "those who have been born of God do not sin," in fact, " cannot sin!" (I Jn. 3:9), and that if God dwells in us then his love is perfected in us. (I Jn. 4:17).  Wesley's teaching on "Christian perfection" and "perfect love" has had a remarkable influence on the subsequent history of Christianity. It lead to the Holiness Movement which, in turn, contributed to the rise of Pentecostalism, and it influenced amongst many others, Andrew Murray Jr. here in South Africa, whose ministry left such a remarkable legacy.  But however we understand it,  the notion of  holiness is deeply embedded in Christian tradition as it is in some other religions. 

I recently spoke at the launch of Denise Ackermann's new book with the its intriguing title Surprised by the Man on the Borrowed Donkey.  It is an excellent read, and I commend it to you.  After many years as a theological professor and spiritual director, Denise shares with us what, for her, makes life worth living.  She offers us nine beatitudes modelled on Jesus' teaching, but developed in contemporary ways in terms of her own experience.  That person is truly blessed, Denise tells us, who is able to embrace contradiction, find freedom, listen with discernment, is grateful, knows when enough is enough, can chuckle at the incongruities of life, and is someone open to receive the blessing of birds!  But there is one more I have not mentioned.  The second of her nine beatitudes is: "Blessed are those who live into their holiness, for they shall be surprised by wonder."  I like that, "Live into holiness" and be "surprised by wonder!"

But first, with Denise, we need to acknowledge that the "notion of holiness does not sit easily in today's world because it smacks of a sanctimoniousness that shuns the hurly-burly of everyday life."  It is, in short, incongruous in our secular societies.  So for most people those who are deemed holy are not real!  Perhaps this is because most people misunderstand holiness.   It has little to do with religiosity or unworldly piety or haloed people in stain-glassed windows whom we venerate on occasion.  Holy people are real people, they are truly human, living fully in the life of the world even if some live in monasteries, as did Thomas Merton.  Dag Hammarskjold the former Secretary General of the UN, once wrote, "the path to holiness is through action,"  And, he would undoubtedly have added,  contemplation.

Speaking out of her own experience, her own struggles with "being holy," Denise came to the conclusion that becoming holy meant accepting who she was and learning to live in a way that was "directed towards God."  "Denying my holiness," she writes, "was refusing to accept what God offers all humanity..." to accept that we are all "made in the image of God."  In other words, to be perfect or holy means becoming what God intends us to be not according to some holiness-mould, but as Denise, or Peter, Paul and Wendy!   To become perfect or holy is not becoming someone we are not, but being someone who is becoming more truly the person we are meant to be.  In other words, to become whole or complete.

I am reminded of that remarkable French woman, Simone Weil.  During her short life of 44 years she became a philosophy teacher, worked in a car factory and as a labourer in the vineyards of France, fought for workers rights, and briefly fought with the Spanish Republican army.  Partly because of her Jewish background she left France in 1942 for America, but then went to London to serve in the French Provisional Government in England where she died within a year of TB.  In some respects, hers is a strange story, yet many thoughtful Christians, including Pope John XXIII and the poet T.S. Eliot, have been influenced by her life and writings. Amongst them is a little book of letters and papers entitled Waiting on God in which she recounts her spiritual journey.  She tells how on visiting a monastery in France one day she was encountered by Christ and filled with his presence. But she refused to be baptised and become a member of the church because she wanted to identify with all those outside of the church who honestly could not accept all its doctrines, but were struggling to live good, honest and heroic lives.  In waiting on God, she came to believe that this is what God willed for, that this was her vocation.  As much as she would have liked to become a member of the Church, for her to become the person God willed was her vocation.  To live into holiness meant becoming the person God wanted her to become.

Yes, we are called to be perfect, to live into holiness, just as God is perfect and holy.  That does not mean trying to become a saint like someone else; it means becoming the person God wills for each of us in terms of who we are and where we are.  It all has to do with the direction of our lives -- towards or away from God.   Only then will we be, as Denise says, surprised by wonder at what God has done and is doing in and through us.  To be perfect is to be completely ourselves, just as God is perfectly and completely God.

