January 2006

There’s that brief story in the New Testament part of the Bible, in John’s Gospel (chapter 1, verse 43 and following) that tells about how one of the first followers of Jesus came to him because a friend invited him to ‘Come and see’ Jesus. Philip invited Nathanael to meet Jesus because he believed he had found that promised person about whom Moses and the prophets wrote: ‘Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph’. -- it helps to remember that the name Jesus or Jeshua means ‘saviour’. In the preceding verses Andrew, also a new acquaintance of Jesus, calls him ‘Messiah’, which means Christ.

By now members of my congregation know that I have returned from a pleasant visit with family and friends in Europe. We enjoyed every part of our trip. We thank God that it was possible for us to make this journey. In addition to renewing old friendships after several years of being apart, we also met many wonderful, helpful people as we tried to navigate around unfamiliar train stations and airports. Had God not helped us by putting caring and kind people in our path we would have gotten lost countless times, and our truly enjoyable trip would have become stressful and pointless -- as we would not have reached the goals we had set ourselves.

This brief New Testament story about Philip inviting Nathanael to meet Jesus holds many lessons for me. Our experience while travelling made me think that this Scripture can remind us that God is everywhere and everywhere taking care of us. It can also remind us that people of every nation, language and even of other beliefs will be used by God for God’s purposes. Certainly, that was our experience. This Scripture reminded me that even sceptics can come to see ‘the face of Jesus’ and recognize in him: ‘the Son of God’; ‘the King of Israel’ -- and Lord of all creation and personal saviour ...! Despite those beautiful satellite pictures of a ‘tiny’ planet earth, it is a big world! We can easily get lost in another country, but also in a new neighbourhood or school experience. God (Life) regularly offers us new transitions which we should consider taking advantage of. They are not always without risk although they may offer us opportunity for growth and a fuller life ... Then we can all use a spiritual guide or companion who will point the way for us.

May you also be blessed, to have those good and caring friends or to make those acquaintances who will point you in the right direction -- or who will walk with you -- when you need them most!

I believe God is also calling us to be those Christian friends to others. Exercise this part of your faith regularly.

May God’s Spirit of love and peace guide you and protect you today and always.

Oh yes! (Amen)