Transcript Premise of Design

Welcome to
Manna and Mercy
Manna and Mercy
1
Values to hold us …
Respect everyone’s integrity
 Listen without interrupting
 Celebrate our diversity
 TASK in order to grow - not argue to win
 Humility + Honesty = Growth
 Give ourselves to the process
 Receive assertions as questions
 Breathe and smile …

Manna and Mercy
2
Seeing with new eyes...
The Mercator projection of the earth, in use since 1569, greatly exaggerates the size of countries in the
Northern hemisphere. The Peters projection represents all countries according to their relative area.
Manna and Mercy
3
Peter’s projection ….
Manna and Mercy
4
The Jesus Story – The Christ Event
Is the interpretive lens
through which we are to read scripture
1
The first key
Manna and Mercy
5
The four most important
questions to ask of any Scripture
What does the text
say about:
2
•God?
•Humanity?
•Creation?
•Their relationship?
Manna and Mercy
6
3
Context gives meaning
Date
Author
Audience
Language
Social setting
Manna and Mercy
7
Genesis 1
A Sermon from the
Banks of Babylon to
get the Choir to sing
the Lord’s Song
Manna and Mercy
8
Genesis 3 is a TRUE parable
“Now, I don’t know if it happened this
way or not, but I know this story is true”
The SNAKE represents anything
and everything in the world
that raises questions about
where our salvation is found.
Snakes don’t talk, but that does not
mean we do not hear them speak!
Manna and Mercy
The TREE is the gift
of free choice.
The air love
breathes is freedom.
9
The Ancient Pictorial View of the
Universe:
Manna and Mercy
10
The Babylonian Story
Creation in an act of violence
Order is established by means of superior force
Evil is prior to good - the creation is fallen from the
outset and therefore cannot be redeemed to any “former
good”
Violence is part of God’s nature
Evil / violence is the very nature of reality
Humanity is created in violence - therefore we are
natural born killers
Humanity exist to serve as slaves to the king who
represents the gods on earth
Resistance to slavery is the highest treason
Unquestioning obedience is the highest virtue
Manna and Mercy
11
The Biblical Creation Story
A good and loving God creates a good and loving
creation
Neither evil nor violence are an inherent part of the
creation, rather evil is a problem that requires
redemption
A basically good reality is corrupted by human sin and
the “serpent mystery”
What VIOLENCE was for the Babylonian story - LOVE
is for the Biblical story
Humanity is created in love, by love and for love therefore we are natural born lovers.
Manna and Mercy
12
An example of Biblical Creation theory…
No one is born hating another person
because of the colour of their skin, or
their background, or their religion.
People must learn to hate, and if they can
learn to hate, they can be taught to love,
for love comes more naturally to the
human heart than its opposite.
– Nelson Mandela
Manna and Mercy
13
Genesis 1 – 11: Pre-history for all history
Genesis 1 –3: Sermon + Parable
4
Not How? But Why? and Who?
God = Loving Creator
Humanity is created in God’s image
Created by God - In Love
- By Love
- For Love
Yet with the freedom not to love
Manna and Mercy
14
I am born in love, by love and for love…
Manna and Mercy
15
Justice = “Love Distributed”
Society is created
-
In Justice
By Justice
For Justice
Yet with freedom not to be just
Manna and Mercy
16
Our free choice …
TRUST
IN …
Babylon Creation
Natural Born Killers
Force
Or
Biblical Creation
Natural Born Lovers
Manna and Mercy
Love
17
The Biblical Story
of Mending … Fall
Redemption is the promised possibility with God
 People can change
 Structures can change

The way things are
needn’t be the way
things remain …
HPE!
Manna and Mercy
18
Genesis 11 … End in DEATH!
5
Genesis 12 … New Beginning
Abraham/Sarah
 Hagar/Ishmael
 Isaac/Rebekah
 Jacob/Rachel/Leah
 Joseph

