Contacts: Minister: David Coster, Office: (03) 332 7129 Home: (03) 322 5612 or email minister@cashmere church.org.nz Church office: Gail Weaver, Phone: (03) 332-7129, Fax: (03) 332 7130 2 Macmillan Avenue, Cashmere, Christchurch 8002, or email office@cashmere church.org.nz

31st August 2008 - Pentecost 16

Don’t give an inch! - Romans 12:9-21 and Matthew 16-21-28

I find more and more now that in conversation people will often refer back to the way things were, or reflect on how things have changed. On Friday my Laser printer’s lights lit up indicating that the toner and the drum required replacement. I actually agreed with the indicator lights for the print quality was deteriorating. I went down the Noel Leemings to buy replacement toner and drum. The advice from the salesman to me was that it was actually cheaper to buy a new laser printer than replacement parts for my old model – parts which they didn’t now have in stock.

I reflected on this with one of the elders later in the day. We both agreed that it doesn’t seem that long ago that things were made to last – now they have a limited life time after which they are to be disposed of. I actually asked the salesman how I safely disposed of my now out of date printer and he told me to put it out in the rubbish. I thought recycling was a better option for the planet and those who will inhabit it after me.

Is it that with age comes reflection – after all, I am now closer to 60 than 50? In fact I have been talking with my brothers about writing a Family history – putting down on paper what our parents told us about the family arriving in Nelson in 1842 and then moving to Southland. Some of the history has been lost with them, or even their parents, but some has been handed on to us and if we don’t put it down in print then it will be lost forever to our children and grandchildren.

The disposing of my laser printer is a lead in to the fact that it caused me to consider how we used to do things and the values we were taught – values of respect for others, respect for ladies and girls, respect for other people’s property, respect for our self; integrity and honesty in all we did. In some ways we took these values for granted – maybe they were a reflection of our White Protestant Ethic undergirding our understanding of what it was to be a follower of Jesus.

I remember as a child a values conversation around our dinner table. One of my uncles said, "It is not doing wrong that is the issue – it is getting caught doing wrong. In other words, it is OK to do anything so long as you don’t get caught." Even at that young age my response was one of "That’s not right!" Maybe my Sunday School teaching had had effect!

I was reading the beginnings of an unfinished story by the Rev Bruce Prewer the other day. This is how he started it.

"Don’t give them an inch," old Dermot said, sucking the wind in through his gold-capped teeth.

"That’s the way to go, is it," I asked, affably. I was not just being polite to the old bloke. He deserved more than a servile response. After all, he had made it big. Started as a yard boy, stacking tiles, sorting and racking timber from demolished houses, pulling out endless nails. Yet he has ended up as the proud owner- manager of a chain of lucrative scrap yards.

"The only way, kid; don’t give them an inch. Don’t give them … anything. But take a yard y’self. No pun intended, son. Yea, take a yard whenever y’ can but keep out of my way. son. The space ain't big enough for two of us."

"I’ll remember that, no fret," I answered, taking a swig from the bottle he had handed me from the frig in the office.

He and his wife had brought up two daughters. On the profits of his business he had sent them both to elite private schools. Big mistake. They became snobs and married "professional men". Neither of them wanted to have anything to do with their Dad’s low status, scrap business. Nor were his two grandsons interested. They borrowed shamelessly from the old man of course, and hoped they would feature in his will, but they did not fancy the hard yakka of the unglamorous scrap business. One grandson fancied himself as an actor and another had gone into racing motor bikes.

Dermot continued, "Mind you, son, it ain’t easy. No way. Y’ll have to toughen up. I was a sucker early on. Fell for a friggin a sob story or two. Not now. No more. Tough as an old cast iron pot-belly stove. Don’t give even a millimetre!" He snorted, and slapped his side, "Heh, heh, heh, heh!"

I grinned. He went on. "What do you think you’ll do when you finish whatever you are doing, you know, after all that study and stuff?"

"Not sure, boss. I never have been sure. Life’s a bit of a lotto, huh?" I said.

"Dunno, kid, I sort of found a gold mine in a scrap yard. Heh, heh, heh, heh! But jeez, I had to dig ‘ard! Whatever y’ do, kid, go for it hard. Don’t let any mongrel get in y’ way. Y’ must ’ave a mean streak in y’ to be a success. If y’ aint got it, then y ‘ad better learn it fast. It’s more ‘portant than the stuff they’ll cram into y’ skull at the university."

