Under the bed

Readings for Sunday November 13 (Proper 28-Pentecost 22): First reading and Psalm:Judges 4:1-7: Psalm 123: Second reading:1 Thessalonians 5:1-1: Gospel:Matthew 25:14-30


The Gospel reading today seems a little culturally curious
It has hard words which are perhaps a little too redolent of the harsh times in which we live :
"Those who have nothing will even have what they do have taken from them!"
How, might we ask, can we take from people who have nothing?
There are a couple of interesting points:
This is a parable about life in God's kingdom. 
The image/idea is that God has equipped us to live life
and we are to get on with it.
There is a sense in which we have been left to get on with it.
(This of course is only an image and we are not left alone)
But following the image
we see that some of us have 5 talents, some 2 talents
and some (probably most of us) have 1


The word talent here is a unit of money
rather than the way we often use it
to describe our personbal giftedness
As in Australia's Got Talent!
Why is this so? isn't it rather unjust?
No, I don't think so.
It's rather sort of how things are.
Some seem to have a lot of resources
some a modest amount
and some only a bit.
There is a point here: No one has no resources
We should remember this.
We sometimes think, that we are without any capabilities,
resources or gifts.
In terms of this parable
God has equipped every baptised person
(with the Holy Spirit)
to enable us to communicate/be Christ to the world.


THIS WEEK Consciously ask what am I to do?
What can I do? For Christ, to be Christ, to share Christ
(If we are tempted to think nothing then think again!)


Developing this a little further...
The condemnation that is reserved in this parable
for the person who has only one talent
and then takes it and hides it under the bed
is this
There is essentially only one failing
about what we do with our giftedness
and that is not that we are not as gifted as Mother Teresa,
It is not that we should have been a missionary, or a nurse,
a priest or a doctor.
It is not that we can look at someone else and see they are so much better than we are, musical, practical, influential
.....that is sort of how things are
Perhaps we will leave easier and better lives if we just accept that.
But the failing is, that in recognising that some are more gifted than we are,
we make the mistake of thinking either

• that we are not gifted at all or
• that we should leave it up to others

Each of us is called to use our talents
whether great or small


So, this week, the question is not:
Why am I not as holy as someone else? Or why am I not as gifted?
BUT what can I do with what I have been given?
Hiding our talents under the bed is not an option.

Prioritising

Sunday July 24, 2011. 6th Sunday after Pentecost. 17th Sunday of the Year, Gen. 29:15-28. Ps. 128 or 105:1-11,45a-b. Rom. 8:26-39. Matt. 13:31-33,44-52.
There is a wide range of variation for the lectionary readings today depending on whose version of the Revised Common Lectionary you use. (see here for example)


We continue our Theme for this Mission Month


Anyone who has participated in planning discussions
either about their own life and future
or about new directions for a group such as an organisation, company or church
will know that you get to a point
where you almost always
begin to feel that you are drowning
under the weight of ideas.

The problem about future decisions
more often seems to be
choosing what to do
rather than not having any ideas
at all

It is into this sort of scenario that Jesus speaks the story about the merchant who finds a pearl of great value
It is a once in a lifetime opportunity
and he knows that he needs to take the opportunity now
or risk losing it.

Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like this.

We see an example of Jacob having a very straightforward understanding
of what God's kingdom might be like in his life.
A good marriage...he has spied his pearl of great price
in the woman Rachel
and we note from this story
That this pearl does not just fall into his lap
but requires his work
and his commitment.

Maybe this is a point at which we often fall down.
Even though we may be sure of what it is that God wants
we need to not just assume that it will fall into our lap
and that we need to do nothing.
Jacob's story reminds us also
that things may not always go according to plan
but it is the singleminded resolve
which becomes a dynamic.

While we can often see a range of good things
the kingdom of heaven requires that we make some evaluation
of what it is we must ultimately pursue..

Mission
How does this translate into action?
Whether as a community
or as individuals
at some point we need to think carefully
about what it is that we have to pursue
as our number one priority.
There is no shortage of ideas
but we do have limited resources
and limited time
we may also have limited opportunity.

