SERVICES IN JUNE, JULY & AUGUST 2009

CONGREGATIONAL  RECORD

Baptism:        5th Apr           Hamish Robert William Dunbar, son of Chris and Kathryn Dunbar, and grandson of Bryan and Helen Johnston

Baptism:        3rd May         Luke John McClelland, son of Sarah and Ian McClelland.

Death:           22nd Jan        Mrs. Maureen McLeod of 3 Piney Hills, Belfast BT9 5NR

Death:           22nd Feb       Mr. James Boyd of 34 Dub Lane, Belfast BT9 5NB

Death:           27th Feb        Mrs. Violet Foden of Cederhurst Lodge Nursing Home Belfast BT8 4RH

 Death:            21st Mar      Mrs Rae Carson, 9 Malone Heights, BT9 5PG (District 18).

 Change of Address:            Mrs Lillian Ross from 8 Bladon Court Belfast BT9 5JP to 7 Sandringham Court, Bangor BT20 5JE  (District 25)

 Change of Address:            Mrs Sue Crane from 173 Malone Road (District 8) to Bryansford Nursing Home, Bangor.

Change of Address:            Mr George Harron      17 Sandymount, Lambeg (District 19) to 10 Hawthorne Drive, Portadown, BT63 5LW (District 25).

Change of Address:            Mrs Margaret Smith   3 Broomhill Park (District2) to 5 Malone View Road Belfast BT9 5PH (District 3).

Disjunction:                        John and Pat Farmer to Hillsborough Presbyterian

Disjunction:                        Lorraine (Jones) Edwards to Fisherwick Presbyterian

Disjunction:                        Dorrie Dowling to Harmony Hill Presbyterian

New Members:                  Miss Suzanne and Melanie Rice, 46 Magdala Street Belfast BT7 1PU, (District 4)

New Members:                  David and Audrey Glasgow of 15 The Hermitage, Drumbeg Road. Belfast BT17 9LE (District 19)

 ALEX’S LETTER

Dear McCrackeni,

            When I moved into our first house, I was given a tool box.  Inside were hammers, nails, wrenches, something called an ‘Allen key,’ a level, a measuring tape and several other things I couldn’t name.  The tool box was a very thoughtful gift because I was coming straight from seminary, to which I had gone straight from university, to which I had gone straight from a Manse.  Until that first day in that new house, I had never had to do any repairs myself or construct anything on my own.  Sure, I had hammered a nail and done some manual labour here and there, but I’d never had a collection of tools that I’d learned to use on something that belonged to me.  But now that I had that tool box, there was no longer any excuse for refusing the responsibility and doing what I myself could do to improve the space around me.  Moreover, I felt
inspired to do things around the house, and to build things I couldn’t have before.

            You and I now sit with our own church, and with a wide array of tools.  Over the last few months we have been given a vision statement from the Session as well as a Report from the Consultation Panel.  Soon to arrive are the Presbytery’s Mission Plan, the denomination’s guide on how to construct our own Congregational Mission Plan, the Gujarat Team’s project proposal, and our Development Committee’s report on desired changes to our facilities.  A lot of work and a lot of thought have gone into each one of these documents.  They are tools handed to us so that we can improve this space, this fellowship, this church’s mission.

            The arrival of these particular tools at this particular time comes with a large degree of providence.  Because of the need to upgrade our heating system and address issues with the church’s stone work (the buildings are fast showing their age), and because our witness is becoming increasingly crucial in this secularised culture, we find ourselves needing to address important matters right away.  Thank God we have these tools at hand.

            For we can no longer put off the responsibility that comes with these gifts. The vision of a Neighbourhood Church must now materialise; the recommendations from the Consultation Panel must now be strongly considered; the mission plans for this area must now be actualised.  The congregation’s own mission plan – with its goals for growing the Kingdom both near and far – must be formed.  And the decisions for how to improve our buildings and grounds must be made.

            Some of our work in the next few months with these tools will be in the area of repairs and maintenance – both physical and spiritual. A new coat of paint here, a reinforcing of foundations there.  God has already blessed us with a beautiful church and a strong church family.  With these gifts comes the responsibility to protect and improve what we possess.  But perhaps, with these useful tools given so thoughtfully to us, you and I will be inspired to do more – to not just maintain the structure we have, but to build something new to God’s glory that we couldn’t have before.

