Esther 2:1 - 18
One of the sub themes that appears in the book of Esther is that of power and powerlessness. In Xerxes need to find a new queen, we are shown the raw power of the king, that disrupts families, and the powerlessness of girls like Esther to stop him. Despite what appears to a massive power imbalance, by the end of the story, it is Esther who is the powerful one and Xerxes plays to her tune. What brings about this change? The unseen presence of God, who acts in ways that we can never expect.
The theme of power and powerlessness applies to our world today. What are those instances of injustice, and oppression that can leave you feeling despondent and believing that nothing will ever change? When we align with God he is able to work through us and bring about change the upsets the powers of injustice in this world.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010
The unseen presence of God
Esther 1:1 - 1:22
For a book that sits within the Christian bible, the book of Esther is fairly unusual. Not once is God mentioned, and the characters, both Jewish and non-Jewish sit comfortably in a secular society where God is not named and the people seem to be indifferent to him. Esther therefore has a lot to say to people in 21st century Australia. Both Christian and pre-Christian people, too often see to be unaware and unconnected with God in our daily lives.
The overarching theme of Esther is that this unnamed and apparently unconnected God is active throughout bringing salvation to his people. The marvellous thing about God in this book is that whilst he works to bring about his people, he does it through the invidual actions and choices of the characters. There are no great miracles like in Daniel.
Through the characters in Esther we can learn that God is present in the places where we might never think to look.
Xerxes shows us that God is present in our stupidity - no decision that we make is bad enough that God can't bring his good out of it.
Vashti shows us that God is present in the silence. When we are surrounded by noise, and prefer that God speak to us directly, sometimes we need to still ourselves so that we can find God in the silence.
Mordecai shows us that God uses coincidences. What we may see as unrelated events in our lives, can be drawn together to fulfil God's plan, we need to be willing to act when God prompts.
Esther shows us that God uses our brokenness. We see value in strenght, but God uses our weakness.
Haman shows us that God uses our enemies. We need to ask what we can learn from our enemies and how they can help us grow in grace and as children of God.
For a book that sits within the Christian bible, the book of Esther is fairly unusual. Not once is God mentioned, and the characters, both Jewish and non-Jewish sit comfortably in a secular society where God is not named and the people seem to be indifferent to him. Esther therefore has a lot to say to people in 21st century Australia. Both Christian and pre-Christian people, too often see to be unaware and unconnected with God in our daily lives.
The overarching theme of Esther is that this unnamed and apparently unconnected God is active throughout bringing salvation to his people. The marvellous thing about God in this book is that whilst he works to bring about his people, he does it through the invidual actions and choices of the characters. There are no great miracles like in Daniel.
Through the characters in Esther we can learn that God is present in the places where we might never think to look.
Xerxes shows us that God is present in our stupidity - no decision that we make is bad enough that God can't bring his good out of it.
Vashti shows us that God is present in the silence. When we are surrounded by noise, and prefer that God speak to us directly, sometimes we need to still ourselves so that we can find God in the silence.
Mordecai shows us that God uses coincidences. What we may see as unrelated events in our lives, can be drawn together to fulfil God's plan, we need to be willing to act when God prompts.
Esther shows us that God uses our brokenness. We see value in strenght, but God uses our weakness.
Haman shows us that God uses our enemies. We need to ask what we can learn from our enemies and how they can help us grow in grace and as children of God.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Lament
Haggai 1:15b - 2:9
This Sunday we explored the ancient concept of lament. Lament is a cry of utter helplessness to God, where we name the misery of our current circumstances. As individuals and a church there is much that we would say is not what we want it to be. Too often we want to hide from the harshness of our present reality. But lament is the very opposite of denial. It involves naming our presnet reality and giving ourselves the permission to grieve. We don't do this well in our western society. We want to maintain a stiff upper lip, and pretend that everything is alright, but things are not always right for us and for others.
Lament though is not about wallowing in misery. The upside of lament is that we also name the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. Through him we have an assurance that things will be restored, that what is broken will be restored, and that the best is always yet to come.
This Sunday we explored the ancient concept of lament. Lament is a cry of utter helplessness to God, where we name the misery of our current circumstances. As individuals and a church there is much that we would say is not what we want it to be. Too often we want to hide from the harshness of our present reality. But lament is the very opposite of denial. It involves naming our presnet reality and giving ourselves the permission to grieve. We don't do this well in our western society. We want to maintain a stiff upper lip, and pretend that everything is alright, but things are not always right for us and for others.
Lament though is not about wallowing in misery. The upside of lament is that we also name the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. Through him we have an assurance that things will be restored, that what is broken will be restored, and that the best is always yet to come.
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