Moving on up! Life in the Spirit

Readings for Whitsunday or Pentecost, June 12, 2011; Numbers 11:24-30; *Acts 2:1-21; Psalm 104:24-34,I Corinthians 12:3b-13; John 20:19-23

Anglicans like candles!

In fact people like candles;
they are such a warm symbol
and so multi-layered in imaginal links
that we readily warm to them.

At Easter the principal symbol in many Churches
is the Paschal or Easter candle
which is marked in various ways at the Great Vigil.
With Alpha and Omega (the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet) , the number of the year, the sign of the cross,
and often including five nails.
It burns for the great 50 days which conclude today with today's feast of Pentecost

when we remember the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the first disciples

What, then, to do with with this very rich symbolic candle at the end of this season?
Well of course the logical thing to do is extinguish it!
though we do not want to give the impression that everything is now over and done with,
because of course it isn't!
In a way it has only just begun.

So in our churches today as the large candle is extinguished
individual worshipers are invited to light a personal candle of their own.
The simple idea is that the Easter Commission
to proclaim the risen Christ

is deliberately transmitted
to each individual as part of their baptismal responsibility.
This is, indeed, the movement that we trace in the readings today.
God pours out the Holy Spirit to renew the world
and to encourage and bless the community of faith
in order that they may bring the hope of Christ to the world.
The way this Spirit works is that it is given to individuals
whether it be (as in Numbers) the elders of the Church
or as in Acts and I Corinthians on the individual baptised;

We are invited to appreciate that the gift of the Spirit
apart from being a numinous spiritual blessing
to the world or community of faith in general
is also, in practice, worked out

in the individual giftedness of each of the baptised.

So, St Paul's idea is that
the Holy Spirit gives to each of the baptised an outpouring of the Spirit
which manifests itself in particular gifts
He cites a number of gifts..teaching, hospitality, prophecy, prayer, deep faith
and so on (some number these as many as 75 specific gifts)
His implication is that every baptised Christian
is gifted in some way
and that we are to use those gifts
for the furtherance of the kingdom of God.

That is, the presence of the risen Christ
is committed to you and me
and we are gifted by the Holy Spirit
to carry on Christ's work.

We are not expected to pass an exam
or do a whole pile of learning
in order to do this work
we are rather required to use the gift that has been given.

This may cause us to think about
how the Spirit has lit our personal candle!!!

Far from the work being over when Easter is finished
and we extinguish the candle
it is not so much over as transferred
to each of us individually.

So what we might ask ask,
is my particular gift?
and how am I to use it to further the kingdom of God?

We are given gifts, our candle is lit,
not to hide (Jesus uses this sort of image)
but for a purpose.
We do not have to get a qualification
it is more that we need to take the gift out of the box and use it.

So there are two questions for each of us
the second more important than the first,
First, what is my gift
and the second important question how might I use it?
The kingdom is weakened in so far
as we hide our light
or ignore it.
Our gift, be it prayer, teaching, almsgiving, hospitality
prophecy or what ever is to be used.

Paul is clear that not everyone has the same gift
we are not all teachers or prophets,
but we are all gifted as individuals and as community
with all the gifts necessary to do what God wants us to do
and to be what God wants us to be.

This week

• Give thanks to God for the Easter mystery, and the promise that Christ has given to be with us always
• Ask the Spirit to show you how you ahve been gifted by God, and what you are to do with that gift?
• Pray for imagination, opportunity and courage to use the giftedness that God has given me.

We pray, this today and every day:

Spirit of the living God fall afresh on me
Spirit of the living God fall afresh on us

Unselfish behaviour

Readings for the Third Sunday in Lent, March 27 2011. Exodus 17:1-7; Psalm 95; Romans 5:1-11; John 4:5-42. As part of your prepararation for Sunday take one of the reading for each day

We live in a selfish world...this much is self-evident

Some would say that selfishness is a necessary human characteristic

others would say that it is a destructive attribute.

The "necessary human characteristic" argument

says we need to be able to survive

and so we should be able to feel free to assert our own need

and to look after our own interests.

This bland sort of statement is rather deceptive

because what is the problem

with selfishness

is not, so much, the looking after one's own interests

but rather the fact that most selfishness

looks after one's own interests at the expense of other people.

When, at baptism, people are invited to reject selfishness

we are moving beyond the repentance of things we have done wrong

saying sorry, making restitution and so on....

to actually taking positive steps to live our lives in a way

that is counter cultural.

