Imaging the church-we are the body of Christ,

Readings for this week, Sunday 24th September, 2006. The Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost. (Proper 25) Proverbs 31:10-31;Psalm 1;James 3:1-12;Mark 9:14-29

In the next couple fo weeks I am going to be reflecting on "What sort of person our church community is?" In that sense the commentary is not so much directly on the readings for the week, though naturallyt they give us some sense of insight.
This week, for example, the readings reflect on various interesting images and ideas which can help us to think about this question. The faithful spouse, caution with the way we speak, and what it is that deeply rocks our world and our relationships

What sort of body image do we have?
This is a question that has beset the last century.
It possibly comes about from the ready reproduction and transmission of images, through photography, film, television, the print media and now the internet
which causes us to see all sorts of people that we would never have seen
and for certain images to be filtered and promoted
There are good points and bad points about this.
Certainly I have concerns about the sort of messages that are given to people about what is good and bad
about the way they look.
And the way these images are exploited by advertisers and the like to make someone
very wealthy.
More than this, these ideas can make some people very unhappy.
Weare told that more than three quarters of Australian teenage girls do not liek the way they look!
This is disturbing stuff.
How we view ourselves, affects a lot of they way we behave and respond.

We are the Body of Christ


more coming

Who is Jesus for you?

Readings for this week: Prov 1, Ps 19, James 2, Mark 8:27-38. (proper 24 17th September, 15th Sunday after Pentecost)

We need to keep asking ourselves penetrating questions.
One question we have been asking out of the reading for the last few weeks is
"What do I really want?"
This is not to say that if we want something hard enough then God will capitulate
and give it to us....
but rather we need to have a certain degree of rigour about our inward looking
that demands of us something other than superficiality.
So what do I really want, may be treated superficially,
or we may realise
that it is at the point of my deepest longing
that I am met by God.
There are many images of this in the lives of the people of faith.
God is already coming out to meet us.

A similar question is the one which Jesus asks his disciples in the Gospel passage we read today:
Who do people say that I am? and Who do you say that I am?
Again, it would be easy to be superficial...the great teacher, the healer,
a romantic historical figure, a hero....
but we are being invited, I suggest,
to get in touch with the source of abundant life,
we are being invited to encounter God.

You are the Messiah -There is a real sense in which we see in this passage
that understanding who Jesus is, is not an act of "knowing" at all
but an act of inspiration or revelation.
Our Anglican formularies, consistent with received Christian wisdom,
understand this to be so...many of our prayers say things like...without you we are not able to receive you...send your Holy Spirit that we may know.
If this is so....then a good part of our prayer needs to go towards praying that we may be open
to receive what God has to offer.

The Son of Man must undergo suffering- the way of faith is not an easy one.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer one of the 20th century martyrs says that there is no such thing as "cheap grace" (see some thoughts about DB here)
the paradox of Christian faith is that grace, life in God, abundant or eternal life,
however we describe it
is the free gift of God and yet
it comes at great cost
This is a paradox, rather than a contradiction,
and it draws out of us profound feelings.
One image Jesus uses is that of the extremely valuable treasure

Matt 13:45,46 "Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, who having found one pearl of great price, goes out and sells everything in order to buy it."

Once we realise what Jesus is offering us we will devote ourselves to its pursuit.
....Theoretically and logically...but when Jesus spells out very clearly
the cost that he will pay...his own life, reputation, and relationships....
Peter rebukes Jesus and then we read....Jesus rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’
It reminds us that we do indeed get things right, but we often let them slip away.
Peter, like me I often think, is a maelstrom of this sort of toing and froing.
No sooner do we get it than we reneg
it is clear and then we put our foot in it.

So if we are praying this sort of stuff through we pray:
"May we receive the clear understanding of who you are.
May we be brave enough to accept the consequences,
and be courageous enough to trust God rather ourselves"

The ominous warning

It is not that we, like some suicidal bomber,
are to bring on our own demise
particularly not with the arrogance of hastening the kingdom.
Nor that we can avoid suffering.
There is indeed something of the reality here that
the embrace of suffering is part of what life in Christ is about.
It is not the purpose of life in Christ
It is a consequence that we accept....we sell everything in order to be able to purchase the pearl.

This requires some sort of courage.
Fortunately God supplies that.
Are we open to allow God to be our supplier!!


THIS WEEK

• Pray for grace to be courageous and faithful
• Look for opportunities to confess the truth of who Jesus is
• Seek forgiveness when we close ourselves to the difficulty of the call and re-establish a commitment to give everything for the Gospel.

Trusting in God

Reading for this Sunday 10th September: Pentecost 14, Proper 23.Proverbs 22, Psalm 125, James 2, Mark 24-37

It may help us at this time to realise that the woman we read about in these readings , (The "Syro Phoenician Woman" lived in that coastal region to the north of the modern state of Israel and west of modern Syria that has recently been under the pall of the Lebanon-Israel war.
Bearing in mind that many of those peoples who live there today trace their antecedents back well over the 2000 years of the common era (CE), it is conceivable that her living descendants have been caught up in today's conflict.
And the readings reminds us that tension between different ethnic groups was there at the time of Christ, as it is there today. It is a sadness but a truth.
They remind us too that we fickle humans are open to prejudice of all sorts, economic, gender-based, class oriented, religious and of course the stupidity of racial prejudice
Even Jesus is caught up in it. "It is not fair, " he says of this woman's daughter, "that I should take the food that is meant for the Jews and feed it to the dogs!"
None of us would take too kindly to our children being referred to as dogs. he is no doubt using a common idiom. Speaking as he had been brought up to speak of his near neighbours.
We fall easily into that trap ourselves when we talk of Indonesians, Aborigines, even (perhaps in an earlier era) Poms!!
The common bond
There is, however, a resilience about this woman (which we see in the people of today)
that causes her to persist with Jesus, and her persistence is rewarded.
Coupled with this we read a story about another persistent man, who was deaf. And who like many of the profoundly deaf had a speech impediment.
Such people, too, have a resilience which is at times admirable and also a little intimidating
stemming, on their part, from years of prejudice and misunderstanding with which they ahve had to deal.
What we see in these two stories is the invitation to transcend our prejudice
and to put our trust in Jesus.
To take the next step of faith and move forward.
Sometimes this will take us quite of our comfort zone.
Other times it will just be one more step along the road we go!

The woman has to wrestle with Jesus.
Is he trying to establish just how determined she is?
Is he forcing her to get to the root of what she really wants?
Spiritual Directors and the works of the saints will tell us this is a key understanding
in our journey of faith,
understanding what really makes us tick,
establishing what it is that we really want.
For this woman she really has to fight for her daughter,
for this man he has to be prepared to sit quietly with Jesus
and put aside his anxiety.