"If you say so, boss."

"Yea, I do say so, kid. Money is the only thing that counts. I know that. Y’ know it. Everyone … well knows it. But it don’t grow on trees. And when y’ get a wad of it, then ‘ang on to it." He took a long swig from his bottle.

"Don’t go listnin to all them bleedin ‘earts. There’re too many o’ them waste-o-space whingers around. They’ll suck you dry if y’ let ‘em. If I ‘ad my way, they’ld be all lined up against a wall and shot. Heh, heh, heh, heh."

That sounded a bit rough to me. But I could not think of a suitable response. I looked down and fiddled with the bottle of beer.

At the door he paused again, and stared back at me. "I don't know what … they unload on y’ at university, son. But y’ won’t get better advice than I’m givin y’. Staple it to y’ skull. Rivet it to y’ ears: Don’t give an inch, but grab a yard, I say. Screw them before they screw ya. Got that, huh?"

I was only 19 when I worked in that scrap yard. I sort of knew old Dermot was wrong, even then; I felt it in my gut. He was tough, hard working, prosperous, and yet was very sad old bloke. Something was wrong with his philosophy. Yet the world appeared to agree with him. Money was what it was all about. And my economics studies opened up my mind to plenty of ways to make money, most of them within the law.

Is old Dermot right or has old Dermot got the totally wrong end of the stick and life? "Don’t give an inch. Grab a yard. Screw them before they screw you." What do you think?

There was another man who lived centuries before Dermot. He lived in Galilee, not in Australia. He didn’t have a scrap yard but he did have a carpenters shop. At about the age of 30, after his father had died and when his younger brothers were able to manage the business, he left the carpentry trade and for about three years became an itinerant teacher (rabbi) travelling around Galilee and Palestine. His philosophy was quite simple – basically he taught people to love God and love other people. Always he showed respect for the other person and even when people got at him he didn’t respond in kind. Finally, after only three years of teaching he was killed by being hung on a cross. Even then he asked God, whom he called Father, to forgive those who had him killed. His teaching and outlook on life was quite a bit different to that of Dermot.

Once when talking to his friends he said, "What profit shall there be for someone if they can buy the whole world, yet lose their own soul? What is there in this world that is worth a person’s very soul?"

What say you? What’s your response to that question Jesus posed? Is Dermot right or is he wrong? Is Jesus right or is he wrong?

To God be the glory. Amen

David Coster

24th August 2008 - Pentecost 15

Daring Impossible Questions - Romans 12:1-8 and Matthew 16:13-20

The Gospels speak to me. I don’t mind whether I am reading Matthew, Mark, Luke or John – they all, in their own way speak to me. And the interesting thing is that every time I read them, even though they are so familiar for it is more than fifty years since I was introduced to them when I was a child in Winton Sunday School, is that new insights and a fresh way of seeing Jesus’ teaching come with each new reading.

I don’t know how it is for you. But if the only time you hear or read the Scriptures is when you come to worship, then I would encourage you to firstly set a weekly pattern leading on to a daily pattern of setting aside time for God to speak to you and question you through scripture and prayer. You will find that your life and faith are greatly enriched.

Last Wednesday at Forum, Dr David Troughton spent time with us as we reviewed his sermon from last week. I can’t recall now what prompted my question – I suspect it was some cultural issue – but I asked David whether he felt one of the major issues for the people of faith in Christ today was how we viewed God. That is did we see God as being a God who actively intruded and intervened in the life of the world or did we see God as a human construct with this world and its destiny being totally in our hands. In other words that our destiny is in our own hands.

You may want to think on how you would answer that question. But the question we have placed before us today is not so much how we see or do not see God at work, but rather one of who we see Jesus to be. Just over a century of research has now gone into seeking to find the "historical Jesus." The basis of most of this research has focused on what Jesus supposedly did or did not say and whether the Gospels accurately portrayed him. The end result is that we have a multiplicity of views of who Jesus was and what he did or did not do.

But the issue of faith is not the view that other people (including biblical scholars) may or may not hold of God or even of who Jesus was and what Jesus did. Rather the question is one of what you believe about God and who you believe Jesus to be.

