Practical application

Readings for Sunday 23, 4th September are: 

Exodus 12:1-14 and Psalm 149  •

Romans 13:8-14  • 

Matthew 18:15-20

What a lot of people don't get about Christianity

is that it is about living together

How do humans live with God, and how do they live with each other?

While there is no doubt that religion can seem to be remote and ritualistic, 
this dimension only makes sense when it connects to life

Nowhere is this truer than in the Eucharist.

As we gather together to worship God
and share the Bread and Wine of Holy Communion
we are recognising that good experience of God

Is as fundamental 
as the food and drink we share

That God is present to us 
in the ordinary stuff of life

So we expect that 
the key stuff that we talk about

Should not only just sound good in theory 
it should be practical in application

Matthew’s advice about how to deal with disputes

Is sound and practical.

It emphasises discretion and forgiveness. 

It has about it mutuality and care

What else would we expect?

Apart form anything else 
it also says we should try.

A lot of reconciliation doesn’t happen 
because we can’t be bothered.

We would rather ignore conflict 

Than be reconciled.

Pride, embarrassment, arrogance, wilfulness

All stand in the way.

Christian principles suggest

That we should at least 
try!

It won’t always (or ever) be easy

But we are called to try, to engage seriously

In the practical implementation of the gospel

This week

• Where do we need prompting to be reconciled 
• What do I need to do? What precautions/supports are there that need to be applied?
• Are my strategies genuinely kind, patient, forgiving and loving?

IF I FORGET LORD

THAT I AM NOT CALLED TO BE SELF-RIGHTEOUS

THEN GENTLY PROMPT ME.

ALWAYS ENCOURAGE ME

       TO BE HUMBLE AND KIND

       FORGIVING AND LOVING

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.

Some Authority Issues

Readings for the 26th Sunday of the Year, Sunday 28th September Exodus 17:1-7 Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16 ;Philippians 2:1-13; Matthew 21:23-32

The authority of spiritual teachers is often called into question
so we are not surprised to read this week that Jesus's authority was called into account.
In fact it happened on a number of occasions, and one thing we can see from the passage is that the question is complex.
So there are a couple of observations we might make.
One is that we often question authority, when we are trying to trip people up.
So often, as in this case, the questioners are not interested in getting the right answer
but rather in getting the replier to put himself offside
with one group or another.
We are used to this because we see it all the time in the political arena.
Second,Matthew gives us a bit of an illustration to help us better assess.
You would be better, he suggests, to look at what a person does rather than what they say.
Even if a person says I am going to do the right thing
but then doesn't do anything
we should look at the action rather than believe the words.
Even, bizarrely, if someone says they are not going to cooperate with you
but then does
Then believe the action rather than the words.
Children do this all the time
they believe what we do
rather than what we say.

It is interesting that as we read Philippians 2
and we are here reading about the nature of Jesus
again we read about what the action of being godly is like
...it puts aside pride and selfish ambition, it is humble
it is obedient
it does not presume on greatness.
And in fact it deliberately puts these things aside.
How unlike you and me this is!
So often, full of our self-importance
we forget that we are urged to not presume
on our own rightness, goodness, holiness, intelligence or strength.

St Paul in another place reminds us
that the reason for this is because
it is not when we are strong, powerful and great
that God is glorified
But it is when we are weak
aware of our limitations
and trusting only in God
that God can be God for us.

THIS WEEK

• Where are we guilty of not practising what we preach? Is there a way we can better put into action what being a faithful Christian means?
• Look for one opportunity to humbly follow Christ this week, so that we may better trust.

Lord Jesus, you became obedient

you offered your life, that others may live.

May that same Spirit infuse my life this week, and every day. AMEN

Action and Response

This Sunday 21st September is also the Feast of St Matthew some suggested readings are : Proverbs 3:1-6, Psalm 19:1-6 APBA p 239, Ephesians 4:1-14, Matthew 9:9-13


and you thought you had a bad day at work!

I am always fascinated by what makes Matthew respond to Jesus.
Had he just had a bad day (like S did yesterday) at work?
And just felt like chucking it all in!
Of course we are here seeing not just a fit of pique
but someone responding to Jesus
so as people of faith we recognise that there may be more to it.
And we also identify that
Jesus calls and we respond
(or not)
This is something in which we are caught up every day.
Matthew, on this occasion, responded
we do sometimes
Often we just ignore the call of Christ on our lives.

