This morning, being Sunday, we got to early Kirk. Our church is not like the Duomo — which is the photograph above. There are no works of art within, nor relics, nor (as the photo shows) relics encased in works of art. Instead we have plain benches and a school hall. One of the local GPs spoke on a text not used today, about water. He said that there are three kinds of wells which we reach for: the first is our own strengths and abilities and ability to improve ourselves, but there we fail. The second is our relationships with others, but that also fails. And the third is God, and he does not fail
Following church we went onto the ridges of the harbour for what ended up being a spectacular but cold walk. There is a beauty within nature which we merely imitate. Our works of art can be great and glorious, but the world is greater. So the second part of worship this morning was me muttering to myself “this is amazing”.
God is far more amazing that nature, or best we can do as humans. And the passages not preached on this day discuss his actions on our behalf. In the end, our trust has to be in Christ, for we are not faithful enough: we break ourselves, but Christ chose to be broken for us.
1Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. 3And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
6For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person — though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. 8But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. 9Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. 10For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. 11But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
1There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law – indeed it cannot, 8and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
25“Very truly, I tell you, the hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself; 27and he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28Do not be astonished at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29and will come out – those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.
The trouble is that we continually look to the flesh and look for the rules, the ways of keeping score. We try to measure our righteousness, we try to set up a heirarchy of sin. We forget this is nonsense. We are all equally guilty. It is like a little kid saying “he did it” when you have just corrected them.
Our hope is never in our works or how righteous we are, but in Christ. When Paul says we need to be spiritual he is not denying the law, nor the rules, but saying that we need to concentrate on Christ, and not on what we will eat, or fall into Gear Acquisition Syndrome.
We should neither materialists nor hedonists be. There is nothing wrong with the works we do, nor the phone I took that photo with (or the cameras I took the “real shots” with/ Or the wind, or the fact I could drive me and the boys 30 km to do the walk in the first place. There is nothing wrong with enjoying the lunch we have just eaten. There is nothing wrong with enjoying the love of your spouse, or taking pride in the accomplishments of your children.
But that is not who we worship. The text points to Christ. Him we worship, he is the person who should be our highest meditation, and he is the person who we should model our lives on. For we are made spiritually alive only in him, and his actions make him worthy of our honour. The materialist denies that which he cannot see and touch: that leads to a loss of any interpersonal space and any sense of intimacy, of knowing another. No amount of pleasure can cover the damage this does to one’s soul.
And when we fall and do not keep our word, he keeps his and draws us back to him.
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UPDATE.
Steve Huff, who I linked to above, is often mentioned on the other blog, most recently in a technical discussion about a fairly cheap camera, the Nikon V1, which he mentions in this discussion.
Over the past 5 years one thing I learned is that there are many more of us into GEAR AQUISITION than PHOTOGRAPHY! It is indeed a real disease and one that can not easily be shaken. In fact, most of us reading this post right now (I said most, not ALL) are more into the hobby of buying and using cameras than the actual art of photography! This is 100% true though some may be in denial. There are cameras that came out many years ago that one could use and get amazing results with for everyday photography. The newest, latest, greatest and most expensive camera body or lens is not truly needed. In fact, I have many more keepers and faves from my Nikon 1 camera that set me back $200 than I do some $3000 cameras I have owned but many of us love new gear so much we want to constantly trade in and up to the latest and greatest so we can get the thrill of the new camera or lens!
FACT: A decent camera even from 5 years ago can serve 95% of us just as well as a new camera that just came out last week.
But that is not the point for those of us who enjoy and appreciate the day when a new camera arrives from the big brown truck just waiting to be opened, fondled and shot with for the 1st time. Admit it..camera delivery day provides a rush that gives many of us a real pleasure and happiness. The same thing happens with others.. like some Women with shoes, clothes or handbags. Same happens for some Men with HiFi, cars or electronic gadgets such as cel phones and tablets and even guitars and amps. It is a way of life and how we have been programmed over the past 10-20 years. Everything is changeable and disposable.
This is one of my bugbears: I am a geek and I like new stuff. At present, that includes new lenses, but not new camera systems — although the medium format camera is one of those things I like (and I have one, film based, 30 years old, that takes shots like this — link is a very big file.). But sometimes it is forced on you. This week I had a chat with the IT department.
Them: “Your laptop is due for replacement”
Me” “Lightweight and something I can put Arch Linux onto, thanks. Preferably not Windows Eight”
Them:’We get these in bulk and they are still running Win 7″/
Me: Cool. do you want the old one back? Hang on, you sent be specs and they say the OS is Win 8 Pro”
Them: “So it is”
Me: I hate windows. Is there a rational alternative?
Them: “We do have a macpro”
Me: “That will do. At least the OS is rational”
The only virtue I can see for Windows 8 is that it forces fellowship as you spend hours trying to fix the default system so your friends and relatives have something useful. I’m now suggesting that everyone wait until their macnhines break and cannot be repaired…. and get a Mac, or go to a linux vendor (ZaReason, ThinkPenguin, or System76) or hold their nose and get a chromebook.
UPDATE 2.
Photos from the Sunday walk are up.
