Walking on water

The readings for Sunday August 10, 19th Sunday of the Year: Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28 or 1 Kings 19:9-18 ; Psalm 105, 1-6, 16-22, 45b or Psalm 85:8-13 Romans 10:5-15 ; Matthew 14:22-33

The story of Jesus walking on the water is not without its problems! Do we believe in a God who contravenes the laws of nature, and who walks on water?

Do we believe that if we trust that same God, then we, like Peter, will do the same thing?

Like many of these stories, my response is that I actually don't know the answer to these difficult questions.

I do know that we should be careful not to trivialise these stories

by either dismissing them out of hand

or (strangely) by just accepting them as bland fact.

There is more to it than all that

Here are some thoughts I put together on this passage for a festival of
MU during the wqeek

On the occasion of the 110th Anniversary of the founding of MU in the parish of Coromandel Valleyreflecting on Matthew 14:22-

Shall we sink or swim?

The MU webpage tells the story of Mary Sumner

“In the village of Old Alresford in the south of England a young Vicar's wife,
Mary Sumner, looked at her first born child. Amazed at the enormous
responsibility of nurturing a human life, and conscious of her own inadequacies,
she dreamed of a union of mothers coming together regularly for encouragement, support and education.”

I had a similar experience the night our first daughter was born.
Not of forming a Fathers’ Union! But of the amazing responsibility that was now transforming my life.
There was for me as there was for Mrs Sumner
an invitation to step out of the boat
and to live life in a new way.
At times I have sunk! No doubt Mary did too. No doubt you have
At other times, MU has walked proudly alongside Jesus
knowing that there is for this task a comfort and responsibility
which comes from putting our faith in God.

I am not terribly happy about the words of the hymn we have just sung, which I didn’t read carefully enough before I agreed to its inclusion.
Because it speaks too much of a sorrow and sadness about being a mother and a wife.
As though the lot of MU members is to put up with drudgery and sadness, which is the inevitable lot for us all.
This seems to me the language of sink or swim. Not the language of faith

But the language of faith is that of neither sinking or swimming,

but walking on the water.

It is the adventure of faith.
Quite a different experience altogether.
MU is successful not by putting up with the pain of family life
but in so far as it seeks to transform family life into a life of faith

This is more than just putting up with a bad lot! I suspect Mary would ask for more.
Could I then just add one walking verse?

Transform our lives O Lord, that we might love
Fulfilled by faith, by challenge, ventures new;
as here on earth we join with those above
and live a gospel that we know is true
That loving you for us will ever be
A bold adventure walking on the sea

Feed me and I will be fed

Readings for Sunday August 3rd, 18th Sunday of the year (Proper 13) inlcude Genesis 32:22-31; Psalm 17:1-7, 15 ; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:13-21

Most Australians do not even know the possibility of starvation
We feel confident that someone will come to our aid, even if we have no food, no money, or no means to address these sort of problems.
There are, of course, people elsewhere in the world who do face this sort of awful issue, and who will die because of lack of food.
So we (the non starving) need to try and hear the story of the feeding of the 5000 with something of the urgency for our lives, that food is for the starving.

All people hunger, but not necessarily for food.
Some need self-assurance,
others need healing
all need love
If we take this story and listen to it in this way

then we can hear some simple principles.
Sit down and take time to address the situation
The first step is to actually open yourself to the possibility of God’s aid
Where are the ‘five loaves and the fish”
We think we have nothing. but we almost always have the beginnings
Where does God show us we can begin
Allow ourselves to trust God and receive what God can do with the small beginning
Our consumerist world says we want everything and we want it NOW!
Can we trust God to give us all that we want, and more
from (what we perceive) is the little that we have?
But which in reality is an abundance

This week
Where is God inviting me to feed on his abundant spiritual food? Where do I feel spiritual hunger?
What do I bring to the table? Pray for grace to give God the opportunity to feed me with what I already possess, and to open myself to the possibility of life.

Lord, feed me with everything I need
Give me grace to trust your generous hand

July 27th

Sunday July 27, 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.

This week’s opening gambit is good.
We don’t need the faith to do it all.
What we need is faith that God is faithful.
Whether it be that the mega-plans for our life (job, work,marriage) need to be sorted out
Then our faith tells us to pay attention to the Spirit of God and try to respect that God may have a bigger picture than we do.
Or in the midst of trouble...where do we imagine God might be.
In words that should always be on our hearts Paul says
“If God is for us, who is against us”
This promise that God is always for us, is pretty momentous.
But will we take the time to ask God what God thinks is for our good.
Amidst all this the Gospel reminds us that what we need is not complete, systematic, cautious faith
But rather the mustard seed
The tiny, almost invisible kernel,
That suggests that even though
We may be unsure about the future
We can trust that God does have us in his care.
At times, probably at most times,
This is fairly fragile
It is small, but the tiniest kernel
The mustard seed
Is enough for God.
Though we might not be able to have strong or perfect faith
That is not what we are called to have
We are simply called to have the mustard seed

This week
Where do I recognise in my own life that I at least have small
faith, that in some small way I trust God? Pray that my small beginning may be
open to growth.
Do I have something that concerns me this week? How might God
be trying to grow my faith? Am I brave enough to give it a go?
Lord, I have
a little faith.
Give me grace to trust you more

July 20th

Readings for Sunday Jul 20, 16th Sunday of the Year, Gen. 28:10-19a. Ps. 139:1-12,23-24. Rom. 8:12-25. Matt. 13:24-30,36-43.

In the way of things it was a great
privilege to be able to share Christian worship with other Anglicans at St Andrew's Singapore a few days ago.
I was reminded how precious a thing a Communion is.
Being an Anglican is often taken for granted,
(Pray that our Bishops meeting at Lambeth may deal tenderly with it)
when the 75 year old sidesman found out I was a priest
he enthusiastically encouraged me to take Communion with us.
I did...and encountered the presence of the risen Jesus.
In closing, the packed cathedral sang that curious song (sung by the King here) How great thou art!
I collected pamphlets about 8 weeks of thematic common teaching on Prayer
And felt encouraged.
As we rejoice during this season in the common call to faith.
Pray that we may keep our eyes fixed on the greatness of our God.

Then sings my soul, my saviour God to thee
O Lord my God how great thou art

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.

A good wife

Readings for this SundayJuly 06, 14th Sunday of the Year, Gen. 24:34-38,42-49,58-67.
Ps. 45:10-17 or Song 2:8-13. Rom. 7:15-25a. Matt. 11:16-19,25-30.