We are being asked to move beyond

the idea that we need to be able to look after our own self-interests in order to survive

to saying that we also choose a way of life

that is more than just pursuit of self-interest.

How, we might ask, are we to do this?

The Baptismal Liturgy for Children addresses this several times

the sponsors/godparents are asked if they are prepared to show those they are sponsoring how to live the unselfish life.

This is an important point to grasp

unselfishness can be taught....or perhaps caught.

We catch it from others who set us the example

of what might be possible if we choose to live our lives differently.

This is clearly demonstrated for Christians on the Cross.

Apart from what ever mystical and theological process may be taking place

there is something being lived out.

It is that we are unselfish when we give, not only of our stuff

but also of our life.

Jesus says, greater love has no one than this

that they lay down their lives for their friend

This is most unusual in our self-oriented world.

A couple of points

The readings point us to a number of interesting points

1. In the confusion that is the time in the wilderness after the flight from Egypt, the people of Israel constantly miss the point of their call.

Why? Because, as in today's reading, they find it very difficult to get beyond their own very narrow selfish interests.

God responds to their needs time and time again

but the more they get the more they want

and the more they seem unresponsive and ungrateful for what has already been done for them.

The writers of the the Torah are setting before us a picture of wayward selfishness

which is at odds with the will fo God.

2. Paul in writing to the Roman Church urges these people on to do better than mere selfish desires.

Look to greater goals and the bigger picture. Understand at the very least that there is a challenge which will improve us as people: Paul outlines (perhaps a little too strictly) a growth process...

we also boast in our sufferings, knowing
that suffering produces endurance,
5:4 and endurance produces character, and
character produces hope,

suffering-endurance-character-hope.

His argument suggests that unselfishness opens up

a whole new range of possibility.

3. And what of this woman who meets Jesus. This is a most fascinating story.

She wants more out of life...Lord satisfy my deepest thirst

Jesus immediately points her to the area of her life where her own inward looking orientation

has betrayed her deepest integrity.

Your human relationships are up the creek

Who knows quite what a mess this woman who had had five husbands had made of her life, and why?

There is at least the suggestion that unless we are prepared to plummet the darkness of our true desires and not avoid what our lives are saying to us,

in their messiness, selfishness and deep desire

then our deep thirst will not be satisfied.

THIS WEEK

Where does God invite you to be unselfish?

is there something immediately that you can do to challenge your selfishness, what stops you?

What do you really want? What would satisfy your deepest desires?

What is the mess of your life saying to you about what you really want?

There are lots of reflections to have about "comfort zones", about whether or not we want to change. Spend some time with God talking about this.

Both ends of the stick

• The readings for this Sunday, the 8th Sunday after the Epiphany, 27th February can include: Isaiah 49:8-16a, Psalm 131, 1 Corinthians 4:1-5, Matthew 6:24-34

Today in the parish we are having two celebrations. At different ends of the spectrum of Christian experience.

We are interring the ashes of a beloved parishioner Molly who has died after a long and faithful Christian life

and we are baptising Maile.

These might seem, to some, to be at odds with each other

But because they both speak of the Christian call

one at the beginning of a Christian life

and one at the end

they reflect each other

So, at the heart of what we hear this morning

is not a warning but a truth

No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other

This, as I say, is not a threat

it is a truth.

If we are to give ourselves to Jesus

then it is all or nothing.

Molly knew this, more and more throughout her life

and also discovered that not only was this "work"

but also a joy

The greatest joy that we can know.

The promises of the gospel we hear this morning

is that if we enter into this mystery

then we also come to know

that this is not a slog

this is something that God enables in our life.

We open ourselves to the life of God

and God responds with faithfulness

and abundant life.

At the other end of the scale

the parents and godparents

are being asked to initiate this journey

in Maile's life

Their role is principally by their own example

to help her understand the truth of the gospel.

It is important to hear the particular emphasis of the gospel today

---as we try to share the gospel with each other

we are not being invited to to teach them how to be clever

or even prudent, or wise---

But rather to have faith in God

We sometimes get this wrong

we think at best that being a Christian is about common sense

when it is about trusting God.

We think it's about developing good habits, saving, planning, discipline

...and it's not that these things are not involved

It is rather that faith in God is our prime concern

So we all ask ourselves at such a time:

(and chiefly those who make the baptismal promises)

How do I help this person to have faith in God?

We have the example of one faithful person as well today, Molly.

