Absolutely magnificent

Readings for this Sunday, 12th December 2010 Advent 3. Isaiah 35:1-10, Magnificat Luke 1:47-55; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11

The prophet Isaiah says...Thus says the Lord

My ways are not your ways, and your ways are not my ways(Is 55:8-10)

This theme is particularly apparent in the great seasons like Advent.

God does not do things in the way that we seem to think

they should be done

The king is not only not born in a palace

he is also conceived out of wedlock

and his mother is in danger of not actually being able to marry at all

and provide the necessary security for her son.

It almost seems a rule

that what ever way we expect things to be done

God's way will be different

This is not because of some sort of perversity

on the part of God

who is just being contrary.

It is rather a fundamental statement

about how poorly we succeed

at understanding the will of God at all.

Magnificat

So it is hardly surprising that the words we hear

being spoken

are challenging

our very established and unimaginative ways of thinking

about life and about God.

This may often escape our attention

as we hear words that we have heard many times before.

Such are those words (well-known to Anglicans)

we hear spoken by Mary

as she commits herself to cooperate with the the will of God.

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,

my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour

There are a few shocks in the song that she sings

....from this day all generations will call me blessed.

Women are often perceived by society

as secondary people

this much is known to us

Not so in God's world.

God says to each woman you are holy!

If I say nothing else to each of you here today

it is that

But can we also say

that God does not make the sort of judgment on the umnarried pregnant girl

that we so often rush to make!

...this day God says to women, and to those with child

You are blessed.

My ways, are not your ways

If we think that pride, arrogance and self-promotion

are the way to go

then Mary's song reminds us that

God is on the side of the humble and meek

he has an option for the poor

and we who are rich need to be particularly cautious.

The world's ways are about reputation, power and influence

God's are about humility, compassion and concern.

The world is totally seduced by greed

and the need to be rich

But God's promise is to stand alongisde those who are poor.

Great encouragement

We need to hear these words for what they are.

Great encouragement.

They are revealing to us truths that the world does not readily appreciate.

John says to the people who went out to see him.

Did you come out into the desert execyting to be told that you had got it right

What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces.

No he says, you went out looking for God.

You come to church (presumably)

Or you read these words

Not to be told that you have got it right

But to be confronted by God

to hear what God says to your heart.

He says....my ways are not yours

You need some education in my will.

Those who you tend to reject...the poor, women, the illegitimate

They are the ones I take and bless.

My understanding rather turns the world upside down.

Many heard John and Jesus

and turned away

because they did not want hear the message

that confronted their lifestyle.

Others found that their life was transformed.

Which are you?

This week

• Pray for insight to seeGod where God is least likely to be found
• Ask the Spirit to show you where you need to change and affirm God in the unexpected place.

We praise you Lord

as we see you confront our popular misconceptions.

As you turn aside from injustice and greed and

bless the cause of the powerless and poor.

Give us the courage of Christmas to do that too.

The God-Bearer

What are we to say about Mary the mother of Jesus that has not already been said.
In a very real sense the problem is that too much has been said, often in a confused way, not only overstating the role of Mary but also making inappropriate claims

This Sunday 15th August is the Feast of Mary the Mother of Jesus and readings are:Isaiah 61:10-62:3, Luke 1:46-55, Galatians 4:4-7, Luke 2:1-7

There are a number of these exotic claims, (too many to go into in a short homily), and many of them were highlighted and discounted at the time of the Reformation.

She is not for example...the 4th member of the Trinity!

Nor is she the female aspect of the Godhead.

Mary only has a place by virtue of the fact that God chose her to bear the Son.

She is the means by which God connects directly to humanity!

The place where God and Humanity meet.

The Orthodox have traditionally used the expression...Theotokos...God bearer ...

sometimes crudely called by the Westrern Church....Mother of God...which tends to distort our thinking some what.

What is important about Mary is not how she tends to have been deified

but rather that her body is the meeting place of God with humanity.

She is fully human, anything less would make the central Christian truth

that The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us (John 1:14) into a crass fairy story.

Thus we see in Mary not a super-hero, but rather a human hero

who responds to God by saying "Yes, I will do what you ask me to do!"

She is not overwhelmed by God and forced to do something against her will

In words that many Christians make their own every day

Mary's response, rather, is to say to God a big YES!

"Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word" (Luke 1:38).

Also of interest

As we encounter Mary elsewhere in the Gospels we see a series of interesting encounters.

What seems to be interesting about these is their very ordinariness!