To come back to the question I asked of David at our Forum meeting. My opinion is that the God portrayed in the Bible is a God who does actively intrude in our world and who asks searching questions of each and every one of us. Time and time again the biblical record is that someone at some time and in some manner has known himself or herself to be interrogated by the eternal. God presses people to face the basic issues of life, and by posing to them a question or a decision God obliges them to take a stand. The questions asked by God leap the bounds of time and history to still confront us today. And when I say confront us – I mean to confront you and me. No one else can answer for us.

In a Marriage ceremony the basis of the vow is that you have to name the person and say that you give yourself to them as husband or wife. No one else can do this for you. You can’t ask your best man or bridesmaid to take the vow and then say, "Yeah, that’s OK. I’m with Bill here." In this instance what Bill thinks is immaterial – what matters is what you think and what you intend.

In our reading for today, Jesus firstly asks a general question of no one in particular, "Hey! What are people saying about me? Who do they say the Son of Man is?" That is a relatively easy question to answer. It is always easier to gather a range of opinions and then to answer, "This is what people are saying…" Sometimes we will tend to soften what people are saying, especially if we think it may be hurtful. But in most instances we are willing to share good reports.

So when Jesus asked the disciples what people were saying they were happy to tell him because what the people were saying was flattering.

That’s the easy part of the question. The harder part is, "But who do you say that I am?" Now this is a question not easily escaped. Almost certainly some of the disciples ducked for cover or slipped in behind another disciple hoping they would not be noticed. Sometimes people do this today when asked, "What do you believe?" Our response can be, "Ask David, he is my Minister and he knows what he is talking about." The trouble with that answer to the question is that people know then what I believe, not what you believe.

It’s interesting that it is Simon Peter who replies on behalf of all the others when he says, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Almost certainly the rest of the disciples said, "Good answer – I’m with Peter."
Is your answer, "I’m with Peter!" or is some other response?

At the heart of the Christian faith is God’s call to ordinary people like you and me. This means that we do not come to Jesus with our question of "Who are you and what can you do for me?" but rather God in Jesus comes to each and every one of us and says, "Who do you say that I am? Will you follow me and walk my way?"
This is a deep question, the question of all deep biblical questions. How shall you answer?

Rhetorical questions are the stock-in-trade of us preachers. It is a time honoured way of luring you, the listeners into a sermon. I have done it often this morning. Of course, in most instances, I don’t expect you to jump up and shout out your answers to me.

I was reading of a Methodist preacher who posed a rhetorical question by repeatedly saying, "What is the answer to this problem?" After he had asked it a number of times a little boy called out, "I give up Minister. You tell us the answer!"

The Book of Proverbs is full of rhetorical questions. "Should your streams be scattered abroad?" which I understand is to do with faithfulness in marriage. I don’t know what to make of the one which says, "Can fire be carried in the bosom without burning one’s clothes?"

Jesus continued this Jewish tradition of asking rhetorical questions when he asked, "Are grapes gathered from thorns? Are figs gathered from thistles?" (Mt 7:16) Of course the answer to these questions is "No!"
Lots of Jesus’ rhetorical questions have obvious answers. Should you give someone a stone when she asks for bread? Should you bind a strong man before you steal everything he’s got? Is it right to light a lamp and then hide it under a bushel? And we answer, "Well no – it’s not right!"

But to some questions posed in the Bible there does not seem to be a ready answer.
"Why is it when it comes to dying, the same grim reaper who takes away the fool also carries away the wise?" Why? It is part of life! It is a mystery! How would you answer?

Jesus asked, "What does it profit a person to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?" (Mt 16:26) Now few of us would expect any one person to gain the whole world but some people have a sizeable portion of the wealth of the world. Are they losing their lives in the process? Let’s put Jesus question another way, "Is it wise to live your whole life solely on the basis of profit or what you can make for yourself?" In asking this question Jesus was raising the issue which the writer of Ecclesiastes asked when he said, "So I turned and gave my heart up to despair concerning all the toil of my labours under the sun, because sometimes one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. What do mortals get from all the toil and strain which they toil under the sun?"

I expect that most of us have come here today not to have question after question placed before us – although Jesus seemed to do that in his preaching. Rather we have come seeking answers. Sometimes the answers we receive to our question annoy us for the answer is not what we wanted to hear. Answers are the way we stop a question. Unfortunately some answers only raise another question. Like the person who asked a Jew, "Why do you Jews always answer a question with another question?" to which the Jew replied, "Why shouldn’t we?" I’m sure Jesus would have had a grin on his face if he had heard that.

