Worship - 10 August 2025

Summary of this week's theme

How many of us have read or heard: “Jesus is coming – look busy!”  It begs the question about what it is that we are to be busy doing.  In using parables to guide his disciples, Jesus can use counter-intuitive language.  After all, who is the ‘thief in the night?’  Surely that is Jesus himself, arriving to overturn established order.  The problem with overturning things is that we are quite often comfortable with the way things are and don’t want anything to be overturned.  Henri Nouwen, in Spiritual Direction, wrote about the two, conflicting inner voices he experienced – one urging him to be self-sufficient, the other suggesting that he should stay close to the heart of Jesus as his first priority.  We all have those voices competing for our attention to one degree or another.  It raises the question about what is truly of value in the Christian context.  Saint Lawrence, normally celebrated on 10 August, but pre-empted because this is a Sunday, was martyred for presenting to a government official the “treasure of the church” in the form of the poor, hungry and needy.  The official was not amused and had him roasted to death.  But Lawrence’s sense of value, although used to trick an official, actually portrayed the true values of the church.  Tied in with the matter of value is the question of how we discern God’s purpose and apply Christ’s values to our own lives.  This hinges upon the way in which we perceive and practise our faith.  The letter to the Hebrews mentions hope and faith.  The challenge is to treat life as a journey, a pilgrimage, which we make in the company of others, as individuals, yet as members of a community, people whose pilgrimage journeys intersect and overlap.  If we follow the example of the patriarchs and prophets, then we may have faith in our ability to make a difference in our world if we stop clinging to our desire for instant gratification - and have the patience to wait for God’s purpose to be revealed, and accomplished, in God’s good time, as Kath Brayford reminds us today.  The letter to the Hebrews catches this wonderfully in the examples of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Jacob: all, especially Abraham, had to trust that God’s covenant would be fulfilled, even if not in their own lifetimes.  So Jesus is coming – he who constantly confronts in the form of those we meet along life’s journey, in the decisions we make.  Jesus is coming: the thief, who is quite likely to threaten the established order, who will more than likely bring discomfort to the comfortable and peace, and comfort to the poor, the needy, the dispossessed, the sick.   Whether we wish to look busy or not, like Henri Nouwen, we might like to be sure that whenever he comes, we endeavour to place ourselves close to his heart.  That’s where his treasure is.