As with almost everything in the Bible we sometimes lose sight of the fact about just how ordinary some of the sotories are

The Loss of Jesus

Luke 2:41-52. Mary and Joseph lose Jesus when they take a trip to Jerusalem. Anyone who has lost a child know how awful this can be for all concerned, parents and children!

At a wedding

John:2-10. At a wedding Jesus's mother tries to get him to help her sort out a catering problem!

But who is my mother?

Mark 3:31-35, Mtw 12:46-50 Jesus brings her family to see Jesus and he rather dismisses them. Is she trying to warn him to be more cautious or he'll get his head chopped off

Her station keeping

In John's account of the Passion (and the tradition of the Church) Mary is placed at the Cross. No more awful image is there than Michelangelo's Pieta; the young woman holding her dead son.

It is perhaps the greatest human tragedy, that many parents have shared...having to be present at the funeral of their child

Pentecost Finally we see that Luke places Mary with the disciples and the early community of the believers (Acts 1:14, 2:1-42)

I draw all these to our attention because they show to us a very ordinary Mary and jesus relationship

The incarnation is worked out not in the heavens, but in the midst of life. It is a child getting lost, catering, thoughtless comments, human tragedy which are the groundswell of what God is doing.

Remember what the 'angels' say to the disciples as they stand gazing into the heaven after the Ascension (Acts 1:11)..."Why are you gazing into heaven?" or as they gaze into the empty tomb (Luke 24:5)..."Why do you look for the living among the dead?"

Mary's witness seems to be telling us that God will be worked out

in our human life.

The kingdom of God is amongst us.

This week

• What are we dealing with in our daily life at the moment?
• What might god be drawing out in me through my encounter in my ordinary day to day encounters with other people, with human issues and thereby with God?
• What is God's invitation to me today?
• Can I say "Here am I be it unto me according to your word!"

The icon pictured at the head of this entry is "The Miraculous Icon of Coromandel" it was painted by children of the parish under the guidance of local artist Jenny Poole. It displays the nativity of Jesus and we display it during Advent at St John's Church each year.

On being full of grace

The funeral service says (quoting the spirit of the psalm) "In the midst of life we are in death", if not 'death' then we have a fair bit of trouble and mess.
In all this comes a message that God deals graciously with us.

Some Readings for this fourth and last week of Advent...some readings are: Micah 5:2-5; Luke 2; Psalm 80:1-7; Hebrews 10:5-10; Luke 1:39-55
For me this season, whilst not being easy. has been one that is rich in experience
and encounters.
We often have to dialogue with death and dying,
we all have to engage with the complexity of our human relationships
and there is a richness of imagery that abounds
and of course all the wonderful words, spoken and sung.

This is necessary, but not always positive;
some people (research tells us) find Christmas very stressful.

One of the recurring themes of Advent is GRACE
This is a "buzz word", of course,
and easily glossed over.
Grace is about the free gift of God
of life itself.
God gives himself, his life to us
in these and many other ways
all the time
powerfully, intimately, gently, abundantly.

The readings point us to a number of different aspects of this.
God gives his grace to the world
We live in a gift of a world.
As our eyes turn to Bethlehem
we are also reminded how human beings
sometimes are hell-bent [advised use of words!] on destroying the giftedness
we have received from God.
Pray for peace in Bethlehem
that they may know the peace that Jesus bring.

Not easy work
The writer of Hebrews reminds us
that the era of grace in which we now live
is a new era
In theological terms, we are in a new era
because the death and resurrection of Jesus
have put us in a new place.
What this might remind us of is that
grace does not just happen accidently
it is as a response of God's deliberate action
While God's grace is abundant and plentiful

It will not just overwhelm us in in our lives
we need to open ourselves to it
and also be responsive to it.
That is; Grace is given, freely given
do we accept this free gift of God's love.

As you reflect on these last 3 or 4 weeks and the richness of experience
what is God calling you to respond to.
Have you responded? Will you respond?

It is likely that we see the gracious gift of people.
Have we taken time to think on this?
How is God calling us to respond to those who he gives us.
Not always easy, but part of the way that we are called to grow into the personhood that God has in store for us.

The theme character for this week is Mary
It is interesting to hear the classical words
that often refer to her.
They are contained in the angel's greeting to her in that house in Nazareth
as she goes about her daily business.
"Hail Mary full of grace"
Don't let anti-Catholic prejudice blind us to the fact that these words come straight from the Bible themselves.
What the angel says to Mary, Gid says to all of us.
Hail full of grace!!
Each one of us has a life full of grace.
It is not the easy cheap grace that titillates us, or makes us feel tipsy
Sometimes it is deeply sad and confronting,
ALWAYS it is drawing us closer to God
and making us more fully human.