I ask myself...what is it that I really want?
Am I so clouded in my vision (prejudice)
that I fail to see what I really want.
Am I so frightened by life, by failure, by weakness, by depression, by confusion....you name it, it's there...
that I find it impossible to trust
even God.

The stories remind us that this would seem the way to go.
Not the way of putting your trust in human vanity
of being impressed by wealth or human achievement
as we so easily are,
but rather by taking the next step along the raod with Christ.

For this woman it is quite a vigorous struggle with Jesus.
For this man it is being taken to one side.
What will it be for me or for you this week.

This week
Allow God the opportunity that we so often deny
to let us take the next small step.
What prejudices are guiding our thinking at this stage in our life
...am I frightened of the future
...am I dictated to by the past
...do I fail to see the goodness in some people because of my bias or narrowness
...am I closed to God because I like the easy life...

God does not demand that our life be turned upside down every moment of every day
some days will be rough
most days we are just to keep on moving on.
Not, mind you, standing still.
Maybe just the next small step.

For you prayers:
In the time of quiet, perhaps early in the day

LORD LET ME CONFRONT MY OWN SELF TODAY
AND TO ENCOUNTER YOUR CALL TO ME
LET ME HEAR YOUR CHALLENGE
WALK IN FAITH
AND GIVE ME COURAGE TO RESPOND, YES!

Being challenged! - Making the right choice

Readings for Sunday 3rd September 2006, The 13th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 22) Also Father's day in Australia :Song of Songs 2:8-13; Psalm 45; James 1:17-27; Mark 7:1-8,14-23

It is good to be challenged.
On TV these days we are challenged all the time!
There are endless game shows, Australian Idol, Temptation, Survivor
in which there is challenge.
But these days I often just find the News challenging!
Some days...Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, Al Qaeda, Bombings, bank hold ups
Plane crashes, global warming, petrol, endless political drivel and infighting...... the news comes on and I feel my heart sink.
I often don't want to be challenged with so much stuff that I can do nothing about.

Today's readings remind us that there is about life a sense of challenge
which is good and right
and if we are not to be overwhelmed by it
we need to focus on the meaningful challenges

Right relationships
The curious passage in The Song of Songs
is a an invitation to see that our intimate relationships
are called to be exciting and thrilling.
Many of us settle into a passive neutrality in our closest relationships
as though this is what God intends for us.
At least this passage reminds us that
there may be more that is possible
and we need perhaps to respond to the challenge
to seek depth
than to avoid the challenge and risk of getting close to another person.
This is not always easy!!

Responding to challenge.
James remind us there are certain challenges that we need to watch out for in relationships
and he names some key principles:

• generosity---which he sees as an inspired choice that we make about the character of our life. We choose to be generous
• we need to listen rather than speak---this again is a choice that we make about the way we conduct our relationships
• be slow to anger---another choice.Often we think of anger as something that overtakes us, that we have no control over. But james in suggesting that we be slow to anger is saying . We choose whether or not we are angry.
• Other choices her talks about are : turning away from wickedness, and putting into practice with our lives what we say with our lips
  

It is important to get the force of all this.
The challenge is to make choices in our lives which put the gospel into practice
and not just mouth platitudes.

Jesus puts this another way when he talks about the competing interests
of religion and the heart.
In a major thrust of his teaching he reminds us that it is not the rules and regulations of religion
that is important
it is the affairs of the heart.
In the end the bad and good that we get caught up in
comes about from the decisions of our heart.
This is not popular stuff.
But it is reality.
Wickedness, evil, sin...however we name it..
comes about from choices we make and not accidently.

Accidents do happen!
I hear you say
and the consequences of accidents can be dire.
But what we are concerned with is not what accidently happens
but what deliberately happens.

Whe St Paul says to early churches
"It is for freedom that we have been set free" (cf Galatians 5)
he is not making the claim of some political manifesto
but rather a statement about God's intentions for humanity
...that we might be free to choose to do God's will
rather than to be pushed about by our own selfishness and sin.
In classical theology
we understand this to mean that we cannot actually do this
without the grace of God given to us through the life death and resurrection
of Jesus Christ.
To be free from anger...we need Jesus
to be a truly generous person...we need Jesus
to be lovign and caring...we need Jesus.

We fail in so far as we think we can do this of ourselves.
One of our Prayer Book collects says...we have no power of ourselves, to help ourselves
we are reminded that we need to allow God to dwell within us
and to reach outside of our inward looking self
if we are to be as God intends us to be

This week
Perhaps this is "tough love" or a reality check.
Stop copping out and blaming others for behaviour:
meanness, hurtfulness, poorly controlled anger, spite, and all other manner of sinful relationship stuff
take ressponsibility and choose to be free.
We cannot do this without Christ.
So our prayer this week?

Lord make us free
as Jesus himself is free.
Free to love you radically
and put aside our sinful ways. Lord make us free. AMEN

The call to be holy

1Kings 8:1,6,10-11,22-30,41-43; Psalm 84; Ephesians 6:10-20; John 6:56-59 readings for Sunday 27th August (Pentecost 12)

What does it mean to be holy?
It is not a terribly popular idea these days.
Our world craves sensuality and luxury
but seemingly eschews the call to be holy.
This comes probably from some false ideas of what "holiness" means.
We actually confuse it with hypocritical piety which is done to make us look good
rather than adopted as a quality of life.

Nevertheless we are reminded in these readings of the call to holiness
and it would be remiss of people of faith
to fail to recognise that God calls us to be holy
even though the world looks down on this vocation.

Holiness means "set apart for God"
So when Solomon commissions the temple of God
it is dedicated, made holy, set apart for the use of God.
We do this all the time when we pray for God's blessing
and this is a practice which is worth reflecting on.
When we pray the prayers of grace at mealtimes
we are reminded that even the ordinary things of life
are set apart for God
When we are baptised or we baptise
we remember that the baptised,
you and me, are God's holy people
set aside for God's purposes.

In our poverty of thought about baptism
we often overlook the fact
that baptism does effect change in us
It "sets us apart for God".
That we might worship him, serve him
by prayer
by care for others
by dedication of our lives.

Put on holiness
In the wonderful passage about the armour of God that Paul writes to the Christians in Ephesus, we are reminded that not only is holiness a gift bestowed
it is also a choice about the way we conduct our lives.
It is not just a gift given at baptism
it is also a choice we make each day
about what we choose to do
Pul, using the imagery of a suit of armour,
reminds us that the armour of God is to be put on
and it constitutes such things as:

• Truth
• Righteousness
• proclamation of the good news
• faith, in order to fight evil
• the promise of salvation
• and the sword of the Spirit which, Paul says, is the word of God.

He is talking here, I think, both symbolically and actually.
However we interpret it
we are to realise that being holy
is also a decision we make
about the way we choose to live.
It is not just the passive gift of God.