Tinkering away,

Alex

Session Digest 

At its 21 May meeting, the Kirk Session, after prayer and bible study:

• Reviewed the Presbytery’s consultation report and set up a team to analyse its findings more fully

• Agreed the use of our halls for a few one-off community events

• Reviewed the 75th Anniversary events with great approval

• Agreed that McCracken should be a ‘Fairtrade’ Church

• Acknowledged that McCracken should do more to reach out to our ‘school-leavers’ and other youngish folk

• Commissioned a group to look into how McCracken could offer ministries to people with learning difficulties (and their families) within this area of Belfast

• Approved the India Team’s proposal for the Gujarat trip and ‘Getting to Know You’ project

• Set up the Summer Commission to handle minor decisions over the coming months. 

Peace and Peace Making News - May 2009

The main activity of the Peace and Peacemaking Group has centred around the Gospel in Conflict Course.  Five two hour sessions have been undertaken by twenty members from McCracken and six from the Arnold Frank Memorial Church, Taughmonagh.  At least half of the participants attended most, if not all, of the sessions.

Under the informed and skilled leadership of Laura Coulter, Peace and Peacemaking Officer, Church House, and Karen Jardine of the Evangelical Alliance, a safe and secure atmosphere was brought about which not only encouraged most, if indeed, not all present to contribute to discussions but also the representatives of each of our two congregations to intermingle to become one cohesive group.

Following on from this, it is hoped that the link between our two churches might be strengthened and further developed for the benefit of our congregations and neighbours alike.

http://www.presbyterianireland.org/peacemaking/index.html

THANKS - McCRACKEN PW GROUP ORGANISING COMMITTEE:   would like to thank all PW members, church members and all their friends for their generous contributions to the recent Clothing Collection.  This effort raised £500 for PW Causes.

Thank you very much to those members who kindly supplied the flowers for the church during the month, Olivia Lyttle, Anna Scott and Janet Scott

http://www.presbyterianireland.org/boards/pw.html

THE SOUTH BELFAST PRESBYTERY

Congregations of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland are grouped into 19 Presbyteries throughout Ireland.  The chief officers within the Presbytery are the Moderator, who acts as Chairman and the Clerk who acts as secretary to the Presbytery.  The present Moderator of South Belfast Presbytery is Rev. W E J Orr of St. John’s, Newtownbreda and the Clerk is Mr. Cecil Graham of Ulsterville Congregation.  Each Presbytery has a membership composed of all the Ministers and a representative elder from each congregation who serves for 2 years.   Presbytery meetings are held in various churches within the Presbytery on the first Tuesday of each month (except for June, July and August).

The Presbytery is the governing body of the churches within its area.  Its purpose is to assist congregations with vacancies, ordination of elders, licensing of students, property structure, resources and overall financial matters etc.  To this end Commissions (or sub committees) are appointed.  Members are also appointed to various Boards of the  PCI such as Business and Finance, Union Mission, Social Witness, Youth and Childrens Ministry, Education, Student Training, World Development and United Appeal to mention a few.

Based on information provided by congregations in 2009, the Presbytery has set up a 5 year Mission Plan.  This in turn will relate to Congregational Mission Plans.  It is based on realistic assessments recognizing that each congregation is the prime vehicle for Outreach Mission activities within its local community.  A combined initiative of the South Belfast Presbytery, the Presbyterian Board in Ireland and May Street congregation is to revitalize the witness of the Church in Belfast City Centre.

Member Churches of the South Belfast Presbytery are Ballycairn, Belvoir, Berry Street, Cooke Centenary, Dunmurry, Finaghy, Lowe Memorial, Fisherwick, Fitzroy, Great Victoria Street, Kilmakee, Malone, May Street, McCracken Memorial, Newtownbreda, St. John’s, Richview, Saintfield Road, Taughmonagh, Townsend Street, Ulsterville and Windsor.

Winston Irwin

SUMMER DIARY DATES

 McCracken Luncheon Circle  

• June 9th & 23rd

• July 7th & 28th

• August 11th & 25th. 

