I enjoy playing the guitar. Apart from my level of skill, the biggest problem I have with the guitar is tuning. There are six strings and if one of them is out of tune it doesn’t sound as good. Tuning the guitar to itself often means it is slightly out of pitch. I can sit there playing for a while tweaking the strings but find over time that the whole instrument is out of tune. When that happens, I need to find my electronic tuner and use it to bring each string into tune. Imagine your life made up of many strings that need to be in tune so you can live a good life, the strings of love, hope, and peace. The sinful life might sound in tune with itself while being far from the right pitch, thus giving a semblance of sounding fine, but more often than not the sins of our lives put us out of tune.
|
How often are Christians taken to court for what they believe? You may or may not agree with the actions of Brian Tamaki but it will be interesting to see the outcome of his court case, and especially to hear what defence he puts forward for his actions. In Peter’s time Christians were taken before the authorities for their faith and needed to be able to defend their actions and beliefs. We could summarise this letter saying; With living hope, in the living stone, we are called to be ready to explain the reason for our hope.
White Sunday - a special day to celebrate and thank God for the children of our church
Being a Team Player by Elisa Wysoski
I have two Lego pieces, a wheel and an axle. The wheel is pretty useless on its own, you can’t do much with it. The same with the axle, it is very different, but on its own it is still useless. If you put them together you get a nice wheel that can spin. The Amish people in North America are conspicuous, standing apart from modern norms. Their outward appearance is so strongly linked to what they believe, it is as if they are frozen in time, with clothes and transportation that belongs to an earlier era. So the question is, how closely do we link faith beliefs with the cultural norms of an earlier age? To what extent should Christians who hold to an ancient faith, live like an ancient people? Is Peter’s teaching a vestige of a time long past or should it apply to us today?
Bishop Tamaki is making headlines, including one that reads: Beware of false prophets peddling Covid nonsense. He seems to be encouraging people to break the law by gathering maskless during a lockdown. What impression does that give the community?
When Peter wrote his letter, many in the community believed Christians were law breakers, opposed to the government. To counter this Peter wrote, “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, …. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves.” (1 Peter 2:13–16) |
|