The grace of God

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jesus - His Resurrection

The readings for this Sunday when we look at Jesus-His Resurrection are Acts 2:22–24; Psalm 16:7–11; 1 Corinthians 15:1–8; Mark 16:1–8 (readings for the 30th Sunday of the Year in the Revised Common Lectionary can be found here)

It is easy to get fixated on the important questions of bodily Resurrection,
as key as they are I think we miss something of the richness
if that is all we think about.
Key amongst the experiences of Christians
is not just exactly how Jesus is amongst us
but the reality of the shared experience
that where two or three are gathered
then Jesus seems to be present.
Indeed in the Eucharist we talk about Jesus
being really present.
Many of us would attest to feeling this
but it is also something that we hold by faith
that is, we believe it, and act upon it.
THIS WEEK
Pray to know Jesus, really present
trust the guidance of the Spirit
and listen to God's voice

Jesus-His Crucifixion

During this season we are thinking about Jesus and his life and meaning today's theme is about the crucifixion. Some readings are here:Isaiah 53:3–6Psalm 89:39–461 Peter 2:22–25Mark 15:33–39
If you want to follow the Revised Common Lectionary then readings can be found here

How might it be if we lived without the burden of sin?
What would our world be like?
So often we excuse our bad behaviour by suggesting we have no other choice,
because we are just like that
Sinful.
But what if we were not.

We present a mask, often,
because we don't like what we believe we are;
and we certainly don't want others to encounter it

What we need to realise about the Crucifixion,
is that it is about God seeing us as we really are.
We may not like it but
There is nothing about us that Jesus does not love
We often find this difficult to believe.

What we see on the cross is that
God loves us
in a way that often we cannot love ourselves.
Often our greed, our sensuality,
our passion, our self-centredness
disgust us.
We often don't love or like ourselves.
We are embarrassed and ashamed by our mistakes and our frailty
So we are often self-deceptive,
we think of ourselves as different from what we really are.
We certainly try to present an image to the world
that is not what we are.

The message of the Cross is that there is nothing about us
that God does not love.
He loves us so much
that he will not allow us
to be destroyed
by the sin and corruption
that would seek to separate us from God,
or cause us to think and believe
that we can be separated from the love of God.

This is what is happening
on the Cross
everything about is laid upon Jesus.
God's love for us is so great
that we are totally identified
with his own Son.
The net effect for us
is that everything that would separate us from God
is destroyed in the Body of Christ.
Lies, hurtfulness, shame, mistakes...
St Paul tells the Corinthian Church
that it was for this purpose that he who is without sin
Became as sin, and put sin to death in his own body.
What ever power sin might have held
before the Cross
it no longer holds.
He himself bears our sins
in his body on the cross.
so that free from sin we might live for righteousness.

What is asked us of us
is to have faith in this sacrifice.
We are free from our sin.
Put aside the self-indulgence
that we cannot escape sin
We can...through faith in Jesus.
Nothing too big, nothing too small!

God loves us so much
that we do not have to live with the burden of sin.

So let us live that way

Taking responsibility...not apportioning blame

Readings for the 27th Sunday of the Year, October 5th 2008 can be taken from the following: Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20 Psalm 19 Philippians 3:4b-14 Matthew 21:33-46


We have today a triptych of readings
about our relationship with God
and how we are to respond to the call of God on our lives.
The Ten Commandments
are an essential statement of universal values
which are widely, some would even say universally, accepted.
They could be seen as a legal code, I suppose,
but in reality the spirit of the Hebrew Scriptures
contained in the prophets
sees them more as a distillation
of a way communities might live together
and some of the fundamental principles
like the sanctity of life, the respect for property,
the importance of truth and integrity in relationships
Preceding all that is the key idea
that we are worshippers of the one true God,
the God who is (for want of a better word) jealous
and who will brook no rival.

