God will not let us be tested beyond our strength

Here's the reflection that I shared this evening during Evensong at St Catherine's Wickford:

Like many in the 1970’s, my family had an LP of the songs from Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat. I remember listening to it frequently and, at some stage, seeing the stage show when it visited Oxford.

The show makes Joseph’s test of brother’s integrity central to the second Act. We can retell the story by quoting lyrics from the show (Genesis 42: 1-25). Back in Canaan the future looked rough and Jacob's family were finding it tough. So, they finally decided to go off to Egypt to see brother Jo. They all lay before Joseph's feet. Mighty prince, give us something to eat. Joseph found it a strain not to laugh because not a brother among them knew who he was. I shall now take them all for a ride, after all they have tried fratricide. Joseph handed them sack loads of food and they grovelled with base gratitude. Then, unseen, Joseph crept out around the back and planted a cup in young Benjamin's sack.

When the brothers were ready to go, Jospeh turned to them all with a terrible stare and said, No. Stop, you robbers - your little number's up, one of you has stolen my precious golden cup. But the brothers said, Benjamin is an innocent man. Show him some mercy, oh mighty one please. He would not do this. He must have been framed. Jail us and beat us, we should be blamed, we are the criminal guilty ones, save him, take me. Joseph knew by this his brothers now were honest men. The time had come at last to reunite them all again.

Joseph’s test is worrying and hard for his brothers but serves to help him see that they have changed and become trustworthy. As a result, he reveals himself to them and they are reunited once more. Joseph’s earlier experiences in Egypt were also testing but he came through with flying colours and was rewarded with high office that then provided him with the opportunity to save his family and to reunite them.

In 1 Corinthians 10, we read that, although we will experience tests and challenges as we go through life, no testing will overtake us that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let us be tested beyond our strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that we may be able to endure it. That is also what we see happening in the story of Joseph and his brothers.

It means that, whenever we are in difficulty or some kind of test, we need to look to God to see what it is we are to learn and where the way out that he has provided is located. This can be a core part of our prayer recognising that, as with Joseph, it took much of his life before he realised how God was using what had seemed bad for good, and, for his brothers, the test was to see whether they would act with integrity under pressure, having failed to do so earlier in the story.

Hebrews 12 also speaks of tests and challenges and encourages in the midst of such experiences to strengthen our feeble arms and weak knees and make level paths for our feet. James, the brother of Jesus, wrote: ‘My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.’ (James 1. 2 - 4)

In a world of conflict and change is that difficulties, challenges and even opposition are inevitable. The key to coping is linked to attitude. Joseph’s integrity in the face of testing and that of his brother’s when Benjamin was accused are examples to us of viewing difficulties as a testing ground – an assault course – to build up our strength in order to go on; to look for the opportunities in our challenges. If we have a deficit mindset that is focused on all the difficulties we face, then we have lost before we have begun. If we have an abundance mindset that views God as providing resources, support and strength even in the most challenging of circumstances, then, like Joseph, we can have hope in the possibility of moving on and overcoming the challenges we face.

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Denison Witmer - Keep Moving Brother, Keep Moving Sister.

Pressing on and going forward

Here's the reflection that I shared at St Andrew's Wickford this morning:

Both our readings today are to do with responses to difficulties and challenges. Jesus experienced his own people turning against him in the story told in our Gospel reading this morning (Mark 6.1-6). The people in his home synagogue were astounded by him, recognising that he had been given wisdom and was doing deeds of power. But that recognition led them to question where it was that his wisdom and power came from and they became jealous that one of them, someone with whom they have all grown up, should possess wisdom and power beyond that of themselves. The result was that they took offence at him and he could do no deed of power there because of their lack of belief. However, Jesus’ response was to continue his mission by going about among the villages teaching.

In our New Testament reading from the Letter to the Hebrews (Hebrews 12.4-13), the challenges faced maybe on the one hand the threat of persecution and on the other our own fallibilities and failures. Whichever challenge is faced, the encouragement given by the writer of the letter to the Hebrews is to pick ourselves up, brush ourselves down, work to strengthen our areas of weakness, and carry on living our lives as followers of Jesus. When we do so, the difficulties and challenges we face become the things that strengthen us and enable us to cope and be there for the long haul.