John de Gruchy

Volmoed  26 June 2014

Meditation: IN THE NAME OF CHRIST? by John de Gruchy

IN THE NAME OF CHRIST?

Colossians 3:12-17

Mark 9:38-41

Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It has been our delight to have the Moderators of the South African Synod of the United Congregational Church here at Volmoed this week.  The use of the term moderator for a church leader may be unfamiliar to some of you, so let me clarify.  Moderators are not necessarily moderate fellows, though usually they are, and they are not in the business of moderating examinations for clergy!  They can be compared to bishops, but they are not, and their functions vary from one Reformed church to the next.  In the United Congregational Church, moderators are ministers elected by their colleagues to serve for several years as "pastors to the pastors."  Whatever else they do, they are primarily ministerial caregivers.  This is a critical task, for being an ordained minister is often a very lonely and demanding one in which you are always giving yourself to others.  So it is vital that there are people who are their caregivers.   How good it is, then, that we here at Volmoed have been able, for a few days at least, to care for ministerial caregivers  and to share with them in this service of Holy Communion as they bring their sessions to an end.

The text chosen by them for reflection today is Paul's injunction to the Colossians that we Christians should do everything we do in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.  But, of course, we know only too well that not everything done by Christians in the name of Jesus Christ is always good or praiseworthy.  It is often quite the contrary.  In fact, not everything done in the name of God or religion, not to mention Jesus Christ, is good or praiseworthy.  We have only to think about Christian crusades and inquisitions, about going to war under the banner of the cross, about the persecution of so-called heretics, about witch hunts, the subjugation of women, the abuse of children by priests, and homophobia, of the conflicts of the centuries between Protestants and Catholics,  or between Hindus and Muslims, or Shiite and Sunni Muslims, to know that this is so.  Yes, we must surely agree with modern-day critics that Christianity and religion more generally has a lot to answer for.  There are too many things done in the name of Jesus and God that are out of character.  So when St. Paul tells the Christians at Colossae that whatever they do, whether in word or deed, they should do it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we must pause and think again about what he means.  For not everything done in the name of Christ is worthy of him.

The word  "name" is often used in the Bible to describe the character of someone.  So when we pray "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name," we are not just praising the name "God" -- we are praising and therefore expressing gratitude for who God is, for the character of God as loving, compassionate, or to use Jesus' metaphor, as our "Father."  So doing everything "in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ" means that we seek to express the character of Jesus through our actions.  In other words, we seek to represent Christ in terms of who he is, rather than using his name to justify our own attitudes and actions.  Everything we do is meant to express the character of Christ, not to abuse his name.  And we should only use his name when we do so.

I mentioned at the beginning, that the task of moderators is above all to be care-givers for ministers and pastors.  The word "care" comes from the Latin "caritas" from which, in turn, comes our word "charity," and charity properly understood means self-giving love.  Such love, expressed in truly caring for others, is above all other virtues, and lies at the heart of Christian faith in action.  So to do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ means caring for others, especially those in need, the poor, the oppressed, the victims and vulnerable.  Read again the words that come before our text and you will soon get the message of what Paul meant.  And, of course, in his first letter to the Corinthians he tells us categorically that though we speak like angels, or have prophetic powers, understand all mysteries and have all knowledge, or be be able to move mountains, if we do not truly care about and for others, we are nothing.  So we do well to recall the words of Jesus:

            On that day many will say to me, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?  Then I will declare to them, "I never knew you; go away from me you evildoers." (Matthew 7:22)

We must also acknowledge that many things that are not done specifically in the name of Jesus Christ, many things done by people of other faiths or none at all, sometimes put us Christians to shame in expressing the character of Jesus.  Consider the work of the South Africa Muslim organisation "Gift of the Givers," or  "Medicine without Frontiers," or Aids carers and  hospice workers who do not claim to be Christian though many are.  Christians don't have a monopoly on good deeds worthy of Jesus whether we use his name or not!  Recall some other words of Jesus, this time in response to John the disciple:

            Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.  But Jesus said, "do not stop him, for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.  Whoever is not  against us if for us. (9:38-41)

Yes, indeed, there are many people who do not belong to our circle, our church, our denomination, our religion, who are for Christ not against him.  They may not use the name of Christ but they do what he commanded us all to do.

