Powering up

What to do when you actually have to do it by yourself! When there is no one standing over your shoulder telling you what to do next.

We might call this the Masterchef challenge!

The readings for this week are those for 9^th May 2010 the 6^th Sunday in Easter. Acts 16:9-15, Ps 67, Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5, John 14:23-29

What the early Christians had to learn was how to be Christian, how to be Christ indeed, when Christ was no longer with them.

Jesus’s promise to be with his disciples always was fulfilled through another promise. That of the Holy Spirit.

It is the Spirit who will teach us how to know God’s life active and present in our own lives.

We might note:

Intuition: part of our spiritual training is to learn to trust the leadings of the Spirit. When we feel deep within the promptings, perhaps to contact somebody, to be silent, or to speak, to go somewhere.

Can we pray for discernment and trust to be guided?

The early apostles seem to develop this. Paul finds he is able to trust his intuition about dreams, about plans, about people.

The Positive Movements of the Spirit

What do you make day by day of how God’s Spirit has dealt with you? And can we trust that?

If we think back over the last day or so and ask: For what am I most grateful, we begin to detect those places where we have been on the same side as God! Or if we ask Where am I most alive? This is the resurrection question, of course, because where we are ‘alive’ there Christ is!

Is it when we take time to be with someone, or when we prepare ourselves properly, or in a particular place….

Gradually we build up a profile of how we work well with God and how God works well with us.

If we flip the coin, perhaps asking “where do I experience death, or where do I feel awful?” we also find those dark places where we have chased God away.

What we see in the Acts of the Apostles is how the disciples learn to trust these discernments of the Spirit.

The fulfillment of the promise of Jesus, that he would not leave us friendless is in the person of the Spirit, who we have to learn to trust.

Developing our intuition,. And interpreting our experience!

New Learning

This week can we pray each day for the Holy Spirit to be close to us and to lead us. This is a surprisingly effective prayer!

Can we take a little time to

o Be a little more intuitive

o Note where we function well, feel alive, discover we are close to God!

o Note, also, where the reverse happens and pray for strength to act differently

Growing in Christ

The Sixth Sunday of Easter, 9th May 2010

John 14:23-29

14:23 Jesus answered him, "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.

14:24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.

14:25 "I have said these things to you while I am still with you.

14:26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.

14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

14:28 You heard me say to you, 'I am going away, and I am coming to you.' If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.

14:29 And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.

Life is full of arriving and departing
But it is more than just getting on and off trains and planes
Every day we come and we go,
and others do the same in our lives.
Some of these are bigger experiences than others
I was saying to my sister only recently
how I had been feeling the death of our mother
(over eight years ago....how can it be?)
These departures are so significant
and laden with the opportunity
to understand more about life and love.

Equally well, babies are born,
new relationships are formed
and so the coming and going fills our life

So it was for the disciples of Jesus.
He went from them.
And like our lives we realise that as sad as it is
when someone goes, or circumstances change
there is also a necessity about it.
It causes us to grow and mature.

What might Jesus have been drawing out of his disciples
that required him to go away?

There are a number of things:

• We only realise when we are independent what we can do of our own accord
• The disciples (us) were pretty pathetic when it came to over-relying on Jesus
• This has a tendency to make us inactive and lazy

In a way, this analysis is too simplistic, because Jesus also points us to a "life in the Spirit"which is more than just object lessons on how to be independent.
This is an important dimension of the promise of life in Christ
which is not realised simply by overcoming our natural indolence.


For thought and prayer this week

How is God calling me to be open to the Holy Spirit?
Spend some time praying for the increase in God's Spirit in my life

On not being impotent

The readings for this week are those for 25th April 2010 the 4th Sunday in Easter. Acts 9:36-43 • Psalm 23 • Revelation 7:9-17 • John 10:22—30
Today is also observed as Commemoration of ANZAC, and it can be St Mark’s Day.

The resurrection stories tease out for Christians what it means to live life in the light of the resurrection.
What does it mean to see life through the lenses of the resurrection?
What they discovered is that things were rather different.