The lunch will be served at 12.30pm sharp in the Dowling Hall.  If you would like to join us or cancel your place please phone Jenny Smyth 9066 5837 or Maureen Carson 9020 2504.

Church Opening Times 

• June 9th & 23rd from 11.45am to 1.45pm for anyone who wishes to spend a quiet time. 

 Coffee Drop In

• June, July & August Everyone is welcome to the Minor Hall each Wednesday from 10.30 until 12 noon.

General Assembly 2009

Monday 1st June Opening Night 7pm. 

Business meetings Tuesday 2nd until Thursday 4th June.

Youth Night Saturday 6th June 7.45pm. 

Kids Praise Party Sat 6th 3pm Carnmoney Presbyterian

 Prayer time will finish on 24th June but will recommence on 2nd September.

Possible Sale of 21 Balmoral Court

Don't be surprised to see a new 'For Sale' sign out on the Lisburn Road.  Because of the mounting costs arising from replacing our heating system and repairing the stone work to the back of the Church, the Congregational Committee has decided to look into the possibility of selling the apartment at 21 Balmoral Court.  Advertisements for the property will appear in the near future, though we hasten to add that no sale can be completed without the congregation's expressed approval at a special meeting.  If and when appropriate offers are made, a congregational meeting will be called so that the matter can be deliberated and a decision taken.  Please contact Alex with any questions or concerns. 

Outreach Committee News

Dear McCrackenite

The weekend of May 8^th and 9^th weather-wise was no different from the rest of May – cold, wet and windy – but over 100 Presbyterians gathered from all over Ireland at Greenmount College for the annual PCI Mission Board Conference.  Few ventured out to see the beautiful gardens, but inside the atmosphere was warm.

The theme of this year’s conference, “The World our Parish” was rooted biblically by Graham Connor in his keynote addresses when for me he highlighted new truths from that familiar story of Christ meeting the woman of Samaria at the well.  We had the choice of several seminars and I chose “Befriending the stranger”, where we were addressed by that rare species, a polish protestant living in Northern Ireland, and “Re-tyred for Mission!”   The latter was an eye-opener – it was facilitated by Marie Cane, a retired school teacher who has led for many years a team from Islandmagee who go to the Ukraine to teach English. In this seminar we had retired teachers, business men, and housewives who had served in various ways, sometimes filling in for a missionary at short notice. The conference was sealed and cemented by the communion service, led by the convenor of the Board of Mission Overseas. Rev John Hanna, and the Bread and Cup were distributed by Christians from all over the world, studying at our College.

To return to McCracken affairs, Outreach Committee has put 3 issues to Session for consideration, all of which I am pleased to say Session is taking forward.  There are around 4000 churches in the UK registered as “A Fairtrade Church”: hopefully soon McCracken will join that band of churches. We already support Fairtrade by encouraging our  members  to do so and by buying Fairtrade goods when we can.  In the future we will buy Fairtrade tea and coffee for all church events and encourage (but not require) those organisations using our halls to do likewise.

The second issue raised in Session was the question of maintaining contact with our young people when they leave home for University or further training.  We admire Leslie and Margaret Hully for keeping in touch with junior badminton members, and the Bible class and Sunday School for welcoming ex-pats back at Christmas with the pancake breakfast.  However, Session feels that we should be in more frequent contact and we are looking at means to involve the whole congregation and remembering  the bereft parents too!

The third issue addressed by Session was Church provision for children and adults with learning difficulties.  I’m ashamed to say that I have only recently considered the role of the church in the lives of the 33,000 people living in Northern Ireland with learning difficulties.  No one congregation has sufficient numbers to justify a special programme, yet preliminary research indicates that there is no church activity tailored to this need in the South Belfast area.  Fortunately in McCracken we have individuals with professional expertise in the field and Session has decided to set up a working group to report in the autumn with an action plan.

Finally this brings me to Christian Aid week – I don’t have the final figure for our collection, but at this stage I’m sure you’d like me to thank our collectors who did a magnificent job, battling against that disabling phrase “the credit crunch”.  I’m reminded of the great missionary William Carey, who didn’t give up when times got tough in his 41 years in India – he said:-

“I was once young and now I am old, but not once have I been witness to God’s failure to supply my need when first I had given for the furtherance of his work.  He has never failed in his promise, so I cannot fail in my service to him.”  Happy Hols!  Hope Summer suns are glowing!

