Taxes, devotion and an alternative vision for life

When we embrace God, we come to embrace all of those who bear the image of God… including ourselves. To give ourselves fully to God isn’t to lose ourselves, but to resist the versions of life that are thrust upon us that say, “every person for themselves, climb the ladder, accumulate the stuff”… all the offers that are laid before us about what to pursue and what to love. And to embrace God in such a way that we actually embrace ourselves, one another, and all things in which God is present.

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The story of the widow's mite is not what you think

Jesus does not actually encourage his disciples (or anyone) to follow the example of the widow. Rather, he says that out of her poverty, she had “put in all she had to live on.” In the first century, a widow was vulnerable and at risk in a society structured in such a way that the wellbeing and financial security of women was often reliant on their husband or other men. This vulnerable woman, whose husband had died and was living in poverty, had been pressured by a manipulative religious system to put in the little that she had, leaving her destitute and with nothing left.

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Peace In Times of Anxiety

Jesus also knew that we would be exposed to situations in life that create fear in us and extended us an offer of peace in the midst of our anxiety. Will our anxieties suddenly just ‘disappear’ from our lives? Or will we be able (even temporarily) to dislodge them from the places they invade that cause us to lose our sense of peace.

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My name is Legion

We can be quick to see the “demons” in others, but we all carry stories and experiences within us that disrupt and disorganise our equilibrium. Sometimes those things sit beneath the surface and so here, in the midst of that discontent, we are invited to be present to God and for God to be present to us. For some of us it may be anxiety, especially in a year like 2020 and an era of yet more lockdown. For some of us it might be anger, frustration, depression or alienation. And so the invitation is to cultivate the awareness that God can be (and is) present to us in the midst of that wrestle. And if we can allow the breath and light of the divine presence to illuminate, then perhaps we’ll find that that same presence will liberate too.

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Jesus and the Paralytic

The releasing of debt by Jesus means that not only is the man healed, but he is also no longer beholden to the religious leaders; no longer having to appease them in order to belong. Jesus liberates the man from any debts and the act of healing – as is so often the case with Jesus – is symbolic not just of the physical healing, but of transforming the man’s social inclusion. This man is released from any indebtedness to God or to religious leaders. He is truly free.

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Cleansing The Temple

In considering how we might be participants in the life of Jesus, the story of the cleansing of the temple found in Mark 11 v 11-18 is a great example of how he felt and acted concerning social injustice, specifically regarding the poor and marginalised.

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Jesus, a woman, and the "will of God"

In this context, the will of the Father is not some mysterious or anxiety-inducing plan. The ‘will of God’ in this moment was found in the crossing of divides, the closing of the gap, it was to go against all the reasons why she should not be included and to find instead a moment of inclusion and empowerment. And Jesus believes that to participate in God’s will in this way, is sustaining to him like food is to our bodies. If living water was about something he would give out that would sustain her, he says that it was his giving of that living water to her that was in fact the food that sustained him.

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Hope is an anchor

It seems like many of the usual things we might ‘hope for’ are not as reachable as they used to be. The things we take (or took) for granted that enabled us to make plans for our future no longer as accessible, or guaranteed as they used to be. Our entitlement has taken a hit, and we find ourselves living in days where, from all angles, life is somehow not so predictable.

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HopeClint Gibson
The absurdity of hope

Hope lifts us up and helps us find stability in the absurdity of situations that we cannot change on our own, a rock, an anchor, a solid force that transports our imaginations into new ways of seeing the world. Hope lifts our hearts by putting a new song in our mouths, a subversive hum of reverence that refuses to be laboured by the present reality, creatively energising our lives to push ahead into our new becoming.

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HopeClint Gibson
Where is hope in a valley of dry bones?

It was in this place of exile that the prophet Ezekiel speaks vividly of their reality. He sees a vision of a valley filled with dried bones, an image that represents their loss of hope and the disintegration of their sense of future. But like many of the ancient prophets, Ezekiel insists that that even when reality itself tells you that there is no hope, hope remains. God is still interested, a future still exists even when we’re unable to see it.