The Gospel story is about recognising that
there is a responsibility for those who are in this relationship.
The responsibility is not to be legalistic
but to participate in a dynamic and active way in the life of the kingdom
The condemnation that Jesus holds out in this parable
is for those who make the mistake of thinking and acting
that this relationship is legalism
or for those who take the privilege of the covenant
without any responsibility.
It is a sombre warning
for those of us who religiously inclined.
God will try and try again to draw us into relationship
but if we simply ignore that invitation
or prefer legalism
then eventually we will be excluded.
Not because God is damning us
But because we remove ourselves
from the generosity of God's grace.
Relationship with Jesus
Paul's wonderful dissertation in Philippians
which also continues today, reminds us
that we can have perfect credentials
our ancestry impeccable
but all this is rubbish
by comparison
with what is being offered in Christ.
A relationship in God.
It is this that will motivate.

It is taking responsibility
to have a vital life in Christ
and not apportioning blame
or creating an elite
which will see us drawn into the kingdom.

This week

• Is there one thing that may be standing in your way to being more faithful in Christ?
• Is there one thing where God may be inviting a deeper, better response (an act of forgiveness, more fervent prayer, an act of charity...etc) and can we make that transition instead of preferring a legalistic way of little or no accountability.

Some Authority Issues

Readings for the 26th Sunday of the Year, Sunday 28th September Exodus 17:1-7 Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16 ;Philippians 2:1-13; Matthew 21:23-32

The authority of spiritual teachers is often called into question
so we are not surprised to read this week that Jesus's authority was called into account.
In fact it happened on a number of occasions, and one thing we can see from the passage is that the question is complex.
So there are a couple of observations we might make.
One is that we often question authority, when we are trying to trip people up.
So often, as in this case, the questioners are not interested in getting the right answer
but rather in getting the replier to put himself offside
with one group or another.
We are used to this because we see it all the time in the political arena.
Second,Matthew gives us a bit of an illustration to help us better assess.
You would be better, he suggests, to look at what a person does rather than what they say.
Even if a person says I am going to do the right thing
but then doesn't do anything
we should look at the action rather than believe the words.
Even, bizarrely, if someone says they are not going to cooperate with you
but then does
Then believe the action rather than the words.
Children do this all the time
they believe what we do
rather than what we say.

It is interesting that as we read Philippians 2
and we are here reading about the nature of Jesus
again we read about what the action of being godly is like
...it puts aside pride and selfish ambition, it is humble
it is obedient
it does not presume on greatness.
And in fact it deliberately puts these things aside.
How unlike you and me this is!
So often, full of our self-importance
we forget that we are urged to not presume
on our own rightness, goodness, holiness, intelligence or strength.

St Paul in another place reminds us
that the reason for this is because
it is not when we are strong, powerful and great
that God is glorified
But it is when we are weak
aware of our limitations
and trusting only in God
that God can be God for us.

THIS WEEK

• Where are we guilty of not practising what we preach? Is there a way we can better put into action what being a faithful Christian means?
• Look for one opportunity to humbly follow Christ this week, so that we may better trust.

Lord Jesus, you became obedient

you offered your life, that others may live.

May that same Spirit infuse my life this week, and every day. AMEN

Action and Response

This Sunday 21st September is also the Feast of St Matthew some suggested readings are : Proverbs 3:1-6, Psalm 19:1-6 APBA p 239, Ephesians 4:1-14, Matthew 9:9-13


and you thought you had a bad day at work!

I am always fascinated by what makes Matthew respond to Jesus.
Had he just had a bad day (like S did yesterday) at work?
And just felt like chucking it all in!
Of course we are here seeing not just a fit of pique
but someone responding to Jesus
so as people of faith we recognise that there may be more to it.
And we also identify that
Jesus calls and we respond
(or not)
This is something in which we are caught up every day.
Matthew, on this occasion, responded
we do sometimes
Often we just ignore the call of Christ on our lives.