6
Called into Holy Partnership
“Without God we cannot
Without us God will not”
- Augustine
Blessed to be a blessing
Manna and Mercy
19
7
Freedom even not
to love
FALL
ME
Personal
Sin
SOCIAL
Structural
Sin
Manna and Mercy
20
Reading Scripture with a
wide angle and zoom lens
8
There is no
such thing as
private
Salvation!
______
Salvation – like
the sin we are
saved from – is
both personal
and political!
Manna and Mercy
21
God has
BIG ears!
Joseph
Egypt
FEARFUL
FORGETFUL
God hears!
God calls!
God sends …..
MOSES
(redeemed murderer)
Manna and Mercy
22
Moses
Egypt
Gift of
Free Freedom
40
WILDERNESS SCHOOL
•Abundance generously shared
•Shalom = Peace by Justice
•Friendship - God
- Others
- Self
- Creation
Manna and Mercy
Work to
earn a
giving!
Eph. 4:28
23
Law is a gift
to protect
Covenant
Relationship
9
We obey the 10 commandments,
not to make God love us,
but because God already loves us
Manna and Mercy
24
SABBATH - Day
- Year
- Jubilee
CONTRAST
COMMUNITY
WORSHIP
Daily Sabbath Principles
Exodus 20 … REST!
- Enjoy being enjoyed!
Deuteronomy 5 … REMEMBER!
- Work for the day when all
people are free!
Manna and Mercy
SACRIFICE
POOR

25
God enjoys you!
Enjoy being enjoyed!
Manna and Mercy
26
Principle ...
Personal …
Policy …
Practice …
Politics …
Our Faith Journey
10
There will, however, be no one
in need among you … Deut. 15:4
When you reap the harvest of
your land, you shall not reap to
the very edges of your field, or
gather the gleanings of your
harvest … Lev. 19:9
Concern with the shape and shaping of
any human community
Manna and Mercy
27
Not everything that
is Biblical is Christ-like
11
Unlimited Vengeance
Limited Vengeance
Genesis 4:23-24 Lamech
Deut. 19:21 Eye for eye
Limited Forgiveness
Unlimited Forgiveness
Matt. 5:43 Hate and Love
Matt. 18:22 Forgive 70x7
Examples: Adultery: Lev .20:10 – John 8:4
Violence: Samson’s Jawbone - Jesus’ Cross
Manna and Mercy
28
Jesus is God’s
answer to a bad
reputation!
– Alan Walker
Manna and Mercy
29
For love to stop loving –
is for love to stop being!
For God to stop loving –
is for God to stop being!
Because God is Love!
Manna and Mercy
30
Samaria
SAUL
DAVID
SOLOMON
Israel
Judah
“Sin divides and if not stopped,
it destroys all that it divides” - B Gaybba
“Love unites and by uniting, it transforms all it unites”– B Gaybba
Manna and Mercy
31
12
God is not into Religion
God is into Relationship
PROPHETS: - God’s spokespeople
- See with eschatological eyes
- Not fortune tellers
- Place Plumb lines for the nation
- Present a clear choice
- Surrounded by conflict
Manna and Mercy
32
Prophetic Truth
The wealthiest 20% of the world’s population
use 80% of the world’s income.
 The poorest 20% of the world’s population
use 2% of the world’s income.
 This is unsustainable!
 In South Africa this unsustainable equation is
at one of the highest levels of tension in the
world!
 This is South Africa’s biggest threat to peace
in our land!


United Nations Human Development Report
Manna and Mercy
33
Samaritans
Assyrian Empire
722 (North)
Israel
Judah
Babylonian Empire
587/6
Persian Empire
539/8
CYRUS
Manna and Mercy
Long Walk
To Freedom
34
Nationalism
Reconstruction
Development
Programme
we the best …. Exclude everyone
Ruth – Moabite
Boaz - Jew
Deut. 23:3
JONAH
A Radical LOVE STORY
- love unites
- love transforms
NINEVAH = satire
REMEMBER: Our attitude towards others not only
says something about them, but also about God!
Manna and Mercy
35
Moses
Big
Deal
Prophets
Israel
Kings
Egypt
Prophets
722
Assyria
Prophetic
Story and
HomeSatire
Nationalism
Prophets
587/6
Babylon
Prophets
Priests
539/8
Persian
Revolt
333
Greek
167
Maccabean
± 100 years independence
63
Rome
Manna and Mercy
… surprise …
36
Jesus’ Social Context
King
Military
Religion
Business
sellouts
Artisans
Rome
Peasants
Merchants
Anawim
Outcasts
Manna and Mercy
37
Mary is the most radical of Prophets!
She is so certain about God’s promised
future that she sings about it in the past
tense!
According to God’s promised future, one
day all people will …
…
…
…
Manna and Mercy
38
John the Baptizer – the life and
death of a faithful disciple!
Isaiah 40:3-5
 Luke 3:1-6
 Luke 3:7-20
 Luke 7:18-35
 Mark 6:14-29
 Matt. 14:1-2

