It would be interesting to write a history of how the design of a Stained Glass Window came into being. Today we focus our attention on the window honouring Harry and Lily Barrenger who were faithful members of this church in the 1940's and 50's - Harry was a deacon for some of his time here and Lily was an active member of the Ladies Fellowship.

The window has a text from Psalm 67 - a Psalm in which Moses plays no role at all. Yet the picture represents Moses. But, how did Psalm 67 and Moses get together? This is an invitation to play detective!

The people who planned the window probably liked the words from Psalm 67:1f.:

May God be gracious to us
and bless us
and make his face to shine upon us
that your way may be known upon earth,
(your saving power among all nations.)

But then they must have been wondering how they should represent that saying by a picture. You can't picture God, and, indeed, it is better not to try. So what to do? Then someone may have remembered that there is a similar blessing in another part of the Bible. They looked it up and came to the so-called Aaronic Blessing in Numbers 6.

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the Israelites: You shall say to them,

The LORD bless you and keep you
the LORD make his face to shine upon you,
and be gracious to you;
the LORD lift up his countenance upon you,
and give you peace.
(Nu 6:24-26)

Moses and Aaron! We don't know much about Aaron - they may have thought - but Moses is important. And anyhow, it was Moses who told Aaron what to do. So let us put Moses into the picture. And so Moses and Psalm 67 found each other. They came to be stations of the story of a text through the ages.

Since God gave us creative brains and wide hearts, when we look at that picture we need to keep a few things together: we see Moses, but we think of the Aaronic Blessing. And the reference to Psalm 67 reminds us that the Aaronic Blessing was powerful. People liked it. It created its own history. It mysteriously brought God into people's lives, and the people wanted to hear it again and again.

And, as you know, the Christian churches have picked it up and we use it to the present day.

The LORD bless you and keep you,
the LORD make his face to shine upon you,
and be gracious to you;
the LORD lift up his countenance upon you,
and give you peace.

Let us make the Aaronic Blessing from Numbers 6 the basis for our meditation today.

We all know words of power.

You may feel lonely, and suddenly there is the encounter of joy and someone says to you "I love you". Transforming power surges through your being.

You may be riddled by self doubt and you don't think that you are contributing much to life; and then you meet someone who says to you and means it! "I really appreciate you as a person and I value what you are doing in our midst."

The Beatitudes in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount are such words of power. When Jesus says and when the church takes up his words and repeats them, then God's presence, yes, God's presence is called down from heaven onto the earth:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

God comes to people in the word. As people believe and entrust their future to these words, a change will happen in their lives.

So that is the first thing that we need to be aware of: there are words of power. Blessings can become such words of power by which God enriches your life.

Now there is an important difference between the days of Moses and Aaron and of Psalm 67, and our days. The difference is contained in the name Jesus Christ.

In the old days, it was the Priest and only the Priest, who would and who could say the blessing to the congregation. That is the reason why Moses asked Aaron to says the blessing for the Israelites. He, the priest - and in those days it was only "he" - was God's man to convey God's blessings.

(Indeed, there is an aftermath of the old days in some of the churches until the present day. Namely those churches who limit officiating at the sacraments to the clergy, and indeed in some churches to the male clergy.)

With Jesus Christ there came a fundamental change. Jesus Christ was the fulfilment and therefore spelled the end to the special privileges of law and cult and priest. Christ as the end of the law, is the clarion call of the apostle Paul. Christ as the end of the religious cult, is the great message of the Epistle to the Hebrews. With the death of Christ, the curtain to the Holy of Holies was torn from top to bottom, the Gospel of Mark proclaims.

For Christians, so the dominant voices of the New Testament, Jesus Christ is the only priest who mediates between God and us. Christ is the end of religion if religion is understood as a human way to find and please God. Christ, not religion, not a priestly class, no cult and no liturgy, is the mediator between God and humanity. All that we do, all that we can do, is derived from what Jesus Christ has done for us!.

No special priesthood! We are all priests by virtue of our faith and baptism. Through faith and baptism we participate in the life of Christ who brings us into touch with God. Christ therefore brought about a fundamental democratisation of life. No Hierarchy. No clergy with special privileges. No separation between holy and profane.

This is no special insights that Baptists have. (Although we may have implemented this insight more consistently than others). Indeed, New Testament scholars of all denominations agree that the distinction between clergy and laity, between holy and profane has been removed by Christ. And for the churches that are grounded in the Reformation, it is one of those foundational distinctives that through faith and baptism all are believers, and all believers participate in the priesthood of Christ. Therefore in principle for us there is no special ministry reserved for the clergy.

All of us are invited to say blessings, to become blessings to each other. This is a privilege and a challenge. Words of power are not at the disposal of a special class. They are the privilege of all people. Which includes the challenge of course that we use such words to bless each other.

But how does God come to us? Of course, God comes in many ways. But one important way is that God comes to us in words. Words, human words, ordinary words, can become vehicles of divine power speaking God into our lives.

And here is the importance and secret of the democratisation that Jesus brought about. Here is the importance of the abolishing of the division between clergy and laity. We all, each one of us can now speak words of power and words of blessings to each other.

"The LORD bless you and keep you"

Psalm 67 which includes the Aaronic Blessing was sung at the annual harvest festival:

May God be gracious to us
and bless us
and make his face to shine upon us.

The harvest was there. They would bring their first fruits, their tithe, to the Temple, and then they would remind themselves that "man cannot live by bread alone". That bread and the bread of life, that the material and the spiritual belong together.

God blesses us by making the gifts of the Spirit freely available to us. ". the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Gal 5:22f.)

God keeps us by offering us protection, healing, help in accidents. And when things go wrong, there is forgiveness and new possibilities.

Face is significant. Face is the person in her relationship to the world. Face is the way we communicate. A "shining face" if then it is not a cynical or artificial smile, if the shine comes from a heart that is well disposed towards us, it renews us. It tells us that we are not alone, there is someone who cares and supports.

When we speak of "saving face" or "loosing face" we are dealing with matters of life and death. Loosing face drives people into suicide or violent revenge. Saving face is like a breath of fresh air that mediates hope.

When God's face shines upon us, then grace becomes event. That is the reason that we do not only speak of God, but also of Jesus and the Spirit. Because we need to know that God does not live in splendid isolation, that God's grace is not imprisoned in heaven, but that God leans toward us with good will and that God's grace can make a difference in our life.

To lift your countenance means that you pay attention. God wants to pay us divine attention by blessing us. And this blessing is concerned with earth. The word peace is a little misleading. In Hebrew shalom means total well being, and it meant mainly well being on earth.

God is interested in our life here and now. Our earthly life. He wants to bless us. Words can become words of power if they are received and if they are received from the being of a good God.

TL: Canberra 16/07/01.