What follows on in the nartrative is a little reflection, which perhaps helps us to get Matthew's understanding of what Jesus is doing when he calls people
We read:

And as Jesus sat at dinner in the house, many tax-collectors and sinners came and
were sitting with him and his disciples. 11When the Pharisees saw this, they
said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax-collectors and
sinners?’ 12But when he heard this, he said, ‘Those who are well have no need of
a physician, but those who are sick. 13Go and learn what this means, “I desire
mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’

There is, it would seem, purpose when Jesus calls someone!
And that purpose is that those who have been cut off from God
those who are in need of wholeness, acceptance, reconciliation
Might be able to come and receive what God will give them.
As, again, we reflect on who might we might invite to come to something like Christianity Explained
Maybe we have here a clue about what sort of person to look out for.
We are not being asked to be pedantic or patronising,
any way when a call is issued there is always the possibility that the one called may choose to sit at the table and not respond.

Asking ourselves
I wonder why, too, God might have called you and me .
Assuming that we are here because God has been here before us
what is it that he is offering to do for us
What might we receive?
St James makes the cryptic comment
You do not receive because you do not ask (James 4:2)
Sometimes I suspect we do not understand that we are being invited to receive from God,
maybe we are frightened
if we hear the call, as Matthew did,
and get up and walk away
(this may be so for some of our CE invitees)

This week

• Continue to pray for insight into who might come to Christianity Explained
• Ponder what God is calling me to be. Why on earth has God thought I can be a Christian, what is God wanting to achieve in my life?
• Is there an invitation to respond more definitely, fervently even dramatically?

Living God from your Heart flows love in
abundance

Give me courage to respond to your call

Give me vision to change

Nada Te Turbe-Don't be disturbed

Nada te turbe
Nada te espante
Todo se pasaDios no se muda
La paciencia todo lo alcanza
Quien a Dios tiene nada le falta
Solo Dios basta!!!!................
Si a tanta dicha subes,repara
Que aunque haya bienes
Solo Dios basta!!!!!!!!

Let nothing disturb you,nothing afright you.
Whom God possesses
in nothing is wanting.
Alone God suffices.
All things are passing.
God never ceases.
Patient endurance attains all things.

Eucharistic Revolution

Eucharist as Revolution

Any act that provides the Bread of Heaven
and the Cup of Salvation for all - and anyone
who comes to the table - will always cause at
least a stir.
When one who has been excluded is the one
who presides at that Eucharist, or when the
one who has been excluded invites absolutely
everyone to the Table to be fed, well, it becomes,
in and of itself, the revolutionary act which
Jesus intended it to be.

Elizabeth Kaeton, "Telling Secrets" Blog

We adore you O Christ

Sunday 14th September is kept as Holy Cross Day. A Day when we reflect on the significance of the Cross and the life and death of Jesus. readings can include. Isaiah 45:21-25 Psalm 98 or 98:1-4 Philippians 2:5-11 or Galatians 6:14-18 John 12:31-36a

St Paul makes the curious comment:

May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by
which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world (Gal 6:14)

This is at once curious, and yet fully understandable
When we invite people, as we will next month
To come and hear what the Christian Gospel is all about
We have to tell them about the fact that Jesus was crucified
And that we believe that by that act the world has been transformed.
At some point we understand that it as at the point of intense suffering, when we are broken
When we recognise failure and sin
That we encounter the depth of ourselves and God.
This is, of course, a mystery
There are theories (a link which is of interest here, but it is not comprehensive) which seek to explain it, they do not sit easily with our understanding.

But it is out of our experience
That we can readily discern the truth of what is being claimed here
It is when we stand in the face of death
When we seek God in our pain
When we struggle with the intense difficulties of our life
Death, depression, sadness
It is there we find that Jesus meets us having been there before us.
Perhaps as we wonder about who needs to have Christianity Explained to them
We should look for those for whom the Cross is already a reality.
And that is all of us.
This sacrament of the Cross, this Church of the Body of Christ
Is not for the strong but for the weak.
We are not vetting members to join our exclusive club,
But seeking rather to try and recognise
Who God is already calling.
This is something of the reality of the Cross.