John studies Scripture
John’s mission
John’s Ministry
John doing time in Prison
John Killed by compromising pleasers
John’s witness is resurrected by Jesus
Repent = Stop and Turn around …
≠ Repentance is more than Remorse!
Manna and Mercy
39
13
Before God wants us
to be happy – God wants
us to be faithful
Real joy
Manna and Mercy
40
The temptation in all temptations
is to get us to doubt our deepest
identity!
Wilderness temptations today
Survival and security
 Affection and approval
 Power and control

} Money
} Money
} Money
“We keep thinking that our happiness will be fulfilled
in fulfilling one of these or all of them. This is both
childish and an illusion.” – T Keating
Manna and Mercy
41
14
We believe not to
get into heaven,
but to have life
in all its fullness
Life that death cannot take away
A life of faith does not earn Eternal Life
- it is Eternal Life!
Manna and Mercy
42
What do you need most from Jesus?
Invited
included
affirmed
loved
Touched
liberated
held
embraced
Healed
cleansed
given dignity
Forgiven
made whole
Given hope
received
fed
called
reborn
honoured
freed
Now remember we are blessed to be a blessing!
Manna and Mercy
43
Jesus resisted dividing the
world into good people
Mercy
for all…
and evil people.
The line that separates good from evil
does not run between people but rather
it runs through people! - Alexander Solzhenitsyn
15
The Gulag Achipelago
At best … we all fail.
I have messed up
We are all
I don’t deserve to be fixed up
beyond
But God has raised me up
Innocence!
Manna and Mercy
We fall
into
grace
Eph 1 & 2
44
What does it means to say “YES” to Jesus?
To say “YES” to Jesus means allowing Jesus
to determine our understanding of God!
16
This means …
God has created YOU special and sacred…
God loves YOU, yes YOU and God enjoys YOU…
God loves to forgive YOU and longs for YOU to know that
YOU are forgiven…
God calls YOU into holy partnership to help God heal this
broken world…
Anyone want to say Amen?
and …
Manna and Mercy
45
What does it means to say “YES” to Jesus?
To say “YES” to Jesus means allowing Jesus
to determine our understanding of God!
16
This means …
•God has created EVERYONE special and sacred…
•God loves EVERYONE, yes EVERYONE and God enjoys
EVERYONE…
•God loves to forgive EVERYONE and longs for
EVERYONE to know that they are forgiven…
•God calls EVERYONE into holy partnership to help God
heal this world…
Anyone want to say Amen?
and …
Manna and Mercy
46
What does it means to say “YES” to Jesus?
To say “YES” to Jesus means allowing Jesus
to determine our understanding of God!
16
This means …
•God has created YOUR ENEMY special and sacred…
•God loves YOUR ENEMIES, and God enjoys them…
•God loves to forgive YOUR ENEMIES, and longs for
YOUR ENEMIES to know that they are forgiven…
•God calls YOUR ENEMIES into holy partnership to help
God heal this world…
Anyone want to say Amen?
Manna and Mercy
47
“Jesus called for followers - Not
admirers!”
S. Kierkegaard
Before Jesus wants to be worshiped
He wants to be followed!
17
It is only by following Jesus
that we worship him!
Manna and Mercy
48
What makes the Faithful, faithful,
is not that they do not fail,
but that they know WHO to turn to when they do fail.
Good News
God is
Eager
to
Forgive
us!
•From now on …
•Not looked upon in the same light
•A New Creation in Christ
18
•Everything old has passed away
•Everything has become new
•All this is from God.
•God does not count our sins
•Ministers of Reconciliation
•Christ’s ambassadors
•God’s righteousness
2 Cor. 5:16-21
Manna and Mercy
49
“We can be so brutally honest
about human sin
because we are so confident
