Based on the scripture readings for the 6th Sunday of the Year 12 Feb 2012: 2 Kings 5:1-14, 1 Corinthinas 9:24-27 and Mk1: 40-45
May I speak in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
For many of us the simplicity of faith in Christ is a
stumbling block, like Namaan we want to do something great to earn honour and
fame and success and good fortune. Just
Like Elijah says to Naaman and the Jesus to the leper - simple obedience is all
that is required.
We need to see the
Namaan in us as we seek to grow in wisdom and understanding this morning.
Firstly Namaan was a
great man, a commander of the army of Syria and he was blessed by God -
scripture tells us that his successes even over Israel were a blessing from
God. We all live under God's blessing and we all have greatness within us. Very often we experience this outside of our
so called religious journey. We are prone to dualism and this is when we see
our secular lives and our spiritual lives as parallel or even divergent
journey's. This was the case with Namaan. He wasn't a commander of God's
armies, he was a Syrian, he wasn't one of the so called chosen nation, yet
scripture tells us he was blessed by God - his successes were a gift from God.
Often we journey as Namaans through life - seeing our secular success and our
Christian journey as different unrelated parts of our lives.
Often we go as far
as seeing that the good in life is from the world and the struggles are from
our faith. Lets be honest - it is easier to journey in the complacency of
secularism. It is much harder to seek to do what God has called us to do.
Secularism enables us to be selfish , self centred and carefree. But God challenges us to care for
others to evaluate our lives and to do what is right.
We see in the text
that no matter great, influential or powerful we are - sin,
- represented by leprosy here, puts a stain on our lives and takes away the
sense of victory that we feel in the successes of our lives.- leprosy caused
one to lose dignity, status, hope, joy, peace: Leprosy made one unacceptable :-
our sin does the same - our contamination from the effects of life that steal
our joy, steal our pride, steal our dignity. We all live with various degrees
of shame , of insecurity, of feelings of insignificance that overshadow our
success and make us feel less than we are.
Like Namaan we are
great - we are powerful, we are successful, but like Namaan we all have
something in our lives that we wish we could get rid of, that we wish we could
conquer that we wish we could overcome.
Today like voice of
the servant of Naaman's wife, there is a voice speaking to us saying - there is
hope, and it is in God's Good News it is with the truth of his Word - that Jesus saves, Jesus sets us
free, Jesus is the way....
Like the leper we
need to approach God today and say - If you choose you can make me clean - whole, without fear, courageous ,
acceptable, honourable, dignified, content with who we are:-
For if we can find
this freedom then our success will mean something, our joy will be complete,
life will make sense.
And Today Jesus is
saying I am willing - and like Elijah he is calling us to wash in the Jordon -
which I am saying represents the Church - we are to immerse ourselves in the
life of the church - Namaan thought that this was a silly idea - do You?
Namaan, this morning
God is calling you to as simple faith that will make you whole, he is calling
you to a simple obedience to cleanse ands revive you - a life immersed in the
Church of God - as we accept the bread and the wine as we participate in the Eucharist
so Christ is restoring us -
but like Namaan we
fail to accept something so simple - saying "aren't we capable of finding
fulfilment in our own success in our own self motivation in our actions and
deeds of doing good ( the rivers of Canaan - are like the philosophies sand the
ideologies of this world). THE River of the Jordon is the Church -
Just like Namaan asked if the rivers of his
home country were not good enough;
so often we seek the things of the world to
empower and uplift us:-
"Human rights,
self motivation, Guru's, fashion, possessions, the right social circle, secular
heroes, - surely these things we ask our selves, surely these things will bring
me the fulfilment that I seek -
Again the Servant in us must speak and we must
listen - Just as Namaans servant spoke the truth and said if the Prophet had
told you to do something difficult you would have done it - how much more should you do something simple;
something simple -
Namaam was a great
and powerful man - you need to recognise that you are too!
Namaan was in need
of healing - you need to recognise that you are too!
