Genesis 7; Acts 2.42-47; John 10.1-10
What is an abundant life? How do we live an abundant life?
On a leadership programme I have been involved in we talk about the wheel of life. The wheel has several spokes to illustrate important areas of our life: family, self, health, money, career, social, community and spirituality. Participants are asked to measure themselves from 1-10 along the spokes to indicate how happy they are with that area of their life. Quite often the areas that cause discussion are the areas of Community and Spirituality. Often people comment that they do nothing in the Community and what is Spirituality anyway? The point about a wheel is that it works best when it is round – if our lives are out of balance then the wheel is clunky and often stressful.
This week I watched the Last King of Scotland. In the film we are shown what happens when we listen to the wrong voices and go through the wrong gate. It warns us to be careful, the voices are subtle.
Here is a brief synopsis. Nicholas Garrigan is a newly qualified doctor; he is bored with Scotland and does not want to go into his father’s practice. He goes to his bedroom, spins the globe sticks a pin in Uganda.
His inglorious visit begins on with the seduction of a girl on the bus who had shown him kindness and shared her food.
He then meets Idi Amin in the midst of the coup d’etat that hurtles him to power. In an incident by the road side Nicholas displays his recklessness and cultural ignorance: Amin sees that he is vain, impressionable and sexually self indulgent and careless. Amin is clever; he knows he can use this young man. He begins to exploit his weaknesses. He buys him a new wardrobe, and introduces him to the pool party world of the elite and politically influential. But – and here is the really clever bit – he also asks him to be his personal doctor and sets him up in a hospital in Kampala – to all intents and purposes to influence the health service for the people of Uganda.
Nicholas tells the people back at the outpost where he is supposed to be working that he has the opportunity to make a real difference. They are sceptical and sad – and probably very scared for him.
The point I am making is that Nicholas is seduced. On the face of it his endeavour has nobility and integrity. But, he has entered through the wrong gate and every opportunity he has to escape or stand on principle, he fails. His judgement is clouded by vanity and self indulgence. He allows his liberty to be stolen and his humanity compromised. He is not a particularly bad person. But in listening to the wrong voices his humanity and joy are stolen from him. And in the famous words of someone, I do not remember who, “The devil never shows you the gutter.”
Nicholas is tortured and almost killed – not because he has done something noble but because he has slept with one of the president’s wives and tried to organise an abortion.
Nicholas’ life is saved by the selfless act of another doctor. The doctor hates what the young man has become but sees the importance of his escape to tell the story of what is really happening in Uganda. We hope that Nicholas is saved. We do not know the outcome because of course the story is fictional.
But the moral is terribly true. We all have an emptiness inside us that yearns for abundance; that yearns for fulfilment and joy. Into our disappointment, vanity and need, the thief whispers its sweet words of easy money and cheap celebrity or worse its deception of our worthlessness and despair.
Let’s take a look at the early church in the passage from Acts. It is a short passage and worth rereading here:
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
So let’s analyse the formula. They met together, they ate together, they gave generously, they believed in the power of God to change lives. They thanked God for his goodness.
Do you think that these people felt their lives were abundant? You bet they did. And their lives infected the world around them. They were vibrant and attractive.
In these weeks of Easter, we are told to read the passages from Acts: they are compulsory! And it is important that we do. The early years of the church of Jesus Christ are an example to us of what Jesus meant his church to be. Each year we should reflect on how we match up to that model.
Jesus came to give us life in abundance. He does not come to steal our joy and humanity. Jesus comes to fulfil our lives with the joy of serving him and others. It is a simple message but so hard!
Back to our leadership programme: two senior, non-church going participants have subsequently volunteered for selfless work as a result of their reflection on their wheel of life. One is going to Ghana and one is a Samaritan. Both say that this has somehow completed them – has made them whole and as a consequence happier and better leaders. They are not sure why but know that it has.
Abundant life is a life that is lived whole and balanced: satisfaction of personal need balanced with selflessness and love for others.
In these resurrection weeks we are asked to look again at the early Church and reflect on it? We have an opportunity to measure our selves and our church against the life of those early Christians and it is vital that we do. And we need to ask ourselves: are we listening to the right voice?
Are we?
Amen
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