As we watch (so often) life stripped away

or as we witness as we have this week

lives cut short

we actually are reminded that

when things are cut back, when they dwindle

when we are pushed for what is important

..it is not how rich we are, it is not how well we play sport

or how good we have been at work

BUT rather how have we opened ourself to the mystery of God's life.

This is not 'common sense'...it is the life of faith

not a contradiction but a deeper profounder approach to life.

Turning to Christ, repenting of sin, rejecting selfishness and renouncing evil

All of these are at the heart of what one life has been about

and what another life is to be about.

Jesus says what energises your life, what we are to strive for is this:

Strive first for the kingdom of God and a right relationship with God

and these other things will be given to you

The Memorial Garden at St John's Coromandel Valley

Career defining moment

On Tuesday 8th February 1981, I was ordained a priest in God's Church in St Peter's Cathedral Adelaide. Thirty years have passed! A few thoughts and some reflections on John 15:16

As I was driving home the other night

one of those billboards caught my attention

it was advertising job-placement programs

it said "Have you had your career moment defining yet?"

I immediately thought..this is my theme for the 30th anniversary of my ordination..

And indeed I well remember that 45 degree day 30 years ago.

That ordination has affected my life profoundly

I have tried to be a good priest

sometimes I have done well

and sometimes I have failed miserably.

The world and the church are different places today

If we think about the change in marriage practice in this time

then we will see that I am a priest in a different way than I might have imagined in 1981

The awful scandals that have been uncovered in those 30 years

mean that I, indeed, do not assume any more that I am held in any sort of regard.

Throughout all this there have been times

when I have been asked by all sorts of people...spiritual directors, psychologists, and so on

how do I feel about being a priest

And I have been aware that I have been deeply shaken by all this

but my answer

when I have touched my inner depths

is that strangely

as all the prestige, even glamour, and influence

have been stripped away.

As all the old certainties have been stripped away,

prayer books change

congregations dwindle

as a great sense of shame and embarrassment

have also sat alongside pride and joy

at being an Anglican

...my answer has been

Strangely I feel more certain about my vocation

as all this has been stripped away.

I can only put this down to the fact that I have had to let go of absolutely everything and realise that being a priest is nothing to do with me

What ever I think...I know something of the truth of God's holy words

You did not choose me but I chose you (John 15:16)

It cannot be any other way.

This gives me no cause for complacency or arrogance

but if we can understand the truth

that it's not about us

then we might be relieved

Well any way I am.

So....was my ordination ...the career defining moment

Yes and No!

Yes because I have been privileged to be a priest. And I love this.

BUT if I hear God saying "You did not choose me"

then I want to say...God says this to each one of us at Baptism

that's the point when we are all affirmed as The Chosen Ones

In our Anglican tradition when a priest is ordained

She is surrounded by the Bishop and the other members of the priesthood (see the lovely picture above)

Priests represent the people to God...what a privilege...

and God to the people...what a greater privilege

They are here symbolising that God surrounds us

and we support each other.

We are God's chosen ones

each of us baptised into Christ.

Let this dynamic infuse you

as it seems to have infused me.

You did not do this

I did this.

And I uphold you.

The Baptism of Jesus

Sunday 13th January ...The Baptism of Jesus Readings for today include: Isaiah 42:1-9, Psalm 29, Acts 10:34-43, Matthew3:13-17 and Matthew's account in 3:13-17 is below

Matthew 3:13-17 ...

Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptised by him. John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptised by you, and do you come to me?" But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfil all righteousness." Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptised, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."

Much (too much often...it seems to me) is made of Jesus's Baptism by John the Baptist.
The point that is usually made is that:

• Jesus did not need to be baptised but he obediently responded and expressed a certain humility in so doing
  
• It initiated the start of his ministry and public recognition of who he is begins to unfold

These points are reasonable , but, maybe, too subtle and/or theological

Baptisms are rich occasions, they mean a lot to people
and they are often multi-complex in meaning.
They do not just have to be one thing or the other.
At the very least we see here Jesus making a deliberate act of openness to God
an act which we are invited to share in.
There is a recognition that however he conducts himself
he needs to do it in accordance with the way the Father wants things done
and so we rejoice when we see this happening.

As we watch Jesus being baptised, however,

this story impacts upon us

and the same journey/opportunity
is set before you and me.