The promises of Jesus seemed to be becoming true.
What are these promises?
Well, there are many. Jesus promised, for example , to be with his disciples always.
What a mind blowing thought!
Jesus is with us all the time. This might mean that any situation we find ourselves in. Jesus is already there.
Whether it be sickness, difficulty, spiritual difficulty.
Or let’s face it when we rejoice at a new birth, walk into a new job, meet an old friend. Walk into Coromandel Primary School to spend an hour mentoring one of our children. Jesus is with us.
We need not fear, nor feel alone. We need not fear as though we do not have capacity to cope.
Because the disciples also discovered that Jesus’s promise to send the Holy Spirit to equip the disciples to do what needed to be done was also true. They could speak the Gospel and people would understand, they could pray and prayers were answered.
What do you believe Jesus has equipped you to do?’
Part of our problem is that we don’t seem to think that we can or need to do anything.
But we see in the lovely story in Acts 9:36-43 where Peter heals through prayer a young girl who is sick, perhaps dead, that the disciples discover another promise of Jesus.
You will do what I have done and greater
Do we have the courage to kneel down and trust that promise as Peter did?
New Learning
Where might Jesus be inviting you to live in the light of the promise?
To put aside the sense of living out of impotence and shallow convention, and rather to live out of the spirit of resurrexion

Speaking through the wall

The reading for today are the continuation of the Easter narratives:Acts 5:27-32; Psalm 118:14-29 or Psalm 150; Revelation 1:4-8; John 20:19-31

This Sunday is the Second in Easter, April 11th 2010 sometimes called Low Sunday

We are at the business end of the Gospel

because, in the end, the resurrection is what it is all about.

In this passage from John 20:19-31 that we read today

we encounter a lot of important ideas.

So it is worth taking time this week to go through the whole passage.

Today I am only going to look at the beginning:

Jesus says Peace. Jesus says I send you with this peace.

Jesus says I equip you to do this by giving you the Holy Spirit

And, this peace which you are to share through the Holy Spirit is about

Forgiveness.

The resurrected Jesus brings peace.

This peace that we are talking about is the peace -shalom-that permeates the First Covenants

It is not only about the absence of war

It is about wholeness of life.

This is the life God wants us to have...abundant life, eternal life.

God wants a life for you and me

that is better than what we want for ourselves.

If you wonder what you are supposed to do with this

then this is The Good News that we are to share with others.

Key to this is the promise that forgiveness

can be a reality:

Forgiveness by God of those things we have done wrong

The capacity to forgive other people

and the openness to seeking the forgiveness of those who we have hurt.

Lest we think this is a tall order

Jesus also tells us....you do not have to do this in your own strength

but Receive the Holy Spirit of God to let you do this.

Today, as you worship and pray

Pray particularly for God's Holy Spirit

to enable you to receive

abundant life

to exercise forgiveness

to forgive

and to seek forgiveness.

Peace be with you

Here's your present!

January 24th- Jesus’s Ministry
Third Sunday after the Epiphany
January 24, 2010 Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10 Psalm 19 I Corinthians 12:12-31a Luke 4:14-21
There is an inference in Luke 4 (and beyond)
that God might actually have something in store for us
We read how Jesus is revealed not just as a nice chap
but who we are invite us to understand as the fulfillment of God’s promise.
The Lord is planning to use him, because the Lord God
has given him the Holy Spirit
and that Spirit is there for purpose
not just for decoration!
Now is the time
and the Lord is beginning a “new thing”.

We too are given the Holy Spirit.
Paul reminds us (1 Cor 12)
that we are not all called to be bishops, teachers, or apostles
healers or prophets.

What do you think you might be called to be and do
Two clues: Not all are called to be the Bishop, or the organist
or the healer
Second clue: We are all called to be and do something
There is no free lunch or free ride..

This implies so much for us.
Don't do or dumb yourslef down.
Perhaps others see in us what we do not see ourselves.

But not one of us is not gifted.

Life in the Spirit

Readings can include Acts 2:1-21; Ezekiel 37:1-14;Psalm 104:24-34, 35b;Romans 8:22-27; John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
Although it is difficult to pick any of the events of the Easter mystery as the pinnacle or climax
in a real sense Pentecost is of great significance because it prepares us for our life as Christians
the gift of the Holy Spirit to the faithful and expectant disciples
is the gift of the Father to live the life that Jesus, the Word of God calls us to live.