Ingrid

(on behalf of the Outreach Committee)

McCracken Memorial (PCI Church)       CNI Gujarat 2010

Purpose of visit

A team from McCracken Memorial will visit the Gujarat diocese of the Church of North India (CNI) in January 2010.  The team sees themselves as ambassadors in the biblical sense ( 2 Corinthians 5:20), acting on behalf of the congregation to meet with Bishop Vinod Malaviya in Ahmedabad, engage with the work being done through congregations in the diocese, and return to McCracken with a link established between McCracken and a congregation/ministry in the diocese.  The possible link is with the CNI congregation in Wagphur, who already has been supported by the McCracken community in the building of their new church and who Alex, our minister has visited in January,2008.

Why do this?

By connecting with Christians in Gujarat, McCracken can witness burgeoning Christianity within a context very different from our own and receive inspiration and direction for our mission work both near and far. In 1900, Europe was home to 75% of the world`s Christian population: now less than 25% of Christians live in Europe. We look to Christian communities in parts of the world other than our own, and to the vibrant faith expressed in those communities. If we establish links with Gujarat, will that not enrich the whole of our congregational spiritual life?

Though such connections can be established almost anywhere in Christendom and while a link closer by might be fruitful and easier to maintain, the link with Gujarat offers specific benefits.  It continues the historic ties between the PCI and the diocese; it strengthens the personal bonds McCracken has had with the region and its people. Gujarat is a dynamic area where Christians represent a small but growing minority; encouragement and support from outsiders like us can be extremely heartening and mutually beneficial and preliminary work by individuals has already been done.

It should also be noted that we are looking to the future and to our young people, many of whom will be working on a global basis.  Gujarat, while having many poor, is one of the most industrialized Indian states, and many of our young may find themselves on work visits there.  How wonderful, if through their home congregation, they had already established links with a congregation in Gujarat and with the large Gujarati population in Britain.  In addition the Church of North India is an ecumenical church, formed from several denominations, carrying on several traditions, but united in its witness.

 The Project   “Getting to know you”  (sub-theme – Mutual Education)

The team project will be phased and will be based on the long term aim of a close and reciprocal bond between a congregation in Gujarat, possibly Wagphur, and McCracken.

Phase 1 – previsit          The need for prayer

A mechanism will be put in place for congregational prayer throughout all phases of the project, starting in the earliest planning phase and continuing after the visit. 

We are mindful of the advice in Proverbs (chap 19.v21)

“many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails”

but are heartened by Paul’s word’s in  Phillipians (chap 4 v13)

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”.

The need to communicate to the congregation

Since the team is acting on behalf of the congregation, members need to know and discuss at an early stage the long term plans for McCracken.  The Chronicle, the website and announcements will be used to give news of developments.

The need to get expert advice

The team will particularly be seeking advice from the following groups:-.Bishop Vinod and the staff at diocesan headquarters; Wagphur congregation; Mission overseas Office Church House; Gujarat ex-missionaries association; contacts in Gujarat made by PCI India team 2006; Christopher and Nivedita Macwan, PCI missionaries working among Gujaratis in Wembley and the McCracken Malawi team

Sharing our lives with Gujarat

A preparatory DVD (McCracken Life and Work) will be made of all church weekly activities from worship on Sunday through to Junior Badminton on Saturday.  In addition daily lives, both at work and at home, with representatives of the congregation of all age groups will be filmed.  This DVD will be sent to Bishop Vinod and to Wagphur in advance so that they will be informed ahead of our visit.

Invitation to Christopher and Nivedita Macwan

Christopher and Nivedita Macwan have been working amongst Gujaratis in the Wembly area of north London since 1989 and Christopher is chaplain to two hospitals and Heathrow Airport.  The Macwans will be invited to McCracken for a weekend in the autumn to share their knowledge of Gujarat with the team and the congregation.  PCI Children and Youth Board has sent many teams of PCI young people to work with the Macwan’s in Wembley.

