Rejoice I bring you Good News of Great Joy!

Christmas Day 2011 : St Andrews Presbyterian Church

Today we are all doing special things which echo the story of Christmas. We share in the giving of gifts like the wise men, in the action of the Shepherds going to see Jesus, and in the rejoicing of believers then and now receiving the gift of God in Jesus himself.

We may also see ourselves represented in the story by particular people. We may like to be like the wise who still seek Jesus. We may identify with Mary and Joseph coping with a baby. At Christmas many of us also experience the kindness of strangers and the adventures of travel. We may see ourselves a bit like the Shepherds, often taken to represent sinners the marginalized and the smelly, but who are also those overcome by wonder when called into the presence of Christ. We may not realize they also represent the shepherd boy David who became a king, and point to Jesus himself the Good Shepherd. When we talk of pastoral care in any setting we are echoing their place and ours in this story.

But behind the joy of Christmas some will feel the lurking shadow of fears for themselves and for the world. There are fears in the story itself. Joseph had reason to fear Herod. His son was also a dangerous man to be avoided. Jesus’ life included suffering and a violent death before his resurrection and God’s vindication.

Nevertheless Christmas was and is still about rejoicing. None of the tellers of the stories of the first Christmas were blind to other things that were going on, yet the Angel said to the shepherds, as to us, “Do not be afraid; for see — I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.” Despite everything, Christmas is God saying to us in Jesus, “Do not be afraid.” “Rejoice!”

In the long story of salvation in the Scriptures and in the often fraught and sometimes murky history of the church, the word which has come to people caught up in complex and difficult events is a reassurance from God: “Do not be afraid!” ”Rejoice!”

This are words for us when problems must be faced and dangers avoided. Despite appearances God is ultimately in control. Whatever the immediate outcome, and what we have to go through, in the long run things will be resolved in his righteousness.

Such thoughts about fears are not intended to spoil Christmas, but to help us see that the coming of Jesus is about reasons to face whatever lies ahead. To do so it is part of God’s economy that we need days when we can put fears to one side. Christmas is also the gift of such a day. Being prepared for Christmas is being prepared for life.

If we look at how those in the Christmas story dealt with their concerns we see that Joseph and Herod responded differently in the face of their fears. Joseph knew fear, but he also knew what it was to obey God.

Herod did not see his kingly authority as a responsibility to be exercised with justice. He saw his power as a right. He did not fear God, but he was afraid of a baby. He did not rejoice at what God was doing. He used violence, even against innocent children and their parents, to try and keep his position of power. If Herod had been the sort of ruler God wanted him to be, he would have had no need to fear Jesus.

When God sent a word to Joseph, it was not a message saying that your concerns are unreal, it was a message indicating that God was in control. Joseph did not need to be afraid to take Mary as his wife. After Jesus is born there were other fears. He was warned to keep out of Herod’s way and to take his family to Egypt. When the time comes to return, Joseph is warned not to go to an area where Herod’s son was ruling.

There may be fears for this Christmas which easily intrude on the day. Fears for members of our families. Fears for ourselves – fear of loss, of being lost, or of being left out. Fears for the world economy. Fears for the future of the planet. Fears for the church.

How do we rejoice despite these shadows?

One thing we can do is ask “How does God want me to pray?”

For today we may want to do no more than ask God for the grace to let things go for this one day at least, to trust and welcome him at Christmas and focus on the needs of others. Tomorrow may be a better time to think, discuss and pray through, “What things does God want me to face sooner rather than later?” “What things does God actually want me to do something about?” “What things bothering me does God actually want me to leave to Him and to others?

Today is about rejoicing and about strength and space to deal with things in their time.

There are good reasons for saying this. If God took the risk of sharing this fragile and broken yet beautiful world, perhaps surely we can trust him for its future and ours? We can learn too from Jesus’ earthly parents as models of faith and wisdom in the face of threats and uncertainty. They had fears, they worked things through, and they dealt with circumstances in the faith that God would guide them through.

Jesus teaching and example are about life in God’s Kingdom on this earth where he has work for us to do. Yes, our life with him goes beyond death, but in the here and now Jesus is not only the helpless baby of perfection and hope who shares our vulnerability, he is the one sharing our growing up and coming to terms with our fears, and one sharing our adult life and its responsibilities. Jesus is the one calling us in humility and strength “Follow me!” He is the one whose life death and resurrection is the sign of God’s salvation in the present and for the future.

Paul in very dire circumstances, and no doubt addressing himself not just those he was writing to from prison, said “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice” (Philippians 4:4).

What makes this possible is the coming of Jesus we celebrate today.