The readings talk of many things:

    Renewal

    life being breathed into what looks as though it is dead

    Truth

    Peace 

    Joy 

And each of these deserves its own individual treatment.

Indeed this demonstrates to us that the Holy Spirit is not a quick fix...but is about God dealing with us comprehensively and completely.

Why would we expect anything else?

This is about the whole of our life and the whole of the world.

Indeed a prayer we often pray is 

Come Holy Sprit and renew your whole creation

So often we seem to think that God is just dealing with my little patch

It is about "the whole creation"

It is also about God dealing with us deeply

and not just tinkering in a titillating or superficial way.

This JOY that the Spirit brings is not merely an amusement or an entertainment it is about the absolute delight and sense of privilege that we know in being caught up iun the mystery of what God has been doing since before the foundation of the world.

It is perhaps the surest sign of the Spirit’s activity in our lives.

Where do you experience the deepest joy in your life?

It is a challenging question.

So often we mistake amusement for joy

yet often joy is about difficult stuff

about working through the challenging issues of life

and realising that although we are often confronted with danger, struggle, weakness

that the Joy that the Spirit brings transforms our life

This week

●Where has God given you the greatest JOY

●How can I nurture this

●What is God inviting me to be, know and do, by this active power and presence of the Spirit?

Moving on in faith

Readings for the Sunday after the Ascension (Seventh Sunday of Easter) May 24, 20098 Acts 1:15-26 Psalm 1,  I John 5:9-13 John 17:6-19

Now this can either be hard or easy!
Because, either the point of the physical removal of Jesus
that we call The Ascension
is an insurmountable obstacle to 21st century rational-scientific minds
or it is as easy as recognising
that in order to mature
we cannot go on having others
doing for us what we need to do for ourselves!
I opt to think, today, about the Ascension
in this latter way!

In the most obvious sense
God wants mature men and women.
People who will have depth and understanding
that is not achieved
by always stepping in making up for our inadequacies.
Any parent knows the truth of this.
Indeed anyone in any relationship whatsoever
needs to understand this,
we are not called to step in and make up
for the inadequacies, mistakes and failures
of others.
However well-intentioned,
this breeds immaturity and over-dependence,
rather than freedom, initiative
and sophisticated maturity.

There is a difference between supporting people in difficulty
and in not allowing people the opportunity to make their own mistakes!

The withdrawal of the physical presence of Jesus
rather than being an expression
of God's disappointment and heartbreak with the world
can and should actually be seen
as a statement of faith by God in you and me.
God believes that we have within us
the means to be effective people
God believes that we have within us
the means to be effective church
God believes that we have within us
the capacity to fail and to know that failure is not the end

This is what is going on

Two encouragements
This is something about the very nature of what relationship
with God is all about
We are not passive observers
of a world in which God is active
but we are ministers of God's presence to the world.

Now what does a minister do?
A minister acts on behalf of someone
So, a Minister of the Crown exercises authority of behalf of the Queen and the Government.
A minister of the Church
acts on behalf of God.
And we understand that Baptism
confers upon you and me
the responsibility
to be Minister of Jesus
We will say We are the Body of Christ
So Jesus can say to the Father...

I am no longer in the world but they are in the world.

Now this 'they' who he is talking about is you and me


We may feel as though this is too hard sometimes
Jesus prays for our protection
he prays that we may be united to each other
and that we may be filled with joy

He does not pray
that we should be relieved of responsibility
or taken out of the world.
But rather that we should exercise this responsibility

It is a great statement of the trust that God put in you and me
as ministers
to act with confidence in the name of the God who equips us for ministry.

May this be ours too

This week

• Can we look for opportunity to a faithful minister and commit ourself deliberately to God's care and protection as you seek to be more faithful
• Look at the circumstances in which we live and see where God is calling us to serve others.
  Pray deliberately for joy where ever we find ourselves to be

..

Finding our deepest identity

[During Lent we will be following a local series of lections.If you are looking for the Common Lectionary References try here Revised Common Lectionary]

This Sunday 1st March 2009 the focus reading is Mark 1:9-15. Mark's account of the baptism of Jesus

A lot happens in the first chapter of Mark. In the space of these few (only 7) verses...Jesus is baptised, he hears the voice of God, he goes into the wilderness and is tempted by Satan. John is arrested, Jesus goes back to Galilee and he makes a public declaration of what his ministry is about.

