Amazing Grace

As a priest you don't get to pick your parishioners
nor should you!
But you get gems
(almost everyone is a a gem)

I want to say about Grace that she was Amazing

Unfortunately Barack Obama
stole my theatrics by singing at a funeral
"Amazing Grace how sweet the sound"

He had better press coverage!
None of us who knew her
would doubt that she was amazing
I chose the classic passage from John

         God so loved the world, that he gave his only son

Because it totally characterises Grace's faith.
God is not out to get us.,
God seeks to bring us together.

In the last few weeks we have talked about a number of difficult issues
Issues where human relationships have torn us apart.
Always we have spoken
of God's desire that people should  be
brought together

We don't always get this
One day as I left (as I usually do )
with what ever little prayer I could offer
I prayed for 'reconciliation within the family'
at funeral times this is often to the fore.

I was moved that Grace
in some weakness and physical discomfort
was able to to say something like
"yes Lord"
It was her way
and her desire

Yes Lord
we believe
that you are the Christ
and can and will bring us together

I thank God
that I have known a faithful woman
who was Amazing
so trusting
and who, along with God's  Holy Spirit
invites us to trust
in the  amazing grace
reconciliation, love and forgiveness

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

God's kindness.

Romans 2:1-16-A Sermon preached at Evensong Sunday 30th January 2011

Do you not realise that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance (Romans2:4)

As we come to the end of a Sunday and worship quietly

quite often we are invited to reflect

on that which separates us from God

that which is less than we want it to be

that which we want to put right.

In order that we might orient ourselves to live well

to live properly.

St Paul reminds us that God desire for us

is not one of punishment

but one of kindness, forbearance and patience

So we do not come with a sense of fear and foreboding

but rather one of confidence that, as Paul says elsewhere,

everything works together for good.

God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.

God's kindness invites us to live our lives differently.

So tonight:

1. Take time to bring to God any things for which you know you need forgiveness

And also to pray for insight into other areas where we may need forgiveness

but have perhaps forgotten or suppressed.

Perhaps we need to pray for insight and courage to bring our own sinfulness

to God for healing, wholeness, forgiveness!

2. We are also reminded from a number of parables which Jesus tells

that God's kindness and generosity to us

should also result in a similar generosity on our behalf.

We should forgive as we have been forgiven.

Where do you need to be forgiving?

Where has your heart been hardened towards another

and you have refused to forgive

Do you not realise that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance

Repentance means that we should live differently

Imagine if we went to God and asked for forgiveness

And God said NO!

But that is not what happens

We come always expecting forgiveness

and God always forgives us.

So it should be for us

Never refusing to forgive

those who seek our forgiveness.

As we sit for a few moments

We pray for God to forgive us

and know that there is nothing

that God cannot, does not and will not forgive.

Even as God is kind to us

so let us also pray for grace to be forgiving.

The mulberry tree - courage to live

Reading for Sunday October 3, 2010: Lamentations 1:1-6 and Lamentations 3:19-26 or Psalm 137 • 2 Timothy 1:1-14 • Luke 17:5-10-The 19th Sunday after Pentecost

It is worth making sure that the little section of gospel that we read this week

includes before and after so Luke 17:1-10

should fill out the whole story

It tells us two straight forward things

First, we are to have faith.

Second , we are to go about our ordinary business.

It is interesting that these two ideas are juxtaposed

because it reminds that it is not a question of

faith OR day to day to life

But a reminder that both go hand in hand

In the centre of the passage (vv 5-6) we read

The apostles said to the Lord, ‘Increase our faith!’ The Lord replied, ‘If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea”, and it would obey you.

It seems clear from the context that Jesus is expressing some disappointment at the apostles' lack of faith

And it is easy to be distracted by what he says

thinking that what Jesus is saying we should aim for

is to be miracle workers.

I don't think if we look at the whole passage that this is the guts of what he says.

He says first of all...

Don't cause other people to stumble

and he particularly says

Don't cause the little ones to stumble.

We might wonder who these 'little ones' are

it's possibly more than children, but it certainly includes children,

Then he says you must forgive those who repent,

every time they do so.

What we are seeing here is just a simple day to day application

of what it means to live the life of faith

...care for the "little ones" who are vulnerable

and put the forgiveness of sins into practice.

Then at the end of the section (vv 7-10)

he gives a couple of example about how slaves and servants

should not expect to be treated with kid gloves

we should do...what we ought to have done

So there are two little ideas.

Faith is practised, and transmitted to the young

It is about putting things like forgiveness into practice

And there is the reminder that what we, as God's servants, are required to do

is to do what we ought to do.

Caught in the middle

In between these there is a little chip from Jesus

‘If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, “Be uprooted and planted in the sea”, and it would obey you'

Jesus is chiding his disciples fro not actually having faith.