This week
You might pray to put on the armour of God.
At the beginning of each day
make a commitment to be a holy person.
It takes only the time required to say a focus prayer
as we get up
to make the sign of the Cross
or a deliberate intention
to be truthful, right with God, in the fight against evil
a bearer of good news, a fighter for peace
A person of the word.
Let this be your prayer this week.

LORD MAKE ME HOLY
AS YOU YOURSELF ARE HOLY
THAT I MAY
STAND FIRM IN THE TRUTH
PROCLAIM THE GOOD NEWS OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE
FIGHT FOR THE HOLINESS OF GOD
AND OF HIS PEOPLE.
LORD MAKE ME HOLY
AS YOU YOURSELF ARE HOLY

getting the point

1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14; Psalm 111; Ephesians 5:11-31; John 6:51-58 Reading for Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost (20th August) read one reading each day to prepare yourself for Sunday's worship

The riot of discussion that always follows the commentary of Ephesians 5
(which is about the relationship of husbands and wives)
seems overstated to me

Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Saviour. Just as the church is subject to Christ, so also wives ought to be, in everything, to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, in order to make her holy by cleansing her with the washing of water by the word, so as to present the church to himself in splendour, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind.

There is much misinterpretation of this passage.
And we can see that misinterpretation often is caused by self-serving attitudes
rather than a balanced or comprehensive reading of the text.
Indeed the first rule of any scriptural reflection should be to make sure that you ahve read what goes before
and also read what comes after.
The Bible is not simply a collection of disconnected phrases
which you can pull out like a magical promise box
and presume that the words will speak to your particular situation
at that particular time.
We often want it to be like that...how easy would it be
to just have God on tap
and pull him out with a certainty
even though this may all be a bit cryptic.

There are plenty of stories that give the lie to this...unfortunately
many people will tell you how, when in trouble, they flicked their Bible open
and there was the answer.
As I say, we may want God to be like that,
but it doesn't seem to make sense.
Why would we have a whole narrative Bible, of most complex and sophisticated story, poetry, worship and theology
if all God had wanted us to have was a collection of random phrases?

What we are often doing is trying to find an easy way of dealing with a complex situation.
We want a quick fix---when what we need to do is to tread carefully
and think intelligently.
The first reading (about Solomon's choice of wisdom over riches and power) reminds us
that we are easily seduced by fear and greed
and often less than honest about our own motivations.

If we take more than a cursory look at the Ephesians passage, too,
we see that it is more than just an instruction for wives to do what their husbands tell them to.
Indeed that looks like a misreading if we think carefully about it.

Wives, be subject to your husbands as you are to the Lord. ......Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her

This is about a mutual submission, not the dominance of one party over another.
Indeed, I often joke with marriage couples....that women only "have to be subject to their husbands" while men have to love as Christ loved the Church
to my mind that mean dying!

In reality as we read the whole passage we see that there is a toing and froing
which reminds us that
there is a mutuality about this relationship
in which husband and wife should be subjevt to each other....and both should love the other to death!!!
This, to my mind, is the reality (and experience) of marriage.
But is complex, rather than simplistic.

Wisdom vs Power and Money
We read, too, in the reading about Solomon
that this legendary king is confronted with a choice
...as all politicians are....
what will we pursue in the exercise of our office.
The reading of the Solomon story shows us that if we trust the knowledge of God
if we prefer wisdom to selfish gain
then the other things will fall into their correct perspective.
This, of course, gladdens the heart of the godly person
but also exposes that much about modern day politics is distorted and untrue.


The Gospel remionds us that even though Jesus
is telling us that we should stick with the stuff that is close to our hearts
like food is to our day to day life
and relationships
like the one he invites us to have with him.
That so often we would prefer to not engage with that
choosing rather to be theological or theoretical.
It is not that theology and theory are unimportant
they have their place.
BUT principally and primarily
weare called to feed on Jesus
and be as concerned with him day to day as we are about food and our ordinary concerns.

As you think about your eating in the last week
what does it tell you about the quality of the relationship that God is talking about for you and me.
The words intimacy and relaity spring to mind for me.
Nourishment and nurture
taking time and being with others
are all important ideas that we are being invited to draw into our godly relationship.

There are important points to get,
listen to the scriptures, and take in the complexity of what they are saying
as well as the straightfroward teaching
We are called to be wise and authentic
not just successful or powerful.
And in all things our relationship with Jesus is a feeding one
exuding all the intimacy of our daily life.

May God be with us this and every day

Feeding on Jesus

2 Sam 18:5-9,14,31-33; Psalm 130; Ephesians 4:17-5:2; John 6:35,41-51 The readings for this week help us to reflect on God's ongoing teaching for our lives. Take one for each day and sit quietly with it

This week we had a family birthday, they are always great occasions. And this one was
Our family now has over twenty people on both sides
so when we get together there is already a level of energy and excitement which needs to be harnessed and enjoyed.
As in these weeks we explore the image that Jesus uses of Feeding on His Body
we are invited to make the connection that eating and drinking,
the powerful human communion which we enjoy every day,
which is sometimes small and private,
and at other times, like birthdays,
is bubbly, exuberant and overflowing with excitement.
All these ideas usefully enliven our understanding
of what "feeding on Jesus" might mean.

Think back in this week on how you have eaten.
What is breakfast like?
Have there been special meals?
Are you hurried or aware at meal times?
With whom have you shared your meals?
And how has that sharing gone?
What does our eating say about our life?

The next question then is to use our day to day experience
to ask the same question about our relationship with Jesus.
Are we as aware of Jesus in our lives
as the tomatoes we have eaten in the last few days?

We make a mistake if we think that this seemingly light or humorous reflection
is unimportant or trivial.
Neither eating, nor our Godly relationship are trivial.
A birthday party reminds us that these sorts of times of celebration are very important in our life together.
the dynamics that flow so abundantly
which include our love, joy and celebration
when we gather with those who we know well and to whom we are bound by family and friendship;
and also tension, unresolved hurt, anger and resentment
are the very substance of the gospel's operation.

It is no mistake, too, that the common celebration of Christians
is Holy Communion
a commemoration of a meal.
and we are invited to bring all our experience of eating together
to our understanding of life.
When we gather and proclaim that we feed on Christ
all the imagery of our eating together
comes to bear.
And just as we are thrilled to be really alive when we eat together
so we discover that in sharing this meal
we encounter Jesus
and it enlivens us
and we are changed.

And so we pray:

BREAD OF HEAVEN
ON YOU WE FEED
FOR YOUR FLESH IS MEAT INDEED.
ALL OUR WANTS AND NEEDS ARE MET IN CHRIST.
LET US FEAST ON YOU, LIVING AND TRUE BREAD FROM HEAVEN. AMEN

Penetrating questions

Readings for Sunday 6th August, Ninth Sunday After Pentecost (Proper 18) 2 Sam 11:26-12.13; Psalm 51:1-12; Ephesians 4:1-16; John 6:24-35 Choose a reading to reflect on for this week

There are times when we feel very close to God
and times when we feel far away.
Sometimes we understand why this is so
and sometimes we just don't get it!