Part of our problem is that we want answers from others to questions which we cannot answer ourselves. Preachers often fall into the trap of viewing themselves as having the answers from the Bible – their task in life is to find the right "proof text" from scripture to answer your question. Sometimes, we have to admit, Scripture does point us to the answer, but at other times scripture and God asks the question of us and asks us to come up with the answer. Maybe we will discover that in our congregational meeting today!

Sometimes when we think we have the answer we have actually limited God who is larger than any one of us and not easily contained in pat or trite sayings. I think it is sad that so many people loose faith because the simple answers they received to childhood questions no longer hold validity for them as adults. Rather then trying to find answers to some of the more complex questions of adult life they simply give up on God and faith.

It takes courage to ask God tough, difficult, purposeful question and then to search for an answer. But when it comes to questions, the toughest, most difficult question might be the one that God in Christ puts to each and every one of us, that moment when the questions stop being rhetorical, theoretical, abstract and impersonal and it all becomes focused on our personal faith. That is when we hear that questions asked of us by Jesus, "Who do you say that I am?" What is your answer?

But are you ready for the next questions Jesus asks of you, "Now what difference is that going to make in your life?"

To God be the glory. Amen

David Coster

17th August 2008

God Sent Me - Genesis 45:5

The big picture is important. God’s love extends to the whole world.

We can get tied up in details, preoccupied with ourselves and our situations, focussed on minutiae; but then God steps in in unexpected ways, breaking through to demonstrate his love and care, to achieve his bigger purposes for humanity.

Today we have part of the story of Joseph. Where did this youth come from? Recently we remembered the story of Jacob and his family; there are lots of details of dysfunction within the family extending over several generations- deception and opportunism, betrayal of one another. Those family dynamics are fascinating and instructive from many angles. Finally Jacob’s favouritism for Joseph had reaped its reward. He came within a hairs-breadth of being murdered by his brothers, but as a result of Reuben’s advocacy he was sold into Egypt. When the brothers showed Jacob the special coat covered with blood (goat’s blood, actually) they left their father to presume that a wild beast had eaten Joseph, to live out his days mourning the loss of this special son.

Where did this youth appear from? In Egypt, Joseph was tested to the core. Here he is standing on principle, prepared to go to prison for principle! With that family history, he does not act with expediency, he is not pragmatic, but he is straight as a die. Had his father changed after his Bethel experience of encounter with God? Joseph had no Bible, nor Torah – the five books of Moses. He had had to learn from God in one-to-one relationship, and had had to learn to depend totally on God.

He was morally tested; he had to live for years in prison – which could have been a hugely devastating experience of injustice- and he had to wait for years for a fellow-worker to keep his promise! In the process he learned some things about administration and working with people. He learned to live positively when he seemed to have every reason to despair. He had to discover and trust the ways of God. He developed spiritual insight, and learned to discern when God was showing him something, so much so that he was able to trust absolutely his interpretation of dreams that predicted seven years of plenty to be followed by seven years of drought and poor harvest.

Despite the inevitable sceptics and scoffers, and probably the jealousy over an outsider being given responsibility, eventually the droughts and poor harvest did arrive, but because of his forward thinking the granaries were full. Joseph had been able to store huge amounts of grain throughout the years of plentiful harvest.

So the dramatic day came when Joseph recognised in the desperately starving cluster of foreigners who came before him that these were his own brothers. What a test of his spiritual maturity! But Joseph was able to forgive them, to be reconciled, and to save them. In spite of how they had behaved, he was able to rescue his own family! And to assert: "God sent me ahead of you to save people’s lives"

And it was so much bigger than that. God had ‘the whole world in his hands’. God had the whole world in his heart. Even though their motives had been so wrong, God had acted through them to not only save them themselves, a people with whom God had covenanted for a particular purpose, but to save a whole nation as well – Egypt. Through them, and through a spiritually alive Joseph, God had reached out to the whole surrounding world.