"The time is fulfilled 

and the kingdom of God has come near

therefore I call you to repent and believe in the good news"

It's a lot!

The Spirit affirms Jesus in the profoundest way possible

What ever it means, Jesus hears the voice of God saying

"You are my Son, and I love you, and I am well-pleased with you"

What does God say to you? What is God saying to me?

At our deepest level?

In Lent we are being invited to pay attention to God.

The idea of God speaking to us

is not without problem.

What do we mean by it?

It is not clear, for example, in this passage

whether Mark wants us to understand this as an external, audible voice.

Whether others might have heard it,

or whether this is just fanciful stuff.

I suspect if we allow ourselves to accept this passage,

not worrying too much about the mechanics of what is being addressed

that many of us would allow that God might be speaking to us

(heart-to- heart someone suggested to me during the week).

The wilderness

What unlocks some of this for us is that the same Spirit

who speaks this deep affirmation of Jesus's personhood

drives (a very strong word) Jesus into the wilderness.

This wilderness as we know, is an ambivalent place,

at once threatening (beasts)

but also where we are thrown back on total reliance on God.

It is as though Jesus not only has to hear the affirmation

but also then to go and appropriate it.

This needs the confrontation and threat of the wilderness.

It is not just nice words.

What might God be saying to you at this time of your life?

Can you take time this week to struggle with that a bit?

What don't I like about what God is saying to me?

Where do I resist? Where am I vulnerable?

Where do I deceive myself...about myself/about God?

It is out of this struggle

that Jesus comes to some realization

of what is happening!

The time is now, God is close

Things must change...I need to repent, to behave differently

(what will this mean for me today)

The time is NOW!

This Good News, if we are to believe it,

is for now

and will affirm us at our deeepest  level.

It will require some change,

and that we trust God for all that is necessary to effect it.

It is not without beasts,

but also with angels!

Do we trust God enough to enter into this?

THIS WEEK

• What is God saying to me at my deepest level (heart to heart)?
• Can I strip back everything and allow the wilderness to speak this to me?
• Will I decide to embrace the freedom that is being offered? To be free of sin? To live as one who tries to accept others? To embrace the possibility of failure? To trust only God?
• What is to stop me doing this now?

+

And this is my beloved

Readings for Sunday January 11, 2008...The Sunday after Epiphany include Genesis 1:1-5; Psalm 29; Acts 19:1-7; Mark 1:4-11
In these weeks after the feast of the Epiphany (January 6th...or Twelfth Night) we focus on how Christ is made known beyond the bounds of the inner circle of God's revelation.
It begins on January 6th when the Christmas story is expanded by the arrival of the Wise Men
this is to show us ('epiphany' means to manifest or to show forth)
that this Christ, is not just for the narrow concerns, of a little group of people
in a strip of Mediterranean Land which is presnetly much-troubled
but for the whole world.
The Wise Men are presented in Matthew as the fulfillment of prophecy
that shows God will be made known through this Messiah
to all peoples (see the readings Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14)
As the story moves on we see one of the incidents in which the identity of Jesus is declared
...the event is his baptism by John, which Mark offers as the beginning of the Good News..
What is interesting to us is what this baptism confers
It is an understanding that as God speaks into the situation
this is what he says
"You are my son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased"
These words will be spoken again at the Transfiguration
when the disciples recognise Jesus
for who he really is.
And because the climax of Mark's Gospel is the Crucifixion
we are invited to see
that these are words that are spoken at that time, this time by the centurion who says for all to hear
"Truly this man was God's Son"
Because in Mark's Gospel we are being invited to share
in this journey
These are words that we might see
are being spoken to us
"This is my Son, the Beloved"
"You are my daughter, and I love you"
I find these words deeply assuring
and perhaps we need to hear God saying this to you and me
often and deeply during this Epiphany season.
--You are my son, and you are my daughter--
and I love you!
This is not the message of idle comfort,
rather it will lead us, like Jesus,
to the Cross.
Our faith tells us
that the Cross, though it looks like death,
is the way to fullness of life.