The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” Luke 2:10-14

Welcoming Jesus in Friend and Stranger

St Andrews Presbyterian Church Christmas Eve Candlelight Service 24 December 2011

READINGS : Luke 2:1-7; Matthew 10:40-42

While they were in Bethlehem the time came for Mary to have her baby. She gave birth to her first son, wrapped him in strips of cloth and laid him in a manager, because there was no room for them to stay in the inn. Luke 2:6

Welcoming Jesus

Welcoming Jesus is both simple and difficult. Simple because we are welcoming Jesus just by being here. Difficult because what Jesus is about touches everything - we know that Jesus’ life became complex as he sought to do God’s will, and so does ours. Despite our common human experiences across the centuries, between Jesus’ lifetime and our own there are differences and complexities which have to be navigated. Difficult too because whatever our good intentions it is not always clear what welcoming Jesus actually means.

The challenge of this is not something to make us feel bad. The coming of Jesus is about God’s grace. Christmas is about finding hope. Welcoming Jesus is about the direction of our loyalties, about living by his values, and seeing his presence in and around our lives. The direction of our loyalty is something we grow into and discover through steps and actions large and small. Faith is a journey, and should also be seen as an adventure – one involving mystery, risk, and discovery and companions on the way.  

At any time in history and in any culture welcoming Jesus involves welcoming his values and translating them into our world. We seek to take seriously the people Jesus took seriously –children, the marginalised, people of other cultures. We learn from his attitudes, his willingness to do the right thing in God’s sight, his patience with his followers and with people who did not understand. Jesus’ teaching about forgiveness may not be easy to live by consistently, but it is not difficult to understand. We note his presence with people in good times and bad.

There is also a welcome to Jesus in the prayer attributed to St Patrick of Ireland which invokes Jesus’ presence and protection.

Christ be with me, Christ within me,
Christ behind me, Christ before me,
Christ beside me, Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort and restore me.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of all that love me,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger

We welcome Jesus in our loyalties, in our values, and in his presence as protector. We also welcome Jesus in other people.

Welcoming Friends

Jesus said (John 15:13)  “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you.”

The welcome we give to friends and the commitment we have to our friends has a spiritual dimension which is sometimes undiscovered. Like the love of husband and wife, friendship is a gateway to the love of God and the nature of God. Friendship is a way in which others also share with us the love of Christ and give us time and space to grow in God. 

There are three people whose writing on friendship can help us see welcoming friends as connecting us to welcoming Jesus, especially across cultures and in the emerging cultures of social media.

The Italian Matteo Ricci was a pioneer Jesuit missionary to China (1552-1610) who was accepted into the Chinese court because of his courtesy, respect for Chinese culture, and his scientific abilities, particularly in astronomy. In 1595 he wrote the first book in Chinese by a Westerner, On Friendship: 100 Maxims for a Chinese Prince.

Two examples:

吾友非他，即我之半，乃第二我也故當視友如己焉  My friend is not “another person”, my friend is my half, another I. So, I have to regard my friend as myself.

友之與我，雖有二身，二身之內，其心一而已  My friend and I, though we have two bodies, the two bodies have only one heart.

Ricci saw friendship as a bridge for the Gospel and a bridge for understanding across cultures. He lived by his own principles and his work stands today as a model of Christian faith, patient witness, and the use of all our talents in the service of Christ and humanity.

Bishop Azariah (1874-1945) was the first Indian Anglican bishop and the one who laid the foundations of the Church in South India and the Church in North India. In 1910, though not yet a bishop, he was invited to the World Missionary Conference held in the Presbyterian General Assembly Hall in Edinburgh, Scotland. 

He was one of a handful of Asian delegates and encouraged to speak. It was an era in which a younger and more aristocratic generation of missionaries saw it their duty and burden to rule. They did some things very well, but the encouragement of local leadership was not always one of them. Azariah took used the occasion and its enormous audience to risk criticising missionaries for the lack of the very quality which Ricci had sought to demonstrate, friendship.

At the time his words were criticised, but today they are the most remembered from that conference: “You have given your goods to feed the poor. You have given your bodies to be burned. We also ask for love. Give us friends!”

Christian mission is tested by love, and Christian love both requires and makes possible the gift of friendship.

Lynne Baab is from Seattle and now lives in Dunedin New Zealand. She teaches in the Department of Theology and Religion at the University, and writes on very practical spiritual subjects. She is keen on media and Facebook and has just published Friending which explores friendship and how social media like Facebook makes a difference. She gathered many stories of how Facebook, for all its temptations to timewasting, also makes possible the growth of friendships as a Christian blessing.