Mission will require that we are focussed
and have decided what our priority is.
What is Number One on our list.

One of the reasons, I suspect,
that we are dissipated
is because we don't do the work required to make this sort of choice.
Preferring rather to puddle along
and perhaps hope that issues might disappear and problems go away.

The second little story

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad

reminds us that we actually need to do some sifting;
at the very least it is separating
the good from the bad
and worthwhile from the worthless

THIS WEEK


What are my life's priorities? When I have to make choices what are the principles that I use about what is important?


Does this give me some insight into choices I am presently faced with?


How does this same type of process speak to the Church today? Where does the Spirit invite us put our energies.

LORD, there is no shortage of ideas 

but sometimes I need to choose.

Help me to choose according to your will and your way. 

Show me the right priorities. 

Today and every day.

Being one

I will not be preaching this Sunday, which is the Sunday after the Ascension as we will be having a speaker, Royce Thompson from Bush Church Aid (here) This is a reflection from the last cycle of year CJohn 17:20-26

17:20 "I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word,

17:21 that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

17:22 The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one,

17:23 I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

17:24 Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

17:25 "Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me.

17:26 I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them." I sometimes think John 17 goes round and round in circles and states, restates and then does it again the simple idea.

May my disciples be one with me, as I am one with you, that they too may be one with you.

We have equivalent phrases in modern parlance we talk about being 'together' or 'being made whole' or about 'holistic healing', 'self realisation', or in more recent times 'finding your voice' This important chapter speaks thus of the high destiny that each human being has. It is to find that we are indeed created in the image of God and that that image is deep within each one of us. It is not that we are God. It is rather that we are like God and that our Godliness will shine through if we let it. Jesus is ever praying for us that we may be open to this. The Holy Spirit is ever working so that our Godliness will be realised. We sell ourselves short if we understand anything less than God understands as being our destiny and self relisation. But what does it mean? This Easter season shows us that this 'togetherness', this 'unity' this 'ultimate destiny' is realised only in so far as we live our lives as Christ lives. The key is that we LIVE not that we are given a perfect box which we open and reveal it. As we look to Jesus we understand that he is not principally a doctrinal revelation That is he is not a text book. He is a life lived. The invitation is not to understand the text so that when we are examined on it we can get 100% The invitation is to put into practice in our own lives what we see being enfleshed in the life of Christ. It will be lived at the service of others a life of love and forgiveness of openness to suffering and not avoiding the darkness which is death. An invitation Where is Christ drawing me to be more like him? Where do I experience "togetherness" in my life, in the world? What might God be seeking me to be and do in order to consolidate that?

Here's your present!

January 24th- Jesus’s Ministry
Third Sunday after the Epiphany
January 24, 2010 Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10 Psalm 19 I Corinthians 12:12-31a Luke 4:14-21
There is an inference in Luke 4 (and beyond)
that God might actually have something in store for us
We read how Jesus is revealed not just as a nice chap
but who we are invite us to understand as the fulfillment of God’s promise.
The Lord is planning to use him, because the Lord God
has given him the Holy Spirit
and that Spirit is there for purpose
not just for decoration!
Now is the time
and the Lord is beginning a “new thing”.

We too are given the Holy Spirit.
Paul reminds us (1 Cor 12)
that we are not all called to be bishops, teachers, or apostles
healers or prophets.

What do you think you might be called to be and do
Two clues: Not all are called to be the Bishop, or the organist
or the healer
Second clue: We are all called to be and do something
There is no free lunch or free ride..

This implies so much for us.
Don't do or dumb yourslef down.
Perhaps others see in us what we do not see ourselves.

But not one of us is not gifted.

Moving on in faith

Readings for the Sunday after the Ascension (Seventh Sunday of Easter) May 24, 20098 Acts 1:15-26 Psalm 1,  I John 5:9-13 John 17:6-19

Now this can either be hard or easy!
Because, either the point of the physical removal of Jesus
that we call The Ascension
is an insurmountable obstacle to 21st century rational-scientific minds
or it is as easy as recognising
that in order to mature
we cannot go on having others
doing for us what we need to do for ourselves!
I opt to think, today, about the Ascension
in this latter way!