THIS WEEK

• Allow God to assure you of his love for you, and to confute everything that says anything less than ...I love you, and I am well pleased
• Pray for Grace to respond to that love, and to open yourself to the power fo the Holy Spirit
• Pray for Courage to embrace the Cross
  

The icon of the Baptism of Jesus in this post is by Chinese artist He Qi

Putting it all together

Readings for the Sunday after the Ascension (Seventh Sunday of Easter) May 4, 2008 Acts 1:6-14 Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35 I Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11 John 17:1-11

Now this can either be hard or easy!
Because, either the point of the physical removal of Jesus
is an insurmountable obstacle to 21st century rational-scientific minds
or it is as easy as recognising
that in order to mature
we cannot go on having others
doing for us what we need to do for ourselves!
I opt to think, today, about the Ascension
in this latter way!

In the most obvious sense
if God wants mature men and women.
People who will have depth and understanding
then that is not achieved
by always stepping in making up for our inadequacies.
Any parent knows the truth of this.
Indeed anyone in any relationship whatsoever
needs to understand this,
we are not called to step in and make up
for the inadequacies, mistakes and failures
of others.
However well-intentioned,
this breeds immaturity and over-dependence,
rather than freedom, initiative
and sophisticated maturity.

There is a difference between supporting people in difficulty
and in not allowing people the opportunity to make their own mistakes!

The withdrawal of the physical presence of Jesus
rather than being an expression
of God's disappointment and heartbreak with the world
can and should actually be seen
as a statement of faith by God in you and me.
God believes that we have within us
the means to be effective people
God believes that we have within us
the means to be effective church
God believes that we have within us
the capacity to fail and to know that failure is not the end

This is what is going on

Two encouragements
We may feel as though this is too hard sometimes
Can we hear two things today:
That Jesus prays to the Father for our protection.
He is not assuming that it is going to be easy,
indeed the reverse would seem to be the case.
So he prays for our protection.
In the midst of difficulty
our faith requires that we bring that 'big gun' into play.
Let us not forget that God is on our side,
this is not some sort of crude lining up allies
during war
but rather seeking to draw out of you and me
Faith in God.
Perhaps we need to pray that prayer that one of the rulers prays
Lord I DO believe
but also help my unbelief.
feeling undersiege
is not necessarily a sign of spiritual weakness
but rather an invitation
to strengthen our faith
As we rely on faith
we learn to be faithful.

Second, Jesus's key promise
in this time
is that he will not leave us friendless.
He promises the Holy Spirit.
We are not called to do this alone,
but rather to realise that we act out of God's power.
there is something important
about being able to ask for help.
As we seek to move and grow
we pray that God's Holy Spirit,
the Holy Spirit of Jesus himself
will cause us to move as God wants us to
and to understand as God wants us to.

And we discover what the first Christians dicovered
that in acting out of faith
their faith is increased.
In that exercising their God-given independence
they find a new sense of freedom
which opens them up to the gracious life of Spirit of Jesus.

More mysteriously, then, though Jesus is no longer
physically with them
they have a deeper, profounder sense of His abiding love.

May this be ours too

This week

• Remember to commit yourself deliberately to God's care and protection as you seek to be more faithful
• Pray deliberately for the Holy Spirit to guide, encourage and lead you
  

Readings for Sunday April 27, Sixth Sunday of Easter Acts 17:22-31 Psalm 66:8-20, I Peter 3:13-22, John 14:15-21,


I sometimes jokingly say that we should be careful about what we ask for in our prayers
and particularly when we pray for God to send the Holy Spirit
or to renew us, or something similar.
Because my experience is that that is exactly the sort of prayer---for the Holy Spirit---
that God is likely to answer!
So, don't pray for renewal unless you want to be renewed.