Welcoming Strangers

Remember to welcome strangers in your homes. There were some who did that and welcomed angels without knowing it. Hebrews 13:2

We know that hospitality is a gospel imperative, but it too is not a simple issue. An international congregation faces this challenge, as do many of us personally, whether we are the stranger seeking a welcome, or the welcomer not being sure how to do it. None of us get this right all the time, however great our needs or worthy our intentions. We have needs which are urgent. We have responsibilities in societies where there are laws. 

Today national boundaries world-wide are managed strenuously. When fears are exploited and prejudices enflamed the difference between honoured guest and economic or social threat can seem arbitrary. Yet from the oldest stories in the Bible to the present day welcoming strangers has been about compassion and risk and the presence of God in unlikely people.

We should not pretend that answers are obvious, but our attitudes and values may be clear and we should not give up the search for better ways. Sometimes we can acknowledge that we are unhelpful because we are afraid. We are often naïve in our desire to help. Compassion without wisdom may cause harm. If we pray for both wisdom and compassion we are the more likely to be able to do good. 

It is like the parable of the talents. To gain life we have to risk loss, not simply for ourselves, but also for others. There are traps, but that is how it is. Being of service to God and to others involves risk.

Perhaps we can learn from God’s welcome to us in Jesus this Christmas. God took a risk with creation, yet humanity began as something good which Jesus came to share. 

Jesus risked criticism for making himself at home with unlikely people who welcomed him. Jesus is God’s welcome to us all - friends and strangers.

John Roxborogh

"Be Not Afraid!" Alice Smith Schools

Carol Service St Mary's Cathedral, 15 December 2011

“Don’t be afraid!” “Don’t worry!”

When we wake up from a bad dream, it is something we need to hear. When we realize it was only a dream we can let the fears and feelings of confusion go. When someone has not come home at the expected time and we begin to be concerned about what might have happened to them. “Don’t be afraid” may be about believing we will be able to cope. It does not necessarily mean that there is nothing to be concerned about. 

However it does mean that Someone is in control. That whatever the immediate outcome, in the long run things are going to be all right. 

For some it is a statement of faith, that whatever our responsibilities, whatever the challenges, whatever the difficult road ahead we may face at the moment, God will have the last word.

Christmas is the story we tell in many forms, about God’s Word coming to us in Jesus who came to be recognized as the Christ.

And in the long story of salvation which our Scripture readings, songs, and presentations have shared with us this evening, often the word which has come to people caught up in these events, is this reassurance from God “Do not be afraid!”

As in many services of lessons and carols at Christmas we begin with the story of creation, and of the first humans, their experience of temptation, of sin, and of shame. The account of the wise men exposes the deceitfulness and cruelty of Herod. Prophecies from hundreds of years earlier point to a coming King whose wisdom and authority will provide true justice and security for his people. Joseph and Mary, even more than young couples generally, have their doubts and questions. People like the Shepherds find unexpected experiences of God’s presence frankly terrifying – they have nothing to compare it with. After Jesus’ birth there are dangers to be faced and avoided as his family become refugees waiting till they can go to a safe place they can call home where they are meant to be.

Every Christmas is about remembering these things, building on the layers of memory from other times and places when each us was younger than we are today. Every year we have new questions. Every year we see some new dimensions in our celebrations. Every year, and especially in Malaysia, we learn from how other cultures celebrate Christmas. The familiar and the strange, as in all education, help us construct new understanding, and grow our faith. It is a life-long journey. Christmas past, present, and to come will always be among the milestones.

In the readings today people responded differently in the face of their fears.

Adam was afraid of God and tried to hide and cover himself. God knows where we are, and there might be some good news in how God calls to the man in the garden, as he calls to us wherever we are. The conversation may be painful, but God’s blessing did not desert them completely. Guilt does lead to fear, yet that fear can be misplaced. God still comes, even to those who are afraid because of what they have done, and he continues to work in our lives.

The prophet Isaiah lived in a time when there was every reason to be fearful about the powerful forces crushing his country. The situation required wisdom and faith for its leaders which they had difficulty exercising. Yet Isaiah could see past those legitimate fears to the coming of light in a dark place, and the birth of a child who would be called the “Prince of Peace” ruling a kingdom of justice and righteousness. We have to deal with the situation in front of us, but Isaiah’s fears did not stop him looking to a better day and to God’s purposes over a time-frame hundreds of years into the future.

When Jesus was born each of the writers of the Christian gospels brings out a different dimension. Mark and John start with another prophecy from Isaiah about a highway being built in the desert, and John the Baptist’s role in preparing the way for Jesus whom John calls the light of the world. Matthew and Luke go back to Jesus’ birth and stories of people who overcame their fears and caught a glimpse of who Jesus would prove to be.

There is a real contrast between Joseph and Herod in how they deal with their fears.