I went last week to see the film "Mongol" which is about the emergence of Genghis Khan
the great conquerting ruler of the Mongolians
It is a wonderful, but bloodthirsty film,
the film is held together by the story of the marriage relationship
between Temudgin (who became known as Genghis Khan) and the girl Borte who he chooses as his wife (when he is 12!!)
It is a literary device that we encounter in these reading as we read the beginnings of the story of how Isaac and Rebecca, the second of the line of patriarchs and matriarchs,
meet and begin phase two.
They are (like the Mongolian stories) legendary in scope.
You are left wondering just how it could all come together
in such an ordered and fruitful way.
We see in the narratives, the 'hand of God'
and it is named as such.
It is of course a reflection written after the fact
and we often observe that 20-20 hindsight is a wonderful;
What we do see in hindsight
is that God's care, comfort and guidance
are available when we open ourselves to them.

There is perhaps the hope that
what we come to see clearly looking back
we also begin to appreciate in the present moment
This is about what we might learn and understand
as we mature spiritually
and how we might then live our lives confident
that God supports and sustains us.
Equally well Romans reminds us of the nature of the struggle with sin
that it is serious, hard and needs attention

when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand

Paul says, and today's Gospel reminds us that another spiritual reality is that God is there to be with us when the going gets tough.

‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.’

These insights are all reflections on how God deals with us.
As we look back we see with 20-20 hindsight
the truth of God's promises.
Our day to day vision is not always that good,
partly because we don't take time to look.

Each day we are invited to understand more of what God promises us.
And to live out of that promise.

This week
As you look back where have you been aware of God's plan for your lief?
What is God doing for you?
How is the struggle with sin going? Are there particular things you need to address?
Where do you seek God's comfort and support? Are you also being invited to be part of that support for other people?

God of our future, God of our past
give us the eyes of faith to see
that you are dynamic and active in our life
give us wills that trust your promise
and comfort us when we find things difficult.

God looks out for the faithful

Genesis 22:1-14 Psalm 13 (Jeremiah 28:5-9; Psalm 89:1-4, 15-18) Romans 6:12-23 Matthew 10:40-42 Propers for the Thirteenth Sunday of the Year which may be celebrated on 29th June 2008
Can God do the impossible?
Even more, does God delight in making things more difficult than they already are
The story of Genesis 22 is a key narrative in the story of God's relationship with humanity.
Will we trust God even when it seems that there is nothing to suggest that God can be trusted?

Abraham has only one son, and has been promised that he will be the father of a great nation
He then comes to the belief that God wants him to sacrifice his only son
What is going on here?
This story is so dramatic that we can be easily distracted by its force.
It is about the requirement for God's people to have faith in God and God alone.
Abraham has done that, and he is not now at liberty to have faith in himself, or his son Isaac.
Having put faith in God, we are not then at liberty to put our faith in the means that God has given us
to fulfill the promise.
This may seem a subtlety,
but it is also a truth.

For example, God uses our family
our marriage, our children,
our church.
Education, work and country
to provide for us.
But we are not allowed then to put our faith in them.
If we don't understand this


....more coming

The Feast of St Peter

These are some the readings that can be taken for 29th June, St Peter's Day, Ezekiel 34:11-16;Psalm 87; 2 Timothy 4:1-8;John 21:15-19 & also Acts 12:6-11 is particularly suitable

June 29th is a particularly special day for the Diocese of Adelaide
as the Adelaide Metropolitan Cathedral Church is dedicated to St Peter.
Our first Bishop, Augustus Short, no doubt was keen to keep before the pioneering church
one saint, Peter, who struggled vigorously
to faithfully follow Jesus.
The Prayer for today talks aboth about Peter and Paul and says:

Almighty God, whose blessed apostles Peter and Paul glorified you by their martyrdom:
Grant that your Church, instructed by their teaching and example, and knit together in unity by your Spirit,
may ever stand firm upon the one foundation, which is Jesus Christ our Lord;
who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen

In the way of heroics the phrase
"glorified you by their martyrdom"
just trips off the tongue, doesn't it?
Indeed, the early church seemed to hold martyrdom
in particularly high regard.
It is probably not too much to say
that many early Christians
were some what like some present day Moslems
who regard dying for their faith
as the ultimate act of faithfulness.
(Of course there is a lot of difference
between dying for your faith
and deliberately getting yourself killed
or blowing yourself up...but that's another story)

BUT 'martyrdom' does not mean 'dying'
even though it may have that popular overtone.
To be a martyr is to be a witness.
The early Christians witnessed in many ways
and the most dramatic was dying for the faith.
But it was not the only way.

The readings today perhaps lead us beyond
the death-martyrdom nexus.
Ezekiel is keen to promote the idea that
there is challenge involved in being faithful
it is not just about fattening the sheep!
Or creating an easy life.
Paul, writing to Timothy, also reminds us
that one key feature of his ministry
has been that he has not always got on well with people!
But he has tried to do his best.
At an ordination a couple of weeks ago the preacher reminded the people gathered
that clergy, and indeed all Christians, are not likely to be perfect!
But we are to try! God wants us to do our best

Both Peter and Paul intrigue us
as we look at them.
They like all of us
are deeply flawed people.
They have strengths and weaknesses.
Sometimes in wanting to canonise
major Christian figures
we overlook their flaws
So we do not see Paul's
arrogance, authoritarianism
often a failure to admit he was wrong.
It is good in a way to balance him with Peter
because we characterise Peter
as the one who denied Christ.
But to characterise him only as a betrayer
would be wrong,
just as to characterise Paul as perfect
would be wrong.
What we see in both these people
is someone who struggles with their humanity
as well as their capacity to be a saint.

This is, I think, what martyrdom-witness is about.
Not heroics, but how we implement the Christian faith
in our day to day struggle with what it means to follow Jesus

So Paul has to confront his seemingly brittle personality, which doesn't suffer fools gladly,
Peter has to confront his desire to be liked
and his inability to respond well under pressure.

This sounds more like you and me
than St Sebastian who gazes lovingly
as he is pelted with a thousand arrows.

How do we live as followers of Christ
when things aren't going well
with other people?
When we are tired, or depressed
how do we think Christ wants us to behave?
When like Paul,
---we get angry with those
who are slow to understand
---or who go back on their word?
---or We are arrogant
When like Peter
we discover things about ourselves
that we don't really like
---that we are not necessarily people of principle but that we do what is easiest
---that we don't always think things through properly, but act impulsively

Their witness comes about not because they are put to death (both are)
but by their struggle
with what it means
not to live the fairy tale of Christ
but to witness to the reality.
Our weakness
our failure
our humanity.