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HopeClint Gibson
The Prodigal Son (Luke 15)

I like to think that our mandate still stands, but our practice of it has evolved and transformed to be more like the Father who didn’t ask questions or make demands; rather he extended his beautiful red cloak out and around his wayward son’s shoulders, drawing him close to his chest, placing his mother-father hands on his back and welcoming him back home.

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Rev 19:10

For Jesus, worship and the prophetic weren’t just some lofty soaring idealism. The kingdom of God is like a seed, like a women searching for a coin, like a man going on a trip who is robbed and left for dead, like a prodigal son who was lost but who then comes home to the love and embrace of his father.

Jesus invites us into this way of seeing God and God’s kingdom that is deeply connected to our everyday lives. He tells us that the presence of God is found not “out there”, but very close. The kingdom of God is near, he tells them. The kingdom of God is in your midst. The kingdom of God is within you.

Can you see it?

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Moving On

For when fear and anxiety, which is often caused by a conflict of interest between the past and the future comes crashing in on us, we need to be careful not to catastrophise about possible outcomes. Trust helps us to relinquish our hold on the security blankets of our childhood and clothe ourselves with courage. Your children’s children will thank you for it.

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The Visitation

From the conception to the delivery of a dream there is always a waiting time and what we do in the wait determines the state in which we arrive. The way we position ourselves in this transition time can even determine where we arrive. And who we wait with is also critical in assuring a safe delivery of the dream.

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Advent 2019Clint Gibson
Dreams

Mary experiences a dreamy moment of unparalleled wonder where she is invited into a deep, internal, and full-bodied participation in the incarnation. The significance of her experience is sometimes lost in translation if we refuse to see the incredulity of the moment. This young teenager (we think) is asked to give the very best of herself to what could only be seen as culturally inappropriate and improper in order to birth a new idea of God. For those of us who have become bored with the traditional telling of the story, this is a wake up call to rediscover the mystery of the divine that hides between the lines of the narrative.

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Advent 2019Clint Gibson
Endings And Beginnings

Endings are not cut and dried, in fact they are always found on the same road that holds any new beginning. They are travelling companions. If we look closely enough we may be able to see where one thing stopped and another began, but at a deeper level they will still be carefully intertwined.

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Pre-AdventClint Gibson
Indigeneity II

This week in Aotearoa we are commemorating the arrival of Captain James Cook to our shores 250 years ago. His journey of course was commissioned in the name of discovery, yet there are also stories that are being uncovered that tell of the dark side of his arrival, including the deaths of some local indigenous people, as well as the road that was now being paved to colonise this land. Some are commemorating his arrival, while others mourn and lament the loss.

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The Three I'sClint Gibson
Indigeneity

Sameness is not the story of the early church, but it became the story of Christian colonisation. We have not been immune from this in New Zealand. The efforts of missionaries and churches have been focused on conversion, but this has often come with a desire for sameness. Civilisation in the name of whiteness, and a demonisation of Māori culture and identity is threaded throughout the history of the New Zealand church. 

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The Three I'sClint Gibson
No one is left out

An inclusive way of living is challenging as it threatens to shred our biases, which even though often unconscious, control the way we relate to others and the world around us. We need to be open and aware of our own darkness, our shadows that hold our fears and anxieties, irrational and unhelpful in the process of learning what it means to be inclusive people.

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The Three I'sClint Gibson
Inclusivity

This story reminds us that the whole idea of healthy Christian faith is not about closing us down, but opening us up. Opening up to God, opening up to others, opening up to creation that we are a part of and immersed in. We are challenged here to recognise that the Spirit is at work outside of our defined categories and in/out groups. Can our faith be something that opens us up to the world, to those around us, to truth wherever we find it? 

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The Three I'sClint Gibson