Namaan questioned
whether the simplicity of the Prophets command was sufficient to heal him - you need to conquer that in your own life -
you need to go out in faith and accept the small things of obedience - that God
calls you to.
There are seven
washings in the river Jordon - that Namaan was called to -
I want to suggest
seven things you can do in the Church - to receive healing:
One - Live true to your Baptism
- resist evil and turn to God for meaning in life;
Two - Read the scriptures daily - learn from God listen to him;
Three - Pray daily - build relationship with
God, bring Him your needs, your wishes, ask Him his will and His plan for
you;
Four - Fellowship with other
Christians and share your life's journey together;
Five -participate in the life of
the Church - participate in the Eucharist - Worship God, receive from God;
Six - give for the work of God's
kingdom, tithe and give thank offerings for all the good that God has
given you.
Seven- Service - do something to
serve God through his church - even something small but do something.
And so Namaan I say
to you today - Just as St Paul said that
we must run the race with a goal in mind - I say to you run your race with
wisdom and with purpose - live true to your Baptism - immerse yourself in the things
of God, and the prize of eternal life will be yours.
Amen.
Based on the scripture readings for the 6th Sunday of the Year 12 Feb 2012:
2 Kings 5:1-14
May I speak in the
Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
For many of us the simplicity of faith in Christ is a
stumbling block, like Namaan we want to do something great to earn honour and
fame and success and good fortune. Just
Like Elijah says to Naaman and the Jesus to the leper - simple obedience is all
that is required.
We need to see the
Namaan in us as we seek to grow in wisdom and understanding this morning.
Firstly Namaan was a
great man, a commander of the army of Syria and he was blessed by God -
scripture tells us that his successes even over Israel were a blessing from
God. We all live under God's blessing and we all have greatness within us. Very often we experience this outside of our
so called religious journey. We are prone to dualism and this is when we see
our secular lives and our spiritual lives as parallel or even divergent
journey's. This was the case with Namaan. He wasn't a commander of God's
armies, he was a Syrian, he wasn't one of the so called chosen nation, yet
scripture tells us he was blessed by God - his successes were a gift from God.
Often we journey as Namaans through life - seeing our secular success and our
Christian journey as different unrelated parts of our lives.
Often we go as far
as seeing that the good in life is from the world and the struggles are from
our faith. Lets be honest - it is easier to journey in the complacency of
secularism. It is much harder to seek to do what God has called us to do.
Secularism enables us to be selfish , self centred and carefree. But God challenges us to care for
others to evaluate our lives and to do what is right.
We see in the text
that no matter great, influential or powerful we are - sin,
- represented by leprosy here, puts a stain on our lives and takes away the
sense of victory that we feel in the successes of our lives.- leprosy caused
one to lose dignity, status, hope, joy, peace: Leprosy made one unacceptable :-
our sin does the same - our contamination from the effects of life that steal
our joy, steal our pride, steal our dignity. We all live with various degrees
of shame , of insecurity, of feelings of insignificance that overshadow our
success and make us feel less than we are.
Like Namaan we are
great - we are powerful, we are successful, but like Namaan we all have
something in our lives that we wish we could get rid of, that we wish we could
conquer that we wish we could overcome.
Today like voice of
the servant of Naaman's wife, there is a voice speaking to us saying - there is
hope, and it is in God's Good News it is with the truth of his Word - that Jesus saves, Jesus sets us
free, Jesus is the way....
Like the leper we
need to approach God today and say - If you choose you can make me clean - whole, without fear, courageous ,
acceptable, honourable, dignified, content with who we are:-
For if we can find
this freedom then our success will mean something, our joy will be complete,
life will make sense.
And Today Jesus is
saying I am willing - and like Elijah he is calling us to wash in the Jordon -
which I am saying represents the Church - we are to immerse ourselves in the
life of the church - Namaan thought that this was a silly idea - do You?