King Herod felt threatened and was afraid even of a baby. He did not fear God. He did not see his position of authority as a gift and responsibility to be exercised with righteousness and justice. He saw his power as a right. He used violence against innocent people, even against innocent children and their parents, to try and keep his position of power. If Herod had been the sort of ruler that God wanted him to be, he would have had no need to fear Jesus.

Joseph, on the other hand, did have real fears to do deal with. He had reason to be concerned for Mary’s reputation and his own. Who would believe their story? When God sent a word to him, “Do not be afraid” it was not a message saying that his concerns were unreal, it was a message indicating that God was in control. He did not need to be afraid to take Mary as his wife. It can still be a word for young couples testing God’s will and their own feelings for each other.

After Jesus is born there were other fears. Joseph is warned to keep out of Herod’s way and to take his family to Egypt. When the time comes to return, he is warned not to go to the area where Herod’s son is ruling. 

Our fears can be very personal and specific. Fear of flying. Fear of heights. Fear of loss, of being lost, of being left out. Fear of embarrassment. Fear of pain. Fear of being in a situation where we don’t know what to do. Fear of being alone. Our fears for the future of our world can be entirely appropriate – fear for the economy, fears about global warming, fears for the future of the planet. 

In these things we are not alone. Some of our fears are to be allayed. Some are things to be faced.

·         There are times where God’s “Do not be afraid” is about facing risks and trusting God to help us manage them, as for Joseph marrying Mary.

·         There are times when the risks are all in our minds – as for the Shepherds hearing the angels and needing to be reassured.

·         There are times when God’s word is about avoiding unnecessary risks we are not meant to take - as for the wise men in not going back to Herod, and for Joseph leaving Bethlehem for a safer country.

Faith is not always about facing danger. It is never about recklessness or carelessness. It is about trusting God both when there are situations to be faced and when there are situations to be avoided. 

Of course we need the wisdom to know the difference.

That too is a Christmas gift - to wish for, to pray for, and to receive.

Do not be afraid.

God’s Confirmation and Ours

Service of Baptism and Confirmation, 18 December 2011.

Scripture Readings   Luke 1:57-80; 3:3-8, 15-22; 2 Peter 1:5b-11

Celebrations and Confirmations

Zechariah and Elizabeth celebrated the birth of a baby. Zechariah had not been able to speak since he questioned God’s message to him. Relatives and friends assumed that the baby would be called Zechariah. When Zechariah confirmed he would be called John, God confirmed his word by restoring Zechariah’s speech.

Confirming what has been said is important. In a busy life it helps when we confirm meeting and hospitality arrangements with email and SMS. I don’t know how we did it before hand-phones! Yet for thousands of years God has confirmed his words to people and people have done things to confirm their words to God.

Today we celebrate young people confirming their faith in Jesus Christ. It is a time when we too can confirm our identity as followers of Jesus as a renewal of promises from our past. For others this may be a milestone on a journey you are beginning.

Christians of all denominations bring their children to God. In many Christian churches Christian parents baptize their children claiming “God’s promise is to you and to your children.” Others claim these same promises and bring their children to dedicate themselves as a family to the Lord. We all pray and work for our children to come to an understanding and commitment for themselves. We offer confirmation of their baptism, or baptism itself, to celebrate that decision to follow Christ.

Confirming who we are: our identity as Christians

Confirming who we are in Christ is important to knowing ourselves. Our identity has many dimensions and we have multiple ways of saying who we are. We have a passport, an IC, a cultural identity, an ethnic identity, a family identity. We have an identity in Christ which is expressed through all of these. We also belong to a particular part of the family of God, not because it is the best part of the family of God’s people on earth or even in Kuala Lumpur, but because it is the one where God has placed us at this time.

When a person decides for themselves to follow Jesus Christ they are baptised if they have not been baptised before, or they confirm their baptism if they were previously baptised as infants. This is a way in which we confirm our identity as those who belong to and follow Jesus Christ. There is nothing in heaven or on earth which can take this away. That this is something which is bound in heaven when it is bound, or confirmed, on earth.

God confirms his word

When Zechariah named his son John as he had been told, he got his speech back. When Jesus was baptised, people heard a voice from God and had a vision of the Holy Spirit as a dove resting on him. Jesus told his disciples some of what was going to happen to him, even though they had difficulty accepting it. When it happened, it confirmed his words and they remembered.

We pray about situations and experience things which we see as fulfilling those prayers. Sometimes something happens to us which we had thought about but hardly dared pray about. Often a burden of worry is lifted when a situation is committed to God in prayer. It is God’s confirmation to us that he is ultimately in control.

We may have experiences which are similar to what other people have had in response to the same stories or teachings in the Bible. It does not mean everyone shares the same gift or experience, but the fact that some people do confirms to us that this is one of the ways in which God may work in us.