What follows on in the nartrative is a little reflection, which perhaps helps us to get Matthew's understanding of what Jesus is doing when he calls people
We read:

And as Jesus sat at dinner in the house, many tax-collectors and sinners came and
were sitting with him and his disciples. 11When the Pharisees saw this, they
said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax-collectors and
sinners?’ 12But when he heard this, he said, ‘Those who are well have no need of
a physician, but those who are sick. 13Go and learn what this means, “I desire
mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’

There is, it would seem, purpose when Jesus calls someone!
And that purpose is that those who have been cut off from God
those who are in need of wholeness, acceptance, reconciliation
Might be able to come and receive what God will give them.
As, again, we reflect on who might we might invite to come to something like Christianity Explained
Maybe we have here a clue about what sort of person to look out for.
We are not being asked to be pedantic or patronising,
any way when a call is issued there is always the possibility that the one called may choose to sit at the table and not respond.

Asking ourselves
I wonder why, too, God might have called you and me .
Assuming that we are here because God has been here before us
what is it that he is offering to do for us
What might we receive?
St James makes the cryptic comment
You do not receive because you do not ask (James 4:2)
Sometimes I suspect we do not understand that we are being invited to receive from God,
maybe we are frightened
if we hear the call, as Matthew did,
and get up and walk away
(this may be so for some of our CE invitees)

This week

• Continue to pray for insight into who might come to Christianity Explained
• Ponder what God is calling me to be. Why on earth has God thought I can be a Christian, what is God wanting to achieve in my life?
• Is there an invitation to respond more definitely, fervently even dramatically?

Living God from your Heart flows love in
abundance

Give me courage to respond to your call

Give me vision to change

Life together

Readings for Sunday 23, 7th September are: Exodus 12:1-14 (or Ezekiel 33:7-11)Psalm 149 (or Psalm 119:33-40 ) Romans 13:8-14 Matthew 18:15-20

What a lot of people don't get about Christianity

is that it is about living together

How do humans live with God, and how do they live with each other?

While there is no doubt that religion can seem to be remote and ritualistic, this dimension only makes sense when it connects to life

Nowhere is this truer than in the Eucharist.

 As we gather together to worship and share Bread and Wine we are recognising that good experience of God

Is as fundamental as the food and drink we share

That God is present to us in the ordinary stuff of life

So we expect that that the key stuff that we talk about

Should not only just sound good in theory it should be practical in application

Matthew’s advice about how to deal with disputes

Is sound and practical.

It emphasises discretion and forgiveness. 

It has about it mutuality and care

What else would we expect?

Apart form anything else it also says we should try.

A lot of reconciliation doesn’t happen because we can’t be bothered.

We would rather ignore conflict 

Than be reconciled.

Pride, embarrassment, arrogance, wilfulness

All stand in the way.

Christian principles suggest

That we should at least try

It won’t always (or ever) be easy

But we are called to try, to engage seriously

In the practical implementation of the gospel

This week

• Where do need prompting to be reconciled 
  
• What do I need to do? What precautions/supports are there that need to be applied?
  
• Are my strategies genuinely kind, patient, forgiving and loving?
  

IF I FORGET LORD

THAT I AM NO CALLED TO BE SELF-RIGHTEOUS

THEN GENTLY PROMPT ME.

ALWAYS ENCOURAGE ME TO BE HUMBLE AND KIND

FORGIVING AND LOVING

Feed me and I will be fed

Readings for Sunday August 3rd, 18th Sunday of the year (Proper 13) inlcude Genesis 32:22-31; Psalm 17:1-7, 15 ; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:13-21

Most Australians do not even know the possibility of starvation
We feel confident that someone will come to our aid, even if we have no food, no money, or no means to address these sort of problems.
There are, of course, people elsewhere in the world who do face this sort of awful issue, and who will die because of lack of food.
So we (the non starving) need to try and hear the story of the feeding of the 5000 with something of the urgency for our lives, that food is for the starving.

All people hunger, but not necessarily for food.
Some need self-assurance,
others need healing
all need love
If we take this story and listen to it in this way

then we can hear some simple principles.
Sit down and take time to address the situation
The first step is to actually open yourself to the possibility of God’s aid
Where are the ‘five loaves and the fish”
We think we have nothing. but we almost always have the beginnings
Where does God show us we can begin
Allow ourselves to trust God and receive what God can do with the small beginning
Our consumerist world says we want everything and we want it NOW!
Can we trust God to give us all that we want, and more
from (what we perceive) is the little that we have?
But which in reality is an abundance

This week
Where is God inviting me to feed on his abundant spiritual food? Where do I feel spiritual hunger?
What do I bring to the table? Pray for grace to give God the opportunity to feed me with what I already possess, and to open myself to the possibility of life.

Lord, feed me with everything I need
Give me grace to trust your generous hand