For Paul, that it is not when he is most erudite or clever
that Christ is most evident
but when he is weakest.
That in human relationships he needs to be reconciled
to all those from whom he has alienated himself.
and for Peter, that failure is par for the course
and that Christ himself uses our weakness and vacillation
to establish a powerful life in the Spirit.
You are a pebble, he jokes with Peter, I will make you a rock.
You are a betrayer, but I want you to feed my sheep.

There is great hope
in true Christian witness.
the call of Peter and Paul
for you and me is the call to be a martyr
in our lives,
bearing witness
not to an adventure story
but to a reality of day to day struggle.

Let's sin all the more!

Proper 7 (12) June 22, 2008 Genesis 21:8-21;(Jeremiah 20:7-13; Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17) Psalm 69:7-10, (11-15), 16-18; Romans 6:1b-11; Matthew 10:24-39 -These are some fo the readinghs that can be considered for today

The epistle to the Romans is a cracker!
It is worth sitting down and reading it all in one sitting
as it gives you a better sense of the masterly nature of Paul's discussion.
One of the curious literary devices we come across is his use of "By no means!"
I always chuckle at this
because it seems he lets us see his inner struggle some what.
When he has argued himself into a corner,
and we might be compelled to get the wrong idea
he has to turn us round and steer us back in the right direction.

So we read today:

6:1b Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound?

6:2 By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it?

Paul has been arguing that one of the greatnesses of God's love to us
is that we are not left to cope with sin by ourselves

In fact he says it is when things are really tough that God really cuts in
in fact :

where sin increases, grace abounds all the more,

God's response to us is not to reject us when we sin
but to equip us all the more.
So that we can fight back.
Paul, is no doubt relying on his own experience,
he understands that when he is weakest,
when failure is all too evident
then, he finds that, the grace of God is even stronger.

This is a key insight.
Not that God is trying to catch us out.
But that God is trying to encourage us..

When we allow ourselves to embrace this spirit
then that is our experience too.
You see God is not trying to beat us over the head with a stick,
we are not being smacked because we are naughty.

We begin from the starting point that God loves us
and wants the best for us.
The love of God understands
that sin diminishes us
it actually makes our life worse.
And so, Paul is telling us:
God pours all the resources he can
into enabling us to struggle with this sin.
He has given us the life of his Son
and we are talking here about the constant giving of the Holy Spirit
to enable us to progress in the war with sin.

So we might joke (as Paul does)
this fantastic inpouring of the Holy Spirit
is so good for us
that maybe we should sin all the more!
so that God might give us this Spirit.

But to view it like that is a joke.
The serious point is
that God wants to deal with sin
for our good
because God loves us

Dealing with sin
So might we get the point
that if God takes our sin seriously
then so should we.
We often deal with sin
by ignoring it
and yet Paul is telling us here
that it is so important
that God throws everything He has got at it.
We need to see that there is a serious invitation here
if God think sin is worth this effort
then perhaps we need to see that too.
It is where we sin, that the potential for God's grace abounds!

This seems a contradiction to us,
but it is going to be at the points
where we lie, cheat, steal and do not love.
Should we then lie more, hate even harder.

By no means!
God is active.
At His most active.
Can we cooperate with this Spirit?
And throw our energies into it?

This week:
Where is God inviting you to act decisively with sin?
Pick one thing you are going to cooperate with God and seek to let God deal with it.
This will not be easy,but God willequip you all the more.
Pary for that equipping

Are we serious about our discipleship? Then let us be serious where God is most active.

The death of a young man

Readings at the funeral today include the first Creation story in Genesis and the Beatitudes from Matthew 5
What to say about L?
17 is too young to die.
One week ago we did not think we would be here today.
I knew him only a little.
We had a few difficult conversations
and occasionally we touched a deep spot.
"If you are going to die L, what would you do today?"
It is a question that faces each one of us.
What would I do today if I knew that
this time next week
it would be my funeral?

One of his answers you would expect,
"Well, there are these games and I would like to complete
all the levels"
We both smiled and I said "Well what is to stop you?"
And we both knew that this was not the most important stuff
that he had to do.
[There is some evidence that he tried to achieve this goal
and had late nights, and failing sight...and he threw himself into it!]
I am not going to tell you what else he said
because it was deeply personal
and there would be even more tears.
But it was about how he would have liked the future to be
and opportunities that would now never happen.

he was a bit worried that he would leave this world
and leave no impression
who would remember him
in 10 50 or 100 years.
It is a good & deep question.

We could all say
"Well we will all remember him for ever"
We need to be careful to not burden ourselves,
with an impossible burden.
Our memories are poor, they play tricks
and we lose them.
He was little bit worried too
that he would not be good enough
for God
Fortunately, I was able to tell him
that God does not require us to be "good"
God is not going to balance
the right and the wrong
and accept us only if it tips in our favour.

So that is why we commend the dead to God,
because God can and does care for us
and accept us
it is not reliant on our faulty humanity
or on our warped sense of good.

That relationship can and does begin now,
we do not have to wait until we die.
L had begun to discover that.
May each one of us
courageously set out to discover that too.

While we were still weak

Reading for Proper 11 Pentecost 5 Sunday June 15th Hebrew Bible:Genesis 18:1-15,21:1-7
Psalm 116:1-2, 12-19 or Psalm 100; Romans 5:1-8;Matthew 9:35-10:8, (9-23)

What does God desire?

Readings for the 10th Sunday of the Year (Pentecost 4) June 8, 2008 Genesis 12:1-9; Hosea 5:15-6:6; Psalm 33:1-12; Psalm 50:7-15; Romans 4:13-25 Matthew 9:9-13, 18-2

There is a great series of readings for this week
they talk about faith.
True faith, what it is like.
The challenge to respond to God
and the call to understand that God calls us beyond our expectations.
We see God's work with very limited eyes
part of the challenge is for us to respond the very limitations
that we set ourselves.

At the very heart of the idea of faith
is the challenge to look beyond our limitations
and trust God
in everything

God calls, we respond

Genesis 6:9-22; 7:24; 8:14-19; Deuteronomy 11:18-21, 26-28; Psalm 46; Psalm 31:1-5, 19-24 Romans 1:16-17; 3:22b-28, (29-31); Matthew 7:21-29. The Readings this Sunday are for the Third Sunday after Pentecost or the 9th set of proper readings

The readings this week focus on God's graciousness to us and the constant call to, as it were,
'Get it right'.
St Paul reminds us, in what is a sort of backhanded comment,
that God makes no distinction between people
but is open to and accept all
Why? Because we all stand on an equal footing before God

Romans 3:22b-24 For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God;
they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

What this might say to us is that however else we view our relationship with God
it is God who initiates and sustains our relationships
Thank goodness...that it does not really on me!
The Deuteronomy text for today
reminds us that God's word and life
can become part of the depth of our lives
and it is God's will that they be so
It is the deepest desire of God
Late have I loved you, Beauty so ancient and so new, late have I loved you!