This theme can be explored a little by the reading we get for this week.
In the reading from John (chapter 6:24-35) we are led on a little journey of questions
which, in a way, characterises our relationship with God

They asked Jesus: Rabbi, when did you come here?’ ... Then they said to him, ‘What must we do to perform the works of God?’ Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’ and then they said to him, ‘What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing?

These seemingly innocent questions are more telling than at first they seem.
Jesus is questioned about his miraculous powers (How did you get across the lake?)
Then he is asked how can we respond ...what must we do? .... and finally he is once again asked about signs? How will we know that what you are doing is the real thing?
God grabs our attention
We well-meaning Christian folk do well to bear this in mind
God is working outside the religious parameters that we set.
It is clear that people are drawn to the life of God above and beyond the truth of what the church (or any religious system for that matter) teaches
This does not invalidate the revelation that Christians have come to understand about the mystery of God in Christ
that in Christ, God is revealed as he has never been before,
that the truth of God is made known through the mystery of suffering, death and resurrection
that God's love and peace transcends everything in the universe and will not be overcome
but we are reminded that we do not have the only keys that open the box of experience of God!
So, there is abundant Godly activity in the world
and people are drawn to God irrespective of what we do.
God's activity in people's lives is already drawing them towards his love
and into relationship with him.
This is evident in Jesus himself
the signs that Jesus did were powerful drawcards
they grabbed people's attention
and brought them into the place where they might be able to hear what God was speaking to them in their life
This is an important thing to note.
It is not the signs themselves...the feeding of the 5000, the miracles of healing even,
but the relationship of faith and trust in Christ
that is important.

What then must we do?
The signs prompt these people to ask how they can do do the works of God.
Jesus's response is not....learn some mystical techniques, or buy some magical talismans...it is rather that you should believe and trust in the one whom God has sent
If we are to be like God, and do what God wants of us
then we need to commit ourselves to his way.
Paul puts it like this

I beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. (Ephesians 4:1)

What is striking about this passage is that it is a simple statement of faithfulness to the practice of the gospel
Paul is echoing what Jesus is saying: nurture the God-life within you not by supernatural excess or crazy religious practice, but by humility,gentleness and patience.
Believe, John says, in God's son and nurture that relationship.
This is perhaps, almost certainly, less attractive than performing miracles
but it is the sure way forward.
We can expect that we will grow in Christ in so far as we take time to nurture the relationship that we have with him.

But can we still have a sign?
It is not surprising that the listeners don't get this...they never do
Or I should say we never do!
We still want a sign.
But there is a little hope in this account!

‘What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” ’ Then Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ They said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’

Wanting to believe what Jesus says about the close, faithful, trusting relationship with God
these people want a sign to prove that what is is being said is true
Maybe this is understandable,
and it gives Jesus the opportunity to say again what needs to be said...
..this bread, this living relationship with the Son...is what gives life to the world.
And some of them are able to cry out....Sir give us this bread always
Sometimes we glimpse what God is offering us
and long for it.
And we desperately want...not miracles or signs...but life

Get the focus right
If we want this thriving relationship then we need to throw our energies into it
rather than the superficiality of religion.
It is not the signs and wonders that will draw us to God
it is the Jesus relationship.
This relationship will be nurtured through prayer

• so pray a bit more

1. Try to spend a little time each day being quiet and listening to God
2. Read a short piece of the Bible and listen to what it is saying to say you
3. Have two or three people who you specially pray for each day
   

it will be nurtured through caring for Jesus in the lives of the poor and suffering

• so care a bit more

1. We probably don't have to look far to find someone we can care for.
   
2. This caring need not be onerous but shoudl begin to expand our comfort zone
3. Let it be a quiet unassuming work...let not the right hand know what the left hand is doing
   

but can't we have miracles.......we are so fickle
We want living bread, we need to feed on the life of Jesus.
Spend your time and energy on that.

Those of us who week by week share in the sacrament of Christ's Holy Communion
need to see this sign ....the bread and the wine.....
as the reminder that we are not seekers of miracles, or lookers for signs
but we are feeders on Christ.
He is the living bread, who God has given us to feed and nurture us.
Look to him the food of all our life

Sex, food and prayer

Readings for Sunday 30th July (8th Sunday after Pentecost - Proper 17) 2 Sam 11:1-15; Psalm 14; Ephesians 3:14-21; John 6:1-21
Sex, food and prayer
The title for this week may surprise some! But these are themes from these readings.
Though they don't neatly 'click' together, they speak of some really fundamental things that drive us.
David who we continue to read about, is at once both heroic and flawed
It was ever so!
Here we read about how the successful King
successful because he has been responsive to God's promise
can still get it wrong.
He commits adultery and fathers a child.
More than this, he weaves a web of intrigue and deceit
ultimately climaxing in the murder of the innocent man he has wronged.
For this he will come to know God's wrath
and he will live with this serious failure for the rest of his life.

I reflect that we should all be careful of being judgmental
There but for the grace of God go you and I?
But how does David lose the plot so fundamentally.
Like you and me he does it because he forgets that it is God who is is charge, not David!
David thinks that it is his life plan that he implementing
and so that he is invincible.
It is the fall of the proud... hubris ... in classical terms

Paul's prayer this week is for his fellow Christians that they may freely acknowledge God's love and greatness
It is a mystery which lies outside out understanding
and is part of of our growth and learning as humans.
David's fault, like us so often,
is that when things are going well
we can easily be seduced into thinking it is we who are responsble.
And we can act as if we are God
and give ourselves permission to do anything.
Even sin.
This requires some subtlety and care
issues are not always, indeed never,
Black and white
and so Paul's prayer
"that (we) may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that (we) may be filled with all the fullness of God"
is a good and necessary prayer for caution and humility.

God's abundance
The wonderful story of the feeding of the 5000
reminds us that we have no need to panic (as David did)
and that God will always act with abundance in our lives.
At times we will even see Jesus walking on the water and inviting us to join him!

So today, our prayer is to remian faithful to the Spirit of God
who has blessed us time and time again
to not presume, as David did, that God does and will sanction everything and anything we choose to do.
God demands more of us than that.
Pray, as Paul urges us, that we all may understand the mystery of God's love
ever deeper and deeper in our lives
And let this be our prayer for each other.

God pours out his abundant love,
spiritually and materially
we don't need to panic.
We can trust his control of our lives.
Can we trust ourselves.

Doing what is necessary

Reflections for the week beginning Sunday 23rd July (Proper 16) 2 Sam 7:1-14; Psalm 89:21-38; Ephesians 2:11-22; Mark 6:30-34, 53-56 Read one or more of these readings when you wish to be quiet with God.

This week's readings point us to a range of ways we can respond to the call of God in our lives.

