Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Today I went on my own to the movies. And when I get there I was running late by ten minutes.
I asked at the ticket counter if there were shorts first or did the movie start right at the beginning hoping I hadn't missed the start.
Well they said they were running late and it hadn't even started yet. What a pleasant surprise. Then I heard the lady tell the projectionist he could run the movie. I was told to go straight in and it would start shortly.
So buying a nut and chocolate dipped vanilla ice cream cone I headed in to find a seat.
Well I was the only one so I sat at the back in the middle and put my feet up on the seat in front!!!

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close 

I had read this book a couple of years ago and was quite intrigued to see how close to the book the movie was going to be. The novel  was written by Jonathan Safran Foer and certainly left a mark on me as too did the movie. I will try and buy to add to my collection of good movies, books.

Based on the acclaimed novel of the same name, "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close", by Jonathan Safran Foer, is the story that unfolds from inside the mind of one young boy and the journey from heart breaking loss to the healing power of self-discovery, set against the backdrop of the tragic events of September 11. Nine-year-old Oskar Schell is an exceptional child: amateur inventor, Francophile, pacifist. And after finding a mysterious key that belonged to his father, who died in the World Trade Center on 9/11, he embarks on an exceptional journey--an urgent, secret search through the five boroughs of New York. As Oskar roams the city, he encounters a motley assortment of humanity, who are all survivors in their own ways. Ultimately, Oskar's journey ends where it began, but with the solace of that most human experience: love.

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close is narrated by young Oskar Schell (newcomer Thomas Horn), a precocious boy who is trying to cope with the loss of his father and whose thirst for exploring and learning about the world is encouraged by his kindly father, a jeweler, Thomas (Tom Hanks). Thomas was at a meeting on the 105th floor of the World Trade Center in New York City on the tragic day of September 11, 2001 when the twin towers collapse, leaving his son and wife (Sandra Bullock) emotionally-shattered and unable to connect with one another.

Oskar hears his father's final answer machine messages, left on that fateful day, which he conceals from his mother. A year later, on what Oskar calls "The Worst Day," he discovers a key in his father's belongings and, as he used to do with his father, sets out on a quest to find the lock that matches the key embarking on a scavenger hunt to find the matching lock. He is determined to keep his vital connection to the man who playfully cajoled him into confronting his wildest fears. The journey crosses the five New York boroughs and is not only one that leads him to encounter many a lost soul in New York City, but one which could possibly provide some closure for Oskar and his grieving mother. He encounters an eclectic assortment of people along the way and he begins to uncover unseen links to the father he misses, to the mother who seems so far away from him and to the whole noisy, dangerous, discombobulating world around him, documenting his journey in a scrapbook. 

The Laying Down of Your Cloak

It was Palm Sunday again last week and I preached at the 8.00am service of our parish. The following is the message.

In the gospels we read the story of the first Palm Sunday.
Jesus was in Bethany with Lazarus and His sisters Martha and Mary. Mary had anointed Jesus' feet with expensive perfume wiping them with her hair.
Jesus was about to enter Jerusalem for the Passover.
As He came to the Mount of Olives He sent two of His disciples to the village Bethphage ahead of them. Bethphage is a suburb of Jerusalem.

Mark 11:1-6 

The Triumphal Entry 

1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and just as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.’” 4 They went and found a colt outside in the street, tied at a doorway. As they untied it, 5 some people standing there asked, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” 6 They answered as Jesus had told them to, and the people let them go. 

Jesus probably has friends in many, many towns where He has stayed before, who have told Him, "If you need anything -- anything! -- just let me know!" Jesus is not telling His disciples to engage in "grand theft donkey," but is taking up a friend on His long-standing offer.
Notice that once the disciples say, "The Lord needs it," there is no further argument. The owners are happy to have the Lord use their possessions for his work.

How small is a colt? He would have had to ride it with his legs sticking straight out in front or curled up behind Him so they didn’t drag on the ground.
Hardly a way a King would ride but in Biblical times royalty would ride on a donkey during periods of peace rather than a horse which was associated with war. Jesus' instructions are clear that the donkey must be one that has never been ridden. It is set apart, consecrated for a specific use -- for the Master's use.
He is initiating a public, kingly act. He is revealing openly that He is the Messiah.
He fulfilled the Old Testament prophecy that a king would come in peace and humility to Jerusalem.

Zechariah 9:9-10 

The Coming of Zion’s King 

 9 Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. 10 I will take away the chariots from Ephraim and the war-horses from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be broken. He will proclaim peace to the nations. His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth. 