Lo, you were within,
but I outside, seeking there for you,
and upon the shapely things you have made
I rushed headlong – I, misshapen.
You were with me, but I was not with you.
They held me back far from you,
those things which would have no being,
were they not in you.
You called, shouted, broke through my deafness;
you flared, blazed, banished my blindness;
you lavished your fragrance, I gasped; and now I pant for you;
I tasted you, and now I hunger and thirst;
you touched me, and I burned for your peace.

from The Confessions of St Augustine

These powerful words of St Augustine have about them a driving force
which suggest how God unremittingly searches for you and me.
It is not that God does not speak
it is that we do not hear.
It is not that God does not give to us
but that we choose to not receive
God does not hold back
we hold ourselves back.

Likewise the Gospel reminds us not to play games with God.
God's unremitting desire for us
is that we belong to God
not that God belong to us
(if you get the difference).
"Not everyone" says Jesus,
"who says and does the right thing (says Lord, Lord
will have got it right"
Word and formula do not work
if we do not take trouble to respond to what God is seeking to do in and for us.

THIS WEEK

• Where is God inviting me to be different?
• What do I believe God is trying to make of me?
• Pray for insight to change and grow
• Look for an opportunity to talk with someone else about this
  

Anyone who had a heart!

May 25, 2008 Proper 8, Isaiah 49:8-16a Psalm 131 I Corinthians 4:1-5 Matthew 6:24-34

The centre of faith

Trinity Sunday May 18, 2008 Genesis 1:1-2:4a Psalm 8 II Corinthians 13:11-13 Matthew 28:16-20 in the APBA lectionary Exodus 34:1-8 can also be used

In the embarrassment of riches that this season affords
we move from the great story of Easter, Ascension
and then the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentectost
to today being invited to put all this into context
with a focus on the community of God
The community that we call the Trinity.
In an idea that I quite like Archbishop William Temple
says that we need the doctrine of the Holy Trinity
it helps us not fall into the trap of having an idea of God
that is too small.

While we often think that this doctrine is hard to understand
At the heart of it is the idea that God is love
that love is about community
and that God is constantly seeking to embrace us
and bring us into this community of love

So the language that is used to talk about God
is relational
We talk (after St Augustine) of a Father, a Son
and of a Spirit which flows out from them
their relationship being so profound
that the Spirit issues as a different persona
empowering us and always seeking to draw us into the circle of life
(the circle, or three interlocking circles is often used to symbolise the Trinity)
This idea is not without difficulty
but it does serve to give us the sense
that God is relational
that God is community
that God is love.

It is the same God who is the Father of Jesus
who declares himself to be our Father
It is the same God who is the Son of the Father
who says to us you too are the sons and daughters of my Father
you are my sisters and brothers
It is the same God who is the Holy Spirit
who says my love for you is so real
that I am always drawing you into community with me.

God is calling to be part of the same community
That Father-Son and -Spirit share
It is not a closed shop
Our fulness of life
comes from being in communion with God.
God is sharing his life with us
God is sharing his love with us.

Does this make a difference?
The Trinity initiates us into the idea
that God is actually in relationship with us
that God loves us
and that we are invited into community with God.
When Jesus speaks to his disciples (as we read today)
and suggests that they should spread the Good News
he is saying that all people can be drawn into the life of God
and this will liberate and enliven them

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

The invitation is to be drawn into the life of God
the responsibility is to live in the Spirit of God's life
and the promise is that God will be with us for ever

We might go on to say that the expectation is that this will change our life
We are after all being drawn into the circle if God's life
So transforming is this experience
that we will want to share it with others.

This is NOT some difficult doctrine
this is the centre of our faith experience

If you want your life changed, enriched, transformed
then it is done by allowing yourself to become a daughter, a son
a sister and a brother
In relationship with God.
Our Christian understanding is that the Trinity is always
seeking to draw us into closer and more personal relationship.
This is perhaps rather different from Judaism and Islam.

This week

1. Pray each day to be aware that God wants me to be drawn into the community of love and service which is the Holy Trinity
2. Dedicate yourself each day to seek to more fervently to be close to God
3. Is there one person who you can tell this week that God desires them to be close to their life also? Why not tell them or discuss this with them?

O Holy Trinity
Father, Son and Holy Spirit
Your love for me overflows
and draws me in
I seek to be in the circle of love
may I share this love with others too.
O Gracious Holy Trinity

Pentecostal challenge

Readings for Whitsunday or Pentecost, May 11, 2008; Numbers 11:24-30; *Acts 2:1-21; Psalm 104:24-34,I Corinthians 12:3b-13; John 20:19-23
Anglicans like candles! In fact people like candles
they are such a warm symbol
and so multi-layered in imaginal links
that we readily warm (sorry) to them.
At Easter the principal symbol in many Churches
is the Paschal or Easter candle
which is marked in various ways at the Great Vigil.
With Alpha and Omega (the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet) , the number of the year, the sign of the cross,
and often including five nails.
It burns for the great 50 days which conclude today with the feast of Pentecost when we remember the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the first disciples
What to do with with this very rich symbolic candle at the end of this season?
Well of course the logical thing to do is extinguish it,
though we do not want to give the impression that everything is now over and done with,
because of course it isn't!
In a way it has only just begun.
So in our churches today as the large candle is extinguished
individual worshipers are invited to light a personal candle of their own.
The simple idea is that the Easter Commission
is deliberately transmitted
to each individual as part of their baptismal responsibility.
This is, indeed, the movement that we trace in the readings today.
God pours out the Holy Spirit to renew the world
and to encourage and bless the community of faith
in order that they may bring the hope of Christ to the world.
The way this Spirit works is that it is given to individuals
whether it be (as in Numbers) the elders of the Church
or as in Acts and I Corinthians on the individual baptised;
we are invited to appreciate that the gift of the Spirit
apart from being a numinous spiritual blessing
to the world or community of faith in general
is also, in practice, worked out in the individual giftedness of each of the baptised.
So, St Paul's idea is that
the Holy Spirit gives to each of the baptised an outpouring of the Spirit
which manifests itself in particular gifts
He cites a number of gifts..teaching, hospitality, prophecy, prayer, deep faith
and so on (some number these as many as 75 specific gifts)
His implication is that every baptised Christian
is gifted in some way
and that we are to use those gifts
for the furtherance of the kingdom of God.
That is, the presence of the risen Christ
is committed to you and me
and we are gifted by the Holy Spirit
to carry on Christ's work.
We are not expected to pass an exam
or do a whole pile of learning
in order to do this work
we are rather required to use the gift that has been given.
We each need to think about
how the Spirit has lit our personal candle.
Far from the work being over when Easter is finished
and we extinguish the candle
it is not so much over as transferred
to each of us individually.

