Living life

The funeral of John Bailey, 24/1/2011: John 14:1-6, Romans 8:35-39, Psalm 20

John seems to have faced death

in much the same way as he faced life

with a sense of resignation

not sadness, or disappointment

but a commitment to live as best he could

Amidst all this he seems to have had a straightforward faith

Which is echoed in the readings:

“Nothing is able to separate us from the love of God”

and that in following Jesus as best we can we will know the Way, the Truth and indeed the Life

This is a mystery that challenges us all

and indeed invites us to enter in to what God is offering.

John knew, I think, that this invitation

to live life involved

Forgiveness of others and being prepared to admit the need of forgiveness for himself.

Not to seek reward for good behaviour

but to continue to live…as best you can

This seemed to come out of a confidence

in God

and a commitment. to take that relationship seriously.

As each of us stands before John’s dead body today

We are challenged to make the same journey

To recognise that nothing separates us from God and that Jesus offers to us the Way to true life.

To seek forgiveness for ourselves

and to extend that to others

And to trust ourselves to Go, in life as in death.

Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord

I once was lost

Readings for the 4th Sunday in Lent, March 14th, 2010. Joshua 5:9-12, Psalm 32 2 Corinthians 5:16-21,Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

God's unremitting action towards us is to bring about reconciliation.
To draw us closer
To unite us to each other.
In a world that is at times harsh and difficult
we turn to God
because God is already there showing us the way back to wholeness.
The Hebrew Scripture readings through Lent remind us
that people are slow to understand this about God.
They are constantly wandering off and separating themselves from God.
This indeed is a major theme, almost from the beginning of Creation.
And God moves to bring us back.
So we read one of these accounts in the passages for this week. (Joshua 5:9-12)
The theme is familiar, and recurrent.
We are called back by God, into fellowship with God.
It is not the first time, and it will not be the last.
And we are invited into the story of Jesus, par excellence, often called
The Prodigal Son.
I always note when talking about this masterly story
that it is a story about God
rather than about the two sons.
It would be better called something like The Reconciling Father.
This Father, who is of course God, is always ready to meet us at our lowest ebb.
This is an important point to grasp.
False expectations
We often think that in order to encounter God
that we have, as it were, to be on our best behaviour
but the Bible tells us
both in the Old and New Teastaments
that it is when we are desolate
when we are empty
when we cannot of ourselves
come to God
that God comes to us.

It is when we are hanging on the cross
that we are most open to knowing God.
This isn't easy to grasp
though maybe we understand the truth of it
better than we think.
As I reflect on my encounters with God
it is precisely at these points
when I am most sure of who God is for me
and what God does.

Experience
The good thing about the parable of the Forgiving Father
or as we call it the Prodigal Son
is that we don't have much difficulty placing ourself somewhere in the scheme of things.
Whether it be as that young man who desperately runs at life
and is ravaged by it
and ends up desolate and in despair
not knowing what to do.
Or whether it be as that self-righteous one
who sees the waistrel come back after having had a whacko of a good time
and being treated as though nothing had happened.
(This is of course not a true appreciation of the situation)
Well, we often think of ourselves like that.
So we can place ourselves in the story.
And of course as we see the forgiving Father
standing on the hillside
longing for his child to return
many of us know the pain of that too.

Reconciliation played out
As the story of reconciliation is played out
we see it abounds in multi-various forms.
And we note how it happens.

1. Reconciliation happens sometimes when, often in our desperation,
we choose to act differently
The youngest son decided to put his pride to one side
and to come on home.
The opportunity thus created
the Father readily welcomes him back.
But the Father could not do so unless the son provided him
with the opportunity

Is there something in our life that needs us to pay
attention and create opportunity for reconciliation to happen?

It may be as simple as going to see someone,
or ringing, or saying sorry.

