I am looking forward to the service this weekend. We only gather all three congregations together a few times a year, and this weekend is one of those special moments.
How are you experiencing our engagement with the Sermon on the Mount?
I am finding that while so many of the words are familiar, as I allow myself to hear what Jesus is actually saying those words become quite confronting.
I identify with C.S. Lewis who said:
“As to ‘caring for’ the Sermon on the Mount, if ‘caring for’ here means ‘liking’ or enjoying, I suppose no one ‘cares for’ it. Who can like being knocked flat on his face by a sledge-hammer? I can hardly imagine a more deadly spiritual condition than that of the man who can read that passage with tranquil pleasure.”
Jesus calls us to be salt and light, which requires us to live differently to the rest of the world. As we allow ourselves to hear his words I think many of us are finding that, in order for that to be true, he is calling us to examine many of the foundational assumptions by which we live our lives.
This week we are looking at another challenging passage as Jesus gets right to the heart of a way of seeing the world that is so common that few of us even realise that it’s not biblical. One man has labelled this way of seeing the world as “the myth of redemptive violence.”
My prayer this week is that we can hear Jesus’s words because they are simply so different to what the world considers right and normal.
Matt