It is common that we experience a sense of release from guilt and fear when we confess things we have done wrong and when we say we believe in Jesus. God confirms not only what he has done for us through Jesus, but that he accepts us into his family.

I do not believe we should demand confirmations from God, but we should not reject them either. We can expect God to show us his love in all sorts of ways that are appropriate to our needs. While Jesus warned about people seeking proof of God’s power, God often gives signs of his presence to those who need it.

Sometimes we need confirmation from God

Whether or not God gives us a good spiritual feeling is over to Him, it should not be our aim. Confirmation of our prayers may come, but we are meant to trust God whether proof comes or not.

We may learn over time that spiritual experiences can be unreliable. If we go looking for them by repeating prayers or the words of songs to try and bring back a good feeling we once had when we used them before we may eventually get the feeling, or we may not – and if we did was it just because we worked ourselves into to? If we repeat prayers and songs it should be because they say what needs to be said.Whether or not God gives us a good spiritual feeling is over to Him, it should not be our aim. Confirmation of our prayers may come, but we are meant to trust God whether proof comes or not. Yet God knows our needs.

John the Baptist sought confirmation from Jesus when he was in prison and began to wonder if he had made a mistake. Jesus sent a gentle message back to him reminding him of the signs that pointed to who he was.

Thomas needed confirmation that Jesus really had come back after he had died, and Jesus did not judge him harshly though John said “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

In times of stress and trial God may come to us in a special way that we cannot prove, but we know is the reassurance of the Holy Spirit.

We confirm our word to God

We practice good spiritual disciplines – sometimes called “the means of grace” which remind us and others that we are committed to Christ and put us in the place where God can more readily work in our life. These things do not earn our salvation, but they help confirm to us that the Holy Spirit is at work. Reading the Bible, prayer, sharing in communion, being part of the life of the Church wherever God has called us are all ways in which we place ourselves where we are more likely to know God’s influence on our life.

Second Peter is a letter which comes near the end of the time of the New Testament. In chapter one verse three it says that “God’s divine power has given us everything we need for a truly religious life, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” And it goes on to talk about how for this very reason, “you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love.”There are other things we can do. 

When others are baptised or confirmed it is a good time to renew our own promises to God. How we live, what we wear, how we talk about others, what we choose to believe about others, are all ways in which we can confirm that we are seeking to be followers of Jesus. Even just talking to someone about issues we face as a Christian is also a way of confirming that you are serious. Of course, some things should be between us and God privately, but sometimes confirmation comes when we are prepared to trust a fellow Christian and request their prayer and wisdom.

Of course we can see this as a check list to make us try harder. Sometimes we like lists of things we need to fix or we think others need to fix. But it is better if we see these verses as a promise of God’s provision – they are first of all about things that God wants to help us with. He has given us what we need to make this possible.

Confirmation of God’s work in us grows as we trust in him and align ourselves with his way. Faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, endurance, love and friendship are things we seek, but they are also gifts we allow to grow.

This is about the journey of life, not the work of an instant. Yet every instance of God’s confirmation, and of ours, is a precious milestone on that way.

John Roxborogh

Trusting Jesus at Christmas
St Andrews Presbyterian Church, KL 24 December 2011

Matthew 2:1-15; 11: 25-29

Christmas Eve is about joy and remembering and anticipation of excitements to come. It can also be a time of questioning. The play the youth brought us (http://roxborogh.com/Articles/QuestionsaboutChristmas.pdf) was about questions people have asked at Christmas, it was also about where to get help. We have questions about where to find answers as well as our questions themselves. We may ask how reliable is the internet for matters of history and faith? What do we learn from science? What is the Bible most concerned to teach us about?

Some of the questions in the play may have been yours, some not. You may have other questions. For many, Christmas is just to be experienced, and that is ok too. We are trusting that the promises which came with the birth of Jesus will be true for us as well. We remember that Jesus commended those, like children, who trusted him readily.

In the Bible truth is often hidden, if not from those who have questions, then at least from those who have all the answers. Yet trusting God and asking questions often go together. The most devout of us is likely to question why God allows some things to happen, but we still trust he is ultimately in control.

Those who ask questions have a place in the Bible, though their motives may be different. In the Christmas story. Joseph and Mary had questions about their relationship and about what God was doing in their lives. The Wise Men asked “Where is the child who has been born, King of the Jews?” Herod asked “Where is the Messiah to be born?”

Who do we trust when it comes to sensing what the answers might be or where to go for help? The Wise Men trusted the science of their day and their reading of signs pointing to what God was doing in the birth of a special child. Despite their very different motives, Herod and the Wise Men both trusted the biblical scholars of the day to tell them what the Word of God in former generations might mean. Later Joseph trusted God’s Spirit guiding him to take Jesus to Egypt and away from danger.