What has God been saying to you this season?
Where are you called to respond more freely to God's giftedness
is God saying, perhaps, ....there is someone you need to forgive, or someone whose forgiveness you need to seek
Does God set before you a lonely person to whom you can be a grace?
Is there a situation that you need to resolve?
Is there a freedom that is summoning you?

Will you take this gift, this offer of freedom and embrace it?

As Mary is confronted by the Angel...Hail full of grace!
and as she responds...saying be it done to me according to your word
so the angel says to her this new promise, The Lord be with you
The gift, the grace, the promise of Christmas
as we open ourselves to the sometimes, often, maybe even usually difficult of grace
we encounter Immanuel- God with us
The gift is here, accept it...full of grace
And May the Lord be with you.

O Bethlehem!

Readings for the last Sunday in Advent. Sunday 21st December 2Sam 7:1-11, 16, Magnificat, Romans 16:25-27, Luke 1:26-38

We experience a lot of Christmas input at this time One good question I heard asked about various school and church presentations was:
Why all these stories and plays with a Christmas theme What's wrong with the story of the stable at Bethlehem.........?
There are of course many representations of that story and it is rich in symbolism, myth (in the finest sense of that word) and cultural nuance
When in doubt we should allow God's Word of Scripture to do its wonderful work in our hearts So take time this week to read the readings and just to allow them to speak to you. As you sit through the endless Carol Services take time too to be a little more open. Remember, as we see in this week's readings, that Christmas is God showing himself to us in human form. It is about understanding who God is, and what God is about.
So we find that Mary, when confronted by the angel has to begin on a journey of discovery because she does not understand what all this might mean
^"29But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be"
And Paul tells us at the end of Romans as we read today
"the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages ²⁶but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith"
The sort of message, that so puzzles Mary, is God revealing in Jesus what has been true for all time. This is the overarching message of the Christmas story.
God is revealed to us in the person of Jesus Christ. He is, what controversialist, John AT Robinson describes as The Human Face of God. This is a description I find really helpful.
God cannot be described...he is indeed "the mystery that was kept secret" our philosophy, our history, even our theology does not come close to fully disclosing who God is if we want to know what God is like then the fullest revelation is Jesus.
So what do we see
We find at Christmas a deeply confronting story. God chooses a young girl about whom we know remarkably little.
In the short passage of this morning's Gospel we know more about Joseph ....
a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David
than we do about Mary herself
In fact we know more about Zechariah and Elizabeth than we do about their cousin:
he belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife was a descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. ⁶Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord. ⁷But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were getting on in years.
What might this say to us?
At the very least we are reminded that God views people differently from the way we do.
We make different choices about what is important so we look for wealth, success, power and prestige ..
God looks differently.
There is an invitation here in the Christmas story to look with different eyes at the world in which we live.
In the reading from the Hebrew bible too, we read of David's desire to build a Temple. This seems like a righteous desire, a good thing.
But it is not what God wants.
We do not always get it right, we are often fixated on the material when God is inviting us to look deeper.
These are two modest insights that we get from addressing the stories of the Bible rather than sidetracking it.

Making room

Part of the frustration for us at Christmas is finding Jesus amidst it all.
Let us not so much complain about what Woolworths and Target do, let us rather see the challenge to point ourselves and others to Jesus.
Ask tricky intelligent questions of your youngsters:
Why did God come as a baby?
What is he trying to tell us by being born in a stable?
Why did the shepherds and the wise men come?
and what do you think they said to Mary and Joseph?
What would we say to them?