• We should do what God requires not what we think God requires
• There are some fundamental movements that the Gospel will always seek to draw out of us
• God desires healing and wholeness for each one of us and this is a profound dynamic which naturally draws people to Jesus

What does the Lord require?
There is no doubt that David was responsive to God's will, but as we read his story
we also discover that he is sometimes willful and disobedient. We are all rather like this.
While we seek to be God's people and to do his will
our understanding of what that will might be is often slippery.
I, for example, sometimes say that my problem with hearing the voice of God
is that I need to be clear when I am hearing God's voice
and when I am hearing Stephen's voice! I am occasionally capable of deceiving myself.

If nothing else when we are tempted to say "The Lord says to me...."
we should have at least a mild suspicion that we may not be quites as clear about this as we think we are.
We should at least test this.
David, for example, says...The Lord says build me a house...
this would seem to be a logical conclusion of his work in establishing Jerusalem
He has fought long and hard to get here
The Ark of the Covenant, the focus of Israel's ambitions
has finally been brought into the city
now there is one thing only to do. Build a temple.
But it is not to be.
This is a salutary lesson....
The Lord's voice is more than the logical conclusion of our thought processes.
At times we act as though that is all it is.
Or even that we are so fully aware of our own thought processes that we are always open and upfront about them

God's unremitting work
Ephesians 2 reminds us that the work of God
is dependent on God and not on our efforts.
This is a hard lesson for us to learn
We are so focussed on being good and getting it right
that we often ignore completely
the profound dynamic which undergirds the basis of our faith.
God has already acted
and achieved in Christ
all that needs to be done
to perfect his work in creation.
We, often seduced by the notion that salvation depends on our personal goodness or holiness,
need to learn this lesson.
It is God's desire to bring the whole of creation together.
Our common humanity is signified by God's own unity.
Though different and able to be appreciated in many different ways
we are drawn back time and time again to the fact that God is UNITY
In the example Paul gives he is referring to those "who are far off...and those who are near"
those who are inside the covenant (the Jews) and those wo are outside(the Gentiles).
Note that Paul does not say we should work tirelesssly to bring those who are far off closer
he actually says that Christ
has already made both groups into one, and broken down the dividing wall.
We are already one!!
We simply have to reach out and take that
We, like David, don't readily get this
so locked are we into our own egotistical way of seeing things
So Paul reminds us that our efforts need to be directed
not to reinventing the wheel
but to building on Christ
who is already in place as the foundation and cornerstone.
Our work is not invention of new ideas
it is building on the firm foundation.
To do this we need to nurture our own relationship with Christ
through prayer, through worship through service and ministry.
Each time we pray, each time we share in the Eucharist
we are saying I want to be built up
We affirm the fact that this work
established and complete as it is already in Christ
will be worked out in me
and in the world.
It is already established and seeks its fulfillment
Our focus is building on Christ
what ever else we think we might be and do
we only succeed
in so far as we are built on that sure foundation.

Take time
There is a sense in which this is a tireless work
we all know the truth
of what Jesus says
There is an enormous harvest to bring in and all too few labourers!
As we read the Gospel today we recognise that even Jesus struggles to make time to renew himself
for this heavy and taxing work.
We busy folk know the dynamic of this story,
we like to take time to prepare
but we have competing demands
and they crash in all too readily.
Jesus habitually used to find himself overwhelmed by the demands of his ministry
So he would take time to step aside and be quiet.
But today we read, as we do quite often,
that the demands of life run wild
and do not respect Jesus's own personal needs.
We all know something of this.

This does not stop Jesus
from trying day after day to capture this time.
Even, we see, right at the very end of his life
when he could be excused for trying to flee
or to protect himself
Jesus goes out into the garden of Gethsemane to pray.
How easily we forget this!
We often, usually, even habitually
put our prayers to one side.
And then we wonder why we get a bit lost.
It is not, I think, because we lack faith.
It is because we lack discipline!!
It takes discipline
to continue to build on the foundation.
But that is actually the only thing that will work.
David learns that when you get distracted
and think you are the foundation
then you are heading off in the wrong diretion.
Paul reminds us that
Christ is our foundation
and that we build on him.
Prayer, The Bible, Service, Worship, Eucharist...
these are the places we experience
building and the establishment of Christ's kingdom.
Jesus's experience shows us
that to do this we need discipline,
commitment,
decision to act.
There are lots of competing interests
Christ is the true foundation
already established,
we need to commit ourselves to him
through the disciplined life.
Lest we forget and think that we are the Messiah.
Lest we find our ourselves building in the wrong place.
Lest we find that our necessary needs are crowded out.

Pray and act this week
to do one fresh thing to re-establish God's building program
in Christ, on the sure foundation
in a firm, committed and disciplined way.

God with me today

Reflections for the week beginning Sunday 16th July (Proper 15) 2 Sam 6:1-19; Psalm 24;Eph 1:1-14; Mark 6:14-29 One or more of these readings can be read each time you wish to be quiet with God.

This week we thought about the ups and downs of life. We read about the Execution of John the Baptist,(Mark 6) and in the Old Testament (2 Sam 6) about a man who dies seemingly while trying to do the right thing.
What we easily realize is that our lives our like this. There are things which happen which deeply shake us, and "natural causes" to which we are subject which seem deeply unfair.
The innocent die, get sick and suffer.
The funeral service reminds us "In the midst of life we are in death". Something I am often struck by when taking a funeral and ministering to the bereaved.
Life is like that.
Amidst all this Paul writes for us an amazingly evocative poem about the depth of our relationship with God. These poems often draw out of us feelings of deep praise and thankfulness

In Christ we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

though at times of stark difficulty and tragedy poetic words can often leave us cold.
We are reminded of the need to dwell richly with God in the reality of our day to day experiences.
Take a few moments this week to locate the points in the last few days where you have been most deeply affected...positively or negatively
What might this feeling be saying to us?
How might God be asking us to respond, and what is God offering to us?
Listen to what God is saying, and ask him to show you how you should respond today.
Pray quietly for openness to the Spirit of God and the will to do what God needs you to do.

What on earth is God doing? - Critiquing our understanding of the Gospel

Some Readings for Sunday 9th July (Proper 14-5th Sunday after Penecost) 2 Samuel 5:1-10,Psalm 48,2 Corinthians 12:2-10,Mark 6:1-13

What do you make of the Gospel?

In explaining it to other people, for example,
what is it that we consider to be the core of our belief?
And what influences how we tell our story?
The readings for this morning gives us some interesting insights.
About God controlling our destiny,
about supernatural experience,
about hearing the authoritative voice of God,
and about responding to rejection.
Some good issues.
Destiny
In the Hebrew Scriptures
we have a strong sense of how our destiny is in God's hand.
So our understanding of what God is doing
comes from how we understand what God has done.
Chiefly this is presented to us through the Scriptures.
The stories given to us there are woven together
to show how God is working his purpose out
as year succeeds to year.
We read a little piece of that story today,
as David takes up his kingship
and he enters the city of Jerusalem
which becomes the focus of so much of God's promise.
We do need to note that Biblical scholarship shows us
that "destiny" is as much a human construct
as it is a 'biblical truth'.
The stories are selectively edited to show important things like:
the importance of Jerusalem
God's anointing of leaders
and the importance of worship.
At times that editing seems more human than godly
and we need to bear that in mind!