I came, says Jesus, not to call the righteous
But the sinners to repentance
(Mark 2:17)

And He said,

"It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick".
(Matthew 9:12)

We are called to boast not in our beautiful churches, liturgy or organisation.
But that at the point of suffering
being in relationship with Jesus,
through the Cross, makes a difference to how we live our life

More on the Kingdom

If you keep the Sunday of the Year (Proper 24) then the readings are Exodus 14:19-31 or Genesis 50:15-21 Psalm:[Psalm 114 or Exodus 15:1b-11, 20-21] or Psalm 103:(1-7), 8-13 , Romans 14:1-12 , Matthew 18:21-35 but we will eb keeping the Feast of the Holy Cross (see above)

Life together

Readings for Sunday 23, 7th September are: Exodus 12:1-14 (or Ezekiel 33:7-11)Psalm 149 (or Psalm 119:33-40 ) Romans 13:8-14 Matthew 18:15-20

What a lot of people don't get about Christianity

is that it is about living together

How do humans live with God, and how do they live with each other?

While there is no doubt that religion can seem to be remote and ritualistic, this dimension only makes sense when it connects to life

Nowhere is this truer than in the Eucharist.

 As we gather together to worship and share Bread and Wine we are recognising that good experience of God

Is as fundamental as the food and drink we share

That God is present to us in the ordinary stuff of life

So we expect that that the key stuff that we talk about

Should not only just sound good in theory it should be practical in application

Matthew’s advice about how to deal with disputes

Is sound and practical.

It emphasises discretion and forgiveness. 

It has about it mutuality and care

What else would we expect?

Apart form anything else it also says we should try.

A lot of reconciliation doesn’t happen because we can’t be bothered.

We would rather ignore conflict 

Than be reconciled.

Pride, embarrassment, arrogance, wilfulness

All stand in the way.

Christian principles suggest

That we should at least try

It won’t always (or ever) be easy

But we are called to try, to engage seriously

In the practical implementation of the gospel

This week

• Where do need prompting to be reconciled 
  
• What do I need to do? What precautions/supports are there that need to be applied?
  
• Are my strategies genuinely kind, patient, forgiving and loving?
  

IF I FORGET LORD

THAT I AM NO CALLED TO BE SELF-RIGHTEOUS

THEN GENTLY PROMPT ME.

ALWAYS ENCOURAGE ME TO BE HUMBLE AND KIND

FORGIVING AND LOVING

Counting the cost

Readings for the 31st August the 22nd Sunday of the Year can include: Exodus 3:1-15 [or Jeremiah 15:15-21] Psalm:Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26, 45c [or Psalm 26:1-8 ]; Romans 12:9-21 & Matthew 16:21-28

For all Peter's realisations that Jesus is pretty important in the scheme of things ( as we read last week) and he is rewarded with some pretty dramatic words....I will build my church on you
Words which the Church has been keen to exploit, they are not so keen to observe that moments later Jesus is berating this Prince of the Apostles and saying
"Get behind me Satan!"

And that he who was once a foundation is now a "stumbling block"
Equally strong words in the other direction.
I think we see here what is an observable phenomenon for spiritual people.
There are times when it is all pretty clear, and we can make it hang together
And then it evaporates and , once again, we lose the plot.



Equally well we have the seminal story of the burning bush.

This too is the experience of people.
God grabs our attention
and if we are attentive
we hear and receive
then we can hear what God might be saying

[I am not too worried about
how a bush might burn
or what it might mean
this is not a story about supernatural phenomena,
this is a story about how God catches out attention
how we hear God
and what we might then do]
As Christians who believe in an ever-present, and transcendent God
experienced in and through the world
we experiece "burning bushes" all the time.
Do we just take any notice?
Moses, we note, had to turn away from what he was doing
and go and take a look.
Our problem is that we may often see
but then just go on with what we are doing.
So we don't see or hear
God saying to us
I AM WHO I AM.
Instead we see the sheep going crazy.
It is when we turn aside
take off our shoes
because we realise the encounter is holy and powerful
listen
and then act out of that expereince that it all makes a difference.