It can, perhaps, seem from these passages as though we, or Jesus, are on our own and have to find the willpower or internal strength to overcome the opposition or difficulties that are being encountered. However, Jesus was continually reliant on God the Father and, by this stage, was also travelling with his group of disciples around him. They often didn’t fully understand what he was teaching or doing, but they would, no doubt, have been a source of support to him in this situation at Nazareth. Similarly, the Letter to the Hebrews was written to encourage and support a group of Christians undergoing, or about to undergo, persecution. The fact that the letter was written and sent meant that there were others supporting this group of Christians with advice and prayer.

As a result, in any situation of difficulty we might face, we should look around to see who is also around to help and support. In an age of almost instant communication, it may even be that help has never been closer at hand. For each of us, then, the challenge is not just to coping and coming through difficulties ourselves, but also to looking around in order that we see those who are experiencing difficulty and challenge that we can help.

The reality in a world of conflict and change is that difficulties, challenges and even opposition are inevitable. The key to coping is linked to attitude. Jesus’ decision to continue his mission in the face of the opposition he faced and the encouragement in the passage from Hebrews to find difficulties as a testing ground – an assault course – to build up our strength in order to go on are both encouragements to look for the opportunities in our challenges. If we have a deficit mindset that is focused on all the difficulties we face, then we have lost before we have begun. If we have an abundance mindset that views God as providing resources, support and strength even in the most challenging of circumstances, then we can have hope in the possibility of moving on and overcoming the challenges we face.

When his own people took offence at him, Jesus continued his mission by going about among the other villages teaching. When the Hebrew Christians faced persecution and challenge, the encouragement to them was to lift their drooping hands, strengthen weak knees, and make straight paths for their feet in order to press on and go forward. And God was with them as they did so. May it be so for each one of too.

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Sweet Honey In The Rock - Ain't Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round.

Scriptural Reasoning: Using God's gifts

Our Scriptural Reasoning group considered our use of God's gifts this evening. This is what I said in introducing the Christian text:

Paul’s main role after his conversion was to start new churches in different parts of the Roman Empire. His practice when he arrived in a new city was to preach - either in the synagogue or public square or both. While he continued preaching, he also met with converts in their homes and taught them how to be church. He appointed people in these new churches to be leaders of the church and then moved on to a new area.

So what he means by having laid the foundation for the church at Corinth is that he began the church by preaching and teaching about Jesus, with the teachings about Jesus and the experience of knowing Jesus being the ultimate foundation for the church. He then moved on and the people that he left in charge are the ones who are now building on the foundation that he laid. In other words, they are the ones taking the church forward now.

However, Paul doesn’t leave them behind altogether. He hears news of how they are getting on and he writes to them with advice and further teaching to try to ensure that they develop in the way that he thinks best.

That is the immediate context for the passage. What can it say to us about the use of the gifts that God has given us?

First, Paul is saying that, although the work that we may do is significant, ultimately the work is God’s not ours. We see this in two ways. First, the foundation laid is Jesus. The basis of the work we do for God is God. We are only working for God if we are building on the foundation of God’s revelation of himself. Second, we never complete the work. There is always more to be done and people who will follow us and build on what we have done. This is important as it brings a sense of perspective to what we do. We are working for the long-term not the short-term and we need the input and perspectives of others.

At times in his writings Paul can seem directive and domineering but this tendency is also reigned in to some extent by his awareness that it is God’s work that counts and that he cannot achieve solely by himself and his own resources (which is one reason why he generally travelled with a team of people and created teams of leaders in the churches he established).

Second, our work will be tested. Fire refines or consumes. It burns up wood, hay and straw so it is as though these things never existed but it refines/purifies gold and silver. In Paul’s thinking the test comes at the end of time on the day of judgement but we could also understand testing to be an ongoing, ever-present reality as those around us question and critique what we are doing and the motivations for it. This passage, therefore, seems to encourage us to understand questions and critiques positively as things which can help to refine and better shape the ways in which we use our gifts in God’s service.

In this life the ultimate test is the test of time. What kind of legacy will we leave? Will we, the things we do or the things we make be remembered for any length of time? Will the things we do in the here and now enable other things to occur in the future? Will we have leave a legacy or will the things we do now prove to be ephemeral?

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The Swell Season - Low Rising.