The New Testament lesson from Matthew 15 shows the heart of Jesus as He reached out to the surrounding world. He probably had intended to go on holiday for a bit when he went to Tyre and Sidon, out of his own country and away from the crowds which pursued Him. But here was a Canaanite women, a Syro-phoenecian woman. The Jews regarded them as outsiders, as mongrels, and she would certainly have known that. so Jesus teased her, with a twinkle in his eye, in reminding her of this. And she entered into the spirit of it, very cleverly playing on words by saying that ‘pet dogs can eat crumbs under the table’. Jesus loved it, this spunky demonstration of faith and the play on words which suggested she could come right into the family circle. And he reached out beyond the Jewish people to begin to relate to the larger world. After all, at his birth the wise men came from the East – as Mary his mother would have reminded him - they were in the heart of God from the beginning. And in due course, after the Resurrection He commissioned the disciples to go out into all the world, He sent the Holy Spirit to motivate and empower them to go to Jerusalem, Samara and to the ends of the earth. Again, God reached out to the surrounding world.

One of the apostles, Thomas went to India, and was martyred there. It is timely to remember it, especially with India’s Independence Day being last Friday, on August 15th. This year we are celebrating 100 years since our Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand committed itself to serving in the Punjab, and we are celebrating what has been accomplished there -through our aligning ourselves to the heart of God in His love for all the peoples of the world. And on September 30th we will be welcoming to Christchurch representatives of the Church of North India, as we celebrate the friendship and witness and service of those 100 years. As a parish we have been involved in that, as the doctor who went first spent his later years as a member of our parish, Dr William Porteous, and we are having ongoing personal contact with the Church in India.

Here are a few slides summarizing our involvements in India, looking superficially at the work of the Church in Ludhiana and at the Christian Medical College there, and at Jagadhri with its church, hospital and St Thomas’ School. Mrs Kamla Singh and husband David, Drs Cecil and Nayana Harrison from Jagadhri will visiting in September, along with Yonous Massey from Chandigarh and Kharar, and the Deputy Moderator of the Church of North India Rt Rev Purely Lyngdoh. Just before the time our work began Sadhu Sunder Singh had come to faith, and there had been great outpourings at Sialkot, involving Praying John Hyde, of Moga. We revisit their sites.

Here is a prayer used in the communion service in the chapel at CMC.
We pray that we may be found faithful in your calling,
and become channels of your healing, now and always.
We commit ourselves to your unfailing love and mercy, and offer ourselves.
We ask for your unfailing resources to carry out
the mandate you have given to your Church and us….
Give us the anointing of the Holy Spirit and lead us into all truth so that your purposes and plans will be fulfilled in and through us. Amen"

Here a prayer used regularly on Founder’s day:
"We are broken, wounded and in need of healing in our lives and in our relationships. Touch us by your healing and forgiving hand.
Lord Jesus, build us as a healing and healthy community, more sensitive to a world in suffering, sorrow and sickness. Help us to minister to many in your name, and reach out to those who cry out for help and healing in our land.
Inspire in us a new zeal for the service of the poorest of the poor, and renew in us a right spirit……
We re-dedicate ourselves for your unfinished agenda before us, and we submit ourselves for your service in our land and in your world, which you loved so much.
Lord, take our lives, our work and the heritage you have given us, and use them for your highest glory. Accept our thanksgiving and our praise, and all you have given to us through Christian Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana. This we ask in your holy and precious name."

Opinions from Pavan. K. Varma in his book "Being Indian" to ponder: (Parvan K Varma is a member of the Indian Foreign Service, currently director of the Nehru Centre in London. Formerly served in Moscow, New York, the UN, High Commissioner to Cyprus, Press Secretary to the President of India, official spokesman for the Foreign Office. Author of books on Krishna, translations of poetry, "The Great Indian Middle Class")
"Mahatma Gandhi believed that the means are as important as the end. His creed quite spectacularly failed to attract followers because the concept was alien to Indian tradition… Arthashastra… seize power through means fair or foul. Kautilya’s essential thesis, which he states with clinical detachment, is that expediency is far more important than conventional morality in conducting affairs of state."

Based on the Mahabharata "The essential point is that Hindu tradition has always allowed for a conveniently fractured response to the moral imperative…The only consistent concern is the end result. In the pursuit of the desired goal, morality is not so much disowned as it is pragmatically devalued…. Success, visible in terms of status, power, and money matters. It subsumes moral niceties."

"… Indians are generally incredibly self-obsessed, wrapped up in their world of loss and gain to the exclusion of anything else. It is accepted that people are born to their own destiny, and suffer or prosper in accordance with their previous karmas. Life is a continuing saga, and the possibility of redemption from want and hunger that the poor seek can await their next rebirth, with no need for human intervention."