The Supernatural
Paul speaks of a "person" he knows who had a vision of heaven.
It is obviously very striking because it happened 14 years previously and he is still talking about it.
He is obviously talking about himself.
And it reminds us that many of us
perhaps all of us
have such experiences which are very important
in helping us understand our relationship with God.
But Paul also sagely reminds us
that such experiences can "puff us up"
and he notes that his own bodily weakness
(the thorn in the flesh?)
reminds him that supernatural experience
is to be kept in perspective.
It does not mean that we are specially chosen,
or more that we are some how better than others.
This is an important reminder.




Hearing Jesus
Two little incidents are given to us this morning (Mark 6:1-13)
Mark often does this, he sets incidents alongside each other to help us critique them
The first story is of Jesus preaching in his home town,
and we read that the congregation is impressed
and hears a man who speaks with authority.
Clearly they have discerned
the Spirit's presence in the utterances of Jesus.
The implicaton is clear,
we should hear Jesus's voice and respond
BUT we immediately read
how this amazement turns into something negative.
This is rather difficult to understand
other than the fact that we know
that a "prophet is without honour in his own home"
A sad but true reality of a complex of emotions.


However, we are invited to move on,
and we read immediately
that Jesus, who has been warmly received,
becomes unable to respond to people's needs
because their own narrowness prevents them from being responsive.
This causes Jesus to move on and leave this rejection behind.

He launches a new approach,
going away from the place where he would most want to have shared his good news
to other towns and villages,
we see him sending out his disciples
who are able to spread his work even further
and we see incredible success.

What one earth is God doing?
In all this we have quite complex reflections on how God acts and how we respond?
There are deep theological truths:
God controls our destiny
The world we inhabit is supernatural as well as natural
Jesus's voice is powerful to change and heal
As disciples we are empowered to act
But we also need to heed the ways we often misuse these encounters with God
Destiny is often a convenient justification for our own human waywardness
The supernatural is not a justification of our personal status or holiness
We often fail to hear the voice of Jesus because of our own closed hearts and minds, and even our familiarity with the message or even his person
Far from being active participants in God's work, we are often passengers or onlookers.
These critiques are complex, and perhaps a little harsh but by and large we are easy on ourselves rather than hard
and so it probably does us good to take a firm measuring stick to our relationship with God
and seek to overcome our weakness, prejudices and biases.


What then can we do?
When in doubt we should always challenge oursleves
to return to our genuine roots
to seek out justice, mercy, love and forgiveness
truth and service
rather than advantage, prestige, power and "success".
To try in our prayer and thoughts and actions to genuinely seek to do what God wants of us
and to critique that
(to ask ourselves whether we are genuine)
to reflect on what we do
to repent of what we have done wrong
and seek to try again.

In this, opening ourselves to God's Spirit,
just a little more
each day
when ever we can.
We find that our own wills and willfulness
are changed
and the life of Christ
so freely given for us
may grow and flourish in us.

God's power to act

2 Sam 1:1,17-27; Psalm 130; 2 Corinthians 8:1-15; Mark 5:21-43 readings for the 4th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 13)
The well loved hymn "Men go to God" which is a poetic rendering of a prayer of Dietrich Bonhoeffer
reminds us that in our deepest needs we do indeed go to God
(Not only "men" but all people too!)
"We go to God when we are sorely placed"

The readings this week explore some situations
where some people go to God.
The Psalm perhaps sums this up
"Out of the depths I call to you"
While we might fly to God in time of trouble
this is too narrow a way to interpret this psalm
because we are "deep" not only at the points where things are black and at their worst;
we are also deep where we soar
where we are deeply in love
and where we are functioning at our best.
It reminds us, I suggest,
that when we are in touch with God
we are responding out of depth
and not out of shallowness.

So much of what we experience these days is really shallow.
I cite Big Brother endlessly in this regard.
While we are titillated by this sort of rubbish
have you ever wondered why it also leaves you feeling empty and bored
rather than satisfied.
It is shallow, and meant to be so!!
It is interesting that it is called Reality TV
It is anything but real.
We are at our most real
when we are in touch with God
and we speak to God our of the depth.
The readings point us to some real life situations which are "deep" rather than shallow.
Saul and Jonathan
David's relationship with these two men is formative in his life.
Saul is one of those who comes to understand early on that David is chosen by God
and yet he also has difficulty dealing with how God will choose David over himself.
It is the stuff of human ambition and power struggle
which is critical for any human leader to understand.
At the same time Jonathan, Saul's son, is David's closest friend.
I am not amongst those who want to see this is as a same-sex relationship.
I think rather we see the deepest type of friendship that people experience
(we should not cloud the issue with spurious exegesis to further our particular cause)
David knows life in the midst of death
and he knows the reality of God's power
in the difficulties of deep relationship
Paul
In this classic passage
Paul speak about generosity.
Now he shares with them what we all know
that there is "genersoity" and there is "generosity"!
So he is able to say certain cryptic words to them
"it is appropriate for you who began last year not only to do something but even to desire to do something"
At least one of the things he is saying here is
that is we are to understand the depth of giving
we not only have to give
but to desire to do it.
This is an important reflection
for those of us who have a strong sense of duty
we have to do better than just respond to God's wishes
because we feel we ought to
We also need to want to do so.
Maybe we don't get this.
It is I think a question of opening ourself up to the grace of God
to deepen our motivation
Not only are to respond to God's command
but also to want to respond.
If we are not quite there.
then pray for the grace to want to.
Archbishop Michael Ramsay is often quoted as saying
that we need to deepen our motivation to love God.
We usually find it difficult to say "We love God"
and maybe the most we can say is "We want to love God"
Maybe even, Ramsay reflects,
we can only say "We want to want to love !"
His point is a good one.
If we are love God, out of the depths
then often we will need to do some digging!


Jesus
Many people, of course plunge the depths
when they, or someone close to them is sick.
The two stories in Mark 21-43 have important insight into how encounter with Jesus
deepens our life
and how this experience of depth is an ultimate source of healing.
The Jairus story tells us how we should listen to God in time of death
rather than the pious advice of others
The words that the "well meaning" speak to him
"Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?"
Have perhaps a truer ring than we care to admit.
They are the hopeless words we often speak faithlessly into situations of death.
The deep words of Jesus
seem almost fanicful....this child is not dead she is sleeping
but the real depth is .....Do not fear, only believe
Likewise we hear the disciples being very dismissive even of Jesus
his words "Who touched me?" speak to me as a pastor of how often I don't see
those who come looking for Jesus.
I, like them, have lots of excuses
it isn't possible to know about specific needs for depth
and yet Jesus knows
and the woman knows.

