Bad Grapes

Do you get it? The Vineyard of God-of-the-Angel-Armies is the country of Israel. All the men and women of Judah are the garden he was so proud of. He looked for a crop of justice and saw them murdering each other. He looked for a harvest of righteousness and heard only the moans of victims.

Doom to you who buy up all the houses and grab all the land for yourselves – evicting the old owners, posting NO TRESSPASSING signs, taking over the country, leaving everyone homeless and landless…

They make sure their banquets are well furnished with harps and flutes and plenty of wine. But they’ll have nothing to do with the work of God, pay no mind to what he is doing.

- Isaiah 5:7ff, The Message

ISAIAH’S words are chilling. It is not to ‘the others’ – the outsiders to the faith that he raises his cry against. The vineyard is the Lord’s, and Israel is the vineyard, the crop that the Good Gardener will tend and do the utmost for to ensure it is fruitful and well. Free from disease, from affliction, from barrenness. It is his pride and his joy, like any proud parent whose son or daughter excels and shines with glorious triumph.

In the past few weeks, the things I’ve come across through my work as a journalist have angered me, caused me to rage, lose my composure, my sense of propriety and to my surprise, seen me raise my voice as I narrate my experiences and encounters with passion. I’ve been bruised, bewildered and burdened, as I find my hands tied, powerless to do anything except to survey the carnage of my daily battles and endeavours.

Everyone does what is right in their own eyes. In my quest to gather the ‘facts’, to find people who will tell me the ‘truth’, I’ve sometimes wondered if this isn’t but one futile exercise. Everyone has their own version of the same event, their own story, a convincing reason, a confident justification.

And the crowning humiliation is perhaps the realisation that I, even if I tried my best, am incapable of judging righteously between right and wrong, good and evil.

Mere finger pointing, or bringing the ills of our society to light, isn’t going to make what God meant as a garden city a better place. Isaiah’s cries are searingly poignant in what it means for us to live as the chosen Israel – not to do what the Romans do, not to live as tongue-clicking finger-pointing citizens in an uproar over the decrepit lows of our society.

But as a Creation who knows the Creator and realises we have been given everything we need to flourish.

There are many things I find hard to let go of and stand up against: The high life, the perceived needs that some jobs are more noble than others, that some of us are more sensible than others because we have our futures sorted out, that we’ve got the buying power for a new house, a new car, that we’ve secured ourselves a life partner, a superhero husband.

Increasingly, I find my dreams and ideals coming under the scrutiny of the Creator’s vision and purpose for our world, passing through the heat of the refiner’s fire. Woe to me that my hopes, dreams and vision for the future be another vain, murderous land-grabbing exercise that will disadvantage the orphans and widows – those who are humble and meek whom He so loves.

Twenty-five is a curious age to be in. It marks a time in your life where you are ready to lay the foundations and begin to build. I remember Paul’s words to Timothy, “I’m passing this work on to you, my son Timothy. The prophetic word that was directed to you prepared us for this. All those prayers are coming together now so you will do this well, fearless in your struggle, keeping a firm grip on your faith and on yourself.” (1 Timothy 1:18 MSG)

Keep my feet firm Lord, grounded in what you are doing in and through Creation. Amen.

Godspel

16 I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."

- Romans 1:16-17, TNIV

Gospel. godspel. Good News. From god “good” + spel “story, message”. What is it about the Biblical story that makes it so good?

“I am not ashamed of the gospel,” says Paul in Romans 1:16-17. “Because it is the power of God that brings salvation… for in the Gospel the righteousness of God is revealed.”

All of our lives are a story, and it is in this continuity that we can make sense of things, find meaning and purpose through the passage of time, a constant thread that runs across every minute, hour, day, month, year. Knowing where people have come from and where they are going can be a powerful thing. For it gives meaning to those who are trying to know us. It gives others a context as to who we are, and why we are the way we are.

Perhaps this is why the Scriptures were given to us in the form of a story. For a story doesn’t just describe to us what God is like. It isn’t an apology defending God’s character, His goodness, mercy and righteousness.

The Scriptures draw us into the narrative, into history. It shows us the Creator’s purpose – that it hasn’t changed one bit since “the beginning”. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is faithful to keep His promises. We see it through the Israelite’s deliverance from Egypt. Their journey through the wilderness and into the Promised Land. The prophets that were the voice of the Lord during those times when every man did what was right in their own eyes.

And there was Jesus Christ, who came in flesh and did all the things he did that we may know the Father – that we may know that He so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes shall not perish but have eternal life.

"I had always felt life first as a story - and if there is a story there is a story teller," said G.K. Chesterton.

The story of Jesus Christ alone is given to us four times. One by Mark, another by Matthew the tax collector, another by Luke the doctor, and yet another by John. Such emphasis!

What is it about this story that makes it good news? It has the power to save us, says Paul. But the question is, from what are we saved from?

It’s good news because in the Gospel the righteousness of God is revealed – from first to last, from beginning to end. The righteous will live by faith. Does the Biblical Story, this “good news”, form the substance upon which my faith stands?

I'm a pilgrim still on this journey of disocvery. May this story make me ready to give a defense for the hope that I have. One step at a time, one chapter at a time, one day at a time, Amen.

A reason for this hope

Then God said, 'Let us make human beings in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky... and over all the creatures that move along in the ground. - Genesis 1:26

Most of us it seems, are creatures of habit. Routines help us feel safe, impenetrable even. But from time to time, the niggly questions lurking in the recesses of our heart do surface to assail us.

Questions of meaning and purpose.

Why are we here?
What are we here for?
Who are we really?

Where we have come from and where we are going? What would I be thinking in the moment where I shall have to draw my last breath - is this a life worth living?

Many turn to religion in hope of some answers. And perhaps the hardest question - and indeed the scariest are: Which god, Whose god, and Who is this God who is truly Lord over all?

What forms the substance of my faith? And how do I draw close to this God who sometimes seems so 'silent' and out of reach?

Christendom - and our religious tradition and bigotry, has in many ways been a bane to us. We approach the Scriptures with our own fixations and formulas. Inscribed in stone is our very own version of who we'd like God to be. We project our own image upon Him.

If this God is real, then a want a fair chance to get to know Him. Not on anyone else's terms, but on His terms. Perhaps the reason why I find it so hard to convince others of the sovereignty of He whom I call Lord and Saviour, is that I'm still not entirely sure what I can offer them, and how to persuade them into a different way of thinking.

Peter's words come to mind at this point: "Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have." (1 Peter 3:15).

What gives me reason to hope?

I'm passionately desperate, to tell this Gospel Story for all it's worth. A story that doesn't smack of religious bigotry, politics, self-righteousness, my own knowledge of good and evil. I want to tell the Story that has the power to save.

I want to be thoroughly and irrevocably convinced. So dear God, do help me, and open up my eyes as you did for Saul on the road to Damascus. Amen.