This is what happened to Peter
when he recognised
what God might be doing in Jesus(here)
this changed his life fundamentally.
As did Moses.
Because he now had the choice to live out of something new.

This is how it works for us.
As we ask ourselves
where is God's grace active and alive for us today
there is also the invitation
to live rather differently.
Out of knowledge of the fact
that God is who God is
---we use the shorthand term Yahweh, Jehovah or LORD

The Question then is...what do we do with this?
The invitation
is to live out of the new encounter
the temptation is to go back to doing what we did before.

As I ask myself, where have I asked experienced God's grace today
the next step is:
And what difference does that make ?
Will I choose to live differently
because I have encountered God.
We don't always get this right.
This is Peter who was a "foundation"
becoming a "stumbling block"
Having been granted the vision of the future
do we choose to go back tot he past.

Too often yes!

This week

• Where have I experienced the presence of God at this time?
• What is God asking me to be and do? What does it reveal to me about the nature of God? What is the invitation to live differently?
• What changes do I make to the way I live because I have encountered God on holy ground?
• Will I live differently?

O God, you invite me to turn aside

and be with you.

Why on earth do you want to speak with me?

What do you want of me?

Give me not only this grace,

but also the courage to live out of your life.

In Jesus name. AMEN

Chrysostom on Repentance

St John Chrysostom offers some detailed reflection on the road to repentance

"So now I have shown you the five paths of repentance. First, condemnation
of sins. Second, forgiving the sins of those near us. Third, prayer. Fourth,
almsgiving. Fifth, humility"

The key to prayer

A reflection for this Sunday 24th August

Matthew 16:19

Jesus said, “I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

For quiet prayer

Jesus was speaking to Peter when he said these words. What if he was sitting with you today…what if Jesus was saying these words to you…

“I will give you, (your name), the keys to the kingdom of heaven.”
“Whatever you, (your name), bind on earth shall be bound in heaven.”
“And whatever you, (your name), loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

The key to the problem

This Sunday 24th August we use the readings for the 21st Sunday which can be taken from Exodus 1:8-2:10 (or Isaiah 51:1-6); Psalm 124 (or Psalm 138); Romans 12:1-8; Matthew 16:13-20 [it is also St Bartholomew's Day so there are alternative readingn for that day too]

One of the points I made last week was that we always bring a lot of baggage to the Scriptures when we seek to interpret their meaning
One of the biggest pieces of baggage is our understanding of 'authority'.
If, after all, Scripture is divinely inspired [however we interpret that]
then what it has to say about authority is important.
The Gospel passage we read this week is one of those portrions
where the issue of authority is very much to the fore:
We read

16:18 I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."

The Roman Catholic Church has taken this passage to speak about the particular authority that was given to St Peter
and then by extension to Peter's successors as Bishop of Rome
This Papal claim may be interesting but, in the end, to me it is difficult to sustain.
More than this, it obscures the insight that is being offered here to all Christians.
It is part of th baggage!
The dynamic that is going on here
is that in relationship with Jesus
we come to an understanding of who we are.
So Peter, though he might be tempted to think otherwise,
comes to understand that he can and will be
a foundation that God can use to build
[By way of a side issue in John 1 :43-52 we see another man, Bartholomew,
(who is called here Nathanael)
who has a simple encounter of recognition with Jesus
and who is blown away by the fact that he seems to be known at depth]

Much of what is said about Peter in this encounter
would wait to be realised
It is often only in looking back that we see God's hand evident.
As we reflect on the Moses story, for example,
which we begin this morning also
we are able to frame a fairly hair-raising story of murder and cruelty
and see how God was able to take that and make something bold out of it.
This is not moralising or fable telling
with a view to getting an object lesson
but rather exploring a foundational principle of the faith-journey
that God takes the stuff of our life
and gives it meaning.
For Peter and Nathanael
(and indeed for us)
it is encounter with Jesus
which will give meaning to our lives.