2.Reconciliation happens when we make ourselves open for it to happen
That Father stands on that hillside day after day and longs for the son to come home.
This is an image of God, of course, but it is also something of a pattern for us to follow.
Are we ready to let reconciliation happen
when it will happen?
So often we want people to stew in their own misery (and perhaps we want this for ourselves)
we feel hurt and rejected
and often even the prospect of reconciling
seems difficult.
Will we be opening ourselves to more hurt?
will we be rejected once again?
will the reconciliation be short-lived?
will we be exploited?

And yet the Father stands waiting day after day.
In those places in our life where we know there is a need for healing, restoration
for reconciliation
Are we prepared to let it happen?
Can we put aside our own hurt
and allow the greater drama to transpire?

3. Reconciliation is always wider than we imagine
and entices us to greater reconciliation than we immediately conceptualise.
This story is not just about the father and the Prodigal
it is also about the Father and the older son
and the older brother and the younger brother.
Again we resonate in this story
because this is often close to our experience.
Our sibling relationships are filled with fear and jealousy
doubt and insecurity.
I am ever grateful and mindful of the fact that my own parents
tried as hard as they could
to love each one of their children
and not to allow us to say in that childish way
"Love me more!"
The older son is in need of reconciliation
He cannot bear this brother

Hear the bitterness of the words:
"This son of yours..." he says to his father
and the father has to remind him
"This your brother was lost but now is found, was dead but is now alive"
The father, too, I suspect
and the older brother need to be reconciled
Does the father hear the older son's great hurt
at having to stay at home
it is easy to blame him as a caricature
but we can just allow that there is always more going on
and that reconciliation is very much a two way street.

This week

Where is God pointing you to be reconciled?
Where are the places in your
life where we have to say:
This has gone on long enough! Things need to change.

Pray carefully for:
The courage to act differently,

to move away from bitterness towards reconciliation.
Seek to deliberately construct opportunities for openness and healing.
Always be on the lookout for more from God than we asked for or imagined

JESUS, you are more for us than we imagine or deserve

Grant me the courage to live differently
give me opportunity and desire to be made whole
let me live expansively in your Spirit
rather than narrowly in my smallness
for you are my Hope
you are my Joy
you are my Life

The Spirit of Jesus

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
The Apostle's Creed has three sections and the last one reads

I believe in the Holy Spirit
The holy catholic church
the communion of saints
the resurrection of the body
and the life everlasting

It may seem a curious hodge-podge of materials. Almost as if all of the left-over doctrines are just thrown in to make sure that the ground is covered!



But of course that is not what is going on.
Indeed the whole of the third section follows on in Trinitarian form.

I believe in God the Father
I believe in God the Son
and now
I believe in God the Holy Spirit

this church, communion, the promise of resurrection and the mystery of life in God
all flow out of the fact that we are born again (as Jesus promised) of the Holy Spirit


This third section is telling us about what God is doing now

and what God is looking to do in the future.
God is creating a universal community
(this is what the expression catholic church should be taken to mean)
open & inclusive
God is drawing together a community of chosen people the communion of saints
this is not an exclusive community, but an inclusive community (catholic)
of people who are chosen to be
what God wants them to be
the sign of this community is the resurrection of the body & everlasting life

At funerals I remind people that the Christian view of God and death
is not reincarnation, or oblivion, or meaninglessness
It is not that we somehow become a part of a universal spirit, and are assumed into God or the universe
We believe that we continue to have meaningful, unique and distinct life.
And just as God has cared for us and loved us since our conception (and perhaps before)
so, that care will continue into eternity
unique, distinct, personal.
this is The Life in the Spirit
It is what God is doing in us now and in the promise of the future

THIS WEEK

Take a little time to ask God to show you more about what the Spirit is working in you
What is it that God is calling you to be and do?
Can we pray to put aside our own limited view of life and embrace the vision and promise that God has for us?