Commissioning the Team       It is hoped that the team will be commissioned at a special service in December at the end of our 75^th anniversary year, with the aim of emphasising our historical link with Gujarat and affirming our aspiration of renewing those links and forming a long term bond.

Phase 2 - Gujarat Jan 18- Feb 1,2010

The team on their way to Ahmedabad hope to visit St George’s Chapel Heathrow where Christopher Macwan is one of the chaplains.  On arrival in Ahmedabad the team will spend the first week visiting Gujarat diocesan headquarters which is in the old PCI missionary compound, the Gujarat United School of Theology, the Gujarat Auxiliary of the Bible Society of India and the Gujarat Christian Service Society.  The team will also visit the orphanage at Jiwandwar and the Presbyterian Historical sites.  On Sundays throughout the trip they will be at the disposal of Bishop Vinod.

Continuing the theme “Getting to know you”, the team will be based in Lusadia/Wagphur for the 2^nd week and it is hoped will participate in all congregational activities, including worship, group meetings, and familiarise themselves with the congregational culture and church governance. If there is the opportunity, members of the team will spend a day “shadowing” a member of the Wagphur congregation e.g. working in the fields or learning Indian cooking in a home.

Investigative Project

The overall programme has an educative purpose.  The first week will be spent becoming more familiar with the history of the first PCI missionaries in India and learning about all that CNI are doing at the present time in Gujarat.  At Lusadia there is a primary school, a technical institute equipped by PCI and a clinic.  These may present long-term opportunities for close links with McCracken e.g. by funding bursaries etc.  The intention is to learn about the work of these institutions and to take advice how we might support them best in the future.  It should be noted that CNI pastors are poorly paid and cannot afford theological books etc: McCracken long-term might support ministers or students  for the ministry from the district of  Lusadia.

Action at the end of the visit to Wagphur The team would aim to:present a financial gift from McCracken to their project of choice; present a gift for their new church of historical value, signifying the bond between McCracken and Wagphur; issue a “provisional” invitation for a return visit to McCracken and write a report for Session

Phase 3

In the summer of 2011 i.e. 18 months after the McCracken India team visit, an invitation should be issued to the Wagphur congregation for some of their members to visit McCracken.  At the same time Christopher and Nivedita Macwan should also visit to help bond the congregations.

 Phase 4

In January 2013 a group from McCracken (mixed age) goes to Wagphur

 Fundraising

The individuals in the team will finance themselves.  However fundraising is essential t o see this through.  The advantage of phasing the project is that fundraising does not have to be done all at once.  It is not known what project the diocese or Wagphur have in mind as most needy but it is estimated that the team should aim to take £5000 - £10000 with them and then in between phases, necessary money could be raised.  The team is prepared to undertake fundraising separately from the usual congregational channels and would not wish to encroach on existing commitments or interfere with McCracken’s necessary expenditure e.g. on structural repairs to our buildings.

Our hope for the Future!             

Phase X, Y, Z “ad infinitum”

Reciprocal visits with support for reciprocal projects.  Our present young people and future generations of McCrackenites can get a taster of Gujarat in London before visiting  Wagphur, and then benefit  from the two bonded congregations in Gujarat and in Northern Ireland.

THE MAIN GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS NOT TO BUILD STRUCTURES  BUT TO BUILD RELATIONSHIPS

(Membership of the Team:- The team membership has not been finalised but those who have made a definite commitment are the following – The Minister; Martin Brown; Denise Hughes; Michael Montgomery; Susan Moore; Alastair Rankin; Gillian Rankin; David Scott; Ingrid Thompson.)

 McCracken DVD for India

The India team is going to be creating an introductory DVD of life at McCracken to send in advance of our visit to Gujarat.  You will no doubt see Michael Montgomery behind the camera in the months to come at special events and on Sunday morning.  Don't be alarmed!. He won't be obtrusive in any way and he will only make us look great. As this documentary will be produced and distributed, the protection of our children quite rightfully needs to be considered.  If you're a parent and haven't already given permission to the Sunday School leaders to have your child photographed or filmed, we would ask that you give your consent or let your preference be known. Many thanks and SMILE!