This is what we are trying to 'explain' about Christianity
It is what happens to people when they are 'saved'
it is the 'grace' which God gives us
bringing meaning and purpose.

Our prayers, thoughts and reflections
might be well spent
listening to what Jesus is speaking into our lives

This is not an exercise in fantasy.
It is about getting in touch with the reality
of what God is saying to me today.

This week

• Sit quietly and ask for the guidance of the Holy Spirit
• Lord show show me who and what you want me to be this week
• Use one of the following scripture passages
• Lord speak to me today

Romans 13:12
12the night is far gone, the day is near. Let
us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armour of light;

1 Cor 4:13
13when slandered, we speak kindly. We have become
like the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all things, to this very day.

Matthew 14:23
23And after Jesus had dismissed the
crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was
there alone,

Judges 13:13
13The angel of the Lord said to Manoah, ‘Let
the woman give heed to all that I said to her.

Hosea 6:6
6For I desire steadfast love and not
sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than
burnt-offerings.

• What might God be saying to me ?
• What does this invite me to do tomorrow and in the week to come?

feeding dogs

Readings for the 20th Sunday of the Year, Sunday August 17th 2008 Genesis 45:1-15 (or Isaiah 56:1, 6-8;) Psalm 133 (or Psalm 67) ; Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32; Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28

Does Jesus struggle with prejudice?
I grew up in a community which had a lot of prejudices near the surface.
By and large we had no contact with people of different racial background
(There weren't any )
English people were always disrespectful fo the Irish,
and as an Anglican we held a firm suspicion of Roman Catholics.
These prejudices, and others, can be and, most likely, are part of any person's upbringing

When we encounter Jesus in the Scripture we naturally bring a lot of baggage to that encounter!
I would maintain, for example, that we almost always want to show him in a good light
This is to be expected
he is the hero after all.
He is, we would say the Saviour, the Messiah, the Son of God.
So it is difficult to paint him in other than bold, heroic strokes.

We do then have to deal with the fact that in the Gospel passage
for today (Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28 ),
Jesus would at least appear to be rude.
Some how we don't like that.
Particularly those of us who are of British stock
seem to regard impoliteness
as the unforgiveable sin!
A lot of commentary spends a lot of time
trying to excuse the fact that Jesus seems to speak disrespectfully
(even the fact that I say seems to speak disrespectfully) shows that I am guilty of this too!
But Jesus says to this woman when she asks him to heal her daughter
that the food of the children should not be thrown to the dogs

But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me."
He answered, "It is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs."
She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters'
table."

It is difficult to not hear that he is calling this woman and her daughter dogs!
If I made this sort of comment in a pastoral encounter , I feel sure a complaint would be (rightly) upheld
Yet we say things like...Jesus wasn't really being rude, he was testing her
or that this is playful banter
(One pastoral rule I know is that you don't engage in such banter with people who are stressed out by sickness)
Or the other day we were being told that one commentator says this is a clever play on words,
because the word dog is linked to the word for worship.
I personally think that is a stretch.
What we must not miss is that Jesus has to engage with his humanity just as we have to.
If all we ever say about Jesus is that every human action he commits
is done perefctly and without struggle
then we are rather missing the point
that struggling with prejudice, carelessness, language
is actually part of what it means to be human.

Here we see Jesus struggling with the prejudice that he had grown up with since his childhood
Canaanites were for Jews pagans, Gentiles and beyond the pale,
Jesus would have known they were referred to by everyone in Nazareth as 'dogs'.
Here we see at least that this struggle is there for Jesus
as it is for us.
Part of what it means to be human
is that we have to engage with both the dark and light side of our character.
To do any less with Jesus
is to not take his humanity seriously.

This story also shows us that, as distasteful as our prejudices may be,
we do not have to stay locked in them.
Indeed, must not.

Can we see here an invitation to transcend our own narrowness and bigotry

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