We’re been exploring the contrast between the Magi and the Priests and Scribes who advise King Herod.  The priests and scribes, the insiders, do nothing, and give nothing to the Messiah they have supposedly studied in depth.

While Magi, the outsiders and travellers, do something and give their gifts of treasure and worship, and make great sacrifices to do so.

None of us here are as powerful as Herod, as knowledgeable as the Magi or Scribes and Pharisees, but as you can see it’s not just about knowledge, it’s about our openness to God acting in our world, even in unexpected ways, that really matters.

We have something to learn from the contrast between the Priests and Scribes and the Magi.  Given the same knowledge and experience, the Magi and Priests use it very differently.  So we, given knowledge in this world, also have choices as to how we will use them.

We are given the knowledge that the message of Jesus Christ will change the lives of our family and friends for the better.  He will transform our world from one ruled over by fear and manipulation to one ruled over by love and peace.

What will we do with it?

Like the priests and scribes, will we have all the info, and do nothing?

Or like the Magi, will we go to all possible lengths to worship this God, giving him our very best gifts?

Giving of our time, resources and even our power, to greet him as our Lord.

So today, with the same history presented to us, we decide how we will go down in history…as knowing much but doing nothing, or as worshipping the true King of love and peace.

Challenge: Explore Jesus this coming year – take c101, get in touch with me.  In the process,s you can see if Christian faith is wise, rational, etc. for yourself.

Reminder: We are reading the Bible in sync as one community – so check out today’s reading here.

Reminder: The best way to grow spiritually this year is to join our Christianity 101 in the Cafe Course in Pickering starting January 22nd. Register for you and a friend today!

Read the Bible in Sync Today

Ryan Sim - May 15, 2013

Wednesday - Change It - Forgiveness

Sermon on the Mount

You’ve probably heard the saying, “forgive and forget,” but forgiveness is not slavishly forgetting wrongs, that would simply allow many to be victimized again. It’s also not about demanding someone change before we forgive them. It’s not just thinking that time will heal everything. It’s actively releasing someone into God’s hands, and allowing him to determine punishment or forgiveness. Forgiveness is a choice, not a feeling. It names the hurt, acknowledges it happened, and that it was wrong. And then it’s a gift we give the other person, by releasing them from our feeble attempts to be God and judge over them. It’s about loving our enemies, recognizing them as a sinner in need of God’s forgiveness. Jesus was about forgiveness, and forgiving others allows us to be living examples of his forgiveness. This is why it’s such a big sign of discipleship – almost formulaic. The message of God’s forgiveness needs to be talked about, but also needs to be lived out. The best sign that we have experienced God’s forgiveness is that we start spreading it around. One journalist wrote, "I think the most powerful demonstration of the depth of Amish forgiveness was when members of the Amish community went to the killer's burial service at the cemetery," Kraybill says. "Several families, Amish families who had buried their own daughters just the day before were in attendance and they hugged the widow, and hugged other members of the killer's family." Imagine the release for that family. The guilt they experienced, their last name tarnished, so on. The community’s forgiveness meant they were now freed for new beginnings. Tomorrow, we see how forgiveness is also about releasing you, the one doing the forgiving. Question: Have you ever been forgiven? What did it release you to do?

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