So we need to ask,
what is my particular gift?
and how am I to use it to further the kingdom of God?
We are given gifts, our candle is lit,
not to hide (Jesus uses this sort of image)
but for a purpose.
We do not have to get a qualification ourselves
it is more that we need to take the gift out of the box and use it.

So there are two questions for each of us
the second more important than the first,
First, what is my gift
and the second important question how might I use it?
The kingdom is weakened in so far
as we hide our light
or ignore it.
Our gift, be it prayer, teaching, almsgiving, hospitality
prophecy or what ever is to be used.
Paul is clear that not everyone has the same gift
we are not all teachers or prophets,
but we are all gifted as individuals and as community
with all the gifts necessary to do what God wants us to do
and to be what God wants us to be.

This week

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

We pray, this today and every day:

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

Putting it all together

Readings for the Sunday after the Ascension (Seventh Sunday of Easter) May 4, 2008 Acts 1:6-14 Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35 I Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11 John 17:1-11

Now this can either be hard or easy!
Because, either the point of the physical removal of Jesus
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
if God wants mature men and women.
People who will have depth and understanding
then 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
We may feel as though this is too hard sometimes
Can we hear two things today:
That Jesus prays to the Father for our protection.
He is not assuming that it is going to be easy,
indeed the reverse would seem to be the case.
So he prays for our protection.
In the midst of difficulty
our faith requires that we bring that 'big gun' into play.
Let us not forget that God is on our side,
this is not some sort of crude lining up allies
during war
but rather seeking to draw out of you and me
Faith in God.
Perhaps we need to pray that prayer that one of the rulers prays
Lord I DO believe
but also help my unbelief.
feeling undersiege
is not necessarily a sign of spiritual weakness
but rather an invitation
to strengthen our faith
As we rely on faith
we learn to be faithful.

Second, Jesus's key promise
in this time
is that he will not leave us friendless.
He promises the Holy Spirit.
We are not called to do this alone,
but rather to realise that we act out of God's power.
there is something important
about being able to ask for help.
As we seek to move and grow
we pray that God's Holy Spirit,
the Holy Spirit of Jesus himself
will cause us to move as God wants us to
and to understand as God wants us to.

And we discover what the first Christians dicovered
that in acting out of faith
their faith is increased.
In that exercising their God-given independence
they find a new sense of freedom
which opens them up to the gracious life of Spirit of Jesus.

More mysteriously, then, though Jesus is no longer
physically with them
they have a deeper, profounder sense of His abiding love.

May this be ours too

This week

• Remember to commit yourself deliberately to God's care and protection as you seek to be more faithful
• Pray deliberately for the Holy Spirit to guide, encourage and lead you
  

Jesus with us now

Readings for the Sunday after the Ascension (Seventh Sunday of Easter) May 4, 2008 Acts 1:6-14 Psalm 68:1-10, 32-35I Peter 4:12-14; 5:6-11 John 17:1-11

You might like to read another reflection on Resurrection and Ascension here by Bishop Tom Wright of Durham in which he speaks powerfully of the importance of the Ascension for the modern Christian

It isn't easy to understand how hard it is for a preacher to sit and listen to someone else preach.
Some times it's a delight
other times it is painful
(like last Sunday when I sat and heard a well-meaning priest
talk what seemed to me unending drivel
I kept asking myself ..."But what difference does this make to anything?")
Now you have to be temperate
and humble...
Yes, in the face of the mysteries of God
you have to be be temperate and humble.
I am so often not good at either of these of things

The priest was talking about the Ascension of Jesus
and he seemed to make sense of it
...for himself....
but I struggled to make contact.
I don't think I was just in a bad mood.
Or being more arrogant than usual.
I had even alerted myself to the possibility
that it would be particularly difficult today.

It is partly the nature of the Ascension.
We just don't seem to get it.
So in the face of a story which talks about holy Jesus
being taken up on a cloud into heaven
we begin to make stuff up!
In wanting to believe everything the Scripture might be saying
we twist and we turn
in order to fit the text into our distorted view of God's reality.

Bishop Tom Wright makes the point that the one thing the Ascension story is not saying
is that Jesus is trail-blazing
and inviting us to find our own lift into heaven.
He notes that if we read the Acts of the Apostles
we struggle to find a view of the Christian life
which says:
If you keep on plugging at it then you will finally get your heavenly reward
he says, rather, that the early Church discovered
that Jesus was showing the world that
the kingdom of heaven was in our midst
it is not something that is to be discovered
it is here and now.
The New Testament community rather than being devastated
by the death of Jesus
discovered that far from Jesus being taken away from them
his life, his love, his community
was found in a deeper and profounder way.

Wright's message?
Let's not replace the vibrancy of the Spirit-filled New Testament Church
with the wishful thinking that if we hang on for long-enough
then everything will be fulfilled.
It IS here and now.

Archbishop Rowan Williams says:

… the idea of ‘the Christian religion’ is a late and weak formulation: what first exists is the Assembly, to give the literal meaning of the Greek word for ‘Church’, as a fresh configuring of the whole of experienced reality – a new set of human relations, a new horizon for what human beings are capable of, a new understanding of the material world and its capacities. The Christian involved in the celebration of the Eucharist is not affirming a set of propositions with the help of an audio-visual programme, but inhabiting, in speech and action, a drama which purports to ‘re-locate’ him or her in the space occupied by Jesus Christ in his eternal relationship with the Father, a relocation which is enabled by his sacrificial death and his rising from the grave and ascension into heaven.
Rowan Williams

The Spiritual and the Religious: Is the Territory Changing?

Readings for Sunday April 27, Sixth Sunday of Easter Acts 17:22-31 Psalm 66:8-20, I Peter 3:13-22, John 14:15-21,


I sometimes jokingly say that we should be careful about what we ask for in our prayers
and particularly when we pray for God to send the Holy Spirit
or to renew us, or something similar.
Because my experience is that that is exactly the sort of prayer---for the Holy Spirit---
that God is likely to answer!
So, don't pray for renewal unless you want to be renewed.

