Be Still And Know

READ: Genesis 18:13-14 Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’ Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” I love laughter. It’s a pleasure to see people really letting rip and having a good laugh. Laughter can be sparked off by any number of things, but it is often sparked off by absurdity. We laugh at clowns because everything they do is ridiculous and turns our normal expectations of life upside down. Sarah’s laughter was for precisely this reason. She was about 100 years old, decades beyond child bearing age, and although she had longed for a child in earlier years she had long since got used to the idea that it wasn’t going to happen. And then three mysterious visitors turn up at Abraham and Sarah’s tent in the desert and inform them that she will give birth. The very thought was hilarious because it was so completely absurd. But it was true. She was going to have a baby. And

READ: Genesis 17:5-8 NLT 'I am changing your name. It will no longer be Abram. Instead, you will be called Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations. I will make you extremely fruitful. Your descendants will become many nations, and kings will be among them! I will confirm my covenant with you and your descendants after you, from generation to generation. This is the everlasting covenant: I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you.' It’s a big moment when you enter into a binding agreement with someone. Whether you are thinking of marriage, buying a house or starting a new job it’s a moment to stand back from life and take a deep breath. This was just such a moment for Abram as he entered into a covenant with God that was going to change everything – including his name! The word “covenant” is important throughout the whole of the Bible and it’s an amazing word. The idea that the God of Creation wants to enter into a relationship with human beings is enough to blow your mind.

READ: Genesis: 12:2-3 “I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” Never forget this! God is in the business of blessing people! That’s what he loves to do and that’s what Abram was just about to discover. At a time of life when most people would be seeking to take things more slowly, God calls him to be the father of a nation. Nothing suggests that this is remotely likely. One practical problem was that Abram and his wife Sarai had no children, but with God around that wasn’t going to be a major difficulty. In life we face many challenges but God doesn’t want them to have the last word. Amidst the bumps and difficulties of life God’s desire is to bless us so that, in turn, we can bless other people. I love seeing that in action. I can think of many friends over the years who have had to face significant probl

READ: Genesis 12:1 NLT The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you.” I wonder what your life looks like at the moment. I would guess that for many of us there are plenty of aspects of our lives that suit us really well. Life isn’t perfect, and we can easily come up with some suggested improvements, but the thought of it all changing completely would come as quite a shock. Well, if that’s true for us, imagine how much greater the challenge would have been for Abram. We would be able to reach for our computers and find out information about the wider world, but not Abram! God was taking him away from the security of his home and leading him on the most incredible adventure into a land of which he knew nothing. And there’s another interesting detail. Abram is 75. There’s nothing wrong with being 75 but most people would consider that it is hardly the time of life when you are expecting to go on a daring adventure! One w

READ: Genesis 11:4-8 NLT Then they said, “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.” God hates arrogance because it is a complete rejection of him. Here the story of the Tower of Babel could be described as an ultimate example of arrogance. The people came together to build a tower which would reach to the heavens. This would be the final proof that humankind was in control. God acted decisively. He scattered the people and, as a result, people no longer spoke one language but many. Division was the inevitable result of men and women putting themselves in the place that is rightfully God’s. These early chapters of Genesis are amazing because although they describe an ancient world they offer a powerful commentary on life today. As humankind grows in self-confidence and believes that it is in total control, division is the inevitable result. Having largely forced God out of the equation the

READ: Genesis 6:22-7:1 NLT So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him. When everything was ready, the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the boat with all your family, for among all the people of the earth, I can see that you alone are righteous.” The Bible is full of wonderful stories – and this is one of the best! Noah is asked by God to produce an enormous boat and to fill it with his family and a wonderful collection of animals and birds. We don’t know where he lived but it may well have been in the desert and the whole idea of building a boat would have seemed laughably absurd. The key to the story is that Noah trusted God and was happy to do exactly what God told him to do. He is described as being righteous, which literally means he loved doing the right things. I thank God for people I’ve known who, just like Noah, have been happy to do apparently crazy things because they believed that God had called them. I think of many doctors that I have known who have headed out to poor parts of the world

READ: Genesis 4.8-9 NLT One day Cain suggested to his brother, “Let’s go out into the fields.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother, Abel, and killed him. Afterward the LORD asked Cain, “Where is your brother? Where is Abel?” “I don’t know,” Cain responded. “Am I my brother’s guardian?” This is the world’s first murder. How terrible that so early in this Holy Book, the Bible, we have to confront such an appalling evil. If you have ever known a family that has experienced a murder you will know the awful impact that it has for years to come on everyone concerned. It isn’t clear why Cain’s offering to the Lord was unacceptable but he is furious about it, and determined to do away with his brother. After the murder God caught up with Cain and his response to God was a bizarre one. “Am I my brother’s guardian?” he asks. The translation that you may be more familiar with is “Am I my brother’s keeper?” although I quite like the Living Bible paraphrase of, “How should I know? Am I supposed to