In Zechariah's prophecy the gentle king that comes into Jerusalem riding a young donkey is the same one who will defeat chariots and war-horses and bring peace to the nations.
The irony may have been lost on the people at the time, the way it is lost on most of us today, but Jesus’ “triumphal entry” was not that of a General or a warrior.
No, such men ride stallions.
Jesus rode in on a donkey. This symbolized that Jesus came on a mission of peace. The donkey revealed Jesus to be a humble peasant on a peace mission, not a military warrior.
Note that it was a donkey that had carried Jesus and Mary at the beginning of His life just before He was born as they rode into Bethlehem. And now a donkey carries Him into Jerusalem just before His death. Jesus shows us that, that which we think has no value, has tremendous value in God’s eyes.

 Mark 11:7 

7 When they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks over it, he sat on it. 

They use their cloaks as a makeshift saddle.
In 2 Kings 9 we read the prophet Elisha summoned a young man, a prophet, to go and anoint Jehu in Ramoth Gilead. When he got there he told Jehu he had a message for him so Jehu got up and went into the house. Then the prophet poured oil on Jehu’s head and declared, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anoint you king over the LORD’s people Israel’ “. When the prophet had left and Jehu told the people what had happened, they hurried and took their cloaks and spread them under him on the bare steps. Then they blew the trumpet and shouted, “Jehu is king!”

Spreading clothing to carpet one's pathway was a way to honour the person.

Mark 11:8

 8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields.

The words translated "cloaks" or "garments" can refer generally to any garment, "clothing, apparel," or specifically to outer clothing, "cloak, robe."
The cloak of bible times was a distinctive outer garment made of two pieces of thick woolen material sewn together, with slits rather than sleeves for the arms. A typical Hebrew slept on the floor with his cloak used as a covering to keep him warm. This was especially true for travelers, shepherds or poor people, so a person’s cloak was not to be kept as collateral for a loan.


 Exodus 22:26-27 

26 If you take your neighbour’s cloak as a pledge, return it to him by sunset, 27 because his cloak is the only covering he has for his body. What else will he sleep in? When he cries out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate. 

Deuteronomy 24:12-13 

12. If the man is poor, do not go to sleep with his pledge in your possession. 13 Return his cloak to him by sunset so that he may sleep in it. Then he will thank you, and it will be regarded as a righteous act in the sight of the LORD your God. 

We read earlier in the gospels of the significance of Jesus cloak. The story of the woman who had suffered bleeding for 12 years.

Mark 5:25-34 

25 And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. 26 She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. 27 When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28 because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” 29 Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. 

And then the power of healing

 Matthew 14:35-36 

35 And when the men of that place recognized Jesus, they sent word to all the surrounding country. People brought all their sick to him 36 and begged him to let the sick just touch the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed. 

Acts 5:12-16

The Apostles Heal Many 

12 The apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders among the people. And all the believers used to meet together in Solomon’s Colonnade. 13 No one else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. 14 Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number. 15 As a result, people brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter’s shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by. 16 Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and those tormented by evil spirits, and all of them were healed. 

 We must not think the clothes on our backs to dear to part with for the service of Christ.

Mark 10:46-53
Blind Bartimaeus Receives His Sight 
49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called to the blind man, “Cheer up! On your feet! He’s calling you.” 50 Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus. 51 “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus asked him. The blind man said, “Rabbi, I want to see.” 52 “Go,” said Jesus, “your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus along the road. 

This prompts the question: Why did the model disciple, Bartimaeus, throw his cloak away while Jesus' followers throw theirs at Jesus' feet?
Bartimaeus was throwing off the "cloak" of royal and hierarchical power. Jesus had condemned such power in Mark 10:42: “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them." Bartimaeus is throwing off the way of power-striving and following "on the way" of Jesus which is opposed to hierarchical power.
The crowd, by strewing cloaks onto His path, is treating the humble, donkey-riding, Jesus as true royalty.
Those that take Christ for their King must lay their all under His feet.

Is there something in your life or possession that you hold very dearly to?
Do you want Jesus to use you for His work?
We must take what we hold onto and throw it to the ground and allow the King – Jesus to pass over it.
It may be a possession; a talent; an area in your life that you struggle with even.
We must be ready and willing for Jesus to claim use of our possessions and positions. Since He is our Master, they don't belong to us, but to Him.
When He sends a message, "The Lord has need of it," we must relinquish our control willingly and immediately.
Let the power of the spirit rest on it so that we can take it up again to be used for the glory of God.
Then we too can call out…

Mark 11:9-10
 9 Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, “Hosanna! “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” 10 “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!” “Hosanna in the highest!” 