If you had just a little bit ..he says...things would be different

He is not saying the life of faith is different from your day to day life

rather he is saying, I suggest,

that your day to day life is to be lived out in the spirit of faith

and it will bear a different and abundant kind of truth!

Forgiveness, caring for the 'little ones'

even going about what we 'ought to do'

are not put aside

so that we can live a different life

called FAITH

but they are rather the very vehicles wherein faith is worked out.

THIS WEEK

We might look at what it is that we do day to day

and ask God to show us where we can be more faithful

As Paul writes again to Timothy this week

we hear Paul telling Timothy to go about his day to day duties

and to not be afraid to see this as faith.

What we can expect is that if we do this even with the tiniest little bit of faith

then it will be abundantly, wildly fruitful.

Where can we allow God

to show us that our work

our family life

our duties

our joys and our burdens

are acts of faith.

Ask the Holy Spirit to show you how you can be more faithful

in what you ought to do.

And as Paul says, to have the courage to it

for God did not give us a spirit of weakness

but a spirit of courage to be faithful.

Feast and famine

Readings for Sunday 29 August 2010, Proper 17 Year C.
Jeremiah 2:4-13 and Psalm 81:1,10-16
or
{[Sirach 10:12-18 or Proverbs 25:6-7] and Psalm 112 }
Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
Luke 14:1,7-14

Most of the 'banquets' we go to, involve family.

Our extended family almost seems to get bigger every week.
Three new babies this year, and at least one new boyfriend.
So I am struck as we have read in the last few weeks
part of the great treatise on faith
which is the letter to the Hebrews
where we are shown
how much of what God promises to us is the story of what happens
to the family of Abraham.
Indeed I remember being quite overwhelmed three years ago
when we were reading these passages
and I heard a certainty of promise and faithfulness
to my own family
equally as strong as the one to Abraham
There was a real sense in which I have felt the unfolding of the promise of God
in my own life
as I have been challenged and privileged to share my life with my own family.

Can we reflect just what God promises to me and mine
and how those promises are being worked out.
There is a lot of difficulty
but there is much to be thankful for also.

A couple of insights from the readings to deepen this reflection:

Honour
Do you ever sit at functions and watch the enactment of this parable?
(and secretly giggle and say 'those who exalt themselves will be humbled' )
Indeed we always seem to think of it in the negative...when someone has to move because they have sat down in the wrong seat
Of course we are also meant to take it the other way, too,
and there have no doubt been times when you have seen some humble worthy
who has thought only to come and sit at the back
to be escorted to the front by someone who recognises them as guest of honour
Perhaps indeed we may have opportunity to do that today.
We often take those who are close to us for granted.
Those who do a lot for us, we often assume that this is what they are supposed to be doing!
(I speak from some sense of experience here!)
In the way that these days remind us what we should do in terms of giving honour
they point us beyond the immediate target to a way of life
which delights to give honour.
The parable goes on to remind us that we are easily kind to those who it is easy to be kind towards!
We are called not only to give honour where it is due
But we should also look beyond that.

I am pleased to say that that happens quite a bit in our parish community
we see that some could be overlooked if we don't look after them.
(We don't always do this, and can always improve)
...but let's at least ask the question.

Banquets, parties and celebrations are not always easy to get right
and this question of honour where honour is due
is one of the the wider dimensions
also looking beyond the obvious is also brought to our attention
...look not just at those we like
but also at those who are needy.

Keeping on the right track
We also need to know that sometimes good things get derailed
our human relationships are overtaken by the wrong stuff.
Jeremiah says as he looks at how God's people got derailed
"They went far from me, and pursued worthless things"
This is true in families too, and we will all have our different stories.

THIS WEEK

• In reflecting on our family life can we see it is an opportunity to be inclusive rather than exclusive
  
• Invite the Spirit to allow you to open your life to others
  
• Look honestly at your life. What do you give thanks for about your family relationships? What do you regret?
• Pray for grace and opportunity to give thanks for them
• Pray for grace and opportunity to forgive and move forward

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

Struggling with failure and success

Although we may try to inoculate ourselves
against pain, suffering and the effects of evil
this is not possible in this life
reading for Sunday 3rd October 2009: The 18th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 27) Job 1:1; 2:1-10; Psalm 26; Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12; Mark 10:2-16. Plenty of good readings ...one for each day!

Most of us at times are overwhelmed by the sense of things going wrong in our lives.

The readings for this week tap into some of the most common and obvious tragedies that ordinary human beings face

Job, a man of legendary faith, has to deal with sickness in his own life and tragedy in his family.

The letter to the Hebrews is written to a church which feels itself in great danger and constantly under threat of persecution

The Gospel opens up the question of what divorce might mean in people's lives

and in reminding us about the great treasure that small children are

almost every week we are faced with the awfulness of people who abuse the trust of children committed to their care

So we might (and do) ask:

Where is God in all this?