So you are the Christ...the great Jesus Christ

Readings this week (SundayJanuary 17 2010 ) 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
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 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 to do 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."
but rather

I have come that you might have life
and have it more abundantly.
This 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

or a cheap party trick
but an invitation

to give every aspect of our life to God
and live it

with the abundance

he desires for us.

Christus resurrexit! Don't be alarmed

Readings for today, Easter Day, can be traken from Acts 10:34-43, Is 25:6-9.Psalm 118, 1 Corinthinas 15:1-11, Acts 10:34-43, John 20: 1-18, Mark 16:1-8 (our selection is here)

Our Lenten pilgrimage is at an end
we find ourselves at the climax.
Mark's enigmatic account of what happens at the tomb
is an interesting challenge to the believer
those who go to look for Jesus
flee, in amazement and terror.
They are told by a young man ( who is perhaps an angel) "Do not be alarmed!"
What ever it is you are seeking
is not here at the tomb, it is elsewhere.
This seems to me (at the very least) good advice.
We have to move on from the tomb.
We have to get beyond what alarms us.
More than this it is a key part of understanding
what resurrection might be about.
It is certainly about trying to understand
what death is about
and death is often a point where we are
deeply ALARMED.
But it's not the only point at which we get alarmed.
We encounter death in our relationships
in our particular world views.
The message of the tomb would see to be
that we don't deal with death
by standing at the tomb.
As terrifying and amazing as this might be
(and it was for the disciples)
we are called to go elsewhere.
In this story the disciples are told to go back to the place
where they experienced life
It's called Galilee for these disciples
but may go by a different name for you and me.

Where are we experiencing the grave at the moment.
Don't be alarmed!
Go back to where you experienced Jesus
to where you knew true inspiration
and that things were right.

He is not at the point where we buried the body.
He has gone back to where he gives you life.

Living la Vida Loca!-the call to live in reality

Sunday 14th December 2008.Readings for Advent 3 Isaiah 61:1-11; Psalm 126, I Thess 5:12-28; John 1:6-28


What is your lifestyle choice? This is something of a modern question.
Today's readings invite us to identify our lifestyle
as Christian

How do you live faithfully as a modern Christian day to day?
Once again we have a pattern for faithful living
in each of the three readings.

One thing that is striking
is that "faithful living"
is not lived out in a vacuum,
but rather is the act of living vigorously and actively
in this world in which we find ourselves.
Though many religious words are used,
the emphasis of the passages
is not on the narrowly pietistic
it is on the dynamically active
a life lived
in full communion with God
and totally engaged with human life.
Fully in communion with God,
totally engaged with human life.
These themes flow through all the readings
but in this reflection I will focus on the reading from 1Thessalonians

6Rejoice always, ¹⁷pray without ceasing, ¹⁸give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. ¹⁹Do not quench the Spirit. ²⁰Do not despise the words of prophets,but test everything; hold fast to what is good; ²²abstain from every form of evil.

23 May the God of peace himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴

The call to worship
I am struck always when I read this passage of its absolute nature..."always" & "in all circumstances" & "without ceasing"
Paul anticipates here that worship will not be an occasional, Sunday-only, type of activity
It will be all of life.
Two points can be made about this.
One, we need to get down and do it!!!