• To allow our lives to be deliberately open to God
• and to commit ourselves to walking in the way of God

I often am reminded of the verses of the daily invitatory Psalm, often called Venite after its Latin title.

In the latter part of that psalm God speaks to the singer or perhaps we might say pray-er

If today you hear God's voice
do not harden your heart
as in the Provocation and the day of Temptation in the wilderness
when your ancestors tempted me, put me to the test
even though they had seen everything I did.
Forty years long I was grieved with generation and said
"It is a people who err in their hearts, for they have not known my ways"
Unto whom I swear, in my anger
They shall not enter into into my rest.

from Psalm 95

This is not a threat, it is the way things are.
We are tempted to ignore God, and even though we see what God is doing
yet often we still go our own way.

The call to Baptism
is the call to do what God wants
and to commit our lives to that cause

If today we hear his voice

we pray that we harden not our hearts

Believing in God

During Lent we are thinking about the Apostle’s Creed
Traditionally Lent has been a time to prepare for baptism and the renewal of baptismal vows. The Apostles’ Creed contains the basic statements of Christian faith that Christians have traditionally affirmed at their baptism
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth
It is sometimes suggested
that all religions
are just local cultural manifestations
of the human quest for life and meaning
There is a certain truth in that
but by and large it doesn’t stack up
Because while there is a certain sameness about religions
there is also a great deal of difference
This is what Paul talks about in his letter to the Romans
Things have changed.
While for Jews the covenant with God is about keeping the laws
For Christians we are called rather to have faith through Jesus

So there are certain things that we hold to be true
they may not only unite us
they may also separate us.
Our Creed begins with certain statements of belief that are for us irreduceable
We believe in God
This God is personal..so we use the language Father
This God is supreme..so we describe him as ‘almighty’. He has power to act and to do
And he is creator of everything.
In 12 words we make a pretty big statement about where we begin

This language is concise and powerful
maybe this week you can focus 10 minutes quiet reflection on one of these ways of stating our belief. Father, Almighty, Creator.

What does it mean to call God Father?
What is this inviting me to be and do? Does it change the way I see the world?

If God is Almighty? How can I approach
God? What does it mean my relationship with God might be like? How does it make me feel

If God is Creator, then where do I fit into the scheme of things?

THIS WEEK

Take a little time to ask God to show you more about Father, almighty, creator of heaven and earth.

But I see Jesus

Today, January 10, 2010, 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 reflections 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 of the attitudes 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 what 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

Celebrating Baptism at Easter

Easter Day, April 12th 2009. In our readings we particularly think about Mark 16:1-8 today
It’s always a great privilege
and very insightful thing to be able to baptise someone at Easter.
Easter is about new life and new beginnings
and baptism really invites us to adopt a lifestyle that is about Easter.
We affirm as we see Jesus
who once was dead, being declared to be alive
in a new sort of way
that this is the sort of character we want to live our life with.
We believe as Christians that this can only happen through faith in Jesus.
And so Jack and Catherine bring their daughter Marianne
to make that commitment on her behalf today.
She will need to learn how to practice this faith
and so Jack and Catherine, supported by Matthew and Wendy,
also promise to teach her by example
what it means
This is how children learn
by example.
But we are all given a clue
about the practice
by promising
three specific things
which remind us not only what children need to have explained to them
but also what we as Christians are called to reaffirm at this Easter time.
REPENT of your sins
This means that we need to stop doing the stuff that destroys us and others
Seek forgiveness and be forgiving.
REJECT SELFISHNESS in a world that is obsessed with ourselves
and what we can acquire
we reject the idea that people
achieve their full humanity by selfishness
RENOUNCE EVIL there is also bigger picture stuff
where we are seduced by ideas that people are disposable
or that we can exploit people as if they were to be bought and sold.

This is serious stuff
for Marianne.
We pray that Jack and Catherine will continue to do this.

And for each of us.
We renew our personal commitment
Don’t leave Church without it!!

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

Jesus is baptised-If today you hear his voice

Sunday 13th January ...The Baptism of Jesus see Matthew's account in 3:13-17 below

Matthew 3:13-17 ...

Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptised by him. John would have prevented him, saying, "I need to be baptised by you, and do you come to me?" But Jesus answered him, "Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfil all righteousness." Then he consented. And when Jesus had been baptised, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, "This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."