What might 'renewal' be like?
It seems to me that renewal is likely to be about truth
that when the Spirit of renewal comes
it is going to be the Spirit of Truth.
It will therefore be drawing us towards God and showing us what God is like.
In the process of doing this
one might expect we also discover what we might be like.
This classic sort of movement
leads us to say...as traditionally Christians have said...
the Holy Spirit will convict us of sin.
This is not, I think, some vindictive nasty process
but true one.
We will know and be known.
it is in a sense our life's work:
to understand the truth of what it means
to be made in God's image.
The truth draws us on
to move away from sin
and towards the light.
In this process, too,
we will also uncover the truths of God's world.
The eternal truths can often be spoken with our lips
and may take a little while to appropriate into our lives.
How easily we say "God loves you!" and yet do we believe
that God wants the best for us
and for everyone
and how do we imagine that might work itself otu in our lives.
To me, for example, it means that there is here
a command to ensure that others
are goign to be able to experience God generosity
and share in the bounty of the creation
it will mean, maybe, that I need to work to challenge
my own selfishness and greed
and to stand against the aggressive greed of individuals and institutions
which is the cause of so much poverty.

Truth will mean that I try to conduct myself
with honesty, openness and integrity.
That I value these things about myself
and I treasure the vulnerable gifts that others
may choose to share.

The Spirit will lead us into truth
implies that this will take time.
And we need patience and diligence.


The way of the Spirit
LORD GRANT THAT I MAY BE OPEN TO THE TRUTH
GIVE ME PATIENCE, WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING
THAT I MAY BEAR THIS PRIVILEGE
WITH JOY, AND EXCITEMENT.
GIVE ME COURAGE TO SERVE YOU.
FATHER OF LIGHT, SON OF MERCY, SPIRIT OF TRUTH. AMEN

The Spirit of Jesus

The Feast of Pentecost May 27th 2007

John 14:8-17, (25-27)

14:8 Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied."

14:9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?

14:10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works.

14:11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves.

14:12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.

14:13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

14:14 If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

14:15 "If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever.

14:17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

14:25 "I have said these things to you while I am still with you.

14:26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.

14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

We are not very good at accurately stating the way Father, Son and Holy Spirit relate to each other
And it is fraught with doctrinal minefields.
But we can note a couple of things.
First it is about relationship
Although it would be innacurate to say that God is only Father, Son and/or Holy Spirit
These words do highlight that we use the language of relating to talk about God, and not just the language of function.
If we are to understand what God is like, then he is like a Father, he is like a Son.
This language is rich and powerful and meets us more than half way in understanding.
But it is not the only language.
We also use the word Spirit...when we talk about the Spirit of a relationship
or understanding the Spirit of an idea, person or thing;
this also meets us half way.
It is about what is at the core.
What is important, what is essential.

We could (and should) also note that God is not just these things.
There is, for example, and in particular a whole stream of feminine imagery
Mother, Wisdom, Birthgiver
which is used in the Bible
to help us understand what God is like.
These are also relational words.

Our God is a God who relates.

Perhaps we are best helped to undersdtand this the title that is sometimes given
the God's Holy Spirit in the New Testament:
where the Spirit is referred to as
The Spirit of Jesus.

We will encounter this Spirit
in the person of Jesus himself
as we exercise the gifts that God gives us
as we encounter Christ in the community of the Body of Christ.
The Spirit enables us to discern Christ in the lives of others,
Jesus himself points out that when we see in the poor and weak
those who should be served we are encountering Christ himself.

Like a relationship this is not just a static one-off experience
but rather a grwoing emerging encounter.

The Spirit draws us into this relationship
in order that we may encounter the risen Christ
in our lives
in others
in the world and in the Church

This week

Where do I see Christ in my life today?
What is the Spirit inviting me to understand about God
through the relationships in which I see Christ?
Pray for renewal in my life through these dynamic encounters with God.

Arrival and departure

Post for Sunday 13th May 2007

John 14:23-29

14:23 Jesus answered him, "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.

14:24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but is from the Father who sent me.

14:25 "I have said these things to you while I am still with you.

14:26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.

14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

14:28 You heard me say to you, 'I am going away, and I am coming to you.' If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.

14:29 And now I have told you this before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe.

