FROM THE PASTOR
getting the job done?
god doing the job that gets done!
I think the first part of the phrase is commonly used; it’s only about two or three years old, so there’s a bit of life left in it yet. You may or may not have heard the phrase, “Getting the job done!”. It’s usually said by sportsmen and women during an interview right after a game. Right there in the change room (or out on the oval) you have the camera and a commentator holding a mic asking the question, “So how do you think the game went today?”. To which the sweat-saturated-Gatorade-guzzling player, with his Guernsey off, replies, “Yeh! Nah! We got the job done, and now we look forward to next week!”. Virtually straight after that is the presser interview with the coach. Sitting right there at the desk with the promoters board behind, the press asks the same question, to which the coach replies, “Yeh! The boys went about their business and ...” (within the same breath, are the following words) “got the job done”.
Now, getting the job done (in a sporting sense) usually means either one of two things:
1. It was a good game and a good win. All played well. All want to enjoy the win and not let the win get too far ahead of us; there’s some tough competition next week.
OR
2. The team just scraped through. It was a game where all played poorly and they should not have won; both players and coaching staff know it. The best thing is to do is not to repeat, learn from their mistakes, and quickly move on.
Christianity is God getting the job done for us. God freely provides all our needs, and then some: loving us, forgiving us, being 100% faithful to us and we mess that all up. We confess, we’ve left things undone, we haven’t done what we are meant to, and we’ve intentionally gone our own way; and many times it’s been a case of “My will be done, not yours”.
And try as we may, to listen more intently; try a bit harder; do much better. The reality is that we often fail – we cannot do better, we don’t listen more intently, no matter how hard we try; and this is all our doing. Again, Jesus knows our need. Jesus sees our need. Jesus turns up. Jesus doing what we possibly can not – forgiving the unforgivable; loving the unlovable. There is nothing about us that makes us do something right for God. And Jesus picks us up and gives us what we need. Not overly complicated: gracing us in baptism; giving his body and blood for our forgiveness; God proclaiming, your sins are forgiven for the sake of my Son.
Hearing the Gospel, the good news of God that God is for us and not against us, and by his power also graces us with a job. Even while we are sinners, God makes us doers of his word: loving and serving others, tending to those who feel as though they are failures, listening and praying for others who make horrible choices in their life; encouraging others who hopes and dreams that are right now crumbling down, or have been smashed and totally annihilated; offering assistance to those who are frail, tired and those who are just sick and tired.
Christianity in a nutshell, is the life that has been given to us in Christ. Our whole life secure, knowing that each one of us has a whole long list of unforgivable and unlovable failures, that God in Christ, chooses to forgive and love us.
God loves us without boundaries, despite all our stumbling, fears and failures. A fitting response can be none other than: “All thanks and praise be to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.”
Pastor Mat.
We Pray For:
† All pastors, as they shepherd the flock of Christ.
† All who rule and govern, that they may be shepherds of their people.
† Parents and teachers, that they may shepherd the young.
† The dying and those who mourn, that God would be present with them as they walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
† Those who have become lost on the path of life.
Now, getting the job done (in a sporting sense) usually means either one of two things:
1. It was a good game and a good win. All played well. All want to enjoy the win and not let the win get too far ahead of us; there’s some tough competition next week.
OR
2. The team just scraped through. It was a game where all played poorly and they should not have won; both players and coaching staff know it. The best thing is to do is not to repeat, learn from their mistakes, and quickly move on.
Christianity is God getting the job done for us. God freely provides all our needs, and then some: loving us, forgiving us, being 100% faithful to us and we mess that all up. We confess, we’ve left things undone, we haven’t done what we are meant to, and we’ve intentionally gone our own way; and many times it’s been a case of “My will be done, not yours”.
And try as we may, to listen more intently; try a bit harder; do much better. The reality is that we often fail – we cannot do better, we don’t listen more intently, no matter how hard we try; and this is all our doing. Again, Jesus knows our need. Jesus sees our need. Jesus turns up. Jesus doing what we possibly can not – forgiving the unforgivable; loving the unlovable. There is nothing about us that makes us do something right for God. And Jesus picks us up and gives us what we need. Not overly complicated: gracing us in baptism; giving his body and blood for our forgiveness; God proclaiming, your sins are forgiven for the sake of my Son.
Hearing the Gospel, the good news of God that God is for us and not against us, and by his power also graces us with a job. Even while we are sinners, God makes us doers of his word: loving and serving others, tending to those who feel as though they are failures, listening and praying for others who make horrible choices in their life; encouraging others who hopes and dreams that are right now crumbling down, or have been smashed and totally annihilated; offering assistance to those who are frail, tired and those who are just sick and tired.
Christianity in a nutshell, is the life that has been given to us in Christ. Our whole life secure, knowing that each one of us has a whole long list of unforgivable and unlovable failures, that God in Christ, chooses to forgive and love us.
God loves us without boundaries, despite all our stumbling, fears and failures. A fitting response can be none other than: “All thanks and praise be to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.”
Pastor Mat.
We Pray For:
† All pastors, as they shepherd the flock of Christ.
† All who rule and govern, that they may be shepherds of their people.
† Parents and teachers, that they may shepherd the young.
† The dying and those who mourn, that God would be present with them as they walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
† Those who have become lost on the path of life.