Ian and Amanda led the service today and chose some powerful songs to demonstrate the power of words, whether it be eagles soaring, unending praise or standing firm on a Rock.
It was a great service made all the more relevant for me having finished the previous night’s Street Angels patrol simply talking to people and being given the right words to deal with a variety of people. The correct reassurance for worried Mancunian, the sharing of faith with the person who hadn’t been to church since they were little, the sharing of comfort and a hug for a homeless person, the words of shared background and understanding with the once atheist, now Buddhist but Christian living seeker of knowledge. We had a new volunteer with us and he asked what he should say if people asked him about his faith and his life journey. My answer was simply to say that it was up to him, we didn’t have a script, we simply ask people to answer from their own heart and experience why they choose to be a street angel. That honesty and openness is what people respond so positively to. Not sure he believed this at the beginning of the night but he was convinced by the end.
Esther brought the Word today. She spoke about the power of words. She hoped we’d all been offered words of
welcome when we arrived and hoped we were glad to be here. We had opened our service with the broadcast words of Shadrach Meshach Lockridge who was the preacher at Calvary Baptist Church from 1953 to 1993.His words on “That’s my King” come at the end of an hour long sermon he delivered and are amazing to listen to. The rythmn and the musicality of his words reach out across the 4 decades since he preached them. Esther pointed out that God has given her a lot of words (her husband David agreed!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bA86JLichyY
Mark 8:27 offers some important words here. They are central to our understanding of Jesus, Central pivotal . Says it all. They mark a place 2 and a half years into the ministry of Jesus.
The disciples are travelling, they’re going up north Just like some couples in this room. Mark is the shortest most chronological Gospel starting at the baptism of Jesus. Jesus is baptised in the Jordan lowest point on the planet. They’re on their way to Caesarea Philippi . We’ve already heard about lots of miracles and parables from Jesus. Mark was the PA or personal assistant to Barnabas Paul and Peter. He was the translator. People wanted Peter’s sermons recorded a bit like this blog. Words are so important.
Thankfully gospel people blogged them and write them down. These events happened 6 months before Jesus went to the cross. The disciples were travelling in a pagan area. The source of the water they find is snow on the mountain flowing through a crack in the water. This has pagan symbolism and there are statues of Caesar and Pan in the rock face where the river emerges. This is where Jesus asks “Who do people say I am? But it’s not out of vanity or ego. It’s not a Donald Trumop incident. Trump needs to know how people see him checking tweets etc.
Not he case for Jesus. His authority comes from God. Children of God is where and what our identity should be. It’s approval from God we’re after. The disciples reply back with the headlines of the day, Herod says the same words in chapter 6. Amongst the people was already the sense that that he was a prophet. Between John the Baptist and the previous prophet there had been a break, a period of silence of 400 years! A long time.
Jesus wanted to know what people were saying simply to lead to the big question “Who do you say I am Peter?” This is the first time Peter speaks. “You are the Christ the messiah”. Was Jesus surprised Peter got it right. Matthew 16:15 to 20 shows this knowledge was from God. Peter didn’t tell Mark this bit. Peter it seems did not want to have the focus about him. Tough for us not to put the me as the focus. Esther noted that a lot of us preach with ourselves as the focus. It’s difficult not to. Jesus was affirming Peter here and starting to teach the disciples some tough bad news messages.
Both Christ and messiah mean the annointed one. This is where the teaching of the disciples starts. Only when we answer this question can Jesus move us on. The power of God working in us is shown and the cost of this is revealed. Whatever God call us to do has a cost. Jesus speaks plainly about being the son of man. Daniel 50o years before shares his vision in Daniel 7 13:14. Dwell on this for a minute. What a message! This is our Jesus foretold.
Jesus uses hard words, involving suffering rejection death. Peter rebukes Jesus , yet Jesus takes him aside. He doesn’t embarrass him, he clarifies his message in private. Esther shared that she had always felt for Peter when Jesus refers to Satan. Jesus was seeing Satan at work trying to tempt Jesus through Peter. Jesus needed to go to the cross to fulfil his mission.
Esther and David then shared a dialogue from the Roots material we use for our children and youth teaching. Again the words were powerful as Jesus (voiced by David) shared his views on how blessed are meek those who mourn and so on. Words from the commentator (Esther ) such I serve someone who was born in a stable and died on a cross reinforce the power of words. We also used this dialogue in our visit to our friends at the Sheraton Court care home later in the day.
We can’t just choose the good bits when we become a disciple of Jesus. It’s hard . If we are to save our lives we should be prepared to lose our lives in Jesus. In this world many of the words folks us are to bring people down . Words really, really matter . Use words that matter well. Make a positive effort to use words well. Be positive with our spouses, our children, our parents, our colleagues, take positivity out there Esther concluded with the words of Isiaih 50 4:7.