Is the all powerful God not really in control?

The traditional, but not necessarily satisfying, answer is that

much evil is due to our own wilfulness

and it is wrong and innacurate (even though tempting)

to lay it at the feet of God.

God did not cause a maniac to shoot young girls,

or war criminals to torture and rape

But we need to ask the legitimate question:

why does God permit these things?

(Perhaps we also need to realise, too, that

this is also not a correct way of naming this issue and that

God does not permit it either!

But we do insist on inflicting it!)

Wilfulness

God does not stand in the way of our wilfulness.

To do so would be to cause individuals to become little more than robots.

But we are more dynamically and powerfully created than that,

this is because above all else we are created to love.

In order to be able to love

we have to be able to choose to do it.

Love that is not freely chosen is not love,

it may be blackmail,

or bribery or selfish seeking of advantage

but it is not love.

To love requires that we give ourselves unconditionally.

We cannot love and say.....

I will love you if you love me

We cannot say I will love you as long as things are going along OK

To give any meaning to love at all means

that we give and do not count the cost.

This is hard stuff

at times we find that we will fail

which is why in our system of belief there needs to be scope for forgiveness and repentance.

We will sometimes get it wrong,

we will sometimes be betrayed.

We will sometimes be the betrayer.

As with all these things we see in the life of Jesus

love demonstrated dramatically.

And we see there persecution and failure.

We see the need for forgiveness and the need to start again.

This week

As we reflect on our human relationships:

where are we called to give this unconditional love?

Do we hold ourselves back?

Is there a way we can be more open, more vulnerable?

Are there aspects of failure and wilfulness in our loving relationships

that we need to seek forgiveness for

are there places where the strategy is repentance

we might interpret that as meaning weighing up the failure of the past

and looking for a small way to begin again?

I do not suggest that this is easy, or without cost.

It is indeed, very costly?

In seeing our failure to love

the question is not so much why are we and others so bad at this

but will we keep on trying to love unconditionally

O ye of little faith!

Readings for this Sunday, Easter 2, 19th April 2009 Acts 4:32-37, 1 John 1:1-2:2, John 20:19-31

We would and do expect the accounts of the Resurrection experiences to be important parts fo the scriptural story.
They, after all. speak of what is at the heart of the Christian Gospel



that Jesus who once was dead
was encountered alive by the first disciples.
The stories are not straight forward
they are of course
sailing in uncharted waters.

We could make a couple of observations from todays readings:

ACTS: what ever else we see
the early church understood that things had changed
and there was a tremendous boost of energy
when Jesus was encountered alive
POINT: if we are wanting to focus our energies
then we look not to the empty tomb
but to the presence of the risen Christ
in our midst.

1JOHN: This is about seeing things as they are
God is light, and lights dispels darkness
We also need to be up front about where
we get things wrong
If we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves
But that is not the end
because God who faithful will and can forgive sins
and bring us into relationship with Jesus
POINT: This changes and deepens our relationship with God
and is an invitation to live with a new freedom

JOHN 20
We should expect Jesus to bring peace
in our relationships
and in our lives
And we also need to take this seriously
the story of Thomas
reminds us
that we are not required to park our brains
or arbitrarily dismiss our doubts
but rather that
in struggling with doubt
and inviting Jesus to deal with us realistically
we can move to a deeper and profounder encounter with God.


THIS WEEK

• Where is God inviting and challenging you to respond at this time?


• Where do you need peace? Where do you need light? Where do you grapple with doubt?


• None of this need be negative: rather it is the opportrunity to be a deeper person, more deeply committed and energised by the Holy Spirit of God

The grace of God

As we continue to think about the Christianity Explained series our theme this week is the grace of God and some readings are: Hosea 14:4–7;Psalm 85; Ephesians 2:4–10; Luke 18:9–14 (if you are looking for the Commnon lectionary Readings they are here for all All Saints Day; or here for The 31st Sunday of the Year)

What the grace of God assures us is that God's love for us is so great
that he will do everything he can to bring us into the fold of the loving relationship
We are so perverse that we often seem to think
that God will only love us
if we are good enough
or if we are worthy.
The truth is that God loves us
not just when we behave,
or when we have totted up enough brownie points
to merit being loved.
God just loves us!
That love is not bought or sold
it is freely given.
We are often told that the Greek word for 'grace'
is closely related to the word for gift.
God's gift of love is a "grace"
and is truly and freely given.