Prayer
Lord, please help me to be willing to obey your instructions, even when I don't understand all the details or their importance. Thank you for the immense privilege you grant to me and to my brothers and sisters to be participants in your mission, to play important parts in what you are doing. Help me to rejoice in you and praise you with an open heart, not resist because of my pain or from the wound of a doubting or distrustful heart. In your holy name I pray. Amen.

Psalm 118:25-29
25 O LORD, save us; O LORD, grant us success.
26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD.
From the house of the LORD we bless you.
27 The LORD is God, and he has made his light shine upon us.
With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will give you thanks; you are my God, and I will exalt you.
29 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.

Facebook Games

When I wrote the sermons I have shared in the previous few posts God brought me through something which I shared in the 10.00am service as an example.

I spend a lot of time on the computer – too much time

I am addicted to some of the games on Facebook. One was called Egg Buddies.

While staying at Titoki I thought I would use that time to break the habit.

There is a computer there you can use and I was on it a couple of times.

I prayed about it and asked God to help me break the addiction.

While I was there God showed me and had some things put to me, that showed me a glimpse of what he has in store for me if I am obedient to Him

When I got home I deleted egg buddies, word buddies, a farm game and gardens of time from my profile.

But I couldn't stop do I started another user to just play games. I thought this would help hide what I was doing.

Over the next few weeks God showed me the stupidity of the games. It’s playing with pixels. It’s stealing my time. Part of me had this secret desire to be better than everyone else. To be the winner and beat them all. I would play nicely sometimes and then other times wouldn’t give points, gold coins or eggs to any other players so I wouldn’t help them because I wanted to beat them. I would stay up late just to gain a higher score. I would get cross if I couldn't get on the computer to play the games.

I was addicted to the games.

God showed me the realization of this. Was I prepared to be this addicted to Him.

I so wanted to.

I deleted the games user I had created and other games off my user.

Its been nearly two months since then and I had to ask one of my daughters what one of the games were I had forgotten it.

I have found more time and God is using me.

This became my prayer

 

Psalm25

 1 To you, O LORD, I lift up my soul;

 2 in you I trust, O my God. Do not let me be put to shame, nor let my enemies triumph over me.

3 No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame, but they will be put to shame who are treacherous without excuse.

4 Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths;

5 guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Saviour, and my hope is in you all day long.

6 Remember, O LORD, your great mercy and love, for they are from of old.

7 Remember not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways; according to your love remember me, for you are good, O LORD.

8 Good and upright is the LORD; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.

9 He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.

10 All the ways of the LORD are loving and faithful for those who keep the demands of his covenant

What are You Hiding From

This is the second sermon I preached on the first Sunday in Lent. It was for the 20.00am service which is a different to the early morning one.
This time I have not put in all the bible references but the links over the reference will take you to it so you can read them.

Last year I went for a week stay and rest at Titoki. While I was there I would do readings and studies and write it all in a journal.  One was from The Word for Today Saturday on 3 December 2011.

As I journaled it God gave me a lot more to it and I felt I was to share it.

So here it is.

It’s titled

Stop Hiding!

Written by Bob & Debby Gass,

'The Lord God called to the man, "Where are you?"' Genesis 3:9 NIV 

The reading is from

Genesis 3

The Fall of Man

 1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

 4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

 6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?”

 10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

 11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

 12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

 13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

   The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

 21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. 22 And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” 23 So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. 24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side[e Or placed in front] of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

 

The first recorded question God ever asked was, '[Adam]...Where are you?' And it's a question you need to stop and ask yourself today: 'Where am I - really?'

If you don't know the answer, or you do but you don't like it, then today's sermon is for you.

When God asked Adam, 'Where are you?' he responded by saying, 'I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid' (Genesis 3:10 NIV).

It's amazing the lengths we will go to in order to hide.

We'll bury ourselves in work or get obsessed with a sport, a television programme, constantly go out maybe drinking or avoiding being on our own, building wrong relationships, getting involved in an affair or building a wall around our hearts - anything but face the truth.

God wasn't trying to find Adam; God knew where Adam was. He knew what he looked like. He knew everything about Adam.

God knows all things but He wanted Adam to come to a place of admitting the truth and discovering ‘himself’.