Conclusion
This stuff only begins to point us towards the depth of God.
We are reminded, (almost with a sledgehammer!) that it is in depth we will find God
and that in finding God
we will be found.
We may only want to want to want to find God; but even that is enough.

Waking Jesus-looking at things differently

Some readings for Sunday 25 June, The Third Sunday after Pentecost, (Proper 12) 1 Samuel 17:32-49;Psalm 9;2 Corinthians 6:1-13;Mark 4:35-41
Three good passages of scripture this week invite us to look to carefully scrutinise
our experience of life and of God.
The well loved story of David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17)
is a carefully crafted gem of encounter with God.
It doesn't take much effort for us to translate this story into our own experience
because we all have times when we feel that everything is stacked against us.
The metaphorical gigantic opponent in our lives is at times all too real.
As is the feeling that our little boat is being swamped by the raging storm (Mark 4:35-41)
and Paul gives us one of those readings in which he reminds us that, for him at least,
the Christian life has not been one of bliss and ease
but rather full of difficulties and danger.
So the passages fit well together.
Real situations
One of the striking things about these readings
is that we are pushed to deal with reality.
Each of the passages speaks to us of real situations.
And even if we take them as metaphorical
there is no one who doesn't connect
with the idea that we have to deal with hardships
and difficult odds.
We may not be going out into an open battlefield
to fight an experienced soldier who towers over us
and we may nevere step foot in a boat,
but we all know the sense that at times
the odds are really stacked against us
or we are in danger of being swamped.
Paul interprets his experiences
and we hear him recognise thatin his suffering God's grace abounds.
Indeed he says more than this,
"Don't let the grace that God give you be in vain."
For Paul the suffering has a purpose,
more than that
God uses the suffering to bring about
character change and growth.

as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labours, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honour and dishonour, in ill repute and good repute

We often don't get this.
David and Goliath
A couple of salient points:
there is a deal of testing that needs to go on.
While David is convinced that he can defeat Goliath, Saul is not
and has to be convinced.
We often forget that we need to test our ideas of what God might do through us
Arguing the case is perhpas a good sort of discipline.
Those of us who "play the Devil's advocate"
also need to realise that when the case is made
we need to honour that (as indeed Saul does)
we also need to keep on evaluating our encounters with God
in order that we better understand what is going on.
It is through this that David is able to move from
...I've had lots of relevant experience
to.....My strength comes from God.
This is great and powerful growth in David.
Growth that will be essential for the way he conducts himself in future.
So the process is ......make your case, and get others to test it
but realise that it God who is acting
and act in acoprd with that.

As you think about your Goliath problem today
remember that process:
Make the case, test it, get agreement and support and act.

Going deeper
We see in Paul's commentary that he is able
to reinterpret a whole range of experiences
and understand them not just to be a bit of a pain in the neck
but rather the grace of God
moving him forward and causing him to grow.
This is not always easy.
It is, perhaps, supreme faith to be able to see God's hand
not as the cause of our trouble,
but rather as the psalmist put it
"our ever present help in time of trouble"
and that learning to trust God in times of difficulty
requires a maturity
that goes beyond
simply thinking that trusting God
will wave a magic wand over our life.
As you think about trouble you may be having
or have had
can you also ask yourself
what is it that God is drawing me?
Awaking the sleeping Jesus

I always think when I read this story
that my life almost always feels like a boat that is about to be swamped!
It is an image the Mark uses deliberately, I think, to speak to us about the nature of our lives.
The feeling of being swamped is ever with us.
What this story reminds us of too
is that Jesus is also always with us
This is his post resurrection promise
-I will be with you always-
but we treat him as though he is asleep
it's often more convenient for us that way!!
The gist of the story is straightforward
we awake the sleeping Jesus and he can deal with the situation,
but there is more here than that.
He actually rebukes his disciples for their lack of faith.
Is he telling them here
that they should trust their own faith
like David or like Paul,
and not simply drop their bundle and say ...Here you sort it all out!
This is often the way we treat God.
Let him sleep until we get into trouble
then wake him up and drop the problem in his lap.
The rebuke that Jesus utters is about God expecting more of us than this.
We are to be people of faith
and to use that faith
....do not let God's grace be in vain...
but rather act out a life of faith.
It is Jesus's promise to us
not that he will make all our problems disappear
but rather that we will be able to live our life in God's power
to do what God wants us to do
and to be faithful.
So it's not that Jesus can't meet our needs
it's that we also need to recognise that our needs can be met
by what God has given to us.
God does not expect us to allow ourselves to be overpowered by his majesty
but rather to cooperate with him.
This is what David did
this is what Paul did.
It is the way that Jesus shows us.
Conclusion
I hope that we see that these stories move us on.
From a dependent immature faith
to one that acts powerfully in accord with God's will.
Our brashness, like David's needs to be tested
we should not just presume on God's mercy.
But let's not waste what God has laready done for us.
Anbd being conscious of Jesus ever with us
we also are called to act as he acts.
This is powerful and important stuff that we are called to. Let this be the character of your life.

Understanding Trinity

It's not too hard to understand the Trinity (even though it might seem so!)
Indeed the whole of life is about how different parts learn to accommodate each other and live together.
I spend my life learning how to live with and love another human being (my wife) and together we have committed ourselves to sharing that unity of understanding with another three individuals.
All the time our individuality wars against this movement.
But I am beginning to understand that even though it is difficult it is definitely worthwhile
Without confronting my wanton unity, my desire to be alone, to be entire unto myself,
I will never learn to love
And certainly never learn to be what God wants me to be.
I am slowly beginning to understand
that a God who made a world and then let other share it,
that a God who poured himself completely into his Son and then let him die for other,
that a God who is abundant power and grace
and who can think of nothing more essential than sharing that with
you and me,
Maybe that God is saying something powerful me
about his insatiable drive for intimacy
and that I too can have that same drive.
In practical terms
I learn that my true fulfillment comes not in selfishness
but in self-giving
It is in giving that we receive.
That true life comes not in grasping and selfishly clawing at what ever I can get my hands on
but in dying and learning how to be selfless.
That I do not have to earn my way into all this
it is Gift
freely given and readily available.
It is all far easier and far more accessible than I would ever create for myself.