THE IMAGE OF GOD REBORN

Isaiah 6: 1-8; John 3: 1-9

McCracken Memorial Presbyterian

7 June 2009

            When the intrepid explorer Captain James Cook first arrived on the Hawaiian islands in 1778, some of the natives thought he was a god.  So alien in his colour and dress, so in command of the sea and the wind, and so full of power and confidence, it really wouldn’t be that unreasonable to suggest that Cook and his mates possessed some divine attributes.  But when Cook continued to demand provisions from the Hawaiians – the best they had to give, when his men treated the women of the islands as prizes and all the natives as possessions – the image the Hawaiians held of the ‘divine’ was altered quite a bit.  And when Cook came back the next year, he was beaten to death. 

            The Hawaiians knew that the behaviour the whites exhibited, the arrogance, the sexism, the abuse of power did not display the characteristics of a god – at least not a god you would want to obey.  Indeed, such traits were the opposite of divine – they were base and immoral.  Lifeless.  And from Cook’s day until this day, the natives of Hawaii have called light-skinned people who look like Cook ‘haole’ [HOW-lee] – which means ‘without breath or wind or spirit.’[1]  Those who acted like Cook were spiritless.  Not like God at all. 

Our Conception of the Divine

            And while the murder of Cook is no sign of a firm grasp on holiness, the Hawaiians of 1779 seemed to have been a bit ahead of the Romans and Palestinians of 33AD and even of us in 2009.  Their conception of what is divine was closer to the strange truth than what we’re often willing to believe.  When Jesus Christ was killed on that Good Friday it was because our image of what God is like had yet to be reborn.  If Christ were King, if he were the Messiah that had been promised – then he would be powerful, authoritative, invincible, unstoppable.  Right?  But a carpenter who heals and preaches and hands himself over for crucifixion out of love?  That’s no god.  That’s a sap. 

            Even today, with all our centuries of Christian teaching, we still associate strength with brute force, and ‘God-like’ power with the idea of supreme subjection – not humility, not compassion, not selflessness.  In Christ, you and I know that God is love, but we have failed to let that new conception of God change the way we live, the way we act, the way we view power and strength.  It’s still pretty dog-eat-dog out there.  We’re still quick to be arrogant, sexist, racist, abusive – still prone to solve our problems through intimidation and threat rather than by solidarity and example.   The selflessness displayed on the beaches of Normandy, the weaponless courage of Tiananmen Square, the peaceful revolution of Poland 20 years ago this week are still exceptions to the rule – rare events still worth celebrating as sublime.  That sort of behaviour has yet to become the norm.  A week of Westminster politics and General Assembly decision-making makes that painfully clear.  We Christians claim to follow the Crucified One who is God, but our actions continue to show us to be spirit-less.  Haole. 

            But before we bemoan our state too much, let’s remember that the conception of God is not supposed to be easy.  God is so utterly other that for us to grasp the reality of God is going to be a steep challenge.  It won’t come naturally.  And it is telling that in both our scripture passages for today, humans have their vision of God – and God’s relationship with the world – altered dramatically.  The prophet Isaiah and the teacher Nicodemus come into these passages knowing some things about the Almighty, but not everything.  They still have much to learn.  Nicodemus knows that Jesus must be from God, for how else could he perform such miraculous signs?  Yet Nicodemus’ conception of the divine is still like that early vision of Isaiah’s: The King, sitting on the throne with six-winged seraphs doing loops around the throne while singing incessantly.   When Isaiah has this vision, he knows immediately that the one seated upon the throne is the Lord.  And Isaiah knows that for a man to look upon the Lord in all God’s glory is to shrivel up and die.  ‘Woe is me!’ he cries, ‘I am a man of unclean lips, and I have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.’ 

            This is the vision of God that Isaiah and Nicodemus and you and I start with.  This is what we expect God to look like.  The Supreme Majesty sitting upon an exalted throne?  Check.  Robe filling the chamber?  Check.  Choral music of the highest calibre.  Check.  Angels fluttering about?  Check. Check. Check.  This is the God of our psalm ‘whose voice cracks the cedars.’  This is the God we were born imagining.  This is the God that makes sense to us.

