#proper 18

The Royal Law | Proper 18

James 2:1-17 1 My brothers and sisters, when you show favoritism you deny the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has been resurrected in glory. 2 Imagine two people coming into your meeting. One has a gold ring and fine clothes, while the other is poor, dressed in filthy rags. 3 Then suppose that you were to take special notice of the one wearing fine clothes, saying, “Here’s an…

How to deal with conflict

A sermon preached on 6th September 2020 Matthew 18.15-20 Introduction

Imagine two friends in a church far away. Let’s call them Andrea and Louise.

Andrea and Louise used to spend a lot of time together.

They came to church together, had meals at each other’s houses, went on days out, talked and laughed.

Sometimes they had an argument or a misunderstanding, but they always…

Jamaica is not ignorant of the protocols necessary for health and wholeness. In print and on TV and Social Media The GOVT and concerned institutions have worked tirelessly,  to promote healthy habits and discipline that would guide us through this pandemic. We cannot plead ignorance!

We were doing well, very well! But as we ran the race, the relay race that nation building is;  we stumbled,  and now we are running to catch up, to just finish the race, to just survive this pandemic with reasonable losses and minimal damage.

We are not a disciplined people historically speaking, Our successes have come, in the main, from individual efforts, rather than from team successes. The exception being our relay teams, where the results have been spectacular, [when we have been able to put personality issues aside.]  

We don’t like to be told what to do. We desire  always to do as we wish, to exercise choice and autonomy,  but we tend to not accept the consequences of our choice and actions. It is usually everybody’s fault but ours.

So we will be praying to God to deliver us,

We will be praying for miracles and ‘divine intervention’,  for Holy Ghost healing and anointing.

We will be praying for GOD to come and save us from ourselves.  

The GOSPEL, the Good News is not just for heaven when we die. God wants us to live well even now. And so:

The Word of the Lord has Come! Spoken in prophetic tongues!  As 1st Corinthians says;  where there is speaking in tongues, let there be an interpreter.

Ezekiel 33:7-11

   You, pastor, I have made a sentinel for the land of Jamaica; whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the careless, “O careless ones, you shall surely die,” and you do not speak to warn the careless and indisciplined to turn from their ways, the careless shall die unnecessarily, but their blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the stubborn and careless to turn from their ways, and they do not turn from their ways, the stubborn shall die in their iniquity, but you will have saved your life.

   Now you, pastor, say to the land of Jamaica, Thus you have said: “Our transgressions and our sins weigh upon us, and we are sick and dying because of them; how then can we live?”

Say to them,

As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the careless, the indisciplined, but that they turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your foolish ways; for why will you die, O land of Jamaica?

The terms,  careless = stubborn = indisciplined,  should be considered as functionally equivalent in this reading

  There is a category of persons not mentioned:  ‘ THE UNFORTUNATE ’.

These are those who comply and act sensibly but whose path, necessarily BUT unfortunately cross with the CSI’s   The  careless = stubborn = indisciplined.  These are those who will suffer through no fault of their own and will have to rely on GRACE and Divine Providence to see them through.

In my own home, Maureen my wife is chief medical advisor and she ensures we keep the rules, that the protocols are observed. Who oversees your household?   Due diligence comes through repetition and habit building.

Your workplace likely has someone assigned to maintain the standards necessary for viability in the transformed economic environment.

Who is in charge of  YOUR personal space?

YOU ARE !!

Your sensitivity in the supermarket line is not paranoia, it is exercising due diligence.

Your insistence that  your barber where a mask is not dissing his hygiene,

it is protecting your future for all who depend on you, all those who value your presence in this world.

On this Sunday morning when Community Spread of COVID19 is a reality in Jamaica, The Word of the LORD, speaks to us plainly, from the lips of the prophet Ezekiel.

Turn back!  Turn back!!  To good order and discipline. Turn back!  Turn back!!  to sensitive and sensible actions that lead to wholeness and health.

Turn back!  Turn back!! to policies and actions that value life and protect community instead of elevating and facilitating our lust for power and wealth.

God has already raised up leaders in Govt and industry to guide us. Their prescriptions worked!

We have refused the medicine,  and turned away from the discipline and wisdom that saves us and now the very leaders and doctors are getting sick!  where will guidance come from.

Turn back!  Turn back!!  to the attitudes and actions that worked four months ago.  Exercise again the caution and sensibility that made us an envied nation. Ensure in our homes that quarantines  and protocols are strictly observed. Whenever we have let the dog of indiscipline free,  he has always come back to bite us! We do not have to be infected by this disease. We do not need to die un-necessarily. God has been at work among us guiding us and if we return to the wisdom already shared among us , in time health and wholeness shall return to us, God bless you.