The Quest for Intimacy

Readings for Trinity Sunday: Isaiah 6:1-8 Psalm 29 Romans 8:12-17 John 3:1-17

I had a conversation with another person last week
in which I was trying to push him to tell me what was so important about the Trinity.
I consider that I am quite good at this sort of Socratic questioning
whereby the teacher pushes and pushes for clarification,
but some people just think I am annoying!!
We who have had a traditional western education are so good at giving the right answer in such conversations
that we can find it deeply disturbing when pushed and pushed and pushed.
We become disoriented because the teacher doesn't seem to be satsfied with our compliance
--What is so important about the Trinity?
--Well it's the whole centre of what we believe
--What does it say about what we believe?
--God is love
--How does it say that God is love?
--Well God is our Father! And He loves us!
--So what does the person who has not had a loving father understand

at this time he was starting to get a little red in the face and rather annoyed
--What would you say to a person who knew nothing about Christianity or God about why Trinity was important?
Finally he blurted out....this is all taking too long, I don't know what it is you want me to say

What I want to say (not to him) I suppose is that for many of us
The Holy Trinity is a bit of the puzzle
that we deal with by ignoring it!
He said as a closing comment, and I realised I had gone too far for his present understanding
I feel this is like some sort of parlour game.

I think there is an element of truth in that.

It lacks a certain sense of directness, urgency, or what ever

and we either go alonmg with it in the fanciful way (the parlour game)

which has its rules and its orthodoxy

but it doesn't some how connect with the reality of our lives

This seems tragic to me

since I do believe that the Trinity reveals to us

God's demanding search into our lives

A search that demands intimacy

that we be open to an intimate relationship with God

and that we welcome a God who is intimate with us.

This wars against our alienation as human beings,

it is God at God's unremitting best.

The readings point us first

to a God who is not simply content to be remote and majestic.

We have a vision of God's greatness

and in this story we note that it does indeed shake Isaiah profoundly

and yet it is also liberating.

It sets us free to love and serve God

and to know that we are OK.

we are OK because God loves us.

We are always reminded by Paul

that this great vision of God is only part of what we are to understand.

God ois also our "Abba", not only our Father

but (perhaps in our terms) our Dad.

There is a difficulty for some of us who do not have loving fathers

or whose fathers, though loving, are remote and unable to express their love;

but pushing on from that (as we may need to do)

there is the sense that God not only wants to be our God

but also draws us into the most loving and caring of relationships

That of the loving father for his child.

We know this because the Spirit shows this to us about Jesus

and we know that we share as daughters and sons the same relationship that God has given to him.

The Gospel reminds us that we need a shift in our perspectives to take all this in

Jesus calls it being born again.

It is what the Trinity calls us to.

A new relationship with God.

It needs the Spirit to enable us to do this.

It needs us to become like Jesus.

It is God's unremitting drive for intimacy with us.

St Augustine is reputed to have said: God is closer to us than we are to ourselves

It is all about closeness, intimacy, unity.

The Trinity: God's unremitting drive to be born again in us and us in him

Pentecost-The Intimate God

Readings for today are many but of those that are "officially set" we find Acts 2:1-21;Ezekiel 37:1-14;Psalm104:24-36; Romans 8:22-37; John 15:26-27; 16:4-15

The story of Pentecost
we read today does not
celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit
into our world
as Christmas celebrates the coming of Christ,
since the Spirit has been ever existent.

Today rather we celebrate the fact that God pours out his Spirit anew
on the church
and on each one of us.

we sing sometimes
Spirit of the living God in All Together Now)

Spirit of the living God
Fall afresh on me
BREAK ME
MELT ME
MOULD ME
FILL ME

According to this song
the Spirit comes to
Break
to Melt
to Mould
and to Fill

Let’s note that these words are ambiguous in tone
Although we always construe things about God in a positive light
These are also powerfully destructive words

Breaking Down

Melting off the impurity

Moulding into something else

Filling whether we want to be filled or not

They are the ambiguous words of Power
This is the other word associated with the Spirit….

POWER

Power is itself ambiguous
it can be constructive
it can be destructive

What is this power of God the Spirit
and how does it meet us?

When power meets power…there is confrontation and destruction
When power meets vulnerability there is bound to be exploitation and inequality
It is only when vulnerability meets vulnerability
that we find amazing things can happen
we find above all
not destruction, not exploitation but

Intimacy

The true exercise of power
comes when the powerful
know not only how to wield power
but how and when not to wield it.

This is the perhaps the most difficult thing for you and me
We find it really difficult
to not use our power to manipulate others
it is almost impossible for us
not to use our power
in a selfish way.

Maturity comes when we learn and understand
That the effective use of power
is power used
in the service of others
this is the mystery of friendship
this is they mystery of marriage
it is indeed the mystery of the Cross.

It is in this way that the Holy Spirit of God
meets you and me
the Breaking, Melting and Moulding, the Filling
is the vulnerable God giving himself to the vulnerable person

Are we vulnerable enough to meet God
Is our God vulnerable enough
to be the intimate God?

So seduced are we by images of power
that we forget.

It is only when the vulnerable meets the vulnerable
that true intimacy will take place
it is only in this mutual weakness
that God’s true power
will come to bloom in our lives

The Image of Christ

Today (28 May) we are dedicating a leadlight window (not the one shown) in Memory of Parishioner: Jeanette McHenry
I have been intrigued
over the years
by people’s comments about the windows in this church
Particularly when the first leadlight window
with a human face was installed
For the first time some people revealed to me
that they preferred other windows
even some said
“They didn’t like that one”
I think I have told the artist Sally Sandiford that and I am sure she will not be surprised.
A few years ago
A popular commercial reminded us
that saints were like stained glass
through which we look at the world.
It is quite a useful image.
Jeanette McHenry
Jeanette, whose memory we commemorate today
gave the world a degree of colour.
and character
I remember her as a wife and mother
as person with strong sense of community
she often told me about her childhood in Broken Hill
And she had a care for Peter and their children
which is a wonderful light through which she saw the world
She had a fine eye and liked flowers
she was careful with the things of God
as a sacristan at All Hallows’
and as a person always concerned about local community
and particularly children in our midst.
Plenty of colour and light
in Jeanette’s life
and we give thanks for that today.
The purpose of windows
All church decoration really
is there to remind us about God
As children we are often taught
that when our attention wanders away
from God (as it does so easily)
The windows, and the colours are there
to bring us back
Jeanette’s window will certainly do that
Whether we are looking at the glass
or at her life
The other windows too are good
and it is worth taking time
to look at them properly sometime.
But don’t you think
that there is more to it than that
People look at us
and see what we think is important
As I tell you some things about Jeanette ( and you will know a lot more)
We need to also be reminded
that you and I
are windows through which people see the world
We colour the meaning of the world
Will you do as well as Jeanette? Will the way you treat children and your family speak the truth of what we say we believe about love and forgiveness?

There is no doubt that our lives
will filter the way people see
the world
will the light which we shed on life
speak the truth
of what we say we believe
It is not always a perfect image
some people will even misunderstand us and dislike us
but that perhaps is not the point.
Will we be faithful to what God want us to be?
Will people look at us and see that we filtered life
in an authentic and godly way ?