What might 'renewal' be like?
It seems to me that renewal is likely to be about truth
that when the Spirit of renewal comes
it is going to be the Spirit of Truth.
It will therefore be drawing us towards God and showing us what God is like.
In the process of doing this
one might expect we also discover what we might be like.
This classic sort of movement
leads us to say...as traditionally Christians have said...
the Holy Spirit will convict us of sin.
This is not, I think, some vindictive nasty process
but true one.
We will know and be known.
it is in a sense our life's work:
to understand the truth of what it means
to be made in God's image.
The truth draws us on
to move away from sin
and towards the light.
In this process, too,
we will also uncover the truths of God's world.
The eternal truths can often be spoken with our lips
and may take a little while to appropriate into our lives.
How easily we say "God loves you!" and yet do we believe
that God wants the best for us
and for everyone
and how do we imagine that might work itself otu in our lives.
To me, for example, it means that there is here
a command to ensure that others
are goign to be able to experience God generosity
and share in the bounty of the creation
it will mean, maybe, that I need to work to challenge
my own selfishness and greed
and to stand against the aggressive greed of individuals and institutions
which is the cause of so much poverty.

Truth will mean that I try to conduct myself
with honesty, openness and integrity.
That I value these things about myself
and I treasure the vulnerable gifts that others
may choose to share.

The Spirit will lead us into truth
implies that this will take time.
And we need patience and diligence.


The way of the Spirit
LORD GRANT THAT I MAY BE OPEN TO THE TRUTH
GIVE ME PATIENCE, WISDOM AND UNDERSTANDING
THAT I MAY BEAR THIS PRIVILEGE
WITH JOY, AND EXCITEMENT.
GIVE ME COURAGE TO SERVE YOU.
FATHER OF LIGHT, SON OF MERCY, SPIRIT OF TRUTH. AMEN

God knows us where we are

Fifth Sunday of Easter
April 20, 2008 *Acts 7:55-60 Psalm 31:1-5, 15-16 I Peter 2:2-10
John 14:1-14

The story is told of St Christopher
that he searched the world over
for the strongest king to serve
he rejected one after the other
even the devil
and finally he is told to serve God
by helping people
across a dangerous river.
One night a small child comes
and Christopher carries him across the river
he senses the burden getting heavier
as he crosses
and it is only as he gets to the other side
that he realises he has been carrying the Christ child.
It is a nice story, and has a good moral.
These days it is regarded as legendary
rather than an account of an actual event.
This does not make it untrue.
It rather points us to the fact that we are called to serve Christ
in the work we do in this world
and that we often don't realise that Christ is there.

It is an Easter encounter
we don't realise at first that Christ is alive
and there amongst us.
He surprises us
by being in the ordinary place.
The disciples have to learn this.
They are often easily distracted
and well...just plain 'thick'

Not unlike you and me really!

What is on offer by Jesus is not some fairy tale encounter
nor is it some pious ritual.
It is a glimpse of glory,
it is sharing of the vision of the open heaven
and God reigning in power, peace and love.
St Stephen, at his martyrdom, is able to blurt this out.
Things often become very clear to us
in the valley of the shadow of death.

For most of the time it is a struggle, like Christopher,
to not insist that God does things in the way that we want them done
and rather to open ourselves
to the mystery of what God might be offering us.
Not what we vainly want
but what God might be trying to invite us into.

In the halting passage in John 14
again, often read at funerals,
Jesus promises a prepared-place.
He is of course speaking imaginally
we are not talking about the Legian Beach Hotel
or some Georgian mansion
But rather of the fact that there is a place.
This is a comfort to the dying and the bereaved, I suggest,
to know that whether we live or whether we die
God has a place for us.
But as we read on we discover that the place is not so much a location
as a relationship....How can we know the way?
and jesus says to you and me

I am the way and the truth and the life

I think once we grasp this we are on the way.This is what Christopher found.It is not discovery of the answer it is by entering into relationship with Jesus.

This is the relationship
which will reveal to us
the life of God himself
We Christians believe
that this shepherd
this Jesus
this way, this truth, this life
uniquely draws us into the life of God.

This is not an exclusivist claim
it is the promise and hope of relationship.

I will know God, and God will know me.
I will know and be known.
It is a glimpse of glory.

This week

• Where is Jesus telling me about himself?
• What do I tell Jesus about myself?
• How does this mutual revelation change us both?
• How do I change my life to better live that experience
  
• What will I do this week as I live out of this relationship

• .......love.....forgiveness...reconciliation all seek resolution in practice
  

Little Bo Peep

Readings for the Fourth Sunday of Easter April 13, 2008 Acts 2:42-47 ;Psalm 23; I Peter 2:19-25; John 10:1-10

At least Australians, unlike most city dwellers, are probably
quite used to sheep
No image is fonder to traditional Christians than that of Jesus as the Good Shepherd.
Yet it is a foreign image which bears little relevance to most of us urban city dwellers.
Even in this country (Australia) the intimacy of the image...one shepherd caring for a small flock of sheep...is not the way we look after sheep.
They are in hundreds and thousands, largely left to their own devices
until the time comes for them to be killed or shorn.
So we need to look beyond the image and translate it to our modern times.
A couple of pointers
being a sheep is about belonging
It's only as we belong to Christ
that we understand and believe
This would suggest that the Good News is about the decision we make to be Christ's
And not so much about intellectual knowledge.
As important as doctrine and learning are, life in Christ is actually about being in touch with the person of the Risen Christ
How might we be in touch?
We need to maintain a deep commitment to personal and regular prayer.
We will meet Jesus in so far as we encounter him in the early morning,
and in the evening,
this is a figurative way of looking at prayer of course. but we need to do it
We will meet Jesus in the shared life of the Christian community.
There are no solitary Christians
...we are the Body of Christ, members of one another.
in so far as we struggle with one another (difficult as we are)
we are exploring the depth of relationship in Christ
and coming to know Jesus in depth
The spirit of obedience
Jesus could not be blunter..
We hear his voice, and we do what he tells us.
What is Christ saying to me in my life?
Do I respond by doing what he tells me to do?
What does the life of the Body of Christ say to me
about what Jesus invites me to be and do?
Do I do it?

THIS WEEK

Take some time to reflect on what I hear Jesus saying, through my prayer, through my life, through experience of community

What 2 or 3 things do I seem to hear Jesus saying to me about how to faithfully follow

What resistance do I have to obedience? What do I need to do about it?