God’s love reaches out to all humanity
Jesus came with good news to the poor, as he declared in The Nazareth Manifesto. He calls us, as his disciples, to join with him in expressing his love and commitment to all the world. So when we speak of good news to the poor, it is more than a weary cliché. It really is good news, with hope!

God can use hatred and resentment to be a springboard to achieving his purposes. He wants to respond to our need and our faith, our persistent and dogged faith. He has and he will use us as we make ourselves available to Him.

We rejoice in what has been accomplished over this last 100 years as we, Presbyterians in New Zealand, have worked together with God. Let us commit ourselves again, let us work in our community and throughout the world to be part of the answer to our prayer we regularly pray: Let Your Kingdom Come, Let Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Let us pray:
We re-dedicate ourselves for your unfinished agenda before us, and we submit ourselves for your service in our land and in your world, which you loved so much.
Lord, take our lives, our work and the heritage you have given us, and use them for your highest glory."
In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

David Troughton.

10th August 2008

What makes for Peace? - Micah 4:1-4 and Matthew 5:1-12

To understand Micah it is important to recognise that he followed in the footsteps of the Prophet, Amos. Together they were the first prophets to actively espouse the cause of the poor and oppressed. Micah came from the village of Mareshah in the southwest of Palestine (inland from what we today know as the Gaza strip). As Mareshah stood on the borderline between the coastal plains and the central highlands, between Philistine country and Judah, it was regularly subject to invasion and military conflict. Because of this Micah looks forward to a day when the weapons of war will be transformed into implements of agriculture.

Then we come to Jesus’ teaching which we know as the Beatitudes. This teaching has sometimes been called the charter of Christian living. In twelve succinct verses or nine beatitudes Jesus set forth the promises of God’s purposes for humanity. It is revolutionary teaching – a challenge to the world’s accepted standards. Thus it is important to understand that each beatitude or blessing is in contrast to the opposite. For example the opposite of the poor in spirit as the proud in spirit. The opposite of the meek are the aggressors, the opposite of the peace makers are the war makers.

Today we hear of violence on our streets with young people intentionally assaulting others as if it is a form of entertainment. At schools young people set others up for a hiding and then video the assault to put on U Tube as a form of entertainment. Saturday’s Press had a report of an assault by an 18 year old on a Policeman in the Invercargill Court.

Russia has just invaded an area of Georgia which is in dispute between the two countries. Iraq and Afghanistan have significant armed forces in them. Israel and Palestine (Micah’s country) are in a constant state of readiness for war. Sudan/Darfur, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia are but a few countries in Africa where conflict is occurring. We could continue on. But we won’t.

But collectively it would be good for us to consider:

1. Why do we get angry with each other?
2. How do we make for peace?
3. If you dislike someone very strongly how do you make them a friend?
4. What is it like if someone is not your friend?

3rd August 2008 - Pentecost 12

One little word! - Genesis 32:22-31 & Matthew 14:13-21

During my Theological education one of my Professors gave us a little piece of advice which was to "focus on the journey not the destination." It took me a little while to catch on to what he was actually saying for I am one of those people who like to get to where they are going. Joy is not - she is one who likes to enjoy the journey and take in the scenery.

I can recall one not so little instance when Joy and I took my mother into Milford Sound for the day. About mid afternoon we left Milford to return home. Just on the Te Anau side of the Homer tunnel a tyre punctured. I put on the spare hoping we didn’t have another puncture. But about 20 miles further on another tyre did go. No spare! I hitch hiked into Te Anau with the tyre to be repaired and Joy and Mum sat on the side of the road amongst some of the most magnificent scenery this country has to offer. Joy said to Mum, "What wonderful scenery and what a wonderful place to have to wait." Mum’s reply to Joy was, "What is wrong with you? I can’t wait to get home to the warmth of my own home." Thank goodness it was summer and a nice day. They were both sitting waiting for me when I returned to the car some hours later. I think Mum was more relieved to see me than Joy who was still enjoying the journey.