Inconceivable

            But interestingly, and crucially, Isaiah’s vision of God changes.  He is able to add to his conception of the Almighty, his vision of the Divine, something much stranger, and more wonderful.  Isaiah sees an angel come to him with a hot coal, and sees the coal put to his own lips, and then he learns that his sinful lips are no longer a hindrance.  His guilt is taken away.  And now for Isaiah, God is not only the Almighty King, Ruler of the Universe, the Great Alpha of the Forever Timeline – he is also Isaiah’s personal Saviour.  His Redeemer.  The One who not only creates, but comes down and rescues.  God – for Isaiah – is not only the unapproachable; God is also the one whose touch has healed.  Creator and Saviour.  The One who is untouchable but whose mark is already upon us.  Isaiah now has two concepts of God, two contradictory concepts of God – yet he is able to recognise them as one and the same.    And instead of saying ‘Woe is me!’  Instead of being frozen with fear, Isaiah is now free to say, ‘Here I am, Lord.  Send me.’ 

            It’s Nicodemus who struggles with the idea that God could be more.  When Jesus tells Nicodemus that you cannot see the Kingdom of Heaven without being born again, Nicodemus scoffs.  How can a man be born a second time? 

Nicodemus’ reply reveals him as Haole – spiritless – unable to conceive of something new, unwilling to let God be something more.  And indeed, the idea that the Almighty, the One upon the throne could also be the One upon the cross is so bizarre, so alien to us, so utterly strange – it would akin to a man entering his mother’s womb to be born again.  Laughable.  Silly.  Unnatural.  Inconcievable – if you’ll pardon the pun. 

In fact, to be able to hold these two images of the one God in our mind – God the Father and God the Son, God the Creator and God the Redeemer, God the King and God the Slave, God the Source of Life and God the Crucified – to hold those two truths simultaneously takes something of a miracle.  It requires a rebirth of sorts.  Our whole minds have to change.  Our whole concept of God has to be altered.  And that sort of change within us can only come from up above. 

Indeed, as Jesus speaks of being born of water and Spirit, as Christ tells us that the Spirit gives birth to spirit, we realise that this is where the doctrine of the Trinity comes from.  God as Father and God as Son? – only through God the Spirit is that concept possible.  Believing that Jesus on the Cross is the same as God on the Throne – only through the Spirit are we able to hold on to that truth.  The Spirit is the One who allows us to believe that it is possible – that Jesus Christ is Lord, that God really did become human and walk among us, that God risked everything in love for us, that to be Divine is to be self-sacrificing.  Only the Spirit can convince us of that.  Only the Spirit can make that truth possible.  And only God can become more by becoming something less.  Only God can become more God-like by living and dying as a man. 

Born Again

Last week, one of you told me the best joke I’ve heard in a long time.  Apparently, during the US Presidential campaign last year a white Southerner was asked if he thought a black man could ever be elected President.  ‘When pigs fly,’ the man responded.  Sure enough, one hundred days into Barack Obama’s administration: swine flu. 

Compared to the concept of God Almighty being born as a babe and being crucified as a criminal, the idea of a black president or a flying pig is easy.  Such truth about God is more than we could imagine on our own.  And no human would be able to grasp it without help from above.  Yet the Spirit does speak and our new birth does lead us to see that God is most God-like, that is, God is most royal, most powerful, most worship-able, most glorious, most divine not in stringing together the heavens, not in separating of the seas from the land, not in making the wing of the hummingbird, not in leading great armies or overpowering great foes.  God is most God-like in the selfless love of a human being who gave his life that others might live. 

If we can conceive of that idea, then anything is possible.  If we can conceive of that idea, then we can be born again.  We’ll stop being haole and start being spirit-filled.  If we can conceive of that idea than there is hope for humanity, and the image of God will be reborn in us   If we can conceive of that idea than all our ambitions for power and riches and prestige will seem worthless and all our desires for peace and justice will be given priority in our lives.  If we can conceive of that idea – the idea that Jesus Christ is Lord – then all our fears will melt away and our purpose will become clear.  Instead of saying ‘Woe is me!,’  instead of asking, ‘How can this be?’ you and I will respond to the forgiveness we have received and the vision we have seen with the words, ‘Here am I.  Send me!’ 

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, one God: Amen.