For us people and their opinions may be sources of wisdom we are meant to consult. We learn by comparing sources. What is helpful depends on the question not just the resource. A dictionary, a telephone directory and a poem may all contain information that is true, but it is not true in the same sort of way.

In the play “Wicked Pedia” was helpful for some things, but people were cautious about trusting his information without checking other opinions. This was intended to be a word about the internet generally, including for Christian things. Every opinion you could imagine is at our fingertips through our computers and smart phones and it is not always obvious what is trustworthy.

The play affirmed Science as a reliable source for some types of knowledge, but not all. Science has limits to the categories of truth it can be expected to address. At the same time it provides a method which Christians are not wrong to embrace. When used aright it is a gift helping us to work towards a better world. Scientific methods remind us of the importance of evidence which can be tested. They also remind us to read our Bibles more carefully - even when we believe that the most important truths about life are not limited to the scientific.

The Bible was represented in the play by King James. Its grand “big picture” story is about God’s desire that people of all nations should have a relationship with him. It tells how Jesus came as the key to the working out of that plan. It explains about God’s dealings with people and his coming to share human life for our salvation. The teaching of the New Testament deals with what it means to belong to churches in new cultures where the way of life God required has to be worked out afresh. At Christmas especially we realise that “When it comes to why Jesus came; only the Bible really tells us about that.”

The Bible is our authority, but it is not the only place God wants us to go. In Psalm 36:9 it says “In your light do we see light.” God guides us in evaluating wisdom we find elsewhere - as he did for the Wise Men. In Proverbs it says again and again, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

Since “in its wisdom the world knew not God” we look to God himself for the gift of faith in Christ, but God still expects his people to use the best of the wisdom of our cultures, understand it, assess it, and learn from it. This is also true of scientific knowledge and the vast collections of fact and opinion to be found on the internet.

At Christmas we bring these together under the light of Christ. We learn from song and conversation of the stories of others in their encounters with Jesus. We learn when our own instincts point us to the truth found in the baby Jesus sometimes in ways we cannot explain.

Each year we can expect to grow with new experiences of life and wider perspectives on God’s world. We may better learn where reliable information about God can be found and the times when we need to act on what we know already.

In that I believe we can trust God where we are, with our faith as it is, our questions answered or not, our sense of things like stars pointing us to a way which will change our lives.

Trusting Jesus is always a question for the moment, whether our information is partial or as complete as it is likely to get. The experiences and celebrations of Christmas point us to Jesus, but the experience of putting our trust in Jesus in a personal way is a story we will want to write for ourselves.

Whatever our questions at Christmas, just being here has pointed us in that direction.

John Roxborogh

SCOLMA: The UK Libraries and Archives Group on Africa

50^th ANNIVERSARY CONFERENCE

Dis/connects:

African Studies in the Digital Age

Oxford, 25–26 June 2012

CALL FOR PAPERS

The digital revolution is profoundly affecting African studies. New digital resources are making available large areas of content, as well as greatly improving access to bibliographies. In Africa, governments and NGOs are publishing online, some publishers are moving to print on demand and e-books, and international academic journals are increasingly becoming available in university and national libraries.

Yet the story, as is well-known, is far from straightforward or unproblematic. This conference will mark the 50^th anniversary of the founding of SCOLMA by taking a critical look at the field of African studies and how it is changing. In particular, although there has been much discussion of new digital resources and what their creators plan to do, we have a limited understanding of their impact on their users and on knowledge production in general. For example, what are the implications for historical research of the availability of digitised sources, and of the choices made in their selection? How do social science researchers work in a field in which much, but not everything, is now available online? Are e-journals – or indeed mobile phones – beginning to change the research process in Africa? And, more generally, how have broader historical and political developments changed African studies and librarianship over the last half-century?

We welcome papers on these themes across the humanities, arts, social sciences and sciences. Papers may deal with digital content, whether digitised or born-digital, of any kind, e.g. archives and manuscripts; audio-visual material; maps; newspapers; books, journals and theses; photographs, prints, drawings and paintings; ephemera; statistical databases; and social media.

The conference will bring together academics and other researchers with librarians and archivists. We aim thus to have a productive exchange of expertise, experience and analysis on the question of knowledge production in African studies.