Much (too much often...it seems to me) is made of Jesus's Baptism by John the Baptist.
The point that is usually made is that

• Jesus did not need to be baptised but he obediently responded and expressed a certain humility in so doing
  
• It initiated the start of his ministry and the public recognition of who he is begins to unfold

These points are reasonable , but maybe too subtle and/or theological
Baptisms are rich occasions, they mean a lot to people
and they are often multi-complex in meaning.
They do not just have to be one thing or the other.
At the very least we see here Jesus making a deliberate act of openness to God
and act which we are invited to share in.
There is a recognition that however he conducts himself
he needs to do it in accordance with the way the Father wants things done
and so we rejoice when we see this happening.

As we watch Jesus being baptised
however this story impacts upon us
the same journey/opportunity
is set before you and me.

• To allow our lives to be deliberately open to God
• and to commit ourselves to walking in the way of God

In these last few weeks I have been particularly drawn to the verses of the daily invitatory Psalm, often called Venite after its Latin title. In the latter part of that psalm where God speaks to the singer/pray-er

If today you hear God's voice
do not harden your heart
as in the Provocation and the day of Temptation in the wilderness
when your ancestors tempted me, put me to the test
even though they had seen everything I did.
Forty years long I was grieved with generation and said
"It is a people who err in their hearts, for they have not known my ways"
Unto whom I swear, in my anger
They shall not enter into into my rest.

This is not a threat, it is the way things are.
We are tempted to ignore God, and even though we see what God is doing.
Yet we still go our own way.
The call to Baptism
is the call to do what God wants
and to commit our lives to that cause

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Making a difference - EASTER DAY

I am glad that we are spared in the Southern hemisphere the incessant link of Easter with Spring.
Although almost everything we do symbolically and liturgically
is redolent of the Northern and Western hemsipheres
here in the south, it is dry, dusty and dying
as autumn sets in.
So we do not have to grapple too much with the idea that
Easter is just a sort of universal principle
of death and rebirth
like the bulbs that are planted
and come back to life
or the lambs which skip in the fields
and the chickens that hatch on the supermarket shelves!!


What then is Easter for us?

It is caught up, I suggest with the rumour if Easter
that spreads amongst the early disciples
that things can be made new
that things will change
that life will be different.
That difference is spelled out
in the focus on baptism
that is so much for us the focus of Easter.
In saying
I turn to Christ
whether as a baptismal candidate
or renewing our promises
we are seeking a radical re-identification
of our lives with something that is important.
We don't just want life to be the same
we want it to change.
That is not to say that we are called to flit around from pillar to post
never settling at anything or anywhere,
but rather that there are aspects of our lives
which need to change.

The baptismal vows invite us to repent of sin
who of us in our right minds would not do this
I don't want to be a thief, a liar, a cheat, an adulterer.
Easter says, then don't.
Live differently.
I am invited to reject selfishness
a hard ask in today's world.
We all know that
piles of stuff, and an endless supply of everything
will not give us what we want.
That "looking after number one: is a vain and empty philosophy
Strangely as we look at families bringing babies to be baptised
we see a radical challenge to selfishness
right in the most obvious place.
People commit themselves to live with each other
not selfishly
but giving their lives to each other,
parents to children, wives and husbands to each other.
We reject this mystery of the unselfish life at our peril.
We are understanding on a global scale
that we need to live cooperatively
with each other, with our environment
if we do not live unselfishly, then we will not live at all


And finally I renounce evil that pattern of life
which will say principally
that other people are for my use and benefit.
This is is both a "micro" pattern and a "macro" pattern.

Micro evil exists, for example, when we thinkl that we can use other people
for own fulfilment.
It is the parent who enslaves their child through guilt
It is the boss who exploits the worker.
It is the friend who use their friendship to manipulate their friend
rather than to set free.
This is the level at which most of us operate most of the time.

There are bigger patterns.
Where wealthy countries (like our own)
exploit the resources of the world disproportionately
where we abuse our power so that we get wealthier
whilst the poor get poorer.
There are iniquities like prostitution, pornography and the drug trade
which treat people liek commodities.
Easter says there is a possibility to say NO!
I reject evil

If we appreciate nothing else at Easter
we are called to appreciate that
the bold words
I turn to Christ
are words of change and words of action.
They are the possibility that things will be different
and end to sin, selfishness and evil.
We make an individual commitment to this.

Of course there is a sense in which this will all go pear-shaped.
That is not the point.
because we can come back and make this commitment
again and again if necessary.
It is a freedom to understand that things can and will be different.
I am part of that.
And so so are you.

Do you turn to Christ?