 

Until you do that, you're truly lost. And the problem is, when you hide you become a phoney. Have you any idea how much emotional energy it requires to keep up a charade for others? Only two things are worse: being a phoney with yourself and being a phoney with God. Furthermore, you'll find it difficult to be honest with others or look them in the eye. Why? Because you'll be afraid they might look into your heart and see the real you. 

 

God just wanted Adam to find himself.

We hear so often in the New Age of people escaping to ‘find themselves”.

This is fine as long as we escape to God and find who we are in Christ.

God knows- he wants us to know.

To know the truth – not only of where we are at but how He sees us.

We look at the faults so easily in ourselves and others; what has been out ‘lot’ in life. But God knows us intimately.

He doesn’t make trash or mistakes, so what you may see as faults are His design, the way He has ordained your life even the things we do of our own wills, to make us into the people God wants us to be.

He uses all circumstances to mold us into His people.

 

1Thessalonians 5:18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

Romans8:28-29

28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

 

He is a God of love. He loved us so much He allowed His son, Jesus to die for us to pay for our sins and set us free.

Free to be who He has made us to be.

 

1Peter 3:18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit

 

If you are not happy at what you see about yourself, it is the sin you see – not the child God made you to be

Deal with the sin; confess it, repent of it and be free from it.

Too much energy is wasted in trying to hide from it.

To much energy is used to be a phoney. Its living a lie; the devil does that, he lies and deceives us. That is what we do when we try to hide it. Hiding or lying requires a lot of energy. To be a liar you must have an extremely great memory or you will trip over yourself.

Is that what you want?

Don’t tempt the devil by entertaining this flee from it.

 

1 Timothy6:11-12

11 But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 

Today is the first Sunday in Lent.

Lent is a forty-day period before Easter beginning on Ash Wednesday. We skip Sundays when we count the forty days, because Sundays commemorate the Resurrection and is a time of joy and praise.  By observing the forty days of Lent, the individual Christian relives the major events in Jesus’ life in real time and  imitates Jesus’ withdrawal into the wilderness for forty days.

Lent originated in the very earliest days of the Church as a time of preparation for Easter, when the faithful rededicated themselves and when converts were instructed in the faith and prepared for baptism. 

Lent is a season of soul-searching and repentance.

It is a season for reflection and taking stock.

 

The readings set for today talk about the covenant - the promise God made for His people.

These are from the story of Noah...

 

Genesis9:8-17

 

We read before this in Genesis 6:5-13

 

God grieved and was in pain at what was happening to what he created. (v11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence.) So he decided he would destroy all except Noah, his family and two of every kind of living animal - because Noah had found favour in the eyes of God.

Don’t we all long for that?

After the flood God made a covenant that “never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

A covenant is a solemn agreement or written promise to engage in or refrain from a specified action. It is commonly found in religious contexts, where it refers to sacred agreements between God and human beings.

The rainbow is a sign of that first covenant and God is always faithful to it as we sometimes see when it has rained. Do you realise that? All these thousands of years and his promise is still the same. It never changes.

God makes a new covenant with us through Jesus. He will take away all the wrong things we have done. So we can become God’s friends and gain eternal life. But remember the covenant is a promise between two or more. God and us. So we have to stand by our agreement. So where are you hiding? What are you hiding behind? 

 

Luke 8:16-17

16 “No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light. 17 For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. 

 

We are the candle, the Holy Spirit is the light – the flame.

If we hide under a jar the flame goes out. We – the candle are still there but we are in darkness. But when we come out and don’t hide away in our sin we can receive the Holy Spirits’ flame again to be a light or beacon for others to be drawn on and so too be lit by that flame.

 

Luke 8:18 Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him.”

 

Is that where you are today? Afraid to look into your own heart? The good news is, Genesis 3:21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.

Adam was naked but God clothed him; he was guilty but God cleansed him; he was anxious but God comforted him. And if you come to Him today God will cleanse you, clothe you and comfort you. He's just waiting for the opportunity to do it!

 

Make time in the rush of the world to ask God

“What am I hiding from? What is separating me from You? You know all about me – even when I sin I want to be free from it. I do not want to hide or separate myself from You, God…

I confess………………….

Clothe me with your Righteousness and help me to not pick ‘it’ up again so as to hide/separate myself from you. Help me to [James 4:7] Submit myself [yourselves], then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from me [you.]

Come out of your hiding place and let the glory of God – His light in your life shine so that others will be drawn to it.