Life is full of arriving and departing
(we are in the middle of this now ....possible posts here)
But it is more than just getting on and off trains and planes
Every day we come and we go,
and others do the same in our lives.
Some of these are bigger experiences than others
I was saying to my sister only recently
how I had been feeling the death of our mother
(over five years ago....how can it be?)
These departures are perhaps more significant
and laden with the opportunity
to understand more about life and love.
Equally well, babies are born,
new relationships are formed
and so the coming and going fills our life

So it was for the disciples of Jesus.
He went from them.
And like our lives we realise that as sad as it is
when someone goes, or circumstances change
there is also a necessity about it.
It causes us to grow and mature.
What might Jesus have been drawing out of his disciples

that required him to go away.
there are a number of things:

• We only realise when we are independent what we can do of our own accord
• The disciples (us) were pretty pathetic when it came to over-relying on Jesus
• This has a tendency to make us inactive and lazy

In a way, this analysis is too simplistic, because Jesus also points us to a "life in the Spirit" which is more than just object lessons on how to be independent.
This is an important dimension of the promise of life in Christ
which is not realised simply by overcoming our natural indolence.


For thought and prayer this week

How is God calling me to be open to the Holy Spirit?
Spend some time praying for the increase in God's Spirit in my life

Seeing God

Today, January 7, 2007, is often called the Baptism of the Lord (First Sunday after the Epiphany)
Readings suggested for today are: Isaiah 43:1-7 Psalm 29 Acts 8:14-17 Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

If you were to draw a picture of God
what would you draw?
Some of our fellow monotheists (that is believers in one God)...the Jews and the Moslems
find this idea of representing God
to be so slippery an idea
that they forbid it all together.
If you go into a mosque or a synagogue
although you will find elaborate decoration
(Islamic art represents some of the highest forms of decorative art the world has ever seen)
But you will find no human form, or even animal form represented
we call this idolatry.
We are profoundly aware that any attempt to represent God will fall far short.
Any picture we draw will be some how inadequate
and contentious.
It will cause offence because of this.

This is of course true not only of visual art
but also of the written word.
We only have to start talking about our experience of God
to realise that the words fail us.
It is easy and tempting to be simplistic and paint or write about God.
But we should always be aware that our words will fail
our pictures will be inadequate
they are only like a calculus which draws close to the ultimate expression
but they never quite get there.

I don't think this should prevent us from trying
but there is a serious warning here.
The warning is not about what might happen to us if we should somehow stumble across the face of God
The warning is about making God in our own image.
Some current refelections about this include:
We need to recognise that language is only an approximation of our understanding about God
when we call God HE and even FATHER
we are using the approximations of finite language
to describe the infinite.
God is not a man, nor even a superman!
God is not male or female at all.
We use our limited language
to try and express what we cannot fully understand.
Some of us think this doesn't matter,
but others of us find this deeply alienating.
We do need to respect other people
and not just brush their reservations aside.
What this reminds us of is that one the attgitudes that we have to adopt towards God
is one of openness.
recognising that we are limited and God is infinite.
This should warn us against being dogmatic about God is like
and challenge us rather to always be open to the challenge that God presents to you and me

These are some more intellectual reflections for us in this Epiphany season
when we focus on how God is made known to us.
But we need also to be in touch with the emotional and spiritual understandings,
which is perhaps more where you and I are situated
in the realm of EXPERIENCE.

The same warnings apply;
we need to be critical of our experience
and recognise that ours is not the only experience.
Nor do we always understand it properly.
When, for example, we are sad when someone dies
we could suggest that that is because "God has let us down"
or even that "God doesn't work"
if we are more open and positive we might say "We do not understand God's will".

You don't have to think very hard to realise that all of these statements are not complete.
They do express something, but they are attempting to express the unknowable.
St Paul reminds us in that famous passage....now we only see through a glass dimly,
but then we shall see face to face, with understanding.

So again we need to be cautious to not jump too quickly
and say God is like this or God is like that.
We want it to be simple, but it is not.
We want, all the time to be able to define God.
But in so doing all we succeed in doing is limiting our understanding.

Now we see only dimly.
What is God inviting us to understand:

By being born as a baby?
By dying as a man?
By being really present in this sacrament?
By sometimes seeming totally absent?
By saying that we are made in God's image-male and female?

As we look for understanding
What does God also invite us to do and be in our lives?
These are the Epiphany questions,
we get the answers wrong if we think they are easy.

We become idolaters, when we mistake the wrong answers for the truth.
Pray that the Holy Spirit of God will open our hearts to see and believe
the truth of God
and to live with the courage that we do not and cannot know everything