I was recently reading of a man who paid a visit to one of the World’s Magnificent Art Galleries. He was accompanied by a friend who was a fine artist. The friend turned out to be an incomparable tour guide. With all the passion of an enthusiast and the trained eye of an artist he pointed out to his friend more than he would ever have discovered in each of the paintings if he had been there on his own. As the writer said, "On my own I would have seen ‘a painting” and then ‘another painting.’" But with the artist as his guide his eye was drawn to qualities of excellence and to the refined techniques of infusing light and casting shadows; to the skilled layering of paints on the canvas "and the clever way the artist caught the slight lift in the subject’s smile."

In some ways we experience this in music when Tim and David play here. Each, in their own way, attempts to assist us to have a deeper appreciation of the beauty of music and through this nurture our spirits and draw us closer to God. This is also true when Brian and the Choir lead our worship. Through them we experience something that may, at first, not have been visible.

When we ‘hang around’ with someone in the context of that person’s appreciations – no matter what their gift or passion may be – then we begin to view the world through their eyes as they point out something we might not at first have seen.

It is no different with Jesus. When we keep company with Jesus in the journey through the Gospels we pick up his peculiar insights and ways of noticing things that in the ordinary course of our lives we would normally overlook. Somehow Jesus seemed to have a talent for noticing what others probably took for granted or just didn’t see. Take Zacchaeus up a tree or as in today’s reading when Jesus stepped ashore, he didn’t focus on the huge crowd, but rather spotted the needy among the crowd. Scripture says that on these people Jesus had compassion and healed them.

For people like you and me, Jesus still has the same ‘eye of compassion.'

Punctured tyres stop us in our tracks, but even more so do sickness, illness, and loss of job or family member. Events in life have the ability to bring us face to face with our limitations. In fact, it seems to me, that life is, in some ways, about endings and new beginnings. We start Kindergarten as the ‘new pupil’ who knows nothing and leave as the ‘old hand’ around the place. We then go to Primary school where we start again in Year 1 or P1 as we knew it. Again we are the ‘new kid’ on the block. Over the years we work our way up to being one of the Seniors in the Primary only to have our world come crashing down when we start secondary school as a Third former – again the new one on the block. We work our way up to being in the senior form and once we leave we are either a Fresher at University or the Office Junior. Life has a way of presenting us with our limitations. I often say at a funeral that here, in face of death, we are confronted with our fragility and mortality as humans.

In our Gospel reading for today the disciples are on a journey with Jesus – and as part of that journey they find themselves faced with their limitations. Towards the end of the day they look out on a crowd of hungry people and they anticipate a looming crisis. When Jesus suggests that they feed the hungry crowd the response of the disciples seems both reasonable and rational. Basically they say to Jesus, "Get real, man. We are in the wilderness with only five loaves and a couple of fish. What do you expect us to do with so little?"

Only is a word that puts boundaries on limitless possibilities. It fences in our vision of what is practical and reasonable. Only tends to pay attention to the obvious.

To the untrained eye, Moses was only a simple man with an unskilled tongue, not a mighty liberator of his people; David was only a shepherd boy, not the future King of Israel; the woman washing Jesus’ feet was only a sinner, not a model for how we ought to love and worship. And to the stunted imaginations of the disciples, the bread and fish they had would not feed the crowd in front of them. The disciples anticipated a riot of sorts.

It was the same for Mum on the road to Milford Sound. She only wanted the safety and comfort of her home – which was reasonable with night approaching.

Too often our vision is limited by the obvious, by our fears and by our past experience. Our experience of the past leads us into believing that the future is only going to be a repetition of the same. This is the way it has been – this is the way it always will be!!

Where do you find yourself saying the little word "only?" Where do you find yourself with "not enough?" Where do you feel limited? Limited by circumstances, by opportunity, by the hurts and mistakes of the past? Where and when do you find yourself saying, "This is not possible! I only have…"?

In the hands of Jesus five loaves and two fish became an abundant feast. What happened on the shore of that lake I do not know. I have read numerous biblical exegeses and theological interpretations of this text. Some question whether this was an event in history interpreting it as a metaphor or parable. Yet others say that when Jesus began to share the loaves and fish that others who had also brought food with them began to share theirs. At the end of the day all had eaten and yet there was still scraps left over.

Jesus sees what we often fail to see. He has a perspective on what is possible with God’s help. His vision is not limited by the reasonable and practical. He was able to feed multitudes with what seemed a meagre portion. Just think how much he can do with what you and I offer to him of what we have!

To God be the glory. Amen

David Coster