• 
  

Steep learning curve

Readings for Sunday April 6, 2008 the Third Sunday of Easter: Acts 2:14a, 36-41; Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19; I Peter 1:17-23; Luke 24:13-35 (please note there is also a reflection on Luke 24:13-35 below) APBA also includes Matthew 28:1-10 in today's alternatives

It took a while for the first Christians to understand
just what was going on.
Gradually they began to understand
what it meant to encounter the living Christ.
Gradually they started to piece together
what God might be doing
through the life and death of Jesus.
So we see Peter standing up at Pentecost
and proclaiming (at some risk to his life)
that "We all crucified, this Jesus"
And THIS JESUS is the one who we have all been waiting for
He is both Lord and Messiah.
He is the one who God has anointed to effect change
fundamental change
to the world.
They were on what we call jargonistically
a steep learning curve
Having to learn a lot of new things
and get a lot of changed understandings
in a very short space of time.

Peter's message is perhaps more theological and scriptural
he says

You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.

They are rich words

You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish.

that speak about a new found freedom
which is at the heart of what resurrection is about.

What we might learn
is, I think, that we are called to grow into this experience
of resurrection
and it takes time and reflection.
It is, indeed, as the disciples pay attention to what is going on,
that the mystery begins to be understood.
And they learn that it is not
knowledge that they are to acquire
but a way of life that they are called to adopt.

How might we go about this?
The key belief about the resurrection
is not in some bizarre resuscitation story
but in the reality of Matthew's tradition
where we read in the very last verse of his gospel

Jesus says to his disciples:
'And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.'

It would be easy to dismiss this as pious funereal rememberings
in the face of the death of a much-beloved friend and leader
until we also realise that the stories are narrating the changing experience
of the disciples.

We do this through paying attention to the movement of God
in our ordinary life
what else can we do?
The disciples realise that Jesus is with them as they gather for worship,
as they break bread, in the Eucharist and in their fellowship,
he is also there as they reach out to others in need
both physical and spiritual.

This happens as we, too, pay attention
we see God is with us
and that God's hand touches everything
both ordinary and extraordinary

Perhaps each day, a couple fo minutes
sitting on your bed
before you sleep
look back and see where God has been moving.

Maybe too on the weekend, a quiet moment on Saturday or Sunday
think back through the week gone.
Where can I see God acting,
where have I turned my back?

The disciples discovered as they experienced the risen Christ
their world changed
that is the invitation for you and me too.
Pay attention to it,
and join and enjoy the steep learning curve.

Where

God who is rich in mercy out of his great love
even when we were dead through our sins
makes us alive together with Christ.

Knowing Jesus...the broken bread

A reflection for an Easter Evening service in Luke 24:13-35

The quiet mystery of the story of Emmaus invites us into the mystery of Easter.

'The disciples knew Jesus in the breaking of the bread'

In a journey shrouded in mystery all the way up the road,

when they talk doctrine to Jesus and he quietly shows them what is the mystery that God is unfolding

they fail to recognise

who and what he is.

It is not until they sit quietly at a table

tired, perhaps ready for bed

that they see through the haze

and Jesus is known to them in the breaking of the bed.

As we might give thanks (as we do tonight) for the Holy Communion we received today

so we are reminded of the mystery that Jesus comes to us in the breaking of the bread.

I came across a cryptic little remark the other day

which said

"If you doubt go to Holy Communion!"

It was a little tongue-in-cheek but it has about it

an element fo truth.

The disciples know Jesus

in the breaking of the bread.

It is the steadfast experience of Anglicans,

and I would suspect, but cannot speak for, other Christians

that as we gather to share Bread and Wine in the Eucharist

we encounter Jesus.

So the funny little comment is true.

If you doubt go to to Holy Communion.

There we hear in the Word of God

of the Jesus who gave himself to be broken

and poured out

so that others might live.

This mystery, so common place to all Christians

should not be taken for granted.

As we hear the words

"Take eat this is my body given for you"

"This is the blood of the new covenant which is shed for you"

It is Jesus speaking to our doubt.

But we should not also miss the mudaneness

that is also being spoken about

that it is as we share bread and wine

around our family tables

and commit ourselves

to human relationships

which the dinner table signifies

and conveys

that we are also attesting to the truth

that Jesus is made known to us

not just in the ritual of worship

but also in the ordinariness of human existence.

For Christians, too, there is an imperative

to see that no one goes hungry

either spiritually, or physically

so the sharing of food ---spiritual and physical---

is to go beyond our comfort zone

and reach out to the hungry.

Jesus reminds us Matthew 25:31–46 (NRSV): in the parable of the Sheep and the goats

that we are called to not only pay heed to the theory of the gospel

but also to put it into practice.

“Truly I tell you, just as you give food and drink to one of the least of these you did it to me.”

We know Jesus in the breaking of the bread.

So, the risen Jesus is encountered

So, if we doubt worship God in the Holy Communion

and lest we forget, worship God in the reality of our lives

-our families

-and those who God sets before us in need.

Easter 2

Readings for this week are for The Second Sunday of the Easter Season March 30, 2008 Acts 2:14a, 22-32 Psalm 16 I Peter 1:3-9 John 20:19-31
Easter is not just a one day festival
but rather a way of life
The rather good stories that tell how earlyChristians encountered
Jesus after his death
help us to assimilate our own experiences
of Jesus.
Take Peter, for example,
who stands up boldly
and reminds his listeners
"This Jesus who you crucified"...he might also
be saying...."and who I deserted at his time of need"
,,,well "This Jesus God has shown to be the Messiah,
the incarnation of God himself."

It is, a reminder of the way we take the revelation of the Godhead
for granted
and fail to see what mind-blowingly transforming stuff
we are involved in.

Thomas, too, who is a quintessential figure
in the Christian story.
Not with the disciples when Jesus appears
he does not just take at face value
the fact that they have "seen the Lord"
Why, indeed, should he?
There is perhaps a salutary reminder
that sometimes we assume that people
will take our witness
for granted.
When we tell them what our experience of the godly encounter is
we should not just assume
that is going to be the last word
in the debate.
We often mistake what is happening
we do not name it rightly
we fail to appreciate where the other person is
(all these are salutary warnings for the would-be evangelist)
but more than this we need to appreciate
that conversion
is not so much about persuasion
as about openness
to the Holy Spirit of God.
The disciples encourage Thomas to articulate
what it would take
for him to be convinced
of the truth of what God is doing in our lives.

What would it take for me to be convinced?
Perhaps more deeply convinced, or more fundamentally convinced,
can you write a short list of the doubts you have
and what God needs to do
to allay those doubts.
Thomas did....I need to see and feel the wounds...to experience the physicality
and the aliveness of Jesus.
This confrontation and naming of doubt
enabled him to respond well
when the moment came.