Namaan, this morning
God is calling you to as simple faith that will make you whole, he is calling
you to a simple obedience to cleanse ands revive you - a life immersed in the
Church of God - as we accept the bread and the wine as we participate in the Eucharist
so Christ is restoring us -
but like Namaan we
fail to accept something so simple - saying "aren't we capable of finding
fulfilment in our own success in our own self motivation in our actions and
deeds of doing good ( the rivers of Canaan - are like the philosophies sand the
ideologies of this world). THE River of the Jordon is the Church -
Just like Namaan asked if the rivers of his
home country were not good enough;
so often we seek the things of the world to
empower and uplift us:-
"Human rights,
self motivation, Guru's, fashion, possessions, the right social circle, secular
heroes, - surely these things we ask our selves, surely these things will bring
me the fulfilment that I seek -
Again the Servant in us must speak and we must
listen - Just as Namaans servant spoke the truth and said if the Prophet had
told you to do something difficult you would have done it - how much more should you do something simple;
something simple -
Namaam was a great
and powerful man - you need to recognise that you are too!
Namaan was in need
of healing - you need to recognise that you are too!
Namaan questioned
whether the simplicity of the Prophets command was sufficient to heal him - you need to conquer that in your own life -
you need to go out in faith and accept the small things of obedience - that God
calls you to.
There are seven
washings in the river Jordon - that Namaan was called to -
I want to suggest
seven things you can do in the Church - to receive healing:
One - Live true to your Baptism
- resist evil and turn to God for meaning in life;
Two - Read the scriptures daily - learn from God listen to him;
Three - Pray daily - build relationship with
God, bring Him your needs, your wishes, ask Him his will and His plan for
you;
Four - Fellowship with other
Christians and share your life's journey together;
Five -participate in the life of
the Church - participate in the Eucharist - Worship God, receive from God;
Six - give for the work of God's
kingdom, tithe and give thank offerings for all the good that God has
given you.
Seven- Service - do something to
serve God through his church - even something small but do something.
And so Namaan I say
to you today - Just as St Paul said that
we must run the race with a goal in mind - I say to you run your race with
wisdom and with purpose - live true to your Baptism - immerse yourself in the things
of God, and the prize of eternal life will be yours.
Amen.
Based on the scripture readings for the 6th Sunday of the Year 12 Feb 2012:
2 Kings 5:1-14,
1 Cor 9:24-27
May I speak in the
Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
For many of us the simplicity of faith in Christ is a
stumbling block, like Namaan we want to do something great to earn honour and
fame and success and good fortune. Just
Like Elijah says to Naaman and the Jesus to the leper - simple obedience is all
that is required.
We need to see the
Namaan in us as we seek to grow in wisdom and understanding this morning.
Firstly Namaan was a
great man, a commander of the army of Syria and he was blessed by God -
scripture tells us that his successes even over Israel were a blessing from
God. We all live under God's blessing and we all have greatness within us. Very often we experience this outside of our
so called religious journey. We are prone to dualism and this is when we see
our secular lives and our spiritual lives as parallel or even divergent
journey's. This was the case with Namaan. He wasn't a commander of God's
armies, he was a Syrian, he wasn't one of the so called chosen nation, yet
scripture tells us he was blessed by God - his successes were a gift from God.
Often we journey as Namaans through life - seeing our secular success and our
Christian journey as different unrelated parts of our lives.
Often we go as far
as seeing that the good in life is from the world and the struggles are from
our faith. Lets be honest - it is easier to journey in the complacency of
secularism. It is much harder to seek to do what God has called us to do.
Secularism enables us to be selfish , self centred and carefree. But God challenges us to care for
others to evaluate our lives and to do what is right.
We see in the text
that no matter great, influential or powerful we are - sin,
- represented by leprosy here, puts a stain on our lives and takes away the
sense of victory that we feel in the successes of our lives.- leprosy caused
one to lose dignity, status, hope, joy, peace: Leprosy made one unacceptable :-
our sin does the same - our contamination from the effects of life that steal
our joy, steal our pride, steal our dignity. We all live with various degrees
of shame , of insecurity, of feelings of insignificance that overshadow our
success and make us feel less than we are.
Like Namaan we are
great - we are powerful, we are successful, but like Namaan we all have
something in our lives that we wish we could get rid of, that we wish we could
conquer that we wish we could overcome.