We need to do it.
So find the place and start.
Pray daily, for your family, for yourself
for your concerns.
Decide that this is a life-habit
that you are going to commit to and do it.
Try, too, to seize the opportunity to turn your day to day activities
into deliberate, unobtrusive prayer.
Some years ago I was asked by a woman
who was very upset about blasphemy
"What do you do you when people punctuate there speech with "Jesus!", this and "Jesus" that!"
My response was that I try and use this as an opportunity to pray.
It's not always easy.
We can find our own little ways to be more attentive to the need to pray constantly.
One of the great benefits of afternoon and evening walks is that we can use the opportunity
to give thanks to God for our local environment
and to pray for our neighbours.
This may not work for you....but find something that turns your heart to God
is a GOOD thing
and we will reap benefits.
The great traditions of meditation call us to "mindfulness"
not just allowing our day to day experiences
to go to waste
While we might take this to mean that we "should take time to smell the flowers"
and we should
it also means that we should treasure our daily emotional and spiritual experiences.
How often do we have ups and downs...and simply not do anything about them
other than fret!!!
Take time to debrief yourself
and commit to God
The American farmer-poet Wendell Berry
reminds that we are called to engage with life
He says we are called to live the given life not the planned life.
It is a reminder that what ever else we think we are to do
we are in danger of avoiding living the life we are given
in favour of the life we think we should have
or that we so desperately long to live.
We are called to live the given life...not the planned
being mindful of what we have.
The kings missed the Christ child
because their plan had him somewhere else.
In this season of craziness....la vida loca
we are called back to the given life
and Christ really present with us

July 13th

Readings for Sunday Jul 13, 15th Sunday of the Year, Gen. 25:19-34. Ps. 119:105-112. Rom. 8:1-11. Matt. 13:1-9,18-23.
The focus chapter of the letter to the Romans is chapter 8, which we begin reading today
I suppose it is possible to read it in a very negative light
but essentially it speaks of the incredible force of the reconciling power of the Spirit of God
moving in our lives. St Paul writes:

Rom. 8:1-11.

Life in the Spirit

8There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit spirit');" onmouseout="return nd();">^* of life in Christ Jesus has set youyou is singular number; other ancient authorities read me or us');" onmouseout="return nd();">^* free from the law of sin and of death. ... those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit spirit');" onmouseout="return nd();">^* set their minds on the things of the Spirit. spirit');" onmouseout="return nd();">^* To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit spirit');" onmouseout="return nd();">^* is life and peace. ^{234 5678}

9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, spirit');" onmouseout="return nd();">^* since the Spirit of God dwells in you. ...if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit spirit');" onmouseout="return nd();">^* is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christthe Christ or Christ Jesus or Jesus Christ');" onmouseout="return nd();">^* from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also throughon account of');" onmouseout="return nd();">^* his Spirit that dwells in you.

¹⁰¹¹

This is dynamic stuff.
The idea is reinforced in the Gospel where we read the familiar parable of the sower.
The idea in that parable is that
where God's will is allowed to take root and flourish
then there is potential for God
to bring about amazing fruitfulness.
What Paul says in theological-legal language in Romans 8
Jesus affirms in imaginal language
where the homely image of seed bearing fruit readily takes our fancy.
.
If God's Spirit can give life where there is death
it will also bring forth liufe to our human mortality.

This weeks thoughts and reflection
Where is Christ inviting real growth in my life?
Where are seeds being sown to allow new growth?
Where can I put aside the dying and deathly side and embrace the realities of the God who wants me to grow, to live, to bear fruit.

Calling the roll

The Solemnity of ALL SAINTS falls on November 1st and/or is kept on the Sunday afterwards. Selected readings for that feast include: Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18; Psalm 149; Ephesians 1:11-23; Luke 6:20-31

One of the Anglican funeral prayers (1) says "Help us to live as those who believe in the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins and the resurrection to eternal life"

These are good words and indeed important words but a bit religious and I often use the explanation of them to lock into what are the important themes of a Christian funeral: Community, Forgiveness and Life.

And indeed not only of a funeral, but of the Christian life. For indeed the mystery of faith is that we are God's in death as in life. If we live we live to the Lord, and if we die we die to the Lord. So then whether we live or whether we die we are the Lord's (Romans 14:8) We see a continuity that the grave does not breach.

Community

Although we habitually use the word 'communion' to talk about the saints, we could just as well talk about the community of saints. People who are united in their common pursuit of the gospel of Jesus. Christian life is lived out in community, always has been and always will be. Even the key idea that we have about God, The Trinity, reveals to us that the essence of God is community...Father, Son and Spirit...the community of love.