At the end of every Eucharist here at Volmoed and elsewhere, the minister says: "Go in peace to love and serve the Lord."  And the congregation responds: "We go in the name of Christ.  Amen!"  This is not just a formula we use to conclude our worship.  It is a renewal of our commitment to love and serve Christ through so in caring for and loving others.

John de Gruchy

Volmoed 19 June 2014

JUNE 2014 NEWSLETTER

June 2014

Dear Prayer Partners,

I have a new view from my office desk! Alyson, Penny, Bernhard and I have all moved into the Resource Centre for a while and I now look out onto the Volmoed fields instead of across to Hamilton-Russell vineyards. Our office renovations are under way thanks to a generous blessing of building materials from a house which was being renovated, and Volmoed received the old stuff! We have glass sliding doors which are going to close in the stoep area of our old offices to become the reception area and the old offices are changing. We are all being moved around into new spaces which can be exciting but also a challenge for some! We feel as though there is an “umbrella” over Volmoed and we are being especially blessed during the building operations - we have had little rain compared to other areas that have been under water!

This morning when the bell rang at 10 o’clock for Prayer Time, Alyson and I wrapped up warmly and took umbrellas for our walk to the Chapel. It was one of our first winter mornings and the wind was blowing and black clouds threatened. Almost all the leaves had been blown off the Pin Oak on our way to the Chapel and sadly the carpet of brown leaves cosily arranged in a circle around the sloping branches was gone. I loved the sight of them and told everyone please not to rake them up but the wind had other ideas! Walking along, taking in all the colours and sights of the season, I was thinking about my June prayer letter and what the theme would be....and there I found it in our prayer time – again through the book “Running over Rocks” by Ian Adam. I, and many others, have been so blessed through the chapters. This morning the chapter was on “Blessing (Become Blessing)” and it started with a poem which spoke into so many situations we find ourselves .....and then, the reminder of how awesome blessings can be .......

LET’S GO!

Let’s go, let’s grow, let’s go for a walk, let’s not settle for talk
Let’s imagine new worlds, let’s see fears unfurl, let’s listen to dreams,
let’s paint the town green
Let’s spike guns with flowers, let’s confront tyrants with prayers,
let’s meet abuse with blessing
Let’s hear people singing, let’s nurture our wonder, let’s pause to ponder, let’s stand amazed Let’s fall down dazed, let’s love this place, let’s be flooded with grace,
let’s meet hate with love
Let’s fly Picasso’s dove, let’s honour our labour, let’s love God and neighbour,
Let’s eat bread and drink wine, let’s kiss and give time,
Let’s grow, let’s go!

I returned back to my desk energised and grateful for what I had heard from the reading and the blessings seen along the path back and forth to the Chapel and above all the blessing of Volmoed in my life, in the lives of the team and community and the wider community out there. Wow! We know in a small way what Volmoed means to our visitors when they share with us. The month of May was busy with people coming for personal and led retreats and church groups running programmes. Give grateful thanks with us.

In his book Ian shares ...”A blessing is more than words that are voiced, greater than any gesture made. Possibilities are opened up in an ever-moving cosmos. It’s about nurturing the act of blessing in our daily lives. And it’s about letting the act of blessing change both the giver and the receiver so that we become blessing in our very being. True blessing is never a power game. It’s never a gift of the haves to the have- nots. A true blessing has a reciprocal quality. Blessing changes the one who receives the blessings. The act of blessing someone engages the spirit of compassion within the person offering blessing. And the receiving of blessing helps the person being blessed to step into the future that is waiting for them. True blessing gives dignity and worth to the person being blessed. When the person offering the blessing looks into the faces of the people being blessed with compassion and care, even if she or he doesn’t know them as individuals, the blessing can be one of integrity, bringing change.”

