Genesis 9:8-17

Good morning, everyone! My name is JJ, and it is lovely to see you here today.

Today is the first Sunday of lent, which absolutely made me feel like the year is moving very quickly. Lent means different things to different people in this congregation – some of you may pick up a focused study, some may take up a fast or cut something non-food-ish from your lives, and some might not really notice it is happening.

Lent, like advent, is a kind of waiting phase in the church year. But in the same way that easter is a bit more emotionally mixed than Christmas, lent is a bit more mixed than advent. The roguish younger brother to your prince charming. Where advent is joyful eager waiting, lent is penitent, lent is reflection.

In a move that is more serendipitous than calculated, by the end of our lenten waiting, fasting, reflecting, we will have received not only the joy and sorrow of Easter, but a new minister. So today I want to invite us to do some reflecting – to sit in the posture of reflection – as we make the slow trek towards welcoming Hugh and Yoonhee into our community, and prepare to build the next bit of our story together.

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Those of you who were here last week heard me go on about how demon possession was an antiquated idea. Whether you agreed with me or not I came down pretty strong that explaining illnesses by attributing them to demonic possession was a concept from a culture that didn’t understand all we know now. I basically said the bible was wrong. Was that brave or foolhardy? I don’t really know.

But as I was preparing this week’s service I saw that the gospel reading was Mark 1:29-39 which is a story about Jesus healing the sick and in particular casting out demons from people.

So, who says God doesn’t have a sense of humour?

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Mark 1:21-28

As I prepared today’s message I became very aware how different the world Jesus lived in is to the world we live in today.

In the 2,000 years since Jesus lived our understanding of so many things has grown and grown and grown.

We now know the earth revolves around the sun and the sun is a fairly insignificant star in an ever-expanding universe.

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John 1:43-51

Many years ago, our daughter Kelly and I attended the funeral of my sister-in-law’s father. during the service the priest mentioned that he was the great grandfather of George, Charles and Douglas, to which Kelly jokingly said, “who the hell is Charles?” because Charles had always been and continues to this day as Charlie. It’s just a name but those who knew him, knew what to call him.

In today’s reading we have a disciple called Nathanael and I ask “who the hell is Nathanael?”

We know precious little about him including his name. He is believed to have also been called Thaddeus. Some biblical scholars say he was known as Jude or Judas. In john’s gospel he is called Nathanael. It appears we know so little about him we can’t even get his name right.

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Text: “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own. You are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)

The relationship between Christian thought and the body has a long history in the church. Mostly the physical realm has been casted in negative light. Ironically this has been legacy of Greek thought, with Plato seeing a conflict of spirit and flesh, with spirit seeking to be emancipated from the prison of the flesh. This has led to extremes of self-abuse, for example whipping the body to mortify the flesh. While in recent years there has emerged a theology of the body, it seems strange and even unspiritual to be so preoccupied.

In contrast to the Greeks Hebrew spirituality was very earthy and practical. Indeed, Paul’s insistence on the body being the temple of the Holy Spirit shows how the two could be united in his mind.

Principle: One of the most common psychological interventions is to enable a person to practice better self-care.  This can be thought of as the practice of taking action to preserve or improve your emotional and physical health especially in times of stress.

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