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In my first year of high school, Australia converted to decimal currency and Simon and Garfunkel released the song, “I am a rock”. While everyone in Australia was working together to adjust to the new currency the song spoke of going it alone. “I am a rock. I am an island.”
It’s a sad song about being hurt and withdrawing into isolation in order to avoid any more pain.
We’ve had some experiences of isolation this year and depending on our nature we’ve either enjoyed or hated those times.
Our God is into community. God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exist in a divine community of love and because we’re made in the image of God we’re also made for community.
The Christian faith in particular and life in general aren’t meant to be solo adventures. Even those with an introverted nature need others. We all need community.
Paul describes the community in terms of a body with many different and varied parts in Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12. The different parts of the body need each other and when they work together the body functions properly.
The beauty of this image and situation is found in the love and support we give and receive in the community. There are times when we desperately need the support of a loving community and there are times when we provide the support to members of the community.
This ‘strange’ year has highlighted the need for community. We need to care for each other and look out for each other.
It’s great to know God is always doing his best for us. It’s also clear our sisters and brothers are gifts from God. God often helps us through the community. God bless you with all the help you need and with all the strength you need to help others.
How much does it cost?
by Anita Foster
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So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions (Luke 14:33).
Read Luke 14:31–35
Wow! Jesus is bringing out the big guns … again. This time, it refers to the cost of being a disciple. Reading this passage, I am reminded of the work of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German theologian, pastor, seminary teacher and resistance operative against the Nazis during World War II. Bonhoeffer’s work calls Christians to embrace ‘costly grace’ and warns against ‘cheap grace’.
Bonhoeffer says that ‘Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance … Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate’.
Bonhoeffer explains that by contrast, ‘Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a [person] will gladly go and sell all that [they have] … it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves [their] nets and follows him.’
This kind of grace is costly, because it calls us to follow. However, it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ – the one who offers true life. Costly, because it asks us to pick up our cross, and it cost God the life of his only Son. Bonhoeffer says it is grace because ‘God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us’.
Sometimes, it can be tempting to leave the gospel at the nice, warm, fuzzy feeling of being loved and forgiven. Or to leave it for a Sunday morning church service. But true discipleship is costly. It inspires commitment, obedience and sacrifice, and with the help of the Holy Spirit, is transformative in our lives. By embracing spiritual growth in community over personal comforts, we can experience a grace that enables us to live a life in response to the amazing gift we have been given. This true life that Jesus offers is worth the cost.
Lord God, free us from clinging to comfort, and lead us into the true life found in Christ. Holy Spirit, strengthen us to walk the path of costly grace with faith and courage. Amen.
Anita Foster lives in Melbourne’s outer east with her husband and three teen and tween daughters. She is the Director of Faith and Formation at Luther College in Croydon, and she loves teaching, theatre, being in nature and finding new ways to express her creativity.
Seasoned for peace
by Anita Foster
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Salt is good, but if salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another (Mark 9:50).
Read Mark 9:42–50
The start of this passage in Mark can be quite confronting! When it warns about giving in to the temptation of sin, it’s graphic and straight to the point. Once again, Jesus encourages us to reflect on our actions and how they might impact others’ faith. The extreme language Jesus uses emphasises how deeply God cares about the things that can damage and corrupt life, faith and community.
The final verse of the passage utilises the image of salt, a recurring picture in Jesus’ teachings. Have you ever added too much salt to a dish you’ve cooked? When making butter chicken during the COVID-19 lockdown, my husband accidentally read a teaspoon of salt as a tablespoon in the recipe. Let me tell you, the dish was intense! But what about when something is lacking in salt or flavour and is just bland? Asian flavours often have the perfect blend of sweetness, sourness, spiciness and saltiness. Jesus affirms that salt is good – especially in those days, when it was used as a seasoning, a fertiliser, an antiseptic and a preservative. Salt brings the flavours of foods to life and keeps them good for longer.
But it can lose those salty properties. If salt is exposed to moisture or diluted, it can become less salty. Particularly in Jesus’ time, rock salt could become contaminated by pollutants, like gypsum dust from the Jordan River Valley, rendering it less salty and therefore useless. Salt was also highly valued and used in Jewish grain offerings and to demonstrate friendship and covenant.
How can we, as disciples, stay salty? What is Jesus saying when he encourages us to have salt in ourselves and to be at peace with one another? It would likely involve living a life that stays connected to God’s gracious covenant relationship with us. To act in ways that avoid the corruption and damage of life, faith and community.
To be at peace with one another is a significant final note – it shows the value Jesus places on humility, forgiveness, service and not arguing about who is best. (A tiny bit earlier in Mark, we hear about the disciples arguing on the road about who is the most important.) By coming together in unity and peace, we can proclaim the gospel of Christ to the world in a way that brings out its ‘God flavour’ most effectively.
God of covenant, preserve us in your love so that we may bring life and peace to others. Teach us to live in unity, reflecting the flavour of your kingdom in the world. May our lives be seasoned with grace, humility and peace. Amen.
Anita Foster lives in Melbourne’s outer east with her husband and three teen and tween daughters. She is the Director of Faith and Formation at Luther College in Croydon, and she loves teaching, theatre, being in nature and finding new ways to express her creativity.
Out of the basket
by Anita Foster
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
… Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket or under the bed and not on the lampstand? (Mark 4:21)
Read Mark 4:21–25
I have a basket in my house. A rather large one, perhaps even the size of a bushel basket – I’m not sure! This basket is the place where I quickly hide clutter in our house when I want the place to look tidy. It’s where things go when I don’t have time to sort them out yet or put them in their proper place, but when I also don’t want the contents of the basket on display. My children sometimes do the same thing when I ask them to tidy their room, hiding things away under their beds.
This passage about light and hearing is found amid Jesus’ use of parables to teach about the kingdom of God. It follows the Parable of the Sower and Jesus’ explanation of both the parable and his use of parables with the disciples.
Jesus asks whether you would hide away a lamp under the bed or under a basket. It’s a bit like the ultimate rhetorical question or appeal to our common sense. Would we? Of course not! Because the purpose of a lamp is to shed light, not to be hidden.
I wonder then, what that looks like for the purpose of God’s word in our own lives? Is the Living Word shining and on display in our homes and lives? Is it an active and lived part of us, listening to God and seeking to understand more about the kingdom of God?
Or perhaps there are times when it is more convenient for God’s word or our faith life to stay hidden away in the basket, the shelf or under the bed. Shoved away or compartmentalised. Applied in certain situations but not others.
Can people see Christ through our actions? Do we seek to bring God’s word to life in ways that others can understand, as Jesus does through these parables? I wonder what simple, faithful words and actions could allow God’s goodness to shine through you today?
Lord, help us not to hide our faith, but to live it openly and faithfully each day. Give us courage and strength to let your light be seen. Amen.
Anita Foster lives in Melbourne’s outer east with her husband and three teen and tween daughters. She is the Director of Faith and Formation at Luther College in Croydon, and she loves teaching, theatre, being in nature and finding new ways to express her creativity.