READ: Genesis 3: 11-12 NLT The Lord God asked, “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?” The man replied, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”  The story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden has a very contemporary ring to it. Blaming others is as much a way of life today for many people as it was for Adam long, long ago. He knew he had done wrong because he had eaten the forbidden fruit but he was desperate to wriggle out of the situation and dump the blame on Eve. But he even went further than that, suggesting that God bore some responsibility because he had given Eve to him. We all know the temptation to blame others. Our parents, our children, our teachers, our employers and the governments under which we have lived were all far from perfect so we generously heap the blame on them. But it isn’t good enough, and we know it. We need to take responsibility and recognize that although we are certainly not the only guilty party, we must accep

READ: Genesis 2.2-3 NLT 'On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.' The French Revolution turned everything upside down including the arrangement of time. They adopted decimalization in a thoroughgoing way dividing up each day into ten hours, and each week into ten days. But it didn’t catch on. After only a few years they returned to the seven- day week which we find in Genesis. Rhythm is deeply important in life and the importance of taking regular rest is crucial. People have often told me that they are much too busy to take rest or to go on holiday. But the fact is that the rhythm which God set in creation is of foundational importance. We cannot disobey the fundamental rule of nature that we need time to recharge our batteries and to renew our commitment to God. The Old Testament law gave a great deal of attention to the importance of th

READ: Genesis 1:27 NLT 'So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.' People fascinate me. I can happily sit watching people because they are so incredibly different from one another. In size, shape, colour, height, age and ability they are all absolutely unique. However, we have one thing in common – we have all been made in the image of God. This is a very interesting way of describing human beings and not least because the second commandment tells us that we should never create an image of God. That’s understandable because if you make an inanimate image of God there is every possibility that you will focus your worship on the image and forget about God himself. And yet God has made and you and me as images of himself. Isn’t that amazing? What we learn from this is that we resemble God. In our creativity, our loving, our kindness, our need to communicate and in many other ways we reflect the nature of God. I have found these insights pa

READ: Genesis 1:3-4 NLT 'Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness.' It would be impossible to exaggerate the importance of light. Without light there is no life. It’s as simple as that. So it is not surprising to discover that on day one of creation God created light. No life could occur until that had happened. But with the introduction of light, life was able to burst out in all its amazing variety over the following days as God created vegetation, fish, animals, birds and human beings. I love the way in which John begins his gospel. He clearly has these opening verses of Genesis in mind and he makes it clear that Jesus was with God his Father in the act of creation. He writes about Jesus as the Word of God, the one through whom God spoke to the world. In John 1:4 he wrote, “The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone.” Sadly, however the light that Jesus brought

READ: Genesis 1:1-2 NLT 'In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.' It is important not to rush past these verses. They may be so familiar to us that it would be easy to skip over them. But don’t! These words are foundational for the whole Bible and for our very lives. They are telling us that everything began with God and so our understanding of the world, human history and our own lives needs to start with God. As we start a New Year no message could be more important. We will be given every encouragement to believe that our thinking needs to begin with the economy or education, health, world peace, our family, community or church but, good and vital as all of those things are, the most important of all is to start by looking at God. As we do so we are reminded that without him there is no order, no purpose, no life. When God is excluded everything becomes

READ: Luke 2:29-32 NLT Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace, as you have promised. I have seen your salvation, which you have prepared for all people. He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel! Eight days after Jesus’ birth his parents took him to the temple for his circumcision. There is no suggestion that the people of Jerusalem understood the significance of this moment. All that the people saw was a poor young couple presenting their baby in the way that people did every day. But two elderly people did understand what was going on. Simeon and Anna had been longing for this day and it had finally come! Our verses today form what is known as the Nunc Dimittis, Simeon’s famous prayer of thanks for this miraculous moment. He had been looking forward to this day for so long that he could now die in peace. As a Jew he recognized that this was a glorious moment for the people of Israel. But it was much, much more. In this little scrap of life he recognized