This is an important
statement about the integrity
of God
The God who honours our shortcomings
as well as our insights and our strengths.

The experience of resurrection
invites us to explore
both the light and dark places
where God is to be encountered
in our faith journey.

What would you name as your doubts?
What would it and does it take to be more firmly and deeply committed?
and allow that process to take place in God's good time

Enter the tomb

Easter Day . For a selection of readings see here Isaiah 25:6-9;Acts 10:34-43;Psalm 118:1-2,14-24; 1 Cor 15:1-11; John 20:1-18; Mark 16:1-8

Easter is not about avoiding death

It is about choosing to not be defeated by it

Today, as every Easter Day, we are given the opportunity

to reaffirm our Christian commitment.

We are asked:

Do you turn to Christ? and we will gladly reply

I turn to Christ.

We are asked also three questions

about what we will do

to put this into practice

Do you repent of your sins?

We choose to admit our past failing

and today, on this day of new beginning,

Easter Day

we promise to live our life differently.

Do you reject selfish living?

When we reject selfishness

we must find ways to be kind, to be generous, to share

We cannot combat selfishness and not share.

Finally we are asked a serious question

Do you reject evil?

We might ask ourselves: but what is evil?

And it is not an easy question.

But it revolves around the way we view other people.

Each one of us is made in the image of God,

and therefore we should treat all other people

with equal dignity and respect,

but do we do that?

When we see people as commodities rather than individuals,

when we think only of people as sexual objects

when we see anyone as disposable

we are assenting to evil in the profoundest way.

When we are silent, when we should speak out,

or when we trivialise the lives of others

and say that they, their problems, their aspirations

are not worthwhile

we diminish ourselves, and each other.

This is serious stuff

But it is a choice we make

When we ask ourselves 

What is it that makes Christian experience of death

Of sin, of selfishness and of  evil 

Different from that of others

It is that we choose to enter the tomb.

We do not escape death, pain or sin.

Rather we believe that those things ]

Are not the last word

And we choose to live our life differently.

It is as we choose

As we exercise our freedom

As we decide

To follow Christ

To repent

To reject selfishness

And to renounce evil

 This is not passive

We do nto stand pn the edge of the death experience

And peer in.

Each of us who has grieved

Knows that the mystery of death

Is that it is as we get into it

That we discover

That we pass through it

And are transformed.

The little deaths, 

Sin, selfishness and evil

All have the same dynamic.

We are not to sit passively  by and do nothing

But we decide to reject them as a way of life

This is not always easy

We often get it wrong

We sometimes fail

That, in a way, doesn’t matter

It is not as we get it right that matters so much

As that we choose to live free from sin, selfishness and evil

We go into the tomb

We do not seek to avoid the death

And we discover that we are set free.

This is a key mystery of life

It is the invitation of Easter.

Choose life, not death

But choose it knowing that it is not an easy way

It requires us to struggle with sin, selfishness and evil.

But it is the only way that is worthwhile.

 

Reflections for the final hour

This is a series of smaller meditative reflexions for Good FridayIsaiah 53 particularly for reflection during the afternoon

Isaiah53:1 The suffering servant
1 Who has believed what we have heard?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
2For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.
3He was despised and rejected by others;
a man of suffering* and acquainted with infirmity;
and as one from whom others hide their faces*
he was despised, and we held him of no account.

It was said of Clyde Cameron who died in the last fortnight
that he was a great "hater".
Most of us are!
We tend to reject the experience of others unless it is forced upon us.
In our tendency to 'lionise' the Lord Jesus
we forget that he was largely despised.
It was the people who we are so fond of
...the powerful, rich and influential...
who despised him.
This might give you and me cauise for some heart!

Though we need to also note that part of the problem is that we despise him too.
Because we all to readily want to identify ourselves
with the very ones who do the despising.
How little we often regard Jesus.
We hold his teaching and example of no account.
And we are slow to allow
his counter cultural message to take root and grow
in our lives

We allow ourselves to be seduced by the idea that
being Christian
following Christ
is about being respectable
or doing "the right thing"
Could there be something more to what he is doing and saying to us
than just "Be good!"?

In his suffering is revealed more about the nature of God
than rules and regulations ever permit.
This is a message that a world
crazed with appearance and prestige
does not hear, and does not want to hear.

We need to see that it is likely
that we will not find God
in the places where the world demands our attention,
but something is discovered in suffering,
in sadness and death
that is so profoundly connected with the life of God
that we will miss it
if we do not seek it
in the places that we are afraid of

Isaiah 53:4
4Surely he has borne our infirmities
and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken,
struck down by God, and afflicted.
5But he was wounded for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the punishment that made us whole,
and by his bruises we are healed.
6All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have all turned to our own way,
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
7He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

In what sense do we understand that Jesus has "borne our infirmities"
A good retreat conductor said some years ago to a group of us
"Don't waste your suffering!"
This is not the same thing as saying that we should create suffering
either for ourselves,
or worse still for others.
But the suffering of Christ reminds us
that not everything can and will be avoided.
This much should be evident for anyone who has lived more than a couple of decades.
At the very least when we suffer

• from depression
• from bereavement
• from disappointment
• from betrayal
• from abuse
  

we can be asking ourselves
what might this draw out of me.
This is not the same thing as saying
that this is morally right or good
and that everything is OK
as long as we can get in touch with the upside.
...abuse can never have this sort of justification
it is rather saying
that we will not allow these DEATH experiences
to speak the last word.
If we do not pass through them
then we remain in death.

Isaiah 53:8
8By a perversion of justice he was taken away.
Who could have imagined his future?
For he was cut off from the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people.
9They made his grave with the wicked
and his tomb* with the rich,*
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
10Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him with pain.*
When you make his life an offering for sin,*
he shall see his offspring, and shall prolong his days;
through him the will of the Lord shall prosper.
11 Out of his anguish he shall see light;*
he shall find satisfaction through his knowledge.
The righteous one,* my servant, shall make many righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
12Therefore I will allot him a portion with the great,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong;
because he poured out himself to death,
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

What looks like death is the way to life
This is not easy to live with
and we must avoid being glib.
it is cold comfort
to say to those in pain
"Everything will be all right"
Part of dealing with grief
may mean that we have to confront
the fact that things will not be OK
but rather that they will be changed
and they and we will be different

Can we on this Good Friday
allow ourselves to what God
may be saying to us
about ta new way of living?
Can we examine our dark places
and invite God to lead us into and through them?
Can we pray for faith and trust in God?
The sort of faith and trust
that is not partial
but that is complete.
Which is transforming and will transform.