We have been praying for Anna, one of our Volmoed team, who has been battling with life recently. We have asked you to pray for her previously as she and Gustav have been trying for a baby. This has put a lot of pressure on the couple and they were seriously thinking of splitting after 11 years of marriage but wonderfully Anna shared that they had thought and prayed and have decided against it and are now looking into adopting a baby. Anna’s Mum was very ill with cancer but on her last doctors appointment they could find no more growths for which we give such grateful thanks and share Anna’s relief and love to see her smiling face again! Please continue to pray for Anna and Gustav.

Di Miller, our UK agent, was out in SA again as her Mum, Mary Stanford, died. Mike and Alyson went to the funeral in Somerset West and it was a celebration of a wonderful lady’s life and all she did in the different places she lived over her 92 years. Please give thanks for Di and all she does for Volmoed.

June is holiday month for many at Volmoed – Penny (our bookkeeper) and her husband Wim are off on holiday on the 3rd June for two weeks. They will be connecting with family and friends in Pretoria and Graskop. Pray for a time of refreshment, relaxation and happiness. John and Isobel will be on holiday from 28th June – 13th July. They will be meeting up with their daughter Jeanelle and her friend Heidi and taking their grandchildren David and Kate to discover the “de Gruchy roots” in Jersey. John was away in Canada in May where he received an honorary doctorate from Knox College at the University of Toronto. A week later he received the Andrew Murray-Desmond Tutu book-prize for 2014 for his recent book “Led into Mystery.” Wendy will be away from the 27th June – 14th July and Anna and Serghay are back from their leave. Please pray for all travelling for safety, good health and wonderful times . Molly is back from having a couple of weeks in Kloof helping to babysit their new grandson Fynn – she loved every minute of it!

VOLMOED JUNE HAPPENINGS:-

2nd – 6^th      David Newton retreat

5^th               Steve de Gruchy memorial lecture

6th – 8th      Olivia Kate Anderson Christening

6^th  – 8^th       Cape Town International Convention Centre- wedding expo

10^th – 11^th    Friday Means Fellowship – George Johnson


10^th             Hermanus Ministers       

11^th – 13^th    Peninsula Schools Feeding Association – Mark Walker

13^th – 15^th    Fynarts Festival – Alyson giving painting demo’s

16^th             Sword Truths seminar for ladies

17^th – 19^th    
College of Moderators – Barry Brown

26^th – 28^th    Commonground Church

28th
            Quiet day for lay ministeries in Anglican Chapelries of Hermanus

30th – 4^th     Volmoed childrens' camp

As we go into June may we all receive blessing upon blessing. May we realise the power to bless, to encourage, to heal relationships and renew one another as Our Lord blesses us.

May Jesus shower you with His love and blessings, God bless and love,


Jane and the Volmoed family

Meditation: JESUS IS LORD? by John de Gruchy

JESUS IS LORD?

Philippians 2:4-11

Acts 1:6-11

Therefore God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name.

Given the general ignorance that pervades modern culture, and the ease with which "Jesus Christ" trips off the tongue as a swear word, it would not surprise me if some people think that "Christ" was Jesus' surname, like Smith or Jones or even Turkstra! But then he would have been known as Jesus Josephson or maybe Jesus Davidson.   The word "Christ," we know,  is a Greek translation of the Hebrew "Messiah."  So when we say "Jesus Christ" strictly speaking we are referring to Jesus as the Messiah or Jesus the Christ.  That is how the first Jewish believers knew and referred to him before the church expanded into the Gentile world. 

The word "Christ" then took on a more universal and even cosmic  meaning.  Jesus the Christ was the "incarnate Word," the "image of the invisible God,"  the "Son of God,"  and especially the "Lord."  In fact, the phrase "Lord Jesus" became the favoured way of speaking about him, and the declaration that "Jesus is Lord" became the first Christian creed.  You have only to compare the painting by Rembrandt of Jesus teaching and healing, and Orthodox icons of "Christus Pantocrator," or Lord of the universe, to get a compelling sense of the difference.  Jesus may be our friend, but he is not our chum, pal or playmate, he is Lord. 