Themes may include, but are not limited to:

• How scholars, researchers, librarians and archivists use digitised resources.
• How African studies is changing, and the place of the digital revolution in these changes.
• Access to, selection of, and training in the use of digital resources in the library context. Are resources under-used?
• To pay or not to pay? How easy is it for researchers to find subscription e-resources? And for libraries to fund them? What is the balance of free and charged resources in the research process? How well do the models for making e-resources available in Africa work?
• How well does user consultation work?
• Access to the technology that underpins e-resources.
• Digital scholarship: are scholars in African studies using digital collections to generate new intellectual products?
• The impact of mobile phone technology on African studies.
• How patchy is the creation of digital resources, and what – and who – is being left behind?
• Language in Africa and new technology.

One-page abstracts of papers on these themes are warmly welcomed. If you would like to give a paper, please send your abstract to

Lucy McCann

SCOLMA Secretary

Email: lucy.mccann@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.

Tel.: 01865 270908

God's Wisdom and Faith in Christ
 John Roxborogh, 3 July 2011.


Proverbs 1:1-7a; 3:5-20.
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” “Trust in the Lord with all your heart”
I Corinthians 1:20
“God has shown that this world’s wisdom is foolishness!”

Christians need both Wisdom and Faith:
Faith leads us to Christ. Wisdom helps us know how to live.
The basis of real wisdom is our attitude towards God: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” “Trust in the Lord with all your heart”
Wisdom from the world in general can be helpful where it is consistent with biblical teaching, but it also has limitations.
However we face two problems
· Doing what we know to be right. This needs courage and determination.
· Knowing what the right thing is. Sometimes we know this very clearly, yet there are many situations in life when what is right is not so clear, we have to choose between actions when the consequences are unknown or the options seem equally good or equally bad.
We can ask ourselves about how different parts of the Scriptures may help us.
1) Is there a law intended for all people? We often think of the ten commandments.
2) Is there teaching of Jesus we can translate into our present circumstances?
We think of Jesus’ summary “Love the Lord, your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength, and your neighbor as yourself.” We think of his teaching in the Sermon on the Mount and in his parables. We think of the sorts of things Jesus said to his disciples as they travelled with him and after his resurrection.
3) We might ask ourselves “What would Jesus do?”
Some of you may have or have had a wrist band with the letters WWJD. These can help us exercise our imagination to think what might Jesus do in the situation we face. Of course it is more help in some situations than others.
4) Is there a story in the Bible which illustrates the problem we are facing and what a person of God did? We think of the stories of Joseph with his brothers, David facing Goliath, Daniel in the lion’s den. In the New Testament people carried their friend to Jesus so he could be healed. Paul praised God even though he was in prison. These are not laws, but they tell us the sorts of things people of faith have done.
5) Is there a message to a group of believers in the Bible facing similar problems to those in churches today? Problems of disunity and party spirit like in Corinth, problems with wrong teaching like Colossae, problems of failing to meet like Hebrews, problems of getting too excited about the return of Christ, like Thessalonians?
When we are not sure what is the right thing to do we often also pray for God’s guidance. Sometimes we wait for a sense of what feels right – are we at peace about it in our heart? Or are we troubled in our Spirits?
Sometimes God sends us a person. Sometimes a word in the Bible will speak to us. Often God leaves us to work things out using the gifts and abilities he has given us. We are not usually spared the task of thinking and working issues through. We need habits of mind and heart in tune with the sorts of things God usually wants people to do. In other words we need wisdom.
Wisdom is about everyday practical things and also about difficult questions where laws about murder, adultery, covetousness, or idolatry may not immediately tell us what is right.
Like the prayer:
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
Courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.
Here the question is not first of all about what is right or wrong, but what is possible and what is not. We need wisdom to know what we just have to accept at least for now, and what we can do something about.
Wisdom is not the same as intelligence – people can be very wise who are not educated except in the school of life. Education can grow our wisdom, but there is no guarantee. Some of the wisest people I know have never been to university.
We can also learn wisdom from the Wisdom books in the Bible: Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. Some Psalms, the story of Joseph in Genesis and the Song of Songs are also this type of writing. In the New Testament the letter of James has this same quality and the advice “If anyone lacks wisdom he should pray to God.”
Sometimes these books do not seem to teach us so much about God as about life. Yet it is still God who is teaching us.
· Job is a reminder that suffering is not necessarily a consequence of our sin.
· Song of Songs is a reminder that sexual love is part of God’s creation.
· Ecclesiastes reminds us that even for believers, the mystery of existence is still in many ways a mystery, and that even the best of human success is a form of vanity.
· Proverbs is about learning how to conduct ourselves properly, about seeking wisdom and avoiding temptation.
Proverbs 1:1-7a; 3:5-20;
Just as David wrote songs, many of which are Psalms, so his son Solomon wrote and collected wise sayings we call proverbs – so much so that “the wisdom of Solomon” is itself proverbial.