So we see exposed in the Gospel we have chosen today (Luke 18:9-14)
the story of two men
who stand before God.
One, a religious man, an upstanding man
stands before God
and tells him what a good person he is.
And, I suppose he is, not humble but 'good'
We also see he seems arrogant
and we would probably say
there is a a lot of 'self-justification'
The question , it seems to me, about this man
is what need does he have of God,
he seems to think he is doing OK by himself.
We can all be a bit like this.
BUT if we are honest we should also recognise
that this sort of self-righteousness
is rather shallow, and not entirely truthful.
None of us can entirely justify ourselves because we cannot undo the wrong we have done.
The murderer, however repentant, cannot undo the murder;
nor the one who has hurt another with unkind words and actions
cannot make up for the hurt

So there is a contrast with the other man
who is actually crushed (it would seem) by the mess he has made of his life
His response is not to try and point out that he is not really all that bad
but rather to throw himself on God's mercy.
There is no other choice.

The truth is that the first situation
the self-righteous justification is actually a deception
and the second, that all have sinned and fallen short
is the reality.
The story tells us that it is the sinner who opens himself to God's mercy
who goes away put right.
Because God gives him what he cannot earn.

We find this pretty hard.
We don't like the realisation
that we cannot force God to like us by being good.
We have all really been mis-taught that if we are good enough
then we will 'get into heaven'
The truth is that god gives eternal life to us freely
we do not have to earn it.
In fact it is this trying to earn it that often seems to stand in the way!!
Our self righteousness and self justification
(often aimed at saying how bad others are
as much as how good we are)

This week
Instead of trying to bribe God be being God
can we think about what God might be trying
to give us that we don't think we are worth of?
Can we also try to model this in our relationships with others?
Instead of trying to give people the impression that if they
behave as we want them to then we will love and like them
can we rather give the impression that we are trying to love
unconditionally. This is hard and radical stuff.

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

Auld acquaintance!

There are many readings for today these include: 1 Samuel 2:18-20, 26; Psalm 148;Colossians 3:12-17;Luke 2:41-52 Take 10 minutes each day to read one of the passages and listen to the God who speaks to us through the scriptures

This is a rich time of year. The Church's calendar invites us to keep this as a range of Festivals: The Holy Family, The Sunday after Christmas, even the feast of the Epiphany...and of ocurse it is New Year's Eve!

All of these have about them the sense of new beginnings.
So we naturally are drawn to reflect on how we respond.
What might be our resolutions?
Most of us are not particularly good at keeping these,
so much so that they are the cause for laughter.
What if we were to take our reading today from Colossians 3
and see hat here there are a whole series of new beginnings being set our for us to act upon

As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

And so there a range of things we could focus on as our resolutions...not just for the New Year but for our Christian life.
clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other;
The image of putting on new clothig is a popular one that Paul uses.
It is about the outward appearance that we project to others
and also about the way we keep ourselves secure and intact!
Paul sees kindness, humility, gentleness and patience
to be the hallmarks of the Christian.
I had a very intellectual friend once who was really too smart for his own good.
But he also had a great sense of priority
and he would say...if it was a choice between being intellectual and being kind
then being kind was the way to go
We often forget that.
We justify unkindness, impatience, intolerance
in all sorts of rationalistic ways but we hear the Gospel point us elsewhere.
This year can we we see that it is kindness, humility, and patience
that are meant to draw us and lead us on
as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
New beginning will also need to be about forgiveness
We all carry a burden of the unforgiving heart
of those who have hurt us recently or a long time ago,
the Gospel tells us that in order to be free ourselves
we need to forgive
where are you being called to forgive at this new beginning?
And will you do it?
Above all, clothe yourselves with love,
It comes as no suprise to us that the Gospel points us towards love as the key.
Not the mushy sort of slush, or the sexy kind of imaginary stuff that is often exploiotative
and may even steer us to sinfulness
but rather the self-giving love
of a mother towards a child
of one who gives themself for another
We see in Jesus the ideal of love that we are called to.
it binds everything together in perfect harmony.
Finally Paul reminds us that we are called to be in relationship with Christ.
The fruit of this will be peace, stability, harmony...who of us does not want this?
let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts,
and Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly;
Here Paul would appear to be talking both about that word that we read
which teaches and admonishes us in all wisdom;
and fills our hearts with praise
but it is also about whatever you do, in word or deed,
we are to do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
All this might seem a tall order but it is the way of the true disciple
the way we are called to follow.
It is not so much...new resolutions
as ongoing resolutions
The character of the life of faith
that we seek to form in ourselves and in each other.

• kindness and humility
• forgiveness
• love and peace
• relationship with Christ

A prayer for the New Year

In a stable in Bethlehem, Lord, you show us a humility that we find overwhelming and wonderful
In the gift and mystery of human life togetther, you show us kindness, love and peace
And you invite us to live creatively in harmony with you and with each other.
Let this year be the year when we will dwell richly with Christ
and Christ will be born anew in our lives. Amen