Magnificent

Readings for this Sunday, 16th December 2007. Advent 3. Isaiah 35:1-10, Magnificat Luke 1:47-55; James 5:7-10; Matthew 11:2-11
The prophet Isaiah says...Thus says the Lord
My ways are not your ways, and your ways are not my ways. (Is 55:8-10)
This theme is particularly apparent in the great seasons like Advent.
God does not do things in the way that we seem to think
they should be done
The king is not only not born in a palace
he is also conceived out of wedlock
and his mother is in danger of nto actually being able to marry at all
and provide the necessary security for her son.
It almost seems a rule
that what ever way we expect things to be done
God's way will be different
This is not because of some sort of perversity
on the part of God
who is just being contrary.
It is rather a fundamental statement
about how poorly we succeed
at understanding the will of God.
Magnificat
So it is hardly surprising that the words we hear
being spoken
are challenging
our very established and unimaginative ways of thinking
about life and about God.
This may often escape our attention
as we hear words that we have heard many times before.
Such are those words (well-known to Anglicans)
we hear spoken by Mary
as she commits herself to cooperate with the the will of God.
My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour
There are a few shocks in the song that she sings
....from this day all generations will call me blessed.
Women are often perceived by society
as secondary people
this much is known to us
Not so so in God's world.
God says to each woman you are holy!
If I say nothing else to each of you here today
it is that
But can we also say
that God does not make the sort of judgment on the umnarried pregnant girl
that we so often rush to make!
...this day God says to women, and to those with child
You are blessed.

My ways, are not your ways
If we think that pride, arrogance and self-promotion
are the way to go
then Mary's song reminds us that
God is on the side of the humble and meek
he has an option for the poor
and we who are rich need to be particularly cautious.
The world's ways are about reputation, power and influence
God's are about humility, compassion and concern.

The world is totally seduced by greed
and the need to be rich
But God's promise is to stand alongisde those who are poor.

Great encouragement
We need to hear these words for what they are.
Great encouragement.
They are revealing to us truths that the world does not readily appreciate.

John says to the people who went out to see him.
Did you come out into the desert execyting to be told that you had got it right

What did you go out into the wilderness to look at? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? Someone dressed in soft robes? Look, those who wear soft robes are in royal palaces.

No he says, you went out looking for God.
You come to church (presumably)
Or you read these words
Not to be told that you have got it right

But to be confronted by God
to hear what God says to your heart.
He says....my ways are not yours
You need some education in my will.
Those who you tend to reject...the poor, women, the illegitimate
They are the ones I take and bless.
My understanding rather turns the world upside down.

Many heard John and Jesus
and turned away
because they did not want hear the message
that confronted their lifestyle.
Others found that their life was transformed.

Which are you?

This week

• Pray for insight to seeGod where God is least likely to be found
• Ask the Spirit to show you where you need to change and affirm God in the unexpected place.

We praise you Lord
as we see you confront our popular misconceptions.
As you turn aside from injustice and greed and
bless the cause of the powerless and poor.
Give us the courage of Christmas to do that too.

The (in)famous miracle

Readings this week (SundayJanuary 14 2007 ) are for the Second Sunday after the Epiphany
Isaiah 62:1-5 Psalm 36:5-10 I Corinthians 12:1-11 John 2:1-11

No miracle attracts attention like the turning of water into wine. It is the butt of all the jokes that cynics and non-Christians throw at believers in Jesus.
Be that as it may. It is also profoundly misunderstood.
We are fixated on getting our water turned into wine
whereas it seems the holy God
might be intent on something else.
A couple of points
Jesus is with us in the ordinary.
Although we think this story is about a magic trick of changing water into wine
it speaks volumes more to see
that it is not the extraordinary
that is the key
but the ordinary.
Here we have Jesus at an ordinary, albeit special, event
a marriage
and being bothered about an ordinary, albeit serious, problem
the wine has run out.
If we hear nothing else in this story
we need to recognise that it is speaks to us about how Jesus
lives with us in the ordinary world.
The world of weddings and bad catering!
We often confine God to "religious" areas
but this story, like much of John's Gospel,
reminds us that Jesus does not take us out of the ordinary
but rather transforms it.
One of the keys to enabling this transformation to happen
is to hear the words of Mary to his disciples
"Do what ever he tells you!"
So two key principles so far in this story are:

• allow Jesus into the ordinary

• and listen to what he is telling you and do itt.
  

This simple advice might stand us in good stead.
It requires simply that we open our ordinary life to God
And that we listen to what he is saying
We are not always good at this.
Do we take time each day, each week
to even think about what we are doing
in our ordinary life, at work, at school
at home
with our family, in our duties,
in our recreation
do we submit that to God
and allow God to add to our experience of it.

NOTE that Jesus does not cane the wedding guests!
he does not say "You are a mob of drunks! and it serves you right."
I have come that you might have lie
and have it more abundantly
is one of the great themes of this Gospel.
There will be times when God tells us to draw back
that we have got it wrong
and there will equally be times
when we are invited to throw ourselves in with zest and flare.
Dare we do this.

This is not so much a story of wayward drunkenness
but an invitation to give every aspect of our life to God
and live it with the abundance he desires for us.