Everything you wanted to know about Christianity at the Anglican Parish of the Otways Please join me each week for our reflections of sermons conducted during our church service. Plus, occasional splashes of humour and epiphanies! With much Love and Blessings Rev. Jenny Brandon |
![]() MATTHEW 10:24-39 certainly seems to make the old adage, “Life wasn’t meant to be easy!” true! And how often do people think that having a relationship with God would make life easier? With God on their side, they’ll slide through life with no problems. IN our reading, Jesus tells his disciples, “If they have called him Beelzebub, Satan, then how can we who follow him expect to be treated? This is the Good News? So much for getting comfort from scripture for the week ahead. How often in the Psalms do we see the psalmist trying to be faithful but left feeling poor and in misery. Jesus was put to death, and after his resurrection, Jesus’ disciples went on to preach, teach and with the exception of John, the disciples were killed for their faith in Jesus. So where is the comfort the Good news is suppose to bring? Certainly we are fortunate to live in a time and place when those who proclaim faith in Jesus Christ may do so without risking their lives. Baptism into the church in Australia does not put a death sentence on you asis true in some places such as Saudi Arabia. But we still can’t expect that following Jesus will lead to a life of no problems. Your relationship with God will not remove all the obstacles from your path. You aren’t guaranteed a perfect marriage, perfect kids, a perfect job or a perfect boss. Faith is not the path to a life of no worries. But there is comfort amid all this uncomfortableness! Jesus never promised a life with no battles, what he did promise was victory amid our difficult circumstances. Love in place of anger, Peace instead of fear Kindness instead of malice Faithfulness instead of temptation Patience instead of impatience Gentleness instead of hatred Joy in tribulation and so on. Sometimes our problem is that the faith we were given in Sunday school of “Jesus Loves Me This I Know,” while true, may not have matured or developed enough muscles to handle a cancer diagnosis, the decline of a parent, the death of a friend or the end of a marriage.
When your faith leads you to make public stands that are not popular, opposition will come. Problems will arise. This is to be expected. But we also know that we do not face these problems alone.
Jesus did not promise you a life of no battles,
but he did promise the victory. The Lord be with you! With Blessings Rev Jenny
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About the author
Rev. Jenny is an ordained Priest of the Anglican Diocese delivering services at Anglican Parish of the Otway churches every week. With great depth of knowledge and a spiritual practice that shows she walks her talk and has taken her to the far reaches of N.T. Australia working with indigenous youth and elders.
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May 2018
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