The transition from Jesus of Nazareth son of Joseph to the Lord Jesus Christ of Christian faith is embedded in the Easter narrative, but it is especially associated with the Ascension which we celebrate today. "God," as the letter to the Ephesians declares, "raised Jesus from the dead and seated him at the right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and dominion, and above every name that is named."   Or, as in the creed: "He ascended into heaven and its seated on the right hand of the Father."  The metaphors used here, such as the "right hand of God," are all about Jesus being acknowledged as Lord.   But what, if any, is the connection between Jesus of Nazareth, David's son and  compassionate friend of sinners, our companion along the way, and Jesus the Son of God, the Cosmic Christ, the Incarnate Word, the Lord? 

Some modern-day Christians don't like the word Lord because of its associations with worldly power, as for example, the lord of the manor, suggesting a ruler remote from common folk and our daily life rather than the friend of sinners who came to serve and give his life for his friends. The word "Lord," my academic colleagues would say, reinforces hierarchy. It suggests blind, uncritical obedience to a demagogue!  Or, as people of other faiths might say, yes, maybe Jesus is Lord for you, but Krishna is our Lord!  Saying "Jesus is Lord" is, in other words, problematic for many people because it speaks of Christian dominance, triumphalism and  ecclesiastical control.  So should we ditch the word "Lord" and find another?  Let us get some perspective before answering the question.

I will never forget listening to the praise song sung at the inauguration of President Mandela.  Like all praise songs, it told the story of his life, from his birth into a royal family in the Eastern Cape, through his boyhood years herding cattle to those of political struggle and imprisonment, and then ending in exulted tones with his election as President of the Republic. Although Mandela was of noble birth Mandela did not become president by virtue of it, as do the kings and queens of England; he had to journey through tough years of struggle and humiliation before he took his place on the president's seat to exercise the power and authority invested in him.  But even then, he was still Nelson Mandela from Qunu, the lawyer for the poor, the struggle hero for the masses, the friend who became president. The greatness of his presidency was that his character did not change, and that the power he was given did not corrupt but enabled him to serve South Africa as the President even those who were previously his enemies.  And so he became a symbol not only for all of us, but for people around the world, a universal icon of how we should learn to live together in justice and reconciliation.

This morning we read another praise song, a very early Christian hymn that St. Paul includes in his letter to the Philippians in calling on them to live humbly, in unity and peace:

Have this mind in you that was in Christ Jesus...

who did not regard equality with God

as something to be exploited,

but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave..

and became obedient to the point of death-

even death on a cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend...

and every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord.

So instead of Jesus' exaltation as Lord becoming a pretext for his followers to dominate others, to exercise power in ways that belittle,  denigrate or oppress others, we are challenged to have the same mind in us that was in him.  Hierarchy has been turned upside down.  Those who want to be first will be the last!  Those who want to sit at Jesus' right hand in the kingdom must become servants!  To say Jesus is Lord, then, is a direct challenge to all those powers that trample on the poor, all those authorities that oppress others, all those who rule not as servants of the people but as tyrants over them, all those who act violently to achieve their unjust goals, and all those who power corrupts. 

At the beginning of Jesus' ministry, so the gospels tell us, he was severely tempted to abuse his power and status.  "If you are the Son of God" Satan said to him, then worship me and I will give you dominion over all things.  In other words, Jesus could have followed another path; he could have attempted to take Jerusalem by violence as some other Messianic pretenders did; he could have become a leader and lord who forced his followers into meek submission rather than making them his friends; he could have avoided the way of suffering and the cross.  In short, he could have had authority over all the kingdoms of the world if only he would follow the devil's pathway of ruthless power and domination.  But from the beginning of his ministry until his death Jesus resisted and rejected being such a lord; he was even reluctant to be called the Messiah, or make any pretentious claims. 

The gospel of Ascension Day is that everything we discern in Jesus' as the son of Joseph and man from Nazareth -- his compassion, healing, and love; his suffering with and for us on the cross -- all this has been exalted by God, for Jesus embodied the very nature of God himself.  Jesus the Lord is and will always be the friend of sinners, the suffering servant who gives his life for the world, is.  So, says, St. Paul, as his followers, we should have the same mind in us as was in him.

John de Gruchy

Volmoed Ascension Day

29 May 2014