Today like voice of
the servant of Naaman's wife, there is a voice speaking to us saying - there is
hope, and it is in God's Good News it is with the truth of his Word - that Jesus saves, Jesus sets us
free, Jesus is the way....
Like the leper we
need to approach God today and say - If you choose you can make me clean - whole, without fear, courageous ,
acceptable, honourable, dignified, content with who we are:-
For if we can find
this freedom then our success will mean something, our joy will be complete,
life will make sense.
And Today Jesus is
saying I am willing - and like Elijah he is calling us to wash in the Jordon -
which I am saying represents the Church - we are to immerse ourselves in the
life of the church - Namaan thought that this was a silly idea - do You?
Namaan, this morning
God is calling you to as simple faith that will make you whole, he is calling
you to a simple obedience to cleanse ands revive you - a life immersed in the
Church of God - as we accept the bread and the wine as we participate in the Eucharist
so Christ is restoring us -
but like Namaan we
fail to accept something so simple - saying "aren't we capable of finding
fulfilment in our own success in our own self motivation in our actions and
deeds of doing good ( the rivers of Canaan - are like the philosophies sand the
ideologies of this world). THE River of the Jordon is the Church -
Just like Namaan asked if the rivers of his
home country were not good enough;
so often we seek the things of the world to
empower and uplift us:-
"Human rights,
self motivation, Guru's, fashion, possessions, the right social circle, secular
heroes, - surely these things we ask our selves, surely these things will bring
me the fulfilment that I seek -
Again the Servant in us must speak and we must
listen - Just as Namaans servant spoke the truth and said if the Prophet had
told you to do something difficult you would have done it - how much more should you do something simple;
something simple -
Namaam was a great
and powerful man - you need to recognise that you are too!
Namaan was in need
of healing - you need to recognise that you are too!
Namaan questioned
whether the simplicity of the Prophets command was sufficient to heal him - you need to conquer that in your own life -
you need to go out in faith and accept the small things of obedience - that God
calls you to.
There are seven
washings in the river Jordon - that Namaan was called to -
I want to suggest
seven things you can do in the Church - to receive healing:
One - Live true to your Baptism
- resist evil and turn to God for meaning in life;
Two - Read the scriptures daily - learn from God listen to him;
Three - Pray daily - build relationship with
God, bring Him your needs, your wishes, ask Him his will and His plan for
you;
Four - Fellowship with other
Christians and share your life's journey together;
Five -participate in the life of
the Church - participate in the Eucharist - Worship God, receive from God;
Six - give for the work of God's
kingdom, tithe and give thank offerings for all the good that God has
given you.
Seven- Service - do something to
serve God through his church - even something small but do something.
And so Namaan I say
to you today - Just as St Paul said that
we must run the race with a goal in mind - I say to you run your race with
wisdom and with purpose - live true to your Baptism - immerse yourself in the things
of God, and the prize of eternal life will be yours.
Amen.
Based on the scripture readings for the 6th Sunday of the Year 12 Feb 2012:
2 Kings 5:1-14,
1 Corinthinas 9:24-27
Mk1: 40-45
May I speak in the
Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
For many of us the simplicity of faith in Christ is a
stumbling block, like Namaan we want to do something great to earn honour and
fame and success and good fortune. Just
Like Elijah says to Naaman and the Jesus to the leper - simple obedience is all
that is required.
We need to see the
Namaan in us as we seek to grow in wisdom and understanding this morning.
Firstly Namaan was a
great man, a commander of the army of Syria and he was blessed by God -
scripture tells us that his successes even over Israel were a blessing from
God. We all live under God's blessing and we all have greatness within us. Very often we experience this outside of our
so called religious journey. We are prone to dualism and this is when we see
our secular lives and our spiritual lives as parallel or even divergent
journey's. This was the case with Namaan. He wasn't a commander of God's
armies, he was a Syrian, he wasn't one of the so called chosen nation, yet
scripture tells us he was blessed by God - his successes were a gift from God.