Into that community life is drawn a community of people who God chooses to belong as God's chosen people. This chosen people is not an exclusive group, it is an open community with a constant invitation to people to join.

As we look at this community, or communion, of saints certain big names are set before us...Francis, Mary, Peter, Luther, John XXIII, Dietrich Bonhoeffer...and you can no doubt think of more (see some thoughts here and here for example).

This very mixed group reminds us that we are not meant to be soldiers in an army, or chocolate duplicates of each other but that we are as diverse as they come. Our unity comes out of our relationship with Jesus.

This is an important thing to remember. Particularly when we are talking about bringing new people to faith, or in deepening the faith of others. We are not cloning, we are bringing people into relationship with Jesus, and with the other members of the Jesus community.

People want community not committee. They want relationship not rules.

Help us to live as the communion of saints. In honest, open, forgiving relationships. Seeking the good of others, and the welfare of all.

In all things remembering that this is the abundant and eternal life that God promises us in Christ.

We sometimes get fixated on that part of the community that is beyond the grave. They are there to guard, inspire and encourage us. But we also are to commit to community now, struggling with all that it means to share this common life together. The promise is that in the unfolding of this commitment, eternal and abundant life are given to be lived now. As Saints.

This week
Pray for help to live as saints in community.
Where do I need to challenge my own tendency to be a loner, to reject the discipline of community?
Where can I be encouraging and forgiving?
Where do I need to forgive?
Invite all the saints, living and dead, who have been influential in forming you to join with you in praying for a deeper commitment

You Tube presentation

(1)(see introduction to the Funeral in An Australian Prayer Book 1978 (AAPB))

Beginning the journey

There is more than abundance of Scripture to read during this season.We begin Holy Week on 28th March with Palm Sunday. The Liturgy of the Palms which is a prelude to the main liturgy of the day ( Luke 19:28-40;Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29) and read as part of a procession before the service begins. The Liturgy of the Passion involves the reading of the Passion Story according to Luke (Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 31:9-16; Philippians 2:5-11; Luke 22:14-23:56 or Luke 23:1-49) Just take it slowly and read what you can /what you feel moved to but try to allow yourself to be drawn into the personal mystery of what God is doing for the world and in your life
Another Palm Sunday Homily is here

Is God so demanding that he will not stop until we are totally destroyed.
Sometimes it feels like that.
As Sunday begins with a "triumphal entry" into Jerusalem
we can spend time wondering what the nature of this event was
It is good to be accurate, but not good to nit-pick.
The truth is that the Gospels offer us variety in the accounts and insights of the last few days.
The Palm Sunday story is one full of hope and expectation
The Good Friday is one of confusion and desolation
The Easter story is one of excitement, uncertainty and expectation.

It is a journey to be travelled
we do not stand still
we are engaged powerfully
because this journey of hopeful expectation, of desolation and confusion
is exactly what our lives our like.
Whether it be our excitement at the birth of a child,
or our desolation when a child is miscarried.
Or a job that is exactly what we hoped for
but is cut short by a cancer diagnosis, or a debilitating car accident.
Even if it is only the hope that we have when we are young
that fails to be realised
when we are old

This is a journey that we all make

We are invited, too, by the Easter experience
to realise that dashed hopes, desolation and confusion
are only a step along the way
They are not the climax or the conclusion.
These stories fill us with a sense of excitement, challenge and expectation
that we are entering uncharted waters.

scrutiny
as we look at our life
where is the sense of hopefulness.
What do we long for, what fulfillment do we seek?
This is Palm Sunday.
We don't need to anticipate Good Friday yet.
What do we believe God is trying to do in our life
what do we want God to do?
What sense of excitement, hope, fear
do we note as we sense what God might have in store for us?
What encourages us forward,
what holds us back.

Allow this week to be a time of challenge and exploration
as we permit God to show us more of what there is in store for us
and pray for grace to respond.