of the love of God
towards sinners”
- Will Willimon
19
… and structures
Manna and Mercy
50
Manna for all…
20
World-view
Biblical-view
Scarcity
Fear
Hoarding
Competition
Conflict
War
Abundance
Love
Sharing
Cooperation
Compassion
Shalom
When a little is shared it becomes a lot!
A little only becomes a lot once it has been shared!
Manna and Mercy
51
Unearthing the VALUES within
economic systems…
Capitalistic Economy
Centrally Planned Economy
•Core value = Freedom
•Sacrifice equality
•Inequality sabotages the
core value of freedom!
•Core value = Equality
•Sacrifice freedom
•No freedom sabotages the
core value of equality!
21
Christ calls us to freely sacrifice
for the sake of equality!
Manna and Mercy
52
Holy Communion
Do this in
memory of
me!
Do What?
Feed each
other,
making sure
there is no
one in need
among you!
Manna and Mercy
53
22
God sent Jesus to love
To love loving more than anything else
Jesus refused to restrict his love
This made people angry enough to kill him
Mark 12:1-12
Historical reasons for Jesus’ death...
Theological explanations...
… AT-ONE-MENT …
Manna and Mercy
54
Christ died BECAUSE of us!
The Cross as a story of our sin…
Christ died WITH us!
The Cross as a story of shared suffering…
Christ died FOR us!
The Cross as a story of God’s saving love…
Manna and Mercy
55
The Cross is inevitable when love meets sin!
“It was not an accidental, marginal type of
happening; it grew out of the nature of the
facts. It had to happen.
For it is a law of life that where love meets
sin in the loved one, at the junction of that
sin and that love, a cross of pain is set up.
It is the nature of love to insinuate itself into
the sins and sorrows of the loved one and
make them its own. If it does not do that,
then it is not love.
All love has the doom of bleeding upon it
whenever the object of its love goes
wrong.” – E Stanley Jones
Manna and Mercy
To say
the Cross
was
inevitable
is NOT
to say
that
it was
planned!
56
23
“When love breaks … it doesn’t
break down … it breaks
OPEN!” -
Ron Morgan
The Great
Reversal of
idealists and realists
Resurrection
The world really is the way Jesus
described it: Love is the greatest power
THERE IS ONLY LIFE
Manna and Mercy
57
Filled with the very Spirit
of Jesus to celebrate
and share God’s Manna
and Mercy in the world!
PENTECOST
FIRE
24
As bold – generous – servants
As a contrast community
As a sign of God’s kin-dom on earth
Manna and Mercy
58
The Pentecost Contrast Community
PENTECOST
The powerless are given
the gift of tongues to speak
the truth!
The powerful are given the
gift of ears to hear the truth!
FIRE
“When the Spirit of
truth comes, he will
guide you into all the
truth…” John 16:13
A Pentecostal community is one
where the truth is both spoken and heard!
Manna and Mercy
59
Agenda for the first
church Synod…
PENTECOST
FIRE
Apartheid between
Jew and Gentile
The most defining characteristic of the early Church
is that it was an enemy loving community!
Manna and Mercy
60
All violence is FAMILY violence!
PENTECOST
FIRE
Oh Lord, remember not only the men and women of
good will, but also those of ill will. But do not
remember all the sufferings they have inflicted on us.
Remember rather the fruits we have bought, thanks
to this suffering: our comradeship, our loyalty, our
humility, our courage, our generosity; the greatness
of heart that has grown out of all of this. And when
they come to judgement, let all the fruits we have
borne, be their forgiveness. Amen.
An unknown woman’s prayer found pinned to the dead body of a little girl in Ravensbruck Concentration Camp
Manna and Mercy
61
The Real Real Word

