Paul Long's Ramblings

  I am currently preparing to launch a new sermon series in my church on the Beatitudes.  One of the reasons I chose this series and wish to preach an introductory sermon to start of the series is my concern that there is a lot of misunderstanding about God's blessings, and happiness among Christians. Things like being blessed means just having a trouble free life, financial wealth, good health etc.  So as I delve deeper into this subject and try to clarify my own thoughts, knowing that a little mist in the pew will be a thick fog in the pews (to paraphrase a well-known preaching aphorism), I came across the following from Kenneth Bailey in his book " Jesus through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels" Here's a part of his helpful observation. In Hebrew (as in Greek) there are two words that are translated into English as “blessed.” The two Greek words parallel the Hebrew words, and it is important to understand the differences between them. One of the...

 I had a look and saw that my last post was 25 Feb, 2015!  Why have I been gone so long? And why am I back? (hopefully :-))  I have been gone as life just became busier and decided to move more to posting and interacting on Facebook - both my personal account and my church's FB account.  I am back because when I agreed to help post weekly on https://thedailyprayerblog.blogspot.com/,  had to log in to blogger, and I thought "why not?"  When I have in between time and I need a break, why not post something on my blog? I still agree with Henri Nouwen's words that started me blogging (the side bar on this blog with the title: "Making our lives available to others").

1 March Pastor’s notes Giving to Caesar and giving to God Last’s week’s WHAM verse of the week was Matthews 22:17-22. The context is interesting (read v.15-22) as two normally opposing groups, the Pharisees and the Herodians, joined together to try to trap Jesus. The former were strict nationalistic Jewish religious teachers, and were against Roman occupation. And the latter were from a Jewish political party who sympathized with the Herodian rulers from Rome.  Natural enemies became “friends” to lay a trap for their common enemy Jesus. The plan they thought of was brilliant and fool proof (at least they thought it was). The Pharisees sent their disciples so it would look as if the question was a genuine query. They would flatter Jesus to get his guard down and then hit Jesus with a question where to answer either yes or no would place Jesus in a most difficult and dangerous position. “Yes” would make him seem like a traitor and a non- patriotic Jew. “No” would gi...

A question on Christian tradition Pastor’s notes for 22 Feb 2015 Last week’s WHAM verse(s) of the week were 1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” 3 He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? (Matt 15:1-3) Matthew 15:1-19 is personally challenging for me.  The issue was a complaint by religious leaders as to why Jesus’ disciples were not more stringent in keeping the tradition of the Jewish elders. The “tradition of the elders” is a reference to a body of oral traditions that was passed down from generation to generation. The intention was noble – to help the people obey God’s commands. The tradition of ceremonial cleanness had the purpose of reminding the people about the need for purity of heart because God is a holy God. This was a good tradition. But sadly it...

Pastor’s notes for 15 Feb 2015 Last week’s WHAM verse of the week was:   When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith. ( Matt 8:10). Do read Matthew 8:5-13 for the context if you have not done so. I mentioned this passage in passing in my sermon last month on the humanity of Jesus and how he was able to be surprised.  But it is actually more than surprised. The Greek word “thaumazo” translated “marvelled” has the meaning of wonder, admiration, AMAZEMENT. Ponder for a moment. This pagan centurion had faith that was able to actually amaze the Son of God. (This is an example of how the word “amazing” should be used!) Compare the centurions understanding of prayer and faith in comparison to what we see prevalent in ancient times and even in the church today. 1.       He understood the concept of authority and extended his understanding to the true and comp...

Pastor’s notes for 8 Feb 2015 I hope you have been enjoying the WHAM Bible reading challenge. If you haven’t started, do not lose heart. Just join in this week. Last Sunday’s WHAM verse(s) of the week was 3  Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4  Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5  You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye. (Matt 7:3-5) I selected it as it is in the context of a sadly oft quoted verse, taken out of context and with the wrong attitude:  “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. (Matt 7:1-2) Verse 1-2 seems to teach it is not our place to judge anyone. And verses 3-5, that to do so wou...

* It has been a very long time since I posted in this blog. Hope I can be more consistent this year but it is not a New Year's resolution :-) For Pastor’s notes 1 Feb 2015 (i.e. my church's Sunday bulletin) WHAM and the M’Cheyne Bible Reading Programme This Sunday we start on a journey / challenge as a church that hopefully all of us will undertake together: to read through the Bible in a year. To be more accurate, we will be attempting to read through the whole OT once, and the NT and Psalms twice. To assist us, we will be using a Bible reading programme created by a Pastor named Robert Murray M’Cheyne.  A little about M’Cheyne might help inspire you. M’Cheyne passed away in 1843 before he even turned 30. Yet as young as he was, he was known throughout Scotland as  “the saintly M’Cheyne”. We know of him because a friend and colleague Andrew Bonar collected his sermons, messages and papers and published them in a book about his life. Here is an excerpt from t...