Proverbs 1 and 3 highlight the fundamental principle that our attitude to God is the foundation for knowing how to live.
It is often repeated that “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom.” We are not meant to be scared and run away from God, but we are accountable to him. Even for Christians he is judge as well as savior. Our attitude is everything.
Proverbs 3 expands on the “fear of the Lord” with trust: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart”
A basis for wisdom about what we do not know is also obedience to what we do know: – If we already know something is wrong we can turn away from that. We can honour God in our giving even if we are uncertain about some other area of Christian life.
We also learn wisdom by learning from our mistakes so that when something goes wrong, the experience is redeemed. Decisions have consequences and God, and sometimes others as well, are going to correct us. God can use it as a route to wisdom.
Wisdom from the world is not all “worldly”
Not all of Proverbs comes from Solomon or from within the community. Some come from collections of wise sayings drawn up by other peoples.
This is not some strange teaching. We all use resources we believe are consistent with Christian teaching even though they come from elsewhere. For instance there is a verse that is not in our Old Testament which says:
Seek advice from every wise man, and do not despise any useful counsel. 19 Bless the Lord God on every occasion; ask him that your ways may be made straight and that all your paths and plans may prosper. Tobit 4:18f
Tobit does not have the same spiritual authority as the books in our Bible. Yet in this passage at least what it says is consistent with what the Bible says.
There are other parallels in Christian experience. We read Christian authors and magazines for the wisdom they contain. That wisdom is frequently not just wisdom people have found in the bible, but wisdom they have found in other places.
Articles in Asia Beacon for example have helpful advice about coping with grief, sickness, healing, about healthy living, about how to deal with ethical issues, about the responsibility of Christians in society. It seeks to be consistent with biblical teaching but it does not all come from the Bible.
It is one of the tasks of young Christians and Christians of every age, to learn to discern whether what we come across in our education, in the newspapers, TV, internet, advice from other people, Christian or not really is wisdom that is consistent with the Bible or not.
It may not be how we would like things to be, but the reality is that not all worldly wisdom is wrong and not all the wisdom of Christians is good. Some people who are not Christians can be wise about many areas of life. Some Christians claim wisdom in areas they do not understand.
This can be very confusing, but one verse in the Bible can help us: In Philippians 4:8 Paul says “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.” Our understanding of truth, excellence and what is lovely comes from the Bible itself, but we also recognise these things where we find them.
However even the greatest wisdom has a limitation. We know we need wisdom to live the Christian life, yet to become Christians we need something that wisdom itself cannot provide.
Paul and I Corinthians 1:18-25
This refers back to Paul’s ministry in Athens (Acts 17) where Paul had pointed people to an “unknown God” as the God who had revealed himself in Jesus Christ, and talked about philosophical teaching.
In Corinth he decided to focus his preaching on Jesus’ death on the cross and forget about trying to make a connection through people’s interest in philosophy, or their desire for signs, or miracles or whatever.
Each of these approaches has their champions, but I do not think that the lesson is that one or the other is the better way; rather that in different times and circumstances, different ways of preaching the Gospel are appropriate.
Paul’s real point of contrast with his more philosophical – or if you like wisdom-centred approach – is that although wisdom is great (and Paul was a very educated and wise person who fully used his education and wisdom to communicate the Gospel and its implications), when it comes to faith in Christ we need another sort of message altogether – the message of Christ on the Cross.
Today some of us need to hear the message of the Wisdom books of the bible. We do not know how to live as Christians in areas of our lives and we need wisdom. Churches need wisdom. Countries need wisdom. The world needs wisdom. You and I need wisdom, and the fear and the trust of the Lord is the beginning of that wisdom.
But today some of us also need the message, that whatever wisdom we have, whatever wisdom gifts we have cultivated, however important they are even in the sight of God, our need at this point of our life is to receive the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ.
John Witherspoon (1723-1794)
Tomorrow is the 4 of July, Independence Day. I would like to honour and recognize our American friends from the United States as they remember the birthday of their country.
When the United States Declaration of Independence was signed some 236 years ago, it is interesting that there was just one pastor who lent his signature to the document, the Presbyterian minister, John Witherspoon. His sermons are still studied which is astonishing.
Witherspoon passionately preached salvation through Jesus Christ alone. He had migrated from Scotland to be president of the struggling theological seminary that is now Princeton University. He introduced strong emphases on moral philosophy and science to train not just ministers but leaders for the new nation. He became very involved in the first Congress, serving on committees, creating the principles by which a new country would be governed for the good of all.
Witherspoon preached Christ crucified and risen, yet in his faith in Christ he valued wisdom where he found it and worked with those of good will whether or not they shared his faith.
Perhaps here, we might also learn from his wisdom as well as his faith.
Amen.