The revelation of Jesus Christ,

John to the seven churches that are in Asia:

Grace to you and peace



from him who is and who was and who is to come,
and from the seven spirits who are before his throne,
from Jesus Christ,







the faithful witness,
the firstborn of the dead, and
the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us
And freed us from our sins by his blood,
and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father,
to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Manna and Mercy
62
The Real Real World







Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and on his
account all the tribes of the earth will wail. So it is to be. Amen. 8“I am the Alpha and the Omega,”
says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.
I, John, your brother who share with you in Jesus the persecution and the kingdom and the patient
endurance, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I
was in the spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, “Write
in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to
Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”
Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me, and on turning I saw seven golden
lampstands, 13and in the midst of the lampstands I saw one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long
robe and with a golden sash across his chest.
His head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; his eyes were like a flame of fire, his
feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many
waters.
In his right hand he held seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword, and his face
was like the sun shining with full force.
When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he placed his right hand on me, saying, “Do not
be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive forever and
ever; and I have the keys of Death and of Hades.
Now write what you have seen, what is, and what is to take place after this. As for the mystery of the
seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the
angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.
Manna and Mercy
63
PENTECOST
God’s dream is to mend the entire
universe in holy partnership with a
Manna and Mercy people!
FIRE
•Can God count on us as holy partners?
•What are we willing to commit to? 25
In Jesus, God has played the winning move.
The “game” is not yet over, but it has already been won!
Manna and Mercy
64
Remember:
Manna and Mercy
is not a course, it is
a way of life!
Manna and Mercy
65
The first ACT of the Apostles
was to PRAY!
 Acts
1:24
 Acts 7:59
 Acts 9:40
 Acts 12:5
 Acts 14:23
 Acts 20:36
 Acts 28:8
Acts 4:31
Acts 8:15
Acts 10:30
Acts 12:12
Acts 16:13
Acts 21:5
Manna and Mercy
Acts 6:4
Acts 9:11
Acts 11:5
Acts 13:3
Acts 16:25
Acts 22:17
66
Praying OPEN the Scriptures …
O
P
E
N
bedient
1.
2.
rayer
3.
4.
5.
xperiencing
6.
Trust
Read and re-read
Reflect
Honest conversation
Feel
Obey
Six steps
ewness
Manna and Mercy
67
A Christ-Centred Church
Believing is one thing! Living out what we
believe is another thing!
Sometimes there seems to be such a wide
gap between what we believe and how we
actually live our lives. Almost as if our
beliefs and our behaviour are not on
speaking terms!
This can be equally true for the life of the
Church!
Manna and Mercy
68
Steps towards a Christ-Centred Church
1.
2.
3.
4.
List the character traits of Jesus to get our view
Jesus’ character traits are to shape our values
List the needs in our local context
Connect the character traits of Jesus with the most
important needs in our local context
5. These connected and contextualised character traits of
Jesus are the values that are to determine our vision
6. This vision is to determine our venture
7. Our venture is to embody our values and thereby
incarnate the character of Jesus in our community
So the world will experience the resurrected Christ!
Manna and Mercy
69
Steps towards a Christ-Centred Church
7.Christ
Centred
Church
1.View
Jesus’
character
2.Our
values
3.Contextual
needs
6. Venture
5. Vision
4.
Connection
So the world will experience the resurrected Christ!
Manna and Mercy
70
Steps towards a Christ-Centred Church
7.Christ
Centred
Church
1.Perspective
- View
Jesus’
character
2.Principles Our values
3.Contextual
needs
6. Practice
- Venture
5. Policy Vision
4.
Connection
So the world will experience the resurrected Christ!
Manna and Mercy
71
Copyright of the Manna and Mercy Manual is held by the
author, Daniel W Erlander.
Central Methodist Mission – Cape Town have the sole
reproduction and distribution rights in South Africa.
Copyright for the Manna and Mercy Slides is held by
Alan P Storey
For any enquiries –
Central Methodist Mission.
P O Box 15081
Vlaeberg
8018
Phone (between 8.30 am & 1 pm) 021-422 2744
E-mail
[email protected]
Manna and Mercy
72