In the most obvious sense
God wants mature men and women.
People who will have depth and understanding
that is not achieved
by always stepping in making up for our inadequacies.
Any parent knows the truth of this.
Indeed anyone in any relationship whatsoever
needs to understand this,
we are not called to step in and make up
for the inadequacies, mistakes and failures
of others.
However well-intentioned,
this breeds immaturity and over-dependence,
rather than freedom, initiative
and sophisticated maturity.

There is a difference between supporting people in difficulty
and in not allowing people the opportunity to make their own mistakes!

The withdrawal of the physical presence of Jesus
rather than being an expression
of God's disappointment and heartbreak with the world
can and should actually be seen
as a statement of faith by God in you and me.
God believes that we have within us
the means to be effective people
God believes that we have within us
the means to be effective church
God believes that we have within us
the capacity to fail and to know that failure is not the end

This is what is going on

Two encouragements
This is something about the very nature of what relationship
with God is all about
We are not passive observers
of a world in which God is active
but we are ministers of God's presence to the world.

Now what does a minister do?
A minister acts on behalf of someone
So, a Minister of the Crown exercises authority of behalf of the Queen and the Government.
A minister of the Church
acts on behalf of God.
And we understand that Baptism
confers upon you and me
the responsibility
to be Minister of Jesus
We will say We are the Body of Christ
So Jesus can say to the Father...

I am no longer in the world but they are in the world.

Now this 'they' who he is talking about is you and me


We may feel as though this is too hard sometimes
Jesus prays for our protection
he prays that we may be united to each other
and that we may be filled with joy

He does not pray
that we should be relieved of responsibility
or taken out of the world.
But rather that we should exercise this responsibility

It is a great statement of the trust that God put in you and me
as ministers
to act with confidence in the name of the God who equips us for ministry.

May this be ours too

This week

• Can we look for opportunity to a faithful minister and commit ourself deliberately to God's care and protection as you seek to be more faithful
• Look at the circumstances in which we live and see where God is calling us to serve others.
  Pray deliberately for joy where ever we find ourselves to be

..

The Word is made flesh

Suggested readings are: Jeremiah 31:7-14 or Sirach 24:1-12
Psalm 147:12-20 or Wisdom of Solomon 10:15-21; Ephesians 1:3-14 John 1:1-18

One of the most trenchant criticisms of a practising Christian is
That quaint little saying

THEY ARE SO HEAVENLY THAT THEY ARE NO EARTHLY USE!

We do not need to discuss why people might say such a thing
But it often seems to me that it is a way of easily dismissing
the demand of the Spirit on our lives.
It suggests that things SPIRITUAL
Are somehow fundamentally disconnected from things MATERIAL
more than this, it says that spiritual focus is probably less important
than our pedestrian every day focus.
An example ...when we have a problem...and we are advised to pray...we may keep quiet about it
but often we think spiritual advice is not practical advice
Today as we read John’s prologue...we hear what are probably the most important words he will utter

THE WORD BECAME FLESH AND DWELT AMONG US

It is touching this issue of the connection between the spiritual and the material world
reminding us
that this material life
is now rather different
because it has been caught up completely in the Godly life.
It is not one or the other.
For the Christian, this has been interpreted as saying that God is vitally concerned about the human condition
so concerned that
HE BECAME FLESH
Far from being so heavenly it is of no earthly use
the Incarnation—–the enfleshment— of God
reminds us that the spiritual will be worked out
in the material.
It will be as we live our lives
tend to the needy
address the environment
live our lives in reality
that we will understand that the
Spiritual and the Material are united
that you don’t have one without the other.
If we want to be holy
we will be vitally caught up with
serving God in others
...Christianity cannot be an escapist religion….
we are called to service and ministry
of others
particularly the weakest of the weak.
This is what God has done…
The Word has become flesh…
so this is our call to service
whether it be through Kids Hope, Kids in court, helping our neighbour, seeking to improve our world.
We do this because we recognise the key message of Christmas.
This material world...is the dwelling place of the Word of God.
It is (if you like)
heaven!