Often we journey as Namaans through life - seeing our secular success and our
Christian journey as different unrelated parts of our lives.
Often we go as far
as seeing that the good in life is from the world and the struggles are from
our faith. Lets be honest - it is easier to journey in the complacency of
secularism. It is much harder to seek to do what God has called us to do.
Secularism enables us to be selfish , self centred and carefree. But God challenges us to care for
others to evaluate our lives and to do what is right.
We see in the text
that no matter great, influential or powerful we are - sin,
- represented by leprosy here, puts a stain on our lives and takes away the
sense of victory that we feel in the successes of our lives.- leprosy caused
one to lose dignity, status, hope, joy, peace: Leprosy made one unacceptable :-
our sin does the same - our contamination from the effects of life that steal
our joy, steal our pride, steal our dignity. We all live with various degrees
of shame , of insecurity, of feelings of insignificance that overshadow our
success and make us feel less than we are.
Like Namaan we are
great - we are powerful, we are successful, but like Namaan we all have
something in our lives that we wish we could get rid of, that we wish we could
conquer that we wish we could overcome.
Today like voice of
the servant of Naaman's wife, there is a voice speaking to us saying - there is
hope, and it is in God's Good News it is with the truth of his Word - that Jesus saves, Jesus sets us
free, Jesus is the way....
Like the leper we
need to approach God today and say - If you choose you can make me clean - whole, without fear, courageous ,
acceptable, honourable, dignified, content with who we are:-
For if we can find
this freedom then our success will mean something, our joy will be complete,
life will make sense.
And Today Jesus is
saying I am willing - and like Elijah he is calling us to wash in the Jordon -
which I am saying represents the Church - we are to immerse ourselves in the
life of the church - Namaan thought that this was a silly idea - do You?
Namaan, this morning
God is calling you to as simple faith that will make you whole, he is calling
you to a simple obedience to cleanse ands revive you - a life immersed in the
Church of God - as we accept the bread and the wine as we participate in the Eucharist
so Christ is restoring us -
but like Namaan we
fail to accept something so simple - saying "aren't we capable of finding
fulfilment in our own success in our own self motivation in our actions and
deeds of doing good ( the rivers of Canaan - are like the philosophies sand the
ideologies of this world). THE River of the Jordon is the Church -
Just like Namaan asked if the rivers of his
home country were not good enough;
so often we seek the things of the world to
empower and uplift us:-
"Human rights,
self motivation, Guru's, fashion, possessions, the right social circle, secular
heroes, - surely these things we ask our selves, surely these things will bring
me the fulfilment that I seek -
Again the Servant in us must speak and we must
listen - Just as Namaans servant spoke the truth and said if the Prophet had
told you to do something difficult you would have done it - how much more should you do something simple;
something simple -
Namaam was a great
and powerful man - you need to recognise that you are too!
Namaan was in need
of healing - you need to recognise that you are too!
Namaan questioned
whether the simplicity of the Prophets command was sufficient to heal him - you need to conquer that in your own life -
you need to go out in faith and accept the small things of obedience - that God
calls you to.
There are seven
washings in the river Jordon - that Namaan was called to -
I want to suggest
seven things you can do in the Church - to receive healing:
One - Live true to your Baptism
- resist evil and turn to God for meaning in life;
Two - Read the scriptures daily - learn from God listen to him;
Three - Pray daily - build relationship with
God, bring Him your needs, your wishes, ask Him his will and His plan for
you;
Four - Fellowship with other
Christians and share your life's journey together;
Five -participate in the life of
the Church - participate in the Eucharist - Worship God, receive from God;
Six - give for the work of God's
kingdom, tithe and give thank offerings for all the good that God has
given you.
Seven- Service - do something to
serve God through his church - even something small but do something.
And so Namaan I say
to you today - Just as St Paul said that
we must run the race with a goal in mind - I say to you run your race with
wisdom and with purpose - live true to your Baptism - immerse yourself in the things
of God, and the prize of eternal life will be yours.
Amen.