READ: Luke 2:19 NLT Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. This sentence in Luke is what I would call a piece of considerable understatement. Mary, who was probably a teenager and who almost certainly knew very little about the world, has just given birth to the Messiah. She has certainly been given plenty to think about! Older versions of the Bible translate this verse as “Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart”. The truth is that no one, however old or mature, could possibly have taken it all in. What had happened to Mary was a turning point in human history and stands at the centre of God’s loving plan for his world. No one could have claimed to have fully understood what had happened, and theologians two thousand years later are still reflecting deeply on it all. So Mary was wise to ponder. There is much that we understand about our world, but always much that is beyond us. When we see the wonders of this creation, we can offer a description of wh

READ: Luke 2:16-18 NLT The shepherds “hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished.” Just imagine if this was happening now. Bethlehem would be swamped with news reporters and film crews, and all the shepherds would have microphones thrust in front of them. The world would be hanging on their every word and the details of their amazing story would have be cross examined with forensic care. As it is, we have to rely on Dr Luke who sums up the whole story in just a few dramatic words. In short, the shepherds confirm that the words of the angels about Jesus’ birth were absolutely true and they then went out to tell everyone the astonishing story. Good news cannot be hidden. I always love watching new Christians. You rarely need to tell them that it is good to share your story with other people, b

READ: Luke 2:8-9 NLT That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. Of all the many surprises in the Christmas story this surely is one of the greatest. We have long since got used to the fact that the birth of Jesus was announced to shepherds, but they were surely the last people who you would have expected to hear about it. They were always last to hear the news. Their work forced them to live away from their communities. But more than that, shepherds were smelly and ritually unclean because of their work. How amazing that God gave them the front seats in the Christmas story! If we had been given the responsibility of compiling an appropriate guest list to welcome the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, I would guess that shepherds might well have not made an appearance. We would certainly have included the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem. If Jesus was their Messi

READ: Luke 2:5-7 NLT 'Mary gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.' In a few brief verses Luke summarizes the birth of Jesus. Brief as they are, Luke offers us more details than any of the other gospel writers. That means that we need to treasure every detail that he gives us, and they are all amazing. After placing the birth of Jesus within Roman and Jewish history we are given some very specific details about the birth. With the town crammed full for the census there was, not surprisingly, nowhere for the family to stay and after his birth Jesus was placed in a manger, a cattle feeding trough. The manger has been dolled up over the years and on many Christmas cards it looks like an idyllic place to be put straight after birth. But it wasn’t. It was just the only place that was available. It would have been smelly and unhygienic and the last place that anyone would want to use for a newborn. The idea

READ: Luke 2:1-3 NLT 'At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census.' I am delighted that in our highly secular society Christmas still has a very secure place. No one could possibly miss the fact that it is Christmas! All attempts to replace Christmas with a festival such as Winterval have failed miserably. But even so we have a problem because the birth of Jesus has become inextricably tied together with Father Christmas and Rudolf the Rednosed Reindeer and other imaginary characters. It’s really important that we recognize that Jesus’ birth was a historic event, and here Dr Luke gives us the facts. Jesus was born during the long reign of Augustus Caesar who ruled the Roman Empire from 27BC to 14AD. During his reign he established the Pax Romana which led to a period of relative peace for more than two cen

READ: Luke 1:76-77 NLT 'And you, my little son, will be called the prophet of the Most High, because you will prepare the way for the Lord. You will tell his people how to find salvation through forgiveness of their sins.' Have you ever lost your voice? I’ve had sore throats at times and found difficulty speaking but only once have I lost my voice completely. It was the most bizarre experience and it went on for about a fortnight. I felt horribly disconnected from everything that was happening around me. So I have great sympathy for Zechariah who had been unable to speak for nine months. On the birth of his son, John the Baptist, he is suddenly able to speak again and here are some of his words. He recognizes that John will have a crucial role to play in God’s plans, helping to prepare the way for Jesus’ ministry. John and Jesus were relatives, but they were brought up in very different parts of Israel and so probably didn’t know one another very well. However, John’s message of repentance was crucial in pavi

READ: Luke 1:51-53 NLT His mighty arm has done tremendous things! He has scattered the proud and haughty ones. He has brought down princes from their thrones and exalted the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands. As Mary praises God that she is going to give birth to his Son she takes us right to the heart of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus didn’t come merely to rearrange things. He came to turn the world upside down. If we are to take Jesus seriously, we have to look at our society with new eyes because God is not merely disappointed with arrogance, abuse of power and injustice. God wants them to be toppled. Sadly, it is all too easy for us to fit in with our society and, in the interests of a quiet life, not to challenge injustice. The story of the church in Germany in the 1930s is a terrifying illustration of this. Hitler sought to bring the church under his exclusive control and the overwhelming majority accepted this. They were, understandably, fearful of resist